city limits magazine, june/july 1994 issue

8/3/2019 City Limits Magazine, June/July 1994 Issue

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NevvYork's Urban Affairs NevvsMagazine


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eitJl Limi tsVolume XIX Number 6

City Limits is published ten times per year,monthly except bi-monthly issues in JunelJuly and AugustlSeptember, by the City LimitsCommunity Information Service, Inc., a nonprofit organization devoted to disseminatinginformation concerni ng neighborhoodrevitalization.Editor: Andrew WhiteSenior Editor: Jill KirschenbaumAssociate Editor: Steve MitraContributing Editors: Peter Marcuse,James BradleyProduction : Chi p CliffeAdvertising Representative : Faith WigginsOffice Assistant: Seymour GreenProofreader: Sandy SocolarPhotographers : Steven Fish, AndrewLichtenstein, Suzanne TobiasSponsorsAssociation for Neighborhood andHousing Development, Inc.Pratt Institute Center for Community andEnvironmental DevelopmentUrban Homesteading Assistance BoardBoard of DirectorsEddie Bautista, NYLPilCharter RightsProjectBeverly Cheuvront, City HarvestErrol Louis, Central Brooklyn PartnershipMary Martinez, Montefiore HospitalRebecca Reich, Housing ConsultantAndrew Reicher, UHABTom Robbins, JournalistJay Small, ANHDWalter Stafford, New York UniversityDoug Turetsky, former City Limits EditorPete Williams, National Urban League

Affiliations for identification on ly.Subscription rates are: for individuals andcommunity groups, $20/0ne Year, $30/TwoYears; for businesses , foundations, banks ,government agencies and libraries , $35/0neYear, $50/TwoYears. Lowincome, unemployed,$10/0ne Year.City Limits welcomes comments and articlecontributions . Please include a stamped, selfaddressed envelope for return manuscripts.Material in City Limits does not necessarilyreflect the opin ion of he sponsoring organizations. Send correspondence to: City Limits,40 Prince St., New York, NY 10012. Postmaster:Send address changes to CityLimits, 40 PrinceSt., NYC 10012.Second class postage paidNew York, NY 10001City Limits (ISSN 0199-0330)(212) 925-9820FAX (212) 966-3407Copyright 1994. All Rights Reserved. Noportion or portions of this journal may bereprinted without the express permission ofthe publishers.CityLimits is indexed in the Alternative PressIndex an d th e Avery Ind ex to ArchitecturalPeriodicalsand is available on microfilm fromUniversity Microfilms International, Ann Arbor,MI48106.

2/JUNE/JULY 1994/CITY UMITS

r : f i J f f ' ~ Wall Street and Welfare

Opage one of the Saturday paper, an article announces a new plan forforcing women and men on public assistance to look for jobs. Onanother page, a reporter explains why the Federal Reserve recently

increased interest rates for the third time in as many months. The twostories seem unrelated, but they aren't: they provide insight into our economic system, and explain very clearly why we need a strong, accessiblesocial safety net that does not drive people into even more extreme povertysimply because they haven't got a job.In Congress, the push is on to create a two-year limit for welfare, as welas an additional time limit on the work programs that will have to be createdfor men and women who can 't find jobs on their own but are being droppedfrom the welfare rolls nonetheless. In New York, the plan is to send welfareapplicants to job referral and training programs even before issuing themtheir first welfare check.Meanwhile, near panic hit Wall Street when the government announcedthat employment went up by a mere 100,000 jobs in April. As unemployment rates decline, the specter of inflation raises its head, the pundits say;as more people get jobs, they have more money to pay for more stuff, drivingprices skyward. Consequently the stock and bond markets took a divespeculators don't like inflation because it shrinks the value of their investments. The Federal Reserve quickly moved to boost interest rates to slow theeconomy and put the specter back in its closet, helping market speculatorsback to solid ground.But higher interest rates also make it more difficult for businesses to createjobs. And that throws a wrench into politicians' plans for welfare reformdoesn't it?The political establishment is speaking out ofboth sides ofits mouth whenit bases its economic moves solely on the interests of market speculators. Ocourse, history shows that economic moves in the United States are alwaysbased primarily on the interests of market speculators. How much moreobvious can it be, then, that we are never going to reach anything like totaemployment, and that we should be doing what we can to preserve andimprove the social safety net, not shred it?

