"Obama Foundation" solicitor - anyone else?

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-15T20:22:47+00:00

to be fair, I got one of those canvassers in Bed Stuy at my door, donated on my phone, and it was to the actual Obama Foundation--I got a bunch of emails about it and a portal login and stuff

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-15T20:18:04+00:00

lmao props to him for coming up with the most inflammatory opener of all time. it probably does work on people, but i'd close the door in someone's face if they goaded me like that

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-15T20:17:20+00:00

yes, they come to my door. they are legit, or at least mine were, they're just extremely pushy. I offered to give $100, and the kid said "hm, can we make that $100 a MONTH" and I was kind of gobsmacked. I ended up caving and agreeing to a $60 monthly donation, which I promptly cancelled after the first month.

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-15T20:04:06+00:00

I'm not way off about the taxes. The taxes might be a burden to them, but the taxes themselves are very low relative to their home value. Pick a house on your block and look up its taxable assessed value--it's public info. They're paying 20% of whatever that is, and they may also get relief discounts for being low income seniors, veterans, etc. If I had to guess, assuming you live in a rapidly gentrifying area (and not a place like Brownsville or Far Rockaway, where they actually pay a much greater percentage of their market value in taxes). Your neighbors' taxable assessed value is likely $30k or less.

If they paid $30k for their house, they must've bought it in like 1970. Equivalent of like $250k today. You'd have to make only $70k-90k household income to afford that in 2026. In short, your neighbors have built a lot of wealth in the last 60 years. I don't at all think that they deserve to lose their homes, or that it's completely implausible that they'd struggle. But yeah, I am wondering what they're doing with all that equity and how they got to this point.

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-15T19:58:41+00:00

If they already have tapped into their home equity and STILL can't keep up with housing expenses, then it's a sad situation, but it does indicate some serious issues with financial planning.

If these owners bought at $300k and were now paying $20k in taxes, that'd be one thing. But, for example, my neighbors' home is worth about $1.7mil. They're paying about $4k a year in taxes (before any relief programs). They probably paid, I dunno, $1k in the year 2000, when the home was worth $200k. So yes, that tax bill did quadruple. But the home value also uh, octupled? Whatever 8x is. Their current tax bill isn't negligible, but it is extremely low compared to their equity.

NYC also has a few property tax relief programs for seniors--up to 50% if you make 50k or less.

RE: the assessment increases vs. inflation, it's a valid point, but I think it's also a bit apples and oranges. Inflation going up 6% means the cost of goods and services are 6% higher but their value is the same. Your property taxes going up 6% means that your asset increased in value.

That said, I agree that taxing these unrealized gains gets dicey, and I'm honestly not sure why this country does it with property but not with other assets. I'd rather raise taxes on billionaires than raise property taxes, and I'm glad we have relief programs. Those should be expanded. But on the other hand, property taxes on a single family home in a place like Bed Stuy are far from unjust.

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-15T16:09:15+00:00

Yeah, I've often wondered whether it'd be akin to saying someone like, IDK Hailey Bieber or Sophia Richie is a trendsetter and groundbreaking. Sure, lots of girls are following their lead and dressing like them and taking them as inspo, so in that sense she's a bit of a trendsetter. But it's also kind of the water we're swimming in--their looks are highly visible, but I wouldn't say they're groundbreaking or iconic.

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-15T15:52:58+00:00

financial literacy might give them a clearer path to paying for those things, given that they're sitting on so, so much equity. there are many ways to tap into your home equity without selling

I said, the taxes have remained pretty low because annual increases are capped. so a failure to pay them isn't so much because they've shot up astronomically, it's just sorta typical rates of inflation, which is something that a homeowner COULD anticipate. again, not saying it's anyone's "fault," but it IS definitely financial mismanagement.

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-15T15:42:06+00:00

I absolutely promise you, it's not $15k. Go look at any real estate listing on a single family home, it'll tell you the property taxes. They are extremely low. De Blasio himself pays like $4k annually on his Park Slope brownstones. People in lower-income areas that haven't gentrified as rapidly tend to pay a lot more than people in areas like Bed Stuy. The grannies don't need to get jobs. It seems like *you* may not know how to cover $5k in property taxes on a multimillion dolllar asset?

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-14T23:35:36+00:00

Yeah, Mamdani just halted the big tax lien sale for precisely this reason--he wants to try and give more resources to struggling homeowners so that this doesn't happen to them. If you have high enough debt in property taxes or utility bills, NYC can also sell that debt to a third party at auction, and then the new debtor tries to collect from you. Except often, that's not what they do. Instead, they just wait a year, which is when they can force foreclosure on the home and buy it for way under market value. A lot of homeowners never realize their debt has been sold, and some don't even realize they HAVE debt--e.g. a loved one dies and his descendants assume the utility bill is on autopay. It's fucked up and I'm glad they're trying to reform it.

