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July, 2017:

Drink Coca-Cola – W. Lincolnway & Carey Avenue – Cheyenne, WY – Wendy Baker

© Wendy Baker

F.M. Ring Associates Real Estate – Fifth Avenue – Flatiron District – Estelle Saltiel

© Estelle Saltiel

© Estelle Saltiel

© Estelle Saltiel

High up above the Flatiron District loom several hand painted signs advertising an obscure real estate firm with a eccentric past.

Frank Ring and his brother Michael inherited 15 office buildings – but the brothers could never agree on what to do with the properties. It’s a real-estate mystery: In a city where studios sell for millions, why are more than a dozen prime Manhattan properties going to waste?

Frank and Michael Ring inherited 15 office buildings worth $500 million after their father died. But instead of cashing in on the family fortune, they’ve left most of the valuable real estate vacant.

The empire, mainly buildings in and near the Flatiron District, was put together by Leo Ring. When he died in 1988, Frank became the portfolio’s manager. Each brother owned a 50 percent stake, but they could never agree on what to do with the properties.

Little is known about the Ring Brothers, who live in multimillion-dollar co-ops on the Upper East Side.

Frank’s management firm, F.M. Ring Associates, is headquartered at 212 Fifth Ave., a mostly vacant, 21-story tower overlooking Madison Square Park. An employee told The Post that Frank, 67, would accept questions only via fax. – Kate Briquelet/Real Deal Magazine – October 6, 2013 | 5:46am

F.W. Honerkamp Corp – Wood Veneers – Hunts Point, Bronx – Jaqui O’Shaughnessy

© Jaqui O’Shaughnessy

About F. W. Honerkamp

In May 1854, Friedrich W. Honerkamp immigrated to America, with his wife, Mary from Melle, Germany to make a new life. They settled in the New York City area and, in 1856, gave birth to Frank W. Honerkamp, the second of four children. Frank W. Honerkamp grew to work with his father in the family business. The company exported cattle to South America and imported lumber and veneer to the United States. With the rapid growth of furniture and woodworking trades in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, the company shifted its full attention to lumber and veneer.

F.W. Honerkamp Co. Inc. was officially incorporated in New York City in 1871. In the late 1930’s, the third generation joined the company with the increased demand for new plywood panel products and the rapid development of lower Manhattan, F.W. Honerkamp Co. moved to the Bronx and participated in the commercial construction boom of the 1960’s and 1970’s. It was at this time the fourth generation began with the company. Honerkamp moved to the present location in the Bronx in 1981, and remains there to the present day. – Rugby Architectural Building Products Website

Thinking About Solar Panels with Solar City? Think again!

After finally getting our solar panels from Solar City in February 2017 – a whole year after signing up for it due to endless paperwork and delays – with six months into being online, we are paying more than we paid before the solar panels were installed. We were told by Solar City if the system was not offsetting the cost of the utility bill, they could easily add more panels. Now I’m being told that more panels would require a separate contract agreement. This was not what I was told by my representative. This is what I told Solar City I would do:

Dear Ms. Katz-

As per our conversation, here are the last three bills from Delmarva you requested. My bills are not being offset as promised and I will start blogging my over 1,000 viewer a day audience about what I see as misrepresentation on the part Solar City. I was told I could easily add more solar panels is the cost was not offset and now I’m being told that a new contract for additional panels would be initiated. I am not happy with your product and representation of your product and I will start blogging about this immediately. I was part of your referral program but I could not in good conscience ever refer anyone to Solar City after my experience with you. The endless waiting, the paperwork involved and the anti-climax of a system that didn’t lower my bill at ALL but now I am paying more.

Sincerely,

Frank H. Jump
Author of Fading Ads of New York City (History Press, 2011)
& Fading Ad Blog

So if you are thinking about getting solar panels with Solar City, think again. From my experience it is a giant solar scam.

Harold “Bud” H. Jump, Jr. – August 28, 1933 – July 5, 2017

Harold Jump’s H.S. Yearbook

Harold “Bud” H. Jump, Jr. © Frank H. Jump

Hal Jump hailed from Stamford NY and enlisted in the Korean War with the expectation of coming home in a box as a war hero. Hal was handy with electronics and was immediately sent to Germany to learn about radio transistors electronics, and code. Jump was discharged from the Army with a toolbox and enrolled in the RCA Institute of Electronics where he furthered his electronics skills set.

(Harold & Willy when they first met at the Kleine Astoria in Amsterdam circa 1957 – couple on the right) © Frank H. Jump

Jump lived at the Chelsea Hotel on West 23rd Street in NYC while going to school and very shortly after completing his studies got a job with PanAmerican Airways as an avionics technician, where he learned how to take apart and reassemble commercial airplanes. Jump married my mother Willy in late 1958. Willy and Harold met in Amsterdam when he was stationed in Germany. Jump continued working for PanAm up through the companies heyday. During this time he also moonlighted for an air conditioning company called Weston’s on Metropolitan Avenue in Queens. In 1969, Jump was sent to Roswell New Mexico to test the new Boeing 747, where they took it on test runs to see how much stress the wings would take on parabolic rises and falls. Jump never quite enjoyed flying after that experience.

Hal Jump (circa 1985) © Frank H. Jump

In 1980, he told me he was going to leave PanAm to work for the U.S. Postal Service as a computer programmer for the new zip code mail sorting machines in the Jamaica Queens division near Kennedy Airport. Jump worked both jobs until he was ready to transition full-time to the Postal Service. In preparation for this, Jump was sent to Norman, Oklahoma to study computer programming and maintenance and later completed more coursework in Milwaukee, WI in 1974. It was around this time he met his future second wife Anne Rich. Willy and Harold were living together but in separation until their divorce in 1985.

Harold Jump & Anne Rich in the 1990s

After his divorce with Willy, he remarried Anne Rich and moved briefly to Long Beach, LI until he left the Post Office and moved back to Stamford, NY where he worked as a school bus operator. After several years of commuting back and forth from Upstate NY to Whitestone where Anne’s family lived, they finally settled back in Whitestone where they lived until Anne’s death three years back in November of 2013.

Jump lived alone in Whitestone until a fall landed him in Menorah Rehabilitation and Nursing in Manhattan Beach Brooklyn with a subdural hematoma. Jump never recovered from his injury sustained from his fall and died nine months later. He is survived by his son Frank H. Jump, his sister Ann Jump (Estero, Florida), and step-daughters Linda Rich (Manhattan) and Debra Rich and grandchildren Jon-Peter and Bianca Pezzino (Whitestone).

Jump in 2010s

Services for Harold Jump will be held on July 7, 2017 @ 11AM at
OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE AT ST. BERNARD
328 WEST 14TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10014