Housing "Cops" (ity Limits Volume XXII Number 4 uomo meets Clint Eastwood at the Justice Department, and City Limits is published ten times per year, monthly except landlords shake in their shoes. Or so went the spin last month bi-monthly issues in June/July and August/September, by when HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo and Attorney General the City Limits Community Information SeNice. Inc., a non­ C profit organization devoted to disseminating information Janet Reno announced a new enforcement program targeting delinquent concerning neighborhood revitalization. owners of HUD-subsidized properties. The cabinet officials even Editor: Andrew White draped a "Get Tnugh" sign over the podium. Senior Editors: Kierna Mayo, Kim Nauer, Glenn Thrush "If you misuse Federal resources, we will find Managing Edito r: Robin Epstein ___--- "'"'.. ,, - out, we will track you down and we will make you Contributing Editors: James Bradley, Rob Polner pay," Cuomo said. Design Direction: James Conrad, Paul V. Leone Let's hope he means it. The enforcement pro­ gram is needed, and Cuomo deserves a nod for Interns: Zhanna Agran, Mary Blatch Advertising Representative: Faith Wiggins ED ITO RI A L looking more closely at landlords who receive sub­ sidies for low-income tenants-but fail to provide Proofreader: Sandy Socolar them with decent housing. Photographers: Dietmar Liz-Lepiorz, Gregory P. Mango It's appallmg, however, that such enforcement hasn't always been Associate Director. Center for an Urban Future: Neil Kleiman routine. The problem Cuomo is addressing is an old one. Indeed, more Sponsors: often than not, HUD officials have been complicit in landlord abuses. Association for Neighborhood and Four years ago, City Limits ran a cover story titled "Malign Housing Development, Inc. Neglect: The federal government gives landlords high rents .. .and lets Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development the buildings rot." We surveyed 19 privately owned, HUD-subsidized Urban Homesteading Assistance Board properties managed by one Brooklyn company, BPC Management, and Board of Directors*: found severely deteriorated conditions in eight of them. The manage­ Eddie Bautista. New York Lawyers for ment company and the property owners were raking in millions offed­ the Public Interest eral dollars on these properties. The owners of the 192-unit Willard J. Beverly Cheuvront, City HaNest Francine Justa. Neighborhood Housing SeNices Price Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant received a $1.74 million annual Errol Louis. Central Brooklyn Partnership subsidy from HUD to provide low-income housing. But the place was Shawn Dove. Rheedlen Centers coming apart, with a leaking roof, broken-down kitchens, inconsistent Rebecca Reich, Low Income Housing Fund heat and little security. Andrew Reicher, UHAB Tom Robbins, Journalist At the press conference last month, Cuomo said he was setting up Celia INine, ANHD new procedures to make it harder for landlords to hide their sins from Pete Williams, National Urban League regulators. Problem is, these sins were never hidden. Regarding Willard •Affiliations for identification only. J. Price and other developments, HUD had stacks of internal reports outlining the terrible housing conditions, including several that rated Subscription rates are: for individuals and community the complexes as "below average." Did that slow the federal subsidies, groups, $25/Dne Year, $35/Two Years; for businesses, or bring aggressive demands by regulators for immediate repairs? Not foundations, banks, government agencies and libraries, $35/Dne Year, $50/Two Years. Low income, unemployed. at all. HUD filed the reports .. .and accomplished nothing. $10/Dne Year. Corlandress Pittman, a 73-year-old tenant at Willard J. Price, tells City Limits welcomes comments and article contributions. us little has changed at his housing complex since we wrote our 1993 Please include a stamped, self-addressed envelope for return article. The same management company remains in place. The stair­ manuscripts. Material in City Limits does not necessarily wells have deteriorated, the leaks persist, the playground is an asphalt reflect the opinion of the sponsoring organizations. Send correspondence to: City Limits, 120 Wall Street, 20th FI. , lot bereft of play equipment. New York. NY 10005. Postmaster: Send address changes to "It's always been my opinion HUD's been working hand in hand City Limits, 120 Wall Street, 20th FI., New York, NY 10005. with the management;' Pittman says. "They never punished them. They Periodical postage paid never did anything. They're all in cahoots ." New York, NY 10001 More than two decades too late, HUD may finally be recognizing its City Limits (lSSN 0199-0330) (212)479-3344 regulatory responsibility. The taxpayers help pay the rent for these ten­ FAX (212)966-3407 ants through the federal subsidies. We all deserve to be assured condi­ [email protected] tions are safe and decent, and that the landlords are not pocketing so Copyright © 1997. All Rights ReseNed. No much in profit-or losing so much through incompetence-that their portion or portions of thi s journal may be reprinted with­ tenants end up paying a horrible price. out the express permission of the publishers. City Limits is indexed in the Alternative Press Index and the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals and is available on microfilm from University Andrew White Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Editor • CITY LIMITS FEATURES

7 Deadly Signs of New York City's Unheeded Housing Crisis ~ Rents are rising, wages declining, and the pols in Albany are preparing to slice and dice the city's number-one housing subsidy: welfare. As activists battle to preserve rent stabilization, even greater threats to low-income tenants lurk just around the comer. By Glenn Thrush

Burned Out Is a home just a roof and four walls? Newark's 322 Irvine Turner Boulevard was dilapidated and overpriced, but it was home to 20 families, a vessel brimming with decades of memories. Until the day after Christmas, when fire gutted the building. Photos and text by Helen M. Stummer

The Belles of St. Edwards The politicians want welfare moms to pull themselves out of dependency. But in the fall of 1995, with Congress crafting an end to the nation 's guaranteed welfare benefits, Philadelphia activist Cheri Honkala and an organized band of homele s mothers took a more creative approach to "self-help" than the politicians ever had in mind. By David Zucchillo

PIPELINES Stop Payment ~ Scheduled cuts in Food Stamps and disability benefits have given legal immigrants good reason to panic. By Adam Fifield

Showdown on Aisle Five A church group leading Harlem's Bradhurst redevelopment project is trying to convince the city of the perils of Pathmark. Superstore supporters charge the group being power hungry at the expense of cheap food. By April Tyler

COMMENTARY Cityview 12& A Fitting Memorial By Charles Komano/f

Review 127 Eyeing Race By E.R. Shipp

Spare Change 130 Escape Grace By Glenn Thrush

DEPARTMENTS

Briefs &. 7 Editorial 2 Cloud Over Bronx Air Study Letters 4 Crew's Detention Period Professional Dawn of the Cyber-Dole Directory 28 Jail-In Vote Job Ads 29

APRIL 1997 • Applications Sought for Ninth Leadership New York Program LETTERS ,i Leadership New York is a competitive educational and leadership training pro­ gram co-sponsored by Coro and the New York City Partnership and Chamber of Commerce. In the nine-month program, during which participants are expected Ma ..ch P .. al•• to remain employed full-time in their current professions, a diverse group of The March issue of City Limits was mid-career executives from the public, private and nonprofit sectors explores excellent. Your magazine is one of the few critical issues confronting the city. publications I always read. However, there are times that the magazine seems Through site visits, interviews and panel discussions, participants study the not to pay sufficient attention to housing city's educational, social service, health care and criminal justice systems, issues. This issue was wonderfully com­ infrastructure, economic development and New York's changing demographics. prehensive, balanced and representative of the vast array of issues and concerns Leadership New York welcomes applications from candidates with a demon­ confronting all of those engaged in com­ strated concern about New York City, a record of professional achievement and munity development and affordable hous­ the potential to playa significant role in the city's future. The program beings ing. I have made it required reading for all September 1997. of my staff.

For further information and applications, please contact: Harold DeRienzo Carol Hoffman, Associate Director, President, The Parodneck Foundation Leadership New York, Coro: New York, NY

F.b.. ual'Y,Too (212) 248-2935 I thought the piece on Father Gigante Application Deadline: June 1997 in the February issue ["Murphy's Flaw"] was very, very good. You're publishing some of the best investigative pieces I see I' I I II \ \ I II 1\ () k I I( \ (. I I" ( anywhere. The entire magazine seems more energized than ever. I look forward to each issue. When it comes lonathan Kozol Byfield, MA

to insurance ... City Limits Is Mg... to hM .. f .. om you, whfth ... you Ilk. .omfthlng w.'v. w .. ltt.n or We've got hat. u. for publl.hlng It. S.nd you .. Int.... to: City Limits, 120 Wall Str•• t, 20th Floor, you covered. M.w York City 10005. • 1.

or over 40 years, Pelham Brokerage we work closely with our customers CORRECTIOM: Ln c. has responded to the needs of to insure compliance on in surance Four clients with creative, low-cost requirements throughout the develop­ The March issue of City Limits insurance programs. We represent all ment process. Thereafter, we will tailor incorrectly stated that the organization major insurance carriers specializing in a permanent insurance program to meet coverages for Social Service organ­ the specifi c needs of your orgaruzation. SRO Tenants United (SROTU) is izations. Our programs are approved by funded by the West Side and East City, State and Federal funding agencies. OW' clients include many of the leailing Side SRO Law Projects. In fact, orgaruzations in the New York City area SROTU does not formally receive Let us be part of your management providing social ervices. funds from anyone, and depends on team . As spec ialists in the area of volunteers. The group receives a small new construction and rehabilitation For information call: amount of in-kind support from the of exi sting multiple unit properties, Sleven Poiolsky, President West Side SRO Law Project. 111 Great Neck Road, Great Neck, New York 11021 Phone (516) 482·5765 Fa., (5 16) 482.5837 '. I " \ I I( \ " ( I CITY LIMITS Moving in the right direction

Building like father, like son.

Leroy and Kenneth Morrison are a father and son team that is work­ ing with Chase's Community Development Group to make a differ­ ence in the community they ~II home.

The Morrisons are part of New York City's Neighborhood Entrepreneur Program. Working closely with the city and the New York City Housing Partnerst'\ip, Chase helped create this program, which is designed to transfer ownership of clusters of city-owned vacant and occupied buildings to experienced neighborhood-based property managers/owners.

It all boils down to desire and commitment. The Morrisons' desire to do the tough things it takes to be responsible contractors and build­ ing managers. The Chase Manhattan Bank's commitment to have a long-term relationship with people who invest in themselves and their communities.

Through innovative financing programs and relationships with people like Leroy and Kenneth Morrison, Chase's Community Development Group is redefining the concepts of affordable housing and local t entrepreneurship. We call that doing business right. Leroy and Kenneth Morrison of Lemor Realty surveying construction at W. 140th St.

