City Limits Magazine, December 1981 Issue

THE NEWS MAGAZINE OF NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AND NEIGHBORHOODS
Tales of Crown Heights:

DECEMBER 1981
$1.50
The Fruits of Harassment
A cycle of harassment and displacement, followed by
subsidized renovation in a 'number of Crown Heights
buildings has been conf'mned by at least one city hearing
officer. But what present and former residents of those.
buildings want to know is, who's going to put a stop to it?
While a city probe into that and other practices enters its
third year without resolution, many see the wheels of justice
turning-the wrong way.
Short Term Notes
Speculation Moves
to Chinatown
O
N THE EASTERN EDGE OF
Chinatown, in the Manhattan
Bridge's shadow, sits 87 Madison Street,
which for the last several weeks has been
a vacant lot. The five-story walk-up that
used to be there became vacant in Aug-
ust, after several months of what former
tenants have characterized as continual
harassment-and just a few days before
the building's owner secured approval to
build a high-rise condominium develop-
ment on the site. The story of 87
Madison confirms the worst fears of
some Chinatown observers who believe
the community's identity and livelihood
are threatened by a current trend toward
big money real estate development.
The building was acquired in Septem-
ber, 1979 by Thomas Lee, president of
an investment group called the Overseas
Chinese Development Corporation, and
before long, according to affidavits filed
in October by ten former occupants,
maintenance and repairs at 87 Madison
took a downhill slide. Tenants said they
complained about sporadic heat and hot
water, a broken entry door and other
serious problems. "All we got for an
answer," said Fung King Yu, who had
lived at 87 Madison since 1975, "was that
the building was going to be tom down
CITY liMITS/December 1981
and therefore the landlord would not
repair anything."
By last spring, when Lee's group was
courting city and Community Board
approval of the condominium plan, the
stakes were apparently raised. In March,
said former resident Lam Sau Yi, the
owner refused tenants' rent and told
them to move out. Some did, and, ac-
cording to Lam, "Each time one family
moved out the landlord would break the
windows and seal the doors" of the
vacated unit. In May, two suspicious
fires hit 87 Madison. After the second
fire, which started in the hallway outside
his apartment door, 37 year resident
Frank Fiore said Lee "put $2,000 in my
pocket and told me to leave as soon as
possible." Other remaining tenants
reported the same stick-and-carrot treat-
ment, and the last one left on August 16.
On August 20, the Board of Estimate
granted final approval for the Overseas
Chinese group to commence develop-
ment on the site.
Lee's attorney, Scott Mollen, dis-
counted the tenants' tale. "We believe
that those are trumped-up charges," he
said. Mollen challenged the claim that
services were systeRlatically withdrawn
from 87 Madison, claiming that residents
2
were duly compensated for relocating.
Lee told the New York Times in
September that former tenants had
received payments ranging from $500 to
$6,000.
Responded Joyce Moi, a private attor-
ney who is working with the former
tenants to get further compensation:
"You have to understand the circum-
stances. If you're the last tenant in a
building, you either stay there with a
vacant building that's being vandalized
or you take whatever you can and
leave. "
"Flight Capital"
In any case, Lee's pay-offs to the
Madison Street residents were, from his
perspective, a great investment. One-
bedroom apartments among the 143
units planned for the site will sell for
$112,000, with monthly maintenance
charges of about $250. Though the
building site for the two 12 and 16-story
towers has been cleared, construction
hasn't yet begun. Mollen claimed the
project's fmancing "hasn't been firmed
up yet." Conceding that they were "very
close" to a financing agreement, Mollen
said the developers are "'in the process of
negotiating with domestic sources of
capital." Asked whether the Overseas
Chinese group precludes the use of
foreign capital, he replied, "No, we
don't." Lee told the Times the entire
project was being backed by funds from
the Middle East and Hong Kong.
If foreign capital is used to build the
development, called East West Towers,
it will mark the acceleration of already
heavy international investment in
Chinatown, and that worries some
people. "Speculation will drive people
out with higher rents," argued Bill
Chong, a spokesman for Asian Ameri-
cans for Equality, a Chinatown-based
organization that's trying to organize
resistance to the trend. He explained that
speculation could become intense as
"flight capital" from overseas floods the
area's real estate market. Chong cited
the office space boom in downtown
Manhattan's fmancial district-within
easy walking distance of Chinatown-as
a magnet for expensive residential
development, especially for nervous
speculators from Taiwan, whose future
as a capitalist state is uncertain, and
Hong Kong, whose British lease expires
in 1997.
Chong emphasized that speculation in
ventures like East West Towers has been
facilitated by the establishment of a
special zoning district in the neighbor-
hood. The so-called Manhattan Bridge
Special District, established last March
and covering several blocks near the
bridge's western end, allows for the
development of approved structures that
are larger and . higher than previous
zoning provisions allowed. Since the
district's inception, three high-rise luxury
housing projects, including East West
. Towers, have won city approval there.
Some Chinatown residents advocate
such projects and the economic activity
they're sure to foster, but others are far
from convinced. "We don't really think
these are the kinds of projects that will
benefit the people of Chinatown,"
remarked attorney Moi. "We're afraid
this will drive out the fixed-income
people, especially the elderly."
Asked about that possibility, the
Overseas Chinese group's attorney
claimed that most inquiries about future
occupancy in East West Towers had
come from the area, from "Chinese
business interests." But Chong pointed
out the importance of the local working
CONTENTS
Volume 6, Number 10
class population in sustaining the neigh-
borhood's unique, self-contained econ-
omy. "People live here and work here,"
he said. "If you live in Chinatown, you
either work in the garment industry or in
restaurants. What's going to happen to
those industries if people can't afford to
live here anymore?"
Despite recent developments, that
remains a long-range question, but there
are signs of stress in the area's affordable
rental housing stock. Though migration
from the neighborhood to other
boroughs has proceeded apace in the
past decade, Chinatown's population
has blossomed to around 60,000,
spurring a gradual expansion of
community borders and straining the
traditionally crowded stock of aging
tenements. And while housing condi-
tions have generally declined, area rents
have been prodded upward by a
miniscule apartment vacancy rate.
Complained a Catherine Street shop-
worker whose parents recently returned
from Hong' Kong after several years.
there: "They had to take a little
apartment on Henry Street where they're
paying $490. And you know where it is?
Right under the 'F' train!"
That may be an indication of things to
come in Chinatown, but the neighbor-
hood's fate isn't sealed yet. Though
Community Board 3 originally approved
both the Special District and plans for
East West Towers, charges of tenant
harassment later led the Board to form a
"fact-rmding committee" to reconsider
both. (public hearings had been held on
both issues, but Chinatown residents
pointed out that notices never appeared
in Chinese language media). The com-
mittee's recommendations, presented
and approved at an October 27 meeting
of the whole Board, called for the
revocation of East West Towers' build-
ing permit and suspension of the entire
Special District, at least until tenant
harassment allegations have been investi-
gated.
The unprecedented action took city
officials by surprise, but a City Planning
Commission spokesman told the Dai/y
News, "If there was harassment, steps
will be taken regarding the [East West
Towers] permit." A month later, the
permit and the Special District were stIli
in place, but most Chinatown resiaents
probably didn't notice-they were busy
running a community. OT.L.
( CITYLIMIlS)
I
Speculation in Chinatown ......................... 2 Illy.etcept JunelJuly and
the Association or-Neigh-
Center for Com-
Transit Tax Breakdown ........................... 4
Neighborhood Developers Chart Course ............. 6
A Small Loan Program ........................... 7
Putting The Heat On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 8
Tales of Crown Heights ......... .. ................ 12
Letters ................................... . .... 19
Public Service Commission .......... .. ............ 20
A Landlord Comes Back ......................... 23
Cover photo by Marc Jahr
3
and the'Urban
'ty Limits do not
wring organization;.
$2$ and gcvrumeut
" {pr indhlidua}sand 9mmunity-basec
or$anizatlous; . to:
CITY LJI'{P) 424 NewYqrk., !'f,X )0001
" ... . . .. .
qf dddrJ!Ss if): City Limits, 4Z4 West
J3nj y/!()()()l
secqna..ctas$ j)O$tage paid New; York. N.Y. 10001
(IS$N oOl99"()33Q)
Editor .. ".,,_,.' . 'i\l:> ,./ , ,,, ", . , Tom Robbins
Assistant Editor, ... , . , . '.' . ' ... , , ., ...... Tim Ledwith
AssiStant. J:lditor " H ., ....... "'''''.' c: .... Susan Bald.win
I)esigll alld Ltyout .. > . " ';,. ,. Louis Fulgoni
J9/fI. All reserved,No portiOlIo
r
porti01/s oj
Ihis}oU{'n(ltf!t
Il
)'i?e.rep""ted withollt tit, ,xpress written
miSsio4o/ thepubJl,fhers;
TIlls"'''. f1UIck!d tlmmlh .,. .... New York (:om-
IDIIJIiCYTr.-.
CITY LIMITS/December 1981
Breakdown 'on the Transit Tax
Express
A
s NEW YORK CITY'S MASS
transit creaks toward what many
riders view as almost certain disaster, a
real estate tax measure designed to infuse
the system with much-needed operating
dollars may soon be derailed.
The measure, a special tax on the
transfer of large, "income-producing"
properties concentrated in ManhattlUl,
was opposed during the State Legisla-
ture's fall session by the city's real estate
industry and Mayor Edward Koch, who
unsuccessfully sought to replace it with
increases in two existing real estate taxes.
That proposal, in turn, was attacked by
public interest and riders' groups as a
meager substitute, and it failed in a mid-
November State Senate vote. But when
legislators return to Albany for a special
session starting December 16, so will the
lobbyists from both sides of the transit
tax track.
The current tax is a 10 percent levy on
capital gains from the sale of real estate
,
i .
\
I
t .
! I
I
valued at $1 million or more (Capital
gain is the difference between the price a
building sells for and the original price
plus the value of any improvements
made). The tax emerged from the Legis-
lature in July as part of a five-tax pack-
age designed to hold the fare increase to
a mere 25 percent. The package also
increased some small business taxes and
hiked the downstate counties' sales tax-
all told raising $780 million in annual
subsidies for the bus, subway
and commuter rail system.
The unsuccessful replacement bill, of-
fered by the mayor and supported by
real estate interests, would instead have
increased the existing mortgage record-
ing and transfer taxes on the sale of
properties worth $500,000 or
$50 million lost
Both incarnations of the transit tax,
their legislative supporters estimate,
could raise about $30 million annually,
but some supporters of the current,
capital gains levy say it could raise a lot
more. The Straphangers Campaign, a
transit-oriented affiliate of the New York
Public Interest Research Group, claims
that at least $50 million in tax revenue
was lost between August 1 and October
1, when implementation of the capital
gains tax was delayed at the city's behest.
The delay, the mayor's office claimed,
was needed to get the tax collection
machinery in place. During that two
month period, Straphangers research
revealed, about 130 properties worth
more than $1 million each changed
corporate hands in Manhattan alone,
amounting to over a billion dollars in
aggregate sales. Though they note that
the two months' feverish trading was
prompted in part by the impending
windfall tax (a September 6 headline in
the New York Times real estate section
subtly advised, "Save a Bundle: Close by
October 1 "), Straphangers representa-
tives point out that, at this rate, the
capital gains levy would generate over
200 million transit dollars a year.
Claudia Wagner, a spokeswoman for
Koch's legislative office, challenges that
possibility. "Deals can be easily struc-
tured to get around the [capital gains]
act," she claims. "Litigation on both
sides will go on for years. Collecting the
tax will be extremely problematic." To
illustrate, Wagner notes that only
$100,000 in tax revenue was collected
during the measure's first six weeks of
existence.
The capital gains tax's proponents
credit that low figure to real estate indus-
try anticipation that its tax burden will be
lightened considerably during the De-
cember legislative session. The flurry of
high value transfers before October I,
they add, reflected the real estate indus-
try's conviction that, despite the city's
claims to the contrary, the tax is quite
collectible.
Frank Domurad, NYPIRG's tax re-
form director, admits that the levy has
some flaws that might allow corporate
movers and shakers to transfer ' multi-
million dollar properties in smaller
parcels of stock, thereby ducking
taxation under the capital gains formula.
"But we think whatever technical
problems there are can be solved by
chapter amendments," Domurad insists.
"Look, no matter what kind of tax you
impose, large firms will hire people at
very high salaries to help them avoid
paying it."
Uncertain income?
But the mayor's representatives insist
that, even beyond the question of cor-
porate tax-<iodging, the capital gains
measure is an uncertain income source.
A major objection to the levy, says
Wagner, is that "this is a very cyclical
type of revenue bill. You're not going to
see a constant source of revenue from
it." By lowering the taxable ceiling to
$500,000 and utilizing existing collection
procedures, she says, the mayor's substi-
tute bill "would provide a more steady
source of income." In order for a transit
tax to be effective, Wagner concludes,
"it has to be workable."
Supporters of the capital gains
measure bitterly argue that, rather than
being a more workable alternative
toward the same end, such a substitute
would violate the entire purpose of the
current tax. NYPIRG charged in an
October legislative memorandum that
the mayor's suggested replacement tax
would "fall most heavily on small busi-
nesses. Its effect will be regressive and
impact on the often less vibrant
economies of the outer boroughs." Adds
Gene Russianoff, a NYPIRG/Strap-
hangers attorney who's been active in the
tax fight: "The capital gains tax was
included in a package last summer that
included some regressive taxes that we
weren't supportive of, but we supported
the package as a compromise. Tamper
with one of these taxes now and the
whole house of cards is going to fall."
And Russianoff didn't mince words in
characterizing Koch's attempts at this
late date to repeal part of the transit
package: "This is backdoor political
trickery. "
Whether it's trickery or not, the Koch
proposal would clearly alter a major ele-
ment of the capital gains measure-the
idea that mass transit should be substan-
tially supported by the corporate sector
that relies on its continued operation.
Assembly Speaker Stanley Fink, who
was instrumental in getting the tax bill
passed last summer, credits the Munici-
pal Research Institute, an urban consult-
ing firm, with providing its rationale.
5
"The fastest growing source of wealth in
New York City is real estate," said an
Institute report released last May. "Th.::
City's extensive mass transit network
provides a direct benefit to local real
estate operators and it is only fair that
they bear some of the increased costs of
maintaining the system." The Institute's
director, Dan McCarthy, points out that
the concept originated with Socialist can-
didates for city office who called, during
the 1930s, for special tax assessments on
property served by subway lines that
were then expanding further into the
boroughs. Private interests depended on
the daily transport of a vast workforce
into and out of Manhattan, the argu-
ment went, so they had an obligation to
help pay the fare.
The argument today is essentially the
same. "There's going to be 20 million
square feet of new office space in
Manhattan by 1985," NYPIRG's
Doinurad asserts. "That means about a
30 percent increase in the workforce. The
straight fact of the matter is that this
kind of development wouldn't be possi-
ble without mass transit. They're going
to be benefitting from it, and hurting too
if the system collapses."
So, as the Legislature reconvenes this
month, the battle lines will be clearly
drawn. Mayoral spokeswoman Wagner
says her office "is still committed to
repeal the 10 Percent tax. We're back on
the drawing board." The current tax's
proponents are ready to argue that it is
the most appropriate and effective way
to raise operating funds and avoid re-
gressive fare hikes. From both sides, the
issue is clearly as live as a third
rail.OT.L.
r Neighborhood Housing Developers Chart Their Course
, 'MERELY SURVIVING THE
next couple of years, without
putting out services to our communities,
would be a major defeat," said Bonnie
Brower, the new director of the Associa-
tion of Neighborhood Housing Develop-
ers recently.
At a recent weekend retreat, the Asso-
ciation, a major membership group of
New York City community-based
organizations, founded in 1974,
mapped its needs for the coming year, as
well as the strategies it will have to pur-
sue in order to achieve them.
Almost a full year of the Reagan era '
has yielded a host of cliches about the
survival course for neighborhood organ-
izations. "Volubteerism," "public-
private partnerships," and "self-suffi-
ciency" are three most commonly heard.
With subsidized public employment for
neighborhoods (CETA) and many of the
federal programs that fueled community
activities now relics of the past,
community groups have been going
through a retrenchment of their own.
The cliches, no matter how difficult to
achieve they may be, are leaping off the
pages of grant proposals and into every-
day parlance with an emphasis they did
not previously possess. Groups every-
where speak of lean times to come and a
greater self-reliance than ever before.
The Association has had to do a sub-
stantial amount of retrenchment itself,
both in its central operation and within
most of its 22 member groups. It is cur-
rently emerging from a rocky transition
that included loss of a CETA public
service employment contract that, at its
peak, employed almost 500 neighbor-
hood workers placed with nearly '50
organizations. Like other' 'umbrella"
CETA sponsors, a good deal of ANHD's C)
structure and thrust grew around the e
program. Loss of the contract meant not ~
only losing almost half of a staff of o..l
thirty, but a part of the organization's '"
direction as well. housing movement in New York has
often lacked.
At the retreat, ANHD members At least a portion of that task will fall
dermed as a priority the need for to the Association's new director
improved communications and the Bonnie Brower, a former managing
development of a network among the attorney for East Brooklyn Legal Ser-
groups that will enable organizations to vices and deputy general counsel for
achieve a cohesiveness the neighborhood sales at the city's Department of Housing
CITY LIMITS/December 1981 6
and Preservation. Brower said the Asso-
ciation will put a renewed emphasis on
its role as a policy advocate for neigh-
borhood development. The Association
will take leadership in analyzing existing
government legislation and regulations
and will propose new housing and neigh-
borhoods initiatives.
One mutual problem for neighbor-
hood groups articulated at the retreat
weekend is a response to new HUD
regulations that mandate tenant selection
in federally subsidized rehabilitation and
new construction projects by lottery,
without preference towards long-time
neighborhood residents in need of
housing. The Association will host an
early December meeting for groups con-
cerned with that 'issue to help form a
response.
Provision of needed services on the
part of the Association and member
groups will playa key role in building the
foundation for its activities. The Asso-
ciation is in the process of computerizing
the administration of several consortia
that provide reduced rates for heating
fuel, liability and health insurance to
community owned and managed housing.
"The nature of ANHD as an umbrella
organization of housing and community
development groups that is city-wide and
multi-racial is unique," said Brower.
"We're going to be expanding our
membership tremendously so that it
becomes even more representative of the
housing movemeJ)t in New York City."
One continuing problem for the Asso-
ciation since its founding has been a gap
between the needs of older, larger and
more sophisticated groups and younger,
smaller organizations. Can the
Association bridge that gap? "One of
the best things said at the retreat," said
Brower, "was a real recognition on the
part of our members of a need to
promote and involve themselves in issues
that may not be primary in their areas.
There was a recognition of the need for
joint action, and a need for ANHD to be
the spokesperson oli issues that may not
affect each and every group but that are
still crucial. There will still be a certain
amount of competition and jealousy,"
she warned, "but from the largest to the
smallest there was a sense of willingness
to work together. "0 T .R.
A Small Loan
Program
That Makes
A Difference
, 'WEWOULDN'TBEWHERE
we are now today if we hadn't
had help, such as the dumpster
program." So said Ellen Baisden, a
27-year resident of 2460 Seventh Avenue
in Harlem. "Everything that could go
wrong here has, but now the tenants are
turning this around." .
Begun in May, 1979, with a $5,000
revolving loan fund from the Consumer
Farmer Foundation, the Dumpster Loan
Program was designed to provide in-
terest-free loans to tenant groups with
limited resources doing their own reha-
bilitation work (sweat equity) in city-
owned, tax-foreclosed buildings. The
program is administered by the Urban
Homesteading Assistance Board and is
one of the best local examples of how far
a small investment can take a large
number of people.
Most of the buildings using the dump-
ster program are in the c i t y ~ s Tenant
Interim Lease (TIL) program, although
seven on West 105th Street in Upper
Manhattan are being renovated by the
West 105th Street Homesteaders with an
innovative loan from the National
Consumer Cooperative Bank.
Since the program began, 104 build-
ings with a total of 2,216 apartments
have used the program. According to
Denise Powell, administrator of the
dumpster loan program at UHAB, 697
apartments have been cleaned out, repre-
senting a service to more than 7,000
people. She also said that a total of 178
tenant associations and community
groups have either received loans or
assistance in securing containers.
"It is not the solution to the serious
housing crisis, to Reagan, or to rats, but
it is an answer to people who are trying
to ftx up their buildings and get rid of
debris," said Martin Young, of the
Consumer Farmer Foundation. "It has
affected the lives of a couple thousand
tenants. Nineteen buildings have been
sold as cooperatives, and this is a miracle
for low income people who want to ftx
up their homes."
Dumpster fees range from $150 for the
smallest (15 yards) to $220 for the largest
(30 yards). According to Powell, most
groups have used the program when they
have a cash flow problem but are fairly
prompt in paying back the loans.
"We have used the program about
eight times, and we have done quite a bit
to clean out our building, " said Baisden,
who serves as the bookkeeper for the
tenants association at 2460 Seventh
Avenue. "But we usually payoff the
loan in full before the monthly install-
ments begin." Baisden's building, which
entered the TIL program in March,
1979, with only 18 occupied apartments
of a total of 52, now has only eight
vacancies and boasts a large waiting list
for four apartments ready for
occupancy.
At present, the tenants are engaged in
sweat equity rehabilitation and are
hoping to buy their apartments possibly
next year at the city's stated low income
price of $250-a-unit. The building's cur-
rent rents are $200-a-month for four
rooms, $275 for six rooms.
"We have large apartments and are
proud of our building," Baisden assert-
ed, noting that the tenants have heat and
hot water "every day of the year, but we
have to ftx this plumbing because it will
only get worse. We really could use some
help for this from the city."
In addition to making use of the
dumpster pr.ogram, 2460 Seventh
Avenue has been receiving construction
materials from the city's Department of
Housing Preservation and Development
7
to repair the apartments.
Another building-970 Tinton
Avenue in the South Bronx-used the
dumpster program with less success.
"We paid $250 at one shot for the
dumpster, but we didn't have it long
enough," said Inez Owens, a 13-year
resident and organizer of its tenants
association. "We needed it much longer.
It's a nice thing, but we could have used
it for at least a month. Unfortunately,
the city says a normal period is two days
because the dumpsters are so much in
demand." As a result, according to
Owens, the tenants had to throw most of
the debris on the yard of an adjacent
vacant building.
Her building, however, was fortunate
to receive volunteer labor from the
Neighborhood Work Project, a program
run by the Vera Institute of Justice,
which employs ex-offenders as
temporary workers until permanent jobs
are found for them. The NWP work
crew spent a month last spring cleaning
out the debris from the backyard and
making repairs to vacant apartments. As
a result, Owens was able to run a neigh-
borhood youth employment program for
35 young people and provide a summer
lunch program which fed some 1,000
local residents.
"We need all the help we can get to
save this housing," Owens concluded.
"It's not a bad block for the South
Bronx. We only have one abandoned
building, but before we can buy our
apartments from the city, even for $250,
a lot has to be ftxed, particularly the
plumbing and electrical problems.' 0 S.B.
Putting the Heat
On, This Year
By TIM LEDWITH
C
HRISTMAS BROUGHT THE
unlikely gift of an arctic chill to
New Yorkers last year and, with intermit-
tent relief, the chill stayed put for the rest
of the season. By the end of the winter,
in which temperatures averaged nearly
20 percent lower than usual, Governor
Hugh Carey had been prompted to open
National Guard armories to shelter
refugees from heatless buildings, at least
13 New Yorkers had died of exposure to
the cold (along with countless others who
fell to cold-related illnesses and fires) and
tenants had filed 283,000 complaints
about ill-heated apartments with the city
housing agency.
Banner headlines and television news
shows steadfastly covered the winter's
horror stories, calling attention to the
questions of public and private account-
ability they raised. But as the last snow
of the 1980-81 season melted away, so
did media attention. And as the winter of
1981-82 begins in frosty earnest, many
people who live and work in the neigh-
borhoods hardest hit last year are won-
dering whether, in the absence of a mer-
cifully mild season, they will be iced out
once again.
On paper at least, the standards and
procedures designed to prevent such a
fate are pretty clear. During the heating
season-October 1 to May 31-the mini-
mum requirements are as follows: from
6 AM to 10 PM, if it is below 55 degrees
outside, the inside temperature must be
68 degrees; between 10 PM and 6 AM, if
the outside temperature is ' below 40
CITY LlMITSlDecember 1981
degrees, it must be at least 55 degrees
inside. When landlords fail to meet these
standards, tenants can call the city's
Central Complaints telephone number
(960-4800) to get their giievances on the
record. According to the prescribed pro-
cedure, once a complaint has been filed,
the building owner or agent is to be
called and asked if he or she is aware of
the problem. If the landlord says the
situation has been or is about to be
resolved, the tenant is to be called back
by the housing agency the next day and
asked if the chill persists. If it does,
Central Complaints is supposed to notify
the appropriate borough office, which in '
turn is expected to dispatch an inspector.
So far, so good. According to the De-
partment of Housing Preservation and
Development, a quarter of last winter's
heat complaints were resolved through
callbacks. But in light of the importance
of getting apartments inspected when
heat complaints aren't so easily reme-
died, tenants point with concern to the
decline in recent yeas of HPD's
inspection force; the group dwindled
from over 600 inspectors in 1975 to 387
last year. According to Joseph Shul-
8
diner, head of the agency' s Evaluation
and Compliance unit, the force is back
up slightly this year, with 410 full-timers
and 33 trainees hired iIi September.
However, Shuldiner points out, only
about 250 inspectors actually work in the
field.
That group, even at the level of 9.8
inspections performed each person-day
as projected for fiscal 982 in the
Mayor's Management Report, would be
overwhelmed by a prolonged deep-freeze
like last January's, when housands of
complaints poured in daily. $190,000 is
budgeted for inspectors' overtime this
year. Under last January' s unusually
frigid conditions, even a mayoral
infusion of $715,000 to 'ncrease the
inspection force failed to get the system
back on track in many neighborhoods.
A
SSUMING A VISIT FROM THE
inspectors' thin ranks can be se-
cured, and the cold truth of a heat viola-
tion verified, one immediate course of
action open to tenants this year, as in the
past, is the city's Emergency Repair
Program. Funded mainly ith federal
Community Development dollars, the
program is composed of 40 city employ-
ees and about 90 subcontractors who
provide repairs and heating fuel
deliveries in extreme cases of landlord
negligence. Last year, more than $13
million was spent on over 26,000 ERP
jobs city-wide. Since federal funds for
fiscal 1982 are in place, tills winter's ERP
spending should not be affected by
budget slashing in Washington: this
year's emergency repair budget is set at
$8.3 million, and the program's actual
expenditures can be expected to exceed
the budget projection by several million
dollars.
About half the current ERP fund is
earmarked for heating fuel deliveries,
and in cases where a tank of fuel is all
that's needed to thaw out a frozen
building, the program offers residents an
oft-used option-provided that a viola-
tion has been verified and the landlord
allows access to the tank. An alternative
to the possible bureaucratic pitfalls of
the emergency repair process is available
under the 1979 Fuel Buying Law, which
allows tenants who are without heat for
at least 24 hours, and who can't get satis-
faction from their landlords, to buy
heating fuel and deduct it from their
rent. Tills alternative, of course, illnges
on residents' ability to accumulate a
large enough rent roll to make the
purchase. If they can't, or if the heating
system needs more than fuel to breathe
warmth into the building, tenants are
back to relying on city aid or pressure
from the courts for immediate relief.
The latter option is a virtual standing
joke among tenants, organizers and even
public officials who have tried to utilize
legal pressure to resolve heat violations,
but they're still trying: 3,149 heat-related
cases passed through the city's housing
courts last winter; about 900 in the form
of tenant-initiated actions, the rest
brought by the city housing agency.
Bruce Kramer, head of HPD's litiga-
tion unit, which is responsible for prose-
cuting heat violators, calls tenant-initiat-
ed court action in heat cases "the key to
the system." Kramer concedes that the
housing agency, with current resources,
"is not going to hit all the buildings with
heat violations." As for the criteria his
unit employs to choose which landlords
will be prosecuted, says Kramer: "We're
more apt to pick a building where there's
J
As winter and the first complaints of heatless apartments commence, some
tenant activists aren't leaving fate to f1atUte's Two organiza-
tions-the New York State Tenant and NeighborhOOd Coalition and the New
york Public Interest Research Oroqp's Citizen's Allianc-have ap-
proached the powers that be with some hard questions about the city's ability to
deal with potential problems dtllin$ the current heating season.
NYSTNC's Code Enforcement Committee, which started meeting on the
heat. issue in October, has developed a set of heat enforcement measures that,
thearoup says, should be taken 'bY the J')epatUnent of Housing Preservation
and Develcfpment and City Han. The list includes demands that:
the number of housing inspectorS be inreased to pre-l97S levels
HPD insure effective levying andColleedonof f),nes
the housing agency educate the public and use the tpedia toinform tenants
abdut heat-related actions. pIae mUlti .. lingualadvertisementsin subways and
buses and that information sheets be distributed by inspectors at the time of
inspection.
litigation staff at HPD be increased so that there wiD be a ratio of one
attorney to twenty inspectors
HPD litigation procedures be streamlined
the housing agency SUI)J)OCUegil.lationi",iUc;h wiD require in heat complaint
cases that a judge must and civil
to be imposed on thafi two COUrt dates

