Public Advocate Letitia James and Assemblymember Walter T. Mosley on Saturday joined with tenants and community organizers to call on G-Way Management to stop harassing rent-regulated tenants at 410 Eastern Parkway.
Tenants at the building, which is on the Public Advocate’s Worst Landlord Watchlist, have lived with major leaks and mold in their apartment for months, and the landlord refuses to address their issues. Meanwhile, the landlord is continually pressuring tenants to sign away their rent stabilization rights.
“New Yorkers deserve to live free of harassment and intimidation in their own home,” said James. “But for years, G-Way Management has refused to address the deteriorating conditions in 410 Eastern Parkway, forcing tenants to live in dangerous and unsanitary apartments in an attempt to drive them out. Access to safe and affordable housing is one of our most basic rights and we will ensure that no landlord gets away with harassing tenants to make a profit.”
“As a representative of Crown Heights it is my job to voice the concerns of my constituents,” said Mosley. “For too long, G-Way Management has viciously harassed tenants, forcing out long term residents in a bid to push rent stabilized apartments to market rate. Landlords are benefiting and earning exorbitant profits on the backs of hard working New Yorkers, who wish to continue to live in the communities they’ve helped establish and I will not stand for it.”
“The tenants of 410 Eastern Parkway have suffered enough. And the tenants of Crown Heights have suffered enough,” said Donna Mossman, Founding Member of Crown Heights Tenant Union. “Throughout my neighborhood — real estate speculators – corporations, not landlords – are buying up affordable housing that should belong to working class tenants. They are working together to displace us, chop up apartments, and bring in higher paying people. The CHTU will not sit idly by while this happens at 410 Eastern Parkway or while it happens in Crown Heights.”
“G-Way management wants us out! They’re incredibly disrespectful and unresponsive,” said Maisie Ellis, tenant of 410 Eastern Parkway. “You try to call the office and they send you from place to place. You go to the office and they don’t want to see you. You make an appointment and they act like it didn’t happen. Enough is enough. We are human beings and deserve to be treated as such. I’ve been living in this neighborhood for over 30 years. I will leave my home when I’m ready, not when G-Way management decides they want me out because they can make an extra dollar.”
“Because of my experience with buildings and the City, I am aware of the protections in place for our tenants,” said Georges Nathan. “It is imperative that someone step up to peacefully engage G-Way management in order to have them interact with the tenants differently. When I say differently, I mean with respect. They treat us like numbers. Their relationship with us is money into their pockets but they’re not interested in addressing the repairs of the long-term residents. We’ve inspected a number of apartments who have attempted to make complaints and the repairs were not addressed by management. Any apartments that became vacant have undergone complete gut-rehab. What about the tenants who have lived here for decades? What is going to be done for them?”
