A few weeks ago, I got beers with a professor of infectious diseases at a hoity-toity medical school in the City whose kids used to go to school with mine. He spoke about the pandemic; I spoke about shaking down rednecks. We both spoke about our pain-in-the-ass kids. After some pleasantries, I asked, “Hey”-
“Hey, what?”
“Can you, like, infect someone with COVID by virtue of being vaccinated?”
He rolled his eyes.
“No. MRNA vaccines do not contain the virus. There is no risk of infection at all.”
“I see.”
A maiden aunt, who also has medical training, confirmed this.
I asked the doctor because one of the excuses given by a woman named Tess, who lives in my park in central New York, for not having paid lot rent for quite some time is that she and her husband have been infected with COVID three times. When I asked her if she was vaccinated, she said that they could not get vaccinated because their doctor had told them that the vaccine would create a risk that they would infect their immunocompromised son with COVID. Since her statement involved science, I thought that I should check the facts. It turns out that she was not telling the truth.
Their son had a brain tumor when he was very little. He is in his mid to late teens now, but the tumor left him severely disabled, and the meds he takes are rough on his immune system. He rarely leaves the home, but he sometimes peeks out from behind his mother’s shoulder when I bang on their door to ask for lot rent. I will call him Benji, and his father Cas.
Here are some other excuses that Tess has given: Benji’s SSI has not come through. Cas has fewer hours than planned. Their truck was totaled. Her mother died. Her step-father died. She will get in a slug of money from inheritance, but until then, she does not have signing power over the account. She will get a slug of money from insurance, but she doesn’t know what’s taking them so long. The paperwork is tied up with the lawyers. She gives Cas money and it disappears. She is shattered by Benji’s diagnosis of twelve years ago. She will pay the amount due next month, plus the wage garnishment, plus $100, if we will just bear with her this month. Her driver’s license lapsed five years ago. She will agree to a payment plan as soon as the SSI issue gets straightened out. No, they cannot get vaccinated, because their doctor told them that that would cause them to infect Benji.
I tell her that you get one excuse a year. After that, you honor your commitments.
We did what we could to enforce our rights during the moratorium. We went for a money judgment. We helped her apply for ERAP. I knocked on her door every month. The money judgment allowed us to buy coffee at Starbucks at the regular price. ERAP paid about two thirds of what she owed. We appealed the ERAP decision. Our appeal was turned down.
Then, on January 15, the moratorium lapsed. There is still a de-facto moratorium for residents who have an ERAP application pending – but the denial of Tess and Cas’ appeal constitutes a final decision. So, in late January, we mailed her a five-day demand and served her with a thirty-day notice. We will apply for a court date as soon as possible after March 1. I hate to evict anyone – we don’t do it because we like it – but we need to stick a fork in this, and now that remedies have been restored, that might be a realistic outcome.
Shortly after she was served, I knocked on her door. I told her that she really, really did have to pay this time, because our rights have teeth now. She said, “What thirty-day notice? I didn’t get any thirty-day notice.”
“It was served by the Jollity Agency. They are a well-known regional process server. They have offices here, in Binghamton, Syracuse and Rochester.”
“Who gave it to me?”
“A guy who works for Jollity. I don’t know his name, but I can give you the affidavit of service.”
“Nobody gave me anything.”
“I believe Jollity before I do you.”
I said that she could stay the process if she paid up. She said that she had just gotten an email from ODTA saying that ERAP would pay the rest of her arrears, as well and three months in advance. I had just gotten an email from ODTA saying that nothing more would be paid by ERAP, because their appeal had been denied. So, I left. I had other walls to bang my head against.
A day or so after I sobered up from my session with the doctor, Dee Dee, the manager at that park, emailed me:
Some tenants said there were emergency vehicles at 7 Digamma on Saturday night.
I texted my fireman friend and he was able to tell me that the adult female residing there overdosed and was basically dead when they arrived. It was Tess.
They revived her by doing CPR and using Narcan, but he figures there was a lot of damage done and is not sure she will get out of the hospital anytime soon, if ever.
He said Cas was punching walls and extremely upset. I’ll try to find out more.
I do not know whether that will help our eviction case or hurt it. I hope that it will not affect it and that the case will be decided by applying the law to the relevant facts. I suspect the state will have to take care of Benji. His mother is not a fit guardian if she is in the hospital and Cas will be no good if he is punching holes in the wall.