Tenants & Neighbors Hosts Panel Discussion: Legislative Organizing: How to Win in Albany!
Monday, September 13th, 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Community Service Society, Room 4A
105 East 22nd Street at Park Avenue South
Featuring members and advocates from:
• New York City Aids Housing Network
• Housing Conservation Coordinators
• Domestic Workers United
• And More!
The tenant movement faced many challenges this year, but our fight to strengthen the rent laws continues! Join us as we learn from advocates and organizers who have had successful legislative campaigns this year, who will share their insights on how to win state-level legislative campaigns for social and economic justice despite the challenging political landscape in Albany.
To RSVP or for more info, contact Mary Tek, Rent Regulation Organizer at Tenants & Neighbors:
212-608-4320 x 316 or email: mtek@tandn.org
Critics Root for Espada’s Exit, but He’s Dug In
The New York Times
9-2-10
In a former video store turned campaign office along the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, signs denouncing the area’s state senator cover the dingy windows. “Westchester’s Worst Legislator,” one poster proclaims, a dig at Senator Pedro Espada Jr. who has been persistently accused of living in a home he owns in Mamaroneck, which is in Westchester and is not part of his district.
The man who opened the office is Bill Samuels, a top Democratic donor from Manhattan who has pledged up to $250,000 to defeat Mr. Espada in the Sept. 14 primary. He is part of an army of opponents that has descended on the northwest Bronx to try to topple Mr. Espada, the Senate majority leader, who is facing civil corruption charges.
If this longtime political survivor is going down, there are a lot of people who want to help dig his grave.
The Working Families Party, which aspires to be the state’s most powerful third party, says it plans to spend $100,000 on the race and has been sending busloads of paid canvassers to climb Bronx high-rises reciting Mr. Espada’s sins. Union officials have knocked on thousands of doors promoting Mr. Espada’s chief rival. Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/nyregion/03espada.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
In Latest Battle for Control of Stuyvesant Town, the Tenants Are Wooed
The New York Times
9-2-10
The last time the mammoth Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complexes were sold, their tenants were largely ignored. Now, two lending groups battling in court for control of the sister complexes on the East Side of Manhattan are both trying to curry favor with the 25,000 residents.
Which lender will control the complexes remained up in the air on Thursday after a hearing in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, where the rival lenders squabbled over the meaning of a creditor agreement. The judge in the case, Richard B. Lowe III, said he would soon rule in the matter. But that decision is almost certain to be appealed, real estate lawyers and analysts say.
In the meantime, the lending groups — CW Capital on the one hand, and a partnership of Winthrop Realty Trust and the hedge fund Pershing Square Capital on the other — say that they are acting in the interest of the tenants. The lenders also say they embrace the tenants’ demand for the creation of an “affordable” co-op that covers all 11,226 apartments in 110 buildings between 14th and 23rd Streets, east of First Avenue. Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/nyregion/03stuytown.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
Lack of fines for violations lets slumlords terrorize tenants
NYDailyNews.com
8-31-10
Slumlords can let their tenants stew in moldy, unheated, rat-infested, garbage-filled hellholes without facing any real consequences, critics charge. “They are gaming the system,” said city Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, who Monday released an online slumlord watch list. The Watch List is online at: http://advocate.nyc.gov/landlord-watchlist
“When you or I get a parking ticket, we have to pay,” de Blasio said. “When a landlord gets a violation for a health and safety problem, they ignore it in many cases and then they ignore it and then they
ignore it again.” Most housing violations for leaks, pests or trash do not have fines attached, frequently forcing tenants to bring landlords to Housing Court to get action – but that can take years, advocates say. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/31/2010-08-31_slumlords_are_playing_dirty_so_well_play_hardball_say_city_pols.html
Using Private Eyes to Keep Track of Tenants
The New York Times
8-30-10
As a parade of slovenly dressed 20-somethings passed through the entrance of a downtown Manhattan apartment building on a weekday afternoon, these seemingly savvy New Yorkers did not seem to notice they were the subjects of a photo shoot. That is because this shoot was covertly orchestrated by their landlord, who had hired a private investigator to root out illegal tenants.
Masked by lunchtime crowds and afternoon rain, the private eye, Joseph Mullen, who has run a sleuthing firm for more than 40 years, parked his car in front of the building, flipped through papers showing that several residents of the seven-story building were “dead or living somewhere else,” and waited. Shane Williams, a vice president of the firm, J.T. Mullen Inc., slouched strategically in his seat and photographed people as they entered and left. The affable pair looked like observers at an anti-fashion show as food deliverymen paraded through, an older portly renter stepped out to buy cheese biscuits and renters dressed in gym clothing shuffled outside to smoke.
“We don’t know half the people who live in this building,” Mr. Mullen said. He released a gravelly chuckle, rustled through papers and glanced through the tinted window. “The landlords say, ‘I got to get these illegal tenants out and make some money.’ ” Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/nyregion/31appraisal.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
Got loud neighbors? Talk to the judge
NY Daily News
8-27-10
Because the mayor’s noise code doesn’t address neighbor noise, the process of evicting a loud tenant falls on the landlord or co-op or condo board. According to the rental managers working for big developers, complaints start the process of quieting a loud neighbor.
If friendly requests and notes slipped under doors begging for peace and quiet don’t work, complaints to landlords begin the next phase of addressing the nuisance. Landlords must send a letter to the loud
party, requesting quiet. If those go unanswered or ignored, a suit to evict the tenant can begin, but the landlord must show written documentation and a string of attempts to quiet the guilty party.
“Housing code regulations say tenants are allowed ‘peaceful enjoyment’ after 10 p.m.,” says Kevin Coughlin, the general manager at Truffles Tribeca. “To evict someone for noise, we have to show a
paper trail of complaints. Then, we can seek a court order for eviction. Even then, it’s still up to the judge.” Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/real_estate/2010/08/27/2010-08-27_got_loud_neighbors_talk_to_the_judge.html#loop1
Tenants Group: Some Senate Dems Betrayed Us
New York Observer
8-13-10
The pro-rent regulation folks are upset. Last night, Tenants PAC, a group devoted to expanding rent regulations in New York, sent out a press release announcing that it was rescinding endorsements for three Senate Democrats from outside the city: David Valesky, Brian Foley, and Darrel Aubertine. The group had pushed to get all three elected over Republicans, but now it is, by its telling, finding them resistant to expanded tenant protections.
The display of displeasure toward the three Democrats seems to stem from last week’s legislative session, when some of the more liberal Democrats in the Senate pushed for votes on a number of tenant protection bills, only to see them fail when there were not enough votes in the conference. The powerful landlord lobby opposed these bills, and urged its friends in the Democratic conference to oppose them as well.
“It was clear to those of us in the Senate gallery that evening that the Senate Democratic leadership attached no importance to our issues, and that their promises to deliver for tenants meant nothing,” Mike McKee, a longtime tenant activist who has pushed legislation in Albany, said in a statement announcing the rescinded endorsements. “After tramping around in the snow in Oswego for several days to help the Democrats win control of the Senate, I felt that this was a terrible betrayal.”
All helps illustrate how the landlords, who have become generous campaign contributors to Democrats, have had more success than many imagined in warding off any expansions of tenant regulations in the Democratic-controlled Senate. (For decades, until 2009, Republicans, who followed a pro-landlord agenda, had controlled the chamber.) This has frustrated tenant groups, who are now scrambling to get a scaled-back package through Albany. Read more: http://www.observer.com/politics?page=1
