CHARLIE SHEEN CAN AFFORD HIS HIV MEDICINES

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 THE WAR AGAINST PEOPLE WITH HIV-AIDS

Story By: James Edstrom

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Charlie Sheen And James Edstrom

First of all, Charlie Sheen is a very nice guy. I met him a couple of times, he is sweet, caring and funny. I applaud him for telling the world about his status, he should have done it sooner though and not been blackmailed by these ruthless people.

Being diagnosed with HIV is very hard. You are in shock, you think your going to die and you start making plans to die. But even worse is the abuse you receive from the city of New York trying to find a way to stay in a home and to pay for your medicine to stay alive.

When I was told I had full blown AIDS in 2001, days after September 11th, my whole life changed. I was so sick, I could not pay my rent, I could not afford my medicine and having HIV was still not accepted. My doctors sent me to the City's HRA HASA HIV unit which in turn gave me even more horror. They made promises they never kept, they abused me till I finally had it and called my high powered politician friends who contacted the commissioner. But this was just the beginning, the beginning of years of abuse, the beginning of years of being threatened with homelessness by the HRA and their corrupt landlords, being forced to live with mice and rats and when I complained, the abuse got worse.

The last few years I was living on Maujer Street owned by St Nicks Alliance. Right away my son and I were being abused by tenants and caseworkers from St Nicks, because I had AIDS. The more I complained, the more they abused me. Our life was threatened by St Nicks tenants, St Nicks Alliance employees were always threatening us with eviction if we did not do what they told us too. Here we were living in a rent stabilized apartment where we paid our rent, and we had no rights.

We went to the city and complained. They refused to do anything. Here we were, me with full blown AIDS and my son who I adopted and took off the streets. We proved to the city that we were living with mice and rats, we proved tenants were abusing us and we proved the landlord St Nicks Alliance forged our lease agreements. The city still ruled against us. Their own employees who were at the lease signing testified that they were at the lease signing and we never agreed to caseworkers and other things and the leases were forged, yet the city ruled against us.

Rent laws are clear and so is the Americans With Disability Act. Persons with disabilities must have equal or better housing. St Nicks Alliance refused to abide by the law and the HRA refused to enforce their contract with St Nicks Alliance which states that they must comply with all ADA laws. After endless e mails to the Commish, the Deputy Commish, phone conversations with them both and endless e mails to HRA HASA personal, I was forced to file in Supreme Court and to go public that I had AIDS in the New York Daily News.

I complained about the mice and rats, no one did anything. St Nicks Alliance has violations going back years for mice and rats, yet they did nothing. I was bitten in my bed one night. Still they did nothing. Tenants were outside my windows yelling move white boys move and we have to get the AIDS faggots out, the city did nothing and St Nicks Alliance did nothing. I complained about the drug dealing in the building. St Nicks Alliance told me I should be careful at what I say, I could be sued for slander. They refused to do anything. But lo and behold, St Nicks Property Manager Haydee Cordero was recently arrested for money laundering for a Heroin drug cartel. St Nicks Alliance owns or operates around 80 buildings in the Brooklyn area. I told them about the drug dealing and they ignored. They even refused to give video to the police department when I witnessed a deal in our lobby.

When I filed the lawsuit, St Nicks employees came to the building and took the hard drive on the security system. They also took the security reports. St Nicks Alliance refuses to turn them over to us as required by law. There are also hundreds of e mails they refuse to turn over, they gave us around ten. In them St Nicks employees Michael Rochford and Frank Lang joke about the mice and rats. Replys are blocked out. They refuse to comply with the law. Another lawsuit was filed in Federal Court last week by Courtney Crawford. He is being abused by St Nicks Alliance employees and the same tenants in the building who abused us. St Nicks Alliance is trying to evict Mr. Crawford because he has a dog, something everyone in the building has, but St Nicks Alliance thinks it's right for them to discriminate against people with AIDS.

Still the HRA refuses to step in and pull the contract from St Nicks Alliance. Lawsuits in Supreme Court, Lawsuits in Federal Court, and the city continues to allow this alleged Not-For_Profit to get city contracts. 

The abuses have gone on for so many years in the city's HRA-HASA system with these providers and it has to stop. Thousands of people are being abused in this system that costs a Billion A Year to the taxpayers, A system that abuses people with AIDS who need housing and most of all, need their medicine. My Medicine costs over three thousand a month. Someone like Charlie Sheen can afford this, but most people can't and end up very sick and even die. 

I am out of this fake provider system and out of abusive St Nicks Alliance. My lawyer bills are through the roof and since St Nicks Alliance refuses to follow the law and turn over videos, security books and e mails, we are spending so much money on motions trying to get them. What is St Nicks Alliance scared of? I'll tell you, they are abusing people with AIDS, they are breaking several laws, some of them Federal Laws and they run a corrupt operation that provides no services to anyone with AIDS. They live off the taxpayers of New York City and the Federal Government. Most of all, they live off the sick people who suffer with AIDS. Persons with AIDS are trying to stay alive and St Nicks Alliance is profiting off them.

I am glad Charlie Sheen came out for having HIV. I understand what he was going through being blackmailed and getting to courage to stand up and fight and to tell the public he has HIV. I had to do it last year in the NY Daily News. It was not easy, but St Nicks Alliance and the HRA left me no option but to admit I was sick and fight. I hope Charlie continues fighting for the rights for people with HIV. I hipe he give me a call.