My Nephew Paul Graduated From Harvard Law!

Posted on May 27, 2011 by BeatingUpwind

I spent yesterday day tripping to Cambridge Mass to see my one and only nephew Paul graduate from Harvard Law. We’re all incredibly proud of him.

Next week he’s moving to NYC (Brooklyn) to study for (& pass) the NY bar. It’ll be great having him around – I haven’t had any of my family in NYC before (other than Paul being here last summer).

Once he passes the bar he’s going into public service law here in New York City. His primary interest is helping the poor with landlord/tenant issues.

Prior to going to Harvard Paul worked for People For The American Way. While there (among other things) he did blogging for RightWingWatch.org, which is ironic given that my parents (his grandparents) are fundamentalist Christians who have given heavily to Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority. I used to hear Jerry Falwell specifically name People For The American Way as one of the enemy organizations that were working to undermine “traditional Christian values”.

Needless to say I think Paul (my parents’ only grandson) has managed to get “black sheep” status like I (their only son) have. I did it by majoring in “socialism” (aka Sociology) and by being gay. So it’s somewhat fitting that the two black sheep of the family will both be living in Sodom & Gomorrah (aka New York City). Needless to say I’m baffled by my parents’ belief system which can see evil in a guy with a Harvard Law degree who chooses to dedicate his life to serving the poor. All I can say is that success is the best revenge – though it’s not really about revenge – they’re just irrelevant to our lives – which IMHO is a fate worse than revenge when you’re talking about someone’s only son and only grandson.

Remarkably Harvard Law is incredibly aggressive in getting their graduates to do public service. The commencement brochure had a long list of the names of grads who had done more than 1,000 hours of pro bono service during their time at Harvard and a shorter list of those who had done more than 2,000 hours (one work year) of pro bono service. Paul was on the 1,000+ hours list.

Harvard goes even further in pushing their grads to do public service – they’ll actually pay off their graduates’ student loans if they work for a certain amount of time in public service (or pay a percentage if the graduates work less than the full amount). It’s pretty amazing to think of an army of Harvard Law grads working for equality. Stuff like that can really change the world.

One humorous note was that Ruth Bader Ginsburg made an appearance at the graduation. She attended Harvard back in the late ’50s, when Harvard Law was just starting to admit women. Family obligations required her to move to NYC after her 2nd year. At the time she asked Harvard to let her finish her 3rd year at Columbia and still get a Harvard degree. Harvard declined and she got a degree from Columbia instead. At this year’s main commencement she was finally awarded the degree. Apparently Ginsburg still holds a bit of a grudge ’cause she insisted on also showing up at the Law School commencement and driving home the point that Harvard refused her the degree back in the ’50s. Here she is talking at the Law School commencement (she’s just a bit bigger than a dot – we were sitting towards the back).

It was also great to see people from my family. The picture to the right is my sister Carol – Paul’s proud mom. Paul’s dad was there, his sisters Joi and Bessa were there, my sister Kathy was there, and Paul’s uncle Roger and his family was also there in addition to several friends.

Our New Bathroom Window (Openings)

Posted on May 25, 2011 by BeatingUpwind

One thing we like about our place is that it’s an end unit. That means we can put windows in the sidewall to get air and light into the bathrooms. They’re not “legal” windows in that they can’t count towards air and light calculations nor can the be the required window for a bedroom since they’re on a lot line. But they’re legal in the sense that they’re allowed – though they either have to have wire glass in them or there has to be a sprinkler head in front of the window (we’re opting for wire glass).

We’re putting a small window in each of the bathrooms – so 4 windows total. Two are in, and one is in progress. Here’s what the opening looks like – almost looks original…

You’ll notice that at the top there’s steel. The steel is two rather large angle irons – it’s not a flat piece of steel. The angle gives it strength, but you sorta have to deconstruct the wall to get the angle iron in place. Here’s what it looks like as they deconstruct the wall to get the angle iron in place…

The window that we put in there will be double glazed. The outer pane will be wire glass (required by fire code). The inner pane will be “frosted” – the question has been what type of frosting we should use. The window manufacturer has 32 different choices(!) The leading candidate at this point is this one…

We weren’t considering that glass ’cause we thought it showed too much (the window will be in the shower area). However, what we realized today is that it’s almost impossible for the people across the alleyway to see much of anything so we can go for a glass that’s a little closer to clear. We’d rather have a window that shows something outside (even if it’s a brick wall) than to have something that’s so opaque that it’s just a boring white panel.

