For 10 years Rosalina Garcia has been living on the first floor of 2995 Botanical Square in an apartment with “crooked floors.”

With help from the executive director at West Bronx Housing and Neighborhood Resource Center, Joshua Stephenson, she is hopeful to see the floors fixed soon.  “Now, through the petitions that we put in court with [the help of] Steph, they will eventually have to fix it,” Garcia said.

“Steph” is Garcia’s shorthand for Stephenson. He has also helped the residents at 2985-2995 Botanical Square, known collectively as Botanical Square, organize a tenants association to address the concerns at the six-story, block-long building on Webster Avenue.  He became aware of their plight through Barbra Stronczer, president of the Bedford Mosholu Community Association, which meets half a block away.

This is not the first time residents at Botanical Square have organized to get repairs done.  Leoney Jarvis, a tenant, describes how this latest attempt to organize started more than six months ago with help from the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC).  “At first we had a good turnout, we had about 60 signatures at our first meeting. And then they didn’t show up,” said Jarvis.

At their first meeting on Tuesday night, Mikell Green-Grand welcomed a group of about 20 adults concerned about needed repairs inside their apartments, lack of heat and hot water, broken security cameras, non-working elevators, and personal safety.  The lively discussion also included observations on everything from teaching the young ones how to be respectful and show manners to issues pertaining to personal responsibility for keeping the hallways clean.

On hand from the 52nd Precinct were the two Neighborhood Coordination Officers (NCOs) Jose Cepeda and Jose Fernandez.  The officers reassured the tenants of the precinct’s commitment to keep the streets safe.  However, when it came to complaints about people smoking weed inside the lobby and hallways, the officers admitted to their authority being limited by the decriminalization of marijuana.

“The biggest problem we get at most tenants meetings… is hanging out, adolescents in front, inside smoking marijuana,” said Officer Cepeda.  “A lot of our power has been taken away.  The most we can do is tell them ‘get out’… Hopefully, they respect it.”

With a team of six leading the new iteration of a tenants association, Jarvis is hopeful that the group will find the solidarity necessary to get the needed repairs done and increase the sense of personal safety.

“We don’t want this to die, we want to continue this,” Jarvis said.  “We need to take charge of our own destiny … so we can resolve the issues in our own building.”