Cops, LCI Swarm In On A Grand Mess

Inspectors and police streamed in and out of a pale yellow apartment building at 101 – 103 Grand Ave., where non-residents have apparently been sleeping, defecating, and leaving needles and debris in common areas.

Afterwards, the place got cleaner. For now.

The cops and inspectors descended on the building on Friday.

Police arrested one man who had been staying in a tenant’s apartment after finding a warrant for his arrest in connection with a Guilford burglary.

Fair Haven Alder Sarah Miller, Livable City Initiative (LCI) Deputy Director Mark Wilson, Fair Haven District Manager (aka top cop) Michael Fumiatti, and a number of police officers and housing inspectors arrived at the building in response to tenant concerns. They found a door that didn’t lock and hallways and staircases covered with needles, drugs, and feces.

There was ​“nothing life-threatening” and no ​“safety or health issues” inside the apartments themselves, according to Wilson, but the ​“common areas were in very, very bad shape.” He said LCI plans to cite the owner for code violations. He didn’t specify which ones, and as of Monday morning no notices had been entered into the city’s land records.

Meanwhile, by the end of Friday, the building’s property manager, Avon Dream Housing, had cleaned up the common spaces. The Norwalk-based property owner promised to monitor cameras more closely and fix the building’s door.

Tenants remained concerned that the issues would recur — and spoke of trying to move out.

“This is one of the worst I’ve seen,” said Miller of the building’s conditions. She and Fumiatti said that unsafe activity at the building has increased since the Grand Cafe across the street lost its liquor license in February. That liquor license loss came after Fair Haven community members rallied and shared music, pizza, board games, and poetry outside the cafe — which had been known as a hotspot of violence — for weeks in September, 2021.

Miller argued that the negative activity has only ​“migrated” to other spots like 101 – 103 Grand Ave.

“People in the community have complained about that building often,” said Carmen Mendez, the Livable City Initiative staffer in charge of Fair Haven blight concerns.

Miller said that in addition to bolstered security, the situation calls for long-term efforts to create safe living conditions for everyone involved.

“Some of the tenants need a different kind of housing, such as supportive housing” with built-in social services, she stated. ​“Some of the illegal activity needs to be interrupted in tandem with intervention from peer mentors who can help guide people to safer and healthier ways to support themselves. But the property owner is accountable for basic health and safety standards.”

Michelle Martinez, who has lived on the building’s third floor with her mother Milagros Alamo since 2020, said she frequently finds drug paraphernalia and used toilet paper in the building hallways. She has encountered people sleeping in the hallways who don’t live there. ​“It’s a lot of health hazards,” she said. ​“It just makes us feel unsafe.”

“My cats got fleas because of the carpet” in the hallway, said downstairs tenant Samantha Robison. Like Martinez and Alamo, Robison has been searching for other housing options.

Martinez said that many of the building’s problems can be traced back to other tenants, whom she’s seen dealing out of their apartments and letting in squatters. One neighbor consistently breaks down the front door every time it gets fixed because they forgot their keys, she said, and a tenant once threatened to ​“burn down the building” — a warning that scared her. She used to sometimes feel the basement shaking from parties in a communal space.

She argued that the building’s landlord should invest in longer-term, more durable fixes — like replacing the front entrance with a sturdier door that’s resistant to damage, monitoring cameras more closely, and adding ​“no trespassing” signs that convey a security effort on the property.

Avon has not been quick to respond to other maintenance concerns, Robison, Martinez, and Alamo said.

The property management company did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

One of Robison’s windows cracked about a year ago, she said, when she tried to shut it. The window is still broken. Another of Robison’s windows is still boarded up from a time when she locked herself out, couldn’t reach a property manager, and shattered the window; she said it took six months to fix it.

Martinez and Alamo’s dishwasher broke after a week of use when they moved in, and it still hasn’t been fixed. Robison’s dishwasher is also broken; all three tenants said property managers also have not responded to ceiling leaks. (Martinez and Robison asked not to be photographed.)

They have resorted to making some repairs themselves. Robison said her boyfriend added caulking along the door to prevent the building from rattling each time someone came or left, and another tenant painted parking spot lines in the back lot.

Martinez’ cousin said she no longer feels safe visiting her family members at night, after someone threw a brick at her car window outside the building.

Landlord: "I Feel Bad"

Amit Lakhotia, a Norwalk-based former dentist and the owner of the property, said his team has tried to secure the building in the past, but the door lock breaks again and again. He blamed some of the building’s tenants for letting squatters onto the premises. 

Lakhotia said that pandemic eviction protections, which expired in February, prevented him from addressing the issue head-on. (Landlords were still allowed to evict tenants for posing a ​“nuisance.”)

“We are not slumlords,” Lakhotia said. ​“We definitely send people right away to fix things in the apartment. What happens is, we fix the window, we fix the door, and then they have somebody smash the door. They break the window.”

“I won’t say that we are perfect landlords and if something happens we are sending [someone] right away,” Lakhotia added. ​“Sometimes, there is a scheduling issue and there is a delay. But it’s not like we neglect the issue.”

Lakhotia said he plans to be more ​“diligent” about checking security cameras and identifying tenants who are causing problems. Then he plans to evict those tenants and continue upgrading the building’s apartments with higher-quality cabinets and floors, he said.

“I just wish the evictions can speed up so we can get rid of the problem tenants and keep the good tenants,” he said. ​“We can make it a good, livable, and enjoyable place … I feel bad for the people living there who have been so quiet and peaceful and maintain the peace for others … It’s not fair to them.”

On Friday, police arrested one de facto resident of the building. According to police Sgt. Mike Criscuolo, the arrestee had a history of couch-surfing with acquaintances, ​“establishing residence” by staying for a while and registering a mailing address, and refusing to leave until receiving an eviction notice. That person had been restarting the couch-surfing cycle at 101 – 103 Grand Ave. until police discovered an arrest warrant for him on Friday in connection with a burglary.

Fair Haven police Lt. Fumiatti expressed optimism about the future of the building after Friday’s inspection.

“Once the city pays attention, and once the landlords and property managers take action, then it looks like a place that’s not conducive to crime,” he said.