If it's a big enough building, then the garbage is in the basement. Maybe your building has a garbage chute. Your building's super or porter leaves the garbage out front. If you're in a brownstone, and there is a basement apartment, then the garbage cans are out front, in some sort of rat-proof container. In any case, the garbage is always left on the street in plastic bags, never cans.
Mal: And I never back down from a fight. Inara: Yes, you do! You do all the time!
'Shindig'
Natter 68: Bork Bork Bork
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Tom Scola - Jul 10, 2011 1:48:43 pm PDT #16048 of 30001
hwæt
beekaytee - Jul 10, 2011 1:49:45 pm PDT #16049 of 30001
Compassionately intolerant
Vortex, my landlord gets in after 1 on Mondays. I'll get the plumber's number and model info to you after that.
I was without a working disposer for a couple of months. It was bad for me on a bunch of levels. I found it really hard to cook. I know that is a 1st world problem of the highest order, but eh, it's a thing.
In dinner news, I'm making a shepherd's pie with mashed cauliflower and ground turkey. It features olives, shredded carrots, peppers and much more. It is smelling reeeaaaallly good.
Connie Neil - Jul 10, 2011 1:53:54 pm PDT #16050 of 30001
brillig
Do the brownstones butt up against each other or is there an alley of some sort? Or greenspace? I've seen lots of pictures of New York brownstones with gardens.
Tom Scola - Jul 10, 2011 1:56:29 pm PDT #16051 of 30001
hwæt
Brownstones are almost always attached. The garden is in the back yard.
Hil R. - Jul 10, 2011 1:57:45 pm PDT #16052 of 30001
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
Yeah, generally, the front steps of the brownstone go right to the sidewalk, as do the steps from the basement apartment.
Tom Scola - Jul 10, 2011 1:59:18 pm PDT #16053 of 30001
hwæt
In Brooklyn, a brownstone might be far enough from the curb for a garden out front, but that is never the case in Manhattan.
Connie Neil - Jul 10, 2011 2:30:51 pm PDT #16054 of 30001
brillig
Is there any roadway or access behind the brownstones, or is the greenspace taking all the room? IE, what's behind the brownstones? (Probably the simplest form of the question, actually)
Tom Scola - Jul 10, 2011 2:41:24 pm PDT #16055 of 30001
hwæt
Behind a brownstone is a garden/patio, fenced in on three sides. The only access is through the building, usually (but not always) via the basement apartment, hence real estate agents try to market them as "garden apartments".
Zenkitty - Jul 10, 2011 2:45:09 pm PDT #16056 of 30001
Every now and then, I think I might actually be a little odd.
Do you mean one can't get to the garden without going through the basement apartment? Doesn't the super usually live in the basement apartment?
Tom Scola - Jul 10, 2011 2:54:22 pm PDT #16057 of 30001
hwæt
Most brownstones aren't big enough to have a full-time super. There are lots of different possible layouts. Sometimes the basement apartment has full access to the back yard; sometimes there are stairs from the 1st floor to the garden, sometimes the basement and 1st floor are a single-unit duplex, sometimes there is single occupant in the whole brownstone.