Good Old Lower East Side

Stop Developers & City Hall from Kicking Us Out of Our Neighborh

Nov 21, 2000

On Friday, October 20, 150 Lower East Side residents rallied at Houston and Orchard Streets to demand that the city explain why seven immigrant families were thrown out of their homes there recently, and to hold it accountable for enriching private developers at the expense of the community. They then marched to the Lillian Wald Houses, at 6th Street and Avenue D. The rally was organized by a coalition of organizations lead by GOLES Lower East Side Tenants Union

181 and 185 Houston Street had been city-owned buildings since 1993. In September they were sold without public notification to a private developer and financial supporter of Mayor Giuliani, Serge Hoyda. Within days of Hoyda's closing the deal, the Department of Buildings declared the buildings unsafe and issued a vacate order. On September 26 in the rain, the families, who'd had no prior notice, were given one hour to take whatever belongings they could and leave their homes. They've been told they will be able to return once repairs are made. But will they? When? And for how long?

Why were city-owned buildings sold to a private developer without any effort to transfer them to the tenants through the TIL Program, or without a public auction? Why was the city deaf to tenant complaints about conditions in the buildings when it owned them, but then acted on what it calls a ?“confidential?” phone call as soon as Hoyda took legal title? Why does the Department of Buildings refuse to release its inspection reports?

Hoyda says the tenants will be able to return and have their old rents for two years. Then what? Hoyda talks about 181 Houston as ?“an investment?”. What about the investment of tenants who have lived in this community for years?Margaret Hughes, executive director of Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), says, "Tenants recognize that this case is an example of what's happening all over our neighborhood. The Lillian Wald Houses, where we will take the march, is public housing, but tenants there have the same concerns. They are also about to be relocated for building repairs. They have the same worry as the tenants at 181 and 185: Will they be able to return to their homes? We see this as one fight: to protect affordable housing, to save the Lower East Side as a neighborhood of low-income immigrants, and to stop it from being sold to the highest bidder."

Hoyda, who according to The New York Post, donated $4,000 to Giuliani?’s Senate Exploratory Committee last year, previously clashed with neighborhood groups for ripping down a tree in a public garden and trying to claim that city-owned land as his own. Now he has been ?“loaned?” another city-owned property in the Lower East Side to temporarily house the residents of 181 and 185 Houston Street. Will this become another opportunity for privatization?

The community coalition, which includes the 181 East Houston Tenants Association, Met Council, More Gardens!, Cooper Square Committee and which has the support of Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, State Senator Martin Connor, State Senator Tom Duane and City Council member Kathryn Freed, marched to say:
?“Save Public Housing
Save Affordable Housing
No More People Thrown Out on the Street
No More Bulldozed
Gardens
No More Public
Giveaways?”