City Limits Magazine, May 1983 Issue

Contents.
Editorial ... . .. .. . . . .. . . .. . ... . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 3

Opinion
Section 8: R.I.P. . ... . ...... . .............. . . 4
Small Buildings Need Protection .. .. . .. .. . . . .... 6
Letters . . .. . .. ... . . ..... . .. .. .. ... . .. . .. . .. .. 8
Short Term Notes
City Building Shutdowns
Challenged by Suit .. ..... . .... . . ... ... .. .. 10
The UDAG Jersey City Won't Spend ..... .. . . ... U
Homeless Shelter Plans Readied ... . . . . . . . .. . . . 13
First Grants for Partnership .. .. ... . .. .. .... ... 14
42nd St. Sale Looms ... ... . .... .... . . .. . .. . . . 15
New York's Newest Landlord . . ... . . . .. . . ..... . . 16
An interview with the manager for NYC's
37,000 in rem tenants.
The Troubled New Homes of the South Bronx .. . . 21
Has master builder Ed Logue redivided parts of
the South Bronx?
Who's Watching the Waiting Lists? ..... .. ... .. . 26
A recent study and upcoming legislative hearings raise the issue
of monitoring the city's main stock of subsidized middle income
housing.
Community Profile
Managing West Harlem ... . ......... . . ... . . .. 28
People
West Harlem's Margaret McNeill .. .. ..... . .... 32
Resources / Events . . ..... . ......... ... ..... . . 33
Energy
Organizing for Conservation .. .. .... . ... . ... . . 34
Organize!
Outdueling the Speculators . ..... . ....... . . . .. 36
Workshop . . . .. . .. .. . . . .... . .... . ....... .. . . 38
The South Bronx's Troubled New Homes / Page 21
?-
CITY LIMITS/May 1983
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WHCO Chairmall Leo Fill alld A.ui.,(w/l Dire/ 'wr
Galien Kirklalld.
Volume vm Number 5
CilY limilS is published ten times per year. monthly
except double issues in June/July and
August/September, by the City Limits Community
Information Service. Inc . a nonprofit olganization
devoted to disseminating infonnation concerning
neighborhood revitalization. The publication is spon-
sored by three olganizations. The spon sor.; are:
Associalion of Neighborhood Housing Developers.
Inc . an association of over hYO dozen community-
based. nonprofit housing development groups.
developing and advocating programs for low and
moderate income housing and neighborhood
stabilization.
Prall Inslilult Center for Community and Environ-
mental Development . a technical assistance and ad-
vocacy office offering professional planning and ar-
chitectural services to low and moderate income
community groups. The Center also analyzes and
monitors government policy and performance.
Urban Homesteading Assistance Board. a technical
assistance organization providing assistance to low
income tenant cooperatives in management and sweat
equity rehabilitation.
City limits welcomes comments and article contribu
tions. Please include a stamped. self-addressed
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limits does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the
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CITY LIMITS. 424 West 33rd Street. New York.
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Editor . ................. . ...... Tom Robbins
Assistant Editor ....... . ....... Susan Baldwin
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Copyright 1983. All Rights Reserved.
No portion or portions of this journal may be
reprinted without the express permission of the
publishers.
No Trades in Albany
Vital issues of tenants rights and neighborhood preservation will soon
come surging out of the the New York State legislature. In the weeks remain-
ing of the 1983 regular session - with some observers predicting recess by
mid-June and others July 4th - legislators will be weighing an extraordinary
number of housing issues, from J-51 to the Emergency Tenant Protection Pet,
many of which are likely to become entangled with each other in
negotiations.
For starters, the future of New York City's J-51 tax incentive program for
housing rehab is by no means assured. Thoughtful community people are in
a bind: on the one hand renewal of J-51 is essential to low income housing
development, but an extension without structural reform will continue an un-
needed and dangerous public subsidy for the lUXUry conversions and tenant
harassment that have accelerated residential and commercial displacement.
The Assembly has passed a watered-down reform bill supported by
Governor Cuomo and Mayor Koch, which extends J-51 for four years with a
formula for curtailment of benefits to for-profit projects which many consider
still to be too generous to developers. Even this version may not be passed
by the State Senate, which remains as ever in the thrall of the real estate in-
dustry. After months of stating that J-51 was a local matter and that the
Senate would pass whatever legislation the city adrninistration.wanted,
Senate Housing Committee chairman John Daly changed his tune once
Mayor Koch signed off on the Assembly bill, and started demanding further
substantial pro-real estate amendments.
Lately, Daly has raised the ante even more by insisting that the Senate
will pass a J-51 bill (which bill is unclear) only if the Assembly agrees to pass
a couple of pro-landlord measures. One bill sought for the trade would
restore the unlimited right of landlords (accidentally repealed last year) to
evict a rent stabilized tenant when an apartment is sought for the owner's
"personal" use and has been strongly opposed by tenant groups. Another
measure would curb tenants' right to sublet, finally established after years of
court cases.
Daly and his boss, Senate Majority Leader Warren Anderson, are thus
trying to drive a wedge between organized tenants on the one hand, and
nonprofit community organizations on the other who desperately need J-51
extended to make their local low income housing projects affordable.
Neither community organizations nor tenant groups can afford to fall for
this divisive ruse. There is an equal stake for both groups in protecting
tenants' rights and providing new and rehabilitated affordable housing. Hous-
ing rehabilitated without assurances of adequate rent and tenure protections
can only spell displacement and gentrification. And protecting the rights of
tenants to remain in substandard housing is also only half a strategy.
The joint efforts of tenants and community organizations to extend rent
protections to small buildings with less than six units is one current and ex-
citing example of the unity that this situation demands. That unity is being
tested in Albany this year. It is essential that we make conscious efforts to
mobilize both constituencies and work cooperatively to achieve the passage
of crucial housing legislation this spring. We can hang together, or we can
surely hang separately.
Cover photos by: Jim Mendell (pickets and Shuldiner) and
Barbara Pacheco (Community Management building).
3 CITY LIMITS/May 1983
SECTION 8: R.I.P.
By R e v e r e n ~ Donald Sakano
T
HE SECTION 8 HOUSING
program is dying one of those slow,
drawnout deaths that makes it particularly
hard for family. The loved-one in this case
was not perfect but it's hard to kick a fellow
when he's down. The Lord only knows that
Section 8 was a bit too indulgent, a little
overweight and, perhaps, spent too much
time cavorting with real estate developers
and tax syndicators. But you will have to
admit it rarely ever got into any real trou-
ble and did manage to keep out of default
scandals. So, now near the end of its brief
life, one thinks of the good times and
wonders what life will be like without it.
In 1974 the Congress authorized the Sec-
tion 8 program as an amendment to the
U.S. Housing Act of 1937. Conceived under
a Republican Administration, the "housing
assistance payments program" was herald-
ed as the key that would open the door for
private and nonprofit developers to pro-
duce housing for low and moderate income
people. Except for public housing, the
federal programs up to that point were
designed to serve people in the middle
income range. However, the Sec. 236 pro-
gram, a subsidy that reduced the
developer's mortgage interest rate to I per-
cent , proved to be insufficient to come out
with rents that were affordable even to
middle income households. Mortgage
defaults and "troubled projects" were com-
mon, especially as construction costs and
operating expenses spiraled upward during
the 1960s and 70s.
The Section 8 program was a bold new
response to a systemic problem - the gap
between what a tenant can afford for hous-
ing and what it cost to build it . Section 8
authorized HUD to pay that gap, the dif-
ference between 25 percent of the tenant's
income and the "fair market" rent of the
unit. Developers who were awarded Sec-
tion 8 Housing Assistance Payment con-
tracts for new construction found little dif-
ficulty in securing a bank loan. The federal
government guaranteed pay-back of the
mortgage through the Section 8 HAP. Sec-
tion 8 solved the mortgage default problem,
but immediately became well known for its
"extravagant" cost. Critics claim that Sec-
tion 8 developers are not encouraged to
economize and tend to build right up to the
maximum mortgage limits allowed by
HUD.
However, the most damaging "cost" fac-
tor has nothing to do with the Section 8
program at all , but in the way Congress
prepares the federal budget. Government
assisted housing is virtually the only item
in the budget that is reported out in terms
of "budget authority". This is an ac-
cumulative figure that represents the
federal government's obligation over the en-
tire length of the HAP contract which can
run as long as 40 years. Other federal pro-
grams are reported in terms of "contract
authority", the actual outlay of funds for
that fiscal year. The housing programs,
therefore, are always sticking out like sore
thumbs. In the last year of the Carter Ad-
ministration, the spending levels for low
anQ moderate housing programs were 30
billion dollars in budget authority.
Death Blows
The combination of a low income con-
stituency and a fiscally conservative Con-
gress made it easy for the Reagan Ad-
ministration to aim its guns at the heart of
the Section 8 program. The infamous
Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 was the
4
first real death blow to the low and
moderate income housing. Not only was
life made more difficult for the occupants
of Section 8 housing by raising the rent
standard to 30 percent of income,but the
ceilings on overall federal spending for
new construction and substantial rehabilita-
tion for FY 1982 was reduced by 42 per-
cent from the previous year. Last Spring,
the 97th Congress voted in a budget resolu-
tion for FY 1983 with a ceiling so low -
$11.4 billion - that bipartisan negotiations
on the housing authorization bill ended in
a deadlock. This February, President
Reagan presented the nation with a budget
'package that called for a 94 percent cut in
new budget authority for low and moderate
housing and would eliminate all production
except for 10,000 units of Sec. 202 for the
elderly. While there may still be a will in
Congress to fight for a modest production
program consisting of some new public
housing, and Sec. 202 units, it is clear that
the anxiety over the huge budget deficit has
cast a pall over the future of low and
moderate rental housing construction in
this country.
Nobody seems to know what to do about
new construction. If you are inclined to
take seriously the Repon of the President's
Commission on Housing, you would
believe there is little need for a subsidized
production program because there is an
adequate supply of rental housing in the
country as a whole. While a convoluted
"voucher" program is proposed to deat with
the problem of the affordability of existing
units, even the Reagan Administration ad-
mits that some communities lack sufficient
rental resources and need some help. But
the solution they offer can only be describ-
ed as a cruel joke - allow new construc-
tion as an eligible activity in the Communi-
ty Development Block Grant and create a
$30 million rental rehabilitation block grant
program.
Heirs Apparent?
Meanwhile, the Housing Subcommit-
tees in both the House and the Senate have
permitted themselves to be a bit more dar-
ing. On the House side, a program that was
proposed last year as part of the ill-fated
housing bill, H.R. 6296, is moving along
nicely as part of this year's bill, H.R. 1.
The measure, commonly known as Dodd-
Schumer after its chief proponents Rep.
Charles Schumer of Brooklyn and
Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd of
Connecticut, works something like the
competition proposal program of the Ur-
ban Development Action Grants. This "ren-
tal housing production program" would be
authorized at $1.3 billion and would be
available to states and local governments to
build new or rehabilitated rental housing,
employing an "anything goes" flexibility-
capital grant write-downs, participation
loans, interest reduction payments, etc.
HUD would select regions that have a
demonstrable need for rental housing.
Other selection criteria are the extent to
which non-Federal or private dollars would
reduce project costs; displacement would
be mitigated and neighborhoods enhanced;
and the maximum number of units that
would be produced for the lowest cost.
Developers must agree to set aside at least
20 percent of the units for households with
incomes that are below 80 percent of the
median for the area. The rents are to be
set at 25 percent of adjusted income, an
oldie but goodie. Oh yes, Davis-Bacon con-
struction wage scales would not apply here.
The Senate Housing Sub-Committee also
salvaged a concept that was part of last
year's housing bill (S.2607) and is now part
of their bill this year. This multi family
grant program is authorized to spend $300
million in a flexible manner similar to the
Dodd-Schumer proposal. However, funds
would be distributed to states and localities
through a needs-based formula and there
would be no direct application to HUD for
project funding. Also, this block-grant type
program requires that the projects be
located in low and moderate income
neighborhoods; federal aid would be
limited to 50 percent of project costs; and
80 percent of project rents must fall within
the Section 8 payment standard.
Events are moving quickly with housing
authorization this year, and by the time you
read this, the bills may have moved through
the respective houses and into Conference
Committee where differences between the
bills will be resolved. A coalition of non-
government housing groups have drafted a
"compromise" that they hope will be helpful
to the principle actors, especially the
members of the Conference Committee.
The proposal calls for $1.3 billion to be us-
ed to produce new or substantial rehabilita-
tion of multifamily rental or cooperative
housing. The funds would be distributed in
the following way: 50 percent to cities, 25
percent to states based on a needs formula.
The other 25 percent would be ad-
ministered directly by HUD. At least 20
percent of the units in each project would
be reserved for low income households and
at 70 percent of the total funds to any city,
state or HUD funded project, must be for
people with incomes below 80 percent of
median. Section 8 certificates would be us-
ed for these units. Again the emphasis is
on flexibility with assistance in the form
of either a loan or a grant but primarily
would go to projects with a payback
mechanism. And here Davis-Bacon restric-
tions would apply.
While the delivery systems of these pro-
posals vary between the UDAG application
approach and the block grant distribution
method and while the debate goes on con-
cerning the "targetting" threshold for the
benefit of low and moderate income peo-
ple, it is clear that a new breed of produc-
tion program is in the making. The con-
cept of using federal dollars to subsidize
the upfront construction costs through
capital grants or to reduce the project's debt
service to manageable proportions is attrac-
tive. But already, a ghost has taken up
residence in the hallowed halls of Capitol
Hill that is prepared to take us back to view
the mistakes of the past when foolhardy
people tried to build housing for low in-
come people without a built-in subsidy to
bridge the gap between affordable rents and
total project costs. The leaders of this na-
tion have put housing on a merry-go-round
and have resorted to stop-pause-go-stop ap-
proach to policy and programs. The Sec-
tion 8 production program could have been
saved by introducing cost saving
mechanisms and by changing the way Con-
gress reports the housing budget . But , all
we've done is to pull the plug on a program
that was too young to die. Now there is lit-
tle to do but make way for the new kid on
the block.O
Reverend Donald Sakano directs the Office
of Neighborhood Preservation for Catholic
Charities of the Archdiocese of New York
and is a board member of the National Low
income Housing Coalition.
,
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Protections Needed for Small Building Tenants
(and Owners!) By Raymond Rodriguez
T
HIS JUNE THE EMERGENCY
Tenant Protection Act (ETPA) once
again expires. The ETPA exclude from
coverage tenants in buildings with fewer
than 6 units - they are the most unprotected
tenants in New York State. When this Act
last expired two years ago, legislators simp-
ly renewed the existing law. This year there
is a strong possiblility that the ETPA may
be replaced by the Flynn-Dearie Bill. But,
regardless of which bill is passed, it is vital
that tenants in buildings with fewer than 6
units also be included in all protections.
This will not be an easy task. As happened
in the past, the real estate lobby will try
to weaken rent controls. There may well
be an attempt to expand exemptions in
whatever bill is passed so that no buildings
with fewer than 10 units will be covered.
Excluding any group of tenants from pro-
tection from inordinate rent increases is an
attack on the integrity of a community.
Members of the Housing Court Task Force
have seen that a great number of tenants
who go to Housing Court live in buildings
with fewer than 6 units; when landlords try
to evict them the tenants have no other
recourse than to move. The most that an
attorney or a skilled housing advocate can
do to help these tenants is to get the judge
to grant them a six-month extension in their
apartment until they find another one.
To correct this situation staff and
volunteers from different housing and ad-
vocacy organizations in Brooklyn met to
find a solution. A major part of the solu-
tion lies within the political arena.
Tenants in small buildings currently are
not organized as an active force fighting for
this. Since they have had little legal
recourse, few of the housing groups work
with these tenants other than providing in-
dividual counseling. Members of the
Brooklyn Housing Court Task Force have
joined with other groups to form the New
York State Small Building Task Force and
mobilize this constituency. This problem
affects tenants in all five boroughs as well
as the majority of tenants outside of New
York City.
One-Half Million Tenants Unprotected
Twenty-one percent of all rental units in
New York State are in buildings with under
5 units. In New York City,446,163 units are
in buildings with 1-4 units. In Brooklyn
alone there are 208,225 units in buildings
with 1- 4 units.
Many legislators have already embrac-
ed the need for protection of tenants in
small buildings through the endorsement
of the Flynn-Dearie Act. We also support
Flynn-Dearie and its protection of tenants
in small buildings. Flynn-Dearie includes
in its regulations protection for all tenants
in buildings with 4 units or more and
tenants in buildings with 2 or 3 units if the
landlord owns a total of 4 or more units
within New York State. The New York
State Small Building Task Force supports
legislation that would provide protection to
both tenants and owners in small buildings.
We cannot permit the passage of any rent
regulatory legislation in June that does not
provide protection for tenants in small
buildings. It is not just a tenant issue, but
a problem affecting the entire community.
Communities with a preponderance of
buildings with fewer than six units are con-
tinUliIly experiencing an assault from real
estate speculators. Homeowners are sub-
jected to weekend ~ i s i t s and calls from anx-
ious real estate salespersons wanting to
know if their house is for sale. Blacks and
Hispanics in neighborhoods experiencing
gentrification are particularly vulnerable.
They are informed that their new neighbors
are white professionals who dislike them.
They are encouraged to take the money of-
fered for their homes and run to a
neighborhood where they are wanted.
We are working toward development of
a "Community Protection Act" that would
include, at a minimum, the following
provisions:
I. A ban on door-to-door solicitation by
real estate agents of homes for sale.
Energy Audits, Specifications and technical
assistance, Investigated contr,ctors. Complete line
of conservation projects at dis ount, Financing
--- options.
-- , /
BROOKLYN ENERGY COOPERATIVE 562 Atlantic Ave. (near 4th Ave.) 858-8803
6
2. A tax credit for homeowners who rent
at a reasonable rate to tenants in their
buildings. This would encourage
responsible and civic-minded
homeowners to maintain the dwindling
supply of housing stock for low and
moderate income tenants. The Senior
Citizen Rent Increase Exemption plan,
if it can be proved constitutional , can
serve as a model for the tax credit.
3. Protection for tenants in buildings with
fewer than six units. Tenants need a)
protection from huge and arbitrary rent
. increases once their lease runs out (or
whenever a landlord wants an increase,
if they do not have a lease); and b) pro-
tection from arbitrary evictions. As the
law now stands, tenants in buildings
with under six units without a lease can
be evicted for any reason at all; the
landlord only need want them out.
4. An anti-speculation tax that would
discourage the rapid turnover of build-
ings solely in the interest of making
huge profits. One alternative would be
a tax of, for example, 90 percent on the
profits made on a building sold within
one year, 80 percent on a building sold
within two years, 70 percent within
three years, etc.
Legislators may not move to support
tenants in small buildings out of fear of of-
fending the small homeowners, whom they
assume to be more likely to be registered
voters. Politicians must be convinced that
this is a neighborhood issue that unites
owners and tenants rather than divides
, them.
The Brookyn Neighborhood Improve-
ment Association, with the help of the Fifth
Avenue Committee, Accion Latina, and
other groups in Brooklyn recently spon-
sored an Emergency Hearing on Small
Buildings. State Senator Marty Markowitz
and representatives from Congressman
UP TO DATE
AND D

