I

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I CITY LIMITS
JANUARY 1981 $1.50 VOl.6 N O ~ 1
A Lexicon 0/ Jargon/or the 1980s
1. While we have always and will continue to advocate
the protection of "civil rights," we will now refer to
this work as defending "individual rights." Another
acceptable substitute might be "individual liberties."
Continue to refrain from use of the term "civilliber-
ties"; this one raises hackles with both pre- and post-
Skokie mindsets.
2. Although the term "sweat equity" is still a useful and
popular shorthand for the development of "low-
income housing cooperatives," we should henceforth
refer to this approach as the "self-help home owner-
ship initiative" program, encouraging more people
to get into ownership of private property by becom-
ing stockholders in housing corporations.
3. Do not invoke the righteous position that more
"citizen participation" is needed in this or that pro-
gram. We are now about "local control" as an exten-
sion of the concept of "states' rights."
4. Try to avoid referring to your group as a "CBO" or
"Community-based organization" (community
sounds too much like communist). Think of your-
selves as "neighborhood-based, boot-strap organiza-
CITY LIMITS/January 1981
2
tions." Also "taskforces" are out, "action commit-
tees" are in, so are "teams" as in "we're all playing
on the same team." Sports analogies of any kind are
still in, but try to avoid sissy sports like tennis and
jogging. Football is definitely a gold-mine for such
cliches.
5. You may be dedicated to the "redistribution of
wealth" in the United States by fostering the devel-
opment of alternative participatory economic institu-
tions at the local level, but keep it to yourself for the
next few years. You should now be working toward
"putting Americans back to work in productivejobs
in their hometown by giving them a stake in the
American way of life."
6. Don't put too much emphasis on "citizen monitor-
ing" of public programs or agencies, except in terms
of "increasing productivity" or "improving effici-
ency" in order to get our" tax dollars worth" of
goods and services paid for by "hardworking Ameri-
cans." (N.B. The use of the word America in any
form, such as "the American way of doing things," is
definitely in. Use it as frequently as possible in des-
cribing your organization.)
Brian Sullivan
..
,
.
t '
The 'Improvers"
Rage Over (Some) Subsidies
Our society appears to be on the verge of aban-
doning the goal of the Housing Act of 1949 to pro-
vide "a decent home and suitable living environ-
ment for every American family:' Although this goal
has never come close to realization, it has been the
rationale behind many housing and community
development programs.
A combination of factors,including inflation, high
energy costs and interest rates, changes in family
structure and the aging of the housing stock, the
1980s are already being referred to as "the decade of
the housing crisis:' Somehow, the illusion has been
fostered that the culprits in this problem are the
poor who have impoverished the rest of society and
are therefore to blame.
Presently, the federal Section 8 rental subsidy pro-
gram is a popular scapegoat. The most recent accu-
sation against it in New York is that it provides large,
unjustified subsidies and creates heavy concentra-
tions of poor people, thus breeding crime. It is said
also to rob the private housing sector of its right to
upgrade a neighborhood to higher rentals. Such
arguments ignore the fact that Section 8 subsidies
are paid directly to landlords, and are based on ren-
tals set by the federal government to match locally
prevailing fair market rates. Also ignored is the fact
that any new construction or rehabilitation done
under the program automatically costs far more
than non-Section 8 programs with most of the in-
flated costs going to developers, architects and
lawyers. The rent subsidies are then based on the
construction costs and go into the pocket of ~ h e
owner. The considerable tax benefits connected
with investment in Section 8 housing go to high in-
come persons seeking shelter for profits made else-
where.
But the true objection to Section 8 is not really
costs. There has been little outcry over the enor-
mous subsidies involved in the operation of Manhat-
tan Plaza, one of the costliest Section 8 projects
ever built. Similarly, no such deep felt rage is
directed at the tax abatements (another form of sub-
sidy) given to developers of buildings like the Galler-
ia, Olympic Towers, the Palace Hotel and new AT&T
and J. Walter Thompson buildings. Nor do the same
objections arise to low valuations and substantial
tax benefits permitted homeowners. So vastly does
government assistance to owners dwarf that allo-
cated to low income renters that the deductions
allowed for homeownership in the past year alone is
greater than all the money ever spent by the federal
government on low income housing.
We suggest that the real issues underlying the
opposition to Section 8 and other housing programs
are class and race. When the subsidy increases the
number of white, middle class tenants, there is no
outcry. Yet, when subsidies provide housing for low
and moderate income people, many of them non-
white, then indignant middle income tax payers are
up in arms.
Some Park Slope residents have been quite open
and self-righteous in their claim that proposed hous-
ing using Section 8 rent subsidies will "change the
balance of the area" and have a "tremendous fallout
in terms of crime:' In Manhattan Valley, developers
have gone to court to claim that subsidized housing
will prevent the upgrading of the area. In both cases,
neither set of opponents has acknowledged that
the alternative they offer is wholesale displacement
of people who, in many cases, were present in the
neighborhood before they were.
continued on page 18
City Limits is published monthly except June/July and August!
September by the Association of Neighborhood Housing Developers.
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City Limits (lSSN 0199-0330)
Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Tom Robbins
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Copyright 1980. All rights reserved. No portion or portions 0/ this
journal may be reprinted without the express written Permission 0/ the
publishers. CoYer pboto by Robert Wersan
3
CITY LIMITS/January 1981
Community Group Profit-Sharing
Government subsidized housing development yields some hefty profits for
developers, banks and investors. Many community groups have come up with a
way to leave some of that profit in the neighborhood. However, neither the groups
nor the developers appear happy at being told how and what to share.
James L. Robinson, architect/developer, in one of the abandoned buildings to be rehabilitated in his Hamilton Heights NSA project.
by Susan Baldwin
For the first time in the history of Section 8 deals
between community groups and private developers,
neighborhood organizations are being guaranteed a
multi-million dollar piece of the action, but they're not
cheering. That's because the city stepped in to set the
rules.
The city's Department of Housing Preservation and
Development has circulated new regulations to the de-
velopers involved in 50 subsidized housing projects in
the city's ten Sections 8 Neighborhood Strategy Area
(NSA) neighborhoods, which require them to give the
community sponsor a minimum of 2.750/0 of the project
mortgage for five years. At the same time, HPD is tell-
ing the group that it must spend 80% of its allotment on
CITY LIMITS/January 1981
4
HPD-approved physical improvements to the neighbor-
hood. A ceiling of 200/0 has been set for staffing com-
munityoffices.
Dollar estimates of the community groups' share of
the total NSA profits or "syndication of equity" range
from $5 to $6 million.
The syndication or sale of the tax shelter is the grease
that turns the wheels and is what makes subsidized
housing so attractive to investors, developers, and
banks. Syndication involves selling the "paper losses"
of the ownership interest in a housing project to indivi-
duals in high tax brackets (persons taxed at anywhere
from 50% to 70% of their total worth), who invest in
the project and, in turn, are able to claim tax deductions
connected to the project's depreciation, taxes, and in-
terest. Under the Internal Revenue Code, the tax bene-
fits from the rapid, five-year depreciation are equivalent
for these high-income earners to a non-taxable capital
gain.
