Dead Rabbit News

Illegal Hotels On Fox

2012-02-07T17:07:00.001-05:00

Illegal Hotels Problem Continues

Why The Rent Regulated Tenants Need Their Own Occupy Wall Street (Part One of Three)

2012-01-22T20:57:00.000-05:00

Previously published in the Time Square Chronicles.

There were signs that longstanding issues such as home rule, illegal hotels and the expansion various housing programs would finally be addressed, despite the influence the real estate boards enjoyed through the halls of Albany and City Hall in Manhattan . All of the stars were aligned as if New York State would lead the country when it came to providing affordable housing to the working class. It seemed like the work of organizations such as Tenant’s And Neighbors, Housing Here and Now and The Westside Neighborhood Alliance had finally started to bear fruit. But it didn’t take long before a series of events dashed those hopes.

For the second straight year, the Rent Guide Lines Board has granted landlords the right to exorbitant rent hikes despite reports by the RGB that landlords are currently making record profits even after operating costs are factored in. In 2011, one year renewed leases were raised by 3.25% and 7.25% for two year leases. The decision for these rent hikes came after a March 24th ruling by an appeals court panel that overturned the rulings by lower courts to do away with, what had long been known as, the “Poverty Tax” in the Casado v. Markus” case. According to an article by Met Council, the decision now forces tenants who pay less than $1000 dollars a month and have lived in their apartments for more than 6 years to pay a minimum rent increase established in 2008 and 2009. To date those increases are $45 dollars for one year leases and $85 dollars on two year leases. Tenants, who pay more than $1000 dollars or have lived in their units less than 6 years, will now see a minimum increase of 4.5% on one year leases and 8.5% on two year leases. These increases have already had a negative impact on lower income tenants 70% of which are Black, Hispanic or Asian according to the Community Service Society. For more on what this means to you as a tenant or more information on the case you can look at the Met Council article at http://www.metcouncil.net/poor-tax-reinstated.htm.

On Friday July 19th of 2010, many activists within the tenant’s movement were elated when the long fought for illegal hotels bill passed in Albany . The law now clearly established a minimum stay as 30 days. Those within the movement were fighting for a minimum of 6 months. The legislation finally gave some real power to OSE (Office of Special Enforcement).

Several complications have slowed the progress. The current housing laws state that the penalty for violating this law is a flat charge of $800 no matter how many rooms are being used or how many people are in each room. Landlords continue to write off these violation charges as just the cost of doing business and their fines are usually recovered in a single night. Housing agencies are now going after the perpetrators by issuing other violations which includes, overcrowding, fire hazards and no secondary exit. However, those who make the necessary repairs often go back to their old ways. To combat this problem the same law makers from the New York City Council have introduced what is being called the Fines Bill. This new legislation, which is similar to the earlier bill of a few years ago Intro-534, would charge each building owner a rate based on how many rooms are illegally being used for transient purposes and every night that these violations occur. What really adds weight to the bill is that the rate of violation charges would increase every time landlords are found committing these crimes. Unfortunately, there is no word of when or even if this bill will come up for a vote.
The most profound problem affecting the enforcement of this law is that the office of Mayor Bloomberg seems to be purposely underfunding OSE to the point that they have less than five inspectors, police officers and lawyers at any given time who are in charge of investigation in all five boroughs. As a result, the process of closing down illegal hotel operations has been painfully slow and in many cases, most if not all of the tenants in a given building have either been harassed or evicted from their homes; many of the evictions coming through questionable means. Some now look at the agency as being impotent at its current size, but to date there are no signs that the Mayor’s office is looking to add more funding to the agency.

While things are certainly looking rather sketchy for tenants these days, some within the housing movement are looking at how to push back. Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, there are now calls for a city wide rent strike along with pushing forward legislation such as the Fines Bill. With so many New Yorkers living next door to empty apartments or to illegal tourists, or facing eviction, it is time for tenants to finally draw a line in the sand. Part two of this article will focus on solutions on what tenants can do to fight back.
Until next time…

Why Tenants Need Their Own Occupy Movement (2 of 3)

2012-01-22T20:51:00.000-05:00

Previously published in the Time Square Chronicles.

Just days after New York City and Berkley California police brutally cracked down on Occupy activists, with attacking ranging from the pepper spraying of students to assault with batons on defenseless protestors, award winning journalist Naomi Wolf chronicled the events in an article published in the Guardian Of London, entitled, "The shocking truth about the crackdown on Occupy." In response to bombardment by the media that Occupy Movement lacked any real message, Wolf conducted an online fact finding survey where she asked those within the movement what it was that they wanted. The most common answer was getting corporate dollars out of government. The effects of this problem has been felt by New York State's community rights groups who have been dealing with Real estate money in Albany and NYC's City Hall now for decades.

The flow of this sector's cash as been has forced many Democrats to play both sides of the fence, on one hand appealing to their supporters by publically supporting none controversial bills such as the extension of the rent protection laws or continued funding for several housing programs like Mitchell Lama, but without increasing resources for said program. On the other hand, many Democrats, and just about all Republicans are not willing to bring any bill to the floor of the State Senate which would reinstate home rule for New York State and repeal, Urstadt Law, which prevents New York city from setting its own rent laws.

The effects of the landlord lobbies influence on many close election campaign races especially in Albany can't go un-noticed when one realizes that it took 18 years for upstate lawmakers to come up with a plan to pass the extension of rent protection laws with actually weakening them. Despite some notable improvements to the law the most degenerative part of these rules has been kept in place, that is vacancy decontrol which allows landlords to take units and eventually whole buildings out of rent regulation once certain thresholds are met. Under the old guidelines, once an apartment is vacant and the rent reached $2000 dollars a month, the apartment would could be moved to market rate, which means rent protection would be removed from how much the landlord could actually increase the rent for that unit once the magic number is reached. Under the new guidelines that mark is now $2,500 which could be reached just as easily through a series of improvements to the building or unit. Since vacancy deregulation has been in place at least, 300,000 once regulated homes have been become market rate and have led to the displace of untold long time New York City residents. This provision allows those within the real estate industry insiders, i.e. building owners to site back, knowing that the pool of affordable units in all five boroughs will eventually recede to untenable numbers. Adding the problem is the Rent Guideline Boards' constant granting of rent increases every year despite some of their own reports which that landlords continue to make record profit. All of this has led to the constant harassment of tenants especially in Manhattan's Upper Westside which has become the play ground for so called trust fund babies in recent decades.

But rent regulated tenants are not without recourse when it comes to protecting their homes. For example, landlords must provide renewal leases every year based on rent increased allowed by the RGB and must either by one or two year leases One of the most mentioned ways to protect one's rights as a tenant from being harassed or pushing for much needed repairs to get done seems to be building wide rent strikes. The effective way to do this would come through practices commonly used by most neighborhood organizations who often work with local tenants. The first step is identifying common problems being experience within a building. Most of the time one can accomplish this by speaking with one's neighbors and other tenants. Who is deciding to take this task on should try to get as many residents on board in creating a game plan in combating the harassment of tenants or the neglect of a building. In helps working with local neighborhood groups in coming to different solutions which may prove successful. Until recently, tenants and organizers from ACORN were known for putting together door knocking campaigns which bring as many tenants together to push landlords to make needed changes to the building. Many of these groups such as the Housing Conservation Coordinators often work tenants dealing problems along with employing housing lawyers who have been known to give legal advice in how to set up building rent strikes.

