Poughkeepsie officials investigate landlord, tenants organize, following building demolition
City officials are now looking into other violations Runza might have committed that led the building to the point that bricks were falling out of the foundation forcing the emergency demolition.
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The city of Poughkeepsie is investigating a landlord whose building nearly collapsed on itself, forcing tenants to evacuate with barely any notice, and forcing it to be torn down for safety reasons.
Tenants are not letting the landlord off the hook either.
Johanna Thorpe showed News 12 exactly where her partner used to live. The rear right apartment, which is gone, has been replaced by a pile of dirt.
"I don't even think I can cry anymore," she said.
Thorpe and five other tenants displaced from their home on North Hamilton Street last Wednesday are organizing against the landlord, Lester Runza.
The city ordered the building to be torn down because the foundation was failing and the building was about to fall into another home.
Tenants had just enough time to grab what they could and evacuate.
"There are so many things that we can't get back," Thorpe said. "My partner's tax papers. Oh my God. They were in the house."
Thorpe said Runza did not help tenants find new homes or pay for hotel rooms like he said he was doing.
The tenants are now seeking compensation for their relocation costs and for items they had to leave behind.
"We want to come up with some sort of resolution," Thorpe said, "whether it goes to court, or whether or not there can be a mediator... some sort of civil action."
City officials said Runza let the property fall into disrepair. They say prolonged water damage was a large factor in the building's demise.
They are now looking into other violations Runza might have committed that led the building to the point that bricks were falling out of the foundation, forcing the emergency demolition.
"The city is conducting a full investigation into the matter," Poughkeepsie City Administrator Joe Donat said in a text Thursday, "and will take the appropriate enforcement actions as needed."
Runza did not respond to several calls seeking further comment.