You can combine a City Limits
subscription with a year of the
Association of Neighborhood Housing
Developers' Weekly Reader,
Major Owens, Councilwoman Ruth Mess-
inger, and State Senator Anna Jefferson at-
tended the special meeting. The testimony
from the audience was moving and anger
provoking. Homeowners present testified
that the forced displacement of low and
moderate income homeowners destroys the
social fabric of their neighborhoods.
Similar forums are . needed in other parts
of Brooklyn and in the other four boroughs.
We are urging neighborhood organiza-
tions to sponsor special hearings on the
problem of small buildings and to invite
their legislators to these hearings. Even past
friends of the housing movement need to
be convinced that the issue of rent protec-
tion for tenants in small buildings is
critical. 0
Raymond Rodriguez works at the Pratt In-
stitute Center for Community and En-
vironmental Development and is a member
of the Small Buildings Task Force.
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The Real Northwest
To the Editors:
I think the emphasis in your articles on the Northwest Bronx
Community Clergy Coalition was misplaced. The Exxon cam-
paign is good public relations for the organization and enlarges
the public's awareness of housing issues. It may even yield some
money for weatherization at some future time. But that campaign
is a minor part ofNWBCC's work and accomplishments. Its real
work is rescuing buildings through tenant organizing and resident
management.
I had the pleasure of dealing with several organizers and building
managers from one of NWBCCC's affiliates, Fordham Bedford
Community Corporation, in connection with ANHD's Emergency
Fuel Loan program. Not only did the buildings pay off their loans
promptly, despite the fact that many of the white, black and
Hispanic tenants were on welfare, but I found when visiting the
area that the Fordham Bedford staff were not just employees, but
friends and neighbors of the tenants. Fordham Bedford manages
many buildings and must have a considerable budget and staff,
yet it is still a neighborhood group. It was the quality of the rela-
tionship between the NWBCCC groups and their neighborhoods
which was missing from your articles.
Good public relations, important as it is for fund raising, is
merely a set of skills which can be learned in the profit or non-
profit world or purchased from a consultant . Being truly connected
to an integrated community (another fact missing from the articles)
is a different order of accomplishment.
Toby Sanchez
Housing Director
Junction-College Development Corp.
Lincoln West 7, West Side 0
To the Editors:
The article, "A People's Housing Tool ," by Paul Davidoff and
Phil Tegeler of the Metropolitan Action Institute in your
February, 1983, issue contained two inaccuracies which I would
like to correct.
First, I did not vote against the Lincoln West project, and the
quotation attributed to me was taken from a concurring, not
dissenting, statement that I appended to the Commission's final
report on the project.
Second, no members of the Commission voted against Lin-
coln West. The project was passed seven to z e ~ o , not four to
three as the article stated.
Thank you for this opportunity to set the record straight.
R. Susan Motley
Commissioner
City Planning Commission
8
Long Division Still a Problem
To the Editors:
Re City Limits' article "How to Research Your Landlord" in
the April issue-how to calculate the selling price based upon
revenue stamps (55e per $500 or $1.10 per $1,000). There has
been an obvious error in calculation as presented, to wit: $49.50
divided by $.55 = 90 x $500 = $45,000, not 81 x $500 =
$40,000 as suggested. The easier method is $49.50 divided by
.00110 = $45,000.
I would be glad to donate a calculator should one be needed.
Ivar Opsis
Bronx, New York
1# would appreciate that. One with clear instructions please . .
Thanks.
JASA's Version
To the Editors :
Susan.Baldwin's article in the April issue, concerning JASA's
plans for housing for the elderly at Cooper Square, contains a
number of inaccuracies that are in need of correction:
From the very outset of the project-and not "moments before"
the Board of Estimate hearing on March 3-JASA has sought
to involve the community. At the public hearing of Community
Board #3 on October 21, 1982 , JASA announced that it was seek-
ing priority to 49 percent of the apartments for eligible elderly
residents of CB #3, and that it was committed to a vigorous com-
munity outreach. This was evidenced by JASA's announcement
of its fair marketing plan, submitted to HUD, which included
information bulletins in all languages spoken by the elderly of
the community, to be distributed through more than 100 com-
munity organizations.
. The fuir marketing plan/outreach effort, and the priority plans,
were repeated at the hearing before the City Planning Commis-
sion on December 8, 1982. This formed the basis for the com-
mission's unanimous approval of JASA's sponsorship of the
project.
At a meeting of JASA's Community Advisory Committee for
the Cooper Square housing for the elderly, on February 15, 1983,
JASA announced plans to employ an outreach worker fluent in
Spanish, to inform Hispanic elderly of the Lower East Side about
the availability of apartments. Under the agreement approved
by the Board of Estimate on March 3rd, this worker is not sub-
ject to the approval of the Cooper Square Community Develop-
ment Committee.
The same agreement stipulates that the Cooper Square Com-
mittee may send a representative "if available" "with respect to
home investigations of the 49 percent" of apartments reserved
for residents of CB #3, and not "on all home visits; as your arti-
cle stated.
IS YOUR INSURANCE
TOO EXPENSIVE?
Let us evaluate your insurance
program to see if you are getting the
most for your dollars.
"Specializing in lYon-Profit and
Community Organizations"
Contact: PaUl Sourifman
(212) 6844770
9
JASA has to date a mailing list (not a waiting list) of 3500
names. We welcome requests for applications from ail in-
dividuals age 62 and older. Requests may be sent to Housing
Department, JASA, 40 West 68 Street, New York, NY 10023.
Formal applications for apartments will be sent to all names on
the mailing list on a date three months before the building is
ready for occupancy-now scheduled for late 1984.
Mimi Koren
Director of Public Information
Jewish Association for Services for the Aged
The agreement arrived at "moments before" the Board of
Estimate hearing was fundamental. The key to that agreement was
JASAs acceptance of community monitoring - via a representative
of the Cooper Square Committee-of its home visits to local ap-
plicants as a means of insuring equal access to apartments in the
project. This, in addition to JASAs agreement to allow communi-
ty review of rejected local applicants, and to hire a local Spanish-
speaking outreach worker, formed the basis for the Boards ap-
provaL. Those pieces were not in place as late as the morning of
the Boards meeting.
Koren is correct on two points: our article did not cite JASAs
earlier commitments to the 49 percent figure; and, although the
Cooper Square Committee focused the pressure which resulted
in JASAs commitment to hire a minority outreach worker, JASA
will solely select the individual.
JASA apparently still does not understand why, in spite of its
pronouncements, community groups would continue to doubt this
agencys word. Somehow, JASA does not make the connection bet-
ween its current tenant population -only five percent minorities
in its more than J,OOO units of senior citizen housing -and its stated
goals for aggressive minority outreach on the Lower East.
S
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Suit Challenges Shutdown of City Buildings
---..---
T
ENANTS IN FOUR CITY-OWNED
buildings threatened with closing
under the city's controversial consolidation
program \ave brought suit in New York
State Supreme Court against Mayor Koch
and the city's housing department charg-
ing that their rights to due process of law
under the state Constitution and city charter
have been violated.
The plaintiffs, by this action, are seek-
ing to enjoin the city from closing oc-
cupied, tax-foreclosed (in rem) buildings
without first establishing "ascertainable
standards" and rules and regulations to
govern this decision.
This action, if implemented, would also
enjoin the city from withholding necessary
repairs and essential services to plaintiffs'
buildings and apartments as guaranteed
under the warrant of habitability in the
city's housing code.
The lawsuit calls on the city to provide
in rem tenants with "prior written notice
of an intent to close a building or to issue
a vacate order." It also asks for an explana-
tion for its action.

{f
"(
In addition, it insists on providing the
tenants "with a meaningful opportunity to
be heat;d prior to a final decision to close
a building or issue a vacate order."
In October, 1982, tenants of city-owned
buildings won a round in state court when
Judge Sheldon S. Levy found that rent in-
creases imposed by the city's Department
of Housing Preservation and Development
in four Bronx buildings were illegal and
made a mockery of the tenants' due pro-
cess rights. (See "Judge Voids City Rent
December, 1982.)
The proJ}erties involved in this latest
court action are also located in the Bronx
and are currently in the city's central
management program. They are 1961 Trini-
ty, 1104 Elder, 1325 Lafayette, and 1244
Grant Avenues. .
Bronx Legal Services brought the lawsuit
on behalf of the tenants. The Union of City
Tenants, a citywide association advocating
decent , affordable shelter, is also a party to
t}le suit.
10
z

