From the NY Times:
A Queens landlord who authorities said had packed nearly 50 people in illegally converted apartments, some in garages and cellars, was charged with reckless endangerment and other crimes on Wednesday, reflecting a growing concern about the kind of overcrowded housing that has been cited in several fatal fires in recent years.
The landlord, Segundo Chimbay, 48, was accused of turning four houses in Jackson Heights and Elmhurst into fire hazards, with subdivided apartments, illegally installed utilities and rooms without required exits, according to Richard A. Brown, the Queens district attorney.
In the absence of any fire or other disaster in the buildings, Mr. Chimbay’s arrest indicated an increased enforcement of laws banning illegal conversions by the district attorney’s office and other city agencies.
“This property owner sacrificed public safety for his own profit,” said Robert LiMandri, the commissioner of the Buildings Department, in an e-mailed statement. “And his arrest demonstrates that there are serious consequences for creating such dangerous living conditions in New York City.”
Mr. Chimbay, who charged rents from $850 to $1,400 for the illegal dwellings, had been under scrutiny by the Buildings Department since about 2007, when he refused orders to vacate his buildings or bring them up to code, according to the district attorney’s office. There are dozens of violations attached to his name on the Buildings Department’s Web site, including a citation for turning one two-bedroom home into apartments for 13 families.
So it takes 6 years to arrest someone for this? What a joke.
9 comments:
Hang the slumlord SOB from one of the windows!
Before the arrest is made... "Why doesn't the city crack down on illegal conversions?"
After the arrest is made... "Why did it take so long?"
There's just no pleasing the crapper.
I guess you missed the part that said, "Mr. Chimbay had been under scrutiny by the Buildings Department since about 2007." So if someone was known to have mugged someone in 2007, would you be satisfied if the police didn't get around to arresting him until now?
Relax and take a joke, jeez.
Sounds like an illegal alien slumlord. been under scrutiny since 2007 means he was paying a Queens county HPD or DOB inspector off but now more of our civil servants are in on the act and want higher bribes.
how about seize the property and give it to the people he's subjected to the unlawful conditions?
are the buildings in Jackson Heights/Woodside area?
He never would have been arrested if he had bribed the right people.
When is the DOB going to focus on Maspeth and Middle Village illegal conversions. Why are there so many laundro mats opening up....because illegal tenants need a place to wash their clothes....
and they want a bigger piece of the pie. all those cash non taxable rents
So if we ask that the DOB send someone over to 73rd and 74th streets between Calamus and Grand Aves now, can we hope that in a few years all these illegal conversions will be gone?
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