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Council Member Pierina Sanchez advocates for approval of 2201 Davidson Avenue project
0:06:57
ยท
152 sec
Council Member Pierina Sanchez addresses the dire situation at 2201-05 Davidson Avenue, a property with severe maintenance issues and municipal arrears. She urges approval of an Article 11 urban area development project designation to transfer ownership from negligent owners to responsible parties, potentially including residents.
- The property owes $28 million in municipal arrears and has numerous violations, including mold, water damage, and collapsed ceilings.
- Previous attempts to address the issues through programs like Alternative Enforcement and Third Party Transfer have failed.
- Sanchez promotes her Intro 1063, the Housing Rescue and Resident Protection Act, to address similar situations in the future.
Pierina Sanchez
0:06:57
Thank you so much, chair Salamaca.
0:06:59
I just wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate the tenant association, president Arturo Miranda at 2201 Davidson, the Northwest Bronx Community Clergy Coalition and Legal Aid Society for their advocacy and representation of the residents at 220105 Davidson.
0:07:16
And to the HPD, especially Arvind, of course, the neighborhood restore team for their attention to this property over the last year.
0:07:24
2201 Dash 05 Davidson is a property that owes $28,000,000 in municipal arrears.
0:07:31
They have over 600 HPD violations, 90 DOB violations, over 60 health violations, persistent issues of mold, water damage, collapsed ceilings, you name it.
0:07:41
These residents have been through it all.
0:07:44
And we're not talking about over the last year, over the last two years.
0:07:47
We're talking about negligent ownership for over a decade.
0:07:51
This is a building that has been through the alternative enforcement program at HPD, one of its strongest enforcement programs with escalating fines, heightened presence of inspectors, and it didn't work.
0:08:02
The program has the building has also been through TPT, but there was a technical issue in the past.
0:08:07
It failed.
0:08:08
The city did not pursue a seven a petition with the tenants in 2020.
0:08:14
Bottom line is that this is a property that has been falling apart.
0:08:17
Residents have been living in squalor.
0:08:19
And up until now, the city had really been failing this property.
0:08:23
But today and I ask for everyone's support, to approve this article 11 in urban area development project designation.
0:08:29
Today represents a major step to actually move ownership of this building from the criminally negligent owners to potentially the residents, but definitely responsible ownership.
0:08:41
And now I wanna take this opportunity to share with colleagues and the world, of course, that we have a responsibility as a city to to have all the tools in our toolbox so that we can act on these worst actors and only these worst actors.
0:08:55
So I have an intro ten sixty three, which is the housing, housing rescue and resident protection act that I continue to hope that colleagues would join me in signing on to, which fixes the harms of the previous TPT program and really tries to weaponize it against properties like 2201 Dash 05 Davidson, properties whose owners do not seek help, who merely attempt to collect rents even when their buildings are falling apart.
0:09:20
So with that, thank you chair for your time, and congratulations to everyone who has fought so hard for so many years to move this building into responsible ownership.