Police respond to uproar from kicked-out tenants

BY LINDSAY RUEBENS

Photo by Rick McFarland

Tim DeWitt removes a sheet of plywood Tuesday in front of a door at the Royal Oak Apartments in southwest Little Rock so a former resident can
remove personal items. A number of residents were vacated from upper-floor apartments last week because of safety problems with stairways.

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LITTLE ROCK — Several tenants of the Royal Oaks apartment complex at 8621 Base Line
Road in Little Rock descended on apartment management Tuesday, angry that they were
forced to vacate their apartments last week and wanting refunds on their rent.

On Friday, the occupants of 22 apartment units, mostly on the second floor, were cleared out by
city code enforcement officers because of safety concerns with the stairways.

“I came [last week] over concerns that their stairs were collapsing and almost rusted in two and
falling apart,” said Tracy Roark, code enforcement manager. “An engineer told us they were
ready to fall.”

Sheila Reynolds, code enforcement supervisor, said Ramesh Sreeramoju, owner of the
apartment complex, received a citation about the stairs in February and that the violation has
been pending in court since March.

Reynolds said Sreeramoju’s next court date is July 19.

On Tuesday, some of the displaced tenants came back to the complex to discuss options with
code enforcement officers and to retrieve belongings from boarded-up apartments.

Not long after their arrival, two police officers responded to a call from Reynolds, who was
concerned that tempers would escalate, particularly with the apartment manager.

“She was out there yelling at code officers,” Roark said. “She was yelling at every-body, the
tenants too.”

The apartment manager declined to comment Tuesday. A sign at her office said it was closed.

The displaced tenants said they were upset that they were never told about the safety violation
or that there was a possibility they would be forced to vacate.
When Sreeramoju arrived at the complex Tuesday, a group of residents quickly surrounded him.
Many were angry, demanding to know why they hadn’t been notified sooner about the problems
and demanding refunds.

“I’m not the one who told you to move out,” Sreeramoju told the crowd. When some people
began to crowd him, others restrained them and Roark took Sreeramoju away.

Sreeramoju declined to discuss the situation. “We are in the midst of a crisis,” he said.

Later, Sreeramoju took down the names of those who had paid deposits and rent for July and
promised to refund the money that day. He left and returned about 20 minutes later, handing out
cash refunds.

Jeanna Flowers, who moved into the apartment complex on Thursday, said she would not have
moved in if she had known about the pending safety issues.

Reynolds said that through Monday night, the city had spent about $5,300 to house tenants at
the La Quinta Inn on Fair Park Boulevard or the Best Value Inn and Suites on Scott Hamilton
Drive. She said there are plans for the people to stay there for two additional nights while they
try to find housing.

Single mom Lashay Barnes has been staying at Best Value Inn and said she will visit two
possible places to live today. The past few days have been difficult for her, she said.

“I have no transportation, no food, no cash,” Barnes said. “It’s become depressing because I
don’t know what to do, know where to turn.”

She said she doesn’t know how to provide food for her children while living in a motel room. She
threw away food because the refrigerator at her Royal Oaks apartment was turned off and the
motel doesn’t have refrigerators or microwave ovens in the rooms, she said.

“I feel it’s not right that they put us out with no notice whatsoever,” Barnes said.
This article was published July 7, 2010 at 4:50 a.m.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 07/07/2010