The Town of Chazy will shut down a local apartment building because it is not fit for people to live in, according to a statement released by Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York.
The town’s code enforcement officer, Michael Tetreault, said he has notified the owners of the building located at 9627 Route 9 that it’s “unfit for human occupancy” under state and local laws.
The units will remain shut down pending a report detailing deficiencies and required repairs to bring the apartments into compliance.
Tetreault says tenants must be out by July 22, according to the statement. Housing advocates and town officials will coordinate with Clinton County Department of Social Services to assist tenants with securing new housing.
On July 8th, the Town of Chazy Code Enforcement Officer announced that he was closing Gray Gables, a local apartment building, because it is not fit for people to live in. Since 2015 the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York, Inc. (LASNNY) has filed complaints on the state and local level, arranged for inspections, filed reports, and advocated with officials and represented various tenants.
At a July 8, 2019 Town Council meeting, Code Enforcement Officer Michael Tetreault announced to the council that he has notified the owners of the building located at 9627 Route 9, Chazy NY, (locally known as “Gray Gables,”) that the structure is “UNFIT FOR HUMAN OCCUPANCY” under the New York State Property Maintenance Code as well as local laws, and must be vacated no later than July 22, 2019. Gray Gables will remain vacant until an engineering report is completed “detailing all deficiencies at the property and required repairs to bring the structures into compliance with the NY State Building Code.” The notice was sent to the property owners, Frederick and Cecile Reus, and copies given to the Town Council. Officials and advocates are coordinating efforts with the Clinton County Department of Social Services to refer anyone who is seeking and is eligible for housing assistance.
This announcement is the culmination of community efforts raising concerns about this building for years including but not limited to LASNNY, Chazy Code Enforcement, and the Clinton County Health Department. LASNNY is committed to addressing the affordable housing crisis in New York, specifically advocating for safe, affordable, accessible housing for all. Tara Glynn, Staff Attorney in LASNNY’s Plattsburgh office, said, “The perseverance our clients have shown living through these conditions, struggling to find alternative housing, and fighting so that others do not experience what they have endured is inspiring and admirable. LASNNY looks forward to working with the local Code Enforcement Officer, town government, County Health Department, and State Division of Buildings and Code on behalf of our clients to ensure that residents and the community are protected from unsafe and uninhabitable conditions.”
LASNNY routinely advocates for clients and work with agencies and landlords to address issues of habitability and safety in housing throughout the North Country. In pursuit of this goal, LASNNY has represented thirteen residents at the property known as Gray Gables in Chazy, New York. For more than four years, we have advocated for tenants’ rights in the face of significant health and safety risks this building posed to our clients and to the community at large.
As Mr. Tetreault wrote following an April 2019 inspection of one apartment, “the living conditions are well below minimum standards” in that apartment and in “the balance of the building.” The outside of the building consisted at that time of “a lot of junk, trash, and debris.” The “roof structure will not hold screws to maintain the metal roofing in place,” so that “snow melt “seeps between the sheeting causing the constant leaking into the interior of the building.” The apartments had “issues with heaters,” and since the “only source of heat is…not capable of maintaining 68 degrees,” the tenants were using “added heaters not properly vented or electric space heaters.” The owner “does not maintain smoke detectors or carbon monoxide detectors as they become missing or inoperable.” In the winter, “because no heat is available in the common areas…drain pipes routinely freeze causing plumbing back-up.” He also described “issues with doors…especially door locks not working properly” and a variety of electrical issues: “fixtures don’t work properly, electrical shorts, water in light fixtures, poorly mounted electrical fixtures etc.” Mr. Tetreault noted that “several agencies are aware of the issues concerning ‘Gray Gables’” and asked that the Town take a “proactive stance with this property.” He closed by stating that “In its current condition I believe it to be UNSAFE and UNINHABITABLE.”
On April 5, 2019 Ryan Davies, P.E., Director of Environmental Health and Safety for the Clinton County Health Department, and Tim Simonette, Senior Public Health Sanitarian for the Clinton County Health Department, sent a letter to the building’s owner, with copies to (among others) the Town of Chazy Supervisor and the Town of Chazy Building Codes Officer. In this letter, Mr. Davies and Mr. Simonette wrote that they inspected the property on March 22, 2019, and observed “large amounts of construction materials, scrap metal, tires, and miscellaneous debris” on the property. They further explained that “All of these items can promote and give harborage to vermin, such as insects and rodents,” and required removal of “unnecessary items, rubbish, construction debris” from the premises by May 31, 2019.
