Arrest warrant issued for Suzuki

From the NY Times:

The 49-unit apartment building in Bronx River has a tally of woes almost impressive in magnitude. It has 663 open violations. Its walls shed lead paint, rain seeps through collapsing ceilings, and cockroaches and rats scuttle across its buckled floors.

Now the building, at 1585 East 172nd Street, has another ignominious distinction. Fed up with the failure of the landlord, Sam Suzuki, to correct the violations and show up in court, a judge last week issued a warrant for his arrest, a rarity in housing court.

“Mr. Suzuki has treated the court with such disdain,” said Beatrice Hamza Bassey, a lawyer with Hughes Hubbard & Reed, which, with the Legal Aid Society of New York, is representing tenants in the case. “There’s abject squalor in the building. Inhumane conditions. No one should be living under those kinds of conditions.”

Mr. Suzuki said late Wednesday afternoon that he had not been served with an arrest warrant and that he would not comment on the case. He also said he was merely the manager of the building, although in the most recent document in the city register pertaining to the property, from May 2009, he said he was the “sole member” of the corporation that owned it.