* * *Unfortunately, CityLimits is losing a longtime sponsor this month: TheNew York Urban Coalition is folding its tent after many years developingcommunity-owned housing and providing technical assistance in neighborhoods battling back from decades of neglect. Their programs will bedivvied up between the New York City Partnership and some other organizations, although none of this has yet been finalized.

* * *One of the New York housing movement's great motivators passed awayon May 20th. In the 1930s, Meyer Parodneck helped found the ConsumerFarmer Cooperative, which brought cheaply priced milk into the city at atime when poor families could not afford to buy it from grocers. In the 1970sParodneck converted the cooperative into the Consumer-Farmer Foundation(now the Parodneck Foundation), providing financing to numerous sweatequity homesteading projects and supporting other neighborhood housingefforts. When he died, Parodneck was two weeks shy of his 90th birthday. Hewas a friend and supporter of City Limits for many years . 0

Cover design by Karen Kane.


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FEATURESBlind Trust 12You asked fo r it : Th e Emergency Repair Program counts on landlords'voluntary compliance to keep their buildings up to code. Th e result?Thousands of violations go unanswered. by Steven Wishnia

Toxic Revenge 16Whose side ar e you on: New regulations designed to protect the city'schildren from lead paint poisoning could en d up pitting health activistsagainst low income housing developers. by Steve Mitra

Balancing the Scales 20You have a right to an attorney: Trouble is , in Housing Court, you don't.And that translates into dangerous living conditions, evictions an dhomelessness. It's costing the city millions. Th e second of a two-partseries . by Hanna Liebman an d JiU Kirschenbaum

PROFILEFinding a Voice 6Youth Empowered to Speak is giving Lower East Side teenagers thechance to make themselves heard. by Alexia Lewnes

PIPELINECity for Sale 8Housing Commissioner Deborah Wright holds forth on the future of city-owned apartment buildings. by Andrew White

COMMENTARYReviewRace an d Justice

8EPAIITMENTSEditorialBrier.

Fint StrikeLoehmann'e ReturnsThe Dirty 30Promi8ee forProjeet Zion

24455

25by PeggyM. Shepard

Lette1"8 27ProfeuionalDirectory 29,30JobAd.ICIaa.ifiede 30,31

6

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20CITY UMITS/JUNE/JULY 1994


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BRIEFS

First StrikeTenants want out of auction plan

The Giuliani administration isencountering st iff opposition fromtenants in a city-owned Manhattan building slated fo r sale to thehighest bidder. The tenants saythey should have the rightto ownthe building themselves.A few months ago, residentsof 346 East 21st Street learnedthrough an article in New YorkNewsday that the Department ofHousing Preservation and Development (HPD) planned to auctionof f their building, along with sixothers previously taken overfromtax-delinquent landlords. Theseven buildings are in predominantly middle and upper incomeneighborhoods.But Ed Delgado, president ofthe tenants association , saysmany ofthe people in his buildingreceive publi c assistance. He addsthat residents are afraid that whoever purchases the property willsharply increase rents and neglectbasic services.

"They will milk [the building)and run of f the way they didbefore," he says. The propertyfell into city ownership 15 yearsago, Delgado says.The tenants are particularly

outraged by the plan because,morethan a year ago, they appliedto HPD to convert their buildinginto a tenant-owned cooperativeunderthe agency's Tenant InterimLease (TIL) Program. HPD did notreply to their proposal until thisApril, and then only to state thatthe application was under review.In the TIL program, the city fullyrehabilitates in rem buildings,then turns them overto tenants atminimal cost.Since then, the tenants havealso applied to become part of aMutual Housing Association in theEast Village, an alternative formof cooperative that combinesseveral buildings into a nonprofitassociation responsible for ownership and management.HPD spokesperson CassandraVernon says that no final decision on the buildings had beenmade and that tenants would beprotected, whatever the outcome. She says that the department may be "rethinking thedisposition .. . We haven't madeany decision aboutthis building."During his campaign, thencandidate Giuliani describedhorneownership as "the most

Loehmann's ReturnsLast January, a controversial plan to build a 27,000-square-foot department store

in the seaside community ofSheepshead Bay, Brooklyn,appeared to be dead in thewater. The city's Boardof Standards andAppeals (BSA) hadrejected thedeveloper's re quest fo r a zoningvariance, endingthe possibility thatLoehmann's, achain specializing in women'swear, could build a store onthe waterfront.lOWe thought the wholething was behind us," saysSteve Barrison, president ofthe Bay Improvement Group,which led a crusade of com-