........ d of heat
Repair Program. In an HPD spokesman said the agency
would establish an advisory tenant committee to improve heat services.
Another demand-that the city adopt minimum building weatherization
standards and deny non-complYing landlords "fuel passaJongs" they get under
current rent regulations-was rejected by the housing agency representative.
Another demonstration, this one scheduled by NYSTNC for December 9,
was planned to memorialize tenants whO died last winter from exposure to the
<:ald. and was co-sponsored by about two doi!eD tenant and neighborhood
organizatioQs around the city. The action, an early evening candlelight vigil in
front of City Hall, was intended to dramatize the vital nature of the heat
enforcement issue. 0
no heat than one which has some. And
while we don't rule out smaller build-
ings, we might be led in the first instance
to go to a larger one and service more
units." In heatless buildings not chosen
for city litigation, states Kramer, "with-
holding rent is not so effective because
many landlords just wait until spring to
tenants to court." On the other
hand, he adds, tenant-initiated action "is
an offensive procedure that groups of
tenants can take."
Irma Rodriguez, director of the East
Bronx Neighborhood Stabilization
9
office, thinks Kramer is "probably
right" about the importance of tenant-
initiated actions, but she is hardly
enthusiastic. "There's no justice in
housing court," Rodriguez laments.
"One day you've got a judge who is
jailing a landlord because there's no
heat, and another we'll have a serious
situation that goes on for months and
months and we can't even get a contempt
order." Other observers familiar with
housing court complain that, even when
fines are levied, they often remain
uncollected.
A
CCORDING TO THE STA-
tute, landlords found gUilty in heat
cases are liable not only to substantial
fines, but also possible imprisonment.
Last winter, however, only four violators
were jailed. So fIDes appear to be the
city's biggest potential stick.
On the current heating season's open
day, Mayor Edward Koch signed into
law a bill which raised fines for building
owners who don't provide heat and hot
water from $25 to $250 per violation, per
day. The bill also created a minimum
$1,000 penalty for the use of illegal
timing devices on boilers which cause
central heating systems to shut off
during certain times of the day or night,
not based on the outside temperature. In
a statement released the day these stiffer
penalties were announced, HPD Com-
missioner Anthony Gliedman called the
bill signing "a message to negligent land-
lords throughout the city that we intend
to take serious action to protect
tenants."
In practice, though, the effect of these
stiffer penalties is questionable. Steve
Cruz, who works for the Saint Nicholas
Housing Development Corporation in
north Brooklyn, isn't impressed. "Whe-
ther it's $25 or $250, it'll be the same
thing," he ~ s s e r t s . "Th; vast majority of
violating landlords won't be fined."
Observes HPD's Shuldiner: "It's impos-
sible to say what this will do." In the
past, Shuldiner says, the Department
never sued for penalties in heat cases.
"That would take two weeks," he states,
so instead the agency has generally
moved for more immediate court "or-
ders to correct" when prosecuting heat
violators. Last winter, HPD actually
collected no fIDes fo heat violations, but
$326,000 iIi judgements for contempt
were levied against landlords who failed
to comply with orders to correct viola-
tions. Shuldiner is certain about how
much of that was collected, but the
agency .reportedly collected $590,000 in
fines for all code viQlations during fiscal
1981. As far as HPD's choice this season
between suing for t e new, stiffer fIDes
or for contempt judgements, states Shul-
diner, "We'll probably do a little of
both."
Meanwhile, tenan s around New York
will once again try to turn the often
frozen dials of the city's heat-generating
legal machine. 0
Coping With the Cold,
While Working for
Change
figures to 40 percent for low income and 1l.5 percent for
median income households: In New York, where all
households already pay about one-third more than the
national average for,energy, home heating il has increased in
price by an armual average of 47 percent since 1973. And New
York is more oil dependent than the rest of the nation: nation-
wide, less than half the heating energy used derives from oil,
while in New York the figure is 80 percent.
N
OBODY LIKES TO THINK ABOUT WINTER
when the weather is warm, but now that the cold weather
is upon us, tenants in poorly insulated, ill-heated buildings can
plan for the even colder months ahead.
Heat problems are particularly acute for low income renters,
at least 40 percent of whom live in uninsulated buildings. In
1978, poor people paid a national average of 33 percent of their
income for energy costs. The median income household paid
9.6 percent. Energy price increases since then bring those
In addition, relatively few New Yorkers ontrol their own
heat. Multi-family (six or more unit) buildings make up 36
percent of the statewide housing stock, compared to 20 percent
nationally, and are concentrated primarily in New York City.
Largely because of this, 83 percent of New Yorkers don't have
control of their home space heating, compared to 39 percent
nationwide.
It is in large rental buildings, then, that tenants and tenants'
advocates often try to reverse owners' traditional economic
approach and set new priorities. In terms of priorities, the only
way owners can immediately reduce fuel consumption, and
enormous energy expenses,is through weatherization: install-
ing storm doors and windows; insulating alls, ceilings and
attics; tuning furnaces; insulating heating pipes and ducts;
sealing cracks in foundations and walls. These are expensive,
but in the long run cost-effective, measures
Short of such measures, tenants have tHe unquestionable
right to demand certain "amenities" necessary for their
survival. The demand for adequate heating is justifiably
addressed to government agencies and landlords, but it is often
met only to the point of assuring that nobody freezes to death
in his or her apartment. Beyond that extreme are the everyday
needs to keep sickness away, have healthy children in school,
maintain working capacity and protect the ability to tbink-
the strongest political tool.
To help meet those needs, low and moderate income
residents can become involved in protecting emselves from
the rigors of cold weather. The materials n ed should not be
seen as obstacles; a host of relatively cheap products that
prevent the outside cold air from penetra,ting the indoors are
available. One possibility for covering the costs of basic
measures like weatherstripping and caulking is through
negotiation with the landlord or manager. Or, the owner can
provide all materials and renters can do the work, after
training and under supervision if necessary, as is often done
with apartment painting jobs. If the cooperation between
renters and owners is effective, and savings are large (a well-
weatherized building will reduce fuel consumption by 15 to 40
percent), further arrangements, such as reworked rental
charges or revolving funds for additional energy conservation
activities, may be in order.
-Women's Energy Tool Kit, Home heating, cooling and
weatherization. A workbook for residents in large and small
buildings. Includes information on basic installation of energy
saving materials, as well as tips on what materials to use.
Available for $5.95, plus $1.50 postage and handling, from
Consumer Action Now, 355 Lexington Ave., New York, N.Y.
10017.
-Stay Warm (And Save Money), Energy conservation for old
law and other small apartment buildings in New York City. A
manual for conservation directed primarily toward operators
of three-to-five story walk-up buildings, this book also
includes detailed instructions for tenants who want to
weatherize their apartments. Available from the New York
City Energy Office for $3.50. For information call the office's
Energy Line at 349-2951..
As far as implementation is concerned, a number of re-
sources are available for tenants who wish to implement basic
conservation measures in their homes. Some of these are:
-No Heat, No Rent, An urban solar and energy conservation
manual. An introduction to energy conservation techniques
suitable for a typical New York City tenement building.
Available for $1.50 postage and handling, free if you pick it
up, from the Energy Task Force, 156 Fifth Ave., New York,
N.Y. 10010.
-The Brooklyn J<;nergy Co-op, located at 562 Atlantic Ave.,
between Third and Fourth Avenues. A cooperative enterprise
that offers energy saving products to members at low prices.
Call 858-8803 for details. 0 Martha E. Soler
Martha E. Soler is Planning Coordinator at Pratt Institute
Center for Community and Environmental Development, and
teaches a course on energy-efficient land use at Pratt's
Planning School.
Interest Rates Hearing Planned
The New York Coalition Against
Redlining is a loose federation of neigh-
borhood organizations that works on re-
investment issues on a city-wide basis.
During the last couple of years, CAR
members efforts have focused on en-
forcement of the Community Reinvest-
ment Act, a federal measure requiring fi-
nancial institutions to meet the credit
needs of their communities. Earlier this
year, the group sought and got meetings
with federal regulators and representa-
tives from the city's largest banks to dis-
cuss the near impossibility of securing
renovation loans for multiple dwellings
and mixed use (commercial and residen-
tial) buildings. But as interest rates have
risen dramatically in recent years, many
of CAR's efforts have become almost
academic; no matter how many 17 per-
cent mortgages are available, they won't
do low and moderate income neighbor-
hoods very much good.
In order to address this problem, the
Coalition will hold a public hearing on
interest rates on January 16, at the New
York University Catholic Center, from
noon until 4 PM. The hearing will
feature representatives from the Federal
Reserve Board, whose policies have kept
interest rates high in the name of fighting
inflation. The hearing will offer home-
owners, tenants, small businesspeople
and anyone else who's concerned the op-
portunity to testify about the effect of
high interest rates in their communities.
In addition, several workshops will be
held, including: a discussion of new "ad-
justable rate mortgages" being offered at
banks that have largely replaced tradi-
tional, long term fixed mortgages; a run-
down on how some community organi-
zations are packaging public and private
financing to develop energy-saving reha-
bilitation in apartment buildings; a look
at the impact of high interest rates on
small businesses and neighborhood
economic development; and a session
about other sources of mortgage money
available from government finance agen-
cies and pension funds.
For further information on the hear-
ings call 964-7200.0
Smoke Detectors: Get 'Em While They're Hot!
The New York Neighborhood Anti-Arson Center and the Association of
Neighborhood Housing Developers, Inc. have arranged for the bulk
purchasing of smoke detectors for tenant/community group-owned and
managed buildings. The installation of smoke detectors has been mandated by
the New York City Council, effective January 1, 1982. Both ionization and
photoelectric models are available (see City Limits "Smoldering Smoke
Detectors" November, 1981). Call Harriet Cohen at (212) 239-9414 for details
on prices, delivery and general smoke detector information. 0
11 CITY LIMITS/December 1981
Tales of Crown Heights:
The Fruits of Harassment
y Tom Robbins
T
HREE YEARS AGO, A TEMPEST OF CONTRO-
versy raged across the Brooklyn community of Crown
Heights. A volatile area to start with, the neighborhood has
for several years been the scene of an ongoing tussle over turf
and power between a large black and Hispanic population
and an expanding community of Hasidic Jews.
The storm thundered into the open with a wave of rent
strikes in buildings tenanted mostly by blacks and Hispanics
and owned by a prominent Hasidic community leader. And,
as TV cameras rolled on scenes of occupied apartments where
sledgehammers had broken through floors and walls in the
name of renovation, tenants told their stories of harassment.
Then, gusting from another direction, the storm grew when
City Council President Carol Bellamy released a report detail-
ing major alleged abuses and fiscal irregularities by a Hasidic
anti-poverty and housing organization.
At the center of the storm was Rabbi David Fischer, head
of a host of private realty and management corporations, and
Director of Chevra Machazikei Hashcunah, the Lubavitcher
Hasidic community's major housing and social service agen-
cy. The rent strikers and their supporters minced no words
naming Rabbi Fischer as the chief culprit in their troubles.
Charging that he was bent on driving them from their homes,
they challenged the city to bring him to account. Some 250
strong, they marched on the Kingston Avenue building that
doubles as Fischer's private management office and Chevra's
headquarters and then on to Fischer's Montgomery Street
home.
At its zenith, the rent strike included a dozen Fischer-
owned or managed buildings, all of which told a tale of strik-
ingly uniform dimensions: large, four or five story corner
walk-ups, located in the midst or at the frin e of the Luba-
vitcher community, all tenanted by families, most of them
Hispanic or black (one building in the strike, 658 Montgom-
ery Street, housed mostly older, non-Hasidic Jews); all suf-
fered a sudden decrease, and then a cessation of essential
services upon purchase by a new owner who invariably
emerged as Rabbi David Fischer under one or another cor-
porate guises. The scenario was always folIo ed by offers-
and sometimes threats-to move. Then, as the various build-
ings shared their tales with each other, an important link in
the stories appeared: all of the buildings had been accepted
for some form of government-subsidized renovation.
But while tenants and others waited for the official
response to their charges and the Bellamy report, the storm
gradually subsided. The Bellamy report, and the massive re-
search behind it, was offered to federal, state and local
investigative agencies for action. Soon, the FBI, the
Department of Labor and the city's own investigation depart-
ment were scrutinizing the finances and practices of Chevra.
Those new probes, however, turned out to be ' only more
thunder and lightning, signifying no change or relief for the
tenants.
In their wake, the high waters of the Crown Heights
tempest left power and funds in the same hands, with only a
couple of names and titles rearranged. Today, when told that
a two-and-one-half year probe by the city's Department of
Investigation is soon to emerge, most of those involved in the
Fischer/Chevra struggles of 1979-80 nod knowingly and
smile. "Rabbi Fischer Wa5 exposed," said Ai Rowe, a soft-
spoken civil servant who was part of the only harassment case
thus far won against Fischer, for management practices at
836"Montgomery Street. "It was on TV, radio and in the ,
papers. The City Council President herself denounced what
was going on. But what's changed? He's still going on about
his business."
The side people are on in this strife-tom territory deter-
mines their viewpoint of that ongoing business. To Rabbi
Yisroel Rosenfeld, Executive Director of the Crown Heights
Jewish Community Council, the charges against Rabbi
Fischer have never been anything more than "a
smokescreen" for political interests aligned against the
Hasidic Lubavitcher community . "If they (the allegations)
were really true, do you think he'd be out walking the
streets," asked Rosenfeld. "Wouldn't he have been
indicted?"
Bruce Fogerty, an attorney for the city's Department of
Investigation insists that the department's fmdings will soon
emerge, but warns that they will show "nothing shattering."
And, while the 001 spent the past two-and-one-half years
looking into Bellamy's and other charges, there has apparent-
ly been little political incentive to push for results. "It's
something that has basically gotten' lost in the bureaucracy,"
said Bellamy aide Rosina Abramson recently. "The City
Council presidency isn't'a law enforcement agency and there
is little we can do at this point."
A deal to save a section 8 job
Just how little the hubbub of three years ago changed 'the
continuing political power of Rabbi Fischer is illustrated by
the events surrounding the rehabilitation of two Crown
Heights buildings using federal Section 8 subsidies.
Both 1577 Carroll Street and 440 Brooklyn Avenue were
fully occupied when Fischer sought federal funds to rehabili-
tate them in 19]7. And, like 836 Montgomery and other
buildings, tenants said that conditions began to go rapidly
down hill after Fischer took over. But when the rent-con-
trolled tenants of the two buildings brought their charges of
harassment before a departmental hearing officer at the city's
up at the buildings department, blocking the renovation per-
mit Fischer sought.
Under city law, the "flag" meant no construction could
proceed until the harassment charges were either dropped or
proven. Should the charges be sustained, and then signed by
the rent control commissioner, in addition to any fines levied
against the owner, the apartments could be kept under rent
control for a minimum of one year, and then only removed
with the commissioner's approval. The complaints appeared
to be the kiss of death for the $4.3 million project for which,
according to the sponsor, Chevra, almost all the financing
was in place.
But instead of collapsing, the rehab was rescued by some
timely maneuvering. Marvin Schick, a former administrative
assistant under Mayor John Lindsay and an influential voice
in Brooklyn and City Hall, was brought in to piece together a
rescue plan. Painstakingly, a deal was arranged so thatthe
rehabilitation would go forth.
Under the terms of the agreement, which was signed by
Housing Commissioner Anthony Gliedman and Rabbi
Fischer in December, 1980, Fischer and Chevra would bow
out of the rehab, turning sponsorship of the job over to the
rent control board, the plunge into vacancy was, at least tem- /365 Carroll Street
porarlly, halted. The harassment charges caused a flag.to go
Crown Heights Jewish Community Council. Fischer, the deal
specified, would have nothing more to do with the project,
save for occasional consultations. With a nod toward the
departmental hearing at the rent control board, the agree-
ment obligated the sponsor to set up a fund, managed by a
trustee, out of which any city fines would be paid, as well as
any harassment damages levied against Chevra or Fischer by
the courts. The fund was to be equal to four percent of the
project's gross mortgage-about $140,000. The project spon-
sor was also mandated to reach out to all tenants who may
have been displaced and advise them of the existence of the
