46th Street rent strikers get support

After years of struggle, the 46th Street rent strikers finally had a show of support from some of their elected officials with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Congressmember Nydia Velazquez and Councilmember Sara Gonzalez coming out to a large rally outside their buildings on Monday, June 3.

Residents of 545, 553 and 557 46th Street have been living with inhumane conditions, including no water and electricity, for years. In August, 2012, the court took receivership of the building away from errant landlord Orazio Petito and gave it to Baltimore-based developer Seryl, which has not been heard from since.

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) did come to the building in November, cleaning out the basement, which was filled with trash and tainted with asbestos.

Sara Lopez, president of the tenants association, said that the buildings need a new roof and boiler. “People on the top floor get all the rain in their apartment,” she said. “The apartments need repair and for order it to be repaired we need the money.”

Tenant Francisca Ixtilico, who was hurt during a physicalaltercation involving Petito last July, said that the building needs security cameras and mailboxes, since residents have not been receiving mail.

“They are taking advantage of all of the families. We have suffered a lot as if we are not human beings, living like animals locked up,” she said, via an Occupy Sunset Park translator. “When you put the air conditioning on, the lights don’t work. The shower doesn’t work. We have to bathe with a bucket as if we are in some gutter somewhere. The running shower water sounds like a motorcycle and then goes out.

“This is happening right here in New York City,” Ixtilico went on. “We haven’t had lights for several days and the children are traumatized.”

Tenant Ada Oriana agreed, also speaking through a translator.

“We want this to be fixed up and raised up. We had some victories,” she said. “Twenty percent of the goals have been met concerning garbage, but we want to win 100 percent. It’s for our families, our neighbors, the borough and all of New York City. These are apartments in which we cannot live.”

Maria Gil has been living in the building for 32 years and said that she has had problems the entire time. “We have been seven days without water,” she said, adding that one of the tenants was assaulted last week. “There is no security. People just come in and hang out.”

Osman Mungui, a tenant for the past 25 years, concurred. “There is a leak in the roof and wires coming out of the walls,” he said. “There are broken windows, rats, roaches and strange people always coming in and smoking marijuana. We live in a nasty place.”

Brent Meltzer is an attorney from South Brooklyn Legal Services representing the tenants. He called on Seryl to “come in and talk to the tenants” and “if they can’t get the job done, to hand the building over to a responsible developer.”

Quinn promised the tenants that justice will be served. “I am in awe of your strength,” she said. “The situation here is severe and significant.”

She had harsh words for Seryl. “If you own it, you own it. You bought the asbestos, the lead paint, the rats and the roaches. You own it. What you bought is a whole lot of misery,” said the speaker. “So Seryl, you may have thought this was some quick, cheap investment that you could turn around, but it’s not. These are people’s homes.”

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