NYC's worst landlord lives in a $1.2 million suburban mansion with an in-ground pool, a sweeping front lawn and a circular driveway — about 30 miles north and a world away from a rat-infested building she owns in the Bronx.
The Daily News reports:
The city's worst landlord lives in a $1.2 million suburban mansion with an in-ground pool, a sweeping front lawn and a circular driveway — about 30 miles north and a world away from a rat-infested building she owns in the Bronx.
Robin Shimoff’s brick home has seven bedrooms and spans 7,000 square feet. The Rockland County home features four full baths and a multicar garage.
But Shimoff also owns 13 buildings and has amassed 3,352 violations through the end of August — earning her the shameful crown of the city’s worst slumlord, according to Public Advocate Letitia James, who released the “Worst Landlord” list last week.
The Daily News visited one of the worst buildings in Shimoff’s portfolio. It’s an 86-unit building on Decatur Ave. near Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. The News spied a basement play area for kids that featured a brightly colored alphabet stenciled into the filthy floor.
Just inches away sat a trap for rats.
“It looks like a dungeon here,” said tenant Jasmine Rodriguez, 31, pointing at a gaping hole in the wall where she says menacing rodents roam freely near the children’s play spot.
Above the play area hang electrical wires and gas meters. The walls are pocked and peeling. “Day Care” is scrawled in fluorescent pink on a doorway.…
As of Friday, Shimoff’s building on Decatur Ave. where the basement day care center is located had amassed 275 open code violations, including 26 considered most serious, city records show. Open violations include plaster in danger of collapse and scalding water “throughout” an apartment.…
Shimoff, for one, lives far away in the leafy Rockland County suburb of Monsey. She and her husband bought their mansion in an upscale neighborhood in the early 1990s with a $260,000 mortgage.
Shimoff did not return numerous calls seeking comment. But the building manager assigned to oversee her properties, Jose Peña, agreed to answer questions.
On Friday he said the number of violations listed by James has been reduced dramatically in the last few weeks. He emphasized that Shimoff is on top of the situation, aggressively assigning workers to fix what’s broken.
“She does visit the buildings and she knows what’s going on and what she’s inherited,” Peña said. “We have tons of work crews doing work every day.”…
Residents of Shimoff's properties, however, told the Daily News they've never seen Shimoff and deny their buildings are being replaired.
Read the much longer report in full on the Daily News.
Update 11:12 am CDT – I'm told by a reliable Rockland County source with ties to the Orthodox community that Shimoff and her husband are Orthodox Jews.
[Hat Tip: Ruthie.]