Residents raise concerns with apartment management

Parking, heating, infestation of animals, plumbing and communication problems were some of the problems that 30 residents of the Bayview Gardens apartment complex on Bayview Ave. between Sheridan Boulevard and St. George Place in Inwood spoke about at a meeting at a private home, also in Inwood on Sept. 21. It was the third such meeting within the past year.

County Legislator Carrié Solages (D-Elmont) attended the meeting to learn about the residents’ concerns as well as mediate the proceedings as Daniel Goldstein, a principal of Brooklyn-based E&M Property Management, also attended the meeting. The company that took over managing the apartment complex last June.

“Many of these residents are hard-working people who are complaining about issues that show that they are facing a constructive eviction,” Solages said. “The landlord is doing things that is in essence is forcing them to leave.”

Residents said that in addition to the rent they pay for their apartment, E&M added charges for lighting and gas to their rent bills.

Brooklyn-based New York Communities for Change, an organization that strives to achieve social and economic justice for low and moderate-income communities of working families, also attended the meeting at Solages invitation. Representatives took notes and will review the residents concerns.

Delorise Robinson has lived in an apartment at 385 Bayview Ave. since the buildings opened in 1971. She brought with her to the meeting a hospital report stating that she contracted cellulitis from reaching into her toilet in an attempt to repair it since the management did not respond to her repair request in a timely fashion. “We can’t take a shower because the water comes down through the ceiling in the living room,” she said, of her recent plumbing issues within the last week.

Eric Robinson, 47, Delorise’s son who has lived in the apartments for his entire life, said people couldn’t afford it anymore. “He [Goldstein] wants us to pay for everything and that’s not what Section 8 is for, it’s to help the people that are less fortunate,” Eric added. Section 8 is a federal program that provides assistance to eligible low- and moderate-income families to rent housing in the private market.

In response to resident complaints, Goldstein, who lives in Lawrence and serves as a village trustee said: “This is your place to stay and don’t let anyone tell you any different.”

However, to the residents’ dismay, the property management company installed a gate on the side of the apartments near Sheridan Boulevard that restricts parking on the property to only tenants. But he plans to charge residents to park in the complex.

The St. George Place side of the complex is a public street, so E&M cannot install gate on that side, Goldstein said he spoke to the Town of Hempstead to acquire tags for the residents’ cars to allow them to park in the designated spots and put up tow away signs for anyone without a tag.

“Ever since they took over this place, it went downhill,” Doris Green, a resident for 45 years, said. She has seen three management companies since she has lived there, E&M being the third and “worst.”