Since the loss of affordable housing has become so wide spread there is now movement to have a national day of action along with a city wide rent strike. The owner of the website NYC Rent Strike Dot Com is proposing a plan which would start January first, for those who wish to participate to withhold their rent for that month in order to slow down the flow of funding the one's building owners. He suggests could possible due it themselves or through a tenant board. Anyone who would take part in this action would pay their rent in February. There is also a call for that month to contact Governor Andrew Cuomo's office to demand that current protection of the rent laws be strengthened. The primary demand is to urge the Governor office to push for the end of vacancy decontrol and the furthering rent protection laws for all New York City renters. He does warn, however that any action taken can lead to legal actions for those who get involved which may effect their current lease. He also warns that one may wind up on a tenants black list which is used by landlord's around the city against tenants who wind up in housing court for any given reason concerning their rent. This list is used to block tenants who wish to move from their current home to another possible rent protected building.

However, the thought of committing to a rent strike may leave some renters a bit wheezy. That's why individuals or those who live in a well organized building can file a harassment lawsuit against the building owner or landlord. These forms of harassment can range from threatening to harm to one's property or person, the cutting off of heat during winter or everyday hot water, the refusal to make vital repairs within in the building and taking selected tenants to court for frivolous claims. It should be noted that anyone willing to take this route should keep a detailed log of all harassment.

Since the occupy movement has started, so many every citizens have suddenly felt empowered to make a real difference in how their communities work. This is an important lesson to renters as well since the past several years about such scourges to New York City's affordable housing poll, such as the spread of illegal hotels, the mass deregulation of apartments units and so on. For many tenants, the time to fight back is now.

Until next time…

Blackout

2012-01-17T18:34:00.003-05:00

Hello all readers and viewers:

As a sign of protest I will be blacking out this site all day tomorrow in an effort to show discontent for the internet censor ship bills which are now haunting the halls of both houses of Congress.

Poetry Marathon

2011-12-19T16:53:00.002-05:00

This January please come to Saint Marks Church where both established and up and coming poets will be reading including myself.

Ace Mcnamara, Alan Licht, Alex Dimitrov, Amy King, Ana Božičević, Anne Tardos, Anne Waldman w/ Ambrose Bye & Daniel Carter, Anselm Berrigan, Ariana Reines, Arthur’s Landing, Barry Denny, Basil King, Betsy Fagin, Bill Kushner, Billy Lamont, Bob Hershon, Bob Rosenthal, Brian Blanchfield, Brenda Coultas, Brendan Lorber, Brett Price, Bruce Andrews & Sally Silvers, Bryn Kelly, CA Conrad, Charles Bernstein, Christine Elmo, Christopher Stackhouse, Church of Betty, Corina Copp, Corrine Fitzpatrick, Daniel Kent, David Freeman, David Henderson, David Shapiro, David St. Lascaux, Denize Lauture, Dgls. Rothschild, Don Yorty, Donna Brook, Dorothea Lasky, Douglas Dunn, Douglas Piccinnini, Drew Gardner, Dustin Williamson, Edgar Oliver, Ed Friedman, Edmund Berrigan, Eileen Myles, Elinor Nauen, Elizabeth Devlin, Elliott Sharp, Emily XYZ, Erica Kaufman, Erica Hunt & Marty Erlich, Erin Morrill, Evan Kennedy, Evelyn Reilly, Filip Marinovich, Foamola, Frank Sherlock, Franklin Bruno, Genya Turovskaya, Gillian McCain, Greg Fuchs, James Marshall, Janet Hamill, Jess Fiorni, Jim Behrle, Joe Elliot, Joe Ranono, John Coletti, John Giorno, John S. Hall, Jonas Mekas, Josef Kaplan, Judah Rubin, Judith Malina, Karen Weiser, Kathleen Miller, Katie Degentesh, Ken Chen, Ken Walker, Kenny Goldsmith, Kimberly Lyons, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Lee Ranaldo, Lenny Kaye, Leopoldine Core, Lonely Christopher, Macgregor Card, Maggie Dubris, Marcella Durand, Mariana Ruiz Firmat, Mark Nowak, Martha King, Matthew Abuelo, Miguel Gutierrez, Mitch Highfill, Mónica de la Torre, Nada Gordon, Nathaniel Siegel, Nick Hallett, Nicole Peyrafitte, Pamela Sneed, Patricia Spears Jones, Patti Smith, Paul Mills (Poez), Paul Legault, Penny Arcade, Peter Gizzi, Pierre Joris, Reuben Butchart, Rickey Laurentiis, Robert Ashley, Secret Orchestra (with Joanna Penn Cooper & J. Hope Stein), Shafer Hall, Simone White, Sinan Antoon, Stephanie Gray, Steve Dalachinsky, Steve Earle, Steven Taylor, Susan Landers, Susie Timmons, Suzanne Vega, Taylor Mead, Ted Dodson, Ted Greenwald, Thurston Moore, Todd Colby, Tom Carey, Tom Savage, Tony Towle, Tracey McTague, Tyler Burba, Wayne Koestenbaum, Will Edmiston, Will Yackulic, Yoshiko Chuma, Youmna Chlala, Yuko Otomo, Yvonne Meier, Nicole Wallace, Arlo Quint and Stacy Szymaszek.

http://poetryproject.org/program-calendar/38th-annual-new-years-day-marathon-benefit-reading.html

Why Religion And Morality Do Not Go Hand In Hand

2011-08-24T23:58:00.000-04:00

In The Beginning

The one thing that all religions seem to have in common is that they claim to know those things that they could not possible know, like what happens to you when die and the same time demand that we pretend ignorance about those things we must surely know, for example the world is for older than the 6 to 10 thousand years, as biblical that literalists would have believe. When it comes to the later, the most luminescent example one could one could ever hope to give is the treatment. In all religions, both polythic and monotheism religions, women are considered to inherently be born to a lower position. There is no mystery to what is behind this line of thinking. One must only read the text from the religious holy books.

Take for example the story Genesis where the character Eve, is accused of having no small part in having man banished from the Garden of Eden. At the same time maintaining an image which fits perfectly into the image that bronze man, held of women, that is, she was copious, naive, stupid and basically amoral character who helped bring mankind down by giving him the fruit of knowledge. And the child minded woman theme was really driven home by the fact that she allows herself to get duped by a reptile, i.e. the snake in the garden. Since the story was written prior to the New Testament and Christianity, there was no devil on demand, or any other being from hell which wasn’t brought until the dark ages, we know that the snake is but a lower creature in the story that represents temptation and would seem to be another obstacle to guarantee man’s failure in paradise. At this point in the story, the heroes of this chapter would seem to be little more than play things with the tree of knowledge and a roaming predator whose sole purpose would to be screwing up the works. But more to the point, she also helped expose the “great flow in man” which is that he is easily corrupted and led astray, since Adam did accept the fruit. The question that those within the religious community fail to ask is, “how did this great flaw first appear anyway?” Since, we’re supposedly “created” than the biblical god of Abraham, if your monolithic, or one of the many god’s for the polytheistic, must have placed it there as a sort of self destruct button which would all but guarantee our failure in this great experiment. The follow up question must be, was this flaw put there on purpose, or was it accidental. Either way the implications are rather serious.

If this great flaw was supposedly placed in man by accident, than the idea of God being fallible would become invalid since it would have been his mistake which led man and woman to a future of endless war, starvation, rape, ignorance and so on. At the very least one would have to say that such a God, should he or she exist, was incredibly apathetic about his or her work, possibly lazy and extremely incompetent and since the mistake was never corrected than he would have to be to vein to admit to the mistake and let man and woman trip all over themselves. The nearest solutions to this problem seem to be massive flooding, plaques and a human sacrifice quit out of the preview of two thirds of the world at time.

