The Westchester County Human Rights Commission has accused Garth Essex, a cooperative housing complex in Eastchester, of discriminating against residents who are disabled.
For at least 14 years, the cooperative refused to build ramps at the entrances of its buildings, according to a complaint filed Sept. 18 in U.S. District Court White Plains, and required residents with disabilities to use rear service entrances that also were difficult to use.
The commission says it brought the action to vindicate the civil rights of more than 1,000 residents who have been denied equal access to their homes “due to defendants’ repeated and willful disregard for the needs of disabled residents.”
Brenda Hundley, the cooperative’s property manager and an employee of Stillman Management Realty Corp. that manages the buildings, did not respond to an email requesting comment on the allegations.
Garth Essex is comprised of 346 apartments in five, six-story structures on Garth Road near Scarsdale.
In 2020, a woman complained to the commission on behalf of her wheelchair-bound mother, a shareholder in the cooperative, and turned over a petition signed by 43 residents who had requested an entrance ramp.
The commission filed an administrative complaint in 2020, and the cooperative recently elected to have the action converted to a civil lawsuit.
The commission says it interviewed 26 witnesses, members of the cooperative’s board of directors, and officials who manage the property.
As far back as 2006, residents had asked for ramps to be installed in the lobbies of their buildings. Their requests were either ignored, the complaint states, or residents were told that the buildings had been grandfathered in, ramps would be ugly or impossible, or it was never going to happen.
Instead, residents with disabilities were told that they should use the rear entrances where, according to the complaint, sets of heavy doors were difficult to manipulate and some entrances were on steep slopes.
The cooperative also allegedly ignored requests to make a parking garage and parking lot easier to use and required written requests for accommodations, in violation of the Federal Fair Housing Act that requires verbal requests to be considered.
Garth Essex did install ramps and automated doors at the front and rear entrances after the commission began investigating, the complaint states, but did nothing about the parking access.
The commission sued the cooperative and Stillman under federal, state and county housing laws for allegedly ignoring residents’ requests for reasonable accommodations.
It is asking the court to order the defendants to desist from discriminatory conduct, remedy their practices, compensate residents who were discriminated against, and award unspecified punitive damages and civil penalties.
The commission is represented by Westchester County Attorney John M. Nonna and Senior Assistant County Attorney David P. Polizzi.
