Cherry Gary didn’t mince words Wednesday morning during a tense Municipal Court of Atlanta confrontation with one of her landlords.
“You are a slumlord! … And everything y’all have needs to crumble!” Gary told Behzad “Ben” Beroukhai, one of the co-owners of A&B Apartments LLC, the parent company of the troubled Fairburn & Gordon I & II Apartment complex in west Atlanta’s Adamsville neighborhood.
Beroukhai didn’t respond to the insult as the elevator door closed. The verbal exchange followed the latest hearing about the complex’s substandard living conditions, and may foreshadow what’s to come in a few weeks, when city officials arrange a “town hall” meeting between Fairburn & Gordon’s owners and its tenants.
The time and location of the meeting haven’t been finalized, but Atlanta Deputy Solicitor Erika Smith said she expects it to happen some time before the owners’ next court hearing in September.
Smith said Ben Beroukhai and his brother Abraham “Abe” Beroukhai agreed to participate in the meeting even though the court hasn’t required them to do so. The Beroukhai brothers’ attorney, David Dolinsky, hasn’t responded to a request for comment about why his clients agreed to the meeting.
“They probably agreed to it just to show good faith to the judge that they’re cooperating,” Smith told Capital B Atlanta on Wednesday.
It’s been about 90 days since the Beroukhai brothers entered a consent agreement with the city to settle an ongoing nuisance and housing code enforcement case that includes hundreds of violations for maintenance, health, and safety concerns at the residential property.
Gary is one of the tenants who have spent years complaining about the extremely hazardous conditions at Fairburn & Gordon, including collapsing ceilings; rotting walls; suffocating mold; pipes that leak raw sewage; rats and roaches; natural gas and carbon monoxide leaks; and broken air conditioners.
She said her name is still on an active lease at Fairburn & Gordon, even though she and her kids moved out of their apartment last September because she suspected mold in their unit was making them sick.
The owners were required to complete repairs prior to Wednesday’s hearing, according to Smith. Municipal Judge Christopher T. Portis declined to close the case after city attorneys told him Fairburn & Gordon still has at least four outstanding maintenance and safety issues.
Those issues include the need for parking lot repairs and additional security cameras at the property, which is notorious for violent crime. The city is working to add Fairburn & Gordon’s security cameras to its Connect Atlanta surveillance system.
“For efficiency’s sake, I would say just keep everything open and close [the case] in September,” Smith told Portis during the hearing.
Gary and fellow Fairburn & Gordon tenants Crystal Brown and her mother, Barbara Brown, also appeared in court Wednesday, along with their adviser, Sterling Johnson, a leader with a racial justice nonprofit called Partners For Southern Equity.
Smith and Johnson told the judge that Brown and Gary’s apartments haven’t been inspected and have additional problems that weren’t included in the consent agreement.
A Nov. 29 U.S. Housing and Urban Development inspection found a total of 155 “deficiencies” at Fairburn & Gordon, including 31 issues classified as “life-threatening.”
Johnson said residents have complained about apartments with several broken windows and locks that don’t work, which have led to people “squatting” in vacant units.
He said several residents have mold and rotting floors in their homes as well.
“This is something that constitutes a health and safety issue,” Johnson said. “[The residents] are concerned about whether the floor might still fall in on them.”
