Recently on the Upper West Side, there has been an ongoing neighborhood imbroglio over the state of a vacant, historic townhouse owned by Diane Haslett-Rudiano, a high-ranking official with the Board of Elections. Haslett-Rudiano bought the 123-year-old townhouse at 118 W 76th Street in 1976 for a mere $5,000 (yes, five-thousand dollars; your eyes do not deceive you), but lives in Queens. In the intervening years, the property has accrued twenty Buildings Department violations and fallen into severe disrepair. The building could sell for as much as $5.5 million today, but the owner has steadfastly refused to speak with brokers and says that she can't part with the property for emotional reasons, as her late husband had made plans to renovate it. Neighbors, on the other hand, remain completely unsympathetic, calling the building a blight on an otherwise charming street and claiming that it attracts rats and vagrants. Likewise, City Councilwoman Gale Brewer and preservation activists have expressed disappointment in the state of the building.
In other words, it's summertime on the Upper West Side.
· Board of Elections official won't sell vacant, run-down upper West Side brownstone [NYDN]
· Neighborhood Beefs [Curbed]
?Rowley Amato
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