Lesbian couple tormented by neighbors renting city financed house

 

THE CITY

A Far Rockaway couple say they’re being harassed by their next-door neighbors who are accused of illegally renting a home purchased through a city program that requires the owners to live there for 25 years.

Dianna and Pam Prashad, who are in the same program, say that means they’re now stuck with “neighbors from hell” — and unable to move elsewhere.

“This home was our happy place,” Dianna Prashad, 45, said of the two-story, blue-and-white semi-attached home in Edgemere that she bought in 2007.

But since March 2020, just as the pandemic lockdown went into effect, the Prashads say they’ve faced harassment — including anti-gay slurs — from tenants next door. The neighbors moved in after the owner relocated to Delaware despite the requirement that she stay in the home for 25 years, the Prashads say.

The couple said they are receiving “constant threats” from the next-door neighbors, who they believe are targeting them because of their sexuality.

The alleged harassment began soon after the new tenants moved in, according to the Prashads. The couple say they called the police on April 22, 2020 after their next-door neighbors allegedly threatened to assault Pam while she was outside her home, they said.

“Come and get this ass-whooping, d---,” one neighbor allegedly yelled at Pam Prashad.

Another time, the same tenant said of Pam, “that b---- needs a good ass-whupping,” the couple said.

In April, the tenants began yelling at the couple for no apparent reason as they planted flowers in front of their home, according to footage captured on the Prashads’ security camera and reviewed by THE CITY.

“We’ve been directly targeted,” Pam Prashad, 50, said.

East New York homeowners experiencing persistent harassment by vulture real estate investors and speculation

THE CITY

When Mercedes Sandoz fell behind on mortgage payments, a lawyer she didn’t know called her personal phone offering to help — by buying her East New York home for cash.

The mother of five also got daily fliers and knocks on her door from lawyers and investors. That’s because she was on a public list as being at risk of foreclosure.

“I’ve lived in this neighborhood for 33 years, and in the last few years, I’ve felt like it’s a takeover,” said Sandoz, who bought her home in 2000 after years of renting in the area.

Now, she’s joined an effort to protect homeowners from harassment from real estate speculators by designating the neighborhood as Brooklyn’s only “cease-and-desist” zone — an area declared off-limits under state law.

Cease-and-desist protections would allow homeowners to opt into a list restricting would-be house flippers from contacting them — and hit violators with fines, criminal charges or loss of real estate licenses.

Local residents say the designation is badly needed in East New York: A 2018 Center for New York City Neighborhoods report that found investors were flipping more homes at higher rates and for higher profit margins in East New York than anywhere else in Brooklyn.

After a push by residents working with the Coalition for Community Advancement and state Sen. Julia Salazar’s office, the New York Department of State scheduled a public hearing on the cease-and-desist bid for March 5 at 5 p.m. at 127 Pennsylvania Ave.

 The hearing marks a key step toward whether state officials find the “evidence of intense and repeated solicitations” needed to declare a cease-and-desist zone.

The Department of State gained the authority to grant neighborhoods cease-and-desist protections in 1989, but currently has only three designated zones in the city — all in suburban-style, largely white and Asian middle-class areas.

Two cover a swath of northeast Queens, including College Point, Whitestone, Bay Terrace and surrounding areas. The third covers the Country Club neighborhood in The Bronx.

Alexa Sloan with the Coalition for Community Advancement, a band of residents, businesses and houses of worship advocating for East New York and Cypress Hills, said locals have been collecting evidence of solicitation for more than two years. They’ve amassed 540 surveys detailing their experiences.

One of the residents who has been organizing for cease-and-desist protections, Linda Ford, installed a camera outside her house because of frequent visits from would-be buyers offering cash.

“I keep the door locked, and I don’t answer,” said Ford, who inherited her home from her mother and has lived there for more than 50 years. “Sometimes the notes they leave are handwritten, like they’re from a friend.”

After offering sums of cash for far less than properties are worth, many of those investors quickly resell the houses for far higher sums. Rampant flipping can put real estate prices out of reach for local buyers while bumping up existing homeowners’ tax bills.

Homeless couple occupying and defecating on LIE overpass in Maspeth.