As you can see from the first two pictures, a fair amount of light will come into the windows – more than you might think on a narrow 4-5 foot alleyway. Should make the bathrooms noticeably better…

Reno Tip: Your Water Connection Should Be Job #1

Posted on May 25, 2011 by BeatingUpwind

Well, I think we’re up against our first delay. Our contractor contacted ConEd first thing in the project because he needed electricity for his tools, but he waited a little to figure out the water situation. Turns out that was a mistake.

ConEd won’t put in gas and electric until water has been resolved because too many times the guys doing the water mess up the ConEd connections. We were hoping our existing water connection would be good, but it’s not – we need a new connection. On top of that the mechanical engineer certifying the sprinkler system wants more heads and now we’re over 30 sprinkler heads – so we need a larger than normal connection to the water main (3″ instead of 2″).

Thanks to our highly efficient city government it’s going to be a 2 month wait to get approval for the new water connection. Then probably a week or two to actually get the work done. Then probably another couple weeks for ConEd. Only after the water connection is made can the plumbing be inspected. Insulation can’t be put in until the plumbing is inspected. Sheetrock can’t be put up until the insulation is done. And generally things just go more slowly when the guys are working on a generator instead of a real electrical connection. There’s still work that can be done while we’re waiting on the water and on ConEd, but it’s going to delay things.

So word to the wise renovator is to deal with your water (and sewer) connections first – you’ll save time down the road…

Roof Deck Railings Now NOT OK With FDNY

Posted on May 25, 2011 by BeatingUpwind

A couple days ago we went in for another Post Amendment Approval meeting (we were approved). As the plan examiner was stamping the plans he noticed the railing on our roof deck and told us they were no longer permitted by FDNY. We’re OK (with DOB) because we’re already approved and permits have been pulled and work started. But all new projects with roof deck railings have to get approved by FDNY before DOB will approve the plans.

Here’s a railing from another townhouse, just so you know what I’m talking about…

The problem is that firemen (in full gear) have grabbed hold of those railings and they’ve given way and the firemen have fallen. There are regulations about loads that the railings need to support, but enough railings don’t meet the regulations that FDNY is now banning them completely.

What FDNY wants is a brick parapet wall. Because deck railings have to be higher than regular parapet walls I’m not sure whether they’d be OK with a railing on top of a brick parapet – somehow I suspect those would have all the same issues as full railings. That means FDNY really wants you to have brick parapet walls that are 42″ off your roof (so much for looking at the view when you’re sitting on your roof deck). The plan examiner did mention that he’s seen FDNY give variances for railings, but to get those variances people had to put a gate into the railing.

The supports for our railing will be fasten directly to the roof joists (rafters). But apparently that may not be enough to keep FDNY happy. So now we need to figure out whether we want to get the FDNY variance. DOB isn’t requiring it, but it might become an issue when we go through our C of O inspection. Personally I understand where they’re coming from, but having them change the rules after approval is frustrating.

Good Overview Of Real Estate Market

Posted on May 21, 2011 by BeatingUpwind

I thought this interview with Richard LeFrak had a lot of truth in it…

The take-aways are:

There’s a glut of single-family homes across the nation. Values are still 10 to 15% higher than they should be and are likely to continue to decline.
Rental properties are doing very well right now since people are afraid of being trapped in a bad investment if they buy, so they’re renting.
A lot depends on the City. If the City has job growth its real estate market is fine (e.g. Washington D.C.)
Commercial real may be going back into a bubble. Low interest rates are what’s spurring the investment.
New York City is doing pretty well.