Mar 1990

New York's Community Affairs News Magazine

C I T Y C O U N C I L P O W E R P L A Y S 0 H A R L E M E N V I R O N M E N T A L A C T I O N
C H E S T E R H A R T M A N O N T H E M Y T H S O F H O M E O W N E R S H I P
,
and
2 CITY LIMITS
Ciq " i m i ~ s
Volume XV Number 5
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Defense and Education Fund
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Jay Small. ANHD
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Cover photographs by Franklin Kearney.
EDITORIAL
Reality Check
Three hundred bucks. That's roughl y what the state calls rent money
for many public assistance families. No wonder welfare families here
were digging into their food and clothing money to pay the rent. And
eventually, when they could no longer rob Peter to pay Paul, hundreds
of families were evicted for want of $80 or $100. Then the state and city
would fork over thousands of dollars a month to warehouse them in
seedy welfare hotels.
But a landmark decision by the state' s highest court paves the way to
end this folly. In a case known as Jiggets v. Grinker, the court ruled that
the state's Social Service Law requires the Department of Social Services
to establish shelter allowances bearing a reasonable relation to the cost
of housing.
Now comes the hard part. The appeals court has sent the case back to
a lower court, where state officials and advocates will argue over how
much money constitutes a reasonable shelter allowance. Cesar Perales,
the commissioner of the social services department, has already tipped
his hand. He' s apparently ready to proclaim that the current rent
allowances the state provides are just fine.
Even if the court rules in favor of reality-when was the last time you
saw a two-bedroom apartment renting for $300 in the city?-there's
another hurdle. The state legislature has to allocate enough funds to
cover a higher shelter grant. That' s far from guaranteed, especially with
the state's current budget crunch.
Governor Mario Cuomo-he of compassionate speeches for the poor-
must come forward, after standing by idly while the rent allowance re-
mained a fittance. The governor can remind the budget squawkers that
the cost 0 an adequate shelter allowance would be substantially offset
by the savings of money spent on housing the homeless. More impor-
tantly, he can also remind the legislature that it's more than a dollars and
cents issue. The savings on human suffering would be incalculable. 0
....X-523
INSIDE
FEATURE
Pride and Poverty In Bedford-Stuyvesant 12
Forget the hype. There's more to Bed-Stuy than
vacant lots and abandoned buildings.
DEPARTMENTS
Editorial ...................................... .................... .. ......... 2
Short Term Notes
Trojan Lawyers? ............ .............. .. ........................ 4
Federal Food Money .............. .............. ........ ......... 4
Slope Shelter Storm .............................................. 5
Dinkins Pushes Price Index ................................. 5
Council File
The City Council's Ruling Class .......................... 6
Profile
Not Just Birds and Trees:
West Harlem Environmental Action ................... 7
Pipeline
The RFP Process: The Rules of the Game ........... 9
Withstanding the Test of Time:
The Homesteaders of West 105th Street ........... 17
City View
Homeownership: Who's Got To Have It? .......... 19
Letters ......... ... ... ......... ... ....... ..................... ................ 21
May 1990 3
City Council/Page 6
West Harlem/Pa
Pride and Pave
4 CITY LIMITS
SHORT TERM NOTES
TROJAN
LAWYERS?
The co-op boom is over, but
Bronx State Assemblyman
Oliver Koppell may soon
collect $40,000 for his role in
the conversion of four build-
ings in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
Payment for Koppell's work as
the tenant associations' lawyer
comes in an arrangement that
some tenants and activists
charge greases the
wheels of the conver-
sion process.
conversions are approved.
According to Fay Fraser, the
tenant associations' president,
if the co-op plan is rejected
the tenants are not reimbursed
for legal fees and pay
Koppell's firm a lower fee.
Fraser says the tenant
associations' chose Koppell to
represent them after he was
initially recommended by JRD
Management. "We got him
through a reference through
the management company
Development Corporation,
JRD Management, which has
become one of the largest co-
op converters in the Flatbush
area, has a "consistently poor
record" of maintenance
problems and tenant harass-
ment. Named to the Vi/lage
Voice's list of 10 worst
landlords in 1977, Ralph and
Robert Wiener, the father and
son who are principals of JRD,
were called "geniuses at
tormenting tenants. "
FEDERAL
FOOD MONEY
The food stamp program,
the nation's major device for
fighting hunger, may win a
significant funding increase
for the first time since the
Reagan administration's
budget slashes.
A bill named for Rep.
Mickey leland, who died last
summer during an anti-hunger
mission to Ethiopia,
was introduced in the
House of Representa-
tives in February. It
would increase
funding for food
stamps incremen-
tally-$600 million the
first year and up to $1
billion by the third
year. legislation with
essentially the same
funding levels is
expected to be
introduced in the
Senate. In spite of a
lack of support from
the Bush administra-
tion for increasing
food stamp funding,
the measure has
strong bi-partisan
backing in Congress.
JRD Management,
the sponsor of the
conversions and one
of the city's most
notorious landlords in
the late 1970s, will
pay the tenant asso-
ciations a total of
$40,000 to cover
legal fees for each of
the buildings. The
Offering Plan for eoch
building then requires
the money to be paid
to Koppell's law firm.
Koppell defends this
kind of arrangement,
which is also used by
many other lawyers
representing tenants in
co-op conversions.
H'fhe arrangement I
have is with the
tenants association,"
he says, emphasizing
Stop warehou.ing:
Prote.t.,.. from the City-wide Action Coalition to End Home/e .. ne .. out.ide the
office. 01 Alex DiLorenzo, landlord of the Happy Land Social C/uh where 87
p_p/e recently died in a h/aze. The prote.ter. called for .tricter huilding code
enforcement and an end to apartment warehou.ing.
"This is by far the
most important piece
of food legislation to
come down the pike in
the fact that his fee is paid by
the tenants and not directly by
the sponsor of the conversion.
Some contend that this kind
of arrangement is the only way
many tenants can afford legal
representation during a
conversion. But Michael
McKee, director of the New
York State Tenant and
Neighborhood Coalition,
argues that this practice
subverts the lawyers' represen-
tation of the tenants during
negotiations with the sponsors.
"It's like the lawyer for the
tenants guaranteeing the
conversion is going to go
through," says McKee.
In the case of the four
Flatbush buildings, 282 and
285 East 35th Street and 3400
and 3500 Snyder Avenue,
Koppell eorns more if the
and other apartments that
have been converted into co-
ops in the area," she says. The
other buildings were also JRD
Management conversions
where Koppell represented the
tenants.
While Fraser says Koppell
did get the sponsor to provide
some repairs and increase the
buildings' reserve fund, one
tenant charges that most of the
meetings with Koppell or
another lawyer from his firm
focused on assisting tenants in
the purchase of their apart-
ments. Calling it the "Trojan
lawyer syndrome," the tenant
contends that the laW)'ers
made only passing references
to the rights of tenants who
choose to remain renters.
According to Jay Small of
the Flatbush East Community
The city' s Department of
Housing Preservation and
Development records list 49
imminently hazardous housing
code violations in the four
Flatbush buildings. During the
past year, tenants at these
buildings have initiated 10
cases against JRD Manage-
ment with the state Division of
Housing and Communifx
Renewal, including two for
harassment.
On March 7, the sponsors
issued a notice declaring the
conversion of the buildings
complete. But a spokesperson
for the state attorney general's
office, -:vhich is responsible for
approving co-op plans, says
the conversion is still under
review but refused to give
further details. 0 Doug
Turetsky
years," says Ellen Nis-
senbaum, legislative director
of the Washington, D.C.-
based Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities.
Funding cuts and rule-
tightening eliminated nearly
$7 billion from the program
during the Reagan years.
With a current annual budget
of $13 billion, some 19
million people receive food
stamps each month-almost
one million fewer than in
1980, although the number of
people living in poverty has
increased (see City Limits,
March 1990).
Noting that the average
food stamp benefit is just 55
cents per person per meal , liz
Kreuger, associate director of
New York's Community Food
Resource Center, says that
funding for food stamps needs
to rise above the leland bill's
authorization level. But she
supports the bill, which
includes such key provisions
as a small increase in benefits
each year in addition to ad- .
justments for inflation and
changes in the calculation of
recipient income that would
increase monthly allotments
for millions of people.
Food stamp benefits are
derived under a system bosed
on family income, with
deductions made for expenses
like rent. Currently, families
can deduct no more than
$177 per month for housing
costs-well below what
families in New York and most
of the rest of the country
actually poy. The leland bill
would eliminate this cap.
Nissenbaum says the
leland bill would return the
food stamp program to the
pre-Reagan funCling levels and
make it a program "with
better benefits for the poorest
of the poor."
Congress votes on reau-
thorization of the program,
which is administered by the
Deportment of Agriculture,
every five years. A recent
Senate hearing on hunger and
children is citeCI as major
factor for Congressional
momentum to increase funding
for the program. D Mary
Keefe
SLOPE
SHELTER STORM
A longtime Park Slope
shelter for the homeless may
be forced to close by Christian
Help In Park Slope (CHIPS),
the owner of the shelter's
brownstone building. CHIPS,
which operates a neighbor-
hood soup kitchen and
women's shelter, bought the
building for $1 nearly a
decade ago and now wants to
sell it.
The shelter, known as the
Arthur Sheehan House of
Hospitality, has been located
at 314 Fourth Street for 13
years and apparently has had
no opposition from its
Shelfer shaleedown?
Matthew Tessitore outside the shelfer building that is being sold
by Christian Help in Parle Slope.
neighbors on this quiet
residential block. last Decem-
ber, Sister Mary Maloney,
president of CHIPS, sent a
notice to the 1 2 residents of
Sheehan House, warning, "It
is with regret that we have to
phase out the operations [of
the house] but it has to be
done." The notice explains
that CHIPS intends to sell the
building.
According to Matthew
Tessitore, who volunteers at
Sheehan House several times
a week, the operation of the
residence doesn't cost CHIPS
any money. Run as a Catholic
Worker ministry, the residents
pay the $275 per month
mortgage on the property and
other expenses, with the help
of contributions from the
community. Tessitore says the
shelter's budget is just
$20,000 annually.