 Crappy I have a real crap story for you.All summer a homeless man and woman had set up camp on   the LIE  pedestrian overpass at Mazeau St.in Maspeth.They had a pitbull that was scaring people and there were fights with other dogs.The 104 Pct. community affairs officers talked them into surrendering the dog to a rescue group and tried talking them into moving to a shelter.They wanted to remain together so they declined the offer.In July a woman was robbed of her money and phone on Mazeau Street near the overpass at 2:30 in the afternoon  but could not identify  the robbers just that it was a man and woman.We later found out the woman on the overpass has an arrest record in Florida.

In the begining of August the garbage and vodka bottles and other trash was accumulating on the overpass but the best was the crap.They had been crapping on the overpass along the fence and also throwing down to the ground level their plastic bags of crap.The temps had been in the 90's and the crap was cooking in the heat and a home was close by.

   I called 311 on 8/5 and they said that NYCDOT will handle it.A few days later I get an emai saying it's not their job and I should call NYSDOT.Calls were made to local politicians Finally on 8/21 Dept.of Homeless Services long with Sanitation Dept.cleaned the garbage and crap and offered the couple shelter.

  They were gone one week and then came back and set up camp at the same location and yes the crap is flying again.

    

This overpass is used by people of all ages and they don't feel safe crossing with these two living there.What the city will do we don't know.

A deeply flawed candidate

From The Forum:

Let’s start with that old adage “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are.” If you buy that then we can make our case very simply.

Platta’s buddy, and campaign consultant, is none other than former City Councilman Dennis Gallagher. You remember him: In the middle of his second term he was forced out of office because in a drunken rage he sexually assaulted a woman he had coaxed into his district office after which he burned her body with a cigarette.

But okay, let’s say it’s not fair to judge Platta on the basis of who his good buddy is.

In May 2017, Platta was arrested and charged with aggravated harassment after a female doctor threatened to expose his marital infidelity.

“If you tell anyone about my cheating, I will kill you and your family and ruin your life; I will send a patient to your practice to make false reports against you and ruin your career.”

That’s a direct quote from Platta straight from an official court document: The People of the State of New York, Plaintiff, v. Platta, Slawomir, Defendant.

In order to get on the ballot for the upcoming primary, Platta circulated a petition for a third party line called the No Homeless Shelter Party at a homeless shelter rally. The problem is that Platta told unsuspecting rally attendees that they were signing a petition to speak out about stopping Mayor de Blasio from creating any more homeless shelters.

When one such signer, Scott Jordan, realized he had been duped, he decided to become an objector to the petition at the NYC Board of Elections because the signatures were obtained through fraud and misrepresentation. Platta’s answer to that was to put out a media hit piece against an innocent constituent of the district and muddy his good name by circulating it through the district and on social media.

By the way, did we mention that Platta was collecting signatures personally, yet when the volume was submitted to the BOE, none of the sheets he carried were witnessed by him—a fatal flaw in the petition process.

These revelations are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Mr. Platta, who was kicked off his bogus "No Homeless Shelter" party line by the BOE yesterday. Naturally, he was endorsed by the Queens Ledge.

A small business' scary story

From Forbes:

Late last summer, I 'Googled' my regular diner to confirm its closing time, and was shocked to find that the site had marked it Permanently Closed. I quickly called the restaurant and learned, thankfully, that it hadn't shut down; however, its Google presence had been hijacked.

And despite the owners' best efforts, it seemed there was nothing they could do about it.

Resorts World sounds like a pleasant working environment

From the Daily News:

Women working at Resorts World Casino endure harassment and physical assaults from badly behaving bettors, grabby gamblers and violent male co-workers — and it’s all because of their employer’s let-it-ride attitude, court records charge.

Bartender Tuwanna (Trish) Anderson said the violence and harassment is systemic at the popular Queens racino — and she has the injuries to prove it.

She filed a lawsuit against co-worker Toman Davis and the casino’s owner, Genting Group, saying Davis choked her while on the job on July 4. The chilling assault was captured on surveillance video — and even reviewed by security directors — but no one came to the rescue, her lawsuit says.

Other women on the staff had previously complained about bartender Davis’ violence and unsafe conditions for female servers in general, but nothing changed, the lawsuit says.

