Newark residents demand action over repeated sewage backups
Residents at the building on Osborne Terrace say sewage has flooded the lobby and laundry room multiple times since June.
Residents at a Newark apartment building say repeated sewage backups are creating unsanitary conditions and they want management to do more than clean up the mess after it happens.
Residents at the building on Osborne Terrace say sewage has flooded the lobby and laundry room multiple times since June.
Hugh Vasconcelos, who moved into the building with his wife at the beginning of June, says this has happened multiple times.
Vasconcelos says the latest incident began Thursday. He says residents contacted management, the Health Department, building code officials and a councilman’s office, but did not hear back until Sunday, when a building coordinator provided a docket number confirming the complaint had been received.
A maintenance worker came Monday morning to clean up the area while News 12 was at the building.
But Vasconcelos says the cleanup does not address what he believes is the underlying problem.
“They just put Band-Aids on it,” he said. “Patch it. Go about their business. You get a call maybe a week later. Same issue.”
Vasconcelos says residents had to walk through the water to get in and out of the building.
Before a neighbor placed cardboard over the flooded area, he says residents were walking through the water in their shoes and potentially tracking contaminated material back into their apartments.
Vasconcelos described the smell as overwhelming and said flies were also gathering around the area.
He says the odor has reached his sixth-floor apartment, forcing him and his wife to keep their windows closed.
“It’s very hard to sleep, to eat and breathe,” he said.
His wife, who did not want to appear on camera, also described the smell as unbearable and said she has been burning candles to try to mask it.
Both also questioned whether the person sent to clean the sewage had the proper equipment and qualifications.
He said the worker’s protective suit was ripped and that he believed a professional should have been brought in to handle the cleanup.
He also raised other concerns about the building, including flooding during storms, a back entrance he says is accessible to squatters and an intercom system he says has not worked.
Vasconcelos says residents have repeatedly raised concerns with management.
“When we first went for this apartment, you go on a website — ‘newly renovated building,’” he said. “What you’re promoting on your website is false advertising.”
He says residents pay their rent and deserve to live in safe and sanitary conditions.
“If you don’t allow yourself or your family to live like this, why do you feel so comfortable allowing us to live like this?” Vasconcelos said.
News 12 has reached out to the property owner and is awaiting a response.
James Adams, the Department of Engineering director, released the following statement:
"Having been notified of this latest issue at that address, the Department of Engineering Code Enforcement Division dispatched two inspectors to the scene. We also contacted the Department of Water and Sewer Utilities which dispatched its own inspectors to investigate --even though, based on the residents' description as it has been relayed to us, the issue appears to be an internal plumbing problem which is the responsibility of the owner and/or maintenance company. The inspectors found the problem to be a broken pipe in the building's laundry room. The City is well aware of the challenges faced by residents at this address due to property management. The People's Assembly Public Safety and Mayor Baraka have recently attended meetings in that building.
"A quick check revealed that over the past nine months, we have issued 30 violations to the landlords, ranging from heat and hot water problems to garbage issues, and the city is currently in court with them on four different matters. City ordinances dictate that violations be addressed with abatement within a certain time period. And if no abatement occurs, the matter moves to court.
The city is recommending that this owner be added to the 'Bad Landlord' List."
