By Aaron Howell
Featured in The Village Voice, and Gawker
Followers of the Times' City Room blog may have seen that the United Nations has dispatched Raquel Rolnik (pictured), its Special Rapporteur for housing issues, to America. She'll visit various U.S. cities on her trip, including Los Angeles, Chicago,
New Orleans.
Right now she's in New York. Runnin' Scared caught up with her as she toured The Bronx, where tenants and organizers prepped her on what they described as the newest phenomena of housing woes, "predatory equity."
At an hour-long presentation at the Sedgwick Branch Library on University Avenue and 176th Street -- a futuristic 90's building that looks part space shuttle and part Star Wars, -- the rapportuer was told that in a four-square-mile area of the North and South Bronx, six private equity firms have officially driven 2,738 apartment units into foreclosure or risk of foreclosure.
Cesar Guzman, who lives at a building formerly owned by Ocelot Capital Group, said when Ocelot officially "disappeared" -- meaning they literally can't be traced, they "packed up everything and left town" -- they also left his 16-unit building in foreclosure and total disrepair, with things to this day "getting worse."
Other tenants told the rapporteur similar horror stories. Dina Levy, organizing and policy director for the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, who helped organize the tenants, found one common denominator in all these cases: buildings with over-leveraged mortgages that their rent revenues can't support.
And when a building is over-leveraged, said Levy, the landlord inevitably fails to maintain it. "The landlords have these outrageous mortgage payments," she said. "And they either have two choices: they can pay the mortgage, or they can fix the building."
Every single building holding the 2,738 endangered or foreclosed units saw a dramatic increase in violations, going from a handful to over 200 in less than a year. For Guzman and many others, this meant no heat and no hot water last winter. (He told us he took a cold shower this morning because the boiler broke down -- again.)
Before leaving the prep talk for her tour of a few of the foreclosed buildings, the rapporteur said she'd file reports with the City, the U.S. government and the U.N. But, she added, "I am glad to see that you tenants have organized. Nothing can ever replace people's organizing. Without pushing from below and taking direct action, nothing ever changes."
Unemployment Swamps New York City
By Aaron Howell
Featured in NYC the Blog, and The Consumerist
Nov. 25, 2008 - When Jay Donaldson and his friend Nathan Kennedy left the New York Department of Labor office buried in the busy shopping district of West 125th Street in Harlem they faced two unpleasant truths. First, they stared at shop after shop with 50 to 75 percent discount signs in the window marking a city gripped in a recession. Second, they walked out of the Department of Labor unemployed.
Mr. Donaldson worked with the shipping company DHL for over six years and lost his job weeks after DHL announced plans to layoff almost 10,000 workers in the U.S. “They literally told us due to bad management and the economy that they were laying people off,” said Mr. Donaldson. “Unless you’ve worked there for 18 years you were basically [losing your job].”
Given no severance and no pension Mr. Donaldson must weigh his options in a floundering U.S. job market where some experts expect unemployment levels to reach as high as 9 percent by the end of next year.
Receiving at the most $405 a week from unemployment, Mr. Donaldson said that he plans on going back to school to get some training for a possible career shift, looking to boost his computer skills.
For Mr. Kennedy the Department of Labor office has been a familiar sight for the last year as he struggled to find a permanent position. His last job, which promised fulltime work at the end of 3 months, changed their mind and told him to check back next year in April.
He described the office as always crowded, mentioning that Monday mornings drew the most crowds. “It’s hard out here,” said Mr. Kennedy. “I’ve never seen nothing like this, never seen nothing like this. You figure after a month of looking you will find a job, but this time nothing.”
Situated on the 6th floor of an office building, located at 215 W. 125th St., the inside waiting area looks about the size of a busy doctor’s office. A worker at the office speaking on the level of anonymity because they are not allowed to speak with the press also said that Monday’s draw the largest crowds. She described every seat in the place taken up and people standing everywhere.
The clerk at the department said that unemployment payment checks arrive by mail Monday, so when people don’t receive their checks they come to the office to inquire about them. She also stated that more people have been showing up on Monday because of their inability to reach the Department of Labor by phone.
David Carpenter, 29, who works with the Local No. 28 sheet metal union hasn’t worked in 2 months. He said the union doesn’t have any work for people. He also hasn’t received any unemployment yet.
