Tenants rally, demand bank fix buildings
Posted on Thu, Jul. 24, 2008
BY PETER BAILEY
pbailey@MiamiHerald.com
Most nights, Cynthia Wilson and her brother and sister sleep with tissue tucked inside their ears. She hates the routine, but it's necessary.
It blocks out the roaches that nest in her bed.
On a particularly rough night recently, she said, the pests invaded her breathing machine, causing the 15-year-old to have an an asthma attack.
Such is the daily existence of the tenants in two Liberty City complexes, at 6901 NW Eighth Ave. and 825 NW 70th St., who for eight years have suffered with roaches, rats, mildew and other inhospitable conditions while their landlord resided in France and collected rent.
The buildings are now in receivership. On Thursday, about 40 tenants and activists rallied outside the Coral Gables headquarters of Great Florida Bank, which holds the $850,000 loan on the property. They demanded the bank be held accountable for the building's conditions. [More]