the gloves are off

Category: Harassment

  • Gotham faces $600,000+ judgment

    Gotham has been ordered to pay its rent.

    Since April of 2020 Gotham has refused to pay rent on its swanky office digs on Park Avenue South. They didn't like the construction shed on the sidewalk. So they just stopped paying their rent. The landlord sued and won hands down: over $600,000 in back rent plus damages and attorneys fees. 

    Of course, Gotham makes residential tenants in its own buildings wade through dog poop and urine on the sidewalk but still expects tenants to pay their rent. Here's a pretty picture of what Gotham's tenants deal with day in and day out in front of the building:

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    Imagine slip-sliding through that to get in the door. 

    Poor David Picket, Gotham owner. He can't screw his own landlord out of $600,000 in rent so he'll beat up on disabled, elderly, and poor tenants in his buildings by revoking utility rent credits that have been guaranteed in their leases. The tenants are suing, too, but Gotham is afraid to answer the complaint. They keep begging for extensions of time to figure out a response.

    Judgment Day is coming.

     

     

     

  • Utility Allowance Theft by Gotham Organization

    We received a couple of requests for these DHCR complaint forms which will come in useful if Gotham West Management fails to correct all of the LIHTC renewal leases which it knows illegally eliminated the Utility Allowance.

    Make no mistake about it – this is not a situation in which Gotham West has made innocent mistakes or the result of simple incompetence on the part of its employee, Amine Ourahou, who is pushing these faulty renewal leases onto tenants. This is a planned strategy to cheat LIHTC tenants out of their Utility Allowances. It is a crafted conspiracy to steal tenants' Utility Allowances and pocket them.

    It is theft.

    It is such a shame that David Picket's Gotham Organization doesn't maintain employees who are skilled enough and talented enough to be successful without cheating less fortunate people. 

    Download DHCR Tenant Complaint Form–failure to renew lease

    Download Ra89–rent-overcharge

     

  • If you want to lose your apartment

    at Gotham West, be sure to sign the suspicious low-income lease rider that Gotham West management is sending to tenants in low-income (income-restricted) apartments. Specifically, these riders are coming from Alany Coello, Compliance Specialist, and are made to look like they are part of the annual financial certification. They ARE NOT a legitimate element of the annual financial certification. But Gotham West management is trying to coerce tenants into signing the riders by misrepresenting through trickery that the riders are a requirement of the annual certification.

    These riders contain a new Reassignment Right for the landlord which says in effect that the landlord can move you out of your apartment and into another apartment when your lease comes up for renewal. For example, if your home is in the 550 building, you might end up being uprooted and moved to the 510 building or possibly even to another one of Gotham Organization's properties like the dilapidated Atlas building on Sixth Avenue. The point is that Gotham wants you to give them permission to treat you like chattel — a tax credit that they can move around from place to place when it benefits them.

    Lease renewals are legally required to be offered with the SAME terms and conditions as the original lease. If you will look at the Low Income Rider on your original lease, you will NOT SEE any Reassignment Right that says the landlord can move you around like a homeless person in a shelter. There SHOULD NOT be such a term in the renewal rider. But Gotham wants to TRICK you and COERCE you into giving them permission to move you out of your home and into a unit that they think is more appropriate for a low income person. Further, they want to be able to harass you by threatening to move you out of your apartment if you don't comply with all of their requests or, good heavens, aren't wearing stylish clothes that give the appearance of wealth.

    SHAME ON DAVID PICKET, OWNER OF GOTHAM WEST AND GOTHAM ORGANIZATION, FOR TRYING TO CHEAT AND TRICK TENANTS OUT OF THEIR APARTMENTS.

    Don't be fooled and don't sign the rider. If you begin receiving communications from Gotham that say things like "if you want to stay in your apartment" or "if you want to remain here" or "we will have to end your lease" as coercion to sign the rider, see an attorney at Housing Conservation Coordinators on 10th Avenue, call Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal's office, call Corey Johnson's office, call State Senator Brad Hoylman's office, start calling housing lawyers who will want to assess how big of a case they can make out of your problem. In the instance of this new rider, it would seem that a big, profitable case might be waiting for someone.

    Don't sign away your rights. Don't let your neighbor sign away his or her rights.

    By the way, on December 7th from 9:30-4:00, the 14th Annual West Side Tenants' Conference will be held at Fordham School of Law at Lincoln Center. Don't let this opportunity pass by. RSVP on the HCC website or phone 845-367-7003 or email jfurlong@hcc-nyc.org.

    WSTC2019

  • Welcome to all Gotham West NYC tenants

    Due to the escalating number of occurrences in which Gotham Organization's management has overcharged tenants and stripped tenants of rights guaranteed by their leases and/or Gotham West's owner's agreement with the New York Housing Finance Authority (HFA), it has becoming necessary to begin the process of formally organizing.

    You are invited to participate on this site through comments – particularly if you are a tenant in Gotham West at 510 W. 45th St., 511 W. 44th St., 530 W. 45th St., or 550 W. 45th St. If you reside in another Gotham Organization property and are aware of shady dealings, please feel free to contribute. Click on the individual post title to either read or write comments.

    Email addresses are required for all comments but will never be published. Anyone who wants their own email published should put it in the text of their comment. It is recommended that you not use your real name or apartment number since we're sure that Gotham West Management will have their eyes on this site day and night. Comments are moderated and will appear after site administrators have reviewed them. If the comment requires revision, site administrators will email the contributor — that's the only reason emails are required.

    Now, let's get down to business.