The profits from this syndication are reduced by the
costs involved (lawyers', brokers', accountants' fees),
which frequently run as high as 25070 of the investment.
What remains after these costs are subtracted - the net
proceeds - are further reduced by deducting cost over-
runs, the builder's fee, developer's cost to close the
mortgage, or any additional site acquisition costs. The
sum left after all these deductions is the tax shelter
amount that the developer and community group split.
The syndication of the tax shelter is the
grease that turns the wheels . ..
These new regulations have set off a furor in the
ranks of the more sophisticated community groups
because, they contend, their partnership arrangements
with developers are their own private business and
should not be scrutinized by the city.
Many argue they have worked out far more lucrative
deals with the developers and are fearful that HPD's in-
terference can only lead to weakening these relation-
ships.
"All I can see these regulations do is cause a lot of
resentment," said Doug Mor.itz, head of Los Sures, a
community organization in the Williamsburg area of
Brooklyn. "Certainly, that's my reaction to them ... It's
appalling for HPD to think it can tell us what to do. If
you're going to monitor performance, both (the devel-
oper and the community group) should be monitored.
Not just one."
Asking, "Who's kidding whom?" he added, "Where
are they going to get the staff to do this monitoring?
They can't take care of the programs they already have.
This is a joke."
Another Perspective
Coming from another perspective are a group of irate
smaller developers and their attorneys who charge that
the guaranteed 2.75070 mortgage payment is too much.
Many of them negotiated agreements of 11110 or less
(.5070) months ago and are not pleased with the city's
change in policy.
"HPD has the total unmitigated gall to set itself up in
the Section 8 housing business," charged Kevin Sulli-
van, attorney for developer John Skelly. "Here you
have a program that has been working well for 15 years.
It has been very successful, so now they want to start
playing around and do social planning." Sullivan and
Skelly are both former city housing officials.
According to Sullivan, Skelly and several of his
clients had negotiated for the 1070 share and would find
it difficult to payout three times as much less than a
year later. "When we mentioned this change to our
general contractor," Sullivan reported, "he first
threatened to back out of the job and then he said,
'Marvelous. That comes out of your part." ,
Why is the city taking on this role of policing commun-
ity groups' intended use of their portion of the profits or
syndication? Deputy Housing Commissioner Charles
Reiss, of HPD's Office of Development, said, "The
answer is simply this. We are talking about a significant
amount of money and we want to standardize how it is
used and where it goes . .. At the birth of these syndica-
tion guidelines was Bradley Plaza."
Construction of Bradley Plaza, the 4OO-unit, $20
million low income Section 8 complex planned for the
Brownsville section in Brooklyn, has been stymied for
more than a year while the city's Department of Investi-
gation has been looking into the possibility that a con-
flict of interest existed between the community board
and a community group - Brownsville Community
Council. Certain members of the Community Board
#16's Housing Committee and leaders in the BCC, the
project's sponsor, were alleged to be the same indivi-
duals. According to Douglas Shafer, of the People's
Voice, a Brooklyn community monthly that first broke
the story, the group was to receive a syndicated fee of
some $400,000 from the developer - Starrett - "not to
do what a sponsor should do, such as criticize the atro-
cious architectural plan or help in tenants selection."
Structured Regulations
Reiss said the impetus for setting up the structured
regulations was also prompted by New York City's re-
ceiving a lion's share of almost 25070 of the national Sec-
tion 8 allotment, constituting a 5,OOO-unit bonus under
the NSA program. In his estimation, the money which
derives from the housing rehabilitation and construc-
tion work in these Section 8 projects is public funding
and should be plowed back into the physical improve-
ment of neighborhoods.
Under the regulations, participating community
groups are being told that eligible activities for 80070 of
the syndication funds include making small grants or
loans to small homeowners and businesses, providing
seed money for other rehabilitation work, sealing up
buildings, painting benches, building parks, and plant-
ing trees. On the other hand, the city will only allow
groups to spend 201110 on administrative costs which in-
clude salaries, office supplies, additional staff, and ten-
ant organizing and counseling. "We think this is asinine
to limit groups in this way," said Betty Terrell, executive
director of the Association of Neighborhood Housing
Developers. "If you put money into an organizer you
are preserving the community."
5
"I think it's unfair to limit the administrative portion
to 20070," said Richard Brown, director of the Crown
Heights Progress Council, a newly formed Brooklyn
community organization.
"Those of us who are new and trying to get stronger
CITY LIMITS/January 1981
in the neighborhood so we can help more people need
this money to strengthen our offices ... What good does
it do to make these brick and mortar improvements if
there is no group around to protect them? And, besides,
there are plenty of other places to get money for trees."
How then is HPD going to make sure that each com-
munity group receives the minimum required share of
the permanent mortgage - 2.75% - and, in turn, uses
its share in accordance with the 80-20070 guidelines?
"We'll watch them (the groups) and if need be, inter-
cede in their cash flow. We'll put it (the money) in
escrow if we have to," asserted Reiss. He also said that
he did not expect any developer to renege on the 2.75070
amount, adding, "There is no legal enforcement mech-
anism, but if they make a commitment to us, sign it, and
then break it, we are going to have second thoughts
about working with them again."
Some communiy groups who are serving as co-ven-
turers with the developers are threatening not to comply
with HPD's regulations. They have negotiated deals
that will net them more than 2.75070 of the permanent
mortgage - some say upwards to 10070 - and agree
that the city should not tell them how to spend their
money.
"We always plow the money back in the neighbor-
hood. That's why we're still around. We never pocket
any for ourselves," said Galen Kirkland, of the West
Harlem Community Organization. "What gives HPD
the authority to tell us what to do now? Serving as com-
munity sponsor for 182 units of new construction in
West Harlem, WHCO, according to Kirkland, will
receive "a large amount, a very good deal," in the part-
nership worked out with Harlem Urban Development
Corporation and the developer - Laub and Mars Con-
struction Company.
Co-venturers
Acting as co-developer with Harbro Development
Corporation, Sunset Park Renewal Committee in
Brooklyn will rehabilitate 459 units and will share in a
$19 million mortgage on a 60070 (Harbro) - 40070
(Sunset Park) basis of the 10070 equity on which the tax
shelter is sold. Also in Brooklyn, Flatbush Development
Corporation will act as sponsor of a 1l7-unit rehabilita-
tion and will receive a 50070 share of the tax shelter after
pre-construction, management and relocation costs are
deducted.
Manhattan Valley Development Corporation on
Manhattan's Upper West Side will serve as managing
general partner in its two NSA projects, totaling 259
units and costing some $10 million. "If they take out the
builder's risk (Builder/Sponsor Profit Risk Allowance
or development fee), we will share 50-50 with the one
developer, Graphic Systems," said Leah Schneider,
MVDC's planning director. "If not, the arrangement is
60070-40070." In the arrangement with Gardel, the min-
ority developer and contractor for the second project,
MVDC will receive a third of the tax shelter profits,
CITY LIMITS/January 1981 6
Gardel, two-thirds. In each case, another neighborhood
group - United Welfare League - will serve as the
sponsor designated by MVDC.
HI! you put money into an organizer,
then you are preserving the community."