project fund, as well as let them know about rent-up and their
rights as former occupants once the apartments were
completed:
Thus, while the lawyers of one wing of HPD, the Division
of Rent Control, argued the tenants' case against Fischer,
lawyers of the Department of Development were working out
a deal to free the project from interference by the harassment
cases. The estimated profit on the project to the sponsor was
approximately half a million dollars.
"One of our most important criteria is to recycle the
housing," said Andrew Chertoff, presently Assistant
Commissioner for Rehabilitation and at the time counsel to
the Department of Development who wrote the agreement
with Fischer. "We wanted to penalize the wrong-doers, and
yet not deprive the community."
With the agreement signed, and Marvin Schick made
trustee for the fund, the rehab went forward. The last tenant
370 Kingston A venue, management and rental offlcefor Chevra
and private Fischer corporations.
to finally move out of 1577 Carroll Street was Melvin Grant
who had helped coordinate the rent stri es. Grant finally
packed his bags and pulled out, after months of living
without heat or hot water, in Decemlier, when the agree-
ment between Gliedman and Fischer was signed. The harass-
ment cases of both 440 Brooklyn Avenue and 1577 Carroll
Street were completed by the hearing officer last spring. They
still, however, remain unsigned and unreleased. According to
an HPD spokesperson, the cases have had to be rewritten
before Assistant Commissioner for Rent Control, Robert
Muniz, can sign them. "We want the strongest possible
case," said the spokesperson.
According to those familiar with the sti unsigned cases,
the opinions are basically similar to the 36 Montgomery
harassment suit that was signed last June. In that decision,
hearing officer Paul Blank wrote that there had been "over-
whelming testimony" that Fischer and his were guilty
of being "callous and disruptive influences and had caused
"intentional interference with the repose, use and
enjoyment of the building." Fischer and agent, Joseph
Blizinsky who is on the board of the Council, were fmed $1 ,000
on each of eight counts-including one for intent to cause
vacating of the building.
If, as Chertoff insists, the incentive for the agreement bet-
ween Fischer and HPD was to prevent him from benefitting
from similar harassment activities at the Section 8 buildings,
there is little to show in the way of enforcement. Not one of
the major aspects of the agreement have been carried out.
According to Schick, there has never been any need for the
project fund for paying fines and damages, therefore none
was ever established. That, he said, has obvi ted any need for
the quarterly reports he is mandated to proVide HPD under
the agreement. Nor has HPD requested any.
Richard Singer, partner of Hirschen and Singer, a firm
representing many Section 8 sponsors including Chevra and
then the Council, said he had been informed by his client that
agreements with all the former tenants had been reached.
Singer, however, declined to share the agr ements with a
reporter, for fear of "starting a bidding war" among the
former occupants.
But, in the most glaring noncompliance ith the agree-
ment, Rabbi Fischer has continued to handle all the process-
ing of the project with HUD and is openly serving as manager
for the project through Shipur Masbchunna of which he is
the principal, despite specific language in his agreement with
HPD forbidding him to do so. How did happen? "The
city is aware," explained Singer, "that we can't make the
entire Lubavitcher community disappear in relation to these
properties. The reality is that he [Fischer] is tlie most familiar
with the area."
Who's Who in Crown Heights?
Rabbi Fischer's continuing role as de facto sponsor of the
project, known as Carbrook Apartments, is not surprising,
least of all to city officials. As things settled dQwn again after
the Bellamy report, Chevra's role as the ho sing developer
for the Lubavitcher community was quietly passed to the
Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, creating the
transP<i!'ent fiction that the Council was itself a housing
developer. It's a charade that Rabbi Rosenfeld himself readily
admits. Although Fischer is neither board member nor staff
to the Council, he remains its housing packager. Depending
upon who is asking, the Council has different descriptions
of its relationship to Chevra. In its submission to HUD to
sponsor 117 units of Section 8 substantial rehab, CHJCC
described Chevra as its own "housing component'" and, as it
told Con Edison recently after the utility's public affairs of-
ficer visited the community, "Regarding special housing
programs for Crown Heights, have your housing
specialist contact Rabbi David Fischer, who heads up our
housing corporation." But, in a submission to the state
Division of Housing and Community Renewal recently,
Chevra was described, at somewhat more of an arm's length
distance, as "a local organization that sponsored redevelop-
ment of Ihousing in Crown Heights and manages several
apartment houses." .
Asked ' directly" Rosenfeld himself is somewhat more
straightforward about the connection between Fischer and
the Council .. "He runs all the housing for us," said Rosenfeld
simply. "It's a-quasi-official relationship." He could add that
the "quE;lSi" of the relationship is all that allows the
city and others to say'they are drawing a distinction between
the two.
A ,hotel for Carroll Street
Recently, the Council made a bid t6 include 836
Montgomery Street and other preperties in an application for .
federal Section 235 low interest mortgage subsidies for both
new construction and rehabilitation. That plan w.as dropped,
however, when federal funds for the program were cut.
But, in the pattern established in its Section 8 designated
buildings, the Council is currently awaiting the verdict of the
federal Small Business Administration on its plan to turn a
partially-occupied building at 1365 Carroll Street into a hotel.
The Council is seeking an SBA loan guarantee to cover a $1.5
million loan from Manufacturers Hanover Trust that will
allow it to create 75 transient and perrnanenthotel rooms.
Per day costs for the rooms are targeted at $40, said
Rosenfeld, but the Council is presently trying to "work out
the numbers" with the SBA which has said rentals should be
closer to $60 per day.
Who would stay at the hotel? "Visitors to the neighbor-
hood," said Rosenfeld. As the world headquarters of the
Lubavitcher movement, and home of its leader, Rabbi
Menachem Schneerson, there is a substantihl traffic of
students and pilgrims in and out of the neighberbood, and an
apparent scarcity of boarding space. Visitors are housed in
several buildings belonging to Rabbi Fischer, in apartments
vacated by tenants who have opted to leave rather than
remain. 1365 Carroll is one such Fischer building and is
presently about half occupied, with some of the empty apart-
I
ments used by those passing through. Those tenants who
have been there between ten and 16 years are all ' black or
Hispanic. Most of them have been in and out of housing
court with Rabbi Fischer in recent years. One family that has
lived there for the past 14 years is Luisa and William Campiz
and their son Bill. -
William and Luisa Campiz in the entryway of 1365 Carroll Street,
Like the other long-time tenants, they have fought an 00-
again, off-again campaign for repairs and basic services since
Rabbi Fischer's Teav Realty Corporation purchased the
building. They glumly point out the crude bulging plaster
patches in the living room, kitchen and bedroom ceilings
where court-ordered Fischer repairs have been made not just
once- or twice but several. times. "The apartment upstairs is
empty," says Mrs. Campiz, a former teacher's aide who is
now completing an education degree so that she can teach.
<"<-When someone stays there, the plumbing always breaks and
it all comes down," .she said gesturing at the ceiling. But
while the other ,l.enants of 1365 Carroll Street have had to
fight for heat' and hot warer and basic repai(s for several
years, the Campizes have had a larger dose of tei'l:a{lt pain.
William Campiz was a cabinetmaker for the forty ,years
before the day he tt;ipped over a sp!intered door frame in,t,he
entryway' Of 1365. T The wQod beneath the iron frame had
cracked and splintered long before and had been left unre-
leaving a long menacing splinter. Cainpiz tried to
break his fall with his arm, and that move caused him to rip
all of the tendons in his right arm, and spend three weeks in
the hospital. Despite surgery, he emerged unable to raise his
arm above hiS shoulder, which was not use to a man
who maCJe his living swinging a hammer. Forced to retire
early on social security and pension checks below what he and
his wife had anticipated, they decided that the landlord
should help tbern carry part of their new burden.
15 .CITY 1981
Contacting a law firm whose name he got from the radio,
Campiz said he wanted to sue the owner for damages. After
giving over all his medical papers, Campiz received a letter
some months later from the attorney saying that it had been
discovered that on the day of the accident the building had no
liability insurance. Therefore, the attorney informed Campiz,
the firm would no longer pursue the case nor represent him in
any matter. The Campizes received the letter with resignation.
They have found, since Rabbi Fischer purchased the building,
that victories are few and far between.
Eighteen months after the accident, the door frame is still
unrepaired and the same fat splinter still springs in the air
when the door is opened. To the Campizes, and other tenants
such as Ella Dingle, a I5-year tenant, Utilrna Greenidge who
has lived there for 13 years and has been struggling recently to
get some building-wide repairs, the plans to turn their build-
ing into a hotel is news to them. Only Shalom Levine, who
has lived in the building for six months with his wife and
children while he awaits the purchase of a home nearby, was
aware of the plan. "Rabbi Fischer told me when I got the
apartment from him," said Levine, shaking his head that "
none of his neighbors who were gathered in the lobby telling
two visitors their troubles were aware of the plan.
"Whoever lives in the building has agreed to move," in-
sisted Rabbi Rosenfeld. "If they so desire, they'll be
relocated." Admitting that the building is in "pretty terrible
shape" he described it as a "transient situation."
The task of developing the hotel makes up a good chunk of
the proposal the Council submitted to the state housing
division recently for an $80,870 grant under the Neighbor-
hood Preservation Companies program. That application .
calls for the state to pay partial salary costs I r a Director, a
secretary and administrative costs, as well as fees for an
architect and a packaging consultant all of whom will be
involved in developing the hotel. Rosenfeld, owever, is not
getting involved at this stage in the project." nstead, he said,
Rabbi Fischer is handling its development.
Some timely weatberization for Fisc er buildings
The low proflle Chevra has been forced to take since the
Bellamy report accused it of spending federal funds to
improve buildings belonging to board mem ers apparently
hasn't kept it from benefitting from other oPI?Ortunities. The
Council has received a total of $265,000 i two contracts
from the State of New York to weatherize apartment build-
ings inhabited by low income tenants. Weatherization
contracts are much sought after by com unity groups,
allowing them to deliver genuine assistance t@ buildings and
tenants in need. Under the program, which spends federal
dollars administered by the state, landlords get such improve-
ments as new thermal pane windows, doors an.d roof repairs.
They aren't obligated to pay for any of the work, although
they can supplement the federal funds with their own to do
larger jobs. The cost of each unit under the Council's budget is
$600. The community group must verify that at least two-
thirds of the tenants in the building are 10 income and
coordinate the work, usually done by a private contractor.
Thus far, Rabbi Fischer's buildings have c;lone especially
The ongoing Section 8 rehabilitation of 440 Brooklyn Avenue, one of two buildings where a harassment suit by former tenants is still pending.
CITY LlMITS/Dece{Tlber 1981 16
well under the Council's contract. Of just seven mUltiple
dwellings weatherized, said Samuel Light who runs the
program, four , belong to Fischer. All four of these-760
Montgomery Street, 701 Empire Boulevard, 456' Brooklyn
Avenue and 601 Crown Street-were previously cited in the
Bellamy report as privately-owned buildings belonging to
Chevra board members where Chevra-administered federal
funds were spent.
While that overlapping has so far not been a problem for
the Department of State which administers the program, the
Council has run afoul of the rules by not weatherizing apart-
ments where minorities lived. Last year, when the Council
weatherized 150 dwelling ~ t s by Light's count, only four or
five of those apartments were occupied by minorities.
"Last year, we had several meetings with the state about
our goals and priorities," said Light, as a result of which the
number of minority apartments has substantially increased.
"This year," he said, "we have done 40 or 50 minority
apartments.' ,
Fair housing?
Opening its services and buildings to minorities is a
troubling issue to the Council as it is to those Chevra-man-
aged buildings where rehabs have taken place. The project
comprising 1577 Carroll and 440 Brooklyn, known
collectively as Carbrook Apartments, is the latest in a long
line of Fischer-developed HUD projects to be reprimanded
for poor rental policies. HUD has consistently faulted the
managers and sponsors (both operated by Fischer under
different names) for such things as failing to advertise the
apartment's availability in any publications that could
conceivably reach a minority audience, for not displaying an
equal opportunity sign at the project site or at the rental
offices. In at least two projects, HUD field monitors had to ,
void an entry log where applicants' names were entered
without reference to when they had actually arrived. Fischer
projects have relied on a first-come, first-serve system of
rent-up, thus making the logs the arbiter of who gets in.
Several Black and Hispanic tenants have taken their com-
plaints of discrimination in gaining entry to the rehabilitated
buildings to higher levels. At least four of these have received
new apartments as settlements ordered by the city or state
human rights commissions. One black woman applicant,
Doreen Maxan, protested to the state human rights division
when she was denied an apartment for failing to submit proof
of the validity of her high school diploma. Represented by the
Open Housing Center, Maxan was awarded a new apartment
with no security deposit.
The correspondence between Fischer and HUD about
rental problems is voluminous and letter after letter details
weary-sounding treks by HuD field workers to inspect
Fischer's operations. But in spite of all efforts to keep the
rental proper, those corrections are only a small salve for what
many in the community see as an open, unhealed wound.
Regardless of the overwhelming number of minority people
who lived in the buildings rehabbed by Fischer/Chevrai
CHJCC, HUD has approved "affIrmative fair marketing"
plans for each project that call for marketing the apartments
to whites because of what the sponsor describes as the "racial
imbalance in the community."
No help from above
When leaders of the 1979-80 rent strike first began to see an
overall pattern to the problems in Fischer's buildings, they
turned desperately to elected officials for assistance. A note-
book AI Rowe kept 'during the first year of his building's rent
strike painstakingly details phone calls, letters and visits to
officials in search of help. An entry in the notebook reads: I
"4/29179: Met with Councilmal1 [Theodore] Silverman and
stated our complaints-very fruitful mj!Cting." Followed
immediately by an entry in a different cdlored ink: "Never
received reply.'"
"The only person that helped us was Carol Bellamy," says
Rowe today. "She got our hearings at rent control started
with just a phone call."
Before Bellamy, the only person willing to sit down and
work with Rowe and other tenants was Curtis Trueheart of
the Metropolitan I Council on Housing's Crown Heights
chapter. A union organizer by day and a housing organizer
by ni,ght, Trueheart helped pull together all the different
buildings that came to him complaining of harassment. A
recent reunion of Trueheart, AI Rowe and Melvin Grant who
worked together trying to hold the hundreds of tenants in
Fischer-owned buildings in a single rent strike, was a little like
a meeting of war veterans.
Kingston A venue, main shopping strip oj the Crown Heights
.ILubavitcher community,
"Back then," said Trueheart, "we didn't know the master
plan. We didn't realize all of what he was up to. We tried to
meet with him, but all we would get was an emissary. That's
when we called off negotiations and called a rent strike.
Their efforts to close the valve that seemed to be fueling
Fischer's harassment led them to HUD where they met
several times with officials. One high level meeting was with
HUD Area Manager Allan Weiner and Housing Director
Alexander Naclerio. "It was a time when the tenants of some
buildings were being forced to live in just half their apart-
ments, because of all the work going on," recalled Trueheart.
"At 349 Crown Street (another Section 8 rehab 'carried out
with tenants in place') they had to hang blankets over the
windows because they had ripped out the frames and the
sashes, they had nothing but holes. They had their furniture
stacked in the center of the room because the weather was
coming in, but they had no place else to go. But at HUD, they
acted surprised, said they would look into it, and that was it.
We were on a merry-go-round."
The Bellamy report, the trio recall, was the sole glimmer of
hope in an official gloom, the spark they were sure would
make the other politicians sit up and take notice. "Al and me
walked all over Crown Heights one night," remembered
Melvin Grant, "with about fifty copies of the report, giving
them out to tenants in the buildings mentioned in the report."
"It was 'flustrating' ", says Trueheart, coining a favored
term. "AlI we'd get was a shoving aside." In the view of
Trueheart, Rowe and Grant, Fischer has escaped unscathed
from a series of troubles that should have been his undoing.
"His job is almost done," said Rowe, who with his
daughter, is one of 14 tenants in his 40 apartment building left
since the rent strike. What was that job? "I'll put it this
way," answers Rowe, "we weren't bad or rowdy tenants.
There weren't any cops coming around the buildings. We
were working families. I'm sure this would only happen
around here-places where mostly blacks live. I see no other
reason why he would want to run us out."

