Eyes On The Landlord (Tenants Talk 7)
From Tenants Talk 7
All across the country we are witnessing a shift in the attitude of landlords towards their tenants. Following the most recent wave of tenant organizations, landlords are frightened. We can see it in the press, where they spew their propaganda to erode the few protections tenants still have. They will appeal to you as if you own a home–as if you are not a tenant. Do not listen. The landlords know that they must squash tenant resistance before it has a chance to take root. They have begun fighting tooth and nail against any tenant organizations. To us, this is a sign of their fear. Now more than ever we must remain vigilant. Tenants Talk has its eyes on the landlords. Do you?
Madison Terrace Up!
On November 9th, a group of tenants at Madison Terrace hosted their first open meeting in the courtyard of the terrace. The aim of the meeting was to bring new tenants from around the terrace into the fight against slumlord David Pezzola (best known for evicting Chicago tenants around the city during the original covid-19 lockdowns). ACTA members arrived early and met up with the tenants who planned the meeting with ACTA’s help in the weeks prior. Together they set up tables and chairs and waited for their neighbors to come out.
Tenants and locals alike drifted by, curious to see what the event was about. Terrace residents signed in, grabbed a name tag, read the questions posted on the wall (such as what they would want their neighbors to know about them, and what they believed their landlord cares about), and shared their thoughts with other attendees.
After some time of people coming in and out, a core group sat down and the meeting began. Tenants discussed the needs of their neighbors and how they could go about changing things at the Terrace. One point that was widely agreed on was that landlords only truly care about one thing: taking tenants’ money.
One long-time member outlined a first potential step to take action in improving the conditions at Madison Terrace: delivering a demand letter. She explained that this would entail collecting a list of concerns from tenants, highlighting the most common and most pressing, and then delivering the letter to WPD management. This letter would be delivered during a protest, with the threat of protests continuing if the demands were not met.
Not to waste any time, the group moved into creating a draft demand letter on a large sheet of paper tacked to the central building. Three main issues were chosen by the tenants.
The first two were safety and cleaning. Many buildings on the terrace have broken locks on the front doors, which make it easy for people to come in and out as they please, including many who tenants would prefer did not enter the building. During ACTA’s time speaking with renters at Madison Terrace, we heard stories from people describing strangers sleeping in the hallways, parents coordinating with neighbors to get their kids out safely and a general nervousness of potential harm. Rats and roaches are also invited in thanks to hallways that the slumlord allows to fill with trash, despite the best efforts of tenants to keep them clean.
The third issue addressed in the demand letter was one that makes these and other issues with the WPD managed property especially outrageous: no one is able to reach any of those responsible for the property! Neither WPD nor Pezolla answer their phones when tenants call, emailing is a slow and painful process and maintenance requests are often canceled by management. It probably comes as no surprise that the only time management communicates with tenants is when a rent payment is late.
The tenants decided that more concrete demands to address these problems would be written up in the weeks to come.
After putting together the demand letter, the group planned and carried out a practice protest on the terrace. Everyone came up with chants like “David Pezzola, more like crapola!” and “Rent Strike! David Pezzola take a hike!”, drew up some picket signs and hit the street. Rain began to fall as the tenants poured out onto the sidewalk, like the tears that will soon fall from Pezzola’s pampered eyes.
Despite the weather, spirits were high as everyone marched and chanted onto Madison Avenue. There was a strong feeling of hope and unity in the air as the group arrived at an empty WPD management building around the corner. There the tenants taped the letter to the door, then stood back and took a moment to soak it all in.
As the group walked back to the Terrace to pack up, tenants expressed feeling hopeful about the direction of the union. It was agreed that what was needed next is new members, continued outreach, and before long, a real version of the amazing display of strength and community that had just been demonstrated.