Although it has not yet
found a buyer for the prop-
erty, CHIPS began eviction
proceedings in March against
Kevin Daly, the shelter's
unpaid co-manager who also
lives there. Daly runs the
shelter on a day-to-day basis
and has access to its bank
account.
Court papers filed by
CHIPS call Daly a voluntary
employee the organization
wants to dismiss. But attorney
Robert Davis says that Daly
contributes out of his own
pocket to the monthly mort-
gage and therefore has the
same right to remain as any
tenant. Davis also notes that
without Daly, Sheehan House
would be forced to close.
Maloney would not cite
specific reason for attempting
to evict Daly, saying only that
he is "very unsatisfactory
but ... I can't give you the
reasons." She adds, "If you
met him you might be able to
identify some of his problems
yourself."
Daly says that Maloney's
thinly veiled reference to his
homosexuality-and her own
homophobia- doesn't
change CHIP's basic inten-
tions. "They want to sell the
house for the money," he
says. "No matter who's
running it they want to shut it
down."
Maloney now says CHIPS
will try and sell the building to
another organization that will
operate a shelter there. But
Daly asks, ''Why destroy
something that's there now?"
D MaHhew Reiss
DINKINS PUSHES
COST INDEX
When he was Manhattan
borough president, David
Dinkins described a landlord
cost index as "flawed" and
May 1990 5
voted to stop the city from
using it. Now Dinkins is mayor
and he's pushing the Board of
Estimate to approve a contract
for the sa-me survey.
The Price Index of Operat-
ing Costs, as the survey is
formally known, is bosed on
estimated landlords' operating
costs for items like fuel and
insurance. It is used by the
Rent Guidelines Board to set
annual rent hikes for the city's
950,000 rent-stabilized
apartments. But critics from
the New York State Tenant
and Neighborhood Coalition
say the price index overstates
costs and doesn't provide an
accurate picture of landlords'
balance sheets because the
index fails to take rental
income and profits into
account.
In 1987, the last time the
contract for conducting the
survey came before the Board
of Estimate, Dinkins said,
" .. .the item before us is merely
the perpetuation of a flawed
system, using a Rawed index."
But as Cily Limits goes to
press, Dinkins is lobbying the
Board of Estimate to approve
a $174,000 contract for the
same price index.
Mayoral spokesperson
Catie Marshall says Dinkins
still believes the index has
"many, many shortcomings."
She says the mayor still
agrees with tenant advocates
who argue that landlords'
costs need to be measured
against their profits for the
index to be valid as a rent-
setting guide. But until the
state legislature requires
landlords to open their books,
Dinkins has no option but to
support the price index, says
Marshall .
After the Board of Estimate
rejected the price index in
1987, former mayor Ed Koch
employed a budgetary device
to side-step the board's
approval of a contract for the
survey. The board's vote for
this year's price index
contract, initially scheduled for
April 5, was held over,
apparently because the mayor
didn't have enough votes fOr
approval. D Doug
Turetsky
6 CITY LIMITS
COUNCIL FILE
The City Council's Ruling Class
BY DOUG TURETSKY
WHEN VOTERS ENDORSED REVI-
sion of the city's charter last Novem-
ber, they dealt a death blow to the
Board of Estimate and handed many
ofits powers to the board's soporific
stepchild, the City Council. The idea
behind charter revision was to in-
crease democratic decision-
making in the city.
But many critics wondered
if the newly empowered coun-
cil could handle the responsi-
bility. These critics said power
would merely shift from the
eight-member Board of Esti-
mate to the council's leader,
Speaker Peter Vallone. As the
council now formulates rules
for handling its crucial new
land-use powers, the critics
appear to have been correct.
Vallone began the forma-
tion of the Land Use Commit-
tee by installing Council
Member Jerry Crispino, who's
15-year council career has
been distinguished only by his
loyal ty to his Democratic party
bosses. The first major piece
of business for the new com-
mittee was to draft proposals
for its own rules. The thrust of
the debate over charter revi-
speak-a land-use matter that does
not automatically come before it. The
proposed rules have added a hurdle:
a matter goes to the committee first,
where 12 out of 15 members must
vote for its review before it can head
to the full council and its vote. Just
four committee members can block
the desire of a substantial number of
sion focused on giving the The Power Broker:
council more control over City Council Speaker Peter Vallone.
land-use issues, but several of
the proposed rules seem in-
tent on preventing the full council
from exercising its new powers. Eddie
Bautista of the New York Lawyers
for the Public Interest's Charter Rights
Project says these rules plainly vio-
late the "spirit" of charter revision.
The two most contentious issues
have to do with the council's ability
to vote on land -use matters that don't
automatically come under its juris-
diction and the release ofitems from
the committee to the full council.
Critics argue that the proposed rules
allow Vallone and his staff to control
many decisions while shielding the
entire council from responsibility.
Hurdle
According to the new charter, the
council can, by majority vote, elect
to review-"call-up" in council-
their colleagues to review a particu-
lar matter-letting the decision of
the unelected planning commission
stand.
Likewise, the Land Use Commit-
tee can prevent the full council from
casting its vote simply by sitting on
an item until the 55 days the council
has to act on most matters runs out.
This rule differs dramatically from
the rules of other council commit-
tees, which must automatically dis-
charge an item if there' s a limit on
the time the full council has to act.
Andrew Lynn, a former staff
member of the Charter Revision
Commission who now serves as
counsel to the Land Use Committee,
is the principal architect of the pro-
posed rules. He says the rules are
entirely in keeping with the charter
commission's goals. "The issue there
is probably a disagreement on what
is the spirit of the charter," says Lynn.
Logrolling
According to Eric Lane, who was
executive director of the charter
commission and now heads a may-
oral task force on implementing the
new charter, the commission
saw call-ups as "extraordinary
powers." Without some pro-
cedural restraint, the council
could get bogged down in its
own logrolling, where mem-
bers vote according to one
another's parochial concerns.
"I would agree that to make it
[call-up] a little harder signi-
fies that it's a special power,"
says Lane.
Not all council members
are happy with the proposed
rules. "Right now it seems to
me that the leadership and staff
have a lot of power," says
Council Member Ronnie Eld-
ridge, who points out that the
committee rules can block
members from ever getting to
vote on projects in their own
districts. She and seven other
members have proposed some
alternatives that would cut
down the committee's control.
Whether the council's
Rules Committee, which in-
cludes Vallone and loyalists
like Robert Dryfoos and
Archie Spigner, will seriously con-
sider these alternative proposals-
as well as recommendations from a
number of citywide advocacy
groups-is another question. Al-
though the council has taken the
precedent-setting step of holding
public hearings on the proyosed
rules, this is still a counci that
regularly has closed-door meetings.
Vallone was handed the reigns of
the council in the last deal cut be-
tween disgraced power brokers
Donald Manes and Stanley Fried-
man. Over the past few years, Val-
lone has succeeded in preventing a
bill to stop landlords from hoarding
vacant apartments from even com-
ing to a vote. How far Vallone goes to
hoard the council's new powers in
his own hands remains to be seen. 0
May 1990 7
PROFILE
Not Just Birds and Trees:
West Harlem Environmental Action
BY JEFF BLISS
THE EXHILARATING CONFUSION
of organizing a protest-painting
signs, choosing spokesreople, dis-
tributing fliers-was al but forgot-
ten by Peggy Shepard when the hand-
cuffs clicked around her wrists. The
walk in the pouring rain across the
West Side Highway to a waiting
police car proved "a rude awaken-
ing." It was January 15, 1988, Martin
Luther King Day, and Shepard, a
Democratic district leader in West
Harlem, was taking part in her first
act of civil disobedience: a protest
against the North River Sewage
Treatment Plant.
Shepard and about 80 others had
gathered outside the plant to protest
its rotten-egg smell, a sign of the air
pollutant hydrogen sulfide. Their
plan had gone well: Those arrested
quickl y got out on their own recogni-
zance and went back to meet with
the others at a West Harlem apart-
ment complex. When Shepard ar-
rived, activists, including C. Vernon
Mason and the Rev. Timothy Mitch-
ell, had come from an unrelated
nearby protest. "There was a sense of
elation, " Shepard says, "but there
was also the lingering thing in the
back of your mind, 'Has this had any
impact?' I'm very much a realist; I
don't get carried away by these feel-
ings." A few months later, Shepard,
activist Vernice Miller and district
co-leader Charles Sutton founded
West Harlem Environmental Action
(WHE ACT), one of a growing num-
ber of minority environmental
groups.
Shepard's involvement with ac-
tivism began humbly enough as the
only black reporter on the Indian-
apolis News. She was allowed to
report on black community events
only on weekends or after she fin-
ished her regular work. Several
publishing jobs followed in the 19 70s,
but she became frustrated with the
cheery positivism of the African-
American press. "I could not write
articles about alcoholism, about
social problems and get them pub-
lished," she says. A speechwriting
position led her into politics, where
Fighting a foul smell:
Peggy Shepard in front of the North River Sewage Treatment Plant.
she became involved with the Rev.
Jesse Jackson'S 1984 presidential
campaign in West Harlem.
Toxic Waste and Race
During her work as district leader,
Shepard met Miller, who had a de-
gree in public policy from Columbia
University. As a research assistant
for the United Church of Christ's
Commission for Racial Justice, Miller
helped put together the report "Toxic
Waste and Race," which revealed
that a disproportionate number of
toxic-waste sites are located in mi-
nority communities. Activism had
been a tradition in Miller's family:
Her father, a labor organizer, had
worked with Adam Clayton Powell.
Growing up in Central Harlem dur-
ing the the 1960s, she saw union
people in her neighborhood, James
Brown at the Apollo and the Black
Panthers on the streets. "All kinds of
stuff was swirling," she remembers.
When both Miller and Shepard
moved to West Harlem, they found it
dynamic, but in a different way. Al-
though most residents are extremely
poor, "there' s a pocket of Domini-
cans, there are brownstoners, there's
low income housing and the River-
side Drive people who are fighting
gentrification," Shepard says. It's a
diverse population that makes or-
ganizing "more complicated," she
says.
