With more than 2,300 housing violations and a muddled reputation, the time had come for New York City’s worst landlord to take his place on the hot seat.

Ved Parkash, long dubbed the worst landlord in New York City by the Public Advocate’s annual worst landlord’s watchlist, finally met with some of his residents in a Q&A forum at the Concourse House at 196th Street and the Grand Concourse in Bedford Park on July 12.

For his part, Parkash sat in the center by his lonesome, left to answer tough questions from raging

tenants.

The Parkash Tenant Coalition, a team of residents living in several of his unkempt buildings across the Bronx, made a number of attempts to push their landlord to take responsibility, ultimately scheduling the forum. Though the meeting was intended to plan for a better quality of life, those attending say it was a disappointment and a waste of time.

“I really didn’t like the meeting because I was sitting there listening to other people’s complaints, and I couldn’t even make my own complaint,” said Maria Cruz, who was behind dozens of tenants.

Cruz was one of some 100 residents assembled in a room at the Concourse House meeting, wearing T-shirts with the words “Our Bronx, Our Lives, Our Solutions” emblazoned on the back. Among them were members of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, which formed the Parkash Coalition. Nearly half the tenants waited impatiently, peering towards the front of the line to see how many other guests were left until they had a chance to describe their harsh realities.

Cathleen Clifford, a Fordham Heights resident, had an issue with her stove and requested a new one. Her long wait for the kitchen essential which is a dud, she described as something that came off the street. “When I turn my oven on to use it, there’s more roaches coming out of it than anything else,” said Clifford.

Concerns about a frequently absent super were raised by a tenant who has been living at a Parkash-owned apartment building on Valentine Avenue for 40 years. Her mother, who uses a wheelchair, relies on the super to unlock the old-fashioned elevator which requires manual assistance, to get to and from her floor. Should the super be unavailable, the tenant’s mother is confined to her apartment. The tenant requested Parkash give her a key to the elevator to make it easier to accommodate her mother and for other senior citizens in her building.

Complaints continued about supers in other buildings as two residents living in another building griped over surveillance cameras not working and claiming to have found trespassers smoking weed in the lobby.

When residents were finished with their minute on the microphone, Parkash simply responded by taking down their information with the promise to reach out to them the following day.

A few attendees said that the meeting would have been more of a success if Anurag Parkash, who is the son of the landlord and vice president of the company, had attended. Tenants say the younger Parkash handles the day-to-day business. Instead, the elder Parkash was joined by his wife and management employees who sat quietly throughout the meeting.

Parkash’s  newfound attention to tenants is mainly rooted in the city’s recent reprimands against him.

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) allows building owners to participate in rental subsidy programs by giving a lease to tenants who need financial assistance. The tenant pays a portion of the rent while the subsidy takes care of the rest. Landlords who own these subsidized apartments must sign a Housing Assistance Payment contract (HAP) which require responsibilities such as regular maintenance during the lease term and providing reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. Once the landlord signs, the tenants are entitled to the guaranteed monthly rent subsidies.

City officials took action against Parkash and seven other corrupt landlords who are responsible for the “Dirty Dozen,” 12 buildings in Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx that have been mismanaged. These building owners racked up a total of 2,075 violations. Of that number, 358 are considered Class C violations, deemed “most hazardous” by HPD. On May 24, Public Advocate Letitia James and Mayor Bill de Blasio sent a letter to these landlords threatening to stop offering subsidies to Parkash if repairs are not made in a short period of time.

On June 2, the Parkash Tenant Coalition organized a protest against their landlord in front of Bronx Housing Court to present a letter requesting repairs. The protest coincided with a hearing against Parkash. Those demands were put on hold as Parkash did not appear. The letter was rejected by Parkash’s attorney, his son Anurag.

Parkash has taken measures by writing a letter to the Coalition where he agreed to meet with them and discuss issues such as building repairs, security, and improving relationships with his employees.

“I apologize for any inconveniences that may have arose in the past due to my actions,” wrote Parkash. “I have heard your complaints and will work to the best of my ability to improve the building conditions at the aforementioned addresses.”

Cruz and her neighbor, Alisa White, claim that their building once had better days under a different management.  The pair has seen three different landlords in their time, singling out one of them who they only referred to as Mr. Levine.

“Mr. Levine made sure his supers were doing what they needed to do,” said Cruz. “He would knock on the door in the morning to check and see if the super is doing [what he] expected him to do.”

Parkash left the meeting before he could speak to all of his tenants, who followed him out the door. With questions still being asked through the hallway, the slumlord rushed into his car heading back to his home in Long Island leaving behind the pleas of his tenants muttering, “Answer them.”

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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.