Chicanery Row

Unfortunately for park tenants, such regulations are not likely to happen anytime soon, Armstrong says. Although her group will continue to fight for tenants' rights, "rent control is a sacred cow here," she says. "We're never going to get it."

And so, this month, the rents will rise at Sheridan and the other parks, ARC stockholders will count their profits, and John the Depressed Guy and his neighbors will move one step closer to the streets.

"We've discussed our options," he says. "We've concluded that we have no options. We have to live on faith. The people who are doing this should be identified and held accountable. They're going around taking advantage of people on one of the lowest levels of society. Morally, they can't justify that. They're just 100 percent greedy bastards.