AG sues Queens landlord for ‘egregious’ violations
BY MARK HALLUM
A landlord who owns 58
buildings, totaling 2,500 rentstabilized
apartments, in
Jamaica and the surrounding
area is not only being sued
by State Attorney General
Letitia James, but also faced
a demonstration in southeast
Queens for allegedly collecting
illegal amounts of money
from tenants.
Zara Realty, based at 166-
07 Hillside Ave., is accused of
charging tenants from 38 rentstabilized
buildings excessive
fees, signing improper leases,
illegally raising rents as well as
denying tenant rights, James’
suit details.
The state Homes and
Community Renewal
(HRC) conducted a two-year
investigation of Zara and found
the business had a history of
coercing tenants — the majority
of whom being low-income —
into paying illegal key money,
room reservation fees, advanced
rent, and excessive security
deposits, according to the suit.
“For years, Zara Realty
has engaged in an egregious
pattern of tenant harassment
and exploitation,” James said
in a statement. “Evading
our rent regulation laws and
forcing low-income tenants
to pay exorbitant fees for fake
services is deception of the
worst kind. This is a notice to
Attorney General Letitia James (r.) and Councilman Rory Lancman
(l.) rallied with tenants of Zara Realty. Courtesy of Chhaya CDC
all unscrupulous landlords who
seek to hurt New Yorkers, we
will not tolerate this behavior.”
On Friday, about 80 Zara
tenants rallied against the Zara
Realty in Jamaica including
Chhaya CDC, a Jackson Heightsbased
organization that works
to alleviate poverty issues in
south Asian communities.
“This case brought against
Zara Realty by Attorney General
James and the Tenant Protection
Unit represents a victory long in
the making, and an important step
towards housing justice,” Rima
Begum, a tenant organizer for
Chhaya CDC, said. “It represents
a victory for all the tenants
who live in Zara buildings, who
endure atrocious conditions and
harassment from their landlord.
Many of our tenant leaders fight
fearlessly against displacement
every day and have waited a
long time for Zara Realty to
face justice.”
But Zara Realty played on
its immigrant origins in its
response to the allegations by
claiming the suit was inaccurate
and that the company had offered
HRC its full cooperation over the
last year of the two year probe.
“Zara Realty was founded by
immigrants who came to this
country penniless and achieved
the American Dream,” the
company said in a statement.
“The allegations contained in
this suit, many of them factually
inaccurate, will be vigorously
contested. Many of them also
deal with highly complicated
legal issues that are subject to
various interpretations under
the law, including conflicting
judicial opinions.”
An additional statement
from Begum challenged Zara’s
claim of being in touch with
immigrant struggles with
the claim that the company
had targeted their 35 to 40
percent of tenants who are
Bangladeshi with limited
English proficiency.
Begum said Zara tenants
over the course of the last three
years came to them reporting
patterns of harassment, rent
stabilization law violations and
bringing frivolous lawsuits
against renters.
Zara also said its use
of obtaining Major Capital
Improvement approval to
raise rates on rent controlled
buildings was in the interest of
investing in their tenants.
The company claims it
has a history of purchasing
old, outdated buildings and
providing modern housing to
its tenants.
“Tenant harassment
is illegal, and rarely do
prosecutors act to protect
tenants — but not today.
Attorney General Letitia
James is standing up for
tenants in my district who
for years have suffered
harassment and abuse from
a landlord notorious for its
aggressive mistreatment
of working people,” City
Councilman Rory Lancman
said. “This is why we elect
prosecutors — to hold the
powerful accountable for their
exploitation of the powerless.”
The suit additionally alleges
that Zara used “Jasmine
Homes, LLC” to move tenants
into buildings it owned in order
charge a broker fee which the
law prohibits. They are also
accused of charging an amount
equal to three- to four-times
the monthly rent for security
deposits while the law states
that deposits are limited to one
months rent.
James also claims the
company charged up to $200 for
each new key after changing
locks at the start of every
new lease.
Some tenants allegedly paid
up to $11,000 to move into a rent
controlled unit.
Remediation in the works for Glendale Superfund site: DEC
BY MARK HALLUM
A remedial action plan is in
the works for a state Superfund
site in Glendale on the border
of Forest Hills, which has
been known to send a plume of
toxic tetrachloroethylene, or
PCE, a chemical used in dry
cleaning products.
The site at 75-09 Woodhaven
Blvd. may have come under
contamination in 1967 when the
property, was used as a knitting
mill. The state Department of
Environmental Conservation
believes may be the blame for
the PCE contamination. and
since late 1990s a Home Depot
has sat at the location.
After more than 20 years of
unsuccessful remediations at
and around the site, however,
the DEC is turning to more
aggressive methods to reduce
the toxic threat and will be
opening up a public comment
period both online and through
a meeting on March 11 at 6 p.m.,
located at Queens Library’s
North Forest Park branch.
But this is not the only
remediation attempt the DEC
has made at the site.
In 1997, before the Home
Depot was built, a volunteer
group conducted an excavation
to remove some of the soil and air
sparging, a method of digging
wells into the ground to air out
contamination, was performed
in the 4,000 square foot area.
Ground water, however, may
still be contaminated and a
plume of PCE may still be
effecting the public to the
north of the site as it extends
over homes, businesses and
Forest Park.
Air sparging measures
have been expanded at least
twice throughout the early
2000s to address ground water
contamination 30 feet below the
Toxic chemicals possibly left over from a knitting mill at a site now
occupied by Home Depot on Woodhaven Boulevard up for more
remediations. Photo via Google Street View
water table, but this has been
shown to be insufficient, DEC
documents show.
DEC says the contaminated
ground water should not be
an issue for residents since
drinking water supplies are
piped in from elsewhere, but
ground vapors rising may effect
air quality.
The agency’s goal is to
return the site to its precontaminated
condition if
feasible but at the very least
minimize any risk to the public.
The DEC plans to implement
In-situ chemical oxidation
(ISCO) which is a method of
pumping chemical oxidizers
into the ground to expel PCE
and other toxic substances
from the soil and will impact
the contaminant’s chemical
structure across a 14,400
square foot area south of
Seither Stadium, where the
Ridgewood Glendale Middle
Village Maspeth Little League
(RGMVM) plays.
Queens Library at North
Forest Park is located at 98-27
Metropolitan Ave. and the DEC
says a 30-day online public
comment period will take into
the concerns or suggestions of
residents in the area.
Reach reporter Mark
Hallum by e-mail at mhallum@
schnepsmedia.com or by phone
at (718) 260–4564.
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