Here come the locusts

Well, the wacky neighbor is back!

Word around the building was that he moved out after being handed a hefty bill for five figures worth of damages resulting not from the recent fire, which was ruled an accident, but a flood he caused back in November of last year just before Thanksgiving. (I know, I know: flood, fire, what’s next with this guy, the plague? a horde of locusts?)

Now, after spotting him (and his little dog too!) around the building (my husband saw him on Sunday and refused to get into the elevator with him), it’s been confirmed that he’s a guest of a tenant here!

I went to the office this morning where the smirky receptionist representing Rose Associates Inc. nodded like she’d heard it about ten times so far today as I told her that the guy who caused the flood and the fire and stole from me and at least one other tenant was again staying in the building. Smirky McSnark, from behind her VERY messy desk, informed me that if someone chooses to have him as a guest, there’s nothing they can do. Well, legally, of course, but New York landlords and management companies are famous for employing not so legal means to get someone out of a building. If ever there was a legitimate use for those illegal means, this is it!

I learned from two sources today (one inside the management office) that the police were called when he was seen in the building on Saturday, but because he had keys and was a guest of a tenant, there was nothing they could do. For the time period after the fire and before he was officially out of the building he was being escorted to and from his apartment to retrieve things, check his email on his computer, etc. I wish they’d start that again.

I can’t think of one good reason that this guy could have for coming back to this building if not to harass or otherwise freak out all the people who wanted him to move out after all the damage and thievery, except for maybe revenge.

Keep your eyes peeled for locusts.