Amputee demands city fix shabby BX building

A Bronx man with no limbs is demanding the city repair his abandoned building and make it handicapped accessible. Byron Breeze, who is a quadruple amputee, says he's been living at 625 Jefferson Place

News 12 Staff

Jul 31, 2007, 10:44 PM

Updated 6,284 days ago

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A Bronx man with no limbs is demanding the city repair his abandoned building and make it handicapped accessible.
Byron Breeze, who is a quadruple amputee, says he's been living at 625 Jefferson Place for about seven years. He claims the building continued to fall into disrepair when the landlord died, effectively leaving the property abandonded.
The city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development took over the property under its "7A Program." The program allows HPD to appoint an administrator to manage abandoned buildings and make necessary repairs.
HPD maintains it's spending about $500,000 to make renovations. Breeze says that's not enough to fix the property. Breeze complains the building's front door hangs open, there's no security and there are no wheelchair ramps. He also says his counters and door peephole are too high.
So far, HPD has fixed 10 out of 15 apartments and hopes to complete the work by November. However, the administrator says he does not have immediate plans to install wheelchair ramps.
HPD claims the building started falling into disrepair when tenants stopped paying for maintenance.