Editorial
'Jashawn's Law' Needs Push

This August it will be one year since 7-year-old Jashawn Parker died in a fire in the apartment building where he lived on DeKalb Avenue in Norwood.

We wish we could say the city has moved swiftly to ensure that this never happens again. But there are no new failsafe mechanisms in place, no new laws enacted, and not even the faintest heartbeat of urgency beating in the corridors of the city's housing bureaucracy.

In other words, what happened to Jashawn Parker can happen again. And considering the condition of many Bronx buildings, some of them connected to the same derelict landlords that have been associated with 3569 DeKalb, we'd say it's a safe bet that it will.

The building Jashawn lived in with his father and brother had more than 300 housing code violations at the time of the fire, many of them serious. Tenants had been in out of court for two years seeking a "7A action," where a judge allows the city to give temporary control of the building to an outside administrator so that urgent repairs can be made. A judge did eventually order a 7A, but that was in November, three months after Jashawn died.

If enough people cared, a bill introduced by Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz that could save lives might stand a chance of passing. Dinowitz drafted the bill last fall after learning of the circumstances that lead to Jashawn's death. If enacted, the bill would permit a judge to give landlords only 60 days to make critical repairs before authorizing a 7A action.

The legislation has been reported out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, and is now in the Rules Committee. To have a chance at becoming law, the bill needs a sponsor in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Four Republican senators from New York City Ð Guy Velella of the Bronx, Marty Golden of Brooklyn, Serphin Maltese of Queens, and Olga Mendez of Manhattan -- represent communities with residential buildings. We hope one will shepherd a similar bill through the Senate. But we know that won't happen without a full-court press from tenants and housing advocates who are now preoccupied with the rent regulation battle.

Can Albany will deal with Dinowitz' bill at the same time? We don't know but we hope so. As we know from the saga of 3569 DeKalb, getting this legislation passed is a matter of life and death.

Budget Crisis Hits Home
Too often we don't notice community pillars until they are removed, rendering the neighborhoods we live in a little less stable. Let's hope that is not the case with West Bronx Housing Neighborhood Resource Center, a Norwood-based subsidiary of the Bronx Jewish Community Council, which provides critical technical assistance to neighborhood residents on housing issues. They advocate on behalf of tenants in danger of being evicted; they help seniors apply for rent increase exemptions; they solve rent disputes and much more.

But proposed cuts to three of the funding streams West Bronx relies on Ð from the Department for the Aging, from the borough president, and from community consultant contracts, could effectively eliminate the agency.

"If these all go through, I can't imagine how we're going to be able to stay open," said executive director Sally Dunford. She urges concerned residents to come to the office at 3176 Bainbridge Ave. and write letters to elected officials. In other words, act now before it's too late.

Back to Opinion Index Page

News | Opinion | Schools | Features | Continuing Stories | Home
About Us | Past Issues