Homeless behavior is causing problems all over the city

From the Daily News:

The Daily News spent three months looking at life in neighborhoods with large numbers of shelter beds, documenting the cost these residents pay by shouldering a disproportionate share of the city’s collective burden.

The News found they often face a wide variety of challenges: verbal harassment and physical assaults; stoops used as bathrooms; outdoor flowerpots used to hide knives; prostitution and drug dealing; newly arrived gentrifiers unable to tell the difference between some longtime homeowners and shelter residents; real estate brokers warning that property values fall when new shelters are announced nearby; and a pastor who lost half his congregation after a parishioner was raped by homeless youths from a nearby shelter.

From the Daily News:

All along Queens Boulevard the Department of Homeless Services has placed homeless in one hotel after another. Residents believe two more are coming soon based on building permits touting new “hotel/apartment residences.”

Watchful residents complain about a history of complaints over incidents involving these hotels-turned-shelters, from prostitution to physical assaults.

Between 2013 and 2017, there have been 809 calls to 311 about homeless assistance in the two zip codes with the bulk of the hotels: 11377 and 11373.

Those two zip codes far outstrip all others in Queens for calls about the homeless.

On Jan. 4, the Department of Investigation revealed prostitution and drug arrests at 34 hotels where the city places homeless families. Twelve of those hotels are located in Queens, the report said.

Exhibit No. 1 cited by frustrated locals is the Pan Am Hotel.

Four months after the mayor’s promise to cut back on shelter-hotels, the city re-upped its contract with the nonprofit that manages a family shelter in the Pan Am — extending it through 2023.

Longtime homeowner Sally Wang, a member of Elmhurst United, a group pushing to close the Pan Am, said the new contract with DHS is just the latest insult to arrive from City Hall.

“What we’re finding is a lot of homeowners are selling out because of the shelter,” she said. “They don’t want to be near the shelter. They’re selling to investor owners who don’t live here and that starts the deterioration of the whole neighborhood. And it's worse now that the contract is in for six years.”

Violence at shelters has been redefined by the de Blasio administration.

And here's what Billionaire's Row has to look forward to.

Locals support the Flagship Diner

From DNA Info:

Dozens of Queens residents and several elected officials came together for a rally Tuesday to support a popular diner, which is currently facing a court battle with a new landlord after more than five decades in business.

The owners of The Flagship Diner, at 138-30 Queens Blvd., which has been a community fixture since 1965, said their new landlord — Jamaica-based White Rock Management — began harassing them shortly after White Rockpurchased the site for $6.125 million last year and promptly obtained permits to knock down the restaurant and replace it with a seven-story, mixed-use apartment building containing 64 units.

On Tuesday, patrons holding signs that read “No more buildings — Save the Flagship,” “Stop Unfair Landlord” and “Stop the Harassment White Rock,” said that the diner has been like a “second home.”

The diner's owners — Vincent Pupplo, Jimmy Skartsiaris and Frank Lountzis — said they were initially hoping to keep their business open until their lease expires in October 2019, and then most likely retire.

The landlord proposed to buy them out, offering each of them $100,000, but they turned it down, the owners said.

Since then, they said, the landlord sent them several "notices to cure," requiring them to address a variety of issues within five days if they wanted to avoid eviction, including accusations that their parking lot, sidewalk and back steps are in disrepair and have to be ripped up and replaced immediately.

The owners said that their lawyer was able to obtain a “Yellowstone injunction” for each notice which temporarily suspends the time period during which they must address the issues.

In July, the restaurant owners filed a lawsuit in the Queens County Supreme Court accusing the landlord of harassing them, with the first hearing scheduled for Sept. 19.

Anti-landlord harassment bills signed

From AM-NY:

New York City landlords will face up to $5,000 in fines if they are found to be illegally harassing tenants under a package of tenant-protection bills signed into law Wednesday by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The new set of laws increases the minimum harassment fine levied on landlords from $1,000 to $2,000, and increases the penalty to $5,000 for landlords already cited for tenant harassment in the past five years. The measures also expand the city’s definition of tenant harassment to include calls and visits by the landlord at “unusual hours.”

The bills also look to prevent landlords from prolonging construction and demolition projects in an effort to pressure tenants out of their apartments. The city’s Department of Buildings will issue completion deadlines when landlords seek building permits for projects in occupied buildings, and will increase its inspection of construction and demolition projects in occupied buildings.