4/JUNE/JULY 1994/CRY UMITS

munityactivists against the store.Not so fast. On May 10th, theBSA unexpectedly decided to givethe developer, Emmons Avenue

Development Corp ., anotherhearing based on ne wevidence. It is scheduled

fo r May 24th, as CityLimits goes to press."I can't believeBSA allowed this,"laments AnneO'Driscoll of th eFishing Fleet Association. The Sheepshead Bay waterfront, O'Driscollnotes, was given special zoningstatus in 1973 to protect it from

this kind of development. "Thelaw s supposed to be on ourside. "The reversal is the latest twistin a long, tangled history. Foryears, the Sheepshead Bay com-

Twenty-five colleges from around the country recently held a I'8Cl1Iibnent drivefor students at QuHnsbridgeHouses, the country's largest public housingproject, in the first such effort _ organized in New Yortl Cit,y. Annie Lalidn(above) picked up information 011 LaGuardia Community College as well as voteregistration forms for her grandson and his friends. The aD-day event wasorganized by the QuHnsbridge Tenants Association.

specific and important kind ofinvestment that people can havein a community." But agencyofficials say they moved toauction off the 30 -unit East 21stStreet building because it is in anupscale neighborhood where itmakes little sense for the city toown apartments.The Giuliani administrationhas repeatedly stated that it wa ntsto get out of the business of own -

munity has been bitterly dividedover ho w to revitalize EmmonsAvenue. After Lundy's restaurantclosed in 1979, the avenue deteriorated as empty lots an dboarded-up storefronts replacedthe strip's once bustling restaurants and tackle shops. The marinecommunity has suffered as well,with the number of party fishingboats docked here declining from35 in 1979 to 20 today.In recent years, much of thestrip has been bought up bydevelopers Sidney Steinberg andAnthony Clemenza who, act ivistscharge, have driven out restaurants and store owners throughneglect and high rents. Clemenzaand Steinberg are also the developers behind the Loehmann'sproject.When the Loehmann's planwas introduced in 1991, members of Community Board 15championed it as the com-

ing and managing buildingstakefrom landlords who have failed tpay their property taxes (see "CitFor Sale," page 8). If the auctiotakes place, itwould bethe first iseveral years of an occupied cityowned building.Meanwhile, the tenants of 34East 21st Street have hungbanner from the fire escapedeclaring, "Speculators KeeOut!" Kate Lebow

munity'ssavior. "They're he onlones that came in and said thewanted to do development on thwaterfront, n says John Nikaschair ofthe board.Indeed, many residents, frustrated by years of waterfrondecay, see Loehmann's as the lashope fo r revitalizing the shoppinarea.But other residents argue thathe proposed store is simply tobig and is inconsistent with themaritimecharacterofSheepsheaBay. "I f that store was builaccording to zoning regulationsit might bring life to the strip,says community activist IrwinFruchtman. "But the developerwant to expand the zoning by 800percent. It's the worst kind oproject for the area. nFruchtman and other opponents of the plan have insteadproposed a smaller scale shopping strip with an esplanade


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The Dirty 30For now, it is peaceful outside

the crackhouse on West 149thStreet between Broadway andAmsterdam Avenue.

Du ri ng the weeks afterthe Apr ilshake-up of the "Dirty 30" policepreci nct, in wh ch 12 officers werearrested and 11 suspended forallegedly stealing hundreds ofthousandsof dollarsworth of cashand cocaine from local dealers,

this block has in some ways cometo resemble the cozier streets ofthe Upper West Side. The policehave established a presence here,barricading eitherendofthe blockand temporarily halting the drugtraffic.But many residents have littleconfidence that changes at the30th Precinct will have any lasting impact as far as the bustlingcrack trade is concerned.

"Once the barricades aredown, things will be the way theywere before," says 24-year-oldFrisky Maclaster.