If the flaw was place there on purpose, than the Old Testament God would have to be one of the worst characters in fiction. To play such a game with species who is quit ware of what is going on round them, would make a creature horribly dictatorial at the time capricious, apathetic to his or her own children’s needs and since he constantly demand praise, would seem to have the self esteem of menopausal house wife.

Religion And Women’s Rights

Non-the less, biblical cultures seem to have let this figure off the hook, woman on the other hand has not been so lucky. Even for the cultures that do not follow the Adam and Eve myth, women most given cultures do seem to be taking on one burden or another. Let’s take countries that practice sharia law as a prime example, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Iraq now thanks George W Bush’s administration’s illegal war in the country. A woman who is raped in any these countries can be sentenced to death, divorced by her husband or disowned by her own family. The rapist himself would simply have to pay the husband for the crime, a monetary sum, not for committing a crime against the woman but for the destruction of the man’s private property.

Not long ago I spoke with an Egyptian friend of mine about the women of the Muslim faith being forced to wear burqas, we both agree that anyone should wear what they want to but as a pointed out, it would be horribly dishonest to make the claim that it’s a choice in the more conservative neighborhoods. After all what would/does happen to those girls who refuse where cover themselves like bee keepers? The most likely outcome I pointed out was that they probably be ostracized by their families and even disowned by their fathers. My friend, whose own father threatened her with death on more than one occasion for not being a proper Muslim, a situation she escaped from, that for many of these girls, the greatest fear is not what their families would do to them but rather they were taught to fear the lust of men.

But the treatment of women is far from the short comings in religion’s moral pool and Islam has no monopoly on shady practices of any sort. The Catholic Church is by far and away the king of despicable fraud.

The Catholic Church

All across the US, Catholics pay homage to the institution and this especially true among those who fall under the broad brush of Hispanics. This is especially important to remember when taking into account the millions of dollars spent on right wing groups, as Eduardo Galeano pointed out in his book, Upside Down, who have turned much of South and Central America into a killing floor. These groups include the Regan administration’s favorite narco-traffickers, the Contra’s of Nicaragua and the death squad of El Salvador who claimed the life of the Jesuit priest and civil Rights activist Oscar Romero during one of his sermons; the killers have been attached to the School Of The America’s located in Fort Benning Georgia. SOA, nicknamed the “School Of Assassins” has been behind the training of most of the death squads from Mexico down into Peru and everything in between. There most famous graduates are Augusto Pinochet of Chile and Manual Noriega, both of whom were well known for some of the largest massacres in their respective countries. At the time the Catholic Church was most involved in the funding of these right wing groups, all in the name of fighting communism and keeping down organized labor unions, most of the drugs being shot up into the veins of American students came from the very same nations, as well as the same political bodies that both Oliver North and the pope considered as pillars of their region.

But the Southern region of the Americas is far from the only region where the Catholic Church’s reach could be felt. As the novelist James Carroll, a Catholic himself points out in his book, Constantine's Sword; one of Adolf Hitler’s formal allies after taking office in 1938 was in fact the Catholic Church. In fact the Pope Pope Pius XII ordered those within his mass to sing praises to Hitler on his birthday. And as the ovens of Auschwitz were burning bright and Jews, Gypsies, socialists, union leaders and the mentally retarded were either being gassed, burned alive or the subject of some horrid experiment Rome thought it appropriate to take a vow of silence when it came to the holocaust, that is until it became politically impossible to continue to do so. Some morals hu?

During the early 1990s, when the news broke that a slew of Catholic priests were under investigation for child molestation, the first impulse by the church was not to talk to the victims and their families to get a better understanding of what the children went through or bring the rapists to bare their punishment but rather they head of the church involved itself in what could described as one of the largest cover ups in the world. The head of the church at the time even chastised legal authorities for getting involved in the case, claiming it was a church matter and that it should be resolved from within the church itself. And instead of reprimanding the accused, the simply moved the different suspects to different perishes without ever telling unsuspecting parents.

Religion And Politics

The 2012 Republican candidates running for president, aside from Huntsman, and perhaps Ron Paul to lesser extent, have taken on the face of the so called tea party, which holds favor of only 34% of the American electorate, while getting more than twice that in air time by the mainstream media. To put it simply, this is a party of no-policies outside of smaller government, because the government should not overstep it bounds and infringe of God’s laws, which means ⅔s of our everyday lives, though they seem to have little problem letting corporate American impose its will on our social lives. But more to the point, of all of these candidates, Rick Perry is the most unabashed about eroding the line between Church and State. One only needs to read his stance of evolution, calling it “only a theory with gaps.” And if that’s not bad enough this is a man who believes in the biblical account of the end times, and could very well have his finger on the button. Sleep well.

Until Next time.

Heart Break Hotels Part 3

2011-06-28T16:02:00.000-04:00

Heart Break Hotels Part Two

2011-06-28T16:01:00.000-04:00

Heart Break Hotels Part One

2011-06-28T15:59:00.003-04:00

A look back part 1

WSNA: Fighting For The Working Class

2011-06-08T12:49:00.001-04:00

The West Side Neighborhood Alliance is a community rights organization whose roots are in part connected to the 2005 defeat of $2.2 billion project the west side stadium which came about despite Bloomberg’s pushing for the project and the ex millions of dollars being used to lobby lawmakers in Albany by labor unions, who saw the project as work for the members and even the New York Jets ownership which was going use the stadium as a way to bring the team back to New York, why this is a good thing is beyond me, and claim itself as New York City’s only real professional football team. But the real selling point the stadium was centered on the idea of bringing the 2012 Olympics to New York City. Websites were set up and venues were organized in order to bulldoze the project through Albany and down the throats of those whose lives would be dramatically affected by having an ocean of international citizens flooding the streets and creating a security situation which could have easily gotten out of control.
At the same time, community rights groups which included Acorn, The Housing Conservation Coordinators Tenants and Neighbors, along with some others gallantly rallied against the project, pointing out that the stadium would bring in more traffic and pedestrian congestion than the area could realistically handle. Further, the noise from the Jets’ games, along with the disposal of trash onto the Hell’s Kitchen streets would seriously degrade the quality of life for local residents. As one who was following the issue might have guest, those who most vocally supported the stadium, tended to live outside of the area while most locals were vehemently against it.

Despite the love affair with the idea of having the stadium in a location which could ill afford to handle it, Lawmakers decided to side with the community rights groups. And for the first time since becoming Mayor Bloomberg had to watch a project he supported crumble into a smoldering pile of wreckage. For HCC’s part, in the fight against the stadium, they suddenly found themselves with a small but determined group of activists who recognized that their victory could lead into a real movement to not only protect their neighborhoods, but improve conditions as well. A young organizer who worked for The Housing Conservation Coordinators, named John Raskin, recognized the potential of creating and organization around this group’s success.
Later in 1995 HCC decided to get involved in illegal hotels campaign, which was by in large born from the horrors the managing company which is still currently running the now famed Dexter House. The issue of using residential buildings for transient purposes had lead to the constant harassment of 100s of thousands by landlords, and their worker in order to clear out their building. While the problem had such a swath of New Yorkers in more than 380 identified buildings to date, few papers paid any real attention to the problem. The village voice was really the only publication to profile one of the worst actors, one Jay Wartski whose name still brings seething rage to those who remember the conditions of one of his buildings lower east side. Aside from running what could be described as a drug den attack dogs were placed outside the building to harass the elderly. Heat was often cut in the dead of winter, which some have connect to the death of several residents.
Despite the time he was spending to help defeat the stadium, he still found time to approach several tenant leaders who were doing their best to ward off the serious conditions they were facing in their buildings. The group agreed to start a official campaign to crack down on the illegal hotels, with the help of both city and state lawmakers which included, Scott Stringer, Gale Brewer, Dick Gottfried along with Tom Duane.
Other campaigns which were taken up at the time was, PS51 which centered around greatly improving conditions around the elementary school located at 51st and 10th Ave. The campaign also focused on the expansion of class rooms in order to relieve the stress born of overcrowded class rooms. The rail yards campaign was brought together shortly after the MTA decided to sell off property which they owned on 12th Ave near the west side high Way. The focus on the campaign was to ensure that any project that took place their included permanent affordable housing. The fight also included keeping the height of any new buildings to keep in line with the existing environment of Hell’s Kitchen and Clinton’s Special district.

