By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — City Councilman Robert Jackson joined community activists and tenants to show his support for a rent strike against the landlord of a West 156th Street building.
Jackson and members of the Riverside Edgecombe Neighborhood Association (RENA) met Wednesday and accused Ronald and Peter Kokolis, the landlords of 559 West 156th Street, of neglecting their building for months.
According to RENA, approximately 20 tenants in the six-floor, 32-unit building have alleged that the brothers failed to repair everything from crumbling walls and faulty elevators to broken handrails and uprooted tiles.
In the meantime, the tenants said, the landlords have raised the rents more than the allowable percentage under rent-stabilization guidelines and failed to provide legal leases or gas for more than two months.
The Kokolis brothers did not return DNAinfo's request for comment.
Francisca Lucero, 39, who has lived in the building for 12 years, said she has had to cook everything on an electric stovetop or microwave for her and her husband, four children and two grandchildren.
After Jackson's intervention, Con Edison said it planned to reinstate gas to the building on July 26.
Lucero also said her rent was incorrectly raised from $1,002 to $1,158 for a three-bedroom apartment and claimed she was harassed when she asked to see documentation from the landlord regarding previous increases over the past 12 years.
A real estate listing shows a similar three-bedroom apartment available in the building for rent at $2,850 per month.
That has led tenants to speculate that the landlords want to push out anyone who is not paying market rates.
