Several years ago, I had a very unpleasant experience here at Kenmore Hall. Management and Security completely dropped the ball, and showed me that tenant safety is definitely NOT top priority in the building. It also taught me not to trust staff at all, and that they have nothing worthwhile to offer. I am NOT a victim, I'm a SURVIVOR, and no thanks to them. Another reason I'm bringing up "ancient history" is that during the fall of 2013, Mr. Garcia called me down to his office to see if I'd mind if the ban on Mr. Ross's girlfriend could be lifted so she could visit him. It was quite easy to say no, particularly since since a good friend of mine is also currently banned from the building. I suggested to Mr. Garcia that it might become easier for me to change my mind about Mr. Ross's girlfriend if my friend were no longer banned - and he dropped the whole conversation immediately, telling me I was comparing apples and oranges. The difference is, of course, that Ross's girlfriend helped him attack me right here in the building, and my friend has never attacked anyone here, ever, to the best of my knowledge. Security in this building is a relative thing; personally, I feel safer on the streets outside that I do inside the building, and I also believe that the surveillance cameras are here to protect the building, not the tenants. Here's the back story on this: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 Watch Your Back If you get assaulted in Kenmore Hall, don’t count on desk staff in the lobby to assist you (either by intervening or calling the police on their own), despite the fact that we have surveillance cameras in all common areas of the building and someone is supposed to be monitoring them at all times, and that the desk staff reports to the Director of Security. Expect to have desk staff challenge why you’ve called the police in the event of a violent crime. Most of all, take note of the fact that the green sign that used to sit on the reception desk alerting tenants, guests and others that closed circuit cameras are in use throughout the building for the protection of tenants and guests has been removed. Now, instead, we have two signs – one in the lobby seating area, the other in the second floor community room – advising people that photography and videotaping in the building is prohibited without prior consent from H.S.I. Most of all, if you’ve been assaulted in Kenmore Hall, don’t count on having management or the Director of Security cooperate with the District Attorney’s office should the incident go to trial by providing the proper segment of videotape showing the assault (should you be lucky enough to be assaulted in a part of the building that’s under video surveillance in the first place). Are tenants supposed to feel that the surveillance cameras in the building are here to protect tenants, or to protect the building? That’s not an original observation on my part; it’s a rhetorical question I was asked during an interview I had with a Victim’s Services worker at the District Attorney’s office this past summer. We both knew the real answer. I was assaulted on an elevator in Kenmore Hall by Timothy Ross, another tenant, on June 1st, 2010, just before 7:00 in the evening. The attack didn’t stop in the elevator; he and his girlfriend chased me up the hallway from the elevator to my room on the 11th floor, hitting me hard enough in and around the head to bloody my nose and make me see stars. I’m afraid to think of what would have happened if another neighbor hadn’t been on the elevator with me, trying to block Ross’s blows, and finally calming him enough to get him to walk away while I let myself into my room to call the police. When I went down to the lobby that evening to meet the police officers, the desk staff wanted to know why I’d called the police (why wouldn’t I after being viciously attacked?); then they wanted me to fill out an incident report immediately, and I had to explain to them that I was going to speak to the police officers first, because that took priority over everything else. Ross was already in the lobby, and had apparently already spoken to the desk staff. I gave my statement to the police officers, and had Ross arrested. Incredibly, the female police officer I was speaking to couldn’t seem to believe that I really wanted to have him arrested; she asked me three or more times whether that was what I definitely wanted. He was finally arrested – and protested being handcuffed. When I went back into the lobby, I stopped at the reception desk to file an incident report, and White told me that an incident report had already been filed by Ross. I had to insist on filing a report because the desk staff apparently had difficulty understanding that there were two sides to the incident, and that I was the victim and that my statement was essential. The following evening, a large group of tenants was congregated in the lobby. Some of them appeared to be drunk; several made loud, threatening and racist comments directed at me when I walked by from the elevator to the front door. This was witnessed by another tenant, who was with me, and was loud enough that it must have been audible to the staff at the reception desk. Another tenant entered the building and spat repeatedly at me as he passed me. I was called a white bitch, and the threats included “getting” me off camera on 22nd Street. Obviously, Ross had been busy talking to his friends about the incident, and I had become a target for what sounded like an angry mob. Over the next few weeks, I was approached by several other tenants who demanded to know what had happened between Ross and me, and the encounters were not particularly pleasant – the questions weren’t simply questions, they felt like challenges. I had to remind them that it didn’t concern them, and that the matter was being handled by the District Attorney’s office. Interestingly enough, a couple of black tenants made supportive comments during that period of time – telling me that they disliked the gossiping and ugly talk Mr. Ross’s friends were spreading around the building. They also commented on the strong division in the building across racial lines. The trial was adjourned twice over the summer and fall. The District Attorney’s office met with my witness and me to collect our statements; we were told in July that they were having trouble getting Ralph Garcia, Director of Security at Kenmore Hall, to submit the segment of video from the surveillance cameras that showed the assault, as he promised me he would do if it was subpoenaed. The copy of the video was finally received at the D.A.’s office the day after one of the adjourned trial dates in August. During this entire time, no one from H.S.I. management contacted me to find out how I was or anything about the case. On July 1st, though, I came home to find that a memo had been placed on all the doors in my hall regarding management’s intention to take legal action against tenants continued to throw trash out the windows of the building, signed by Dan Danaher. I was outraged, and responded in writing immediately. That letter is included later in this post. Danaher has never responded to my letter. Over the fall, commentary on the matter by other tenants mostly trickled off, but one evening another tenant asked me if I wouldn’t accept an apology from Ross and drop the case. He’d apparently been asked to relay the outrageous message by Ross himself. Ross pleaded guilty to the assault charge on December 8, and the result is that I have a permanent order of protection against him and he has a class B criminal misdemeanor on his record. Instead of going to jail, he has to serve five days of community service. He gets to stay in the building because H.S.I. apparently doesn’t feel that his attack on me merits his being evicted. According to the District Attorney’s office, Mr. Ross’s sentence to do community service rather than being sent to jail was based on his not having been arrested within the past 8 years (although he has had legal problems in the past), and the segment of video they’d reviewed which showed various people walking around a variety of floors in the building. Both Ralph Garcia and Mollie Mattimore have told me that they both viewed the video records taken from the surveillance cameras, and that what was sent to the D.A.’s office definitely showed the assault. When I asked Garcia and Mattimore why it took so long to deliver the tape to the D.A.’s office, and why it didn’t show the actual assault, they told me a ridiculous story about the subpoena arriving at H.S.I.’s Park Avenue offices during Garcia’s vacation addressed directly to Mr. Garcia rather than being addressed to him as a staff member of H.S.I., and it not being opened or dealt with until his return because they didn’t realize it was pressing business that directly concerned H.S.I. Mattimore claims that Garcia often receives mail regarding legal cases involving tenants who have moved out of H.S.I. properties, and that they assumed that this correspondence involved one of those cases. She also mentioned that Dan Danaher had noticed it when it arrived. Garcia claims he hand-delivered the subpoenaed video to the D.A.’s office as soon as he returned from his vacation. I find it interesting that Danaher’s name came up in this conversation, not only because it sounds like an interesting way to pass the blame on to another staff member, but also because I had complained to Danaher about his “flying trash” memo at the beginning of July. Mattimore also told me that while she wishes that Ross could be removed from the building, it’s very difficult to evict tenants unless they owe phenomenal amounts of back rent and don’t have the means to pay up. That doesn’t sound completely accurate, though. For example, DHCR’s Section 8 tenant package contains a list of rules and regulations concerning tenant conduct while they’re receiving the Section 8 subsidy. Item four on the second page of this list prohibits tenants from engaging “in drug-related criminal activity or violent criminal activity or other criminal activity that threatens the health, safety, or right to peaceful enjoyment of other residents and persons residing in the immediate vicinity of the premises.” Hmmm. Ross has pleaded guilty to a violent criminal act against me. I certainly haven’t had much “peaceful enjoyment” since the assault. The only way I can effectively enforce the order of protection is if he violates it – then I can call the police and have him arrested again - but who in their right mind would want to have to endure another attack? So what’s the problem with getting him out of the building? Kenmore Hall is not a long-term housing solution for me. It was never intended to be more than a transitional solution while I find employment and better housing. I’d rather be living in a one or two bedroom apartment in Brooklyn, frankly, and I’ve been pursuing that. While I don’t want to be here any longer than absolutely necessary, I also don’t want to move out in haste just to get away from a criminal who has victimized me. When I move out, it has to be a stable, upward move, not a lateral or insecure move. Here is the body of the letter I sent to Danaher in July: July 1, 2010 Dan Danaher, Director of Operations H.S.I. / Housing and Services Inc. 461 Park Avenue New York NY 10010 FAX: 212-252-9322 RE: Memo regarding