46th Street residents take to the streets over unlivable conditions
“No more slumlords” was the chant heard on the streets of Sunset Park on Thursday, February 12, as residents took to the streets to bring attention to sewage flooding at an apartment complex in the neighborhood.
Following the first annual “Step Up, Speak Out” community forum held at Community Board 7, 4201 Fourth Avenue, State Senator Jesse Hamilton and Assemblymember Felix Ortiz led the march as dozens of Sunset residents walked from the forum to the trio of apartment buildings at 545, 553 and 557 46th Street where tenants have continued to suffer due to the complex’s poor conditions.
So bad has it been, in fact, that in August, 2012, the court took receivership of the building – whose tenants had engaged in a protracted rent strike — away from errant landlord Orazio Petito and gave it to Baltimore-based developer Seryl. Conditions, however, have not improved.