Penn Hills protest targets officials for lack of action in Valmar Gardens tenants' plight

Respect.

That’s what Andre Mobley, a longtime resident at Valmar Gardens in Penn Hills, demanded on Aug. 21 just outside the municipality’s administration building along with a handful of supporters and other residents.

The small protest, organized by Anne Grayson of United Neighborhood Defense Movement, aimed its anger at Penn Hills officials for a perceived lack of action in safeguarding the remaining handful of tenants who still call Valmar Gardens home.

ValmarGardens is a four-building apartment complex that has been tangled in legal disputes regarding ownership for years.

Four tenants of Valmar Gardens apartments and a handful of supporters from United Neighborhood Defense Movement protest evictions. Organizer says Penn Hills municipality “protest” slumlords. Chants “shame on you.” pic.twitter.com/swiLzrLPua

— Dillon Garrett Carr (@dillonswriting) August 21, 2020

Participants accused the municipality of “protecting slum lords” instead of tracking down owners, who have ignored the needs of tenants, to hold them accountable. The municipality denies protecting slum lords and maintains tenants still living there should look for alternative housing because it is inhabitable.

Penn Hills condemned the property in 2018 and gave tenants a week to move out. The move came after the building’s water was shut off because the property owner had failed to install proper equipment.

The incident shed light on a battle over the property’s ownership, which had been tangled in a complex legal battle between Good Home LLC, Bayview Loan Servicing and PA Real Estate Development Inc.

The 2018 incident also led to tenant outrage and a lawsuit filed on their behalf by Neighborhood Legal Services. The firm asked a judge to turn on the water and extend the time for which tenants could live there. The judge approved that request.

Court records show Pivirotto Real Estate was granted receivership in January 2019, which essentially means the court appointed the firm as Valmar’s property manager to maintain its value.

Then, in January, one of the four buildings caught fire. Penn Hills Fire Marshal Chuck Miller at the time said the fire was caused by arson. The fire displaced several tenants and the American Red Cross assisted in finding them temporary housing.

The apartment complex was bought by BDCT LLC for $210,000 on June 1.

On June 19, tenants said a swarm of Penn Hills police and Allegheny County Sheriff officers came to the apartment complex to serve them eviction notices. The complex’s water was also shut off, tenants said.

The tenants, at the time, were able to negotiate with Jason Greenwald, the property’s owner, to allow them to live there a little longer. Greenwald has told other media outlets he represents BDCT LLC.

Greenwald, when reached on the phone, said he works with the owners but deferred further questioning to Matthew Feinman, an attorney representing BDCT LLC.

Feinman said the owners agreed to let the residents — some of whom he described as “squatters” because they could not produce a lease agreement — continue to live there while they sought an order of possession through Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. The hearing for that case is scheduled to happen Aug. 26 with Judge Christine Ward, Feinman said. But before that case was filed in June, tenants were given $2,500 to move and given three months to do so.

“They were paid to move and they still did not move,” Feinman said, adding he was told by Penn Hills officials the complex was unsafe for people. “So we don’t want to kick people out, but the building has to be vacant in order to fix it.”

Should Ward issue an order of possession, Feinman said the property owners would wait to evict until after the state’s Aug. 31 eviction moratorium.

Feinman said he didn’t know what the owners’ plans are for the property.

“Whatever the owners decide to do, if they keep it, fix it, convert it — all we know that in its current state, today, it’s not safe. So our first step is have everybody out so that it can be made safe for whatever it’s going to be in the future,” he said.

Grayson, the protest organizer, said she rallied the tenants to descend on the municipality Friday because she wants the people to continue to have a choice in where they live.

“The municipality had a hand in their situation,” she said.

Penn Hills manager Scott Andrejchak said the new owner, who he named as Robert Metcalfe, has plans to invest $1 million in the property. However, no official plans have been presented to the municipality.

Efforts to speak with the owner for comments on this story failed. Feinman declined to identify the owners of BDCT LLC.

Andrejchak said he rejects the protestors’ allegation that the municipality protects slum lords.

“We have a whole department, our code enforcement department, that specifically fights against slum lords and blight,” he said. “If we have a slum lord we’re protecting, I’d like to know about it.”

He also said he would be willing to sit down with a current tenant at Valmar to discuss “their situation.”

“I know things are sensitive right now, especially during these times,” he said.

At one point during the group’s demonstration, Andrejchak came outside and encouraged the group of around 10 to move onto the sidewalk to allow traffic to come and go from the parking lot. The suggestion resulted in a heated exchange, as the group chanted “Penn Hills protects slum lords” and “shame on you.”

Anthony Straugher, 55, has lived at Valmar for three years. He is one of about eight people who live in one of the buildings. He said life there has been stressful.

“I ain’t been sleeping, ain’t been eating. I’m stressed. I don’t know when I’ll be thrown out,” he said, moments after the protest.

Mobley and Straugher were Valmar’s only residents present during the demonstration. They were joined by friends of tenants and other activists representing United Neighborhood Defense Movement.

The organization’s website said it formed in June with chapters in Los Angeles, Austin, Charlotte, San Marcos and Pittsburgh to fight for “working class tenants across a variety of housing struggles.”

The group demonstrated for about an hour before dispersing.