BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Judging by the broken windows, the trash, the uncut grass and gated empty parking lot, the Shoreline Apartments on Niagara Street look vacant and ready for demolition.
But it's not.
There's still one tenant who refuses to leave.
"I'm not staying for myself. I'm staying because I'm the last of 223 who didn't want to go and I don't want to go," said John Schmidt.
John Schmidt has lived at the Shoreline Apartments for ten years. He heads the Shoreline Tenants Action Committee. He says Canadian based company Norstar Development forced the tenants out so IT can demolish the property to make way for a new apartment complex.
"It took two years for them to kick out 200 people. Six months ago, there were 179 people here, and right up until last week they were still trying to bully people into leaving. That's how people did not want to go, but Norstar insists on calling this a voluntary relocation. There was nothing voluntary about it. They left because they were subjected to a constant campaign of bullying by the foreign corporation that owns this place. Nobody wanted to go," said Schmidt.
Schmidt says the tenants were forced out by a campaign of neglect. He invited Spectrum News in to take a look at the conditions.
"They've been letting it go to Hell for two years but the process has accelerated over the last several months, over the last six months because they just want people to get fed up and leave and it worked. I mean, this was done by vandals. This is junk maintenance refused to pick up, left by retreating tenants, garbage uncollected, windows broken in, security cameras, not working, floors haven't been cleaned effectively in half a year," Schmidt said.
Schmidt says there are no fire extinguishers and the fire doors don't work. He also showed off the elevator.
"Within the last week, I've been trapped in [the elevator] temporarily twice. So, I can get in and the door refuses to open. So, I had to go to another floor to get out," Schimdt said.
Schmidt showed a bunch of items one tenant left behind: a bicycle, bags of clothing and several pieces of furniture.
"Everybody had piles and piles of stuff that they simply had to throw in the dumpster. This guy was the second to last person out. He didn't bother to take it down to the dumpster, he just left it here for whoever," said Schmidt.
Fillmore District Councilmember David Franczyk says Norstar gave Schmidt the same opportunity as the other residents to move out, and he turned down their offer.
"Apparently he told the company he wanted to move out in September, and he never moved out. So they apparently offered him 50 relocation options including most recently in the Lennox Hotel and he didn't respond to it. So apparently, he's still in there," said Franczyk.
Schmidt says it was more like 15, but he turned them down. Meantime, Schmidt says he plans to stay until he's legally asked to leave.
"I will obey the law. I don't have any intention of breaking the law. Right now they are breaking the law, not me. So, I intend to continue here as long as I can and then I will have to make other arraignments," said Schmidt.