GREENACRES — The City
of Greenacres is taking action against the property
management company that oversees a condo where families were
left without power for over two weeks.
The people who live in the 600 building at Lakeview Gardens
Condominiums lost power in late October and say nothing was
done for weeks until they called CBS12 news – some have
small children and they had no lights, no refrigeration and
no a/c in sweltering heat.
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Gary Budd, Crest Management Group, Inc. President |
Here's what one mother told us in early
November.
"We're desperate. This is not a good situation because it's
so hot here," said Evelyn Reyes, a resident at Lakeview
Gardens Condominiums and the mother of a baby girl.
We asked Budd about the allegations that the management
group wasn't responding to the resident's concerns.
"So we actually did speak to a few, I spoke to a few
residents directly. Some of 'em do not speak English that
well and we had a hard time dealing with that situation,"
Budd explained.
Crest Management Group oversees Lakeview Gardens
Condominiums and Budd says he acted quickly when the lights
went out.
"The next day I called an electrician to get a new panel
installed and restore power to the units. Found out that
there is no such panel that exists for that type of panel,"
Budd said.
After seeing our stories on CBS12 News, a local electrician
came in on his own and made temporary emergency repairs to
get the power back on.
Budd says they’re still trying to identify a permanent
solution to the problem.
Meanwhile, the City of Greenacres tells us it has been
fining Lakeview Gardens $50 dollars a day since February
2016 for code violations on the property like junked cars,
broken furniture and appliances and trash.
To date, the unpaid fines total more then $120,000 dollars.
"The residents there are not that particular on where they
put their garbage, although we have dumpsters to put it.
We've had garbage strewn all over the property. We've had
people from outside the community leaving appliances,
furniture," Budd said.
"This certainly leaves the impression that you're neglecting
this property because it's a bunch of low income minority
people renting there and it appears you think you can get
away with it?," we asked Budd.
"No I can't get away with it and I hope that people
understand that that's not true," Budd said.
As president of Crest Management Group, Budd is scheduled to
appear at a code enforcement hearing in Greenacres next
month.
He plans to ask for a reduction in those fines because, he
says, if the Lakeview Gardens Condominiums association board
has to pay that much – they’ll go bankrupt.
As for fixing the electrical problems on the property, Budd
claims there’s no easy solution because the company that
made all the equipment is out of business.