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APRIL 1997 • • 7 (REW'S DETENTION PERIOD New York City schools chief Rudy of the independent agency ifthe 600- Crew apparently didn't enjoy being student school now under construc­ called in for a parent-chancellor tion isn't ready to open on schedule conference last month. in early 1999. On March 3, Crew met with "You can't just issue ultima­ around 2oo members of the Parents tums," Crew shot back. Organizing Consortium, an umbrella The schools boss also refused group of parents groups in parents request to push the mayor to Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and reinstate funding for another Bedford the Bronx. Meeting at a Tribeca ele­ Park elementary school construction mentary school, the parents posted project, which was defunded by a six-foot-tall report card to record Mayor Giuliani early in his term. "The Crew's responses to questions answer," he intoned, "is no." about school construction projects, The multi-ethnic District 10, textbook shortages and efforts to wh ich stretches from Riverdale give parents new powers in their down to Fordham, is among the most children's schools. overcrowded in the city. Many par­ The meeting- which took place ents are angry that the problem is after he postponed two previously­ not being solved. Last month, workfare workers at a Sanitation Department garage In the scheduled POC pow-wows-was "He was not respectful of peo­ Bronx told Michael Melendez of Borough President Fernando Ferrer's contentious from the beginning. But ple's frustration, their fear or their office tlley thougll! the program was no better than 'legalized slavery" the most heated exchange took long suffering," says Lois Harr, an ACORN organizers asked Ferrer to show, but he sent Melendez Instead place when Bronx parents com­ activist with Northwest Bronx plained about the School Community and Clergy Coalition. Construction Authority's long delays Crew wasn't exactly enchanted on Bronx school projects. Parents by the encounter either. Referring to (LOUD OVER BRONX AIR STUDY suggested that Crew, who is one of future meetings, he says, "[Next People in the South Bronx com ­ and asthma attacks. the SCA's three trustees, make PS 54 time, I want) a little more to do with munities of Hunts Point, Mott But community leaders say the in Bedford Park a "test case" for the the agenda and how we hold the Haven, and Port Morris say they project is seriously flawed continued existence of SCA. They meeting." don't need a study to know they because its designers never urged Crew to call for the abolition --Jordan Moss and Glenn Thrush have a problem with asthma . They sought community input. "We have do wonder about the causes, how­ something to add . There is a lot of eve r, and they are demanding knowledge [about asthma) in the it may not be whe re the most pollu­ was so rushed that it was virtual ­ greater involvement in a new state community." says Marian Feinburg tion is and where the sick people ly impossible to involve the com­ study designed to determine exact­ of the South Bronx Clean Air are," Feinburg says. munity. ly that. Coa lition . " One of the things that The state researchers will col ­ According to Schottenfeld, the Given the 31 waste-transfer and happened as a result of communi ­ lect air contamination data from the site will not be changed because garbage disposal centers in the ty agitation [in the past) is that South Bronx and compare it to there are no other state-certified area, residents have long assumed there started be ing money around information gathered at Mabel monitoring stations in the area . the high rates of upper respiratory for asthma prevention and Dean Bacon High School in lower After getting an earful of criti­ distress are a direct result of air research .... lfs really important to Manhattan. They will compare the cism at the February meeting, contamination. Yet they lack hard us that it gets done right. " She data with local emergency room Schottenfeld said the state would scientific evidence. With an says it took 25 persistent calls to data from asthma attacks. Over 16 address some resident concerns. $800,000 research grant from the Albany justto get DOH representa ­ contaminants thought to affect For example, she said, the state federal Toxic Substances and tives to come to the Bronx in asthmatics will be measured , wou ld consider collecting data on Disease Registry, the state February to explain their plan. including ones not previously mea­ particulate emissions from the Department of Health hopes to Coalition members fear the sured in relation to asthma . Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Waste change this. The agency is plan ­ study may be useless because of Faith Schottenfeld, a public Incinerator in a bid to determ ine if ning a three -year study, beg inning where the air monitoring station is health specialist for the health there are any links between the in May, to find the relationship located , on the roof of IS 155 on department, explains that the emissions and asthma . between specific air contaminants Jackson Avenue . "IS 155 seems like process of obtaining grant money -Mary Blatch

Resour(es the IBO predicts a steadily rising city of revenues from airport rent. Giuliani start spending your paycheck till you budget deficit, culminating in a nearly predicts the city will bring in $310 mil­ land that gig. Over the course of the $4 billion shortfall in 200t lion from airport rent payments in IT year, the total number of jobs city­ PERHAPS THIS IS WHY MAYOR GIULIANI The agency, which Giuliani unsuc­ 98 but the IBO says that number is wide grew a paltry 0.7 percent. And WAS NEVER EXCITED ABOUT THE IDEA cessfully sought to kill, says the city really closer to $40 million. For a copy more people than ever are competing of a nonpartisan city Independent will likely bring in $258 million less of the report call (212) 442-0629. for the few that are available. For a Budget Office (lBO): lBO's first salvo at than predicted next year and will sobering, fact- filled quarterly report City Hall says the mayor's sanguine spend $443 million more than LOOKING FOR A JOB? ON THE FACE OF IT, on the state of the city's finances, get budget predictions for 1998 through planned. IBO says part of the problem NEW YORK LOOKS LIKE A REASONABLE on the mailing list for Comptroller 2001 ignore a huge $700 million bud­ is an underestimation of the impact of BET, what with its economy growing Alan Hevesi's "Economic Notes." Call get gap for next year alone. Worse, welfare reform and an overestimation by 3.6 percent last year. But don't (212) 669-2939, • CITY LIMITS • F DAWN OFTHE CYBER-DOLE The state's massive effort to turn food stamps and welfare checks into ATM-type debit cards could result in unforeseen dangers for low-income New Yorkers, advo­ cates charge. "It's not an inherently bad idea, but it has a lot of scary problems that are going to have to be fixed," says Liz Krueger, a welfare activist who sits on the state committee overseeing the implementation of the electronic benefits transfer (EBT) system. Krueger and other welfare advo­ cates believe the new system, which is mandated by the federal welfare law and is due to begin in parts of the city in July, should be carefully scru­ tinized before it is implemented. Sarah Ludwig, executive direc­ tor of the Neighborhood Economic Council Speaker Peter Vallone tflPS to tell IllS side of the rent reuulatlon story to skeptical Queens tenant activists shortly before the Council voted III favor of renewing rent stabilization and rent control last month The speaker Development Advocacy Project, refused to go along With the tenants call for a roll back of vacancy and luxury decontrol measures that Vallone points to the fact that Congressional pushed through the council III 1994 Still, the real rent regulation battle will be III tile state legislature, which must Republicans eliminated all con­ renew the laws before they expire III June sumer protections from the welfare legislation, leaving welfare recipi­ action that exceeds the four free The EBT contract is one of the Banker magazine. In February, a ents liable for debits run up on withdrawals per month granted by largest welfare privatization con­ group of New York City check-cash­ stolen cards. And while Congress the company. tracts in the country. Under an ing vendors successfully sued to placed a ban on fees for use of food In addition, Krueger says, there unusual arrangement, Citicorp has block the system, but state stamps, they left open a loophole are no prohibitions against local mer­ received contracts with a consortium Department of Social Services has that allows Citicorp-which will run chants from gouging welfare recipi­ of seven northeast states that will be the right to proceed with EBT until an the system-to impose an 85-cent ents who use their cards to buy gro­ worth nearly $1 billion over its first appeal is heard later this year. fee on each welfare account trans- ceries or other products off their card. seven years, according to American -Glenn Thrush

Under state law, convicted felons York City jails come from just nine percentage of the behind-bars elec­ are barred from voting for the dura­ neighborhoods-Hariem, Washington torate could conceivably have signif­ JAIL-IN VOTE tion of their sentence and parole. But Heights and the Lower East Side in icant political impact. In those nine A Harlem group is hoping to alleged offenders with no prior con­ Manhattan, Bedford-Stuyvesant, neighborhoods, which elect 20 rep­ ensure that people who are locked victions who are awaiting trial in jail Brownsville and East New York in resentatives to the State Assembly up aren't unfairly locked out of their are still eligible to vote. The problem Brooklyn, the South and Central Bronx and six to the State Senate, typical voting rights. is that they rarely exercise their fran­ and South Jamaica, Queens. turnouts for state races are 5,000 to The Community Justice Center, chise, says Eddie Ellis, a founding "Given the extreme number of 10,000 people. In contested races, founded by a group of ex-prisoners member of the center. people you've seen incarcerated the margin of victory can be as small concerned with criminal justice "It's an invisible constituency that from poor communities over the last as several hundred votes. abuses, is targeting a voter educa­ can make a serious difference in 20 years, it does begin to have an In the coming months, the cen­ tion drive to the 30,000 people many local races," says Ellis, a one­ impact on access to political power," ter's workers, most of them ex-cons, housed in New York county jails, in time Black Panther who himself says Bob Gangi, executive director of will hold voter education sessions in the hopes of getting the largely dis­ served 19 years in prison. the Correctional Association, an city jails. Eventually, they hope to get enfranchised group in touch with According to recent research, the advocacy and research organization. the AFL-CIO interested in the project. their political power. majority of men stowed away in New Giving the vote to even a sma!1 -Sasha Abramsky

Short Shots Senator Howard Babbush, second as DECOSTA THE YOUNGER, WHO WAS kering jobs with his friends in govern­ a constituent services specialist for FIRED FROM HIS MESSINGER JOB ment. The son seems equally adept at THE GREEN APPLE DOESN'T ROT FAR Manhattan Borough President Ruth when the news broke, happens to be taking them-including a special­ FROM THE GRIZZLED TREE. Messinger. the son of East Brooklyn Democratic election appointment to Community Last week, the New York Post power broker DeCosta Headley, Sr., the School District 19, a position his reported that young DeCosta featured subject of a February 1996 father once held. Ah, fresh blood. Headley, Jr" was fired for dipping (jty limits expose about political cor­ twice at the public trough-first as ruption in East New York. The father, an aide for deposed Brooklyn state we reported then, was fond of bro-

APRIL 1997 B F

clause of the 14th Amendment by discrim­ inating agai nst legal immigrants in the administration of benefits.

Cut-Oft Extended Last month, Governor George Pataki obtained a waiver from the Clinton Administration which allows counties to extend the food stamp cut-off date from April until August. While some counties won't take advantage of the option, Mayor Giuliani does plan to use the waiver for New York County, says Human Resources Administration spokesperson Renelda Higgins Walker. The waiver is a good first step, says New York Immigration Coalition Executive Director Margie McHugh. "But no one should be fooled. It does nothing to help us with the long-term picture." "It's not appropriate to give the gover­ nor kudos on this," says Liz Krueger of the Community Food Resource Center. Pataki is trying to claim the waiver is good for immigrants, she says, but "these people will get screwed sooner or later." Illna A rolovich ens of thousands of New Thorn. And a recently announced INS rule Pataki included an item in his state bud­ advocates for York's immigrants are bracing forbidding legal immigrants with mental get that would provide $352 a month in Jewish immigrallls impairments, retardation or Alzheimer's non-cash assistance to elderly and disabled from the former for the loss of disability bene­ Soviet UniOlL fits and Food Stamps during disease from taking an oath of allegiance immigrants who lose more than $550 a the next few months. As advo­ means that citizenship will be off limits for month in SSI benefits. The program would rcates scramble to assess the damage and some of the most vulnerable immigrants. pay for necessities such as rent, food and roll back the worst of the cuts, they are medical bills. To be eligible, however, seeing some disturbing first signs of dis­ Losing Ben.,its immigrants will have to spend down aU tress. Caseworkers at nonprofit organiza­ Since February, the Social Security their savings and prove they are destitute. tions report receiving letters from elderly Administration has sent letters to 130,000 McHugh's coalition is asking Pataki for immigrants considering suicide. And some legal immigrants across the state-I 10,000 a food stamp contingency plan and a "seam­ immigrant victims of domestic violence of them in New York City-who receive less transition" for immigrants moving from are contemplating returning to their batter­ Supplemental Security Income (SSn, an SSI to the proposed non-cash alternative. ers because they cannot otherwise support income support program for people with It's unfathomable, says McHugh, that themselves without Food Stamps. disabilities, notifying them that they could 130,000 elderly and disabled people "are In New York City, immigrants from the lose their benefits starting this month. supposed to rise out of their wheel chairs" to Dominican Republic, the former Soviet Approximately 74,000 of the statewide re-apply for relief. But Pataki, who has Union, China, and Korea will be among total are elderly and disabled; the other appealed to President Clinton for a reinstate­ the hardest hit. 56,000 are children and non-elderly adults ment of benefits, has said he considers the Between April and August 22, food with disabilities. Under SSI, a single person plight of legal immigrants a federal problem stamps and SSI will be terminated for legal in New York state receives $556 a month. that should be solved with federal dollars. immigrants unless they become citizens or In addition, the state is scheduled to cut Giuliani has so far not committed any city prove that they fit into one of the categories off Food Stamps later this year for 250,000 dolJars, says Immigration Coalition of non-citizens who are exempt-refugees legal immigrants, 200,000 of whom live in spokesperson Mark Lewis. who have been here five years or less, vet­ the city. Food Stamp benefits average $80 Kalpana, an Indian woman in her mid­ erans of the U.S. military, or people who per person per month and $240 per family. thirties who asked that her last name not be have worked in the U.S. for at least 10 An alliance of public interest groups, used, endured four years of physical and years. About 80,000 immigrants statewide including the New York Legal Assistance emotional abuse at the hands of her hus­ will not be eligible for any of the exemp­ Group, the Legal Aid Society, the Center band after emigrating here in 1991. "He hit tions, estimates the New York Immigration for Disability Advocacy Rights, and the me and he hit our son," she says. "He Coalition, an organization of 120 immigrant Center for Constitutional Rights, is prepar­ would lock me up when he went out. He advocacy groups and service providers. ing to file a lawsuit in federal court on gave me no keys." She fled her batterer Citizenship applications can now take behalf of legal immigrants against the U.S. and entered the shelter system in 1995; she as long as nine months due to backlogs Department of Health and Human thought her nightmare of domestic abuse resulting from criminal background Services. The lawsuit will contend that the was over. Now, faced with the loss of her checks, says Immigration and new welfare law violates the Fifth Food Stamps and not knowing how she Naturalization Service spokesperson Mark Amendment and the equal protection wilJ feed her 4-year-old, Kalpana says she

:M CITY LIMITS • might have to return to her abuser. Inna Arolovich, who helps run a Manhattan­ For 20Years based advocacy group for Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, says she has received thousands of letters since news of the cut-off of We've Been There began circulating. Many of them are frightening. NEW YORK One elderly woman wrote: "I don't have any INCORPORATED ForYou. choice [butl suicide. I measured already-and I am short and can drown in my bathtub." The neighbor of another woman who attempted sui­ Your R&F OF NEW YORK, INC. has a special cide the night before a naturalization interview N eighborhood department obtaining and servicing insurance for wrote: "That night...she cut blood vessels and lig­ aments on hands and legs. When emergency came, Housing tenants, low-income co-ops and not-for-profit she was in blood bath." Insurance community groups. We have developed competitive "This is government-assisted suicide," says Specialist insurance progran1s based on a careful evaluation Arolovich. ''These people are Holocaust survivors of the special needs of our customers. We have and people who were persecuted in Stalin's gulag. Now they are persecuted by the American govern­ been a leader from the start and are dedicated to ment." After attaining American citizenship II the people of New York City. years ago, she says that for the first time in her life, "I am ashamed to be an American." .

