Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Did co-op discriminate against Asian family?

From the Daily News:

Lisa Sheen said board members at her Flushing apartment building have made her life miserable since she purchased a sixth-floor unit for herself, her husband and two young daughters in December 2004.

She claimed board members tried to reject her indirectly at first.

They waited months after she applied for an apartment to schedule her interview and then stonewalled her mortgage company until she lost its financing offer, according to legal papers.

When Sheen raised the money with the help of her employer, a real estate company, board members took a more active approach - telling her boss "to convince me to leave the building and move to the Chinese part of town," she claims.

Boss Steve Silverberg wrote in a sworn affidavit that board members approached him during a visit to Sheen in February. They asked if he was Jewish, which he said he was. They told him "as a Jew, I should understand [that Sheen] should live with her people ... in the Chinese area," he said in legal papers.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

As expected from the pro tweed Dailey News.
There are 2 sides to every story.

Another implant bitch who cant pay her morgage now looking to play the race card ?
Why is her husband hiding from the press ?

This sure sounds like the Block and Tenament "busting" backed by the Rev.Moon organization.

The Jewish have a right to discriminate.
1- The owner/owners reside in the building.
2- The owners dont have a contract with the city.

Lino said...

"The Jewish have a right to discriminate.
1- The owner/owners reside in the building.
2- The owners dont have a contract with the city."

Wrong.

New York Co-operative Housing Law states that applicants may be rejected for any or no reason -except discrimination-.

I"own" a co-op and have bought two others over the years and served on the boards. If this woman can prove her case that board has a real problem.

This is the sort of thing that causes large assessments on each tenant for settlements.

They could simply have rejected her w/out comment. If they were stupid enough to make those remarks, they deserve what is coming.

Anonymous said...

That board is toast!
God forbid she does an interview without her husband. lmao. What year is this again?

Some people are way bitter. Old ppl..

Anonymous said...

What I dont understand is how did she get keys since 2005 if she was rejected ?

If the the board was enough to "let her in" they deserve to be sued.
Im willing to bet shes not even married. The husband may be "shady" with no papers.
Immigration arranged fake marriage scam at best.

Who knows what the truth is, Bloomberg runs most the NYC print rags & editors via remote control.

There is now a secret "formula" to get anything published or past an editing desk.

Board toast ?
Doubt it most judges still in seats are Jewish and rarly go against other Jews. This should be interesting with the Mayor pushing to bust every cluster Archie Bunkers up and run them out.

Like the Bastards are doing to Maspeth and Northern Queens

Anonymous said...

Sure wish the racists and bigots who post on blogs would go back under their rocks.

Anonymous said...

If an Asian does, in fact, pull the race card they often win.

Any "occidental" doing the same usually loses.

Nobody seems to want to offend the Asians these days.

Why?

Most often it's because of the $$$$$$$$$$$$ they bring into the mix!

It's really more about class discrimination rather than racial discrimination.

THIS IS FOR REAL...A fortune cookie message that I once got read:

"With money...a dragon.
Without money...a worm".

That sums it all up.

Anonymous said...

Maybe they play the "race card" because she really was a victim of discrimination. Coop Boards have such freedom to reject anyone they like for any reason that sometimes they forget their are limits.

If someone pressured her employer in a private matter involving her rental they deserve to pay in spades. The only thing that should have been discussed with her employer was her income and the probability of continued employment.

It is particularly reprehensible if Jews were involved, since they know more than anyone what it means to be an outsider.

Anonymous said...

She's hot!

Jeff said...

Thank you anonymous for your insightful fortune cookie-based analysis.

Anonymous said...

I call bullshit to her entire story.

-Joe said...

The new New York Co-Operative Housing Law apparently sucks..it's now lumpt in with government-assisted housing and residential hotels and flop houses.

Those old Jewish people didnt know they got screwed under the RADAR...Thats the end of qualiety of life and Bingo in those buildings.