But ' the North River controversy
has been a rallying point. The plant,
stretching from 13 7th to 145th streets
at the Hudson River, began primary
sewage treatment in 1986. From the
outside, it looks like the state-of-the-
art facility government officials have
hailed it as. Estate gates with orna-
mental iron spears mark the entrances
ofthe two access roads; in 1992 a 28-
acre park built on top of the plant
will open and feature a restaurant,
skating rink, performing arts center
and gymnasium.
Despite the aesthetics of the archi-
tecture and the cleaner Hudson Ri ver,
the foul smell that intermittently
permeates West Harlem is an un-
pleasant reminder of the plant's
purpose. Gennie Eason and Flore
Roberson, two WHE ACT members
who live across from North River,
say they can't use their terraces in
8 CITY UMITS
the summer because of the stench.
Since the plant started operating,
neighbors have complained about
difficulty breathing and sinus prob-
lems. In response to these complaints
and some studies, WHE ACT has
pushed for emissions tests, investi-
gations into the smell's cause and a
safety plan in case of the unlikely
chance of a plant explosion.
Benign Neglect?
WHE ACT has had problems in
the past with government officials-
Shepard describes the Koch
administration's attitude as either
"benign neglect" or "arrogance." But
she expects Mayor David Dinkins to
be more cooperative. As Manhattan
borough president, Dinkins commis-
sioned a 1987 report that found
hydrogen-sulfide emissions from the
plant to exceed state air-quality stan-
dards. Recently, the new head of the
city's Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP), Albert F. Apple-
ton, has agreed to meet with the
group. The DEP has also performed a
test to determine emissions levels.
The results were inaccurate, accord-
ing to Ian Michaels, a spokesperson
for DEP, because the tests weren't
conducted with the proper equip-
ment. Shepard thinks city officials
just didn't like what they saw: "The
idea here is not that we're looking for
results that are satisfying-we're
simply looking for what's coming
out of the plant."
Regardless of how the city govern-
ment solves North River's problems,
Environmental
racism has long
been a reality
for minority
communities.
members of WHE ACT will always
question why the plant was ever built
here. Originally the city wanted to
put the plant on the Hudson, just off
72nd Street, but the largely white
community had enough political
clout to force it uptown. "I think
there's real inherent and fundamen-
tal racism in the decision," Miller
says.
In light of the "Toxic Waste and
Race" report and other environmental
issues that affect minority commu-
nities, Shepard and Miller see them-
selves as part of a nationwide move-
ment. "Environmental racism" has
become a new catchphrase for main-
stream environmental groups, but it's
long been a reality for minority
communities. Urban African-Ameri-
can children are four times more
likely than white children to be at
risk for contracting lead poisoning;
migrant farmworkers, who are over-
whelmingly Chicano and African-
American, are constantly exposed to
hazardous pesticides. To educate
people about these concerns WHE
ACT is sponsoring six bi-monthly
forums involving scientists, activ-
ists and residents.
Although relatively new to envi-
ronmental activism, minority-led
groups such as WHE ACT, the Toxic
A vengers and the Virginia-based
Citizens for a Better America are
changing the white-bread image of
the movement. Ofthe main environ-
mental groups, Miller says, "They're
going to have to get off the stick of
preserving birds and trees and seals
and things like that and talk about
what's affecting real people ...
Organizations of color are forcing
the issue." 0
Jeff Bliss is a freelance writer living
in New York City.
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306 FIFTH AVE.
NEW YORK, N.Y. 10001
(212) 279-8300
Ask for: Bola Ramanathan
May 1990 9
PIPELINE
The RFP Process: The Rules of the Game
BY TODD W. BRESS.
IN 1986, STORIES OF CORRUPTION
swirled through the city. The Koch
administration, just beginning its
third term in office, was rocked by
the scandals. Officials scrambled to
eliminate any whiff of impropriety
from the way the city was handing
out contracts and selling property.
The sole-source deal, where city
officials negotiated the sale of land
or buildings with just one prospec-
tive developer,
was dead. Re-
quests for Propos-
als, known as
RFPs, became the
primary way of
doing business.
Although not a
legal requirement,
RFPs are meant to
ensure anybody
who is interested
can bid on a prop-
erty. This is sup-
posed to help
agencies like the
Department of
Housing Preserva-
tion and Develop-
ment make deci-
sions that are fair,
honest and un-
tainted by per-
sonal influence.
known as Riverwalk and its legacy of
insider connections and special tax
favors continues to this day.
The city's housing department is
now in the business of selling hun-
dreds of buildings to developers
through RFPs. The process is rela-
tively simple. HPD drafts a docu-
ment that describes the sites, city
subsidy levels (if any), submission
requirements and competitive fac-
tors that will be used, says housing
department spokesperson Greg
Despite these procedural safe-
guards, critics charge, RFPs favor
particular applicants, especially
larger nonprofit developers and
businesses with a history of working
with the agency. Neighborhood-
based groups and small or minority-
owned businesses have a harder time
winning approval.
Fine Print
Most nonprofit staff, developers
and consultants interviewed agreed
HPD generally
executes RFPs
fairly. But the
catch is in the fine
print. HPD makes
up the rules ofthe
game- the quali-
fications appli-
cants must have
and the types of
proposals they
must make. "HPD
generally has a
sense of, if not the
groups it wants to
find, the type of
groups it wants to
find," observes
Getz Obstfeld,
executive director
of the Banana
Kelly Community
Improvement As-
sociation.
Critics charge
that in practice
RFPs can stifle
Open .pace., do.ecl cleo/s:
(ritin soya sweetheorl cleal put this prime Lower Ea.t Sicle lancl, known a. Sewarcl
Park, in the hancls 01 cleveloper Samuel Lelrok.
For example,
this is how the
competition rather than encourage it
and fail to open important decisions
to public review. Consequently, they
say, agencies like HPD can predeter-
mine the outcome of its Request for
Proposals in favor of particular ap-
plicants and use the process to pro-
vide legitimacy for its plans and
programs.
RFPs are not new. In 1980 the city
issued its first RFP for a city-owned
site: a choice piece of real estate on
the East River. Six responses were
received. To make the selection
process as democratic as possible,
then-mayor Koch gave the local
community board a shot at making
its own recommendation. The pro-
posal that the board ranked third
was the one Koch picked. The plan is
King. The RFP is then publicized
through mailings and advertisements
placed in daily and community
newspapers on a rotating basis and
a "pre-bid" conference is held to an-
swer questions.
Proposals are then reviewed in
two stages. First, King explains, they
are reviewed for feasibility and for
compliance with the requirements
under which the properties were
being offered (rental costs or sales
prices of apartments to be created,
open space provisions and the like).
Proposals that pass this stage are
next ranked according to the com-
peti ti ve factors listed in the RFP, and
the top-ranking proposal is selected.
Some must then pass through the
city's land-use approval process.
housing depart-
ment favors for-profit developers in
the RFPs issued for its Vacant Build-
ings Program (in which the city pro-
vides low-interest loans to groups
that rehabilitate city-owned build-
ings): RFP applicants must contrib-
ute 10 percent of the cost as equity
and must obtain some private financ-
ing. A typical 100-unit site requires
an equity contribution of $600,000.
Few nonprofits have access to that
much money and often have an
exremely difficult time obtaining
financing from private lenders.
RFPs for the Construction Man-
agement Program have clearly fa-
vored large non profits like the New
York archdiocese's Housing Devel-
opment Institute and the Settlement
Housing Fund to own and manage
1 0 CITY LIMITS
hundreds of units of housing under a
program where the city pays the entire
rehab cost. To answer one complex
RFP issued last year, applicants must
have renovated and managed hun-
dreds of units of housing and been
active in the Hunts Point or West
Tremont section ofthe Bronx, where
the buildings were located. "CMP
was conceived with specific non-
profits in mind. You could count on
the fingers of one hand the groups
that could qualify," says Obstfeld.
"How much com petition was there?"
But Obstfeld recognizes the city
just can't hand over the rehab rights
for such large projects to just any
group that comes along expressing a
desire to get into development. " If
you're doing large-scale construction,
you need to have a sophisticated
community group, " he says. "There's
a quandary. You can't expect an
organization with no experience to
do well. "
Still, the effect is to block smaller
groups from getting city contracts,
says Richard Ri vera, an attorney with
the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and
Education Fund. "It's weighted for
the heavyweights and against local
development corporations. The big-
ger your track record, the better
chance you have convincing the city
you have experience. It's a chicken
or egg thing."
But long track records don't as-
sure good performance. The private
construction companies doing the
rehab work in the Construction
Management Program were required
to have developed a significant
amount of housing. But the first two
projects are well behind schedule
and way over budget, according to a
recent report by the Citizens Hous-
ing and Planning Council.
Call Him Sweetheart
For all the talk of fairness , the city
can still make whatever rules it wants.
Despite an ostensibly competitive
process, critics charge that the city
struck a sweetheart deal with Samuel
Lefrak for the Seward Park Urban
Renewal Area in 1988. After com-
pleting pri vate negotiations with city
officials, Lefrak agreed to build 400
market-rate condominiums and 800
rental units for moderate and middle
income households at the site. HPD
agreed to provide a subsidy of $2 5 ,000
per rental unit.
Soon after the plan was an-
nounced, HPD issued a Request for
Qualifications (RFQ) . It required
applicants to beat ("not even meet,
but beat") Lefrak's proposal, says Lisa
Kaplan, a member of the Lower East
Side Joint Planning Council, which
had been discussing plans for nearby
site with city officials but were never
informed of the ongoing meetings
"It's weighted for
the heavyweights
and against local
development
corporations. "
with Lefrak. The RFQ released by the
city allowed Lefrak an 8.5 percent
return on equity but others were to
be allowed only 7.5 percent. There
were two applicants: Lefrak and a
firm that was disqualified because it
did not meet a requirement for expe-
rience at new construction.
"The RFQ was tailor-made for
Lefrak, a developer of that size,"
claims Juan Cartagena, formerly an
attorney with the Community Serv-
ice Society, which joined a suit to
block the project. (The suit was dis-
missed in January when state Su-
preme Court Judge Herman Cahn
ruled the challenge was premature
because the project had not yet been
through the city's land-use review
process.)
