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North County Complex Endured 6 Days Without Heat, Hot Water or Apologies | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

January 19, 2024

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click to enlarge MIKE FITZGERALD Sherrie Robertson shows the space heater she had to use to endure a long cold snap with no heat in her apartment.

The heat and hot water finally returned late Thursday morning to Sherri Robertson’s apartment at Norwood Court, in north St. Louis County. But Robertson says she is still irked by the fact the company that operates the sprawling apartment complex has not offered any explanations or apologies for the ordeal she and her fellow tenants endured during this past week’s Arctic weather blast.

The brutal run of sub-zero temperatures coincided with Robertson’s apartment losing heat early on the morning of Friday, January 12. It didn’t come back on until late Thursday morning, January 18 — capping six days of shivering misery, according to Robertson.

“I had to stay in here and suffer the consequences,” says Robertson, noting that she’s the full-time caregiver for her uncle Arthur Rasheed, 72, who’s been incapacitated since suffering a massive stroke several years ago.

“I didn’t want to leave and let him freeze,” Robertson said of Rasheed. “I made sure he stayed warm. I put blankets all over him.”

During the stretch without heat, Robertson said she put in calls to the office of the property manager, Multi-South Management, “and they’d just tell me somebody’s working on the boiler.”

The only thing Multi-South did to mitigate the misery was drop off an electric space heater in her apartment, says Robertson, who’s lived at Norwood Court seven years.

Otherwise, she says, “I’ve been calling and calling.They’ve been horrible.”

Norwood Court sits just west of Lucas and Hunt Road, just south of I-70 and a few miles east of Lambert Airport. A man in Norwood Court’s office, who was identified as the on-site property manager, and who answered to the name “Michaelf,” declined to comment for this story Thursday.

Willie Robinson, who says he’s lived at Norwood Court for three and a half years, expressed similar frustration with the six-day run without heat and hot water, as well as Multi-South’s failure to respond to his calls for help or answers.

The lack of hot water meant he couldn’t take a shower for nearly a week, Robinson says.

“I have to be at work at a certain time. But I don’t want to catch a cold,” Robinson says. “It’s ridiculous.”

St. Louis County real estate records show that a company called AS St Louis LLC, organized by a man named Pinchos Shemano, 59, of Brooklyn, New York, bought Norwood Court in 2021.

Shemano did not return calls seeking comment to his offices in Brooklyn.

Shemano is also listed as the organizer of Multi-South Management, of Memphis, Tennessee, according to Missouri Secretary of State records.

Shemano’s name is connected to at least 53 companies and limited liability corporations that match his address of 2158 82nd Street, Brooklyn.

Four LLCs managed by Shemano bought a 25-building apartment complex in southern New Jersey for almost $18 million, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Two years later, companies controlled by Shemano sold an 1,103-unit apartment complex in Jacksonville, Florida, to investors for $49.5 million, according to the Jacksonville Business Journal.

Ever since Multi-South took over Norwood Court’s operations, maintenance and upkeep have gone downhill, a man whose 67-year-old mother lives in the apartment complex tells the RFT.

Roaches have become a problem, while the elevator in his mother’s building hasn’t stopped at the right floors for months because of electrical problems, he says.

“And that’s unsafe as shit,” the man says. “It’s very unsafe for everybody. That’s not right.”

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

1 year ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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