PACC's response to Roberta's post

This is the the reply I just received from Deb Howard:

Dear Roberta, I have been in contact with maintenance staff regarding this issue, last week and over the weekend. Up until Saturday morning the boiler was being manually operated to try and compensate for the coil which had broken and needs replacing and is on order (for $9,000), hence the sporadic heat over the last week. However, on Saturday morning the starter box broke down and there were no replacements available at any of the supply houses which is why you have had no heat since then. The Maintenance Director is at the building with the engineer now and we are making the decision this morning probably in the affirmative to replace the whole boiler as this one has been nothing but trouble since it was installed and it is no longer under warranty. The irony is that there was a perfectly good boiler in the building when we first bought the building but to get the NYSERDA grant during the construction, we were required to put in a new energy efficient boiler at a cost of $41,000 and what a nightmare it has been! We are also checking with the lender to see what reserves are available for such a purpose although PACC will front the expense to make sure the replacement can happen quickly.

I know that does not in any way appease your frustration or your concern for your family’s or other tenants’ health and safety but please know that we are working hard to resolve the problem. I will be discussing further the issue of compensation with the property management staff.

Deb Howard

Executive Director

Pratt Area Community Council

201 Dekalb Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11205

(718) 522-2613 x 18
(718) 522-2604

We've had hardly any heat in our apartment for over a week now.

We've had hardly any heat in our apartment for over a week now. The notice posted by the property management after days of complaints, asking for our patience while they wait for the part to be replaced in the boiler was infuriating. I called 311 on Saturday (complaint #4645002) and just wrote a message to Deb Howard, PACC director. This is the content of my message:

Dear Ms Howard,

I am one of the tenants of the PACC managed building on 277 Gates Avenue and I am writing to call your attention to the heating problems that we have been experiencing in the building for years and that have now become simply intolerable. After months of constant service interrruptions, we have now been without heat for over a week, during some of the coldest days and nights of the year. The property management has posted a notice after days of complaints informing the tenants that they are waiting for a part to be replaced in the boiler and asking for our patience and cooperation. This is no longer a matter of patience and cooperation. It is a matter of serious inefficiency and violation of our basic rights as tenants. Our kids are getting sick and take twice as long to recover from seasonal illnesses and we are forced to warm up our apartments with electric heaters that boost our electric bills and with gas stoves, potentially posing a safety threat to ourselves and others.

I am asking for your intervention to solve this problem at once and to offer the tenants of 277 Gates Ave. compensation for the physical and psychological stress caused by this ongoing problem.

Thank you,

Roberta

It has been cold inside for the 277 Gates Tenants

I have called 311 to inform HPD of our lack of heat at least twice a week. Presidents' Day weekend we had no heat. Each time I call they tell me someone else from this building has called. It has been between 54-62 degrees during the day in my apartment. This has been a miserable winter. Today I checked the status of my HPD complaints for heat and found none. My past complaints were allegedly fixed. I also saw a report that my carbon minoxide alarm had been fixed and I am looking right now at a broken carbon minoxide alarm. This is very disturbing. Today I called 311 for no heat again, has been 60 degrees in my apartment all day, my no. 4645019.

Keep calling 311.


Portia Adams
President 277 Gates Tenants Association

Baby its cold inside!

TENANTS,
Keep a thermometer in your apartment and note the temperature everyday to document the uneven heating in the building. The next tenants meeting Wed., Jan. 14th, 8pm.

277 Gates Tenants Association thanks Council Person Letitia James and Assembly Person Al Vann for convincing PACC to inspect and repair Mrs. Williams' apartment. Updates on the inspection and repair will be posted.

We also thank Dagan Bayliss, tenant organizer for speaking to the association on December 10th.

Several tenants called PACC and 311, to encourage PACC to fix the front door, for weeks its was difficult to exit the building due to a broken lock. Through your efforts the door has been 'fixed'.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Tenants Meeting December 10th 2008

At December 10th Tenants Meeting we have a guest speaker, Dagan Bayliss a Tenant Organizer. Come ask Dagan questions about tenants rights and winning strategies. This Wednesday, Dec. 10th at 8pm.