On April 16, 2019, Mr. Tetreault wrote a letter to the town which stated that “several issues” had come to his attention with this property during his six years as Code Enforcement Officer and also noted that prior code enforcement officers had documented the same issues. He described the scope of the violations as “severe” and stated that “from the exterior of the buildings to the interior of the apartments, the violations persist.” For these reasons in his letter Mr. Tetreault asked the town board for its “review and recommendations that this be deemed an UNSAFE STRUCTURE and UNSUITABLE for HABITATION.” He also noted that other agencies, including LASNNY, the Clinton County Health Department, and the New York State Department of State Division of Building and Codes were aware of the situation at the property.
Given that conditions at Gray Gables have long been substantiated by Code Enforcement and many other governmental agencies, LASNNY is extremely pleased with this response to finally address the dangers this property presents to the residents and general community alike.
The Chazy Town Board will be discussing a resolution concerning Gray Gables at a Town Board Meeting on July 16th at 4pm at the Chazy Town Hall located at 9631 Route 9 Chazy NY.
“They were promised a pension, they did not receive what they were promised,” said LASNNY Advocacy Coordinator & Attorney Victoria Esposito. “You’ve got people who have worked their entire working lives, in some cases, who walked away with nothing.”
“This is one of those cases where right and wrong is black and white, and [LASNNY is] lucky to [be] a part of this.”
The Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York (LASNNY) continues to represent two pensioners in their struggle to get the full pension they were promised by St. Clare’s Hospital and St. Clare’s Corporation. We are working with David Pratt of Albany Law School; Gary Stone of Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation a division of Legal Services of New York City; private attorney David Pentkowski of Pentkowski, Pastore, and Freestone, Clifton Park; and Dara Smith, Meryl Grenadier, and Osvaldo Vasquez of AARP’s litigation team.
Sunday is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. So LifePath, former Senior Services of Albany, held a program aimed at helping us all spot and prevent this underreported and growing problem.
NewsChannel 13’s Benita Zahn moderated a great panel that shared pointers on guardianship, protecting our loved ones and what we as a community can do to prevent elder abuse.
The Spectrum Theatre in Albany was packed with folks who wanted to learn more about this topic.
The Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York (LASNNY) announced that Marc S. Ehrlich, Esq. an attorney in private practice in Troy, New York has been selected as one of five awardees nationally for the 2019 American Bar Association Pro Bono Publico Award Recipients. Mark has volunteered as a pro bono attorney since the mid-1980s and has taken hundreds of cases in his area of bankruptcy and bankruptcy related issues. He has been a volunteer with LASNNY’s Private Attorney Involvement Program since 1993 and was nominated for the award by LASNNY.
“Marc’s commitment to assuring fairness to those who cannot afford representation is outstanding. LASNNY and his client are fortunate to have him as a volunteer”, said Lillian M. Moy LASNNY’s Executive Director.
“By sharing his experience, providing draft motions and writing amicus briefs, Mr. Ehrlich has encouraged countless attorneys to take on pro bono cases of their own. Marc has transformed hundreds of client’s lives over the years” said Jim Hacker, LASNNY Board Member. “In his last five cases alone, he assisted our clients in discharging collectively over $150,000 of debt.”
Marc has served as a Chapter 7 panel Trustee for the Northern District of New York since 1991. He is Board Certified in Consumer Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification. “I am honored to receive this award from the ABA. It is a credit to all of the good work that the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York does for the people of the Capital Region in helping attain a fair and just society”
Marc is a three-time winner of the Distinguished Service Award for Private Attorney Involvement for pro bono work by the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York, Inc. and was awarded the President’s Pro Bono Service Attorney Award by the New York State Bar Association in 2001 and its Small Firm Pro Bono Award in 2013. He was awarded the Barry A. Gold Law Firm Leadership Award by the Legal Project of the Capital Region Women’s Bar Association in 2004. He is a graduate of Hobart College, member of Phi Beta Kappa, and a graduate of Syracuse University College of Law.
