Melissa Suarez has called the Hudson Ridge apartment complex home for the last 20 years. For most of that time, she has enjoyed living on Boulevard East in North Bergen, but since October, it’s been “a living hell,” as she calls it.
“Since that time, we have had at least two weeks of every month with no heat, no hot water or both,” claimed Suarez, who has become the president of the Hudson Ridge Tenants Association. “It’s been really, really bad for the last 18 months, but recently, it’s been unbearable.”
Suarez said that the residents in the 25-unit building where she lives (Hudson Ridge has five buildings with 25 or more units) have been without regular heat or hot water for the last two weeks, through the recent wave of frigid temperatures.
“We’ve been wearing coats and gloves in our apartments,” Suarez said.
Jackie Gautier, who has been living in the building at 7212 Boulevard East for the last 18 years, is beyond frustrated.
“I’ve been suffering since the beginning of winter,” Gautier said. “I haven’t had any heat in my living room or kitchen. Maybe some days, I get a little bit of heat to come through in the morning, but by 3 in the afternoon, it’s dead again.”
Gautier has purchased three electric heaters that she’s placed around her apartment.
“I can’t freeze,” she said.
As for hot water, that’s another problem.
“I have to boil some water in pots and bring the pots with me to the bathroom to bathe,” Gautier said. “That’s no way to live. It’s totally out of control.”
Suarez and other residents consistently call both the management company of the facility, Jordan Cooper and Associates, and the building’s owner, El-Ad Group Ltd., based out of Fort Lee, to try to get some relief – with no luck.
“I call the office and they never return my calls,” Gautier said.
Suarez said that the property manager has insisted that the apartments have enough heat and hot water, that there were some problems with the building’s boiler and that a certified plumber made the necessary repairs.
The problems have drawn the ire of township officials, especially township health director Richard Censullo, who has been working with the residents and pleading with the management company to try to come to some sort of solution.
Censullo sent three different inspectors to the facility to check out the problems.
“The owners have gone and tried to patch the boiler’s problems, but basically, it’s been like putting a Band-Aid on it,” Censullo said. “They said they put new valves on the boiler, then two days later, the steam valve blew off and the maintenance man got hit in the head with it and had to be taken to the hospital with a possible concussion.”
Added Censullo, “We’ve been more than aware of this problem for quite some time. Our inspectors have determined that the system in place is incapable of supplying sufficient heat. It’s been off and on and it’s been one thing after another. The heat was on a little, then it kicked off.”
Censullo said that township construction official Lou Scala and attorney Eric Bal examined the situation and Scala issued an order to the owner to make the necessary repairs to the boiler.
“The Department of Health also issued 14 summonses in municipal court, but the owners failed to appear,” Censullo said. “It’s just a horror.”
Maximum fines
Each summons carries a maximum of a $500 fine for each day that the problem is not solved for each apartment. There is also the possibility of a 60-day jail sentence that accompanies the fines.
Censullo also said that there is a possibility that the case could end up in Hudson County Superior Court, where a judge can then rule that the township is in charge of collecting the rents and then can use the rents to make the necessary repairs.
A Hudson County judge made a similar ruling to the Sylvan Village Apartment Complex a year ago, enabling the township to make the necessary repairs in order to provide heat and hot water for the residents who lived there, so there is a precedent.
When Censullo and his department learned of the lack of heat and hot water last weekend, they took immediate action. The health department ordered Manager Denise Pacelli to provide hotel accommodations for the residents without heat and hot water, but even that process had its tenuous moments. The town also ordered Pacelli to provide an emergency generator to provide heat.
“She booked about 30 rooms at the Days Inn on Tonnelle Avenue, but we didn’t receive word of the rooms until 11 p.m.,” Suarez said. “We have a lot of senior citizens who live here and families with children, some of whom are infants. I don’t think it’s fair for them to leave their homes in the middle of the night.”
Suarez said that many of the residents did eventually go to use the hotel rooms, if only to bath.
Suarez applauded the efforts of Censullo and his staff.
“If we didn’t have the health department helping us, we never would have had the hotel rooms,” Suarez said. “They tried to get us emergency housing. We’ve been trying everything to get someone to help us. The main concern is getting the things we need.”
Suarez is certain that there’s a method to the madness. She believes that it is all part of an attempt by the building’s owners and management company to get the current residents out because they have been living under rent controlled conditions.
“Basically, they would like us to leave,” Suarez said. “We basically pay $400 to $500 per month in a high-rent district. I definitely believe they want us out and they’re doing anything they can to get us out.”
The owners have been hard at work refurbishing the back wing of 7212 Boulevard East, working on rehabbing the units in order to rent at a much significant higher rate than what the current residents pay.
There was extensive demolition done at the site, and construction workers have been busy at work making improvements to the other unoccupied wing – while the occupied portion of the building continues to have heat and hot water issues.
Repeated phone calls to both Pacelli and to El-Ad Ltd.’s offices went unreturned by press time.
“They have to have a heart,” Gautier said. “We’re not on Welfare here. I pay my rent religiously. There’s no need to play games. I hope they fix this, because I’m not ready to move, but I can’t live like this either. It’s so cold. It’s terrible.”
The owners, management company and residents have a hearing set for Feb. 10 in front of the North Bergen Rent Leveling Board to address the heat and hot water issue.
In the meantime, Censullo said that his department will continue to issue summonses and fines, until the matter can be addressed in Superior Court.
“The tenants have been extremely understanding,” Censullo said. “They’re working together with Melissa and we’re staying on top of it. We’re doing all that we can, but it’s a nightmare for those people.”