BALTIMORE — In a follow-up story, The Towner Management Company said it will be conducting in-depth apartment inspections to assess and prioritize maintenance requests.
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The HUD property at 2100 Madison Avenue houses people who are either elderly or have a disability. A number of tenants contacted WMAR-2 News saying their concerns were not being addressed.
On Wednesday, one of those concerns was addressed. The exterior lights were turned on.
“We can see,” said Lenetta Moore. “It’s been a while, but we can now see.”
But other hazards still exit, hazards that WMAR identified Tuesday night.
While inspection notices were handed out, some found them threatening.
“I didn’t go to college, but I know when a letter is threatening,” said Johnetta Johnson. “It says if we don’t comply, we’ll receive an eviction notice.”
In an email, Whitney Seeburg, president and general council for Towner Management Company gave WMAR an update on the building situation.
“This morning, we sent a team to the building to conduct an in-depth inspection of the common areas and exterior and to document any deficiencies. We are notifying all residents in writing that we will be conducting inspections of all units before January 26th. We are required to provide advance notice before entering a resident’s apartment. Once we have a list of all necessary repairs in the building, we will prioritize them and address them to maximize the efficient use of contractors.
Today, we installed fans and dehumidifiers to remove the water from the pipe burst on Monday. We also finished capping the pipe and prepared the area for a drywall vendor to come and finish the repair this week. Unfortunately, a hot water heater burst in the building this morning, so we spent a significant amount of time handling that emergency. We have cleaned up the water from that emergency and have scheduled contractors to come repair the damage to the subfloor from the water and install a new hot water heater.
We have called contractors to come work on the building. Tomorrow, a contractor is coming to inspect and recommend a new entry system. We are also working on securing interior doors. The hole in the historical storefront will be boarded up in the next 2 days. Because the storefront is subject to historical preservation laws, it must be boarded up in a way that does not damage it. We have a special contractor coming out to ensure that the repair is completed in accordance with CHAP regulations. Because we must comply with CHAP regulations, it is not a simple repair.
We have reset the exterior lighting for the building, in the hopes that the timer was the cause of the lighting issues. We will see tonight if the lighting comes on properly. If it does not, we will continue to troubleshoot this issue.
We have called our security contractor to request increased security presence around the building in the night. We continue to encourage all residents to report criminal activity to the police.”
As for priorities, Margaret Little says heat is one of them.
She invited us into her apartment to show us what she was dealing with.
“You can’t just put a band-aid on things,” she said. “Things are going to fall apart.”
Little said a maintenance worker inspected her unit in the afternoon and said they would be back with a portable heater.
“He never came back,” she said. “It’s cold out. There’s snow and ice in the forecast.”
