Irvine Apartments: Equity Residential insists it did not ask black residents to keep down noise

Comment comes after poster addressing African American residents appears in elevator

This message appeared in the elevator at Toscana Apartments

A company that runs an apartment block in California has insisted that it did not put up a poster that specifically requested black residents keep the noise down.

Occupants of the block in Irvine, reacted in outrage after a poster appeared in at least one of the elevators, asking residents to keep down the noise at night.

The poster in the Toscana Apartments, and bearing the apparently logo of the management company Equity Residential, said there had been “multiple complaints” about noise in the building after 10pm.

It added: “We also would like to remind out African American residents to keep conversation volume down and reduce music levels between 10pm and 7am.”

The Jezebel website reported that one residents posted two images and a video of the poster.

“This is what it means to be black in Irvine,” said the poster. “Generalisations.”

On Friday, Marty McKenna, a spokesman for Equity Residential, insisted that while the poster had appeared in the apartment, the management company was not responsible for posting it. He said the company was trying to find out who was behind it.

“It was at the property but it was not created by us or put there by us,” he told The Independent. “We don’t put up posters. We communicate with our residents by email.”