It wasn’t till the summer of 2006 that john Raskin finally brought all parties together to vote on becoming one organization. Despite some early concerns by some in the illegal hotels campaign of having any focus taken off their plight, the vote to create the organization known as the Westside Neighborhood Alliance was unanimous and the larger group was born. Over the next five years WSNA has both enjoyed many successes which included the 2010 passing of the illegal hotels law which is actually little more than the updating of the long standing Multiple Dwelling laws which were first established in 1929 in order to protected housing for millions of New Yorkers. This law clearly states what defines a class A (residential building) opposed to a class B hotel (transient). Under the older wording the mulitple dwelling law, class a building owners had to use their building primarily as residential. landlords groups have tried to argue that this wording stated that as long as a landlord uses less than 50% of their buildings for transient purposes, then they were well within their rights. The new law has for all intense and purposes has gotten ride of the language which has been tripping up agencies which are designated to cracking down on the problem.

Those who have represented WSNA concerning the issue of PS51 have been dealing with more mixed results. While the city has agreed to build a new school for elementary school kids but does little in supporting the issue of overcrowding. Furthermore Hell’s Kitchens are now being forced to cross 11th Ave, while being temporarily being schooled elsewhere, which puts that them at a high risk of being struck down by speeding traffic. 11th Ave is known to wrought with taxi drivers who run red lights along with other traffic problems. If this was not bad enough, students will in class when the construction work begins which puts them at risk of breaking harmful dust.

Shortly after the construction giant Related was granted the rights to forge the new community on the site often referred to as the Rail Yards, WSNA increased its presence at community planning meetings and later at the public hearings which were by Hudson Adversary Committee and the City planning board during the process known as URLP. Campaign members tended to be some of the most vocal audience members during these hearings. Public officials, including, speaker Christine Quinn spoke with the group on what organization members would like to see out of the development project. The most often mentioned answer was affordable housing. Second was another hospital followed by more schools. In the end, though, no schools or hospitals are in the plans for the new development and only a fraction of affordable units will be added to the plans, less than half will be on site.

Over the past few years the West side Neighbor Alliance has strengthened an already existing relationship with The Real Rent Reform Campaign, or R3 for short, in order to both save and strengthen New York City’s rent protection laws which are set to expire June 15^th. AS of now WSNA, R3 and other housing groups are planning on sending their members up to Albany in order to force lawmakers to renew the rent laws and even strength them. For more information on this campaign along with WSNA as a whole go to the website http://westsideneighborhoodalliance.wordpress.com/.

Until Next time

Help Save New York State's Water

2011-02-28T21:38:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends,

If you or your friends are in NYC Tuesday March 1st, please join
*Frack Action*
and many others concerned about protecting New York City's water
supply and that of the whole Delaware River region affecting 15.6
million people. Below is Frack Action's announcement.

You can hear a detailed discussion of the Global Water Crisis,
including the dangers of Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking) in gas
drilling, with world renowned water activists by going to our *WE
Campaign* *Tele-Forum* pages:*

*
*Water Tele-Forum1* - *http://www.we.net/weevents/waterteleforum1*

featuring William Marks and David Ferguson

and

*Water Tele-Forum2* - *http://www.we.net/weevents/waterteleforum*

featuring Maude Barlow, Gemma Bulos and Julia Walsh (from Frack
Action).

Take care,

Rick Ulfik

Founder and Board Chair of We, The World

*Emergency Rally to Save New York City's Drinking Water*

*Send a message to President Obama: Don't Frack NYC!

Take the Delaware River off the table for gas drilling!*

*5 pm Tuesday March 1st*

*US Army Corps of Engineers office*

*26 Federal Plaza (between Broadway and Center Streets, close to City
Hall)*
Bring Obama t-shirts, pins and signs to say: OBAMA PROTECT NYC NOW
Also, if you can come earlier in the day:

* NYC Council's Public Hearing on Fracking in the NYC Watershed*

* 1 pm, NYC Council's Environmental Protection Committee*

* 16th Floor Committee Room, 250 Broadway, NYC*

Hells Kitchen Is Hotbed To Attacks Against Rent Regulation Part 1 0f 2

2011-02-13T20:22:00.002-05:00

Hells Kitchen Is A Hotbed of Attacks Against Rent Regulation
Part 1 0f 2

Back in 2002 Mayor Michael Bloomberg accepted the Travel & Leisure magazine's award for "World's Best North American City" on behalf and in some cases at the cost of those who have called New York City home for decades. And with that, Bloomberg declared the City “open for business.”

The Mayor’s sentiment was not exclusive to the tourist industry but rather expanded to investment firms, and those who make up the real estate lobby. The latter group includes some of the top 20 worst landlords and building owners, as voted by city housing rights groups. The investment sector and real estate interests found a common interest in destroying rent regulated housing and nowhere is this more prevalent than in the Hell’s Kitchen, home to Tourist Central: Time Square. Welcome to what is sure to be the face of the new civil rights front; the fight to maintain affordable housing in New York City.

Attacks on rent regulation are certainly nothing new. During the 1990s then Mayor Rudy Giuliani spent his time trying to paint the typical rent regulated tenant as millionaires living in huge apartments paying only $200 dollars a month. His campaign found some success among those from the outer boroughs and Long Island, unfamiliar with the issue, but who themselves face the dangers in loss of regulation. The faces whitewashed by Giuliani and his supporters were the many families, artists and actors who made Hell's Kitchen legendary but who depended on rent regulation to continue living and working in the city. As New York became an increasingly hot commodity Giuliani's demonization of rent regulated tenants lead to an implicit acceptance of tenant harassment. Even the anti-harassment protections offered by the Hell's Kitchen Special District often failed to protect people's homes from predatory land owners eager to capitalize on the housing boom.

According to one Hell’s Kitchen resident, his experience living in such a building is not only dangerous for those who live there but it invites undesirable characters into the area and even can even put the well being of the tourists themselves in harms way. The tenant, "Dave" stated that the owner of his building hired a contractor to run a bed and break fast in the building. When Dave called 311 about the operation, the authorities told him that the contractor had been charged with assault and was considered dangerous. One of the workers from the B&B, a registered sex offender, warned Dave that he and his family better “watch out.” Some time later the authorities closed down the B&B. As it turned out, the entire operation was a front for a brothel.

The building owner would eventually bring in a second third party group which operated as a Youth Hostel, setting up 20 beds in one section of the building for transient use – with a single bathroom to be shared among 20 customers. Dave called 311 again and got back in touch with the authorities. Shortly after this, a lawyer visited and warned Dave that if he did not stop complaining that he would be sued under the full extent of the law. Around the same time, the illegal hotel operator took over another studio apartment and illegally chopped it up into five rooms.

The punch line to this story came after a tourist was assaulted by someone in the area who had gained access to the building. The attack occurred when Dave and his family were sitting down to dinner. They heard screaming followed by the sounds of someone being hit. After calling 911 Dave took the police upstairs to where the tourist was assaulted. The nature of the attack is still unknown and there was no indication of rape or robbery. The Department of Buildings wound up shutting down the entire business for over crowding and the third party was once again forced to leave.

