ADMERICA IN TECHNICOLOR: June 2015

To Whom It May Concern:

Carmen Aponte, senior citizen aged 85, resident of Apt 8B, last of the tenants with rent control on the north side of Building 540 was cut off from Social Security check, healthcare notifications, electric bills, etc, when mailboxes were vandalized.

Dated pictures of the mutilated mailboxes were taken with a cell phone and a report was filed on that day at The Longwood Police Station House in The South Bronx.

Two days before the damage of the boxes and strong possible loss of mail, a city building inspector warned of arrests to several Dominican employees of Paradise Management that barged into Carmen Aponte’s apartment to interfere with an investigation.

They walked out silently with Richard Liriano, a boss of Paradise Management.

Days before the call to 311 for lack of service to Apt 8B and the destruction of mailboxes, Mrs. Aponte almost signed a contract presented to her by a representative of Corner View Residence LLC/landlord to relinquish her apartment for 500 dollars and the promise of another location for her to move into on the South side of Building 540. She stated she would wait for her son to read the document and make a decision.

Richard Liriano took Daniel Aponte to tour Apt 20A that was slightly in better condition than Apt 8B. The apartment that was shown to Mr. Aponte was on the south side of Building 540 where two senior citizens in rent-controlled apartments were offered money to move across the courtyard to the other South side of Building 540.

Richard Liriano told Mr. Aponte that upon acceptance of Apt 20A he is to leave his mother’s furniture to be replaced by free new kitchen table and bunk beds provided by Paradise Management. Mr. Aponte stated he would talk to his mother about the offer.

Workmen renovated apartments (emptied from newer tenants by Paradise Management) on the side of Building 540 where Mrs. Carmen Aponte and her family were the only residents. They were subjected, on a daily basis, to noises of hammers, electric drills etc and the smell of paints. Lumber, sheetrock, pipes etc cluttered hallway in front of Apt 8B.

Later, workmen came and removed the bathtub from Apt 8B to repair old pipes that was alleged to have leaked water to the apartment below. The Superintendent gave keys to Apt 35C across the courtyard for The Aponte family to take baths and use toilet until further notice. Repairs took several days to complete in the wintertime.

Families were taken out of homeless shelters and placed in renovated apartment units. Daniel Aponte was informed by a new tenant that $2,800 was the rent for the apartments.

Later on, Daniel Aponte observed individuals ingesting drugs in the lobby, graffiti on walls, garbage on stairs and loud music. Front door and lobby doors were broken several times. Detectives from the Longwood Station House knocked on Apt 8B to inquire if anyone knew of an assault on a senior citizen. Daniel Aponte was given a card to call.

A complaint on Carmen Aponte’s lack of mailbox service was given to the superintendent who ignored Building 540’s regular US mail carrier’s suggestion to give to Mrs. Aponte one of a row of mailboxes that were left intact above the damaged ones.

Later on, Mrs. Aponte’s son addressed the problem to Jacob Schwartz, an employee of Corner View Residence LLC, new owners or landlord of Building 540.

Instead of allocating a mailbox to Apt 8B, Richard Liriano wanted Daniel Aponte to move personal effects into Apt 35C on the other side of Building 540 and a promise of 500 dollars to Carmen Aponte.

Mr. Liriano offered assistance with moving Mrs. Aponte’s belongings. Daniel Aponte requested the lease as the first item moved into Apt 35C. Mr. Liriano said the lease was still being worked on and would be delivered to Mrs. Carmen Aponte. Days after their conversation, the superintendent gave Daniel Aponte the keys to the mailbox of Apt 35C.

Mr. Aponte went to The Saint Ann’s Post Office to make a change of address. Several weeks later, Mr. Aponte addressed Jacob Schwartz on the issue of the new lease needed at the time for Daniel Aponte’s Medicaid reapplication.

In the background of their conversation, a Dominican employee of Paradise Management walked several feet away to make a call on his cell phone. (It’s interesting to note an incident of plainclothes police with Kevlar vests and heavy firearms in the courtyard of Building 540. They sought a person of interest who turned out to be an employee of Paradise Management)

Several minutes later, Mr. Liriano drove up in a black automobile and hand delivered the lease to Mr. Aponte in front of Mr. Schwartz. Mr. Lirano wanted Mr. Aponte to take the lease to have it signed by Carmen Aponte. Mr. Aponte replied that his mother was asleep and Mr. Liriano can wait a day or two for the lease.

After near two-hour wait time at Lincoln Hospital, Mr. Aponte’s Medicaid Reapplication was done. He then went up one block to the Grand Concourse to Housing Court to have the new lease to Apt 35C explained to him by a clerk at the HP office.

A legislative aide at the offices of Senator Ruben Diaz, 32^nd District, also read the lease. She made a suggestion to Daniel Aponte have his name put on the lease.

Mr. Liriano agreed to put Daniel Aponte’s name on the lease. He told Mr. Aponte to move his mother’s belongings in the meantime, a request denied again by Mr. Aponte.

Several weeks later, Mr. Aponte handed the keys to the superintendent with a message to be verbally delivered to Mr. Liriano: Mr. Aponte will take back the apartment keys upon the delivery of a modified lease. Weeks later, Mr. Aponte went to check the mailbox of Apt 35C as he had done for days and nights. The lock on the mailbox had been changed.

The superintendent informed Mr. Aponte Apt 35C was given to a Mexican family. Mr. Aponte knocked on the door of Apt 35C to retrieve his and his mother’s mail. Through closed door, a woman said in Spanish there was no mail for The Aponte family. Mr. Aponte requested any mail delivered be held and turned over to him and Carmen Aponte.

Afterward, he went to Saint’s Ann Post Office to request a change of address back to Apt 8B that had no mailbox. A manager became agitated by the request and informed Mr. Aponte he had recently moved his address. Mr. Aponte tried to explain the situation but was bewildered by the manager’s stubborn refusal to listen.

Mr. Aponte talked to Building 540’s regular mail carrier. A spare mailbox on the other side of the building was given by mail carrier after superintendent installed key cylinder.

However, when the mail carrier became ill for several weeks in a brutal winter, other mail carriers misplaced mail, sent back mail to the post office and some mail disappeared. This happened again when the regular mail carrier took vacations.

Mr. Aponte took his mother to SHOPPE or The Neighborhood Self-Help By Older Persons Project, Inc to get help on the lease and mailbox for Apt 8B.

In spite of calls to the landlord or Corner View Residence LLC no one there contacted Mrs. Aponte or her son. There has been several times that NYFD has been summoned to Apt 8B because of water that came down into the bathroom and kitchen.

Mrs. Aponte suffered a fracture to her arm when she slipped in the kitchen. Her son became her health care attendant 24/7.

NYPD witnessed Mr. Aponte cough blood in the streets and summoned an ambulance.

Mr. Aponte spent nearly 14 hours in a gurney at Lincoln Hospital to get lab results on his condition. Daniel Aponte got up and walked in the rain at night to check up on his mother who was unable to get out of bed without her son’s assistance.

Mr. Aponte met a New York Post Reporter at the door to Building 540. The reporter was there to investigate a UFO sighting. The reporter showed cell phone pictures of unexplained bright lights nearby Building 540. Daniel Aponte was given two cell numbers to call in case he saw anything strange.

The reporter introduced himself as Tom Wilson of The New York Post.

Mr. Wilson, know that there is, among others, an alien here.

Poverty.