In the case of MVDC and Sunset Park, the responsi-
bility for managing the buildings after the rehabilitation
is completed will be assumed by the two groups.
'Maiden Voyage'
James L. Robinson, an architect who has embarked
on a "maiden voyage" as a developer in Upper Manhat-
tan's Hamilton Heights, plans to comply with HPD's
regulations, asserting, "I know a lot of developers are
complaining, but we want to get something done. We
want and need the project ... After all, 100070 of zero is
still zero."
Robinson's project consists of two phases - the first
one, rehabilitation on West 155th Street and the second,
new construction around the corner on Amsterdam
Avenue - and will provide 151 units of low income
housing for a total of $9.4 million.
One of the major complaints raised about HPD's
plans for carrying out the NSA Section 8 program and,
for that matter, any future Section 8 or subsidized low in-
come program, is that it does not have the capacity to
screen developers and community groups. Constant
questions about prospective participants range from
"Does he have a track record?", "Are they a paper or-
ganization?", to "Were they involved in the Municipal
Loan scandal?"
According to Reiss and Sheldon Gartenstein, project
manager for the Crown Heights and Hamilton Heights
NSAs, the local community board in each area must cer-
tify in writing the proposed community sponsor, and, if
the city has reason to believe a group is bogus, it
reserves the right to step in and set up an escrow ac-
count. the local borough president as well as HPD's
Neighborhood Preservation offices are also supposed to
help in this screening and monitoring process. If, for
some reason, the community board refuses to approve
the proposed community sponsor's application and
HPD cannot find evidence supporting this decision, the
agency may overrule the board and reinstate this
application.
One group in Brooklyn's Crown Heights - the Real
Estate Education Society of Brooklyn - has been ques-
tioned as to its authenticity and level of activity, and,
according to Mike Rechner, of the local NPP office,
"They were inactive until fairly recently but now have
become reorganized because of the availability of NSA
funds." He also said that the group has recently submit-
ted a list of suitable neighborhood improvements to the
city.
Edward Corbett, president of the group, was reached
at his real estate and insurance business and confirmed
that his organization was slated to be the community
sponsor for about half-a-dozen projects with Brooklyn
developer Jacob Frankel and his sons-in-law, Chaim A.
Wachsman and Moishe Beilush. He did note, however,
that he had not talked to them recently. Asked about his
organization's share of the mortgage, he added, "I
know HPD says we're supposed to get a certain percent-
age, but I don't have the figures in front of me ... We're
mainly concerned in teaching people not to destroy pro-
perties and turn them into slums. So often, things are
fixed up, only to become a dump again."
Figure Quadrupled
A check of agreements signed in 1Il0vember, 1979,
showed that Corbett's group agreed to accept percent-
ages of the mortgage ranging from .70/0 to 1.1 % for
amounts as small as $6;000 and as large as $50,000 to be
received over a five-year period. But, under the 2.75%
mortgage allocation, the .7% figure would be almost
quadrupled, leaving one to wonder if there are serious
plans to change this agreement.
In the case of all but one of the Real Estate Society's
projects, the land is privately, not city- owned, and for
this reason, the developer does not need to go to HPD
to close his deals. Rather, he can go directly to the area
office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development. "They've threatened to do this, but so
far we are not aware it has happened," said Assistant
Housing Commissioner Manuel Mirabal. "Just one
thing is sure. We will know when it happens." Frankel
could not be reached for comment.
Commenting on the history which led to the city's
decision to set the community share at 2.7S%, Stephen
Grathwohl, who was the main packager of this proposal
at HPD before becoming a consultant/developer said,
"We implemented it because so many of the groups
were getting more sophisticated and not accounting for
where their money went ... It will be difficult to monitor
this application because the figures did change so many
times . .. I can understand why developers are complain-
ing, particularly if they're using private land because
probably they are paying $IS00 to $2000-a-unit to buy
it, and HUD only allows for Obviously,
part of their profit is being eaten up." But, he also noted
that their complaints were not justified if they were
using city-owned property because HUD covers the full
$500-a-unit reimbursement in its mortgage.
Grathwohl is hopeful that the city's submission in
mid-December for Section 8 rehabilitation of city-
owned properties will be a better indicator of how many
developers are willing to share a larger percentage of the
mortgage with the community. HPD is in charge of
making these selections and in this case is requiring a
3.2S% mortgage payment to the groups - a figure that
some developers claim will drive the "smaller and more
honest" participants out of the competition.
Asked about the threat of developers' going directly
to HUD to close a project, Grathwohl said, "I guess
HPD could threaten to take away the units, but HUD
would have to concur, and I don't think HUD would like
to lose those units. The philosophy is to build more ...
But, even if they (developers) were to go to HUD and
close and were successful, I think they would have a real
tough time being a developer next year."
No one knows what next year will be like under the
Reagan regime. Some wonder if the low and moderate
income housing programs as they now exist will be dis-
mantled or consolidated with ones that are more favor-
able to the middle class.
"Anything could be better than what we got in our
very unequal battle with someone who calls himself a
not-for-profit developer," said Elizabeth Colon, chair-
woman of the Coalition Housing Development, Inc. on
Manhattan's Lower East Side. "We settled on a fixed
amount - $75,000 in regular installments over a three-
year period. We were supposed to get almost $250,000,"
for the 250-unit $14 million project. . . "To date, we
have only received about $35,000. We help the devel-
oper and he doesn't pay us. All he says is, 'Sue me.' . ..
He uses HUD money to pay his lawyer and other fees,
but HUD does nothing hold him accountable to his con-
tract with us."
The head oj one community group co-
sponsor was reached at his real estate and
insurance business.
According to William Hubbard, head of the Center
for Housing Partnerships which is developing the pro-
ject, increased costs in the construction of the project
have whittled his earnings down to almost nothing.
Only recently, said Hubbard, has HUD been willing to
accept an increase in the mortgage amount to cover
those overruns and he expects shortly to be able to pay
the community group in full what the agreement calls
for.
Asked about HPD's restrictive regulations, Colon
concluded, "Look at our situation, and the answer is
obvious. Anything is better than this. At least we would
get something for the community. The project could not
have been done without our help. It brings to the fore
one touchy question: How can a project be closed with-
out giving the community co-sponsor what was pro-
mised. Isn't that what is meant by a partnership?" 0
7 CITY LIMITS/January 1981
Racial Discrimination Charged
Against Brooklyn Mitchell-Lama Cooperative
Warbasse Houses, a 2, 585 unit cooperative in Coney Island.
One of the largest state-subsidized housing coopera-
tives in New York City has been hit with a major lawsuit
charging racial discrimination in its admitting practices.
According to the suit, Warbasse Houses, a 2,585 apart-
ment complex located just off Ocean Parkway in the
Coney Island section of Brooklyn, has systematically
perpetuated an almost all-white occupancy since its con-
struction and tenanting in 1964. Only five apartments,
less than one per cent, are owned by blacks.
Also named in the class action suit, which was filed in
federal court in Brooklyn by the Open Housing Center,
an independent fair housing agency, on behalf of five
black apartment seekers who were rebuffed in their at-
tempts to purchase a co-op at Warbasse Houses, was the
state Division of Housing and Community Renewal
which administers the subsidies for the co-op which was
built under the state's Mitchell-Lama program.
