DeBlasio tried to help slumlord in return for campaign cash

From the Daily News:

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio made a name for himself with his Worst Landlords list, trumpeting the names and sins of city slumlords for all the world to see.

But for one building owner with a rash of code violations, he took another tack — he went to bat for him days after the landlord began steering donations his way.

Michael Shah owns two buildings on Staten Island that have racked up more than 200 code violations. The buildings’ elevators break down so often, the city Buildings Department made one of them No. 3 on its Top 10 Elevator Offenders list. But instead of targeting him for scrutiny as he has some of the city’s worst slumlords, de Blasio aides say the public advocate invited Shah to meet with him in his office on July 27, 2011, as Shah sought help reducing taxes on some of his buildings that house low-income tenants.

Weeks before that meeting, Shah — who’d never given a dime to any city candidate before — donated the maximum $4,950 to de Blasio. He then began acting as an “intermediary” to raise more money — $11,850 in all, including six checks delivered 16 days before the July 27 meeting.

When the two met, Shah brought along his hired lobbyist, ex-Sen. Alfonse D’Amato’s son Chris, and asked de Blasio to push the city to reduce his taxes so he could continue to afford renting to lower-income tenants. After the meeting, de Blasio called Finance Commissioner David Frankel to explain the situation. It’s not clear how Frankel responded.

“He (de Blasio) looked into the matter, he was very responsive,” Shah told The News. “We were able to get to where we needed to go, and I really liked him. Bill gave me his email, his cell phone number.”

De Blasio spokesman Wiley Norvell said Shah did not mention the donations during the meeting but he couldn’t say whether de Blasio knew Shah was one of his money-raising “intermediaries.” Norvell denied the donations influenced de Blasio in any way, stating, “We advocate aggressively for any tenant, business owner and everyday New Yorker alike that needs help navigating city bureaucracy. That’s our job.”

At the time of the meeting with Shah, two Shah buildings on Staten Island, 195 and 231 Steuben St., had accumulated more than 200 open housing code violations for broken windows, busted locks, rampant mice and chronically malfunctioning elevators. The number of current violations in those buildings exceed those at two of the top three “Worst Landlords” on Staten Island that are currently singled out on de Blasio’s site.

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Astoria candidate doesn't play by the rules

Astoria attorney John Ciafone is running for City Council District 22 (Astoria) to replace outgoing Peter Vallone, Jr. He has run previously for the council as well as for the assembly. He dropped out back in 2010, and he may have dropped out this time around as well since there are no CFB filings from his campaign on file.

What you may not know is that Ciafone currently appears on Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio's slumlord list. To his credit, he is on the "most improved" list, having reduced his violations from 195 to 2. He tried to donate to DeBlasio, but it was returned. Local council member/Vito Lopez protege Steve Levin and Queens BP candidates Peter Vallone and Melinda Katz apparently have no qualms about keeping his money, however.

Ciafone currently has ads on residential buildings in the Williamsburg-Greenpoint area.

They appear on 202 Franklin Street, 119 Freeman Street, and 199 Green Street, among others.

No permits are on file, so far as I can tell, that allow commercial signs on these buildings.

It's all about who you know, and who you give money to.

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Jailing slumlords

From the NY Observer:

Though Joel Loutan has earned a nod in the New York Public Advocate Office’s Worst Landlords Watchlist, he has yet to grab a coveted spot on the site’s “50 Worst Landlords” list. After today, however, it’s likely he will.

Bronx Housing Court recently issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Loutan, a landlord who allowed his building to slip into some of the most “deplorable” conditions seen in the city’s housing units. A collapsed roof, rotten wooden beams, leaking walls and defective boilers rank among the property's most prominent features, Crain's reported.

The building at 1514 East 172nd Street—though just four units large—has racked up over 30 open housing code violations. Though the property was placed in HPD’s Alternative Enforcement Program (AEP), which compels owners by law to make the necessary reparations, he has repeatedly defied the city's Orders to Correct. Among those orders included replacement of the roof, re-pointing the exterior walls, re-wiring the entire building, and replacing the heating plant.

But after Mr. Loutan failed to appear in court on numerous occasions to address the charges (his attorney couldn’t seem to find the time either), Bronx County Housing Court Judge Jerald Klein demanded his arrest.

According to Eric Bederman of HPD, Mr. Loutan’s case is only the fifth of its kind in nearly eight years.

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Tenants of foreclosed buildings want fixes

From the Queens Courier:

Hany Taha is afraid that his ceiling will collapse on him.

He has lived in the same apartment for 26 years, but now the ceiling is sinking. Although he has complained about it for seven months, nothing has happened.

Taha is a resident of one of six low-income apartment buildings in Ridgewood owned by Ridgewood Realty of L.I. The structures have accumulated a total of nearly 550 violations, according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

At a rally on June 19 outside Manhattan’s bankruptcy court, residents and officials demanded to meet with the company that owns the mortgages — an investment firm called Stabilis Capital Management — to discuss finding a “new, responsible owner.”

About thirty families rent at the buildings in question, which have six units each. The rent ranges from $900 to $1,050 a month. Tenants make payments to a court-appointed receiver.

Residents want to continue living in the buildings, but fear that Stabilis will sell them to a group that wants to build luxury apartments.

“We are trying to resolve it, but we don’t own the buildings. We don’t have control over them,” a representative from Stabilis said. “We are prevented from taking action because of the bankruptcy that was taken by the owner.”

Residents’ complaints include no heat in the winter, leaks from ceilings, rat infestations, mold and cracked walls. The front doors to some of the buildings are missing knobs, and a number of locks are broken.

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Quinn suddenly cares about slumlords

From CBS New York:

...fixing the 684 violations at 545, 553, and 557 46th Street is not as simple as tracking down a slumlord.

These buildings were foreclosed on and the mortgage was sold to an investment company.

“You might have thought you could buy a property that you’d flip quickly and make a lot of money,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn on Monday. “But what you bought is a whole lot of misery.”

“You bought the lead paint. You bought the rats. They are yours,” Quinn said.

It’s a situation 100,000 homes have been through, said Quinn.

The city can step in and make the repairs there.

“And then we’re going to take you to court and sue you for the money you owe the city of New York and if you don’t pay it we will take it away from you,” Quinn said.

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