In Arverne, Queens, the city al-
lowed private developers to set the
terms for building on this huge,
publicly owned tract of oceanfront
land, critics charge. HPD issued a
Request for Expressions of Interest
in 1987 that set general ground rules
for what could be built there and
asked for conceptual plans. More than
50 applicants submitted proposals,
which HPD used to create a master
plan for the site. The agency then
issued an RFP, and eventually
awarded the site to Oceanview Asso-
ciates-a partnership of Park Tower
Realty and Forest City/Ratner Enter-
prises, both of which are involved in
other major city projects and have
prominent former city officials on
their payrolls.
The deck was stacked in favor of
market-rate housing from the begin-
ning, argues Michael Gecan, an or-
ganizer for the Queens Citizens Or-
ganization, whose proposal for 3,200
Nehemiah-style homes affordable to
moderate income families fell on deaf
ears. "The RFEI and RFP were writ-
ten to suit a political decision that
had already been made," charges
Gecan. "Almost all land planning
decisions are political and to think
you can change that through a bu-
reaucratic procedure is wrong."
Even when community groups and
HPD see eye-to-eye on the basic goals
of a program, local input into the
development of the RFP could help.
An RFP was issued under the Small
Homes Program in mid-1988 for two
Bronx sites, one in the Longwood
Historic District and the other on
Faile Street. The Longwood Historic
District Community Association
liked the plan and tried to find de-
velopers to compete for the local
site, recalls Harry DeRienzo, presi-
dent of the Consumer-Farmer Foun-
dation and a member of the associa-
tion. But developers were more inter-
ested in applying for Faile Street,
where subsidies were deeper and the
work seemed easier, he says.
"We told them we thought [Long-
wood] needed more subsidy" than
the RFP offered, because, unlike Faile
Street, the buildings were in a land-
mark district with additional restric-
tions and were scattered over several
sites, says DeRienzo. HPD officials
argued that the Longwood neighbor-
hood was in better shape than Faile
Street, so less subsidy was needed.
The result: the Faile Street project is
underway while the developer
awarded the Longwood buildings has
dropped out.
Wasted Money
Some critics also argue that RFPs
stifle competition simply because
they are expensive and time con-
suming to answer. This deters quali-
fied but smaller community groups
and for-profit developers who have
neither the staff time to apply nor the
money to hire consultants.
"It's expensive and you may have
only a one in 10 or 100 or 1,000
chance of suc-
ceeding. The fact
that you're able
to put out money
you can afford to
lose doesn't
make you any
better," says
Andrew Reicher,
executive direc-
tor of the Urban
Homesteading
Assistance
Board.
Many RFP re-
quirements are
simply unneces-
sary, Reicher
claims. Develop-
ment RFPs need
not ask for costly
arc hit e c t u r a 1 Mike Gecan:
1
"Almo.' all land planning deci.ion. are
pans or evi- political."
opment. It's easy
to argue that the
city's housing
emergency dic-
tates that officials
rely on large, ex-
perienced build-
ers who can,
theoretically at
least, erect apart-
ments quickly.
But in Arverne,
for example, the
land sat fallow
for years while
the Queens Citi-
zens Organiza-
tion, which
wanted to build
homes that have
become a model
federal program,
was kept at bay.
QCO leaders con- dence of financ-
ing to ensure that
the city gets a solid project. "Com-
pete groups, qualify them, then give
them very structured performance
goals. Give them six months to come
up with the financing or lose the
project," he suggests.
The debate about the RFP process
points to deeper questions about the
role ofthe city in community devel-
tend that the pro-
tracted RFP process just provided a
veil for the old-style deal-making.
If officials want to strike at some
of the underlying causes of the city's
derelict neighborhoods and housing
shortage, they need to nurture the
local groups and small developers
who have a direct stake in their com-
munities. A few efforts like the Small
THE NEW DEMOCRATIC COALITION
Invites you to
3 ISSUES WORKSHOPS
and Its ANNUAL DELEGATE ASSEMBLY
SUNDAY: MAY 6,1990 INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL 70
1) HOUSING, RENT CONTROL & RENT STABILIZATION
2) REMOVING THE ROADBLOCKS TO CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS
FOR MINORITY & WOMEN-OWNED FIRMS
3) THE TRUTH ABOUT THE STATEN ISLAND "HOMEPORT"
WORKSHOPS: 12:45 to 2:00 p.m. (Registration: 12 p.m. to 12:30)
Voting on key proposals at intervals in the 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
period of the assembled Delegate Assembly
loS. 70 is located at 333 West 17th St (between 8th & 9th Aves).
Take the" A train to 14th St or the #1 to 18th St.
(The New Democratic Coalition Is comprised of 36 Reform and Progressive Democratic Clubs)
May 1990 11
Builders Assistance Program exist,
but they are often more symbolic
than substantive.
Some nonprofits are now teaming
with for-profit developers in respond-
ing to RFPs. This helps them over-
come some application require-
ments-such as having access to
private financing-and avoid high
application costs.
In fact, having a nonprofit on-board
can help a for-profit developer. The
Vacant Building RFP, which is geared
for for-profit developers , gives ap-
plicants teamed with a nonprofit
extra points in case of a tie.
"Sometimes it can help nonprof-
its gain experience," notes Robert
Reach, a development consultant and
former HPD official. "But sometimes
a private sector individual will call
up a group, throw its name on the
application and ignore it." 0
Todd W. Bressi is associate editor of
Places: A Quarterly Journal of Envi-
ronmental Design.
June 4 - 9,1990
Lincoln Filene Center
Tufts University
Medford, MA 02155
(617) 381-3549
The Institute offers
over 40 Intensive one- and
two-day courses for those
Involved with community
organizations and
non-profit groups.
Come and learn new skills
and meet your peers
In community development.
12 CITY LIMITS
FEATURE
Pride
-
Poverty
In Bedford..Stuyvesant
Forget the hype.
There1s more to
Bed-Stuy
than vacant lots
and rotting buildings.
BY LISA GLAZER
T
he popular image of Bedford-Stuyvesant took a bat-
tering last summer: all across America, in small
towns and big cities, "Do The Right Thing" was ap-
pearing on-screen. Directed by Spike Lee, the movie was
about racial tensions on a single block in Bed-Stuy on the
hottest day of the year. Much to the amazement of nu-
merous critics and columnists, the only characters hang-
ing out on the street corner were a trio of middle-aged
men and almost everyone in the movie lived in brown-
stone buildings. Hmmm. Spike Lee must be fudging the
facts of ghetto life, surmised much of the media.
If the critics and columnists had ever walked through
Bedford-Stuyvesant, they might not have jumped to con-
clusions. Bed-Stuy may have a reputation as an arche-
typal slum, but it's actually much more diverse, a mix-
ture of elegantly restored brownstones, public housing,
small apartment buildings-and deep pockets of ex-
treme blight.
With boundaries extending slightly beyond Commu-
nity Board 3 in Brooklyn, Bedford-Stuyvesant is one of
the largest black neighborhoods in America and it's a
place of pride as well as poverty. According to the 1987
Housing and Vacancy Report, the median household
income is $20,000 and about 20 percent of the popula-
tion are homeowners. The area includes centuries-old
churches, the first community development corporation
in the country, as well as Weeksville, a historic black
settlement, and Stuyvesant Heights, a landmark preser-
vation district. The fight in "Do the Right Thing" is ini-
tially sparked by a disagreement over putting pictures of
black heroes on the walls of an Italian pizza parlor, but
in the real-life neighborhood, even the' local McDonald's
has portraits of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and
Jesse Jackson.
Still, these signs of pride coexist with a harsh reality.
More than 30 percent ofthe population lives at or below
poverty level and a similar number are surviving on
public assistance. The area has two large homeless
shelters and about 800 city-owned buildings, almost
half of them vacant. Bedford-Stuyvesant has one of the
city' s highest infant mortality rates and 75 percent of
births take place out of wedlock. It was the site of more
than 100 murders last year.
"There's drugs in Bedford-Stuyvesant, there's crime
in Bedford-Stuyvesant, there are people vandalized and
violated here ... yet there are also people who are are
going to great lengths to make the neighborhood safe and
it's not 100 percent poor," says Kenneth Gulley, execu-
ti ve director of the Mid -Brookl yn Community Economic
Development Corporation.
"It all exists cheek to jowl. That's the essence of the
community. It's a contradiction and that's the way it's
always been. It's truly multi-faceted," adds Joan Mayn-
ard, director of the Society for the Preservation of
Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant History.
With downtown Brooklyn's megadevelopment taking
place just a few subway stops from Bedford-Stuyvesant,
there are competing tensions surrounding the area's
future. There's some hope for new jobs and businesses,
but that seems to be overshadowed by fear and anger
about the onset of gentrification, especially if that leads
to the displacement of blacks.
.

It's largely because of racism-legal discrimination,
then white flight and willful neglect by banks and city
government-that the neighborhood became more than
80 percent black and partially poverty-stricken. The
image of the area as one large slum was created and
reinforced by the media. Countering this image is a
more complex reality that includes a middle class base
and locally created institutions. Yet many of these insti-
tutions are still financially dependent on city or state
agencies and numerous businesses are not run by blacks.
"The issue of ownership is the problem," says Peter
Williams, project associate at the Medgar Evers Center
for Law and Social Justice, which is located in Bedford-
Stuyvesant. "It's
about control. People
who have been here a
long time see
changes ... and they
feel excluded from
those changes."
The victory of the
city's first black
mayor, David Dink-
ins, and the appoint-
ment of a former
Bedford-Stuyvesant
Restoration Corpora- .
tion official, Richard
Schaffer, as planning
commisioner, may
signal some policy
shifts. But for sub-
stantive change to
occur, many local
people say the dispa-
rate community
needs to unite.
Public housing overview:
May 1990 13
The program begins with prayers and a spirited rendi-
tion of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing." At the front of the
ch urch are city housing officials, including Robert Davis,
deputy commissioner, and representatives from the
community board, the state mortgage association and
Brooklyn institutions and banks including black-owned
Freedom National Bank, Pioneer Savings and Loan and
Carver Savings and Loan. All but two of the panel
participants are black and some of the participants live
in the blocks surrounding the church.
Most of the evening is a mutually respectful exchange
of information between the officials and the audience.
