“It’s just ridiculous,” say tenants at Omaha’s City View Apartments, who are tired of their living situation

It's just ridiculous, say tenants at Omaha's City View Apartments, who are tired of their living situation

OMAHA – City View Apartments in Omaha has nearly 200 occupied apartments and one working elevator. This weekend, neither elevator functioned.

“It is just ridiculous,” Remi Dortch said. She lives on the seventh floor with her husband and three kids.

Dortch claims she has been dealing with a slew of issues at City View since she moved in about four years ago.

“The handle on the sink here broke off. It has been like this for at least three months. “I use this [wrench] to cut it on,” she demonstrated First Alert 6.

Dortch threw out all of her clothes and replaced her furniture a few months back.

“Bedbugs migrate. Roaches migrate. “Rats migrate,” explained Dortch.

She even purchased two cats to help with the rodent problem: Bandit and Gingi.

Dortch noticed that her living conditions were causing more tension in her relationship and a decline in her psychological health. Keeping her children safe and happy has taken its toll.

“It is very stressful,” she explained.

She pays $1100 per month. Other residents reported to First Alert 6 that sewage was spilling into their sinks or that they did not have hot water. The fire alarm system is also down. According to Omaha Fire Chief Kathy Bossman, the Omaha Fire Department is aware and will conduct an inspection later this month to ensure that the problem has been resolved.

The conditions at City View remind Omaha City Councilman Danny Begley of Legacy Crossing, a complex that the city condemned days before Christmas in 2022, displacing nearly 400 residents. Begley spent Saturday touring City View.

“What are we going to do as a contingency plan in the event people have to vacate this building through no fault of their own because the property owner in Florida has not met the standard of safety for people living here?”

Leaders from the city’s planning and fire departments say they do not believe it will come to that.

“I expect some pushback, as I do with most people we work with,” said Anna Bespoyasny, the City of Omaha’s superintendent of permits and inspections. “But we will just keep on them, working with their attorney and the property manager, to see if we can rectify the situation, bring them into compliance.”

First Alert 6 contacted Tzadik, the management company, but have yet to hear back. Last April, Dakota News Now, a sister station of First Alert 6, looked into renter complaints at the same company’s Sioux Falls properties.

According to Bespoyasny, City View has 13 open code violation cases. The majority of them are plumbing issues. They are actively investigating those, she stated.

They stated that if residents experience a problem in their apartment, they must report it and cannot do so anonymously.

Dortch stated that she does not have the financial resources to relocate her family of five, and she hopes that change occurs soon for the sake of her children.

“I do not want them to see this environment and be like this is how we are supposed to grow up,” Dortch told them.

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