Marc lives in East Greenbush with his wife Judy. His two children Rachel and Joel are both adults.
About the ABA Pro Bono Committee
The ABA’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service works to ensure access to justice through the expansion and enhancement of the delivery of legal and other law-related services to the underserved through volunteer efforts of legal professionals nationwide. The Committee fosters the development of pro bono programs and activities by law firms, bar associations, corporate legal departments, law schools, government attorney offices and others; analyzes the scope and function of pro bono programs; and proposes and reviews policy that affects lawyers’ ability to provide pro bono legal services.
About the ABA
With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law. View our privacy statement online. Follow the latest ABA news at www.americanbar.org/news and on Twitter @ABANews.
The Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York fights for fairness, dignity, and justice for those living in poverty and for a society which is inclusive and equitable for all. LASNNY transforms lives, builds community, and empowers people by using the law to address individual and systemic wrongs and inequalities, and provides assistance and representation to low-income residents in 16 counties from the Catskills to the Canadian border in civil legal matters.
Three days after Quaisha Nobles woke up to black smoke and fled her now demolished Third Avenue home with her young children, she showed up at the Washington Avenue public library looking for support.
“Anything helps. We lost everything,” Nobles said. “It’s still shocking. Did this really happen?”
Nobles and her children’s father, Julian Chatman, who was in New York City at the time of the fire, were already moved to a nearby apartment by their landlord. But there’s nothing in it and they’ve been sleeping on donated air mattresses. They don’t have clothing or furniture. Nobles’ birth certificate and driver’s license burned.
The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) continued its 30-year tradition of honoring lawyers, law firms, a law student and a civil justice group that have provided extraordinary pro bono service to those in need at a ceremony and luncheon on May 1 at the Bar Center in Albany.
NYSBA President Michael Miller presided over the 2019 President’s Pro Bono Service Awards ceremony, which is held each year on Law Day, which is observed across the country with programs focused on education about and celebration of the rule of law.
“Each year on Law Day, we honor those whose pro bono work has helped hundreds of people in meaningful, sometimes life-altering ways,” said Miller. “It is fitting because, at its heart, Law Day is about the public good and public service. This is the oath we took when we became lawyers; it is our sacred trust.”
Highlights of the luncheon included a keynote address by New York State Court of Appeals Associate Judge Paul Feinman and presentation of the award for Attorney Professionalism to Peter Strauss, senior counsel at Pierro, Connor & Strauss LLC. The award is given by NYSBA’s Committee on Attorney Professionalism.
Each year, more and more older adults are making a positive impact in Northeastern New York. As volunteers, employees, employers, educators, mentors, advocates, and more, they offer insight and experience that benefit the entire community. That’s why Older Americans Month (OAM) has been recognizing the contributions of this growing population for 56 years. And that’s why the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York (LASNNY) provides services specifically to support this population.
LASNNY’s Senior Legal Services Programs cover a full range of civil legal issues. We meet with clients in their communities including at senior centers, county Offices for Aging, and occasional home visits for homebound clients. We also present community legal education talks on subjects of frequent interest such as scams or advance directives.
Clients who are at least 60 years of age and reside in Albany, Fulton, Hamilton, Rensselaer (outside of the City of Troy), St. Lawrence, Warren, or Washington Counties or at the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation are eligible for services through these programs. There are no income or asset limitations for eligibility. All SLS clients are eligible to receive advice. Additional assistance may also be available, depending upon resources.
Communities that support and recognize older adults are stronger! Join us in strengthening our community – this May and throughout the year.
To learn more about Older Americans Month, visit the official OAM website at https://acl.gov/oam for ideas and inspiration, and follow ACL on Twitter and Facebook.
For more information about LASNNY’s Senior Legal Services Programs please go to the LASNNY website at www.lasnny.org or call 1-800-462-2922. Please follow LASNNY on Facebook!
Legal Aid Society attorney Victoria Esposito filed paperwork with the Schenectady County Court on Tuesday, but is still waiting for paperwork she requested from the state. She says she submitted a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request several months ago and has yet to receive the documents.
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