BOB MABLEY; Victim of Harassment by Syracuse Housing Authority? By Kofi Quaye
He assessed the situation and decided on a course of action that would prepare him to deal with the challenge of confronting the bureaucratic machinery of the Syracuse Housing Authority. First, he ran for election and was elected president of the tenant’s association, giving him the authority to negotiate and advocate on behalf of the tenants. . That was back in 1985. For the next two decades, he was re-elected every time elections were held. “Nobody could beat me,” he said As the president of the tenants association Bob says he succeeded in getting Syracuse Housing Authority to make many changes at 300 Burt Street. “I was able to get a lot of things done. I made sure that the management took care of many of the problems,” he said. Four years ago he decided not to run for re-electron. According to Bob, he was advised by the top management of Syracuse Housing Authority not to seek re-election because he had been in the position for far too long. But he says he now knows they had other plans for him, which he didn’t know at the time; to get rid of him. And that was precisely what happened soon thereafter. Somehow, he was forced to leave the housing complex, he said, in a manner he described as improper. “They won’t even let me in the building now, and they won’t tell me the reason why,’ he said. We contacted Syracuse Housing Authority to try to get their side of the story. Our efforts to contact the management for a response elicited no response by the time we were ready to go to press. An Interview with Robert ‘Bob’ Mabley Robert ‘Bob’ Mabley was a tenant of Syracuse Housing Authority in the senor citizen housing located at 300 Burt Street. From 1985 to 2004, he served as president of the tenants association, advocating for and on behalf of the tenants. According to ‘Bob’ he initiated many programs and volunteered to help out wherever he saw the need. No longer a tenant, he says he is still interested in what’s going on and would like to see a few changes made. The following interview is his side of the story. We hope to publish the Syracuse Housing Authority’s side of the story sometime in the near future.
Mabley: No. Not lately. I really don’t think so. Maybe in the beginning, but as far as I am concerned, Syracuse Housing Authority has not performed up to par in terms of its management of its senior citizen housing. I can only speak for what I know and was personally involved in and that was 300 Burt Street. That place is in bad shape
Mabley: As I said before, I know about 300 Burt Street because I was the president of tenants association for many years. As a matter of fact, I was elected so many times because nobody could beat me. Finally Carol Sheppard who was the director at the time asked me not to run and I didn’t. Before, the place was accessible. Tenants had access to it from different areas. Not any more. They are locked in like dogs now. There’s no key to the backdoor. Once I had to go in there and pull two people out of the building when their apartments caughtt on fire. CNY VISION: There is still supposed to be a shortage of housing in this area. Is it true and if so, what can Syracuse Housing Authority do about it? Mabley: You can say Syracuse Housing has helped with the housing issue in Syracuse. A lot of people have lived in 300 Burt Street. Many left, but there are still quite a lot of people in that building. As far as that is concerned, yes, you can say Syracuse Housing has helped many people in this city with housing. CNY VISON: Other complaints have been the manner in which SECTION 8 and other programs are run by Syracuse Housing Authority. Have there been any noticeable improvements? Mabley: The Section 8 program at Syracuse Housing has been okay. People who qualify can get it as far as I know. That is from the government and hopefully, they don’t stop it, because if it stops, a lot of people will be affected. It’s needed. CNY VISION: SHA was one organization many low income people could look forward to renting from because of low rent, etc. Is this still the story? Mabley: Again, the answer is yes. Syracuse Housing Authority for sure has apartments for people, especially senior citizens like myself who need such housing. My problem specifically with the senior housing at 300 Burt Street is how it is being run now. I suggest that changes be made at all levels. CNY VISION: If you had to name three most pressing challenges that HOUSING has to deal with on a consistent basis, what will they be? Mabley: They should keep the parking lot clean; they should also keep the building clean. They should also make sure to keep some people out whose presence creates problems for other tenants. A lot of things go on in that building that shouldn’t, and they know it and are not doing anything about it CNY VISION: In your opinion has HOUISNG faced up to those challenges? Mabley: Not really. That’s why I am saying they have to make a lot of changes. Things take too long to fix. You see more young kids moving in and out of the building. There’s a whole lot things going on that shouldn’t CNY VISION: Any immediate changes or plans that you know about that the community needs to know about? Mabley:
You have to ask the top management that question. Every time you ask a question,
the answer is we’ll get back to you and they never do. I think its time for
a shake up. Some of the workers have been there for thirty, forty years. They
should be replaced. As president of the tenants’ association, I made sure
the tenants got what they need. Right now, I don’t know. |
Robert
‘Bob’ Mabley says all he wanted to do was to make sure tenant’s
rights were recognized and respected. According to him, he had just moved into
the senior citizen’s housing on the corner of Burt and State Streets, and
observed that there were a number of problems that needed to be taken care of.
The problem, he said, was the landlord. He was renting from the Syracuse Housing,
an organization that manages a number of housing complexes in the city of Syracuse.
“I just knew I had to do something,” he said.