Former Tenants & Neighbors Director is lousy landlord

[TenantNet]

What this article below does not reveal is that Jumanne Williams is the former Executive Director of Tenants and Neighbors, the organization many believe is still a wholly-owned subsidiary of Michael McKee -- who runs the so-called Real Rent Reform coalition.

In 1997 and 2003, McKee allowed the Democrats (and especially Sheldon Silver) to drop the ball on rent regulation. By all accounts, they are doing it again by putting pressure on Governor Cuomo instead of Sheldon Silver and the Democrats.

Another former Executive Director of Tenants and Neighbors, Billy Easton, is also a landlord in Albany. Easton is now trying to prevent a tax cap for New York State homeowners, a proposal seen by many as linked to the renewal (and strengthening) of the rent laws.

The current Executive Director of Tenants and Neighbors, Maggie Russell-Ciardi, previously worked at the Tenement Museum while that organization was attempting to evict 14 tenants from an adjoining building it did not own (seeking to use eminent domain to grab the building away from its owners). For more information on that see http://tenant.net/pipermail/nytenants-o ... 00141.html


Buildings Dept. probed apartment owned by pol Jumaane Williams in '08
by Greg B. Smith
New York Daily News
Thursday, June 9th 2011, 4:00 AM

When City Councilman Jumaane Williams showed up at a hearing on illegal apartments this week, he brought along some special insight.

In 2008, around the time he filed papers to run for office, Williams was probed for owning an illegal apartment, records show.

Williams (D-Brooklyn) attended the Tuesday hearing on how the city can improve its crackdown on dangerous firetraps, a hot button issue after five people have died in buildings with illegal apartments since April.

First, Williams noted "this happens a lot" in his Flatbush district, "especially basements," where struggling homeowners often take in renters to make their monthly mortgage payments.

"When they're informed that they have an illegal apartment, they're taken aback," he said.

Buildings Department Commissioner Robert LiMandri testified that basement apartments can be particularly unsafe.

"Even when there's one person living there, it's very dangerous," he said.

Williams said the city should " legitimize the ones that can be legitimized" by bringing illegal apartments up to code instead of shutting them.

What he didn't mention was that on May 30, 2008, someone called the city to claim there was an "illegal conversion of basement apartment" in a two-family Williams owned on E. 98th St.

Inspectors showed up July 11, 2008, to find no one home. They slapped a notice on the door, demanding that the owner contact them immediately to arrange an inspection. The visit came three days after Williams filed papers saying he planned to run for Council.

Records show Williams ignored the inspectors' request. Inspectors showed up again in September 2008 and left a second note. There's no record Williams responded.

None of this came up Tuesday, two months after the Daily News reported on the illegal apartment allegations.

Outside the hearing room, Williams was asked if he'd ever had an illegal apartment. He replied: "I do not have an illegal conversion. That's all I'm going to say."

In March, when The News visited E. 98th St., a reporter saw two mailboxes and two meters - and also a side door leading to the basement with its own doorbell.

Williams admitted he got a notice from the Buildings Department, but wouldn't say why he didn't respond.

"That was a long time ago," he said, noting that despite all this, he still showed up at the hearing.

"I could have chosen not to, but I did, because I think it's a very important issue to my district," Williams said.