The = HoUsing JUsTiCe sPeCiAl ediTion = IndypendenT #246: may 2019 • IndypendenT.org marchIng on alBany p6 play ThIs Board game p12 where The power lIes p16 Take down The landlords wIll ThIs Be The year ThaT TenanTs wIn sweepIng renT law reforms?

coverage sTarTs on p6 ROB LAQuiNTA

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Ellen Davidson, Anna Gold, THU MAY 9 BRATHWAITE: BLACK IS BEAU- Alina Mogilyanskaya, Ann 5PM–8PM • FREE TIFUL Schneider, John Tarleton ART OPENiNG: ON This monograph tells the story GENTRiFiCATiON: of a key but under-recognized EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: mAY Mi CASA ES Su fi gure of the second Harlem Re- John Tarleton CASA naissance and a popularizer of ASSOCIATE EDITOR: THRU MAY 26 Set in a historic and archi- the phrase “black is beautiful.” Peter Rugh TuE–SuN, 12PM–7PM • FREE tectural landmark, this group ex- SCHOMBURG CENTER FOR RE- EXHiBiTiON: jOAN CORNELLÀ: hibition investigates notions of SEARCH IN BLACK CULTURE CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: KEEP iT REAL home (metaphorical and literal), 515 Malcolm X Blvd., Mnhtn Ellen Davidson, Alina Presenting the unique dark and belonging, displacement, street Mogilyanskaya, Nicholas unsettling irony of the interna- life, urban renewal, gentrifi ca- THU MAY 16 Powers, Steven Wishnia tionally renowned Catalan artist tion and activism. On view May 7PM–1AM • $12 and cartoonist. With no shame 9 to june 6, by appointment MuSiC: HiRS COLLECTivE, ILLUSTRATION DIRECTOR: or fear of offending the viewer, only: 646-541-5357. COHERENCE, CHOKED uP, Frank Reynoso Cornellà insists on depicting REVIVAL ROMANESQUE ROW MATERiAL SuPPORT surreal macabre situations, HOUSE GALLERY Straight up anti-racist, queer- DESIGN DIRECTOR: Mikael Tarkela always strongly connected with 413 E. 140th St., Bronx positive punk rock. the latest social issues, where EL CORTEZ DESIGNERS: the characters cynically, but al- THU MAY 9 17 Ingraham St., Bklyn Leia Doran, Anna Gold ways cheerfully, do what should 7PM–9:30PM • FREE never be done. Besides some of BOOK LAuNCH: BREAKING MAY 16–MAY 26 MULTIMEDIA EDITOR: his signature pieces, the artist BROKEN ENGLISH: BLACK- TuE–SuN, 11AM–8PM • FREE Erin Sheridan will produce fresh artworks ARAB LITERARY SOLIDARITIES EXHiBiTiON: EROTiC FEMi- linked to his time in New York. & THE POLITICS OF LANGUAGE NiSM iN THE #METOO ERA ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER: GR GALLERY Michelle Hartman explores the Through photography, oil paint- Dean Patterson 255 Bowery, Mnhtn black-Arab relationship through ings, skateboard art and fashion language, with a focus on Arab- design, 10 artists from around GENERAL INQUIRIES: MAY 1–JUNE 7 American literature that uses the world signify what eroticism [email protected] WED, 6PM • FREE the English language creatively means to them in the context of SUBMISSIONS & NEWS TIPS: DANCE: BRYANT PARK DANCE to put into practice many of the the #MeToo rebellion. [email protected] PARTY ideas advanced by black-Ameri- THE ARTIST OUTPOST Top notch bands and dance can thinkers. 501 E. 118th St., Mnhtn ADVERTISING & PROMOTION: instructors — an unforgettable BLUESTOCKINGS BOOKSTORE, [email protected] outdoor dancing experiences. CAFÉ, & ACTIVIST CENTER MAY 17–MAY 19 Explore a different dance genre 172 Allen St., Mnhtn 7PM–11PM • $20–$40 VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTORS: each week, including salsa, MuSiC: SLACKFEST Linda Martín Alcoff, cumbia, contra and more. FRI MAY 10 Three nights with Brooklyn ska Charlyne Alexis, Bennett BRYANT PARK 7PM–11PM • $31 legends the Slackers and their Baumer, Yousef Oussama Btw 40th & 42nd Sts. & Fifth & PARTY: ¡vivA FRiDA KAHLO! friends. Fans can vote on the Bounab, Valerio Ciriaci, Rico Cleffi , Federico di Sixth Aves., Mnhtn Bid farewell to Brooklyn Muse- band’s playlists: theslackers. Pasqua, Renée Feltz, Lynne um’s “Frida Kahlo: Appearances com/polls. Foster, Emma Gaffney, MAY 8–JAN 3 Can Be Deceiving” exhibition THE KINGSLAND Esteban Guerra, Lauren SuN–THu 10AM–9PM, FRi with a night of dancing, musical 269 Norman Ave., Bklyn Kaori Gurley, Theodore 10AM–5PM • $16–$25 tributes and performance. Ac- Hamm, Maia Hibbett, David EXHiBiTiON: AuSCHWiTZ: NOT tivities include art-making with SAT MAY 18 Hollenbach, Manvi Jalan, LONG AGO. NOT FAR AWAY. feminist Latinx art collective 11AM–6PM • FREE Derek Ludovici, Gary Martin, Dedicated to documenting the Cósmica and Dj sets by Chulita MARKET: BROOKLYN FLEA Lydia McMullen-Laird, historical signifi cance of the vinyl Club. RECORD FAiR Charina Nadura, Farid Nassif, notorious death camp with over BROOKLYN MUSEUM Record hunt from dozens of Brady O’Callahan, Donald 700 original objects and more 200 Eastern Pkwy, Bklyn vinyl vender stands while djs Paneth, Libby Rainey, Mark than 400 images. spin live. Read, Reverend Billy, Chelsey Sanchez, Steven Sherman, MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE TUE MAY 14 SMORGASBURG Naomi Ushiyama, and Isobel 36 Battery Pl., Mnhtn 6:30PM–9PM • FREE East River State Park, Bklyn

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May 2019 Lew Friedman, Mindy Gershon, Tami Gold, Priscilla Grim, Michael Hirsch, Laura Kaplan, Zack Kelaty, Michael adverTIse In The Indy Korn, Jane LaTour, Dave UnIQUe aUdIence • affordaBle raTes • personal aTTenTIon Lippman, Ashley Marinaccio, for more InformaTIon, emaIl [email protected] or call 212-904-1282 Christine Miller, Saul Nieves, Caroline Rath, Liam Reilly, The IndypendenT and Carol Smith. The IndypendenT 3 in THis issUe

on The carvIng Board, p4 Butchers at seven Key Food stores are locked out. their bosses want to gut their contract. healIng The woUnds of separaTIon, p4 the sCar act will help migrant parents fi nd their children after

jOAN CORNELLÀ. COuRTESY OF GR GALLERY they were separated by trump. for freedom, p5 MAY 18–MAY 19 TUE MAY 21 nY state recently reformed its SAT & SuN 11AM–5PM • FREE 6:30PM • FREE modern ProBlems: Catch joan parole system, but more can be KiDS: CHiLDREN’S FESTivAL: PANEL: CRiSiS FOR Cornellà’s disturbing and hilarious cartoons at GR done. TAÍNO, TAÍNO, TAÍNO MEXiCAN jOuR- Gallery this month. Enjoy the Museum of the American NALiSTS now’s oUr chance, p6 indian’s annual Children’s Festival Mexico is one of the We kick off our special housing and explore the Taíno culture of most dangerous plac- BlACk is BeAUTiFUl: Celebrate the coverage with a look at the the Caribbean. Arts and crafts, es in the world for photography of Kwame Brathwaite’s in Harlem push for universal rent control music, dancing and storytelling. reporters. What can this month. decades in the making. NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE be done to stop the AMERICAN INDIAN killings? Award-win- iTY MOvEMENTS nIne jUsT In TIme, p7 1 Bowling Green, Mnhtn ning Mexican journalist Marcela join leading queer and trans a much-ballyhooed package Turati, Alexandra Ellerbeck of the black radical organizers Kiara of nine bills could provide MAY 18–MAY 19 Committee to Protect journalists St. james, David johns and Kei new York renters secure and SAT & SuN 12PM–7PM • $23– (Mexico) and Reporters Without Williams in a discussion about the affordable housing. $199 Borders’ Daphne Pellegrino tackle evolution of Black Lives Matter FESTivAL: THE WORLD’S FARE the issue. movements against police harass- a new york sTaTe of mInd, Over 100 vendors come together HUNTER COLLEGE–LANG RECITAL ment and police violence. p8 in New York City’s most diverse HALL, 4TH FL. GEORGE BRUCE LIBRARY renters from upstate and down borough and unite through authen- 695 Park Ave., Mnhtn 518 W. 125 St., Mnhtn have formed a one-of-a-kind tic food, drink and music curated alliance. by the city’s leading culinary SUN MAY 26 SAT JUNE 2 advocates. 12PM–5PM • FREE 10AM–6PM • $0–$55 woman on a mIssIon, p10 CITI FIELD FESTivAL: LOiSAiDA FESTivAL FESTivAL: BuSHWiCK COLLEC- Democratic socialist state sen. 120-01 Roosevelt Ave., Queens Celebrating the Puerto Rican and TivE BLOCK PARTY Julia salazar speaks with The Latinx heritage of the Lower East Live music and street art. Rick Indy on the fi ght to enshrine SUN MAY 19 Side with a community parade and Ross, Statik Selektah and Dj Evil tenant rights into law. 12PM–6PM • FREE pageant, theatre labs, music, food, Dee headline. FESTivAL: GREEK jEWiSH FES- dancing and more. THE BUSHWICK COLLECTIVE follow The money, p11 TivAL LOISAIDA AVENUE Troutman St. & Scott Ave., Bklyn Will top Democrats in the state Featuring authentic kosher Greek E. 9th St. & Avenue C, Mnhtn assembly come to the landlord foods and homemade Greek pas- lobby’s rescue? tries, traditional Greek dancing, an SAT JUNE 1 outdoor marketplace full of vendors 3PM–5:30PM • FREE chUTes & ladders, p12 and educational activities for kids. TALK: BLACK QuEER AND get out the dice! We’ve turned KEHILA KEDOSHA JANINA TRANS LivES MATTER: THE Fu- our center spread into a remake 280 Broome St., Mnhtn TuRE OF ANTi-POLiCE BRuTAL- of a classic board game. The news In BrIef, p14 LinknYC gets trashed, gotham’s green new Deal, dark money dogs aoC and more. meeT nyc’s permanenT governmenT, p16 How big developers run the city and how to fi x it. BUshwIck speaks, p18 as a neighborhood gentrifi es, an oral history project provides a living memory. rIdIng The wave, p20 two new books explore the tides of gentrifi cation sweeping nYC and how new Yorkers are

resisting. 2019 May rUsT BelT reBellIon, p21 the american worker has their day on the silver screen at the IndypendenT The tribeca Film Festival. TrUmp depressIon hoTlIne, p22 Indy advice columnist rev. Billy on justice for Joe Biden and

TED RALL Julian assange. 4lABor immigrATion healIng a scar

By Steven Wishnia

ith the Trump ad- ministration not bothering to keep track of where it sent the thousands of Wchildren it took away from their par- ents at the Mexican border, two New York State legislators have introduced a bill to keep tabs on those sent to child-welfare agencies here. The Separation of Children Account- ability Response Act, sponsored by As- semblymember Harvey Epstein and state Sen. Brian Benjamin (both D-Manhat- tan), would require agencies hired by the federal government to take care of “un- accompanied alien children” to report to the state every month how many are in

