City Limits Magazine, December 1984 Issue

THE NEWS MAGAZINE OF NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AND NEIGHBORHOODS DECEMBER 1984 $2.
00
BEBIND
CLOSED
DOORS
FEA.,UBEI
Behind Closed Doors. . . . . . . . . . . . .. 9
How the Clinton community had to fight to open the
planning process for the neighborhood's biggest project
ever.
A Women s Residence Battles to Stay
That Way ........................ 14
One of a declining number of women's residences in the
city, the tenants of the Longacre Hotel are feeling a new
type of displacement.
Short Term Note.
Deadly Eviction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4
Racial Arson in Bronx .... . ...... .. . ........ 5
Chase Loans Stalled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
A Planned Confusion Over City Contracts . . . .. 6
Housing Grants Come to Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
No Tenant Funding for Boro Park . . . . . . . . . . . .. 8
Clinton Wins its Garden .. ... . .. . ........... .8
Senior Repairs-For Free. . .. .. . . . . .. . . . .. .. . 8
Legislation
Axing Taxes in Cuomo's Albany .............. 18
Organizel
Turning the Tables on SRO Harassers ......... 20
People
Out of the Shadows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 22
Tactics
When the City Forecloses ................... 24
Cityview
Election Lessons .......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 27
Review
Cuomo's Diaries ........................... 28
Letters ... . .. .. . .. ..... .. ....... . ..... . ... .... 29
Resources/Event .. ... . ....................... 30
A Women's Residence/Pdge 14
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CITY LIMITS/December 1984 2
j
Volume IX Number 9
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City Limits (ISSN
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EdItor
10m Robbins
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Annette Fuentes
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Copyright 1984. All Rights Reserved.
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Typesetting and Layout by Advance Graphics
Design by Connie Pierce
A few blocks from : where the Times Square Redevelopment Plan will
be launched, dozens of Clinton residents wait on line lor government cheese.
To lind out how city and state government responded to community concerns
see "Behind Closed Doors" on page 9. '
NEW YEAR'S CHANGES
City Limits 'January 1985 issue will have a different look in a number of departments.
These design changes are being adapted to make the magazine more attractive, reada-
ble, and, most of all, more useful to our Be looking for them next month
and let us know what you think.
Along the same lines, we'd like to remind you once again that reader response, sug-
gestions, article submissions are especially important to this magazine .. We know from
our mailing list just how varied our readership is. Why not let our mail bag reflect that
variety more often? City Limits is the magazine of all those who seek improved condi-
tions in our neighborhoods. Please take advantage of what is surely one of the most
open-and pro-community-forums in New York.D
3 CITY LIMITS/December 1984
DEADLY
EVICTION
T
HE EVICTION-KILLING OF
Eleanor Bumpurs on October 29 has
evoked heated discussion on the role of the
. police, racism and the breakdown of city
bureaucracy which might haw pmented the
whole incident. Almost ignored has been
the central issue of the policy and practice
of eviction. Though rarely fatal, eviction is
itself a harsh sentence for thousands who
face economic hardship. If Bumpurs were
alive today, she would be condemned to
homelessness.
"It's outrageous," comments lawyer An-
drew Scherer at Community Action for Le-
gal Services. "It symbolizes the outrageous
nature of evictions. Nobody should be evict-
ed for non-payment, especially in public
housing."
There were 6,m evictions conducted by
city marshalls last year. In public housing,
there were 440 evictions for non-payment
of rent; S8 evictions were carried out for
other reasons. The process of evicting a
tenant from public housina is initiated by the
project manager often is early as one month
after a missed payment. "Everyone who is
one month late ,ets a dispossess notice,
which can ultimately lead to an eviction," ac-
cordina to Val Coleman at the Housing
Authority. The vast majority of those who
receive dispossess notices, says Coleman,
avoid further action by coming up with the
rent.
One assistant project manager in the
Bronx said that the Bumpurs incident had
traumatized both tenants and Housing
Authority staff throughout the borough. But
he noted that management can and does seek
out the kind of help that blocks evictions not
only out of job dedication but as the result
of systematic review. Yet that same system
badly failed Eleanor Bumpurs.
Increasingly, tenant advocates insist that
those who cannot scrape together the money
to stave off an eviction should have an alter-
native to living on the streets, in city shelters
or crowding into apartments with family or
friends. "We're calling on the city for a
moratorium on evictions," s a y ~ Scherer.
"Something must be worked out with the
Housing Authority, Human Resources Ad-
ministration and Housing Preservation and
Development. The thrust has been to get
better police procedures at evictions. That
misses the basic point. that there are ways
to get rent. The Department of Social Ser-
CITY LiMITS/December 1984
i
I
DemonItratorl at NMmber .,... Bronx protelt rnareb ..
vices doesn't take seriously its responsibil-
ity to pay rent for those on public assistance."
Scherer and other Housing attorneys are
proposing that the Department of Social
Services provide legal representation to
tenants who are threatened with an eviction
action by the Housing Authority.
A moratorium on evictions for econom-
ic reasons is also being pushed on the state
level by tenant advocates. At the city's
Metropolitan Council on Housing, a com-
mittee working on evictions and squatting
formulated a petition last spring for a
moratorium on eviction that asked for city,
state or federal funds to pay rents for those
with hardships. "A number of people on the
housing committee, such as (Assemblymen)
Barbaro, Montalto, and Murtaugh said it
was great. We spent time over the summer
shaping it as a bill. The problem will be in
the Senate;' says Susan Radosh at the
Council.
On the national level, a bill in Congress
early this year to protect homeowners una-
ble to pay mortgages seemed ripe for a pro-
vision on tenant evictions. Woody Wi draw
at the National Tenants Union says. "Con-
gressman Charles Schumer, a Democrat
from Brooklyn, introduced a bill for a
4
moratorium on foreclosures and did some
research on how tenants could be included.
But the bill died in the House."
Ultimately, say housing and tenant
advocates, eviction must be seen in the con-
text of a housing crisis that every day con-
sumes more and more victims. "It's
important to look at the whole picture,"
Radosh insists. "Evictions, co-op conver-
sions and rent increases based on Major
Capital Improvements all contribute to
homelessness. We don't just need new low-
income housing and shelters; we need to
stop the evictions and conversions which
can result in homelessness." Woodrow at
NTU points out that "For six million peo-
ple in the city who pay half their incomes
in rent, there are going to be more and more
economic emergencies over the year." He
forsees an increase in squatting and eviction
blockades by community organizations. For
Scherer, "the bottom line is if somebody is
not willing to move from their home because
they can't pay the rent, they should not be
evicted." In the aftermath of the Bumpurs
killing the realization that neither the means
nor the ends were justified should become
apparent to city officials in their efforts to
prevent future tragedies.OA.F.
Dispute Stalls
Chase Loans
T
HE STARr-UP OF A $10 MILLION
loan fund earmarked fur use in troubled
multifamily buildings has been blocked by
an eight-month old impasse over contract
language between the City of New York and
Chase Manhattan Bank.
The legal dispute began sometime after
Chase and the city announced last March
that a new pool of loan funds would be made
available for weatherization and rehab in
buildings with low income tenants.
Although Chase and city officials both in-
sist they are eager to resolve thei.r differ-
ences, neither offered a timetable as to when
the loan funds would become available.
Community and Stockholder Initiative
The Chase-city accord was originally
hatched after the city's second largest bank
was double-teamed by a combination of
Bronx neighborhood groups and stockhold-
ing religious organizations. The Chase
stockholders, working along with the Inter-
faith Center on Corporate Responsibility, in-
troduced resolutions at Chase annual
meetinas calling on the bank to invest in the
rehab needs of'older buildinp in poorer
neighborhoods. Although those proposals
were voted down, the bank did eventually
agree to map out a strategy with the city to
make a pool of rehab loan funds available.
The agreement called on Chase to pump
up to $10 million into loans fur repair-needy
apartment buildings in low and moderate in-
come neighborhoods. The bank's normal
loan rate was to be offset by interest earned
by a city deposit of $3.3 million of federal
Community Development Block Grant
funds with Chase. This would bring the in-
terest charged on the rehab loans to below
market rate according to city officials.
The investment plan was ebulliently an-
nounced last March by Mayor Ed Koch and
Chase president Thomas G. Labrecque as
an important example of public and private
partnership. But the deal quickly came un-
stuck when Chase balked at signing a con-
tract with the city which contained an
"investigations clause" it found unaccepta-
ble. The clause, said Chase attorneys, would
force the bank to open up all its financial
records to the city, including those of depo-
sitors.
City officials acknowledge that Chase
isn't the only bank to shy away from the
clause. "Chase has a legitimate complaint,"
noted Harold Schultz, whose Office of
Evaluation and Compliance has been pre-
pared to administer the loan funds. "Other
banks have had similar problems."
Meanwhile community groups and reli-
gious organizations which spurred the bank
into action have been seeking to prod the two
sides into agreement. Keith Rolland of the
Interfaith Center said that a letter from the
stockholders had been written to Chase's
Labrecque asking for an explanation of the
delay.
One recent inquiry from an East Flatbush
community group to the city housing
department about the Chase loan money was
told that the program had died "because no
one was interested."
"That's not correct," said Schultz. "The
program is virtually all set up, in place and
ready to go."
That is, as soon as a contract is signed.
Should it become functional, the program
will provide loans of up to $SOOO per apart-
ment at about 11-12 percent interest, or
whatever the rate of current indexes, fur
owners of buildings with more than eight
apartments. It will be administered by the
same department which currently process-
es requests for Article SA loan. which are
made with federal Community Develop-
ment funds at three percent. OT.R.
Racial Arson
in Bronx
Community
L
AST MONTH, ARSON STRUCK
the new home of a black family in a
Bronx neighborhood which was the subject
of city and state discrimination suits earli-
er this year. The one-family house belong-
ing to Alan and Cora Simmons at 1519
Lurting Avenue in the Morris Park section
of the Bronx was badly damaged by. what
police immediately labelled a racially moti-
vated attack.
The fire came after three earlier incidents
following the family's purchase of the home
last September. Twice, anti-black slogans
were scrawled on the Simmons home and
on another occasion windows and a door
were smashed. The family had just complet-
ed renCMltions, but had yet to IllOYe in, when
the arsonists struck on November 19.
The slogans written on the Simmons
home in September and October referred to
the Ku Klux Klan. One read, "KKK will
5
bum ifniggers return." A fair housing aide
at the city's Human Rights Commission said
that the slogans were "much more sophisti-
cated than usual racial pranIcsters."
The city's Human Rights Commission
and the state Attorney General's office tar-
geted anti-black housing bias in Morris Park
last year. In separate suits against two pri-
vate realtors and a local neighborhood as-
sociation, the city and state sought to
eliminate racial steering in the community.
Attorney General Robert Abrams charged
the Morris Park Community Association
with deliberately misleading non-white
homeseekers while holding home and apart-
ment vacancies fur whites only. Underccwer
investigators from both the human rights
commission and the nonprofit Open Hous-
ing Center fuund that at weekly meetings the
Association directed whites to a back room
where they were shown listings of available
homes. Blacks were turned llWIJ'j at the door.
In a settlement which was announced with
little publicity last May, the community as-
sociation agreed to end its clearinghouse
role. Two private realtors who had similar-
ly steered blacks away from Morris Park
homes .,reed to maintain open liltinp of
wea and to conduct affirmative advertiaina.
The luitl were triuered by _letter to the
New lbrk nfM.r from _ white woman who
told how her attempts to rent _ home in Mor-
ril Park were derailed when the owners dis-
covered that her husband was black. OT.R.
CITY LIMITS/December 1984
A Planned Confusion Over City Contracts
I
F WORKERS AT THE SEVENTY
community groups which hold city con-
tracts to provide neighborhood services have
been acting somewhat jittery of late, just
bear with them. Contracting' organizations
are often at odds with the ity housing agen-
cy over payment procedures and contract
terms. But when a mid-October letter from
a top city housing official told them to shut
down operations by November I-just three
months after their one-year contracts were
renewed by the city-consternation was ad-
ded to the normal level of frustration.
Even in the wake of a follow-up letter a
week later from housing commissioner
Tony Gliedman telling them it was a false
alarm after all, groups still seem under-
standably skittish.
Budget Logjam
The short-lived tempest appears to have
been caused when housing officials sought
to break a logjam with the city budget office
which was holding up more than one-half
million dollars the housing department
sought for a set of new and politically im-
portant "innovative" contracts. In an appar-
ent effort to cut loose that funding, Deputy
Commissioner for Development Charles
Reiss wrote groups holding Community
Consultant Contracts that their funding too
was imperiled and they faced imminent cut-
off. The letter so stunned organizational
staff directors and board members that they
showered the housing department and po-
litical representatives with alarmed phone
calls.
Equally upset was Budget Director AlIair
Townsend, whose office took a good deal
of the community heat. After a meeting
called by Deputy Mayor Stanley Brezenoff
between Townsend and Gliedman, a letter
from the housing commissioner was mailed
to the 70 groups. The Reiss letter, wrote
Gliedman, "appears to have been written
prematurely . . . I regret any unneccesary an-
guish it may have caused . . . there is no
cause for alarm." The Office of Management
and Budget, added the commissioner, was
working together with him to resolve the
problem.
Actually, there never had been a funding
crisis for the consultant contract groups.
The six-year-old $3.29 million program,
which is administered by Reiss's Office of
Development, awards contracts to local and
citywide groups to take on housing
problems. They in turn provide services
ranging from tenant organizing and landlord
counselling to project planning and private
investment recruitment. They also play a
key role in spreading the word city
housing programs. The contracts are fund-
ed from federal Community Develqpment
Block Grant money. !
"
, I
,
Proposed New
Bronx: Belmont-Arthur Ave. Local Development
Corp., $38.000; Northwest Bronx Community and
Clergy Coalition, $30,000; Fordham Bedford,
$19,000; Citizens Advice Bureau-Community Coun
cil of Greater New York, $20,000.
Brooklyn: Fulton Commons, $20,000; Midvolood
Development Corp., $22,000; Canarsie Neighbor
hood Development Corp., $15,000; Progress of Pe0-
ples Development Corp., $25,000; Opportunity
Development Association, $15,000.
Menhattlln: Project Basement, $20,000; Clinton
Houllng Development Corp., $30,000; Lower East
Side Coalition for Housing Development, $21,000;
Marble Hili Neighborhood Improvement, $20,000.
Queena: Elmcor, $2s.ooo; Vobodslde on the Molle,
$33.000; Progress for People, $24,000. Stllten 11-
lend: West Brighton Community Local Development
Corp., $34,000. Citywide: Neighborhood Initiatives,
$18,000; Settlement Housing Fund, $30,000; Center
for the Independence of the Disabled in NY, Inc.,
$32,000; Charles Drew Local Development Corp. ,
$30,000; New York HispaniC Coalition, $18,000.
Source: Dept. of HPD. 0
Shell Game
This year, however, the housing depart-
ment seems to played a kind of shell
game between funding the consultant con-
tracts and getting money for 22 new "innova-
tive" one-year contracts with community
groups. The grants, which average $25,000,
are earmarked for groups around the city,
many of whom have been politically suppor-
tive of the Koch administration.