Adam Fifield is a freelance writer based For Information call: in New York. Ingrid Kaminski, Executive Vice President R&F of New York One Wall Street Court New York, NY 10005-3302 New York 212 269-8080 • 800 635-6002 • 212 269-8112 (fax) La"'Yers for the CAl\IPAIGN FINANCE BOARD {)FFERS HELP Public F()R CANDIDATES

The New York City Campaign Finance Board is conducting a series of Candidate Information Interest Seminars for potential candidates for the offices of mayor, public advocate, comptroller, borough president, and City Council member. The seminars are designed to help candidates provides free legal referrals for community­ and their campaign staffs learn about NYC's voluntary Campaign Finance Program and based and non-profit groups how candidates who join the Program can qualify to receive public funds to help finance seeking pro bono representation. their campaigns for public office. Projects include corporate, tax and real estate work, zoning advice, housing )1)97 C \:\DIDATE SK\IIN,\i{ SCHEDl'LE: and employment discrimination, environmental justice, -Monday, April 7, 6:00p.m., Queens Borough Hall 120-55 Queens Blvd, Kew Gardens disability and civil rights. ·Wednesday, April 16, 6:00p.m., Staten Island Borough Hall 10 Richmond Terrace, S. I. -Wednesday, April 23, 6:00p.m., Campaign Finance Board" For further information, -Monday, April 28, 6:00p.m., Campaign Finance Board" call NYLPI at "40 Rector St., 7th floor, Lower Manhattan (212) 727-2270. April 30, 1997 is the deadline for most candidates There is no charge to join the Campaign Finance Program for the 1997 municipal elections. for NYLPI's services. o NEW YORK CITY e CAMPAIGN FINANCE BOARD

APRIL 1997 • 7 Showdown on Aisle Five A Harlem church group says it won't surrender to the mega-market fans. By April Tyler

PIPEliNE , ebuilding Bradhurst has it. And that has put them at the center of a the economic development that is already , always been a contentious growing neighborhood food fight. underway," he says. "We planned to have business, so no one expected Last year, HCCI began work on plans a number of smaller stores on that site the development of the to build a small supermarket run by the and a small supermarket. That fits into the neighborhood's first major Krasdale chain, which already operates a neighborhood, not a megastore." Rsupermarket in years to go forward with­ number of Bravo and C-Town markets in Community Board 10, which voted out a fight. northern Manhattan. The idea was to against the rezoning scheme in December, After becoming a symbol of urban construct a building that would accom­ agrees with HCCI. "We want to develop a decay in the 1970s, the section of Central modate the market as well as a string of more entrepreneurial focus within the Harlem that stretches from about 140th smaller stores to be filled by local entre­ community. The commercial spaces Street and Edgecombe and Bradhurst preneurs. shouldn 't be taken up by huge stores," avenues to 155th Street has been coming For reasons that are not entirel y clear, says Willy Walker, the board's chair. back. Over the last 10 years, the neigh­ the city put forth a proposal last year to borhood has seen the rehabiUtation of rezone the site to accommodate the con­ Price and Convenience over 1,000 units of housing, commercial struction of a much larger supermarket­ But the groups who support the revitalization of 145th Street and probably a Path mark, the only chain with Pathmark idea are also gearing up to make Frederick Douglass Boulevard and the an established track record of building their case. Yuien Chin, co-chair of the renovation of Jackie Robinson Park. mega-markets in inner-city neighbor­ West Harlem Community Preservation No one can speak of this resurgence hoods. On March 5, in what could be the Organization, says price and convenience without crediting the central role played first step in taking the site out of HCCl's for local shoppers should outweigh what by Harlem Congregations for hands, the City Planning Commission they consider to be vaguer concerns about Community Improvement (HCCI). A gave the rezoning its thumbs-up. community control. The Hamilton coalition of 60 churches and mosques Unlike the battle over the develop­ Heights Homeowners Association and created in 1986, the group has been the ment of the Pathmark on 125th Street in some members of Community Board 9, primary movers of the Bradhurst East Harlem, the debate that has divided which contains parts of Bradhurst, are Redevelopment Plan, which has spear­ Bradhurst is not about whether to have a supporting Chin 's position. headed much of the progress. HCCI, supermarket-but what size it will be "This neighborhood can use a large which wrested its initial funding from the and who will get to control it. supermarket," she says. "Who is really Koch administration and was heartily sup­ HCCI and its CEO, Reverend Preston being served [by the small market]? If ported by Mayor Dinkins, stands out as the Washington, are leading the opposition it's the community that we want to serve, only large-scale black-run low-income to the rezoning plan. Washington, pastor why hasn't there really been an investi­ housing developer in that part of Harlem. of Metropolitan Baptist Church, main­ gation into all of the options and a survey HCCI also happens to have control tains the small market plan is the key to of the residents to see what they want?" over one-square block of city-owned land Bradhurst being able to control its rede­ Pamela Fairclough of the Community at the corner of 145th Street and velopment and how the community will Food Resource Center, who has been Bradhurst Avenue. Officials plan to devel­ look in the future. studying the placement of supermarkets op into a supermarket with housing above "A large market on 145th would snarl and their use by low-income communi­ ties, also thinks this is a perfect site for a large supermarket. "It is rare that this [quantity of land] is available in Manhattan. And to have it right in a neighborhood that historically has not had its supermarket needs met makes it an opportunity not to be passed up." According to a study done by CFRC, $50 million food dollars in the Bradhurst Reverend Preston area are lost to Westchester and New Washington, CEO Jersey because of the dearth of adequate oJ Harlem markets in Harlem. The group estimates Congregations Jor Community $117 million in grocery buying power ImplVvement, ar exists in the 70,000 households in the 155th Street and area-while only $47 million of that sum Bradhursr Avenue, is currently recaptured by community the alrernarive Parhmark site PIV­ merchants. Fairclough also claims that posed by HCCI markets over 30,000 square feet typical­ and Community ly offer more than three times as many Board 10. items as Krasdale-scale markets. [ .• CITY LIMITS • That experience is echoed in other We are working for the empowerment of cil's permits committee-chaired by studies. Recent findings by the city's the community, and some people don 't Harlem councilwoman C. Virginia Department of Consumer Affairs showed want that .... We should have control and Fields, who reportedly favors the re-zon­ that poor people pay 8.8 percent more for ownership of the development in our ing proposal-is scheduled to hold hear­ a typical food basket than their counter­ community as well as the revenue pro­ ings on April 8. • parts in middle-income neighborhoods. A jects generate." report by Consumers Union in California Whether Washington gets his way is April Tyler is a Democratic district leader showed that 92 percent of middle-income now up to the City Council. The coun- in Harlem. people traveled five minutes or less for shopping, while only 28 percent of low­ income people could get their goods with­ out a major trek. The majority had to trav­ Mega-Market vs. Supermarket el more than 15 minutes to get to a store. Many in Harlem know this all too well. s having a huge Path mark in the neighborhood really much better than having a smaller "I shop in New Jersey," said Monique supermarket? Washington, a mother of three. "I would I An informal City Limits price-check on March 17th suggested the difference is signifi­ like a large market in my neighborhood. I cant but not overwhelming. We priced a typical food basket of 11 common items at the come to Fairway [a 35,000 square-foot Pathmark store on 207th Street in Inwood and compared the results with the prices at the store on l33rd St. near the Henry Hudson Bravo Supermarket on 148th Street in Central Harlem. The result? Pathmark items, totaling Parkway] but they don't have everything 530.03, were only 51.40 cheaper than Bravo's prices-a 5 percent difference. and it has a bad traffic problem." What Path mark has that Bravo-which carries Krasdale brands-doesn't have is a But opponents of the Pathmark idea say large stores don't necessarily mean larger line of store brand products which are cheaper than the name brands. While cus­ low prices or quality. tomers at Path mark can buy a pound of Path mark butter for 52.19, Bravo customers have to "It's up to the community to monitor shell out 52.99. In addition to its Path mark line, the store also has an aisle of "No Frills" any store that is in the neighborhood," brand products that is even cheaper. And Path mark has more bulk items, like a 2 lb. 6 oz. says Rev. Washington. His sentiments are box of "Crispy Rice" for 54.69, while Kellogg's Rice Krispies of the same size go for 57.19. echoed by Michael Adams, a local histo­ But Path mark customers are not always there just for the price. "I'm not going to say rian who wonders why this community everything here is priced reasonably. Compared with other stores, maybe not," says Sheryl needs superstores when other neighbor­ Smith, a 37-year-old telephone operator who lives in the area. "I shop at Path mark hoods in Manhattan have high quality because it is convenient and there is more variety. " and low prices without large stores and As for customers at Bravo, they also say they shop there because it is convenient to the off-street parking that they require. where they live or work. -Mary Blatch "It's analogous to those hideous malls in the suburbs that you don 't want to encourage in an urban setting." CB lO's Willy Walker believes the sit­ ITEM PATHMARK BRAVO ing of mega-market would make middle­ class residents less likely to buy the one­ Gerber 2nd Foods Peas 4 oz 5.53 5.57 to-four-family homes being renovated across the street from the market site. "No Whole Chicken (3 Ibs.) S2.97 (S.9911b. on special) 53.27 (S1.09/lb.) one will buy a house right next to a huge market with noisy trucks, vermin, and a Ground Chuck (3 Ibs.) 55.97 (51.9911b.) S4.77 (S1.6911b.) large number of cars all the time. "It would destroy the efforts we have General Mills Cheerios 10 oz 52.99 53.19 made over the last decade to improve this area." Family Size Chips Ahoy 11b, 8 oz 53.79 53.99

Management Fees USDA Grade ALarge Eggs, 12 51.29 81.49 Chin and her allies say such argu­ ments are a smoke screen. HCCl's real Store Brand Rice 10 Ibs 83.49 (Path mark) 84.19 (Krasdale) agenda, she maintains, is all about the group's determination to have control One Gallon Whole Milk 82.64 S2.79 over the project-and to capture manage­ ment fees that would inevitably flow Wonder Bread 11b, 6 oz S1.69 S1.69 from the development of the smaller retail spaces. Store Brand Enriched Bleached 8.88 (special) 51.79 Rev. Washington admits he wants the Flour 51bs fees but insists a smaller market is better. "We are under attack because we are Store Brand Sugar 5 Ibs S2.49 S2.29 the major players here," he told City Limits. "[People outside the community] TOTAL Path mark: S28.73 Bravo: S30.03 want to take that control away from us. _I APRIL 1997 In New York City, crisis is routine. But in the cotmtry's largest Rent-tropolis, no c · · has becOme nearl~ so routine as the housing cnsis. DEADLYS G S OF NEW YOR CI Y'S UNHEEDED HOU ING CRISIS