Strange goings on at Sunnyside condo

From PIX11:

Elevator surveillance video allegedly shows Neil Milano, wearing a mask of the president, plastering the door with Trump stickers in a would be attempt to “menace” his neighbors in Sunnyside at a building on 39th Place.

“This is not the type of neighborhood for him,” said a neighbor, Renee, who does not want to disclose her last name.

She says Milano has been menacing neighbors who get on his bad side.

“Every time he does something like this, he escalates his behavior,” she said.

Milano is the condo board president of a building around the corner, where he’s put up other references to President Trump, and a lot more.

From provocative Jim Crow-era images, to banners of Adolf Hitler, all framed around what Milano’s lawyer calls a historical display.

Queens City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer could not disagree more.

“We are asking the NYPD to investigate this as a hate crime, and for the human rights commission to investigate what can be done here,” Van Bramer said.

Landlord claims long-time tenant lives overseas

From the NY Post:

A developer is trying to boot an elderly concentration-camp survivor from his rent-stabilized Manhattan pad by claiming that the man really still lives in Romania — in the small shack seized from his family in the 1940s.

But tenant Lucien Orasel Tomberg, 73, says he hasn’t set foot in his family’s home since Romania’s Communist government took it over in 1948 and sent him, his three brothers and parents to a concentration camp.

Tomberg was the only one who survived.

“It is no small irony that the landlord has seized on the Banul Manta property as a basis for attempting to evict me from my apartment,” Tomberg says in Manhattan Supreme Court papers.

“It is vaguely reminiscent of a very dark episode in human history, of which I and my family were most unfortunate victims.”

At stake is Tomberg’s sprawling two-bedroom apartment at 1200 Fifth Ave., which its owner wants to convert to a million-dollar condo.

The longtime tenant pays $800 a month for the pad, which comes with views of Central Park; a similar unit is on the market for $1.7 million.

The Chetrit Group — the real-estate empire involved in the $1.3 billion sale of Chicago’s Willis Tower — owns the pre-war building through a subsidiary, 1200 Fifth Associates LLC, city property records show. The company began converting the apartments to condos in 2007.

The landlord claims that Tomberg should be kicked out because the cheap pad is not “his primary residence.”

The suit says Tomberg really lives at Banul Manta NR 79 Sector 1 in Bucharest.

Mayor's office sends stooge to harass protesters on Twitter

Mayor de Blasio sent his spokeswoman, Aja Worthy-Davis, to a joint protest by multiple civic groups in Sunset Park against his homeless policies. She followed the protesters around from hotel to hotel (they visited 4 all together) and live tweeted the event.

This man just called "putting homeless in the community....'harassment'" pic.twitter.com/jiSKiTTNR6

— (((Aja))) (@AjaWorthyDavis) October 15, 2016

Delvis Valdes called Aja Worthy-Davis out for not using his name in her tweet.

Mayoral spokeswoman Aja Worthy-Davis:

Protesters then got really worked up and told her off.

Robert Holden reveals that the city tried to deny a sound permit for the event until renowned civil rights attorney Norman Siegel intervened.

Curtis Sliwa put in his two cents.

Phil Wong from Elmhurst United charged that the homeless crisis is intentional.

Michael D.D. White, a well-respected urban planner, who authors Noticing New York and is leading Citizens Defending Libraries, had a lot to say about "following the money".

Ramon Acevedo, member of Brooklyn CB7, called for an investigation into the administration and those profiteering off the homeless.

Mr. Valdes led the chants of "Crowley's gotta go" and "Menchaca's gotta go".

After the protest in Sunset Park was over, the group moved to Windsor Terrace to pay a second visit to DHS Commissioner Steve Banks.

By the way, Aja makes a pretty penny harassing protesters on Twitter.

Management company taken to task

From the Queens Tribune:

Residents from across seven Flushing buildings gathered at St. George’s Episcopal Church to voice concerns over recent actions by New Jersey-based development company Treetop Development, which owns the buildings in question. The corporation has been exploiting loopholes to raise rents and drive low-income residents out of their apartments in order to begin gentrifying the area, the residents argued.

