MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – Serenity Towers landed back in court Thursday morning and was hit with yet another $1,000 fine for the 200-plus residents living in unsuitable conditions for months.
In environmental court, code enforcement said Wednesday it conducted another inspection and found more troubling concerns that include bed bugs and a fruit fly infestation in more than 100 rooms.
“We also found mold or mold-like substances in some of their units. Also, you have the smell of mold in the lobby area where we have tenants going down and they’re trying to get relief from the air,” said a representative from code enforcement.
While Serenity’s attorney Ben Sissman didn’t address those issues, he did tell Judge Patrick Dandridge that progress has been made on the more than a months-long project to install parts to all A/C units.
Sissman said residents can expect relief by Friday.
“The Freon is here, and once they do that everybody believes that they’ll turn it on and it will start working,” said Sissman.
Despite possibly making a small step forward, Serenity Towers still has a lot of work to do, like restoring hot water to residents–which Sissman says parts won’t arrive for another 14-16 weeks.
An essential living necessity that won’t be fixed for months and leaving one resident who did not want to be identified feeling stuck and his health and safety concerns neglected.
“I feel kind of crummy about it, but also there’s The problem of not having that much money so that becomes difficult,” said a Serenity Towers resident.
Serenity Towers is scheduled to be back in court Tuesday morning with a status report progress of providing residents with an alternative until the part for the boiler arrives.
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