Last Friday, as a state judge pondered a request by Bridgeport and Stratford to appoint a new management team to oversee the troubled Success Village, a lawyer for the housing co-op rushed into federal court seeking bankruptcy protection. The move halted the state court proceedings.
Lawyers for Bridgeport and Stratford have asked a bankruptcy judge to dismiss the request, declaring “This case is about the compelling yet basic need to ensure that issues like available hot water, heat, fire and safety code violations and the lack of financial and operational accountability that affect thousands of people are immediately addressed, especially as the temperatures drop, to avoid almost 1,000 apartments spread over two large communities from becoming uninhabitable.”
They termed the filing “a bad faith litigation tactic in a short-sighted and misguided effort to halt a state court trial to appoint a receiver after the introduction of extensive witness testimony to numerous safety and health code violations, waste, unpaid bills, deferred maintenance, repairs and replacement of mechanicals to the detriment of thousands of residents.”
More from CT Post reporter Dan Tepfer here
There are thousands of people that will be displaced if the State of Connecticut doesn’t actively intervene to make sure that needed infrastructure (hot water/heat boilers) is installed in timely way to accommodate all Success Village units so that this state doesn’t have the shameful situation of unnecessary homelessness for thousands of people who are actually homeowners! This situation will be wrong, absurd, and extremely costly to the state if it is allowed to play out…. Where is the Connecticut AG in this situation — as well other officials involved in housing/health issues on a state level. This is a multi-town, state-level problem — they shouldn’t have to be invited to get involved….
The bankruptcy filing was filed in a disingenuous, untimely way, and needs to be dismissed or held in abeyance pending a criminal investigation of the BOD and their hired managers/accountants/consultants, pending a state takeover of the whole housing development and the implementation of remediation measures to ensure habitability of this development for all residents and all units….
This situation is wrong and shouldn’t have been allowed (by the state and municipal governments) to have occurred in the first place. Bridgeport, Stratford, and the State of Connecticut have been watching this trainwreck occurring in slow motion for years. What’s up with that?! Why didn’t the proper authorities intervene in a timely manner…. They are still just watching as conditions for the innocent residents still continue to degenerate…. 3000 people are involved. DO SOMETHING! (Is Lamont aware of this situation — or is he still tilting at windmills and looking for that Harris Cabinet-level position?!)
This situation is screaming of incompetence and corruption that bleeds between the BOD and hired hands, as well politicians/politically-connected people involved with the BOD.
Bad situation. Bring in the FBI! (Let them split their time between the election investigation and the Success Village embezzlement situation….)
The City and the Courts need to freeze all assets of the Co-Op and the BOD asap!
Bpt,Stratford & Hartford,have known about this situation for about a year now.In roughly 2 to 3 weeks those old boilers will be turned on( if the health depts allow it that is). I would say there is a 99% probability that those boilers won’t supply the necessary heat/hot water needed. What’s the plan then??..Where exactly will the occupants of 900 + apartments be housed??..Obviously Bpt/Stratford don’t have the means to handle this situation,it will be up to the State,seems like our elected “leaders”,are staying away from this mess… If it was last year at this time during the local election cycle,Ganim & Hoydick would have pics taken with wrenches in the boiler rooms..