Spacious affordable digs, but the super is Napoleon
Pros
Relatively spacious apartments in a sturdy prewar building. Rent stabilized and below market. Midwood is statistically the safest neighborhood in NYC. It’s so quiet at night you can hear a pin drop. Four blocks from the Q train, which is just far enough away so you can’t hear the rumbling but close enough to run if you’re late to work. Low-rise buildings on tree-lined streets with mansions around the corner. Three blocks from Di Fara pizza, which is among the best in the city. Half the neighborhood is populated by Orthodox Jews so it’s a really family-oriented place. Zero drama.
Cons
The super has this place wired for video AND sound (which is illegal) and watches the feeds on his phone. He texts the clips to tenants, like “this you?” Some have charged him with harassment over it. He likes to shut down access to certain parts of the building that are supposed to be 24/7, like the basement laundry/recycling room, simply because he likes controlling people’s movements. He acts like a self-appointed sheriff who’s keeping everyone safe when the only threat in this statistically supersafe area is him. He’s a live-in super too so he’s into everyone’s business, and he harasses tenants, reserving the harshest treatment for people who don’t stand up for themselves, which is most often women and the elderly. (And, from the sounds of it, his wife and two young children.) He’s been bullying the poor mother of an adult son with autism for months, ordering her to kick him out, when she’s the nicest gentlest person. She cries, it’s terrible. Several tenants have moved out because of him. He likes to threaten people with eviction which is not remotely his place, and the harassing texts he sends are so caustic they’d melt your eyeballs. The owners/managers are too scared of this rageaholic to confront him or fire him.
Advice to the owners
Medical and racial discrimination is a crime, and so is illegal wiretapping. You’re going to get hit with a big lawsuit before long. Fire this dude.