According to tenants, there is a pattern of harassment and certain standard methods are employed. In Dave's case, landlords bringing in both hired thugs and prostitutes as a way harass tenants is common, along with the denial of heat and hot water. Other tenants have suffered "illegal lockouts" in which their landlords change the locks on their doors while they were out. When the police are called, the authorities often take the side of the landlord. In other cases, building owners take tenants to housing court for rent that has already been paid or give them fraudulent eviction notices. They have also been known to refuse to accept rent payments in order to force a housing court case for non-payment. Often these cases result in the tenant being forced to accept a buy-out. Still other tenants have been accused of subletting their apartments illegally. Since many city dwellers either don’t know their rights or fear going to court, many give up and move out. All of this has proven profitable to the landlords while making life unlivable for the tenants.

It is well known that these forms of harassment are designed to empty out buildings in order for building owners to maximize profits by taking advantage of New York State’s vacancy decontrol laws. Under the law, a vacant rent stabilized apartment can become market rate once its rent peaks at $2000 dollars a month. And if the Rent Guidelines Board decides to grant landlords rent increases at the same rate of the past two to three years, we could very well see a considerable drop in rent regulated housing. To legally get the ok by the department of buildings to convert an apartment building or change the Certificate of Occupancy, the document which states how a building is to be used, a landlord/building, many of whom are investment firms, must first get a Certificate of No Harassment. In order to do so, he or she must clearly post a notice in their building in order to allow tenants to challenge the request for the certificate. Obviously an empty building presents less of an obstacle so payoffs and special favors to the residents are not uncommon.

According to an article by Gretchen Morgenson, published May 9 of 2008, it seems that private equity firms seem to be a driving force behind this attack of affordable housing. She writes that between 2004 and 2008 developers hired by these equity firms had bought 6% of the city’s rent regulated units which equals out to 75,000 apartments. The names of the firms are not unfamiliar to most housing groups, they are Vantage Properties, Pinnacle Normandy Real Estate Partners Praedium Capital and many others according to the article according to the article. While these companies claim that ”they are not harassing tenants and that they are only trying to protect their rights by enforcing legitimate rules governing regulated apartments” according to Morgenson, findings by the Rent Guidelines Board tells a very different story.

The Rent Guidelines Board found that the vacancy rate for rent regulated units overall was, at the time of Morgenson’s article, at 5.6% Buildings with higher rates, tenants rights groups argue, is evidence of harassment. In some owned by Vantage Properties, vacancies rose by 20% while those residencies owned by Normandy saw a 30% increase.

Part two of this series will be a deeper look into these firms and the continued battle over rent regulation, not only in Hell’s Kitchen but what could come out of Albany if current housing laws are not renewed on June 15, 2011.

Poetry Books For The Holidays

2010-12-20T12:53:00.001-05:00

Poetry Books For The Holidays

2010-12-20T12:53:00.000-05:00

Bernie Sanders Speech

2010-12-04T13:54:00.002-05:00

I want to thank our friends and Mox News who first posted this video

Know Your Rights As A Tenant

2010-10-18T15:14:00.003-04:00

On Saturday the 25th several hundred rent stabilized tenants along and law makers gathered at Fordum University's Law school for one of the largest housing rights forums in the city. The focus of the event was to educate rent regulated tenants who like many other New Yorkers have very little understanding of their rights as renters. In what has become for too common as story with in the audience have found themselves in housing court of frivolous non-payment cases while others' were facing the situation of their landlords refusing to renew their leases. Some of these tenants also felt that they were being over charged for their rents and simply did not know where to go. And still others were dealing with the problem of illegal hotel operations in their buildings.

Rent Regulation in New York while not being news has come about due to the inability of the private sector and most housing programs to create a substantial number of affordable housing units. As a result, lawmakers and municipalities have but in place a series of laws which would prevent a glutaney of market rate units while forcing working class New Yorkers into the outer boroughs and in some cases out of the state altogether. Unlike market rate buildings, landlords are limited in how much they legally can raise their rents every year. The governing body, known as the Rent Guidelines Board sets the rate every year. Though improvements to a building known as capital improvements are also used to raise the rent on a given building as long as a landlord receives a certificate of no harassment. But under no circumstance can a resident of a rent-regulated building be arbitrarily charged a higher rent. Landlords also are not able to refuse the signing of a lease for a given tenant.

One of the most frequent and frightening situations that a tenant can themselves in is being taken to housing by a landlord who wishes to remove them from their unit. Management usually wishes to gain control of the unit(s) in order to take advantage of what is called "Vacancy Decontrol," (this law allows a building owner to take an apartment off the rent regulated market once the rent hikes allotted by the Rent Guidelines Board reaches $2000 dollars while the unit is empty), or is seeking to obtain a certificate of no harassment which is essential if the building owner is looking to convert his or her building's CoFo (certificate of occupancy.) In other cases, the management company maybe looking to convert their apartments into illegal hotels, the use of residential buildings for commercial transient stay operations. History shows that the elderly and new immigrants are often the most targeted since these two populations tend not to make waves and are usually easily cowed with the threat of housing court. With the case of undocumented immigrants, a simple verbal eviction is usually enough to scare the tenant of their home. Not to worry however, one can possible free representation from some key agencies from around the city. For many of the city’s working class, the price of a lawyer and frequent trips housing court has been enough to drive them from their homes. However, what some New Yorkers are starting to learn is that a landlord’s worst nightmare is an educated tenant.

The good news is that rent regulated tenants cannot be thrown out into the streets without just cause and due process and in most cases are free to stay as long as they pay their rent. When it comes to SRO law, one’s immigration status can’t be used against them legally and like any other tenant has the right not to be evicted from their unit if they are paying their rent. And for those who cannot afford to pay for their own council there are agencies one can visit to get free legal help. If you live in an SRO (Single Room Occupancy), the SRO Law Project located at 51 W 109th St New York, NY 10025 employees lawyers who know the ins and outs of the laws governing this form of housing. One can also find organizers there to help organize a building, which would include the forming of a steering board to represent tenants in these quickly vanishing buildings. For other West Siders, The Housing Conservation Coordinators maybe your best bet. They are located at 777 Tenth Avenue located between 51st and 52nd street. Here one can find free council and while receiving a first class education on their rights. This group also is constantly up to date on the activities of other housing groups. If you live on the East Side MFY Legal Services located at 299 Broadway, New York, NY10007. This group works with other organizations in order t provide free legal services.

It has become a fairly common news that illegal hotels is big business for some building owners around the city, years after the media had decided to largely ignore the issue. It was the work of lawmakers such as Tom Duane, Gale Brewer, Liz Kruger, and Linda Rosenthal along with housing activists from the community group, The Westside Neighborhood Alliance that has forced the problem into the limelight. After 6 years of rallies, Town Meetings and the formation of (OSE) The Office of Special Enforcement, the movement to stop the problem seems to have scored a clear and decisive victory over this past summer with the passing of A.10008/S.6873 which strengthens the wording of the state’s Multiple Dwelling Law which was first put in place in 1929. The new legislation essentially closes the loopholes, which have allowed landlords to argue that there was no clear-cut rule that prohibited the practice of using transient hotels in residential buildings as long as the less than 50% of the building(s) was being used for this purpose. The law clearly states the difference of a residential (class A) building and a legal commercial hotel (class B).

