Letter to 336 West 17th St. Landlord

Dear Mr. Besen:

We are writing to you as elected officials whose districts include your building, 336 West 17th Street. We write regarding ongoing issues that the Tenants’ Association has raised with our offices. We urge you to act expeditiously to address these issues.

The Tenants’ Association informed us that in 2020, they entered into an agreement that stipulated that the apartments of the remaining rent-regulated tenants would be renovated at no charge to the tenants. It has now been more than two years and the promised renovations have not taken place or even been scheduled, despite the fact that there is an ongoing court case about this issue. Additionally, the Tenants’ Association informed us that there is no regular superintendent in the building. Without a superintendent, regular cleaning inside and outside of the building is not taking place. There is also nobody to deal with emergencies such as heat and hot water outages.

We urge you to take the following steps to address the issues in the building:

• Fulfill the promise made to the Tenants’ Association by beginning the apartment renovations immediately.
• Offer tenants the option to relocate to another apartment in the building while their apartments are being renovated.
• Provide regular superintendent service and ensure that tenants have a reliable contact for emergencies.
• Immediately resolve the open HPD violations, including 26 class C violations.
• Negotiate in good faith with the Tenants’ Association so that the current court case can be resolved.

Thank you for your attention to these important issues. We would like to meet with you and the Tenants’ Association to discuss these issues. Please contact Senator Hoylman’s office at 212-633-8052 or naculich@nysenate.gov to arrange a meeting.

Sincerely,

Jumaane Williams, New York City Public Advocate

Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough President

Brad Hoylman, Senate Senator, District 27

Richard Gottfried, Assembly Member, District 75

Erik Bottcher, Council Member, District 3