CITY LIMITS/January 1981 8
The suit charges that the cooperative has maintained
separate applicant waiting lists - one for children of
cooperators and another for outside apartment seekers.
All vacancies, the suit said, are filled from the list of oc-
cupants' children and the other list which is exClusively
white. "It's like the old grandfather clause," said at-
torney Richard Bellman,of the law firm Eisner, Levy,
Steel and Bellman who worked on the suit. "Given the
almost completely all-white make-up of the Warbasse
population, this could lock up the vacancies for two
generations." All of the plaintiffs in the suit either live
or work in Brooklyn and tried without success to make
application to the co-op. The suit states they were told
either that the waiting lists were closed or that they must
be children of occupants to apply.
Karene A. Freeman, attorney for the Open Housing
Center, emphasized that the admission procedures at
Warbasse have been carried out with the knowledge and
acquiesence of the State Division of Housing. "We in-
. formed the agency of the effect these waiting lists were
having on minority persons. Instead of taking action,
they cooperated with Warbasse," she said.
Attorneys at the State Division of Housing said they
had not yet seen the suit and could have no comment.
But one official, who declined to be named, said, "War-
basse is one of the Division's best projects. It's excep-
tionally well-maintained and the rents are reasonable.
The people are happy there. But there is a color line in
the project. They've obeyed the letter of the law prob-
ably, but not a bit more.
"On Thanksgiving Day they open the list for a couple
of hours so the children of the tenants can sign up. We
start to get a flurry of calls a few days before then from
people asking how they can get an application, and we
have to tell them you can't. You can only get them from
the manager's office," he said.
Purchase prices for a two bedroom apartment at the
co-op average $4,000 and $285 per month carrying
charges. The project's five high-rise modern buildings
boast many balconies and are convenient to transporta-
tion and shopping.
Also participating in the suit were the Metropolitan
Action Institute and Lawrence Grosberg, director of the
Columbia Law School Fair Housing Clinic. D
Henry Browne: A Battler for West Side Housing
by Sondra Thomas
On November 26, 1980, Father Henry Browne died
after a year's battle with leukemia. He was the founder
and long time President of the Strycker's Bay Neighbor-
hood Council, . which became a model for poor
people's participation in community decision-making.
Harry Browne played a leading role in communicating
this innovative concept throughout the network of peo-
ple he touched as he moved around the country in the
early 1960s as priest, scholar, mentor, civil and welfare
rights advocate and spokesman for the powerless. He
was a "man for all seasons" and he left a lasting mark
on the thousands he came in contact with.
At a special meeting called by the Strycker's Bay
Neighborhood Council on February 6, 1980,to organize
neighborhood support for the construction of 160 units
of public housing on the much contested Site 30, Harry
Browne sent a special taped message from the hospital.
The following are excerpts from that message:
"Most people don't even remember that 20 years ago
relocation was done on a per price, per head,per family
basis, by private companies. In our neighborhood, we
pioneered not only for relocation to be done by the City,
but,for the first time professional social workers and
others assisted in the relocation. We, of course,made
'priority for site residents' a reality, and gave it varia-
tions, as you know by 'on-siting' and we must admit
even at times a bit of 'generational' priority. 'Vest
pocket' public housing to be scattered throughout the
blocks was our invention ... I dare say there is not an ur-
ban renewal on the face of the earth with the percentage
of returns of people 'off the land' as we came to say,
that we achieved ...
"The 'balanced neighborhood' of the planners was
malarky talk. We made it happen somewhat. We can
look back now and lament the fact that we had no idea
how many people would be thrown out and how many
would be going in at high rentals in the rehabs. We can
lament many battles that we lost, and perhaps, even
mistakes that we made in judgement. But our overall
record is a glorious one, and we should repeat it and
repeat it and remind those that we have served - in-
cluding those who have come after, whom I have at
times called the real 'squatters', the 'carpetbaggers', who
took advantage of the progress of the renewal that those
of us had sweated out in storefronts, and who now turn
around and say balance means that poor people are
pollutants.
"Myoid friend, Saul Alinsky, used to advise person-
alizing the enemy. I don't think in the case of the pre-
sent condition of the West Side Urban Renewal Plan
that we have to go very far. The enemy, in my book are
two people: Roger Starr, who had fixed ideas, par-
Dr. Henry J. Browne. in 1967.
ticularly about Puerto Ricans not knowing how to use
elevators and incinerators in modern housing. The other
enemy is Eugene Morris, the attorney for CONTINUE,
who would have subdivided the Garden of Eden for
profit. He, at least, is understandable. Business is
business .... "
~ ~ .. Father Browne never offers any
guarantees of good behavior."
Over fifteen years ago Joseph Lyford took a close
look at the Council that Father Browne founded in his
book, The Airtight Cage:
"Father Browne can be just as blunt and sarcastic as
he can be diplomatic and engaging, but he is always
sophisticated ... City officials are impressed and some-
times intimidated by his technical grasp of their subject,
and irritated with his constitutional impatience with
bureaucracies ... Unless he keeps in close touch, a city
official never knows quite what tack the Council will
take, and Father Browne never offers any guarantee of
good behavior ... ." 0
Sondra Thomas is Vice President of the Strycker's Bay
Neighborhood Council and Executive Director of the
Clinton Housing Development Company.
9
CITY LIMITS/January 1981
Restoring History in Bed-Stuy
The Hunterjly Road Houses, in a photo taken circa 1900. The original St. Mary's Hospital is in the background.
CITY LIMITS/January 1981 10
Historical preservation is popularly conceived of as the exclusive domain of the
wealthy. But in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a group of local residents have borrowed the
same tools to preserve a unique piece of black Brooklyn history.
by Tom Robbins
On Bergen Street, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a jagged
line of wood frame buildings, in varying states of decay
interspersed with . vacant lots, face numbly across the
street at the sprawling 1930s-era Kingsborough housing
project. Bedford-Stuyvesant changes often and quickly
from block to block; one travels from rows of well-kept
brownstones to fire-ravaged tenements in a short stroll.
But four of the aging wooden buildings on Bergen
Street, on a block which might otherwise be deemed
suitable only for clearance, provide the most physical
reminder of the evolution of todays black population in
Brooklyn from its 19th century ancestors.
On Sunday, December 14, number 1648 Bergen, an
unassuming beige-colored wood building, distinct from
others by its fresh coat of paint and its white picket
fence, was formally opened as the home of the Society
for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyve-
sant History. Thus, a major step forward was taken
towards the creation of a showplace of mid-19th century
black culture, a place where, as Weeksville Society
president Joan Maynard says: 'Connections can be made
and continuity seen."
Since 1969, when a small group of residents, students
and boy scouts first began poking about in the ruins of
several soon-to-be demolished structures in search of
artifacts of an earlier era, the effort to reconstruct the
history, as well as the presence, of the lost colony of
Weeksville has gone forth. The results of that initial dig
were slim as archeological standards might go: the
choicest finds were a chipped and faded tintype of an
elegantly-attired woman, circa 1870, and a copy of the
constitution of the Abyssinian Benevolent Daughters of
Esther Association, dated 1863.
