Gossip Geezers Sue for Right to Chat
Effusive group got kicked out of their lobby for loitering
By JENNIFER MILLMAN
Updated 10:15 AM EST, Sun, Jul 5, 2009
A group of senior citizens who were told they aren't allowed to loiter chattering away in the lobby of their building are suing their landlord for the right to talk wherever they want.
Five Staten Island seniors have spent the last 14 years talking it up in their condo's lobby, but when other residents in the building got annoyed with their nightly babble and voiced their grievances to management, the gossip geezers were told to clear out.
Not only were 86-year-old Lee Tapper and his buds, all between ages 66 and 90, thrown out of the Elmword Park II common area last December, they were fined $25 for their indiscretion, according to The New York Post.
The building's board justified the punishment by saying the senior crew had committed an offense equivalent to loitering. In a June 15 lawsuit, however, the garrulous group claims they have a right to convene peacefully in the lobby because it's a public space.
"We're being confined, and it's against all rules and regulations," Tepper complained to the Post.
What do the gossip geezers spend all those hours talking about anyway? Right now, it's "the plight of the Yankees and Mets, Iran and the circus up in Albany," Tepper told the Post, adding, "We don't play Johnny on the pony in the lobby."
First Published: Jul 5, 2009 9:06 AM EST
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