PETER RuGH their care. They would have to give the Offi ce of Children and Family Services details about how many were taken away from their parents, how many were re- leAn Times: Franky Mendez (far turned to their parents, how many were right) and fellow Local 342 members. put in foster care, and what languages they speak. BUTchers wITh a for the givebacks Pick Quick is demand- “We were all outraged about the chil- ing, he said they are due to the fact that dren being separated at the border,” says the company has to compete with non- Epstein. “This is something New York union shops. can do.” As the state has the right to Beef Since locking its butchers out, Pick regulate its own foster-care system, he Quick has brought in scabs to run its explains, it can mandate that agencies TheIr Bosses say IT’s TIme To TrIm The faT. meat department. Some customers are “report who comes into their facilities.” complaining. The Trump administration, which has BUT These meaT workers won’T Back down. “The meat is no good,” said Maria Da- put the children it took away into group sousa, a regular at Pick Quick’s Sunset Park homes, foster care, and tents in the des- Key Food. “They leave it out too long.” ert near the border, “has not provided By Peter Rugh The company spokesperson insisted there was nothing wrong information” on how many of them are with its product. “We have no issue with the quality of the meat,” in New York, but Epstein believes it’s here’s a promotion for pork shoulder in the super- he said. “It’s USDA choice or better.” “hundreds,” mostly in foster care. market window. A photograph, blown up larger than Mendez said shoppers should be skeptical. “They don’t wear “I don’t think there’s anything more life, shows chunks of pink meat carved away from the hats, gloves,” he said of the scabs. “I don’t know who’s washing despicable than that,” he says. “Kids bone. It looks delicious. Below the image, however, at those tables. I feel sorry the neighborhood is buying that meat.” have died in detention.” this Key Foods here on 44th Street and 5th Avenue in Despite Pick Quick complaints of nonunion competition, the The bill has been cosponsored by 35 TSunset Park, is a bit of false advertising. supermarket sector has generally remained a bastion of collective senators, more than the 32 needed to “This is a union shop,” reads a much smaller placard you almost bargaining, even as private-sector unionization rates have steadily pass in the upper house, and more than wouldn’t notice, tucked on the lower left corner of the window- declined in recent decades. 50 Assemblymembers, a majority of pane below the giant slab of pork. The grocery store’s meat depart- UFCW represents workers at more than 20 chains, including the Democrats. However, Epstein’s not ment workers are members of Local 342 of the United Food and Kroger, Albertsons, Gristedes and Shoprite, and counts 1.3 million sure how much attention it will be able Commercial Workers (UFCW) union. But they’re not in the shop. members in its ranks — an enormous fi gure, given that just 7.6 to command in the last six weeks of the They’re on the pavement outside, worrying about how they’re go- million Americans are members of private-sector unions. UFCW legislative session, which will be devoted ing to put food on the table for their kids. represents workers at more than 20 chains, including Kroger, Al- largely to debating legislation that would “We need our jobs back,” Franky Mendez, a 50-year-old father bertsons, Gristedes and Shoprite, and counts 1.3 million mem- strengthen rent regulations, legalize of three, told The indypendent on April 25. “They’re showing us bers in its ranks — an enormous fi gure, given that just 7.6 million marijuana, and allow undocumented im- no mercy.” Americans are members of private-sector unions. migrants to get driver’s licenses. Mendez is one of 38 UFCW members who were locked out by In April, an 11-day strike by 31,000 UFCW members at the “We’ll do the best we can,” he says. their bosses at Pick Quick Foods Inc., operators of seven Key Food Stop & Shop chain in New England beat back the company’s de- supermarkets in Brooklyn and Long Island, following a one-day mands for a two-tier contract that would have cut health and pen- strike on April 6. Since then, Mendez and his three colleagues at sion benefi ts, particularly for future workers. this Pick Quick location have arrived each morning to alert cus- But with fewer than 40 employees at Quick Pick Key Foods tomers to their plight, and to demand their jobs back with a con- franchise stores, members of Local 342 have far less leverage. tract that provides healthcare and retirement benefi ts. They’re ask- Workers with UFCW Local 1500 — which represents supermar- ing supporters not to shop at Pick Quick-owned supermarkets and ket employees who handle non-perishable items and is the largest to call the company (at 718-296-9100) and tell it they will keep up grocery union in New York State — joined them at a recent pro- the boycott until it rehires its meat workers. test outside Quick Pick’s Key Food in Park Slope and temporarily The butchers have labored without a contract for fi ve years. halted food deliveries, but community support will also make a big Now Pick Quick wants to make them pay for their health coverage difference in this labor battle. May 2019 and to trim their retirement funds. Mendez, who has worked for In the meantime, Mendez is living on unemployment benefi ts Pick Quick for 11 years, makes $18 an hour because of his senior- and $200 a week in strike pay from the union. He says he’s in for ity, but some of his coworkers make minimum wage. The company the long haul: “I’ve been here 20 days. I’ll be here 20 more if I is refusing to give the butchers a raise. have to.” A company spokesperson tells The indy that Pick Quick “has been a proud union employer” throughout its 82 years in business. “This is the fi rst time something like this has ever happened,” he

The IndypendenT said, blaming Local 342 for sowing discord with its workforce. As Indypendent Ad 5x7 06-23-15.pdf 1 6/23/15 1:56 PM

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review panel included one of six commissioners Cuo- mo added to the board in 2016. These newer com- parole missioners have more diversifi ed professional DEMOCRACYNOW.ORG backgrounds than past members, who tended to Tune In Live Every Weekday 8-9am ET Board mIa come law enforcement. “She questioned me for • Audio, Video, Transcripts, Podcasts agIng prIsoners lefT In 40 minutes as opposed to the usual eight min- • Los titulares de Hoy (headlines in Spanish) lImBo utes, not about my crime in 1979, but about what • Find your local broadcast station and schedule I’ve been doing through- By Renée Feltz out those decades since,” Saldana recalled. • Subscribe to the Daily News Digest “After that long interview she determined I ven after Gov. Andrew Cuo- no longer posed a risk to public safety and Follow Us @ DEMOCRACYNOW mo met Judith Clark and was they released me. That is the difference it so struck by her “exceptional makes to have commissioners who can mea- strides in self-development” that sure whether the person is a threat to public he commuted her sentence, New safety or isn’t.” YorkE parole commissioners voted in 2017 Low staffi ng levels have resulted in not to release her from prison. They refused short interviews, and frequent postpone- to move on from Clark’s former life as a ments when review boards reduced to just young revolutionary and getaway driver in two members come to a split decision. Last a 1981 Brinks truck robbery that left a secu- month the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic rity guard and two cops killed. She had since and Asian Caucus in the Legislature wrote apologized to her victims and renounced in a letter to Cuomo that the “conditions her crime, and her warden said Clark had have devastating consequences for… many changed “into one of the most perceptive, seeking parole [who] are aging and infi rm thoughtful, helpful and profound human and cannot afford to wait any longer for beings I have ever known.” their appearances.” Finally, in April, a three-member board Lawmakers already approved a state granted Clark parole at age 69. While one budget that funds 17 of the parole board’s commissioner dissented, the majority wrote 19 seats, but Cuomo has yet to fi ll them even that “[i]n view of thus evidence of transfor- though Democrats control the Senate and mation and serving 38 years in prison, we are expected to approve his appointments. no longer believe that your release would so “Our message to Cuomo is no more ex- deprecate your offense as to undermine re- cuses,” Dave George, Associate Director of spect for the law.” RAPP, told The indypendent. He says law- Now criminal justice reform advocates makers should fi nd additional funds in the want commissioners to conduct similar state’s $2 billion prison budget to pay the comprehensive case reviews and hearings other two commissioners. for some 10,000 more elderly men and Anyone Cuomo appoints must be vetted women who remain in prison, often long by two senate committees, and RAPP wants past the time they are eligible for release. the hearings to start now in order to ensure They say the simplest way to make this public input and transparency, instead of happen is for Cuomo to fi ll seven empty rushing through them in the fi nal days of seats on the 19-member parole board. In the legislative session in June. February, two commissioners were sick — A rally organized by RAPP scheduled for leaving the board with its lowest staffi ng May 14 in Albany is set to bring hundreds numbers in its history. from across the state to meet with legislators

“We are calling on Cuomo to fully and urge Cuomo to act. 2019 May staff the board with commissioners who “It all is teed up of him to move for- believe in redemption and value reha- ward,” said George. “This is a chance for bilitation and transformation,” said Jose Cuomo to continue what he says is a lega- Saldana, director of Release Aging People cy of criminal justice reform. We think he IndypendenT The from Prison (RAPP). “Because it makes needs to do more, and this is an easy way for no sense to have a fully staffed board of him to do it.” punitive commissioners.” Saldana was 66-years-old when a three- More: raPPcampaign.com member review board granted him parole 16 months ago. Like Clark, he had spent 38 years in prison, and his three-member 6BoTTom vs. ToP STEvEN WiSHNiA

TAking iT To THe renT ConTrol sTreeTs: New Yorkers rally in HisTorY Harlem for rent reform. New York City’s rent regulations that ‘IT’s do or dIe’ cover roughly 900,000 apartments TenanT movemenT looks To seIze once-In-a- tion represents a change in strategy for emerged out of federal price controls the tenant movement. It faces a situ- enacted during World War II. The ation similar to that of labor unions, federal government allowed local lIfeTIme opporTUnITy who have to protect their members’ governments to continue them in 1947, pay, job security and health and pen- to prevent rent-gouging during the sion benefi ts, but with membership postwar housing shortage. In 1969, the By Steven Wishnia shrinking, need to organize new members and speak out for unorga- city enacted rent stabilization to cover nized workers to avoid becoming a weak minority. postwar buildings. or more than 20 years, the Republican majority in the “Five million New Yorkers have no renter protections whatsoever In 1971, the state mandated that New York State Senate was the main obstacle to strength- — simply because of where or what kind of housing they live in,” all rent-controlled apartments be ening the state’s rent laws and tenant protections. The Sen- the Upstate-Downstate Housing Alliance says. Since 1994, it adds, deregulated if the current tenant ate’s 63 districts were gerrymandered for a narrow GOP “we have lost nearly 300,000 units of affordable, rent-stabilized moved out. This proved disastrous: majority, and that majority, almost all from upstate and housing” and the rent-regulation system “has been weakened with It drove up rents, gave landlords an NewF York City’s outer suburbs, collected millions of dollars from the loopholes that encourage tenant harassment and allow sudden and obvious incentive to harass tenants city’s landlords without any risk of being voted out by city renters. permanent rent hikes.” and failed to stem the epidemic That changed dramatically last November, when Democrats won “What’s different this year is you have tenants all over the state of building abandonment. It also a 39-24 majority in the Senate. Six of the eight Democrats whose alli- organizing. It’s a refl ection of how much worse the situation has be- prohibited the city from enacting ance with Republicans had preserved GOP control of Albany’s upper come,” says TenantsPAC treasurer Michael McKee, a longtime ten- stronger rent controls than the state’s. house were unseated by primary challengers running on a strong ant activist and political fundraiser. The state Emergency Tenant pro-tenant platform. But legislatively, he adds, it will be “less of a lift to close the Protection Act of 1974 repealed The result is that this year, the Legislature is considering a pack- loopholes” in the current system than to expand tenant protec- vacancy decontrol, putting vacated age of nine bills that would both repeal the loopholes in the state’s tions statewide. rent-controlled apartments under rent-stabilization laws — most notably the 1997 vacancy-decontrol The battle in Albany will pit longtime pro-tenant legislators and rent stabilization. But it limited rent law — and expand tenant protections far beyond the about 1 million the new crop elected last year against the infl uence of the real-estate stabilization to New York City and apartments currently regulated by rent stabilization and rent control. lobby, which gains power the more legislation is determined behind Westchester, Nassau and Rockland But while some of the bills are almost certain to pass, the real-estate the scenes — as when a “pied-a-terre tax” on absentee owners of counties, forcing the phaseout lobby — the economic sector that is the largest single source of cam- luxury apartments got deleted from the state budget in last-minute of rent control in the Albany and paign contributions in New York — is working to water them down negotiations earlier this year. Buffalo areas. and kill the most expansive proposals. State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-West- In 1994, the City Council allowed “This is a unique opportunity,” Delsenia Glover of Tenants and chester) has not yet announced the upper house’s rent-law agenda. landlords to deregulate vacant Neighbors told the more than 1,000 people at a raucous rally on The Assembly’s agenda, announced in early April, endorsed eight apartments that rented for $2,000 a Apr. 11 in Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church. But she added, “it’s of the nine bills, but omitted good-cause eviction, although Speaker month or more. Three years later, with do or die.” Carl Heastie says he’s open to it. Assemblymember Harvey Epstein the state Senate’s Republican majority The nine-bill package was developed by the Upstate-Downstate (D-Manhattan) says one possible change could be targeting the bill leader, Joseph Bruno, threatening to Housing Alliance, a coalition of tenant-advocate groups from around more toward owners of multiple properties. kill rent stabilization by blocking the the state, as part of a platform called “universal rent control.” Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s offi ce says he’s committed to strength- law’s renewal, Assembly Speaker Four of the measures would close loopholes the state punched ening the rent laws — but he has not endorsed MCI repeal, let- Sheldon Silver agreed to make high- in the rent-stabilization laws in 1997 and 2003. They would repeal ting upstate communities enact rent stabilization or the good- rent vacancy decontrol a state law. vacancy decontrol, which enables landlords to take vacant apart- cause eviction bill. The idea was sold as a measure ments out of rent stabilization if their rent is high enough; make “Is there anyone here who believes and trusts Governor Cuomo?” that would affect only a handful of “preferential rent” discounts last as long as the tenant stays in the Public Advocate Jumaane Williams asked the Harlem rally. “No!” rich people in Manhattan. But over apartment, instead of expiring at the end of the lease; repeal the the crowd shouted back. the past 25 years, gentrifi cation, 20 percent increase allowed on vacant apartments; and lengthen Carmen Guzman of the West Side Neighborhood Alliance in weak state enforcement against the four-year statute of limitations on illegal rent increases. A fi fth Manhattan told the rally that all nine points of the universal illegal overcharges and a widespread would lower the rent increases allowed for the about 22,000 rent- rent control platform were essential “because they work togeth- business model of pushing rent- controlled apartments left. er as a unit.” stabilized tenants out to take Two others would prohibit rent increases for renovations, for “Displacement is going on citywide,” Carmen Vega-Rivera of advantage of the increases allowed both building-wide major capital improvements (MCIs), which are CASA in the southwest Bronx elaborated, saying that a studio apart- for vacant apartments have pushed often used to raise rents on occupied apartments, and individual ment in her building that was $800 a month when the previous ten- rents up throughout the city. apartment improvements, most commonly used to raise rents on ant moved out last year went up to more than $2,000 after the land- Estimates of the number of rent- vacant apartments. lord renovated it. stabilized units lost range from The other two would expand tenant protections statewide. One “It stops now,” Delsenia Glover said. 150,000 to 450,000 — and apartments May 2019 would allow local governments outside New York City and Nassau, But with the rent laws set to expire June 15, will tenant-movement renting for $2,800 or more can be Westchester and Rockland counties to enact rent-stabilization laws. power be able to overcome the real-estate lobby’s infl uence in Al- found in Brownsville and Hunts Point. The other would prohibit eviction without “good cause” in all but bany, and enable the huddled masses of New Yorkers to breathe free the smallest owner-occupied buildings. It would cover the newer and of the economic chokehold of exorbitant rents? — STEVEN WISHNIA smaller buildings now exempt from rent stabilization, and require landlords trying to evict tenants for nonpayment to prove that rent increases were not “unconscionable.”

