After ringing the alarm on a "poor fence" debacle playing out at a Long Island City rental building, stabilized tenants whose gigantic terrace was quartered off by a DMZ-style fence have won the war. The Post reports that couple Erik Clancy and Erin McFadzen have successfully lobbied Q41 developer Queensboro Development to remove the wire partitions that they claimed were installed to thwart instances of "porch envy" amongst market-rate tenants in the building. "Every time someone comes over, I have to explain why the fence is there . . . and tell them we're rent stabilized, like it's a badge I have to wear," McFadzen told the Post before the issue was resolved.
Although the development company continuously claimed that the porch on the $2,186/month two-bedroom was blocked off to give window washers a staging area, a former building super wrote to the couple in an email that the fence was "there to stay" because "the same size apartment above or below you with smaller balcony pay the same rent." Similar market-rate apartments in the building rent for $3,692/month. Clancy and McFadzen can now enjoy their ginormous terrace under the stipulations that they don't drink, barbeque, store stuff, hang flags or banners, have unsupervised kids, or have bird feeders on it. It's a hard-won, limited victory.
· Luxury building removes 'poor porch' after Post report [NYP]
· Finally, Our Queens "Poor Fences" Nightmare Is Over [Gothamist]
· Couple Claims LIC Tower Fences Off Affordable Units [Curbed]
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