The meeting was organized by the Flushing Rezoning Community Alliance. Faith in New York, an interfaith organization, was also in attendance. Andrew Hausermann, the director of Organizing for Faith in New York, explained that the organization had heard many complaints from residents in the seven buildings, which Treetop purchased six months ago.

“This company, Treetop, has a bad history,” Hausermann said to the hundred or so residents in attendance. “They have a history of buying rent-stabilized units in neighborhoods that they say are soon upcoming neighborhoods, might be gentrifying neighborhoods, and they’ll buy these rent-stabilized buildings, run out the low-income tenants and then sell the buildings for a big profit.”

Hausermann also said that the company was accused of similar practices in Williamsburg and Harlem.

Among the chief complaints raised by residents is what they say is a loophole in New York State law that allows for permanent rent increases in rent-stabilized units. Landlords can implement these raises to fund construction projects called major capital improvements. These MCI increases are problematic, Hausermann explained, because even after the project is funded, the rent increase can remain in place, which could drive low-income tenants out. When the rent reaches a certain threshold, it eliminates the rent-stabilization designation, Hausermann said. These concerns have been raised in the wake of a high level of construction going on around the buildings.

One building in question, 132-40 Sanford Ave., received a stop-work order after Councilmember Peter Koo (D-Flushing) voiced concerns raised by constituents. A June stop-work order complaint on the Department of Buildings website said that workers were “removing asbestos without protection” and cited debris in the hallway. Another complaint from July said that work resumed at the site despite the stop-work order.

Legislation will help mom & pop shops

From DNA Info:

From Meatpacking’s Hogs & Heifers to the East Village’s Other Music and Prospect Height’s Empire Mayo, the list of beloved small businesses being forced out due to rising rents keeps growing — and so have the calls for greater protections for mom-and-pop shops.

Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to sign legislation Tuesday establishing safeguards to prevent harassment of commercial tenants, just as there are policies protecting residential tenants.

The legislation aims to make it easier for small businesses to stay in the city, many advocates said.

It would allow small business owners, who felt they were harassed in some way and wrongfully pushed to vacate their space, to recover possession of property, attorney fees and damages amounting to one month’s rent or $1,000 from the landlord — whichever is greater — among other costs.

Harassment includes threats, unnecessary construction or repairs on the property that interfered with business, interruptions to essential services like heat or hot water, and the use of “frivolous” court proceedings against a tenant.

Slumlord arrested, sued

From New York Magazine:

Even in a city filled with bad landlords, Steven Croman stood out. A regular on “worst landlord” lists, his company would buy up Manhattan apartment buildings, then push for tenants in rent-regulated apartments to leave, either by buying out their leases or, tenants said, harassing them until they left. Then, once he deregulated the rent-stabilized apartments, he would charge much higher rents. But this morning Croman was charged with 20 felonies, including grand larceny, falsifying business records, and a scheme to defraud; he faces up to 25 years in prison.

That’s not all the bad news for Croman: The Times reports that the New York state attorney general’s office also sued Croman today, seeking to force him not just to give up his real-estate business, but to pay millions of dollars in restitution to tenants and penalties. In its lawsuit, the attorney general’s office, which investigated Croman for nearly two years, accused him of harassing and coercing “countless working-class and low-income families out of their longtime homes.”

AirBnB jerk cheated and harassed his own tenants, too

From PIX11:

Renter Justin Worsley describes Burak Firik, a man well known to PIX11 viewers for cheating landlords in Queens, as "aggressive .. basically a bully.”

Firik and another man, Dogan Kimilli, leased a three-bedroom apartment in Elmhurst from landlord Eddie Shiew and then illegally renovated it into small sleeping quarters they’d rent out by the night or week on airbnb.com.

Following our two reports, PIX11 was contacted by a number of tenants who say they rented rooms from Firik in properties he had converted, and the results were disastrous.

Justin Worsley rented a room on Lefferts Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Though Firik’s name is not listed as the landlord on the property records, Worsley paid him $650 a month rent and a month’s security.

Six months later, Firik texted Worsley and the four other tenants saying, “everybody has to move out," so he could “demolish the house.”

“He then threatened me," Worsley said. "Told me he was gonna cut the power and the water, which he legally can’t do. He says he does this all the time. He’ll take all my stuff and throw it out in the streets.”