The IndypendenT Campaigning for more than simply strengthening rent stabiliza- legislATion 7 STEvEN WiSHNiA

stabilized apartments if their rent is eXpandIng $2,733 or more a month — which 8The CAPiTAl Crimes: enables them to raise rents as high sTaTUTe Ending “major capital as they want and to refuse to renew of lImITaTIons on improvement” rent hikes is nIne Is The leases without cause. This vacancy cheaTIng landlords just one of the measures up decontrol has led to hundreds of (s4169/a5251) for a vote in Albany this year. thousands of units going market Even with all the loopholes rate, and if it is not eliminated, it will granted to landlords, illegal rent hikes are common and magIc nUmBer lead to the eventual deregulation of often go unnoticed by tenants. This bill expands the time all rent-stabilized housing stock. tenants have to complain and hold landlords account- how many ITems wIll TenanTs Be aBle able to at least six years. The current limit, also enacted endIng in 1997, is four years, after which whatever dubious rent To check off TheIr lIsT? 4“preferenTIal hikes the landlord has enacted become permanent. renT” hIkes (s2845a/a4349) lower renT-conTrol Increases By Indypendent Staff Rent stabilization sets maximum rents. Landlords are 9(s299a/a167) allowed to charge tenants less, a discount called “pref- There are currently two systems regulating enant organizations across the state are erential rent.” This is common in areas, such as much of rents in New York. The ETPA and rent stabilization, pushing for the New York State Legisla- the Bronx, where the increases allowed on vacant apart- cover nearly 1 million apartments, but about 22,000 ture to approve a package of nine bills that ments have brought the legal rent up to more than the units, occupied by the same family since 1971, are still would amount to what they’ve termed “uni- market value. But when the lease comes up for renewal, in the pre-1974 system of rent control. Rent-controlled versal rent control.” Here’s what each mea- a 2003 amendment to the ETPA lets landlords raise rents apartments can be subject to hikes of up to 7.5 percent a Tsure would do. to the legal limit, which could be hundreds of dollars year. Such increases are far more than the annual raises more. More than 260,000 families in New York City allowed by the RGB for rent-stabilized tenants, which TenanT proTecTIons everywhere have preferential rents, which makes their housing situa- have ranged from none to 4.25 percent over the last de- 1(s5040/a7046) tion tenuous. This bill would make preferential rents last cade. This bill would make increases for rent-controlled This bill would expand the Emergency Ten- as long as the tenant stays in the apartment, limiting rent apartments similar to those set by the RGB. ant Protection Act (ETPA) of 1974 to allow localities increases to those set annually by the city Rent Guide- anywhere in New York State to enact rent-stabilization lines Board (RGB). prevenTIng homelessness laws, if they have a “housing emergency,” defi ned as a +(s2375/a1620) vacancy rate of less than 5 percent in rental properties. goodBye evIcTIon BonUs A tenth bill, “home stability support” legisla- The ETPA as it is now prohibits municipalities outside 5(s185/a2351) tion, would offer homeless people or those on the verge New York City and the three suburban counties of Nas- Every time a rent-stabilized apartment turns of homelessness fi nancial assistance. Due to the state- sau, Westchester and Rockland from regulating rents. over to a new tenant, the ETPA grants landlords the wide housing affordability crisis, there are currently right to start charging up to 20 percent more for it. This 89,000 homeless people in New York, including 22,700 good caUse evIcTIon gives landlords an incentive to try to force tenants out. children living in the New York City shelter system. 2(s2892/a5030) This bill would end the 20 percent vacancy bonus, an- Under this measure, the state would provide up to 85 Rent stabilization generally covers only build- other loophole enacted in 1997. percent of local “fair market rent” costs as determined ings with six units or more that were built before 1974. by the federal Department of Housing and Urban De- This bill would expand tenant protections, such as the The landlord velopment (HUD). Local governments would have the right to renew a lease, to renters everywhere in the state, 6&7pays for repaIrs option of paying the remaining 15 percent. HUD’s 2019 including those in smaller buildings and in mobile home (s3693/a6322; s3770/a6465) fair-market rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,831 2019 May parks. With exemptions for small owner-occupied build- When landlords fi x up their property, be it in a whole a month in New York City, $1,907 in Suffolk County, ings, it would mandate landlords show “good cause” be- building (major capital improvement) or a single apart- $1,115 in Albany and $838 in Buffalo. fore initiating eviction proceedings or refusing to renew a ment, the ETPA allows them to pass the cost of those lease, and would restrict excessive rent hikes. This is the repairs on to tenants. This cost, prorated over several IndypendenT The only one of the nine measures that Assembly Democrats years, becomes a permanent addition to the monthly did not include in their housing platform this spring. rent. Often such repairs are long overdue and the price of the improvements is exaggerated, while the rent increase no more “vacancy deconTrol” remains permanent. These bills would prohibit such in- 3(s2591/a1198) creases, so landlords would pay for repairs. This bill would repeal the 1997 amendment to the ETPA that lets landlords deregulate vacant rent- 8UrBAn-rUrAl BrIdgIng The dIvIde UpsTaTe & downsTaTe joIn forces

By Peter Rugh

hen Doreen and her husband split up fi ve years ago, the pair reached an agreement. Doreen and the couple’s 7-year-old daughter could continue to live at her husband’s par- ents’ old place off Delaware Avenue in Alba- ny.W In exchange, Doreen would pay him $500 in rent out of the $700 she receives each month from Social Security — her sole source of income. Doreen says the breakup, though it was never fi nalized in divorce, was the culmination of years of abuse that left her with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and social anxiety. (The indypendent agreed to withhold her last name in order to protect her from possible retribution.) Despite paying more than 70 percent of her monthly income in rent and receiving no child support, Doreen says she has learned how to get by, living off food stamps and groceries from a local pantry and fi nding clothes for her and her daughter, now 12, in bargain bins downtown. But on April 8, Doreen came home to the house she has re- sided in for 28 years to fi nd a note taped to her door that threat- ened to upend the life she has built for herself and her child. The eviction notice, signed by her sister-in-law, charged that Doreen was obstructing the family’s ability to make repairs and sell the house. When her husband’s mother died three years ago, that left him and his four siblings executors of her estate. One of them, her husband’s older sister, wants to sell the home, and is eager to boot Doreen out. She was given 30 days to vacate. “You can’t just give me 30 days, when I’ve lived here 30 years,” she recalled saying to herself when she found the notice, tearfully recounting her story. “I thought I had rights as a tenant, but I guess I don’t.” A Legal Aid Society attorney whom Doreen spoke with told her it could have been worse. She was lucky she didn’t get a 10- day notice, which is also permissible under Albany’s lax tenant protections. Doreen is not alone. She is one of millions of people living in New York State with virtually no protection or security as a tenant. “There were well over 5,000 eviction proceedings fi led last year just in our local city court alone,” notes Laura Felts, who runs a homelessness prevention program for United Tenants of Albany. This year, however, Felts and other longtime upstate housing advocates aim to fl ip the tables on landlords and put the cards in the hands of renters. They’ve formed a fi rst-of-its-kind coalition with activists downstate to push for an overhaul of the state’s rent laws. And with Albany having turned fully Democratic last November, this might be the year to do it. The only thing stand- ing in their way: millions of dollars and equivocating politicians with price tags hanging from their necks.

aT THe laNDlorD’s MerCY

In Albany, years of disinvestment and lax code enforcement have led to deterioration of the city’s housing stock, but tenants are often afraid to complain for fear their landlord will throw them out. While there is a city law that defends the right to complain, most tenants who wind up in Housing Court represent them- selves, and it is hard to prove that they are being evicted for ex- pressing dissatisfaction. The near-complete lack of renters’ rights means that most tenants upstate and on Long Island live at the mercy of their landlords. While urban decay poses one kind of problem to renters in Albany, downtown revitalizations and urban renewal have bur- dened tenants elsewhere with another. Kingston, a city of some May 2019 23,000 people about 90 miles up the Hudson from New York, underwent an economic slump in the 1990s after its biggest em- ployer, IBM, left, but things began to pick up again in the early aughts, as New Yorkers started to move north into the Hudson Valley to escape rising rents. The arrival of the newcomers meant rent hikes in Kingston. According to one recent study compiled using data from

The IndypendenT DANiEL FiSHEL Kingston Landlord Support, which helps landlords identify ten- 9 THE

ants with a history of evictions, renters says the Housing Alliance is “making this issue hit home for them” by in Ulster County are paying 55.8 per- bringing residents of their districts to their doorstep. marxedproject.org cent more than they were in 2002. Wage Tenant activists statewide are visiting and calling their state repre- growth has not kept pace. More than half sentatives, knocking on their neighbors’ doors and taking turns going BrIdgIng The dIvIde of county residents are “rent-burdened,” to Albany each Tuesday to rally for rent-law reform. UpsTaTe & downsTaTe joIn forces meaning they pay more than 30 percent “It’s been so great to grow these partnerships and to become more of their income in rent. One exodus has organized,” says Felts. “What we’re opposing has so much capital be- SPRING led to another, and many longtime King- hind it that for them to be organized, it is easy. They have so many re- stonians find themselves forced to move farther from the city’s center sources. We’re all coming from under-resourced communities, under- in a region where public transportation is in short supply. resourced organizations, but this campaign is bringing us together.” New York City dwellers are familiar with this dynamic, as rent The Housing Alliance is pushing for the legislature to approve a 2019 hikes in Manhattan have for decades driven renters to the city’s outer package of nine bills (see page 7) that it describes as “universal rent boroughs. First come lower- and middle-income apartment hunters, control.” Chief among the reforms is the expansion of the Emergency then their more well-heeled counterparts. Gentrification begins to Tenant Protection Act (ETPA) of 1974, which allows municipalities SATURDAYS•beginning MAY 11 take root. But in New York City and its inner suburbs — Nassau, statewide to opt in to rent stabilization if they have a rental-vacancy 11:00 am • 12 week CLOSE READING Westchester and Rockland counties — rent stabilization safeguards rate of 5 percent or less. The ETPA currently prohibits communi- at THE PEOPLE’S FORUM•320 W 37 ST can slow the tide of displacement. Not so in the Catskills, where a ties outside the New York City area from passing rent-stabilization KARL MARX New York Times article recently asked, to the horror of housing activ- ordinances of their own — including Kingston, where the vacancy ist Rashida Tyler, a lifelong Kingston resident, “Is the Hudson Valley rate is 4 percent. Turning Into the Hamptons?” Another key measure in the package is a ban on eviction without “New York City for the longest time has been ahead of the game “good cause,” which would effectively give tenants the right to renew in rent-protection laws,” says Tyler, though hearing of New Yorkers their leases — and would also restrict evictions for not paying rent who pay $3,000 a month for one-bedroom apartments still makes her increases defined as excessive. This would affect Big Apple neighbor- Join us as we journey through this movement eyes roll. “Things are not perfect down there. I know that. But upstate hoods like East New York and Bushwick as well, where many build- from the imaginary has been neglected. There’s been a disconnect between rent laws here ings have less than six apartments and are therefore too small to be concrete to the abstract and in the city, even though we’re starting to feel the forces of people subject to the ETPA. concrete to the real moving up north.” It would also cover renters like Doreen in Albany and the residents concrete. Challenge your of Akron Mobile Home Park, about 25 miles east of Buffalo, which way of thinking and Florida-based Sunrise Capital Investors (SCI) purchased in 2017 for understanding the world UNiversal reNT CoNTrol a $1 million down payment and quickly informed tenants of plans to as it appears to you and double their rent. Hiking rents is part of a strategy SCI chief executive begin to identify some With rent regulations and tenant protections subpar in the city that Kevin Bupp follows nationally, explaining on his real-estate podcast of what needs to be never sleeps and virtually nonexistent beyond its bedroom com- that he does so in order to get “rid of the idiots” and get more value overcome and done munities, tenant advocates across New York have teamed up and from the property. to bring about a formed the Upstate-Downstate Housing Alliance to push the state Freshman state Senator Julia Salazar (see interview, page 10), who better world. Legislature to step in. It’s an opportune time. The state’s rent-stabili- represents North Brooklyn, introduced the legislation earlier this zation laws, which protect some 2 million tenants in New York City year, and Syracuse Democrat Pamela Hunter is sponsoring it in the and its inner suburbs, are up for renewal in June. In the past, the Assembly. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has endorsed eight of the SATURDAYS•beginning MAY 11 landlord lobby gave heavily to upstate Republicans, who controlled bills put forward by the Housing Alliance and has acknowledged sup- 2:30 0m • 12 week CLOSE READING the state Senate and were invulnerable to the wrath of the downstate port within the Assembly’s Democratic Conference for universal rent at THE PEOPLE’S FORUM•320 W 37 ST constituents their Democratic colleagues serve. This has regularly control. But when the conference put out its housing platform in early MARX and ENGELS led to the weakening of New York City’s tenant protections when April, the good-cause eviction legislation, which would go farther POLITICAL they came up for renewal. than any other measure toward achieving universal rent control, was and This year is different. Democrats have full control of the legislative not included. HISTORICAL branch, and by joining forces from Westchester to Rochester, housing The Upstate-Downstate Housing Alliance has volunteers going WRITING: advocates are making it harder for landlords to fill the geographical door-to-door in Heastie’s Bronx district and has not given up on per- part one divides with campaign cash. suading lawmakers to seize the moment and ensure New York is a “There’s been a history of tenants and the tenant movement being state affordable for all. They have until June 15, when the rent-sta- MONDAYS • beginning MAY 6 on the defensive,” Ava Farkas, head of the New York City-based Met- bilization laws expire, just before the legislative session is scheduled 7:00 pm • 8 week CLASS & DISCUSSION ropolitan Council on Housing, told indy radio in April. “Landlords, to close. at THE BROOKLYN COMMONS the landlord lobby — REBNY [Real Estate Board of New York], the •388 ATLANTIC AVENUE Rent Stabilization Association — they have poured tons of money into THE GRAPHIC NOVEL upstate elected officials’ coffers.” Those politicians generally haven’t and NEOLIBERALISM seen tenant rights as an issue affecting their constituents, but Farkas

