April 19–25, 2019 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 AWP 5
19
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Buy Ti ckets at THEWORLDSFARE.NYC
‘Unsafe’ in PLGardens
Tenants living with mold as landlord preps for Airbnb
Tenants Rights Coalition
Robber hits houses of worship
Police are looking for this man who they say has
robbed four Williamsburg houses of worship in February
By Colin Mixson
Brooklyn Paper
A family of Prospect Lefferts
Gardens “slum lords” is
raking in the dough by renting
out renovated apartments on
Airbnb, while lease-holding
tenants suffer a brutal harassment
campaign amid disgusting,
illegal, and unsafe buildings
conditions, according to a
civil complaint filed in Kings
County Supreme Court.
“Sometimes I come home
and the lights don’t come
on,” said Digna Doesserie-
Mitchel, a longtime resident
of 611 Flatbush Ave. “How
is the landlord going to fix
up these other apartments for
Airbnb and not maintain the
rest of the building? We deserve
better than this.”
Tenants living in three Flatbush
Avenue buildings located
between Rutland Road and
Fenimore Street claim they’ve
been forced to endure noxious
mold, crumbling walls, unreliable
power, heat and hot
water, defective appliances,
and leaking pipes due to the
negligence of the landlord,
the Shasho family, which has
resulted in inspectors dolling
out 220 open housing
violations.
Additionally, the Department
of Housing Preservation
and Development placed
one of the buildings — 607
Flatbush Ave. — on its list of
the city’s most notorious crap
holes, the dreaded Alternative
Enforcement Program.
But that hasn’t stopped the
Shasho clan from investing in
renovations for at least five
unoccupied units within their
otherwise blighted properties,
which they’ve advertised on
Airbnb as “spectacular,” “spacious,”
and “beautifully sunfilled
spaces” alongside images
of chandleries and
sparkling new appliances,
according to the plaintiffs.
But the gallery of charmingly
furnished and tastefully
decorated hotel rooms belie
the hazards awaiting unwary
tourists, according to one
tenant of 607 Flatbush Ave.,
who said she lives in constant
fear of fire as a result of the
building’s poor condition.
“I fear for my life,” said
Elizabeth Hayes, 65, who has
been a tenant since 1981. “It’s
the not knowing that makes
me afraid. This building
is unsafe.”
The Shasho clan has done
everything it can to scare off
its remaining tenants, who
enjoy modest annual rent
increases as a result of the
city’s rent stabilization laws,
including replacing busted
fridges and ovens with appliances
harboring dead rats
and cockroach infestations,
according to the suit.
The residents are looking
for a judge to step in and
stop the harassment, force
repairs to the building, and
some monetary compensation
for their trouble, according
to Seth Hoy, a spokesman
for the Tenants Rights
Coalit ion, which is
representing the tenants.
A man who answered a
number for William Shasho,
who’s listed as the owner for
599 Flatbush Ave., claimed
he was not a member of the
Shasho family, which could
not be reached.
Tenants are suing their
landlord, claiming mold
and other hazards.
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
Police are trying to
find a purloiner who they
say filched four houses of
worship in Williamsburg in
February and March.
The man allegedly robbed a
total of $1,250 and $250 worth
of office supplies from three
synagogues and one church,
two on Feb. 9 and another two
on March 12, said cops.
Police released surveillance
camera footage from
the thief’s most recent port
of call — a synagogue on S.
Ninth Street at Driggs Avenue
— which shows the baddie,
who is described as being between
30 and 40 years old.
The suspect was last seen
wearing a black cap, black
jacket, gray hooded shirt, blue
jeans, and tan shoes.
The alleged thief entered
through an unsecured front
door at Taylor Street at 2:30
a.m., police said.
That same day, he allegedly
snuck into a Hooper Street
church through an unsecured
rear window at Marcy Avenue
at 4 p.m. and took some $250
worth of office supplies, according
to authorities.
The suspect collected his
third bounty at a Bedford Avenue
synagogue at Division
Avenue on March 12, when
he allegedly stole $600 and
office supplies at 2:50 p.m.,
police said.
Anyone with information
of this man’s identity should
call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers
Hotline at 1-800-577-
TIPS (8477) or for Spanish,
1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
Submit your tips online at
WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.
COM, or on Twitter,
@NYPDTips.
the location through an unsecured
elevator and took some
$400 and office supplies before
making a run for it at 7:50
p.m., according to cops.
He allegedly started his
spree the month before when
he stole $250 from a Lee Avenue
synagogue’s donation box
after entering the building
and March.
NYPD
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