So far details of six of these contracts
which deal with services for elderly
homeowners have been announced, but no
descriptions have been offered of the rest .
The largest contract is for the Belmont-
Arthur Ave. Local Development Corpora-
tion in the Belmont section of the Bronx, a
two-year old group which is closely in-
fluenced by Bronx Democratic party pow-
er, Paul Victor. A $22,000 contract is
proposed for the Midwood Development
Corporation in Brooklyn, a group which
covers a middle income area and already
holds a $63,309 consultant contract.
6
The housing department ran into
problems, however, when the Office of
Management and Budget insisted that
money had not been allocated for the new
contracts. HPD would have had enough
funds for both the consultant contracts and
the new round had it requested the alloca-
tion of funds which had gone unspent last
year. It didn't, and when it sought to send
its new contracts to the Board of Estimate
for approval , the budget office balked.
John Murray, Deputy Assistant Director
for Housing and Economic Development at
OMB, said that in the city's budget adopted
July 1, $2.98 million was approved for the
consultant contracts and, under previous
agreement with HPD, another $400,000 in
unspent Community Development funds
was "rolled over." The housing department's
later request to secure an additional
$600,000 in rolled-over funds for the innova-
contracts said Murray, "was contrary to
our agreement. We put together the budget
. in the spring when they were presumably
working on [the new contracts]. But they
didn't ask us." The letter, he noted, "was an
unfortunate incident."
Murray said that his office was now
proceeding to allocate the funds HPD needs
for the new contracts.OT.R.
Housing Grants Come to Town
N
EW YORK CITY WAS THE BIG-
gest winner in HUD's new national low
income housing sweepstakes, although the
$35 million the city captured is just a faint
shadow of the federal housing aid it has lost
and a fainter one still of the city's increas-
ing need.
HUD's new contest - dubbed HODAG for
Housing Development Action Grants - is a
product of the sole housing bill of the Rea-
gan Administration, the 1983 Housing and
Urban-Rural Recovery Act. That legislation
passed the same year that Congress buried
forever the far larger and more comprehen-
sive Section 8 new housing program while
bypassing public housing as well. Fifteen of
the 22 projects New York City submitted to
the competition came out winners as the city
took a 12 percent share ofthe national pot.
And since HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce
only spent $288 million of the $315 million
Congress gave him for HODAG's initial two-
year span, city housing commissioner Tony
Gliedman is still hoping to pull out what's
left over.
Sbort Notice
Although its catchy acronym is frequently
heard, the HODAG program is still largely
an unknown element. Most housing de-
velopers were still scratching their heads
over the recently approved regulations when
on June 25 HUD announced an August 14
deadline for proposals. "We had to go out
and advertise, evaluate the proposals and get
them in," recounted Sheldon Gartenstein of
the city Department of Housing Preserva-
tion and Development who is monitoring the
approved projects. "It was a madhouse, and
kind of ridiculous."
But while local housing agencies did
somersaults to meet HUD's deadline, the
Reagan Administration's larger goal of mak-
ing the announcement of the winning
projects before the November 6 presidential
election was accomplished. Thus, just days
before the election, the Administration
which had slashed housing funding by more
than two-thirds since it took office was able
to proclaim the biggest housing grants in
four years.
Essentially, HODAGs represent an at-
tempt to modestly meet two prime objec-
tions to low income housing: first, it aims
to dilute the impact of low income tenants
by spreading them among higher income
households and, second, to substantially cut
the long-term costs of subsidy with a one-
time grant. With a HODAG, at least 20 per-
cent of a project's apartments must go to low
income tenants. Apartments renting at
higher - market-rate -levels are supposed
to not only carry their own costs, but subsi-
dize part of the low income units as well.
Like their economic development-
oriented older and bigger brother UDAG
(Urban Development Action Grants),
HODAGs are supposed to be a way to bring
in private investment. But localities are al-
lowed to use their own funds, even if they
are federal grants received for general pur-
poses. Thus, almost half of New York City's
projects are getting federally-funded Partic-
ipation Loans as well. Also, the 80-20 low
income-middle income split of the projects
meet the criteria for tax exempt bond financ-
ing, a tactic the city will also employ for all
but one of its projects.
Broad Range of Projects
The city's 15 projects represent a broad
spectrum, politically, geographically and
financially. They run the gamut from the gut
rehab of 20 apartments in the last remain-
ing tenement on a South Bronx block which
will be carried out by Frank Potts of the
Banana Kelly Community Improvement
Association, to the 297-unit new construc-
tion project on an urban renewal site in Man-
hattan's Clinton neighborhood which will be
NYC's HODAGs
Project (Units) HODAG Contribution, Developer:
Bronx: 923 Kelly St. (20) $429,525, Frank Potts; 1290
& 1326 Grand Concourse (104) $2,680,000, Leo
ZismanElzee Constr.; 1197 & 1250 Grand Cone. (107)
$2,946.314, Sidney SilYerstein-SpernMI Constr. ; 1220
Grand Cone. (23) $787,597, Sidney Silverstein
Sparrow Constr.; Brooklyn: 44 But/er PI. (66)
$1,188,000, Fred W. Hilles, Jr,Kings Restoration
Corp.; KenSington Aptmts.l403-421 Ave. C (56)
$1 ,538,159, Ocean Pkwy. Dvlpmt . Corp.lAlien
Pilevsky; 79-95 Woodruff Ave. (84) $1,417,500, Stan
ley J. Reiler; 1974 E. 51st St./Midwood Gatdens (47)
$1 ,069,177, Leonard Kleinman & Assoc.; Willough.
bylWyckoff (68) $1,735,344, Ralph Goffner RB
Dvlpmt. Assoc. ; 285 Schenectedy Ave.n646 Union
St. (58) $1,727,343, Jacob Frankel ; ...... h8ttlln: 135th
St. 'Y' (28) $800,000, Carol lamberg, Harlem 'Y' As
soc.; Clinton Urban Renewal AreaSite 9C (297)
sa,019,OOO, Glick Development Affiliates; 16-18 Se-
cond Aw. (22) $675,452, Cooper Squara Comm.; Re-
vive 1031155-161 E. 103rri St. (30) $1 ,185,000, Hope
Community; Staten land:StuyvesantlHamiiton
Aptmts. (257) $8.000,000, Martin Weise. Source:
Dept. of HPD.O
7
launched by one of the city's biggest
developers, Reuben Glick Development
Affiliates.
Most of the HODAG projects, says Gar-
tenstein, were already on the drawing board
as developments with markedly different
financing contours before the competition
was announced. Many were at least tem-
porarily stalled as other subsidies had dried
up. A nonprofit East Harlem group, Hope
Community, had slated the four buildings
at 155-161 East 103rd Street for Section 8 re-
habilitation to match a similar project across
the street. Without any new federal funding
for Section 8, however, the project was stuck
until it entered the HODAG contest "at the
eleventh hour" according to Gartenstein.
Now, says Hope director George Calvert ,
the $1,185,000 HODAG for the project will
help his group create seven low income
apartments and 23 middle income units at
a total cost of $2.5 million.
The city also shifted three projects on the
Grand Concourse in the Bronx into the com-
petition after the HODAG starting gun was
fired. One of those buildings, 1220 Grand
Concourse, is designated as artist housing.
Some projects are using a variety of fund-
ing sources to achieve low overall rents. A
vacant city-owned building on the Lower
East Side which has been the object of a long
tug-of-war between community groups and
city officials over its fate as either market-
rate housing or low income homesteading,
will become low income, limited equity co-
ops. The building, at 16-18 Second Avenue,
known as the Cube Building, will be devel-
oped under the sponsorship of Cooper
Square Committee, aided by the Pratt Insti-
tute Center for Community and Environ-
mental Development. In addition to a
$675,452 HODAG, the building will utilize
a state grant it received earlier this year to
help create housing for homeless families
in the neighborhood.
In the Borough Park community of
Brooklyn, the Pratt Center is also working
as part of a complicated four-way rehab
project which aims to keep the embattled
low income tenants in Midwood Gardens,
a 6OO-unit complex from which all but a
handful of tenants fled amid harassment and
arson . The project seeks to utilize a
$1,069,477 HODAG to help develop new af-
fordable homes for remaining tenants in one
of the complex's eleven buildings. The own-
er, Lawrence Rezak, has already developed
and marketed a portion of the complex as
new lUXUry condominiums.OT.R.
No Tenant Funding
for Boro Park
T
HE CITY'S DEPARTMENT OF
Housing Preservation and Develop-
ment will spend $153,465 this year on con-
tracts with community groups in Brooklyn's
Borough Park, but not a dime of it will go
for tenant organizing in that troubled neigh-
borhood.
In spite of demands from within the hous-
ing agency itself to help check tenant harass-
ment there, HPD bypassed at least one
proposal to watchdog low income and elder-
ly tenants in favor of funding three local
groups all of whom will undertake solely de-
velopment activities.
Last month HPD's inspector general con-
firmed that an investigation into the perfor-
mance of Borough Park's largest group,
Southern Brooklyn Community Organiza-
tion, had yielded "nothing to preclude do-
ing business" with the group. Inspector
General Steve Shapiro declined to give de-
tails of his findings, although he ac-
knowledged that his office had looked into
cases recounted in a City Limits article
where SBCO's development activities had
assisted tenant displacement ("Borough
Park's Untold Story." January, 1984).
The Southern Brooklyn Group's $96,065
community consultant contract - the
seventh largest in the city-was renewed in
July by the Board of Estimate. A $32,400
contract with the Ocean Parkway Commu-
nity Development Corporation was also
renewed. Rabbi Shmuel Lefkowitz serves as
executive director of both organizations. A
third group, the Coalition of Neighborhood
Organizations, is slated to receive a $25,000
contract in HPD's upcoming round of "in-
novative" contracts. The contract will be ad-
ministered through Catholic Charities'
Progress of Peoples Development Corpor-
ation which will help the group, among
other tasks, create shared housing for the
elderly in the area between Borough Park
and neighboring Sunset Park.
But while tenant harassment continues in
Borough Park's hot real estate market, no
funded local organization will be there to
lend a hand. "There's no organizing out
there;' agreed Herb Siegel, HPD's Brook-
lyn Planning Director. "We didn't expand or
modify our contract because we didn't have
the vehicle."
But one organization, the Boro Park
Housing - Senior Citizen Project, applied
for a city contract to aid elderly tenants fac-
ing displacement and was rejected. The
three-year-old group, which is directed by
community leader Marvin Schick, has
sought no further funding and expects to
close its doors at the end of the year.
That move will leave tenants such as those
of 1958-5Oth Street, a multifamily building
with Hispanic, black and older Jewish resi-
dents, even more stranded as they enter a
third winter with spotty heat, no repairs and
a politically-connected landlord bent on
ousting them.OT.R.
Clinton's Garden is Saved
A
MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH FOR
New York City's open space movement
was achieved last month when the city, as
part of its approval of the Times Square
redevelopment proposal, agreed not to auc-
tion off the award-winning and controver-
sial Clinton Community Garden.
The West 48th Street parcel will be trans-
ferred from the Department of Real
Property to the Parks Department which
will allow local community gardeners to re-
tain control over it. The city's decision came
after a full year of intense community fund-
raising to save the garden from the auction
block after the city, reflecting Clinton's
spiralling land values, put a one-million dol-
lar pricetag on it. By November, however,
just a month away from the city's auction
deadline, that drive had collected $80,000,
far short of the goal it sought to meet through
"sale" of square inches of the garden.
Ironically, the rescue of a garden consi-
dered the touchstone for at least 30 other
similarly endangered citizen-created green-
ing sites left even its most active supporters
ambivalent over the success.
No sooner had Deputy Mayor Robert Es-
nard arranged the garden transfer as'a "sep-
arate" negotiation from the on-going debates
over the Times Square plan (see article, page
9), than it was listed as a $1 million contri-
bution out of a total of $25 million in city
8
and state funds to be bestowed on Clinton
to vouchsafe that community from the ef-
fects of the redevelopment plan. So far the
garden is the most tangible item in the so-
called mitigation package approved by the
Board of Estimate. It is unclear what form
other funds to be allocated for low and
moderate income housing under the agree-
ment will take.
"This was guilt money;' summed up Lisa
Cashdan whose Trust for Public Land,
along with Housing Conservation Coordi-
nators and the Green Guerillas, had
spearheaded a two-year campaign to save the
garden.
But in spite of any misgivings on how the
garden was won, some 7,000 new bulbs
planted in the garden last month will,
weather conditions permitting, be blOQm-
ing next Spring on a lot which recently
seemed destined to become one more un-
affordable speculator's high-rise.OT.R.
Senior Repairs-
For Free
A
FREE HOME MAINTENANCE
and repair program for homeowners
who are senior citizens on fixed incomes,
which was successfully tested by the city
over a two-year period in Queens, is now
available city wide.
The program will be run by the New York
Foundation for Senior Citizens, Inc., a pri-
vate, nonprofit agency which has provided
more than 1000 Queens homeowners with
free repairs under the program so far. The
program, called Minor Home Repair, is
funded by a $185,000 grant from the city
Department of Housing Preservation and
Development and corporate contributions
from Morgan Guarantee Trust, Chemical
Bank and the Metropolitan Life Foundation.
According to the city, any single person
with an income of up to $15,000, or a family
of two with a maximum income of $17,400
would be eligible. They could receive such
services as weatherstripping and caulking,
gutter repair and cleaning, minor electrical
work such as installation of fixtures, and
repair of doorbells, small plumbing jobs,
masonry repair or carpentry.
For information and applications in the
Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island
and Brooklyn (north of Linden Boulevard)
call the New York Foundation for Senior
Citizens at (212)962-7653. In Brooklyn
(south of Linden Boulevard) contact Geri-
Pare at 769-3282.0
/
EB
CLOSED
RS
by Robert Neuwirth
Clinton residents riding the hus to Board of Estimate hearing.
I
t is a shameful axiom of New York politics that if you oppose a development project favored by the State
and City Administrations and powerful developers, sooner or later you will be forced to take your oppo-
sition to Court.
Prior to that, you will, of course, follow the prescribed
route. You will testify at hearings but find that no one listens.
You will organize press conferences that few media attend.
You will gather information and marshal the facts only to find
that the newspapers will present only official press releases,
not any hard research.
9
Finally, when you get to the Board of Estimate, the city's
top fiscal body, you will find that the deals have already been
cut, in private, behind doors that are still, after all these years
since Tammany's downfall, closed to the community.
This was, essentially, the process that was followed on the
Urban Development Corporation's 42nd Street Redevelop-
When you finally get to the city's top
fiscal body, you will find that the deals
have already been cut, in private,
behind doors that are still, all these
years alter Tammany's downfall, closed
to the community.
ment Project. The formal public hearings were held, but by
design, from the very start, the public was kept out of the
process. Community people from surrounding neighborhoods
were never invited to participate in the planning of the
project, and they had to fight to affect the political decisions
that were made.