How To Form A THURSDAYS • MAY 9 thru JUNE 27 TenAnT Union • The Department of Housing demands and elect an organizing committee 7:30 to 9:30 pm • @ BROOKLYN COMMONS Preservation and Development responsible for day-to-day operations that SPRING FEVER OF Teaming up with fellow tenants is the most (nyc.gov/hpd) provides a list of reflects the diversity of your building. WORLD LITERATURE important step you can take to prevent 311 complaints at your building There are a number of tactics at your China Miéville, skyrocketing rents, ensure your landlord and any code violations that disposal once you have organized a tenants treats you fairly and to fight gentrification. have occurred. union: group call-in days to 311 or manage- Arundhati Roy A tenants association or tenants union is a ment, exposing housing violations on social and Chris Abani group of residents of a building who meet • The Department of Finance media and in the press, taking your landlord regularly to discuss the problems they face (nyc.gov/acris) offers finan- to housing court, launching a rent strike. You SPECIAL PANEL DISCUSSION and to work collectively toward address- cial information. might also want to link up with other tenants ing them. This could entail pressuring your of the same landlord in separate build- FRIDAY, MAY 10 • 6:30 to 9:00 pm landlord to turn on the heat and hot water or • The Rent Guidelines Board (nyc. ings. They might be experiencing the same to make necessary repairs. gov/rgb) will tell you if your troubles as you. Help them form a tenants USE, To form a tenants union, you’ll want to building is rent stabilized. union if they haven’t already. start talking to your neighbors, if you haven’t The rights of tenants to organize is A Users’ Guide been already. Knock on doors and introduce • At the Department of Build- protected under New York State law. The @ UNION DOCS

yourself or greet the people you meet in ings website (nyc.gov/dob) Democratic Socialists of America’s NYC 322 UNION AVENUE 2019 May your building’s common areas. Explain that you can learn whether your chapter offers a free and thorough manual BROOKLYN you are forming an organization that will landlord has filed for permits on how to form a tenants union. It can be A COLLECTIVE PRESENToTATION benet BY THE the help build community among residents and to make alterations. found at socialists.nyc/resources. WORKING GROUP ON GLfamilyOBALII ofZATION improve living conditions. This is a good AND CULTURE OF YALE RamseyUNIVERS OrtITY a IndypendenT The opportunity to gauge interest and to recruit Once that first meeting is under way, allow — INDY STAFF Following cultural critic Sara Ahmed’s others to help you schedule and plan your time for participants to express how condi- insight that “use is a small word with a first meeting. tions in the building are impacting their lives. big history,” we approach the various ways Before your first meeting research your What are the problems that need to be most that “use” enters into and exercises power landlord. It helps to know your enemy. urgently addressed? Come up with a list of within our lexicon and politics. questions/more info: marxedproject.org 10inTerview ERiK RiST

One key change tenants are seek- By the end of this session we’ll ing is the elimination of the Major have a clearer idea of which Home TUrF: State Capital Improvement (MCI) legislators are really commit- Senator julia Salazar and Individual Apartment Im- ted to representing their con- outside her district offi ce in pUshIng The provement (IAI) loopholes, the stituents. Some of them have South Williamsburg. stated purpose of which is to allow been slow to respond to the landlords to recoup the costs of demands of the public. This is the moment to do that. improving their buildings. How do envelope you respond to those who say that The state capital is known for being an insiders’ club. Can if those provisions are eliminated that change? new socIalIsT senaTor InsIsTs on apartments across the city will fall into disrepair? It’s been really helpful for me that advocates are in Albany proTecTIons for all TenanTs, noT some much more frequently. It’s really a different place than what MCIs and IAIs are widely abused by I witnessed previously being an advocate and community or- landlords who sometimes use them to ganizer. There are many more people in the capital than there By John Tarleton justify huge permanent rent increases, which lead to evictions were before. It’s a constant reminder to all of us as legislators when tenants are not able to afford the new rent after an MCI that the public is watching. ulia Salazar was another ousted tenant looking for or IAI has been applied. There will always be a need for in- a place to land when I sat down to interview her in vestment to maintain buildings. But given that tenants pay Should Democrats who drop the ball on rent law reform be mid-April. rent every month, the burden of maintaining a building needs primaried in 2020? Due to byzantine state regulations, the freshman to primarily be on the property owner and not on the tenants Jstate senator’s original district offi ce near the Myrtle- who didn’t make the investment to buy the property. I think they should expect to be primaried. Voters have to be Wyckoff subway station in Bushwick had been a temporary able to hold us accountable somehow. It’s healthy for us to one. Now she was moving into a another temporary space You’ve previously led a rent strike as a tenant. Can you talk have competitive elections. It’s indicative of increased access in South Williamsburg. Nonetheless, Salazar was confi dent about that experience and how it has shaped your under- to our electoral process. that she would eventually obtain a permanent home for her standing of what needs to be done today? district offi ce. With the deadline for renewing rent laws coming up on For many of Salazar’s constituents in the rapidly gentrify- When I was a college student living in Morningside Heights, June 15, how can New Yorkers get involved and what kind ing 18th State Senate District, the prospect of being displaced Harlem, I lived in an apartment that was not rent stabilized. of impact does it have when they do? from their apartments is a menace with no end in sight. Sala- I had roommates and the building was rapidly falling into zar’s vow to be an unabashed fi ghter for their interests played disrepair because of a virtually absent management company It’s important that anyone who cares about this issue uses a major role in her upset victory last year over Martin Malave and landlord. They weren’t adequately heating the building. their voice and also joins forces with those who have already Dilan, an eight-term incumbent who was seen by many as be- They wouldn’t make urgent repairs we needed in order to live been organizing. Call or email your elected offi cials and em- ing too cozy with the real estate industry. in a safe environment. phasize that we need all of these rent laws and not just the few Both the youngest woman in the history of the state Senate I sought out resources from the Metropolitan Council on they may be comfortable with. I know personally it makes and the fi rst openly identifi ed socialist to serve in the legisla- Housing and the city and determined that we could withhold an impact on me if I have a fl ood of constituents calling for ture in nearly a century, Salazar has kept her promise. While our rent in order to make management act. We held out our my support on specifi c legislation. My colleagues are hearing many Democrats want at most to shore up the patchwork of rent for a few months before management even noticed. They from constituents far more than they used to and it’s at the laws that cover currently rent-stabilized tenants, she is the co- still refused to make repairs. We went to housing court and ul- forefront of their mind all the time. author of the Good Cause Eviction bill that would expand timately we won concessions from management. When it was rent law protections to almost every tenant in the state. time to renew our lease, they did not invite us to do so. The Looking beyond the immediate battle, as a democratic Sitting on a plastic table in the middle of her sparsely fur- experience was a testament to how powerful it is to organize socialist what are your thoughts on how in the future nished new offi ce space, Salazar described her journey from with your neighbors. It also underscored for me the need to more decent, affordable housing could operate outside of being an outsider to an insider, what’s changed in Albany systematically change the laws to protect tenants. You can’t market logic and be put under social control instead of and what hasn’t, and what it will take for tenants to win do it one building at a time as we are forced to right now. private control? major victories that are within their reach for the fi rst time in decades. What has it been like to go from battling a single landlord In the immediate term, tenant associations are really crucial to being a fi rst-year lawmaker going up against the full to building collective power and protecting tenants. Just talk- JOHN TARLETON: The tenant movement is pushing an might of the real estate industry? ing to your neighbors, getting involved in the movement for ambitious rent reform agenda this year. From your vantage collective power, is really important. The organizations that point, what is at stake and why is it important that all nine The real estate lobby’s role in New YorkState politics is abso- provide necessary legal services for tenants are crucial. We planks in the tenant platform be enacted? lutely outsized. It’s been daunting to confront it up until this need both legislative solutions and more community-driven point. I was very deliberate in my campaign about not taking ones. We want to see more community land trusts, more JULIA SALAZAR: The political dynamic has changed pro- any money from the real-estate lobby or from corporations. worker-owned businesses, less of an emphasis on private foundly in Albany in the last year, particularly in the state And the movement is growing of legislators who are commit- property as king. Senate. These nine bills collectively constitute Universal Rent ted to not be beholden to real estate and who support publicly Like healthcare, housing should be treated as a human Control. We believe housing is a human right and tenants fi nanced elections. Publically fi nanced elections would in turn right. We need to fundamentally challenge the practice of bas- across the state deserve basic protections from being evicted allow more people not beholden to run for offi ce. ing someone’s housing on their income and how much profi t May 2019 and facing homelessness. Currently, 100 New Yorkers per it generates for someone else who has more than they do. That day are evicted. The housing crisis is like a sinking boat with New York progressives have long hoped for the day that is a long-term project, but in my mind that is not fundamen- many holes in it. If we only eliminate vacancy decontrol, we they could end Republican control of the State Senate. That tally separate from the immediate need to empower tenants. I only plug one of the holes and we’re still on a sinking ship. If day is here, but now it appears the Democratic supermajor- think the latter is necessary for us to eventually create a more we only end the vacancy bonus or eviction bonus, we’re still ity in the State Assembly is under the sway of the real estate caring economy and a more equitable society. on a sinking ship. We have to address all these loopholes and industry and is retreating from some of its past support for policies at once for all tenants to be protected. tenants. What’s your take on the situation? The IndypendenT moneY in PoliTiCs 11 orgAnized moneY vs.

orgAnized PeoPle BY indYPendenT sTAFF ny sTaTe assemBly for sale? lawmakers say They are for renTers, TheIr donor Base Tells anoTher sTory

or the past half century, New York Democrats dominated the state Assembly while their Republican counterparts controlled the state FSenate with the help of heavily gerrymandered districts. Progressive legislation routinely sailed through the Assembly only to die a quiet death in the Senate. ORG That arrangement ended in 2018 when a “blue wave” swept aside Senate . Republicans and many of their corporate friendly Democratic allies. The Democrats now control the Senate 39-24 and hold a whopping 107-43 ad- CEFORALL vantage in the Assembly. But a funny thing happened as the Senate moved i ST

to the left. Assembly Democrats started to have second thoughts about some ju

of their past commitments. NG A universal health care plan for all New Yorkers? It needs further study. uSi HO Publicly funded elections? Where could we find $100 million in a $172 bil- lion annual state budget for such a thing? A pied-à-terre tax on the multi- million dollar second homes of the 1% that would rake in $600 million per nUmBers Realtor’s PAC Newmark Knight Frank year for public schools. Well, how do we really know if it’s their first or gAme Two Trees Management KZA Realty second homes? Fortis Property Group Lakeland Property Partners Nixon Peabody Mack-Cali Which way will Assembly Democrats go in the battle over rent law Total real estate contribution Brown And Weinraub National Association of reforms? The money raked in from the real estate industry by Assembly to Democratic Assembly Park Strategies Realtors Speaker Carl Heastie and the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee Campaign Committee since Barclay Damon LLP Triangle Equities (DACC) doesn’t bode well. Heastie and his top lieutenants who control the 2012: $1,235,079 DACC can use this money to disburse campaign contributions to rank-and- Heritage Realty Related Co Brixmor Property Group Rent Stabilization Association file Democratic assembly members who fall in line and do their bidding. The ReAl estAte gRoups Flaum Management of NY ability to deliver desired outcomes to their wealthy backers then assures the DonAting to the DACC: Sandra Erickson Real Estate leadership more generous “donations” in the future. And on it goes. Rudin Management ReAl estAte gRoups Simone Development The big question: Will this top-down, money-driven version of politics Glenwood Management DonAting to heAstie: Companies prevail in Albany in 2019? Or, can the tenant movement and its allies put Durst Organization Extell Development Company Solow Building Co. enough fear into wayward Democrats of being primaried in 2020 to force Time Equities Goldmont Realty SL Green Realty them to break with the landlord lobby? Extell Development Time Equities Makras Real Estate

mAke THe roAd new York DonAtions by ReAl estAte AnD AssoCiAtes to CARl heAstie organIzIng Maketheroadny.org PAC 2018 Individual Contributions (2009-2018) Make the Road has of- Real Estate $11,000 $76,900 fices in Brooklyn, Queens, Real Estate & Assoc $70,500 $179,610 from The Staten Island, Long Island Total $81,500 $256,510 and Westchester County and with more than 20,000 grassrooTs members is the largest member-led immigrant rights organization he Housing Justice For All Coali- in New York. pUT ‘em on tion is made up of dozens of orga- nizations. Some of the groups spans new York CiTY dsA

T iN the city or the state while many others are www.socialists.nyc.org speed dIal GHL based in neighborhoods where working The Democratic Socialists of America class residents are being impacted by an on- have seen their membership grow by ten- he struggle to expand New slaught of gentrification and displacement. COuN P. fold since 2016. The NYC DSA chapter York State’s rent laws will vi Here are a few of the leading organizations. is the largest in the country with more Tlikely go down to the wire be- , KE For information about all of the coalition than 5,000 members. It is active in both fore they expire on June 15. Because

members, see www.housingjusticeforall. ERNOR electoral politics and has various issue- it’s Albany, final negotiations will

org/who-we-are-1. GOv based working groups including a Housing likely come down to “three people

Working Group. in a room” — Gov. Andrew Cuomo, THE

meT CoUnCil on HoUsing OF

State Senate Majority Leader Andrea CE Metcouncilonhousing.org i nw Bronx CommUniTY & FF Stewart-Cousins and State Assembly O Met Council has been at the forefront of ClergY CoAliTion Speaker Carl Heastie. If you want tenants rights struggles in NYC for over www.northwestbronx.org 50 years. It also operates a tenant hotline stronger rent laws, pick up the phone Forged in the fires that engulfed the Bronx (212-979-0611) on Mondays, Wednes- and make your voice heard. in mid-1970s when landlords set fires to esTA CAsA es TU CAsA: days and Fridays from 1:30-5 pm, pub - hundreds of buildings to collect the insur- Tenant advocates are stirring lishes a monthly bilingual newsletter for Andrew CUomo ance money, NWBCCC has been fighting things up at the statehouse this members and has a weekly radio show 518-474-8390 (Albany) for 45 years to make the Bronx a place year. There are lots of groups to 2019 May (“Housing Notebook”) on WBAI-99.5 212-681-4580 (NYC Office) where all people can thrive. plug in with. Mondays from 7-8 pm. AndreA sTewArT- woodside on THe move

new York CommUniTies For CoUsins IndypendenT The @twitter.com/WoodsideMoves lAUgHing All THe CHAnge 518-455-2585 (Albany) Fighting to keep Western Queens a place wAY To THe BAnk: www.nycommunities.org 914-423-4031 (District Office) where working class, immigrant families Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie Emerging from the collapse of ACORN, New can thrive. (right) has received hundreds of York Communities For Change has been thousands of dollars in campaign CArl HeAsTie building grassroots political power with low- contributions from the real 518-455-4812 (Albany) income communities of color since 2010. estate industry. 718-654-6539 (District Office) 12GAMES 13 73 74 76 77 78 75 79 Land Lords URC Win 72 70 69 68 66 65 64 71 67