Cynicism runs deep hereamong people who have longbeen convinced that the policehad ties to the Harlem drug business. "There was zero percentsurprise laboutthearrests) amonganyone who isn't genetically procop," says Joe Center of theEcumenical Community Development Organization, which develops and manages housing in theneighborhood.Like Maclaster, many youngmen and women in the area

remain skeptical. Sitting on astoop in front of a bullet-riddleddoorway, 15-year-old Boo Smithsays he expects new police officers in the district to be just aseasily tempted by illicit money asthe old ones were.Since the arrests, however,residents have seen more policeon foot patrol in the community.One of them, Officer DuaneChalvison, insists that all the badapples have been removed fromthe precinct and says he believesthat local residents will come totrust the police again. "They willfeel okay coming to us for help,"he says. "Theyalwaysdo,becauseit's horrible to live in fear, lockedup in an apartment."On West 149th Street, JamesThomas, a 78-year-old formertransit worker, and his neighborMaggie Burnett have been tryingto mobilize a block associationfo r seven years. Thomas says therecent events have given theirorganizing efforts a new burst ofenergy.Teenagerswhooncewereapathetic about the drug trade, hesays, have been approaching himwith fighting words like "Take thecommunity back" and "This isour block, not theirs."

"I've known plenty of goodcops over the years," Thomasadds. "I still believe in the system."For now, though, Maggie

Burnettsays she still plans to relyon her two German Shepherdsfo r protection while she keeps aclose watch on the precinct andthe crackhouses. "I' ll do whatever it takes to make sure thingsstay the way they are right now,"she say:;. Holly Rosenkrantz

BRIEFS

More ...... 900 . . . . . . . . . aI ..........,.. Ec.nenIcaI Coopei.... DokpIIt III thorpnIuIIon' ........ COIMIIIIon I t St. John the BIpIIst IIamIn CaIhoIc ChunIIIBedford 5tuyweunt last month. n.., ""'1111d ..,.,.. Rudolph GiuIMI ..... . . . . . . . . . for fInMIcIng the group'. plan III ..... 250 atrurdabIe apartmeatby mId-l995.

Promises for Project ZionMayor Rudolph Giuliani en

tered into an agreement lastmonth with Brooklyn EcumenicalCooperatives (BEC), an in terfai thorganization whose membershipis drawn from 43 churches, synagogues, schools andhospitals, to providef inancing fo r th egroup's plan to develop 250 affordableapartments by July,1995.This will be thefirst phase of ProjectZion, afour-year planto rehabilitate 1,000apartments in vacant buildings incentral, south and downtownBrooklyn. The total cost of theproject is expected to be $86 mill ion, says Marvin Calloway,codirector of BEC. So far, Giulianihas committed to funding onlythe first year'swork, but Callowaysays the mayor made a verbalagreement to try and continue infuture years.Giuliani announced hissupport fo r the plan at the 12thannual convention ofBEC on May15th at St . John the BaptistRoman Catholic Church inBedford Stuyvesant. The victoryfo r BEC leaders follows monthsof lobbying that targeted Giulianieven before he was elected lastNovember.

At the convention last month,more than 900 BEC delegatesgreeted the mayor. Following

prayers, several dozen familieliving in BEC-developed uniapproached the platform to brecognized. AnnabelieAvila, whlives in a 31 -unit, three-buildindevelopment owned by NeCommunities, BEC

housing arm, sathat her home, othe border of CrowHeightsand BedforStuyvesant, is "happy, safe one; athe neighbors galong."

Despite thmayor's commiment, there was some tension

the convention. The organiztion's delegates repeated a serieof demands they made laOctober to then-candidaGiuliani, in-eluding more effetive police patrols in public houing projects, where many BEmembers live. Giuliani agreedset up a meeting between BEand Police CommissionerWilliaBratton by July 1st.

"We are encouraged but nsatisfied," says Calloway. "Theare many issues that need to bresolved .""There was a lo t of positivenergy from the delegates, whicis most important," adds JohHall, a BEC delegate. "The may

was most agreeable, but policians say 'Yes' to everything. Yohave to keep the pressure onLaura Washington

CITY UMITS/JUNE/JULY 1994


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Finding a Voice By Alexia LewnesPhotos by Gregory P. MangoA group of Lower East Side teens are speaking up and speaking out.