By Glenn Thrush

here wasn't exactly what bilized or ren -controlled units. The loss or erosion of rent protections you'd call an air of revela­ would likely mean large rent hikes for multitudes across all econom­ tion in the old City Hall ic and social classes. Yet behind this well-publicized political battle Board of E$timate Chamber lurk increasingly frightening warning signs of a much more substan­ when a tesfy throng of elder­ tial crisis affecting millions of working-class and poor tenants. ly tenants, rumpled land­ "Everybody's focusing on rent regulations as the key issue. lords, politicians and re­ Forget about rent regUlations-you have a huge problem looming porters gathered to hear the for affordable low-income housing," says Michael Schill, director official mid-March pro­ of NYU Law School's Center for Real Estate and Social Policy. nouQcement from the "You have rent increasing as a percentage of income and then you Giuliani administration that, add welfare reform. It all hits low-income people." yes, the city is still in a housing crisis. Schill's observation is backed up by the numbers. According to It's not as if anybody was there to do anything new about it. eliminary data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Housing and The crowd had come to hear Richard Roberts. the new housing Vacancy Survey (HVS)--on which Roberts' testimony was commissioner, give a formal statement that the city s apartment based-affordable housing in New York City is disappearing at an vacancy rate is still below 5 percent-and that therefore, by state alarming and accelerating rate. Rents are exploding, tenants' real statute, rent regulations are still in effect. incomes are falling and proposed cuts in state welfare benefits­ Because upstate Republicans are threatening the elimination of which few people realize is the single most important housing rent stabilization and rent control when they come up for renewal subsidy for poor New Yorkers-could force thousands of public in Albany this spring, Roberts ' declaration marked the official assistance tenants out of their homes. start of the triennial upstate-downstate contest over the future of All this, while the business of landlording has become almost rent regulation, a sort of ceremonial first pitch. as profitable as it was before the deep recession of the early 1990s, The importance of the rent regulation fight is not to be underesti­ according to statistics just released by the Rent Guidelines Board. mated: more than half of New York renters live in a million rent-sta- The signs of the crisis are here. You just have to read them. - CITY LIMITS The HVS reports that the citywide median In the last three y:ears, monthly rent, not including utilities and other the city has lost 113,000 of its expenses, increased 18.4 percent during the I • most affordable apartments. three-year survey. Meanwhile, the national Consumer Price Index inched up only 7.8 per­ The days of the $500 apartment are over, cent, thanks to historically low inflation rates. even though many New Yorkers can't afford to How dramatic is that rent rise? Between 1981 pay even that much. and 1993-a 12-year stretch-New York's medi­ The new Housi ng and Vacancy Survey an rent rose just $100 dollars in inflation-adjust­ (HVS) found that the number of cheap apart­ ed dollars. But from 1993 to 1996 alone, the ments has taken a huge plunge since 1993. In median rent jumped nearly another $100, from fact, the number of units whose rent and utilities tallied less than $501 to $593 a month. $500 dropped from 566,000 in 1993 to 452,000 in I 996-a pre­ This acceleration is a very recent phenomenon. Between 1991 cipitous 20 percent fall. and 1993 the city's median rent only increased by about 5 percent, The greatest drop in numbers took place in the $3OO-to-$400 and rent increases actually lagged behind the consumer price index. range, with a loss of nearly 40,000 of the 133,000 apartments that Again, the reasons for across-the-board rent rises can't be pre­ rented in that low price range three years ago. cisely explained until more detailed data comes in. But it is hap­ Analysts and community organizers say the numbers jibe with pening at a time when landlords have been taking greater profits, tales they 've heard of rent hikes in poor and working class com­ perhaps to compensate for the lean years of the early 1990s. munities citywide. The loss is almost entirely attributable to rent "Unless you own a bad building in a really poor neighborhood, hikes. Other factors contributed, including the loss of 30,000 rent­ it's a great time to be a landlord," says Ken Rosenfeld, a tenant control units primarily due to the death or relocation of elderly member of the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB). "People are taking tenants. Under state law, those apartments automatically revert to bigger profits on Wall Street and the economy's a little better now, rent stabilization and are subject to significant rent increases. so I think landlords believe they, too, can take higher rents." It is surprising to hear that rents in poor neighborhoods would Landlord expenses are shrinking for the first time in years: be rising rapidly, especially when the HVS itself shows that local "[There has been a] remarkable drop in the 'core' rate of inflation poverty rates are apparently growing (See Number 3, below). The for owners' .... operating and maintenance costs," reads the RGB's rent hikes in low-income housing appear to be clustered in areas report titled "1996 Rents, Markets and Trends." This month, the that benefited from significant housing construction or renovation board-which is authorized under rent regulations to set rent in the 1980s and early '90s, such as Highbridge and Morrisania in increase guidel ines for stabil ized and controlled apartments each the South Bronx and Fort Greene and East New York, according a year-plans to release another report detailing the drop in land­ Rent Guidelines Board summary of 1995 rent hikes. lord expenses and the increase in rent-hike profit-taking. According to an informal Daily News survey of 30 real estate brokers, one-bedroom apartment prices in parts of the South ... while the real value Bronx have shot from sub-$400 rents five years ago to an average of people's paychecks of around $650 today. 3• is going down. "If you want to move into a nice place you are going to have to pay a lot," says Dana Broussard, a 30-year-old Highbridge res­ If most people were getting steady pay raises, the big rent ident, who was forced to find a new apartment when her landlord hikes wouldn't be such a disturbing phenomenon. But the real jacked her rent from $572 to $700 last year. Broussard, who had earning power of the average New York family continues to fall. been rai sing her four kids in a one-bedroom apartment on $1 ,200 While Mayor Giuliani glowingly points to a growing econo­ a month in welfare and Food Stamps, was lucky enough to move my, the fact is real incomes for New Yorkers declined by 2.3 per­ into a three-bedroom apartment in a tenant-owned cooperative cent between 1993 and 1996. There were killing blows leveled on that costs around $450 a month. wage earners in the early 1990s, when the city lost 330,000 jobs Still , she knows many families who are stuck paying high and real wages declined by nearly 12 percent adjusted for infla­ rents even though they can't really afford it. "If the building is tion. And in 1996, the economy generated only 23,000 new jobs, new and clean, people don't really mind. But people are paying according to city Comptroller Alan Hevesi. $700 a month for rat holes," she adds. The net loss of jobs in the 1990s, combined with the continued decline in the value of paychecks, means more people are becom­ ing poor even before the city embarks on federally mandated wel­ fare reform. Indeed, between 1993 and 1996 the number of rental households with incomes below the federal poverty line increased RENTS + to 628,000, or almost one-third of all renters. This is 40,000 more than in 1993, and all of them are barely scraping by. , WAGES Forget new hikes, people can't even afford the rents 4• they're paying right now. Citywide rents shot up 18.4 percent Add shrinking incomes to skyrocketing rents and what do you Z• since 1993 ... get? A fast-tightening vise squeezing tenants' budgets. In what is probably the most telling single statistic in the HVS, Even if poor renters are suffering the worst, rents across the the percentage of income New Yorkers use to pay their rent and board are rocketing skyward at a rate far outpacing inflation. utilities has jumped from 30.8 percent to 32.8 percent in the last APRIL 1997 ... three years. Factor in high 57 percent of their incomes on rent, according to CSS. the 2.3 percent The Citizens Housing and Planning Council, a more business­ increase that took oriented housing research group, recently convened a committee place between 1991 including representatives of the real estate industry and bank and 1993, and you executives-and they reached conclusions similar to those pre­ have the most rapid sented by CSS. Pataki's welfare scheme, CHPC said, "could dis­ erosion of housing place thousands of public assistance tenants." affordability in New If the Pataki cuts are enacted, CHPC predicts the number of York since the cata­ people seeking lodging at city homeless shelters will triple from clysmic housing 9,400 this year to 30,000 in 2002. abandonment era in "The impact of [pataki's] welfare-to-work plan on housing the mid-'70s. will be disastrous," says Frank Braconi, CHPC's executive direc­ ironically, housing was a lot more affordable then, since at that tor. "It would be wonderful if you could move half a million wel­ time rents typically cost people only a quarter of their income. fare recipients into well-paying jobs, as the governor plans to do. In fact, when held to the longtime federal affordability stan­ But you look at the job market and you know there aren 't enough dard-which considers rents at an appropriate level if they are set jobs for people to be able to pay their rents." no higher than 30 percent of a family's income-New York is now If that all sounds a trifle apocalyptic, then just look to an officially unaffordable city. ''The bad news on the income-to­ Michigan, says housing analyst Victor Bach, author of the CSS rent ratio is the thing that really stands out this year," says study. He points to a 1994 report showing that when Michigan ter­ Columbia University urban planning professor Peter Marcuse, minated general assistance-the equivalent of New York's Home who has long studied the city's housing policy. "There's the crisis." Relief program for childless adults-the homelessness rate among Although neighborhood-by-neighborhood affordability informa­ recipients rose from 2 percent to 25 percent. tion hasn't yet been released, the picture in 1993 was dismal enough. "The city will experience an escalation in precarious doubled­ The poorest tenants, according to the survey, were paying nearly up situations and growing demand for emergency shelter," Bach three-quarters of their income on basic shelter, and some unlucky writes in the CSS report. "Neighborhoods with high concentra­ souls were actually spending more on rent than they brought home. tions of assisted' households will suffer devastation as curtailed Nor was the rent-income squeeze felt by the very poor alone: In rent streams worsen the spread of housing deterioration, owner 1993, working-class renters not covered by rent regulation were disinvestment and abandonment, and decline of the local retail shelling out, on average, nearly half of their pay in rent. economy." "And that's going to keep getting worse," Marcuse predicted. But at least we're not alone in our suffering. "It's not just a The city's In Rem policy has created a New York thing," Michael Schill adds. "It continues a trend in "permanent underclass" of over 10\000 cities throughout the United States. Paychecks are going down 6• deteriorating apartment build- and rents are going up." ings in poor neighborhoods.

