Bronx building collapse: Residents face pressure, coercive agreements upon moving back in
Jacqueline Tomlinson waited weeks to make a fresh pan of fried fish--in her own kitchen, following the Bronx apartment building collapse right before the holidays.
"I'm much better than I was the past two and a half, three weeks," she told FOX 5 NY.
After the city partially rescinded the building's vacate order, Tomlinson said she couldn't wait to pick up the keys to her apartment.
"I came by, and they gave me a paper and said I had to sign the paper to get your keys. I did sign the paper," said Tomlinson.
UNITED STATES -December 11: Firefighters respond to a partial building collapse on West Burnside Avenue and Phelan Place in the Bronx, New York City on Monday, December 11, 2023. (Photo by Gardiner Anderson for NY Daily News via Getty Images)
That's a decision she'd soon regret after requesting a copy for her own records and reading what the paper said.
The agreement stated she'd inspected the apartment and found everything in good repair, except, she hadn't inspected the apartment at all.
"To be honest with you, I didn’t pay much attention to what I was signing, which was really bad because I was supposed to read everything," she shared with FOX 5.
Apparently, she still fared better than some of her other neighbors.
UNITED STATES -December 11: Firefighters search under rubble for victims after a partial building collapse on West Burnside Avenue and Phelan Place in the Bronx, New York City on Monday, December 11, 2023. (Photo by Gardiner Anderson for NY Daily New
"As a condition for getting their keys, they’re being told that they have to sign forms that are including releases and other statements that we believe are coercive and inaccurate," Jessica Bellinder, supervising attorney for Legal Aid Society.
She believes that paperwork forces tenants to give up some of their rights, in exchange for keys they already have rights to.
Now Ms. Jaqueline and her daughter live just feet away from the boarded-up hallway that marks where the collapse happened, and she tells us when she got into her apartment where she's lived for more than 40 years it felt nothing like home.
"They invade here in tore my place to shreds and stole all they could take," she remembered.
"It's an unsettling feeling, it's not a comfortable feeling. I feel violated like someone came into my home and stole everything," her daughter Janeva Tomlinson added.
They feel the apartment building's landlords are wrong on several turns and the city so far is siding with tenants sharing this statement saying:
"When the city lifts a vacate order, residents have the right to return to their homes — immediately. This landlord’s egregious attempt to weaponize our safety measures is completely unacceptable, and we will work to support the residents’ right to return to their homes promptly, including supporting legal action if appropriate.
We’ll share the landlord's response to our request for comment when it’s made available.