III

Iii

In addition , the Assoc'iation of
Neighborhood Housing Developers, which
represents more than two dozen nonprofit
community groups, plans to file an amicus
brief in support of the plaintiffs.
"The problem with this lawsuit is that it's
five years too late," said Andy Scherer, one
of the legal aid attorneys handling this case.
"For too long, the city has been closing
buildings citing the existence of hazardous
conditions, but there are no established
standards, no criteria to refer to . . . The
tenants need protection and they need it
now before this affordable housing stock
disappears."
Many Buildings Are Sound
By last year , some 1600 buildings
were consolidated. Often, critics of the pro-
gram contend, these buildings are struc-
turally sound and would make good
resource housing for relocatees from pro-
perties with serious structural problems.
Some have also charged that buildings are
willfully vandalized so that vacate orders
can be placed on them and that no one takes
responsiblity for supervising this housing
inventory.
In addition to pointing out the lack of
consolidation criteria, Scherer said that
these decisions to close down or con-
solidate buildings should first go before the
local community boards as they involve
land use decisions covered under the city's
Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, one
of the charter-mandated responsibilities of
the local boards.
Dave Robinson, an organizer with the
Union of City Tenants, echoed Scherer's
concern about the lack of due process con-
sideration in the implementation of the ci-
ty's consolidation of buildings. "This low
income housing is the last resort for shelter,
and to close these buildings without even
a written note or hearing, in addition to be-
ing unconscionable, is a violation of the
city's responsibility as outlined in the state
Constitution - to provide shelter for low
and moderate income tenants as well as for
the homeless," he said, noting that there are
vacate orders on each of the four buildings,
New Rent Board
Member
Eugene 1. Morris, an attorney and a
member of the Real Estate Board of New
York, Inc., has been appointed as an
owners' representative to the city's Rent
Guidelines Board by Mayor Edward Koch.
The Rent Guidelines Board is a nine-
member group which sets the maximum
possible rent increase for the 956,000 apart-
ments in the city's rent stabilization system.
It includes two representatives each for
tenants and owners, and five public
members, including the chairman.
Morris, a partner in the firm of Demov,
Morris, Levin and Shein,has been a vocal
member of CONTINUE, a Manhattan
West Side group that has opposed comple-
tion of the city's urban renewal plan and any
further accommodation of low income
housing on the Upper West Side.
Morris replaces William S. Brennen,
who recently resigned to head the city's Of-
fice of Business Development. 0
which, to date, have not been implemented.
According to Robinson, if the current
policy is reversed, these four buildings
could easily be fixed up and rented for a
modest sum of money.
A recent inspection and report by the
Pratt Center for Community and En-
vironmental Development of 1061 Trinity
Avenue revealed that these apartments
could be made habitable by the expenditure
of $3,100 a unit.
In the case of 1244 Grant Avenue, even
HPD in August, 1981, (when a 7-A ad-
ministrator was put in charge prior to the
foreclosure action) had estimated then that
this 84-unit building could be made livable
by spending $58,000 for repairs.
Citing the histories of all four buildings,
the lawsuit stresses that they were all in
much better and repairable shape before the
city foreclosed on them, after which it
allowed them to slip and become vandaliz-
ed by not providing basic services and
repairs.
Commenting on the tenants' lawsuit ,
Joseph Shuldiner, deputy commissioner of
Lost in the
Residents of the Rockaways peninsula of
Queens have battled banks and institutional
redlining for years, but have at least manag-
ed to stay on the map. No longer, however.
"The Wave", a weekly newspaper publish-
ed in Rockaway Beach reprinted on its front
page last month a portion of a new
Hagstrom's map printed for a large map
club. The map shows the Atlantic Ocean
11
property management at HPD, said, "This
suit doesn't really contest our criteria for
consolidation." He also emphasized the ex-
pense of repairing apartments, suggesting
that it could cost as much as $20,000 a unit
to fix them up.
But, the commissioner added, in terms
of notice to tenants, "I think we should give
tenants the opportunity to come back to us
with a plan." Maybe, he explained, they
could offer cheaper repair suggestions.
Admitting that the city has no standar-
dized requirements for closing buildings,
Shuldiner also suggested that it should en-
force a certain, minimum occupancy rate
perhaps "under 30 percent;' and enforce
this as a cut-off point for instituting con-
solidation proceedings.
Although the lawsuit only applies
specifically to conditions in the four Bronx
. buildings, Scherer said it could be amend-
ed to include broader implications for a
class action suit. In addition, the option re-
mains to bring a similar action in Federal
court if the state hearing proves
fruitless.OS.B.
where the peninsula and the Jamaica Bay
islands are normally considered to lie. It
wasn't a goof, either. Indignant letters from
the Rockaways Chamber of Commerce to
the Hagstrom Map Company in Maspeth,
Queens brought the response that the
Greiner-Maltz Map Club of Long Island Ci-
ty, also in Queens, has specifically requested
the deletions from its maps. 0
The UDAG Jersey City Won't Spend
G
OOD THINGS HAVE BEEN
coming in bunches for the two-year-
old administration of Jersey City's pro-
Reagan Democratic mayor Gerald McAnn.
On March 31, the same day that his Hud-
son County city snared a $9 million federal
Urban Development Action Grant , it also
scooped up 700 jobs which the Bankers
Trust Company shifted out of New York
City. The $9 million grant,which will be
loaned to a private investment group to
develop offices and a parking garage,
comes atop a $40 million UDAG (the
largest ever) made by the department of
Housing and Urban Development to Jersey
City last fall. That funding is to create
"Harbor City" - a huge luxury con-
dominium and commercial mall develop-
ment along the city's Manhattan-facing
waterfront.
Curiously, this massive injection of
federal funds comes in spite of Jersey Ci-
ty's refusal to follow through on an earlier
P million UDAG. That 1978 grant commit-
ted the city to build, among other things,
140 large fumily public housing apartments
in its downtown Montgomery Gateway
area, a project it has vigorously resisted.
The almost $50 million in grants are also
being bestowed upon a city hall which a
federal judge recently described as suffer-
ing from a "plague" of racism.
The dernult on the city's first UDAG
came soon after the McAnn administration
came to office when it balked at finishing
off the city's Montgomery Gateway
revitalization plan. The large rnmily public
housing, the project's last missing piece,
was to house some of the nearly 500
minority rnmilies whose homes were raz-
ed to make way for new development in the
neighborhood. [Set: City Limits, August-
September 1982, "Jersey City'S Redevelop-
ment Battle."] The public housing, promis-
ed by the previous mayor, Thomas EX.
Smith, became an embarrassment to McAnn
because of its close proximity to Jersey Ci-
ty's brownstone belt which was beginning
to pick up those middle income families
priced out of Hoboken and Manhattan.
McAnn's housing and planning departments
City Hall - Jersey Cit)'.
stalled necessary zoning approvals and
financing applications for the project, even
switching sites for the housing at the last
minute, in the apparent hope that HUD
would recapture the Section 8 funding
reservation in a cutback move.
The administration's efforts to scuttle the
public housing would have buried the issue
long ago, had it not been for the dogged
pursuit of former residents and their allies
in the Montgomery Gateway Residents
Coalition. In their latest countermoves to
force the city's hand, the group filed suit
in federal district court to get the project
started as well as an administrative com-
plaint at HUD.
Although HUD turned a blind eye to the
complaint, McAnn's administration declin-
ed to contest the contention of the displac-
ed residents' federal suit that their civil
rights were being denied by the city's
refusal to allow them to return to their
neighborhood .
Civil rights is not a topic which Mayor
McAnn's administration enjoys hearing in
court. Last September, Judge H. Lee
Sarokin, in the same federal court, stated
that the "disease" of "racism ... has ap-
parently attained plague proportions in the
municipal halls of Jersey City," after the city
refused to comply with his directives to in-
crease the number of minorities in the ci-
ty's fire department. Jersey City'S attorneys
clearly didn't feel up to another civil rights
12
action before one of Judge Sarokin's col-
leagues on the federal bench.
Although the federal court ordered con-
struction on the project to begin by March
1, a suit filed by a brownstone homeowners'
group in state court sought to block the
start-up. The final decision still awaits word
from the New Jersey Supreme Court .
Praise from 'The Times'
Meanwhile, none of these maneuvers by
McAnn's City Hall made it into two lengthy
New York Times appraisals of Jersey Ci-
ty's success which appeared in March and
April. The Times' first story, while prais-
ing the city's "classic row houses" and af-
fordable brownstones, so overplayed
McAnn's pro-Reagan bent that it listed him
as a Republican which he is not. The
31-year-old mayor did, however, chair the
statewide Democrats for Reagan group and,
upon his election, praise Reagan's welrnre
cuts as the "greatest thing in the world"
because Jersey City's poor "would just have
to go back to wherever they came from."
The Times' second article got the mayor's
party affiliation correct and quoted him as
saying that his unsuccessful attempt to get
rid of rent control last year was an attempt
"to get the attention of the financial
community."
That, plus an aggressive pursuit of high-
tech industry in a city of 225,000 with an
Il percent unemployment rate primarily
among blue collar workers, grabbed the
Times' attention in a way that McAnn's
other antics have not. These have includ-
ed one instance of fisticuffs with a citizen
in the city council, and a steady flow of in-
vective against those with the temerity to
oppose him.
Those who contest McAnn's vision of a
reshaped Jersey City are not about to disap-
pear, however. A well organized tenants'
group defeated the anti-rent control move
and the coalition that has fought the city
on the public housing issue has outlasted
numerous stalls and maneuvers and say
they will press on with their federal court
suit and hold City Hall good to its pro-
mises. ORick Cohen and Tom Robbins
Homeless Shelter Plans Readied
I
F EVERYTHING FALLS INTO
place as planned, applications from
nonprofit groups and municipalities around
the state interested in providing permanent
housing for the homeless may be accepted
in AJbany, beginning as early as late June.
According to Elizabeth Searles, at the
state Division of Housing and Community
Renewal, the state is still working out the
details for administering Governor Cuomo's
ambitious, four-year, $50 million plan to
provide permanent housing and solutions
for the state's homeless that number over
50,000.
Part of the budget passed by state
legislators in the early hours of March 28
included the first $12.5 million installment
which could conceivably cover the
rehabilitation or construction of 1,200 to
1,500 units next year.
Its prime sponsors in the legislature were
Assemblymen Pete Grannis, Democrat-
Liberal of Manhattan, chairman of the
Assembly Housing Committee; Angelo
Del Toro, Democrat-Republican of
Manhattan, chairman of the Assembly
Social Services Committee; and Steve
Sanders, Democrat-Liberal , Assembly
representative to the state Task Force on the
Homeless. Supporters in the Senate were
Senators Frank Padavan , Democrat,
Republican, Conservative, Right-to-Life
representative from Queens, and majority
Leader Warren M. Anderson, Republican,
from Binghamton.
Commenting on the bill , Grannis said,
"This is a significant achievement which
represents a four-year commitment on the
part of the state ... Previous actions on
behalf of the homeless, however worthy,
have only been 'band-aid' attempts to stop
the flow of homeless persons onto our
streets, aggravated largely by the severe
shortage of low income housing."
According to Searles, proposed regula-
tions for administering the program will be
circulated for public comment during the
next month .
Preference will be given. she noted. to
groups submitting proposal applications
that include sources of other financial
support-federal, city, other state, or
private- in determining the recipients.
The newly appointed assistant commis-
sioner for this special program at the state
Department of Social Services is Nancy
Travers. Formerly director of policy in the
division of property management at the ci-
ty's housing department, Travers also work-
ed on developing a permanent model for
SRO housing at the Vera Institute in New
York City.
Supervising the state's program for the
homeless is William Eimicke, deputy
secretary for policy and program and chair-
man of the state's 15-member Emergency
Task Force on the City's Homeless.
Eimicke formerly served as deputy direc-
tor of the City'S division of property
management.
Each year, $200,000 will be used to ad-
minister the program at DSS, leaving $12.3
million to fund the program at the
municipal level. No more than 50 percent
of the funds can go directly to anyone
municipality, although this does not include
funds channeled to nonprofit groups within
the municipality.
Funds ~ i l l be appropriated from the state
treasury and general fund into a homeless
housirtg and assistance fund to be
distributed by DSS.
No more than 25 percent of the amount
13
awarded to a participant can be used for ad-
ministrative costs.
One group that has already submitted a
proposal to the state outlining plans for
rehabilitating 1200 units of city-owned, tax-
foreclosed housing is the Coalition on the
Homeless.
In related homeless news, Searles
reported that the 14 groups, originally
designated to receive funding from the '
s t a t ~ s $2 million direct allocation category
of the Special Needs Grant, have been
reapproved. Also, the three nonprofit
groups participating in the $2 million
municipal match part of this total $4
million special grant were reapproved. This
included the 300-block of the West l39th
Street Block Association for two rooming
houses, the St. Francis Residence II for the
Homeless, and the Washington Heights,
West Harlem Inwood Coalition proposal
for the Hudson Hotel .
All these contracts, administered under
DHCR, not DSS, as is planned for the new
homeless plan, were held up with the
political changeover at DHCR from Carey's
Commissioner Richard Berman to Cuomo's
new head-Yvonne Scruggs-Leftwich. The
latter had asked for time to review these Vl
contracts in order to see that the proposed
recipients were qualified and their pro-
posals, valid.OS.B.
:;
o
..J
I;;
Z
'" w
First Grants are Made to Partnership
T
HE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
has given approval to preliminary
plans submitted by a "partnership" of the city
and some of the world's most powerful
banks, corporations, and trade unions and
awarded $4.87 million as a first phase grant
to assist in the construction of 325 middle
income homes on five sites.
Using the federal Urban Development
Action Grant program, the New York Hous-
ing Partnership Development
Corporation-a spin-off from banker David
Rockefeller's New York Partnership-has
applied to HUD for a total of$52.5 million
to write down the cost of 5,000 homes over
a five-year period.
If approved, this will be the largest UDAG
ever granted by the Department of Housing
and Urban Development.
Of the first five sites to be developed, two
are in Brooklyn, two in the Bronx, and one
in Staten Island.
Also contributing to this first phase of
development are Chemical Bank with $17.67
million and Manufacturers Hanover,
$87,750. New York City's share is about $1
million, in addition to the price tag of $500
each it will charge for each structure on city-
owned sites.
According to city housing officials, the
lion's share of this first grant money - about
$4.1 million - will go towards bailing out the
ailing Section 235 housing on the Marcus
Garvey urban renewal site in the
Brownsville section of Brooklyn where the
cost of the proposed m town houses is be-
ing driven up by additional construction
costs for rebuilding sewers, streets, and
sidewalks in this urban wasteland that was
leveled 15 years ago. (See "New York's Part-
nership Selects Its Sites," April , 1983.)
By using the UDAG to underwrite costs,
the project, will be revived, and the Section
235, low-interest mortgage subsidy will also
be saved.
A smaller amount-$540,000-will serve
to underwrite the construction of 18 two-
family homes in Windsor Terrace in
Southwestern Brooklyn.
The remainder of the grant money will go
towards developing home models for the
other three sites.
In the Bronx, these two sites are Morris
Banker Da,'id Rockefeller
Park in the northeast section near the
Westchester line and Soundview, near Com-
monwealth Avenue. The plans call for 16 at-
tached, three-family houses with a total of
48 units, and 21 two-family homes, totaling
42 dwelling units, respectively.
At the one site on Staten Island - Eibs
Pond in the Community Board #1 area, the
board had originally been concerned that the
Partnership's proposal for 160 attached,
three-story town houses would be too dense
and too high given the available open space.
But , according to George Doyle, who serves
as chairman of the Fox Hill-Park Hill area
where this site is located, the board is
satisfied after meeting with the Partnership
that attractive, affordable housing is being
offered.
Residents of this area were first suppor-
ting plans for 130 more inexpensive models
because of the density question and their in-
c o m ~ constraints. The Partnership has now
promised to use the UDAG subsidy to bring
down housing costs. Hence, a three-
bedroom house that would cost $108,000 and
require a minimum $45,000 income without
the UDAG subsidy will come in at $68,000
and call for a $33,()()() income with the
UDAG write-down.
14
At this time, the Partnership is only plan-
ning housing in its home ownership program
that makes use of the UDAG support. This
means that the income level for a family of
four qualifying for this housing under the
grant will range from $26,000 to $38,000.
The income needed for the same-sized fami-
ly to carry the expenses of the same hous-
ing without the UDAG would range between
$42,000 and $50,000.
The Partnership'S plans have not met with
the same favorable response in other parts
oftown where sites are being referred to the
local community boards for disposition via
the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.
The Partnership had hoped to submit
some of these alternative sites for the next
UDAG funding round in July.
In Manhattan, in the case of two parcels
of land - Douglass Circle 1 and 2 - on the
Upper West Side and in West Harlem, the
two community boards - #7 and #10- have
sent a joint letter to Herbert Sturz, chairman
of the City Planning Commission, calling
the notice "not in the spirit of ULURP." In
particular, they charge, none of the regular,
necessary information needed, and usual-
ly required to make a sound land use deci-
sion,have been provided.
Among the questions the boards seek
answers to are the kind of housing to be
built, how developers will be chosen, the ex-
istence of commercial space and the
availability ofUDAG assistance. The boards
also seek to understand the role of the Par-
nership in the project.
Both boards also demanded that the
Harlem Urban Development Corporation's
involvment in these sites be spelled out.
A state agency whose parent organization
is the Urban Development Corporation,
HUDC had originally been designated by
the city's housing department to develop the
smaller, less attractive site on the northern
side of Douglass Circle in the Board #10
area, known also as the Gateway to Harlem.
The other site - in Board #7's area - ten
years ago was scheduled to house 340 units
of low income housing, but the funding
never materialized during the Nixon hous-
ing freeze.
Most recently, however, the Partnership
has informally approached the Manhattan
Valley Development Corporation, a local,
nonprofit organization involved in housing
development in the area, and the Morn-
ingside Renewal Council, the city-approved
Project Area Committee that nominally
controls this urban renewal site, regarding
development possiblilities.
But, according to Ethel Sheffer, chairman
of Board #7, her board has never had a for-
mal meeting with the Partnership to discuss
the development of this site. Board #10, on
the other hand, she pointed out, has had
several informational sessions with the
representatives from both the Partnership
and HUDe.
Stressing that the Board #7 does not want
to "hold up progress," asserted,
all, we've been very eager to develop
this site for 20 years but not at the expense
of our principles."
Board #7 is on record favoring MVDC as
the sole developer for the site with express-
ed plans to build low and moderate income
housing.
Rockefeller Family Role
On the other hand, Gene Norman, ex-
ecutive vice president of HUDC, recently
told City Limits that his organization was in
the process of working out a memorandum
of understanding with the Partnership detail-
ing its role in the development of both sites.
Commenting on the Partnership'S role in
bringing more sites into its development
schemes, Cathy Wylde, ice president in
charge of housing, said,"What we're doing,
if we have the opportunity, is to discuss our
program and involve as many [community
boards] as we can. But, if there is resistance
to our program, we are pulling it out."
Asked about Boards #7 and #10's refusal
to comply with the terms of the ULURP
notice from city planning on the grounds
that it is defective, Wylde said, "We are put-
ting together a meeting to answer these
questions."
Queried about HUDC's role in the mat-
ter, she added, "We're working with them.
We work cooperatively with whoever is
there. But we haven't structured what we're
doing with them."
She also said that a great deal of adverse
and confusing publicity was emanating from
the Harlem community regarding the rela-
tionship between the Partnership, HUDC,
and another arm of the Rockefeller
42nd Street Sale Looming
T
HE EMBATTLED TENANTS OF
three buildings on West 42nd Street
may enter a new phase of their struggle to
hold on to their homes if a planned mortgage
foreclosure sale on the buildings takes place
as scheduled this month.
Brooklyn developer Henry A. Roth has
quietly moved in state Supreme Court to sell
off the defaulted mortgage held by his Tenth
Avenue Development Corporation. Over
$1.7 million is now owed on the mortgage.
Title to the buildings is held by convicted ar-
sonist Joseph Bald. The purchaser of the
mortgage will consolidate ownership of the
property, and some tenants of the buildings
believe Roth himself is a likely purchaser.
Roth was recently removed by the city from
two subsidized renovation projects follow-
ing findings of harassment against him at the
buildings at 500-506 West 42nd Street.
Roth, who was one of four along with
Bald and two others found guilty of harass-
ment and fined by the city's Department of
Rent Control (see "Harassment Fines for
42nd St. Owners;' February 1983) has
sought in court to overturn the findings
against him.
Roth named Joseph Neumann, a partner,
to step in for him on the Section 8 rehabilita-
tion projects from which he was barred. The
city's development department has been
troubled, however, by the apparent identity
of interests between Roth and Neumann.
Also, an investigation by the Building
Department's inspector general into a
mysteriously issued demolition permit that
was used to illegally demolish two other ad-
jacent buildings at the southwest corner of
42nd Street and Tenth Avenue has determin-
ed that issuance of the permit was "a
mistake." The buildings demolished were
also owned by Bald's Third Avenue Manage-
ment Corp, No other charges have been
levied since the November incident.
The demolition, as well as the current
foreclosure sale, highlights the continued
high stakes being played to gain develop-
ment control of the valuable property iD
Mid-Manhattan's West Side.
Real estate observers of the land boom in
Clinton maintain that this corner will be
pivotal in this area's future as
it is a choice candidate, with proper zoniD.g
variances, for selling lucrative air rights.
15
empire-the Rockefeller Brothers Fund-
"which has nothing to do with us." The lat-
ter in mid-April proposed a grant of
$225,000 that was subsequently approved by
HUDC's board to fund a special liaison bet-
ween the Partnership and HUDe.
According to published reports, this
liaison-Jerry Davenport , a former
Rockefeller staffer with 17 years' experience
serving the family-would serve in this
$58,OOO-a-year post taking on the task of
"identification of private financing for the
redevelopment of Harlem," in the words of
HUDC chief Donald Cogsville.
Meanwhile, at a public hearing April 19
on the proposed ULURP for Site 2 in the
Seward Park urban renewal area which is
advocated by the Partnership, the Housing
Committee of Community Board #3 on the
Lower East Side voted overwhelmingly to
reject this proposal on the grounds that not
enough information regarding its develop-
ment was being provided.
"They tried to emphasize the number of
responsible people involved with the Part-
nership, but they couldn't answer our ques-
tions. They really had nothing to say to us,"
said Lisa Kaplan, a board member.OS.B.
They also have noted that its value increases
as fewer buildings are left standing and fewer
tenants, particularly ones cover.ed by rent
control , are in residence.OS.B.
, ,
New York City's New Landlord
Joseph Shu/diller
J
OSEPH SHULDINER, a ten year veteran of the city
housing depanment, was appointed in January to take over
the management of the city's tax-foreclosed residential proper-
ties: That real estate domain is the largest in New lVrk, com-
prising both the city's most neglected and difficult to maintain
housing as well as some of its potentially most valuable. It also
represents, sometimes to the city's chagrin, the single biggest
resource for iow income housing.
Under Shuldiner's direction as Deputy Commissioner for Pro-
perty Management are /0,000 occupied units in community,
tenant or private management tlwt are working their way towards
sale, most as low income housing co-ops. There are also some
25,000 apartments which his property management office directly
manages, for which the future is wholly unclear. In addition ,
there are 6,000 vacant buildings which are slated for disposi-
tion via a number of routesincluding open auction. There is
also a steady inflow of more properties as landlord abandon-
ment continues.
To get an idea of his concerns and priorities, City Limits in-
terviewed Shuldiner last month. Following are excerpts from that
talk.
16
City Limits: How are you different from other people who have
served in this position before?
Shuldiner: Neither of my two predecessors actually had hous-
ing backgrounds before they got the job which is an advantage
I do have and I guess everybody has their own style. I feel that
I'm more familiar with housing and more familiar with this
specific housing as well, not just housing in general. For exam-
ple, the buildings we worked with in 7-A are the same or very
similar to the buildings that will go into DAMP. So I feel a
familiarity with the buildings and the kind of problems they have.
I also know the people. Prior to reorganization, prior to June
of '78, what was then the alternative management programs was
part of what is now the Division of Evaluation and Compliance.
People like Joan Wallstein, Bob Moncrief, Dom Catania, they
all were part of the same division. So that's an advantage in that
we all worked together before. It makes the transition a lot easier
for me, I'm not an outsider.
CL: Do you think there is a different perspective brought about
by working with the housing to prevent foreclosure, to work with
the private side. Now the private side is gone, and you're left
w i ~ just the housing. Does that change your perspective?
Shuldiner: I like to believe that with the other job our real in-
terest was in providing services for the tenants. Whether you
do it by trying to help the owner stay and survive, or you do it
by providing the services, it's pretty much the same thing. It's'
basically understanding housing and the need of the tenants and
the financing. The difference here is you actually have the
buildings. To some degree this is a better job because you ac-
tually have more control, you can effect change. You can get
concrete results.
CL: So actually you don't see a real difference between the work
you were doing before?
Shuldiner: This is a lot bigger ... more money . . . more
buildings, more of everything ... The overall housing problems
are the same and from whatever perspective you are dealing with
them, you are dealing with the same problems. The other thing
is, my biggest initial problem, is determining what the role of
a deputy commissioner should be. As an assistant commissioner,
I had more line responsibilities for the programs.
CL: Since 1978 when the fast vesting law started, there have
been a substantial number of buildings that did not get into any
of the DAMP programs that are still there. There are about
25,000 occupied units. Are you starting to look at what this means
for the long term responsibility of your department? What are
your options?
plementation. That's for two purposes; one, to make sure that
every program had selection criteria, procedures and second,
to be able to review them, to see that there's basic similarity
in policy on our programs.
CL: When you asked for them, were they there?
Shuldiner: Well, it doesn't really matter - they were provid-
ed. If they didn't exist at the time that I asked they were thereafter
written so that I got them. I haven't had the time to go through
everything in detail and to sit down with the assistant commis-
sioners and to discuss where the procedures might be lacking,
or where they may not reflect the actual goal of the program.
So those are things that have to happen over time. The other
thing of course that we are looking at, is long term manage-
ment. This Brooklyn vesting is very large, we project 1,181 more
occupied mUltiple dwellings, 535 one and two family houses,
8,051 occupied units and 1,313 vacant buildings. If owners redeem
at a heavier rate or a lowered rate it will of course affect the
numbers.
This, followed by a very small Queens and Staten Island
vesting will be our second sweep through every borough since
the law was changed. If these numbers are still there when we
go through them a third time, I think there will probably have
to be some kind of rethinking of OPM. We have between DAMP
and DPM and this Brooklyn vesting almost 5,000 occupied
buildings. Maybe 6,500 - 7,000 vacant buildings. No matter how
accelerated our sales policy might be it wiJl take us ten to fifteen
years to sell all those buildings. So long term management is
a reality we have to consider. Whether we are interested in it
or not. I have already asked [Assistant Commissioners] Bob
[Moncrief] and Terry [Krueger] before him and Joan [Wallstein]
to consider what programs might be most appropriate for long
term management.
Now there is actual disagreement over that. Terry Krueger
believed very strongly that central management was the cheapest
program, and could do the best job. Joan of course feels that some
studies show that TIL or possibly an extension, or a different direc-
tion, in community management, might be better. Community
management is right now very heavily rehabilitation-oriented so
that the groups have few buildings. We would consider the
possibility of having them playa more management role. Thats
one of the options. I have lots of questions, but no answers.
Everybody sitting at the table has loads of questions ...
CL: Some people would say those questions took a long time
getting there.
Shuldiner: OPM should not become a rival of the Housing
Authority. That 's not what it was designed to do and we don't have
the advantage of their housing stock: They have newer better
buildings, huge buildings where they can have economy of scale.
Shuldiner: When I first saw the organizational chart for OPM, One of the things that really makes us nervous about the Brooklyn
I asked myself what I was getting into. Everything is so large vesting is that the average building is about six units. ~ o s t of the
that all you can really do is try to set priorities and respond on buildings are threes and fours to balance out the 20's and 30's.
a daily basis one thing at a time. The first thing I did after I Managing threes and fours presents a big problem. If a manager
got here was to ask all the assistant commissioners to have their is supposed to have 250 units and you give them 250 units in threes
program directors send me a copy of all written procedures and and fours it means the person has to manage 60-70 buildings which
guidelines and criteria for program selection and program im- is impossible. We've avoided it in the ones and twos by going to
raw Hon
. 1$. of Mardl31, 1983
&> ..... '_ ., " _,' ,, '\ , JJ? " :;;t
:jp84
m. -
.. 5,95fi,
:, .....
(BUildi nits) +
3.b!13i,l70 "'(25.866 occ.)
Jltivate Ownership
D 44/1;601" ooc.)
Homesteading: 15/125 (under constrUction)
;t.;: @
Total DAMP:
a lot of net leasing. That's not as useful in the threes and fours.
There's just too much of a problem if you lease to one of the two
or three tenants and he or she doesn't give services it's very em-
barrassing. We would probably not do that.
CL: Is the financing for OPM secure?
Shuldiner: Fortunately, the timing is such that at least central
management is perhaps the number one priority for the city in
terms of CD monies. One of the things I've been trying to stress
is to take a policeman off the street is terrible, but you have to
do that before you don't give fuel to a building. Among horrible
tradeoffs, we are the owner ofthe building we have to service it.
I don't advocate selling our buildings but from a moral standpoint
I would prefer to sell the buildings than to run them poorly. I'm
only a housing person, not a philosopher . . .
CL: The office will go through with the Brooklyn vesting on time?
Shuldiner: Yes, delay is no benefit, it's a di'Sadvantage. Unless
you're talking about an entire year.To get the buildings later in
the summer just means you have less time to prepare them for
the winter. . .
CL: What would a year's delay mean for you?
Shuldiner: Well, in central management the average expenditure
is $1,561 a unit so it would save us $12 million.
CL: But when you were at Evaluation and Compliance, many of
the same buildings you dealt with were caught in that limbo.
Shuldiner: Okay, I don't advocate not vesting. The other agen-
cies say you have to vest because vesting is the only enforcement
we have for real estate tax collection. If we have no enforcement
mechanism other people might stop paying. That's not my interest.
Yeah, I want the city to be fiscally healthy, but I'm not so over-
whelmed by the need to enforce this law. But on the other hand,
I know from my experience before, by not taking the buildings
we are really leaving the tenants out there hanging .
CL: There's a cost to that too, right?
Shuldiner: There's a cost to that long term. ERP spent $13 million
a year which you could say is comparable, but that $13 million
wasn't spent on only l,tOO buildings. They've done work in over
60,000 buildings. So it's a little different. I think the thing that
would concern me is the suffering of the tenants ... expecting to
be taken. They've organized around it - whatever their budgets
are, they've tried to make it this far until we come in, and it would
be sad if we couldn't take.
CL: While you're waiting for these evaluations,what's going to
happen with those buildings waiting to come into the pipeline.
Particularly TIL.
Shuldiner: I would like to be able to avoid these problems by hav-
ing clear criteria for TIL. Any building that qualifies gets In.
CL: Do you have that criteria now?
Shuldiner: There are criteria that have been submitted to me. I'm
not going to say that they are criteria that I'm comfortable with
or that I'm convinced that we follow those criteria in every case.
That's the whole purpose of having criteria. Once you have the
criteria that you are comfortable with, and you impose them
uniformly, then even in an area like Clinton,there will be buildings
that will get in there and there will be others that don't.
18
CL: What's the future of community management?
Shuldiner: On the eve of its tenth anniversary I wouldn't suggest
that it was less than a perfect program. I would not single com-
munity management out for anything. It's just natural I would want
to review all programs. Especially a program which spends as
much money as community management. I also may have some
preconceived notions just from my original experience with com-
munity management, but I would perfer not to discuss that unless
I discussed it with the groups, and the people running it. Com-
munity management is always a struggle to get them the budget
they need, but we are looking to get it to them.
Should there be new directions in community management?
Maybe so, maybe in terms of what we've been talking about. If
OPM itself needs new directions, then I would assume that would
be passed on to all programs.
CL: Speci fically, are groups being permitted to take in new units
when they buy? One Clinton group has been told they cannot.
Shuldiner: The question really is if you're talking about units for
rehabilitation then it's a budgetary decision. I'm not sure that deci-
sions reflecting Clinton reflect program wide decisions. Clinton
is Clinton, hopefully that won't be the situation and everything will
be uniform across the board. But I wouldn't necessarily think that
something that happened in Clinton represented a citywide policy.
From either side, by the way.
1
CL: But that's where the $250 policy found its sharpest point and
that's where the battle was fought. That is where the real estate
market is increasing, and that's where you have a high number
of bUildings.
Shuldiner: I don't have any reason to expect that if they qualify
they would not go into TIL ... That' s the thing in terms of com-
ing here, I have to do two things at once. I have to deal with the
uniformity of policy and I have to deal with individual problems
that already existed.
CL: The shadow question behind that is the potential real estate
value of the land and the buildings. It might not just be Clinton.
Shuldiner: Okay, but I'm hopeful that whatever went on with the
Board of Estimate, with the $250 and the restrictions, would get
us beyond that . I hope that was one issue that was somewhat
resolved before I got here. That the policy will enable us to get
over that.
CL: And the criteria which you will be promulgating at sometime
in the near future would be applied uniformly to those areas as
well as to others?
Shuldiner: Right. Once again, every area might have specific
target areas for something else, there are always development
plans. But in general, buildings in TIL should be sold to the TIL
people if they're interested. We have a policy as to how the price
is set.
CL: There were some 1,600 buildings consolidated - closed
down - at the end of the last fiscal year. There is now a suit con-
testing the criteria for consolidation. It seems like a funny business
for a housing agency to be in.
Shuldiner: I think the major thrust of the suit in the Bronx is the
tenants' [contention] that consolidation is the equivalent of disposi-
tion of property and that therefore have to go through a quasi-
ULURP before we can consolidate. I think that's a little extreme.
We are certainly internally considering giving more notice to
tenants and boards.
Xes, consolidation is not what one would consider in terms of
housing preservation Nobody would question
consolidating buildings which really are in poor shape and are
a hazard to the tenants. The building department vacates because
the building is structurally unsound. The rest of consolidation real-
ly has to do with our budgetary realities. I do think we should
give tenants an opportunity to come back to us with a plan. If cost
is what the problem is, then they should be given an opportunity
to find alternative financing.
I also think that if there wasn't so much fear among the people,
if we were able to provide good housing in the neighborhood,
tenants wouldn't reject consolidation so much.
We also have to deal with the homeless, the people in hotels.
Since these are not necessarily permanent tenants they are not
brought up to permanent standards. Also, we don't have off the
street rentals anymore. That's how bad the problem is. HRA said
they were completely overwhelmed with requests and they didn't
want us renting off the street, when we could give them the apart-
Repairing parapelll"olls all a communi/) managemenl program bllilding a/ 212 Wesl I08lh SI. in Manhallan Valley.
19
ment to deal with their clientele. At this point we rent either to
consolidation tenants, HRA or to other special programs we've
made commitments to like child abuse or the witness pro-
gram or something like that . The homeless issue is a big one.
To some degree just not doing off the street rentals and just do-
ing it through HRA doesn't really address the problem because
even if we rent to the homeless, the people who we are not ren-
ting to, who we would have rented to otherwise, will be next year's
homeless. For me there's no distinction between the homeless and
the not-as-yet homeless, or soon-to-be homeless. The key is pro-
viding more housing for low income tenants. If there was more
housing there would be less homeless.
CL: Have you complied with the order in the Laureano vs Koch
case and promulgated regulations?
Shuldiner: It was ordered that we have a procedure. We have,
in fact, a procedure. I don't know that we have in fact issued any
regulations. Basically, the court wanted to see that the tenants had
a chance to challenge the statistics which we were using for
rent restructuring. That has been We have not
restructured any buildings since that decision, so we have not yet
implemented the procedure, but ir"s there ... The Laureano deci-
sion doesn't disturb me. It's probably right. I don't see a problem
with giving tenants an opportunity to challenge our figures.
CL: Many buildings sold as low income co-ops going into after-
sales, expect to have Section 8 assistance, some are two years
behind . ..
Shuldiner: That has been a problem. Fortunately in our examina-
tion of the problem, it has not yet been as serious as we had
thought. We looked at all the buildings that had been sold. We
found that only Z7 buildings had shortfalls of more than five per-
cent [in their rent roll] due to the Section 8 not having come
through. Those Z7 buildings are going to be our priority in terms
of processing. Obviously, you have to speed up processing and
we are discussing that with development, I'm hopeful that to the
extent there are Section 8 certificates we can process them more
quickly.
CL: Will you be able to provide the Section 8 certificates that are
not being promised to buildings that are soon to be sold?
Shuldiner: I think we should be able to provide Section 8 as
needed buildings already sold. I don't know that anyone can
IS the future of Section 8. We're hopeful that we will get
slgmfrcant numbers [of units] through this year. I don't know what
to say about next year. The need is very great. 1;0 me, thars the
number one problem in housing - people's inability to pay the
rent that's necessary to carry a building. Who subsidizes the dif-
ference? as it may sound, the voucher system may help
DAM: bUlldlOgs - for non-major rehabilitative buildings, it's
conceIvable that a voucher could be sufficient.
CL:.There's been a lot of criticism, much of it in City Limits. about
auctions ... One out of every two buyers close, of those who close,
less than 50 percent get a certificate of occupancy.
20
Shuldiner: We are obviously increasing the use of RFP's [Re-
quests for Proposals]. But RFP's are tremendously labor inten-
sive. You have to write the darn things, you have to read all the
proposals, and it's not enough to read them, you have to have them
evaluated for design and for financial proposals. We already have
5,000 vacant buildings .. . If there was ever any hope of selling
a lot of [them] you can't do it all through RFP.
The first round of dollar buildings was basically all not-fur-profit
so it could just be community groups ... We have that [problem]
all the time [with] urban homesteading . .. A group says 'We're
interested in urban homesteading, would you include it in an RFP?'
Once again, in terms of having things open and with strict criteria,
it sometimes hurts a group, but in the long run [an RFP is] better.
Normally, in the past, a group would come in and say 'We're a
good group, here's our letter from the community board and we
have these churches backing us, we want to do this building, let
us in.' And we would say, 'Okay, go in and we'll try and help you
out.'
Realistically, that's not the way things should be done. Our policy
is everything is done by open RFP. Maybe there's another group
just as good that would be interested in that building if they knew
it was available and knew what we were prepared to do to help
them. I think that's a good policy and once it becomes clear that's
our policy we won't have problems and it makes sense. General-
lyon auctions, I think what you say is true, there are definitely
situations where people lose their money or they don't really
understand the costs at auction. There are several ways we are
looking to address it. One of the things we are considering is ask-
ing for a larger deposit. Now that would preclude people who are
less financially able so that at least the people who are going into
this have the resources to see it through. On the other hand, one
might argue that that might cut out poorer people. The other thing
is determining a situation in which we would return the money.
There could be certain amount of time in which we would return
the deposit and the money. That would also be something in the
RFP as well I believe.
The about not doing the work is ... you're looking at
the harm It does to the prospective purchaser, we also look at the
harm it does when the building doesn't get developed when we
thought it would. It isn't providing housing, the building continues
to decline. We have been negotiating with corporation counsel
to get the ability to foreclose on these ourselves. Those are the
two alternatives: you either let people get in, knowing that they
are and are going to have problems, or you set a
which keep the people who don't have the adequate
out. 10 which case we are discriminating against com-
mUOlty people and poor people. You have to have clear criteria
and then stick by it. You try to come in somewhere in the middle. 0
The South Bronx's
Troubled New Homes
First-time homebuyers are just beginning to move into
their piece of "the American dream"- in the the South
Bronx. But a few blocks west of the Bronx Zoo, two new
settlements are racially divided. Was an opportunity
missed by South Bronx planner Ed Logue to bring two
divided communities closer together?
, .---" .j