Governor Pataki's In a triumphant press release welfare cuts could accompanying the HVS, Mayor 5• triple the number of Rudolph Giuliani trumpeted homeless New Yorkers. the fact that vacancy rates for low-rent apartments had Most people think of welfare as increased . "[T]he vacancy walking-around money for food, [percentage] for low-rent clothing, utility bills and other expens­ units increased considerably es. In fact, it's the city's largest but between 1993 and 1996." least recognized low-income housing On the surface, that seems like subsidy. good news, as though it's easier for ...... According to two chilling new poor people to find cheap apartments. reports, Governor George Pataki's pro­ But it's not. The administration's spin is deceptive. While the per­ posed welfare reform measure will centage of low-rent apartments may have spiked statistically, the eliminate much of that assistance and total number of low-rent units has dwindled to an all-time low. potentially throw tens of thousands of the poor onto the streets. The net result: There are fewer low-rent vacancies, not more. In addition to the federal mandate for a five-year lifetime limit Says Rosenfeld: "You've got poor people getting poorer. on benefits, Pataki has proposed cutting welfare payments for You've got a shrinking low-income housing stock. You've got longtime recipients by 15 to 45 percent over the next four years. landlords complaining that they don 't make enough money to In addition, he has opted for a "housing allowance consolidation run their buildings in very poor neighborhoods. So, all of a sud­ plan" that will likely lead to the elimination of the $75 million den you have a huge rise in the vacancy percentages? It doesn't Jiggetts benefit, a court-ordered relief program that provides make sense." much-needed rent payments to more than 25,000 public assis­ Part of the explanation is a statistical glitch. In 1993, because tance recipients threatened with imminent eviction. of a one-time sampling problem, the city was unable to quantify The Community Service Society, a research and social service the number of vacancies for apartments renting for $400 a month. organization, estimates that of the $2.4 billion paid out in welfare In fact, an examination of the 1991 vacancy data compared to the benefits to nearly a million city public assistance recipients, $1.4 1996 HVS shows that there was actually a significant decrease in billion covers housing costs. Since most of those on the rolls live the number of sub-$5oo vacancies over the intervening years. in privately owned apartments, welfare tenants pay a remarkably And Peter Marcuse thinks he's found another, more ominous, -- CITY LIMITS Rental Anguish t first glance, Patricia After her son was born, she decided cigarette before starting her morning Williams' two-bedroom to stay home, take care of the kids, job hunt. Her son usually sleeps with A apartment in Central Harlem and collect public assistance and Food her, and her daughter has a room down seems like a pretty good deal. Two Stamps. Over the last three years she the hall with no heat. Williams leaves bedrooms, right near the train station, has taken bookkeeping and computer the stove on sometimes to stay wann. only 5430.30 a month. courses, but hasn't been able to get The walls are blotched with paint and But like a growing number of poor oft' welfare. Her rent nightmare came plaster from a history of water damage. and working-class people in New York, along with the welfare check. In New "We were sleeping and the ceiling the 43-year old single mother of two York City, public assistance reCipients fell on us at about three in the morn­ pays most of her monthly income just spend an average of 57 percent of ing," she says, after showing a visitor to keep a shaky roof over her head. In their income on rent-a situation that her bedroom. "We weren't hurt. My addition to sending her entire 5352 is likely to get even worse if Governor daughter cried for like an hour and she monthly welfare check to the landlord, George Pataki's massive reductions in was frightened. " Williams dips into the extra 5489 a welfare benefits are approved by the Meanwhile, her applications for month in survivor's benefits she's been state legislature this spring. subsidized housing have been tossed to receiving since the father of her "I have to pay my phone bill and the end of the Housing Authority's daughter died of a bad heart six years my cable bill," Williams explains. "I'm years-long waiting list. And no matter ago. Williams hoped to save that money lucky if I have 525 left. And with that how hard she looks in the private to help the 12-year-old go to college. 525 I have to buy detergents, soap and rental market, Williams says she can't "I feel guilty using that money to everything like that. It's really hard ... I find anything better in Harlem or the pay the rent," she says softly. "Even can't even buy my children shoes or Bronx, where she grew up. though it's for her also, to keep the clothes for Easter." "Rent is high wherever you go," roof over her head." Her apartment is no bargain at any she says. "For a three-bedroom In 1993, Williams quit her 520,000- price. Teal green wall-to-wall carpet apartment-that's like 5650 and up." a-year job as a receptionist as she covers buckling wood floors in her living -Beth Fertig struggled through a difficult pregnancy. room, where she takes a long drag on a Beth Fertig is a reporter for WNYC. explanation: some buildings are so bad no one wants to live in third-party landlords or nonprofit groups, was foundering for lack them. "There's a good chance poor people just don 't want to take of funding and planning. these units ," he says. "We've allowed a class of buildings to run down to the point where they are almost uninhabitable but not Worsening cutbacks in federal housing aid quite abandoned." mean less money to help fix bad buildings The numbers seem to back him up. Although the vast majori­ 7• or help the poor stay under a roof. ty of buildings on the survey reported tolerable structural condi­ tions, the HVS also reports slight increases in the di lapidation New York relies heavily on federal money to subsidize afford­ rates and in the number of buildings with major maintenance able housing. About 40,000 households on welfare receive problems. Section 8 vouchers to help pay their rent on the private market, as Marcuse argues that these numbers indicate there is a harden­ do tens of thousands more low-income working people. ing division between the good housing stock and the permanent But the federal money faucet has been fitted with a new cut­ "underclass" of deteriorating apartment buildings in poor neigh­ off val ve. Last year, for the first time in more than 20 years, borhoods. Congress and President Clinton zeroed-out a proposed increase in The existence of the distressed buildings is borne out by an the number of Section 8 rent vouchers. With no new vouchers analysis of tax records by Frank Braconi, who found the number available, tenants have to wait for current voucher holders to die of apartment building in tax arrears has been at around or become ineligible under the income guidelines. 14,000 for several years. "I think that it's a good In New York City, the waiting list for Section 8 rough measure of the number of buildings that ouchers is 236,000 families long--every one seem to be in trouble," he said. of them qualified for the program under feder­ In years past, the city would have taken al rules. these buildings under In Rem tax foreclosure SECTION EIGHT According to a recent analysis by the and, over time, applied federal and city National Low-Income Housing Coalition, funds to their maintenance and renovation. Congress cut funding for poor tenants from But since 1994, when Mayor Giuliani $24.9 billion in 1992 to $15.7 billion this year. announced a permanent stop to tax-arrears "If this continues, it's going to have dis­ vesting, those buildings have languished in astrous effects," predicts Jay Small, execu­ 00 tive director of the Association for limbo while the city figures out what to do with them. Last month, City Limits reported that eighborhood and Housing Development. HPD's anti-abandonment program, which would "Government has to recognize that providing have transferred many of these buildings to responsible decent housi ng is a core function again." • APRIL 1997 - I I I

s long as anyone living at 322 Irvine Turner The building is privately owned. A clerk at Newark City Hall Boulevard in Newark's Central Ward can told me the landlord lives in Morristown, an affluent New Jersey remember, their building never looked good. suburb. He had racked up several code violations on the build­ The facade was always worn and tired and no ing. But the clerk said that's nothing unique. After all, the fines matter how many times the brown and white for code violations are very small, and aren't much of a bother interior was painted, it always looked and felt to the landlords. like a dungeon. The stairs were rotted, the I tapped lightly on an open apartment door and walked into long, dark hallways were dingy and bleak, and the heat and hot Mildred's first floor apartment. This frail, elderly woman had had water were inconsistent. Even so, the rents were high-$350 to a devastating year. In May, her second foot wa amputated $700 a month. Families doubled up or spent their entire welfare because of diabetes and her only daughter, Cocoa, was shot to check on rent in order to live there. death while walking on the street. "I don't want to move," she Until 8 p.m. on the day after Christmas, when Maxine smelled kept repeating in her quiet voice. "I want to stay here. Cocoa's smoke, the building was home to 20 families, including 45 chil­ memory is here." dren. The fire department responded immediately, smashing As the building slowly emptied of its inhabitants, the families through the top-floor windows, breaking out the walls and ceil­ carried away their possessions in large, black garbage bags. ings to expose smoldering wires. Water and smoke destroyed fur­ Echoes drifted through the halls as old pick-up trucks loaded with nishings, clothes, hopes and dreams. meager belongings pulled away from the curb. Afterwards, the Officials shut off the building's electricity, and that meant the building became still. As 1 walked through one empty apartment heat wouldn't come on. Candles, flashlights and gas stoves were after another, I felt as gloomy as the dreary winter fog that sur­ the only light and heat the families had for more than a week. "It's rounded the area. All around me were signs of the fife: shattered FORCED OUT BY FIRE, A GROUP OF NEWARK TENANTS LOST MORE THAN THEIR HOMES. THEY LOST A MEMBER OF THE FAMILY.

a nightmare," said Shmooze, Maxine's youngest son, a few days glass, broken walls and ceilings, scattered remnants of clothes and after the power went out. "The halls are pitch black at night. It's furniture, a forgotten Teddy bear. Some rooms still felt warm with real scary. All the noises! You can't see anything!" their history, their memories. Many of the tenants had lived there for more than a decade. It was like photographing the last portrait, clinging to a need Their children were born and raised in the building. Some of their for a keepsake or a document to remember a loved one's last neighbors died there. It may have been expensive, but there was­ breath. Only the packaging was left, the superficial. The ingredi­ n't much else available in Newark, and few of them could afford ents, the guts, the emotions, the life of the place was dying. to move. To get a new apartment, they would have had to give a What is a home? Is it only a shelter from the rain and snow, a landlord at least two and a half months' rent up-front, and no one pile of bricks and cement, boards and nails? Or is it a sanctuary? A here had that kind of money to spare. member of the family? A place where loved ones gather? A place For 15 years I have been photographing this building and the to live one's life, to see the children grow? A place with a heart­ people who lived there amid the rot and decay. Over the years, one beat, a spirit, a soul that heaves and sighs with hope and despair? by one, the other buildings along the block had fires and were Over the years that I've spent with the people here, I have eventually bulldozed. At last it was 322's turn. The December fIfe, shared in some of their moments, some of the sounds of their lives and another that followed a few days later, have been termed and their tears and laughter. There are many memories: the first "accidental" by city officials, though many of the residents have and last days of chool, the long hot summers, the problems, the their doubts about that. joys, the deaths as well as the births. Maxine, who lived there nine years, told me how the Red Cross And now, an empty shell, the place stands open to the ele­ came and put most of the families in a hotel. "I'm comfortable in ments, to the onslaught of scavengers and the city bulldozers. As this place. I don't want to move," she said softly, as she leaned r turned to go, I whispered good-bye. r felt as though something against the broken door frame. "No one wants to move. My roots very important has been left behind. For a long time, I stared at the are here. I'm used to this building. Why isn't someone responsible? facade, and wondered how easily a stranger could see only a sad, Why can't someone [LX it up?" Every tenant I spoke to in the days tired, broken down old building. after the fire was sullen, stoic or stunned. Some could hardly move, as though paralyzed by fear, as they were forced to face one of the Helen M. Stummer's recent book oJphotographs, "No Easy Walk, worst realities of poverty: being "burned out." Newark 1980-1993, " was published by Temple University Press.

PHOTOS AND TEXT BY HELEN M. STUMMER -- CITY LIMITS January 1997

e glar alarm was ringing, ringing, ringing. Leonardo, the soft- brown-haired woman directed everyone to the front steps of St. spoken ca etaker of St. Edward the Confessor Church, wished it Edward's, where they sat down. The alarm was still wailing, but would st p. It was the third time the alarm had sounded in the past the people on the steps did not seem concerned. Leonardo walked two days. t was probably pipers again, Leonardo thought. They back inside the rectory to call the police. were alwa s breaking in, looking for a place to smoke crack or In the brilliant morning sunshine, Cheri Honkala stood on the scrounging around for something to steal. There wasn 't much to pale gray church steps and addressed her most loyal supporters. take at St. Edward's. The massive old church was abandoned. And Mariluz and Elba, two homeless welfare mothers, were there with it was Leonardo's job to guard it. their six children, including Mariluz' daughter Destiny, who held her Leonardo stepped out from the rectory next to the church and book bag in her lap even though she was not yet registered in school. looked toward the stone steps of St. Edward 's and its towering red J.R. and Tara were there, holding hands. Katie was there too, smok­ front doors. At the corner of Eighth and York, a few steps from the ing a cigarette next to Aaco who, on this late September morning, church, he saw a young woman with flowing brown bair leading had loaded women and children on the back of his truck and driven a little girl by the hand. Behind them walked a group of about 20 them to St. Edward's from an encampment called Tent City in a men and women toting blankets and babies and placards. The nearby section of Philadelphia's notorious Badlands neighborhood.

CITVLlMITS Cheri thought it would be difficult for the archdiocese to evict homeless families from an unused church in a poor neighborhood. Cheri, founder of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) and a welfare mother herself, loved to create politically charged pectacles. This was the summer of 1995, when a newly­ elected conservative Congress was crafting the landmark legisla­ tion that would eventually end the nation 's guarantee of welfare benefits for children. Cheri was now at war with society over its treatment of the poor, seeking new ways to dramatize how city, state and federal policies had set destitute people adlift. She knew journalists had lost all interest in Tent City. Taking over St. Edward's would once again put the plight of the city's homeless on the nightly newscast and in the pages of the local dailies. After the group broke in , they set up cribs for the babies and laid blankets on the tloor for the toddlers. Mariluz found a box of pink plastic flowers and handed them out. Cheri gathered every­ body at the pulpit and led a brief prayer. Then everyone sat quiet­ ly and waited for the police. Cheri took Mariluz' hand and said, "Keep calm." Within minutes, someone at the front door cried out: "The cops are here!"

he newspapers called Cheri a homeless rights advo­ cate or a welfare rights advocate. The bureaucrats responsible for welfare, housing and the homeless in Philadelphia said worse things, chiefly that Cheri was a publicity hound, that she lied and schemed, that she wasT all mouth and no results. It was not surprising that that they said such things, for Cheri woke up almost every morning with a new plan to confront and embarrass some poor city functionary. She would gather welfare mothers in a city office and chant and scream until the bureaucrat in charge came out to take a painful and very public tongue-lash­ ing. After the city spent millions to build a new convention cen­ ter next door to a soup kitchen, Cheri led a group of homeless welfare recipients who bedded down for the night on the center's polished marble floors. Later, she and a gang of homeless people camped out a city housing official's front lawn. That same year, Cheri issued an arrest warrant for the governor, saying he had committed crimes against the poor. And just recently Cheri had been seen chasing the mayor down a City Hall corridor, engag­ ing him in a rousing shouting match as press photographers snapped away. A big focus of Cheri's wrath was the city's shelter system. No homeless person could receive housing assistance without first going through the system, which the city used as a vast tattered net to collect the homeless so they might be more easily sorted and catalogued. Only then were they eligible to be placed on wait­ ing Ii ts, containing thousands of names, for scarce rent-subsidy vouchers. By requiring all housing voucher applicants to enter the shelter system, the city was able to determine not only whether the Cheri stubbed out her Marlboro. Then she laid out the plan. applicant was truly homeless but also what mix of social patholo­ "Listen up, people," she said, "the police will be here pretty gies-

