Chinatown Tenants Protest Outside City Hall Against Landlord Harassment

CITY HALL, NY — Dozens of people demonstrated outside City Hall Thursday in a show of solidarity with tenants suing their management company, R.A. Cohen, on grounds they repeatedly neglected to make necessary repairs in their apartments.

The rent-stabilized tenants of R.A. Cohen Properties, 135 Eldridge and 247 Broome streets, say the apartments are plagued with mold, mice and roaches, and broken appliances.

Management failed to fix ceiling leaks, holes in the walls or along baseboards, broken lights and doors, broken doorbells, excessively cracked paint, and pipe bursts, Melanie Wang, an organizer with Chinatown Tenants Union who was at the demonstration Thursday, told Patch.

"One tenant at 247 Broome Street had to call 911 to get the pipes fixed in her apartment, but it still wasn't properly fixed, and there was so much mold around her toilet that she couldn't sit on it," Wang said.

There are currently 23 Department of Building violations and 20 Environmental Control Board violations against 135 Eldridge St. At 247 Broome Street. There are 12 DOB violations and four ECB violations.

The demands of the demonstrators outside City Hall Thursday were clear cut: 1) Make the necessary repairs for safe and healthy conditions, 2) Don't illegally increase the rent, and 3) Don't kick them out.

A message left with R.A. Cohen Properties was not returned.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Manhattan District Attorney Eric Schneiderman on Wednesday announced a Supreme Court lawsuit against a different area building management company, Marolda Properties, Inc., and several of its landlords for allegedly harassing long-term tenants and endangering them in their homes.

Tenants of Marolda and R.A. Cohen said Thursday that the landlords of Marolda and Cohen Properties are similar in that they are criminals and trying to drive working-class immigrant residents out of Chinatown.

"This kind of behavior by large corporate landlords is something that's a pattern we've seen over and over again, and it's increased in the past 10 years," Wang said. "The majority of these tenants are rent-regulated immigrant Chinese folks, mostly seniors, mostly non-English speaking, and without a doubt these folks are less able to fight back against the landlord. They're more vulnerable."

Photo credit: Organizing Asian Communities