Tenants complain| Apt. Damage | Mold | Baton Rouge, LA | WAFB News
Posted: Oct 1, 2008 06:39 AM CST
By Keitha Nelson
BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) – Since Hurricane Gustav, several tenants at Myrtle Place Apartments off Sherwood Forest have found themselves living in homes where parts of the ceiling are caving in and mold lines the walls.
They now say enough is enough. Some are complaining about having headaches and feeling sick because of the mold in their apartments.
“Something needs to be done from the landlord. I’m tired. I’m tired of it. It’s ridiculous.” Candice Brown is not alone when it comes to her frustration over the situation. The complex took its toll from Gustav, evident by the tarps covering many of the roofs. Brown says the blue tarp over her roof was put up there by a neighbor, not her landlord.
Inside Brown’s apartment, there are signs that the damage was not confined to the outside. In what was her daughter’s room, the ceiling caved in and has left piles of insulation and ceiling tiles, along with dust and mold. “It’s upsetting because you work so hard for everything you have and then to come home and see everything your daughters have and you’ve worked for is completely destroyed, she says. “We now have rats and mice in there with us. We’re getting sick constantly from the mold and the smell and just everything from that room.”
Brown and her neighbors say the management is dragging its feet. They’re furious about having to live like this and hopeful things will soon change.
Owner Eddie Zayde says he plans to get everything fixed next week. Tenants say they’ll believe it when they see it.
Katy’s Comment
Sunday, October 05, 2008
I do not know enough about this complex or story to comment on the accuracy. However, there is a factually documented continuing public health issue at another apartment complex in Baton Rouge. A large national property management company can suppress this information along with the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency who purchased this complex to “provide safe affordable housing” even after knowing mold testing was conducted for the SALE that backed up not only what my report had but that mold is also in many more apartments!
This is not a little mold. It is in the HVAC systems and walls, it was eating the back of our refrigerator. It covered our air vents in 2 months. There is years worth of mold growth all over the complex yet they still deny it even with pictures and experts and actual testing. I can’t help but link this to when these buildings sat in the elements for a year or more just framed up but unfinished.
I have maintenance records showing years of repeated leaks and sloppy repair work. Management tells those who complain that this is dust and then they have the ducts cleaned. I have records showing an extreme amount of air duct and dryer vent cleaning. If the mold did not keep growing and sporulating fed by the moisture and water leaks they would have the cleanest vents ever.
I know that from my own experience that if certain people or companies or political figures are involved they will just continue to ignore it and so will the news. These documents have been published and almost every day I find more cover up, fraud, etc. I will post this and see if the NEWS can actually INVESTIGATE a PUBLIC HEALTH issue that is documented with REAL EVIDENCE that people are allowed to move in to highly toxic apartments and the state KNOWS along with many others but it is ignored because of those who are involved in it. We will see if the NEWS is above the INFLUENCE of these people and if no story appears even with public documents to back up my comment here, then we will know.
Katy's Exposure 