Black-Jewish relations is a subject approached with much
trepidation in New York City. The mildest of people have
been known to grow vehement on the subject. The Crown
Heights confrontation, which has taken on other forms,
including vigilante violence and openly racial gerrymander-
ing is one instance where that debate takes on a very human
face. The hesitation of some officials to spring into action
could be traced to the intricacies of that dilemma. Or, less
charitably, the motivating factor could be the much-vaunted
voting power of communities such as the Lubavitcher, who
inevitably cast huge majorities in their districts for their
favored candidates.
But whatever the reason, almost every level of power in
New York City has ~ h o w n no interest in pursuing the harass-
ment-dispiacement and government subsidies cycle that has
decided so much of the recent history of the housing stock in
that neighborhood. Nor have the charges of malfeasance
emanating from the City Council President's office received
CITY LiMITS/December 1981
18
the scrutiny they might have were they aimed elsewhere.
When an attorney of the city's Department of Investigation
asked Gary Deane, one of the two principal authors of the
Bellamy report for an interview, it lasted, as Deane recalls,
for "about half-an-hour or forty-five minutes." Deane
brought along most of the six to eight months of research he
and others on Bellamy's staff had accumulated. "I think it
kind of blew their minds that we had so much. They said,
"Wow, we'll have to schedule a lot of meetings 0 get through
all of this.' That was the last I heard from them."O
CLETfERS
Garden ApartmeDts: Who Dunnit?
To the Editor:
With reference to your article on Garden Apartments in
your October issue and the captioned accompanying photo-
graph, we submit the following:
We strongly resent being associated in any way, either by
innuendo or connotation, with the very negative article as
though we are the guilty party. Your writer, photographer
and your entire editorial staff have failed in their prudent
responsibilities to obtain the facts and to print the truth.
The facts are as follows:
1. Cloverdale Estates: Formerly part of Heather Gardens,
known as Section No.5, Cloverdale Estates is bound by
Cloverdale Boulevard, 67th Avenue, 69th Avenue and 230th
Street, an area which encompasses two square blocks an.
which is completely vacant and has been for 'over two years.
2. The Developer: Sidney Kalikow Development Corp., a
totally responsible organization for over 50 years in Queens,
heretofore in apartment houses mainly, is highly respected in
the industry as well as in the community. There has never
been any negative involvement anywhere.
3. The Site: After years of frustration and false promises
from others, the surrounding community will finally see the
realization of their hopes. When finished, all the buildings
will be completely rebuilt and will consist of 179 condomin-
ium units ranging from one bedroom to three bedroom
duplex with playroom and priced for the middle income
public.
Since all of the above obviously differs from your article,
and since all this wiJl clean up an existing eyesore and will
increase property values in the community, we definitely are
not the "bad guys."
We therefore expect a retraction of the photograph in
conjunction with your article or another article telling how it
really is'.
Barney Millman
Vice President, Operations
SIDNEY KALIKOW DEVELOPMENT CORP.
19
We regret that our picture of the vacant Cloverdale Estates,
also known as Section 5 of Heather Gardens, may have
characterized all the events described in this article which
focused on the current plight of many garden apartment
dwellers. But we would like to point out t/lat this two-square .
block area once housed some 260familieswho, between 1978
and 1979, were removed from their homes in very much the
same way that Sol Gilman is now clearing the Central
Gardens complex to make way for the "Villas of Forest
Hills. " In the last days, in fact, the 500 families remaining in
the other sections of Heather Gardens formed a human chain
against the bulldozers to protect the remaining 26 families in
Section 5 as well as to protest the manner in which Gerald
Guterman was harassing them to leave. Although Millman
claims "There has never been any negative involvement any-
where" we have to believe that the activities of Kalikow and
Guterman .are intertwined. Guterman sold Section. 5 to Sidney
Kalikow in April, 1980, but Iitil(ation is still oendine as four
different mortgagees and mortgagors are involved in the
property. Also, the remaining Heather Gardens tenants who
complain of vandalism and the unkempt appearance of
Cloverdale Estates also pay rent to Kalikow properties, the
receivor appointed after Guterman filed for bankruptcy and
Jamaica Savings Bank foreclosed on the occupied sections 'oj'
the complex. Barney Millman, Sidney Kalikow's spokesman,
claims no "link" between Sidney Kalikow DevelQpment
Corporation and Guterman, nor any other Kalikow. When
questionedfurther about the relationship Millman warned us:
"I play hard . .. " and insisted we retract any connection
inferred by the picture. We wonder if what he meant by
"hard" is similar to the manner in whch the long-vanished
tenants of Section 5 were treated. 0
Editors.
Public Housing Focus