In 1790, Kings County was known as the
Hslaveholding capito/" of New York
State.
But more significant than the artifacts themselves was
the substantiating evidence that a community of free .
blacks lived in the area over one hundred years earlier,
from the late 1830s to 1870, complete with schools,
churches, homes for the aged, self-help organizations as
well as artisans, teachers and doctors.
Since that 1969 excursion into dirt-floored cellars,
many other pieces have fallen into place to round out the
11
picture of that community. Founded by its namesake,
James Weeks, on land purchased from the large
holdings of the Lefferts family, Weeksville formed the
most distinctly black community in a county that only
ten years earlier had been barred from slaveholding by
state law. Previous to that 1827 Act, Kings County was
known as the "slaveholding capitol" of New York
State, with nearly 1 ,500 slaves and only 46 free blacks in
1790, a far greater proportion of slaves to free blacks
than elsewhere in the state.
As a settling place for free blacks, Weeksville estab-
lished its own internal education, religious and health-
care institutions. When the violently anti-black draft
riots erupted in other parts of the city during the Civil
War, large numbers of blacks sought refuge in the area.
Following the Civil War, large scale foreign immigra-
tion into New York City began, and as more and more
whites purchased land nearby, blacks eventually lost
their foothold in the area, and Weeksville existed as a
mere reference in journals of the era until 1969.
James Hurley, a white resident of Bedford-Stuyve-
sant, with an avocation as a Brooklyn historian, started
pursuing leads he found in those journals in the late
1960s. After organizing the expedition into the remains
of the wood frame buildings that were scheduled for
demolition and discovering the evidence of the colony,
Hurley took a plane ride with fellow Bedford-Stuyve-
sant resident, Joseph Haynes, over the area where
Weeksville had once been and discovered that the jux-
taposition of certain buildings corresponded to a main
avenue of that era, Hunterfly Road. Closer inspection
revealed that the buildings did, in fact, sit along an
alleyway that had started out as an Indian path to
Jamaica Bay and then used by the Dutch and early
English settlers as a thoroughfare to southern shores.
The initial step towards purchasing the buildings as
the future homes for the Weeksville Society was taken
through the solicitation of funds by school children of
P.S. 243, who raised $1,000 towards the purchase and
renovation of the Hunterfly Road Houses. The school,
which succeeded Colored School #2, was later renamed
the Weeksville School. The remainder of the funds were
obtained only after a difficult juggling of grants and
loans by Weeksville Society members and officers.
From poking their heads into abandoned pre-Civil
War cellars, members began also to successfully poke
CITY LIMITS/January 1981
about in the traditional offices of historical preservation
organizations.
"The restoration vanguard is quite wealthy," said
Joan Maynard. "They are interested in restoring for
their own particular, though valid, reasons. Poor peo-
ple, however, don't have the resources to do what they
have done."
HRestoration is a tool . .. It's the key to
our survival."
Through Weeksville, and other attempts in cities to
re-establish ties with a black urban past, a different in-
terpretation of what preservation can mean has been
defined. In a visit to Williamsburg, Virginia, the largest
and most well-known example of American historical
preservation, Maynard recalled, "I was standing on the
portico of the King Carter plantation, looking about at
the hundreds of rolling acres and I thought, 'Where are
the slaves, the thousands of slaves that built all this?'
Nowhere was a sign of the slave quarters." .
Concurrent with local interest in Bedford-Stuyvesant
in restoring original pieces of the black American urban
experience, have been similar efforts by the Mount
Auburn Good Citizen Society in Cincinnati and the
Manchester Citizens Association in Pittsburgh. Dealing
with the traditional historical preservation groups has
been a two-way street," said Maynard. "It's been good
for them, and it's been good for us." According to
Maynard, the efforts in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Cincinnati
and Pittsburgh have been a major impetus for a turning
around of opinion on whom historical preservation can
serve. The most prominent organization, the National
Trust for Historical Preservation, said Maynard, has
made a major change in outlook. "There's been a basic
decision made that displacement would not be part of
preservation - that restoration wouldn't go marching
on without looking at the whole social fabric."
One block behind the Hunterfly Road Houses sits the
gleaming new St. M a r y ' ~ Hospital. The Catholic Arch- .
diocese's decision to rebuild the hospital was of funda-
mental importance to the Weeksville project, said
Maynard. "We wouldn't have survived without it."
The original Hunterfly Road, now a well-beaten rut
in the earth, still serves as shortcut for local people
going to the hospital, despite the Society's persistent ef-
forts to fence it off.
Complementing the hospital and the restoration
work, the group has also hatched ambitious plans to
build new housing in the vacant land surrounding the
frame buildings. An allocation of 113 units of federal
Section 8 new construction funds has been obtained and
the Society is currently going over plans with a
developer, Shnay and Sons. The layout of the new
buildings will be structured to conform with the original
pathway of the road, cutting diagonally across the
block, and the original elevation of the Weeksville
CITY LIMITS/January 1981 12
Houses will be restored as well, factors that may
ultimately increase the construction cost of the project
considerably.
While sponsoring construction of new housing might
seem contradictory for a group engaged in historical
preservation, Maynard insists the move stems directly
from the original thrust of the group's effort. "We're
about people and neighborhoods," she said. "Restoring
the houses is a tool - it's not because we think they
should be restored, but a key to our survival."
In the Weeks ville of the 19th century something of the
same theory rested with a large local organization, the
African Civilization Society, which in the immediate
aftermath of the Civil War set about establishing
schools for freed blacks in the South. "Brethren
Awake!" began its theme in The Torchlight, a monthly
publication published in Weeksville, just two blocks
from the Hunterfly Road Houses. "The sun of life is up
and the sky is lit up and brilliant with its brightness and
glory. The crack of the slavedriver's whip and the sound
of the daybreak horn are heard no more. But hark, the'
voice of duty calls you. It says arise! to work!" 0
7A Victory in Ritholtz Buildings
After many months in housing court, low income ten-
ants in Brooklyn's Williamsburg section won the right
in December to run their buildings under the city's 7A
Administrator program.
The Tenants' Association of 184, 188 South Second
Street and 745 Driggs Avenue had been battling their
landlord, Philip Ritholtz, for more than one year to
achieve this 7A status. 184 South Second Street and
745 Driggs Avenue have been vacant for some time
following numerous suspicious fires. The boiler heating
the three buildings is housed in 745.
. According to neighborhood housing organizers and
the tenants' association, court hearings on the 7A appli-
cation had been repeatedly delayed because Ritholtz did
not want bad publicity for his brother's, William Rit-
holtz's, campaign for civil court judge. Although he had
divested himself of interest in the property, William Rit-
holtz had formerly served as the attorney of record for
these properties.
Los Sures, a Williamsburg housing group, will serve
as the 7A Administrator for the tenants. 0
If You Are In Housing ...
Think about advertising your prod-
uct! services in CITY LIMITS.
Housing Officials Consider Merger of Some
Community Building Management Programs
A report calling for the merger of two city alternative
management programs in an effort to save federal com-
munity development funds next year is circulating in
memorandum form at the Department of Housing Pre-
servation and Development.