APRIL 1997 committee-had recruited homeless people from the shelters and and TV crews. Cheri summoned Mariluz, Elba, Tara and Katie, and helped them break into and take over abandoned houses. In 1993 the women sat in a tight circle, facing the men from the archdiocese. and again in 1994, she forced the city to back down and award The men told the group they were breaking the law. They could about three dozen KWRU families rent vouchers for the privately not stay. St. Edward's was not designed for habitation, particularly owned houses they had taken over without going through the shel­ for children. The families would be much more comfortable in ter system . But by the summer of 1995, the city had tired of church-run hospices. There the families would have warm beds, hot Cheri 's tactics. It was taking a stand. There would be no more food and working toilets. They could put their names on the city's exceptions. Cheri's people had to go through the shelter system waiting lists for vouchers for transitional housing. Wouldn't that like everyone else. Cheri responded by building Tent City. make more sense? Couldn't Cheri be reasonable? Cheri told the men they had missed the point. The point was t the church, Cheri was waiting for a police super­ not the services the archdiocese provided for the poor. The point, visor. News camera crews, alerted by the police she said, was the city 's failure to provide affordable housing to radio, were milling around, filming sleeping poor families at a time when their primary source of income­ babies and taking long shots of the magnificent welfare-was threatened by politicians in Washington and cathedral ceilings. Harrisburg. Putting the families in church-run shelters was no AFinally, Captain Herb Lottier of the 26th District appeared near better than putting them in city-run shelters. They needed the altar steps. He stood with his hands jammed into his rear pock- homes, not shelters. The men from the archdiocese repeated that Cheri was breaking the law. Cheri raised her voice and said, "There's a higher law involved here." The monsignor said, "Cheri, you're an educat­ ed person. You can't look me in the eye and say our laws aren't just." "I'm saying our laws aren't designed to protect the interests of the poor," she replied. The monsignor shook his head. "You 're wrong," he said. "I thought a man of the cloth would want to discuss spiritual and moral issues, not the law," Cheri said. "You have a very narrow viewpoint." "You're not leaving, are you?" the monsignor asked abruptly. Cheri did not respond.

Adept at manipulating ets, gazing around at sculptures of the saints and the intricately hurch officials, sensing the makings of a publicity both the police and carved buttresses beneath the high windows. He saw Cheri below nightmare, did not attempt to evict the families. This the press, Cheri the pulpit and asked, ''Who are you with?" was good news for Mariluz who appreciated the rela­ Honkala negotiates with Capt. Herb "The Kensington Welfare Rights Union," Cheri said. "We're tive warmth and security of the church after living in LouieI' on the day of seeking shelter in the church. It's abandoned. It's got warmth for a tent on the Quaker Lace lot. The mother of three [he chu reh wkeove r. the kids." youngC children-Destiny, Desiree and Demitre-she was on The captain stroked his chin. He seemed to be a man of few KWRU 's war council and with each passing month grew more words. He told Cheri that someone from his district was trying to skilled at helping lead the organization. contact the archdiocese. He wanted to find out the archdiocese's Mariluz was finishing her fifth year on welfare. She was weary position on people living in church. of her own dependency. She had fallen into motherhood acciden­ Cheri asked if the police intended to let the families stay. tally, while addicted to crack. But she kicked the habit during her "I'm not the ultimate authority," the captain said. He looked up pregnancy and her first child, Destiny, was born as normal and at the vaulted ceiling. "Who's to say who the ultimate authority is?" healthy as a baby could possibly be, given her mother's circum­ At the offices of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the call from stances. Mariluz had managed to stay off drugs since. She said she the police caught everyone by surprise. It was late afternoon before was willing to pay for her mistakes, but it pained her that her chil­ four church officials arrived. The four men asked Cheri if they dren were suffering because of her inadequacies. The longer she could "have a dialogue" beneath the pulpit, away from the reporters stayed on welfare, she thought, the more likely it was she would - CITY LIMITS condemn her children to the same sort of bleak existence. the fourteenth floor of a drab Center City high-rise filled with As a result, she longed for a home and a job, the two stabiliz­ second-tier municipal agencies. He was pleasant and accom­ ing fulcrums of life she had denied her own children. She had modating, eager to discuss his little niche of city services-the worked as a grill cook at Burger King and as a sales clerk at a thankle s job of dealing with the poor, the miserable, the lost, thrift store, but those were minimum wage jobs that did not pay the homeless. any more than welfare-and they did not provide medical cover­ Parshall stre sed what other city officials had been saying in age. If she ever found an affordable home, Mariluz promised her­ the newspapers. Cheri's days of circumventing the shelter system self, she would find day care for the kids and go back to school. were over. Her people had to wait in line with everyone else for She wanted to be a pediatric nurse. transitional housing vouchers. (The vouchers committed the city The statistics, however, were not in her favor. Altogether, more to paying a portion of the rent in a private apartment, usually for than $2.4 billion a year in welfare benefits poured into 12 to 18 months, while a recipient waited for federally subsidized Philadelphia, much of it directed to North Philadelphia. At least 550,000 people, or one-third of the city's popUlation, received some form of public assistance. Philadelphia's welfare outlay was bigger than that of 38 states. Despite the politicians' rhetoric, the chances of moving these huge numbers of people from welfare to work were not good, given the economic realities of the city. Philadelphia's three­ decades-old economic slide was accelerating, continuing to drain the lifeblood of the poor-blue-collar and service industry jobs­ from the urban core. Since 1970, Philadelphia had lost a quarter million jobs; since 1979, it had lost more than half its factory jobs. Between 1985 and 1994, the city posted 68 consecutive months of job losses. At the bottom of the welfare pipeline were single, homeless mothers like Mariluz. She wondered how anyone on welfare could afford housing, much less food and clothing. She could only imag­ ine that they had family and friends to rely on, or husbands and boyfriends who gave them money under the table. Mariluz had no family, no boyfriend. Her only true friends were Cheri and Elba, who were as destitute as she was.

ater that week, I encountered John Wagner, one of the archdiocesan officials responsible for homeless and housing issues. I asked Wagner what the archdiocese intended to do about the families living at St. Edward's. "I think the archdiocese has been wonderful about Lthis whole thing." He spoke in a weary way, tinged with the earnest intensity assumed by church people when peaking of the non-devout. "We want to help these people, not throw them out. Just about everybody in there has some sort of special need­ AIDS, mental illness, drug abu e, alcoholism. We want to address each person's needs." His argument summed up perfectly the fundamental conflict between Cheri and the people who run homeless services in Philadelphia. The officials thought people's problems need to be repaired before they could be housed. Cheri didn 't. I told Wagner that not everybody inside the church was an addict or an alcoholic or a mental patient. While many of the hangers-on were indeed former or current drug users, or suffered from mental or emotional problems, I said the core leadership consisted of sober, competent people. Their resourcefulness and survival skills were obvious enough. He agreed, but he added that the housing vouchers Cheri was housing.) Parshall pointed out that of the roughly 38 KWRU indi­ Mllrilu ~. Ihe mOlher seeking wouldn't solve most of these people's problems. "You viduals or families who had received transitional hou ing vouch­ oj Ihree, has spe/ll jive years on welfare. think they 're capable of handling a house and running a house­ ers in 1993 and 1994, nearly half had later dropped out of the She plans 10 pursue a hold, some of them? It wouldn't be fair to them. They have seri­ voucher program. Many did not fulfill city requirements that they nursing degree as ous problems," he said. "Giving some of these people vouchers remain drug-free and find jobs or further their education. "Now soon as her children would be like a doctor giving a cancer patient painkillers to make we have a baseline position," Parshall said. "People have to go lire old enough 10 be pUI in school. him feel better but not doing anything to treat the cancer." through the shelter system to get the goodies." After speaking with Wagner, I decided to visit Bill Parshall , As for Cheri's argument that the city should throw open its whose formal title was deputy city managing director but who 27,000 abandoned properties for poor people to fIX up, Parshall was better known as the city's "homeless czar." I wanted to said most of the places were beyond repair. About 20,000 had hear his views on Cheri and KWRU. I met him in his office on been abandoned 0 long that they had been stripped clean. It APRIL 1997 - knew several factors were in her favor. For one thing, the savagely cold weather made it unlikely that HUD or the city would try to evict people from the takeover houses, with homeless people dying in the streets and the shelters full. For another, bureau­ crats were not inclined to forcibly remove destitute families from otherwise unoccupied homes just before Christmas. Cheri imagined the newspaper headlines: Officials Play Grinch, Evict Homeless Families at Christmas. The day before the move, Cheri held a war council meeting at her house on Randolph Street to make final plans for the operation. Cheri turned to Mariluz and Elba. She told them that their house would be considered KWRU's "public house." Mariluz' SOil Demitre would cost at least $100,000 each to make them habitable. "It 's going to be stressful for you two ," Cheri said. looks 011 as KWRU Another 6,000 homes would cost about $45,000 a piece to reha­ "Everything you do will be watched closely, right down to what activists illegally move the family illto all bilitate. That left only about 1,000 homes in good enough condi­ you put in your trash. Just remember it's important to let the pub­ empty HUD home. tion that only $5,000 to $10,000 in repairs would be needed to lic know there are thousands of empty houses going to waste in make them habitable. But Philadelphia was a city with at least this city and you are willing to pay for the right to live in one of 24,000 homeless people and the waiting list for federally-backed them and fix it up." Section 8 housing more than 15,000 families long. The next day, people tore down the partitions they had built inside St. Edward's from plywood and donated sheets, and packed heri wasn't homeless herself. She lived in a row hou e their belongings for the big move. Mariluz and Elba were driven with her son Mark. At first, like the others, she had to their new home. As they walked up the steps, each with a baby survived on welfare. But eventually, Cheri found the in her arms, they found someone from KWRU had already used system's endless demands too time-consuming and bolt cutters to slice open the HUD lock on the front door. A fellow humiliating. While the group was still in Tent City at KWRU member appeared from the inside and threw open the theC Quaker Lace lot, Cheri dropped off welfare and quietly took a door and said, "Welcome to your new house!" job in a local strip club. it paid the bills and allowed her to work all day on the KWRU campaign. None of her patrons revealed this to ariluz and Elba made plans for Christmas Eve. the press, which for Mark's sake she was grateful. They put the children's presents under the tree As fall gave way to winter, Cheri knew she would have to come and plugged in the tree lights. Elba cooked rice up with new homes for everyone living in St. Edward's. The war and beans on the kerosene heater, and Mariluz council had a plan. For weeks, Katie and others had been scouting brought out salami and cheese and bread. As they out houses owned by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Mcooked, Destiny came downstairs and complained that it was too Development. From HUD offices downtown, they had obtained the cold in her room. Mariluz reminded her that she had worn her addresses of HUD properties listed for sale or rent. These were overcoat and boots inside the church. Now she walked around the prime row houses, taken over by HUD, typically for foreclosure on house in her pajamas and sLippers. an FHA loan or failure to pay taxes, and considered in sufficiently Mariluz swore she would never go back to the church, even if good condition to be repaired and put on the market. HUD owned she got kicked out of her HUD house. "I think we can stay here 260 such homes, all unoccupied. Katie had scouted out the most for a while. Katie told me she stayed seven months in a HUD promising locations, carefully noting whether they had active gas house. That would be paradise to me." As long as the government and electric hook-ups. She and Cheri prepared a list of 19 houses did not cut her off from welfare, she said, she could survive. they believed were ready for instant occupancy and could be bro­ "This is where I want to be," Mariluz said. "I'm going to have ken into with little effort. The war council assigned the 19 address­ Christmas Eve right here with my kids in my new home. That's es to KWRU members who had been with the group the longest and what I've been working for ever since we set up Tent City. who had displayed loyalty and commitment to the struggle. The "We'll be the perfect little American family, at home, all warm fust names on the list were Mariluz and Elba. and fat, singing Christmas carols and opening the presents under Cheri set moving day for two weeks before Christmas. She the tree." . -- CITY LIMITS Big Ideas For Small Bus inesses NANCY • SBA loans HARDY that cut Insurance through the Broker red tape.

