Mother worries about family’s safety inside Garfield Heights apartment

GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio (WOIO) - Tenants say safety and sanitary concerns at a Garfield Heights apartment complex have been ongoing for months.

Their list of problems include doors that don’t lock, broken mailboxes, and roach infestations.

Tired of being ignored, one woman called the 19 Troubleshooter Team.

We found it’s not hard to get into the Rockside Place Apartments in Garfield Heights.

The doors don’t lock, and according to tenant Laina Perry, that’s just the start of the problems.

Perry doesn’t have a door to her mailbox, so all her mail lies out for the taking.

“All of my information from my pay check stubs, to bills, to medical things, anybody can get to it,” said Perry.

Inside her apartment, Perry says she deals with a health concern daily.

“I’m forever putting down traps,” said Perry. “I have mice traps in my kitchen, mouse droppings. I can’t put my baby down to do anything for fear of a bug or roach. I have them on my dining room table.”

Perry says she’s gone to the front office countless times to ask for an exterminator, but no one ever comes.

So we tried, instead. No one was at the front office, so we emailed them.

As for the city, the Garfield Heights building commissioner says they’ve issued countless safety violations.

But what more can be done?

The building department just met with Rockside Place Management this week about their concerns.

Tenants are hoping pressure from the city, as well as this 19 Troubleshooter story, will lead to the changes they need.

While Perry waits for these safety changes, she has put her money into escrow.

She says the apartment will get her money, instead of the courts, when she feels her family’s safe again.

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