By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI\New York TimesRepresentative Charles B. Rangel on Friday angrily defended the unusual housing bargain he has been granted by a major real estate developer, saying that he did not believe he was being allowed four rent-stabilized apartments [on 135th Street between Lenox and Fifth Avenues] because of his status as a congressman.
Responding to an article in Friday’s New York Times, Mr. Rangel said there was nothing illegal or unethical about his relationship with the Olnick Organization, his landlord at the Lenox Terrace complex in Harlem. He also said that he did not believe it was unfair to avail himself of the multiple rent-stabilized apartments at a time of soaring rents in Manhattan and evictions of many rent-regulated tenants.
Mr. Rangel said he did not believe it excessive to have three adjacent apartments on the building’s 16th floor, where he and his wife live. But he said he would consider giving up the fourth apartment, which he uses as a campaign office, if his staff concludes that it violates the state and city requirement that rent-regulated apartments be used only as primary residences.
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