PUBLISHED BY MOSHOLU PRESERVATION CORPORATION

Problem Norwood Landlord Draws Ire in Highbridge

By WILLIAM WICHERT

The scene in the south Bronx neighborhood of Highbridge last week would have been familiar to Norwood residents as tenants have come together to demand repairs from owner Frank Palazzolo and his associates at Palazzolo Holding II Corp.

The Norwood News began its coverage of Palazzolo and his 26 real estate corporations a year ago when an 8-year-old boy died in a fire at 3569 DeKalb Ave. The managing agent of that building had been indicted for his part in stealing over $300,000 in housing funds for the indigent, known as Jiggetts. After two years in housing court, the building was turned over to an outside administrator, known as a 7A, in November 2002. But that was three months after the tragic fire.

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is currently in housing court with 37 of Palazzolo's 108 Bronx buildings, including 1030 Woodycrest Ave., which has already accumulated 118 housing violations in the last 12 months. At an Aug. 21 press conference, the tenants listed many of the same problems that plague Palazzolo's buildings across the borough: mold, water leaks, peeling lead paint and sinking ceilings, and mice and roaches.

"I told the super and he said everybody's got mice," said David Todd, who has been living in apartment 1E for two years. Todd said he called up the managing agent, Leonard Froio, to complain about holes in the ceilings and a defective radiator, but Froio hung up on him.

Fernando Collazo of apartment 4D recalls waking up one night with a water bug in his mouth. Collazo, who is HIV-positive, believes his sickness has gotten worse in the four years he's lived in the building. In addition to the bugs, mildew grows on the walls.

After four years of complaints, the management company put some plaster and chlorine over the mildew recently, when news spread that Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. would be taking a tour of the building. The lobby was also painted and the front doors were fixed.

Addressing the crowd at the press conference, Carrion began by saying, "Don't let the fresh paint and the new lock fool you." The borough president said he would write letters to Palazzolo Holding II Corp., HPD, and Washington Mutual Bank, which holds a mortgage on the building. 

The tenant association at 1030 Woodycrest Ave. may now emerge as a leader in an effort to get Washington Mutual to pressure the owner to make repairs by enforcing a part of the mortgage known as the good repair clause, said Chloe Tribich of the Mosholu Woodlawn South Community Coalition in Norwood. The Coalition has already helped secure bank inspections at 15-19 West Mosholu Parkway North and four other Palazzolo-owned buildings on Park Avenue in the Bronx.

The Coalition plans to collaborate with the Highbridge Life Community Center, which had been working to organize the Woodycrest tenants for months before the press conference. Jackie Del Valle, a community organizer, said that people were scared of causing trouble after hearing that four families had already been evicted.

Now that the tenants have taken action, they say Palazzolo and his associates have 30 days to make all the necessary repairs. If their demands are not met, they will pursue court action to get a 7A administrator assigned to the building.

In a phone interview, Frank Palazzolo denied being the owner of 1030 Woodycrest Ave. or any of the other Bronx buildings investigated by the Norwood News. "I own no buildings," he said. "Palazzolo is a lender." But according to title documents obtained by the Norwood News from the Department of Finance, Palazzolo has signed mortgage documents with a number of banks as the mortgagor (the person receiving the mortgage) for dozens of Bronx buildings as president of several different corporations.