Thursday, July 24, 2014

Dr. Dave is fighting eviction on East 2nd Street


[Photo via Facebook]

Dr. David Ores, a general practitioner who has long served the uninsured and low-income residents on the Lower East Side, recently received an eviction notice at his office on East Second Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Here's background on the situation via GoFundMe:

Lease/Commercial real estate tax problem. Briefly, after 2 + years at my office I get a bill for $18,000 in back taxes out of nowhere. $9,000 a year. Now it's $27,000 due. We are a J-51 tax abatement building as are others in the LESPMHA, Inc. (the non-profit housing org./41 buildings).

I was told that when I moved in and AND my lease says that as well. I will challenge this in court, but I can get evicted in the meantime. I held off eviction one week ago in court and my new court date is July 29th. I need to pay all or most of these NYC taxes to stay here... and THEN I will research/investigate what happed to our J-51 tax abatement and why it went away. Or was never in place. Does not seem kosher to me.

If I had that money, I would just pay it, but I don't. So the plan is pay all or most of the "back taxes" and then dig into what went wrong where. IF I had know there were RE taxes due, I would have kept up from the beginning. So I am asking for community help to pay NYC real estate taxes I was assured I was NOT responsible for. AND I was never informed I owed ANYTHING until it was $18,000 due last Sept.

I thank everyone and it has always been my pleasure to provide Medical Care to anyone I can help on the LES.

You can find the GoFundMe page here.

For nearly 20 years, Dr. Dave, who founded a health care co-op for restaurant workers in 2008, has treated the uninsured, telling people to simply pay what they can. Following Hurricane Sandy, he provided free food and medical care for anyone who needed it.

You can read more about Dr. Dave and his work at The New York Times here and Crain's here.

25 comments:

creature said...

Done.

Anonymous said...

I don't think I like this. Let's say he receives enough donations to pay off the back taxes. Then he goes to court and wins the case and is found to have been taxed unnecessarily. Do the people who donated get their money back? Or does the State keep it?

I admire what Dr. Dave does, I just don't think this is the right way to go about things. It doesn't settle well with me.

Anonymous said...

Does Doc Dave also have a 2nd space on Clinton Street? I have been told that he charges $100 a visit. Which is what a regular GP will charge. I agree with above comments. IF he wins the court case, does he repay peoples money? I think Dave has had a good ride with LESPMHA.

VH McKenzie said...

Unfortunately, J-51 Tax Abatements are not permanent.

They are a temporary incentive to encourage investment and, iirc, last for approximately 15 years. After the abatement ends, the property is typically "phased-in" to their new tax liability over a 4-year period. Even with the phasing in, it can be a real shock to suddenly be hit with market-rate real estate taxes when you've paid nothing for so many years.

I know this from personal experience -- our co-op building on East 11th Street was given a J-51 at the time of renovation, around 1989 when I bought in. We went from paying no RE to being phased into a 40K tax bill annual tax bill (shared by all 13 units) in 2004.

Ten years later, our annual RE taxes have doubled, to more than $84,000.

It SUCKS to budget for ownership with an abatement and then have the rug pulled out from under you. My heart goes out to Dr. Dave.

BTW, there is a whole subset of the legal community in NYC that deals entirely with legal appeals to the annual tax assessment. They work for a nominal fee but get a cut of whatever tax reduction they are able to obtain for your building. Our RE taxes would be even higher if we had not retained legal help on several occasions.

Kurt said...

Do the people who donated get their money back? Or does the State keep it?

Think of it as a way of letting someone that treats the poor and uninsured continue with his good work.

nygrump said...

That's a fucked up lease that's for sure. I can't imagine how he could be responsible for them if the Lease doesn't address it or specifically states they aren't his responsibility. Typically commercial lessees do pay the portion of the tax for their space. He sounds like a good guy in need of a good real estate lawyer. One who hangs out at the country club and strip clubs with the judges.

onlythejodi said...

Very good point.

rubygirl said...

He only has days before being evicted... Not enough time to investigate properly... Needs to buy time probably as an investigation could take considerably more time...

Anonymous said...

There are two issues here; an eviction proceeding and a tax bill. The Dr. does not explain if and how these two issues are connected? Is the Dr. in arrears on his rent and his taxes? Or, is he being evicted for not paying his share of taxes.
Regardless, ignorance of the tax status of the property you lease as a business -for two years - is hard to imagine. Tax bills do not suddenly materialize out of nowhere after two years. I'm a commercial RE person, a building owner, and a landlord.

Anonymous said...

It really sounds like he needs to talk to a lawyer before he writes any checks.

Anonymous said...

9:30am

Becoming delinquent on certain taxes can trigger eviction under some leases.

Anonymous said...

Is he at 189 east 2nd street? A quick internet search of the property records shows the Certificate of Occupancy shows a commercial store on the first floor. A search of J-51 abatements comes up with none going al the way back to 1972. NYC Finance shows no exemptions or abatements at all on the building which pays a yearly tax bill of $9159.44.

Anonymous said...

Do we have any elected officials working for their constituents in this neighborhood? Helllooo? This is exactly what they're supposed to come in and untangle and make right. Come on people.

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 10:14

Assuming this is the scenario, how can he claim to be facing eviction for a tax liability he knew nothing about, when his lease contains a clause that states he can be evicted for failing to pay taxes??!?!??

cvinzant said...

