They want — actually, they desperately need — gas for cooking and related reasons at their East Village apartment complex.
What their landlord recently opted to give them instead was … ice cream?
Yes, indeed, and a fair amount of it delivered via a Ben & Jerry’s truck.
The reaction of residents — without gas in their dwellings for nearly three months — toward this seemingly blind attempt at atonement was altogether predictable. A media account reports that, in lieu of imbibing, they collectively encircled the truck and shouted, “Ice cream, you scream, we all scream for cooking gas!”
The landlord, notably described in the above article as “controversial” and as “a loose cannon,” is no stranger to negative news reports and adverse legal outcomes involving disputes with tenants.
Allegedly, workers in one of his owned buildings engaged in practices that produced lead levels 16 times over the specified maximum limit. Residents have also pointed to intimidation tactics that have included threats of criminal prosecution.
In the instant case, it’s a bit more straightforward: Seemingly, the landlord simply refuses to take action required to restore gas to his tenants.
His company states that it has acted responsibly and that the problem rests with Con Edison and city officials.
The gas company adamantly refutes that view, countering that fixing an internal gas leak at the complex is solely the landlord’s responsibility.
The tenants’ patience is clearly near an end, with their nerves collectively strained to an almost unfathomable degree.
The landlord is blatantly calloused and out of touch, residents say.
He hasn’t done “diddly squat,” notes one tenant.
Bad landlords are far from being anomalies in New York City. Residents who are squared off against business owners and managers might reasonably want to contact a proven law firm that routinely and aggressively promotes tenants’ interests in property-related disputes.