The largest perpetrators of this practice have pointed to a section of zoning law stating for residential areas must be used primarily for residential uses. This wording seemed to make some think that this line opened the door to partial business use. And as to be expected many landlords took things further over the past three decades by buying rent regulated buildings and clearing them out of their tenants. In fact Hell’s Kitchen has become a hotbed within the illegal hotel, as has the Upper Westside of Manhattan. The names centering on the issue come as no surprise for those who have been on the frontline of the fight. This new law does not go into affect until May 1st however which has put many within the housing community on their guard. Tenants who are dealing with this problem are still being urged to call 311 and file a complaint. It has been noted that a paper trail prevents a landlord from denying that such an operation is occurring in their building. Also, early complaints maybe more valuable after the law goes into effect.

Despite claims by the real estate board, the law does not prohibit the subletting of apartments, subletting one’s apartment for 30 days or longer does not violate the Multiple Dwelling Law and is not subject to change. However, coop and condo boards still have the right to restrict sublets in their given building. A tenant can also rent out a room to a friend(s) or tourists as long the tenant him or herself are in the apartment.

A related fear has been that the legislation would put an end to tenants renting out their rooms while they are on vacation. Technically this practice has been illegal since 1929 but the city has often looked past it. There is no recognized example of the city going after tenants for this practice. The new law is meant to only go after landlords who rent out units to tourists and corporate housing for less than 30 days. OSE (office of special enforcement) which oversees the enforcement of this and other housing laws normally only put their focus on the major offenders when it comes to the illegal hotels issue.

SRO tenants who are over charged with their rents have been known to pay as much as three times the legal or registered rent for a given room. A room that should cost only $400 dollars has been known to be rented out for as much as $1,3000 dollars a month. If a tenant does expect that they are being over charged, they can go to the DHCR located at 25 Beaver Street New York, New York 10004 and get a readout of the rent history on the room, long with a copy of the legal rent. The renter can later file an overcharge against the landlord/management in order to get a refund or have the difference be used against future rent charges. In many cases management has been known to challenge these claims and have even taken tenants to the court in an effort to get a judge to issue a dismissal of the case. The SRO Law Project may officer assistance in these cases.

Until next time...

Largest Tenant Form In New york City

2010-09-22T01:01:00.001-04:00

Here is the largest housing forum in NYC. Learn your rights as tenants.

http://westsideneighborhoodalliance.wordpress.com/2010/09/01/save-the-date-6th-annual-west-side-tenants-conference-on-sept-25th/

Illegal Hotels Bill Passes

2010-09-11T13:04:00.000-04:00

On Friday July 19th housing activists scored a rare victory in what has been one of the most contentious issues in the battle to preserve affordable housing by putting an end to illegal hotels. For many years residential buildings in New York City have been used for commercial/transient rentals instead of long term housing for New Yorkers.

The State Assembly and Senate passed housing bill A.10008/S.6873 nicknamed "the sublet bill" by its opponents, who include the real estate board. Rather than bringing new legislation the bill simply strengthened the wording of the existing state Multiple Dwelling laws first adopted in 1929 in an effort to prevent class A (residential) buildings from being used illegally as commercial hotels. Single room occupancy (SRO) buildings, which provide a much-needed source of cheap housing in urban areas, have rapidly declined in recent years as a result of landlords exploiting legal loopholes to rent on a nightly basis to tourists instead of for primary residence. Despite their reputations as "flop houses" by some within the real estate industry, the affordability of SRO rooms have allowed many an up-and-coming star to realize their dreams. Anthony Quinn, Phyllis Diller and James Dean all lived in SRO's on the upper west side. No longer exclusive to SROs, illegal hotel operations have spread throughout rent regulated and even market rate or privately owned apartments throughout the city.

The law defines residency as a minimum 30 day stay for residential buildings. Property owners have until May 1st, 2011 to make the necessary changes to comply with the new regulations.

The multiple Dwelling laws originally enacted in 1929 were thought to have made enough of a distinction between commercial (class B) and residential (class A) properties but ambiguities in the language have been used by landlords to argue that buildings where less than 50% of the units are being used as hotels are legal. They often point to a section within the zoning law which stipulates that a Class A hotel must be used "primarily" for residential proposes. Those within the real estate industry claim that this gives them the right to use portions of various buildings commercially as long as they only use 49% of the units for short term stays. Never mind that there is no feasible way for a government agency to enforce these limitations.

This argument first became an issue in 2007 when The Office of Special Enforcement (OSE) brought a lawsuit against a management company for running commercial youth hostels out of a cluster of residential SROs on 94th and 95th street in 2008. The owners of these buildings claimed no laws were being violated and that there was no language specifically prohibiting what he was doing. Judge Stallman argued that the existing state Multiple Dwelling law had long been understood to prevent Class A (Residential) buildings from being used for Class B (Commercial) purposes and past rulings have established the frame work of how agencies can handle such violations. After appeals by the management company running these buildings, a appellate court argued in favor of the building owners, making the enforcement of these housing laws impossible.
Robert Chan, the owner and founder of the Toshi Hotel chain has been using full size apartments in several buildings around the city as, "Luxury Hotels." He has even gone so far as renting out roof tops to transients which has posed their own problems. But since he usually rents 40+% of the units in a given building, efforts to crack down on his operation has been futile.

Lawmakers and housing activists argue that it has long been understood that rent stabilized buildings in residentially zoned areas are meant solely for permanent residents and that the hotel operations within these areas were illegal. Those within the housing movement also state that the use of residential buildings as hotels have been used by building owners to harass residents out of their homes in an effort to clear out these buildings to either expand their hotel businesses or to avoid any problems in getting a certificate of no harassment which are required to change a building's Cof O (certificate of occupancy). It has long since been known that building owners have been biting at the bit to change their rent stabilized buildings to condos or coops or in some cases market rate rentals. Some of the most common forms of harassment include the theft of mail, staff workers banging on tenant's doors at all hours of the night and the refusal of management to fix problems in a resident’s apartment or room. However the harassment has been known to have reached more severe levels such as the assault on a tenant by a staff member. And because of the constant flow of strangers coming in and out of these buildings, many residents say that their own security is at risk because they don’t know who is staying next door. At the same time the "illegal hotel" problem also adds to an already alarming affordable housing crisis in the City since these operations are usually in rent regulated residencies which have been dwindling in numbers over the past three decades. According to Jackie De Valle of the Housing Conservation Coordinators, a community rights group located in Hell's Kitchen, "The profits from daily and weekly rentals are huge incentives to push out long-term tenants. Every year we lose over 10,000 apartments from rent stabilization. The growth of the illegal hotel industry is a serious contributor to this."

Since most "illegal hotels" don't meet the basic safety standards of legal commercial hotels, tourists unknowingly stay in buildings with no secondary egress and in some cases capped sprinkler systems.
As was to be expected, the real estate industry started campaigning against the bill, primarily through the media, often stating that the bill would kill the businesses of Bed and breakfasts and that it would put an end the practice of some tenants to sublet their apartments. Some on the real estate board went so far as suggesting that tenant’s rights groups are nothing more than the stooges of the hotel’s union. But in other cases their campaign had turned to even more deeply troubling scare tactics. In one article by Aaron Rutkoff of the “Metropolis” news paper, titled, Back to the Flophouse? SRO Hotels Set to Leave Tourist Trade, he quoted David Satnick, a lawyer for an SRO owner who has helped spearhead the campaign against the bill as saying, “They would go back to the drug-infested, prostitute-infested condition that you remember from ‘Taxi Driver” if SROs were returned to their legal use. But Vivian Riffelmacher of the Westside Neighborhood Alliance stated, “Oh great that’s what New Yorker’s need, to be protected from themselves.”
It was the threat of the bill ending subletting which brought many protestors who would not otherwise have gotten involved in the fight. In fact many within the industry's lobby nicknamed the legislation, the sublet bill and asserted that those who rented out their room for a time could be evicted or fined by the city. However the bill has no such provisions within it. Subletting one’s apartment for 30 days or longer does not violate the Multiple Dwelling Law and is not subject to change. However, coop and condo boards still have the right to restrict sublets in their given building. A tenant can also rent out a room to a friend(s) or tourists as long the tenant him or herself are in the apartment.