The memo, sent to Housing Commissioner Anthony
Gliedman by Deputy Commissioner William Eimicke
and Assistant Commissioner Philip St. Georges, pre-
sents two options for funding the Division of Alterna-
tive Management, beginning September 1, 1981. One
asking for $50 million would continue funding rehabili-
tation with CD monies, while the other, at $41 million,
would count on Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation
funds for rehabilitation in city-owned buildings enrolled
in the programs.
Perhaps the most dramatic proposals suggested in the
document are the complete elimination of the Commun-
ity Management Program to save $14 million, or its
possible merger with the Management in Partnership
Program "under the supervisory and technical assist-
ance umbrellas" of two or three professional manage-
ment agencies that currently serve as the "Big Brother"
or senior partner in MIPP.
The memo defined the "no-growth budget request"
as a level of funding that "will enable DAMP only to
continue existing levels of workload, treatment and
sales." The memo cautions that next year's budget needs
cannot be based on what was spent last year- $25
million. The communique points out that new con-
tracts, added last year, will increase the budget needs
next year.
It also stated that under either budget option the total
workload for DAMP next year would be about 16,500
units.
Explaining that DAMP favored the option to continue
CD-funded rehabilitation work because the Section 8
Moderate Rehabilitation program has been moving "ex-
tremely slowly" and "we are not sure a single Com-
munity Management/Section 8 funded unit will start
rehab in 1981," toe memo expressed the fear that re-
duced funding would lead to a decrease in the number
of buildings sold to tenants and groups. The memo pro-
jects sales of 219 buildings (6,217 units) by the end of
next year.
In addition to eliminating Community Management,
the memo, acknowledging that the DAMP request was
"substantial," suggested the elimination or phase-down
of the following programs: boiler replacement,
$2,500,000; after sales support program, $1,000,000;
Housing Authority Management Program, $554,000;
and a phased-down MIPP from $11,387,000 to
$8,000,000.
In the section recommending the elimination of Com-
munity Management, the document read: "Over the last
year we have reduced the size .. . from 19 . .. to 15 cur-
rent groups, based upon lack of sufficient funding and
poor performance. With the added performance data
now available to us from the Fund for the City of New
York, we could justify eliminating five of the remaining
15 groups on failure to perform to contract standards.
Dropping five groups would save $4,000,000.
"We could also eliminate the entire program," the
memo continued, "as being too costly and having failed
to meet the primary program goal of selling sufficient
numbers of buildings, after eight years of existence,
although active rehab has only existed in Community
Management for the last two years ."
"This is very much in tune with what I was hearing at
the DAMP conference and what Gliedman said later
- that he would make a commitment to buildings, but
not to groups," said Betty Terrell, director of the
Association of Neighborhood Housing Developers.
A citywide group known as the Community Manage-
ment Coalition exists but, according to Terrell, has not
been using its combined clout to resist HPD's threats of
planned shrinkage for this program in the very near
future.
Under the merger plan being considered by HPD, it is
conceivable that fewer than ten Community Manage-
ment groups would be salvaged, and these, in turn,
would be joined by a few remaining from MIPP.
Critics of the merger plan have charged that the whole
idea of MIPP was to ,train inexperienced groups over a
two-year period to manage their properties and then
bring them into the Community Management Program.
They contend that this proposal is completely contrary
to this concept as it would demote Community Manage-
ment groups to the MIPP level.
One observer, Peter MeIser from the Community
Service Society, who has been providing technical
assistance to the coalition, said there is currently "a lack
of productivity built into the program" and maybe this
is a good opportvlity to work to redesign it. But, he
asked, "In all fairness what kind of relationship would
exist between the groups and the management compan-
ies? Would it be of a more low key supervisory, moni-
toring nature than one of strong control? Would it be
more decentralized?"
The management companies currently under contract
with MIPP are SOUK (the Jackie Robinson Manage-
ment Company), Coalition Training and Management
Corporation (New York Urban Coalition), and Super-
vised Training in Total Community Housing (STITCH),
run by Jerome Belson Associates. 0
13 CITY LIMITS/January 1981
A ROAR IN PARK SLOPE
Depending on which side you are on, Park Slope, Brooklyn is a classic case of
either urban revitalization or gentrification. An angry debate has arisen about how
remaining low income people can survive as residents.
Third Street, between Fifth and Sixth A venues, in Park Slope.
by Tom Robbins
Shortly before Thanksgiving Day, thousands of
residents of the Park Slope section of Brooklyn received
an open letter under their doors or stuffed in their mail
boxes. The subject of the pre-holiday missive was sub-
sidized low income housing, and, according to the let-
ter's authors the Park Slope community stands in
danger of being deluged with millions of federal dollars
aimed at bringing low income families to the area.
"Concentrated subsidized housing does destroy, and
has destroyed neighborhoods," warned the letter from
the Park Slope Improvement Committee, which has
devoted most of its energies since its inception to com-
batting the plans of a community development organi-
zation, the Fifth Avenue Committee.
Disagreements between the two groups have flared up
in public before, most notably on the issue of what sort
of development best suits a large open lot known as the
CITY LIMITS/January 1981 14
Baltic Street site. The Improvement Committee has
backed a plan for a large supermarket on the site, while
Fifth Avenue Committee has urged a mixture of sub-
sidized housing and commercial use. The latest round of
conflict, however, has spilled over far beyond the
memberships of either group, and concerns not just the
development of one site but the course of the entire
area. And the outlines of the debate are familiar from
other neighborhoods around the city wherever large
numbers of middle income people and the poor have
competed unevenly for housing and space.
Already the fall out from the 10,000 free copies of the
letter has resulted in multiple lengthy responses and re-
joinders from residents in The Phoenix, a Brooklyn
weekly; a resignation from the Improvement Committee
by a member who felt slighted at not being informed of
the letter's preparation and distribution; calls for the
ouster of the chairman of the community board's hous-
ing committee and a large public meeting where the let-
ter and its writers were dubbed "racists and elitists".
According to the letter, federal officials believe they
have found a home for "$10 million in Section 8 (hous-
ing subsidies)" in Park Slope after having been rebuffed
by other parts of Brooklyn's brownstone belt in Boerum
Hill, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill. The letter lists
several projects sponsored by the Fifth Avenue Com-
mittee where it is "quietly attempting to construct build-
ings (or convert present structures) for Section 8 or
other subsidized rentals."
Listing several New York City Public Housing Auth-
ority projects within a one-mile radius of Park Slope,
the letter states, "As you know we are already surfeited
with subsidized housing developments in our areas. The
tremendous fallout from compacted subsidized hous-
ing, just in terms of crime (original emphasis), affects us
all. Our area has more than its share of these projects.
The balance must not be destroyed .. . We all know what
happened to Red Hook when it became overcrowded
with subsidized housing. Should we have the Fifth
Avenue Committee push us along that road?"
"We've linked up with the Fort Greene Coalition, a
group in Clinton Hill which is working a little more
quietly, and the Boerum Hill Association, which has
successfully resisted low income housing," said David
Brennan recently, whose signature came at the bottom
of the open letter which went out on the letterhead of
the Improvement Committee with all officers listed.
"We think that subsidies as a whole ought to be
directed at neighborhoods where the private market
won't come in, not to places where it is already active.
