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Ella Taliercio moved into her Park Slope two-bedroom in 1958, raised three kids there (burying two of them in Green-Wood Cemetery), and still works in the neighborhood. But now she and her husband have got to go because the fancy Berkeley Carroll School, which owns her building, wants to turn it into classrooms. The apartment is rent-stabilized—Taliercio paid $33 a month in '58 and $147.08 today—but Berkeley Carroll has non-profit status, enabling the school to evict the couple. Taliercio tells the Daily News through tears, "It's my home. How do you just shut the door on something where you've been for so many years?" Don't worry, Ella, Berkeley administrators will have the eviction marshal help you with that.
Longtime Park Slope Resident Told to Scram by Berkeley Carroll School
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A friend told me of police abuse of a homeless person this morning on the 1 at 168 st. Apparently,
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"I couldn't afford to rent around here anymore, but I don't want to leave Park Slope."
Honestly, that's tough, lady. Renting an apartment doesn't give you the right to live there forever. That's why people try to buy sooner or later.
hoo boy here comes the comment shitshow...
My favorite Gothamist game is to guess who wrote the post before seeing the byline… usually it’s so easy I don’t even bother to give myself pretend points in my head when I get it right.
Cotton Candy Gossip = Jen Carlson
Amusing Typos = Jen Chung
Unnecessary Snark = John Del Signore
Goodness, John.
they're not called eviction marshals, though that's one of their duties. I call them bloomberg's and richie riches goons, myself.
I want to know more about the burying two of 3 kids. folow up post please
@Colochita, it's funny because it's true.
But personally usually find John's snark to be as amusing as Jen's typos.
The rent is about the same monthly cost as a plot in Green-Wood.
$147 a month!
...no sorry, i don't feel sorry for her
Wait - her rent doesn't even cover the cost of her heating oil, much less the property taxes, water or insurance the building owner has to pay - she's had a great deal for 50 years, HALF A CENTURY. I mean, come on. and it's a SCHOOL. A non-profit school. It's not like they're asking her to leave so they can resell the space and make a million bucks.
/small violin
the rent she pays is insane. but right or wrong its another story of making room for those with the $$$ all over the city now. I'm amazed this didn't happen sooner to her.
Imagine the article without the snark:
50 years in Park Slope...rent only $147 a month...two kids buried in Green-Wood...yes, we knew we'd eventually be evicted and we thank the Berkeley-Carroll School for giving us so many years in our home. No hard feelings....
How does evicting an old lady jibe with the mission of a non-profit school? How are they explaining this act to their students?
I don't know, if it's rent stabilized, the current rent should be much more than that.
That's not rent stabilization, it's rent control.
http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/rent/factsheets/orafac1.htm
It is too bad, but she's a renter paying an insane price. And it's a great school.
My cable bill cost almost as much as her rent.
As much as I hate the idea of throwing someone out of their home and as much as I think that rents are at an insane level, I have a hard time feeling bad for this woman. At that price she should have saved enough to have saved a significant sum by now especially since there are two of them living there. Sounds like she needs to accept that it's time to move on with her life.
Seriously? $150/mo rent and they couldn't save up money to buy an apartment somewhere? It sucks that she's getting kicked out but she's reaping what she sowed here.
Part of me wants to agree with everyone here and say "WTF didn't this woman just save for a home?" but none of us knows her financial situation. She's still working at age 68 which would imply she doesn't have a lot of money to retire and hasn't exactly been able to make a mint from this. Two of her kids died; we have no idea if she had to pay huge medical bills for them or for herself. A rent like that would be amazing for many of us, but for others who have a limited income, that might be lot of money. We don't know.
No, they're not entitled to anything, but seeing as how they're going to be homeless or driven from the city, it's a shame the school can't show this elderly couple a little compassion.
The school could have thrown them out any time at all and didn't for 50 years. They should send the school a thank you note for subsidizing their existance for almost their entire lives. Then say good-bye.
It seems she's hanging on due to the location to her children's graves. Maybe she should talk to the school about revisiting the pay out offer and find a nice place in Sunset Park, still near the cemetary. But dang lady, you were offered a lot of money TWICE, it's hard to really feel too bad.
i am shocked that in the past 50 years her rent has only gone up 114 dollars ?!?!! my rent stab apt has gone up half that in the past 3 years.
This is why we're in the shit shape we're in: Because of everyone and their sense of entitlement. I deserve to pay peanuts for rent. I deserve a house even though i can't afford it. I deserve to have a new car every year.
Lady, you could not have possibly thought that kind of rent would last forever. And if you were stupid enough not to sock away a few $$ while paying COMPLETELY insane rent in park slope?!?!
UGH! i wish she would call into Suze Orman. i would stay in on saturday night just to here Suz rip into her.
There needs to be some serious financial education. Yes, I feel bad for an old couple who might end up on the street.
BUT unless people take some responsibility for themselves along the way, we're going to have MANY MANY MANY more people to bail out in the near future. You can't just expect to live unrealistically and when it looks like the bottom is going to fall out, then expect someone else to make it all better.
What do we think this is? Wall Street?
what is this idea that because she doesn't pay the same exorbitant rent that the rest of you pay, it some how justifies her eviction?
rent control is a legal provision in new york city (as of right now), not some loophole that she has been taking advantage of at the expense of tax payers (yes,i know there are some people that think that). the lady's been in the same apartment for longer than most of you pissants have been alive!
and it's not like the school is raising the rent, she is refusing and therefore she is not able to renew her lease, it sounds like they're just telling her to fuckoff.
i hope there is more to this story, maybe the school would help her relocate, although she certainly isn't going to be paying the same rent.