LINO's wrong BTW
1- Yes you can discriminate if your the owner of a private 2 family and live in it.

2- Room or rooms in non-government assisted multifamily housing where the owner resides are ALSO not covered by discrimination laws.

Here is the law:
www.nyc.gov/html/cchr/html/housing.html

Anonymous said...

-Joe, you have your head up your arse as usual. Your argument has no bearing on this case.

Lino said...

"LINO's wrong BTW
1- Yes you can discriminate if your the owner of a private 2 family and live in it."

"Joe" your blind hatred and lack of reading comprehension make it almost cruel for me to respond....Did you actually READ and UNDERSTAND the law?

Try reading the original article then, review the law.

Anonymous said...

No you cannot discriminate racially when you sell property, regardless of what type. If you try to sell a private home and you are caught doing this, you are dead.

Joe is thinking of the protections small landlords such as two or three family houses have to reject tenants when the landlord has to live with them, but this has protection has never applied to sales, only rentals.

Anonymous said...

It'll all come out in court whether she's bullshitting us or she's really a victim.

As for me...I don't care who lives next door to me as long as they're good people.

Anonymous said...

Assuming you're not being sarcastic about liking my fortune cookie wisdom ...here's another one that I saved:


"Six feet of earth makes all men equal".

Now that's a great declaration of the universal value of each and every man or woman that inhabits our great planet.

Nobody's better than the next guy!

Anonymous said...

As for me...I don't care who lives next door to me as long as they're good people.


And it helps to be hot.

Anonymous said...

Lino PWN3D joe!
ha!

Anonymous said...

Real estate transactions are covered by a wide body of federal statutes and state statutory and common law. ---why you need a lawyer who knows New York real estate law.

The Federal Fair Housing Act covers most housing. In some circumstances, the Act exempts owner-occupied buildings with no more than four units, single-family housing ***SOLD OR RENTED WITHOUT USE OF A BROKER*** and housing operated by organizations and private clubs that limit occupancy to members.

Real estate brokers are employed as the agent for the seller. In the State of New York, real estate brokers and salesperson are licensed and regulated by state law and must abide by it
Then, there's the Federal Fair Housing Act: the FFHA prohibits discrimination in real estate transactions based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The act specifically prohibits real estate BROKERS from discriminating.

A private seller can do a private sale "contact owner" and doesn’t have to call you back or even show the house to anybody.

Real Estate agencys destroy entire blocks and communietys, they are tied up strict laws and only give a crap about comission $$$.
1/2 of the Archie Bunker Queens did not have to use them.

Anonymous said...

Lino PWN3D Joe
---Not quite.

Linos is correct if reference to Co-Ops but the rest is the other way around !

Lino said...

"Linos is correct if reference to Co-Ops but the rest is the other way around"

Quoting:

The Law does not extend to residents of two-family houses if the owner or a member of the owner’s family resides in one of the housing accommodations and the available housing accommodation was not advertised.


-Note the last word "advertised" that is what trips up people who think they are slick and mistake their wishful interpretation for fact.

According to law, if either you or someone you authorized as your agent advertised a vacancy..even in a private house..you are covered by this law.

This btw is how certain neighborhoods remain "stable" ethnically for generations, they only deal in word-of-mouth to sell their homes to relatives and friends.

Those who are always bitching about "McMansions" and sliver apt houses should blame those that sold the property w/out consideration as to who was buying..only greed.

Anonymous said...

Regardless of how you feel about her, or the esoteric ways of housing law, how do you feel about the employer being pressured to act against his own employee? His business is to provide financial information, nothing more.

Don't you think that people should mind their own business and stick to what their job is, rather than trying to decide how people should live, where they should live, who they should date etc.?

Anonymous said...

I don't need to know the other side of the story because I simply don't care. I know how board members could be scumbags and discriminate against minorities. I am so glad I no longer live in a co-op. Feel bad for the girl and her family.