MANAGERS CORNER

By Stephen Elbaz, nyarm
I am writing this article while on board a flight from Los Angeles back to New York. My office told me that a New York City marshal was brutally tortured and killed while performing a legal court ordered eviction.

The thing that managers should not do is simply say what a terrible tragedy, and a horrific crime and leave it at that. Regardless of the job they do, everyone has a right to see their family at the end of the workday.

It must be made clear that tenants have an absolute right to use all legal means to defend against an eviction (including endless show cause orders and other claims). But, under no circumstances, may violence or the threat of violence be tolerated at anytime.

Managers who have the duty to be present at evictions can attest that while it cannot be compared to the trauma a tenant endures, evictions are extremely stressful and traumatic to the manager.

Managers (myself included) have been cursed at, spit at, threatened and verbally and physically attacked during evictions. It is a fair assumption to state that if the murdered New York City marshal had a radio car with two New York City Police Department officers with him, this terrible tragedy never would have occurred. The NYPD has a 28,000 plus police force.

Evictions could be scheduled for only certain days of the week and a patrol car would accompany the marshal from place to place. The police would also protect tenants from overly aggressive landlords during evictions.

I urge everyone reading this article to forward an email to Mayor Giuliani, your councilperson and the mayoral candidates. The re-deployment of a handful of patrol cars to travel with marshals is a non-issue with a police force the size of the NYPD. It will go a long way to protect tenants, landlords, marshals and others who are simply trying to do their job.

Reminder: Heating season officially begins October 1st. Managers are required to maintain 68 degrees from 6:00 AM until 10:00 PM and 55 degrees overnight. Hot water must be provided every day of the year.

Stephen Elbaz, nyarm is Secretary of NYARM and president of Esquire Management Corporation, a full service real estate firm licensed in New York and New Jersey. Readers with questions or concerns should contact Stephen by fax at [718] 623-2322 or e-mail to steve@EsquireManagement.com. Questions and letters will be researched and answered in the next issue of the NYARM newspaper.


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