The irony is that people from Clinton have a great interest
in the revitalization of 42nd Street. Neighborhood people
want 42nd Street cleaned up, but they are naturally concerned
about the effects that any project will inevitably have on their
neighborhood.
Now the entire public process has been acted out. Although
the neighborhood, up to the very last, remained opposed to
the UOC's plans, the Board of Estimate approved the project
unanimously, at 1:30 A.M. on November 9th. "We were put
in a position of only Father Thomas Farrelly of
Sacred Heart Church on West 51st Street explained. "They
were confident they had the votes to pass it." If Clinton resi-
dents want to pursue their interests, if people want their con-
cerns taken into account, there is. only one option left-an
CITY liMITS/December 1984
expensive one for a low income neighborhoOd: they can
mount a legal challenge to the 42nd -Street Project.
Wmners and Losers
The 42nd Street Project is the largest, most costly
redevelopment project ever approved in the state. The project
calls for the state and city governments to adopt strange roles.
The state, through the Urban Development Corporation, will
act as a real estate broker. The city will not only act as finan-
cier, granting tax abatements of over $1 billion for the project
(an amount higher than the total abatements done under the
42la program in the past 13 years) but in a rare burst of coor-
dination, all land review procedures will be bypassed, and the
Public Development Corporation and City Planning Commis-
sion will work directly with the developers to get things
started.
If present court challenges from property owners are
cleared up, the UOC will move early next year to condemn
13 acres of privately owned land from 40th to 43rd Streets,
Broadway to 8th Avenue, and hand it over to a handful of de-
velopers.
The present owners will lose the land. The winners include
such prominent developers as George Klein, Tishman/Speyer
Reaity, Equitable Life Assurance, and Trammell Crow of
Texas who will get to construct over 8 million square feet of
10
Governor Cuomo of &timate at TImes Square Plan bear
ing. Mayor Koch, at left, making a rare Board appearance.
lUxury office towers, hotels, theatres, and a merchandise mart
larger than the Empire State Building. The project is the
equivalent to building the entire World Trade Center complex
on 42nd Street.
The development and speculation on the West Side spurred
by this project will be overwhelming. For the families and
small businesses of Clinton, the Garment Center and Theater
District, this project will raise rents and will force drug users
and sex theaters into neighborhood streets. In Clinton, an af-
fordable, low density, multi-ethnic family neighborhood, the
effects of the project have already been felt. Larry Silverstein,
a developer with an interest in the 42nd St. Project, recently
purchased the block bounded by 41st and 42nd Streets, 11th
and 12th Avenues (in between the 42nd St. project and the
Convention Center) for $20 million. And buildings in Clinton
are already being advertised as "in the Times Square
redevelopment areas." In Clinton 50,000 families face massive
displacement if this project is allowed to go ahead. Neighbor-
hood people first heard of this project in bits and pieces. This
was part of deliberate strategy to limit public involvement.
Hard of Hearings
Back in 1981, the UDC issued a zoning plan for 42nd St.
and held a public hearing. This hearing was not widely publi-
cized. But the zoning guidelines did seem to limit the size of
\ \
The more we read, the more it became
clear this was not the right project lor
42nd Street. It would destroy 42nd
Street and destroy Clinton.
buildings on 42nd Street.
Suddenly, in the spring of 1983, the full fledged 42nd St.
project leaped to public life when the UDC published the En-
vironmental Impact Statement. The Impact Statement
revealed that the project would violate the 1981 zoning
proposal: in order to build larger buildings, the UOC pro-
posed that all thirteen acres in the project be considered one
zoning lot. In this way they could build taller buildings but
the floor-area ratio (a measure of the size of the buildings
with respect to the size of the lot) would remain small.
The Impact Statement revealed a completed project. The
public hearings were for reaction only. Both Community
Boards 4 and 5 did react with many specific objections, but
they were not invited. into the planning process. The UDC is
exempt from the Uniform Land Use Review Procedures that
normally govern development decisions and this gave them
the ability to ignore the Community Boards.
Clinton residents attended both public hearings held at
Town Hall this Spring on March 26th and April 9th. But the
political heavy hitters spoke first and it was the Mayor who
11 CITY LIMITS/December 1984
77le political neavyhitters spoke first
at tb.,e hearing and the Mayor set the
stage lor future discussion 01 the
issues: anyone against the project was
an ''idiot'' and in lavor 01 pornography.
set the stase for all future discussions of the' issues. Anyone
against the project, Koch said, was "an idiot" and in favor of
pornography.
UDC held another hearing at the Lamb's Theater in Sep-
tember. Once again, the only publicity for the hearing was an
advertisement in the New ]bit nmes. Even the local political
leaders from Clinton did not know that the hearing was
schc:duled. .
It was up to community reSidents to force their way inti> the
discussions of the project. That was what we attempted to do.
After the early public hearings in March and April, com-
munity residents began to meet weeldy to study the Environ-
mental Impact Statement and the effects of the project on
Clinton. The more we read, the more it became clear that
this was not the right project for 42nd Street. It would destroy
42nd Street and it would also destroy Clinton.
These weeldy meetings were the start of the Clinton Coali-
tion of Concern. On June 27th, the Clinton Coalition held a
public speak out. Two hundred neighborhood people packed
Campbell Hall at Sacred Heart Church to voice their opposi-
tion to the UDC.
Following that large neighborhood meeting, forty residents
forced their way into the 'public' meeting of UDC's Board of
Directors. The UDC has offices high over Broadway, on the
S2nd floor of ISIS Broadway, the building that repiaced the
Astor Hotel. At first UDC shut down the elevators to prevent
people from coming upstairs. People had to interrupt the
meeting to make a statement about their concern.
Clinton residents continued to attend the monthly UDC
Board meetings and attended both Board of Estimate public
bearings.
The OtTer
On October 2Sth, at the first public hearing, Governor
Cuomo testified in support of the project and was booed by
7S Clinton residents. In response, he pledged to come up with
a plan to protect Clinton from the effects of the project within
two weeks. That was the last people in Clinton heard until
November 7th, one day before the final public hearing.
On that day, Bill Stem, Chaimum of t6e Urban Develop-
ment Corporation and Herb Sturz, Chairman of the City
Planning Commission, issued an 8-page report to the Gover-
nor. It was intended to placate Clinton. "It was unreal," muses
Mary Brendle, Chair of Community Board 4, which covers
Chelsea and Clinton. "It was telling us they were giving us
stuff and there was no way of monitoring whether it was
coming."
It was also, however, a crafty negotiating tool. First, it
mentioned a dollar figure-SIS million-too little to mean
much, but grand sounding, especially when played in the
press. Second, it mentioned spreading the money through a
lot of existing programs, providing something for everyone.
The city targeted many of the programs it knew were vital
to the people of Clinton - many of which it had long resisted
providing at the needed level. ~ o n g these were alternative
management for city-owned buildings, the housing depart-
ment's Neighborhood Preservation unit, the office of Mid-
town Enforcement, even the Clinton Community Garden, that
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piece of reclaimed turf on West 48th Street where neighbors
have made vegetables and flowers bloom and on which the
city had placed an almost one-million dollar pricetag.
The draft also set up a mechanism for doling out the
money. Stem and Sturz suggested creating an advisory board
made up of two community people and four city and state
officials. This did not make for community control.
The draft was clearly not acceptable. Assemblyman
Richard Gottfried called it, "funny money." But it did set the
tone for negotiations. If the draft was bad, anything better
would be a victory. "It took most of the day," West Side City
Council Member Ruth Messinger relates, "to move away from
the Mayor and Governor's document , both in terms of dollar
amount and the diffuseness and vagueness."
On November 8th, while the surrogates upstairs in the
Board of Estimate Chambers were listening to testimony, the
real debate was going on downstairs, behind closed doors, as
the Mayor and Governor scrambled to come up with a deal
that would look good to the pqblic. That deal was finally ap-
proved at 1:30 a.m., after the Mayor basically said, "Take it
or leave it."
The headlines the next day read $25 million allocated for
Clinton. The stories implied that Clinton had seriously
negotiated with the Governor and the Mayor. But the sad fact
is that the 'deal' is so vague that it may never amount to any-
thing. And, the Governor's representative in the negotiations,
Bill Eimicke, made a strange admission the next day. The
state knew exactly what it was prepared to give Clinton, he
said, but had to make Clinton feel like it was seriously
negotiated at the 11th hour.
"I can envision a party," Bill Stem, Chairman of UDC, said
last month, speaking of the then-pending approval of the 42nd
Street project, "maybe at the top of the Portman Hotel, De-
If you would like to:
The day alter the $25 million deal was
set, Bill Eimiclce, the governors
representative, made a strange admis-
sion: the state knew exactly what it
was prepared to give, but had to make
Clinton feel it was seriously negotiated
at the 11th hour.
cember 31, 1999. And with us in spirit will be George M.
Cohan and Walter Winchell and Dorothy Kilgallen ... and all
of those people who made 42nd Street the Great White Way."
With this vote, Mayor Koch will join the party. One neigh-
borhood observer says of Koch's role on Nov. 8th, "Mayor
Koch has a vision, a vision fur Clinton and fur all of Manhat-
tan. It's a vision of a city that is clean and nice-and white
and affluent."
At that party the guests will look over a vastly different
Manhattan. The Great White Way will be changed to the
42nd Street of the future, a 42nd Street without personality, a
42nd Street with no character.
And it will be a different Clinton. The day after the vote
three area landlords called the Clinton Coalition of Concern,
asking if they should sell their buildings now or wait fur their
investment to grow. 0
Robert Neuwirth is a member of Clinton Coalition of
Concern.
/
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13
A WODlen's Besidence Fights
10 Slay thai Way
/
This brochure for the Longacre bas been discon-
tinued by the new owners.
CITY LIMITS/December 1984 14
By Annette Fuentes
T
HE LONGACRE LADIFS' GRAPE-
vine was buzzing with news of the latest
infamy Friday night, October 12. Riding up
the elevator, P. and M. stopped at the fourth
floor where the doors opened and a gray-
haired woman peered in to tell them, "It was
10 o'clock." The women inside nodded and
told her they'd be back down shortly. Cau-
cusing with other residents on the sixth
floor, P. and M. described how a male guest
had been taken away in handcuffs at 10 p.m.
the night before. A stolen credit card and six
policemen cut short his sojourn at the Long-
acre Hotel.
Things certainly have changed at the
Longacre, a single-room-occupancy hotel
on 45th Street that is home to some 100
women. It was built in 1920 by financier
Vincent Astor as a residence for nurses
when, as the story goes, his wife's nurse
couldn't find a place to live. In the 1940's it
became a residence for all kinds of women:
students, career girls and weekend visitors
who wanted secure and convenient lodgings
with all the amenities. The rich, dark wood
paneling and beveled mirrors in a spacious
first-floor lounge are elegant reminders of
its glory days. Today, the plaster is falling
in several bathrooms; shower stalls are rust-
ed and dangerously corroded and some
rooms, walls dingy and peeling, haven't seen
new paint in seven years. But these problems
pale by comparison to a change which has
ruptured the women's peace and calm. Af-
ter 64 years as a women's residence, the
Longacre now admits men.
It started with a rumor in September 1983.
The hotel's owner was gding to sell and the
women residents might have to leave. Sever-
al residents sought help from Project Find
which put them in touch with attorney De-
borah Rand and organizers Nancy Colon
and Joanne Micelli of the West Side SRO
Law Project. "We held a meeting to discuss
tenants' rights and discuss conditions at the
Longacre," says Rand. "About 40 women
showed up." The rumor became reality when
Fleck-Croasmun Partners bought the Long-
acre one month later for $1,669,000. At the
time, there were 20 vacancies in the
167-room hotel for a rate of about 12 percent.
Charles Fleck and Thomas Croasmun,
the new owners, are no strangers to the hotel
business. They own the Hotel Flex in Atlan-
ta, Georgia; for a while after purchasing the
Longacre they called it the Flex, too. They
also have major interests in a building on
15th Street which housed a male bathhouse
called Man's Country until the latter closed
last winter. A further tie to the gay male
community was evidenced by an ad for both
the Atlanta and New York hotels in a book-
let passed out at the Gay Rodeo held during
October in Manhattan. It describes the
Longacre as having a co-ed gym, which it
hasn't. When attorney Rand had a male
friend call the Longacre on the basis of the
ad, he was told it was premature, that in six
months he could rent a room.

'We used to sleep with our
doors unlocked. You didn't
have to worry about . ..
walking in the hallway at
night. Now, they want to
change our whole lifestyle
around.'

1be first man moved onto the second floor
on February 1, 1984 and the sign on the
bathroom was changed to "Men." Women
residents were less than pleased. "We used
to sleep with our doors unlocked. You didn't
have to worry about going to another floor
or Wlllking in the hallway at night," says P.
"Now they want to change our whole
lifestyle around." That lifestyle is in large
part determined by the Longacre's physical
layout which is more like a women's dormi-
tory than a hotel. There is no plumbing in
the rooms. Each floor has a communal bath
and shower room and a separate room with
toilets in stalls, neither of which has locks.
There is also a warming pantry - a sort of
large closet with a sink and a four-burner
gas stove - where many residents do
all their cooking. An elevator and two stair-
ways at either end of the floors make for free
and easy passage from floor to floor. Look-
ing around, one senses that community, not
security or privacy, was foremost in the
mind of the architect who designed the
Longacre.
In May, several more men moved onto the
second floor for limited stays and in June
women there received notices from hotel
manager Steve Cockman advising them they
had to move to another floor or face evic-
tion. The owners had obtained a permit to
"alter existing warming pantry and
bathrooms into new toilet" and plans to paint
rooms and sand floors and insisted that the
women could not stay in their rooms. In July,
women on the ninth floor got the same no-
tice and the Law Project staff sent leaflets
telling the women theY did not have to move.
The same month management ended
another tradition: rooms would be rented
out on a nightly basis only at a rate of $30
for a single.
The women on the second floor were
moved to other rooms but on the ninth,
management met resistance. 1. is a retired
nurse and a 17-year resident of the Longacre.
She and four others have remained on the
ninth floor. Since Fleck-Croasmun took
over, many women have left the hotel and
there are now over 40 vacancies. "There
used to be lots of theatrical people, students
who wanted a safe place. Twenty-five or
more have left," says P .
Services residents had been receiving for
years were cut back. "Maid service de-
creased, a 24-hour porter was let go; a
24-hour uniformed guard was also let go
which really worries the women. Now
there's no one to watch who is going in and
out of the hotel or up to the floors," says
Rand. "We filed a complaint with the state
Division of Housing and Community Re-
newal about cut in required services."
At the same time, Rand and her col-
leagues prepared a suit against the owners
claiming something no one else ever has:
that maintaining the Longacre as a women's
residence was a required service and cen-
tral to why women moved there. Before
management can eliminate that service and
rent to men, she insists, they should have to
go to DHCR for approval. "We also asked
the city's Housing Preservation and De-
velopment to rescind the certificate of non-
harassment which had been issued in April
so they could do renovations. At first they
thought it was silly to insist on an all-
women's residence in 1984. But we asked
them to come to a tenants' meeting in Sep-
tember and they changed their minds," says
Rand.
