Please Help a Twitter Sister @Keepitcleva
Cleva and I have been following each other for about 1 1/2 to 2 years, and in that time we've developed a friendship. We have never met one another, but we chat on the phone and text, tweet, and Facebook. Here's what I know about Cleva. She's a single mom with two kids, a nineteen-year-old son and a twelve-year-old daughter. She works for the county of Sacramento, CA and like most civil servants these days she’s not well paid.
For the past several months, Cleva has been tormented by young men living in the apartment below her. They regularly slam into the walls late at night and blast music well past the 10 p.m. curfew when the Sacramento noise ordinance goes into effect. Some nights they play the guitar and drums. Cleva has contacted the property manager and/or the property management company nearly 20 times by phone or in writing asking them to intervene. Each time her pleas for assistance have fallen on deaf ears.
She has called the police several times, but they’ve done nothing. On several occasions when she’s called the police, they’ve said they can’t send someone at that time. They then tell her to call back in an hour if the neighbors have not reduced the volume, and they may be able to send someone then. She has called back, but no one shows up to deal with the noise makers, in spite of California's noise law that prevents its citizens from being exposed to unsafe levels of noise.
She has asked the neighbors herself to turn down the music and been ignored. Her appeals for quiet have been met with defiance exhibited by louder music for longer periods nearly every night. She and her daughter are both suffering exhaustion due to sleep deprivation. Her daughter’s school performance is also beginning to suffer. In addition, Cleva has been having anxiety attacks from months of dealing with this unnecessary stress and lack of sleep.
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Cleva no longer feels safe in her current apartment. A few weeks ago, a racist picture was taped next to the mailboxes, which was obviously aimed at her and her daughter, the only African-Americans in the apartment building. She pleaded with the property manager to deal with this, but he tore the picture down, threw it away and refused to do anymore.
Without anyone to advocate for her and enforce the state laws property owners, managers, and police are required by law to enforce, she realized she had no choice but to move as soon as possible. She does not have the money for an attorney nor the emotional wherewithal to wait several months for a hearing. And because this move was not something she’d been planning, she lacks the funds for the move and for a security deposit. Because of the animosity she’s gotten from both the property manager and property owner, she fears she may not get any of her deposit back.
Out of desperation she started apartment hunting. She has found a small townhouse to move into at the end of the month. She filled out an application and has been approved. She will have enough money to cover the first month’s rent, but she needs money for the security deposit and the moving truck/ supplies. Two of us have given her a small amount in order to hold the property, but she need help raising the rest of the money.
Just $5 or $10 from a number of you would probably raise enough money to cover the deposit and UHaul rental. Please consider helping out our twitter sister.
Donations can be made at Cleva's PayPal account: epiphanysweet76@gmail.com
Sincerely,
DesertCroneNM
P.S. A special thanks to @Ferallike for her assistance in writing this post.
Below is the last appeal to the apartment owner for help in stopping the harassment by her neighbors.
September 8, 2013
To: -----
From:---
Re: Racist Poster and Continued Noise from Apt --
On Friday, September 5, at approximately 5 p.m., I arrived home from work to see a flyer hanging on the fire extinguisher right next to the mail box. The flyer was impossible for me to miss. I looked at the flyer with the heading “Lost Dawg” and saw a picture of a black man, not a dog. I am the only African American living in this building along with my 12-year-old daughter as management is well aware. I was shocked to find that type of flyer hanging there. I was very offended and believe that the neighbors in apt - did this as an act of racial intimidation. My daughter was deeply offended, and as a 12-yeas-old, she most certainly recognizes a racist act.
I called the manager to advise him of this incident, and he expressed no interest in dealing with this issue. After I did some convincing, the manager came down and ripped the flyer down and tore it into pieces and then threw the evidence in the trash. This was a clear indication that management is not going to investigate this very dangerous behavior. I no longer feel my 12 year-old daughter is safe in this complex.
In addition to the new racist intimidation, the neighbors continue to be a nuisance with the noise. My daughter informed me that the neighbors started blasting their music starting at 12:15 am on 9/8/13. which flooded my living room with noise. She went to bed around 2 a.m. and the downstairs neighbors proceeded to bang on walls and move furniture causing all kinds of noise that prevented her from sleeping. My young daughter deserves to have peace in her space as do I. This has been a continued issue that management is aware of, yet he has refused to deal with it. But I'm the one branded the trouble maker by standing up for my rights as a tenant. If my complaints had been taken seriously and acted upon, this would have been taken care of long ago, and you would not have heard another word from me. Instead it appears it's been easier to paint me as some sort of villain than confront the actual instigators.
Sincerely,
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