A man smokes marijuana in a hallway at the Block in November. Residents say abuse of more serious drugs is a regular feature of life there, and a major problem.
Chapter Two
Rising drug use and the crimes associated with it were part of larger trends in Windsor and the region, Berezin wrote, and not due to any shortcomings of management. He stated in his letter, written in 2005, that his company provided full-time, on-site management at the building. Berezin also defended Armory Square's tenant selection process, saying all prospective renters were screened for past criminal activity, credit history and landlord history in accordance with Section 8 requirements.
On a recent morning, William Rines, a Block tenant who has done maintenance work for Berezin's management company for the past three years, was busy painting one of the building's first-floor entryways. Rines said he was under orders from the management company to give the building a face-lift.
"I think they're just doing it to get to the point where they can sell it," Rines said, noting that some apartments were being cleaned up that had been left alone since their last tenants departed. Rines said he didn't know whether the effort had anything to do with a potential reappraisal of the building requested by Vermont Housing Finance Agency.
Standing on the front stoop and squinting into the morning sunlight, Rines said he didn't blame management for not putting more money into the apartment complex. Every time things are fixed up, Rines said, the people who live here just trash the place again — sometimes literally overnight.
"We painted this hallway yesterday," he said, waving behind him. "And some kids already went through and keyed the walls. So now we've got to go through and put spackle in and repaint.
"I can understand why Marken Properties doesn't want to put money into the place," he added. "Because the tenants destroy it."