56 57 58 60 61 62 TENANTS VS. 55 59 63 LANDLORDS 54 53 52 50 49 48 46 51 47 A BOARD GAME FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY! DESIGN: MIKAEL TARKELA CHUTES & LADDERS ILLUSTRATIONS: TIFFANY PAI TEXT: JOHN TARLETON 8»28 Voters boot the Republicans out of power in the State Senate for the fi rst time in a half century and 37 38 39 41 42 44 45 overthrow the GOP-allied Independent Democratic 40 43 Conference. 20»36 RULES OF THE GAME Upstate and Downstate tenants form a coalition to expand tenant protections across the state and build • To start the game, roll a single die. The highest number a larger, more diverse base of support for pro-tenant becomes the landlord. Everyone else is a tenant. The legislation. more tenants in the game, the better their chances of 35 34 33 31 30 29 32»4 winning. Not enough tenants to organize resistance, too many 36 32 28 have been evicted and are looking for new homes. • Tenants win when any one of their pieces lands directly 24»59 on the fi nal square (universal rent control, or “URC”) Tenant activists canvass their neighborhoods to build before the landlord lands directly on the next-to- public support for sweeping rent law reforms. last square, which signifi es the defeat of the tenant 43»67 movement. State legislators are bombarded each week on Tenant 19 21 22 23 25 26 27 Tuesday with phone calls demanding they support • To move across the board, roll a single die and advance Universal Rent Control. Meanwhile, busloads of citizen according to the number that comes up. If you roll a six, 20 24 lobbyists travel to Albany to personally visit legislators and urge them to side with tenants, or else be prima- roll again. If your number is higher than the number of ried in the next election cycle. squares left on the board, remain in place. 51»75 A mass rally held for renters rights ramps up pressure • The landlord goes fi rst. Class privilege has its on lawmakers. advantages. 18 17 15 14 13 11 10 55»16 • The chutes and ladders are reversed for the landlord, Landlords drop millions of dollars on non-stop media 16 12 scare campaign. i.e. a tenant setback (the chute) allows the landlord to climb and a tenant gain (the ladder) sends him sliding 63»12 backward. Landlords give hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democrats in the State Assembly who previously sup-

ported sweeping rent law reforms but now refuse to • Solidarity can make the difference. If the landlord is on 2019 May 1 2 3 5 6 7 9 say if they still do. the verge of winning, tenants can give their next roll of 71»40 the die to another tenant who is further along on the May 2019 4 8 Governor hosts $25,000 per plate fundraiser that board. However, a tenant can only do so once and must INDYPENDENT THE draws many of NY’s leading real estate barons. exit the game at that time. 75»47 Governor backs modest rent law reforms, but refuses • When the tenant side has three or more players who to support Universal Rent Control. roll the same number consecutively, each tenant gets an extra turn. THE INDYPENDENT 14 RODRiGuESPOZZEBOM/AGENCiABRASiL BrieFing room

‘AFFordABle the outspoken freshman congresswoman. enoUgH’ The Stop AOC Political Action Committee, The troubled New York City Housing Au- founded in March by Virginia lawyer Dan thority (NYCHA) is considering taking yet Backer, has so far raised $32,000, accord- another step toward privatization. With ing to its latest fi nancial expenditure report. the city struggling to make the billions in repairs needed to maintain its dilapidated public housing stock, Mayor Bill de Blasio Foreign announced plans last year to turn 62,000 indigniTAries apartments over to a private management The Brazilian-American Chamber of Com- company. Now the agency is weighing merce was informed they are not welcome at They are a mass migration of thousands of whether to tear down two buildings at the the Museum of Natural History after it an- Fulton Houses in Chelsea and replace them nounced plans to honor Jair Bolsonaro this young people from Central America, yet with larger luxury towers built by private May. The museum’s annual gala will be held each one travels alone: solito, solita. developers. Seventy percent of the new units at the Marriott in Times Square instead, af- would be market rate, the remaining 30 ter threats of protest from museum staff and percent would be, in the words of de Blasio the general public. The Brazilian president spokesperson Olivia Lapeyrolerie, “afford- has expressed a number of openly racist and able enough” for NYCHA residents to make homophobic views throughout his political From rent. The sell-off would earn NYCHA $168 career and recently announced that he has million within fi ve years. been in discussions with President Donald International Publishers Trump about developing the Amazon rain- forest. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will A green new deAl be honored at the gala as well. For nYC The New York City Council approved a sweeping package of bills in April that has smAsHing THe drawn comparisons to the Green New Deal links in THe currently before Congress. While its time- sUrveillAnCe table for reducing greenhouse gas emissions sTATe is longer than that put forward by Congress- Oh, how brittle our modern contraptions woman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the in the face of stone-age weaponry! The Climate Mobilization Act is the most com- NYPD arrested Juan Rodriguez of Kips prehensive piece of climate change response Bay on April 24, accusing the 41-year-old of legislation enacted by a city to date. It seeks smashing more than three dozen LinkNYC to cut emissions at the city’s largest buildings internet kiosks from Midtown to the West by 40 percent by 2040 and 80 percent over Village. His implement of choice: a rock. the decade that follows. The city will also Rodriguez’s motive was unclear but some shut down its 24 power plants and replace wish he had taken out more. Rodriguez them with renewable energy sources. Forty was caught, of course, because he did not thousand jobs are expected to be generated. disguise his face and each Link is equipped with three cameras. But the machines have raised troubling privacy concerns since Big moneY TAkes Mayor de Blasio unveiled plans to place on AoC what now amount to nearly 2,000 Link ki- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be up osks on NYC sidewalks in 2014. The New against a sea of dark money when she seeks York Civil Liberties Union has warned that re-election in her Bronx-Queens congres- Intersection, the Alphabet-backed company 12 Short Stories by sional district next year. Bronx Republican (read Google) that operates LinkNYC, has Party chairman Mike Rendino told the New the capability of collecting vast amounts Celebrated author York Post in April that he is in touch with of user data. Last year an undergraduate a donor “worth over $200 million” who researcher at the NYC College of Technol- Meridel LeSueur has “connections to raise money in Man- ogy discovered LinkNYC code that allows hattan.” This individual is eager to unseat the company to continuously track devices May 2019 A classic of “Proletarian Art” users connect to its kiosks. Order via the IP sHUnned: Both the American Museum of Natural History — inDYPenDent and Cipriani have bowed to public pressure and declined to host staFF Website; www.intpubnyc.com a gala honoring Brazil’s far right President jair Bolsonaro as the or call: Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce’s “Person of the Year.” 212-366-9816 The event is now scheduled to be held May 14 at the Marriott

The IndypendenT Marquis near Times Square. More protests are expected. 15 May 2019 May The IndypendenT The 16CiTY PlAnning real esTaTe rUles, BUreaUcracy oBeys and commUnITIes rIse Up

By Tom Angotti community boards, preservationists and environmentalists are responsible utrageous rent increases. for the housing crisis. Their solution is Illegal evictions and buy- more growth, more tax subsidies, few- outs. It’s not just bad land- er regulations and defeat of what they lords doing this. It’s big call “Not In My Backyard” (NIMBY) real estate. And real estate sentiment — opposition to new devel- Ohas trusty allies in government. The only opment. Their alternative is YIMBY thing that stops them is when tenants or- (“Yes In My Backyard”), real estate- ganize and communities rise up. funded attack squads that opportunis- New York City, the historic center of tically accuse those objecting to new global fi nance, claims to be “The real development. While low-income people estate capital of the world.” The Real of color are displaced, YIMBYs blame Estate Board of New York (REBNY), the victims, implying that they stand in whose members are the biggest con- the way of “integration” and advocate a tributors to elected offi cials, shapes city form of reverse racism. housing and planning policies through In this real estate world, elected and campaign contributions and aggressive government offi cials compete with one lobbying. Big real estate also includes another to demonstrate how much hous- corporations and investors who profi t ing has been built under their watch. from “affordable housing” development. Jobs are the other big treasure. The cri- This broad umbrella encompasses all de- terion for judging “progress” is always velopment — from luxury high-rises to based on how many housing units and subsidized, income-limited apartments how many jobs have been created. Never — and provides perfect cover for the mind whether the housing is for those real-estate industry and a wealthy po- who need it most or that the jobs are tem- litical class that presumes to represent porary, unsafe or poorly paid. Nobody the public interest. Private and public in government ever checks to see if the sectors make up this powerful growth numbers ever materialize, who benefi ts machine that is built on the myth — the and who loses. neoliberal fantasy — that the city needs For real estate, more housing is always private capital and “fl exible” govern- the solution. It’s pure trickle-down eco- ment regulation to sustain itself. nomics: the market builds for the wealthy Two government agencies are critical and as their needs are met the benefi ts fi l- to the growth machine. The Depart- ter down to lower-income people in the ment of City Planning (DCP) regulates form of lower rents. Or government-sub- how land is used through its zoning sidized “affordable housing.” It sounds powers. Zoning sets limits on how neat but it never works that way. Instead much can be built in any location. The higher land values and rents trickle down agency is misnamed because it doesn’t and make everything more expensive, really plan; it helps confi gure develop- displacing tenants and homeowners with ment, mostly in response to the inter- the lowest incomes. New York is one of ests of real estate investors. the most racially segregated cities in the Housing Preservation and Develop- world and low-income communities of ment (HPD) runs programs that are sup- color face intense displacement pressures posed to promote “affordable housing” while having fewer alternatives because in partnership with for-profi t and non- of pervasive discrimination in housing. profi t developers. Along with the State Yet nobody in government is responsible of New York, it is responsible for enforc- for dealing with displacement, histori- ing rent regulations. The New York City cally the greatest threat to the survival of Housing Authority (NYCHA), an au- communities of color. thority set up by the federal government and run by mayoral appointees, is the largest provider of subsidized housing. PuBLiC Housing After New York City’s fi scal crisis of the mid-1970s and the global shift to- It wasn’t always like this. During the ward neoliberalism, these agencies and Great Depression, the New Deal fi nanced the city’s political leadership have in- the construction of housing for working creasingly functioned as a well-oiled ma- people throughout the nation and pro- chine that makes way for luxury towers, vided capital and operating subsidies to abandons low-income housing in favor local housing authorities. NYCHA was of “affordable housing” that isn’t afford- the largest and arguably one of the bet- able and turns its back on violations of ter-managed authorities in the nation. In the rent laws. New York City has one of the 1970s, the Nixon administration cut the highest rates of housing displacement subsidies and channeled funds toward May 2019 in the country. public-private partnerships. This became the foundation of neoliberal housing policy and was embraced by a national reaL estate & tHe groWtH bipartisan consensus. While cutting MaCHine funds for public housing, policy makers accepted the conservative idea, promoted For real estate and its government al- by reactionary southern Democrats dur-

The IndypendenT DAviD HOLLENBACH lies, rent regulations, strict zoning rules, ing the New Deal, that public housing 17 and Law was a socialist project roots in the city’s history as a global cen- that promoted poverty ter of finance and real estate. But it has Disorder and interfered with the always faced opposition from communi- radio private market. ties and labor. This opposition gave us Mondays at 9am real esTaTe rUles, NYCHA, the single the first rent laws over a century ago and largest provider of low- workplace health and safety laws follow- income housing in the ing the disastrous Triangle Shirtwaist Fac- WBAI 99.5 FM city and nation, is on the tory fire in 1911. BUreaUcracy oBeys way to becoming a pub- Important reforms came out of civil lic-private partnership in rights struggles, although most of these and commUnITIes rIse Up which the private part- were incomplete and subverted by real Download Podcasts at ner will ultimately rule. estate. Following protests in the 1960s lawanddisorder.org While billionaire mayor against urban renewal (then known as Michael Bloomberg tried and failed to “Negro removal”), a major reform of “Our basic constitutional rights are in jeopardy. "Law and implant luxury housing in eight Manhat- the city charter that took effect in 1975 Disorder” is an excellent tan projects, Mayor Bill de Blasio created established 59 community boards and magazine format radio show, Next Generation NYCHA, a plan to turn mandated that all major changes in zon- hosted by progressive lawyers all of NYCHA into a playground for real ing and land use go through the Uniform who analyze the state of civil estate developers. While the city and state Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), rights in this post-9/11 period. consistently failed to fill the gap in fund- in which community boards had a vote FromFr attacks on Muslims at ing due to federal cutbacks, the bipartisan (without control over the final outcome). home to torture abroad, "Law consensus is now that the solution is to Another reform in 1989 spurred by civil and Disorder” puts these take the public out of public housing and rights challenges eliminated the Board constitutional attacks into perspective” bring in private investment. of Estimate as the main decision-making - AMY GOODMAN The 1970s saw massive housing aban- body. Each of the five borough presidents HOST, DEMOCRACY NOW! donment and service cutbacks as industry had an equal vote on that board. Mul- fled to low-wage regions. Local tax reve- tiracial, populous Brooklyn had one, as nues declined and real estate promoted the did tiny, mostly-white Staten Island. The notion that new private investment would more representative City Council gained save the city. Community groups fought some additional power through the ’89 abandonment by taking over buildings reform but overall the system remained and lobbying government for financial as it is today, with power concentrated in Co-founded by: support. Thus was born the partnership the mayor’s office and executive branch. Michael Ratner (1943-2016) President, Center for Constitutional Rights; between community-based nonprofit de- The Council is now leading another ma- and hosted by movement lawyers: velopers, big real estate and government – jor review of the city charter, but power- Heidi Boghosian, though the community partners were and ful special interests, led by real estate and Executive Director, A. Muste Memorial Institute; still are junior partners. finance, abetted by elite civic groups and and Michael Steven Smith, While much attention has been paid to city agencies, control the agenda. New York City attorney and author. the city’s program for creating new “af- The city faces the enormous challenges fordable housing,” community advocates of coastal flooding and climate change. NOW ON FACEBOOK.COM have pointed out how the income require- The question now is whether the com- ments for this housing make them unaf- munity and social justice movements can fordable for those who need housing the rise with the tides. The environmental and most, including the more than 60,000 climate justice movements are consciously people living in shelters. At the same time, building on the radical roots of the civil funding for NYCHA has declined and it rights, community and labor movements. too is becoming a “public-private partner- A new generation is starting to cross the ship.” The struggle to keep the public in historic racial, class, gender, ethnic and public housing is one of the most impor- other divides, bringing together tenants, tant facing us today. homeowners, and other groups that have often been pitted against each other. Oc- cupy, Black Lives Matter and other radical CoMMunities, organizing & initiatives that seek to value differences governMent instead of reinforcing inequalities are gen- erating hope. Despite this gloomy picture, signs of A major challenge we face is deeply un- long-overdue changes are emerging. derstanding this monster of a permanent Thanks to tenant organizing, an over- government so we can change it. It is not haul of rent regulations that increases good enough to get a seemingly progres- tenant protections may soon be ap - sive figure elected as mayor or city council proved in Albany. Tough community or- representative. We need more radical com- ganizing forced Amazon, one of the big - munity activism. We need more “guerillas gest corporations in the world, to back in the bureaucracy” to cripple the institu- out of a sweetheart deal to move part of tional resistance to real democratic and their headquarters to Queens. And every just alternatives. When brave leaders like one of Mayor de Blasio’s community re - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez step forward zonings to promote development in com- to run for office, they need more allies in munities of color has faced fierce opposi- government. Veteran community activists tion, slowing down developers. know that a strong “inside-outside” strat- Too often reformers have underesti- egy is essential to every struggle against mated the depth of the problem and re- the powerful real estate machine. lied only on getting better candidates in office. This can lead to minor advances Tom angotti is Professor emeritus of Ur- while leaving in place real estate’s power, ban Policy and Planning at Hunter Col-

