Beautiful to broken elevator to bedbugs: My 17 years at Acton Courtyard Apartment Complex

by Leroy F. Moore Jr.

It was 2004-05 when I saw Acton Courtyard go up, because I lived next door in a small studio and saw an empty lot grow into a beautiful, state-of-the-art, large apartment complex. I was excited for a chance to go from a studio that was so small I had to go outside to change my mind. 

I was new to Berkeley because, like many others, I was gentrified from the Mission District in San Francisco. I pulled all the strings to get an emergency housing voucher – getting letters from the mayor of Berkeley and from Rep. Barbara Lee and other housing advocates. Plus, an agency for people with disabilities helped out a lot! 

I was one of the first groups of people to move into Acton Courtyard and it was beautiful, clean and came with cable, free wifi and more. The beauty didn’t last, as the property changed owners constantly. Original residents started to move out. That’s when Equity Residential started to come after me, with notes and phone calls saying that I didn’t pay rent for months. 

After going through the hassle of dealing with my bank to prove that they were wrong, I realized another long-time resident was dealing with the same harassment. Then came the broken elevator in 2015, that lasted almost a month over the Thanksgiving holiday until we wrote an article in the Berkeley Planet and got a lawyer. That case took almost three years to settle. Our collective, sustained efforts strengthened local laws related to repairing elevators and the need for more inspections and notifications for residents when the work will be done.

Now, in 2021, my neighbors and I have seen a drastic cutback in the upkeep of the building – from spots on the dirty carpet to dead plants, racist stickers and urine in the elevator. It has been a slow crawl to criminal malfeasance, which happens in buildings serving low and no-income tenants by landlords who don’t care. 

My second hotel stay was in March 2021, because of infestation of bedbugs. Both times, my community – aka Poor Magazine and a friend – saved me by helping me throw 95 percent of my clothes and furniture out and raise emergency funds to put me up in a hotel. 

I found out that the new owner sold its other properties that were nicer compared to Acton Courtyard. Equity Residential tried to sell Acton Courtyard, but no one wanted it. In 2016, I asked if I could transfer to another Berkeley unit before they sold them off. The landlord told me that it was an eight-year waiting list just to transfer to another building. 

At the same time, I would come home from college campus lectures in places like New York to Toronto and see a three-day eviction notice. It happened over and over again! Another change: The so-called upper-class residents were leaving quickly. Acton Courtyard became a building for only low-income residents, and that’s when the cutback of services in the building started, from firing the live-in manager to keeping the carpet clean and letting plants die.

I know that the cutbacks on the upkeep of the building have led to the year-long outbreak of bedbugs that infested my apartment in fall 2020. And because the landlord has not taken this outbreak of bedbugs seriously, I had to stay in a local hotel almost all on my own dime and with help from friends. 

I started typing this from my second hotel stay in March 2021, because of infestation of bedbugs. Both times, my community – aka Poor Magazine and a friend – saved me by helping me throw 95 percent of my clothes and furniture out and raise emergency funds to put me up in a hotel. 

The first time, I was away from my apartment for almost two months, between the hotel and an offer from a friend to stay at her place. In turn, the landlord offered me $1,500 to reimburse me for my hotel stay and the contract they wanted me to sign said that Acton Courtyard used a heat treatment to kill the bedbugs. 

You can’t tell me that the city is not in the pocket of the landlord.

In addition, I must bring up that before my friend and Poor Magazine got me into a hotel, the landlord was rude to me and my sister. They told me that it was up to me to clean the apartment and get it ready for the treatment. When I reminded them that I have certain accommodations as a disabled person, they told me that “maybe your family or in-home support person can help you clean”! 

Before I moved back in the first time, in January 2021, I called the city to come to inspect my place. The city inspector came and saw two bedbugs. On Jan. 16, 2021, I moved back into my place and noticed that the landlord didn’t clean the carpet, so I hired a company to deep clean my carpets on my dime. 

Two weeks back in my apartment, I noticed I was beginning again to itch. Then two bedbugs appeared on my white pillowcase. I stayed as long as I could handle it. Once again, my friends came in and got me to the same hotel in March 2021. 

The city came out again and noticed bedbugs in their own traps they put down in my apartment plus two bedbugs on my bed. The company that my building hired to treat the bedbugs had this conversation with me: 

Bedbug company guy: It’s getting better.

Leroy: Look on my pillow.

Bedbug company guy: But it’s only two and only in the living room.

Leroy: But, as you see, there is nothing in the bedroom and I sleep in the living room where the city person found three in their trap and, as you can see on my pillow and sheet – at least three! 

Bedbug company guy: But Leroy, you have to admit it’s getting better! 

Leroy: But … never mind …

I started writing this on March 16, 2021, my last night in the hotel. After not hearing from my landlord on when the treatment would be over and when would it be safe to move back in, I emailed to ask when the treatment would be done. They emailed me back to say, yes, the treatment was done and it’s safe to move back in. 

I saw bedbugs on my pillow, I decided to sleep in the bathroom – sometimes in a chair and sometimes in the tub. 

Throughout this bedbug situation, my friends and the organization Poor Magazine have not only put me up at a hotel but have helped throw away 95 percent of my clothing and furniture and buy and wash new clothes, but they also started a fundraiser and made sure I had food! 

As I make my way back to my apartment for the second time after being dis/misplaced, my confidence in my landlord to do the right thing – like treating the whole building or at least my neighbors – is on zero. So that’s why the only option is to write my story and also look for another place to live in Berkeley! 

Hold Up, Hotel Living?