"Visiting the building and spending time
with the women there has certainly changed
things," admits Carol Felstein, deputy com-
missioner at HPD. She has taken a personal
interest in the Longacre case and believes
maintaining the hotel as a women's residence
is definitely a service. "In order for them to
change service they must go to the state.
However, the owner hasn:t gone through the .
process," she says. She also warns that if any
women are thrown out, "we won't let them
do a drop of work."
On September 10, Judge Louis Grossman
made a decision on Rand's first petition ask-
ing that management stop sending notices
to residents telling them to move and cease
accepting male guests. He converted it into
a motion for summary judgement and put
the burden of convincing the court on the
plaintiffs. Additional legal documents were
submitted by both sides for Grossman to
make a decision on whether maintaining the
Outside the Longacre Hotel. The original plaque describing the wornen's residence has been removed.
15
hotel as a women's residence is a required
service.
Meanwhile, men continue to stay at the
Longacre, especially on weekends. The sec-
ond floor is completely renovated with spar-
kling white paint in halls and new platform
beds in the rooms. Women were not permit-
ted back on the second floor. It is for men
only. At the end of November, manager
Steve Cockman made another attempt to
move women off the ninth floor and ap-
proached several women on the eighth floor
about moving so similar renovations could
be done. "We don't know if they have a per-
mit to work ori those floors but if they do,
it doesn't justify moving people out of their
rooms to paint. And if they work on the
bathrooms, the women can just walk to
another floor," claims Rand.
Rand's class action on behalf of 19 hotel
stabilized residents, contends that the all-
women status of the hotel was a feature
promoted by management in brochures, by
a plaque on the front of the building (which
was removed) and orally at the time of regis-
tration. She refers to other cases in which
a definition of "required services" as set
down in the Metropolitan Hotel Industry
Association (METHISA) code have includ-
ed not only physical things but those ele-
ments "central to the ambience and quality
oflife at the hotel." She compares the Long-
acre situation to that at Tudor City, where
management was forced to maintain a park
when the courts ruled that "recreational ac-
cess and light and air access" to the nearby
parks were required services. Certainly the
security of an all-woman building is as crit-
ical to tenants, many of whom are elderly,
as incidental services the courts have or-
dered to be maintained in other cases, she
argues.

The suit against the ownezs
claims something no one
ever has: that maintaining
the Longacre as a women S
residence is a required
service.

Arthur Shaw, attorney with HPD submit-
ted an amicus brief which reiterates Rand's
case. "The theme of the brief is that main-
tenance of the hotel for women only is a re-
quired service," Shaw states. "I also look at
the Tudor City case to establish that the na-
ture and ambience of the hotel is based on
it being a women's hotel. Further, that am-
bience functions as security and was intend-
ed to do so."
Neither partner in the Longacre could be
reached for comment; in fact, several at-
tempts to reach Croasmun were ignored.
Manager Cockman, the appointed spokes-
man, defended his employers' policies and
denied that any harassment of the women or
plan to evict them was taking place. "It is
economically unfeasible to rent just to wom-
en. We were limiting our market and run-
ning an unsuitable vacancy rate," he claims
although he could not state what it was or
how the rate has changed now that they ac-
The ballway of the second Door bas sparkling, fresh
paint and polished Doors for male transient guests
that contrast sharply with the shabby condition of
the women's Doors.
cept men.
"Many of the women here pay $50 a week
under rent stabilization. You can't function
in the city on that," Cockman says. Asked
why they didn't file for a hardship increase
from the Rent Guidelines Board, he re-
sponded, "That can take two years. Our
strategy is to bring in transient guests and
still offer affordable rates for mid- to low in-
come residents. It allows us to subsidize the
residents."
While Cockman asserts that manage-
. /
ments wants women reSIdents, to stay and has
no plans to kick anyone out, it's plain that
their needs have taken a backseat in the ef-
fort to renovate for a transient clientele.
Rooms on all floors but the second are bad-
ly in need of work; leaks in bathroom
plumbing, rusty showers, decrease in linen,
maid and garbage removal service and the
removal of knobs on all radiators have
changed quality oflife at the Longacre. But
the greatest loss is the sense of comfort and
safety women enjoyed.
Cockman dismisses the women's fear of
having men in the building as corning from
12 out of 100 residents. "This smacks of a
Snidely Whiplash thing. None of this exists.
16
/
We're simply trying to make a living. I don't
understand why there's concern of some-
thing happening." He says male guests are
advised it is a women's residence and that
panels are being made for the elevators in-
dicating which floors are for men. No safe-
ty measures are planned, nor will the
24-hour guard be reinstated.
Many people doubt that management's
decision to rent to men was reached based
on making the hotel financially sound. In the
first place, Fleck-Croasmun have been
soliciting a male clientele steadily since pur-
chasing the Longacre. In August, 1984, ads
were placed in The Advocate, a newspaper
read primarily by gay men. Cockman ad-
mitted that they have made little progress in
attracting female transient guests. "We're
pursuing women but they just don't have the
networks. It's easier to attract men; they have
their old boys' network set up."
Some, including Commissioner Felstein
believe, "There's no question that they could
fill the hotel up with women. From the size
of the building, I think appropriate manage-
ment could tum a profit. With the number
!a of SRO's dwindling, there are so few places
~ people can go. There are definitely people
~ who would stay at the Longacre."
~
~ ........................ .
~ 'There are a lot of elderly
women here. They'll have no
place to go if they push us
out.'

The loss of affordable SRO housing is a
serious concern and one which weighs on
the minds of Longacre residents. From 1978
to 1982, 32,000 SRO units were lost to
renters in the city. "There are a lot of elder-
ly women here," says P. "Theyll have no
place to go if they push us out."
A few women's residences still exist in
Manhattan, including four run by the Sal-
vation Army. The YWCA no longer rents
rooms and several non-profit residences like
the Baptist Residence on Third Ave. and
53rd St. have fallen prey to co-op conver-
sion fever. Anne Teicher of the East Side
SRO Project is now working with women
at St. Mary's Residence on 72nd St. who
have received notices limiting residency to
four years. "A lot of women have been there
10-12 years and have made it their home.
They're being told they have to leave at the
end of December. Where are they going to
go?" Her strategy is to gain protection for
women under rent stabilization codes; be-
cause St. Mary's is a non-profit organiza-
tion, rent codes may not apply.
At the Allerton Hotel for Women,
manager Peter Cullen says demand for their
rooms is great. "We're running an 80-90
percent occupancy rate. Right now there are
no rooms. We have women of all ages, lots
of seniors who have been living here for
years." Times have chanced since the 1930's
when the Allerton was a residence for
weekend shoppers and club members.
Young women now share apartments with
other women or with men, he points out, but
they still come to the Allerton as a jumping
off point. Prices there are $110 a week.
Located in the heart of the Clinton com-
munity, the Longacre Hotel will likely be-
come a boom operation when the Times
Square redevelopment and Convention
Center projects are completed, not a mlnor
consideration for the owners. The displace-
ment of residents in favor of higher paying
transient guests can be viewed as the first
ripple of a process that many Clinton resi-
A Bright Star in Jamaica
T
HE WOMENS' RESIDENCE AS
a place for young career women, stu-
dents and weekend shoppers may be a dying
breed, but the need for SRO housing for
women, especially those in transition, has
never been more crucial. Star of the Sea was
born out of that need. A unique non-profit
residence, Star of the Sea offers both per-
manent housing for women and temporary
shelter for women in crisis in its rambling
two-house complex. "We want to get to
women before they reach homelessness.
That should not be a choice," asserts Win-
nie McCarthy, co-director with Sheila
Desert of the Star of the Sea.
Four years ago, a Catholic nun, Sister
Angeline, began taking homeless women
into her Astoria home. When the building
was declared unsafe, she moved to a form-
er convent on South Road in Jamaica,
donated by members of the Pius V. Church.
McCarthy and Desert, lay missionaries,
joined the project in 1981 and assumed
directorship after the founder left. In 1982,
the city's Department of Housing Preserva-
tion and Development put pressure on them
to comply with housing codes. "We applied
for and got a state Demonstration Grant for
$52,500, put in sprinklers and modernized
the kitchen," says Desert. "The city was sur-
prised we were operating for so long without
funding. It was all on donations. We had to
do a lot ofleg work, but ultimately, the city
was willing to bend the rules with us. We
were no longer a convent, and we're not
strictly an SRO, so they called us a multiple
dwelling."
Residents of the west wing pay from
$1-$150 a month, depending on income for
one of six small but homey rooms. A kit-
chen and dining area for their use is well
supplied and spotless. "They can use this
kitchen to cook meals but they prefer to eat
together in the big kitchen with the other
women. We're like a family; McCarthy says.
There are five permanents at present, as
McCarthy calls their residents. Some have
come and gone. All are elderly. One became
homeless when her house burned down and
reached desperation when, soon after, her
son was badly beaten up. Another,
Abraham, came to the Star of the Sea after
getting a one-day eviction notice from her
apartment. Although she paid her rent like
clockwork, the landlord decided he needed
the space and ousted the 80 year old tenant.
On the other side of the Sea is a general-
ly younger group of women whose reasons
for needing temporary housing are as varied
as their walks of life. A Long Island woman
who was battered by her husband came to
them for three months. From an affluent
background, the woman seemed never to
have worked a day in her life, according to
Desert, and certainly hadn't spent time with
people so different from herself. "I love to
see them come here and mix with others. It's
an awakening. People realize they have to
drop stereotypes about who is homeless,"
she explains.
There have been rocky times at Star of the
Sea as well as joyous ones, especially in the
first couple of years. Through trial and
error, Desert and McCarthy have adopted
a "tough love" approach to dealing with the
women. Drugs, alcohol and disruptive be-
havior are forbidden. Independence is
encouraged by requiring all guests and resi-
dents to be out of the house from 9 a.m. to
4 p.m. looking for work or, for seniors, do-
ing volunteer work. Weekly chores are post-
ed on Saturday. No time limit is imposed;
the average stay is six months to one year.
"We feel love demands commitment on both
sides. You have to demand change from
people," says McCarthy
The religious context of the Star of the Sea
is obvious, from the statue of Mary by the
front door to the large crosses hanging
around Desert's and McCarthy's necks. But
if their religious commitment is deeply felt ,
it is not translated into the need to convert
those they meet. Just a profound humanism.
"Religion has nothing to do with it," claims
McCarthy. "Other human beings have to ac-
cept their responsibility to everyone of us."
In their monthly newsletter she writes,
~ .. there will be other Star of the Sea homes
17
dents fear will sweep the area like a tidal
wave. But before Fleck-Croasmun have their
way, they're going to have to contend with
the Longacre ladies - something they prob-
ably didn't count on. "Why did they come
and upset a house of women?" P. asks rhe-
torically. "If the man doesn't want us here,
he's gonna pay a heavy price for it." Laugh-
ing, she emphasizes, "He's gonna pay a hell
of a price to get us out of here."O
where our aging, gentle women will live
without fear of eviction or harassment.
Where the working poor will be able to live
safely in decent, affordable housing."
If the cCHlirectors have their way, a second
shelter-residence will be established very
soon. "We're looking for a two-family house
in this area because we just don't have
enough rooms," says Desert. "My dream is
a house for younger, low income people."
"We have two different dreams but they
go together," says McCarthy. "My idea is
along the same principle, for seniors. Peo-
ple say seniors have Section 8 and subsi-
dized housing but the truth of the matter is
that there's a three year waiting list. Besides,
you can't just take human beings who have
gone through a crisis, fire or eviction and
put them in Section 8 housing. They need
to do community type things and at the same
time have a room to be alone and heal."
Both women see a dramatic increase in
homelessness among women of all ages.
"Landlords are much quicker to evict wom-
en and it's going to get worse," Desert insists.
She attributes a greater number of homeless
women to the feminization of poverty - that
is the overwhelmingly female component of
those living below the poverty line. Older
women are especially vulnerable, they be-
lieve, because they lack knowledge of their
legal rights and often have a stuborn pride
which keeps them from seeking help.
How do they plan to realize their dream
when funding is so scarce? "We're not asking
the city to support us. Give us buildings and
we'll put people in them," says McCarthy.
"We'd be the ones to get grants for repairs
and maintenance. Government agencies
should smarten up and give structures and
financing to rehabilitate them."OA.F.
For information or to volunteer services
at Star of the Sea contact Sheila Desert or
Winnie McCarthy at (718) 297-6288.
'Have no fear Captain, we won't take your treasures. Were only after the pay from your sailors:
Axing the Taxes in Cuomo's Albaay
by Glenn von Nostitz
Tax Cuts Will Be a Boon to Rich, Hard on the Rest 01 Us
A
FFLUENT TAXPAYERS NOW
enjoying the bulk of the savings from
the Reagan administration's t a x ~ u t program
are about to get some more spending money.
This time, however, the largesse will be
coming from the New York State treasury
in the form oflarge tax reductions expected
to be passed early next Spring. Revenue
reduction could come to as much as $1.4 bil-
lion annually and will be at least $800 mil-
lion a year when cuts are fully implemented.
The sudden disappearance of such sums
from the state's coffers is not good news, to
say the least, for the homeless, the mental-
ly retarded, public university students, mass
transit riders and anyone else relying on the
generosity of our state lawmakers.
The tax reduction package now being de-
veloped in Albany, however, is also likely
to be bad news for middle class taxpayers
not directly dependent on state spending
programs. Earlier this year the Senate
Republicans, who control that house, al-
ready passed a $4.1 billion five-year tax cut
package whose chief features are un-
abashedly for the benefit of the rich: a cut
in maximum personal income tax rates
(which helps those at the top as opposed to
across the board relief for all taxpayers), a
cut in commercial bank taxes, and a new
corporate income tax "incentive" ostensibly
geared for job creation. The Assembly did
not pass this regressive Senate package, but
pressures have been mounting that will
probably succeed in getting most of it signed
into law.
The pressure for all these cuts is emanat-
ing from the Business Council of New York
State, from David Rockefeller's New York
City Partnership, and from the Senate
Republicans. At least some of the revenue
reducing is seen as feasible because state tax
collections are higher than anticipated. For
the current fiscal year ending March 30th,
the state's surplus could amount to anywhere
from $125 million to $600 million, and it
should be at least $600 million a year
thereafter.
The existence of the surplus, the intense
business lobbying and the use of the tax cut
18
issue by the Republicans in the recent elec-
tions has been moving Assembly Speaker
Stanley Fink and especially Governor
Cuomo closer to the Senate Republican
view that taxes should be cut soon and cut
a lot. Fink says he will simultaneously press
for closing of a number of unfair loopholes
that benefit the well-to-do, but it is fairly
clear at this point that the final negotiated
package will be overwhelmingly regressive.
