Phony Evictions? New York City? Charles Rangel and Mrs. Espaillat

Phony Evictions? New York City? You better believe it! Thank you New York Post for keeping me posted on my pet issue... evictions and housing court.

And thank you Mrs. Espaillat for bringing this issue to the forefront.
And thank you Mr. Rangel for having your team distribute phony eviction notices to tenants.


PHONY evictions notices are common practice with some News York City landlords. Conveniently, there a no numbers of statistics on how many of these occur each year because most of the victims are the elderly, immigrants and anyone who scares easily.

I have witnessed phony evictions distributed by hand when I used to live on 108th street in Spanish Harlem. Spanish Harlem is a predominately, Latin/ Mexican/Puerto Rican neighborhood.

When  the landlords smelt money they decided that gentrification was going to happen.  Their motto was, "Evict em? Raise those rents! Make more money! Move em out! Move em in! Raise the rent again!"

One of the terrible consequences of what I call landlord veraciousness or for lack of a better work  greed is that the local people became targets for evictions. Where I lived in Spanish Harlem most of the people knew limited English. Many landlords figured that since illegal eviction saved a shit load of legal fees it was definitely a strategy that was worth a shot.

 Many of those victimized came from countries with a corrupt legal system and official hand delivered papers in another language scared them shitless.

As gentrification took place I saw first hand families evicted or illegally locked out of their apartments sitting on the street with all of their possessions laying next to them or piled in a heap in the garbage. I also noticed that many of these illegal evictions took place at night usually the night before garbage pick-up as to not draw attention to the crimes taking place.  I was sickened by regularly witnessing  mothers and children shivering by dark doorsteps in the midst of winter in complete shock. These terrorized families had nowhere to go but the stoop of the place they once called home.

YES ILLEGAL EVICTIONS OCCUR AND THEY OCCUR A LOT!

If anything Rangel's behavior is  a symptom of a greater problem in the system.

If you or anyone you know has been illegally evicted please post a comment.