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APRIL 1997 Wf r.--..CIT Y~V'~EW ~A Fitting Memorial By Charles Komanoff

ith the recent federal court convictions in the appalling and arguably criminally negligent, resembled that in 1991 murder of Yankel Rosenbaum in Crown dozens of other fatalities where drivers seeking to gain a few Heights, it is time to address the death that seconds of saved time for themselves ended up grievously preceded his and helped provoke it-that of harming others. 7-year-old Gavin Cato, who died in what has Our community suffers greatly from car violence, not only Wbeen euphemistically termed an "automobile accident." in lives lost or injured but in the wholesale theft of our public Because Gavin was black and was run over by a car in an streets . Yet we maintain few restraints against automotive Hasidic motorcade-one of many that habitually sped through endangerment. Excluding limited-access highways, police his predominantly African-American neighborhood-and issued fewer than three dozen speeding tickets a day in one because the ensuing riots were violently anti-Semitic, every­ recent year. Motorists routinely encroach on pedestrians, intim­ thing that transpired that day has been viewed in racial terms. idate bicyclists and otherwise operate their vehicles heedless of But if we lift the heavy veil of race, we will see that Gavin's their power to maim or kill with the flex of the gas pedal or the death, while not the result of an intentional or racially motivat­ flick of the steering wheel. Only a handful of those who actual­ ed act, was still an expression of vio­ ly injure pedestrians or cyclists are lence, exerted through the crushing ever stripped of their driving priv­ weight of an automobile. Motorists routinely ileges, much less charged with It was a Sunday evening in crimes. August and Gavin was in front of his operate vehicles heedless To this condition, which is both house, tinkering with his bicycle, a qUality-of-life di saster and an when a station wagon, the third and unacknowledged crime wave, city last car in the Lubavitcher of their power government typically responds Rabbi 's weekly motor­ with victim-blaming and compla­ cade, accelerated through to maim or kill. cency. A recent transportation a red light at the nearby commissioner repeatedly decried corner. The car collided with another vehicle and "drunken" pedestrian fatalities, ignoring that his agency's careened onto the sidewalk, pinning Gavin and his threshold for citing pedestrian victims as alcohol-impaired was cousin Angela Cato against a window grate. Gavin JO times below the legal criterion for intoxication of a motori st. was killed instantly and Angela was badly injured. The current commissioner calls comprehensive European-style The incident touched off a spate of mob behavior "traffic-calming" measures premature, citing a 20 percent drop that culminated three hours later and three blocks in pedestrian deaths of late. Yet aggressive enforcement of traf­ away with the fatal stabbing of Yankel fic codes and licensing laws has cut pedestrian fatalities in Rosenbaum, an Hasidic Jew unrelated to the dri­ London by 50 percent, and the fatality rate in Paris and Tokyo ver of the station wagon. stands at half of ours. Lost in the aftermath of the Rosenbaum slay­ There is a way to stanch the flow of pedestrian deaths in ing, and still overlooked almost six years later, is New York. It starts with uprooting the sense of entitlement to the pervasi veness of the type of car violence that the road that drivers, tutored by the auto corporations and their killed Gavin Cato. In New York, a city where advertisers, claim as their birthright. This will entail not just car owners are a minority, automobiles most restraining-and grounding-irresponsible drivers, but over­ often kill and maim persons unprotected by car bodies and turning a motorist-centered culture of policing, criminal justice Charles airbags. And they do so without regard to race. Of 609 traffic and traffic engineering that has relegated pedestrians, the city's Komalloff, all fatalities in New York City in 1991 , the year Gavin was killed, lifeblood, to mere bystanders. It includes bold initiatives such economist 296 were pedestrians and 21 were bicyclists. Among the pedes­ as implementing comprehensive road tolls to reduce traffic specializing ill trians, 49 percent were white, 28 percent black, 18 percent flow and expanding the funding pot for transit alternati ves. energy and Hispanic and 5 percent Asian-a fair mirror of the city as a Earlier this year, former Mayor David Dinkins appealed to transport policy, was president whole. Based on available statistics, the racial breakdown of the New Yorkers to commemorate Yankel Rosenbaum and Gavin of the bicyclist drivers in these incidents appears to have been similar. Cato "as a starting point and not as a flash point." The convic­ alld pedestrian Nearly one-tenth of the pedestrians killed that same year tions in the Crown Heights riots have brought a degree of clo­ advocacy group were children, and a third were elderly. Fifteen of the dead, sure to the Rosenbaum family. But for young Gavin, whose Transportation Alternatives including Gavin, were struck on sidewalks or in other "non­ family received no legal redress, a fitting memorial might be a from 1986 to road" areas that are supposed to be off limits to vehicular traf­ city where other 7-year-olds can grow up free of the scourge of 1992. fic. The conduct of the driver who ran over Gavin, while automotive assault. •

aa CITY LI MITS .----_..-.....-

David Duke really likely to be reading any of REVIEW this? Is even Newt Gingrich, for all his self-pro­ Eyeing Race claimed erudition? There is no denying that we as a nation haven 't yet By E. R. Shipp mastered the messages of these books, and that is what inspires Cose to try again. This is his critique: "Color-Blind: "Racial crises, unfortunately, have a way of reprising themselves, if not precisely with the Seeing Beyond Race in same notes. It is, perhaps, inevitable that they do, given that we seem to be singularly uncre­ a Race-Obsessed World, " ative when it comes to talking about-much less dealing with-race." by Ellis Case, Cose attempts to offer creativity in two ways, with varying degrees of success. First, HarperCollins, 1997, he examines how other countries, notably 260 pp., $24. South Africa and Brazil , have grappled with race. Second, he offers solutions. But Cose is a journalist, not a sociologist or an anthro­ uick. Can you identify the fol- • pologist. He spent less than a month in South lowing people? Madeline Africa: a lot of time on one story if one is a Albright? Tiger Woods? Sandra journalist, but very little if one is claiming to Day O'Connor? Toni Morrison? be an expert. His analysis-of a move to QI have been reading responses of add "multiracial" as a racial classification very bright college-educated people. in the census, of presumptions about the Albright was usually recognized as the intelligence of blacks, of the failings of the education system Secretary of State and O'Connor as a Supreme Court justice. and of the future of affirmative action-is based on personal But Woods was almost invariably described as a black golfer observations, anecdotes and interviews. and Morrison as a black writer. That is not to say that "Color-Blind" is not a worthwhile So much for ours being a color-blind society, despite what effort. To the contrary. Cose helps put the lie to the claim that you might have heard from con ervative Republicans hell-bent the United States is ready to embrace color-blindness as a guid­ on undoing the legacy of the civil rights movement, and from ing principle. "Color-blindness, as it is most commonly prac­ Supreme Court justices who fmd it perfectly acceptable for ticed, is not a racial equalizer but a silencer-a way of quash­ politicians to set the boundaries of congressional districts so ing questions about the continuing racial stratification of the they protect incumbents, but not to increase the electoral society and a way of feeling good about the fact that the world chances of people of color. of elites remains so predominantly white." Ellis Cose, a prolific writer about race and a contributing Cose argues, rather persuasively I think, that race neutrality, editor at Newsweek, tries to bring some honesty into the dis­ rather than color-blindness, is a more attainable goal. Race neu­ cussion with his recently published book, "Color-Blind." Its trality means that my blackness should not limit my ability to subtitle states his objective while heralding the enormity of the flag down a taxicab any more than another person's whiteness task. Race, he observes, "is an essential part of who we are should enhance their chances of doing so. (and of how we see others) that is no more easily shed than Cose outlines twelve steps for creating a race-neutral soci­ unpleasant memories." ety, a plan so simple that I was tempted to dismiss it as the lat­ His book continues a recent trend of intellectuals and journal­ est in New Age self-help pap. But, then, the Ten ists examining race in the post-civil rights era. Among them are Commandments are simple, too, aren't they-and oh so hard to Derrick Bell's "Faces at the Bottom of the Well" (1992), Jill abide by! Among Cose's "commandments" are these: Nelson's "Volunteer Slavery" (1993) Cornel West's "Race No. I: We must stop expecting time to solve the problem Matters" (1993), Tony Brown's "Black Lies, White Lies" (1995), for us. Manning Marable's "Beyond Black and White" (1995) and, in No.4: We must end American apartheid. 1996 alone, Bell's "Gospel Choirs," Michael Eric Dyson's ''Race No.6: We must replace a presumption that minorities will Rules," Sam Fulwood's ''Waking from the Dream," C. Eric fail with an expectation of their success. Lincoln's "Coming Through The Fire," Clarence Page's No. 10: We must keep the conversation going. "Showing My Color" and Tom Wicker's "Tragic Failure." Cose Simple, yes. But maybe a reader-friendly road map leading has himself contributed two books in this genre: ''Nation of from the tar pits of racism to the Oz of race neutrality is exact­ Strangers" (1992) and "Rage of a Privileged Class" (1993). ly what this country needs . • My shelves are groaning from the weight of all these books and, I confess, I often wonder if these authors-though earnest E.R. Shipp is a Pulitzer-prize winning columnist for the and, indeed, skillful-aren't really just preaching to the choir. Is Daily News.

