Failing To Address Health & Safety Issues (Water Leaks, Mold, Rodent Infestation, etc.) Continues As Favored Tactic By Sleazy Landlords To Drive Out Below-Market Rate-Paying Tenants From Rent Regulated Apartments In Gentrifying NYC Neigborhoods

In Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Politico - New York reports (via The Real Deal - NYC):

• G-Way Management has been trying to push out long-term residents in a Crown Heights apartment building to capitalize off higher rents, dozens of protesters said [last week].
  
  “G-Way Management has been threatening [tenant’s] health and safety and engaging in tactics that border on criminal behavior,” said Public Advocate Letitia James, who stood with the protesters.
  
  Assemblyman Walter Mosley was also present at the demonstration outside the building at 410 Eastern Parkway.
  
  James and Mosley said they have been attempting to negotiate with G-Way Management for almost a year, and the management company has refused to meet with them.
  
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  Around three dozen protesters from the Crown Heights Tenants Union and other local organizers gathered outside the building on a chilly Saturday afternoon. Bundled up in winter jackets, the protesters flanked James as she made remarks to the press. Some held signs saying, “G-Way Go Away,” and “G-Way Shame on You.”
  
  Many of the tenants present had lived in the building for decades in rent-stabilized apartments. They said G-Way refused to attend to mold and rodent infestation problems in their apartments, as well as not allowing tenants to renew their leases.
  
  “I have mold, I have holes, I have cracks, I have leaks, you name it all,” said tenant Janice Hector, who has lived in her apartment for 16 years. “I’m sick and tired of it.”
  
  Press was taken on a tour of some of apartments in the buildings where mold and holes were visible. In one apartment, trash was falling through a hole in the ceiling created by a rodent.
  
  Crown Heights has become a desirable market for real estate developers, with some of the Brooklyn’s fastest growing rents. Two high-rise towers are under construction across from 410 Eastern Parkway.
  
  The public advocate has recently made tenant harassment a front-burner issue. James recently put forward a bill at a City Council hearing to prevent landlords with multiple violations from receiving new building permits.
  
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  New York’s Housing and Preservation Department has the power to fix issues in the apartments and charge the landlord for the repairs. Urban Homesteading Assistance Board member Celia Weaver said they had reached out to HPD multiple times but seen no action.

For more, see James and Crown Heights residents rally against alleged tenant harassment.