Favoring the Corporations
That the savings from the expected pack-
age will go disproportionately into the pock-
ets ofupper income individuals was recently
shown in an analysis prepared by Jerry Bill-
ings of the State Communities Aid Associ-
ation. It is expected that the Legislature will
agree to cut the top rate on earned income
from 10 percent to 9 percent. Billings found
that 60 percent of the $300 million annual
revenue loss from this would go to the 12
percent of the taxpayers who earn more than
$30,000 a year. Not a single dollar would go
to persons making under $15,000. Even
/
mire regressive is the Senate's proposal to
cut the top rate on unearned income,
produced by stocks, bonds and other invest-
ments more familiar to the residents of
Scarsdale than Sunset Park.
These income tax cuts would come on top
of enormous cuts in maximum rates phased
in from 1978 to the early 1980's which are
now saving the wealthiest taxpayers over
$650 million a year, in addition to the state's
recent increase in the capital gains income
exclusion from 40 percent to 60 percent to
match the new federal level.
The Senate's tax cut package did include
some items billed as "progressive," includ-
ing an increase in the personal exemption
from $800 to $1000 and stretching brackets
to reduce "bracket creep." However, even if
these provisions were added to the more
overtly regressive cuts in maximum tax
rates, the fmal result would be that only 52
percent of the $3.4 billion five-year savings
would go to the 88 percent of the taxpayers
who earn less than $15,000 a year. They'd get
only $543 million of the $3.4 billion total.
Among the other tax cuts Albany observ-
ers think will ultimately be enacted are a
large reduction in commercial bank's in-
come taxes. The major New York City
banks have long complained about a com-
bined City-State bank income tax rate of 7J
percent, and have said that this high tax rate
discourages them from expanding here. A
substantial cut in both the City and State
rates is therefore considered likely, even
though a report last year by State Senator
Franz Leichter found that the effective com-
bined rate is really about 2.5 percent. In
fact, through the use of novel accounting
techniques, commercial banks paid $62 mil-
lion less in State taxes in 1983 than they did
in IfJ77 (a 35 percent decline).
It is also possible that the Legislature will
pass a replacement for the discredited Job
Incentive Program, which was abolished in
1983. During its last five years, the np
granted over $1.6 billion worth of corporate
tax credits, most of which went to Manhat-
tan based financial services firms. Both
Speaker Fink and the Senate Republicans
are championing a new program under
which a company gets a tax credit of $1,000
for each job it "creates," no questions asked.
Who's Shaping Whom?
A concern being voiced by numerous As-
sembly Democrats is that the enacted tax
cuts could end up being much larger than
the budget surplUses. Not only would there
be no growth in State spending, but there
would be substantial cutbacks on top of
those imposed two years ago when the
State's budget deficit amounted to a stunning
$1.6 billion. As Manhattan Assemblyman
Richard Gottfried says. the question is
"whether the tax cut will shape the budget,
or the budget shape the tax cuts."
There are also those who believe that, in
addition to providing crucial additional
funds to human services programs, the State
should use some of its expected surpluses
to reduce the massive annual "spring bor-
rowing." As explained by Frank Domurad,
former Tax Reform Director of the New
York Public Interest Research Group, every
year the State "rolls over" a large portion of
the deficit into the succeeding year in order
to balance the current year's budget. That
means, however, that the State has to bor-
row several billion dollars every year, with
annual interest expenses of over $250 mil-
lion. Domurad says that over several years
the State could phase-in a program to reduce
the "roll-over," cut the accumulated deficit,
and ultimately save hundreds of millions of
dollars in interest expenses. "That's the fis-
cally responsible thing to do," Domurad
says.
Finally, there are widely divergent esti-
mates of just how big the deficits will actu-
ally be. The senate Republicans, who push
tax cuts the most, come up with the biggest
figures. The Senate Finance Committee is
projecting a $644 million surplus in the cur-
rent fiscal year, a statistic they say is-based
on economic evaluations of the State econ-
omy provided by Wharton Econometrics.
On the other hand, Governor Cuomo's office
says that, while still too early to tell, the sur-
plus might be around $125 million.
If the 1985 tax cut package is based on the
Senate Republicans' surplus figures, and if
the economy doesn't perform up to their op-
timistic projections, the State will again be
faced with a big deficit and might have to
raise taxes to avoid slashing programs.
Many analysts see the "roller coastering" of
tax cuts and tax increases as more harmful
to the State's business climate than a high tax
burden itself. Business executives like tax
stability. It makes planning a lot easier,
Policy Studies Due
While Governor Cuomo is not expected
to reveal his 1985 tax plans until he gives his
State of the State speech in January, he did
call "superb" the report released November
18th by his Council on Fiscal and Econom-
ic Priorities which closely echoes the Senate
Republicans' tax cut plans. The panel calls
for cutting the top rate on personal income
from 10 percent to 9 percent, increasing the
personal exemption from $800 to $1000 and
raising the standard deduction to the feder-
al level. The recomendations were put
together by a committee headed by James
Robinson, Chairman of American Express,
and included Felix Rohatyn and other major
19
business and labor leaders. Given that the
recomm endations were put together under the
direction of Perry Quick, a tax expert on
loan from Shearsonl American Express, it
is not surprising that if passed , an individual
making over $100,000 a year would save
$1,184 while someone earning less than
$10,000 will save $17.
On the other hand, expected to add a more
progressive note to the upcoming tax negoti-
ations will be the reports now gradually be-
ing released by the Legislative Commission
on the Modernization and Simplification of
Tax Administration and the Tax Law (more
simply, the "Legislative Thx Study Commis-
sion"). The Thx Study Commission is per-
forming the most exhaustive review of the
State's tax system in fifty years. The Com-
mission's reports are expected to favor
broadening the tax base, eliminating many
unproductive loopholes, and reducing rates
in a progressive manner. Assembly Speak-
er Fink will probably rely on their reports
when he sits down with Senate Majority
Leader Warren Anderson and Cuomo to talk
taxes.
Thus, while the specifics of the 1985 tax
cut package are still being determined, some
general outlines are nonetheless emerging:
It is certain to contain a cut in maximum
personal income tax rates.
The personal exemption will be raised.
Bank taxes will be reduced.
There might be a new business tax "incen-
tive" to ostensibly encourage job creation.
At the cost 'Of literally hundreds of mil-
lions of dollars a year, larger class sizes at
CUNY and SUNY, fewer nursing home in-
spectors, and higher fees in the State's parks,
New York State will be continuing its own
experiment in "supply side" economics. The
Business Council states that New York's
"high taxes" are keeping businesses from in-
vesting here, although surveys and expert
analyses have shown no connection at all.
Yet the 1985 tax cut program is already be-
ing presented to the public as a solution for
the State's economic woes and as a benefit
to all those who pay taxes here. 0
Glenn J-Vn Nostitz is an aide to State Sena-
tor Franz Leichter.
'l'andDg the Tables 08 the
SBOBaraDen
By Richard Miller
A
GROUP OF TENANTS AT AN
upper West Side hotel, many of them
former homeless people, have organized to
resist eviction proceedings in a battle that
highlights the city's housing crisis. The
building, a former 54-room single-room-
,occupancy hotel at 175 W. 85 St., dubbed
the Sunset Hotel by its inhabitants, was the
site of tenant harassment- and illegal evic-
tions in 1981.
"There are about 25 to 30 people in the
building neM'; said David Jacobs, one of
three co-directors of the tenant association.
"Some people have been living here since
the end of 1983. We want to make this into
a living environment, eventually filling all
the rooms with low income tenants. We have
received support from local community
groups and politicians who understand the
need for this kind of housing on the West
Side."
The tenants have started to winterize the
building, and are optimistic about their up-
coming court battle with the landlord, Alan
Sackman.
Sackman is no stranger to legal proceed-
ings at this time. New York State Attorney
General Robert Abrams filed suit against
him and several others for their 1981 "reign
of terror" at the Hamilton Hotel at 315 West
99th Street against the remaining 50 tenants.
Using a series of illegal actions, including
physical v i o l ~ , less than three weeks af-
ter buying the hotel, Sackman had cleared
it. Some of the former tenants joined the
ranks of the homeless [See "State Seeks
Damages Against SRO Owner," January,
--1984.] The building was quickly converted
to luxury condominiums; all the units were
sold, with Sackman reaping a profit of more
than $1 million, according to Abrams.
The case will now proceed to trial, be-
cause Sackman's technical objections have
been nullified by state Supreme Court
Justice Allen Murray Myers who labeled
them "1iufetched." Abrams seeks to prohibit
Sackman from ever again selling real estate
securities in New York State and to make the
defendants pay damages to the illegally
evicted tenants.
Earlier Terror at West 85th Street
Tenants were evicted illegally from 175
West 85th Street at about the same time, but
not by Sackman. He bought the building in
February, 1984, from Tony Postiglione who
was then in jail, serving six months of a one-
year term for two counts of coercion and one
count of conspiracy for his activities when
the building was emptied illegally. He had
harassed and assaulted tenants, forcing
many of them to live in the street.
In June, Sackman served legal papers to
evict the tenants then living in the building.
The case was withdrawn after the tenants'
attorney, Deborah Rand, of the West Side
SRO Law Project, ftled a motion to dismiss
the petitions on the grounds that they were
served improperly and constituted insuffi-
cient facts to prove the landlord's case. The
tenants expect that the legal maneuverings
will continue in court in an attempt to fore-
stall threatened evictions.
The tenants have not said who moved into
the building at what point because of the
sensitive legal issues involved in their or-
ganizing activities to provide permanent
shelter for the homeless. Some of those liv-
20
/
ing in the "Sunset" were tenants during the
Postiglione ownership; the others are
primarily homeless people from the neigh-
borhood.
"We are attempting to organize and pro-
vide a refuge for homeless people," Jacobs
said. "It's dramatized by the fact that the site
was an SRO where people were harassed
and criminally evicted." There is no law, he
noted, providing a right to refuge or shelter
for homeless people, even in a building
where tenants were illegally evicted.
According to Jacobs, if the case goes to
trial, Sackman will attempt to prove he didn't
know people were living in the building
when he bought it in February of this year.
"But people - some of them former tenants
and other homeless members of the commu-
nity - had been there since December of
1983," Jacobs said. "They claim they
checked the building at the time, and sealed
it up. . . But we can prove that to be false
with testimony by the people who were liv-
ing there at the time. He knew people were
there."
Because of the previous criminal mis-
management of the building under
Postiglione, tenants believe the owners did
not have a clear idea of who was living there.
"This led to the situation where people were
there, but the landlord did not have adequate
knowledge of them," Jacobs said. "It is im-
portant because if people can establish their
tenancy for more than 30 days, under the law
for hotel residents, they would have a right
to be here."
Sackman was involved in the building as
early as 1982, when he submitted an appli-
cation to the Buildings Department to con-
vert the SRO to lUXUry units.
The city initially denied his alterations ap-
plication because he did not have a certifi-
cate of non-harassment, required by Local
Law 19 for SRO's when sold or renovated to
ensure that tenants were not forced out by
real estate speculators.
Sackman then took HPD to court, con-
tending that because of when the permit was
filed originally, Local Law 19 should not ap-
ply. The court ruled that the law was not ap-
plicable, and that if the other conditions of
his application were in order, Sackman's
permit should be authorized.
There is some uncertainty about the fu-
ture. If Sackman needs to apply for other
building permits, it is possible that Local
Law 19 would apply which would require
him to get a certificate of non-harassment.
AI Fredericks, an attorney in the city's Cor-
poration Counsel, said he was unsure at this
time.
The provisions of the law only cover
harassment which takes place within three
years of filing an application. December,
1984, will be the three-year anniversary of
the harassment campaign at 175 West 85th
Street.
Homeless on Trial
The case highlights the crisis of homeless
people in New York and the lack of low in-
come housing in the city. "Our tenants as-
sociation meets every Monday night," said
Frank Miraglia, one of the co-directors,
who lived at the 66th Street Armory on the
East Side before coming to West 85th Street.
"We try to organize the people to do the
repairs needed, the outreach necessary to
contact .local politicians and community
groups to build support, and to determine
what our priorities should be to allocate
scarce resources."
The association requires all members to
do some work on the building to make it
more habitable. "You can see what we have
been able to do," said co-director Jim Cobb,
who has been homeless the past two years,
most recently living at the band-shell in
Central Park. "We have made some progress
in cleaning up the disastrous, war-zone con-
ditions left by Postiglione. We are deter-
mined to make it a place for people to live
in a city which has forgotten about the need
for low income housing units."
In addition to fighting Sackman on the le-
gal front in court, the tenants have sought
the assistance of a nonprofit organization
which could purchase the building and turn
it into a permanent site for low income units.
"We are still hopeful on this issue," Jacobs
said, "but to date, nothing has materialized."
Another fruitful result of the tenants' ef-
fort is a verdant garden they have planted
and maintained on a former rubble-strewn
adjacent lot which is open to the communi-
ty. This property also is owned by Sackman.
The Sunset tenants have organized and
prepared for their day in court with Sack-
man. Despite their optimism, the outcome
is unclear. If a negative verdict is received
in court, the tenants will have to vacate the
premises at some point, although the judge
can provide them more time than the stan-
dard five-day limit. Jacobs said they will
continue to seek community support to stay
in the building.
"This has become a good place to live,"
said Miraglia. "Here there are 25 people I
know; in the shelter there are 160 I don't
know. We don't want to go back to the
shelters or the streets. We'll do everything
we can to stay in our building."O
Richard Miller is a jreekmce writer.
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21

OUT OF THE SHADOWS
A Trail of Neighborhood Destruction Ends in Prison
L

Lenox Road: Where a Joe BaJd and George Jaffee sought to parlay
three anon-struck buUdings Into government rehab project.
F
OR NEARLY TWO DECADES
landlord Henry Katkin haunted the
buildings and residents of Brownsville, East
New York, Bushwick and the South Bronx.
But Katkin, who started out as a plumber in
Brownsville and went on to package and
his often-torched properties for
some of the city's leading developers, was
found guilty last May of racketeering and
mail fraud. And on November 6, while the
rest of the country cast its ballots in a na-
tional election, Katkin lost the vote of fed-
eral Judge John R. Bartels who sentenced
him to six years in prison for his part in an
arson-for-profit ring that set Yl occupied
buildings on fire in pursuit of nearly $2 mil-
lion in insurance payments.
So far, Katkin's six-year sentence makes
him the biggest loser of the seven men who
have pled guilty or been tried in response
to the indictments announced in July, 1983.
Bruce Elliott, an attorney who formerly
served as a Brooklyn community board
chair, was sentenced to two' months, to be
served on consecutive weekends after he
agreed to testify for the prosecution and pled
guilty to racketeering. Philip Holzer, a real-
tor from Monsey, New York, drew three
years, a $500 fine and 400 hours of commu-
nity service. Abraham Slochowsky, who
also turned state's evidence, was sentenced
to four years. The rest have yet to be sen-
tenced.
Slim, neatly tailored, with wavy silver
hair, the 48-year-old Katkin sat throughout
his trial last spring with his brows arched
over a pair of piercing gray eyes which .
projected a steady look of incredulity as he
and the jury listened to his former partners
testify against him.
