JoshB vs the Desperate Homebuyers

dailyheights

Our friend joshb checks in: "got my little treatise about prospect heights and psychosis published in this week's ny press...":

Excerpts:

"My rent checks are addressed to a Caribbean gentleman with a toothy smile and a habit of praising God while bagging our recyclables. My landlord's friendly, though prone to breaking repair promises: Nearly three years after moving in, our ceiling still flakes like cheap baklava. The crumbling paint is always a conversation starter..."

"A couple days later, I asked my landlord, point-blank, 'You're not thinking of selling the building, are you?' 'Oh, no, Andrew, I like you guys. You've got nothing to worry about.' He smiled with teeth as bright as our flaking ceiling..."

"Am I Prospect Heights? Perhaps. I frequently drink myself incorrigible. I refuse to wear deodorant. I'm prone to shouting at arthritic Hispanic women who block the sidewalk. It is not a glamorous neighborhood, but it is home, the security blanket against the big, bad city. So it is here where I draw the line, my own Alamo..."

Link: Going Postal [NY Press]

anonymous

Subject: Josh B's article is FABULOUS!

8)

Hi Josh...
Loved your piece! Great writing!
RBG

ana.log

where do you live josh?

nightly gunshot symphony lulls me to sleep. And around the corner, drug dealers more bloodthirsty than mosquitoes ply substances green and white.

these are really daily occurences?

joshb

Park Place, between Franklin and Classon. The bang-bang happens nearby more often than not.

t-fal

that peice perfectly captured the "comfort-in-circumstances-that-would-make-most-people-run-for-the-hills" one only experiences in the prospect/crown heights borderlands.

my building also gets those handwritten notes all the time too. my landlord is every a bit of a character as yours. apparently these guys giving the handwritten notes are promising a cash only deal in the low six digits (at least thats what i gathered from discussions with my LL) and expecting a level of unsophistication from these old time crown heights landlords, thinking that they will jump at the chance anyone dangles a wad of cash in their face. these old time crown heights landlords are smarter than that though. they had to deal with dodgy tenants during the crack years! they can smell a pile of b.s. from a mile away. they see the neighborhood picking up, they read the real estate sales transactions. i'm sure they know what their buildings are worth to the last penny. those handwritten notes are no threat...

however, do be afraid if a chirpy lady from corcoran wearing a matching shoe/belt/and handbag ensemble shows up.