the gloves are off

Category: Other Issues

  • Gotham gets slapped with $1.45 million cost to settle lawsuit

    Gotham Organization constructed faulty apartments that did not comply with fair housing accessibility requirements in their two properties, The Nicole at 9th Avenue and W. 55th Street in Manhattan and The Ashland in Brooklyn. After being sued by the Fair Housing Justice Center, Gotham was pummeled into a settlement that cost them $1.45 million in cash and required them to implement retrofit plans at both buildings and modify dwelling units and common areas to make the housing more accessible. Gotham will have to contract with an inspector to inspect all of the retrofits.

    Additionally, for five years Gotham will retain consultants to review architectural drawings and site conditions at certain future multi-family buildings during the term of the agreement. Gotham also agreed to have their employees attend training on fair housing accessibility requirements.  

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    Fair Housing Accessibility Case Settled

    DEFENDANTS AGREE TO RETROFIT TWO RENTAL BUILDINGS IN MANHATTAN AND BROOKLYN AND PAY $1.45 MILLION

    On October 30, 2021, federal Judge Gregory H. Woods signed an order agreeing to retain court jurisdiction to enforce a settlement agreement between the Fair Housing Justice Center (FHJC), developer defendants Gotham Organization Inc., Bam Go Developers LLC, Bam Go Developers II, LLC, and 55th and 9th LLC, and the architect for one of the buildings, FX Collaborative Architects, LLP. The parties’ agreement resolves a lawsuit filed by the FHJC in May 2019 which alleged that two rental buildings in New York City did not comply with fair housing accessibility requirements.

    In 2018, the FHJC conducted a testing investigation at two mixed-income rental developments: The Ashland, a 53-story, 563-unit Brooklyn apartment building built in 2016 and The Nicole, a 20-story, 145-unit Manhattan apartment building built in 2004. In its lawsuit, FHJC alleged that its testing identified various features in the apartments and common areas in both buildings that were inaccessible and not in compliance with fair housing laws.

    The 5-year settlement agreement provides that the developer defendants will implement retrofit plans at both buildings and modify dwelling units and common areas to make the housing more accessible. In addition, current and new tenants will be offered several accessibility features for their apartments at no cost to the tenants. The developer defendants will also retrofit some units in each building to have them meet the heightened accessibility specifications of the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS).

    The developer defendants have agreed to contract with an inspector to inspect all the retrofits. Both Gotham and FX Collaborative will retain consultants to review architectural drawings and site conditions at certain future multi-family buildings during the term of the agreement. Defendants have also agreed to have their employees attend training  on fair housing accessibility requirements.

    A portion of the settlement funds will be added to FHJC’s Adele Friedman Housing Accessibility Fund, which provides money to income-eligible persons with disabilities to make reasonable modifications to their existing housing units to make the housing accessible.

    FHJC National Field Consultant Fred Freiberg stated, “Recent settlements obtained by the FHJC should persuade developers, architects, and others involved in the design and construction of multi-family residential developments that it is more prudent and far less costly to build housing compliant with accessibility requirements rather than incur substantial expenses for retrofits, damages, and attorneys’ fees after the violations are found.” Freiberg added, “Accessible housing is a civil right.”

    FHJC was represented by Debra L. Greenberger and Diane L. Houk with the law firm of Emery Celli, Brinckerhoff, Abady Ward & Maazel LLP. 

    FHJC’s investigation in this case was supported with funding from a Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI) grant received from the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

    The mission of the FHJC, a nonprofit civil rights organization, is to eliminate housing discrimination; promote policies and programs that foster open, accessible, and inclusive communities; and strengthen enforcement of fair housing laws in the New York City region.

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  • 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.

     

     

     

  • Gotham sued for noncompliance with Fair Housing Act

    It sure is starting to look like the only way David Picket's Gotham Organization can make a profit is off the backs of disabled and poor tenants through substandard construction design and cheating them out of utility allowances that were permanently written into leases. 

    Here Gotham is being sued by the Fair Housing Justice Center for construction at its Nicole (55th & 9th Ave) and Ashland (Brooklyn) buildings which does not meet standards of accessibility for disabled individuals. To add insult to injury, Gotham yanked away the utility allowances from the low income and disabled tenants at the Nicole who are fighting to survive during the pandemic.

    As the suit says, it's time to halt and reform Gotham's illegal and despicable practices.

    Here are the first two pages:

    P1-2 of Gotham.-Complaint-dkt-1-5-23-19-00377710x9CCC2 copy

     

    P2-2 of Gotham.-Complaint-dkt-1-5-23-19-00377710x9CCC2 copy

     

  • Food or rent? Medicine or rent? Health insurance or rent?

    These are not choices that Gotham West tenants should be making.

    A reader sent us this link to the The Action Network's call for rent cancellation. The organization is sponsored by:

    Action Network Sponsors

     

    Landlords like Gotham are seeking forbearance on their federally-backed mortgage payments. THIS FORBEARANCE SHOULD BE PASSED ALONG TO ALL TENANTS WITHOUT TENANTS HAVING TO BEG FOR IT.

    Meanwhile, Gotham West tenants who died from COVID-19 struggled with their last breaths as Gotham Management continued to cheat them out of proper utility allowances and proper leases. There is no lowest point to this management's behavior.

     

     

  • blink, blink

    Yesterday Gotham Organization took a step back (with a sigh and tears in its eyes) and decided that it's not going to ram its shoddy, illegitimate removal of the utility allowances down the throats of Gotham West affordable tenants at the moment. Instead Gotham will wait a while and maybe try again at a later date if they can find an easier path. Meanwhile, they'll be dealing with a flood of complaints directed through the DHCR, the New York State Attorney General's office, multiple elected officials, and local organizations.

