by Sarah Omar Wali and Mustafa Mehdi Vural
The newly painted pink and blue walls in apartment 52 in the building at 1804 Weeks Ave. give the illusion of a well-cared for living space. But the bright colors provide only a thin cover for the vermin-infested apartment Fernando Diaz shares with his wife and two young daughters.
Outside, boarded-up windows and broken glass leave the impression that the East Tremont building is abandoned. Inside, graffiti splashes the hallways, doors are missing, and the shaky staircase is pocked by holes. “Don’t Rent Here,” is scrawled on the doors of empty apartments. More than 20 families, most of them Latino, are attempting to survive in this five-story building,which was bought by an Ocelot entity in August 2007. It has been in foreclosure since April of this year.
Twenty-seven of the 33 apartments are occupied and the rent averages $850 a month. According to the Department of Housing and Preservation’s (HPD) records, tenants have filed 338 complaints in the past year.
HPD took note of the broken windows, trash strewn floors, lack of security and hot water, and put the building under the Alternative Enforcement Program in early 2008. The year-old program, was designed to identify and fix dwellings in severe distress. The law allowed the city to sweep in to make necessary repairs, and then slap the derelict owner with a hefty fine.
Yet this program has had little to no impact on the quality of life inside 1804 Weeks Ave. According to the program’s report, as of Oct. 2007, the owners owed $19,100 as a tax lien to the city for open violations against the building. This included a $16,500 fee that was carried over from the previous fiscal year on April 24, 2009. Under the program’s guidelines, the city charges a fee for violations that remain unresolved. This building currently carries 581 outstanding violations, according to HPD.
Diaz has been living on the fifth floor with his wife, Rosie Benitas, and their two daughters Jacquelin, 7, and Tanya, 4, since February. They used to live in a second-floor apartment, but a fire forced them to move upstairs.
Diaz tried calling the maintenance supervisor in the building, he said. But he was told the super would not do any work in the apartment until he received his paycheck. Diaz understands the super’s dilemma, but said he is more concerned about the mice and rats that could crawl into his daughters’ beds at night.
Using 311, Diaz has attempted to file formal complaints about rodent problems, lack of hot water and falling ceilings. However, after months of neglect, he decided to at least try and make the apartment cheery.
Diaz painted the walls in bold hues to cover up the holes around the bathroom knobs. The girls’ room was given a cool turquoise color to divert them from the windows that don’t open–creating an inferno in the summer.
However, most of the damage cannot be ignored, he said. His bedroom ceiling leaks when it rains, and the crack is edging closer to the light fixture. At night he lays in bed, staring at his ceiling, hoping that faulty wires will not cause another fire, and force them out once more.