Tenants try to save building

By Erin Arnold
Staff Writer

Peeling paint, cracked walls, and inadequate plumbing are all problems that residents of 136 West 170th Street deal with on a daily basis. Many have become frustrated with the problems and are taking action to get their landlord, Joseph Santangelo, to clean up the building.

Teresa Campusano has lived in the building for six years, during which time she has made numerous requests to the landlord to make repairs. “Tiles are coming off the floor in the kitchen and the faucet in the bathroom always leaks,” she said. “I have asked the landlord to fix these problems but he claims he doesn’t have the money.”

Rosemarie Vega, a resident with four small children, is upset that the front doors to the building are constantly unlocked, allowing anyone access to the building. In addition, she struggled with a rat problem and discovered that her walls were coated in lead paint.

Still, all residents weren’t particularly eager to challenge the management. Miriam Feliciano, a resident in the building for over 25 years, protested that she never had any difficulties with the landlord. “I don’t have problems with him,” she said. “I get my brother or brother-in-law to do all my repairs. I just call up the landlord and he gets me the materials without any hassle. He doesn’t give me trouble at all.” She suggested that there might be communication problems because many residents don’t speak English, make translations faulty. And she was quick to point out that many of her own neighbors were responsible for the unlocked doors in the lobby. “The landlord replaces the locks and give each apartment the new key. But some people lose their keys and just kick the doors open and break the locks. That’s what the problem is.”

But kicked-in doors are the least of concern to Philip Ramos, whose 1st floor apartment of five years is badly in need of attention. “Our kitchen needs new shelves and a new refrigerator. It also needs painted. The landlord said a while ago that he would ‘fix it tomorrow,’ but he didn’t come back,” he said. “He also did a terrible job fixing the tub in the bathroom. It was uneven and instead of raising one side of it, the contractor lowered the other side so that it has sunk more into the floor and caused the wall to crack,” he explained. “We also had a problem with out toilet constantly running. I reported it even before the city began urging people to report leaks due to a water shortage. The landlord promised to fix it and never did.”

Even more alarming than those problems was the black mold growing on the bedroom wall. Ramos’ wife, Brenda, refused to sit back and allow her son to suffer from constant sneezing brought on by the fungus. They took pictures of the offensive growth and took Mr. Santangelo to court, and the judge ordered him to clean it immediately. “The judge said no one deserved to live like that,” she said. “It has been cleaned now, but we are waiting to move into a new apartment. We can’t wait to get out of this building because we pay too much rent for the conditions we live in.”

Tenants began meeting to discuss the problems and brainstorm in early December. They formed a tenants association, called Association Unidos por un Mejor Edificio, or United Association for a Better Building. Attempts to contact the landlord led to a December 17, 2002, meeting with him.

According to the Tenants Rights Guide, enforced by the New York State Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, “Tenants are entitled to a livable, safe, and sanitary apartment. Lease provisions inconsistent with this right are illegal.” Also, landlords must remove or cover up walls and other areas where lead based paint is peeling. They are also supposed to maintain electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating systems and appliances. In addition, they must provide automatic, self-closing and self-locking doors at all entrances. It is the law that they must be kept locked at all times.

The December 17, 2002, meeting with landlord Joseph Santangelo produced positive results. With the help of Highbridge Community Life Center organizer Jackie Del Valle, residents voiced their concerns. Mr. Santangelo was very receptive to the tenants and they were able to make agreements about what would be improved in the coming months.

Mr. Santangelo agreed to fix broken smoke detectors immediately, to fix the locks on the front doors and fine any residents caught breaking the locks. He also said that he would check the locks daily to make sure they were maintained properly. He said that within two weeks of the meeting, the broken stairs in the hallway would be repaired and that within three weeks, he would have the hallway skylights and cracked windows fixed.

An important point to many of the residents was that repairs to their apartments take priority over vacant apartments. Mr. Santangelo agreed that this was a reasonable request. He also maintained that a work crew would be in the building more regularly—eight hours a day, five days a week.

Both residents and Mr. Santangelo agreed that there was a need for an experienced Superintendent in the building. Though residents wanted to interview prospective candidates and have the final decision, Mr. Santangelo argued that that wasn’t a possibility. However, he did agree to hire a Spanish speaking Superintendent and to make each candidate aware of residents’ concerns. The tenant group made a commitment to meet every two weeks. In addition, Mr. Santangelo agreed to attend meetings once a month to assess the progress and work with the tenants on any other problems. The next meeting with the landlord is scheduled for January 21, and there are plans to address implementing a Clean Halls program, combating drug dealing in the building, and fixing the intercom system. In the meantime, many residents seemed pleased with the progress that was made.

Vega is cautiously optimistic. “It went pretty well,” said Vega “But I’ve gotta see it to believe it.”