NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)— A pile of months-old debris remains at a local apartment complex, and tenants are fed up.Earlier this year, New Orleans firefighters responded to three fires in the span of six weeks at Carmel Brook Apartments, which is located off the service road in New Orleans East.
Months later, tenants say they still can’t escape the damage from the flames.
“The residents are tired of looking at the rubbish and infestation,” explained Minister Tommie Robinson, who lives at Carmel Brook. “Now, we’re seeing rats. Every time it rains, you can smell the stench.”
Many tenants at the apartment complex see the towering pile of debris when they walk outside their door.
“This has been here for four months, I believe since March,” Robinson added. “I don’t think it takes that long to remove such an eyesore.”
Robinson says he wants answers, and so far, he has none.
A few people who work for Rapid Improvements, the New Orleans-based company that maintains the property, were on the property, but they refused to answer any questions and demanded that the WGNO news crew leave.
“No one ever came; no one ever sent out any letters, and as you can see, like I said, again, my concern is that it’s not barricaded,” Robinson said. “It’s just been left there.”
Robinson believes the effects of the debris pile reach beyond property gates.
“This is not a good sight to see. You know, people are leaving New Orleans because of all these different types of things that are going on,” explained Robinson. “This is not nice to see sitting on side of I-10, and I wish that the management or whomever it may concern would come out and take care of this situation.”
No one was at the leasing office, so we called the complex. No one returned our call. WGNO then reached out to the San Antonio-based company that owns the property, Lynd Living, for a response and is waiting to hear back.
We did speak to the district’s councilman, Oliver Thomas. He says he is planning to talk to the city attorney to see if tenants can pay into some sort of escrow account. That way, the property owners would not receive payment until complaints and or code violations are resolved.