A copy of this disclaimer can also be found on our Disclaimer page. Loading Quotes 910 Franklin Avenue Suite 200 Garden City, NY 11530 Tel: 516-248-5550 Fax: 516-248-6027, 655 Third AvenueSuite 1821 New York, NY 10017 Tel: 212-679-5000 Fax: 212-679-5005, Copyright 2023 EmploymentLawyerNewYork.com |, Separation Agreements and Severance Packages, Marital Status Discrimination and Harassment, Sexual Discrimination and Harassment In The Workplace, Sexual Identity Discrimination and Harassment, Sexual Orientation Discrimination and Harassment, Civil Rights and Constitutional Law Claims, National Origin Discrimination and Harassment, Whistle Blower Protection and Retaliation, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, Borrelli & Associates, PLLC Reviews on ProvenCredible. One project we have been working on cultivates environmental awareness by designating a specific tree or plant name and installing a custom made hand crafted bronze plaque on the property faade. This is the second major action that Attorney General James has taken in the past week to hold landlords accountable for failing to comply with New York Citys lead paint laws. In 2013 Chestnut acquired the Shalom Aleichem Houses, three distressed properties made up of 15 buildings, in Van Cortland Village in the Bronx. endstream endobj startxref Childrens lives and futures are a stake in this ongoing effort, and the actions we take today will help to safeguard our youth and punish those who would harm them., Families living in Buffalos older, distressed properties are disproportionately vulnerable to the serious health consequences of lead poisoning, said U.S. Representative Brian Higgins. The lawsuit, filed in February 2020, alleged that Chestnut Holdings put the health of its tenants, primarily children, at risk by repeatedly violating New York Citys lead poisoning prevention laws, which require landlords to take critical measures to prevent children under 6 years old from being exposed to paint with dangerously high levels of lead. Data also shows that Black children are twice as likely as white children to have elevated blood lead levels almost 23 percent of Black children in Onondaga County tested for lead had dangerous levels of lead in their blood, while less than 11 percent of white children tested had dangerous blood lead levels. As reported in Crains New York Business, Chestnut Holdings is trying to evict WeWork from a midtown New York City building, and has filed a suit stating that it is The vast majority of these dwellings were constructed before New York banned lead paint in 1970. 18 Civ. This Google translation feature is provided for informational purposes only. The health code thus requires lead paint to be enclosed with a rigid surface, such as drywall. Vivian Tejada is a freelance real estate writer from Providence, RI. This matter was supervised by Environmental Protection Bureau Chief Lemuel M. Srolovic. I thank Attorney General James for taking on one of the largest slumlords in Buffalo and holding them to account for their negligence., Recognizing that approximately 80 percent of Buffalos children with elevated blood lead levels live in rental singles and doubles, the Buffalo and Erie County Lead Safe Task Force has been linking arms with partners in the city, county and New York state to eradicate lead poisoning in many ways, said Cara Matteliano, senior director, Policy and Strategic Partnerships, Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, convener of the Buffalo & Erie County Lead Safe Task Force. But, far too many New York City landlords continue to ignore their obligations under the law and expose our children to wholly-preventable lead-based paint hazards. The event brought out close to100 volunteers who enjoyed a great day of helping to beautify and restore Claremont Park. Buffalos residents deserve to live in homes that are safe, secure and stable, especially when so many of us have been forced to spend a greater period of time in our homes as a result of the COVID-19 global health pandemic. The Office of Attorney General's website is provided in English. Select a Language Below/Seleccione el Idioma Abajo. hUmo0+jlNH4t : C According to the lawsuit, as many as 600 children who receive SNAP benefits were affected, Letitia James (Credit: Getty Images, iStock). Chestnut Holdings is getting slapped In the lawsuit, the Attorney General seeks injunctive relief requiring Chestnut Holdings to comply with the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, including bringing all apartments into compliance with the Acts requirements, penalties for its repeated violations of the Act, and disgorgement of money it would have expended to comply with the Act. This seems to be the case with Chestnut Holdings. This matter is being handled by Assistant Attorneys General Abigail Katowitz and Patrick Omilian, Environmental Scientist Jennifer Nalbone, Investigator Joseph Kelly, and Project Assistant Isabel Murphy, all under the supervision of Environmental Protection Bureau Chief Lemuel M. Srolovic. Children under 6 years of age are more likely to be exposed to lead than any other age group, as their normal behaviors could result in them chewing lead paint chips; breathing in or swallowing dust from old lead paint that gets on floors, window sills, and hands; and can be found in soil, toys, and other consumer products. This group of landlords and property managers put low-income Buffalo communities at extreme risk, and today we are holding them accountable. A firm managing more than 6,000 apartment units in New York City disputes allegations that it hasnt been complying with lead-paint regulations. The Office of Attorney General's website is provided in English. All violations found in OAGs investigation, as well as all those flagged by the county and city, have been resolved in properties that are currently occupied. The group also consistently violated federal lead disclosure requirements by providing either no lead disclosure statement to tenants or false disclosures, which stated