The bad landlord
This is a harassment campaign.
On Dec. 31, 1981, as New Yorkers were preparing to gather in Times Square for another New Year's Eve, several tenants living in rent-controlled comfort at 100 Central Park South received identical letters from the building’s new management company.
The renters had received permission from the building’s previous owner to remove walls and perform other renovations. But now the new owner was rescinding that permission. The tenants had 12 days — starting on New Year’s Day — to rebuild the walls. Or the new owner would evict them into the slush.
Of course the new owner was Donald Trump. I get what follows from this CNN story.
Trump’s goal was to clear the building out so he could demolish it. The tenants — mostly affluent professionals who’d benefitted nicely from the rent controls of that era, but still — lawyered up and counter-sued.
In court filings, they said Trump cut off their hot water, heat and building maintenance. In January. Dentists’ patients were redirected to the service elevator. Trump sued a tenant, who had paid rent, for not paying rent. The judge threw the case out, chewed Trump out for the “spurious” lawsuit, and ordered a partial refund on rent paid.
The story goes on. Read at the link above, or this version from the Times. Trump took out ads inviting homeless people to live in the building. To this day he calls it an act of generosity, although, since he seems to have since forgotten to let the homeless people into Mar-a-Lago, it looks like what he was doing was weaponizing the downtrodden. And on and on. You’ll hardly believe what happened to Mrs. Meyer with the emphysema.
Why is this sad tale worth contemplating today? Perhaps two reasons. First, it reveals a pattern of behaviour. I like the bit about how, several years in, Trump had spent $1 million on lawyers and only $160,000 on building repairs. This is who he is. He gets an idea, so he makes people’s life hell because he hopes it will be cheaper than treating them like people.
The other thing to note is that Trump didn’t win the fight at 100 Central Park South, or at least not outright. He settled with the tenants, so no court decision ever declared that he had harassed them. Just as an earlier settlement ensured that no court ever declared that Trump and his father did their utmost to avoid renting to Black tenants.
But though the building still stands, as Trump Park East, some of the original tenants are still in it. They were able to ride out this animal’s stupid provocations because they had a sense of themselves and their rights. They understood that whatever they might have done wrong in this life, because none of us does only right, none of it gave Donald Trump a license to behave that way.
And so to the case at hand.