    Gotham continues its bald-faced lying about the utility allowance. They are arguing as though they think the low income tenants have a collective I.Q. of –2. We are entitled to a true HUD utility allowance by virtue of our leases and the HFA agreement that Gotham made with the regulatory authority. HFA has already confirmed that in writing and it has been provided to Gotham. But hundreds of thousands of dollars are on the line, so Gotham will try every crooked trick and lie that they can come up with to get our money.

    It is extremely important for the low income tenants to continue to file their DHCR complaints. We should not allow the DHCR to overlook the differences in the rights of the low income tenants and the rights of the moderate/middle income tenants who have fewer protections and a more difficult challenge to keep their utility allowances. We're prepared to go the distance — wherever that takes us. Of course, we're here to help you assemble your complaints and can provide documents that might be helpful to each case.

    It is also extremely important to keep track of the amounts that Gotham reimburses for the utility allowances (per its email yesterday). As we all know, nearly everything that the Gotham West staff does is wrong. And we also know that they don't care that it's wrong and are not the least bit interested in correcting their errors. They are the very definition of a sloth staff. So, keep on top of it. Keep all copies of emails, followups, and keep a detailed accounting of any effort you must make in order to get your utility allowance refunds. 

    Onward.

     

     

  • 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 think there is a lot of poop on the sidewalks out front, get a load of what’s in Friday’s email from Gotham

    As you are trying to decipher the abstruse goop in the email sent out late Friday by Gotham's Rosemary Pagan, keep in mind the following information. 

    Below are links to the definitive regulatory agreements that govern the Gotham West Project from 2011. There are a lot of interesting rights in these agreements that Gotham West Management doesn't want tenants to know about.

    Download HFA Regulatory Agreement

    Download HPD Regulatory Agreement

    Download Inclusionary Housing Regulatory Agreement 2011

    First and foremost, there is a "good cause" eviction clause repeated several times which states that no existing tenant may be removed whether by eviction, expiration of lease, or for any reason other than good cause. Good cause is not paying your rent, damaging your apartment or the building, harassing your neighbors, or not following the building's rules. Unfortunately for Gotham West Management, good cause does NOT include its right to kick out a tenant from his home to make way for a larger household. Gotham is compelled to set aside another unit in the project for that larger household, NOT kick out the existing tenant. In other words, there is no Reassignment Right of the Landlord in our leases or in the original regulatory agreements. Don't sign away your rights. Don't be tricked by a crooked, deceiving, untrustworthy landlord.

    This "good cause" eviction clause is also in First Tenants' leases.

    Second, tenants' annual certification obligations are specified in these documents and in the leases. There is NO existing obligation to sign lease riders that amend the terms of the lease in conjunction with the annual certification. NONE. ZIPPO.

    Third, Gotham West Management is expressly prohibited from charging low income tenants (rent-restricted) ANY fees other monthly rent, a $25 late fee, and a bounced check fee within certain limits. If Gotham West Management has tried to pass on any other fees to you such as their legal fees or administrative fees or repair fees, don't pay it. If you already paid it, take it back via the filing of a rent overcharge complaint with the DHCR.

    Fourth, low-income tenants are expressly entitled to a true utility allowance by the regulatory agreements and by the leases. Furthermore, Gotham West Management is expressly required to apply to HFA if it thinks that it has a legitimate reason to eliminate the utility allowance. Gotham West has made NO application — this, according to the office of our elected official, Linda Rosenthal. Any removal of the utility allowance from lease renewals is illegal. The utility allowance is not a GIFT from Gotham West. It is not optional. It is compelled and it is part of the lease.

     

     

  • When a landlord says”This doesn’t apply to you but you need to sign it anyway”

    and the form they want you to sign requires you to acknowledge future extra rent increases and the complete deregulation of your apartment, shouldn't that raise a red flag which then bonks you across the bridge of the nose?

    Gotham West Management has been forcing tenants who reside in units with up to 35 years of protective rent restrictions to sign 421a riders in which they agree to future escalating rent increases of 2½% per year and complete deregulation when the building's 421a benefits expire – an event that will occur many years before tenants' rent protections will expire. 

    There is nothing that would prevent Gotham West Management from preparing 421a riders with language that would accurately apply to rent-restricted units, and in fact, outsiders have shown them how to do it. But Gotham West persists in forcing the protected tenants to agree to increases and deregulation that would be illegal if ever applied. 

    They are amassing a mountain of papers which say that you and I agreed to the increases and the deregulation. Ten years down the pike they may wave them in our faces as they're padding our bills and deregulating our apartments. Will it be legal? No. Will they get away with it? They might if it were not for a new piece of legislation that is in the pipeline.

    New York Senate Bill S5651, introduced by our State Senator Brad Hoylman, will make it a criminal misdemeanor with a fine of $1000 or a prison term of up to one year, or both a fine and imprisonment, if a landlord willfully includes incorrect or misleading information in any so-called 421a notice. The bill also prevents the landlord from even including a 421a notice in a tenant's lease if that tenant's apartment will remain subject to rent regulation or rent control after the expiration of 421a benefits.

    The legislation was created during the fury of last spring's rent reforms but finished too late to make it to the Senate floor for a vote. It did, however, pass the Judiciary Committee. S5651 has a sister-bill in the Assembly, A7990, which was introduced by Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal. 

    We will resume the push on these bills in January.

     

     

  • 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.