BA going for a Ph.D.

Krip-Hop worldwide & 

Obama wanted me

Hold up, hotel living?

Nightmare is the american dream

Forget Ghost Busters – I’m called The A Team

Never wanted white picket fence

Hold up, I didn’t ask for hotel living

Yeah, Stevie Wonder, take me to Africa

Krip-Hop in liberal media

Still have to rely on Go Fund Me

Still not enough, hold up another day of hotel living

BA going for a Ph.D.

Krip-Hop worldwide & 

Obama wanted me

Hold up, hotel living?

Poverty industry

Keeping us down and chasing

Those pieces of paper, white & green

Wanted to put Harriet Tubman on it, caught us dreaming

Tubman let two off, pop pop

Going back to the roots of Hip-Hop

Where we can see the raw politics & politicians’ politricks

Hold up, hotel living

No room service

two stars there is a difference

Between Beverly Hills Inn & Holiday Inn in the Hood

Next room from me is ICE with their sets of eyes

Hold up, can’t go outside

COVID-19 & POLICE, is this my time

Going back home, rent free

No more hotel living

I was ready to go

He/She/They said “No, it’s not your turn!

I look over you so you can continue your work!”

But hold up wtf, more hotel living

“You got to believe

Do you feel me

Leroy, this is nothing

You can handle this!”

– Leroy F. Moore Jr., March 14, 2021

March 19, 2021: Hold up! I go on Berkeley Tenants Union to speak to a lawyer. It cost five dollars to type questions, then they gave me an option to get a call from a lawyer for $60.00. So I took it and paid them. That was yesterday – still no call. WTF. You can’t tell me that the city is not in the pocket of the landlord.

I emailed the landlord to let them know that more bedbugs appeared after I returned. Their reply: “Those bedbugs you saw may be coming out due to the pesticide treatment. If we still see them two weeks from now, then it will be a problem. That’s why I would like to wait two weeks before setting the traps in your apartment unit.” 

The reporter who visited my apartment on March 21, 2021, called me to let me know that he found four bedbugs in his place – not in Acton Courtyard.

The first time I returned to my place, my neighbors said I looked healthier. I did notice that dark circles around my eyes were slowly disappearing. The second time I returned to 1370 University Ave. and saw bedbugs on my pillow, I decided to sleep in the bathroom – sometimes in a chair and sometimes in the tub. 

After a few days, I noticed my feet and my lower legs started to swell up. A friend offered that my feet were swelling because I was sleeping in the chair. I had no choice but to return to my bed. To be clear: at the same time, my landlord and a city employee told me that I was overreacting and just wait a couple of days and the bedbugs would be gone.

Sleeping in the Bathroom

I didn’t want to write this song

It’s just not right, it so so wrong

My bed has bedbugs 

Sleeping in the bathroom, I need a hug

The city says it’s getting better

As bedbugs make a ladder 

To get to my pillow 

Eye to eye, as I kill it, I have no sorrow

I’ll be sleeping in the bathroom tomorrow 

Scratching the itch over and over

The city says it’s getting better

As they form a ladder trying to suck my blood

I didn’t want to write this song

It’s just not right, it so so wrong

My bed has bedbugs 

Sleeping in the bathroom, I need a hug

At night my bed they flood 

Wake up in the morning and they are gone

I’m itching all day this is so wrong

Another night in the bathroom with a fat bong

Got to get high cause I can’t believe this is my life

Every month I still pay my rent on time

Slumlord I want to take your life

As The Coup’s song plays over and over

Have you tried sleeping in the bathtub

My skin I’m trying to rub

To smooth my bones as it hits fiberglass

Relief, finally, not scratching my ass

I didn’t want to write this song

It’s just not right, it so so wrong

My bed has bedbugs 

Sleeping in the bathroom, I need a hug

How did it end up like this

This is some bullshit

From the bedroom to the living room 

Now sleeping in the bathroom. 

– Leroy F. Moore Jr., 2:50 a.m., March 20, 2021

March 24, 2021: Knock! knock! Yes, it was my freakin’ landlord, just now wanted to spray! Yeah, no notice, no nothing! I told them to send me so I can put it in my freakin’ calendar! WTF!

March 25, 2021: I just want to note that yesterday, March 24, 2021, Acton Courtyard Apartments and the bedbug company knocked on my door to spray around my apartment. I told them to give me notice by email and to come back tomorrow. Today another knock on the door – it’s the bedbug company guy to spray. I said OK and he did. However, I never got that email to reschedule. Now I need to open windows and leave for some time so it can air out!

March 29, 2021: The reporter who visited my apartment on March 21, 2021, called me to let me know that he found four bedbugs in his place – not in Acton Courtyard – this morning. As of March 30, 2021, I have not seen more bedbugs in my apartment at this time.

I’ve lived at Acton Courtyard for just about 17 years – experiencing some good times, ongoing harassment from Equity Residential and now bedbugs, throwing away 95 percent of my things and risking my health. The handwriting is on the wall, saying that I must continue my search for a new place to live in Berkeley! 

Me and the Krip-Hop Nation that I founded have big plans and we want to continue our work in Berkeley, establishing a Krip-Hop Institute and becoming the Berkeley poet laureate one day. So, as you can see, I must remain in Berkeley.

Leroy F. Moore Jr. is a Black and disabled writer, author, poet, hip-hop and music lover, community activist and journalist at POOR Magazine. He is the founder of Krip-Hop Nation and a founding member of the National Black Disability Coalition. Leroy can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Instagram @blackkrip and Twitter @kriphopnation.

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