When Firik demanded the tenants move out immediately, Worsley texted back “we will not be out tomorrow, so you’ll be unable to demolish, sorry.”

Firik replied.

“You’ll see your ass on the streets. We know all the bloods and crips dawg.”

New tenant protection laws signed by de Blasio

From the Daily News:

Saying there’s no room in the city for “ruthless tactics,” Mayor de Blasio on Thursday signed into law a series of bills that will stop unscrupulous landlords from pressuring tenants to move out.

Under the new laws, it is illegal for a building owner to make a buyout offer for 180 days after a tenant declines the initial offer.

It will also be illegal for landlords to offer false information to persuade people to take the buyout, threaten a tenant, or call them at weird hours.

And one of the bills requires landlords to tell the tenants that they have the option of staying in the apartment if they want to.

The laws apply to all rental apartments in the city, but are aimed at the city’s dwindling stock of rent regulated units, which can only raise rents a set amount every year.

Astoria landlord accused of tenant harassment

From the Queens Courier:

Some residents of one rent-stabilized Astoria apartment building say they are tired of having to fight for what should be their basic rights as tenants.

Sally Aponte has been living at 28-28 35th St. since 1995 and said she started having issues with the building’s landlord, Peter Hiotis of P & T Management CO LLC, when it came to getting repairs completed within her apartment.

At first, Aponte decided to verbally ask her landlord for help with regard to these repairs, such as fixing a kitchen stove or repairing broken bathroom tiles, but after receiving what she calls “patchwork repairs,” she decided to finally file a formal complaint to 311 in 2007.

“He tends to always blame the tenants whenever you ask for repairs and I think he uses that to discourage you to ask for repairs,” Aponte said.

During this time, an attorney for the landlord also sent Aponte a letter advising her that if she made any further complaints, Hiotis would have to pursue eviction because she was allegedly violating the “rent stabilization code.”

Aponte added that the stove was fixed because Hiotis was fined by the FDNY but the rest of the problems in her home remained ignored until an inspector from the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) went to the home.

The inspector found nine violations within the home, such as exposed and sparking electrical wiring, defective and broken plastered surfaces on walls and ceilings, and a defective smoke detector.

And although some of the repairs have since been completed, albeit improperly, Aponte is facing eviction.

According to court documents, Aponte is facing eviction because she is being accused of withholding rent, harassing other tenants, and defacing vehicles of her landlord and other tenants. However, Aponte says she has evidence proving all those accusations as false and believes the eviction comes as a form of retaliation for reporting past and present neglected repairs.

Slumlord busted for tenant harassment

From the Daily News:

A Brooklyn landlord has become the first person arrested under a new city-state campaign to go after property owners who threaten and harass rent-stabilized tenants, Mayor de Blasio and state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Wednesday.

Daniel Melamed, 39, was indicted on charges of unlawful eviction, child endangerment and filing false documents in harassment of rent-protected tenants at the Crown Heights building he owns.

The mayor and Schneiderman formed a task force to go after landlords who illegally force out rent-stabilized tenants so they can jack up the rent.

The charges involve a Melamed building on Union St. where he began illegal construction and demolition last year.

The indictment alleges he knocked down interior walls and destroyed common spaces, and illegally shut off heat to rent-stabilized tenants as temperatures plummeted in December.

He also exposed tenants -- including a 6-year-old -- to toxic lead paint dust. In some apartments the dust tested at 80 times above acceptable levels, the indictment alleges.

Brooklyn slumlords arrested

From the NY Times:

Two Brooklyn landlords accused by tenants of trying to drive them out by making their buildings uninhabitable have been arrested, the Brooklyn district attorney’s office said Thursday.

The landlords, the brothers Joel and Aaron Israel, were scheduled to be arraigned in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Thursday morning. Prosecutors did not immediately disclose the charges, but planned to speak about them in the afternoon outside a building owned by Joel Israel, 98 Linden Street in Bushwick.

Longtime tenants in several buildings owned by the Israels have complained of hazardous conditions they believe are an effort to force them to leave, so their units could be rented out at much higher rates.

Prosecution of landlords on criminal charges is rare, but the case of 98 Linden was particularly egregious, law enforcement officials and tenant advocates said.