In what might be the most remote and neglected pocket of New Haven, neighbors say dead bodies can remain undetected for days. Blondell Murray is afraid to sit on her porch for fear of snakes in the “forest” that is her backyard.
Murray, like many of her neighbors, is upset by the neglect with which she feels that government has treated the housing project that she calls home. At the Abraham Ribicoff apartments in West Rock, the grass is overgrown, the bushes are obscuring the houses, the sidewalks are crumbling, black mold has taken over an abandoned unit, and storm drains flood when it rains. Neighbors said that the Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH) has been unresponsive to their repeated requests for routine maintenance and repairs.
Darnell Goldson, who recently declared his candidacy for Ward 30 alderman, discovered the extent of the neighborhood’s disrepair and the tenants’ complaints last Thursday, when he was campaigning door to door at Ribicoff. He has taken up the matter as a campaign issue and promised to work with the community to fight for improvements from the city.
The road to Ribicoff apartments— West Rock’s Brookside Avenue — is lined by bleak empty lots punctuated by piles of rubble, the remains of the recently razed Brookside housing projects. At the end of this road, behind a non-functioning gate, lie Ribicoff’s 100 housing units for elderly and disabled renters, in a cul-de-sac that is almost entirely surrounded by the 10-foot double fence that marks the boundary between New Haven and Hamden.
Esther Pearson, the president of Ribicoff’s Tenant Resident Council, estimated that 88 elderly and/or disabled people live in the project. A number of the units are boarded up.
On Saturday afternoon, Ribicoff residents gathered for a cook-out hosted by Mabel Carroll, who lives in unit 100. The event was organized as an opportunity for residents to meet candidate Goldson. Neighbors took the opportunity to air some of their grievances about the living conditions at Ribicoff.
Carroll (at right in photo), who has lived in the project since 1999, pointed at the un-mowed grass growing wildly all around her. “Basically, nothing gets done,” she said. The housing authority has not been performing routine landscaping and maintenance, she said. “They don’t do what they’re supposed to do.”
No one is keeping track of the elderly people who live out at Ribicoff, Carrol said. Some three or four people have been found dead in their apartments in the last year, she said. Some of them were not found for several days, she added.
“I like living here,” said April Rogers, who lives in Apartment 37. “Except, if you notice, our property.” She pointed to the untrimmed bushes and overgrown grass. “Come on, now look at this!” she exclaimed. “It’s like a forest!”
Before candidate Goldson arrived Saturday, several neighbors took a reporter on an impromptu tour of the housing project, cataloguing their complaints.
The first stop was unit 9, which has been abandoned for years, but remains unsecured. On Saturday, the door was wide open. Inside, it was dank and dark. Black mold was crawling up the walls.
Mary Woodberry, who lives in a nearby unit, was among several neighbors who said they worry that the mold is a health hazard.
Next was Blondell Murray’s apartment. The grass in her backyard was over ankle-deep. The bushes were growing wild. “I’m afraid to sit on the back porch,” Murray said. “We got snakes out here!”
Murray later said that she has been “begging” the housing authority to trim grass and bushes. She said she sees HANH employees about once a week, and has been told repeatedly either that her property will be taken care of or that HANH doesn’t have enough employees to address the problem.
She noted that outside the project on either side of Brookside Avenue the grass has been trimmed regularly alongside the empty demolition sites.
Down a walkway near Murray’s apartment, “Ms.” Rogers (she declined to give her first name) pointed to the puddles and dried mud that cover the asphalt. The lawns and sidewalks flood when it rains, she explained, because a nearby sewer drain is totally clogged. “There are people in wheelchairs. How do they get through this?” she asked.
Puddles caused by poor drainage provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes, neighbors said. Neighbors also pointed out where sidewalks are cracked and crumbling.
April Rogers (Ms. Rogers’ cousin) pointed to Unit 23, a boarded-up apartment that had been destroyed in a fire 15 years ago, she said. As she checked to see if the door was locked, her neighbor called out, “Get away from there, April! It’s full of mold!”
Several residents complained of untrimmed bushes next to their houses. One unit (pictured), where an 87-year-old woman lives, was almost completely hidden by the plants that had grown up next to it.
April Rogers pointed to the spot where her neighbor had cut away the bushes that had grown up over her front window. She said that she had repeatedly requested that HANH perform the maintenance, with no luck. “I stopped calling. The property manager doesn’t return my calls.” Several other residents made similar remarks about the property manager.
Around the corner, another bush was growing in front of her window. It had already damaged the screen on her bedroom window. Bushes in front of windows block potential fire exits, residents said, and they provide potential hiding places for burglars.
At the project’s trash pick-up point, the ground was strewn with garbage. Neighbors said that the mess had been made by the city employees who pick up the trash every week. These employees were allegedly unresponsive to requests to clean up the mess.
“That’s how they left it,” said Ms. Rogers. “And these are seniors back here.”
“An Embarrassment To The City”
Back at the cookout, Goldson (pictured) had arrived. Asked for his impression of the situation at Ribicoff, he had three words: “Shock and disappointment.”
“The measure of a society is how it treats its elderly people,” he said. The tenants at Ribicoff have been “put out in a corner of the city … and ignored,” he said.
“I wouldn’t let my mother live in this condition,” Goldson said. “This should not be allowed to happen like this. It’s an embarrassment to the city.”
Goldson said that his grandmother lived at Ribicoff 30 years ago. He hadn’t visited the area recently, until last Thursday, when his door-to-door campaigning brought the area to his attention. That’s when he learned of the residents’ complaints.
Now, he said, he wants to make sure that their voices are heard. Pointing to a stack of “Boards and Commissions Applications,” Goldson said that he is encouraging residents to apply to be on city government panels, like the Redevelopment Authority and the HANH board. Ward 30 is unrepresented in City Hall, Goldson explained. He mentioned a recent study he did, which showed that not a single city government board or commission includes a mayoral appointee from Ward 30..
“These folks are overtaxed and underrepresented,” he said.
Goldson said that he plans to meet with the neighbors on Monday to discuss what can be done to get the attention of City Hall about the state of Ribicoff. Petitions and picketing are both on the table, he said.
“The city always finds resources to do what it wants to do,” Goldson said. What’s needed is to make the city want to clean up Ribicoff, he said.
“Not Playing No More”
Another candidate running against Goldson in a Sept. 15 Democratic Party primary, Carlton Staggers, could not be reached for comment.
Residents said that while they are supportive of Goldson’s candidacy, they will be watching him closely to make sure he lives up to his promises if he wins.
It’s like buying a new pair of shoes, said Pearson. They might fit well in the store, but if you take them home and they don’t work out, you end up throwing them away. “If he doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do, we’re getting rid of him,” she said.
“We’re not playing no more,” said resident Minnie Harris firmly.
Pearson had a final thought: “How would you like your grandma to be living in these conditions?”
HANH Responds
Contacted by phone on Sunday, HANH Chairman Bob Solomon responded to news of Ribicoff resident complaints.
“I haven’t been there in a while,” he began. “I don’t know what complaints were made.”
“I will say that Ribicoff is part of the $100 million overhaul“ to Brookside’s housing projects, Solomon said. “But that’s no excuse for not maintaining the property.”
“I will follow up on it,” Solomon promised. If the complaints are valid, Solomon added, “We need to remedy it, and remedy it immediately.”