Gaurav Sabnis Profile picture
Oct 1 โ€ข 12 tweets โ€ข 3 min read
A weekly ritual is going to my local @nypl branch (either Tompkins or Epiphany) and pick up a book from the NYC History aisles. Just based on the cover and the jacket.

I picked this cos it looked so much like where I live!

And whoa! Really WHOA!

A personal plus history ๐Ÿงต
The reason the pic on the cover of Parkchester looks so much like my home #StuyTown is because Parkchester was the OG Stuy Town.

And not only is it a fascinating history tied into a lot of modern Americana, but also tied to the ongoing though fast deflating real estate bubble.
Take a trip with me to late 1930s USA.

MetLife as we know it now, or Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, was the biggest financial institution in the country.

This was before social security or disability or unemployment insurance or any safety net.

MetLife filled the gap.
MetLife insurance was often the only safety net people had in a world where breadwinners could die any moment, especially in a war zone. So it was huge and it was popular and it was run in a generally thoughtful efficient way by Frederick Ecker. He had an idea.
The money that MetLife got from its policyholders had to be invested such that whenever someone needs to make a claim, there is enough money to pay them.

Ecker's vision, which amazingly is what drove the post-covid real estate boom was simple.

Renting to young families=$$$!
Ecker thought I can use the money to build a housing complex that I will only rent out to middle class or upper middle class people who want something between cramped city living and empty boring suburbs. It'll give at least a 6% ROI if managed well. And that's all we need.
That logic of his from a century ago is literally exactly why we had this huge real estate bubble after the pandemic. He came up with the idea after the 1918 pandemic. Banks using it today to buy up properties in big numbers.

The textbook perfect white collar nuclear family!
So Ecker built what was arguably the first ever white collar targeting residential complex in the world, with a lot of innovations that we consider standard now in apartment complexes.

Parkchester pioneered so many service innovations and also melting pot living.
A melting pot that did not include people of color though.

MetLife's or rather Ecker's vision for Parkchester (and later Stuyvesant Town) did not include black people. Not because he personally hated black people, but for actuarial reasons. A problem we still struggle with.
His logic was, it's not me or MetLife, but the society that doesn't let black and white folks mix. So if I let in black people, real estate values will go down, and I won't be performing my fiduciary duties. Cos it actively reduces ROI of my company.

That obviously wore thin.
MetLife has never officially admitted that its much vaunted and historic residential projects in NYC adhered very much to deep south Jim Crow. Everyone was allowed as long as they were white. Black folks weren't allowed to rent until the late 60s in MetLife properties!
Other than the POC restriction, Parkchester was, for its times, a remarkably modern development. Still had many issues. But the basic logic was that everyone is welcome as long as they are white or at least quasi white, like Jewish or rich Puerto Rican.

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More from @gauravsabnis

Oct 2
#trivia quiz. Who wrote this -

"Well, you Hindus, you say all the present sufferers belong to the class of sinners of the previous births. Good. You say the present oppressors were saintly people in their previous births, hence they enjoy power. Let me admit that your ancestors'
' were very shrewd people, they tried to find out theories strong enough to hammer down all the efforts of reason and disbelief. But let us analyse how far this argument can really stand.

From the point of view of the most famous jurists punishment can be justified only from'
'three or four ends to meet which it is inflicted upon the wrongdoer. They are retributive, reformative and deterrent. The retributive theory is now being condemned by all the advanced thinkers.
Deterrent theory is also following the same fate. Reformative theory is the only one'
Read 10 tweets
Oct 1
Yet another thread of mine that sanghis are trying to "ratio" but failing spectacularly. ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚

The more they hate-QT it, the more likes and retweets it gets! ๐Ÿค“
Heh, seems like sanghi cell has taken note of this thread. Already I have more impressions than followers.

Off to the woods for the day but leaving this here to compare numbers against throughout the day.

Another data point on diffusion efficiency of #QTbait. What Nupur did.๐Ÿคท๐Ÿฝโ€โ™‚๏ธ
Damn, in less than an hour, impressions almost double!

Do you see what I mean about why these sanghi influencers intentionally make provocative #factcheckbait #QTbait? And how you help them by taking that bait?

And I'm a random dude who doesn't need followers to make a living.
Read 17 tweets
Oct 1
Gotten a lot of DMs & emails in the last couple of days from students since this story became a thing.

Of the very understandable "430 days is more than a year so should I even bother applying for 2023? ๐Ÿ˜ณ" nature.

This is a ๐Ÿงต to tell them, breathe! It'll be okay. Really!
That graphic up there is just the graphic of the estimated wait times taken on that day in late September.

September is when the school year starts in US. There really are no student visas being processed.

So that "430 days" is meaningless. At this point anyway.
Throughout the pandemic and after, through the Trump as well as Biden administrations, US consular staff in India has worked hard to prioritize student visas and work visas. For the very practical reason that US would shut down otherwise.
Read 10 tweets
Oct 1
"India is first and foremost a Hindu nation"

Incorrect!

India is first and foremost an Adivasi nation. I mean if you're interested in actual real history and anthropology and sociology and suchlike.

First and foremost Indians are the Adivasis. They settled here first.
So at least second and secondmost, it was a Hindu nation, right?

Incorrect!

Surely you've all seen the Harappan ruins. In India and Pakistan. Fascinating advanced civilization with drainage systems that worked even during the recent floods!

Nothing to do with "Hinduism".
There was a fairly advanced civilization Co-existing with the indigenous folks on the subcontinent in the Harappan period that has nothing in common with what we today think of as "Hinduism". And it was a fun loving civilization per evidence. Not drab sanskaris like sanghis.
Read 10 tweets
Oct 1
I'm sure it didn't help that Modi actively took sides against Biden in the election, but the full story here has little to do with India and more to do with Chuck Grassley, one of the foremost assholes in the Senate.

Eric Garcetti was nominated over a year ago. GOP blocking it.
You can Google the details yourself, but TLDR is Biden nominated L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti for the post last summer. Rising Dem star, next gen leader. GOP trying to end his national career early with a block ostensibly based on a second degree me too but not really a me too.
A Garcetti aid was accused of sexually harassing a police bodyguard for the mayor. Something that is connected to the LA Mayor vs LAPD fight, a whole other can of worms. Garcetti was not involved even remotely and was cleared of wrongdoing after an independent investigation.
Read 9 tweets
Oct 1
This bird site gives you some laughs for sure ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚
I can totally see Hickenlooper staffers having a long group chat with him about exactly how he should respond and that emoji was the end result. Not bad.
I'm thinking @SenatorHick's version of this story goes, "OMG it took 10 months but finally someone recognized me on the streets of DC" ๐Ÿคญ๐Ÿ˜
Read 4 tweets

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