i
By Julia MacDonnell Chang
M
ASTER BUILDER EDWARD 1. WGUE, WHO of homeownership. To accomplish this, Logue had to overcome
pledged to rebuild the South Bronx through his significant financing obstacles and set the projects in the ground
multi-million dollar South Bronx Development one step ahead of Reagan's budget axe.
Organization, offered dwellers what he But in planning its two northernmost sites, just west of the Bronx
calls "a piece of the American dream" by including four Zoo, Logue's much-lauded development scheme faltered. There,
developments of subsidized single family homes in his grand Logue redrew neighborhood boundaries between Italian Belmont
scheme for revitalization. and black and Hispanic Crotona, thus reinforcing existing racial
These sold-out developments of brick-fronted townhouses, barriers. Moreover, when some black and Hispanic homebuyers
located in some of the most devastated regions of the borough , in Crotona became anxious about significant design changes in
gave 250 first-time homebuyers what is likely their only chance their homes, Logue's office said it was powerless.
Logue, in interviews, conceded the so-called Section 235 pro-
jects are poorly integrated. But he attributed the apparent segrega-
tion to the South Bronx's reputation as blighted and dangerous.
The demographics of each development, he said, reflect the
demographics of the surrounding area.
But at the Quarry Road site, nestled just below East 182nd
Street, Belmont's southern border, uncontrollable demographics
appear to have little to do with the project's racial composition.
There, Logue annexed a barren, trash-strewn four-block sec-
tion of the racially mixed Crotona neighborhood which had once
held a populace of whites, blacks and Hispanics, and gave con-
trol of it to a group of sponsors from Belmont's Italian-American
community with direct ties to the Bronx Democratic machine.
Thirty-four of the homebuyers are white. Eight are Hispanic.
"I gave Quarry Road to Belmont, and I make no apologies to
you or anybody else for i t , ~ said Logue when questioned about
the site. "Our primary goal is stabilization. [The development]
will stabilize Belmont."
Yet Logue's own 1980 South Bronx Revitalization Program refers
to Belmont as the Little Italy of the Bronx, "a cohesive communi-
ty ... with very little abandonment ... and therefore, little room
for new construction .. :'
A chief beneficiary of Logue's planning is lawyer Paul Victor,
law chairman of the Bronx Democratic Party and parliamentarian
of its executive committee. Victor, a former Belmont resident who
now has homes in Westchester and City Island, founded and now
serves as counsel to Fordham Save Our Neighborhood, the chief
community sponsor of the Quarry Road homes. The group is a
Financing the South Bronx
Homeownership Project
The Section 235 single family homes being developed
by the South Bronx Development Organization will pro-
vide 250 homes at $51,000 apiece. A $3.7 million Ur-
ban Development Action Grant was made especially
available to Logue's development unit to reduce the sell-
ing cost of each home by $14,500. Chemical Bank has
made a mortgage commitment of $18 million.
The federal government's Section 235 program, which
has been defunded by the Reagan Administration, pro-
vides a mortgage interest subsidy that reduces the market
rate charged by the banks of approximately 121h percent
to an affordable four to six percent depending upon the
buyer's income. The buyers must pay at least 20 percent
of their adjusted monthly income and no more than 35
percent for the mortgage payments.
Income ranges in New York City are from a maximum
$21,750 for one person, $31,000 for a family of four, and
up to $38,900 for eight or more. The buyers also receive
a Section 421-B tax abatement from the city which ex-
empts them from their first two years of real estate taxes
and reduces the tax for the next six years.O
CITY LIMITS/May 1983 22
small association of Belmont businessmen. At the same time,
Victor doubles as attorney for the builders of both the Quarry Road
development and the troubled near-by Crotona-Mapes site,
Quarry Crotona Homes, Inc., whose principals are Abram Shnay
and Sol and Allan Arker.
Directing Fordham Save Our Neighborhood and coordinating
the Quarry Road development is Joe Cicciu who headed Logue's
Section 235 effort at SBoo before leaving, just as the homes were
being sold, to take a $30,000 a year post at Fordham S.o.N. Cicciu
is a member of Community Board #6 and is currently a school
board candidate as well.
Logue termed as "nonsense" suggestions that political alliances
played any role in the selection of Fordham S.O.N. as sponsor.
"Call [Bronx County Democratic leader Stanley] Friedman and
ask him what he ever got out of Ed Logue," he said. "He'll pro-
bably snarl and hang up."
To achieve the mostly white makeup of the Quarry Road site,
Logue's office submitted ethnic data to HUD on only those cen-
sus tracts from the southern side of Quarry Road, a largely black
and Hispanic area. Based on those figures, SBDO said in its
federally mandated Affirmative Fair Marketing Plan that whites
were the group least likely to apply. Its marketing strategy was
based on that calculation.
But in the census tract immediately north of the site, whites
make up 76 percent of the population and blacks seven percent.
The East 187th Street marketing office for the homes is in another
northern tract where whites are 79 percent ofthe population and
blacks three percent. And census maps show that whites are an
overwhelming majority throughout Belmont, an area larger than
that submitted in the SBDO plan.
Estelle Guzik, director of Fair Housing and Equal Opportuni-
ty for HUD's New York Regional office, said she approved SBoo's
plan because "based on the data I had, whites were the least like-
ly to apply."
In a subsequent interview, Guzik described Belmont as a "small
pocket" of whites totally surrounded by minorities. It would have
made no difference" she said, if SBDO had submitted the north-
ern census tracts.
Logue said he did not know what census tracts had been used.
He conceded that whites "were more likely to apply" at Quarry
Road than in the other Section 235 developments, but insisted they
were nonetheless "the least likely" of all racial groups.
Cicciu defended the development's marketing plan on the
grounds that it was HUD-approved. "We must have hit things right
on target," he said, "because they approved us the first time around.
We didn't have to change a thing."
To carry out the marketing of the homes, Catherine Macri, a
City Island resident and Paul Victor's sister, was hired as sales
representative. She was hired because of her fluency in three Italian
dialects, said Cicciu ,who is also fluent in Italian.
In payment for marketing the homes, Cicciu said $1,000 per
home was available from the builder. However, both he and Victor
declined to detail the amount paid to themselves, Macri or
Fordham S.O.N.
A new/ami/." in residence at Crorona-Mapes Secrion 235 sire: Maria, Gregory and Dororhy (and child) Rodriguez.
Redividing the Neighborhoods
Q
UARRY ROAD HAS BEEN THE CENTER OF
difficulties for nearly two decades. As part of a long
discarded Urban Renewal Plan, more than 400 families, who in-
cluded Italians, Jews, Haitians and Dominicans, were forcibly
evicted from homes there to make way for a hospital that was never
built .
Its neat rows of single family homes, its well-tended apartment
buildings were gradually demolished throughout the 1960s. The
last recalcitrant residents fled in 1969 as repeated fires struck the
remaining homes.
Plans for the hospital were quickly scrapped. Then, garbage
trucks pulled in to dump their loads. The city's Sanitation Depart-
ment has used the area as an interim dump site ever since.
"It ruined the neighborhood,n said Frances M. FuseUi, who for
19 years lived across from the site at 611 East 182nd Street. Her
sentiment was repeated in conversations with many longtime
residents.
Fuselli , 28, has been an organizer with the Crotona Community
Coalition for the past eight years. Her most vivid childhood
memories, she said, include the demolitions, the fires and the
friends and relatives who fled one step ahead of them.
"There had been no deterioration," she said. ''After that,
everything fell apart. People were afraid and sold their homes.
The landlords stopped caring.n
St. Martin of Tours R.C. church on East 182nd Street im-
mediately spearheaded a campaign for new housing - no sur-
prise since the Quarry Road residents had been its parishioners.
The nascent Crotona Community Coalition soon joined the
struggle. "We had to get housing there to bring the neighborhood
back together," said Astin Jacobo, the unpaid vice president of the
coalition.
A committee of Crotona residents, including Jacobo, Fuselli
. and St. Martin's pastor, the Rev. John Plo, suffered a frustrating
series of defeats. Several Section 8 proposals were defeated. Plo's
bid to have Belmont co-sponsor housing on the site - an effort
to create an integrated development - was rejected by Belmont.
The Crotona group believed a racially mixed development would
help ease the area's sharp racial tensions which they said
culminated in 1971 when racial incidents occurred throughout the
neighborhood. Since that time the black residents now living on
the blocks south of 182nd Street say they have accommodated
themselves to the situation. They say they keep their children out
of Belmont's playgrounds, and do not venture into Belmont after
dark.
23
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The Development Sites
Morrisania - Community sponsor: East 163rd
Street Improvement Council. 80 homes. East
169th Street and Tinton Avenue. Buyers are 60
percent black and 40 percent Hispanic. Under
construction.
Tiffany-Fox - Hunts Point section. Community
sponsor: Father Louis Gigante's South East Bronx
Community Organization (SEBCO). 24 homes.
Buyers are 95 percent Hispanic and five percent
black. Occupied.
Crotona-Mapes - Sponsor: New Crotona Hous-
ing Redevelopment Corp. 109 homes. Buyers are
63 percent black, 35 percent Hispanic and two
percent white. Three are occupied, 106 are under
construction.
Quarry Road - Sponsor: Fordham Save Our
Neighborhood. 42 homes. Buyers are 81 percent
white, 19 percent Hispanic. Construction to begin
in May.
But , by 1979, when the group learned that Logue intended to
build private homes on the site, it was ecstatic.
Their joy was short lived. Logue announced the homes would
go to Belmont.
"It happened from night til morning," said Jacobo. "We woke
up and the land was gone. No negotiations, no nothing. We had
fought for so long and in one moment, they took over."
Logue, however, offered the group this irresistible prize: 109
homes to be built on small scattered sites along Prospect, Mapes
and Clinton Avenues between 180th and 182nd streets."
"We felt he was buying us off, but the point was to get hous-
ing," said Fuselli. "It didn't matter where it was."
It was not until late January, as the first homes neared comple-
tion, that construction changes, SBDO's indifference to them and
Cicciu's apparent dual role aroused the old angers.
T
HE QUARRY ROAD SITE, WHERE 42 HOMES AND
an athletic field are to be built, sits at the mouth of Arthur
Avenue, Belmont's bustling commercial strip. It is in easy walk-
ing distance of some of the borough's finest shops and restaurants.
Fordham S.O.N.'s commercial revitalization entity - the
Arthur-Belmont Local Development Corp. - just won a $200,000
Community Development grant. Liz Marrinan of the city's Public
Development Corp., said the money is to be used to "create a mall-
type environment" along 186th Street between Arthur and Hughes
Avenues and to rebate shopkeepers who upgrade their storefronts
$1 for each $3 they spend.
Last year, a group of Belmont merchants won $500,000 in Com-
mumty Development funds to renovate the Arthur Avenue Retail
Market.
Daniel Garcia . er%na-Mapes homebuyer.
By giving Quarry Road to Belmont , Logue helped the econom-
ically strong and politically powerful community colonize a vital
tract from poorer, weaker Crotona. The traditional boundary be-
tween the neighborhoods, meandering East 182nd Street, has been
pushed two irregular blocks south to East 181st Street. Quarry
Road's three and-a-half acre soccer-baseball field, to be built with
$331,000 in Community Development money, will provide a buf-
fer between Belmont and the black and Hispanic neighborhood
beyond it.
Yet, Logue says the Crotona community has nothing to com-
plain about in all of this. "They have a project," he said, "and it's
a hell of a lot bigger.
"You have to understand," he added, "Quarry Road was part of
Belmont before the city tore those houses down. It was a white
Italian community."