the highly centralized city bureaucracy lege and the Graduate Center and editor 2019 May and powerful agencies. They are indebted with sylvia Morse of Zoned out: race, to one of the two major party machines Displacement and City Planning in New and, more importantly, their donors from York City. real estate and finance. The more diverse IndypendenT The and representative City Council can only respond to mayoral initiatives and chip away at power. Control of the budget is concentrated in the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget and the Council negotiates around the edges. The permanent government has deep 18genTriFiCATion

who’s to blame for all this. But how When I fi rst heard about this do we turn the page and move toward project, the idea of oral his- For THe reCord: a fi nding concrete solutions? I wanted tory seemed like a surprising Oral historian Cynthia to use the stories I was collecting as a and even archaic choice. Is Tobar. catalyst to get people together. the communal aspect part of the reason why you chose to put this project together? neIghBorhood How can people from other neigh- borhoods or cities replicate this I’m a fi rst-generation Ecuadorian American. My family — project? we love stories. It’s the most tangible fi rst point of connec- tion you can make to anybody. Like, “Tell me your story. We have an activists’ toolkit, which Tell me your background.” You’re getting a person’s per- rememBers has resources and information on spective, whether or not that’s factual. Memory’s a funny an oral hIsTory preserves BUshwIck other projects that are document- thing, but it sort of lets you get to the core impact events ing housing inequity in the city, be- have on people, especially when you think about linking cause my project is not the only one it to social justice issues. I think of oral history as this one sTory aT a TIme. in Bushwick or even in the city. The wonderful tool that provides a counternarrative to history- idea is also, rather than just it being making, which we need. We need to open up the historical an archive, people can use the stories narratives to include marginalized people who have been By Chelsey Sanchez left out of the narrative.

t an April Community Board 4 Could you speak on your personal history meeting in Bushwick, city plan- with Bushwick? ners were repeatedly interrupted by the audience. “Affordable to It’s got a very special personal resonance for who?” locals wanted to know, me. I feel that, of all the neighborhoods I’ve Aas the Department of City Planning outlined lived in, Bushwick has always welcomed me a proposed rezoning of the neighborhood when I’ve been at my lowest. There is just a that it says would create more green space certain level of independence and freedom and affordable housing in return for allowing that I’ve always associated with living in this developers to build higher. Seen by some as neighborhood. There was my neighbor who the next Williamsburg, the neighborhood is passed away a few years ago. Bless his heart, already going through dramatic demographic he used to grow corn stalks and weed in his changes and longtime residents are on edge, backyard. But no one bothered him. Every- concerned about being priced out. body just does their own thing. The indypendent spoke with Cynthia I was a single mother living on my own Tobar, an assistant professor and head of ar- and this was the only affordable place I could chives at Bronx Community College, about fi nd to live and survive while I was trying to her oral history project, “Cities for People, pick up the pieces of my life and move for- Not for Profi t.” By interviewing residents, ward. There’s a striver mentality to Bush- artists and activists, the project aims to docu- wick, which is something I don’t want to see ment the ongoing effects of Bushwick’s gen- disappear. But, we can only have that if we trifi cation and to establish different points of welcome all members within our community connection between neighborhood newcom- and have this be an available place for every- ers and old-timers. one. I love this neighborhood and I refuse to leave. I’ve invested in it and I want to get to How did “Cities for People” come about? a space where it can be not just for folks who want to make a profi t, but a place for folks I was walking through the neighborhood who have sacrifi ced and lived through the one day, close to Morgan Avenue, and there worst moments of the community to stay. was this art space. The gates were open and I walk in and there are all these artists work- What are some tangible strategies that ing in an abandoned parking lot. It starts to people can use to combat gentrifi cation? come to me how, years ago, something like this wouldn’t have been that feasible in the I’d say building a sense of community, even neighborhood — all these supposedly gen- if it starts within your own block or within trifying white artists coming into a neigh- your own building. I don’t know how they do borhood to create art. I started talking with it in these fancier buildings, but the smaller, the person who was running the event, and old-fashioned six-family buildings, you got I said, “I would love to interview folks here to bump into your neighbor at some point in about the changing face of Bushwick from the stairs. Say, “hello.” Learn a little bit about

their perspective.” PHOTO COuRTESY OF CYNTHiA TOBAR them. Look out for one another. Get plugged That’s how it started, with me document- in with the local activists. Show support to ing the artists in the neighborhood, the young the local businesses and the supermarket. The ones who get labeled as scapegoats of gentrifi cation. The as sources of information for their activism or their scholar- C-Town down the street may not have your petits cornich- more people I interviewed, the more it became apparent ship or just to inform themselves. ons and fresh mozzarella, but if you need a box of cereal and that, regardless of race and background and privilege, every- The last few years of the project, I’ve been working a lot milk, go and support the local businesses here, too. Also, one is being squeezed out of the neighborhood. in collaboration with other organizations. We had a series plug in to existing activist organizations that are doing the Then, I wanted to reach out to the local activist commu- of events over the summer called “Bushwick Love Letter,” heavy lifting of having to deal with City Council members, nity, to get these folks at a table talking about affordability, which was the project started by the 5 Boro Story Project. and rally and attend the meetings. gentrifi cation and housing in New York. Just trying to get We had these public programs in order to link the stories the different perspectives of, “Where do you see this com- we’ve been collecting and putting online with spaces outside What do you think is in store for the future of Bushwick? ing?” and “How is Bushwick a case study for this larger of the digital realm, to engage face to face and bridge the battle for working-class people?” and “How can we keep digital divide, because not everybody has access to technol- It will be a different Bushwick. It can never stay the same. New York City vibrant and diverse, while trying to not suc- ogy in the same way. But I’m hoping that there is an increased level of awareness cumb to the pressures of these elite structures dominating We used the stories as a springboard for more conversa- with all the people coming in. Just be aware of the past. As the city?” How many more Starbucks and Bank of Americas tions to bring people together because what we see now is long as there are those of us that choose to stay to help in- do we need, really, in a neighborhood? that displacement just further stratifi es people. Now people form and educate and remind people of what our past has May 2019 are even more distant from one another. If you’re in one been, that can help inform a better future. It’s interesting that you mention that young white people of these god-awful housing developments that have con- are blamed for gentrifi cation, yet, they’re still being cierge service and all kinds of amenities within the same read and watch the oral histories that Cynthia tobar has squeezed out too. It seems to speak to these higher forces building, what would compel you to even leave to say hello collected at CitiesForPpl.org. that are at play behind the scenes. to your neighbors? It amplifi es the class divisions that ex- ist between people. Public programming is great because It also sort of demystifi es the process, right? Because it’s al- we’re reaching out into the community and meeting people

The IndypendenT ways easy to point and start that divisive conversation about where they’re at. some PlACes YoU CAn Find 19 The IndypendenT BELOW 14TH TO HARRY BELAFONTE BROOKLYN COMMONS WiLLiAMSBuRG QUEENS MORRiS PARK LiBRARY 14TH ST 96TH ST 115TH ST. LiBRARY 388 ATLANTiC AvE. LiBRARY 958 MORRiS PARK AvE. 203 W. 115TH 240 DiviSiON AvE. ASTORiA LiBRARY ALLERTON LiBRARY SEWARD PARK LiBRARY CARROLL GARDENS 14-07 ASTORiA BLvD. 2740 BARNES AvE. THE PEOPLE’S FORuM HARLEM LiBRARY LiBRARY CANARSiE LiBRARY 192 EAST BROADWAY 320 W. 37TH ST. 9 W. 124TH ST. 396 CLiNTON ST. 1580 ROCKAWAY 21 FAMOuS DELi MOTT HAvEN LiBRARY HAMiLTON FiSH PARKWAY 29-15 21ST AvE. 321 E. 140TH ST. EPiPHANY LiBRARY 125 STREET LiBRARY COuSiN jOHN’S CAFE & LiBRARY 228 E. 23RD ST. 415 E. HOuSTON ST. 224 E. 125TH ST. BAKERY CROWN HEiGHTS BROADWAY LiBRARY HuNT’S POiNT LiBRARY 70 7TH AvE. LiBRARY 40-20 BROADWAY 877 SOuTHERN BLvD. MuHLENBERG LiBRARY GEORGE BRuCE 560 NEW YORK AvE. LES PEOPLE’S FEDERAL 209 W. 23RD ST. CREDiT uNiON LiBRARY SMiLiNG PiZZA LONG iSLAND CiTY THE POiNT 39 AvENuE B 518 W. 125TH ST. 323 7TH AvE. EASTERN PARKWAY LiBRARY 940 GARRiSON AvE. TACO BANDiTO BRANCH LiBRARY 325 8TH AvE. 37-44 21ST ST. TOMPKiNS SQuARE PiCTuRE THE CAFÉ MARTiN 1044 EASTERN HiGH BRiDGE LiBRARY HOMELESS 355 5TH AvE. PARKWAY 78 W. 168TH ST. LiBRARY COLuMBuS LiBRARY STEiNWAY LiBRARY 331 E. 10TH ST. 104 E 126TH ST. 21-45 31ST ST. 942 TENTH AvE. BEACON’S CLOSET FLATBuSH LiBRARY NEW SETTLEMENT MuLBERRY BRANCH COuNTEE CuLLEN 92 5TH AvE. 22 LiNDEN BLvD. COuRT SQuARE COMMuNiTY CENTER MANHATTAN LiBRARY 1501 jEROME AvE. LiBRARY NEiGHBORHOOD LiBRARY 10 jERSEY ST. 104 W. 136TH ST. WASHiNGTON iRviNG TuGBOAT TEA 2501 jACKSON AvE. NETWORK LiBRARY COMPANY MELROSE LiBRARY 537 W. 59TH ST. BLuESTOCKiNGS HAMiLTON GRANGE 360 iRviNG AvE. 546 FLATBuSH AvE. SuNNYSiDE LiBRARY 910 MORRiS AvE. 172 ALLEN ST. LiBRARY 43-06 GREENPOiNT AvE. YORKviLLE LiBRARY 503 W. 145TH ST. CONNECTiCuT MuFFiN OuTPOST CAFE 222 E. 79TH ST. THEATER FOR THE NEW 429 MYRTLE AvE. 1014 FuLTON ST. WOODSiDE LiBRARY JERSEY CITY uPTOWN SiSTER’S CiTY 67TH ST. LiBRARY 54-22 SKiLLMAN AvE. 155 FiRST AvE. BOOKS DEKALB LiBRARY RED HOOK LiBRARY FivE CORNERS LiBRARY 328 E. 67TH ST. 678 NEWARK AvE. W. 156TH ST. & 790 BuSHWiCK AvE. 7 WOLCOTT ST. jACKSON HEiGHTS MCNALLY jACKSON AMSTERDAM LiBRARY ST. AGNES LiBRARY WYCKOFF STARR ALiGN BROOKLYN WANT TO HELP BOOKS 444 AMSTERDAM AvE. 35-51 81ST ST. 52 PRiNCE ST. FORT WASHiNGTON COFFEE SHOP 579 5TH AvE. DISTRIBUTE THE INDY? LiBRARY 30 WYCKOFF AvE. LANGSTON HuGHES CALL 212-904-1282 OR 96TH ST. LiBRARY 535 W. 179TH ST. BAY RiDGE LiBRARY 4TH STREET CO-OP 112 E. 96TH ST. LiBRARY EMAIL CONTACT@ 58 E. 4TH ST. BuSHWiCK LiBRARY 7223 RiDGE BLvD. 100-01 NORTHERN INDYPENDENT. iNWOOD LiBRARY 340 BuSHWiCK AvE. BLvD. FiLM FORuM ABOVE 4790 BROADWAY COBRA CLuB ORG. 209 W. HOuSTON ST. 96TH ST. . BAGELSMiTH 6 WYCKOFF CORONA LiBRARY iNDiAN ROAD CAFE 566 LORiMER ST. 38-23 104TH ST. HuDSON PARK LiBRARY SAvOY BAKERY 600 W. 218TH ST. STARR BAR 66 LEROY ST. 170 E. 110TH ST. METRO COMMuNiTY 214 STARR ST. BROOKLYN LAuNDROMAT BRONX CiNEMA viLLAGE MORNiNGSiDE HEiGHTS 561 METROPOLiTAN SEAviEW LiBRARY 22 E. 12TH ST. AvE. 9727 SEAviEW AvE. PARKCHESTER LiBRARY LiBRARY BROOKLYN BOROuGH 2900 BROADWAY 1485 PARKCHESTER AvE LGBT CENTER HALL LEONARD LiBRARY SOLiDARiTY SPACE 208 W. 13TH ST. 209 jORALEMON ST. 81 DEvOE ST. 307 82ND ST.

