Sunset Park Landlord Accused of Racial Discrimination

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — Local activists, renters and Sunset Park Councilman Carlos Menchaca are stepping up their campaign against a neighborhood building owner they say has discriminated against Hispanic residents while abusing his tenants and failing to enforce city health codes.

On Friday, attorneys with the Sunset Park-based Neighbors Helping Neighbors and the Community Development Project will file a complaint with the city's Commission on Human Rights against Soo Fung Dong, the owner of 430 61st St.

The complaint alleges that many of the building's tenants have endured "illegal harassment and discriminatory practices" under Dong's ownership, as well as verbal assaults, invasions of their privacy, "frivolous" eviction cases, and other abuses targeting them because they're Hispanic.

The complaint will be announced at a Friday press conference in front of the property, scheduled for 10 a.m.

In May, a group of 11 tenants sued Dong in housing court, charging that he had failed to address a litany of health code violations.

Rini Fonseca-Sabune, an attorney with Neighbors Helping Neighbors, said the suit documented 163 violations — including lead paint in a unit where children lived — even though the building has just 16 apartments.

On June 21, a judge ordered all of the violations to be addressed. Fonseca-Sabune said that work is ongoing.

Patch was unable to reach Dong for comment on Wednesday. City records listed a Bronx mailing address for what appears to be his business, but a phone number found on the Department of Building's website was not in service.

Pictured at top: 430 61st St. Image via Google Maps