At first not filing an unemployment claim for a few weeks as he waited for a job; then due to an error on his part when he filed his claim; he described the last few weeks with frustration as he repeatedly failed to reach anyone at the Department of Labor to help correct his error. “I can’t get anybody on the phone,” said Mr. Carpenter. “I go through all of menu options [on the phone] and at the end I get to a message that says due to the high volume of calls no one is able to assist you.”
The U.S. economy lost over 600,000 jobs in October, and other cities in the past month have experienced similar problems with filing unemployment claims by telephone. The Boston Globe reported that in Massachusetts one woman tried 40 times over two days by phone, eventually giving up and going to a walk-in center.
Unfortunately Mr. Carpenter found out today that New York doesn’t provide walk-in centers to file claims, or obtain information. When Mr. Carpenter went to the Department of Labor office to ask for help, the reception area clerks gave him a pamphlet, and told him to call, write or apply online. The reception area gives the same pamphlet to anyone with questions regarding unemployment claims.
Ironically the state D.O.L. office in Harlem mostly houses Workforce 1, an upper Manhattan career center. They offer no services to people filing for unemployment. Only two persons from the labor department work in that office, and they generally don’t see people regarding claims said the anonymous source from the office.
Leo Rosales, the spokesman for the D.O.L., failed to return any phone calls for comment and never granted any access to speak with persons at the labor office in Harlem. He commented in the New York Times back in August when the job market saw a slight boost, and said ““You cannot take these numbers and try to find a way to spin it to the positive because the economy is in a tough time right now.”
With the holidays here and the job market only worsening, Mr. Kennedy thinks more about his daughter and his ability to provide as a father. “On my end as a man taking care of my daughter,” said Mr. Kennedy. “With Christmas right around the corner and all, I feel it. I feel it but there is not much that you can do except pray and have hope you find a job.”
Reyna's Big Council Win a Defeat for Dem Boss Vito Lopez
By Aaron Howell
Featured in The Village Voice
Yesterday incumbent city councilmember Diana Reyna defeated challenger Maritza Davila by 4,000 votes, 60 percent to 35 percent. It was a far cry from the last time the two women faced off, in the September Democratic primary, when Reyna beat Davila by a mere 250 votes after a recount.
Davila, who this time ran against her fellow Democrat on the Working Families Party line, would not comment on the election. "I'm not much of a talker," she said with a smile. "I'm a worker."
Davila had the blessing and support in both the primary and the general election of New York State Assemblyman Vito Lopez -- even though, as leader of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, he would normally be expected to support the Democrat in the race.
"How can you explain being the party boss, the chair of the democratic party, and not supporting the democrat in this election?" said Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez as she stumped for Reyna in the 34th. "That's outrageous"...
Velazquez called Lopez a "bully" whom she'd been "standing up to" for years, " and attributed his lack of support for Reyna to his need to control money, politics and power.
Reyna started in politics by working for Lopez. Eventually she became his chief of staff. And in her first two, successful city council campaigns, she had Lopez's support.
But then, earlier this year, Reyna set herself against Lopez by coming out against the controversial rezoning of the Broadway Triangle, a project Lopez wanted passed in the city council. Velazquez said that's when Reyna "became her own person."
In September, Lopez held a large rally where he introduced Davila as a candidate for the 34th district and described her as a "team player".
Lopez' support can be very useful to politicians in his Williamsburg-Bushwik district. Another former Lopez chief of staff, Stephen Levin, just won his first city council race with the Chairman's assistance. "I have a tremendous amount of respect for Vito Lopez," says Levin. "I know I wouldn't be where I am at all without his help and support."
(Levin started out with the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, a non-profit group Lopez founded in the 70s -- where, as it happens, Davila now serves as project director.)
Lopez' presence was definitely felt in this campaign, too. Days before the election, the New York Times revealed that the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn was making robocalls to voters on Lopez' behalf, urging them to show support for the Party boss -- presumably by voting for Davila. The bishop's spokesman said he was just trying to "thank Vito."
