Landlord Can't Remove Lobby Attendant 229 W. 79th St./230 W. 79th St. Tenants Assn.: DHCR Adm. Rev.

Dckt. No. SE430038 RT (11/4/04) [3-pg. doc.] Landlord asked the DHCR for permission to discontinue lobby attendant service at the back end of the building lobby, which had a sealed entranceway. The DRA rul ed for landlord on the condition that landlord provide a security camera on a 24 -hour basis at the sealed entranceway, to be monitored by the doorman at the bui lding's front entranceway. The DRA also reduced tenants' rents permanently by $6 .00 per month. Tenants appealed, claiming that the back entrance lobby attendant provided additional services. And in 1976, the Office of Rent Control (ORC) had ruled that landlord could seal the back entranceway on condition that it would supply a lobby attendant at that entrance. The DHCR ruled for tenants. The DRA's order was inconsistent with the ORC's prior order. And landlord admitted that t he lobby attendant at the back entrance didn't merely watch the entranceway. He dusted furniture, swept and mopped floors in the back lobby and passage way, hel ped tenants with packages, relieved the front doorman at lunchtime, sorted and d elivered mail, and directed guests and deliveries.