Apartment from hell.

This article is going to be a little different from the others. I wanted to use my platform to the best of my abilities to try and spread the word of the horrors within Metropolitan Place Apartments in downtown Renton. I have lived there for almost three years and my time there has gotten continuously worse, without any help or support from anyone except my family. From inflation within the country to constant random raises in rent(without proper notice), I thought that maybe we'd at least be able to receive basic security. Especially after learning that we STILL share our garage with the public with a six-story garage FOR THE PUBLIC right next to us.

Things were minor before I reached this breaking point. When I first moved in here back in 2021, with landlords Tessa and Martha, there were a total of ten different areas damaged (to this day there are three that have been repaired, about a year later), and all were reported to my landlords immediately upon my move-in. All they said was that it would be put under my file for documentation for when I decided to move... Instead of it being fixed.

Not too long after that, about four or five months in after moving in, I started to notice that we had a homeless people problem. Most didn't seem dangerous and would stay in corners of the garage. Until one day, I took the elevator to get to my floor and was met with someone I'd never seen before down the hall. When I walked past, I heard his footsteps pick up and from the corner of my eye, try to catch me before I got inside. Once I did, I saw through the peephole, him looking back at me with a confused look as if he lived there. I didn't even want to wait for anything else, I went and locked my sliding door as well, the only way to get fresh air, and I'm glad I did because five seconds later, he would've been inside to do God knows what. He stared at me and banged on the door as I called the police. But without any cameras other than my own, and him being passed out in the lobby, they couldn't arrest him for anything, they just "removed" him from the grounds.

From then on, the homeless issue got worse. For every incident I had, I had an email sent out, even if it wasn't happening to me, and the response was always "We're working on it" or "Do you want to move" when asking about possible cameras since according to both Tessa and Martha we had some on the second level of the garage. After that incident, I only cracked my sliding door to at least get some type of air in the room. Ordered a taser, pocket knife, and stronger mace, sharpened a five-foot staff, and prayed every night. As nights, weeks, and months went on, more individuals and needles were found in the garage. To the point where it wasn't even safe to take out your trash in fear of finding one or touching the door that may be contaminated with something. Nothing changed. Just more needles, prostitution, and harassment from them. Especially if you parked on the second level. That was their home. Except for the ones that were let inside. For example, when a hallway, elevator, or garage fire alarm goes off, they all go off. One building alarm night, I watched as my neighbor who lives across from me, let this woman in that I had seen on the streets numerous times drugged up, get let into the building. As she walked in she looked me dead in my face and flashed her gun on the side of her hip. This was also reported because I overheard other drugged-up individuals asking where they could "get some of that white girl." I didn't stay for the rest of the conversation... Nothing changed.

Then there was vandalism. Even though it happened three different times, it wasn't the root of the unsafe environment. My car was been broken into twice, the front window was broken, and the second time was the back window. Nothing changed. No response, even with a case number from the police. Without cameras, there wasn't any favor in a case or with my insurance, so all those damages were paid out-of-pocket.

The most recent issue however was this past weekend, on the first. After dropping off my trash to the room and getting in my car to warm it up, someone I had never seen popped up from under the back of my car. I immediately turned off the car (it's an old car, and I don't know cars very well) and called the police, and then my mom who also called the police. The individual continued to stay behind my car, throwing items at the back window and over the car trying to get me to come out. She rocked the car from the back and yelled slurs. When the first officer got there, he was calm and expressed she'd be arrested for possession, usage and apparently distributing. According to the officer, she was someone they had been looking for. She began yelling, cussing at him, at me, and shaking the car from the back as he stood in the front. After they went back and forth verbally, they went back and forth between my car and the one on either side of me. We the officer got a hold of her and body slammed her down after being hit in the face was when the other officer pulled into the garage. When the second officer got out and helped pin her down, they were able to cuff her and put her in the back of the squad car. The second officer was able to come up and speak with me about the events. I told him everything, and how I've had these issues, continuous issues, with my now current landlords, Eugenia and I believe Steven who have apparently been our new landlords since the end of September but none of the tendants received any information on the matter. The officer even expressed that they have been trying to get in contact with them as well. They expressed that they get almost ten to twenty calls a day and have tried to work with the landlords and the city to get support. They have yet to hear from the landlords or management for the complex.

I am writing this because I've tried contacting them, contacting management, contacting the City of Renton to receive legal help, and even some news channels to shed some light on how people are treated at this complex. I'm not the only one with these issues, but I am the only one that's going to do something about it.