Kevin Nugent of WPD Management - Profiting off of Misery
The web of slumlords in the city is extensive and it links one crook to the next. It’s likely your landlord has had dealings with the ones in this story. Tenants Talk reporters have been investigating the WPD “management” company’s neglect at Madison Terrace and at the same time tracking down Boruch Gottesman’s various slums throughout the city. When we sent a reporter to a recent press conference at a third building, 5334 W. Madison Aveune where tenants spoke out about the oppressive conditions in their building, we weren’t surprised to learn that WPD and Boruch Gottesman both had their hands in the mess. Boruch was the longtime owner of the building and the one responsible for its steady decline. He sold it to WPD management just this last summer and since then the problems have only gotten worse. The chief slumlords at WPD, Eric Green and Kevin Nugent, see an opportunity to profit off of the misery of these tenants, many of whom have been living in the building for years, watching as it crumbles around them.
When the building sold, eviction notices went out immediately to many of the tenants. Some of the tenants fought the evictions in court and won. Although the judge declared the evictions unlawful, the slumlords were not worried. The following week the same tenants received notices of massive rent increases, up to $500 more per month. This is a blatant attempt at what has been called a “soft eviction” where landlords raise rent arbitrarily, knowing the tenant will not be able to afford it and will have to leave.
We spoke to one of the tenants, who showed us around his apartment. What we saw was shocking. Cockroaches of all sizes out in broad daylight, swarming in the fridges and cabinets. The tenant we spoke with told us the infestation began six months ago and since then he has stopped cooking in his apartment entirely. Although cockroaches are often associated with waste, infestations can persist in even the cleanest apartments without proper insulation and pest management.
“It’s been about six or seven months. When they laid the mulch outside, it got worse inside. This was a little cabinet, they took it out and didn’t replace it. The floors leaning sideways, and all the bugs come in through that crack in the wall. All of this is infested, waterlogged, damaged.”
The tenant cleans his apartment frequently to manage the pests, but he showed us openings in the floors and walls that cockroaches crawl out of. Although he sends maintenance requests, he showed us that every one was canceled by WPD management without reason or action. In fact, maintenance has been in the building, but they never come to the occupied units:
“The maintenance doesn’t come, but they have another maintenance crew on the first floor in an empty unit, fixing it up.”
The tenant showed us a video of the work in the unoccupied unit. A crew of workers were executing repairs and installing new fixtures. This is sadly not uncommon in slum buildings. Slumlords will take the loss on vacant units, fix them up while they wait for the perfect moment to push all the other tenants out and raise the rent on the newly fixed units. Management knows that existing tenants are effectively trapped paying rent due to the one-sidedness of lease agreements, so there is no incentive for landlords to keep occupied apartments in good condition.
The tenant told us he has spent thousands of dollars replacing damaged, roach infested belongings and purchasing glue traps and cleaning supplies to deal with the cockroaches. We asked him if he had any messages for other tenants renting from WPD such as the tenants at Madison Terrace:
“I’m dealing with what you are. The mailboxes are broken, I haven't received mail for three months. Don’t be afraid, because no person deserves to live like this. It’s a violation of humanity. Period. Fuck amendments and fuck rights, we’re human. Don’t be scared to speak up against these people because they’re taking advantage of, who knows… Thousands of people? Thousands being taken advantage of. They’re taking money from all these people. How much money are they making? Help make them accountable for their actions. Help make them feel ashamed.”
Lakeside Management and Boruch Gottesman: a match made in slumlord heaven
In a quiet suburb of upstate New York, away from it all, slumlord Boruch Gottesman sleeps peacefully in his mansion on a tall bed of rent money. Meanwhile, a completely opposite scene plays out on the west and south sides of Chicago. Here, inside Gottesman’s fifteen apartment buildings that are managed by the clowns at Lakeside Management, 100s of tenants can’t sleep peacefully, if they can sleep at all.
Rats, cockroaches, black mold, broken appliances—all the typical features. Why is it that block after block, building after building, we find the same exact thing: tenants suffering while their landlord gets rich as hell?
In one of these buildings in Austin, near Parkside and Washington, the tenants are making moves with the All-Chicago Tenant Alliance. A meeting was held in the entryway, a list of demands was put together. What will happen next? Stay tuned…
In the meantime, if you live at 114 N Parkside, 5334 W Madison, 169 N Leclaire, or 4200 W Washington, your landlord is Boruch Gottesman, too. Get in touch!