The Super In A Local Apartment Building Wears Body Camera, Allegedly Harasses Tenants

The super of an apartment building on Turner Place wears a body camera and allegedly harassing tenants, according to an in-depth report by Gothamist.

“Everything that you do daily, he has a camera,” tenant George O’Conner told Gothamist. “You don’t come to my door with a camera! I don’t go to his door with a camera, and when his wife comes to the door take a picture!”

Double A Properties and ADI Management bought the building in 1979 at a foreclosure auction and it was managed by the “Dracula landlord,” Leonard Spodek, in the 80s and 90s, who eventually served two jail stints and was fined more than $1.4 million for violations in his Brooklyn buildings. The current super, Herchin Ablai, started managing the building about 9 years ago.

Tenants told Gothamist that that Ablai enforces noise bans at all hours of the day, yelling at people when they are talking in the lobby, but he plays loud music over the PA system regularly. Many tenants also mentioned that he harasses black tenants more than white tenants and regularly refers to the color of their skin.

Recently tenants formed a a tenant association to discuss issues with the super but after just a few meetings the management company banned them from using the community room. Tenants have a legal right to organize and meet in a community room and it is a violation to prevent that.

“Everyone’s walking on pins and needles,” tenant association president Hazel Duke told Gothamist. “We can’t talk in the lobby, can’t talk in the laundry room, can’t sit in the front of the building, can’t sit in the back of the building. We just want to be able to come home and put our feet up. People say they’re not comfortable anymore.”

Ablai told Gothamist, “Before I didn’t have a camera, that’s why they jumped over me. With the camera, it’s quiet now in the building.”

Turner tenants have filed six harassment complaints with the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal and have been in touch with several elected officials and attorneys in the last few months.