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New York Post
Tenant with three emotional-support parrots scores $165K in NYC co-op battle after she was kicked out over birds
By Peter Senzamici, Desheania Andrews,
2 days ago
Polly wanna $165,000.
A bird-brained Gramercy Park co-op board that evicted a resident over her three emotional-service parrots has to shell out the whopping amount to her — and buy her pad at an above-market rate, according to federal prosecutors.
The Manhattan building at 230 E. 15th St., known as The Rutherford, also will now be under a watchful eye similar to Rikers Island — a federal monitor who will be checking to make sure the board accepts residents’ emotional-support animals.
A former Gramercy Park resident got the boot from her co-op over her three emotional-support parrots. khmel – stock.adobe.com
“This is the largest recovery the Department of Justice has ever obtained for a person with disabilities whose housing provider denied them their right to have an assistance animal,” said federal prosecutor Damien Williams in a statement.
Federal officials say the board discriminated against Meril Lesser when it began a legal effort to boot her and her three winged buddies — Layla, Ginger and Curtis — in 2016.
The drama started when a neighbor told the building’s board there was little chance the noisy birds could provide any sort of emotional solace.
When Lesser first moved to the building in 1999, she only had two birds, the neighbor, Charlotte Kullen, told the Daily News at the time. But ever since a third bird entered the unit in 2015, Kullen said, her life became “a living hell.”
Despite Kullen’s claim, 15 different visits from city inspectors to the 13-story, 175-unit building failed to back her up, officials said.
“No birds, no screeching — no noise,” a Department of Environmental Protection inspector wrote definitively Feb. 7, 2016.
But the co-op board declined to do any of their own decibel testing or any noise consulting before plowing ahead with the eviction case, federal prosecutors said.
The Rutherford went ahead with an eviction case against the co-op shareholder despite 15 city inspectors not finding signs of noise from her beloved birds. Google Maps
Lesser submitted letters from her psychiatrist explaining that her three feathered roommates were emotional support animals, to no avail.
She ended up flying the coop in 2016 and has subletted her apartment while also paying all associated fees.
As the eviction process went forward, Lesser made a fair-housing complaint with the federal office of Housing and Urban Development.
During that time, she also tried to move on herself during the eviction process and got an offer from a buyer in 2018, but the board rejected the application.
According to prosecutors, that was clearly in retaliation for getting federal officials involved — and now the co-op must buy her unit at an above-market rate.
Kullen told The Post on Monday she was unaware that a settlement had been reached but did not offer further comment. Lesser was unable to be reached.
For the latest metro stories, top headlines, breaking news and more, visit nypost.com/metro/
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