Homes Without Stoops
A
ROW OF RED BRICK-FRONT TOWNHOUSES BEGAN
to rise from the rubble of Prospect Avenue in January. To
the home buyers - they'd each put down $2,500 cash - the houses
seemed like a miracle, filling that bleak landscape with what one
called "downtown Park Avenue-type houses."
The buyers took an immediate proprietary interest. They'd stop
by before or after work just to monitor the progress.
Within weeks the buyers noticed something terribly wrong: The
houses being built were not the houses they believed they had
bought.
These had no stoops or front stairs. Instead of aluminum siding
in back, these had gray cinderblock. Instead of four-inch concrete
blocks between units, these seemed to have only sheetrock. The
gas cables and meter, closeted in the model. appeared here as an
unwanted embellishment beside the front door.
24
"These changes were so obvious," said Loretta Southerland, a
buyer, "It made us wonder what the hell was going on inside where
we couldn't see anything."
At the same time, three buyers moved into the models and com-
plained of sporadic heat, flooding, rats, broken windows and the
failure of either SBDO or the builder to respond to their
complaints.
Meanwhile the builders announced that hidden rock formations
were stymying construction. One-third of the buyers could lose
their basements, they said.
Plo's newly created organization, the New Crotona Housing
Redevelopment Corporation, was to receive $500 per house upon
closing as its sponsoring fee. New Crotona, in turn, was to pay
Fuselli $100 per home for her role as sales representative.
Furious about the changes, Plo and Fuselli vowed to stall clos-
ing until the buyers were satisfied.
One frigid night in February, anxious buyers met with Plo and
Fuselli in the basement of St. Martin's. "I'm under the impres-
sion that because (builder Allan Arker) is dealing with blacks and
Hispanics, he thinks he can throw up any kind of junk," said
Raymond Campbell who lives in one of the models.
Plo reiterated that theme and blamed SBDO for its failure to
monitor construction. Cicciu, then in his final weeks at SBDO,
said the builder had the right to make many construction changes.
He described SBDO as "powerless."
"As long as Arker is within the law, our hands are tied," he said.
SBDO's apparent lack of concern galvanized the buyers. Within
the week, the Crotona Mapes Homeowners Steering Committee
had formed and its members - buyers of the first 33 homes -
voted unanimously not to close until the homes met their
standards.
During many long, heated meetings in February and March,
the buyers, with help from Barry K. Mallin, Emily Simon and
Fred Brewington of the Community Development Legal Assis-
tance Center, drew up a list of 30 major concerns. They met with
Rep. Robert Garcia and other elected officials and advised
Attorney General Robert Abrams of their plight.
Two interwined themes emerged during the buyers' meetings:
the belief that they were receiving an inferior product because they
were viewed as poor and/or uneducated minorities with no polit-
i c a clout ; the belief that Quarry Road shared no such problems
because of its powerful sponsors and Cicciu's ties to them.
Logue said the perception that Cicciu had arranged a better
package for Quarry Road was "inevitable." He insisted it was
nothing more than an empty perception. The Quarry Road home,
he said, would be identical to that of Crotona-Mapes. Logue at-
tributed the difficulties at Crotona-Mapes to a "lack of com-
munication" between builder and buyers rather than any construc-
tion problems.
As for the changes noticed by the buyers, Logue said some, like
the reinforced steel dividing walls between units, were improve-
Plents made to cut the time of construction but not any costs. Some,
like the stoops, have been put back on the homes, he said.
The builders, Logue pointed out, are working against a deadline.
If all the Section 235 homes are not closed by November 30, the
UDAGs will be lost. Without the UDAGs, he said, nobody could
afford the homes.
Now, Fuselli and Plo believe the homes will be sound and com-
fortable because of the well-organized demands of the buyers. But
LorellO Southerland. erotona-Mapes homebuyer.
the buyers are taking no chances. Southerland said the steering
committee has hired an engineer to perform an inspection. The
decision about closing will be made after he reports on his
findings.
"The trust is gone," she said. "There are little things you can
start to look at and say, 'Yeah, this is segregation.' But I prefer to
be optimistic."
Estelle Guzik of HUD said no complaints have been filed by
minorities in connection with applications for housing at Quarry
Road.
And Cicciu maintains the homes were marketed in strict ac-
cordance with HUD regulations. He said he personally manned
the East 187th Street marketing office with Catherine Macri.
But blacks in Crotona say the homes were sold before they even
knew where the marketing office was or when it was open.
"I never saw any signs on that site," said one who lives across
the street. 'i\nd I was looking. How can people apply when they
are told nothing?"
Says Astin Jacobo: "Blacks did not have the opportunity to buy
there because everything was kept secret. When people found out
and went, it was 'Sorry. All sold out.' We have been tricked. And
that was a big insult, a big discrimination."
In an interview at his East 149th Street office, Logue reiterated
an oft-stated theory - that the devastation of the South Bronx
resulted from the loss in one decade of thousands of middle class
white families. Logue theorized that the families, who "had a toe
up on the economic ladder;' left in search of private homes with
backyards, their own small piece of turf.
25
"They weren't fleeing blacks and Puerto Ricans," he said. "They
were following the American dream."
The Quarry Road houses, he said, will give them that dream
right in the heart of the city. "Belmont is good for the South Bronx,"
he said, "and this will help stabilize it."
Logue cut short the interview to meet Rep. Robert Garcia for
lunch at Mario's on Arthur Avenue.
'i\rthur Avenue is wonderful," he said as he prepared to leave.
"You just walk down it and you feel better ... To say those people
should continue to retreat is crazy . . :'0
Julia MacDonnell Chang is a freeLance writer who lives in the
Bronx.
Mitchell Lama Housing
Who's WatchiDg the
WaitiDg Lists?
By Simon Lerner and Susan Baldwin
S
PURRED ON BY NUMEROUS COMPLAINTS FROM
city residents seeking housing and an indepth investiga-
tion of housing department files revealing serious record-
keeping lapses, the Mitchell-Lama Subcommittee of the state
Assembly will conduct special public hearings early in June
to begin its own probe into this system's defective, and in
many cases, missing, waiting lists.
Under regulations governing Mitchell-Lama housing, these
complexes, are required to maintain chronological, up-to-date
waiting lists at both the project site offices and the special ci-
ty supervisory unit headed by Assistant Commissioner Ruth
Lerner at the Department of Housing Preservation and
Development.
Built primarily in the 1960s and 1970s for moderate and
middle income persons, these housing complexes were
financed with low-interest, government-insured mortgages.
At the public hearings, subcommittee members will invite
comment from the public as well as from government and
project officials and owners. In addition to gathering informa-
tion regarding the waiting lists, this group, headed by
Assemblyman Eliot Engel, Democrat-Liberal of Co-op City
in the Bronx, will listen to other complaints, including un-
warranted rent increases without public hearings and other
unfair or possibly illegal charges.
In September and October, 1982, prompted by complaints
from its membership and disgruntled apartment seekers, the
Middle Income Residents Association, an organization of
both renters and co-op apartment owners of Mitchell-Lama
housing, examined the city's waiting list files at HPD's 100
Gold Street office and found that 42 percent of the sample
group had no list or an out-of-date list filed before 1979.
M.I.R.A. is a citywide coalition of primarily moderate and
middle income Mitchell-Lama renters.
The test survey included an analysis of records from 84 of
the total 156 Mitchell-Lama projects supervised by HPD. It
did not involve examination of any records for the 117
Mitchell-Lama projects that are located in New York City but
supervised directly by the state Division of Housing and
Community Renewal .
Early in March, 1983, M.I.R.A. sent a copy of its final
report, complaining about the condition of the files and
waiting lists to HPD. David Riegler, an assistant in HPD's
housing supervision unit, said that requests for updated lists
had gone out to about 36 delinquent projects after HPD
received M.I.R.A.'s report .
Problems at YorkviUe Project
One of the six complexes that did return a waiting list was
Ruppert-Yorkville. Managed by 1.1. Sopher, the city's largest
rental agency, this 1,200-unit middle income development is
located on the upper East Side on the urban renewal site that
once was home to the old Ruppert Brewery.
Originally, Sopher was allowed to charge a commission fee
of 15 percent to prospective apartment dwellers because, ac-
cording to the management office, it had problems attracting
potential renters. This problem no longer exists at the nine-
year-old complex where rent for a two-bedroom apartment
begins at $1 ,300 a month.
Although it could not be confirmed by telephone, several
persons who inquired into the availability of the housing at
the site office reported being told that a minimum annual in-
come to be eligible for a one-bedroom apartment was
$36,000.
Even though this site office claimed to have a list that was
two-and-one-half to three years old,efforts to get it , in-
cluding by staff members in Assemblyman Pete Grannis's of-
fice, had proved fruitless.
But, following several meetings with the assemblyman and
his staff, a compromise agreement for renting and a waiting
list materialized.
Head of the Assembly's Housing Committee, Grannis, a
Democrat-Liberal, represents this district in Albany.
In the past, M.I.R.A.'s research found prospective renters
had given their names at the satellite office and never heard
from management regarding the availability of apartments nor
confirmation of their placement on the waiting list . But those
who had gone to Sopher's main office in the East 60s and had
routinely paid the 15 percent commission fee had reportedly
received apartment assignments anywhere from several weeks
to a few months later.
In one documented case, where the applicant asked for
anonymity, the fee was paid .;il a Friday afternoon, and the
apartment was assigned two days later.
Under the Grannis-negotiated compromise, the complex is
to maintain an on-site waiting list, and when an apartment
becomes available, it is to be offered to the first five
applicants on the list. If they refuse within two days, the
apartment is then to be referred to Sopher's main office where
it can be rented to an applicant who will be charged the 15
percent fee.
Prior to the list's arrival at HPD, a call to the main office of
Long Island developer Fred DeMatteis whose organization
built Ruppert-Yorkville elicited an angry response from his
administrative assistant -Tony Vaccarello, the city's former
sanitation commissioner. He refused to discuss any of the
allegations against the complex and claimed to be offended by
the questioning. have a list," he said. It is absolutely in
compliance ... Just ask to be put on the list."
His response to the 15 percent commission fee was, "I don't
like discussions over the phone. Put it in writing. This is not
the proper place."
Ruppert-Yorkville also has rented out six corporate leases to
Chase Manhattan Bank and does not collect rental surcharges
for over-income residents, as required by state law. In addi-
tion, a large portion of its commercial space remained
unrented since 1974.
Robert Woolis, a long-time Mitchell-Lama resident and te-
nant leader, said, "This does not surprise me. Ruppert-
Yorkville operates like it is not regulated by any public agen-
cy; and, on the other hand, HPD operates like it does not
have any regulatory function ... This is why we need the
public hearings. I know for a fact that apartments are being
sold under the table. You know the super, the renting agent.
Apartments get sold. Various people get bought off, and if
there's a waiting list , no one audits it. But one thing is sure,
HPD knows what's going on."
Citywide Coalition to be Formed
More than 200 Mitchell-Lama residents, meeting at Col-
umbia University April 16, went on record supporting the for-
mation of a citywide Mitchell-Lama coalition that would use
its political strength to force the city and state into recogniz-
ing tenant leadership in resolving conflicts at the various
complexes.
Among many things, this organizing group, composed
primarily of Mitchell-Lama projects in Congressman Charles
Rangel's district, is looking into the possibility of creating a
tenant watchdog office that would have a full-time, paid
director, and a small staff and budget.
Alluding to the detrimental effects that the unsupervised
Mitchell-Lama complexes have on surrounding housing, one
conference participant, Estella Vasquez, said, "I live between
East 95th and 96th Street in East Harlem. I just live in a
tenement, but when those rent increases take place up there,
the rents in these other buildings go up. Then there's displac-
ment and gentrification ... I'm just a victim of Ruppert-
Yorkville."O
Simon Lerner is a student in the political science department
of (he CUNY graduate center.
27
TENANT ORGANIZER
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Please send resume to:
HC.C.
777 Tenth Ave.
New York, NY 10019
Or, call Rose at 541-5996.
-Equal Opportunity Employer-
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Ui>sr Harlem Communiry Organi::tJrion: (Front) Jacqueline fuson. Anira Knox. Olerhia SCOf{. (Back) Gaylen Kirkland. Margarer
McNeill. Darlene McNeill. Mell'in Frazier. Rurh Brown. Srephanie Farleron. Jacqueline Logue. Leo Fif{.
I
T WAS ALMOST 6 PM ON A BLEAK,
dusky Thursday evening in the cramped
and cluttered storefront office at 226 West
116th Street in West Harlem. Leo Fitt had
just arrived at his second job, the one he
does for free and with so much conviction.
Full of energy and enthusiasm, he round-
ed up several tired office workers to go on
a building inspection tour. Armed with his
own carefully detailed blueprint for
----- rehabilitation plans in the city-owned
building where he has lived for the past 34
years, he could be overheard, saying, "I
think you'll really like this. It should work,
and I think it will l a s t . ~
As he rushed past a visitor being regal-
ed by an uncompromising account of all the
unpleasant details in a nightmarish hous-
By Susan Baldwin
ing development tale, Fitt looked up and,
interrupting this monologue, said matter-
of-faclly, "That is a disaster, plain and sim-
ple. It would never have happened if we
were in charge. if it was our work. But we
had no choice in the developer. The city
said take this or forget any development
plans."
His remarks were reinforced by the pro-
ject's housing manager-Olethia Scott.
"That's right," she chimed in. "They didn't
miss a corner, that is, in cutting corners."
Leo Fitt, an architect himself, is chair-
man 01 the West Harlem Community
Organization. A nonprofit, community-
based organization founded in the
mid-1960s to fight Columbia University's
expansionist plans to encroach on this
28
neighborhood, West Harlem serves as the
community manager of some 600 units of
low and moderate income housing along a
narrow strip on the Harlem side of Morn-
ingside Park. About 15 blocks long and
several blocks wide, this territory runs
from llOth to 125th Streets between Mor-
ningside and Eighth Avenues, and at several
places, over to Seventh Avenue.
Fitt's once grand, 36-unit building at 353
West Il7th Street is one of 14 that West
Harlem supervises under the city's decade-
old community management program.
What makes 353 - and Fitt - unique
is that this building carried on a five-month
rent strike against the city's housing depart-
ment and its local managing agent - West
Harlem Community Organization; Leo Fitt
was the main protagonist. The plot was
simple. The tenants paid no rent from Ju-
ly, 1982, until the city, having removed
their old coal burner, finally installed a new
boiler sometime during the week before
Christmas.
In addition to serving as head of West
Harlem's board of directors for the past
eight years, Fitt is president of his
building's tenants association and a com-
munity activist who has witnessed and
fought against Harlem's decline.
Recalling the events that led up to the
rent strike, Fitt said, "It was kind of hard
to do, really awkward for me, going to
court and withholding our rent all that time,
but we had to do it, not because we didn't
want to pay rent, but because the city wasn't
providing services. Three, four, five
weeks," he continued, "these guys didn't feel
like working to restore the boiler. There
was no hot water, no steam. We have a
number of elderly, sick people. We took the
bull by the horns and made a statement.
The judge listened to the whole ordeal and
awarded us two-and-one-half months' rent
abatement. And we took it."
Fitt sees no conflict between his role as
West Harlem's chairman and tenant leader. .
"We're doing the best we can at West
Harlem with what we've got," he said, ad-
ding, "We've come a long way since our in-
ception, and it isn't easy providing hous-
ing for people, being the community
landlord.
"But in times like this one with the rent
strike, even when it involves your own
board," he went on, "you have to do what
is right. We had no other choice but to
strike. The organization knows that. It was
caught in a real bad place - between the
tenants and the city."
Community Landlords
Margaret McNeill, one of the group's
founding members and its executive direc-
tor, refers to this strike and her organiza-
tion's loss of two-and-one-half months' rent
as symbolic of why West Harlem tries to
steer clear of the city and its contract bid-
ding procedure whenever it can. But she
is quick to add ," I still don't see us as be-
ing landlords in the traditional sense
because we're on the tenants' side. I see us
more as community landlords working
with tenants."
On a higher plateau, she sees West
Harlem, in its management and now in its
development capacity, as securing sound
housing for the neighborhood residents
while stemming the tide of urban blight in
the only way it knows how. She also
perceives its current policies as insurance
against displacement when the much-
rumored, and feared, gentrification of
Harlem finally takes off.
There is no doubt that West Harlem dif-
fers dramatically from other community
groups around town that are devoted almost
exclusively to tenant organizing. These
groups won't manage property for the city,
much less participate in the city's owner-
ship programs. They reject outright the
role of community landlord.
"As we look to the future, I see us getting
more and more into this management role,
especially through the 7-A buildings we keep
taking in, and maybe even from having more
of a financial share in any future housing
development," said Joan Jones, deputy
director of administration and finance.
"I see this as a way for West Harlem to sur-
vive without government subsidy. But I
never realized how much time and effort
goes into providing housing at the communi-
ty level. But someone has to do it, and that's
us," she added.
West Harlem's largest government con-
tract is the $1.2 million it receives in Com-
munity Development funds from the city's
Department of Housing Preservation and
Development to manage and rehabilitate 261
units of the city's tax-foreclosed housing
stock.
"This employs the majority of our staff,
but we could survive without this contract,"
said Thelia Brooks, director of the group's
community management program. "Our
impact would not be as great, and we cer-
tainly wouldn't have the funds to do the
necessary repairs and rehabilitation in the
buildings and apartments."
A refugee from 12 years' experience in
private industry, Brooks first came to work
here as a CETA worker, then as a tenant
relations specialist, before she assumed her
current position.
According to Brooks, the key to good
housing, in addition to offering a solid repair
and rehabilitation program, is building
strong tenants associations. "We encourage
them to get formed, to hold monthly
meetings," she said, adding, "I, for one, try
to give the tenants the idea that we're really
trying to serve them - work with them, not
against them. I think it's understood that
we're not just here to collect rents. I feel
worthwhile doing what I'm doing, and I
29
think it's clear that I wouldn't want anyone
to live someplace I wouldn't live myself."
Brooks moved here from her native Staten
Island in 1974 and enjoys being an active
Harlem community resident. "I really feel
like I belong here," she says of her adopted
neighborhood .
Although West Harlem's rent collection
rate has been extremely high recently - 98
percent, Brooks says she does not force
tenants to pay rents without services. She
went so fur as to say that she tells tenants it's
all right not to pay rent until the repairs are
done. In addition, although she does not in-
itiate rent abatements (they are seen as taboo
by HPD), Brooks honors them if a formal
stipulation is hammered out between the te-
nant and the group's attorney.
When West Harlem first came together,
it never envisioned itself as a housing
manager. Rather, it saw itself as the main
Harlem force - fighting Columbia Univer-
sity's urban renewal plan. Had it been im-
plemented, this expansionist plan would
have resulted in the demolition of76 percent
ofthis residential area to make way for col-
lege dormitories and warehouses.
Recalling the early days almost 20 years
ago, Leo Fitt said, "The most important
thing we ever did was fight that gymnasium
in the park. If we hadn't stuck to our guns
and organized this community, they woui<i
have had everything, and we would be no
where. There would be no West Harlem
today."
. In the mid-1960s, radical Columbia
students joined with community activists in
the three neighborhoods abutting Morn-
ingside Park to oppose the gym construc-
tion and force Columbia to abandon its ur-
ban "removal" plan which would have
resulted in the demolition of most of the ex-
isting housing that West Harlem is now
managing, rehabilitating, and even buying.
To fight back, West Harlem developed an
alternative to the Columbia plan that was
unique for its time in that it called for
rehabilitation, not demolition, of the ex-
isting housing 'stock without massive
displacement of the community. The plan,
developed with the help of the Architects
Renewal Committee in Harlem (ARCH)
was accepted but never implemented by the
city. But following several days of lengthy
hearings before the Board of Estimate when
many articulate community advocates spoke
persuasively against Columbia's expansion,
West Harlem gained recognition as a viable
community group. And by 1968, it received
its first funding - $72,000 from the Ford
Foundation which gave Columbia $10
million to study ways to improve its com-
munity relations.
West Harlem at this time went from being
an all-volunteer organization to one with a
small paid staff of eight, with a complement
of volunteers. In the summer, 1965, it also
promoted a federally funded Headstart pro-
gram for working mothers, which is still in
existence and now boasts 72 pupils and a
paid staff of 14. In addition, it ran a day care
program with city monies from 1968 until
1975 when, responding to the fiscal crisis,
the city phased it out.
Learning Experiences
Throughout these early years, West
Harlem organized rent strikes, held even-
ing and weekend housing clinics, helped
found block associations, and sponsored
block parties. Joining with groups it met
during the Columbia struggle, it also began
its monumental fight to open up the
celebrated Morningside Park, designed by
Frederick Law Olmstead, to community
use. The matter of the park, its redesign and
use, is still being debated.
West Harlem was also,after a great
deal of lobbying, appointed administrator
for three buildings during these early
years. Following a successful picketing
effort, a local bank - Washington
Heights Federal Savings Bank - gave
the group its first building - 310 West
113th Street - and, hence, helped steer
it in the direction of community manage-
ment. The relationship with the building
was short-lived as the tenants turned on
West Harlem when they realized they
were going to be required to pay rent.
According to McNeill, this was a pain-
ful learning experience, but it did serve
to reinforce the notion that buildings, in
order to survive, needed rent rolls large
enough to cover expenses. "The problem
here with this building," McNyill recall-
ed, "was that the tenants wanted a
landlord who had money to come in and
subsidize them."
In 1971, West Harlem became formally
involved in the city's receivership pro-
gram under the tutelage of the late Bob
Schur, who as an assistant commissioner
at the then Housing Development Ad-
ministration, developed the concept of
community groups managing troubled
housing. Unfortunately, the groups never
held on to the property very long as,
when it became city-owned through tax
foreclosure, the city did not have a
mechanism, like the current $250-a-unit
sales policy, to sell the buildings to com-
munity groups.
From the early 1970s until 1978 when
it suddenly received two large funding
contracts - one from the Campaign for
Human Development and the other,
CETA VI, from the federal Department
of Employment, West Harlem establish-
ed its base in Harlem. It even attempted
to work with Columbia University as
well as the other institutions and com-
munity groups in Morningside Heights
and Manhattan Valley. They all, in turn,
joined together to i m p r o v ~ neighborhood
relations and establish development
priorities through the creation of the
Morningside Renewal Council, an ad-
visory Project Area Committee set up by
the city to monitor plans for the local ur-
ban renewal area.
Also, in 1978, Galen Kirkland, current-
ly deputy director of housing, joined the
staff following graduation from law
school. A volunteer from the old days,
Kirkland had grown up in the Hamilton
Heights section which abuts West
Harlem on the Upper West Side and
worked with West Harlem as a volunteer
with ARCH. He was drawn back to the
community after two years' service in a
midtown law firm.
Kirkland is presently responsible for
negotiating the group's contracts with
developers' contractors and subcontrac-
tors and has represented it in its efforts
. to participate in federally subsidized
housing development under the now
defunct substantial Section 8 program.
But the problem, as Kirkland sees it, is
the disappearance of this federal subsidy
recourse. He is now looking into other
low-cost ways to provide affordable
housing rehabilitation. To explore all the
possibilities, West Harlem has teamed up
with the Harlem chapter of the Urban
Development Corporation - Harlem
UD.e.-and is considering some other
innovative development packages.

