Management at a Lower East Side apartment complex allegedly stole a little old lady’s parking spot — and now the no-nonsense 93-year-old is fighting to get it back.
Virginia Rubino has kept her sea-foam green 1967 Cadillac convertible in parking spot 1 in the Seward Park Housing Corp. garage since 1987, and she’s had the spot since 1981.
But when her son Richard went to return it in May after getting some work done on the classic vehicle, he discovered another car parked there — and it wasn’t a mistake.
“We were told we don’t have access to the spot anymore,” Richard said.
The lawyer for the management company told Virginia “her right to her parking spot was revoked” because the car “not been operable of driving in over a year,” and the registration and insurance policy had expired. She was also told she’d been sent several notices about the problem.
Richard said none of the claims was true. The registration’s good through this December, the insurance was up to date, and the car was in such good working order it was used in “Men in Black 3” last summer. He also said she’d never gotten any notice that the building was planning on yanking her spot.
The son said while his mom’s no longer in good enough health to drive, he uses the car to take her to doctor’s appointments. The Manhattan Supreme Court suit says having the car parked farther away is a physical hardship for Virginia, and Richard says it’s a financial hardship, too.
While the spot in the complex’s garage cost about $100 a month, the public garage it’s in now is closer to $600.
The suit says that when the mother of six complained, the managing agent offered to add her name to the end of the garage’s waiting list- which has hundreds of people on it.
“It’s a 10-year wait,” Richard said.
The suit seeks the spot’s immediate return, plus unspecified money damages for the lifelong Lower East Side resident.
The lawyer for the buildings’ coop board, Arthur Weinstein, said the building acted properly, but if Rubino “wanted to bring additional facts to our attention” about why she needs the spot, “we’ll be happy to listen.”