But when in November he stood before
Judge Bartels to plead for "a chance to help
people," instead of going to jail, his voice
dratnatically broke and he couldn't continue.
A few minutes later, when the Judge began
to pronounce sentence, the defendant burst
into loud wrenching sobs, recovering only
after a ten-minute recess.
Pieces of History
There should be a special place for Hen-
ry Katkin and his arson-ring partners in the
history of this city's ravaged neighborhoods.
While whites who fled those communities
amid rapid racial transition cluck and sigh
at the now burned-out buildings they recall
22
from the old neighborhood's former glory,
there's a strong temptation to ignore the bas-
ic contribution made by Katkin and many
like him. But stories such as his provide the
all-too invisible chapters in community
decay.
None of Henry Katkin's former tenants
showed up to witness his sentencing. Most
of them are long since dispersed from the
once sturdy corner buildings from Rocka-
way Parkway to the Grand Concourse which
he made his targets. Even if the network ex-
isted to contact them all, it would be a pains-
taking task. For Henry Katkin was already
a budding landlord when he first teamed up
with developer George Jaffee to undertake
rehab projects under the city's profitable and
loosely-watched Municipal Loan program.
He and Jaffee played the Muni Loan pro-
gram's best scam to perfection: building up
heavy underlying paper mortgages and then
getting the city loan to cover the entire wild-
ly inflated price.
None of the four buildings in which Kat-
kin alone pledged to create affordable low
income housing still stand today. Nor has the
city seen much of the $1.2 million it loaned
him. In fact, even today the city's computers
still fail to kick out two of the properties on
which Katkin defaulted, so even the bills he
has steadily ignored for almost ten years are
for less than half what he really owes.
No one, other than Katkin himself, prob-
ably knows exactly how those buildings
died. "I was in the middle of a jungle," he
said in an interview a few years ago. "The
Thj Mahal would have gone down in those
neighborhoods." But virtually as soon as
Katkin quit making payments on his loans,
his buildings were hit with numerous fires.
Number 506 Alabama Avenue, now a lonely
comer off Pitkin Avenue, had ten fires be-
tween February and May, 1978, all but one
listed as suspicious or unknown. His three
buildings a couple of blocks away on the
4OO-block of Georgia had similar streaks of
bad luck.
But luck was with Henry Katkin, partic-
ularly in his ability to find willing partners
to either buy other burned-out but rehab-
ripe properties, or, better yet, provide a
respectable development front behind which
he could operate. For after his Muni Loan
performance, the city housing department
didn't trust him too much. (He might have
responded that he didn't trust them too much
either, since the two top aides for the pro-
gram were indicted in the scandals which
soon engulfed it.)
Stanley Riefer and Steven Bernstein
\ .
bought out three ofKatkin's other fire-gutted
buildings at East 91st Street and Winthrop
Avenue and parlayed them into federally
subsidized projects. But while they wanted
the buildings, they didn't want Katkin. "The
slimiest human being I ever met," is how
Riefer characterized Katkin recently.
1be plumber from Brownsville continued
to plow his cash back into other rental
properties in East Brooklyn. His investment
went into purchase, though, not repair or
upkeep, and he kept a score of tenant or-
ganizers and lawyers busy. "Katkin was
someone you always saw coming out ofthe
shadows," recalled city housing litigation
lawyer Bruce Kramer in 1980.
"He was practicing a kind of plantation
strategy," remarked tenant organizer Marc
Jabr, "wiping out exhausted soil and then
moving on."
Joining the Enterprise
But perhaps Henry Katkin's luckiest day
was when landlord lawyer Israel
Slochowsky sent him upstairs at 16 Court
Street to meet his brother Abe. Abraham
Slochowsky had recently expanded his real
estate business with two partners named Joe
Bald and Ken Passafiume. The trio had a
happy sounding enterprise called KAJO
Realty (for Ken, Abe and Joe) which was
keeping busy running down 17 properties in
East Flatbush, Crown Heights and
Bed-Stuy.
. Joe Bald, who is now serving an 8-25 year
term, later claimed that it was Katkin's sug-
gestion that their buildings be "taken down"
through fires, and insurance payments col-
lected. But the KAlO threesome were hard-
ly uninitiated. Katkin did, however, have
something KAlO lacked and badly wanted:
the rehab and development know-how to
take the burned buildings one golden step
further, into government rehab programs.
1be insurance payments from the fires, Bald
recounted Katkin as saying, would provide
the start-up capital for their rehab ventures.
"My partners and I saw the light," Bald told
the jury at Katkin's trial.
Indeed, the light was dazzling. Within
three years the partnership had turned at
least four clusters of bumed buildings, from
Far Rockaway to Brooklyn to the South
Bronx, into federally subsidized rehab
projects, worth millions of dollars to those
who owned the buildings while it nearly suc-
ceeded in a number of others.
At the time, Katkin had four corner
properties at Linden and Grove Streets in
Bushwick. Even though they were almost
fully occupied he wanted to rehab them.
While he took a back seat because ofhis bad
city credit rating, Bald presented plans to
city officials who listened with interest for
a time until the deal eventually fell through
for reasons which are unclear; Both Bald
and Katkin blame the other's "bad reputa-
tion" for the rejection.
Neither of Katkin's other two favorite re-
hab prospects made it into construction
either, although both came close. While the
partnership squabbled about the insurance
proceeds split, fires slowly emptied build-
ings at three of the four corners at Lenox
Road and Rockaway Parkway in 1976 and 77,
creating the vacancies government housing-
officials prefer.
Although it never took root, the rehab had
plenty of willing partners. In addition to the
KAlO crew and fellow arsonist-landlord
Harry Rosen, Katkin's old rehab partner
George Jaffee also bought an ownership in-
terest in conjunction with his co-partners in
Eastway Construction, Irving Kanarek, and
Robert Jacobs. Although that entity owed
the city $12.5 million in defaulted Muni
Loans it was rolling along with federal and
private development work. Also, Katkin
lined up the first of his minority "fronts" in
that project, Horace Morancey, who head-
ed the Brooklyn Model Cities office and
worked for the New York State energy
office.
Fronts
But Morancey was presumably no more
aware of just how the deal was being cooked
than was the much-respected Rev. Milton
Galamison the educational advocate, civil
rights activist and pastor of Siloam Baptist
Church. Galamison's friendship with Philip
Rosenberg of Progressive Realty Corp.
brought him in touch with Katkin who had
another tasty rehab project lined up at Park
Place and Rochester Avenue in the Crown
Heights neighborhood where some 1200
units of Section 8 were due to be allocated
under a new HUri\ program.
Mainly for the use of his name and good
character, Galamison was to get $25,000, a
small portion of the potential profit. Another
developer, William Hubbard of the Center
for Housing Partnerships, also planned a
role in developing the project with Katkin
quietly in the background. It was a busy
period for Katkin who also lined up options
for Rosenberg on properties at 992-1004
Eastern Parkway and the Prospect Heights
Hospital. Katkin also hoped to build the lat-
ter job with his Karlan Construction Cor-
poration which he co-owned with Morris
Lesnick and Amnon Burnovski.
But in the spring of 1980, Bald,
Slochowsky and 13 others were indicted for
arson in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the
Bronx. When City Limits Magazine point-
ed out Bald's name on the options for the
burned Park Place and Rochester Avenue
buildings, HUD dropped the project.
23
Although Katkin and Bald were striking
out in some spots, elsewhere they were suc-
ceeding. Acting without Katkin, Bald lined
up a strip of burned-out buildings on West
135th Street in Hamilton Heights for a Sec-
tion 8 project for developer John Skelly who
had vnly just left his city housing agency job
where he had worked on straightening out
Muni Loans.
Bronx Score
And up in the South Bronx, on the Grand
Concourse, Katkin and Bald had hit a home
run. Their $640,000 pricetag on the still
burning buildings at 1403-25 Grand Con-
course was picked up by Hubbard's Center
for Housing Partnerships. They then sat
down with Hubbard in the law offices of
former Deputy Mayor and planning com-
missioner John Zuccotti to work out an
agreement to share in the syndication of the
$1.5 million tax shelter the project offered.
According to the federal indictments on
which they were convicted, this was just
three months after Katkin and Slochowsky
caused three fires at 1425 Grand Concourse.
While still partially occupied, the build-
ings, under agreement with Hubbard and
Zuccotti's office, were entrusted to the cares
of Katkin and Bald. They quickly went
vacant.
Even while Henry Katkin's sentencing for
his racketeering conviction grew near, he
continued to angle for participation in
government-subsidized projects. Last
spring, with the help of a professional he
hired to put together an alternative commu-
nity service program for him, he almost
talked his way into the state's homeless hous-
ing assistance program with the Pratt Insti-
tute Center before that group became aware
of his past record. Last year Katkin sent an
em issary to the city housing department's
alternative management programs to bid on
a contract for repairs in a community
management building through an entity
called Progressive Construction. That at-
tempt was snagged by a sharp-eyed em-
ployee who had read about the company's
president, Henry Katkin, in the newspaper.
In recent months he persuaded Juan
Morales, the former chair of Community
Board #2 in the Bronx, into scouting out de-
velopment projects for him. Morales, who
explained he did it because he was "a good
Christian," wrote effusively to Judge Bartels
that he was eager to put Katkin's skills to
work on behalf of his Bronx Regional Hous-
ing Corporation.
Although his conviction is under appeal,
it looks likely that those skills are going to
have to take a break for a few years. And
while Henry Katkin serves his time, there
will be new chapters written in the history
of the communities he long haunted.OT.R.
A Brief Guide to In Rem Proceedings
WheD the City Forecloses
By Sue Reynolds
T
HE PROCESS OF CITY FORE-
closure for back taxes is long and tor-
tuous, with complicated rules governing an
owner's ability to rescue a property from
possible City seizure. And it's all made more
confusing by the periodic changes in the
rules which are legislated by City Council.
This article will briefly outline the current
options of owners and concerned tenants in
seriously tax-delinquent property.
The Foreclosure Process
The City begins a foreclosure action
against the tax-delinquent properties in a
borough by flling an in rem action in State
Supreme Court. (In order to be eligible for
such a flling, a one or two-family home with
low taxes must be delinquent for three years;
all other properties are eligible after only
one year of non-payment.) The time be-
tween this filing and the actual foreclosure,
which under current practice is usually
several years, is called the redemption peri-
od. Owners (and others with legal interest
in the property) can easily pevent the threa-
tened foreclosure during the redemption
periOd by paying their back tax,es in full, or
, by entering into an installment agreement.
The only action currently pend-
ing in the City, Manhattan Action #31, is
currently in this stage; it was filed on June
9, 1982, with the actual foreclosure planned
for early 1985.
Once the City forecloses, the owner still
has an opportunity to recover the property
for up to two years after the date of fore-
closure. During this release period, owners
can still make either full payment or install-
ment agreements, but recovery of the
property is generally more difficult than act-
ing earlier and actually preventing the fore-
closure. There is more public review of
owner applications, and installment agree-
ment terms for non-owner-occupants are
much harsher than before foreclosure.
Owner Options During the Redemption
Period
An owner with a property on the in rem
list can try to avoid foreclosure in several
ways:
filing an answer to the foreclosure action
in Supreme Court, claiming that the threa-
tened foreclosure is legally or factually in
error;
paying the overdue taxes and charges in
full; or
signing an installment agreement to pay
the overdue amount over time.
Though an owner can take these steps at
any time during the redemption period, the
vast majority of owners take action either
soon after the in rem list is filed, or in the
last few months before foreclosure. Any
owner who can meet the City's payment re-
quirements has a legal right to redeem the
property, .even if the owner has a record of
24
harassment, failure to provide essential ser-
vices, or other tenant abuses. Others with
a legal interest in the property (holders of
mortgages or sales contracts, for instance)
also have the right to pay up and remove the
property from the threat of foreclosure.
Redemption Periods
There are two periods within the redemp-
tion period - the Early Redemption Period,
which covers the initial 10 weeks after fll-
ing of the list, and Late Redemption Peri-
od, which lasts from the ten week deadline
until the foreclosure. Redemption is some-
what more expensive in the later period; the
exact aniounts due are calculated by the
Department of Finance City Collections
Office, Central In Rem Section, 151 West
Broadway, 7th Floor, Manhattan, 306-6005.
Paying In Full and Installment Agreements
Paying in Full: If an owner pays the full
amount owed, the property will be with-
drawn from this particular in rem action per-
manently. Even if the owner misses the very
next quarterly tax payment, the property is
safe from foreclosure until the next in rem
action in the borough.
Installment Agreement: An owner can
make a downpayment on the amount owed,
and sign an installment agreement to pay the
rest over time. The law allows two types of
installment agreements: a generous 10%
agreement for small (one-to-five units)
owner-occupied residential properties, and
a harsher 15 % agreement for other proper-
ties. A 10% agreement requires a 10%
downpayment, and has a maximum pay-
ment period of 12 years. A 15 % agreement
requires a 15 % downpayment, with a max-
imum term of only 8 years.
As part of the agreement, the law requires
landlords to sign a notarized affidavit that
the landlord has notified all tenants of the
intent to make an installment agreement,
and has sent all tenants a copy of a standard
installment agreement by certified mail.
(However, the law also specifies that there
will be no penalties or consequences for
owners who ignore or don't comply with this
notice requirement. This provision was rad-
ically weakened during legislative negoti-
ations.)
Owners who default on an installment
agreement before the general foreclosure ac-
tion will still lose their property. If they
default after the foreclosure, their property
may be taken in a periodic supplemental
foreclosure.
Tenant Options
The first step for tenants is to learn
whether their building is on the in rem list,
and whether the landlord has already made
full payment or signed an installment agree-
ment. The Central In Rem Section
(212-306-6005) can provide that informa-
tion, if given the property's tax block and
lot numbers. (Again, only Manhattan has an
in rem list pending at this writing.)
If tenants don ~ want the owner to sign an
installment agreement, because of past mis-
management, or if they're upset that the
owner has already signed an installment
agreement, they have one proven tool: dis-
rupting the owner's cash income through a
rent strike, in order to cause a default on tax '
Readers who are involved in redemption and release disputes sboukl probably COGMIJt
two manuals published by the Association fOr Nciabborhood and Housing Devolopaloat;
JJ-1umtheCityrorecloses:OwnnandCommunityOptionsisaJeDOl'll ... ., .......
of foreclosure, and to the planning andc;npnizing sttalegies which are a\!Iilablo to ~
munities before and after foreclosure. 4 Guide 10 R4demptJOns ,..., whidt ..
~ available in mid-December, is a moreteclm.ical and detailed discus8ior1 of the iDeaN
outs of owner recovery of tax-delinquent property. These guides can be obtained for U -
each or a special bulk rate from the Association at 424 W. 33rd Street, New York, New
York ~ O O O I (212) 239-9410.0
or installment agreement payments, and in-
sure foreclosure. This tactic is only effec-
tive if the landlord doesn't have access to
other cash to make those payments, or if the
landlord is not committed to keeping the
property. If an owner pays the back taxes and
charges in full, tenants have no options; the
property is permanently removed from this
in rem action.
