Around 50 frustrated tenants joined local elected officials for a rally outside Bedford Park’s Tracey Towers on Saturday, June 15, to protest what they said are poor living conditions in the 871-unit housing complex. Residents say they have been grappling with a slew of problems like frequent water leaks, a significant rat infestation, and perpetually malfunctioning elevators for a number of years.

 

Jean Hill, president of the Tracey Towers Tenant Organization said residents just dealt with a water shut-off that lasted 24 hours. “People are traumatized by the conditions,” she said. “We’ve had rats running through the building, water leaks in some of the apartments, the pipes are breaking down. We need a full modernization of our elevators because Tracey Towers is 50 years old, and we need to make sure we have space for our tenants to live comfortably.”

 

Designed by architect, Paul Rudolph, Tracey Towers is made up of two, high-rise towers, comprising units of various sizes, including one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. It is part of NYC Department of Housing, Preservation & Development (HPD)’s Mitchell Lama affordable rental and cooperative program for moderate and middle-income families, the 2nd largest Bronx co-op, according to HPD. It is home to a large Ghanaian community, among other residents.

Joseph B. Danquah II, a Tracey Towers resident since 1997, said the water leaks have flooded the community room, making it difficult for tenants to gather and organize. He says these are issues residents have had even pre-COVID. “Part of the challenge in getting more tenants down here [to the rally] is due to the lack of access to a place where we can meet as a community,” he said.

 

“The one thing that’s more pressing, probably for a lot of tenants, is the elevator issue. There’s supposed to be 12 elevators, but each building hardly ever has access to even three elevators,” Danquah II continued. According to residents, a delivery worker previously got stuck in a Tracey Towers elevator for several hours some years ago when it broke down.

Elected officials, State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33), District 11 City Council Member Eric Dinowitz, and Assemblymember John Zaccaro Jr. (A.D. 80), who showed up in support of the residents, called for immediate action to be taken.

 

Zaccaro Jr. said “Beginning today, I, along with my colleagues in government and the residents of Tracey Towers, are putting HPD and RY Management (the management company) on notice. You either start working with us, treating us with dignity and respect, because our voices will only get louder.”

 

He added, “The residents of Tracey Towers are not asking for much. They want what every person who lives in an apartment building in New York City wants. This is not about amenities. This is about ensuring the basic needs of the tenants are met.”

Rivera shared the same sentiment. “We need to make sure that we continue to put pressure on the management company,” he said. “We’re not asking for anything strange. We’re asking for basic things that anybody would want to have in their home.”

 

For his part, Dinowitz called on management to invest more resources in Tracey Towers while emphasizing the need to address the issues in an effective and timely manner. “Everything is a fight and that is wrong because you look at other parts of the city and they don’t have to fight for these things,” he said.

 

“There’s massive, massive disinvestment in Tracey Towers. The residents need massive investments in the building to fix things like elevators, holes, mold, and smoke. They also need real investments in time and energy from management to make sure they’re taking care of all the rat problems and immediately addressing holes in the ceilings.”

Both Hill and the elected officials called on other Tracey Towers residents to join in the fight and to organize with the group going forward. Zaccaro Jr. concluded, “Today was a precursor to what we’re going to start in organizing over the next couple of months.” Meanwhile, Hill said, “We are fighting back now. We’re letting the world know we are mad as hell about it and we’re just not going to take it anymore.”

 

Norwood News contacted RY Management for comment on the rally and the alleged poor living conditions at Tracey Towers. A spokesperson for R.Y. Management Co, Inc. said, “Tracey Towers Associates and Management enjoys an ongoing productive working relationship with the tenant association leadership and works closely with them to ensure the safety and comfort of the residents and visitors at Tracey Towers. The housing complex, governed under the rules of Mitchell-Lama, is an affordable housing initiative created in 1955 and aimed at low and moderate-middle-income families. Improvements and routine maintenance of Tracey Towers are funded through rent collected.”

The statement continued, “Lingering financial effects of the pandemic continue to plague the economic health of many properties, including Tracey Towers which is now getting ready to celebrate its 50^th Anniversary. Tenant arrears are at an all-time high. This fiscal constraint hinders management’s ability to do the kinds of capital-intensive upgrades and improvements needed at Tracey Towers.”

It concluded, “Management joins the tenant association in calling on our elected leaders at all levels of government to help provide supplemental funding or other creative solutions necessary to address some of the short- and long-term issues at Tracey Towers. We hope that by working together, we can continue to make Tracey Towers an affordable, attractive, safe and comfortable place for our residents to call home.”

The spokesperson added that on the issues of rats, RY Management strongly supports New York City Mayor Eric Adams “War on Rats” and remains proactive in the eradication of the rodents through Tracey Towers exterior properties.

 

We have followed up with Hill and will share any feedback we receive.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.