A related fear was that the legislation would put an end to tenants renting out their rooms while they are on vacation. Technically this practice has been illegal since 1929 but the city has often looked past it. There is no recognized example of the city going after tenants for this practice. The new law is meant to only go after landlords who rent out units to tourists and corporate housing for less than 30 days. OSE (office of special enforcement) which oversees the enforcement of this and other housing laws normally only put their focus on the major offenders when it comes to the illegal hotels issue.

While David Satnick, claims that he will appeal to lawmakers to have the law over turned and may even take the issue to court, it seems likely that the legislation will go on as intended and that the legislation A.10008/S.6873 is only the first step in maintaining affordable housing for working class New Yorkers.

Until next time...

Housing Notebook

2010-07-20T10:14:00.003-04:00

Yesterday night I appeared on the WBAI show housing notebook with Scott Sommer. While I said relatively during the program, my fellow West Side Neighborhood Allience member Tom Caylor spoke in depth about the issue along with state Senator Liz Kruger and Dick Gottfried. Click on the link below to hear the whole show.

http://archive.wbai.org/files/mp3/100719_200001housing.MP3

The News Factory

2010-06-27T12:02:00.000-04:00

The News Factory
The good news is that I finally found a publisher for my latest book, The News Factory.
The problem is that the publisher, Plain View Books is a coop of writers which means I have fund my project. I did find a website where one can raise money only for the purpose of getting their own projects don...e so I'm asking those who can, or are willing to contribute a little something to the cause. Every penny will go towards putting TNF on bookshelves everywhere.

see link below

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/180223506/the-news-factory-project?ref=email

Meet The New Boss: Worse Than The Old Boss?

2010-05-27T15:37:00.000-04:00

For most New Yorkers, June means sun bathing in Central Park and kids frolicking in open water hydrants but for tenants in Rent Regulated Housing it means the annual meeting of the Rent Guidelines Board, the Mayoral appointed body which decides whether or not regulated rents go up and how much. If you are paying less than $2,000 a month in rent, chances are your apartment is rent regulated and the amount you pay will be directly affected by the Board's decision.

All 9 members of the RGB are appointed by the Mayor. Two members, Adriene L. Holder and Ronald S. Languedoc, advocate for the rights of the tenants, another two members Steven J. Schleider and Magda L. Cruz speak on behalf of building owners. The remaining five "public members" (including the chair) are meant to consider the interests of the public at large.

More often than not, however, the public members tend to side with landlord lobbies. In the spring of 2009 with the city still reeling from massive job layoffs and economic recession and Speaker Quinn calling for a rent freeze, New Yorkers were stunned when the "public advocates" helped push through a dramatic 4.5% increase on one year leases and a 8.5% rise on two year leases.

The decision process has often been derided as a Horse and Pony show by both tenants and community leaders. Publicly the board seemed to go through the motions of a ruminative discourse but the real decisions on rent increases always seemed to be made behind closed doors. Factoring in operating costs and how they affect the landlords are always part of the process but a report from the RGB suggested that even during the so-called fuel crisis of 2007, landlords made record profits even when adjusting for operation costs, which includes everything involved in running a building. Despite this, tenants were still hit with heavy rent increases in 2007. Fuel prices plummeted in 2008 and landlords still pushed for and got more heavy increases.

Former RGB chair Marvin Marcus presided over so many steep rent increases under former Mayor Ed Koch, and then Bloomberg that he earned the nickname "Marvin Mark-Up". Housing advocates cheered when he retired in February, 2010 but their optimism quickly faded when the news broke that Mayor Bloomberg had picked current RGB public member Jonathan Kimmel, a pension lawyer and a member of the New York City Residential Mortgage Insurance Corporation to replace Marcus as Chair. Worse yet, Kimmel's replacement as a public representative, Ronald Scheinberg, is a corporate lawyer who has represented many of the same commercial institutions which tanked the US economy through predatory lending and subprime mortgages. These appointments seemed well in line with Bloomberg's general policy of running the city like a business.

Tenant representatives Adriene L. Holder and Ronald S. Languedoc have long been admired for the ability to curb some suggested increases but continue to see unfavorable conditions when it comes to the board. Under the leadership of Kimmel, this is not likely to change since he was one of those "public advocates" who tended to side with Marcus and favor high rent increases.

Kimmel was first placed on the board in 2006 and from the start seemed to keep landlord support on the board strong. In 2008, as a public representative, he wanted to push for a rent increase of 10 to 15% - an increase so egregious that even Marvin Marcus turned it down. In 2008 he supported the move to impose additional rent increases on tenants living in the same apartment longer than 6 years and who paid less than $1000 a month, a measure introduced at the last minute without proper time for discussion, or planning by community groups. State Supreme Court Justice Emily Jane Goodman later ruled that the measure was illegal.

On Wednesday May 5th, the RGB made their usual recommendations for this year's rent hikes amid a wave of boos and outcry from a small but fired up crowd of tenants, concerned about the still weak economy. Tenant representatives Adriene L. Holder and Ronald S. Languedoc floated a motion to freeze rents which failed in a 7-2 vote. The board then proposed and passed a motion to raise one year leases by 2-4% and 4-6% for two year leases. Languedoc argued that the economy has devastated rent stabilized tenants who could ill afford such a hike. Owner rep Steven J. Schleider made his own proposal, suggesting a 5% increase on one year leases and 9% on two year leases arguing that the increase of a landlord's operating costs needed to be considered when making the final decision. In a somewhat surprising move, new chair head Kimmel turned down the proposal.

Rent stabilized tenants concerned about the impact of these hikes can sign up to testify at Public RGB Hearings.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010 (Long Island City) 4:00 P.M. – 10:00 P.M.
LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, 31-10 Thomson Avenue (Entrance on Van Dam St., north of 47 Ave.), Long Island City, NY 11101

Thursday, June 17, 2010 (Manhattan) 10:00 A.M. – 6:00 P.M.
The Great Hall at Cooper Union, 7 East 7th Street, corner of 3rd Ave. (Basement), New York, NY 10003

Reaction To Religion

2010-05-09T21:04:00.003-04:00

Yesterday night my wife and I took a trip to Long Island New York for Mother's Day. At the last minute we decided to visit a friend of mine who, because of personal reasons, is forced to live with his parents, both of whom consider themselves dedicated Jews with a slight secular bent, despite their belief in God. As has become their custom when it comes to me, they decided to start up a conversation concerning religion which became a debate.

In what turned out to be a clear effort to throw down the gauntlet, his mother made the statement that the Bible is a source, if not the source of our morals. In today's age the statement would seem comical if it was not so scary, especially in today's post 9/11 world. But even on the face of it, the statement can be discarded right away. If one were to read the book of Leviticus or the book of numbers or the book of Deuteronomy, one would find not only the approval of God to own slaves but a mandate to do -- so as long as you don't beat them to the point that you knock out their eyes or teeth. In fact, anyone attempting to intervene between slave and slave master and trying to stop the abuse would be committing a crime punishable by death. And in all of the Abraham books of the religions, Christianity Judaism and Islam, a woman who is not a virgin on her wedding night also receives a death sentence – and must be stoned to on her father's door step.

The clear implications, if one takes these writings literally, are that the Southern Confederate movement was correct from a moral stance on the issue of Slavery. Or in the question of conservative Muslims who stone their daughters to death after they are raped, the same conclusions must also be reached. Personally, I'm so glad that most of us these days consider these writings sheer rubbish.

