Affordable, you got me scratching my head. I would like many things to be affordable. Maybe instead of being martyrs these "tenants" should move out and buy a place of their own that is affordable.

Your point is well taken: The Jersey Journal indicated that the doors leading to the fire escape from tenant's apartment were painted shut. This means that either incompetent inspectors inspected the building or it was not inspected properly at all.

Riveredge Management is a horrible company. The tenants living at 500 Garfield Avenue now have to wonder if the building as a whole is structurally sound. I would not risk living in that building with my family.

It is sad. working class and middle- class families who earn less that $150,000 per year are in bad shape trying to find affordable housing in a well maintained building in a decent neighborhood in Jersey City where you don't have to double as a Navy Seal.

The slumlords have destroyed buildings and neighborhoods in Jersey City.

There is another article about a building in Kennedy Bouekevard In Jersey City where tenants had to be evacuated because the roof was leaking and destroyed apartments.

Where was the city in this case and WHY ARE TENANTS LIVING IN THESE BUILDINGS AND JUST WAITING FOR THE LANDLORD TO FIX THE PROPERTY. CALL THE PRESS! STAND OUTSIDE THE BUILDING AND SCREAM UNTIL THE MEDIA SHOWS UP AND SHOW THEM WHAT IS GOING ON AT THE PROPERTY.

Quote:
Please, just make sure they don't send the same Inspector who ?inspected? this building previously....

So yes, it seems this Company is a truly awful landlord to be avoided if at all possible. However, WHO FROM THE CITY AND / OR STATE WAS INSPECTING AND PASSING THIS BUILDING? Our tax dollars PAY Fire Safety and Housing Inspectors to keep us safe by making sure this sort of neglect doesn't happen. Multi-family buildings are required to have inspections and it certainly looks as if someone wasn't doing their job here.

It's not believable that since the last ?inspection? the fire escape deteriorated to the extent that steps were collapsing from one person's weight, as the Jersey Journal reported. According to Jennifer Morrill, City spokesperson, that inspection was in 2012. So, at most, 3?, possibly just 2?, years ago. It's an act of God no one was seriously injured or killed.

What kind of inspections are these that this was evidently completely overlooked? It's not as though this hasn't been on the radar screen. Detailed requirements for Fire Escapes have been in place for years. The Department of Community Affairs first issued FTO-3 (link below), about Fire Escapes, over 30 years ago, and other Code requirements for Fire Escapes go back long before that.

There's a good deal more to this than some negligent landlord....

http://www.state.nj.us/dca/divisions/ ... cations/pdf_fto/fto_3.pdf

According to the article 500 Garfield Avenue is owned by 500 Garfield Avenue JC LLC. The building is interesting architecturally. I cannot imagine a fire escape deteriorating to the degree depicted in the photographs if the building was PROPERLY inspected and, furthermore, managed by a responsible landlord.

500 Garfield Avenue JC LLC is managed by a company called Riveredge Management. They are located at 65 Kingsland Avenue, #2, Clifton, New Jersey. their telephone number (which is an answering services) is: (973) 365-1990.

Riveredge Management is subsidiary of a holding company that owns a lot of real estate in Hudson County mainly in what can be described as the proverbial "hood."

They are basically slumlord investors who buy properties in depressed areas and find ways to increase rents in rent controlled properties through the use of capital improvements in vacant apartments.

All you have to do is Google Riveredge. you will find articles in local newspapers where they were taken to court for failure to ppl provide heat in buildings where senior citizens live.

Residents in Hudson County should avoid renting any apartments by Riveredge Management ( ask the realtor who the landlord is when looking at apartments).

It is a wonder that no one was hurt or killed at 500 Garfield Avenue; but, this should serve as a warning to all those who are currently living in buildings owned by Riveredge Management.

Call your local Housing enforcement Code agency and request an inspection of your apartments and buildings. If that does not work, call and write to the State Attorney General's Office.

Tenants living in their buildings have been complaining for years about their business practices. Call and write the Attorney General Office.

Posted on: Today 16:49