disposal of trash Danaher; When I returned home to Kenmore Hall last night, I found a copy of your memo stating that management has received complaints from community members about trash being thrown out Kenmore Hall’s windows, and that management will “immediate initiate legal proceedings against said tenant(s)” tucked in my door (#11J). While I appreciate the seriousness of the situation and the need to ensure that all tenants are put on notice about it, I found the memo offensive for several reasons. Your memo states that throwing garbage out the windows at Kenmore Hall is both unacceptable and dangerous, but is it any more unacceptable and dangerous than the vicious assault on me by another tenant that took place in the building on June 1st? Timothy Ross and his girlfriend attacked me on an elevator that evening, and pursued me up the hallway, punching me repeatedly in the head and neck, hard enough for me to see stars – and if it hadn’t been for the intervention of another tenant, I doubt very much that the attack would have stopped before I was severely injured. Most of the attack took place in a hallway on camera and was recorded on the surveillance tapes, and took over five minutes. The desk staff on duty at that time did nothing to intervene; I understand that they are not security officers, but they didn’t even bother to call 911. I called the police myself and filed a police report and had the other tenant arrested. We’ll be in court in August. So much for safety and acceptable behavior in the building; the security cameras are basically useless when violent behavior that is completely visible to the staff who are supposed to be monitoring activities in the building isn’t acted on immediately and effectively. I realize that H.S.I. has a commitment to providing housing to low-income people, and that part of its mission includes helping provide stable housing to ex-offenders and people with substance abuse problems. I was told when I was interviewed as a candidate for housing here that there were tenants with active drug abuse problems in the building, but I was led to believe that one of the conditions of their tenancy was that they be actively involved in some type of rehabilitation program, but that what tenants do in their rooms with the doors closed tends to be overlooked. Over the past year, I’ve repeatedly smelled marijuana and other drugs seeping out from under other doors at my end of the hall. It’s revolting and unpleasant, and proves a point that regardless of whether their doors are shut or not, fumes are able to seep around the door frames into common areas. I’ve encountered severely intoxicated tenants in the halls, elevators, lobby and loitering by the front door so many times I’ve lost count; they may be consuming their drugs and alcohol in private, but their intoxicated behavior (which includes urination on the floor of the community room, up the hall of the second floor and in the elevators – as well as lewd and hostile comments to me and other tenants) becomes a public issue once they leave their rooms, and it’s unacceptable to me. I have to be constantly on guard on my way in and out of the building; I refuse to subject the decent people I know outside the building to the conditions inside the building – which restricts my right to entertain friends at home – and I would never consider bringing my minor son to visit me in this building again after having been assaulted on June 1st because it would be irresponsible and negligent for me to expose my son to a potentially dangerous situation – and this interferes with and restricts my ability to have free contact with a blood relative. Based on my experiences at Kenmore Hall over the past year, it would appear that the rights and freedoms of tenants conducting illegal activities are made a higher priority than those of the decent, law-abiding tenants. Will H.S.I. ever take responsibility for this and make the building a safe place for ALL tenants? I’m not the first person to be physically attacked in the building, and I’m sure I’m not the last – and meanwhile, we’re being given notices about the dangers of throwing trash out windows. This memo is very similar to one distributed by Hania Schwartz several months ago. If there’s a need to revisit the issue, then I think it’s safe to assume that the problem is an ongoing one and that it hasn’t been solved yet. Why hasn’t it been, and why would distributing another memo threatening legal action against offenders have any more impact than the original one? Was it necessary, at a time when funding cuts to non-profit organizations are adversely affecting services and quality of life in the building, to spend the money and resources to photocopy over 300 copies of the notice in order to provide a copy for each tenant? I sincerely hope that dangerous conditions in the building improve in the very near future. My recommendation to Kenmore Hall tenants who encounter problems in the building – especially if it involves being the victim of a violent crime – is to report it to the appropriate agency or authorities as quickly as possible. Talk to management and caseworkers if you feel you need to, but don’t leave it to them to do the right thing. Document as much as you can, make copies and keep it organized. Follow up until you get at least some level of satisfaction. This may be “just” an S.R.O., but we all have stabilized leases. That’s a legally binding contract between the landlord and tenants; as long as you’re complying with your contractual obligations, you’re entitled to your rights. If you’re getting Section 8 assistance with your rent, you have an additional agency you can contact regarding problems.