No one should ever be paying $150 a month for a two bedroom in park slope in 2008 sorry
maybe i should have read the article first...but i didn't want to, no time for that when you're a judgmental asshole... i wanted to have my opinion and i still think you guys are total pricks
I'm sure if she paid the school their going rate of $29,000 a year, they will rent her and her husband the basement apartment next to the boiler room.
I still can't figure out why she was offered $50,000 years ago and $20,000 now. Shouldn't the figure go up? I also realize they don't have to offer her squat. The school is 100% legal in taking over her apartment. Tough poops. Take the money while you can lady. Let's see $20,000 divided by two bedrooms equals one years rent.
Fine lesson in Social Studies. From Berkeley-Carrol's catalogue: (we) "aim to create an atmosphere of compassion and fairness". Yeah, right!
Little rich Park Slope kids need their schooling.
Sorry, I feel for the oldsters, not some Yuppie's prep-school brat willing to pay $29,000 for a first-grade education.
For any non-profit to dispossess any elderly couple is just not right. They get tax breaks, the couple gets the shaft.
Typical arrogance and b.s. of the rich
The $20K she turned down was more than the cumulative rent she has paid in the previous 11 years. She and her husband are in a tough situation but the school is not to blame.
Berkeley Carroll my ass. Where are those machete boys when you need them?
On one hand, she's getting bounced with no fanfare which is harsh. On the other hand, the fact that Berkeley Carroll owns her building and not some scumbag landlord means that she didn't have gang kids let in to spray the walls and harass her out of there, or her utilities shut off for "emergency repairs", or garbage piled in the locked basement to bring in the rats. At the very least she should accept the fact that she more than broke even here and move on. And there is help available for her if she didn't save anything for this rainy day.
I definitely don't feel THAT bad for her, but all these gothamist rent-control haters are annoying. Rent Control and Rent Stabilization are laws! They seem ridiculous to you people because YOU pay too much for your shoebox. Not everyone is a freelance such-and-such with no kids or families. NYC used to be a city of neighborhoods - rent laws ensure that neighborhoods survive.
The reason a lot of people pay tons of money for their shoebox apartments is because of rent control and rent stabilization. And these people want police and fire department protection?
As was mentioned earlier, her $147 a month pays for approximately thirty-six gallons of fuel oil. That would be approximately one and a half day's useage. Who pays for the other days in the month? Not to mention all the other expenses in maintaining a building.
I love the picture. She just got a notice from the school regarding her back rent charges dating to August of 1988 when the school bought the building and she refused to take the 50 grand. She now owes $540,000 plus fuel surcharges, interest and penalties. Sleep well my dear.
this is getting press but the law is on the landlord's side because they're a non profit. on another note, I see someone on the block owns a vintage Mustang. another another note, the mayor was testy again this afternoon.
Of course mayor Mike was testy, he's losing his attempt to become a mayor again in city council. Every one of his major projects are being shot down. Who said money can bring you happiness? Get off it Mike and spend some of your own billions to make the city a better place. Then again a billion ain't what it used to be. Look at Trump. He's got his name and face plastered all over the place and Mike is worth seven times as much as "Mr. Combover." So shape up Mike and get to work. Let the lady rent a floor in your townhouse at the RC rates she has grown accustomed to.
This is a tough one. I feel bad for the couple, and their situation. Reality is: if you live in a rent space, you gotta contemplate the day they'll want you out. Sadly, you will never own it, no matter how long you've lived there.
That article needed some info on what does the old couple do for a living and how much do they make. But I'm guessing they'll probably need to relocate to another city.
I don't get all the jealous hatred towards this old couple. If they live in a rent-controlled apartment, they probably can't afford basic rent... anywhere.
Can't blame the school much either. And they offered them money. I wonder why they didn't take it the first time around. 50k in the 80's must have been decent money!
I have disagree with nearly everyone in this thread. Look, when she signed her Rent Stabilized lease in 1958, those where the rules. She lives through the horrors of Park Slope in the 1970's and 1980's and stuck it out. In the mid 70's you would be lucky to fins anyone that wanted to live in that neighborhood.
If she has a legit lease, even though we are all ultra jealous of that low rent, she deserves to stay; that's what rent stabilization laws are for. How can feel comfortable kicking an old lady out into the street because 'They didn't save'.
In the 1950's doctors endorsed cigarettes in print ads, so do you really think 'saving' was a big priority for a woman with dead kids living in a crappy part of Brooklyn?
I have no sympathy for BC, it's the NYC school that turns out failed artists and junkies with attitude problems.
"Don't worry, Ella, Berkeley administrators will have the eviction marshal help you with that."
This has to be the most arrogant asshole statement ever by Gothamist.
I'm sure they'll be able to set her up in a nice "rent stabilized" one bedroom in Parkchester in the Bronx for $1375.
A great display of how broad the qualifications are of a non-profit organization are, and the power they posess. Also, this shows how insane these artificial rent prices are.
wow... I shouldn't try to post while in traffic. :/
Berkeley Carroll,
Liberal bastion,
Not-so-liberal,
Rotten bastion.
Perhaps one of the students at BC has a parent that owns a nice RC apartment building up in East Harlem, the Bronx or East New York that they would like to plop down the unfortunate victim of BC's greed.
To call The Berkeley Carroll School "fancy" is like calling the public school system in NYC terrific. Berkeley Carroll has been educating children since 1966, and is a decent and dedicated institution. No offense to rent controlled and rent stabilized tenants, but there are owners of these building. Renting is a temporary condition. Only in NYC can a program for returning veterans and elderly people from WWII be transformed into an entitlement. At least with veterans and elderly, there was a valid reason to control rents in a free market. $147.08? Yeh, that's fair, especially for everyone else paying market rates. Suppressing rents by law does have an effect on other apartment rents in the area. Having said that, I understand there are usually two sides to a story, and this story is genuinely sad. However, tears are like rain in this city.