Your Move Alma

Dear Editor:

Conditions at the Surfside buildings are continuing to worsen. While we have always had problems with Alma Realty over the years, these issues far exceed what we’ve ever experienced as tenants. Our heat and hot water quality has significantly degraded! Residents are experiencing long, repeated interruptions in these basic services despite assurances from management that the problem is only temporary. Tenants are left in frigid apartments in the winter, increasing the risk of illness in those most vulnerable. What adds to the insanity of this is the convenient placement of thermometers on the 12th floor of each building. These devices force the boiler to shut down upon the detection of heat, leaving the rest of us to freeze as we lose residual temperature throughout the day.

Alma also neglects the basic security needs of Surfside residents. We frequently have our packages/mail rifled through or stolen by trespassers who have free reign thanks to the large, unguarded, gaps in the fence. To this day, we are constantly in need of police intervention due to troublesome individuals! The broken fence surrounding the property has been in place since superstorm Sandy’s gusts slammed the entire boardwalk against it! It still contains bends in the framework, leaving it largely unsuitable for basic property safety. Our laundry rooms echo the same issue of degrading conditions. Washing and drying machines have not been updated or replaced and it shows. Many machines contain mold and mildew stains inside, while others break down mid-wash and leave you with sopping wet linen. The dryers are almost always out of service, leaving tenants to have to wait for working machines to empty before they can properly dry their clothes. We also have a severe roach infestation that is seldom dealt with. Even though roaches are considered a threat to our health, Alma’s cleaners do not get to the root of the issue. The solution they use merely drives them out of the compactor rooms and into tenants’ apartments. Constant sheddings/crap from these insects leave us with no choice but to wash every utensil and dish in our apartment before they can be used! Recently, water was leaking through my apartment’s breaker box and light switches! A serious risk to me and my family’s safety all because of poor plumbing installed upstairs by Alma.

All of these issues are exacerbated by the lack of workers available to fix them. Under NY law, there must be one porter for every building on the Surfside property, but we only have one to service all three and a measly four maintenance workers under his supervision!! Given all of these circumstances, how can Alma confidently say they are capable of adding more housing units onto the lot when they barely manage the ones they already have? Despite constant fines and citations by both the city and the FDNY, Alma continues to neglect us with impunity. It is clear that Alma needs to be met with the next level of legal punishment because it is apparent that money is no object for them! I offer this solution: either fix these issues (which are clear Health Code and Quality of Life violations) or pay recourse to every tenant so that they will get appropriate housing. Your move Alma…

Katie Larkin