Minnie Williams says Michelle McCray, the manager of the St. Regis Apartments at 1400 East Linwood Avenue, kicked Williams out of her rent-assisted apartment in 2005. The 85-unit complex, which is overseen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is the subject of this week's feature story. Williams called The Pitch when friends who still live in the building told her that a reporter had visited and was asking questions about McCray.
"I'm banned from the premises," Williams says. "She [McCray] said she caught me on the porch smoking weed. I don't do that. She had no right to evict me. I don't know what's wrong with her, but I ain't done nothing to her. I paid my rent on time and I never caused any problems over there."
Williams' daughter Angela Williams graduated from Southwest High School with McCray in 1985. Angela thinks McCray used false pretenses to evict her mother.
"She accused my mom of a lot of things just to start arguing with her," Angela says.
When she learned that her mother was being kicked out, Angela says she
called McCray, who told her that her mother violated the building's
policy by having visitors in her room. "She said she kept warning my
mom, but I had even given her [McCray] my number and said for her to call
me if there were ever any problems, so we didn't have no trouble
communicating," Angela says.
Williams was only given a few days to move out, Angela says. There's no official
order of an eviction for her in Jackson County's records.
When
Angela drove up in a moving truck, she says McCray called the police on
her.
"She got scared, I think, when she seen me coming," Angela says. "I
went up to my mother's apartment, and by the time I came down again,
the police were meeting me at the elevator doors. They asked me to move
my mother's stuff without saying anything or they were going to have to
remove me from the premises."
The following weekend was McCray's and
Angela's 20th high school reunion. The women both attended but stayed
clear of each other. "It was awkward, but not for me," Angela says. "I
would have told everybody what she did to my mama, but I didn't want to
spoil her class reunion, with everybody looking at her funny."
Williams stayed with her daughter for a year and a half before she
found another affordable place at 10th and Prospect. HUD-assisted buildings require
prospective tenants to show their rental history, and because McCray
wouldn't write Williams a recommendation, her application was rejected more than once. "It was kind of hard for a minute," Angela says. "I
don't know why that lady's been crazy on my mom. I'm like, boy, you're
gonna get yours one day, doing all them people wrong like that."
Photo by Angela Bond
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Yes, I would like to comment on Michelle McCray, the manager of St. Regis Apartments. My mother, Marsha Clair Bland, a well-known tap dancer and musician lived in St. Regis for thirty years prior to moving to the Atlanta, Georgia area a few years ago. My mother has complained to me and several of her friends about how abusive Ms. McCray has been to her over the years as a resident at St. Regis. My mother had close to a $2 ,000 saved in her apartment prior to me and my husband bringing to Atlanta. Ms. McCray was aware that my mother kept money in her apartment but when we arrived in K.C. back in the summer of 2008, all of my mother's money had been taken out of my her apartment. My mother paid her cousin, Duane E. Harvey, Director/Owner of Duane E. Harvey Funeral Home $500 to get the rest of her belongings out of Apt.#202 because we were unable to bring everything in a van to Atlanta, Georgia. Ms. McCray and her management got rid of most my mother's clothes, filing cabinets, important papers/newspapers, dance costumes, wigs, shoes, etc. without any written permission from either my mother or myself as her legal power of attorney. When I returned to K.C. last October in 2009 to get the rest of my mother's belongings at Duane Harvey's home, it wasn't even a 1/3 of what my husband and I had packed and left in her apartment of 30 years back in 2008 (have photos as proof). I went to St. Regis to see Ms. McCray unannounced and to get my mother's property from the management and staff. Michelle had my mother's electric wheelchair and her almost brand new black/gold queen size bed in the basement area of St. Regis. She didn't seem to know what happened to my mother's lamp fixture. My husband and I put the wheelchair in our van but we needed help in getting the bedroom set. I contacted the American Jazz Museum where my mother is featured in their Blue Room and currently in the Women's Exhibit with Lena Horne, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald. One of the staff members at the museum was able to assist me by getting some people from a church to get the bed in their pickup truck. But before we could get the bed from McCray, she threw my mother's bedroom set in the trash dumpster just outside of the St. Regis building where just anyone could take my mother's bedroom set. This was a mean act displayed by Ms. McCray and her staff. I have photos to prove my story about the bed being thrown away by Michelle McCray and her staff people. My mother used to tell me horror stories about how Ms. McCray would tell her to get her "old nasty but" upstairs, etc... to her apartment, etc. This is only a few comments but not all that Ms. McCray has done and said to my mother and other residents at St. Regis Apartments. We have never disrespected or threatened Ms. McCray, her staff or management in any way. This is definitely called, "Elderly Abuse". Something needs to be done about this matter at St. Regis before someone gets hurt or killed.
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