Cracks in foundation leave residents of an East Harlem building hanging

Credit: Chine Labbe

Rose Sylvester, 48, says she fears for her life. For the past year, she has been watching the vertical cracks running from the basement to the roof of her apartment’s building, fearful that it would collapse.

“I’m letting the building speak for itself,” she said, while offering a guided tour of her home, at 8 East 110^th Street, off Fifth Avenue, in East Harlem. “Just look.”

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It took a court case, but Dicenia Coste kept her apartment

By Lauren Kirchner
November 19, 2009

Photo credit: Lauren Kirchner

Dicenia Coste had been living in her 3-bedroom, pre-war apartment in the historic Deerfield Building overlooking Riverbank State Park in Harlem for 10 years when she got a letter asking her to leave. Continue Reading

Hunts Point residents keep up the fight

Photo Credit: Rob Sgobbo

Argentina Perdomo, 34, struggled to get into the front door of apartment 4G. With her two young daughters, Maria and Cynthia, ages 12 and 8, by her side, Perdomo tried to unlock the deadbolt, then jiggled the handle, then slammed her body against the door. “Try the lock again, Mommy,” Maria said. Continue Reading

Washington Heights Building Battles the Management

by Emma Silvers

For the third day in a row, Henry Brown woke up wanting nothing more than a hot shower. It was a frosty February morning and the hot water would wake him up, maybe make his usual walk through Washington Heights to work at a grocery store a little more comfortable. Testing the bathroom sink faucet at the apartment he has shared with his wife and in-laws for 12 years, Brown was not surprised to find only a thin stream of ice-cold water. It was the same way his day had started the day before, and the day before that.

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