IMMEDIATE RELEASE & CALL-TO-ACTION: Springfield’s Migrants Aren’t “Eating Cats & Dogs” & Aurora’s Buildings Aren’t “Taken Over By Gangs”

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JOIN US for a Community Care Day of Solidarity with Tenants TOMORROW

Saturday, September 28th, at 2:30pm at 1357 Helena St

Media contact information:

V Reeves, Housekeys Action Network Denver, info@housekeysactionnetwork.com, 701-484-2634

We’ve all seen the headlines regarding the “Venezuelan gang takeover” in Aurora. This rumor, originally fabricated by a Florida PR firm hired by a neglectful slumlord, then spread like wildfire to the point where former President Trump gave Aurora a shoutout within the first 10 minutes of the first presidential debate. Nearly every news outlet has taken advantage of the clickbait while vote-hungry politicians at all levels have used fear mongering to stoke the flame. The ones at the center of the fire – the tenants and their children – are losing everything.

Background:

As of four months ago, slumlord Zev Baumgartner of CBZ Management abandoned several Aurora buildings under his management, worsening the already deplorable conditions faced by vulnerable tenants, many of whom are migrants without other housing options. Despite numerous safety and hygiene complaints, both management and the City of Aurora remained unresponsive, leaving tenants to endure pest infestations, black mold, and inconsistent utilities. Baumgartner was even known by his staff and tenants to retaliate against outspoken tenants by cutting off essential services like water and electricity. Tenants were charged exorbitant rents averaging $1,800 per month, with some paying up to $2,350 in security deposits only. Even after Baumgartner withdrew on-site management, tenants continued to be charged thousands, often after they had already moved out, leaving them trapped in a cycle of debt and poverty. Their exploitation highlights how their vulnerability has been manipulated for profit, further deteriorating their already dire situation.

Pawns of a Politician’s Game:

It’s 2024 – an election year. As U.S.-backed sanctions result in many Venezuelans seeking safety and opportunity in other countries, we see a surge in migration. In Spring, former president Trump responds to this influx by more aggressively pushing the narrative of “migrant crime”, even coining the phrase “Bigrant crime”, despite President Biden having significantly increased border security to appease Republican voters and crime rates overall seeing a significant decrease across the nation, and even Aurora. This of course is nothing new, especially in America, where racism and xenophobia are fear mongering strategies that lead to votes from scared citizens who, despite themselves being oppressed by the same system, instead scapegoat their worries onto the latest marginalized community target. Upon learning that the City of Aurora, a city currently run by a majority right-wing conservative City Council,  was now more intently looking at his now majority-migrant buildings, Zev Baumgartner of CBZ Management decides to hire a PR firm down in Florida with ties to AIPAC to cook up a narrative sure to deflect attention from his criminal neglect and onto the disadvantaged tenants. On the same day the City of Aurora releases a statement concerning 1568 Nome St, instead of taking responsibility for the years of deterioration and mistreatment, CBZ releases their own statement – that their buildings have been taken over by gangs and that’s why they are unable to repair the conditions or collect rent (despite many of the tenants still paying online) due to fears for the managers’ own safety. Conservative politicians who were already known to be anti-migrant amplified the PR message as media across the nation jumps on the bandwagon. 

Instead of the City providing support over the years through code enforcement holding the landlord accountable with more substantial fines and threats of arrest… Instead of working with the over 400 tenants and their nearly 100 children to relocate them to suitable accommodations because the landlord is ignoring his legal responsibility due to Warranty of Habitability… Instead of properly investigating any supposed crimes and listening to the police chief calling the rumor an outright lie rather than collectively punishing entire buildings of tenants for their landlord’s negligence and decades of impoverished conditions in Aurora… They put families in the streets and, as in Springfield, blatantly lie with racist trope.

End result: Slumlord and racist politicians win. Everyone else loses. 

Instead of accountability and justice taking place, the slumlord is fine. Zev Baumgartner gets to continue operating his other properties, including several in Denver which are also abusing tenants. Zev gets to text his friend City Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky and have private meetings with her and other City officials to avoid jail time, paying laughable fees that hardly ding the millions he’s earned and continues to earn off the backs of desperate poor people without anywhere to turn.

Any potential criminal activity in the area continues. Despite the police referring to a phone call list as evidence of crimes taking place instead of actual convicted criminals, still, tenants themselves have stated that activity came from people outside of the community coming through the abandoned spaces but not living in the buildings. The decades of crime that Aurora has seen and the increased policing of marginalized communities are being pinned on tenants, workers, parents with children.

Right-wing politicians get to claim a win, and Trump furthers his campaign. They get to ignore the actual needs of the community and scapegoat the most vulnerable rather than creating stronger policies that protect tenants from landlord abuse. 

The tenants and their children lose. Kids don’t want to go to school for fear of bullying from seeing images of their parents speaking out in the press juxtaposed with images of gang members with arms. Parents are losing work, told to lie about their nationality, and unable to be accepted anywhere after months of applying for new housing. Everyone is living in fear, already having sustained death threats and armed vigilante outsiders appearing in the middle of the night to “take back their city”.

While the others mentioned above get to collect their gains and move on, this will continue to affect the tenants of CBZ Management buildings for years to come, even after closures. Now is the time to fight for their rights and demand that the City stand not with an exploitative slumlord, but with the most vulnerable members of the community. 

JOIN US Saturday September 28th starting at 2:30pm at 1357 Helena St to unite with the tenants, show our solidarity, discuss why we must keep fighting and not accept this outcome, and what we must do – including more specific calls-to-action. The City cannot get away with displacing nearly a thousand people in a matter of months. HASTA EL FIN!!! AHORITA ES EL TIEMPO PARA UNIRNOS!!!

Demands as directed by tenants, in their words:

• City Responsibility to Security & Building Conditions
  • The city of Aurora has not provided resources to improve building safety, such as food access, medical support, cleaning, or waste management. The city could make buildings safer, addressing issues beyond crime, including cleanliness and maintenance.
  • The city only came a few times to pick up the trash, but residents had to take responsibility for waste management by bringing a trash trailer and paying out of our own pockets. The City should’ve come months ago.
  • We want to know that the city hasn’t abandoned us.
• Financial Constraints & Need for Resources
  • There is no financial support for alternative housing options like hotels. I must work for at least a month to save enough to afford these.
  • We need more time to be able to raise funds to move, to apply, to have applications processed, to be accepted…
  • Many of us have been applying for at least a month now, but because of the narrative around Venezuelans, no one has accepted us. Even those of us with a stable job and work permit. We need support with applying for new apartments to increase our chances of being accepted. 
  • No condemnation without secured permanent housing solutions!
• Improved Communication & Meetings for Two-Way Dialogue
  • The problem is that information doesn’t reach everyone in the buildings, as not everyone can attend meetings.
  • We want dialogue, not just decisions made for us.
  • Comunication from the City has been infrequent and minimal. We don’t want to wake up with the surprise of a notice on our door saying we need to leave tomorrow.
  • We want to discuss and find resolutions together.
• Tenants’ Experiences & Media Misrepresentation
  • We want to show that we are families, we are workers, and that the news is wrong about tenants living for free and damaging apartments. These issues started when the landlord abandoned the property and stopped picking up the trash.
  • We want to correct the narrative from reporters, as many have spread lies, but some tell the truth.
  • It’s important that the real story is heard from our mouths.