To the Editor:
Your recent edition of City Limits (October, 1981) which
focussed on the public housing program in New York City was,
by far the most thorough and objective coverage of the
program .as a whole that I have seen in a long time.
Although the articles pointed out some of our many diffi-
culties, the thrust of the issue clearly supported the concept of
public housing and specifically endorsed the program in New
York City.
As you know, we are seriously embattled by proposals made
by the Administration to reduce our operating subsidy
severely. Your issue of City. Limits is a timely reminder that
decent and compassionate social programs such as public
housing should not be capriciously abandoned.
Val Coleman
Director of Public Information
New York City Housing Authority
'-
.'
T
HE NEWYORK PUBLIC SER-
vice Commission, regulator of all
major telephone, electric, gas, water and
some rail utilities in the state, has granted
to Con Ed alone, some $1.8 billion in
rate increases since 1972. In the last year,
Con Ed received a $450 million increase
and was cheerily admonished by a Public
Service Commission official for asking
too little. This is the first of a two part
report on the Public Service Commis-
sion; the first will explore the history of
the PSC, the second part the PSC policy
line on rates and service.
No other public agency has been so
readily identified with government
failure and incompetence. Most New
Yorkers would attribute no small share
of venality in the Commission's
persistent leniency toward cash-hungry
utilities from Buffalo to Long Island.
When the New York Post (with what has
become classic Post-style grace)
published the home addresses and phone
numbers of the commissioners after the
Con Ed increases, hapless ratepayers
harrassed the regulators at home for
weeks. Democracy in action.
The Public Service Commission was
founded as part of the movement toward
consolidation within the electric indus-
try, a process which proceeded in fits and
starts during the first decade of this
century. Con Ed acquired generat-
ing systems throughout the city in
neighborhoods like Flushing and Flat-
bush; such mergers were characteristic of
the centralization of power production ih
urban areas throughout the country. As
the system expanded, the sudden, un-
planned, growth of customers in all
classes contributed a large measure of
disorder and instability to the fragile
network of power lines and plants.
Transmission facilities needed to be
coordinated, rates needed to be made
uniform and, in general, some type of
governmental supervision was necessary
to rationalize an industry in danger of
collapsing into technological chaos.
A shining gem of blue-chip reform,
the National Civic Federation, presented
a sophisticated and articulate alternative
to the hopelessly divided constituency for
public ownership then emerging as part
of a national dialogue regarding the par-
CITY LlMITSlDecember 1981
. I
The Public Service Commission:
Which Public?
At Whose service?
....
/
BY RICHARD SCHRADER
New York State's Public Service Commission-like those
around the country-is supposed to be monitor, regulator
and buffer between utilities and the consuming public.
But since its inception, argues the author, the PSC has
been more lapdog than watchdog. Here's how that rela-
tionship began.
ticulars of the developing political econ-
omy. The federation stressed the
principle of tripartite representation of
labor, business and that was
later to become a primary feature of
government boards, commissions and
agencies. The federation, by its insistent
denial of class interests, helped mute
political voices whose tones bespoke
class conflict. It subsequently cleared the
ground for harvesting by that segment of
society, whose concerns were intimately
bound to the existing set of social
relations.
In 1905, the federation created the
Commission on Public Ownership of
Public Utilities. From 1905-1907, the
Federation conducted investigations of
public ownership under the direction of
20
Richard Schrader is Director of Energy
Project of the New York State Wide
Senior Action Council.
Melville Ingalls, chairman of the Big
Four Railroads. A special team of
researchers were dispatched to Europe
and the West Coast to examine first-
hand, the effects and the costs of public
power on municipalities. puring the
collection of this data, Samuel Insull, a
founder of the NCF and a secretary to
Thomas Edison, hardly disinterested
participant, went public with his en-
chanted vision that outlined the manner
in which a public utility could distribute
the pleasure of heat and light while not
forfeiting an electric opportunity to fill
the coffers Qf power companies from
coast to coast for generations.
The magnate approved of government
regulation, not clumsy government
ownership. His precise d ign was
matched with flawless perfection by the
final, three volume, report issued early in
1907 by the Commission. Public utlities
would be best conducted and operated
by private monopolies, the study
concluded, chartered and regulated by
an appropriate state agency under a
system of uniform records and accounts.
Each utility would be assigned a general
franchise area for a fixed period of time,
free from irritating competitors.
T
HE COMMISSION'S WORK
narrowed the public power debate
then taking place. Public power was now
pigeonedholed as a radical, impractical
enthusiasm, an adjunct to the costly wel-
fare state. Privately-owned companies,
molded by a "reformed" free enterprise
electric system, were buttressed by the

