Open Thread Wednesday 7/21/10

Mini Storage: Does anyone have any recommendations? I want to store some books, but I’m a bit worried about them being damaged in mini-storage from damp/heat/creatures.

why is there a casket on the sidewalk outside 187 Hicks? some protest I assume? it’s been there for 3 days.

Can anyone suggest a place in the neighborhood where I can have a photo made from a negative?

Ari, those Sycamores (or London Plane trees) always seem to lose leaves by July, even if we get rain. When it’s dry, it gets worse!

Big writeup in the NY Times about St. Ann’s School and their leadership.

my2cents, please don’t use the term “blowing up” and my name in the same sentence. lol I have gained 30 pounds this winter due to an inordinate time in bed and as a consequence my stomach is now protruding. They say TV puts on extra pounds but my scale tells me 30 pounds is not a good thing.

I’m going to watch what I eat for now on and hopefully give my man Bruce Willis a run for his money.

Where can you get the cheapest color copies made in the nabe? Thanks.

My husband loves Mr. Junkersfeld’s name.

ABC, as you know, I take many of my cues from regulars here at the BHB. I made a special trip to 187 Hicks Street and no coffin was in sight. Is it possible they buried the individual in that sinkhole on Orange and Hicks. I noticed they covered it up, though not perfectly.

I’ve seen the coffin at various work sites in the city. It is usually a union protesting the use of non-union workers on a job site. I have only seen the coffin used in relation to asbestos abatement. Although I did not read them, there are various work permits posted on the entrance to 187 Hicks, so I am assuming they are related. (Please no assumption comments). On Monday they also had the giant inflatable rat in front of the building although they seemed to take it down rather quickly and replace it with the coffin.

I was worried that I had hallucinated the whole casket thing

Hello Neighbors,

So this has come up fairly often, I guess, but for a reason – there seems to be something in the personality of small contracters/handymen that makes them flaky. Either that or you find one you can depend on for a while, and then all of a sudden they disappear, or stop answering phone calls, etc. And before you jump to conclusions, no it’s NOT ME. Believe me, my Jewish guilt kicked in and I was SURE I’d offended one of the these guys before finding out that they’d been rude or dismissive of other clients as well.

All this is preamble to saying that I’d been using one of the neighborhood’s stalwarts for a while and just called him to do something small and he pretty much blew me off.

Fine. I found someone else highly recommended, and he showed up when he said he would and quoted me what I felt was a slightly high price for two small repairs and a replacement of a dimmer switch, but I said okay, since it was a first job of what I hoped would be many.

We made an appointment for yesterday at ten. He blew me off – never showed up. We spoke yesterday afternoon. He apologized and promised to be here today at ten. He never showed. I started calling at 10:30 when he answered the phone and said “a few minutes.” He NEVER SHOWED UP. I kept calling every half hour and got either his voice mail or he’d pick up and would just put the phone down – I heard him talking to his men in the background. I was never rude or anything less than courteous with this guy. WHAT GIVES???
And what I guess I’m asking is…anybody have someone they like and use for small repairs? I will not mention either of these men’s names here as there may be other people who use them and like them and just in case it IS something I’m not aware of, I don’t want to publicly besmirch anyone.

thanks!

MM: I highly recommend A-1 First Class. I used them when I moved from Long Island to the neighborhood and they stored my belongings for a week: Here is the rep contacts info that I worked with:
Brad Giambrone
A-1 First Class – Viking Moving & Storage, Inc.
Interstate Agent for Atlas Van Lines, Inc.
Specialized Transportation
Residential And Corporate Relocations
Tele: (718) 745-3400 (800) 545 MOVE
(516) 594-8700
Fax: (718) 492-2538
Email: brad@a1firstclass.com

I agree with GHB. New York is unfortunately a place where too few people know how to fix things and the law of supply and demand means that generally there is little incentive for tradespeople like plumbers, handymen, etc to give good service because there will always be work for them, and there is an ample supply of gray market semi-skilled labor for them to subcontract to as well. They are generally on the same plane as apartment brokers, also notorious for bad service, blowing people off and standing them up. I almost considered flying my mom’s friendly, reliable house painter in from Chicago once because it would be cheaper and less of a hassle than dealing with New York contractors.

GHB and my2cents –

If there was a way to contact you privately, I would be glad to give their names. As it is, they were referred by someone who knows a LOT of people in this neighborhood, and that person has been informed of the behavior. He will not be recommending either of them again, I’m sure!