Public Advocate Jumaane Williams enters 214 East 164th Street. The 129-unit building has more than 100 violations, according to the Department of Buildings. After years of watching building maintenance services diminish and conditions deteriorate, tenants are taking action and have filed a case in Bronx Housing Court.
"I was extremely troubled to see the issues so many residents at Concourse Village face," Williams said. "One tenant has lived with a rodent problem for nearly a decade, yet the landlord has been completely unresponsive. Others have also experienced egregious rent hikes because the landlord's abuse of preferential rents. Albany can and must address these issues by strengthening our rent laws before they expire next month." The building was recently sold, and the new owner is fixing apartments that become empty and raising rents.
Above - The area where rats dig their way through the wall is covered up by toys.
Below - Public Advocate is with tenant Ann Marchena who says her daughter is afraid to go to sleep because she fears a rat coming into her room.
Above - The compactor chute is sealed, and a basket with a plastic bag is used for tenants to throw their garbage on each floor.
Bekow - Public Advocate Williams decries the conditions of this and many other buildings that need new tougher rent laws that are set to expire June 30th in Albany.
