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Exceptional Quality and Service
Affordable Costs and Personalized Attention
• Offering No-Contact Virtual Appointments
• Ample Parking
• Specializing in Advance Funeral Planning
• Catered Receptions
2005 West 6th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11223
718-372-1348
www.cusimanoandrussofuneralhome.com
Michael G. Rizzotto, Manager
STAY
INFORMED!
COURIER LIFE, D 22 ECEMBER 24-30, 2021
Crown Heights tenants
rally for inclusive
building accessibility
Crown Heights neighbors rallied against Shamco Management’s resistance to build a ramp
that would facilitate accessibility to all residents. Photo by Ximena Del Cerro
BY XIMENA DEL CERRO
For months, Crown Heights tenants
have demanded that their building’s
management company build a ramp
to provide accessibility for neighbors
with mobility diffi culties. All they
have gotten in return is a two-line letter
saying the company will consider
it, sent in April.
Residents of 283 Albany Ave. gathered
at the front of the building to rally
on Dec. 18. They signed a complaint to
the New York City Housing Authority
against Shamco Management Corp., a
private real estate fi rm owner of over
1,000 apartment homes in New York
and New Jersey. This comes after
multiple tries to communicate with
Shamco over the phone and two letters
from elderly neighbors explaining
they cannot safely leave the building.
The entrance to the 53 units building
is raised from the ground by three
steps that lead to a front court.
Since former Gov. Andrew Cuomo
placed an eviction moratorium in 2020
to prevent displacement of people unable
to pay rent due to the COVID-19
pandemic, tension between tenants
and landlords has risen in New York.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a new moratorium
on residential and commercial
evictions, which is in effect until Jan.
15, 2022. Thousands of tenants have
gone over a year without paying rent
and landlords threaten to evict them as
soon as the moratorium is lifted or have
withheld maintenance services.
Daron Chase, 57, has lived at 283 Albany
Ave. for over 34 years. He walks
with the help of a cane and cannot go
down the steps at the front of his building
without assistance — and says he
has had to miss doctors’ and dentists’
appointments because of it.
“If I fall trying to go down the steps
and my relative can’t pick me up, she
would have to call 911,” Chase said. “I
want the ramp so that I can simply go
walk down Eastern Parkway.”
The letters sent to Shamco explained
Chase’s condition and referenced
the Americans with Disabilities
Act, a civil rights law that protects people
with disabilities by establishing
accessibility regulations. The Crown
Heights building does not meet those
requirements.
About Shamco’s letter from April,
Chase said, “they are just killing time
and doing nothing and they have been
doing that for years.”
Brooklyn Paper reached out to
Shamco for comments, but the company
did not respond.
The company has a three-star rating
on Yelp and multiple reviews complaining
about unattended mold, failing to
provide heat over the winter and poor
communication with their tenants.
“Shamco knows exactly how many
people here need this ramp,” said
Wanda Noonan, 25, who has lived in
the building since September 2019 and
has withheld rent payments since May
of 2020. “It is cruel that given how much
money they make, they refuse to make
a small correction that would make a
lot of people’s lives much easier. It is
very distressing to see our neighbors,
who just want to be able to leave their
homes just like anyone else, continue
to ask for this.”
Noonan said she has had to call the
city’s assistance and authorities to get
needed repairs in her apartment.
“Some people here haven’t seen an
exterminator for months,” she said.
“We are going to keep up the fi ght for
tenants’ rights until we win,” said Joel
Feingold, a co-founder of the Crown
Heights Tenants Union. He estimates it
would cost less than one tenant’s rent
for a single month to build the ramp.
Building resident Ann Primo, 82,
told Brooklyn Paper that she needs to
hold on to a walker to get around and
struggles to go past the building’s door
even with the help of her caretaker.
“With the ramp, I would be so
happy,” she said. “I would stop worrying
about breaking my neck.”
Cusimano & Russo Funeral Home
SERVING THE COMMUNITY OF BROOKLYN FOR OVER 90 YEARS
This firm is owned by a subsidiary of Service Corp. International, 1929 Allen Pkwy, Houston, TX 77019, 713-522-5141. New York state law mandates that all contracts for
prearranged funeral agreements executed by applicants for or recipients of supplemental social security income or medical assistance be irrevocable.
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