By DAVID CRUZ
On a recent Monday night, stereo sound clamored at an apartment unit at 15-19 W. Mosholu Pkwy. N., which until recently housed a cluster site homeless shelter. It was 11:30 at night, and the sound roared into the apartment unit of Sandra Tovar, one of several rent-paying tenants burdened by rowdy neighbors.
She’s lived there for 14 years, and six of those were bliss, until the cluster site–a city initiative that houses the homeless with rent paying tenants–opened. With the site closing, Tovar thought the shelter residents, 39 families in all, would leave. But five have inexplicably stayed behind, inspiring a wave of rumors ranging from an impending deal with landlords to secure permanent housing, intrusive squatting, or a shelter resident’s outright refusal to be processed at the Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH), a New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS) intake center.
But even as facts slowly trickle in, the loud music and recurring nights of disturbances continue for rent-paying tenants. Each weekday, a boom box can be spotted affixed to a first floor window housing a shelter resident, endlessly deafening. At the courtyard, children buzz about, blocking entrances as some play a game of basketball.
“They always have [the music] all day long until after midnight, or sometimes after midnight,” said Tovar, who now has a pending court case against one of the shelter residents accused of attacking her last November.
Catherine Barbosa, another rent-paying resident, took note of some of the grievances. “There’s been illegal barbecuing going on,” said Barbosa, who recalled the building experiencing a very violent summer last year. “You can keep calling 311, putting in a ticket. The behavior is constant.”
The developments that led the shelter residents into the building, and management’s lax enforcement, leaves residents like Tovar to inherit problem tenants.
Acacia Network, with shelter sites scattered throughout the Bronx, was listed as the shelter provider, receiving several thousand dollars to cover market-rate rent to a landlord, who agreed to house the homeless among rent-paying tenants.
Acacia took over the cluster site early this year after the original provider, Aguila Inc., was accused of mismanaging the site as waves of violent incidents escalated. On May 15, families were told to leave.
The 34 families who moved out of their units were offered housing by DHS. Quality One Management, which manages the entire property, has since installed hinges used as makeshift locks to keep squatters from entering. There was no phone number listed for the management company.
“What’s the point in going to PATH when you’re already here?” asked Patricia Cruz, 28, a shelter resident and single mother. For now, she’s awaiting management’s decision to see if they can be permanently housed, a demand long pushed by the Coalition for the Homeless, a homeless advocacy group.
On her days off, Cruz can be spotted at the building’s courtyard lounging with a fellow shelter resident, Maribel Dores. As children scamp around, security guards hired by the Acacia Network chitchat with residents, leaving rent tenants to wonder what their daily tasks are. Two guards told the Norwood News they’re unsure why they were still stationed there.
Residents pointed to a first floor shelter resident as the noisy culprit. The man, who declined to give his name, told the Norwood News he maintains a quiet life, countering residents’ claims of non-stop music coming from his unit.
A DHS spokesperson said the agency had exhausted all types of assistance to remaining families, including housing relocation and case management. “We cannot force anyone to use our services, but we do ensure that people are aware of the options our agency offers,” said the spokesperson.
“We fear that this could lead to a second incident of the type that befell Ms. Tovar back in November,” said one resident, who asked not to be named for fear of being harassed by shelter residents.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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And here goes the problem – these damn single mothers and their damn litter of kids. Why does this city have so many irresponsible females pissing out kids they can’t afford? Simple – the city pays them. While everyone else has to bust their butts working, this bunch spreads their legs and procreates with anything that looks at them. It’s then the responsibility of millions to support them and their choices.
This bunch sit around all day, smoking weed and blasting music. It’s disgusting. And why the hell it’s tolerated is anyone’s guess.
Sterilize these whores today, cut off their welfare and enforce some God damn responsibility!
The tone of this article with respect to these residents — including children! — is egregiously biased and shaming. What is with all of the “Get off my lawn!” stories? First open fire hydrants, and now someone in one specific apartment their window open playing a boombox? The horror.
People need someplace to live. If you think “rent paying” tenants don’t blast their music, I invite you to come try my building on a Friday night.
And to MeMe, whose comments I can’t believe will be left up if the Norwood News considers itself a responsible paper–you know who we are all paying, who is really sucking taxpayers dry? Landlords in The Bronx, who are renting section 8 apartments at a thousand dollars and more above any market rate anyone would pay here. You’re talking nonsense that you learned from sensationalist media, and you should think before you speak.
Hi Nosotros los Pobres – Thanks for letting us know about MeMe’s comments. While we have a policy of not censoring anyone, we do have a policy of deleting abrasive words. Keep the conversation going! David Cruz, editor-in-chief, Norwood News.
I hate to say it, but while I resided at 2720 Grand Concourse(at least I don’t think it was a shelter site), this type of nonsense took place regularly, in buildings with rent paying tenants as I was, mixed in with section 8 tenants. Bottom line is, people who do not have to bust their as_ to pay rent and buy groceries, and who get everything free will never understand the plight of the working class. They will never know what it means to be respectful, to lower the music, to move out of the way when someone wants to enter or exit, to not litter, and to maintain a decent quality of life (in other worlds, to have CLASS). 311 is a joke, they do little to nothing. I would even walk all the way to my station which is on Bedford and Webster, begging for assistance. The help is far and few between. More and more people are on welfare and the working class continues to flee. I had a court case with my neighbors for noise. I could never sleep and my children neevr had a quiet place to do homework–why?? Because my building was a party scene, several apartments were drug spots, there was drug dealing going on and druggies having sex in the stairs. After exhausting all my options, court, calling the police, a USELESS super who did NOTHING, and calling the landlord, I was so disgusted, I moved to Maryland and never looked back. I know it’s not in everyone’s economic means, but for those that can do it–I highly recommend it. Now I hear crickets instead of loud music, cursing and fights. I have a huge backyard and there is no one in my way when I want to come in and out. Sadly, the Bronx is not getting better and this problem will only get worse. My mom retires in a few years and I will be getting her to move down here also. GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN!!…and to MeMe, you are 110% correct. The educated and professional people are saving what we can and getting the hell out of the Bronx.
Meme – I agree – they should be moved to the many abandoned farms near the Catskills and be taught to work the land so they can be self sufficient. It would even be healthier for them. Unfortunately, it’s hard work and many won’t want to do it. The politicians will be scared that the media will castigate them.
Amanda Tex – compare apples to apples. Maryland is a state. Baltimore and parts of Prince George County are in worse condition than the Bronx.
Nostros Los Pobres – I personally couldn’t care if a tenant is paying rent or not. No one should have any right to blast music. I’ve had that problem in my building in the past. Several of us complained to management. The tenants eventually had to leave. Unfortunately, when you don’t have those types of controls in place the buildings turn into ghetto establishments. Why? The decent tenants leave because they don’t want to put up with the garbage – literal and figurative.
The people who hang out in front of this building blasting music and using the most foul language at all hours of the day and night give the scum of the earth someone to look down upon. Norwood is so beautiful and has every advantage anyone could want, but the lowlife dregs who live in this neighborhood have turned a paradise into a hell hole.