There is talk of forming a non profit organization to reno-
vate the remaining
abandoned buildings
nearby and some que-
ries about old and new
city housing pro-
grams. Hard-edged
questions about pov-
erty and the contra-
dictions that can ac-
company "commu-
nity development"
remain unspoken.
Noisy Controversy
Rev. James Daniel,
the chairman of the
East Fulton Street
P_rl Norwood, an original tenant 01 Sumner Houses, has seen services and
salety decline.
These contradic-
tions are being heard
loud and clear in the
controversy surroun-
ding the Saratoga
Square redevelop-
ment plan. The effort
will create about 1 ,300
homes on a large
swathe of devastation
and politicians, com-
munity groups and
Development Corporation, says, "The future of the com-
munity will be determined by the action or inaction of
churches, politicians, homeowners, tenants, and local
development corporations. We must come together to
develop a common agenda."
Home to Doctors and Lawyers
On a crisp weekday evening more than 300 people are
gathered at the Bridge Street African Methodist Episco-
pal Church to find out how to purchase city-owned
buildings and secure financing for renovation. The church
is located in Stuyvesant Heights, which was named a
landmark preservation district after community lobby-
ing more than a decade ago. The 13-block area is home
to doctors, lawyers and bankers and boasts some of the
most impressive brownstones in the city.
On this particular evening, the polished brown pews
of Bridge Street AME are filled with a wide range of resi-
dents: some are wearing Sunday finery (satin dresses,
hats with veils and high-heeled shoes) while others are
in standard office attire. Still others sport paint-splat-
tered trousers and boots. The audience includes senior
citizens, middle-aged couples, teenagers and infants.
city officials are duk-
ing it out because the plan doesn't include a single unit
of housing for the neediest of the area's residents.
The final details of the plan are still being negotiated,
but the basic outline calls for more than 800 two-family
homes affordable to families earning at least $30,000 and
the rehabilitation of 420 apartments. When the plan was
announced it was promoted by the city's Department of
Housing Preservation and Development, the Brooklyn
borough president and the New York City Partnership, a
nonprofit organization of business leaders that builds
middle income housing.
The effort, which will cost $51 million, was unveiled
in March 1989 by the Koch administration and was
lauded by a variety of local leaders, including council
members Mary Pinkett, Priscilla Wooten and Enoch
Williams. Proponents of the plan contend that Bedford-
Stuyvesant will be improved by expanding its base of
homeowners. As Council Member Wooten noted when
the plan was announced, "I am delighted because of the
importance of moderate income units to the leverage of
stabilizing our community."
Members of the community group ACORN say the
development will actually destabilize the 28-block site
14 CITY LIMITS
that that straddles the borders of Bedford-Stuyvesant
and Ocean Hill-Brownsville. For the development to
occur, current residents will be relocated and none of
the apartments are affordable to families earning under
$20,000-even though the median income ofrenters in
Bed-Stuy barely reaches $16,000 and in Ocean Hill-
Brownsville it's less than $8,000. "People are being
priced out of the market," says James Shearin, a 36-year-
old ACORN member and Bed-Stuy resident.
Council Member Williams is attempting to discredit
ACORN as a group led by "outsiders"-a euphemistic
term for whites-and he's picking a fight with State Sen.
Velmanette Montgomery, who has joined the plea to
include at least some housing for the area's neediest
residents.
As public protests swell, there's ambivalence about
the project from a number of local leaders.
Commenting on the plan, Lewis Watkins,
district manager of Community Board 3, says,
"It's the planned shrinkage thing. Where you
had 50 people in a space, now there will be
eight or 10. Naturally you want to increase
the income level and the class ... to give
Bedford-Stuyvesant a different complexion."
Is this a good thing or a bad thing? "It's hard
to say," responds Watkins. Other officials,
including Assemblyman Albert Vann, a
prominent black leader, refused to even com-
ment on the plan.
husband moved in to Sumner, they were pleased to be in
public housing. "This was a big step," recalls Norwood.
"It was a new housing development, with young couples
with young children. It was much safer than an average
apartment building as far as fire was concerned and I
knew we'd always have shelter, heat and hot water."
Norwood still has shelter, heat and hot water but she
no longer feels entirely safe in her first floor apartment.
Over the years, the project has become increasingly
filled with the poorest of the city's residents. Upkeep of
the grounds declined, security became lax and crime
and drugs turned into a prevalent concern. "This is what
happens when you place such a huge amount of people
in a small space," says Norwood.
Housing theorists have come around to Norwood's
point of view and much of the subsidized housing
While the fight about income levels has
received the most attention, Rev. Daniel,
ACORN and a number of church and civic
groups are starting to address deeper ques-
tions: Why is the New York City Partnership
the biggest builder in Bedford-Stuyvesant
when a network of community-based organi-
zations already exists? Will new housing be
accompanied by job-training programs, so-
cial services, better transportation? How can
local people become involved in the plan-
ning process so they truly benefit from the
changes?
8/0ck builder.:
Evelyn Warren, 8eHina Calloway and Kimbel Warren on Marcy Avenue.
Some of these questions are actually being
heard in City Hall. As City Limits goes to press, Catie
Marshall, a spokesperson for the mayor, says, "The
original plan is being expanded to include social serv-
ices and commercial development." When asked about
income levels, the number of people that will be dis-
placed and the involvement ofthe Partnership, Marshall
says, "At this point we're not ready to discuss that in
detail. But let me tell you, the income levels are just not
that high."
Huge Public Housing Complexes
Not so long ago, the city had little to do with housing
and the federal government was the biggest builder in
town. Between 1949 and 1986, 12 public housing
complexes with 8,174 apartments were constructed in
Bedford-Stuyvesant, with the greatest concentration in
the northern part of the community.
Pearl Norwood, 56, is one of the original tenants of
Sumner Houses, one of the largest public housing com-
plexes in Bedford-Stuyvesant. When Norwood and her
currently being built consists of small homes, buildings
or townhouses, sometimes with a mix of incomes. Yet
the protests against Saratoga Square show that there is
more being questioned than housing type, income"level
or even homeownership. "The issue is comprehensive
community development," says Rev. Daniel. "There has
to be a sincere effort and commitment to include the
neighborhood residents in the planning process." As he
sees it, what's at stake is nothing less than local people's
right to self-determination.
The Longest Wait
When it comes to controlling their destiny, blacks in
Bedford-Stuyvesant have been fighting a long, hard
struggle. Back in the 19th century, the area was mostly
white, a genteel community of well-to-do European
immigrants in stately brownstone homes-but as early
as the 1820s the area also included free black settlements
(one of them, Weeksville, is preserved today as a mu-
seum).
After the turn of the century, blacks from Harlem, the
south and the West Indies migrated in great numbers to
Central Brooklyn and tension mounted between whites
and blacks. In fact, the term "Bedford-Stuyvesant"
wasn't coined until 1931, when there were newspaper
reports about blacks and whites stockpiling arms against
each other in what was then two separate communities.
As historian Earnest Quimby explains in an essay on
Bedford-Stuyvesant in the book, "Brooklyn, USA," much
of the area started to become run down during the de-
pression of the 1930s, when many landlords couldn't
afford to pay their mortgages and stopped doing mainte-
nance work. They also began to rent apartments to more
blacks-at higher rents than those charged for whites.
Overt discrimination was still the rule of the day, and it
was impossible for a black resident to be served in a local
restaurant or sit with whites in a movie theater.
Between 1930 and 1940, the black population of
Bedford-Stuyvesant increased from 11 percent to 33 per-
cent. Most lived in overcrowded rooming houses, al-
though an elite purchased pri vate homes along Stuyvesant
Avenue. As the black population continued to grow and
eventually became a majority, police and sanitation
services decreased and the entire area acquired a repu-
tation for crime and vice. In 1943, there was even a grand
jury investigation into neighborhood conditions. News-
paper reports provided lurid details about the area, even
though there were still patches of stability. In 1948, the
Brooklyn Eagle reported, "Bedford-Stuyvesant is one
big, continuous slum, largely populated by Negroes."
Between the 1950s and the 1970s, discrimination
continued to wreak havoc. There was widespread block-
busting (panic-selling induced by real-estate agents
appealing to the fears of white homeowners) and banks
wouldn't give mortgages to blacks in a practice known as
redlining. But shady mortgage brokers encouraged pro-
spective black or Puerto Rican home buyers to acquire
homes at inflated prices. When the new homeowners
couldn't make their mortgage payments, the families
lost their homes and the mortgage brokers collected their
money on federally insured loans. When the city was hit
by recession, hundreds of buildings were abandoned
and blight continued to spread.
Solid Institutions
Still, the reality of Bedford-Stuyvesant was not so
straightforward. The black middle class established
solid institutions and self-help efforts that started back
in the 1800s were continued in modern form. The
Paragon Progressive Credit Union was formed in 1939
and the Central Brooklyn Coordinating Council (CBCC),
which included more than 100 organizations, was set up
in 1958. It was CBCC that lay the groundwork for what
was eventually the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Cor-
poration, the nation' s first community development
corporation (see City Limits, October 1987).
The 1960s were a time when black power and calls
for community control were part ofthe national lexicon
and Bedford-Stuyvesant was at the forefront of activity.
Local activists did extensive community planning and
along with Pratt Institute planners they invited Sen.
Robert Kennedy to tour the neighborhood and consider
their plan. After the tour, Kennedy attended a commu-
,..-_.
/
Rudy aryant, Pratt 'n.titute:
oW.',.. working from tIt. bCl$ic auump'
lion "'at tIt. communityi. going to b.
red.v.'oped. " .
May 1990 15
nity meeting and
promised to con-
duct an in-depth
study of the
area's problems.
Elsie Richard-
soh, now 68, con-
ducted the tour
and chaired the
meeting. "I said
to him, 'We don't
need any more
studies, we've
been studied to
death!'" recalls
the local resi-
dent, who is still
acti ve in the
community.
Later on, one of
the Kennedy staf-
fers called Rich-
ardson at her
home and asked
her to set up a committee to chart the area' s future. This
committee became the Bedford-Stuyvesant Renewal and
Rehabilitation Corporation, which developed a broad-
based community strategy. Later on, Richardson says,
Kennedy wanted Civil Court Judge Thomas Russell
Jones to head the board, and this led to a power struggle.
