Parkside Village Square tenants go a week without heat and water, demand repairs
Two dozen tenants and neighbours are living on space heaters, and two seniors say they feel intimidated by people in the halls.
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Tenants of Parkside Village Square, near 91 Street and 106A Avenue in McCauley, have gone about a week without heat or running water since a fire in a vacant basement suite. The baseboard heaters no longer work, so tenants are relying on space heaters, and they are asking for urgent repairs.
Dafala Makki, a tenant, says conditions have worsened since the fire. "This fire, since it happened, the heat is cut, plus electricity is being cut, so we've been with no running water, no toilet to use — nothing," Makki said. "They should really help us in this situation so we can live a better life, 'cause this is hard on all of us."
Shawne Edel and Darlene Lent, both 67, say the building has deteriorated over the past year. Edel said, "It's gotten really bad in the last year with the homeless coming in, the gangs coming in." Lent said, "We're intimidated. There's people always in the halls. We see only junk. They're sitting there charging their phones. They have more rights than we do living here." Edel said, "We're seniors, (we) don't know what to do."
Owner Ersen Lika says non-tenants are responsible for the damage. He said, "These are not tenants of the building. They are all homeless from the street, coming and destroying, and they ask the owners to bear all the bills." Lika also said, "We are under attack every day, as you see." He said police removed the trespassers, who returned: "Police came, two hours, they kick them out, they come back. But look at the damages." Lika said he is working with EPCOR to restore power and heat. EPCOR has not responded to requests for a restoration timeline, so that claim is unverified.
Global News reporters saw spray-painted doors and windows, holes in the roof, and stripped copper piping and wiring. Inside a trashed basement suite, they found garbage, drug paraphernalia and a Naloxone overdose reversal kit. Utility workers were seen near the property on Thursday. Police arrived that day but did not say what prompted the visit.
The city has not responded on property conditions or safety.