I'm kind of surprised by all the suspicion of Dr. Dave here. He got hit with a tax bill he doesn't think he should have to pay under his lease and while he was trying to work it out with his landlord, which is a non-profit that is supposed to work to give affordable rents (one that he was once on the board of) that same non-profit served him with an actual 6-day eviction notice plastered on his door. It was a legal struggle just to get a real hearing before a judge on the issue. A search of the tax records for the building show that the taxes have been relatively stable at about $10,000 a year for the whole building. http://nycprop.nyc.gov/nycproperty/nynav/jsp/stmtassesslst.jsp Borough, block & lot: MANHATTAN (1), 00397, 0026

cvinzant said...

yes, that's the whole point of his problem. he suddenly was presented with an enormous tax bill that amounts to three years tax for almost the whole building. and while he was trying to work it out with the non-profit, they tried to evict him. city records show that the non-profit wasn't behind in taxes at all. they just billed him for $27,000 out of nowhere.

Carol Vinzant said...

I'm a donor and I understand I am probably not going to get my money back. He has to come up with the money by next Tuesday so he doesn't get evicted. The Lower East Side People's Mutual Housing Association is the one that put him in the situation by slapping an eviction notice on his door. He'll probably try to put it in Escrow until the dispute is settled.
Yeah, he officially charges $100. Try to go to a GP without health insurance and pay that. Maybe you can bring a chicken, too, like the Republican senate candidate suggested. If you've ever been in Dr. Dave's office you know he treats tons of people who can't pay for free.
If my donation helps cover that, I'm ok with that.

Anonymous said...

I don't understand the situation, as a tenant is he somehow responsible to pay all the building's property taxes? Isn't he just paying rent? Is this a case of the landlord passing him the real estate taxes the building owner is responsible for paying?

Anonymous said...

Just donated.

I don't know all the ins and outs, but I do know Dr Dave a little bit and I know he has done a ton of good work for poor and uninsured people in the LES and EV.

Sometimes he can be a pain in the ass, and maybe he's not the greatest businessman - but he's here busting his ass treating delivery people, removing gang members' tattoos, and generally doing what he can to make the world a better place. If he wanted he could be making bank as a physician up town, but clearly that's not what he's about.

If this all gets settled I'm happy to donate my contribution for healthcare for people less fortunate than me.

Help this guy out - he truly is one of the genuine people around here and I'm sure it wasn't an easy thing for him to ask.

Anonymous said...

Dr. Dave needs a "certiorari" lawyer (one who appeals RE tax bills), but FIRST he needs the $$$ to stave off eviction. I am happy to support him in his efforts.

As to the question of people "getting their money back", how about this: Consider that you are paying it forward. If you are in a position to help now, common decency says you should do so, b/c it's pretty likely that someone has done you a good turn in your life when you needed it.

Anonymous said...

i think they are upset about his medical marijuana sign

moe said...

4:25 in commercial lease real estate taxes are frequently a pass-thru to the tenant, either directly or thru escalation clauses.

5;43 this does not really seem to be so much a certiorari issue as a more basic question of the terms of the lease regarding RE taxes pass-thru and escalation clauses, and the specific language of the abatement program.

Though I don't really know the guy personally very well, he seems to be a good egg overall, and I do know that his little dog was tragically killed pretty much right in front of him just a couple months ago. Certainly he deserves some good news rather than more bad news after that, wish him the best.

Anonymous said...

Isn't it odd that the Lower East Side People's Mutual Housing Association, of all organizations, has initiated these actions against Dr. Dave? I was under the -- possibly mistaken -- impression that LESPMHA would act differently than the rapacious landlords of our neighborhood. LESPMHA, we invite you to explain!

chris flash said...

LESPMHA got this building, like the others in it's portfolio, from the City of New York for FREE. They also got grants and tax payer dollars to bring those buildings up to code for FREE. They also get money from tenants that they pocket -- for FREE.

WHERE THE FUCK do they get off demanding real estate taxes from this guy, to further subsidize their FREE RIDE???? This group is still the same bunch of poverty pimps they always were, pretending to be one thing while enriching themselves at the expense of others.

By the way, not all leases require that commercial tenants pay a share of real estate taxes. In the cases where they are required to pay, it's usually a PORTION of the annual tax -- if a commercial space occupies the ground floor of a five story building, for example, the portion of real estate tax for the commercial tenant to pay would be one-fifth of the annual tax bill, NOT the entire tax bill for the whole fucking building!!

I think that the good doctor has a great chance of beating this, without having to cough up any money in a few days. First, he should immediately get a court-ordered STAY OF EVICTION ("Order to Show Cause"). Then, he should get a good Landlord-Tenant lawyer to carefully review his lease.

NO court will agree that the doctor is obligated to pay the ENTIRE annual tax for the building!!

Anonymous said...

I came down with what i thought was a mild fever once about 10 years ago. Took some Advil and soldiered on. By around midnight my temp was pushing 103F. My wife called Dr. Dave and he came over (how many Dr's make house calls at any hour these days?), checked me out and called in a prescription to an all night pharmacy. My wife went and got the meds and when I woke up the next day my fever was down to under 100F. He didn't have to do that. If he winds up winning and keeping some or all of the $ I want him to keep what I gave him and put it toward helping other people that need help.