A new group, the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Cor-
poration, eventually emerged with Jones at the helm.
Restoration's early history remains controversial and
to this day the organization has two separate boards, one
comprised of community members, and another made
up of mostly corporate and political leaders from out-
side the area. Still, the activists who became disen-
chanted with Restoration had other activities to turn to:
the Central Brooklyn Model Cities Program was in full
swing and there was a movement to have to have
Stuyvesant Heights named a landmark preservation
district.
The fruits of these efforts are now evident: Bedford-
Stuyvesant Restoration built and rehabilitated 1,700
housing units, organized a $60 million home mortgage
pool and constructed Restoration Plaza, a $6 million
complex on Fulton Street that includes the Billie Holi-
day Theater, a post office, a recording studio, and 80
offices. Federal funding through the Model Cities Pro-
gram brought more than $30 million to Central Brooklyn.
The program included local people in decision-making
and led to youth training cadetships with the police and
fire departments as well as a summer academy that sent
youngsters out ofthe city to tour colleges. It also helped
create low-rise public housing on Gates Avenue as well
as community parks and swimming pools.
Despite this appearance of progress, the recent his-
tory of Bed-Stuy seems to be two steps forward, one step
back. As poverty deepened in the 1980s, funding for
local institutions was slashed. In the early 1980s, Bed-
Stuy Restoration had all of its federal funding elimi-
nated by the Reagan administration-twa-thirds of the
staff were dismissed and two outreach centers were
16 CITY LIMITS
closed. Today, the center's director, Roderick Mitchell,
says, "We're cautiously going forward. We're being
extremely conservative to make sure we can pay our
overhead costs."
Bed-Stuy was also dealt a blow by the emphasis that
City Hall and the Brooklyn borough president placed on
megadevelopment. While city-owned buildings remained
vacant, most of Brooklyn's public subsidies for develop-
ment were directed towards plans for the downtown
area. Mitchell says, "I can only point to the physical
realities. Downtown Brooklyn is being super-developed
and it's not taking place out here."
With the switch in city administrations, there is a
spark of hope for a return to community-crafted, inclu-
sionary planning. Rudy Bryant, associate director of the
Pratt Institute Center, has been working with the staff at
the Center for Law and Social Justice to create a plan.
"This is a planning and organizing effort," says Bryant.
"We're working from the basic assumption that the
community is going to be redeveloped." Sitting in his
office, Bryant reads a statement of purpose that echoes a
1960s-type agenda oflrocess as well as result: "It shall
not be enough to buil buildings, parks, playgrounds or
businesses if we are not also about the business of
helping out people who may be alienated or dependant
to become self-reliant."
A Mixed Community
Herbert Von King Park lies in the middle of Bedford-
Stuyvesant, a generous patch of green with a baseball
field, benches and a recreation center. On the blocks
surrounding the park, which was named after a commu-
nity activist, the population and housing type are mixed:
families living on welfare, middle class homeowners,
renovated brownstones, abandoned buildings, even
unsold condominiums.
Now we .11eef
more insurance
needs fhan ever
for groups
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Bettina Calloway, 31, has lived most of her life in
Bedford-Stuyvesant and currently resides at 722 Marcy
Avenue, a delapidated brownstone owned by the city.
Calloway'S sons and daughters help weed the commu-
nity garden and her sons grew up playing on the Bomb-
ers little league team in the park. The family belongs to
the Marcy-Tompkins Block Association, which has shut
down a Medicaid mill, put garbage cans on the corner
and forced the city to patch a particularly treacherous
pot-hole. "The block is so short you wouldn't think we'd
have a block association," says Calloway. "But it makes
a difference ... I can say for sure there isn' t a crack spot or
drug house on this block."
Kimbel and Evelyn Warren live three doors down
from Calloway, at 730 Marcy Avenue. They bought their
brownstone two years ago and transformed it from a
wrecked shell into an extremely comfortable home. It
was Evelyn Warren who established the block associa-
tion. "We're doing everything we can to improve the
neighborhood, " she says. "You'd be surprised how
simple it is once you start. I like to keep the whole block
clean. Sometimes I sweep from one end to another and
when people see me coming they decide to pick up a
broom on their own."
The neighborhood residents are pleased that their
area is being spruced up, but they aren't sure who will
reap the rewards of their labor. Kimbel Warren, a court
clerk, says he paid "significantly less than $50,000" for
his property; today the prices are beyond his reach.
"That's gentrification," he says. Calloway adds, "My
rent is $193 a month but some people on the block pay
six and change." She shakes her head in amazement then
wonders whether her kids, as well as other young blacks,
will be able to buy homes in the neighborhood. She
hopes so. "This is it," she says simply. "It's our home
spot." D
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May 1990 17
PIPELINE
Withstanding The Test of Time:
The Homesteaders of West J 05th Street
BY ERIKA MALLIN
IN 1979, A FLEDGLING GROUP OF
Harlem residents set out to
reclaim a row of seven aban-
doned buildings on a dere-
lict block. They started
work in the early days of
homesteading, a time when
there was growing support
and funding for grassroots
community efforts.
More than a decade later,
funding for neighborhood
self-help has declined
steeply and inner-city re-
newal is rarely in the pub-
lic spotlight. Yet the home-
steaders of West 105th
Street stayed true to their
goal and this summer 44
families are set to move into
newly renovated apart-
ments.
In many ways , the 105th
Street effort represents the
most extreme setbacks and
frustrations of homestead-
ing. Remarkable in size and
duration, the homesteaders
now view the project as a
"test put to them by God."
Appropriately enough,
the story of 105th Street
begins at a community
meeting in the basement of
Ascension Church on 107th
Street. A rumor had been
spreading down the aisles
of the church, up the eleva-
a plan called homesteading. You
would have to be willing to put your
time and labor in to gut, clean and do
tors of the nearby projects On-site celebration:
and through the sidestreets: The homesteaders outside one of their buildings_
on 105th Street there would
be apartments available to
own for the fantastical price of $250.
How Homesteading Works
Maria Soto, a longtime resident of
the area with a year of organizing ex-
perience, rose to address the audi-
ence of mostly first generation immi-
grants from Puerto Rico, Argentina,
Chile, Colombia and the Dominican
Republic. Tiny and seemingly frag-
ile with a soft, slow voice, she ex-
plained that the city was offering
some of its abandoned buildings for
finishing work. There were no guar-
antees, but if funding was secured,
in a few years time you could own
your apartment and never be forced
to move again. You could live in a
building where you knew your neigh-
bors' trusted them and could feel
safe. "If we stick together, we can do
it," she proclaimed.
Those assembled in the church
that day didn't need much prodding
when it came to prospects for decent
housing. From that first meeting
(
came the majority of the future home-
steaders; within two weeks 44 fami-
lies were committed to the project
and even more signed on to
the waiting list.
Jose and Sarah Ro-
driguez were involved in
the homesteading effort
from the beginning. He
works for the city and she is
a bookkeeper; the housing
project they inhabit is so
overrun with drug dealers
the couple and their three
children are wary of using
the elevator. Yet until the
homesteading project came
along, they had assumed
they couldn't afford to move
out of the project.
Work Begins
By 1981, the homestead-
ing group appeared to be on
solid ground. With the sup-
port of the Urban Home-
steading Assistance Board,
which had hired Soto to
recruit the homesteaders,
seed money was secured
from the Consumer-Farmer
Foundation, which assists
low income housing efforts.
Then-mayor Edward I. Koch
attended the groundbreak-
ing that same year and
crowbars, hammers and
dumpsters arrived on the
site ushering in the first
phase of work: demolition
and clean-up.
Jose Rodriguez compares
the early homesteading ef-
forts to "being blind and
needing someone to help you cross
the street. We divided up the work,
though, and those who knew one
thing would show the rest of us."
Recalling the excitement of the early
days, he says, "You can't put a price
on how it feels to knock walls down
together."
Maria Soto smiles when she looks
back on the days when her niece
Alexandria would come along to the
work site with a toy tool kit. While
Maria lugged bricks out to the
18 CITY UMITS
dumpster, Alexandria tapped the
floors with her plastic hammer.
The following year the project
acquired construction funding
through a federal program known as
Section 8 and the Co-op Bank in
Washington, D.C. put a $1.3 million
loan in the pipeline. The promise of
financing combined with the sweat
After five years
of hard labor,
they were back
at square one . .
equity of the homesteaders made
success 'a tangible possibility: con-
struction could begin within two
years.
Landlord Returns
What happened next took every-
one involved in the project by sur-
prise. In 1983, with homesteading in
full swing, the prior landlord, Raleigh
Davenport,returned to the building
and tri.ed to reclaim it. He charged
that the city had not notified him
when they seized the building be-
cause of back taxes and a two-year
court battle' ensued.
With the ownership of thebuild-
ing in question, the intricately crafted
funding components were torn asun-
der. Federal officials would not
renew their subsidy allocation and
the Co-op Bank withdrew support
without the backing of Section 8
funds. After five years of hard labor,
the project was back at square one.
Though the group continued to
meet during this time and felt a glim-
mer of hope when the city won the
case, the future appeared bleak. The
only ~ o n e y coming in was the $10
monthl y contribution from the home-
steaders. Finances were so tight the
group couldn't even afford insurance,
so homesteaders who worked on the
buildings did so at their own risk.
Adding to the gloom, the city and
federal government began pulling
away from homesteading and it be-
came clear that the rush of support
and financing in the 1970s was just
that-a brief surge.
During this time, Sarah and Jose
Rodriguez began arguing about the
105th Street project. "I had lost all
hope," Sarah Rodriguez admits. "I
told Jose I didn't want to hear about
it anymore."
"I just kept on going to meetings,"
recalls Jose Rodriguez. "We worked
on the building anyway without
insurance, without anything." Even
today, as the couple looks back on
those times, silence falls over
them.
Maria Soto, the project's enduring
cheerleader and morale booster, also
appears weary when she recalls those
days. She had to contend with
complaints, tears and threats to aban-
don the project. Some families did
leave, but of the 44 families that
began, 37 have remained for the
duration.
Albany Trust
After three lean years without any
promise of funding, a new opportu-
nity appeared with the establishment
of the state's Housing Trust Fund.