We are saying enough of this in our community;' said
Brennan.
The private market has been more than merely active
in the Park Slope area in recent years. Large numbers of
brownstones and large limestone apartment houses have
been either purchased by individual homeowners or
converted to cooperative housing by owners. Price tags
of $200 000 and up for a brownstone, or in excess of
$75,000' for a co-op are not uncommon. The resulting
effect on the low and moderate income members of the
community has been one of rapid and, almost, universal
displacement. Along the Fifth Avenue corridor, at the
base of Park Slope, where building abandonment and
deterioration took a strong toll in the past, revitalization
is catching on as well. "We are trying to stabilize the
neighborhood and provide affordable housing to the
people that still live here," said Rebecca Reich, develop-
ment director for the Fifth Avenue Committee. The
Fifth Avenue group's current plans call for 100 subsi-
dized units to be included in new construction of owner-
occupied buildings on the Baltic Street site, another 25
units on Warren Street in rehabilitated housing, and an
additional 20 units to be rehabilitated in sweat equity
low income co-ops on three other sites.
15
At a public meeting on December 9th called by the
Fifth Avenue Committee to explain its development
plans to the public, and apparently in response to the
circulation of the open letter, details were offered on
each of the proposals. Most of the over 130 in atten-
dance at the meeting were highly supportive of the
group's plans and many were visibly angry at the
authors of the letter, some of whom were present. "I
was highly insulted by the absurd letter I found in my
mail box," said one Park Slope brownstone owner.
"Some of the reasons I wanted to live here are because
the area is racially, economically, and sexually inte-
grated. I would like to see it remain that way. It's odd
that subsidies as such are labelled in the letter as such a
threat, but no mention is made of the substantial sub-
sidies homeowners receive via the tax laws and the low
valuation of the buildings."
The angriest comments came from residents of two
nearby housing projects. "You have some nerve trying
to come here and throw our names around," said Ibon
Muhammed. "I don't mug people and I live in a pro-
ject. She doesn't mug people and she lives there. You
have absolutely no compassion," said Muhammed ad-
dressing James Malone, a board member of the Park
Slope Improvement Committee who was present.
Apparently the speed with which the Improvement
Committee moved to release its broadside may have
backfired to some extent. One member of the Commit-
tee, Pat Zedalis, angrily resigned after seeing her name
listed on the letter which she said she did not see before
it went out. "I was never consulted." she said recently.
"I disagree with the total concept of the letter which was
totally wrongheaded. I also felt that the letter had
undertones of racism."
The letter has caused an even bigger flap for Lewton
Smith, who, until recently, was Chairman of the Park
Slope Improvement Committee and one of its most out-
spoken members. According to Brennan, officers of the
Committee were changed just three days before the let-
ter went out and there was not adequate time for the let-
terhead to be changed. Smith's precarious position
stems from his chairmanship of Community Board
Housing Committee which must evaluate all proposals
for development on the area, and make recommenda-
tions to the Community Board as a whole.
At a Community Board meeting on December 10,
Hank Terjen, President of the Fifth Avenue Committee
called for Smith's resignation due to what he said was a
conflict of interest between his Community Board posi-
tion and his professed views opposing subsidized hous-
ing in Park Slope. Community Board Chairman Anita
DiMartini said she would take the matter under advise-
ment. In response to the call for his ouster, Smith in-
sisted to the full board that he had had no part in draft-
ing the letter, and that he is no longer the Chairman of
the Improvement Committee, but merely a board
member. 0
CITY LIMITS/January 1981
State Banking Bill: Who Got What
by Roger Hayes
"It was something no one, especially myself, really
wanted to do, but we had to do it," said Assembly
Banking Committee Chairman Herman (Denny) Farrell
(D-Man.), commenting on the recently passed Omnibus
Bank Bill. The passage of this bill effectively terminates
New York State's long standing practice of regulating
interest rates on most consumer lending: credit cards,
automobile loans, personal loans. Mortgage interest
rates had already been deregulated in June when Con-
gress passed legislation eliminating all state ceilings for
mortgage rates.
Because of the landmark nature of the decision to
give up regulation and to let the market determine in-
terest rates, Farrell said the bill was passed with a "sun-
set" provision in it for 30 months. During that time,a
special committee of the legislature will be monitoring
the effects of the bill to document any outrageous "rip-
offs". Farrell said the recent climb of the prime rate to
21"10 was further evidence that, in his opinion, the state
had to get out of the business of regulating interest
rates. "We had no choice; either we keep regulation and
no bank offers any credit anyway; or we agree to dereg-
ulate and then at least some consumers can decide for
themselves whether or not they want to spend the money
to meet the high payments."
So the commercial banks got pretty much what they
wanted on this issue. But, the savings banks also scored
a major victory with this bill, although at some cost.
State-chartered savings banks were given the same
powers as federally chartered banks, so they will now be
allowed to engage in more types of lending, especially to
corporations, will be less restricted in the number of
branches they can apply for each year, and will have the
power to offer re-negotiable rate mortgages. Savings
banks have been complaining for over a year that they
were at a competitive disadvantage to their brothers and
sisters who were federally chartered. Either give us the
same authority, they told the state, or we'll apply to the
federal government for a charter.
The legislature gave the savings banks the powers they
wanted but also incorporated some of the anti-redlining
provisions the New York City Coalition Against Redlin-
ing had been advocating. All state regulations dealing
with the Federal Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)
now in effect on an interim basis have been made part of
permanent statute. This means that state chartered
banks will have to meet the same community reinvest-
ment criteria that the federal regulatory agencies require
before a bank is granted a branch or merger. Practically
speaking, this means that local anti-redlining groups
will have two places where they can challenge redlining
banks instead of just one. Also, the State Banking
CITY LIMITS/January 1981
16
Department will now receive $250,000 to fund a staff to
monitor banks' compliance with CRA.
Another provision in this new bill attempts to dis-
courage mortgage lending outside of New York State.
Under existing legislation a bank cannot lend more than
20% of its total assets in mortgages outside of New York
State or the surrounding adjoining states. The new pro-
vision deletes this'adjoining states loophole: but allows
banks to lend mortgages up to 75 miles from any of
their offices. The language of the bill states that for
every mortgage loan made outside the 75-mile limit,
there has to be a mortgage lent to someone inside this
area. A cumbersome regulation for banks, but it should,
at least by default, make banks more willing to lend
mortgages inside New York State.
The statute also contains vague language referring to
another major issue for community groups: making
banks actively assess the credit needs in the communities
where they have branches. Although the bill stops short
of requiring banks to submit yearly credit needs reports
to the Superintendent of Banking - something CAR
has been advocating -, it does list as one of the criteria
for compliance with CRA the extent to which the banks
take the initiative to ascertain the credit needs of the
community. The bill also, for the first time, opens up
the CRA evaluation process to a "sunshine" provision:
all written correspondence between the banks and the
Department of Banking regarding the banks' compli-
ance with CRA is now to be provided to the public upon
request. There are obvious ways that both bankers and
bureaucrats can. subvert this provision (e.g., having
phone conversations instead of writing letters), but for
the first time the concept of making public the regula-
tory agency's evaluation of the banks' CRA perfor-
mance has the weight of law. This regulation should
also serve to remind state CRA examiners that local
anti-redlining organizations will be reviewing their deal-
ings with banks ..
