SENATOR DÍAZ, ASSEMBLYMAN SEPÚLVEDA, AND THE RESIDENTS OF PARKCHESTER SOUTH WILL HAVE THEIR DAY IN COURT AGAINST PARKCHESTER SOUTH MANAGEMEN

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
By Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz
District 32 Bronx County, New York

You should know that Assemblyman Luis Sepúlveda and I have been leading the fight against the draconian and unsubstantiated hike in maintenance fees at the Parkchester South apartment complex here in Bronx County.

It is important for you to know that on March 23, 2016, we, along with the support from condo owners and renters, filed a lawsuit in Bronx County.

As the owner of a Condominium in Parkchester South, I am the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit, where we are seeking to block Parkchester South Management’s 15.9 percent maintenance hike until the Parkchester South Management explains in detail the need and process for recovering costs for repairs to the aging buildings.

We were all encouraged on Friday, March 25, 2016 to learn that an Order was issued in New York State Supreme Court barring, for now, Parkchester South Management from pursuing any eviction proceedings against residents for withholding payment.

On March 25, Bronx State Supreme Court Justice Ruben Franco ordered Parkchester South Management to "take no steps to evict unit owners for failure to pay the 15.19 percent from February 1, 2016 until or after April 4, 2016," pending a court hearing on that date.

On April 4, we will ask the Court to assist us in regard to this maintenance fee hike of almost 16 percent, which is unprecedented, and to ask the Court to help us to find out what crucial financial information, records, and “unknown computations relating to unverified costs” for repairs have been kept secret from Parkchester South’s residents.

The lawsuit charges that Parkchester South Management has failed:

•    to provide an accounting and backup documentation of the bidding process used

•    to select the contractor(s) who performed the repairs

•    to demonstrate to individual unit owners that management utilized the most cost-effective course for the repairs

•    to honor its fiduciary duty to give individual owners a way to readily review the condominium' s books

•    to provide an independently audited review of the relevant financial records

•    to provide a full explanation of and justification for the computations employed and their underlying methodology in determining the increases imposed on owners, or

•    to utilize an objective and independent accounting firm to ensure that the individual owners can review a proper audit for the last three years, including revenues and expenditures relevant to the increases in question.

You should already know that during the past couple of months, Assemblyman Luis Sepúlveda and I have held Town Hall Meetings where hundreds of Parkchester residents joined us to express their outrage about Parkchester South Management’s maintenance hike.

We have implored Parkchester South Management to demonstrate transparency, and show us their past and future budgets so we could try to understand why this sharp spike in fees would be imposed on the residents.  They refused.  

On February 10, we were joined by dozens and dozens of residents at a public protest outside Parkchester South’s Management Office. We promised legal action, and Management ignored us.

Assemblyman Luis Sepúlveda and I continue to refuse invitations to meet behind closed doors with Parkchester South Management, and continue to insist that any meetings are to be done in the presence of the residents whose lives will be affected by their staggering and unaffordable maintenance increase.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, on April 4th, Assemblyman Luis Sepúlveda, myself and the residents of Parkchester South will have our day in Court.  My hope and prayer is that the Court will help us to find a way to prevent the pending economic disaster that Parkchester South Management has in store for the owners and renters of their 8,286 units who never saw this coming.

I am Senator Rubén Díaz and this is what you should know.

SENATOR KLEIN, ASSEMBLYMAN SEPÚLVEDA, COUNCIL MEMBER PALMA & BRONX RESIDENTS RALLY AGAINST PROPOSED ‘HOT SHEET MOTEL’

  Klein, Sepúlveda, Palma & Castle Hill Neighborhood Betterment Association call on NYC Department of Buildings to issue stop work order on planned Bronx motel in violation of state & federal law

Klein pushes for passage of legislation requiring community review before construction of any new hotel/motel in The Bronx

                                  

NEW YORK, NY - State Senator Jeff Klein, Assemblyman Luis Sepúlveda, Council Member Annabel Palma, the Castle Hill Neighborhood Betterment Association (CNBA), and nearly 50 community leaders and residents, today rallied in front of the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) to call on the oversight agency to issue a stop work order on a proposed 62-room ‘hot sheet motel’ at 2338 Bruckner Blvd in The Bronx. The renewed call comes on the heels of the DOB’s recent approval of plans for the proposed project without the submission of any new designs or renderings by the developer.

