Weight Of Court
Behind City Hall
On Oneonta Hotel
Fix It, Or Building Will Be Vacated,
Owner Held In Contempt, Judge Says
By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
COOPERSTOWN – County Judge John Lambert this morning supported Oneonta City Hall’s actions against Oneonta Hotel owner Melania Pervu in every particular, only extending the deadline for final action until January.
After conferring with lawyers for both sides for 40 minutes in chambers, Lambert, filling in as Supreme Court judge for Michael V. Coccoma, on assignment out of town, declared:
• One, city building inspectors must provide Mrs. Pervu with a comprehensive list of violations by Oct. 1.
• Two, Mrs. Pervu must apply for building permits to repair all violations by Oct. 15.
• Three, if by Jan. 11, 2019, all the violations are not corrected, the building will be vacated and Pervu held in contempt of court.
An associate of Pervu lawyer Ryan T. Donovan of the Albany firm, Harris, Conway & Donovan, interrupted an effort to interview Pervu, who was there with husband Nicolai and two daughters, one of whom brought her baby boy. A tenant was also there, ready to testify on Mrs. Pervu’s behalf.
City Attorney David Merzig said, since the city Board of Public Service has already found the building unsafe, Mrs. Pervu is not supposed to be renting to anyone. And, he said, any tenants are “under no legal obligation to pay any rent.”
Of the new deadline, Merzig said “we would rather have that date tomorrow.” However, the city’s case against Pervu – it has been underway since the third quarter of 2017 – “now has the support of a judge,” he said.
While the vacate order is in place for Jan. 11, the city attorney said City Hall will probably be back after that date before any evictions occur.
Your headline makes it seem that the owners have already been, “held in contempt”.
Seems like, #FAKENEWS!!!
Dear editor, I’m Melania Pervu and I want to let you know that there are many errors in your article. First of all, I was there with two of my daughters, no one is married or have children, the lady with a baby is a tenant who had hard time finding an apartment in Oneonta and she’s so happy and proud to be my tenant. Nicolae Pervu, my husband, wasn’t there, we never let our property unattended, someone is there during the day time and during the night time we check often because we care about our tenants and we take pride of our property.Video camera is on, alarm communicator on 24 by 7. I accepted the honorable judge Lambert’s decision because I respect his judgement, I’m not guilty at all, I have nothing to be afraid off, I’m open to dialog and cooperation, I’m friendly and I respect everybody. I’ll be ready to reinspect with many inspectors my property, the inspections will be recorded for the better of everybody and to be used in court like evidence. We, the taxpayers, are the ones who pay the city of Oneonta administration to work with us and for us and not against us. Check it out the downtown properties, empty, in a terrible conditions, yelling for help, in despair, haunted buildings, and everything is like that because of the poor management of our dear administration. Everything is a clear mirror reflection of the ones who represent us but work against us! It’s a shame! They started a war against me and my family without reason, I never asked for this, I was for communication from the beginning but I was wrong , they don’t want communication, they want control over everything, like this happened in Romania in 1948 when communists took over people’s property and converted the properties in what ever they wanted. Be aware! Feel free to email me at melaniapervu@gmail.com if you need more information.