God Help The Tenants Who Depend On The MTA To Find Them An Apartment

The MTA joins countless other douchebags searching for “no fee UES” on Craig’s List:

If you’re looking for a cheap apartment on the Upper East Side, you’ll likely be competing against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Second Avenue Subway construction will claim 59 units in mostly rent-stabilized buildings around 72nd and 86th streets. As apartments in these buildings become vacant over the next two years, the MTA will attempt to stockpile as many units as possible, renting the empty residences on a month-to-month basis until the property is acquired through condemnation or negotiated purchase with the landlords. The landlords are not obligated to rent to the authority, explained MTA director of real estate Roco Krsulic yesterday, but the authority is reaching out to the landlords to avoid relocating tenants in rent-stabilized apartments.

That’s because under federal law the MTA must find replacement housing for all of the displaced tenants.

“The rules are rather specific,” Krsulic said. “We have to find them comparable housing and preferably in the same community board, which is Community Board 8 in this case. So we are trying to do all we can before the time comes about that we have to accommodate the housing needs.”

This means signing leases on rent-stabilized units now.

Just think — by 2013 the MTA will not only have delivered 33 whole blocks of subway but a tighter rental market too!

This, however, is brilliant:

The “T” train — which someday will run on the Second Avenue line — won’t begin service for years. In fact, the tunnel isn’t even dug.

But a prankster created a realistic T train “service announcement” and hung it in the Canal Street station yesterday. It reads: “No trains between 63 St. and 42 St., 9 AM to 5 PM, Until 1/22/17.”