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acTIvIsT scholars Take neighborhoods. He underscores the state,” “a political formation in which real estate capital “mutual-aid” approach that activ- has inordinate infl uence over the shape of our cities, the ists took to distributing aid, deliver- parameters of our politics, and the lives we lead.” Stein on BIg developers ing supplies by bicycle in the absence traces the real-estate state’s genesis to the 1975 economic of the local and federal government’s crisis that hit hardest in cities already reeling from white Brooklyn Tides: The Fall and rise of a Global Borough response to the emergency. fl ight and the abandonment of manufacturing. To boost By Benjamin Shepard & Mark J. Noonan One of the many strengths of the their ailing tax base, cities transitioned to fi nance and real Columbia University Press, 2019 book is telling the story of so many estate as their main generators of wealth, requiring a con- social movements — not just the tinual growth of land values. Capital City: gentrifi cation and the real estate state goals and outcomes, but the expe- In this cogent and clear work, Stein is able explain Samuel Stein rience of fi ghting against injustice. the jargon-laden discipline of urban planning to the non- Verso, 2019 The book includes the voices of mul- wonk. He demonstrates how tax schemes, zoning and tiple activists and moves across the the prioritization of increasing land values in order to increase the city’s tax base leads to By Derek Ludovici uneven investment, resulting in gen- trifi cation and displacement in some neighborhoods and disinvestment in udson Yards, New others. The book is a challenge to the York City’s newest bipartisan consensus that for-profi t neighborhood, costing real-estate development is the solution the city 5.6 billion tax- to all that ails the city: underfunded payer dollars, opened schools, overcrowded or under-serv- MarchH 15. Who asked for an elite, ing public transit, segregation. gated high-rise community on the last An entire chapter of Capital City signifi cant open space in Manhattan? is dedicated to how our developer- Who pulled the pursestrings, who turned-president fi ts with the rise of stands to benefi t? the real-estate state. Although Stein Two recent books, Brooklyn Tides: is careful to say Donald Trump’s as- The Fall and rise of a Global Bor- cent is not solely connected to land ough by Benjamin Shepard and Mark markets — economic decline, bigotry, J. Noonan and Capital City: Gentri- misogyny and the failures of liberal- fi cation and the real estate state by ism are also cited — he points out that Samuel Stein, offer two ways of think- Trump, his father, Fred, and Trump’s ing through questions of how the city grandfather all enriched themselves is changing and for whom. Activist through the help of city planners. Each scholars are behind both books. were able to take advantage of chang- Written by two CUNY professors, ing approaches to urban development, Brooklyn Tides is a complex social such as Fred Trump’s construction of and political history of Kings County segregated housing developments like focusing on how Brooklyn has and Beach Haven in Brighton Beach, which continues to be affected by global forc- were in step with the Federal Housing es. In particular, Shepard and Noonan Administration redlining policies of are concerned with agency and the the day. spaces activists have been able to pro- Stein ends his book with a call for mote as alternatives to the rising tides alternative approaches to urban plan- of gentrifi cation and racialized police ning. Some of the current tools in brutality that plague the borough, as the planner’s arsenal could actually well as the literal tide that swallowed be used for a more equitable city. If parts of Brooklyn during Superstorm inclusionary zoning policies, which Sandy — an early harbinger of global result in mixed-income housing, were warming’s threat. only used in wealthy white enclaves, The authors take a multi-disciplin- rather than working class neighbor- ary approach, incorporating literature hoods of color, it would force some and their personal histories of taking integration, Stein writes. part in social movements. The fi rst Ultimately, Stein lays blame on the half of the book provides a history contradictions of capitalist planning. of Brooklyn. Beginning with its in- He goes on to highlight radical alter- digenous past, it describes the settler natives to current planning models, colonial project that displaced na- drawing inspiration from groups like tives, imported slaves and eventually Take Back the Bronx and activist net- industrialized Brooklyn. Throughout works such as New York Not for Sale. the fi rst four chapters, this history is While the future is uncertain and the coupled with literature, providing a city will undoubtedly change, Stein glimpse of how writers were attempt- argues that activists should fi ght to ing to think through the socio-politi- dismantle the real-estate state and de-

cal issues of their day. NAOMi uSHiYAMA mocratize planning so that residents The authors draw on works like rather than capital decide how the a a Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Bet- city grows. ty Smith, in which a young girl relates the stench of the geographical space of the borough. At times this coverage Urban struggle is precisely where Capital City and heavily-industrialized Newtown Creek as “the worst stink feels thin, but this is a qualm that could be raised with any Brooklyn Tides intersect. Stein concludes the book with a in the world,” yet accepts the smell because it signaled a study that attempts to take on such a large project. vision of planning that is messy, where coalitions merge to waterway connecting Williamsburg to a larger world. For Capital City on the other hand, attempts to understand represent diverse constituencies and where marginalized another view, they take a look at Arthur Miller’s a view the history and ideas of a different set of actors in New voices are expressed in a way that neat and simple top- from the Bridge, set when demand for shipping jobs was York: its urban planners. Stein, a PhD candidate in geogra- down planning models cannot accommodate. Shepard outpacing supply, only a decade before the Navy Yard phy and a planner himself, writes a book meant to explain and Noonan highlight the diversity of struggles occurring would be closed permanently in 1964. both the behind-the-scenes apparatuses that lead to gentri- in, but not unique to, Brooklyn — efforts to swim against The second half of the book takes a participant-obser- fi cation and how we can fi ght for alternatives. toxic waves of racist policing, eviction and climate catas- May 2019 vation approach, with Shepard sharing his experiences If Brooklyn Tide is about the rise of a global borough, trophe in order to reach a just, inclusive and ecologically marching with Black Lives Matter, agitating for transpor- Capital City is about the global dynamics of the real es- sound future. tation alternatives and taking a direct action approaches to tate market underpinning that rise. The book begins with hurricane recovery and community gardens. the astronomical fi gure of $217 trillion. This is the value All in all, this book does what it sets out to do — high- of real estate globally with $1 trillion sitting within NYC. light the agency of everyday activists residing in the bor- Stein poses the question, if real estate constitutes so much ough. Shepard recounts the initial days after Sandy de- capital, are city planners really wealth managers?

The IndypendenT stroyed homes and infrastructure along Brooklyn’s coastal Stein’s main category is what he terms the “real estate Film 21 when chIna comes To The rUsTBelT american Factory closure of a major automotive fac- The jobs on offer, as it Directed by Steven Bognar & Julia Reichert tory in Dayton, Ohio. Bognar turns out, are non-union, THe Netfl ix, 2019 himself is a Dayton native and as and pay less than half of inTernATionAl a team the fi lmmakers have been what workers had been earn- working ClAss: documenting the region for the last ing at the GM plant. Despite Rob and his Chinese By Mark read 20 years. Almost 3,000 jobs were this, the factory loses money glassworker counterpart lost as a result of the 2008 closure, for the fi rst 18 months, for bond in American Factory. a devastating blow to the Dayton which the U.S. workers are stablished in response to the Sept. 11 attacks community. It is an all-too-famil- blamed by their Chinese bosses, who see them as insuf- on the World Trade Center, the Tribeca Film iar “rust-belt” story, a tragedy wherein American work- fi ciently willing to sacrifi ce for the good of the company. Festival has, since its inception, concerned ers lose their jobs to workers in countries with looser U.S. executives are fi red and replaced by Chinese execu- itself with defi ning the cultural and politi- regulation and lower wages. tives. There’s a slew of safety violations. Chinese workers cal landscape of the United States. Promoted american Factory tells a far more complicated and themselves, who have been thoroughly indoctrinated to byE its founders (including Robert De Niro and Martin ultimately more troubling story. In 2014 that same GM view their CEO as a demi-god and the company as their Scorsese) as a means to reinvigorate downtown Manhat- factory was purchased by the Fuyao Glass company, a saviour, demean their U.S. counterparts. There’s a fi ght tan in the wake of the destruction, it was seen by many Chinese-owned global powerhouse in the automotive over unionization. Agitators are fi red, workers intimidat- at the time as a vehicle through which the fi lmmaking glass industry. Fuyao, upon being induced with gen- ed and the unionization vote fails. community could put forward a version of America and erous tax subsidies from local and state governments, With worker unrest moderately assuaged with slight Americaness that stood in contrast to the saber-rattling, retrofi tted the facility, hired thousands of U.S. workers pay raises and improved safety an uneasy truce settles at “just-go-shopping” version of America on offer from the and brought over hundreds of Chinese workers to live in the Dayton plant. The fi nal scenes of american Factory likes of Rudy Giuliani and George W. Bush. the United States while they trained and supervised the are chilling, but not entirely without encouragement. Fast forward 17 years and a lot has changed about the Dayton workforce. Positive PR was the explicit goal of The fi lmmakers pay a fi nal visit to “Rob,” an Ameri- Tribeca Film Festival, as well can worker who we have fol- as America. The festival has lowed throughout the fi lm as expanded to include not only he learns from and bonds with a robust range of international his Chinese counterpart, “Li- fi lms, but also selections of vid- ang.” Rob has recently been eo games, television shows and let go from Fuyao, downsized virtual reality programming, for reasons that are left unex- all on offer for a full week to plained. While sad to have lost a celebrity-obsessed audience his job, he speaks fondly of Li- of industry insiders that ri- ang, whom he describes as his vals Sundance. And America? “Chinese brother.” Next we Well, in terms of the political hear from Liang himself, one landscape, it’s safe to say that of the most dedicated Fuyao many of the people who were workers, with the burn scars lambasting Bush as the worst to prove it. “My generation, thing that could happen to the I think we want a little more United States are today eating now. We have more expecta- their words. Given the current tions,” he says, as his newly ar- moment it seems appropriate, rived children play in the yard. even inevitable, that America Finally, we see Cao Dewang, once again emerges as a prime the Fuyao CEO, as he tours subject at this year’s Tribeca the factory fl oor with the com- Film Festival. pany’s automation team. “This Many of this year’s higher machine will allow us to elimi-

profi le fi lms examine essential iAN COOK. COuRTESY OF SuNDANCE iNSTiTuTE nate four workers in the next questions about who we are as two months,” the automation a country — the meaning of expert reports, “and these will our history and the contest over that meaning, the chal- Fuyao’s CEO Cao Dewang, who hoped that the Chinese allow us to cut two more in the next four.” The tour con- lenges and uncertainties we face and how we are (or are would come to be seen as friends to U.S. workers, rather tinues like this for a while, the scene fading as the suited not) meeting those challenges. This is especially true of than a threat. This was supposed to be a feel-good story executives walk past the very workers they are plotting Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert’s masterful documen- about globalization, a redemptive story of hope and pos- to “eliminate.” tary fi lm american Factory. sibility. So optimistic was Dewang about the PR poten- The lessons are clear. Devotion to the company is ul- “We fought and won these battles for safe working tial of his endeavor that he reached out to Bognar and timately meaningless to the company, which will gladly conditions, for the weekend, for a dignifi ed life, over 70 Reichert in order to commission them to make a docu- replace any worker it can with a machine. But workers years ago,” a union organizer shouts, rallying his troops mentary fi lm. Luckily for us, they politely declined, and do have power and there is the possibility of solidarity, for an upcoming vote at the Fuyao Glass America factory instead offered to make an independent documentary. of rising expectations, of a refusal to lie down and accept in Dayton, Ohio. “And now we need to show the Chinese They requested and received complete access to company the meager crumbs on offer from the bosses. With any ownership what they need to do if they want to employ executives, board meetings and the factory fl oor. luck, perhaps this cohort of Chinese workers will take people here in America.” that lesson back to their home- The scene is but one of many land and begin to organize. striking moments in this truly remarkable fi lm, which lays bare iT wAs A Feel-good sTorY Look for more coverage from the the stark and disorienting reality tribeca Film Festival at indypen- of U.S. workers in the era of glo- ABoUT gloBAlizATion. dent.org. balization. american Factory me- thodically and sensitively exposes BUT THen THings goT the specifi c, localized impacts 2019 May of historically tectonic shifts in global economic and political ComPliCATed. power that have radically altered the lives of millions of working people across the world. The feel-good narrative that Fuyao hoped to promote IndypendenT The What these shifts portend not only for U.S. workers but was reported and repeated by mainstream U.S. media all workers and indeed all people is the central question outlets for months. In the fi lm, we see the U.S. executives here — one that the fi lmmakers ultimately answer, albeit absorb this fawning coverage with hearty self-congrat- provisionally. Spoiler alert: It’s not a happy ending. ulation and sober observations about the responsibility american Factory picks up where Bognar and they have to make it work. We also hear from the work- Reichert’s previous fi lm, The last Truck: Closing of a ers themselves, though, and this is where the story gets GM Plant, left off. The last Truck chronicles the 2008 more complicated. 22 bluestockings radical bookstore | activist center | fair trade cafe 172 ALLEN ST • 212-777-6028 bluestockings.com LEADERSHIP POSITION AVAILABLE