Last year, under Olethia "Lea Scott ,
West Harlem selected 108 tenant families
from 2,250 applications for its long-
awaited housing in a five-building
30
substantially rehabilitated complex
known as Morningside I. It is located at
the corner of Morningside Avenue and
West 116th Street, right across from rock
outcroppings in Morningside Park and a
short distance from Columbia's presi-
dent's house.
It is here that the general contractor-
Metropolitan Construction Company-
did the shoddy work that includes
uneven floors, paper-thin walls, and
poorly secured public areas and outside
doors. It's just cheap and a mess;' said
Scott, adding that the contractors also
stole or wrecked beautiful old wrought
iron gates and trim, globes, marble
pillars, and balconies that were original-
ly supposed to continue to adorn the
buildings. The group is hoping at the up-
coming closing to negotiate a settlement
with Metropolitan to cover substantial
expenses this complex expects to incur to
correct Metropolitan's poor work.
Housing manager for the past five
years, Scott was formerly a tenant
organizer. A resident 'of Morningside
Heights, she worked in the past in hous-
ing relocation efforts in her
neighborhood and on the west side after
Lincoln Center was built.
The group's other federally subsidized
housing development project-the
86-unit Paul Robeson Houses now under
construction at the corner of West l20th
Street and Seventh Avenue-is scheduled
to be completed and occupied by this
time next year. .
In other developments, West Harlem,
which boasts some 60 paid employees, has
been awarded a $115,000 economic develop-
ment grant to rev itaIize the commercial strip
between Seventh and Eighth Avenues on
West 116th Street and holds a community
consultant contract with the city to counsel
private landlords on the availability of city
subsidy programs.
Last year also represented another
management challenge for West Harlem. In
addition to buying two more rehabilitated
buildings from the community management
program, West Harlem assumed control of
four other buildings. These were formerly
run under the now defunct management in
partnership program (MIPP) by another
Harlem community group - STRESS, Inc .
- learning to manage the property under
the "big brother" stewardship of an arm -
STITCH - of Jerome Belson's management
empire.
STRESS's former director, Elizabeth
Lemon, is currently serving as the on-site
manager of three of these buildings located
between West l20th and 121st Street at Mor-
ningside Avenue. West Harlem is currently
trying to set up prenegotiation sessions bet-
ween the tenants and the city to sell them to
the current residents as low income
cooperatives for $250 each.
Conceding that she is anxious about the
effect of any future gentrification and
displacement on this neighborhood ,
Margaret McNeill says her long range bat-
tleplan involves fighting back primarily
through pushing the concept of cooperative
conversions for this area. "We hope we can
establish some kind of
ship and get as much of this housing as we
can under the control of West Harlem," she
said.
Reflecting on her group's evolution to its
present role in the community, McNeill con-
cluded, "It bothers me that we're not directly
involved in organizing anymore, particular-
ly since we started out as a tenant organiz-
ing group. We're trying to move more and
more into management and development. I
guess we've lost that [organizing] touch
because we've had to concentrate" on the
other two, "she added, stressing that she
would still like to involve more buildings in
the restorative housing process by bringing
them into the 7-A program.
Still, she asserts without hesitation that
the group has not lost sight of its earliest
31
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Melvin Frazier, Superintendent at
20-23 Morningside Avenue,
a WHCO-managed ' building.
goals, that it has not deviated from its
original priorities and principles.
Chairman Fitt mainly w'ishes that West
Harlem could exercise more control over the
quality of work in its city contracts and part-
nerships with outside developers.
"If they continue to cut corners and use
the cheapest of materials," he said, "all that
will happen is that this work, no matter how
costly, will just give out and have to be replac-
ed in a very short period of time ... It would
make sense to institute some standards and
enforce them." In the long run, he explain-
ed, this will mean better housing for the
people of West Harlem. It would also be
"cheaper and more satisfying for all con-
cerned .. . It would be around fur awhile,"
Fitt concluded. 0
B _______________ _
West Harlem's Margaret McNeill
The Lessons of 114th St.
I
N THE EARLY 1960'S, MARGARET
McNeill, whose quiet but deliberate
manner has been guiding the West Harlem
Community Organization for the past 20
years, lived on West 114th Street between
Eighth and Manhattan Avenues. She was, by
her own description, a housewife with seven
children, active along with her sister with
some civil rights work, but largely uncon-
nected to matters in her immediate
neighborhood. A direct threat to"her own
home, however, changed that.
"Someone slipped a postcard under my
door," she recalls. "It said we were about to
lose our homes and called on everyone ~ o
come to a meeting at the Church of the Mas-
ter."
The meeting, like dozens more she attend-
ed over the next few years, was to confront
the urban renewal scheme then being
readied for the community. Called the Mor-
ningside General Renewal Plan, it aimed at
making way for the expansion of Columbia
University, just to their west. "The plan call-
ed for 76 percent of the buildings between
llOth Street and 123rd Street to be demolish-
ed. In place of the neighborhood's many ag-
ing but sound apartment buildings, the Uni-
versity would construct faculty housing and
dormitories.
That first meeting convinced her that the
threat was real and couldn't be ignored if she
wanted to remain in her home. Along with
groups just forming in the Manhattan Valley
area to Columbia's south and in the Morn-
ingside Heights area just over the park
which was to form a later battleground, she
joined the struggle against the institution's
plans. .
That organizing led to the eventual defeat
of the plan and Columbia was forced to back
off. But there was a noticeable effect on the
buildings within her area. With no clear pic-
ture of what would happen in the
neighborhood, services declined and many
landlords left. McNeill's own apartment
building was on rent strike when the first of
two fires in two days occurred. "The second
fire happened when I wasn't at home. It got
too far out of control. Tenants saw two men
going to the top floor. The fire started in the
upper hallway. They came down and sat on
the stoop until the fire was discovered.
These were the same men who had been
around the house the day before. The
firemen said it was arson, but this was not
put in the report. I lost everything I had. I
had seven kids and a husband and no home
all of a sudden. We were sent to a Manhat-
tan hotel and given one room with two beds.
"Fortunately I had relations who could
come and take the kids. And friends in the
neighborhood helped me find an
apartment."

