Downtown Building Condemned, Pizza Aroma and Residents Forced Out
“This may already be on your radar, but given the tragedy in Miami, I wanted to make sure that I called this to your attention,” read the complaint, received by the City of Ithaca Building Department on July 12th. “The south exterior brick wall of the Pizza Aroma restaurant, abutting the north sidewalk of Green Street, appears to be buckling slowly and its bow appears more alarming each time I visit downtown.”
Submitted by a passerby, this complaint referenced the collapse of the Surfside condo in Miami which killed ninety-eight people in late June of this year. The submission addressed 126 S. Cayuga St. here in Ithaca — home to three residents, as well as the long-standing Pizza Aroma restaurant on its ground floor. A few days later, the tenants were informed by the city that the building could be condemned. If no urgent repairs are made by September 17th, a “Do Not Occupy” notice will be posted, barring anyone from entering the structure.
Under the NY Property Maintenance Code 103.3, building owners are permitted to negotiate a repair agreement with the city after an initial warning, to reverse a condemned status. But for the tenants at 126 S. Cayuga St., multiple grace periods for repairs came and went without a word from the landlords about the safety of the building, or if repairs were coming. Instead, residents say they’ve received rent demands, verbal abuse, and physical harassment. The most extreme incident? Physical assault from a management employee during a minor maintenance misunderstanding.
While the property is in Doris Nitsios’ name, her two children, Renee & Sean Ryan, have power of attorney over the rentals, as well as several other buildings throughout the county. Before harassment in the S. Cayuga building escalated, a tenant reported having witnessed several discriminatory incidents with Sean Ryan. “He has made comments about my neighbor’s race and doubting her character because she is half Black,” said the tenant, who asked to remain anonymous. “I physically witnessed him deny someone asking about renting an available room, telling a Black man that all of the apartments were rented. When I asked if we we’re going to have neighbors, he said he just didn’t want to rent to that guy.”
Tenants say this behavior was part of a broad pattern of mistreatment by both Renee and Sean. “We have been harassed, discriminated against, intimidated, neglected, lied to. We had our money essentially stolen to live in a place that was never habitable. Our stress and anxiety has gone through the roof,” said one. “We never should have been in this position because we have done nothing wrong.”
A month after the City’s warning about the building’s danger to tenants and passerby, the residents were informed by their legal counsel that 126 S. Cayuga St. was to be officially condemned on September 3rd, giving them only a few weeks to vacate. Tenants reported that the city officials were defensive and secretive about the status of the building leading up to that point, with one resident expressing that they were met with explicit resistance when they called to inquire. With this condemnation, the Ryan siblings received another two-week grace period to make urgent repairs for the safety of tenants and passerby. As of September 8th, no repairs have been made.
The S. Cayuga building has had numerous code violations and fines going back to 2014, and has failed to hold a Certificate of Compliance since 2018. Despite this, management continued to illegally sign new leases and collect rent. Visiting the building, the bending brick is a jarring and obvious issue, visible out the window from one resident’s bedroom. Besides that, broken and sometimes missing windows, shaky rails and appliance failures have remained long-standing issues. Requests for repairs were met with refusal or outright disdain. This is the reality of many tenants in Ithaca- stuck in uninhabitable buildings for months, sometimes years. A report from a community member about a glaring structural danger finally forced the city to condemn the structure.
Now, residents will be made homeless if they are unable to find alternative housing as soon as possible. They’ve had to contend with the usual gatekeeping that working class people from Ithaca navigate while trying to find housing in Ithaca: exclusionary credit checks, discrimination prohibited in the Fair Housing Act, and the lack of available, affordable housing — and all with very little time. This has all been exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
“I dealt with 5k in expenses because the ceiling caved in at my old place- and now this is happening,” said another of the displaced tenants. “These landlords should have to be screened or tested. I hope awareness is created about what it’s like to rent in Ithaca.”
Organizers with the Ithaca Tenants Union see this type of neglect all the time, and the ones left holding the bag are always the tenants. Rent is supposed to, at least in part, fund building upkeep. There is a narrative that landlords provide a service because they maintain buildings that tenants and businesses can utilize. In situations like this one, familiar to tenants city-wide, it becomes obvious that this is often not the case. Now, no one can use 126 S. Cayuga St. for anything. The real question is: why are tenants at the whim of negligent landowners, and why aren’t there protections in place to prevent situations like this?
By the time these tenants are able to sue or seek some kind of legal justice, they will have had to go through the financial, mental, and physical strain of either emergency relocation or homelessness. One tenant reports facing blatant discrimination in the relocation process, having been told that there are no empty units in a building when applying — but being invited for showings when applying to the same building under a fake name. Those wishing to assist this tenant in their relocation can donate to $mfm1993 on CashApp.
Ultimately, tenant solidarity and stronger legal protections are the solutions to landlord abuse. Tenants can pressure landlords for repairs via public exposure, and collective action such as rent strikes and use of repair-and-deduct. Looking to the future, the Tenant Dignity and Safe Housing Act (S4594A), is a proposed piece of NYS legislation that would allow tenants to sue landlords for habitability violations, giving tenants leverage during long, drawn out battles with negligent landlords. If you’re experiencing housing disrepair, harassment or eviction — connect with both organizers and legal counsel here. For tenants interested in getting involved, join the union here.