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Hi Billy, I just read how Anita Hill end. My friends say he had it coming. I won’t cut Joe Biden any slack for drag- couldn’t disagree more. You as peeved as ging her name through the mud all I am? those years ago. She says she wants real — TIM, Boerum Hill THE RIGHT change and accountability. I’m a Chris- tian and I believe in forgiveness. But we as a nation got to start keeping it real. I have to catch myself, because I feel like I TO BOYCOTT Where do we begin? should fi re off a snarky jab at the hacker. He has boldly gone where no man has ever — WANETTA, Jersey City been so annoying — and worse than that BDS AND YOUR if the rape charges are true. But whether or not I like him is not CIVIL LIBERTIES Dear Wanetta, important, because I know that I dislike American exceptionalism — the force In the Senate hearing room, the old-hard- that has Assange in its crosshairs. It is the wood walls and tables lend a solemn air. reigning toxin of our culture. It is far more Seated in a long row on the bench above noxious than Julian Assange. RD the rest of the people are Senator Alexan- The Pentagon is a murderous band of THURSDAY MAY 23 7-9PM dria Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Ilhan Omar, gangsters and exposing its inner workings Senator Stacey Abrams, Senator Maxine couldn’t be more important. Assange did Join us to learn about the need for the Boycott, Divest, Waters, Senator Ayanna Pressley, Sena- that. He also vividly warned us about the Sanctions movement - what it is and why it matters, tor Toni Morrison, Senator Lori Light- national security state in the computer as well as the alarming rise of anti-BDS laws that foot, Senator Shirley Chisholm, Senator era. He doesn’t come off smelling like Je- Carol Moseley Braun and Senator Mi- sus Christ, after his confusing deals with undermine our Constitution. chelle Obama. Below them, seated at a various devils, but it is startling with As- microphone, facing the 10 senators and a sange gone, if he is gone, that there isn’t NERDEEN KISWANI national audience of millions, is a witness an outlaw left to face American Empire on Founder of Within Our Lifetime - United for Palestine, named Joe Biden. such a scale. the largest Palestinian youth group in the City Justice begins in the imagination. BRIAN HAUSS May you travel in wildness, ACLU Staff Attorney - Speech, Privacy and Technology Project — rev — rev FEATURED SPEAKERS: FEATURED SUMAYA AWAD • • • REVEREND BILLY IS AN ACTIVIST AND Palestinian activist and writer, Co-founder of Against Canary Mission POLITICAL SHOUTER, A POST-RELIGIOUS That Mueller report is some good read- PREACHER OF THE STREETS AND BANK ing, Reverend. The man’s a regular W.P. LOBBIES. HAVE A QUESTION FOR REVEREND

May 2019 Brooklyn Commons Wodehouse and doesn’t even know it. But BILLY? JUST EMAIL REVBILLY@INDYPEN-

WHERE: 388 ATLANTIC AVE, BROOKLYN NY 11217 it stuck in my craw watching Assange get DENT.ORG AND UNBURDEN YOUR SOUL. carried from the Ecuadorian Embassy FIND US ON: like a big hairy baby in the arms of the BROOKLYN FOR PEACE bobbies. I’m all for taking on The Don- BROOKLYNPEACE.ORG ald and Assange ain’t no saint, but to [email protected] | 718-624-5921 At brooklyn4peace go down for exposing the dirty deeds of

The IndypendenT the Pentagon. That stinks of bull, Rever- 23

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CHEAP DRINKS. FUNKY BEATS. PLUS: A SPECIAL ART AUCTION, featuring limited prints of illustrations from The Indypendent. Who says radicals can’t have nice things? MUSIC BY: ARCH ARIES & SAM GO • THE BRASS TACKS THE J.D.S • THE BUSY BUSY May 2019 May Sliding scale: $10–$20 at the door. | Wear what you want! All proceeds go toward The Indypendent, New York's free, progressive newspaper.

Illustration by Rob LaQuinta. IndypendenT The INDYPENDENT.ORG workersunitefi lmFestival.org | May 10th - May 23rd 2019

Fri, May 10th | Cinema Village Wed, May 15th | Cinema Village Opening Night SALUTE TO SAG-AFTRA, WGA AND AFM - SALUTE UNITE HERE!, NYC RETIREES ROCK! HOW TO STAY UNION ON A LOW BUDGET FILM Program 1: Program 16: Free early show | Encore Shorts and Prizewinners � �� � 0: |�� Ya Bz nBDB�WY�� B����n a��� 5 � ����0: �|�� n B�m h v n cy u �� Y cBWZ ��� � 5 ����� av v � � 3 p m���A2AyA07��2v���� 5 � � � 3 p m��� A2AyA07��2v���� 5 ��|�� 44��7 �� �� mcH y�r 0ae ���� 5 � Program 2: You Can Fight City Hall! And Win! (With A Union) Program 17: Sag-aftra & wga-east, AFM panel with special guests A low budget fi lm that shines ����0: |�� YKy clz Ya hy ��� � 5 � ����0: |�� 00ay �� d v 7 �s0a�� m7 v 4�� T v y : y � � 3 p m��� � �i mcy ��( n v �� � ��� � n A Dmo0�� 0: v 4�r 0ae v ay H � : aA ev ���� 5 � Program 3: Union Organizing Meets The Twilight Zone � �� � 0: |��nB�� hynhWWhy��DYyW����n a�� � 5 ���|�� 3 663 S � � �� h ������������hyBl Program 18: Union organizing meets the twilight zone | Encore for a huge hit! �����0: |�� YDDZ�WY�� YWnBD�eYK����n a�� �5 � � � 3 p m��( A De�( 0De ���� 5 �� �����0: | � YDDZ�WY�� YWnBD�eYK����n a�� �5 � � � 3 p m��r n A :v � mT Dv �� 0: � mT Dv ���� 5 � Sat, May 11th | Cinema Village SALUTE TO THE NYLHA - CLIMATE CHANGE IS A LABOR ISSUE Thurs, May 16th | Cinema Village Program 4: SALUTE TO THE INDEPENDENT DRIVERS GUILD � �� � 0: |�� n B�� BF cl �m B�� y Y z ����n a�� � 5 � FILMS ABOUT THE LIES BEHIND THE GIG ECONOMY � � 3 p m��� 6 � � �� � ��� 6v ma��7 �� v 2A v8 ��� 5 � | �H �mT �� y : �� m�h A v��( n v �� A on: �� : � : m7 i A 7o �� 0De �� 07 : A 7T v y ��7 �: n v �� mc0T y �0s� Program 19: �0TAyAm7m���� 5 � | (nv��vmy07�r vHav� :A44��vav���� 5 � ����0: �|�� c B ��� � 5 ����� av v Program 5: Workers Take On The World’s Biggest Retailer (Exploiter) � � 3 p m��( n v �� 4mDe �� 0T 7 : mA7���� 5 � | r n A :v � mT Dv �� 0: � mT Dv ���� 5 � ��� � 0: |�� BhD�mhla hDW�� � � �5 A 7� Program 20: Uber May Go Public, But They’re Hiding Something � � 3 p m��(aAm7o4v��Aav��� 5 ��|�� 6 � � �� � ��� 6v ma��7 �� v 2A v8 ��� 5 ��|�� A a:n �� s�� �1 7 A 07 ��� � 5 � ����0: �|�S r BDl h y t ��� � 5 � Program 6: Film School. Zombies. Pro-Art, Anti-Biz Theme. Funny! � � 3 p m��� omA7y:�:nv�r A7i ���� 5 ��|�� T : 07 05 0T y �( am7 y A :��� A on: �s0a��0) y �m7 i � msv : c ��� 5 � � �� � 0: �|� ���n a�� � 5 ��g� � c y h l � � K Wb � wYa r cB�� Ya Bt Z�� YvWKa B�� Yy WBvW� Program 21: How The Yellow Cab Industry Was Destroyed In Nyc � � 3 p m��� o mA7y : �: n v �r A 7i ���� 5 � � �� � 0: | � Ky �WnB�� BWBD�� � �5 � � � 3 p m���00eA7o�( na0Ton�: nv�� m5 ) 00y���5 ��| � av v i 05 �: 0�� aA 2v ���� 5 � Sun, May 12th | Cinema Village Program 22: Encore Screening Of The Zombie Comedy Pro-Worker Film HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! �����0: |����������������� | � c y h l � � K Wb ����n a�� � 5 ��g�wYa r cB�� Ya Bt Z�� YvWKa B�� Yy WBvW� BIRDS SAVE THE EARTH AND NO NUKES! Program 7: Family Film. Stunning Animation! Fri, May 17th | PEF HQ ����0: |�� cWY�h y t �� n B�� cDt v ����na��� 5 � Program 23: The Women Of The Public Employees Federation, Ny State, Support � � 3 p m���4Ad�:nv� 8A:Dn���� 5 � Their Sisters (Brothers Too!) (PEF MEMBERS PRIVATE EVENT) Program 8: � �� � 0: |�� n B�� Ky v ��� n B�� DcBv Wv��h y t �� n B�� Y a r v ����n a�� � 5 � | DC 1707 Auditorium � � 3 p m��( n m: �� 7 v �( v 7 : n �� s�� 00i ��� 5 � Sat, May 18th Program 9: Billions For New Weapons. Service Member Safety? Not So Much. Program 24: � ��� 0: �� 33pm | � � � �� � � � � �� � � � �� l h Z�� � Y y BDW�� Bh t cy u �z cWn�h KWnY D�� h l F cy �� h a v BZ�� �� �h WYDv �� ���� 0: �|�m n Y �� cl l Bt �� W��o h y �� Y Dy � ����n a�� � 5 � � YyYDcyu��nB��hWcYyhl�mDcWBDv�SycYy� � � 3 p m��(aAm7o4v��Aav��� 5 � | � T : : A 7o �� T : �� A avy ��( n v � Dn 004�� T y �� aA yAy�0s�� A Dn5 07 i �� 0T 7 : c ���� 5 � Sun, May 19th | DC 1707 Auditorium | Cinema Village Mon, May 13th Program 25: Program 10: The Uk’s Obama Is Coming | Free Early Show �� � �o�� Wn�� y y Kh l �� WcF cv W��cl a a h i BDv �� Y Y W h a T �z ��� n cDt �m Y Dl t �� Bz v DBBl ��� BBt �h y t �� T h Di � �� KBv Wv ����0: |�� n B�� h ZY Ddv �� h B����n a�� � 5 ����� av v Program 11: From Guerilla To Rapper & Who Watches The Nypd? Mon, May 20th | SUNY Empire State | WOrkers United Auditorium � �� � 0: |�� DY Kr l B�� cy t v �e Y K ��� �5 � |�� cv WBy �WY�� Z�� Y y u � � � �5 � Program 26: � � 3 p m��� 0aA DTm��� n 0T : A 7o �� 7 � T 7 y v : �� mae ���� 5 � � �� � �� � | � DY y Wlcy B�� cl a v | S � �� Y h l �� �� l Ka r BDv �� Bl l �� WYDcBv �(private) Program 12: Argentina On The Move! PROGRAM 27: � �� � 0: |�� KBy Yv�� cDBv��� nB�� cWZ�� W�� lBBT ��� � 5 � � �� � �� � �o�� n h y v c��� �� Y KWn�� CDc h y �� WYDZ�Y C�� DB h DcY Kv �m Y Di BDv � � 3 p m��� maDn ���� 5 � |�� 07 H :�� A 2v�1 d �60T a�h 0A Dv�����5� � � 3 p m��� m7 D m4m��� 5 � | ( m7 : m4T 5 � �� 5 �

| Cinema Village Tues, May 14th Tues, May 21st | Workers United Auditorium Program 13: Worker, Poet, Gravedigger | Free Early Show Program 28: Salute To The Ibew Local 3 And Their Fight For Labor Rights ����0: |�� h t Dcu h l �CYD�� �� cF cy u �� Y BW����n a��� 5 ����� av v � �� � �� � | � DY y Wlcy B�� cl a v |��� � m �� Y h l � �� T T DBy Wc Bv �� Bl l �v WYDcBv Program 14: Here’s Your Dream Job. Oops, No Pay! Plus Uk Star Power Shorts Program 29: � �� � 0: | ����n a��� 5 � � h l l �� B��y WBDy � �� � �� � |�S y cY y �� ca B��� cu n Wcy u �CYD�m Y Di BDv d�� cu n Wv � � 3 p m���m5) v:n��Aon:y��� � 5 � Program 15: Our Backyards Are Not Battlefi elds! | Park Church Co-op (Greenpoint, Bk) � �� � 0: |��S y t BWBDDBt ����n a��� 5 � Wed, May 22nd � � 3 p m��� mi �� A 4ey �� 08 y ��7 �( v Cmy � � �5 � |��H �mT �� y : �� m�h A v��( n v �� A on: �� : � : m7 i A 7o �� 0De �� 07 : A 7T v y ��7 �: n v �� mc0T y �0s� Program 30: �0TAyAm7m���� 5 � �� � �|�� Kv c �� �� cl a �� Bl Br Dh WcY y �CYD�m S � � �� �z cWn��BlB WcYy�YC��y YDB��nYDWv��� YlYD�� YllhuB�� � Y v WKa B� Y y WBv W��� h cy W�� Bl h �� �F BDZ�v T B ch l �u KBv Wv�� h Z�� n B�� n B�

Thurs, May 23rd | Penn South Mutual Redevelopment Houses Program 31: NYC Retirees Rock! � �� � 0: |�� Ya Bz nBDB�WY�� B����7D0av�davyv7:m:A07����na��� 5 � ��3p m���3��p������� (aAm7o4v��Aav��� 5 ���| � 4v7 : c �: 0� mc��( n v �� mi A Dm4�� T am4y�0s�� mac �� v aac � : 07 v ��� 5 � |��H �mT �� y : �� m�h A v��( n v �� A on: �� : � : m7 i A 7o �� 0De �� 07 : A 7T v y ��7 �: n v �� mc0T y �0s�� 0T A yAm7m���� 5 �

TICKETS & FULL SCHEDULE | WUFF WEBSITE AND EVENTBRITE � � � � � � � �� ��� � � �