Tenants who are interested in owning the
building themselves, and have been manag-
ing the building already, may want to ex-
plore the option of purchasing the building
directly from the landlord. With HPD's sup-
port, a low-interest loan, some Section 8
subsidies, and foregiveness or generous
terms for repayment of back taxes are all
possibilities in this situation. (For more in-
formation, call the Community Service So-
ciety Ownership Transfer Project, (212)
254-8900.)
Release: When the Owner Wants the
Property Back After Foreclosure
Even after foreclosure, owners have the
right to try to recover their property, or (in
legal terms) to obtain a release of the City's
ownership of the property. (Many people
still call this a redemption, but technically
a redemption occurs before foreclosure and
a release occurs afterward.)
In order to obtain a release, the former
owner Jllust submit an application to the Di-
vision of Real Property's Release Center (2
Lafayette Street, Manhattan, 566-7626). The
owner can apply to pay in full, or may re-
quest an installment agreement. An install-
ment agreement must include an affidavit
(that the tenants were informed by certified
mail of the owner's release application and
were given copies of the application), and
photocopies of the certified mail receipts.
Tenants or community groups can call the
Release Center to see if a release applica-
tion has been filed; the records are kept by
block and lot number.
Process and Terms of Release
Release Period: If an owner p,ys in full
25 l
during the first four months after fore-
closure, the City must return the property.
However, if an owner wants an installment
agreement at any time (even the day after
vesting), or wants to pay in full after four
months of City ownership, the Board of Es-
timate has the discretion to grant or deny the
return of the property to an owner. An owner
can request the right to pay in full or make
an installment agreement at any time dur-
ing the Discretionary Period, which extends
until two years after the vesting date.
Amount Paid: During City ownership, the
amount of back taxes and interest continues
to climb with each quarterly payment
missed. If it takes the Board of Estimate nine
months to make a pecision, the owner owes
nine months additional taxes. The owner
must also reimburse the City for any
management expenses which were greater
than the income from the property, and pay
a 5 % penalty (up to a maximum of $500).
Installment Agreements: The terms for in-
stallment agreements after vesting depend
on the type of building. For most buildings
with stores or with six or more apartments,
release agreement terms are much harsher
than for small, owner-occupied residential
buildings. Specifically, agreements for the
larger buildings require a 50 % downpay-
ment and full payment of the remaining
amount within the year. Owner-occupants
of one-to-five family homes must make a
10% downpayment and full payment of the
remaining amount.
Default: Owners who don't stay up-to-
date with both their current tax payments
and their installment agreement payments
become eligible for a supplemental fore-
closure action. The City implemented this
policy with the 1982-1983 Brooklyn fore-
closure action, and now brings several fore-
closure actions a year against all properties ..
whose owners default on an installment
agreement after the vesting in the borough.
With supplemental foreclosures, an owner
who can't keep up with payments loses the
property after only six months, instead of
waiting 3 to 4 years until the next full fore-
closure action in the borough.
Thnant and Community Options
When owners exercise their right to make
a full payment during the mandatory release
period, once again tenants and community
leaders have no say. However, as explained
above, most releases do involve review by
city agencies and the Board of Estimate, and
this process provides an opportunity for
tenant and community input. The review
process takes at least three to six months.
The Department of Housing Preservation
and Development (Policy and Government
Liaison, Charles DiMaggio, 212-566-6538)
reviews residential properties, and the Di-
vision of Real Property (Release Center,
James Montefinese, 212-566-7626) reviews
non-residential property. The agencies can
consider a wide range of issues in making
their recommendations, including owner-
occupancy, owner management record,
owner tax payments on other properties, and
Housing Court records. They can recom-
mend that a release be denied; they can
recommend that a release be granted if the
owner signs a repair agreement; or they can
recommend that an installment agreement
application be denied, but that the owner be
allowed to pay in full .
The agency recommendations are consi-
dered by the Acquisition and Disposition
Committee of the Board of Estimate, where
most of the real discussion occurs; the Com-
mittee's recommendations are then consi-
dered (and generally accepted) by the full
Board of Estimate at its biweekly meeting.
The Future
It has now been two and a half years since
City Council passed the last major change
in redemption and release procedures (Lo-
cal Law 15, March, 1982). What are the is-
sues still under debate? What changes are
necessary to make these procedures consis-
tent with the neighborhood preservation and
survival efforts of community residents?
Different communities and different types
of residents obviously have different takes
on this subject. Communities with large
numbers of poor owner-occupants are still
evaluating the impact of the more favorable
terms instituted for these owners in 1982.
Despite these easier 10% agreements, the
City has foreclosed on hundreds of owner-
occupants in recent years while simultane-
ously spending a great deal of effort (and
money) creating new opportunities for
owner-occupants in the same neighbor-
hoods. Meanwhile, tenant leaders and or-
ganizers are very concerped at the City'S
easy extension of credit (through installment
agreements) to owners before foreclosure-
even owners who have so mismanaged
buildings that the City has pressed for a
court-appointed 7A Administrator, or own-
ers who have been convicted of arson or
tenant harassment. In order to prevent the
City's redemption and release policies from
working at cross purposes to the neighbor-
hood preservation efforts of residents and
city agencies, City Council and the adminis-
tration will have to seriously consider the
housing and human impacts of these tech-
nical tax collection policies, and make
changes accordingly. 0
Sue Reynolds is Associate Director of the
Associationfor Neighborhood and Housing
Development.
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or write the H.E.A. T. office.
Housing Energy Alliance for Tenants Coop Corp.
853 Broadway. Suite 414. New \Or!<. NY. 10003. [212] 505-0286
26
______________ _
ELECTION
LESSONS
HOPEFUL MESSAGE- CAN
Y Y community activists carry fNIay from
the November general election? While the
results of the biggest national contest don't
bode well for housing or low income pro-
grams, there were some local activities
which may create the basis for significant-
ly altering the proportions of political
power.
Voter registration was the tactic of choice
this year and a national campaign was
kicked off with heavy foundation backing
more than a year and a half before the
November election. Although many charac-
terized the results of the nationwide cam-
paigns as far less than had been projected
or hoped for, in New York City the numbers
of registered voters are clearly changed in
the aftermath of the campaigns.
Human SERVE, one of several nonprofit
and non-partisan organizations created to
coordinate and fuel voter registration drives,
reported that 870,000 new New York City
voters registered in time for the 1984 general
election. According to Don Hazen, New
York state organizer for the group, those new
registrants now give women voters a half-
million edge in the city, among other
changes.
As a one-issue campaign, however, Hazen
expressed some doubts. "Voter registration
has got to be from now on a part of any com-
munity organizing effort," he told a group
of community organizers at Hunter College
School of Social Work. "The ebb and flow
of the work is enormously expensive:'
Hazen added. And, pointing to the far more
sophisticated electronic registration efforts
mounted by the Republican Party in contrast
to nonpartisan and Democratic Party efforts,
he warned, "The Right will out-organize us
on that front with both money and expertise."
One strategic attempt to impact on voting
patterns in a single city Assembly district
was carried out by the nonprofit Commu-
nity Service Society. It selected the 54th
A.D. , covering parts of Brooklyn's Bush-
wick, East New York and Cypress Hills
neighborhoods, on which to focus its Com-
munity Empowerment Project. That dis-
trict, according to Richie Perez, who headed
up the project, had one of the ten worst dis-
TENANT
and I
VOTE
trict records in the city in 1982 in terms of
voter participation. Just one-third of the
eligible voters were registered in 1982.
Made up of 48 percent Hispanic and 34 per-
cent black residents, less than a third of its
26,000 families are above the poverty level.
Utilizing a combination of direct mail,
cultural events (such as a concert by musi-
cian Ray Barretto where the cost of admis-
sion was registering two new voters), radio
advertising and many volunteers, the project
took credit for increasing voter turnout on
primary day by 54 percent and at the general
election by 57 percent. Overall, the num-
ber of voters climbed from 13,000 to 21,000.
The Empowerment project was bolstered
by another registration drive carried out in
adjoining assembly districts by the East
Brooklyn Churches organization. Accord-
ing to organizer Ken Thorbourne, EBC
registered over 10,000 new voters in four of
the borough's poorest districts, including the
54th. Organizers for the group said each of
the new voters was called on election day.
When the November 6 tallies were count-
ed, the vote in each district was up substan-
tially from the last election. In the 40th
A.D., 24,000 people voted, up from 16,800
or 84 percent from 1982. In the 55th A.D.,
voters were up 117 percent, and in the 53rd
A.D. up 57 percent. Although lines were
redrawn somewhat two years ago, there ai-e
now more people voting in some of these
districts than were even registered in 1980.
1enants for Political Action
A group of tenant organizers tried a differ-
ent approach in two State Senate elections
in the metropolitan area. Tenants for Polit-
ical Action was organized by city tenant ac-
tivists in the early Spring in order to put
housing needs more squarely on the politi-
cal agenda. Early on, a decision was made
to target races in the state senate since that
27
upstate Republican-dominated body has
long been the graveyard of tenant initiatives.
While the group acknowledged it had little
chance of altering the political power
balance in the senate, it felt that by produc-
ing a strong tenant vote in the races it could
send a message to senate leadership that
tenant legislation deserves more serious
consideration.
Tenpac, as the group quickly became
known, made endorsements in two impor-
tant senate races. The move produced a split
result in terms of victories. In the 23rd dis-
trict in Brooklyn where a pro-tenant Demo-
cratic incumbent, Joseph Montalto, faced a
tough challenge from the former state sena-
tor, Chris Mega, Tenpac plunged more than
40 organizers into the race, canvassing mul-
tifamily buildings and registering voters. But
Montalto lost in his conservative Bay Ridge
and Bensonhurst districts by heavy margins,
not enough to offset the high tenant Mon-
talto vote elsewhere. "Montalto," said Anne
Pasmanick of Tenpac, "was defeated more
by Reagan than by Mega."
At the last minute, reported Pasmanick,
Republican Senator John Flynn of Yonkers,
sponsor of the Flynn-Dearie Tenant Protec-
tion Act, sent a letter to tenants in the dis-
trict urging a vote for Mega as a pro-tenant
candidate. Tenpac took Flynn's involvement
as a sign that their intensive work on Mon-
talto's behalf was getting Senate leaders
jittery.
But in another critical race, Tenpac ap-
pears to have made a strong contribution to
the victory of a strongly pro-tenant candi-
date. Al DeNully, who coordinated Tenpac
organizing in the 36th Senate District which
covers portions of southern Westchester
County, reported that Suzi Oppenheimer's
defeat of Republican opponent John Perone
was largely forged in Mount Vernon's
predominantly black and renter communi-
ty. Oppenheimer told. a benefit party for the
New York State Tenant and Neighborhood
Coalition a week after the election that Ten-
pac's work, along with that of Mount Ver-
non United Tenants League, put her over the
top.
Those involved in Tenpac will be assess-
ing their experience in coming weeks and
considering what role it can play in other up-
coming local elections. Together with the
dramatically different voter numbers now
showing up in largely tenant and low income
communities, this could be an increasingly
potent combination.OT.R.
CUOMO'S DIARIES
Mario Cuomo.
Diaries of Mario M. Cuomo
TIt, Campaign for Gov,rnor
llJuuIom HO"SI, DU.
By RIchard Schrader
~ T B A R THE END OF OCN. CUOMO'S
.1. ~ diaries, a familiar figure in political
romance makes a tleetina appearance. In an
entry dated Nov. 11, 1982, Cuomo notes,
"David Rockefeller came in. We're almost
back to 1975 and 1976 when it comes to fis-
cal problems and well need the private sec-
tor again."
After a startlingly successful year of chas ..
ing electoral fantasies, the Governor-elect
finally received a visitor from the real
world. His splendid campaigns against
right-wing Democrat Koch and monarchist
Republican Lehrman allowed Cuomo to slip
into the baggy comfort of a not-entirely-
fashionable New Deal wardrobe. When the
reigning patriarch of this country's royal fa-
mily walked through the door, the im-
migrant's son met the embodiment of those
ruling-class reflexes that seek to control and
incorporate all the election-time rhetoric
and imagery. The banker's banker only
wanted to cage whatever dancing bears re-
mained at large. At this moment the elect-
ed official realizes there's no business like
show business.
Reading Cuomo's diaries, its clear he ear-
nestly wanted things to be different. The
pages are filled with tormented moralizing
on the limits of his campaign. He notes with
apprehension early on that the media paints
each encounter with Koch in overheated
terms, eagerly building a T.V. script down
to the final shoot-out. Only Cuomo's one-
liners receive any serious attention. At least
the voting public can relate to a second-rate
Tonight Show monologue.
After a long search for a campaign
metaphor that could project connectedness
and community without mentioning big
government, Cuomo found the family. He
would pullout his pet image, the social fa-
mily, at every gathering across the state and
it appears allover the diaries. After invok-
ing a litany of family, hard work and tradi-
tion, Cuomo makes frequent forays into a
somewhat archaic theological discourse.
The main themes in his diaries are complete
with musings on the Jesuit 1eilhard de
Chardin, God's will, and Christian steward-
ship. Chardin appears to tickle him mighti-
ly; the Governor tirelessly quotes him
without humor. "The whole universe, even
the pain and imperfection we see, is sacred
and holy in every part." Still, such scintil-
lating ruminations seem spectacularly civi-
lized when locked in spiritual combat with
the Uth century mysticism of the former
Bishop of Scranton.
The diaries seem oddly civilized as well
when viewed as a campaign document for
1988. There is the patented self-doubt along
with the patented self-serving ambivalence
(I should say more, 1 have said too much).
The Governor will find the road to the White
House slippery and uncertain terrain once
he is transformed into a Presidential candi-
date and the object of obsessive national
scrutiny. Hollis, Jamaica, Corona, even
Rochester, will seem like havens in a heart-
less world. Hell have to soften his ethnic
registers in this here repUblic. His own coa-
lition may drift if it really listens to his ideas
(feminists are unlikely to exhibit great en-
thusiasm for his unabashed paen to old-time
28
patriarchy; he really doesn't connect to those
wayward refugees of the sixties who still
confound pollsters - in two diary entries, he
peevishly remarked on the assassination that
"a John Lennon dies every night in the city
but goes unnoticed." Granted, it's not the loss
of say, Dean Martin, but still.)
Halfway through Cuomo's first term,
there have been few innovative steps in
bringing the New York State family together.
District 1199's hospital workers were
banished from the dinner table during a
prolonged strike marked by unprecedented
bumbling and recalcitrance by the state.
Cuomo's appointments have been
unimaginative, returning Edward Larkin, a
pro-utility Republican, to the Public Service
Commission and John Dyson, who gave
$50,000 to the Cuomo general election cam-
paign, to the Power Authority. The Urban
Development Corporation under William
Stern, the Governor's finance chair, still
prefers expensive commercial ventures like
the Convention Center to local community
development. After intensive lobbying on
the part of housing and religious organiza-
tions, the state recently designated two aban-
doned Division for Youth holding facilities
as housing for the homeless. It was the first
tangible sign of movement on an issue
almost as visible as the Mayor's visage.
