‘I don’t feel safe:’ Residents of The Porter speak out

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – A puddle of coagulated blood sits on the sidewalk about 100 feet from The Porter, a 98-unit housing building in downtown Lansing.

Residents tell 6 News the blood is from a resident who was assaulted Thursday night.

Scott Bean, a spokesman for the city, confirms Lansing Police and Fire responded to The Porter for an assault call Thursday night at about 11 p.m. Officials from both departments were on scene for approximately 40 minutes, but the man who was assaulted refused to lodge a complaint with police or to accept medical care.

Residents tell 6 News the assault is among the most recent disturbances at the facility. They say since property owners Redwood Housing Inc., a Seattle-based property company, took over they’ve felt abandoned.

Redwood Housing, Inc. brought in Redwood Communities Inc. to manager the property beginning July 1. But residents and a home healthcare aide tell 6 News, former managers told them they had been fired — on June 24 as they packed up their belongings and left.

Images from The Porter.

CAUTION: Some images contain blood and/or feces.

Not only are they unable to use the facilities washing machines and dryers because the money compartment is full. And even if they wanted to use the machines, they can’t get the required tokens from the office which is locked and dark.

Residents raised concerns about feces in the first floor common area — which they had mostly cleaned up and “sanitized” by the time 6 News arrived. But some of it remained on the toilet in the men’s room. The common men’s bathroom in the basement had the door removed.

The building’s trash room is packed with garbage – smelling of rotting items.

In a basement hallway, shards of an item similar to ceramic or glass was spread across the the hallway in front of an apartment. Residents and a home healthcare aide who works in the building tell 6 News the shards were located outside the apartment of the man who had been assaulted.

Knocks on his door went unanswered for 6 News, as well as his worried neighbors and the home healthcare aide.

Ashley Spence is a home healthcare worker providing services for several of residents of The Porter. She called 6 News Friday out concerns for residents’ safety.

“I’m not sure when they’ll come back or if they’ll come back,” Spence says of the Redwood management. “I just know I’m a home health aide and everybody in the building is coming to me for security, for help, for laundry coins, for toilet paper – and I don’t have any of that for them. I’m just trying to see what I can do to help everybody in the building.”

Spence says representatives from Redwood have been in the building once, to her knowledge. Residents confirmed that was their experience as well.

A letter, dated July 1, posted on the office door announced the takeover of management by Redwood. But the phone number to contact them rings to a voicemail. A number for emergencies rings back to the former management company.

Reed Dunn, Director of Marketing and Communications for Redwood Housing, Inc., responded to 6 News with a written statement.

We have had staff at the property every day except for yesterday’s holiday and today, and we will have a new manager on Monday. Regardless, residents can call the office anytime at [redacted]. If someone is not available, the line transfers to an answering service. This ensures that there is always someone available to respond to urgent matters.

The health and safety of our residents is our highest concern, and our team takes a proactive approach to resolving issues in a timely manner. Redwood Communities will look into the allegations noted and prioritize as appropriate.

Written statement from Reed Dunn, Director of Marketing and Communications for Redwood Housing, Inc.

6 News has followed up with Dunn with additional questions.

In addition, 6 News left a message with the former management company for comment on why they no longer managed the property. That company has not responded yet.

Residents tell 6 News the former management company did employ security guards for a time, but that ended earlier this year. Since then, they tell 6 News, “drug dealers, homeless people” and others have invited themselves into the building. They’ve found people who do not live in the building sleeping the common’s room and the public bathrooms.

The security door for the building does require an RFID enabled card to enter. But the door is designed to stay open to allow a person in a walker, a wheelchair or a scooter to move through without being stuck. Residents say people take advantage of this and walk into the building uninvited.

Residents report that when these interlopers appear, confronting them can turn dangerous.

“A few months ago, yes, a friend of mine lives in the basement and she called and said somebody was down knocking on all the doors, acting real funny,” resident Karen Keirnan tells 6 News. “So, I went down there with my dog and I told the guy that he had to leave  — and he beat the hell out of me. I had my whole right side of my face. My chest. I mean, I was just full of bruises. I had to go to the hospital and all.”

The assault left her “afraid” to go to the laundry facilities in the basement.

While 6 News was on site, a man residents identified as banned by previous management showed up. As he was walking towards the door to enter the building, a resident confronted him about his ban and the man became verbally abusive and physically aggressive.

6 News stepped in and asked the man if he had been banned from the facility. He says he was over a “misunderstanding.” He says he used the laundry facility – “something I wasn’t supposed to do” – and mistakenly took a towel belonging to a resident. He says the towel looked like one he owned and it was “a mistake.”

Former management banned him from the property over the incident, he confirmed. When 6 News explained that his trying to enter the property was a violation of that and that residents expressed concern for their because of situations just like this, he became more verbally abusive, throwing out curse words and threatening to sue the building management.

Spence called police while the incident was occurring.

The man eventually left, but rode by on his bike, calling out curse words.

As the man was leaving, a woman who didn’t want to be identified, showed 6 News a chemical self-defense cannister hanging on her keys around her neck.

“This is the reason a lot of us women carry this tear gas,” she says. Motioning to the man as he was walking away, “This right here is the reason.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WLNS 6 News.