Displaced Tenants Put Onto the Street
By Aaron Howell
Featured in Tenant, NYC the Blog, and The New York City Independent Media Center
Tenants living in rent-regulated apartments lost their homes a few weeks ago when New York City deemed the building’s structure unsafe from a collapsing façade. Unfortunately for the tenants – who have been in homeless shelters, staying at friends and given shelter by the Red Cross – the city ordered the front facade completely removed after the landlord Stanley Wasserman ignored prior violations to fix it, and won't let the tenants move back in until the facade is completely restored.
“There is a lack of maintenance that [Wasserman] is known for but ours is structurally damaged,” Viktor Luna said last Thursday in housing court as he and other tenants try to force a resolution to the loss of their homes. “We are also human beings that pay rent and doing this to us is inhumane.”
The problem of the façade started in 2007 when Mr. Wasserman received his first violation for it buckling, but refused to take action. Then in March of 2009 the city vacated just the front of the building, issuing another violation and he still refused to take action. Mr. Wasserman continually ignored the city until they insisted on May 7th, 2009, that he remove the façade at the price of $140,000, and displaced the entire building of 152 W. 14th Street.
The Department of Buildings, a city regulatory agency that looks for code violations, issued the order to Mr. Wasserman, but according to the tenants’ lawyer Shafaq Islam, the department cannot force violators to fix a building’s problems. Only a judge in housing court can force a landlord, and in the case of the tenants only Honorable Judge David B. Cohen can force Mr. Wasserman to fix the façade.
So far the tenants have received a rent reduction from the city applied to their apartments, they currently only have to pay one dollar a month for a place they can’t live in, preventing Mr. Wasserman from evicting them for not paying rent. A few of the tenants who have brought the lawsuit against Mr. Wasserman have been offered housing in another SRO building down the street (Mr. Wasserman owns three SRO buildings on 14th Street), after having preliminary hearings in front of the judge, who recommended that Wasserman find the tenants housing.
For the tenants to get placed in the new building, however, they must agree to certain terms of Mr. Wasserman that one tenant, who prefers to remain anonymous, feels he cannot accept. These include permanently giving up any claims to his previous apartment, and dropping the lawsuit against Mr. Wasserman.
“If we do accept new tenancy here in the other building, we are afraid that we will end up in the same situation of being forced to vacate down the road,” said the tenant. “Inside the place they want us to move is in very bad condition, the stairways and such are in very bad condition.”
Susanna Blankley, a tenant organizer for the West Side SRO Law Project that helps protect tenants from predatory landlords, said that for Mr. Wasserman, a wealthy landlord, a violation means very little and only helps him remove tenants from his buildings due to poor living conditions.
Mr. Wasserman, a real estate mogul who in 2003 owned 70 or so multi-family dwellings in Manhattan and the Bronx, with most if not all of his income coming from his other properties, effectively evicted all of his tenants in the case of the collapsing façade. Ms. Blankley speculates that if Mr. Wasserman gets the building cited as structurally unsound, he can demolish the building and replace the rent-regulated, single-room occupancy (SRO) units with high-end, luxury rentals.
In a downtown Manhattan area like 14th Street, Mr .Wasserman could make a large profit with luxury rentals, at least a significant profit over what he currently makes owning an SRO building. SRO buildings often act as housing of last resort to keep people off the street. Rents rarely exceed $400 a month, and the city limits the amount of rent that a landlord may raise each your for the unit through rent regulation. With 24 units currently in Wasserman’s building, half of them purposely held vacant, he makes little if no profit currently.
Mr. Wasserman, nor his lawyers have been available for comment. Last Thursday in court Mr. Wasserman’s lawyer Martin Meltzer said he felt it inappropriate to comment since the case currently is in litigation.
Currently Mr. Wasserman won’t replace the front façade until he gets the building inspected, making sure that it is structurally sound. The Department of Buildings did a visual inspection and they believe the building to be fine, but still Mr. Wasserman wants his own inspection that he believes could take up to two months. During that time the tenants have no home.
David Arthur-Simon who lives in yet another SRO building of Wasserman too worries that the same fate of losing his home looms in his future. His building recently received a citation from the city for cracks in its façade, a similar violation to the original one in 2007 that displaced the tenants in 152 W. 14th Street. He worries that Mr. Wasserman plans to let the façade go without fixing the violation.
