Are New Stuy Town Tenants Pooping in Hallway?

A sodden young man in Stuy Town recently took the adage about not shitting where you eat quite literally, and decided to do his business in one of the stairwells. The incident, described vividly by a commenter on StuyTown Lux Living, highlights the roiling tension between longtime rent-stabilized tenants and rowdy arrivistes who've moved in since landlord Tishman-Speyer pushed out some of the old-timers and raised rents.

According to the appalled bowel movement witness: "I was walking up the stairs to my third floor apartment and I saw an obviously drunken college kid TAKING A SHIT in the stairwell. I did a double take. The clearly inebriated young man just looked at me and said, 'Hey when ya gotta go ya gotta go.' Thanks Tishman-Speyer for bringing such high class tenants into what USED to be a wonderful place to live."

But NY Mag's Chris Rovzar, who happens to live in Stuy Town, doesn't believe the story, and thinks Tishman-Speyer has made the place "nice now. All this nostalgia for when it was a set of glorified geriatric dormitories really strikes me as misplaced." And besides, now there are "many more attractive bodies sunning in the Oval." They should just take the elevator on their way down there, though.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on June 4, 2009 1:26 PM

Comments [rss]

Jen S

Poo stories inspire the best comments.

My fave poo story: I once stepped in/slipped on a puddle of bum shit on 53rd Street. It clung in the treads of my shoe for weeks. Pretty sure I know which bum did it, as I've spotted him dropping trou in roughly the same spot previously.

PTG in nyc

That is completely unacceptable behavior, but so is the fact that I lived there for 1 year, paid 2700 a month total with a roommate for a modified 1BR next to the power plant, and the lady next door had a real 2BR for $600 a month. Technically speaking, the market raters have a lot more leeway when it comes to getting more out of what they're paying, although having someone clean up poop is not cool.

Despite the fact that Tishman Speyer is kind of evil, they were great property managers, fixed things immediately, etc...

As for NYU getting control over it's students, the university leases about 200 units that they rent to students, but it's not like they are responsible for students that happen to live there in non-NYU apartments.

NannyState

The tennants can no longer complain they don't get shit for their money.

Chilkin Bilskits

maybe it was a dog, mightyboognish. that's what i say to myself when i see fecal matter in odd places. "maybe it was a dog" i say. "maybe that's NOT human poo" i wonder aloud to myself. i feel my new york city living experience isn't complete until i see a human poop on the sidewalk. until then i can only dream. on a somewhat related note i've never seen a penis on the subway, either :(

chunk

And that's the difference between real journalists and kids playing at being a journalist. Come on -- reporting an anonymous comment from a blog as news? And not just any blog. No matter how you feel about Stuytown, the Lux Living blog is about as unbiased as Bill O'Reilly.

What's next? John Del Signore goes to a Minutemen rally and reports that Mexicans might in fact be subhuman based on comments overheard in the crowd?

Bluealways

Dude, it's a damn blog. Hearsay about public poopers is pretty much their raison d'etre.

You probably read Marmaduke cartoons and yell "THIS ISN'T LITERATURE!"

hotstepper

pass up a chance to write about POOP for the sake of journalistic integrity?! no way in hell CHUNK!

MightyBoognish

I saw (and unfortunately smelled) a big pile of steaming sh*t in a Bank of America ATM vestibule in the southstreet seaport area...not sure of what street it was on. Obviously the guy really needed to make an emergency deposit.

astralgirl01

ME TOO! Someone took a deuce on the *keypad* area in a BoA ATM on 4th and 2nd Ave. Totally gross and mind-boggling... how did they hitch ass up there and get down to their business??

And about a decade ago, a dude dropped drawers and took a poop on the F train I was on, while pulling into the West 4th station... you should have seen how fast people bolted off that train....

Chilkin Bilskits

i've still never seen someone taking a public poo in nyc. when i moved here i just assumed there would be bum's poo'ing left and right. still got my fingers crossed i get to witness such a glorious act one day.

uhh

If I had a nickel for every turd in a New York City stairway...

JenChungsThong

These kids are just putting the Stuy back in Stuytown. Crap away kids, someone else will pick it up.

schadenfreudian mensch

I think you meant Sty.

hotstepper

it wasn't poop. it was concentrated evil coming out of the back of him.

Kojak

"Hey when ya gotta go ya gotta go"

Can't fault the child's logic though. He had to use the facilities and when faced with an impossible choice, he made the only decision he could. Such heroism should be rewarded.

Mr Mel

I believe the University has a responsibility here. They wouldn't put up with it in their dormitories, why should it be allowed elsewhere.

TKaisen

How can the university police things going on off-campus?

schadenfreudian mensch

Wow, sounds exactly like the projects only they're paying market rate! Yeah!!!

Rocknrope

Tangentially, I heard David Sedaris on Lopate say that people purposely dook in the dressing rooms and circular clothing racks of department stores as some kind of statement against corporate america

Anyone with retail experience have a similar story of this happening?