Flatbush Woman In 80s Evicted Over Typo, Officials Say

FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN — A Flatbush woman in her 80s was evicted from her long-time apartment because of a spelling error in legal papers, according to a coalition of tenants' advocates and elected officials.

Joy P. Noel said Monday that during eviction proceedings a case was filed in the wrong zip code and with her name misspelled, which meant she wasn't told to attend a court hearing.

Noel went out of state to get medical treatment and, when she came back, found her belongings were no longer in her home and she had been kicked out of her apartment, she said.

Her landlord, Isaac Jacobowitz of Carnegie Management, had gone to court without her present and said she wouldn't sign a lease renewal. Noel said that management was trying to jack up the rent in the stabilized building and force out long-term tenants from the property, on the corner of East 21st Street and Ditmas Avenue in Flatbush.

"I am warning you for justice. Justice for tenants who are illegally taken advantage of," she said from the lobby of the building Monday. "They are not only trying to make money but they are jeopardizing the lives of the tenants."

Noel was joined by two dozen or so members of the Flatbush Tenant Coalition to bring awareness to the issue. They said gas has been shut off in the building since February, which they call an effort to get rent-stabilized tenants out of the building.

"Families with children couldn’t feed their children and young babies," Noel said. "We couldn’t eat."

The tenants' rights group demanded that Noel be allowed to move back into her apartment at her original rent rate and for the landlord to pay for necessary repairs in the building.

Jumaane Williams, who represents nearby East Flatbush on the city council and chairs its committee on housing and buildings, said Noel's case is part of a larger pattern of landlord harassment in low-income communities across the city.

"This is just disgusting. There’s no other word for it," Williams said.

Williams added that he wants New York Attorney General Eric Shneiderman to prosecute Jacobowitz and put him in jail for his misdeeds.

As Williams was saying that, a representative from Carnegie Management walked in the door of the building and was immediately interrogated by Williams and State Sen. Jesse Hamilton about Noel's eviction. Jacob Friedman, who identified himself as the operations manager, deferred questions about the case to Carnegie's attorneys.

"It is my hope that there will be a lot of fines that hit your pocket," Williams told him. "If there’s something that’s criminal, my hope is that a criminal case will be put forth."

Friedman did confirm that gas had been shut off in the building.

"Yes, that’s correct," he said in response to a Patch question. "But I’m not willing to discus this at this point."

Williams shot back: "This is the face of harassment that’s going on across the city."

Friedman added that he had no information about the misspelling or the incorrect zip code in legal filings.

A message left by Patch with Jacobowitz at Carnegie Management was not immediately returned.

Photos by Marc Torrence, Patch