Landlord or Big Brother: Couple Loses Lease For Complaining

The Rockrose Development Corporation, which owns EastCoast, a luxury residential complex on the waterfront in Long Island City, prides itself on cultivating a social life for their tenants, with dance classes, movie nights, a swank gym-and-pool complex, barbecue grills and party rooms. Last November, Sofia Estevez, a senior vice president of marketing for Rockrose, crowed to the Times that "it’s like the Lido Deck on the Love Boat!"

But one former tenant, David Griffiths, and his pregnant wife Katie, say there's a dark underbelly to the EastCoast cruise ship. After complaining about management on an independent Google forum accessible only to members whom he approved, Griffiths says Rockrose retaliated by refusing to renew his lease. He tells the Times it was "very 1984," but his recollection of how a Rockrose employee dismissed him sounds more 2001: "Dave, we understand that you’re not happy living here, so we made the decision for you."

Estevez claims Griffiths was "a real hothead and a troublemaker...he was abusive...he was unhappy from the time that he moved in." But when pressed by the Times, the only example of trouble making Estevez could cite was his refusal to pay fees for the gym early in his tenancy, when the gym was not yet open. Another tenant backed up Griffiths's dystopian allegations, but would speak only on condition of anonymity, out of fear he or she was "next on the hit list...If this is supposed to be like living on a cruise ship, call me seasick."