July 16, 2019
The 252 Sherman Ave Tenant Association hosted a news conference in front of their building this afternoon to announce a lawsuit against their landlord Lewis Barbanel of Barberry Rose Management Company for harassment and failure to make repairs.
According to a news release from Met Council on Housing, Barbanel has purchased 33 buildings in Washington Heights and Inwood in the last five years and is one of the largest landlords uptown. An emailed request for comment from Barberry Rose remained unanswered at press time.
Following the news conference, tenants and community members marched from 252 Sherman near Isham Street to the Barberry Rose office located at 20 Sherman Avenue where tenants from the 20 Sherman Avenue Tenant Association spoke out alongside other tenants and community members. The tenant leaders also posted a list of demands on the door of the office.
At its peak around 80 people participated in the news conference and march. Participants were cheered on by drivers honking their horns and tenants hanging out of their windows along the route, whooping and hollering. At one point, just above Dykeman, someone evidently dropped an egg from an upper floor on the marchers. Organizers wore orange construction site vests and shepherded the march through intersections and kept it confined to sidewalks.
Participants included tenants of Barberry Rose organized by Met Council on Housing, Manhattan Legal Services, Inwood tenants, advocates, N.Y. State Senator Robert Jackson, and Assemblywoman Carmen De La Rosa.
The march passed by ten buildings owned and managed by Barberry Rose, six of which have formed tenant associations, according to Met Council on Housing. Marchers chanted “the tenants united will never be defeated” and “housing for people not profit” as they proceeded down Sherman Avenue. Among the Barberry buildings the group paused in front of were 125, 121, 113, and 109, all on the east side of Sherman between Academy and Dykeman Streets.
252 Sherman Ave Tenant Association Leader Sarah McDaniel-Dyer recalled a time when a longtime elderly tenant with tears in her eyes asked for Sarah’s help moving out because she couldn’t afford her newly increased rent. While Sarah isn’t a lawyer, she was able to determine the increases were not allowed, and the tenant kept her apartment. One of the demands posted today on Barberry’s door reflected that incident:“#4. We demand that our rent bills only include legal collectable charges.”
