This is the neighbor.

https://nypost.com/2016/09/14/judge-said-i-couldnt-read-religious-quotes-so-i-wore-them/

Easier-to-read link for mobile readers.

Damn, he even had a Daily Show segment about him back in the day: https://www.cc.com/video/cguv0p/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-no-meal-plan-no-cry

What I don’t get is the landlord connection to him. I’m definitely not denying there is one, but he is just some psychopath for hire as a job that slumlords use to harass tenants? What happens if the landlord does manage to get everyone to leave - who says this guy is going to go anywhere?

This LL is a criminal. Arrest them and seize the building.

https://gothamist.com/news/six-arrested-in-east-flatbush-drug-raid

Seems like a stand-up guy.

It’s possible there’s no coordination. Horrible story nonetheless.

>The landlord’s latest offer still stands to move Mr. Roberts into a rent-regulated apartment in the neighborhood to better conduct repairs in his unit, according to Mr. Toonkel, the lawyer.

One of his neighbors accepted a 150k lump sum offer to move out.

I want to feel sympathy for someone "losing" their $450/mo lease deal, but I've got to admit it's not easy.

Edit: that lump sum alone would've put him above the median savings for people above 75-year-olds https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Retirement_Accounts;demographic:agecl;population:6;units:median;range:1989,2019

Probably none of this happens if the building was market rate.

This is an elderly man on a fixed income who is by all rights in poverty (like most elderly people in this country) and has been lower income most of his life. It's not hard to feel bad for an elderly man on a fixed income being forced out of his home.

By the way, 150k won't get you much unless he moves out of the city entirely. When you realize that someone his age could live more than 10-20 years, that's a pitiable sum.

>By the way, 150k won't get you much unless he moves out of the city entirely. When you realize that someone his age could live more than 10-20 years, that's a pitiable sum.

The median retirement savings for people 75 or older was 83k in 2019. In 2016 it peaked around 126k.

He already has his fixed retirement income. So the cash out sum of 150k would've been on top of that.

I'm still having a hard time feeling a lot of sympathy, if I'm being honest.

Reference: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Retirement_Accounts;demographic:agecl;population:6;units:median;range:1989,2019

You have no idea what this guy has saved. The average doesn't take into account the majority of elderly people in this country living in poverty on a fixed wage. Many of them lose everything during the Great Recession. You're also neglecting to take into account the kind of rent he'll be seeing from any other apartment in this city. That money would disappear quickly.

This'll be us one day, only we'll likely have even less whole rents will be higher.

> seize the building

What country do you think this is in?

Oh boy wait until you hear about civil forfeiture and eminent domain.

I'm aware of those. Neither have any relation to having someone's entire building seized for being a bad landlord. Do you have any examples of that?

150k is shit for the rents NYC rents.

He will have spent 150k in a few years renting at market rate.

Then if he is not dead by then he will be homeless.

One that let's land lords fuck over residents

There are many cheaper places with warmer climates, where 150k would be pretty sizable. That's in addition to his fixed retirement income by the way.

So that seems like a choice.

Also lets tenants fuck over landlords.