An application was completed and
sent to Albany, but again there was
disappointment: 105th Street was
rejected. Undaunted, the homestead-
ers reapplied the next year, armed
with letters from the Catholic Church
and local politicians. This time
around 105th Street was successful
and was awarded $2 million.
But the struggle wasn't over. Eight
years after the original estimates, the
cost of construction had risen and
the Housing Trust Fund money was
simply not enough. By now the final
budget had soared to more than $3.5
million, about $80,000 per unit. After
extensive "friend of a friend" out-
reach, particularly from Andrew
Reicher, executive director of the
Urban Homesteading Assistance
Board, the First Nationwide Bank of
California issued the project a loan
of $1.2 million dollars.
On July 21,1988, the group closed
on the construction loan and became
the 105th Street Homesteaders De-
velopment Fund Corporation. Now
the major construction is finished,
final touches are being completed
and 44 families are anxiously wait-
ing to move in.
The 11-year ordeal has clearly
influenced the individual home-
steaders. "Before this we didn't care
like everybody else," Sarah Ro-
driguez recalls. Now her husband,
Jose, has begun to go to community
board meetings and is working on
neighborhood improvement beyond
his building.
"We are really radicals because
we are fighting for something that is
ours, and just because we don't have
the cash, they feel we can't have it,"
he says. "You know the one thing
about being poor is once you work
for something and get it, you never
let it go." D
Erika Mallin previously worked in
community development and is now
a freelance writer living in New York.
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May 1990 19
CITY VIEW
HomeoYffnership:
more overdue in payments) attests to
the less than perfect security pro-
vided by "ownership" when a lend-
ing institution holds a large mort-
gage over your property.
Whose Got To Have It?
Control over one's immediate liv-
ing environment has to do largely
with structuring and reshaping one's
living space, from hanging pictures
on the wall to having pets to doing
major additions and remodelling.
Control over one's environment is of
course closely related to security of
tenure: one will not do much in the
way of "do-it-yourself" work, let
alone contracting out for work by
outside craftspersons, without the
assurance that one can stay around
to enjoy the expenditure of money,
time and energy.
BY CHESTER HARTMAN
"THE AMERICAN DREAM" IS THE
standard formulation for homeown-
ership in the U.S. of A. Roughly two
out of three
Americans
live in homes
they own and
at the highest
income lev-
els, where
presumably
there are no
financial con-
straints on
choice, more
than 90 per-
centofAmeri-
can house-
holds are
homeowners.
Why is this? It's not a question of
housing type-the free-standing
single-family home with a yard can
be rented or bought and condomin-
ium and cooperative arrangements
allow ownership ofindividual units
in multi-family buildings.
Basically, we can tie the owner-
ship urge to two types of motiva-
tion-economic and non-economic.
The former is based on the tax sys-
tem and the housing market, which
make homeowners hip a pretty good
deal , at least for those in the middle
and upper income categories. The
income tax system favors homeown-
ership to a remarkable degree, treat-
ing as deductible items virtually all
mortgage interest and property tax
payments; protecting from taxation
the capital gain from selling one's
home; and not taxing the imputed
rental value of the home one lives in.
The mortgage interest and property
tax deductions alone are worth close
to $50 billion a year , and about two-
thirds of the benefits flow to taxpay-
ers earning more than $50,000 a year.
Additionally, the inflationary hous-
City View is a forum for opinion
and does not necessarily reflect
the views of City Limits.
ing market of the past two decades
has pretty much ensured that in most
local markets the val ue of one's home
will rise.
Status and Control
The non-economic reasons why
homeownership is the preferable
form of tenure in the U.S. revolve
around status and control. Our soci-
ety has always made a big deal about
property ownership (not until the
1850s did the last states give up their
requirements that only land owners
could vote). Homeownership tends
to connote respectability, responsi-
bility, stability, authority, success
and all those other good things.
The control issue is about security
of tenure and autonomy over shap-
ing one's immediate living environ-
ment. A renter without a lease has
essentially 30-days security: the
building owner can force a moveout,
without a com-
pelling reason
being necessary.
Urban Village
In 1961, while in graduate school,
I began work on the West End Proj-
ect, a National Institute of Mental
Health-funded research effort to
study the effects of relocation on
tenants displaced by urban renewal
from Boston's West End. That neigh-
borhood-Herbert Gans' "urban vil-
lage"-was a tight-knit, primarily
Italian -American
community, with
A lease provides
security for the
duration of the
agreement-usu-
ally one to three
years. In those
few jurisdictions
that have eviction
protections there
may be additional
security, but even
these protections
can be diluted
The tax
extraordinary ex-
tended family and
friendship net-
works (West En-
ders would often
speak of "going to
Boston" when
leaving the area
for work or shop-
ping, even though
the neighborhood
was less than a
quarter mile from
system favors
homeownership
to a remarkable
degree.
enormously. A
home is so basic to a person's self-
concept, family life, security and
community ties that it is astounding
to realize that the legal concept and
implementation of "property rights"
can, in a few weeks, completely
undermine the expectations and
patterns a family may have devel-
oped over a 30-year period.
As long as they pay their mortgage
and property tax bills, homeowners
have far more security of tenure-
although the relatively high mort-
gage delinquency rate (one out of
every 16 mortgages is 30 days or
City Hall and the
downtown shop-
ping/office district). The buildings
were almost all densely sited four-
and five-story walk-up tenements,
violating all the prevailing planners'
norms about open space, setbacks,
density and the like (which of course
provided the professional rationale
for the "slum" clearance needed to
permit upper income redevelopment
as part of the urban renewal pro-
gram). But when interviewers en-
tered these apartments the disparity
between neighborhood/building
appearance and the condition and
appearance of the apartment space
20 CITY LIMITS
itself was staggering. In my very first
article in an academic journal
("Social Values and Housing Orien-
tations," from a 1983 issue of the
Journal of Social Issues), I quoted
some representative interviewer
comments about the apartments:
"Well furnished, elaborately deco-
rated, kitchen was all modern utili-
ties and conveniences ," and
"Respondent' s apartment...is ex-
tremely well kept, very nicely fur-
nished. The floors are fine hard-
wood and walls are hand-painted
murals or such, done by her hus-
band. "
The explanation of this apparent
contradiction was to be found in the
concept of security of tenure: 44
percent of the 473 families inter-
viewed had been living in the same
apartment for at least nine years
(neighborhood stability was even
greater-56 percent had lived in the
West End at least 19 years!), a fact
attributable to the close-knit nature
of the neighborhood. Landlords of
these small tenements were for the
most part friends , often relatives and
past or current neighbors of the ten-
ants. For a variety of reasons , rents
were extremely low, even by late
1950s standards (average rent was
$42).
And so, in those days before there
was widespread recognition of the
disruption the federal bulldozer
could cause, these West End tenants
regarded their apartments as their
own, to remain in as long as they
wished; and, because they had low
rents and little reason to fear a rent
increase, they had the financial abil-
ity to improve their apartments as if
they owned them.
Policy Lessons
There are some powerful lessons
here for housing policy. Under the
proper conditions, some elements of
the "homeownership bundle" can be
achieved without formal, legal own-
ership. People can-and should-
have security of tenure, whether or
not they are legal owners of the prop-
erty. This can be achieved, albeit
likely in rare instances, via social
relationships between landlord and
tenants (and while there are not that
many West Ends left, due in no small
part to the urban renewal and high-
way programs, many landlord-ten-
ant relationships in small buildings
contain strong personal elements that
militate against eviction and rent
increases that threaten security of
tenure). But more realistically, it
can be done through passage of laws
that create statutory life tenure for
tenants who continue to pay their
(regulated) rent and who do not vio-
West End tenants
regarded their
apartments as
their own, to
remain in as long
as they wished.
late reasonable rules with respect to
property care and the rights of fellow
tenants.
A second, important lesson from
the West End is that affordable, pre-
dictable rents, combined with se-
cure tenure, can produce not only
responsible property maintenance by
residents but improvements of the
type usually associated only with
homeowners.
It is important to parse out these
socially and personally beneficial
attributes of homeownership from
the economic benefits , which while
seeming to help individuals are so-
cially harmful. Put crassly, nearly
every homeowner, at the time of
selling his or her home, is a profit
maximizer, trying to get the best price
the market will provide. Home pur-
chasers are, correspondingly, forced
to pay maximum prices for their new
residences, and the overall price
structure for this basic need keeps
ratcheting upward, making housing
less and less affordable for everyone.
(Thus, the illusion of benefit referred
to above: if one has to buy or rent in
the same inflated housing market
one has helped to create, the appar-
ent economic gain may be dissipated.)
We can create a housing system
that retains and strengthens the non-
economic value of traditional home-
ownership while eliminating the
economic dimension. Forms of so-
cial ownership-by land trusts, lim-
ited- and non-equity cooperatives,
community development corpora-
tions, public agencies and other
entities-do this, and we should be
working to implement housing pro-
grams that embody the principle of
permanently affordable and non-
profit, non-speculative ownership.D
The IPS Working Group on Housing
has developed, "The Right to Hous-
ing: A Blueprint for Housing the
Nation ." It is available ($7, postage
included) from Community Econom-
ics, Inc., 1904 Franklin Street, #904,
Oakland CA 94612.
SUPPORT SERVICES FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
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Call or write Sue Fox
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NEW YORK, N.Y. 10025
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LETTERS
Informative Article
To the Editor:
I represent a nonprofit organiza-
tion that owns and operates two adult
homes. One ofthese is a more tradi-
tional adult home serving very frail
and sometimes mentally impaired
older persons. The other will serve a
younger population of formerly
homeless mentally impaired persons.
I read Marguerite Holloway'S ar-
ticle "No Place Like Home" in the
March edition of City Limits. I found
it very interesting and informative; it
covered a lot of ground.
Join the
Self Help Works
Federal Credit Union
serving people
and buildings
' in self-help housing for
Regular Savings
Personal Loans
Building Loans
40 Prince Street, NYC 10012
(212) 226-4119
I am a subscriber to City Limits.
Your publication is very useful and
important to my work assisting
nonprofit developers of low income
housing. City Limits keeps me abreast
of so much. I sincerely appreciate
your effort.