Seriously it takes a village

With the help of Council Persons Al Vann and Letitia James, PACC was persuaded to relocate Mrs. Williams. PACC also agreed they would inspect the indoor air quality using EPA inspectors and then repair the peeling paint and warped floors. As a representative of the 277 Gates Tenants Association we would like to express our deep felt gratitude. Mrs. Williams would still be suffering if you had not intervened. Thank you.

As for the tenants association: Thank you Paula, Margie, Norma and Greg for your direction on the email discussion with PACC. Vincent and Rhonda helped to move Mrs. Williams things and Jackie and Rhoda helped Mrs. Williams set up her telephone. Kim thank you for your constant support.

Yes, its takes a village. Thank you all!


Portia Adams, President, 277 Gates Tenants Association

http://277gatestenants.blogspot.com/



NEXT TENANTS MEETING WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10TH 2008, 8PM

A recent letter to PACC concerning one long-time tenant's ongoing problem.

November 14 ^th , 2008

To: Deb Howard, 

Executive Director of PACC                                                                                            

RE: Ms. Mabel Williams and Pratt Area Community Council (PACC)

Mabel Williams has lived in 277 Gates since 1980.   PACC bought her building in 2002 for $50,000 from the city promising to provide affordable housing.   Mrs. Williams a former secretary did not leave the building while it was being renovated until there was literally a flood of water into her apartment.   PACC stated it packed and stored Mrs. Williams’ furniture.   Mrs. Williams then stayed in temporary housing on Spencer Street.   Ms. Williams had to fight PACC with the help of Bed-Stuyvesant Legal Services to keep her apartment in 277 Gates and in the end she was pictured with local stakeholders and Deb Howard, the Executive Director of PACC at the ribbon cutting and opening of the building.

Mrs. Williams returned to 277 Gates and her furniture was brought back to her apartment but the furniture was broken and damaged by a flood in the apartment, some of her furniture was never retrieved and among the things brought into her apartment were broken things that were not hers.   Mrs. Williams still has the damaged and broken furniture in her apartment today, and her other things like custom made shades, lamps, couch, end tables, etc. are gone.   More paint is peeling off her walls than is staying on them.   The living room floor is warped.   Mrs. Williams can represent her story better than I can, and Rick Sostchen of Baltic Street Inc., 718 855-5929, ext. 25 can confirm this event.  

Most importantly there is an irritant in the apartment that is not odorous but feels like you are inhaling sandpaper.   Frequently buildings that have experienced flooding are susceptible to indoor pollutants.  Several home health aides have complained to GuildNet home health services that there is an irritant, and that the apartment is falling apart.  

A few words about Mrs. Williams, her vision is extremely impaired and she needs help in her apartment and to go about her daily business.   She uses Meals on Wheels.   She is fiercely independent, and mentally sharp.   So much negative has happened to her since PACC took over the building.   The daily micro-aggressions from PACC staff, the ever-changing superintendants, and unreliable home health care agencies are very frustrating for her, but she still praises God, has a great sense of humor and keeps going.   Many in our building deeply respect Mrs. Williams.

PACC has made offers to paint Mrs. Williams’ apartment and to temporarily re-locate her at Gibbs Mansion, 218 Gates Avenue. Mrs. Williams strongly refused to move to Gibbs Mansion:   the mansion is perceived in the neighborhood as a place where AIDS patients go to die.  

Council Member Leticia James came to our tenants meeting on October 31, 2007.   At that time we discussed heating, security, and the peeling paint.   After the meeting Deb Howard, and her staff:   Ms. Blue, Ms. Roman and the super Everoll met with me and Mrs. Williams in her apartment .   At that time Deb Howard agreed to coordinate a temporary move of Mrs. Williams to an apartment on Spencer Street and that PACC would repair her apartment and reimburse her for her lost and damaged furniture and Mrs. Williams agreed to that plan.   That plan never materialized.   Later PACC offered to move Mrs. Williams to the 5 ^th floor apartment in 277 Gates.   Since that time PACC’s chief focus has been on painting the apartment.   One year later Mrs. Williams apartment is in terrible condition, PACC behaves as if they cannot do the painting then they cannot inspect the apartment for pollutants, or reimburse Ms. Williams for damages.   Mrs. Williams also refused to move to the 5 ^th floor apartment.   In this case she reported concerns about using the elevator and being able to get out of the building on her own (the elevator has several breakdowns and tenants have been trapped inside).

