CLEVELAND — Cleveland Ward 4 Councilwoman Deborah Gray took matters into her own hands, traveling to the New York City headquarters of the company that owns a series of Shaker Square area apartment buildings, demanding quality of life improvements.
Gray walked into Chetrit Group Headquarters on New York's Madison Avenue on Feb. 10 without an appointment, calling on the owners of the Residences of Shaker Square to make badly needed improvements at three of their apartment buildings. Gray even paid a visit to one of the uptown New York mansion of one of the owners in the search for answers.
“We’re sick and tired of them not having heat, water; electrical problems, just deplorable conditions," Gray said from in front of corporate headquarters. “We’re here in New York, and I’m going to address the situation. I will show these pictures to the brothers that own the buildings on Shaker Boulevard.”
Gray said she was finally able to meet with one of the building co-owners, who said his team will now be traveling to Cleveland on Feb. 22 to meet with city leaders and tenants in the quest to enact a repair plan.
News 5 has spent the past year reportingon intermittent problems with garbage collection, heating, plumbing, electrical and elevator service at all three locations.
Ronald James is a Residence at Shaker Square tenant who is so fed up with the chronic problems at the complex, he and four other tenants are now placing their rent in escrow with Cleveland's housing court.
“The owners seem not to want to appreciate the seriousness of the situation here," James said. “The only way we can compel them to do something is to withhold rent and cut into their income.”
James said the process of signing up for the rent escrow program is not difficult.
"You need to first send a 30-day written notice to your landlord asking for needed repairs, if repairs don't happen, you need to go to Cleveland Housing Court on the 13th flood of the Justice Center to sign-up," James explained. “Then, they will send you down to the second floor to the clerks office to get a certified check or money order made out to the clerk of courts and you can set up an account.”
Cleveland Housing Court Judge Mona Scott told News 5 she's working to streamline the rent escrow application process in the near future. Scott said it can be difficult to track down out-of-town owners, because in some cases, they are often changing company names and addresses.
“You see they have 24 different names, and they’re so used to switching real fast, they think no one is paying attention, Scott said. “We’re dealing with a building that doesn’t have working elevators, doesn’t have working heat, doesn’t have working hot water.”
Scott said there are currently only 199 tenants taking advantage of Cleveland's rent escrow program. She pointed to the courts easy to follow instructions, but stressed a tenant must be current with their rent to sign up for the program.
“It kind of preserves your credit, your integrity that your intention was there to pay rent in the first place, but that you don’t deserve to live in the kind of conditions that you’re living in," Scott said. “Then you come in and set up a rent deposit, you get a case number, it’s held with the court and if you make the repairs yourself—guess what—you get the money back.”
News 5 will continue to follow this developing story.