that the landowner had no reports of lead paint or lead paint hazards, when in fact there were multiple reports of lead paint and lead paint hazards regarding the residences. Chestnut Holdings has recently come under fire for allegedly turning away tenants with housing vouchers. The Environmental Protection Bureau is part of the Division of Social Justice, led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Meghan Faux, and all under the oversight of First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy. According to the complaint, 600 children in Chestnut Holdings buildings are under the age of six and receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, colloquially known as food stamps. Please click on the link below to access our payment processing portal- provided through ClickPay http://login.clickpay.com/chestnutholdings The CDC recommends that children with blood lead levels higher than 5 g/dL undergo case management to prevent further exposure and to avoid reaching a level that requires medical intervention. In addition, no apartments Understanding Recent Changes to New Yorks Gun Laws, Endzone Properties Barred from Owning or Managing RentalProperties in New York, Must Pay $215,0000, Landlord Failed to Maintain Lead-Safe Conditions in Rental Properties,Resulting in At Least 18 Children Poisoned With Lead. as soon as possible through one of our websites, www.employmentlawyernewyork.com or www.516abogado.com, or any of our phone numbers: (516) 2485550, (516) ABOGADO, or (212) 6795000. Children who have been exposed to even very low levels of lead are at risk for neurological and physical problems during critical stages of early development. Plaintiff Huggins regularly worked as many as seven days and well over 40 hours each week, including the requirement that he be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week to deal with any issues in the residential multifamily properties that the Defendants owned. Residents of the Bronx took part inClaremont Park Dayas Chestnut Holdings partnered with The Bronx is Blooming and The NYC Department of Parks and Recreation to engage the community through environmental stewardship and educational activities. Chestnut is considering its options including a possible lawsuit for harassment and defamation. Se habla espaol Children under six are more likely to be exposed to lead than any other age group, as their normal behaviors could result in them chewing lead paint chips; breathing in or swallowing dust from old lead paint that gets on floors, window sills, and hands; and can be found in soil, toys, and other consumer products. Lead is a highly toxic metal that can cause serious and irreversible adverse health effects. Having lead paint in an apartment is not necessarily illegal if there is no risk of exposure, but when building owners paint over it rather than remove it which is expensive it can eventually resurface. Our intention is to deepen our understanding and connection to nature and weave it into the daily life of our communitys residents. as Chestnut Holdings partnered with The Bronx is Blooming and The NYC Department of Parks and Recreation to engage the community through environmental stewardship and educational activities. Todays announcement is welcome news and communicates a strong message of just how intolerable it is to promise the safety of a place to live only to deliver danger. Op. CALL: 516-248-5550 And we greatly appreciate the attorney generals willingness to pay attention to the call for action from local stakeholders, including Families for Lead Freedom Now, and to pursue a bright line against childhood lead poisoning in Syracuse.. All too often, unprincipled landlords like Endzone disregard their duty to ensure their properties are free of lead hazards and its harms. I commend Attorney General Letitia James for filing suit against landlords who have so flagrantly ignored the laws we have put in place to protect our children. Anyone relying on information obtained from Google Translate does so at his or her own risk. However, it is 2020 and we still have thousands of cases of New York City children that tested positive for lead poisoning, and it is children from low-income communities and communities of color, like those we represent in Northern Manhattan, that suffer the most. The health impacts of lead paint in rental housing are particularly acute in the Buffalo region, where children who live in communities of color are 12 timesas likely than children who live in predominately white neighborhoods to be diagnosed with an elevated blood lead level. We must prevent exposure to lead by taking bold and consistent steps to protect families., We thank New York Attorney General Letitia James for bringing this significant lawsuit," said Sonal Jessel, policy and advocacy coordinator, WE ACT for Environmental Justice. This is the second time the property management company is being sued for housing discrimination. Chestnut Holdings manages more than 6,000 apartments in approximately 134 buildings, most of which are located in the Bronx. Nathaniel Ari Weisbrot, Esq. Lead paint in residential housing has been a pervasive problem for decades, particularly in New York. These include annual inspections and ensuring that an apartment is code compliant when a tenant moves into their new home. announced an agreement in her lawsuit against Chestnut Holdings, a property management corporation, over its failures to protect children from lead paint hazards in New York City, reached a pre-suit agreement with A&E Holdings to ensure that children living in its New York City apartments are protected from dangerous lead-based paint, Attorney General James sued a group of Buffalo individuals and companies for repeated violations of city, county, state, and federal laws by illegally allowing lead paint-related hazards to accumulate in their rental properties. Although New York banned the use of lead paint in 1970, with the federal government following suit in 1978, buildings constructed prior to 1978 often