Good Old Lower East Side

NOW IS THE TIME (AGAIN)

May 03, 2001

My name is Georgina Rivera, a/k/a Jenny. I have been a tenant of the Lower East Side Phase 1 for over seventeen (17) years.

On October 25th, Lower East Side Phase 1 received a notice from our landlord, Mr. William Hubbard, notifying us that on October 27th our Project Based section 8 contract was expiring and the he might not choose to renew our contracts. This caused, to say the least, panic and fear among our tenants. Many of us have been residing in the buildings for the past twenty (20) years. ?“Where would we go and what would become of our futures and that of our children?’s??” Tenants and Neighbors Association sent Ms. Yolande Cadore to our building to inform us of what we could do to put pressure on the landlord to renew the contracts.

We formed a Tenants Association and then we got help from GOLES, our community organization. We reached out to our elected officials such as Congress Member Nydia Velazquez and Council Member Margarita Lopez who quickly became involved with our struggle to keep our homes. We had lots of planning meetings and strategy meetings as well as trips to Albany and Washington to put pressure on the politicians to help us with our cause to save affordable housing. As the current Vice President of our Tenants Association, I can tell you full heartedly that our association has fought hard along with the help of our neighbors and volunteers to try and protect our homes and secure the future of our children.

It seems as though our struggles have not been in vain, for on September 20, we had a meeting with Mr. Hubbard who informed us that he intends to renew the contract for Five (5) more years in the ?“mark up to market?” program. Although this news has brought Lower East Side Phase 1 tenants a sigh of relief, we are still are in limbo since contracts have yet to be signed. Now, our neighbors from Lower East Side Phase 2 have also received news that their contracts are expiring. They now face the same issues that Phase 1 has. Although our struggles have now doubled, I urge all of our tenants to get more involved because we have strength in numbers urge everyone to continue to fight to save and preserve what is everyone?’s right and what should be a right in our children?’s future: Affordable Housing! ! ! Ours is an on-going struggle which has plagued our neighborhoods, our city and has reached across our nation. However, with unity, our voices will be heard and we shall prevail!!!