Envy Apartment

NEWARK — The Pavilion and Colonnade apartments are made up of three towering Newark high -rises known for their stately glass windows with New York City views . The buildings are still striking on the outside even though their glory days are clearly gone. They are close to most things a tenant could want in downtown Newark. You can walk to church or to the park. The train station is a hop, skip and a jump away, and the bus stops out front. The convenience is grand. Residents say it’s not so grand living here when the heat doesn’t work, when the elevators break down, when management doesn’t appear to be fond of tenant organizations speaking up for themselves. And some residents say it seems like its always been this way. You know, mama said there would be days like this, but she didn’t say they’d last 30 years. Over the years, one management company after another has tried to run Pavilion and Colonnade apartments. The latest, Kettler Management of McLean, Va., is the third in eight ye...

The Arlington mother and her children at the center of a controversial arrest July 3 are staying at their apartment, despite an eviction notice that told them to leave by Thursday, their attorney said. “She will be staying here until she is forcibly removed,” attorney Kim T. Cole said at a news conference outside the Addison Park apartments in Arlington. “She has nowhere to go. She’s not from here. There’s no reason in voluntarily making her and her five children homeless.” Cole said Latasha Nelson and her children will stay at the apartment until Addison Park management returns with a court order to move forward with the eviction. Addison Park management has not responded to requests for comment. The controversy stems from the arrests of Nelson’s teenage sons July 3 . Police had responded to the apartments, where a witness had reported that Nelson’s 14-year-old son burglarized a vehicle. The teen matched the “exact” description the witness gave officer Chad Haning , according to...

Duval Mobile Home Park in southeast Houston has 182 lots." />EXPAND The Duval Mobile Home Park in southeast Houston has 182 lots. Stephen Paulsen Elizabeth Perez loves her trailer park . But if she's ever forced to move, at least she has a back-up plan. A chatty 45-year-old with a wide smile, Perez has lived at and managed the Trinity Duval Mobile Home Park in southeast Houston since 2008. Used mobile homes here typically sell for $12,000 to $38,000, depending on their size and condition, she says. She remembers one woman buying a home for just $2,000, using her IRS refund. The Duval Mobile Home Park first opened in the 1950s. It was purchased last year by Trinity Community Group , a trailer park management company — and Perez worried about the future of the park. “I kept thinking, ‘Shoot, they're going to want to tear it down,’” Perez said. “I was kind of scared.” The company promised it would keep the park operational , according to Perez. Still, Perez accepts...

Last week, we sponsored the 11th annual Points Summer Book Club , a community discussion of Matthew Desmond's piercing Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City . We debated the causes of eviction, the effect on children, how to view landlords' role, and what this discussion means for a city like Dallas. The book club also included an event with the author, in a partnership with Southern Methodist University 's SMU Reads program . On Thursday, Desmond spoke to a crowd of more than 900 people, laying out his research and his experience with evictions' damaging effect on people's safety, family, jobs and mental health. "When you add all that up, we have to conclude that eviction -- which used to be rare in this country, which used to draw crowds — it's not just a condition of poverty, it's also a cause of it. And it's making it worse. It's leaving a deep and jagged scar on the next generation — which means that we can't fix poverty in A...

RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Ohio Custody dispute, Chestnut Drive: Officers responded to the Loganberry apartment parking lot Aug . 13 after a woman reported her child's father kidnapped her son. When they arrived, the child, 4, was with her and another woman. She was advised to take her son and go home, as officers went to speak with the father and his girlfriend, who were yelling towards them. Both of them were very uncooperative in explaining the events as they had occurred. It was later learned the child's mother, a 23-year-old Cleveland Heights woman , had falsely identified herself and had an active warrant in the city. A warrant for obstructing official business was then entered for her arrest. Harassing communication, Richmond Park Drive East : An apartment management employee reported Aug . 8 a tenant is constantly complaining about maintenance issues and harassing the staff. He said they had been having problems with her since July and would be serving her a 30- day eviction n...