Court Hears Arguments in Organizing Case By MIRANDA KAPLAN The first arguments in a lawsuit preventing the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition and the Highbridge Community Life Center from organizing tenants in six Bronx apartment buildings were heard on June 18. It was the first full day in court after the defendants successfully petitioned for the case to be moved from Westchester County, where two landlords brought the case, to the Bronx. But securing that victory hasn't eliminated the temporary restraining order (TRO), instituted in December by a Westchester judge, that bars the groups from seeing or speaking with tenants in any of the six buildings under examination. The case originates from the groups' organizing in a number of buildings where Frank Palazzolo appears to have a controlling interest. Palazzolo has signed mortgage documents for dozens of Bronx buildings, including the ones in question in the lawsuit. His involvement in the buildings first came into focus in August 2002, when a boy was killed in an electrical fire at 3569 DeKalb Ave., a badly neglected Norwood building. The Coalition then began organizing in several other Palazzolo buildings. HCLC was organizing tenants only at 1030 Woodycrest Ave. "Should this TRO [have been] issued in the first place?" was the central question posed by Judge Sallie Manzanet. Lawrence Gottlieb, counsel for the plaintiffs, answered by describing what he termed the "wrongful activities perpetrated by these coalitions." He decried the groups' associating landlords Leonard Froio and Stephen Tobia with Frank Palazzolo, claiming that Palazzolo recently cancelled his pledge of stock in the five holding corporations - including the one that bears his name - thereby negating any official relationship between himself and the plaintiffs. Gottlieb's allegations further included "unwarranted intrusion" in the landlords' financial matters because the Coalition has met with Washington Mutual Bank officials to encourage them to enforce the good repair clause in the Palazzolo building mortgages. Gottlieb also charged that tenants were coerced into signing affidavits that they did not fully understand. The TRO hampers the defense's ability to make their case by preventing the groups from calling on any tenants to testify that they voluntarily signed affidavits against their landlords. Nor can the groups assemble tenants who they believe to have been pressured into signing an anti-organizing petition circulated by their landlords. Recognizing that conundrum, Manzanet agreed to modify the language of the restraining order to allow the NWBCCC and HCLC to visit tenants for the purpose of gathering witnesses. Gottlieb went on to claim that the number of violations in the six buildings - ranging from 19 at 2268 Washington Ave. to 172 at 1055 Grand Concourse - was relatively low and that many violations had been addressed. Nevertheless, Manzanet emphasized her intention to see the violations firsthand. "I intend to visit each and every one of these buildings," she stated. After the arguments, Manzanet followed up on her promise by personally visiting 2315 Walton Ave. and 1030 Woodycrest. Though the restraining order has been relaxed, the judge is planning further site visits and has not yet scheduled a hearing at which residents of the buildings can testify. In response to the plaintiffs' arguments, members of the NWBCCC conceded that some repairs to the apartments appear to have been made. But, according to Executive Director Mary Dailey, many of those repairs were completed only in the last month. Furthermore, the organizers and their counsel reiterated that the case was not just about poor building conditions. "Obviously, we think the case is about more than just the violation count," said lead defense counsel Wendy Stryker of Frankfurt, Kurnit, Klein & Selz. "It's about the tenants' right to organize." Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión, who visited the Woodycrest building last summer, offered his support to the groups in the form of an affidavit. "I fully support the tenants and tenant advocates who have been valiantly fighting the actions of Mr. Palazzolo," Carrion stated. " . . .While many of his tenants are living in squalid conditions without heat, hot water and with mold and falling ceilings, Mr. Palazzolo has been busy filing lawsuits in Westchester County in an attempt to bankrupt and deter tenants from exercising their constitutionally protected free speech rights."
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