Martin N. McCarthy
Manhattan
Free Sub in the Maill
To the Editor:
I'm sorry. I'm 80 years old and can
May 1990 21
no long afford [a subscriptionl. I
helped you to begin. Please keep up
the good work.
Helen Atkinson
Manhattan
Editor's note: City Limits wel-
comes letters from our readers.
But we ask that you try to keep
your letters to 300 words in
length.
KOJO'S EXTERMINATING COMPANY, INC.
(16 years of experience in Pest Elimination)
BUILDINGS CAN NOW OBTAIN A SIX (6) MONTH
WRITTEN GUARANTEE FOR MICE ELIMINATION
For Additional Information Regarding
Other Pest Elimination and Free Estimates:
CALL: (718) 217-2384
"COMMITMENT"
Since 1980 HEAT has provided low cost home heating oil. burner and boiler repair services.
and energy management and conservation services to largely minority low and middle income
neighborhoods in the Bronx. Brooklyn. Manhattan and Queens.
As a proponent of economic empowerment for revitalization of the city's communities. HEAT is
committed to assisting newly emerging managers and owners of buildings with the reduction of
energy costs (long recognized as the single most expensive area of building management) .
HEAT has presented tangible opportunities for tenant associations. housing coops. churches.
community organizations. homeowners and small businesses to gain substantial savings and
lower the costs of building operations.
Working collaboratively with other community service organizations with similar goals. and
working to establish its viability as a business entity. HEAT has committed its revenue gener-
ating capacity and potential to providing services that work for. and lead to. stable. productive
communities.
Through the primary service of providing low cost home heating oil, various heating
plant services and energy management services, HEAT members have collectively
saved over $5.1 million. .
HOUSING ENERGY ALLIANCE FOR TENANTS COOP CORP.
853 BROADWAY. SUITE 414. NEW YORK. N.Y. 10003 (2121505-0286
If you are interested in learning more about HEAT,
or if you are interested in becoming a HEAT member,
call or write the HEAT office.
.- Ie 0 .,' .: s S 0 :\ .\ ., ... Ie .': {' '.' 0 .e "
Barry K. Mallin
Attorney At Law
A decade of service representing
community development organizations
and low income cooperatives.
56 Thomas Street
New York, N.Y, 10013
Telephone 212/619-6800
DEBRA BECHTEL - Attorney
Concentrating in Real Estate & Non-Profit Law
Title and loan closings D All city housing programs
Mutual housing associations D Coopertive conversions
Advice to low income co-op boards of directors
100 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201, (718) 624-6850
architectural/engineering services for nonprofit delfelopers
o Building Evaluation and Inspection
D Feasibility Studies D Construction Supervision
o Preliminary Design/Scope of Work Studies
D Complete Construction Drawings & Specifications
Call John Harris RA. for an evaluation of your project's needs
458 BERGEN STREET, BROOKLYN, NY 11217 (718) 398-1440
BERNARD CARR ASSOCIATES
J-51 TAX BENEFIT EXPEDITING
Specialists in:
HDFC'S Gut Rehabilitation
Vacant Building Program Developments
CALL TODAY FOR A FREE CONSULTATION
1740 Victor Street, Bronx, NY 10462 Tel. (212)824-5044
PDS ASSOCIATES
Design and Development Assistance for
Community Development Corporations
Full Range of Architectural Services, Feasibility Studies, Bid
Preparation & Construction Management, Land Use Planningl
Zoning Analysis, Fundraising & Financial Planning, Project
Development & Oversight For Industrial , Commercial and
Residential Revitalization
Tel. 718/855-5045 Fax. 718/797-5384
COMPUTER-EASE
Got MAC Files but a PC Computer?
Got PC Files but a MAC Computer?
CITY LIMITS Can Solve Your Problems!
Just $10 to Convert a File
Many Programs Available - Quick Turnaround
Call CITY LIMITS: 212/925-9820
SMOLLENS and GURALNICK,
COUNSELLORS AT LAW
Specializing in representing tenants only in
landlord/tenant proceedings, cooperative
conversions, loft proceedings. We represent
sellers/buyers in house, condo and co-op closings.
15 Maiden Lane, Suite 1800
New York, NY 10038
2121406-3320
ARl:WTEl:TURAL &: PLANNING DIVISION
Urban Homesteading Assistance Board
Specialists In Nonprofit Housing
and Community Facilities
FULL ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES
Zoning Analyses' Design Through Construction Documents
Inspection, Evaluation & Feasibility Reports
Contact Betsy Calhoun or Paul Castrucci, A.A. 212/226-4119
40 Prince Street, New York, NY 10012
Abeles Phillips Preiss & Shapiro, Inc.
Zoning
Land Use
Planning and Development Consultants
Real Estate Feasibility
Economic Development
Housing
Market Studies
434 Sixth Ave., New York NY 10011
307 N. Main St. , Highstown NJ 08520
212-475-3030
609-448-4753
Himmelstein & McConnell
Attorneys at Law
Residential and commercial tenant representation
in individual and group cases; cooperative and condo-
minium conversions and cooperative board represen-
tation; real estate; closings, general civil practice,
325 Broadway, Suite 402
New York, NY 10007
(212) 349-3000
WORKSHOP
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. Expanding community-based nonprofit
housing developer seeks expd indiv responsible for the admini-
stration, coordination & overall implementation of program areas
incldg homesteader rehab, property mgmt, membership coordi-
nation & development of new construction & mgmt programs.
5yrs exp in nonprofit organizational mgmt. Demonstrated ability
in budgeting, fundraising, fiscal mgmt, writing/speaking & in
working w/diverse constituencies. Resume: MHANY Search
Committee, 300 Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11217 by May 7.
718/789-5960.
SOCIAL WORKER. Exciting oppty to direct a small mental health
drop in center serving homeless individuals on Manhattan'S
Upper West Side. CSW reqd. Mental health & supervisory exp
strongly prefd. Salary: $31,500 plus full university bnfts. Resume:
. Andrea White, Columbia University Community Services, 635 W.
115th St, NYC 10025. Women & minorities especially encour-
aged. Affirmative Action/EOE.
HOUSING RELOCATION SPECIALIST. The American Red Cross in
Greater NY seeks an individual for their housing facilities for
homeless families in Brooklyn, NY. Candidate will help relocate
families to permanent housing. Includes contact w/private, public
& nonprofit housing sectors, advocacy, referrals & follow-up work
w/relocated families. BA w/exp in housing and/or social services
& NY State driving license. Excellent communication, writing &
organizational skills needed. Bilingual English/Spanish prefd.
Minimum salary of $22,832. Excellent benefits. Send resume,
which must include salary history, to: Deborah Henderson, Human
Resources, Dept C, American Red Cross In Greater New York,
150 Amsterdam Avenue, NYC 10023. EOE-M/F.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL. State Senator Franz S. Leichter, represent-
ing West Side and Northern Manhattan, seeks staff attorney to
prepare & oversee legislative program, conduct issues research
& investigations, handle media relations. Work in Albany on
legislative session days, downtown Manhattan office other days.
Salary $35,000 to $50,000. Resume: Senator Franz S. Leichter,
270 Broadway, Room 1812, NYC 10007.
May 1990 23
COMMUNITY ORGANIZER/DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST. Simeon Hous-
ing Corporation seeks individual to develop affordable housing in
parish area & work to organize parishoners & neighborhood
residents around local issues. Responsibilities incld supervising
DHCR housing trust fund grant for the rehab of 3 vacant build-
ings, oversee construction, renting & management, fundraising,
loan packaging & overall organizational development. Commu-
nity organizing & cmmty-based exp prefd. Resume: Father Davies-
Jones, 1020 Carroll Place, Bronx, NY 10456.
PERSONNELSPECIALIST. The Manpower Research Demonstration
Corp (MRDC). a leading nonprofit social policy research org,
seeks knowledgeable, well organized, personnel profeSSional
(B.A. , 3yrs + exp) to administer procedures & benefits program,
process forms & maintain records, recruit & interview, communi-
cate effectively w/staff & assist Personnel Director in reviewing
benefit packages, complying w/govt regulations, etc. Competi-
tive salary commens w/exp & exc bnfts. Resume/3 refs: J. Healy,
MDRC, 3 Park Avenue, NYC 10016. ANEOE.
STAFF OPENING TO FILL?
ADVERTISE YOUR JOB/INTERNSHIP
IN THE "WORKSHOP"
HOUSING THE ENVIRONMENT
SOCIAL WORK COMMUNITY JOBS URBAN
PLANNING NON-PROFIT MANAGEMENT
AND MUCH MORE
RATES: $40.00 for a maximum of 50 words.
Display Help Wanted - $30 per col. inch
DEADLINE: 15th of the month for the next issue.
Call Harry at 212/925-9820 to place your ad!
Or FAX it to CITY LIMITS at 212/966-3407!
Hold These Oates
NOVEMBER 6 - 8, 1990
UPROOTING POVERTY
THROUGH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
In celebration of our 25th anniversary, the Pratt Institute Center for Community
and Environmental Development will be sponsoring a working conference
to develop a new agenda for eliminating poverty.
For groups wishing to participate in the event, please contact :
Eva Neubauer, Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development,
379 DeKalb Avenue, 2nd floor Brooklyn, NY 11205, 718/636-3486
Eddie Bautista, Beverly Cheuvront, Hrant Gadarigian, Lisa Glazer,
Rebecca Reich, Andrew Reicher, Richard Rivera, Tom Robbins,
Ron Shiffman, Jay Small, Walter Stafford and Doug Turetsky
Cordially Request Your Presence
at our
Spectacular Spring Fundraiser
for
City Limits
Tuesday, June 5th, 6:00 p.m.
The Place: Two Boots Restaurant
514 Second Street, Park Slope, Br ooklyn
$10 Cover * Sumptuous Hors d'oeuures * Cash Bar
Music * Children Under 10Free
r - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ,
RSVP
o Reserve _ tickets to the party at $10 each.
o I want to be a Patron of the event.
Enclosed is my tax deductible contribution
of: 0$50 0$100 0$200 0$_other.
Name Phone _
Address _
City State __ Zip __
Make checks payable to:
City Limits, 40 Prince Street, New York, NY 10012
L ~
Call 212/925-9820 for further infor mation