Eviction battle in Chinatown leads
to charges of ‘smear campaign’
BY DEAN MOSES
A senior claims she has
been unlawfully evicted
from her Chinatown
apartment amid the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic.
Lichang Wang was joined
by neighbors and community
supporters outside of the Asian
Americans for Equality (AAFE)
on Aug. 24, the landlord’s offi ce,
at 111 Division St., to call for a
way back home.
According to Wang, who
told her story while clinging to
a protest sign on Aug. 24, she
had resided on Norfolk Street
for over a decade. However, she
said things changed when her
estranged husband moved out
from the premises.
Although her name was not
on the lease, the 62-year-old was
informed that she would be able
to remain in her home with the
help of governmental assistance
— but Wang said the AAFE had
other plans.
“The apartment was under my
ex-husband’s name. He got public
housing, so he moved out,” Wang
told amNewYork Metro through
the help of a translator, adding
that her ex-husband advised her
to go to a shelter for help.
“When I got there, a social
worker told me that I don’t have
Lichang Wang claims that she was illegally evicted from her
apartment from Chinatown.
A press conference was held outside of the Asian Americans
for Equality (AAFE) on Aug. 24, at 111 Division St., to call for
Wang to be allowed back into her apartment.
to move and they helped me apply
for government assistance, like
rental assistance,” Wang said,
“I even called the police and the
police told me that I didn’t have
to move.”
On July 12, Wang said that the
AAFE’s staff arrived at her apartment
and attempted to change her
locks. She immediately called the
911, who she says informed her
that while she is there, they cannot
alter the locks and she is permitted
to remain in the apartment.
Police sources confi rmed that at
4:50 p.m., offi cers responded to a
911 call at Wang’s address.
Despite NYPD intervention,
Wang asserts that she was lured
away to discuss the issue, at which
time the locks were changed.
AAFE vehemently denied these
claims, sharing that Wang’s exhusband
signed a document stating
that no one else resided within
the apartment when he informed
them of his intentions of moving.
An AAFE representative
also highlighted that after tenants
move, locks are changed as
a safety procedure.
“After he moved (in early
July), the locks on this apartment
were changed, which is standard
practice. A short time later,
Lichang Wang, who was previously
unknown to us, came to
our management offi ce claiming
to be a tenant in this unit.She was
not listed on any of the income
certifi cation documents fi led with
the city or any other documents.
Ms. Wang indicated she had been
married to the former tenant of
record a decade ago or more, but
they had since divorced. According
to the income certifi cation
forms and lease documents, the
former tenant lived in the apartment
with another woman. After
confi rming with the tenant of
record that anything left in the
apartment should be discarded,
our staff offered to move items
left in the unit to a storage unit of
Ms. Wang’s choosing. We advised
Ms. Wang that it would not be
possible to place her in the apartment
in the absence of any proof
of tenancy,” Asian Americans for
Equality wrote in a statement to
amNewYork Metro.
Still, Wang remains without
her belongings, such as clothes
and other personal affects, and is
currently residing within a shelter.
She even showed images on her
cellphone of her couch left in the
street.
Despite the senior’s predicament,
she says she will continue
to fi ght until she can once again
fi nd her way back home.
U.S. government to close
Downtown jail where
Epstein found hanged
REUTERS
U.S. authorities will shut the
federal prison where
convicted sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein died, while they address a
range of problems that came to light there
after the fi nancier’s suicide two years ago,
the New York Times reported.
The high-security Metropolitan Correctional
Center (MCC) in Lower Manhattan
will be closed at least temporarily to resolve
safety and infrastructure issues, the
newspaper quoted the Justice Department
as saying.
Neither the Department nor the Federal
Bureau of Prisons responded to Reuters’
requests for comment.
Epstein was found hanging in his cell in
2019 while awaiting trial on sex traffi cking
charges. His death was ruled a suicide by
medical examiners.
Criticism of conditions at the jail, whose
other high-profi le inmates have included
Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo”
Guzman, prompted U.S. deputy attorney
general Lisa Monaco to visit it this month.
The Times said 233 inmates were currently
incarcerated there, most of whom
were awaiting a trial. It was not immediately
clear where they would be moved to,
or when the prison would close.
REUTERS
The Metropolitan Correctional Center, the location of the death of Jeffrey
Epstein is photographed, Nov. 19, 2019.
4 September 2, 2021 Schneps Media