The nascent West Harlem Community
Organization focused on providing manage-
ment and organizing assistance for tenants.
"Our main thing;' McNeill says, "was to
organize the tenants and to get a 7A (ad-
ministrator) appointed."
There were no easy victories. Housing in
West Harlem was in a downward spiral as
increasing numbers of landlords walked
away from their buildings, many, as in
McNeill's apartment housing, taking a last
fire insurance payment with them.
The buildings that now make up the
WHCO's Morningside I Section 8 rehabil-
itation project started out as tenanted
buildings in need of help which the group
strove to provide. While the group's
volunteers ,were helping to organize the
tenants, suspicious fires "took down" each
of the buildings. It took another ten years of
planning to put the rehab funds together to
bring the buildings back into the hands of
housing needy local families.
Slowly, she says, she began to understand
how the city runs. Former New York
Secretary of State Basil Paterson was then
a community lawyer and McNeill cites him
as a major influence on her during the strug-
gle to resist Columbia's plans. The early
days of the battle with Columbia were a
combination of learning some political
32
Margaret McNeill
ropeS and straight out confrontation. In the
aftermath of a major city hearing over the
renewal plan, all West Harlem was incens-
ed after hearing Columbia officials describe
them as a neighborhood of "transients."
McNeill, and other mothers who were part
of the WHCO, brought their children to the
office of Columbia president Grayson Kirk,
accompanied by a New York Times
reporter, and demanded to see him. Told
they could not, they allowed their kids the
run of the plush office, to the consternation
of staff, guards and officials. Soon after,
Kirk issued a public apology to the people
of Harlem.

