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Posted by Anna on March 28, 2000 at 23:25:35:

http://villagevoice.com/issues/0013/lobbia.shtml

This week's J. A. LOBBIA column is a must-read for all tenants, and anyone who ever thought they might vote for Rudy G.

Why Has the City’s Housing Agency Bounced a Proven Landlord Litigator?

...the pro-landlord bias of one of his
bosses, HPD assistant commissioner Elizabeth Bolden, who is in charge of
the housing litigation bureau where Gorin worked until he was transferred on
March 7. Says Gorin, "I was told by several people that Elizabeth Bolden
wanted to know why so many small landlords are going to jail."

It would seem beyond ironic for the chief of litigation at the city's housing
agency to bemoan landlord lockups. But in what one source calls "a
decidedly pro-landlord shift in the whole thrust of the agency under Mayor
Rudy Giuliani,"

...The possibility that Bolden in particular favors landlords stems from an
escapade in Harlem in 1995—three years before she worked at HPD—in
which she bought a single-room-occupancy building and emptied it of three
long-term renters, including elderly tenant Barbara North, who complained
that Bolden had nailed shut bathroom doors. In March 1996, Manhattan
housing court judge Howard Malatzky ordered Bolden to make a good-faith
effort to repair and provide access to a third-floor bathroom. But several
weeks after Malatzky's deadline passed, Bolden wrote to North's attorney
saying the repairs would not be made.

When the plumber began work, Bolden wrote, "I forgot that I still owed him
money from December '95. . . . I do not have any money and am basically
living paycheck to paycheck. I have other bills that are outstanding that must
be paid. . . . So I'm sorry but right now I just don't have the money."

Bolden, who wanted the whole building to herself, negotiated to buy out the
tenants for $500 each.

• Towers & Tenements, Village Voice

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Comments:
: http://villagevoice.com/issues/0013/lobbia.shtml

: This week's   J. A. LOBBIA   column is a must-read for all tenants, and anyone who ever thought they might vote for Rudy G.

: 
: Why Has the City’s Housing Agency Bounced a Proven  Landlord Litigator? 

: 
: ...the pro-landlord bias of one of his
:               bosses, HPD assistant commissioner Elizabeth Bolden, who is in charge of
:               the housing litigation bureau where Gorin worked until he was transferred on
:               March 7. Says Gorin, "I was told by several people that Elizabeth Bolden
:               wanted to know why so many small landlords are going to jail." 

:               It would seem beyond ironic for the chief of litigation at the city's housing
:               agency to bemoan landlord lockups. But in what one source calls "a
:               decidedly pro-landlord shift in the whole thrust of the agency under Mayor
:               Rudy Giuliani,"

: ...The possibility that Bolden in particular favors landlords stems from an
:               escapade in Harlem in 1995—three years before she worked at HPD—in
:               which she bought a single-room-occupancy building and emptied it of three
:               long-term renters, including elderly tenant Barbara North, who complained
:               that Bolden had nailed shut bathroom doors. In March 1996, Manhattan
:               housing court judge Howard Malatzky ordered Bolden to make a good-faith
:               effort to repair and provide access to a third-floor bathroom. But several
:               weeks after Malatzky's deadline passed, Bolden wrote to North's attorney
:               saying the repairs would not be made. 

:               When the plumber began work, Bolden wrote, "I forgot that I still owed him
:               money from December '95. . . . I do not have any money and am basically
:               living paycheck to paycheck. I have other bills that are outstanding that must
:               be paid. . . . So I'm sorry but right now I just don't have the money." 

:               Bolden, who wanted the whole building to herself, negotiated to buy out the
:               tenants for $500 each.


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