LANDLORD HOPES TO SHAME TENANT INTO LEAVING

Property Was Site Of Drug Arrests

BINGHAMTON -- Billboards outside 163 Susquehanna St. advertise the place as
a drug haven. But owner Steve Menz is really promoting shame and embarrassment.

Menz, who has owned the property for more than six years, tacked three
signs Monday outside the rental property. They point out a first-floor
apartment where police pay visits with battering rams.

"I don't know if these people can be embarrassed," Menz said. But he hopes so.

The signs, neon-orange on a white background, fill the porch. "The family
upstairs, with two children, still feel very unsafe and possibly to the
point of moving out," they say.

Two people were arrested and charged in March following a police search of
the property. Timothy Bryant, 17, and Cain Mazyck, 18, both of Brooklyn,
were each charged with third-degree possession of a controlled substance, a
felony.

The ugly part is that Menz has no idea who those two are. Neither of them
is his tenant, whom he declined to identify and whom police have not
charged with any crime.

"I've lost control of my apartment," Menz said. He hasn't been able to talk
to the tenant in the month since neighbors began complaining about drug
trafficking.

The city has a lockdown law to shut down a nuisance property and punish the
owner. It doesn't have a law to help an owner shut it down.

"If landlords got in the custom of drafting better, more comprehensive
leases, it could allow the landlords to take summary action in city court,"
city Corporation Counsel Gregory Poland said.

Menz would like to evict his tenant now, but he can't. Under state law, he
must first give 30 days notice, then begin proceedings, which require a
court hearing followed by eviction by a deputy.

The process could take 45 to 60 days, perhaps more. But Menz said an
emergency law should be written so criminals can be evicted quickly.

Nobody scurried out of the property Monday; neighbors and passers-by
chuckled at the signs.

But they didn't want to comment. They still smell smoke from what they know
isn't tobacco and are still awakened by 4 a.m. visitors to the apartment.

"It's an ongoing thing," Police Chief Joseph Lynch said.

Lynch isn't sure what Menz hopes to accomplish; Menz said he's not trying
to shame police.

"They have been incredibly responsive," he said. "Every time I call, boom,
they're down here."

But the "boom" has cost him $700 to replace two doors. "If police had
called me, I'd have given them the key," he said. Countered Lynch: "You
can't tell a person in advance that you're going to hit his place."

Menz said his next step will be to call Mayor Richard A. Bucci, probably
today. But evictions are a matter of state law, not local ordinance.

"We'll be glad to help him," Bucci said. "He's a good landlord. ... He
won't just sit back and do nothing."