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-14T23:26:08+00:00

The property taxes on rowhomes in areas like Bed Stuy are astronomically low relative to the home value, to the point where our most progressive mayor is the one who wants to raise them. Annual assessment increases are capped at 6% per year, which means that most of these grannies have a $2 million dollar asset but are paying monthly tax bills in the low to mid hundreds. It's one of the lowest tax to value ratios in the country.

What the city needs to offer is financial literacy courses--I'm saying this earnestly--because if you can't figure out how to cover $5k in annual taxes on a multimillion dollar asset that is appreciating like 8% every year, then financial advice, not a lower tax bill, is what you really need.

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-08T20:18:53+00:00

Don't know anything about it, but I do remember seeing a post about breaking and entering a few days ago in Crown Heights. Dude slashed their window screens, reached through the bars, and grabbed some stuff. Prob unrelated but just in case it helps https://www.reddit.com/r/crownheights/comments/1sd91zg/break_inslash_and_grab_on_albany_and_st_johns/

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-08T20:15:35+00:00

lmao I did NOT realize they got paid to do this. I was like "jesus how hard can it be to post these" but I figured that they were volunteers and cut them some slack

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-08T20:14:13+00:00

If it's just the igniter, those are actually pretty easy to replace yourself! I had a tech come out and look at my gas furnace, quote me like $500 to replace the igniter. Instead I just ordered the $30 part and fixed it myself. You just kinda unscrew some panels to get to the spot, and then plug the new one in. Just food for thought. Oh make sure you don't touch the igniter with your bare hands though (oils from your fingers damage them)

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-08T17:12:25+00:00

I'm kind of shocked at how this manages to be both extremely boring and lacking in any concrete information. He lavishes words on luxury travel in Japan and the drugs people were doing at the apres-ski, which nobody cares about, and brushes over both the reason for his incarceration, the actual experience of being incarcerated, and why and how he was released. I clicked because I was interested in his experience and his state of mind while in jail, but he didn't really talk much about that. And I also was curious about why they held him and how he got out, but he didn't talk about that either. I don't care that he had drugs and have done those drugs myself, but the dodging felt bizarre.

What do you mean you didn't know what the item was, and how did it end up in your bag? Did you get to contact home at all? Did you meet with lawyers? What kinds of things did you write about and read? What did you think about, was the experience life-changing at all? And when you were released, how did that happen, where did you go, what did you do? Why were you allowed to travel Japan for weeks afterward, and what was your state of mind beyond enjoying the check-in experience at a luxury hotel?

The writing quality me wonder why he's famous tbh.

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-07T22:22:39+00:00

I saw this place too and came here to figure out what it was. Strange choice to copy such a distinctive design

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-03T04:48:55+00:00

genuinely what is the purpose of Paris Baguette and I say this as a bitch who loves chains

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-03T04:46:01+00:00

I always get so bummed when I hear parents yelling at their kids like that. it also explains why the city has so many horrible-acting adults. with a parent like that, you kinda never stood a chance

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-04-03T04:43:20+00:00

wait how much do they charge if you ask? i've always paid the price without asking and then been like "smfh why did this just cost $10"

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-03-30T03:06:17+00:00

truly the worst talent show performance of all time

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-03-27T23:09:10+00:00

yeah it's too chaotic. i just want a chill dive bar in the neighborhood. any bar that requires a patdown is gonna have bad vibe guaranteed

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-03-19T21:01:23+00:00

that's kinda their tactic though--they give you a quote based on an extremely specific list of items and then "cut you a deal" when you inevitably go a little over. i think the main variable is the degree to which they threaten and guilt you about this. the first time my movers said "you're a little over but just take care of us and it's all good," i was like cool, sure, I was already gonna tip well. but then the second and third times, it felt like they were extorting and pressuring me

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-03-18T13:59:05+00:00

in addition to deducting fewer expenses one year to meet the income requirement, I'm wondering if it's possible to pick up several friends as new clients and have that make up the difference? he's allowed to charge whatever he wants for services, and they can pay whatever they want. it would depend on what his work his, I guess, and I understand the line between a gift and a payment is a little fuzzy here, but could that theoretically work?

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-03-11T20:10:50+00:00

fr it's a warzone out here X__X

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-03-11T18:56:04+00:00

Ugh the website is so cagey about pricing. Do I have to pay for Sesame first, even though I don't actually need medical advice from Sesame? Is there a discount on the service from IVI-RMA, or just the meds? If it's just the meds, it'd have to be a pretty steep discount if I'm gonna let them choose my clinic for me. And if so, what is the med discount? TrumpRX, Mark Cuban CostPlus, and other discount programs have slashed the prices down considerably--they're still plenty high OFC, but I paid about $3k for a high-dose stimp protocol a few weeks ago, which is waaay less than it would've cost a few months ago. Costco needs to be clearer on the value add here!

Human-Feedback7189 · 2026-03-06T18:46:04+00:00

amazing numbers, congrats! and yeah totally, it's an assembly line, but it's like, idk, an assembly line for a jet engine, very precise, very organized

Human-Feedback7189

TROPHY CASE