Presently, there is a very distrustful and polarized relationship between Mrs. Williams and PACC.   But here we have an opportunity.   The neighboring apartment to Mrs. Williams has been empty, the tenant left.   If PACC could temporarily move Mrs. Williams into that apartment (there would be no issues about elevators or suspicious buildings) then PACC could have the apartment inspected for air pollutants and once that has been evaluated, they could paint the apartment.   A tenant issue that has dragged on for more than 3 years could be resolved.   I hope you will try this alternative.

Sincerely,

 

 

Portia Adams, PhD, LCSW

President of the 277 Gates Tenants Association,

poadams@fordham.edu ,

917-627-2415, 212 636-6675.  

Portia Adams, Ph.D 
Assistant Professor 
Graduate School of Social Service 
Fordham University 
113 W. 60th Street, Office 725C 
New York, New York 10023 

(212) 636-6675 
Fax (212) 636-7876 

Notice the Changes?

They fixed the back door, after 2 plus years.
They painted the common areas.
They have sweeped the front yard 10 times.

What happened?
One tenant has sent numerous letters to HPD.
We had all made complaints to PACC.
This week I called about the lack of heat, about the doors not working, and told Jennie that a stranger came out of the bathroom last Saturday morning and went out the back door (one of the tenants told me this).
Someone pulled down the Call for Heat signs I put up. It was cold for a few days, eventhough today it is beautiful, it is heating season.
Last night 2 Black women approached me in the hallway (how they got into the building I don't know) and wanted to know how PACC is as a landlord. I told them that PACC had just painted the hallways, but we did not have heat for 2 years, we have had about 6 supers in 2 years, and I don't know who the super is now...
Whatever, this is probably a good time to ask PACC to fix things.

Next Meeting Wed., 10/15/08 at 8pm.


Portia

October Meeting:

Wednesday the 15th, 8PM, in the Lobby.

Bring any concerns you may have.

July 9, 2008 Meeting- review

This past Wednesday we again met in our buildings lobby.

We discussed:

-Changes to this website- we will add a method to contact the site admin.

-recent PACC employee changing- we have a new Super and Porter

-Bed bug activity in New York City- Nobody in out building has heard or seen anything here.

-Upcoming new officer elections- there will be a shuffling around in September.

-City council representatives and their level of involvement at our level- much debate here.

-The need to distribute minutes to all building tenants, despite whether they attend meetings or not.

-Specific building/tenant problems: retribution for the lack of heat over the past few winters, the ongoing problems with our door locks, past maintenance requests that have gone unanswered, among other things.

-PACC being recently fined by the Court when they said there were no lack-of-heat problems, but then proven wrong.  This was when PACC took one tenant to court for other matters.

This meeting turned out to be a little spirited, but we ended with some ideas for our next actions.

Next meeting in 4 weeks.

Ongoing door issues

Besides the lack of heat in the winter, our biggest problem at 277 Gates is the unending door breakage.

Lately, every single door into the building (barring always-locked cellar doors) has been broken at the same time. This is a new low in the buildings security.

The back door, leading to the garbage and recycling area and eventually to a gate that lets out onto the street, in currently unable to close, no matter how hard you slam it. It simply will not catch.

The two front doors can be functional if shut properly, but are almost never done so. They must be closed completely by whoever is passing through, letting the mechanisms catch. If they are left to close on their own, they simply will not shut- they will stop before locking completely, though from a distance they will appear closed.

This is perhaps the most common complaint that tenants in the building have. We have asked PACC to fix the doors once and for since the very beginning of our Tenants Association, almost a year ago. It is true that have come and fixed the door in dire situations (such as when the lock freezes shut, or when the door knob/paddle completely falls off) but within a few days the doors are broken again. I do not know why.

Personally, I cannot understand why I've never seen this perpetually-broken-door at other places I frequent- my job, past addresses, school, stores, etc. I think many of us are looking for answers.