Good Old Lower East Side

Tenant Union Lobby Day in Albany

Mar 23, 2001

A bus full of Lower East Side housing activists from GOLES and The Cooper Square Committee made a lobbying trip to Albany on February 27th. ?“Legislators work for us?” Gregorio Rivas said as he got on the bus. ?“It is important for us to tell them what we need them to do?”.
We were part of a coalition of groups who were there to lobby for more money for neighborhood preservation.
Our group met with Senator Tom Duane, and Assembly Member Steve Sanders. We also met with legislative aids from State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver?’s office and State Senator Martin Connor?’s office. In those meetings we tried to a put a face on the Lower East Side housing crisis. To remind legislators the lack of safe affordable housing is an issue that affects too many families in our neighborhood.
?“Our presence in Albany is a way to keep up the pressure on elected officials.?” Wasim Lone, GOLES Director of Organizing stated. ?“We have such a severe housing crisis that it is critically important that legislators respond by strengthening rent protection laws which are being eliminated and provide more financing to low income housing programs.
Tenants traveled to Albany to discuss the issues of displacement and gentrification that are impacting on the Lower East. Particularly, 181 and 185 Houston Street Tenant Association, 10 Stanton St Tenant Association and the Lower East Side Phase One and Phase Two Tenant Association came to discuss immediate issues impacting on them
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. Iris Quinones, tenant leader, told legislators the events she had experienced that day and the questions they had. She stated, ?“On September 26 in the rain, we, the families, who'd had no prior notice, were given one hour to take whatever belongings we could and leave our homes. We?’ve been told we will be able to return once repairs are made. But will we? When? And for how long??”
The tenants want to know 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? Now Hoyda 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?
10 Stanton Street
Alysha Lewis spoke regarding the MTA?’s plan to start construction right next to 10 Stanton Street. This is being done because the agency wants to expand the Chrystie Street Fan Plant System by using eminent domain to acquire privately owned land. This construction poses the following risks:
Structural Damage:
Given the weak foundation problems of the Lower East Side where numerous buildings have been either evacuated due to damage as a result of construction next to their building or other buildings have been demolished due to shifting, this construction could possibly lead to evacuation and/or demolition of the building! In case this happens neither management of HUD will be under any legal obligation to find apartments for the tenants.
Rodents
The rats lying dormant under the building and the surrounding area will be disturbed as a result of the construction activity.
Chemicals:
Harmful chemical will be released in the air. 30% of the children in the building suffer from asthma already. In addition, there is going to be debris and dust.
Lower East Side Phase 1 are at risk of losing their federally subsidized housing if William Hubbard, CDC Management, the owner, chose to opt out of the Section 8 program as of October 27, 2000. Kelly Lau stated, ?“It is the tenants understanding that the deadline for opting out was extended to October 2001.?” This summer, in a meeting with the tenants, Good Old Lower East Side, Tenants and Neighbors, City Council Member Margarita Lopez and representatives from Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez?’s office; Mr. Hubbard agreed to extend the contract for five years in the Mark up to Market program. The CDC Management has signed the contract and the tenants are anxiously waiting for HUD to sign the contract.
Lower East Side Phase Two has just received its one year notification of the landlord opting out to the program. HDFC is the administrative agency for this project not HUD. In January 2002, the tenants in this project based section 8 will become homeless if their contract is not reinstated.
215 Houston
On Feb. 13, 2001, James Chin, the Chair of the New York City Board of Standards Appeals (BSA), voted to approve nine zoning variances for the construction of a 23-story luxury tower at 215 Houston Street, despite overwhelming community opposition.

ince December 2000, the Lower Manhattan Anti-Displacement Coalition has been mounting a campaign to stop the construction, which would significantly exacerbate secondary displacement in Lower Manhattan. With proposed rents as high as $5000 per month, the luxury tower will irreparably change the demographics of the neighborhood. Already, the skyrocketing rents, coupled with low wages, have led to severe overcrowding and alarming rates of tenant displacement in the surrounding area. Despite a flood of written objections from the community and a near-unanimous vote against the project by Community Board 3, the BSA, led by James Chin, gave the developers its full support. The Lower Manhattan Anti-Displacement Coalition is comprised of Sixth Street Community Center, Chinese Staff and Workers Association, Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV), National Mobilization Against Sweatshops (NMASS), Lower East Side Anti-Displacement Project, Metropolitan Council on Housing and Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES).
Neighborhood Preservation Program
GOLES is a member of the Neighborhood Preservation Coalition. GOLES receives funding from New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal for the Neighborhood Preservation from the Neighborhood Preservation Program. This funding allows us to provide our free housing information. GOLES asked State Senators and Assembly Members to increase the funding statewide to $24 million. This would mean that the other 200 programs statewide would receive an increase in funding, thus allowing them to have the same buying power as they did in 1989.
Homeless Housing Assistance
GOLES has developed one building for formerly homeless individuals. The 8 families who live in this housing are integrated into the Lower East Side and are involved in this community. The Lower East tenants asked that this program?’s funding statewide needs to be increased from $32 million to $60 million.
We will be going back to Albany on May 27 for tenant lobby day. So save the date and plan to be there. Your presence is important. Together we can keep the pressure on and create real rent reform! JOIN US!