“They don’t come here at all to deal with this stuff,” said Mr. Arthur-Simon, who remembers one Christmas not having heat for a week. “People call up for repairs all the time and the never get help.”
How'd Yassky Do It? Maybe His Family's Campaigning. (Or the Times Endorsement.)
By Aaron Howell
Featured in The Village Voice
The day after the primary, it's hard to pinpoint the deciding factor in David Yassky's strong finish in the comptroller's race, which forced a runoff with John Liu. (In its last-minute poll, SurveyUSA showed Yassky at 22 percent -- virtually tied with Melinda Katz, and well behind Liu at 37 percent. Yassky ended up with just over 30 percent, while Katz faded to 20 percent.)
It might have been his father recruiting voters in front of the new Whole Foods on the Upper West Side; his mother stumping all day at P.S. 163 on West 97th Street (one of the largest polling places in the city); or Yassky's election day barnstorming of the Upper West Side where, the Brooklyn councilmember said, "people don't know me very well."
(Obviously some in the neighborhood -- like the man who heckled Yassky for five minutes at 72nd and Broadway over his vote in the city council to extend term limits -- knew him well enough already)...
Joan Paylo, a district leaders for the 69th Assembly District and member of the Community Free Democrats political club, acknowledged that "term limits are very important in this area." But for Yassky volunteer Corey Johnson, who works on Wall Street, that wasn't a deciding factor. "The term limits vote put a lot of council members in a bad position," said Johnson. But he still admired Yassky as a "progressive" elected official.
Yassky favors this impression: "I am not as traditional a politician, not as established as a player," he said, "and I consider myself more of a progressive thinker."
Yassky didn't have much union support in the race. (Only two unions endorsed him: The Freelancers Union and the American Federation of Musicians Local 802.) Yassky's campaign press officer Danny Kanner attributes that to "David's willingness to speak the truth [to the unions] on what this city really needs to do in the next 10 to 15 years" to balance its budget. This may include Yassky's plan to create a new Teir 5 pension for new city workers that would provide them with less money for retirement. (One voter yelled at Yassky, "Yeah, it's all about
fiscal responsibility -- cut the pensions!")
He did have other kinds of support, though. Gotham Gazette reported Yassky received $268,420 from the real estate lobby. Real estate developers such as David Kramer, vice president of the Hudson Companies, were prominent at his post-primary celebration.
Kanner nonetheless affirms that Yassky can stand up to powerful lobbies. He cites his work on the Brady Bill during his tenure with Senator Charles Schumer; his attempts to get Exxon Mobil to clean up the Greenpoint Oil Spill; and his support of affordable housing.
Maybe the low turnout helped Yassky. Maybe his endorsement by the New York Times turned the trick; Yassky seems to think so himself. We won't know till the electoral maps are out, but maybe his family's campaigning on the West Side picked up a few votes, too.
SCREEEEAM! Manhattanville-horror takes another victim ...
By Aaron Howell
Another business in West Harlem closes its doors for good. Come Friday, Columbia University takes as its latest victim a Shell gas station that resides on land needed for the universities new campus named: The Manhattanville Project.
Not to be confused with the Manhattan Project (though that creates horrible visions), Columbia University planned the $6.3 billion Manhattanville campus as far back as 2004 when it unveiled its design by famed architect Renzo Piano. Since then they have slowly bought up the area needed for the 17-acre campus.
The owner of the Shell station was not available for comment, but Amrik Singh, a manager at a neighboring gas station said the owner originally did not want to sell. Columbia threatened the businesses that refused buyouts with eminent domain, where the university could acquire the land by force through the help of the State.
Singh said the family-owned station where he works received so much pressure from Columbia that it sent the owner to the hospital. “Columbia is not doing right by [the owner],” said Singh. “I know in my heart of hearts that what is happening I would not want done to me.”
Columbia is unavailable for comment at this time. They responded in a New York Times article that many of the businesses they purchased experienced fair treatment, and received an ongoing commitment from the university to fix any future problems.
Other businesses soon closing refused to comment. Hudson Moving and Storage, the most recent that Columbia made a deal with referred all questions back to the universities website. “The city is behind this project,” said Edward Phillips, who works at a gas station up the street. “There’s a big push for the project and there’s not much people can do.”