It is also important to remember that the movement of terror against prenatal clinics is exclusively religious, as is the targeting and assassinations of abortion doctors. In Israel, the Zionist movement for the Jewish people to reclaim the country is always under a mandate of God. The outcome of this movement has been nothing less than genocidal violence against the Palestinians. In each one of these cases, these people are not misunderstanding their religions but taking the writings literally.

It should be pointed out that most religious people don't believe in committing these acts of violence but that is by in large because of our social evolution which was brought on by figures throughout history from the philosophers of antiquity, to the Enlightenment to modern figures such as Bertrand Russell, Charles Darwin, Malcolm X, Benjamin Franklin and Emma Goldman.

Our conversation at some point turned to the issue of belief without evidence and the importance of "believing in something". The problem of belief without evidence, that is something that could be proven without a shred of doubt, is that it is completely delusional. Take, for example, those who want to believe so thoroughly in a higher power and be a good, Christian, Jew, Muslim or a Hindu that they see images of Christ, Muhammad or Krishna on the back of a bathroom door or in a oil puddle or a bowl of rice. Without fail they will state that they feel the presence of these or other figure watching over them; if you're Hispanic feeling the presence of the Virgin Mary. The problem is these feelings often come through decades of conditioning. For example, if one were to be born in ancient Greece he or she would believe in Apollo or Athena. If you were born in ancient Nordic countries, you would feel the presence of any number of gods who reside in Valhalla. Of course they, like the other more than 10,000 other gods, are buried in the mass grave we know as mythology. Some of us go one God further.

The human species has existed on the Earth between 200,000 and 250,000 years, during which time man began looking for meaning in his life. Using 200,000 years as a starting point this presupposes that for 198,000 years if you are Christian - or 196,000 if you are Jewish - the heavens watched silently with folded arms as humans struggled to survive amid predators and myriad diseases. The average life span was about 25-30, with males dying in battles over women, food and turf. Birth mortality is believed to be around 25%, the infants often taking the lives of their mothers. At one point our numbers dwindled to less than 2000.

Tribes of bushmen eventually left the harshest environment of Northern Africa, some headed for the African coasts while others made a series of exoduses out of Africa all together. While in the new lands, man apparently became so savage that they needed a divine intervention and suddenly God decides to have private conversations with certain individuals. For the Jews, this would be Abraham or Solomon. For Christians, it meant using his own son first as a mouthpiece, then as a bloody sacrifice to somehow atone for original sin. And where does he decide to do this? In one of the most violent, ignorant and illiterate parts of the ancient world. Some plan huh? If you are religious, this is what you have to believe in.

Furthermore, all of this happened during the Bronze age when unexplained deaths or failed crops were often blamed on witches or dissatisfied gods. Today we know that disease is caused by viruses and bacteria. We understand weather patterns and climate change.

Until next time…

"Ghost-els" Haunt NYC

2010-04-12T17:20:00.001-04:00

Imagine being a tourist searching the internet for accommodations in New York City and coming across ads for a “boutique hotel” which lists no address, only a telephone number. The operator informs you that a hefty deposit must be paid before any additional information can be given about the building -- and under no circumstances can the rooms be rented by NYC residents.

Nicknamed “Ghost-els” by housing advocates with West Side Neighborhood Alliance, these locations advertised without a published address are a growing trend in a city where everyone is eager to cash in on the tourist craze. Why the mystery? These "luxury accommodations” with working kitchens, fully furnished rooms and "all the comforts of home" seem oddly like apartments – and for a good reason. Until recently, they were called home by New Yorkers. Instead of renting apartments and rooms according to their legal use and occupancy, some owners have chosen to turn to the questionable practice of using residential units as transient hotels. Many "Ghost-els" are also located in residentially zoned areas which forbid commercial rentals.

A familiar face in the industry is sometime actor Robert Chan, a self-styled Ian Schrager-type impresario, who runs a network of 40 "Ghost-els" in 18 buildings across the city called "Hotel Toshi". Unlike some transient rental companies like Woogo, who prefer to stay out of the public eye, Mr. Chan seems to openly court publicity. In July, 2009 the Daily News featured Chan’s practice of renting roof space for tourists to camp on as a novel alternative for budget travelers. For $100 a night tourists could rent open-air beds on a rooftop in Williamsburg with the promise that if it rained, the staff would set up a tent. The article failed to mention the violations on file with the city for Chan’s buildings and the fact that one Brooklyn site was actually constructed without permits from Department of Buildings.

Since there generally are no on-site hotel services for most "Ghost-els", tenants unfortunate enough to live in these buildings often find themselves playing customer service rep to dissatisfied patrons. When a young couple with a baby found the apartment they had leased was too cold to stay in, the free Wi Fi was not working and the Hotel Toshi operators refused to refund their deposit, they went around knocking on apartment doors to get help. Tenants found themselves lending computer services so the couple could get reservations in a proper hotel. One tenant even served as a porter – helping them with their luggage and hailing a cab.

At the same upper east side location, currently under investigation by the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement and the Fire Department, tenants are constantly disrupted by rude, noisy tourists and sometimes seedy strangers. One night, after enduring hours of noise from heavy equipment being moved into an upstairs apartment, two tenants went to investigate – and demand that the racket stop. Two men cracked the door disclosing only bright lights and what appeared to be a film crew at work.

"We're leaving in 30 minutes!" a woman yelled angrily as the door was slammed.
Mystified and now more than a little scared, the tenants holed up in their apartments and waited for the crew to clear out – which they did not do until well after 1 am.

"Ghost-els" and budget youth hostels run out of residential buildings are born of and perpetuated by the need for more affordable hostels and other forms of lodging. Unfortunately, with the growing need for truly affordable housing in the city, these operations remove units from the market. As part of a crack down, two hostels operating out of the same building on N. Sixth Street in Williamsburg were recently closed down by the city. Neighborhood residents and local businesses have found a common interest in seeing these practices shut down for perhaps slightly different reasons. For the tenants, the disruption of strangers coming and going all night poses a series security problem while the businesses see drunken tourists as a negative influence on the area.

The drunken shenanigans of strangers are well known to the family living in an illegal hotel in Hell’s Kitchen interrupted at dinnertime when a domestic dispute among the tourists in the apartment next door became loud and violent and they were forced to call 911. At Dexter House "Youth Hostel" on West 86th Street, a tenant witnessed his own home being defiled by two young female tourists who staggered out of a taxi cab and vomited on the front of the building. The vomiting continued into the elevator.

While tourists generally give most “ghost-els” high marks, a few have been described as roach hotels and suggest the owners of the buildings should be locked up for running what amounts to dens of drug dealing and prostitution. It is important to not to lose he sight of fact that “ghost-els” and rampant transient rentals continue to add to the problem of affordable housing crisis in the city. The tourist industry is important for the City’s survival but it's important too that visitors stay in the many fine full-service "legal" hotels which do not infringe on the rights of tenants.

Radio New York

2010-03-30T12:20:00.001-04:00

Radio New is an audio recording of some of my work which appears in Last American Roar and Organic Hotels. There are also a few poems from my third manuscript, “The News Factory” which has yet to be picked up by a publisher. Some of the newer pieces include “Sold Streets” and “Silent Screens” which focuses on the white washing a City’s true nature. Most of the works on these recording have been performed live in different forums, receiving some acclaim.

Accompanying me on these pieces is CBGBs veteran and former bassist of “The Tapes” Paul J Reilly.

The Release it should be this Sunday on lulu.com.

Linkin

2010-03-24T23:26:00.000-04:00

Hey if anyone needs a ghost writer or journalist or Organizer check out my profile on another site.