Her organizing experiences did not make
her intI? a firebreathing advocate, at least not
outwardly. She has instead quietly pursued
the consolidation of the neighborhood for
those who live there, using the strategies of
management aQd development. She has
served as president of the Association of
Neighborhood Housing Developers and as
chair of the citywide Community Manage-
ment Coalition. As a negotiator and com-
munity advocate,she has made a formidable
opponent to bureaucrats and politicians with
whom she has disagreed. Her agenda has
sometimes led to conflict with some within
the community as well as from outside. But
even these occasional opponents
acknowledge her straightforwardness and
determination.
"I' ve had so many frustrations,h she says,
"but I've grown a lot. I made some mistakes
but I've learned. 1 had no formal training and
I wasn't reall y an organizer. 1 was full of 'I
can't do it' because 1 didn't think 1 had the
qualities to do it."OT.R.
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At Home in the City - Photo and Print
Show: Vintage photos and historic prints
illustrate 200 years of New York's residen-
tial history at a two-part exhibition. Begin-
ning May 26, Part One of the exhibit at the
City University Graduate Center Mall, 33
W. 42nd St. , will display pictures of 19th
and 20th Century apartment houses and
housing projects. Part Two, at the
Municipal Art Society's Urban Center at
457 Madison Avenue at 51st St., focuses
on contemporary residential housing pro-
jects that are models for future dwellings.
Admission is free. Call (212) 935-3960 for
information. 0
Hispanic Housing Conference: The New
York Hispanic Housing Coalition will hold
its second annual conference June 2 and 3
at the Doral Inn, 49th Street at Lexington
Avenue, in Manhattan. The policy and
issues forum will be highlighted by presen-
tations from Assemblyman Pete Grannis,
Councilwoman Ruth Messinger, former
HUD undersecretary Victor Marrero, and
William Eimicke, deputy secretary to
Governor Cuomo. Special workshops at the
conference will be tax-exempt
and bond financing, fundamentals ofhous-
ing syndication, cooperative conversion
processing, and tenants' rights. For more in-
formation , cal1 Hector Pinero at (212)
460-095\.0
Basic Organizing Skills: Ecco, a network
of community organizers, is holding a six-
week series of classes to provide beginning
and brush-up skills to human service
workers. Classes include: Understanding
Power and Resources in the Community
(May 26); Glimpse into Grassroots Fund-
raising (June 2) ; Fundraising through
Grants (June 9); Media and Public Rela-
tions (June 16) ; Leadership and Groups
(June 23) ; Coalitions and Networking (June
30) . Classes are Thursdays, 4-6:30 p.m.
Cost is $25 for aU six, or $5 per session.
Call or write: T. Mizrahi - ECCO, Hunter
School of Social Work, 129 E. 79 St. , Rm.
509. NY, NY l002\. (212) 570-5064, 5037.
EL BOHIO 605 E9th ST.
NOT FOR SALE
Naf FOR SALE, A Project Against Displacement: Opens
Saturday, May 21st at El Bohio, community cultural center at 605 East 9th Street
and Avenue B. The art show, sponsored by Political Art Documentation/Distribution
(PADD) , includes a coUective exhibit on displacement by PADD members, over 50
individual works (paintings, sculpture, installations, photography) on housing and
the city. Come to the opening, Saturday, May 21st, 12 noon to 9 p.m. Show continues
to June 18 and will be open Thursday through Sunday, 12-6 p.m. For further infor-
mation call (212) 865-3076.
SRO Housing Management Hand-
book: A Portland, Oregon community-
based organization called the Burnside
Consortium, has published an operational
manual for the management of single-room
occupancy hotels. The handbook is aimed
at providing some of the necessary tools for
maintaining SRO's as low-cost housing. In
a hard-cover, looseleaf format , the hand-
book has chapters on Hotel Management ,
Rental Procedures, Defaults and Legal
Remedies, Maintenance and Accounting.
Handbook purchasers get annual updates
for two years. Send $25 in check to The
Burnside Consortium, 222 NW. Couch
St. , Portland, Oregon 97209. Allow four
weeks delivery. 0
33
Media Network's Jobs with Peace Sum-
mer: This summer, the Media Network,
media resource center for community
organizations, is launching an educational
campaign to inform people about the
destructive impact of military spending on
our neighborhoods, jobs and services. The
Network will set up film and discussion
programs around the city. Organizations
can sign up now to bring a program to their
meeting. Media Network can provide a
film, a resource person, and information
on options for action. If you want to spon-
sor a program or can help set up programs
around the city, call or write Media Net-
work, 208 W. 13th St. , NY, NY l00U, (212)
620-0877. 0
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9
Organizing for Conservation
T
HE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT,
in the languor of the Reagan regime,
has abandoned all obligations to finance
conservation and renewable resource pro-
grams. By 1984, fJ7 percent of the conser-
vation budget could have been quietly slic-
ed into oblivion. The private sector,
di splaying a profound free-market con-
tempt for investments that are profitable
primarily to the consumer, has responded
with heroic indifference to the task of shap-
ing a conservation market.
With the lack of leadership so apparent
on the main economic front, local govern-
ments and community groups have been
compelled to contrive a myriad of soft
paths.
Organizing over the issue has been
dampened by the fluctuating price of #2
fuel oil which heats 66 percent of residen-
tial homes in the metropolitan area. With
the prospects for a mass consumer move-
ment seizing the means of energy produc-
tion (or even distribution) about as likely
as Mayor Koch's moving to Albany, it might
be instructive to observe a few projects
elsewhere that have each prepared a light
repast rather than a fulJ meal .
By Richard Schrader
Fitchberg, Mass.
The Fitchberg Action to Conserve
Energy (FACE), a creature of the federal
anti-poverty agency, Action, and a coali-
tion of consumer groups in Fitchberg,
Massachusetts, launched an eight-week
program in 1980 with a goal to retrofit as
many homes as possible. Fitchberg is a
community of some 40,000 residents, the
vast majority of whom fall within a lower-
than-moderate income bracket. More than
three-quarters of the city's rickety housing
stock was built before 1939 while 40 per-
cent of the 14,000 units are heated with oil.
Back in those halcyon days when activists
assumed that energy self-reliance was the
springboard to participatory democracy
and decentralized mutual aid, FACE under-
took a campaign to expedite the installa-
tion of energy conservation measures
through education and organized outreach.
The principal activity of the group was
the organizing of training sessions for local
residents. FACE simply chose four
neighborhoods, distributed material in
churches, senior centers and schools and
utilized whatever media was available. The
pivotal figure for each workshop was a
34
local resident who gathered 20-25
neighbors together for a conservation par-
ty. During the two months that the project
lasted, some 3,000 residents attended train-
ing sessions and about 7,500 conservation
booklets were distributed. FACE unload-
ed 1,700 weatherization kits ranging in cost
from $15 to $30. Those were given free to
low income homeowners. According to a
survey of the program's impact, about 20
percent of the city's households participated
directly while 60 percent of the homes sav-
ed some fraction of energy cost due to the
program's exposure and use of the media.
Interestingly, more than one-third of the
households that winterized their homes
were renters, who did not pay separately
for heating fuel.
The success of the campaign rested on
the creation of a network of neighborhood
centers through which the program could
operate.
Minneapolis, Minn.
The Minneapolis Energy Office has em-
barked on an ambitious campaign to reach
every block in the city over a three-year
period. The MEO, using skillful communi-
ty organizing techniques, conducts com-
prehensive energy audits and offers
workshops to demonstrate conservation
techniques on a block-by-block basis.
Organizers identify a block leader for
each block, who is then trained in the pro-
gram. The block leader then holds a block
meeting. A block may participate if 50 per-
cent of its households sign up at the
meeting. Then several blocks combine to
attend a weekend workshop for several
hundred households at a nearby school or
community center. Each participant is
given a starter kit of caulking and block-
ing materials. A "house doctor" who per-
forms energy audits will visit the partici-
pant's home to assist in a partial audit that
includes inspection of the boiler/burner,
heat distribution system, walls, roof, and
any other corner where heat might escape.
By setting the very high requirement of
50 percent participation per block, the pro-
gram promotes the development of organiz-
ing "skills" in local activists to attract par-
ticipants while the staff of community
organizers uses classic techniques to iden-
tify leaders and rely on personal persua-
sion rather than leaflets or advertising to
pull people to the workshop.
A Community Energy Corporation
What would give these efforts the boost
they need is an independent community-
controlled source of financing for conser-
vation investment. A nonprofit Communi-
ty Energy Management Corporation
(CEMC) could issue tax-exempt revenue
bonds for conservation and renewable
resource projects in every neighborhood.
Initially, the CEMC's role could serve as
the focal point for a community-based
energy service business, providing energy
audits, energy information services, loans,
materials and installation of conservation
measures. The CEMC could also contract
major capital investments out with private
energy service corporations. Conceivably,
such an unusual structure could be equip-
ped with condemnation powers much like
public utility districts in Oregon or
Washington. Con Edison would of course,
be unamused. More immediately, the
CEMC might be modelled after state or
local economic development authorities,
coordinating federal and local government
energy financing subsidies and experimen-
ting with novel financing techniques. High
risk borrowers could have loans guaranteed
by CEMC or participate in loan transac-
tions whereby a portion of the interest
would be subsidized by a percentage of the
energy savings. A variety of existing
revenue streams, such as CDBG and
UDAG, could partially merge with the flex-
ible financing machinery of a CEMC,
which, in turn, could more readily leverage
significant amounts of private capital with
government assistance. Economic develop-
ment, always an elusive pursuit, might
become a more palatable policy when
coupled with such inelegant improvements
like storm windows,caulking, or generally
tightening the building envelope. Study
after study evaluating local conservation
programs consistently cites the job creation
capability of such investments. At last
glance, unemployment, driving inflation
out of the national psyche, had developed
a rather growing constituency. The political .
chemistry may be right for some public ac-
tion, at least on the local level.D
Richard Schrader is a regular contributor
on energy issues to City Limits and hosts
the program Power Politics on WBAI-FM.
Free Insurance Appraisal
Richards and Fenniman, Inc., specialists in insuring tenant and community
groups for over 10 years, is offering to the readers of City Limits a free insurance
appraisal of their building.
We know your needs, your requirements, and how to help you get insurance
financing. And most important, we can get you the best prices.
For a free insurance appraisal of your building and an evaluation of your current
insurance program call me:
Ingrid Kaminski, Account Executive, (212) 267-8080.
Richards and Fenniman, Inc.
156 William Street, New York, New York 10038
35
Outdueling the Speculators On the Upper East Side
Telllllll Jalle Fo.>S
By Rachel Sanchez
T
HE TWO APARTMENT
buildings on the northeast corner of
Second Avenue and East 92nd Street in
Manhattan are among the few remaining
moderate income homes in an area where
rents and property values are steadily in-
creasing. The two buildings are similar to
many other old and new law tenements
scattered around the neighborhood; many
ofthese have been vacated and are quickly
being renovated into luxury housing.
Since March, 1982, the owner of 1772
Second Avenue and 305 E. 92nd Street has
also been trying to empty them. But
through organizing and successful court ac-
tions, the tenants appear to be on the verge
of taking control. Their experience is one
example of how tenants can fight
displacement.
Offers to Move
Early last year, both 305 and 1772, which
contain 29 apartments, were sold by their
long-time family ownership for $575,000.
The buildings were then 90 percent oc-
cupied and were brought under the control
of the Harold Eskenazi Realty Corporation
Inc.
Richard Bie!, president of the 305 Tenant
Association, recalled that, "The first fe ...
days after Eskenazi took over, he broke our
front door lock, then he went around to all
of the tenants offering them $500-600 to
move out in 4 to 6 weeks claiming the
buildings were in a hazardous condition."
A few tenants took the money offered to
them and left , while others stayed, uncon-
vinced about the hazards. "I've been living
here for 14 years, ~ said Jane Foss, treasurer
of the 1772 Tenants Association, "and bet-
ween the two buildings, there are about 5
to 6 C major violations like falling plaster
and cracked windows, but there are most-
ly A and B violations, which doesn't make
the buildings uninhabitable."
According to tenants, when Eskenazi's
initial vacate attempt failed, he stopped pro-
viding heat and hot water. "Then the peo-
ple with children left ," said Jane Foss.
Thus, between the two buildings, only 15
tenants remained. Conditions worsened as
Eskenazi refused to fix the growing
problems.
Asked about these complaints, Eskenazi
claimed that all necessary repairs were
made. He added: "All these tenants want
to do is stay in a building and not pay."
But tenants said that besides not pro-
viding services, Eskenazi also hired a
super, from the neighborhood, whose main
job was to "break the plumbing and open
the windows in vacant apartments to freeze
the pipes," said Foss.
36
"Fortunately, we live in a tight knit com-
munity and after a tenant spoke to [the
super's] mother, who lives across the street,
he quit;' noted Mary Jane DeFroscia, a te-
nant in 305.
Tenants Organize
Angered by the continued lack of ser-
vices, the tenants contacted Metropolitan
Council on Housing and local Democratic
Assemblyman Pete Grannis's office. Both
advised the tenants to send a letter to the
landlord listing the violations and ask him
to a meeting to resolve the problems.
Tenants obtained the assistance of two at-
torneys, Gloria Bletter and Gene Prosnitz
from Met Council. When that meeting took
place in April of '82, Eric Lowenkron, a
tenant from 1772, remembered Eskenazi'
"came with a body guard, made several
threats and promised that he'd take every
tenant to court every day for the next year
until we ran out of legal fees."
Shortly after the meeting with Eskenazi,
tenants went on rent strike. With their rent
money in the bank, the tenants spent the
summer purchasing oil, cleaning and
repairing the boiler, and making other
necessary repairs.
When cold weather began, however, lugs
were placed on the boiler's timer causing
it to shut off regardless of the outside
temperature. In November, 1982, tenants
responded by filing an initial tenant action
against the landlord for not providing heat
and hot water. Foss said, "Fortunately, we
had a good judge, Judge Sparks, who told
Eskenazi, '1 don't want the blood of tenants
on my hands; and he told us, 'this guy
means business, get a 7A.''' A 7A is a court
appointed administrator who is supposed
to help make essential repairs and manage
the building.
7A Training
Foss called the Community Action Te-
nant Assistance unit (C.A.T.A.), a part of
the city housing agency which provides
technical assistance for processing a 7A.
C.A.T.A. conducted a cost analysis of the
buildings and determined each would need
$30,000 in repairs. "After C.A.T.A. inter-
viewed all of the tenants and told us we
were eligible for a 7A, I registered for the
city's 7A Management Training course,"
said Foss.
In January, 1983, this time before Judge
Harriet George, tenants again complained
of the illegal timing device and inadequate
heat. Eskenazi was fined $250 a day for not
providing heat and hot water and given 24
hours to Correct the condition. When he
failed to appear at the next hearing, a
$30,000 fine for contempt was added.
Asked about his failure to appear,
Eskenazi replied, that he was in the base-
ment of the building trying to repair the
boiler. "It's true I might not have been
where I should have been," he said, "but
if! didn't make the repairs the boiler would
have exploded."
Tenants expect Eskenazi to make the next
court date, however, both to appeal his fine
and for the hearing on Jane Foss's appoint-
ment as the 7A administrator for both
buildings. "We've got a good chance of win-
ning," said Foss. "City inspectors are
familiar with the buildings and Eskenazi
has a very weak case since he is in con-
tempt of court."
---
Should the 7A appointment come
through,it will probably eliminate the threat
tenants currently fear from other Eskenazi
legal tactics (see box). That move, they
believe, could mark their ultimate victory.
"We've remained in the building since
Eskenazi took over a year ago and we've
almost beat him," said Lowenkron. Mary
Jane DeFroscia said:"We've learned to stick
together and not be intimidated nor fooled
by the landlord's
Rachel Sanchez is a contributing writer for
the Clinton Community Press.
The landlord's Eviction loophole
I
N ADDITION TO OTHER
court actions involving 305 East
92nd Street and 1772 Second Avenue,
owner Harold Eskenazi has also filed to
evict the tenants based on a rarely used
section of the rent stabilization code.
Citing that rule, Eskenazi has claim-
ed that the cost of correcting those
building violations which interfere with
the life, health or safety of the tenants
would be greater than the building's
assessed value. Once vacated, the law
says, the buildings can be withdrawn
from the housing market, either through
demolition or conversion fur commer-
cial uses. Eskenazi's application,
however, is in a kind of legal limbo.
The rule that entitles such a landlord
application is Section 540-3 of the Rent
Stabilization Code. That rule, along
with six other subsections of the code
which give grounds for an owner to oust
his tenants, lost all of their statutory
basis when 23 words were inadvertent-
ly omitted from the state's 1982 co-op
conversion bill. A good deal of atten-
tion has focused on the loss of the
landlord's so-called "personal use" pro-
vision, which has been common
recourse fur owners wishing to take over
a tenant's apartment for themselves or
their family. The other provisions of the
code, however. have received no notice.
Although four days of hearings on
E kenazi's application took place last
October at the Concijiation and Appeals
Board. the rent stabilization system's en-
agency. it is only since then
.. d\lCial omission in the enabl-
ing legislation was discovered. In the
words of the CAB's assistant counsel.
Nathaniel Geller, "'1.ecImicalIy. as d this
moment, there ain' DO such law."
The agency is no looser accepting ap-
plications based on the now nonex.isteDt
statute. If, when the CAB sets around
to a ruling on the application, the
language has not been restored to the
law by state legislators, the board would
dismiss it, said Geller.
Tenant groups and some lawmakers
have been successfu1 thus tar in keep-
ing the law from being reinstated. They
seek to reform the rule as well as to link
it to the debBie over the entire
stabilization law which expires in June.
Eskenazi insists that his buiIdinp are
"hazatdous death traps," fur which
repairs wouId cost more than $300.000.
Tenants, however. have received
estimates ofbetween $30000 to $3s.ooo
in t'lecesSary repairs fur each of the
buildings. The renant5 COUI1IIIRd that the
buildings were detcrioraeed because of
the landlord's misJnaDa&ement and
abuse.
Although Section 541).3 says tile
build1ngs cannot be resold as housiilJ
once vacated, tenants from 305 and I17l
believe tbat Eskenazi would be able, to
get away with selling them to a
developer,
"It's unlikely that the.previous tenants
will file ifheJ1llJOld
the buiJdiags .u. --If _1ft! cl
around
said,
AccorditI&
37
never issued an opinion on the section
of the code under which Eskenazi has
applied, although he estimated that there
have been half a dozen applications.
Similar provisions for withdrawing
apartments from the rental market ex-
ist under the city's rent control code and
were not affected by the change in the
law. Eskenazi also filed before that agen-
cy as well to vacate the buildings. A
decision is pending.
Daniel Joy, the city's Deputy Com-
missioner for Rent and Housing
MaiDtenance, said his office had receiv-
ed a number of applications from
owners under the law and some had
been approved. "We use a simpJe test,"
said Joy. "1bose violations certified by
city agencies are matched against
reasonable cost estimates of repair. If
the cost is more than the assessed value,
the application is granted."
Anthony Morenzi, an aide to state
Assemblyman Pete Grannis who has
worIc:cd along with the tenants, said that
even before the CAB realized that the
statute was missing, it may have been
delaying its decision because of the
precedent-setting implications of a vote
either fur or against the owner.
Those sections of the rent stabiliza-
tion code now invalid cover the owner's
demind for personal use of an apart-
ment fur either re$idential or business
putposes, applications based on a te-
nant's refusal to renew a lease, the ex-
c:essive cost of repairS, or a hospital or
dIaritable institution's need for the space
Aw charitable uses.DR.S. and T.R.
POSITION AVAILABLE
Tenant Relations
Specialist
Description: To act as liaison between tenants in
Community Management buildings and CHDC.
Responsible for development of tenant associations to
participate in decision making for management and
repair planning, assist in the resolution of maintenance
and repair complaints and eventually form self
sufficient tenant cooperatives. Provide information on
coop ownership and maintenance/management, and
coordinate tenant training activities. Preparation of
various written reports on actiyities and maintaining
building files.
Qualifications: 2 years community organizing or
social service experience required. College degree or
equivalent experience. Clinton resident preferred, bil-
ingual Spanish and English desirable.
Salary: $14,000 per year.
Send resumes to:
CLINTON HOUSING DEVEWPMENT CO., INC.
664-6 10th Avenue
New York, NY 10036
Attention: Sondra Thomas
EASTSIDE
SRO LEGAL
SERVICES PROJECT
Position Available-
Tenant and Community Organizer
An assertive self-reliant organizer needed to
work with lawyers, social worker and another organizerto
assist tenants in SRO hotels and rooming houses on Manhat-
tan's East Side. Working knowledge of rent regulations,
codes, and city agencies helpful. Position available
immediately. Salary $16,000 plus excellent benefits.
Send Resume to: Nancy Biberman
Eastside SRO Legal Services Project
223 Grand Street
New York, NY 10013
Action---
COMMUNITY
OUTREACH WORKER
Coalition of Lower East Side organizations seeks ex-
perienced organizer to implement area-wide outreach
regarding community based redevelopment plan.
Will work with organizations, institutions, associa-
tions, and individuals. Responsible for information
dissemination, coalition building, and supporting ex-
isting local groups with organizing on area-wide
issues and planning.
Writing and communication skills essential.
Familiarity with housing issues and strategies
necessary. Must be well organized and thorough.
Three years organizing experience required. College
degree preferred but not required. Bilingual (Spanish
and English) Lower East Side resident preferred.
Salary $15,000 per year plus fringe.
Send resumes to:
Joint Planning Council
61 East 4th Street
New York, New York 10003
COMMUNITY ORGANIZER
Establish tenant associations, community
projects. B.A. plus one year experience or H.S.
(High School) plus three years' experience.
Night work required. Spanish and typing
required. $12,000 plus fringe.
PRESERVATION
COORDINATOR
Do historic surveys, research, housing planning.
Must type. B.A. with background in historic
preservation. $12,000 plus fringe.
Send resume to:
Cooper Square Committee
Attn: House Personnel Committee
61 East 4th Street
New York, New York 10003
Telephone: (212) 228-8210

Is Clinton for Sale?
J ersey City's
Redevelopment
Battle .
How NY Got a New
Co-opUlW
Co-op Bank. Pt. U
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City Limits Magazine, May 1983 Issue

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Editorial ... . .. .. . . . .. . . .. . ... . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 3

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