still have lead paint. I want to thank Attorney General Letitia James and her staff for taking swift action to hold our landlords accountable, and for ensuring they are in compliance with the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act. No New Yorker should be exposed to the dangers of lead poisoning due to the negligence of their landlord. WebChestnut Holdings of New York is a family-owned real estate investment and property management firm with a long track record of successful, responsible and reliable Understanding Recent Changes to New Yorks Gun Laws, AG James Takes Action to Protect Tenants from Lead Poisoning, Files Lawsuit Against Bronx-based Property Management Corp for Violations of NYC Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act. All rights reserved. BUFFALO New York Attorney General Letitia James, joined by Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, today announced a lawsuit against a group of individuals and companies in the Buffalo region for repeatedly and persistently violating county, city, state, and federal laws by illegally allowing lead paint-related hazards to proliferate in their rental properties. Bronx Borough President Lauds Chestnut Holdings at State of the Borough Address-, Chestnut Holdings and Dream Yard Project team up for, Chestnut employee featured in international magazine bringing acclaim to company, Historic Sholem Aleichem Complex in the press-, Volunteers and community cleanup Claremont Park , College of New Rochelle Unloads South Bronx Building , Students proudly discuss their art and experience during the six-month project between Chestnut Holdings and DreamYard , Bronx Students Display Art for Local Apartment Building , P.S. WebCompany profile page for Chestnut Holdings Inc including stock price, company news, press releases, executives, board members, and contact information Since 2017, OAG hasfound that the group violated the law in other ways, such as: The poisoning of children from lead paint in aging rental housing is an ongoing national public health crisis, but is of particular concern within New York, and especially the Buffalo region. 3136 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<31CF17F26827B64D9D1C3BD947307B0A><1127F07792CB7B4EA4E7A2D6EC3485F1>]/Index[3118 28]/Info 3117 0 R/Length 89/Prev 699633/Root 3119 0 R/Size 3146/Type/XRef/W[1 2 1]>>stream The penalty amount is based on the extent of violations determined through the OAGs investigation. Tens of thousands of rental properties in Buffalo that were constructed before 1978 contain lead paint which, if not properly maintained and managed, can cause lead poisoning. Brian Zak/NY Post A group However, the "Google Translate" option may assist you in reading it in other languages. We see it in landlords big and small., Mallery Morrison, 39, is one of the plaintiffs in the case. Todays complaint alleges that Chestnut Holdings engaged in repeated illegal acts under Executive Law 63(12) violating several provisions of the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, including failing to inspect apartments to determine if a child under six lives there, failing to conduct complete annual investigations of apartments for hazards that are conducive to lead poisoning, and failing to take the necessary measures when an apartment turns over. Lead poisoning is completely preventable, and the city has plenty of laws on the books but they are rarely enforced. Here are Your Next Best Options. The lawsuit, filed in Erie County Supreme Court, alleges that since 2013, the Erie County Department of Health has identified dozens of children with elevated blood lead levels (EBLLs) in 22 of the Dalfin properties. I hope this settlement serves to let all property owners know how seriously HPD and the attorney general take lead-based paint compliance and encourages them to find out more about how to properly comply.. endstream endobj 3119 0 obj <>/AcroForm 3137 0 R/Lang( E N - U S)/MarkInfo<>/Metadata 219 0 R/OCProperties<>/Outlines 289 0 R/OutputIntents 3115 0 R/PageLayout/OneColumn/Pages 3099 0 R/StructTreeRoot 326 0 R/Type/Catalog>> endobj 3120 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> endobj 3121 0 obj <>stream They neglect their properties with no regard for the families who live there, subjecting them to substandard housing and a substandard quality of life. Chestnut Holdings continues to amass properties in the Bronx, paying $46.6 million for a 10-building portfolio in the borough. On May 29, 2020, the Court conditionally certified this collective action pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), 29 U.S.C. The Environmental Protection Bureau is led by Lemuel M. Srolovic. AG Letitia James Sues Chestnut Holdings for Lead Poisoning - The Real Deal Attorney general sues Chestnut Holdings for lead paint According to the lawsuit, The Environmental Protection Bureau is a part of the Division for Social Justice, which is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Meghan Faux and is under the oversight of First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy. The property management company is in charge of more than 6000 apartments located in 134 residential buildings across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. This gallery provides a glimpse of the beautifully renovated complex in recent months during both the Fall and Winter seasons. Our management team has over 150 years of collective experience and a deep understanding of the real estate market. WebChestnut Holdings offers convenient online payment options and the ability to see your current account balance and activity online through ClickPay. Lindo claims he attempted to rent a Chestnut apartment in 2019, but never heard back from his broker after revealing he would be paying his entire rent with a housing voucher. Too many suffer from a lifetime of avoidable debilities here in New York City. WebPhone: (718) 543-8200. '' %%EOF The Dark History of the Empire State Building, How to Become a Digital Real Estate Investor in the Metaverse.