For more than a year, Senator Klein and the Castle Hill Neighborhood Betterment Association have been working to address the construction of this motel in an area where there are no local businesses or restaurants that call for overnight accommodations, thus serving as a potential breeding ground for illicit or criminal activity.

“Seedy motels offering day rates in an area with no need for local accommodations has the potential to draw illegal activity that could hurt an otherwise strong community. The DOB has green-lit a project without proper review of the violations it presents, and continues to ignore the voice of the Castle Hill community. I stand together with local residents when I say that this type of establishment has no place in our neighborhood. Moving forward, any planned hotel or motel in The Bronx should to be subject to community review as a matter of law,” said Senator Klein.

"I stand with the residents of Castle Hill and my colleagues in government to support developments that are safe, well-planned and respect the rights and concerns of the residents they may affect. The motel currently under construction on Bruckner Boulevard does none of that.  Motels in these areas attract the wrong kinds of people who will have a detrimental impact on the Castle Hill community and the borough of The Bronx. I support the efforts of the CNBA and hope that we can further work with DOB to come to a resolution on this matter,” said Assemblyman Sepúlveda.

“It has been over a year of organizing and lobbying against the development of the ‘Days Inn Motel’ on the Bruckner, and my colleagues Senator Klein, Assemblyman Sepúlveda, and I still have serious concerns about the hotel coming to our community. Building a hotel in a questionable location without the appropriate infrastructure and population density to accommodate it, will only attract undesirable and illegal activity. Today, we stand together to demand that the Department of Buildings properly respond to the issues raised by the residents of Castle Hill. With no equivocations, our communities and residents deserve better,” said Council Member Palma.

In 2014, the DOB first issued a stop work order on the construction of the “Days Inn Motel” after plans submitted by the developer were called into question and found to be in violation of the zoning resolution, code and Multiple Dwelling Law.

In January 2015, the stop work order was lifted by the DOB without any substantial evidence that the project had come into compliance and met the applicable requirements. The lack of oversight and blatant negligence exhibited by the DOB in recent months is counterintuitive to the agency's role in ensuring compliant, responsible development in New York City.

“It is incredible that the DOB Commissioner fails to heed the united voice of our community, or even that of our elected officials including State Senator Jeff Klein, Assemblyman Luis Sepúlveda, Council Member Annabel Palma as well as William Rivera, the District Manager of CB9,” stated Fernando Penate, Castle Hill Neighborhood Betterment Association Board Chair.

“The CNBA is protesting Commissioner Chandler’s lack of respect for the Castle Hill community, if not The Bronx. Commissioner Chandler has ignored our many requests for a response to our objections and concerns, which have been submitted to him many times.  He needs to stop his disrespect and reply to us ASAP as we are the voting constituents of his boss, the Mayor,” stated Nancy Rodriguez, Castle Hill Neighborhood Betterment Association board member.

At the rally, Senator Klein also called for the passage of legislation he authored and introduced earlier this year that mandates a community review process before a motel or hotel can be constructed in The Bronx. The legislation would require that project sponsors notify the New York City Planning Commission and the local community board of any proposed hotel/motel in Bronx County, and mandate that no more than 45 to 90 days after the notice is filed, the Planning Commission hold a public forum to garner feedback from the community. After due consideration of local residents’ concerns, the New York City Planning Commission would then issue a determination approving or denying authorization of the project.

With construction on the motel well underway, Senator Klein, Assemblyman Luis Sepúlveda, Council Member Palma and the Castle Hill Neighborhood Betterment Association are calling for an immediate stop work order to be issued by the DOB until a full audit of the “Days Inn Motel” is completed.