HotelChatter

Re: Hotel Riverview to Start Evicting Tenants

Don't know why this article inspired me to look at TripAdvisor but the first review you'll read there was an absolute gem...

"Quit yer bellyachin..."
daduffmann
San Francisco
5 of 5 stars {posters note: you'll see it's not the most demanding client that rates an $87 per nite room in Manhattan as 5 stars}
May 18, 2007

By a conservative estimate, I've probably stayed at The Riverview at least 100 days over the past 11 years. I've stayed there during the summer, I've stayed there during the winter. I've stayed on every floor but the 2nd ( which is where the best showers and toilets are located, by the way). I do not hail from a third world country, where a fist-sized ice cube in your drink is considered a luxury.

If one can get past the human flotsam that haunt the halls and the occasional pesky bedbug, it is the perfect place to stay in lower Manhattan.

All you need to do is this:

1) Ask for a room facing the street ( or river, if you are feeling idyllic ) when you check in; this will dissuade junkies and their ilk from climbing through your window;

2) Pack an extra YMCA-class towel with you; also, what I do is to go to thrift stores before the trip and buy cheap t-shirts that you wear and toss - use these to stand on once you hike back to your room from the shower, and leave them when you check out - the Trinidadian housekeeper will gladly take them for you;

3) Bring shower shoes and swim trunks; it is not advisable to publicly sashay around this place in a threadbare towel;

4) Go to 14th street and make a right turn; between 7th and 6th Aves. on 14th are places where you can buy a cheap oscillating fan for around 11 dollars - this is a lifesaver at night during August - leave the fan when you check out as well;

5) If other guests/tenants become too rambunctious at night, simply turn your TV on - better ask for one when you check in, too - to a stationless channel and crank up the white noise. Put one of your shirts over the screen to cut down on the glare. Works just as well as earplugs;

6) Bring a mess of alcohol prep towelettes to disinfect your hands after you touch doorknobs, phones, etc. - there can be lots of hepatitis - or worse-microbes that would be more than willing to get acquainted with your vital organs; and

7) spend the all the money you'll save on lodging and treat yourself to whatever fancies you. You deserve it....

How sad we'll be losing such a landmark to progress. On the other hand, retaining staff from a skeezy flophouse as it turns into a hip boutique will be great for continuity.

Re: Hotel Riverview to Start Evicting Tenants

They are dreaming.  The Department of Housing Preservation and Develoment went to the hotel and personally interviewd many of the tenants.  It is highly unlikely that the hotel owners will recieve the needed permits to upgrade the hotel to a spa.  And yes they have been doing illegal work against a stop work order that is posted at the entrance to the hotel.  Tenants have been advised to not only call the Department of Housing Preservation but to call the police when violations occur.  Mcpherson was standing out on the sidewalk talking to some of his assistants before the deal was final he said and I quote "It won't be difficult. It will be political but it won't be difficult"  I was standing right behind him when he said this.  actually Mr.  mcpherson you are wrong . It will be difficult.  I think the new owners have bought what is commonly refferred to as a money pit.

Laksmi Devi

Re: Hotel Riverview to Start Evicting Tenants

Your information is right.His arrogance will destroy him. The old landlord left behind a mess.Goode and this clown "the super secretive men of mystery" are a pair of social climbers and are full of @#$$#. Mcpherson is a failed restaurant owner,the other??? well imagine....

[ Parent ]

Re: Hotel Riverview to Start Evicting Tenants

 wanted to comment on what Brian Mercer had to say:

Mr. Mercer, I can't agree with you  more on this topic, this city is becoming more  and more untouchable  by hard working Americans who look for affordable hotels so that only the Ultra-Chic-Mega Rich Euro trash can afford those rates of $300 -$475 per night ( and that is just the smallest standard room).

10 years ago I stayed at this hotel (when I was in between apartments) not only back then -they illegally asked guests to check out after 21 days and come back to re-check in within 24 hours, they used to charge visiting guests a charge of $20.00 even if they came to just see you for a couple of hours (and I'm not talking about sex visitations).

Of course, 4 years ago they done away with theses illegal practices after a transsexual by the name of Diana, decided to expose them and posted hundreds of copies around Chelsea and the West Village letting the whole world know what the Riverview and Marie (the Jamaican born Riverview's ex-maid/cleaning lady, who married the Jewish owner of the The Jane Street Hotel) were doing without the knowledge of the City of New York.

The hotel did helped me temporarily when all other money hungry realtors and landlords failed, it was a simple, humble roof over my head; it served its purpose with a basic humble no frills surroundings.

What disturbs me the most, and angers me the most is the fact that it has been written on this Hotel Chatter site that all the tenants of this building are nothing but unemployed, drug  addicts, alcoholics and derelicts or mentally ill. Allow me to differ on this subject, there are in that building hard working humble people, those who work hard 6-7 days a week to pay their over inflated rent rates that they charge at the Riverview for a room the size of a walk in closet, the rental of a TV set, and during the summer months -guess what an AC unit for $75.00 a week...!!! I with a bathroom down the hall.

Not everyone is shooting up drugs in their rooms for days or drinking up while the city pays for their rent; there are tenants who are guilty of only one thing:

Being poor, honest, employed and sober with dignity, these people deserve to be treated with respect and give them the chance to find similar housing somewhere else within the Laws of the State of New York not to be evicted by Mr. Goode and Mc Pherson and their team of money hungry attorneys.

That is their ideal dream, to evict, to throw them all onto the streets like garbage bags on a city corner,

Thank you.

Re: Hotel Riverview to Start Evicting Tenants

You should know: Riverview charges 2 different prices for a double room: a lower price for no TV in the room and a higher price for a room with a TV. The previous 3 writers are correct as well because money pit doesn't describe this place. Marie Seltzer allowed quite a few movie and TV shoots over the years. Remember "Law & Order"? The Farmer's Wife? Where did that money go? Also, remember, they briefly had the Jane Street Theater (of unhappy memory to the residents). Where did the rental money go, especially since the actors were located in that rotunda located on the 6th floor. None of it went into the maintenance of the hotel; further, look into the Newcos (new company names) of this place. Various names: Jane Street Hotel, Hotel Riverview Associates, Riverview Associates, etc. This place has more violations in Housing Court than bedbugs (which run a close second).

Further, they were doing construction on the 2nd floor again today. There is a desire to keep this area white as well as yuppie. And if you watch, those leaving the two clubs who are pissing in corners and puking on the sidewalks are those young, urban professionals the Community Board wants on the block, not the folks (many of COLOR) in the building.

As the song goes, "who's zoomin' who?" in this mess...

Re: Hotel Riverview to Start Evicting Tenants

Marie Selzer, like a few of the other people, are Haitian, not Trinidadian nor Jamaican. This staff mixed with Puerto Rican, South American, Granadian, and Haitian people.

here is the truth

This comment represents and speaks for all the tenants of "the jane hotel" formally known as the " hotel riverview". Only a small percent of us are left after a year of major harassment consisting of construction,bed bugs,rats and mice. sean macphearson and eric goode do not have any regards for humane rights and that is a fact. We have had to live with that fact,but not for long