On Tuesday, January 17th, our class went to the Tenement Museum to simulate what it would have been like to be tenement inspectors. Below are some news articles describing the experience. Houses These Days! By Bailey Wolfman NEW YORK- Today inspectors were  looking at 97 Orchard Street. On  97 Orchard Street there are 5 floors and around two to three families on each floor. There were around two to three rooms in each tenement.     “The houses are filthy. They have cockroaches and mice everywhere! There is so much trash in the hallway that people were tripping down the stairs from it,” said an inspector. “The building is a disaster, with so many people breaking the laws,” said another inspector. When the inspectors visited the first house there was a pregnant woman named Rachel. She told the inspectors that she hasn’t had running water for three weeks! She also exclaimed that her child would not use the bathroom because she was getting knocked down the stairs by people tripping over garbage. The inspectors had a talk with the owner of the building. She is having a very hard time because she is spending so much money on all the problems in the building. She has heard chickens and has asked the apartment people if they had a chicken. She still has not seen the chicken, but she does hear it. As the inspectors left the building a inspector said, “How bad can houses get these days?”   Chicken Inspectors By Makeda Brodie NYC-   The landlady of 97 Orchard Street  said, “I am thinking I am hearing chickens.” Many immigrants have complained over time about the tenements that they are living in.  The government has  tried  to fix them over time but we still have not found those chickens. Most of the  landlords or landladies have been no help at all. Telling people, “If you don’t like it, move.” But most immigrants have to suffer the consequences of a tenement The  government has tried to help but they have not been much help. They have passed laws about this but not enforced them.  This does not take note of the rude  landladies  and lords that will not do any for the building. The government finally  decided to send out inspectors to inspect the building. The inspectors  talked to ladies  and lords and the tenants staying there to see if the building  passed inspections based on the laws. One of the tenants that the inspectors talked to was  Rebecca an  immigrant from Russia. She says, “The lights go out easily and when my daughter goes out in the hall to go to the bathroom people walking down the stairs fall on her.”  There are many disturbing things in this quote  but one is that   the bathroom is in the hallway. Some   people get so fed up with the long lines and the ones that constantly  don’t  work   that they use a bucket. So don’t leave your clothes hanging outside because they throw them out the window. One of the inspectors said, “We are here to help but I have to admit it is pretty horrific.” Hopefully the inspectors can help improve the tenements.  For now hope the tenants don’t see any chickens running around.]]>