. ..
The 1931 report stated: UThe PSC . .. has in effect,
surrendered to the power companies the right to charge
whatever rates . .. their business and the monopoly of
their enterprise will support. "
underlying principles of the regulating ,
structure; the experts appointed to the
commission accepted all the ruts and the
rhythms of the newly fashioned frame-
work within which utilities would now
operate. That monopolies should be
appropriated a guaranteed annual profit
proved an agreeable heresy to the old
economic faith of sink-or-swim-capital-
ism for both regulator and regulated
alike.
In 1907, the Wisconsin and New York
Public Service Commissions, after a
season of furious lobbying efforts on the
part of the National Civic Federation
and individual bankers and industrial-
ists, began practicing the complex, con-
tradictory art of serving both the public
and the utilities. Within months, these
21
two premier agencies and their descend-
ant commissions throughout the country
were grappling with harshly inadequate
tools of their agency charters. In 1907.
the New York City government appealed
to the PSC for a reduction of the current
railway rates for streetcars. For five
years, the rail company continually ap-
pealed the commission's decision to the
state court. Eventually, the Supreme
Court ruled that a regulatory agency
cannot decree a rate reduction without
due compensation. The private com-
panies had successfully argued that if the
government agency enforced a rate
decrease, the difference between the
original and the decreased rate repre-
sented governmental expropriation of
private property without due process of
law. BlIt, if the regulating warriors were
ill-equl\>ped to slash rates, they could
surrender with the sweetest reparations.
In those innocent days before the
present age of overkill, electric com-
panies did not request a rate increase
double their needs or expectations. The
rate hike proposal guaranteed a healthy
(sometimes robust) profit and was met
from inside the regulatory camp by only
the most delicate and sympathetic chal-
lenges. According to a study gathered
together by the Home Rule League in
1914, from 1907-1914 the Wisconsin PSC
granted 75 percent-l00 percent of the
proposed rate increases to utilities in 52
of 54 proceedings. were two
attempts at rate reductions, overturned.
In 1912, gas rates were raised from $1.00
per thousand cubic feet to $1.25 per
thousand. By 1910, both the Wisconsin
and New York Commissions granted
power companies a 10 percent rate of
return on their investment in plant.and
equipment plus a 2 percent depreciation
allowance, although the Supreme Court
had suggested a limit of 5-6 percent
profit on equity. The regulatory agencies
preferred to establish a rate commen-
surate with the dividends then
accumulated by the oil industry'S
stockholders.
When the commissions held rigorously
to established precedents, consumers
were pressed to pay grander tribute to
the utilities. When commissions did
tinker with previously ordained policy,
ratepayers rarely received the benefits so
graciously bestowed upon the private
monopolies. In 1909, 25 large manufac-
turers petitioned the New York PSC for
a substantially decreased rate for water.
By 1913, after haggling the new schedules
through courts, the PSC unveiled their
most far-reaching invention, the declin-
ing block-rate structure. Under this for-
mula, the customer who consumed the
most quantity of water (soon to be gas
and electricity) was charged a lower rate
per gallon than more timid users. The
scheme became writ in concrete for
utility regulators across the land.
B
y 1929, THE COMMISSIONS
provided an almost helpless target
for politicians out to gather some votes
from a fickle flock. The New York State
Legislature unleashed ten dozen politi-
cians in search of publicity, to study
possible alternatives to utility regulation.
A special was hastily designed
to cross;-examine a variety of utility
executives on pricing policies. Under
questioning by Frank Walsh, a member
of the committee, Mathew Sloan, the
former President of New York Edison,
admittedl that the holy power of rate
reduction was invested in the corporate
vessel of the private electric companies.
Sloan jovially exclaimed that of the
twelve rate deductions from 1914-1929,
all were made on the initiative and good
graces of the Edison Company with no
the extreme economic emergency today,
public regulation will have failed and re-
course will be had to some system which
will be more responsible to the change of
economic conditions IUld the public
need."
Maltbie had responded to the drastic
changes in the political landscape
wrought by the depression. While prices
everywhere declined 40-50 percent, the
cost of electricity rose some, 15
percent in the year of Franklin D. Roose-
velt's inauguration. Con Ed was charg-
Public power was' now pigeonholed as' a radical,
impractical enthusias'm, an adjunct to the costly welfare
state.
pressure at all from the PSC.
The Committee's final report sunk a
few further harpoons into the flank of
the writhing whale. "The PSC has been
unwilling or has been obliged to sanction
rates which cannot possibly be justified.
It has dodged every vital issue of a
controversial character because of its
fear of court reversal and has in effect,
surrendered to the power companies the
right to charge whatever rates the con-
ditions of their business and the mono-
poly of their enterprise will support. "
When the commission released a
strongly worded minority repQrt and a
tepidly moderate majority recommenda-
tion in 1931, the New York State
Legislature under the leadership of
Senator Warren Thayer, the chairman of
the Senate Committee on Public Service,
consigned both studies to the dustbin of
history. Senator Thayer was found later
to have been a beneficiary of the
Associated Gas and Electric Company's
largesse.
In 1933, someone inside the collapsing
regulatory house had finally noticed the
falling chunks of plaster. Commissioner
Milo Maltbie, an appointee of New York
Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, chair-
man of the frrst PSC from 1907-1915 and
a frequent critic of the electric industry,
demanded a substantial renovation of
the entire neighborhood. "Unless some
practical means is found for more
promptly dealing with rate complaints in
22
ing 3.9 per kilowatt hour, Brooklyn
Edison 4.5. The climate of easy acqui-
escence on the part of the past
sions and the utiliti 'arrogant gestures
in a moment of naticmal calamity, pos
sessed the commissi0ner to unsheath a
sword stronger than .any weapon ever
seen in the previously tranquil regulatory
wars. Maltbie, in early 1934, ordered an
across the board six percent decrease of
rates for every electrical utility in the
state. Con Gas, holding four subsidiaries
within its corporate womb, scurried to
court.
In 1935, the New York State Appellate
Court offered further testimony to the
notion that Con Ed was a recipient of the
benign rendering of legal patchwork that
girded public utility law in the state. The
court struck down Maltbie's decree for
the six percent decrease, upholding all
other previous rulings on the matter,
tightening the rope that bound the
Commissioner's hands.
Regulation, everywhere, stands on
that single tenet. There have been few
challenges either legally or politically to
the arrangement that protects stock-
holders before consumers or the environ-
ment. The Supreme'Court, the regula-
tory agencies, the utilities and the
government knew too well the future
shape of the Ameriqm economy to
tamper with such a silccessful formula. 0
A Landlord Comes Back,
.'
By SUSAN BALDWIN
~ AFfER YEARS OF YOEMAN WORK BY TENANTS
and community groups to revitalize a ravaged Upper
West Side neighborhood, a one-time landlord notorious
among his former tenants has re-emerged, claimjng
ownership of buildings that were seized by the city over three
years ago when he failed to pay more than $1 million in back
taxeS.
The landlord, Raleigh Davenport, has fIled suit in both
state and federal courts alleging that he is the true owner of 17
city-owned properties, 15 of which are in Manhattan Valley.
Davenport has charged that the city took title to them in May,
1978, without properly informing him of the foreclosure
proceedings. The city, on the other hand, claims that Daven-
port's charges, which resulted in the New York State Supreme
Court's restoration of title to him for the 17 propert:es in
May, 1981, are invalid because it was never properly served by
, Davenport, who won the judgment by default.
And the tenants, in the words of one resident ,and
community worker, are in "limbo" because they stand to lose
their homes if the courts fmd that Davenport is in fact the
true owner of the property.
"Nobody gets carried away about having the city a,s the
landlord, but when this happened in May, 1978, the tenants
here were delighted," said Juanita Nesbit, the founder of the
tenants association at 157-161 West 105th Street. "When he
walked away in late 1977 and the city took the property, we
immediately joined the Tenant Interim Lease (TIL)
program," she explained.
"I don't know who made this mistake. I can't understand
how the city would let this happen," Nesbit argued. "Every-
one knows that this man completely destroyed this commun-
ity because he owned so many buildings and harassed
fit IU j ~ i ~ ,
II I 1 J III ~ ~ II
~ r u,' I I ~ '
everyone in each one, . ,He was a household word-no ser-
vices, broken boilers, fires."
The matter is presently before a State Supreme Court
Judge who must rule on the city's alleged default and make a
technical determination about Davenport's filing. According
to Andrew Quartner, an attorney with the Debevoise and
Plimpton law firm, if the Supreme Court is bound by this
stay, "we will have to get permission from bankruptcy court"
to overturn it. .
City officials are asking the court to reopen the case on the
grounds that they were never properly serVed to appear at the
May hearing and that the court order returning title to the
property was granted and signed without its knowledge.
The city's brief also asks that the order be overturned and
that the city be acknowledged as the true owner, and the
buildings be removed from Davenport's statement of assets in
his pending bankruptcy petition.
Davenport could not be reached for comment as his tele-
phone was disconnected, but it was learned that he had re-
quested several extensions from the Supreme Court and had
not fIled his responses to the city's charges.
.,
, Co-op Bank loan, city investment threatened
If the court upholds Davenport's case, more than $600,000
in repairs and rehabilitation spent by the city will be lost to
him, and a $6 million loan from the National Consumer
Cooperative Bank for moderate rehabilitation of seven
homesteader buildings on Amsterdam Avenue could be
revoked:
On August 21, 1981, 'after he had been awarded title to the
properties, Davenport, who owes the city some $1.3 million
23
in taxes, fIled papers with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, listing
the 17 properties as assets. The city was unaware of
Davenport's case until he walked into the Department of
Housing Preservation and Development in mid-October
waiving the court order and claiming title to the properties.
Since then, Davenport's re-emergence in Manhattan Valley
has resulted in a legal nightmare.
"The tenants in the TIL program at 238 West l06th Street
were ready to buy their apartments, everybody was happy,
the papers were ready to sign, and then the title company said
the city doesn't have the title-Davenport does," said
Theresa Kilbane, of the Urban Homesteading Assistance
Board and a resident of another Davenport building-212
West 105th Street. "We were all shocked, disillusioned, and
now because of his case, everything, all the work, has come to
a halt."
Said another neighborhood tenant, Joachim Rosa, of 147
West 105th Street, "After two-and-one-half years of
negotiating with the city for repair money, we had just begun
to see the benefits that the Community Management Pro-
gram can offer . .. I moved here after Davenport during the
transition period when the city had just taken the building ...
It was a mess, and it ~ a s in rem, but Davenport was going
around still trying to collect rent and intimidate people. He
was taking advantage of their ignorance [of the law] and their
fear." 145-147 West 105th Street are in the Community Man-
agement program administered by the Manhattan Valley
Development Corporation.
Valerie Asciuto, HPD's general counsel, confirmed that
ONE STOP SHOPPING for your
DRY WALL PRODUCTS
DISTRIBUTORS OF NATIONAL GYPSUM
U.S. GYPSUM GEORGIA PACIFIC