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DIRECTOR OF JUVENILE JUSTICE PROJECT. Seeking experienced activist for developing LOAN COUNSElOR. ACORN Housing Corp/ NY seeks energetic, creative, hard working and initiating advocacy strategies, preparing policy pape(s and working with govern­ individuals interested in identifying and creating opportunities for low and moderate ment agencies and the media; organizing a coalition; preparing public education income people to become homebuyers. Job involves identifying homebuyers in low materials; supervising staff; fund raising. Must write well , communicate effectively. and moderate income neighborhoods, conducting homebuyer and realtor seminars Experience in juvenile justice is preferred, but not required. Salary commensurate and budget and credit counseling workshops, underwriting loans, working with real with experience, plus benefits. Resume and writing samples to Robert Gangi , estate brokers and banks. Please fax resume to Ismene at (718) 693-3367. Executive Director, Correctional Association of New York, 135 East 15th Street, New York, NY, 10003. HOUSING DIRECTOR. New York Acorn Housing Company, Inc. seeks highly motivated, creative individual who is interested in working to expand affordable housing oppor­ COMMUNrTY SERVICE COORDINATOR. Westhab, the leading provider of housing and tunities for low income people. Individual must be interested in identifying housing supportive services for the homeless, special needs and low income populations in development opportunities for low income people, working with over 500 residents Westchester County, NY, seeks a Community Services Coordinator to create and to convert to limited equity cooperatives; create systems to maintain our housing maintain resident associations and strengthen linkages between Westhab residents stock of 500 apartments and much more. Interested individuals must be highly orga­ and local community institutions. Ideal candidate will have a BA and at least 2 years nized, self-starters, must have prior experience in housing development and admin­ of relevant experience with excellent written, oral and computer skills and a demon­ istration. Please fax resume to Ismene at (718) 693-3367. strated ability to work independently. Salary high 20's with excellent benefits. Send resume, with salary history, to: Director of Human Resources, Westhab, 85 HOUSING DEVROPMENT DIRECTOR. Neighborhood based organization in Fort Greene, Executive Blvd., Elmsford, NY 10523 Fax: (914) 345-3139. EOE. Brooklyn, seeks experienced self-starter to administer new and existing housing development projects. Responsible for preparing applications, overseeing pre-devel­ EXECUTWE DIRECTOR. The Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association is a not-for­ opment and development processes and insuring program compliance. Three years profit manager and developer of resident-controlled affordable housing on the Lower housing experience, excellent writing and organizational skills, and ability to work East Side of Manhattan. The Mutual Housing Association manages 20 buildings with well with government agencies, banks and other funders. Submit salary require­ 330 apartments and is two thirds of the way through the process of completely ren­ ments and resumes to: Executive Director, PACC, 201 Dekalb Avenue , Brooklyn, NY ovating all of its buildings in conjunction with NYC HPD . The executive director 11205. Fax: (718) 522-2604. reports to and works in partnership with the board of directors and is responsible for developing and managing the organization 's $1.3 million annual budget, super­ DIRECTOR OF PROPERTY MANAGEMENT. Seeking experienced manager to oversee vising a staff of 18, managing 20 buildings, monitoring building rehabilitation , pro­ 1,000 units of affordable housing and to supervise a management staff of five and viding education and opportunity for tenants to participate in governance, reporting 28 building personnel. Requires minimum three years experience, with supervisory to HPD and HUD and raising funds. Qualifications: extensive experience working in a experience strongly preferred. Salary to low $40's, full benefits. Fax resume & cover nonprofit organization including supervising staff and working with a board of direc­ letter, including salary history, by April 25th to: Exec. Director, Mt. Hope Housing Co., tors, bachelor's degree and experience in affordable housing & development, work­ 2003-05 Walton Avenue, Bronx, NY 10453. Fax (718) 583-6557. ing knowledge of nonprofit and real estate fiscal management and budgeting, excel­ lent communications skills especially as necessary to work successfully with resi­ PROJECT DlRECTORICOMMUNrTY ORGANIZER. Growing Brooklyn non-profit community dents, experience in fund raising; and maturity, creativity and energy. Send resume development agency seeks an energetic, creative self-starter to lead an innovative and salary history to Search Committee, Cooper Square Mutual Housing national pilot crime and fear reduction program. Coordinate community needs Association, 59-61 East 4th Street, 3rd Roor, New York, NY 10003 or fax to (212) assessment, strategic planning, and creation and implementation of innovative com­ 477-9328. munity action plans. Strong community organizing, program development, and pro­ ject management skills required. Bilingual/Spanish and anti-crime organizing experi­ ASSISTANT CONTROllER, Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation, a multi-fund­ ence preferred. To $35,000 commensurate with experience. Mail/fax resumes to: ed non-profit organization in Washington Heights, seeks an Assistant Controller to Executive Director, East New York Urban Youth Corps , 539 Alabama Avenue, assist with computerized cash receipts, accounts payable, general ledger, payroll, Brooklyn, NY 11207. Fax: (718) 922-1171. record keeping, reporting, and budgeting functions. Minimum 3 years experience. Familiarity with Fundware accounting system desirable. Salary from mid $30's to LEGISlATIVE DIRECTOR. Track city, state & federal legislation for umbrella immigration early $40·s. Qualified applicants should fax resumes to Kirkland Lindsay, Controller advocacy group; research , develop policies, background materials, strategies to at (212) 928-4180 or mail to 76 Wadsworth Ave. NY, NY 10033. Resumes kept achieve humane policies for immigrants both documented and undocumented, strictly confidential. refugees and asylees. Coordinate briefings; write reports, testimony, media materi­ als; communicate with other advocates. Excellent writing, editing, analytical and com­ PROJECT DIRECTOR. For Community Food Resource Center's exciting new project to puter skills. 5 plus years nonprofit experience. Ability to work cooperatively with organize coalitions in two local New York City communities to expand Child Nutrition diverse staff. MPA/ MBA, Bi/multilingual preferred. High 30's-low $40's. Mail/fax Programs. We want an energetic self-starter with good organizing skills, able to work resume, cover letter to Margie McHugh. Executive Director, New York Immigration with people from all backgrounds, comfortable with computers, with a good sense Coalition , at address below. CITlZEN EDUCATION AND ACTION COORDINATOR, Design of humor_ MSW and Spanish-speaking preferred. Salary commensurate with experi­ community education campaign to inform immigrants about U.S. government and ence and qualifications. Excellent benefits, congenial working conditions. Women electoral processes; develop database of new citizens who have registered to vote; and people of color encouraged to apply. Cover letter and resume to CFRC, c/ o organize issue/ candidate forums; motivate new citizens to expand civic participa­ Search Committee. 90 Washington Street, NY, NY 10006. tion ; supervise 100+ voter registration volunteers, 30 outreach workers; BA, 3 years work experience with newcomers or low-income communities in NYC; ability to work VISTA PROJECT COORDINATORIlEAD ORGANIZER. National Alliance of HUD Tenants cooperatively with diverse staff, community leaders; excellent written, verbal , com­ (Boston) seeks experienced organizer to coordinator a national tenant organizing puter skills; ability to handle multiple tasks, manage time; bi-lingual preferred. High VISTA project in HUD assisted housing. Entails supervision of local VISTA volunteers $20's-low $30·s. Mail/fax resume, cover letter to Arseman Yohannes , Citizenship and technical assistance and field support to 22 NAHT VISTA sites. 3-5 years orga­ Project Coordinator, New York Immigration Coalition, 275 Seventh Ave. , 12th Roor, nizing experience, preferably in housing or ability to learn. Salary: Low 30's. Send NY, NY 10001 Fax: (212) 627-9314. No phone calls. resume to: NAHT, 353 Columbus Ave., Boston, MA 02116. DIRECTOR of Child Welfare Action Center. Develop a network of organizations LEAD ORGANIZER/ASSISTANT DIRECTOR. Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants seeks experi­ involved in child welfare reform ; work on reform campaigns; monitor impact of enced organizer to help build a coalition of tenants living in HUD assisted housing in reforms. Qualifications: knowledge of social welfare systems and child welfare. Eastern MA. Entails supervision and training of staff, organizing and providing tech­ Organizational and administrative experience, previous work in reform campaigns. nical assistance to tenant groups and organizing local campaigns. 3-5 years orga­ Salary commensurate with experience. Letter, resume to: Esmeralda Simmons, nizing experience, preferably in housing, supervisory and training experience and Director, Center for Law and Social Justice, 1150 Carroll St. , Brooklyn 11225. Fax: knowledge of HUD housing or ability to learn . Salary: Low 30's. Send resume to 718-467-1399. EOE MAHT, 353 Columbus Ave. , Boston, MA 02116.

HOUSING MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST. Neighborhood preservation organization in Northwest Bronx seeks housing specialist for revitalization program emphasizing management and financial counseling to owners of residential properties. OFfICE SPACE. Statewide coalition seeks NYC office share or sublet with another non­ Management specialist is responsible for an educational and technical assistance profit agency. Approximately 40Q.800 square feet needed. Lower Manhattan West program for owners of multiple dwellings and small homeowners. This program, cou­ preferred. 3 phone lines and access to copy machine and conference room required . pled with the existing tenant assistance program has been developed as a two­ Furnished office & storage space preferred. Rent negotiable. Please call the NPC of pronged approach to prevent housing deterioration and promote community revital- NYS at (212) 255-9615.

APRIL 1997 .....~ .... \,;-~ Es By Glenn Thrush

ining in the sulky shadows outside City Hall's circle of media and political power, I have a great deal of time

to star-gaze. Recently I have identified an attribute in one of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's commissioners that

makes me think she is the prototype for a 21st century leader.

I am talking about the city's new welfare commissioner, left me standing toe-to-toe with a grinning PR woman. Lilliam Barrios-Paoli. Described by The New York Post's The next time I encountered her, after a conference at the Andrea Peyser as a "50-year-old firebrand with the pep of a New School , she was hemmed in by a group of tall housing cheerleader and a Ph.D." advocates. She appeared cornered. I approached and asked my Peyser's right in her assessment of Barrio -Paoli's energy question. This time I cut her off after the flIst verbless sentence and intellect. But the cheerleader bit i as wrong as wrong ever and immediately began a follow-up, looking down at my pad. was. This woman is an All-Pro halfback, not some pom-pom girl. There was no response. I looked up. She was gone. Dust. A In fact, she is the swiftest commissioner I have ever spo­ supernatural wisp. Beginning to wonder if she had ever really ken to, endowed with remarkable lateral dexterity. I am not been there, I caught a fleeting glimpse of her slipping between crafting a metaphor here. I'm talking about the way she moves. the wall of suits I bad deemed impregnable. What a talent. The way she ducks when you ask her a question. Her corporeal Then, a few weeks ago, I unexpectedly found myself grace as she clambers up the ranks. standing next to Barrios-Paoli outside a City Hall press confer­ I have been awed, even beaten down, by the physicality of ence. She smiled graciously, making no attempt to flee. I politicians before. When I worked for a paper in Birmingham, scoured my brain for a question. Nothing. Finally, she placed an the Governor of Alabama, Guy Hunt, hired only former high understanding hand on my forearm and looked me in the eye school football players as his press men (it was an all-male for the fLrst time. "It was good seeing you." This time I was the entourage). The hulks would encircle the hunched Hunt with one who quickly walked away. their aircraft-carrier-deck shoulders and jam tape recorders into I began to understand that all this was part of an inge­ your face as you attempted to heave questions over them to the niously executed strategy when I read Peyser's article. She governor, who happened to be slightly deaf. ''The idea," said quoted Barrios-Paoli saying: "I'd like to go down in history as one of the guys, name of Donnie, "is t'make sure ya'll writers the least-known commissioner of all time." I bave a tough and get it down right." But alas, their wall was ultimately breached dirty job, she told Peyser. I scurry from crisis to crisis. If l' m not and Hunt was impeached for financial malfeasance. careful, I get eaten alive. Mario Cuomo was not one to let others eclipse hi s brains She's right. After all , the head of the welfare agency does­ with their brawn. He would barrel right up to his inter­ n't have a lot of good news to impart. What is she sup­ locutor and stand close enough so that his intonations flut­ posed to brag about? Thousands of students tered your necktie. If you were taller than he was, he forced to quit college because they have would move even closer, giving the impression that, if he to travel halfway across the city to clean so desired, he could pulverize your jaw with one violent, 40-ouncers out of Asser Levy Park? upward skull-thrust. The same thing goes for other bad­ But Barrios-Paoli is a subtler New-Age news social service commissioners in breed. an age of City Hall-enforced austerity. If The first time I met her, about a year ago, you were they, would you just stand there she had just been appointed housing commission­ answering unanswerable questions? No. er and I wanted to know why she was allow- You'd be barely seen and seldom heard, like ing City Hall to dismantle the agency. Barrios-Paoli. And you too might rise from Low-income tenants still needed help, I personnel commissioner to housing commissioner to head said. What did she plan to do? of the country's largest city welfare agency in less than a She began with an "Ooooh, I don't year, as she has. know ... " that trailed into a "Well , of Of course, you could instead be an advocate for the course ... " I realized none of the sever- people your agency serves. But then you might lose your job. al sentences she had spoken contained Then again, it's only after all your other verbs. "Excuse me," she interjected Vi rtues have been silenced that silence and executed a flawless pirouette that itself becomes a virtue. • \ ~----~~~--~----===

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Freeing the Local Media ANYTHING WE LOVE CAN BE SAVED BUILDING A LOCAL MEDIA ALLIANCE, Join us for this special evening as Alice Walker STRENGTHENING THE shares her thoughts on politics, culture, feminism, CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT race, religions, raising a daughter, writing and living. MOVEMENT Monday, April 21 7Pm Friday, May 30 7Pm &: Sat., May 31 lOam-spm Amy Tan Black Liberation in LOLITA, GHOSTS &: YAPPY LITTLE DOGS Conservative America Join storyteller Amy Tan for an evening of tales and dialogue about the sources of literary inspiration in RENEWING AFRICAN -AMERICAN her writing as she explores the interaction between ACTIVISM life and fiction. This best-selling author has delighted With Manning Marable, Bertha Lewis, Bill Fletcher, readers and audiences alike with her gifts of insight, Utrice Leid &: Friends. humor and belief in the human spirit. Friday, June 20 7Pm &: Saturday, June 21 lOam-4pm Monday, May 6 r gpm Community Organizing Strategies For Change Learn the nuts and bolts of community A CONFERENCE &: MAYORAL CANDIDATES' organizing during this five-session workshop. DIALOGUE ON EDUCATION Susan Marloff-Director of Youth Services, Councilman Sal F. Albanese, Bronx Borough President Forest Hills Community House; Kurt Hill-Director Fernando Ferrer, Manhattan Borough President Ruth of Anti-Arson Outreach Program, People's Firehouse; Messinger, and Reverend Al Sharpton. Elizabeth Franqui-Assistant Director of Resident (Moderator-Carol Jenkins.) Co-sponsored with Advocacy, East New York Urban Youth Corps; Advocates for Children, Education Priorities Panel, Annette Hernandez-Executive Director, Neighborhood Educators for Social Responsibility, IMPACT II, Women of Williamsburg &: Greenpoint; Joan Ross The Teachers Network, Public Education Association, Franklin-Information &: Communication P.S. 6, United Parents Association of New York City, Specialist, UNDP News. Youth Force/Youth Agenda. Five Mondays, May 19-June 23 6:3o-gjopm Saturday, May 10 gjoam-4pm

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