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Bronx Senior Housing Residents Say They're Living in a Jail

By Eddie Small | February 9, 2015 7:33am
 Rigoberto Marrero, pictured here with Nilda Martinez and Anna Martinez (L-R), said that guards make residents leave if they see them trying to sit down in the building's lobby.
Rigoberto Marrero, pictured here with Nilda Martinez and Anna Martinez (L-R), said that guards make residents leave if they see them trying to sit down in the building's lobby.
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DNAinfo/Eddie Small

CONCOURSE — Some elderly residents at 900 Grand Concourse say living there feels more like a prison than a home.

The federally subsidized senior housing facility has warning signs posted all over the hallways telling tenants not to trespass and reminding them that they are under surveillance. Building management has banned sitting in the lobby, so they're largely confined to their rooms, residents said.

"They don't want anyone in the lobby at all," said Rigoberto Marrero, 68, speaking through a translator. "They don't allow you to bring chairs or anything."

If they do try to sit down in the lobby, guards make them get up and leave, he said.

"We are here like we're in jail," said Nilda Martinez, 68, who also spoke through a translator. "We can't do anything, and if we're here, we have to be standing just like you see us, like policemen on the street."

"We're stuck in our homes," she continued. "We can come down and check our letters, look out the window, and then we have to go back."

But housing director, Olney Reynolds, said there is plenty of space to congregate in the building's community center.

"We provide an exercise program," he said. "There are games they play, so for residents to say that they’re trapped in their rooms and they have nothing to do is totally incorrect."

He said the policy against sitting in the lobby had been instated for safety reasons. He declined to provide more details.

Tenants maintained that the community center did not offer that many activities and had very limited space, as it is also open to people who do not reside in the building.

John Howard-Algarin, who has a relative living at 900 Grand Concourse, said the community center could be "clique-y" as well, because those who run the activities get used to doing them with certain groups of people.

Tenants said it has been more than a year since they enjoyed free access to the lobby, and Howard-Algarin characterized the building's environment as one dominated by sanctions and reprisals.

"Sometimes at midnight, it would just be a beautiful night, and they were up, and they would just be sitting there looking out through the gates," he said. "Now, everything is regimented, and everything is controlled."

He had put together a petition for tenants at their request asserting that building management was bullying seniors and denying them free access to the lobby, but residents decided they were too nervous to sign it for fear of punishment, he said.

Jose Morell, 66, said that the tenants at 900 Grand Concourse did not trust staff and agreed that many were too afraid to criticize the building.

"They think if we complain, then we're going to get thrown out of here," he said.