BOOM EQUIPMENT UP TO 6 STORIES
GYPSUM WALL BOARD DRY WALL STEEL PRO
DUCTS DRY WALL SCREWS NAILS JOINT
CEMENTS & TAPING TOOLS INSULATION
NOISE CONTROL. STRUCTURAL STEEL FRAMING
SHAFTWALL SYSTEM COMPONENTS ADHE
SIVES & SEALANTS POWER FASTENING TOOLS
FIRE RETARDANT LUMBER SUSPENDED &
CONCEALED CEILINGS & COMPONENTS STRUC
TURAL LUMBER PLYWOOD POWER TOOLS
HARDWARE. DOORS & BUCKS-METAL & WOOD
(212) 875-9700
550 Hamilton Ave., Brooklyn
24
work had stopped in all the Davenport buildings, pending the
resolution ofthe case but asserted, "He doesn't own the
property. We have taken that position and are hopeful that
the court will see it that way."
In response to Davenport's claim that he was never in-
formed of foreclosure proceedings, H ~ Weber, of the
city's corporation counsel's office, said, That's nonsense.
That issue was dealt with in our papers."
Under city law. a landlord with tax arrears has up to one
year to repay back taxes. According to ooe insider who asked
to remain unnamed, the city claims that Davenport came into
its redemption office on the last day of the mandatory filing
period with an incomplete application and no money. The
papers were stamped. He said he would come back with the
money but never showed up again until after the discretionary
period when he filed a second application and attempted to
pay back taxes onjust one property. His petition was
subsequently denied by the Board of Esti:fnate.
"We went through the rent strikes, beginning in 1973, and
we had the help of Met Council (a tenant advocacy group)
and our lawyer," said Nesbit, asserting, "We can do it again.
We're together, and we're independent . . . But there's more
to this. Landlords are hearing that Manhattan Valley is now
considered a valuable community, and they want to come in,
raise the rents, and drive us out. That's why we want to go co-
op, buy our homes. We won't be moved out and harassed by
people like Davenport.
"But we still have one major question," she added. "After
all the pressure the city has put on us to QUY our apartments,
how can they let this happen? How can t ey let him harass us
this way?" 0
309 FIFTH AVENUE
NEW YORK, N.Y. 10016
Specializing in
Group Liability, Health
Insurance Programs and
Fidelity Bonds
Contact: Paul Sourifman
(212) 684-4770
.,
(CITY LIMITS).
Manhallan
Soho Zat-W. Broadway & Canal St.
New Morning Books-169 Spring St.
N.Y. Marxist School (151 W. i9 St.)
Stand-7th Ave. & W. 14 St.
Idle Hour Books-59 Greenwich St.
Stand-737th Ave.
West 4th St. Books-l48 W. 4th St.
Stand-65 W. 14 St. (Sixth Ave.)
Stand-Bleecker & W. 11 St.
Wendell's Books-302 W. 12 St.
Vinny's Variety-2 Horatio St.
Stand-385 8th Ave. (W. 29 St.)
Unity Books-235 W. 23 St.
China Books-l2S Fifth A v ~ . (19 St.)
Revolution Books-16 E. 18 St.
Stand-Union Sq. East & 15 St.
Stand-14 St. & Ave. A
Stand-417 Third Ave. (E. 29 St.)
Stand-E. 34 St. & Lexington Ave.
City Limits is available at these newsstands and book tores.
If you know of other outlets for City Limits, please call 239-9423.
Tobacco Road-Christopher & 7th Ave.
Inner World Books-687 Broadway (3rd St.)
Stand-E. 23 St. & Park Ave. So.
Readers Stationary-Univ. PI. & E. 9 SI.
Paradox Books-128 E. 4th St.
Astor Smoke-St. Marks PI. & Third Ave.
Eastside Books-34 St. Marks PI.
Stand-46 W. 42 St. (5-6 Ave.)
Coliseum Books-I771 Broadway (57 St.)
Stand-Broadway &: W. 62 St.
Stand-2422 Broadway (89-90 St.)
Red Letter Books-Amsterdam Ave. & W. 92 St.
Magazine Emporium-Broadway &: W .111 St.
Stand-Broadway & LaSalle St.
Stand-2795 Broadway (107-108 St.)
Brooklyn
Stand-1521 Kings Highway (E. 15-16 St.)
Stand-13 Newkirk Plaza
Stand-Cortelyou Rd. & Flatbush Ave.
Stand-Bedford & Tilden
Stand-Utica & Church Ave.
Stand-Bedford & Clarkson
Stand-Rogers & Maple
Falasha Empire-lOS9 Nostrand Ave.
Stand-Washington & Sterling PI.
Stand-Myrtle & Ryerson PI.
Stand-26 Court St.
Community Books-141 7th Ave.
Stand-Union St. & 7th Ave.
Stand-Hanson ~ 1 .
~
~
j
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ - - - - - - - Moving?
Don't leave town without City Limits! To make sure your
subscription reaches your new address, simply attach your
current mailing labei below, and write your new address
beneath it. Please allow 4-6 weeks for the address change.
25
Name _________________ _
Address
City
____ State
____ Zip
City Limits
424 West 33rd St., New York, NY 10001
Chemical, Banks
,Urban Finance Representat

