Prime Real Estate

thru Aug 23:

“Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks”

Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY

Next City:

“Busting 3 Myths About Public Housing

Jake Blumgart. April 16, 2015

City success story? Or grim urban disaster? When it comes to the lens through which Americans view public housing, conventional wisdom heavily favors the latter. Yet new research reveals the many successes of public housing both large (New York City) and small (the thousands of small housing authorities that provide public housing without incident).

Most recently, Public Housing Myths: Perception, Reality, and Social Policy attempts to break down assumptions further about America’s most maligned safety net program in 11 essays. The three here are not necessarily the most important from the book, but they all complicate timeworn narratives.

1. Don’t Blame the High-Rises.

High-rise developments or “towers in a park” define public housing in the national imagination. These hulking structures catch the eye and often received a disproportionate share of media attention both in the halcyon early days and during the depths of the urban crisis which they came to symbolize. But even though they were often poorly integrated into their surrounding neighborhoods, these apartment towers were not inevitably plagued by trouble because of design alone.”

Ever had a landlord hold old out on turning on your heat before the temps dip below the teens? Then you’re going to love this. Heat Seek NYC is an app (with a Kickstarter!) that’s set up to track and record temperatures inside your apartment.

In case you didn’t know, there are laws about indoor temperatures in NYC from October through May. Of course, not everyone plays by the rules and some tenants are left shivering. You can bring the landlords to court or dial 311 to tell on them, but those means are neither immediate nor effective. The hourly temps the app records could give advocates and lawyers info to keep landlords honest. It can be a tough world out there renting. It helps to know that people care. Also, technology!

P. S. For every sensor you back on the app’s Kickstarter, both you and a needy tenant will get one. -EL

Finding a new place to live—whether you’re going from dorm to first apartment or from place-with-Craigslist-randos to place-with-your-BFF—can be pretty overwhelming. Should you get movers? Why do you need to save pay stubs? What happens when?

Thankfully, our super-detailed timeline will help you get organized and curb that feeling of “OMG, what did I forget?” dread.