by Mona Mahadevan The New Haven independent
The top priority for Earnease Daniels, Rosalind Shaw, and Chris Urquhart is fixing the building’s heating and cooling systems.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, addressing the Park Ridge Tenants Union: “Your elected officials are on your side, and history is on your side.”
New Haven’s federal delegation has pledged to send a second letter urging Capital Realty Group — the owner of the 72-unit Park Ridge apartment complex in West Hills — to negotiate with the building’s recently formed tenants union.
It’s the latest step from lawmakers to support a nationwide wave of organizing at Capital Realty properties, where seven tenants unions — three in Kansas City, Missouri and others in New Haven; Detroit; Billings, Montana; and Louisville, Kentucky — have formed in just the last six weeks.
On Friday, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal joined representatives from the offices of U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro to demand that Capital Realty’s principals, Mosche Eichler and Sam Horowitz, improve Park Ridge residents’ living conditions. They stood with dozens of Park Ridge Tenants Union and Connecticut Tenants Union (CTTU) members at the entrance of Park Ridge Apartments, located at 10 Hard St.
“The story of America is the story of unions winning for people,” Blumenthal said. “You’re providing a model to the whole country.”
Through the hour-long press conference, members chanted, “Tenant! Power!”, “Mr. Eichler, come to the table,” and “I know that we will win.”
Established in 1999, Capital Realty is one of the 15 largest landlords in the affordable housing industry, owning 21,689 units as of Jan. 1, according to Affordable Housing Finance magazine. The National Affordable Housing Management Association, which represents 75 percent of the affordable housing industry, reported at the beginning of this year that all Capital Realty developments receive federal subsidies.
Residents at Park Ridge, a 72-unit complex that serves elderly and disabled residents, formed the first of now seven tenants unions at different Capital Realty properties across the country. According to CTTU, the Tenant Union Federation now covers 1,000 of the landlord’s housing units.
Far before this recent six-week surge, residents of Capital Realty properties in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Chicago — most of whom are elderly, disabled, and/or low-income — had long complained about unaddressed pest infestations, mold and mildew, severe maintenance issues, and safety issues. Dozens of residents in New Haven’s Sunset Ridge Apartments, purchased by an affiliate of Capital Realty in July 2023, claimed to have developed severe respiratory issues since moving into the building. That holding company has also filed 40 eviction lawsuits against the complex’s low-income tenants over the last two years.
Since forming in early August, the Park Ridge Tenants Union convinced Blumenthal, Murphy, and DeLauro to send a letter on Aug. 14 urging Capital Realty to engage in good faith negotiations. The union also met with four members of Capital Realty’s upper management — including Eichler and Horowitz — over Zoom on Aug. 27. They scheduled a follow-up meeting with Capital Realty staff on Sep. 11.
According to CTTU Vice President Luke Melonakos, the landlord failed to show up to the second meeting or fulfill the promises Eichler made during the first, which included signing a non-retaliation statement and committing to basic standards for repair timelines and quality.
On Friday, Blumenthal said he, Murphy, and DeLauro would sign a letter urging Capital Realty to come back to the bargaining table.
While union members didn’t meet with anyone on Sept. 11, according to a Sept. 12 CTTU press release, the union spoke in-person with Capital Realty Regional Asset Manager Tim Teicher on Sept. 9. According to that press release, in that two-and-half-hour meeting, Teicher agreed to concrete timelines for implementing new security measures, providing accessibility and language accommodations, and conducting a thorough repair of the building’s heating and cooling systems.
On Friday, Gerene Freeman, Vice President of the Park Ridge Tenants Union, said she’s seen contractors laying down new carpet and repainting the common room walls from blue to beige. She’s also noticed new green lighting on the exit signs and boxes of fresh cabinets, previously in the hallways and now, she assumes, installed in some units.
According to a Sept. 25 CTTU press release, the landlord finally replaced the faulty, noisy boiler that had been a top concern of tenants for almost a decade. On Friday, CTTU President Hannah Srajer and Vice President Luke Melonakos clarified that the building’s maintenance person told them a new boiler had been installed, but they weren’t able to confirm that firsthand. Freeman said she’d seen two HVAC trucks outside the building, as well as people carrying out rusty parts of what seemed to be a boiler, but she hadn’t seen the new boiler herself.
Since the boiler is off during the summer, none of the tenants could say whether it has started working properly or still makes noise.
Either way, there’s still a lot of work left to be done on the building, residents stressed.
For example, Chris Urquhart, a union member who’s lived in the building for ten years, said the building needs a better trash system to keep pests away.
Freeman agreed, noting, “Already we have raccoons doing their grocery shopping in the dumpster.”
When this reporter walked around Park Ridge Friday, the sour smell of rotting trash, intensified by the hallways’ heat and humidity, hit as soon as the elevator doors opened on a residential floor.
Urquhart also mentioned that the complex’s 72 units are serviced by a single maintenance person, which means that it can take several weeks for even severe problems to be fixed. She’s lobbying for the building to hire another handyman.
Rosalind Shaw, a caretaker for resident Earnease Daniels, experienced a different type of maintenance issue. After Daniels soiled her carpet, she claimed building management told her they’d only replace it if Daniels moved out. Because Daniels had nowhere else to go, Shaw and her brother paid an external contractor nearly a thousand dollars to clean the carpet instead.
Residents are also still waiting for upgrades to the building’s package delivery system and overall security. Melonakos and Freeman said Teicher promised to place sofas and chairs near the elevators — a priority for the building’s many tenants with mobility issues — and schedule an exterminator to visit the building twice a month.
At a broader level, the union is still demanding recognition.
“What we’re looking for is respect, accountability, and a man of his word,” said Srajer. “At the core of this press conference” is a clear message: “respect the union.”
She emphasized that even though the landlord is beginning to take action, once the public pressure is off, they may revert to their old practice of ignoring tenants’ complaints. For that reason, she argued, Capital Realty needs to recognize the union and sign written commitments.
By skipping the Sept. 11 meeting, Urquhart feels that Eichler has indicated that the residents of Park Ridge are “not important enough” for him. If she had the chance, she said, she’d tell Eichler, “Get your shit together, come here, and at least meet with your tenants.”
The lobby has new carpets, a fresh coat of paint, and some hanging wall art.
According to Freeman, only one of the building’s eight residential floors has been allowed to have plants in the hallways; on the other floors, management has required tenants to remove all greenery.
The humid hallways have helped plants bloom in this small seating section near an eighth floor window.
Park Ridge Tenants Union members emphasized that they want equitable treatment, both within their building and across the Capital Realty portfolio.