Protesters: One entrance at Hempstead Village complex a 'death trap'

Residents of a 440-unit apartment complex in Hempstead Village are calling on their landlord to reopen two of the building's three main entrance doors that were shuttered in 2020 following a rash of violence.

More than three dozen residents protested Monday outside 100 Terrace Avenue — a block-wide, six-story building — arguing that a single front entrance door is dangerous and unfairly burdens the elderly and those with disabilities The protesters carried signs reading "Money for Community Resources, Not Caging Tenants," and chanted for justice and an end to the violence.

T.J. Shivers, who has lived in the building for 15 years, said it's a "death trap" to have just one entrance.

"We have elderly people in this building who have medical conditions that have to go from one end of the building to the middle," Shivers said. "It's not right."

The protest came a week after 19-year-old Jaden Omaree Johnson was shot and killed across the street from the building's one working entrance door. Three others were wounded in the shooting, police said at the time. According to residents, the three wounded victims rushed to the complex's middle door, which was the only one unlocked. On Monday, bullet holes from last week's shooting were visible in the door.

Terrace Avenue residents said if the doors near Jackson and Bedell streets — which now operate only as emergency exit doors — had been open, those victims may have escaped danger.

"They feel like they're in prison. They feel like they don't have freedom," said William Bailey of New York Communities for Change, an advocacy group that organized Monday's protest, of the residents. "They want the doors open."

Roughly 1,300 people live in the complex, which has been the site of dozens of shootings and drug dealing activity for years, according to residents. 

Shuttering access to the two doors was a necessary precaution recommended by Hempstead Village police, said Peter Florey, who runs the Levittown-based D&F Development Group, which operates the building. Drug dealers, he said, were hanging out near the two entrances, propping open the doors and allowing nonresidents inside. 

"It was done for safety purposes and has been an effective tool," said Florey, adding that residents can still enter and exit through the rear of the building. "I'm hoping that at some point in the future, when things start to calm down again, that we'll be able to open those doors up again."

But Hempstead resident Peggy Perkins said locking the two doors only moved crime toward the center of the building. The situation, Perkins said, is so dangerous that she no longer allows her three children to play outside.

"I'm afraid that they're gonna get shot," Perkins said. "I'm afraid that I'm gonna get a call and say, 'Your son was found dead on the ground.' "

Despite last week's shooting, Florey said violence has declined near the locked entrance doors. Next, he plans to remove an awning at the front entrance to reduce gatherings further.

"We feel this is the best and safest course of action," he said. "It has resulted in lower amounts of shootings on those corners. That's a fact … We don't want people to be inconvenienced. But I would rather have somebody be slightly inconvenienced than in danger."

Hempstead Village Police Chief Paul Johnson said while his department recommended locking the two doors, citing the lack of security at the two entrances, the decision was ultimately the purview of the landlord.

"Security is only in the center section," Johnson said of the building. "So we made a recommendation. Either put security at the two doors on the side, or have everybody come to the center section with the security and you know who's coming into the building."

Alita McClendon, a resident and the mother of a 4-year-old, said the situation is untenable. 

"We live in poverty but that doesn't mean that we cannot rise out of poverty," she said. "No one listens to us. We have no outlets. We have no one to help us with these situations. So we're here today to fight. Take these chains off the door. We should not be locked down."

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.