Finally, the bill authorizes new bonding authority for
the State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA) so
it can raise money to purchase old mortgages from
banks and provide banks with funds to lend out new
mortgages. In the past SONYMA has received much
criticism for its lack of any meaningful targeting of
these funds to the low and moderate income neighbor-
hoods that need them; and where SONYMA money has
been used in these neighborhoods it frequently has fur-
thered displacement of long-time residents. The new bill
required substantially more targeting of the money -
one-third to residents in low and moderate income
neighborhoods - 'and also, for the first time, provides
some of the money to be used to purchase dwellings
larger than four units. The legislation also requires that
SONYMA submit a report to the legislature on how
it intends to enforce compliance of these targeting
provisions.
Taken as a whole, the banks made out very well with
this bill, as befits an industry with one of the most high-
powered lobbying operations in Albany. But anti-red-
lining activists are encouraged that some pro-neighbor-
hood provisions were adopted in the final version. As
one person from the Coalition Against Redlining put it:
"We now have a few more tools to work with; we never
expect anything to be given to us by the banks, anyway,
so we were not too disheartened when we did not win
everything we would have liked. Our whole strategy has
been based on getting the banks and regulatory agencies
to react to pressure. That strategy will obviously have to
be continued." 0
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CITY LIMITS/January 1981
Chelsea Tenants, After Ten Years, Face Eviction
by Carolyn Wells
Over 100 people braved the cold on the evening of
December 11 to protest eviction plans for five families
in the Chelsea section of New York, at the Fulton Senior
Center. Outside in front of the Center were Father Leo-
nard LaRocque from the Lady of Guadaloupe Archdio-
cese of New York, and members of his congregation,
chanting with candles in hand, "Ave Maria." They
were, in Father Laroque's words, "praying for better
integration of housing in Chelsea." Inside, the story un-
folding was not uncommon; that of tenants trying to
hold onto their homes of several years against seemingly
impossible odds. Inside, tenant leader of the 235 West
15th St. Tenants Association, Ana Cruz, recounted the
sequence of events leading to tonight's meeting.
At present, five families are faced with imminent evic-
tion by the city, which has broken an agreement made
ten years ago to run the building. Their future as
residents of Chelsea rests in the hands of the Housing
Court.
Close to II years ago, five families who had no-
where else to go, moved into the building as squatters,
with the support of the community at large. They barri-
caded the doors and set off fire alarms to dramatize
their plight during their arrest, but were eventually load-
ed into a bus (including 17 children) and taken to the 4th
precinct. However, the case was dismissed when the
landlord failed to appear in court, and the 43 people
moved into the building soon after. The city finally
agreed that they could live in the building, lent the land-
lord money under the Municipal Loan Program to
rehab the building, and then leased it from him for the
families . A number of them were welfare recipients.
But then, two years ago, due to a cut in welfare grants
for rent allotments by the Department of Social Ser-
vices, the city decided it could not longer afford to
maintain the building, refused to accept further rental
payments, and returned the keys to the landlord. He in
turn, sued the city for non-payment of rent. Since that
time, the tenants have held their rent in escrow, main-
tained the upkeep of the building and are currently
awaiting a decision by Housing Court Judge Harriet
George as to their future. An earlier attempt at appeal
on the tenants part was denied. A decision in their favor
will oblige the city to pay the back rent to the landloro; a
ruling against them means they will pay the city $10,000
which they do not have, or face immediate eviction.
"We are living with a minute-to-minute threat of evic-
tion", said Ana Cruz. "We have no place to move to."
A plan of action called for by Jane Wood, a founding
member of the Chelsea Coalition on Housing, included
sending cards to HPD Housing Commissioner Anthony
Gliedman, demanding that the city continue to run the
building. She also called upon local politicians and
CITY LIMITS/January 1981
18
neighborhood leaders to exert their influence. "No mat-
ter: how militant it's going to be, if we have to burn the
eviction order or go to court, it is time. We are not going
to let them move," claimed Jane Wood. Her declaration
was met with applause from the audience, who, mo-
ments before, had joined in rousing cries of "Tenant
Power'"
And so, for the time being, the tenants of235 West
15th Street remain in a state of limbo, with neither land-
lord nor city willing to take responsibility for their
building. 0
New Grants for Brooklyn Groups
Three Brooklyn community-based organizations
received grants totaling $220,000 in the first round of
funding in mid-December under the Ford Foundation's
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC).
Nationally, the Ford Foundation awarded $2.5 mil-
lion in LISC grants to 27 self-help neighborhood groups
involved in community revitalization.
The LISC program was set up six months ago as a pri-
vate organization to fund community revitalization.
The New York City area grant recipients are: Flatbush
Development Corporation, $70,000; Sunset Park Re-
newal Committee, $50,000; and Southern Brooklyn
Community Organization, $100,000. SBCO is the non-
profit housing organization set up by Agudath Israel of
America to revitalize the Borough Park section of
Brooklyn. The grants will extend over a two-year
period. 0
Editorial continued from page two
The loudest silence of all on the part of these
"neighborhood improvers"ensues when owners de-
liberately deteriorate stable buildings in order to
drive out long-time low income residents so that
other government subsidies can be used to renovate
the buildings for a different, more affluent, popula-
tion.
In the long run we believe such opposition is
shortsighted. The increased costs, not only to
government,but also to the everyday life of individu-
als as well, Of destabilizing low and moderate income
people,are enormous. Which is not to say we expect
these opponents to recognize their folly. Their
myopic vision of the world will not allow for that
recognition. But there is one note of hope.
In both Park Slope and Manhattan Valley, com-
munities, local housing groups, and larger neighbor-
hood coalitions have come together to publically
confront the waves of confusion, misinformation
and racism caused by the "improvers". We support
that effort. 0
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The Urban Homesteading Assistance Board is seeking a full-time per-
son, Spanish-speaking required, to work as a field coordinator with
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manage their own buildings. Previous housing experience required.
Salary $12,500. Pleae submit resume to: UHAB, 1047 Amsterdam
Ave., New York, N.Y. 10025.
To: The Editors, CITY LIMITS
115 East 23rd Street, New York, New York 10010
Please enter my subscription to CITY LIMITS.
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19 CITY LIMITS/January 1981
SHARING HOUSING PROFITS
-Page 4
WEST SIDE BATTLER - Page 9
WEEKSVILLE COLONY - Page 10
ROAR IN PARK SLOPE - Page 14
NEW BANKING BILL - Page 16
On December 5th, the Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association, a community group in the Hunts
Point-Longwood section of the Bronx, opened the first of 21 rehabilitated apartments at 936, 940 and 944 Kelly
Street. Rehabilitated under the city's Sweat Equity program, with Chemical Bank providing the construction
loan, the buildings were rescued from demolition in 1977. Rehab work on the buildings was done by the
cooperators who will live in the apartments and local youth employed under a CErA program. Banana Kelly
also cut the ribbon on its new community park adjoining the buildings, which was transformed from wreckage
and debris to comprise a Kiddie Park, a sitting area and a handball court.
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