Weary Newhall Gardens Presses New Boss

Seniors at the Newhall Gardens complex got to meet their new property manager — and wasted no time letting her know that, given last winter’s heating woes, she will have to earn their trust.

The new manager, Karen Coleman, responded: Give me a chance.

Coleman told residents at a meeting in the 36-unit Daisy Street complex’s community room Wednesday that she became their new property manager after their previous manager opted to accept the early retirement buyouts that the housing authority is offering to reduce operating costs.

Residents of Newhall Gardens, one of the public housing authority’s developments for senior citizens, said they have been dealing with maintenance problems for years with no relief.

To top it off, last winter they battled a heating system that barely kept them warm. (Read about one of those problems here.) They let Coleman know they’d been promised relief before with little to no results.

Edwina Brown asked what will happen to the back-logged work orders and promised repairs now that the people who had made them were gone and the people like Coleman who remain are managing more properties.

“I was supposed to get a working heater — something in my bedroom,” Brown said. ​“This was as recent as three weeks ago. I was told, ​‘Don’t worry Edwina, we’re almost finished with this project, it’s on the way.’ It never showed up.”

Coleman said that a contract is in place to make repairs to the heating system; it just has to be signed by housing authority Executive Director Karen DuBois-Walton. She said once that contract is in place she will have the units without heat addressed first, and work her way through those who have some heat but need more to keep them warm. She also took information from residents about other maintenance problems.

Newhallville Alder Delphine Clyburn said for the nearly five years she’s been representing the community the seniors have been told that there are contracts in place to make repairs, but yet, it seems, those repairs never get made.

“On top of the buildings, there are some filters that have to be cleaned on every building and the filters inside peoples’ homes,” she said. ​“Hopefully, all of that that gets done before winter. Last winter was a bad winter here. People didn’t have heat. That’s what we’ve been hearing since I became alder, ​‘Oh, we’ve got a contract, and the bidding process … ’ But things don’t get done.

“We cannot go through another winter like this. Whatever needs to be cleaned on top of the building needs to be cleaned before winter gets here, and all these other things they need, need to get done before winter gets here so that we know everyone is going to be warm and safe.”

Coleman (second from left above) said she couldn’t speak to what happened in the past, but she committed to moving forward.

“What I’ve stated is this is what I’m going to do once the contract is here,” she said. “I guarantee that I’m going to be here with them to make sure we put a plan in place to make sure that these folks get sufficient heat. That’s what i’m going to do. If I can’t do that, I’m going to come back to you and express to you that this is what I can’t do and we can try to figure out how we can get it done.

“If we can’t [get something done], we will look at maybe having to relocate somebody so that they’re not dealing with the fact of not having sufficient heat in the unit,” Coleman said. “If I then have to go back to our P&D department and we have to get architects in here to figure out how to make sure all these folks have sufficient heat, that’s what I’ll do.”

Next Church Street South?

Brown said that based on the number of repairs that have gone unmade over the years, tenants have a strong case for legal action similar to that undertaken by tenants at Church Street South. Tenants at that complex filed court action to withhold rent from their landlord, Northland Investment Corp., until certain repairs were made. That has touched off not only temporary repairs, but plans to move those tenants to better housing. (Read about that here.)

“I could do it personally,” Coleman said of the court action, “but I’ve tried to work within the system. I understand that it’s the system, but the powers that be need to know that residents are no longer going to keep putting up with this crap.”

Coleman said Brown, and any other tenant, would be within their right to obtain a lawyer and have a court hold their rent in escrow until repairs are made. But she urged them to give her a little time and a chance to address their concerns.

“I would just ask before you think about doing that—because you do have the right to do that—allow me to get in here and get this contract up and working,” she said.