The Governor's current pivotal proposal,
a $81S million state income tax cut, will cost
New York City nearly $100 million while
placing a loaded gun in Senate Republican
Warren Anderson's hand to quiet any
Democratic opposition to the reduction of
state revenues. Down the laundry list, from
energy to taxes to construction, Cuomo's ad-
ministration differs more in policy and in-
tent from the Carey years than from the
typical Republican.
But that's politics in the '80's. In the age
of the spectacle, policies seem secondary.
Bring in the private sector. Thke a lunch with
David Rockefeller. When political cam-
paigns become saturated in a myth and il-
lusion whose codes are arduously
constructed to gain the sympathy of the
voters' perceptions, the affairs of govern-
ment are relinquished to the same faceless
technocrats who are busily fine-tuning the
machinery of the corporate state. Cuomo's
value is that at a time of violent reaction, he
signifies a tradition that can, on occasion,
vector toward the underclass, however hesi-
tantly. A reminder of the poverty of our po-
litical condition is that Cuomo has made two
good speeches in two years and is now one
of the few live bodies in the party. But these
speeches did enrich the political dialogue;
what other white, mainstream politician
outside of Ted Kennedy, could attempt an
From the Other Side of
the Anti-Poverty Board
Dear City Limits:
In the article on the Community Develop-
ment Agency (C.D.A.), Annette Fuentes'
reporting turns the journalistic profession-
and your publication into a horror show. Ms.
Fuentes not only misquoted me but distort-
ed documented facts as well. Despite my
repeated corrections of her wording of
somewhat loaded questions, Ms. Fuentes
chose to write her version.
First of all, area policy boards do not
"disburse federal anti-poverty money to
community groups." The boards make
recommendations of community based or-
ganizations and the level of funds to be al-
located to them for performance of specific
activities. These recommendations must be
made in accordance with certain procedures
and guidelines including a public participa-
tion component to determine priorities.
C.D.A. and/or the mayor may reject those
recommendations. As I pointed out to Ms.
Fuentes-a point she failed to mention, it is
in fact a mockery of community based pow-
er to give the boards the right to recommend
without final decision making privileges or
the right to periodic review of agency per-
formance.
Ms. Fuentes, in discussing the "Sunshine"
or Open Meetings Law, sarcastically stated
that I have my own "interpretation of the
Sunshine Law," then goes on to misstate ac-
approach toward Jesse Jackson, balancing
justice, opportunity and the possibility of
movement while reassuring the heartland
that liberalism had reached a terminal state
of exhaustion? With all the damaged goods
tual events which took place this summer as
support for her claim.
She fails to cite my refutation that I did
not at any time try to bar supporters of Siner-
gia from a 1uly 2Sth board meeting. In fact,
I had to intercede with the building superin-
tendent where we hold our meetings to allow
the board members to use the community
room on account of the crowd. The person
whose affidavit was included as part of the
supporting documentation for the Sineraia
legal action was outside of the building while
I was in the lobby with the superintendent
and the tenants' committee chair and could
not have possibly known the substance of the
conversation. Persons who are not board
members are never allowed to speak at regu-
lar board meetings. In accordance with our
by-laws, members of the public may be
present as observers only provided they do
not interfere with or disrupt the working of
the board. As a result of several outbursts
at the July 25th meeting, it was the decision
of the full executive committee, after con-
sultation with C.D.A. officials, to go into ex-
ecutive session should the situation warrant
it-hardly the decision"at will"of a "one
woman show."
On August 1st more than ninety outsiders,
documented on signed attendance sheets,
filled a room with a capacity of sixty-five
before board members had arrived. There
were not even enough seats for us and the
building management was determined to
halt the proceedings if we did not clear the .
space.
Although I did tell Ms. Fuentes that some
board members felt intimidated by the large
29
circulating in the political marketplace,
Cuomo is not the shabbiest available com-
modity. What remains to be seen is the price
progressives will have to pay for admission
into his family. 0
unruly crowd, it was her phrase that "there
would have been danger to them" which sht
tried to get me to repeat to no avail and opt-
ed to insert as a quote from me anyway.
The article also contains other errors in
fact which would be too numerous tr
deicribe in this letter. There are many are.
I rni&ht aaree with criticism of C.D.A. Its
politicization, the efforts to influence
boards' lundin, recommenc:lationa and the
abuse of committed neiahborhood activi.ts
to justify C.D.A.'. manner of operation will
continue to pla,ue the reputation of the com-
munity action program (its correct title).
Unfortunately, the blatantly sloppy con-
struction of Ms. Fuentes' piece (I refuse to
call it journalism) makes approval on any
level impossible.
Vicki Morris
Chairwoman
Area Policy Board #7
A.F. responds: I stand by everything writ-
ten in the article, "What's Poverty Got to Do
with It." My information about the Commu-
nity Action Program, as well as quotes from
Ms. Morris, is accurate and was painstak-
ingly researched. In fact I am surprised at
her personal attacks on my professionalism.
But the bottom line in all this is that a vote
on allocating money took place August 1
during an executive session and the public
was shut out. The vote could have been post-
poned until a larger meeting place was
found. There are always alternatives. Ms.
Morris never denies locking out communi-
ty members but has sought to justify it on
dubious grounds. 0
C7 BICYCLE HAVEN: 4. neighborhood
bicycle shelter is the subject of a design come
petition sponsored by Bay Neigh-
borhood Council. The Council is seeking
. designs for a sturdy, attractive overnight
shelter for bicycles from architects, students,
designers and generally imaginative people.
Submissions will be judged by a panel of
professionals in crime prevention, industrial
design, architecture and bicycle planning.
Entry kits will be mailed January 14, 1985.
Registration deadline is March 22 and com-
pleted designs are due April 22. To register,
send a $15 non-refundable check to SBNC
Bike Project, 561 Columbus Ave., New
York 10024. For information: Gail Boor-
stein, 'irl4-7m.
C7 CELEBRATE ANHD'S 10fH ANNI-
VERSARY: On Friday, Jan. 25, the Associ-
ation for Neighborhood and Housing
Development's celebrating its' 10th anni-
versary. ANHD was the first effort by New
York's fledgling community development
groups to form a permanent coalition to
address the citywide needs of neighbor-
hood organizing and revitalization. ANHD
also is the founder of the City Limits, and
invites its' readers to join in a classy but
down-home evening. The celebration will
feature a dynamite mystery speaker, delec-
table buffet supper, live music and dancing.
For reservations and tickets, call ANHD at
(212) 239-9410.
C7 PLANNING IN MADRID: Net-
work/Forum, a program of the New York
Area Planners' Network, the Forum on Ar-
chitecture, Planning and Society and the
Center for Human Environments will
present an evening on December 14 on so-
cialist planning in Spain's capital city. "Land
Without Bread (Las Hurdas)," a fllm by Luis
Bunuel will be shown and Ximena de 1a Bar-
ra MacDonald, an architect with the Madrid
City Council, will speak. The program be-
gins at 6 p.m. at the C.U.N.Y. Graduate
Center, 33 W. 42 St., room 2m. Admission
is free, wine and snacks will be served and
donations will be encouraged.
r::::r PHOTO EXHIBIT: "People of the
South Bronx" is a show of works by
documentary photographer Walter Rosen-
blum. It can be seen in the graphics gallery
of Lehman College Art Gallery through
January 6. Lehman College is located on
Bedford Park Blvd. in the Bronx. For infor-
mation: 960-'irl31.
C7 KEYS TO INFO CITY: For those who
believe knowledge is power, a reference
book of names and telephone numbers of all
personnel who compile the federal govern-
ment's data should be a formidable tool.
Called Federal Statistics Directory, the book
is the effort of Richard and William
Evinger who saw a need to centralize infor-
mation needed to track down a wealth of
statistics and resources from over 100 fed-
eral agencies. The 241-page book contains
the names, titles and phone numbers of
more than 3,000 statistical personnel. It is
available for $14.95 plus $2 handling from
ICUC Press, p.D. Box 1447, Springfield, Va.
22151 or by calling 703-323-8065.
C7 TECHNICAL BULLETINS: Six new
bulletins have been released by the Commu-
nity Information Exchange. "Historic
Preservation" explains how to finance and
save low income neighborhoods; "Com-
puter for Neighborhoods" gives communi-
ty leaders ideas on computerizing their
work; "Neighborhood UDAGs" is an in-
, siders view of packaging a UDAG deal;
"Small Business Incubators" is how-to infor-
mation for community groups; "Corporate
Support for Community Economic De-
velopment" looks at trends in corporate
funding, research methods and assistance
organizations; "BUD's Rental Rehabilitation
Program" and "HUD's Housing Develop-
ment Grant Program" look at the newest fed-
eral housing programs. Bulletins are $2.50
each plus $2 for handling. Order from:
Community Information Exchange, Nation-
al Urban Coalition, 1120 G St., N .W., Suite
900, Washington, D.C. 20005.
C7 COMMUNITY INVESTMENTS: A
clearinghouse on alternative investments
for community development organizations
has been formed by the Interfaith Center
on Corporate Responsibility. The clear-
inghouse reflects growing interest of reli-
gious groups in projects that have social
benefits for low income communities.
Proposals are accepted from community
groups and routed to member churches in-
terested in funding alternative development
projects. Twenty-six Catholic orders in the
city have started the Leviticus Fund for such
investments. The clearinghouse also net-
works with insurance companies and foun-
dations which make socially-oriented
investmerits. For information: Keith Rol-
land, 870-2316.
30
C7 BIG APPLE AUCTION: Bid on a
piece of prime New York real estate at the
East Harlem People's Public Auction Satur-
day, December 8 at 2 p.m. In an event
designed to raise consciousness about the ci-
.ty's tax and housing policies, the Commit-
tee to Save East Harlem will hold an
of such prize properties as Trump
Tower, Olympic Tower, Gracie Mansion,
Manhattan Place and Park Belvedere at
which local and citywide community
groups will participate. The auction will be
at P.S. 72 (comer of 104 St. and Lexington),
from 2-5 p.m. A $1 donation is requested.
For information: 417-1500.
The perfect ChrIstmas gift
C7 NURSING HOMES: A new publica-
tion titled, "The Rights of Nursing Home
Residents in New York State: A Manual for
Residents, Their Families and Facility Staff'
is available for $5 from: Coalition of Institu-
tiona1ized Aged and Disabled, Lehman Col-
lege, Bldg. T3 Rm. 1l3A, Bronx, NY 10468.
It is free to nursing home residents.
r:::r HAPPY B-DAY, ED: While Mayor
Koch is being celebrated by the city's elite
on December 12, community organizers
will hold their own birthday party for him
outside the Sheraton Center at 53 St. and 7th
Avenue. Inside the Center, guests will pay
up to $2,500 to wish Koch a happy 60th
birthday. Outside, members of the Lower
East Side Joint Planning Council, Commit-
tee to Save East Harlem and other commu-
nity groups dressed in gowns, tuxedos and
party hats, will pass out birthday leaflets and
present Koch with a giant cake. The func-
tion begins at 6:30. Formal dress optional.
~ ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Neighborhood Initiatives Development Corporation TYtU
positions are available in the Pelham Parkway area of the
Bronx to energetic and independent persons. Salaries
negotiable. Housing Finance Specialist-Requirements:
Working knowledge of real estate financing, a familiarity
with the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, especially in the area
of installment sales, 0.1.0. rules and capital gains.
Knowledge of real estate appraisal and mortgage lending.
Excellent report writing, research and presentation skills.
Community Organizer-Requirements: Knowledge of
rent regulations and HPD programs. Demonstrated ability
to write newsletters and promotional materials. Creativity
to develop special community projects/events. Experience
in tenant and community organizing. Send resume and
cover letter to: N.I.D.C., 2511 Barker Avenue, Bronx, N.Y.
10467.
URBAN HOUSING SPECIALIST Salary: $Mid-teens De-
veloping innovative loan programs to combine existing
housing programs & economic development programs to
upgrade & renovate buildings owned by long-term commu-
nity merchants for affordable low- & moderate-income hous-
ing. Qualifications: B.A. degree from accredited college +
1 yr's exp in housing, community organizing, urban devel.,
urban planning or related field prefd. Will also consider al-
ternative of 5 yrs' exp as described above, or comb of educ
& expo Resumes to: Clinton Housing Dev Co., Inc., 664 Tenth
Ave, NYC 10036, Attn: Charles E. Abney, Exec'Dir.
WOMEN AND HOUSING COORDINATOR: Newly created
position to organize single-parent female-headed house-
holds around housing and other issues. Coordinator will be
YtUrking with YtUmen to identify key issues and developing
strategies for change. Previous organizing experience
preferred. Send resumes to: Fran Sugarman, Kingsbridge
Heights Neighborhood Improvement Association-a mem-
ber of Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition.
2805 University Ave. Bronx, New'rbrk 1046a (212) 548-0472.
RECEPTIONIST/CLERK TYPIST $11,000-13,000, articu-
late, personable, . w/gd communication skills to answer
phones, deal w/public, type, file and perform other tasks as
required. Accurate and attentive to details. Qualifications:
H.S. diploma or equiv; 1 yr full time paid ofc exp; min typ-
ing 40 wpm will consider other combinations of education
skills & expo Bi-lingual helpful. Preference given to Clinton
residence. Good bnfts. Resumes to CHDC 66410th Ave,
N.Y.C. 10036 Attention Charles E. Abney.
COMMUNITYITENANT ORGANIZERS (3): l...aNer Man-
hattan. Strong-willed, innovative, energetic, non-
conformist. No experience necessary: Spanish helpful.
$12,000. (212) 228-0680.
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58 THIRD AVENUE
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Community Organizer. Renovation Supervisor. Weatherization Coordinator.
Urban Housing Specialist. Community Management Director. Policy Analyst. .
Housing Paralegal. Business Manager. Housing Director. Loan Arranger. Project
Director. Construction Specialist. Activist. Accountant. Housing Attorney. Execu-
tive Secretary. Energy Specialist. Assistant Editor. Executive Director. Activist.
These are just some of the positions recently advertised in CITY UMITS. The advertising choice of
housing professionals in government, non-profit organizt;Ztions and industry. Call 239-8440 to place
your ad.
CITY LIMITS JOB ADVERTISING GETS RESULTS.
31
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(JUST $12 FOR THE FIRST GIFT,
$10 FOR EACH ADDITIONAL GIFT.)
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What better, easier, way to deal with your shopping list this year than City Limits gift
subscriptions? Community organizers, homesteaders, urban planners, homeowners,
tenants, even landlords and politicians will appreciate receiving New York's best
coverage of housing news and neighborhood revitalization. Ten times a year they'll
thank you for news they can't get anywhere else.
A terrific gift at any price, especially ours: $12 for the first gift subscription, $10 for each
additional gift. And that includes a special holiday card announcing the subscription.

City Limits Magazine, December 1984 Issue

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City Limits Magazine, December 1984 Issue

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THE NEWS MAGAZINE OF NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AND NEIGHBORHOODS DECEMBER 1984 $2.

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