caring for you as you carei.-._,.-.
your most important clien
Servir.es for small businesses
and housing concerns:
SBA Certified Lender
Construction Financing for Low
and Moderate Income Housing
Chemical Bank's
Urban Fjnance Department
140 Broadway
New York, N.Y. 10015

THE CHEMISTRY'S JUST RIGHT AT CHEMICAL.
M<:mht,r FDIC
Lerner, VValker, Levy &
1960 Broadway
Rand Memorial
Fund
, A memorial fund in the name of
Esther and Jack Rand, longtime resi-
dents of the Lower East Side and . I,
New York, New York 10023
Attorneys at Law (21
Tenant Representation
Customized Energy Audits
Recommendations With Under
General Contracting For Retrofit
'. Heat Distribution Balancing
Gr'
lOUAlllOUlllIG
LENDER
Year Paybacks
housing activists has been established to
purchase books for the Ottendorfer
Library. Esther Rand, Chairperson of
the Eastside Tenants Council, was also a
member of the Save the
Library Committee, a group that was
formed in 1966 in support of the public
library branch on Second Avenue and
9th' Street. Esther Rand died in June,
1981, a year after her husband Jack died.
A bookshelf of works on urban affairs
will be established in their honor atthe
liqrary. Contributions can be sent by
check to Rand Book Memorial Fund,
Ottendorfer Library, 135 Second
Avenue, New York, NY 10003.0
Here's How
BENEC
Saves 'You
Energy
Dollars I
Energy Management
and Installation
rA . r,-"rn' ..... ter Design
BENEC Industries
Complete Energy EffIciency
53 East 34th Street
New York. NY 10016
212 689-4499
r Buildings
Work Shop
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City
Coordinates not-for-profit home improvement financing and
1-4 family rehab program operating in 7 NYC neighborhoods.
Reports to a Board of Directors. Requires knowledge of
housing, demonstrated competence in planning, budgeting,
fundraising, staff supervision and ability to interact creatively
with community, government and financial leaders.
Minimum - Bachelor's degree plus 4 years experience
Starting salary- $32,000
Send resumes to:
Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp.
1500 Broadway-Suite 800
NYC 10036
Att: Personnel Committee
Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer
South Bronx Photo Show
A photographic exhibition on the revitalization of a
South Bronx neighborhood, "Urban Pioneers: Don't
Move,Improve-Banana Kelly, The South Bronx" will be
presented by the Municipal Art Society and the New York
State Division of Housing and Community Renewal. The
exhibition will appear from December 14 through Decem-
ber 31, Monday through Saturday, 11 AM to 5 PM at the
Urban Center in Villard Houses at 457 Madison Avenue at
50th Street. For information call the Municipal Art Society
at 935-3960. 0
Executive Secretary-Excellent typing. good all-around office skills, small
Brooklyn office. cooperative spirit a necessity. Knowledge of Spanish a
plus. Opportunity for energetic, co mmunit y-minded person.
$13,000-$15,000 plus good benefits. Equal Opportunity employer. Call for
appoint ment 622-1900.
L.
914-997-1534
GIBSON WINDOWS, INC.
Minority Owned
Distributor of
Thermal Break
Alum DHA2.5
H P90 Windows.
Also storm win-
dows and doors.
--------- -- ----------- - -- -----
To: The Editors, CITY LIMITS
424 West 33rd Street, New York, New York 10001
Please enter my subscription to CITY LIMITS.
Individuals and community-based org.anizations:
o One year 59 (ten issues) 0 Two years 515 (twenty issues)
Private businesses, foundations, firms,
groups:'
banks, government agencies, officials and city wide
o One year 525 0 Two years 540 Corporate sustainers 0 550 0 575 o S100
, group rates are available
Enclose check or money order for S ___ , payable to ANHD / CITY LIMITS
Name:
Address:
inquire abQut special rates for low income
Where are New York City's neighborhoods going?
c ~ Limits tells you.
Yet. there Is a growing network of
- .... - . . . .. . - -- .--- groups and individuals who are tack-
Our neighborhoods are chang-
ing . .. fast.
The pressures are as complex as
they are immense. Owner abandon-
ment has emptied over 200,000 apart-
ments throughout New York City since
1970. Vast city tracts remain rubble-
strewn and vacant. Thousands of
buildings stand empty and decaying.
Some neighborhoods, however, are
experiencing a revitalization so rapi d
and intense that long-time residents
are faced with displacement . Rents
are skyrocketing. Co-op and
condominium conversions claimed
16,000 rental units in 1980 alone.
ling the dilemmas facing our com-
munities. They are turning lenders'
"redlines" into green ones, aban-
doned housing into tenant-managed
buildings and rubbish heaps into
gardens.
They are also fighting for the right
of low income tenants to remain in
their homes as real estate values
escalate, and insisting that there is
another side to neighborhood housing
besides speculators' profits.
Join the thousands of informed peo-
ple who read and rely on CITY LIMITS.
" ... heartfelt thanks to CITY LIMITS
for providing relevant and important
reporting of events not easily
obtainable from any other source."
Martin and Liz Sostre.
Tenant Organizers
" ... does for tenants what New
York magazine does for the trendy
elite ... provides service, facts , ideas,
information ... a consumer guide for
the conscience."
Jack Newfield. Village Voice
" .. . essential reading for me as a
citizen and as a teacher-researcher."
Prof. Herbert J. Gons.
Columbia University
" . . . the bible for anyone concerned
about housing, housing budgets,
policy, legislation and the plight of
tenants in New York Ci ty."
Ruth Messinger.
City Council Member
" ... an invaluable tool and forum in
New York City's struggle to preserve
decent housing ... an important link
between government and organized
community people." .
Carol Bellamy. City Council President
CITY LIMITS Is the magazine that
for six years has provided news and
analysis-of what is happening to our
communities and why.
The sale of city-owned buildings: to
tenants or landlords? . . The uphill
struggle of the National Consumer
Co-op bank .. . Saving through fuel-
buying plans . .. Evicting the landlord
... Is there fair housing in New York
City? .. The battle for open space.
These are just a few of the stories
CITY LIMITS covered in the past year.
In the coming months we will con-
; tinue to look at these and many other
issues. We hope you'" join us.

City Limits Magazine, December 1981 Issue

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

City Limits Magazine, December 1981 Issue

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

THE NEWS MAGAZINE OF NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AND NEIGHBORHOODS

Tales of Crown Heights:

Вам также может понравиться