Like many of her neighbors, Ethel Thaim grabbed the bare essentials from her apartment before the Fire Department evacuated her unsafe West Harlem building. Now the displaced resident of 305 W. 150th St., is living in an uptown shelter, trying to piece her life back together.
“I am really overwhelmed by this,” she said, fighting tears, “to be put in a place like this and be told that’s it for you.”
Cristina Alesci
HOME SICK: Ethel Thaim was sent to this Spartan room in a shelter after her West Harlem apartment building was declared unsafe.
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Uncertain Future
Thaim, 46, is sharing a dirty bathroom, shower and kitchen with four strangers at the shelter and does not know when, or if she will be able to return home.
She is one of dozens of tenants rousted from 28 apartments Sept. 11 when the FDNY ordered the evacuation of the building, which had racked up more than 600 housing code violations. Residents also complained of intrusive construction taking place in some of the building’s more than 50 vacant apartments.
There was no immediate decision from city officials on whether tenants will be allowed back inside.
Permit Questions
Up until the order to vacate, residents had clamored for the city to stop what they believed was unsafe demolition and construction work at the building.
They questioned how the landlord managed to get a Department of Buildings permit for demolition work in an occupied building with hundreds of outstanding violations.
DEMOLITION ZONE: Inside 305 W. 150th St.
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Holding up Department of Buildings permits, tenants protested outside city Department of Housing Preservation offices just six days before they were evacuated.
At the demonstration, tenants cited lead paint exposure as their most pressing concern, but also complained of flimsy floorboards and roach and rat infestation.
One woman showed pictures of what she said were big rats on her apartment floor — and pointed to red blotches on her leg, which she alleged were rat bites.
Community activists had warned of a possible disaster. “These people have been fighting for years,” said Luis Tejada, a community organizer who helped residents form a tenants association.
Efforts to reach the building’s landlord, 305-307 W. 150th St. LLC, for comment were not successful. A spokesman for Manhattan North Management Company, which manages the building, told the New York Times the company was trying to address the violations when the FDNY ordered the evacuation. The spokesman said the company would work with officials to fix the building so tenants could return.
