Bedford Stuyvesant
 

That's where we are right now. At an Airbnb on Stuyvesant and Macon. Our youngest son and his girlfriend live here but this weekend they're staying with us at the Airbnb. It's very nice. I got a great parking place right in front of the house.

So far we've gotten iced coffee at George's Andres, pizza at Sarahina, corn beef hash and eggs over easy at Ma and Pop. Maybe we'll have dinner at peaches, which has good fried chicken.

We've gone to the Brooklyn museum, which has a lot of stuff from Egypt, prospect Park, which was very hot, and taken an Uber ride from a DJ from Grenada. He explained soca, dance hall reggae, cross over and other Caribbean music. He said there's a really big caribbean parade here in Brooklyn on labor day. That would be fun.

We leave tomorrow.

Have you ever been to Bedford Stuyvesant?

Saraghina.

The Labor Day Caribbean Parade is a joyous, boisterous, and often dangerous event. It seems almost every year, people get into fights and someone gets seriously hurt.

The parade is along Eastern Parkway which was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the same men who designed Central Park, Prospect Park, Golden Gate Park in SF, and the street I grew up on in Brooklyn, Ocean Parkway.

Bed-Stuy, as NY'ers call it and pronounced bed-steye, was an impoverished area for decades but the housing was often spectacular. And now, a resurgence.

Wow, a resurgence in Bed-Stuy! To me, it was always a neighborhood you avoided.

The brownstones are beautiful. I'm taking lots of pictures of front doors.

Here's a link to some photos of the neighborhood and the Brooklyn Museum.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yfwy8WDl3CvelqfA2

Hope your not in an illegal rental!

The bureau drawers are full of the owner's clothes. Does that mean it's legal? Tonight we heard Cuban jazz at lunático. The joint was hoppin. Tomorrow Peaches for brunch.

To be a legal rental for less than 30 days in NY State, the owner or the renter must be present on the premises, not just his clothes.

Oh.

If you rent an entire apartment, to be legal, it must be in a building of no more than two units.
Sharing with a tenant or owner present may be legal, but is very likely to violate the lease and building rules.
From what I've read, NYC is cracking down and tenants are calling in complaints about others in their building renting units.

That neighborhood has some of the loveliest architecture in the city. Brownstones can go for millions of dollars.


http://nymag.com/nymetro/realestate/...eatures/11775/




https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/13/r...ging.html?_r=1

It's in a building with no more than two units. If loving this Airbnb is wrong, I don't want to be right. I think Trump has made me this way.

Thanks for the articles on gentrification. No simple answers.

" If loving this Airbnb is wrong, I don't want to be right."

In other words you don't care if you are breaking the law.

Sad!

Breaking the law????

Does no one here cheat even a few dollars on their taxes?
Ever jaywalked?
Ever smoked pot in NY?




I'm out of the Air B&B debate since I live in NYC, but wow...lots of self righteous people here......dig deep and I wonder what we will find......

We've been to Bed-Stuy many times. Lots of kids moving into that neighborhood. Great brownstones.

Generally, I try to do the right thing although there have been missteps from time to time. Here's a couple paragraphs from the NYT about Airbnbs in NYC. It's complicated, but I think the law goes after the non-compliant airbnb host, not me. I would add, in my defense, that the building owned by my host had two units. I'm not saying another word without talking to my lawyer.


How to Host on Airbnb Legally

By JAMES DOBBINS
April 7, 2017

The New York State attorney general believes most Airbnb listings in New York are illegal. It is essential to consult a law and tax professional to help determine the liabilities of your Airbnb listing. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind before listing your space on the website and becoming an Airbnb host:

• The New York State Multiple Dwelling Law, which covers buildings with three or more units, prohibits transient rentals of fewer than 30 days at a time, unless the owner is present for the time a guest is renting.

• Lease agreements for market-rate renters and co-op owners usually prohibit subletting of any type without permission from the landlord or co-op board. For would-be hosts who live in a rent-controlled or rent-stabilized property, there may be restrictions or prohibitions on subleasing, which, if violated, could lead to eviction.

• New York State now has a law targeting the advertising of illegal listings on sites like Airbnb. If a listing is in violation of the multiple dwelling law, an additional penalty of $1,000 per advertised listing may be imposed on the host.

• What makes nearly all transient units at risk for fines is the failure of hosts to follow the New York City building code. Depending on circumstances, would-be full-time hosts might need to seek a change in zoning or of the occupancy certificate, or officially convert a property from long-term housing to a hotel. Numerous upgrades may be required before rooms could be rented out. Zoning rules are complicated, and changing a building’s zoning would probably take a lot more effort and expense than the typical Airbnb host is willing to do.

• Local municipalities require hosts to collect certain taxes from guests, like a hotel occupancy tax. The New York City Department of Finance will help hosts determine which taxes are required to be paid based on individual situations.

Great pictures, glad you are having a good time. My sil and niece are in the city right now. I want to go to The Neue Gallery so bad. After seeing Women in Gold it has me wanting to go back.

Esk

I am usually not a hard ass about the law. But this is not jaywalking or smoking a j, this for profit.

I am positive one of the apartments in our building is an airbnb type. There is always someone different in the elevator with a suitcase. And that is ONE of the issues. We do not have a doorman an AIRBNB has a haphazard vetting process and do not require clients to have liability insurance, so there are strangers in our building.