Bowery Tenants, Forced to Leave, Collect Personal Items from Dumpster

A group of Chinatown residents who were vacated from their homes by the city due to an unsafe stairwell in their building at 85 Bowery, had yet another nasty surprise Wednesday.

A tenant who happened to be passing by saw construction workers throwing out trash bags filled with their things. 

"I rushed over as quick as I could. I couldn't believe that was happening. We had an agreement," said New York State Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, who's been working closely with tenants. She spoke with WNYC's All Things Considered host Jami Floyd. "This is not part of that agreement."

Tenants have been living in hotels, with family members, and in homeless shelters since their building was vacated. Repairs to the stairwell should have been finished in a month. But three months later, contractors discovered a series of other structural problems that needed repairs, said Department of Buildings officials.

The trash dump is the latest incident in a several-year-long struggle by rent-stabilized tenants to stay in their homes, according to Niou. It's been marred by court battles, low-ball buyout offers and a refusal to make repairs at the hands of landlord Bowery 8385 LLC, she said.

“Unfortunately, mistakes were made yesterday by workers tasked with removing items from the building," a spokesman for Bowery 8385 LLC. "We will be reimbursing families of 85 Bowery for any items that were mistakenly discarded."

“We are committed to moving the families of 85 Bowery back safely into their homes as quickly as possible," he said.