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Hope Evaporating for Heat-Struck Tenants Feeling Blue
By J. David Barron, dbarron@starlocalnews.com
You know it's a cold day in hell when we of the Froth Estate become the cavalry of good will, galloping to the rescue.
Well, break out the long handles cuz, the times, they are a changin'.
The aforementioned cliché would be a welcome fairy tale to the sweltering denizens of the Allenhurst Apartment Complex, located at 1025 Military Parkway, in Mesquite. Because there, the hell they are currently enduring is nothing less than absolutely searing. Just in time for the annual sweatfest we enjoy here in the Lone Char State came the news to the Allenhurst residents ... Surprise! No respite!
Jeff Blue, whose surname is apparently no misnomer, is affiliated with JBlue Real Estate, which manages the Allenhurst complex. When the air conditioning went out on his tenants June 21, his bleeding-heart reply was reportedly something along the lines of, "We've got 30 days to remedy the situation."
What a guy. Blue apparently never got any toys for Christmas. Maybe he kept getting beaten up by the girls at school. Who knows? Perhaps he tripped old ladies crossing the street. Whatever his problem, Blue sounds like a guy who would make the Grinch seem like a cuddler with Mother Theresa.
It's also apparent his own mother doesn't live at Allenhurst. Then again, guys like Blue probably don't like their own mothers.
One thing is for certain: The City of Mesquite is no big fan of the JBlue apartment management company. JBlue properties have been cited 11 times by the city. City barristers are in court right now with Blue and his legal beagles over a couple of previous citations. Wayne Larson, Public Information Officer for the City of Mesquite, responded quite simply to the current problem at Allenhurst by candidly noting , "We've had a problem with this property for awhile now.
"The city is looking for ways to rectify the situation (with current Allenhurst ownership)," Larson added.
But that takes time. And in the meantime, many of the tenants are children and elderly who are suffering very real hell -- as in hot! One such resident -- a woman in her late 50s who seemed lost as to direction for finding any remedy, and who is very definitely fearful of reprisals from management as a result of talking to media or other inquiring minds -- is frightened for her husband's safety. He suffers from diabetes and has been unable to hold down any food, she says.
"It's been absolutely miserable," she said. Breaking down and crying, she added, "It's a scary feeling for me to watch my husband with diabetes come home every day to this heat."
Most of the units at run-down Allenhurst are very small with little to no air flow. Just about every door is propped open these days with those unable to find other accommodations languishing in the portals, or up on the balcony to prefer the 100+ degree temps outside to the sweltering, insufferable environs inside the apartments.
And not much real hope seems to be on the horizon. At this point reports are no one is advising tenants on what, if any, progress is being made. At first, according to one resident, on-site manager Michelle Martinez would only answer lodgers' pleas for respite with a seemingly indifferent, "Tomorrow. It'll be tomorrow."
Reports now have occupants' entreaties being met with more and more aggressively irritable denunciations. "They just need to shut up," Martinez reportedly told one tenant.
The woman seems to be about as amiable as a rattlesnake with a hangover. Sounds like Blue got his girl.
It's one thing to be beaten down by the oppressive heat we are all enduring. It's quite another when there is no solace found whatsoever from our seasonal furnace within your own home. It's heat stroke waiting to happen -- or worse.
Which brings this miserable story to our involvement. We media aren't known as the touchy, feely bunch, full of sweet kisses. For good reason. We are called to report the news -- not insert ourselves in it. But this was too much for even us. The publisher of theses fine disseminators of all that's fit to print felt so moved by the abhorrent conditions currently being endured at Allenhurst that he sent over three AC window units for the most dire needs.
Mention of this act is not meant to be some self-aggrandizing gesture. Not in the least. Rather, it's a plea for everyone else out there to see about doing the same, if you are able. Buy one, loan one, steal one, give one! -- just get one, or seven or eight, over there to help until Blue gets a heart, or hell freezes over.
J. David Barron is a columnist for Star Community Newspapers.
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