KANSAS CITY, Kan. — On Friday, tenants at the 18th Street Plaza Apartments woke up without working gas lines, which meant no hot water for Angela Jordan and her three kids.
She said the building’s owner didn’t pay the bill.
“No one knew it wasn’t getting paid,” Jordan said. She’s also dealing with a growing mold problem in her bathroom.
“It’s just one thing after another in the apartment complex,” Jordan said.
Go downstairs and neighbor Shane Massey points out a glaring security issue on one of the building’s doors.
“You can see there’s no door handle,” Massey said.
There’s no surveillance video for police to use to find the person who took it – because thieves stole the security cameras on the property awhile back, according to Massey.
Crooks have already hit Massey’s apartment twice. The first time, burglars took off with a laptop, TV and other electronics.
The second time they stole his 15-week-old Chihuahua named Riton.
Massey believes the thieves got in through his living room window, which won’t latch. He said he’s told management about the problem in the past.
“It needs to be fixed, they need to assume the responsibility of this property,” Massey said.
41 Action News wanted to know how things got to this point. We initially got ahold of the manager at Celtic Property, who told us over the phone she would have to speak with her boss. We never heard back.
After 41 Action News paid a visit to the apartment building, things suddenly changed.
“After you left, probably an hour… they were knocking on the door trying to get things repaired,” Massey said.
The owner personally fixed Massey’s window.
As for the gas service?
“The property had been sold and under new ownership. We have been able to contact the new owners, and we expect service to be re-established sometime later today,” a representative with the Kansas Gas Service said in a statement.
41 Action News cameras were rolling as workers showed up to restore service.
“If it hadn’t been for 41 Action [News] coming out it probably would have taken months or even longer to get this resolved,” Massey said.
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