T heir neighborhoods are dilapidated; their streets, unsafe. Theyare warehoused in overcrowdedschools and struggling to stayalive in violent homes. Confronted withobstacles and burdened with pressuresthat would overWhelm most adults, theirtalents are wasted on survival. They arethe runaways, throwaways and other"at risk" youth of New York City.One group of young people, YouthEmpowered to Speak (YES), has decided to fight back. "Weneed to be heard," says16-year-old Dervis, amember of YES. "Eventhough we're young, wehave rights."Advocacy is one of theprinciple missions of thegroup, which meets everyFriday at the StreetReach youth drop-incenter operated by theUniversity SettlementSociety on Manhattan's Lower East Side.Each week, YESmembers ge t together to discussand define issuesthat are importantto them and tolook for ways tochange things . Barely sixmonths old, the group is still hammering out which concerns they want toaddress, bu t violence, sexism, drug use,peer pressure and gangs are all h igh ontheir list."YES members are learning aboutthe mechanisms for change," says MerylBerman, director of community development programs at University Settlement. "It's easy to say things should bedifferent, bu t they're learning how toactually do it."Poems and RapsAt their first public appearance at arally on the Lower East Side on MartinLuther King, Jr.'s birthday, YES membersread poems and performed raps abouthomelessness and violence. "We standhere still growing-a small voice tryingto be heard," said 22-year-old Don Blair,addressing the crowd. "Just like everyone else, we're trying to find answersa/JUNE/JULY 1994/CITY UMITS

that sometimes we feel we are denied.Within YES, we try to find those answers and ourselves."The StreetReach drop-in center is asafe house for any youth who needs abreak from life on the street, respitefrom a troubled family or simply relieffrom the mounting pressures they mustoften shoulder on their own. The centerserves some 500 young people betweenthe ages of 13 and 21 each year. Somehave run away from home and live in

October1993)-YES currently has a coremembership of 12 young people.Working with Women as Resources,YES has developed an eight-weekpublic speaking program designed tohelp members cultivate their writingand speaking skills, to prepare them forfuture public gatherings as well as forgiving testimony at government hearings and other forums. For the currentCity Council budget hearings, YESmembers have prepared two-minute"A LOT OF PARENTS DON'T CARE ABOtrr THEIR KIDS. presentations on a rangeof issues, including jobsfor teenagers, urban

violence and childwelfare.Many are on drugs and their kids end up on the streets,"

says 19-year-old Jennifer Morales, who left homelast year to live with the family of EdgarAquino, her boyfriend. "Government alwaysmoves slowly and teenagers generally movefast," Blair observes, out-

shelters.Others havebeen kicked out-"couchkids" who move from house tohouse, staying with relatives or friends.Some still live with their families bu thave one foot out the door. About 85 percent have dropped out of school.Weekly peer group meetings at thecenter provide forums to discuss a rangeof complex subjects such as teen pregnancy, date rape, suicide and familyviolence. It was during these sessionsthat some participants began discussing how to present their concerns to awider audience. YES was the result.Guided by Berman and modeled afteranother University Settlement Societygroup, Women as Resources AgainstPoverty-an organization formed bypoor women in 1992 to carry out its ownantipoverty campaign (see City Limits,

lining one of the pointshe plans to make to thelegislators. "Whynot putthe two together to find aspeed that we all can workwith and get accustomedto?"Experiences of Abuse

For many YES mem-bers, it is the first timethey have been encouraged toinvestigate the social andeconomic conditions that affecttheir dai ly lives. In addition, theweekly meetings at StreetReachhave taught them that they are notalone in their experiences ofabuse,homelessness, violence and death."I saw my friend get shot, myother friend get stabbed in school for apair of glasses, and another friend gethis throat cut," says 14-year-old Robert,who has been living with his grandmother and uncles since his drunkenfather threw him out of the house fiveyears ago. "I get scared. Maybe I'll getrobbed or stabbed or shot for a hat.That's why kids have guns. They'rescared and they need to be protected."Unfortunately, for many of theseyoung people, their own homes havenever provided safety from the violenceof the streets. "My mom and dad disciplined us with beatings," says Blair,who recalls earning a broken arm for abad school report card when he was 16.


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"GOVERNMENTALWAYS MOVES SlOWLYand teenagers geMrally move fast,"Don Blair plans to te l the CIty CouncIl at the

for her first year ofcollege, but this timeshe may need ascholarship to pay thetuition." It is difficult tocreate a supportiveenvironment for children when parents them-selves are overwhelmedand beaten down by theirown hardships, struggling

their lives and perhaps the livesothers. And in the process of defininand articulating the fears and pressurof urban adolescence, they are learninabout responsibility, coming to termwith their own prejudices and learnito respect themselves and others. It not always easy. "Respect is still a bissue at the meetings," says Moralewho is especially concerned abosexism. "Respect between peoplegeneral and respect between men anwomen. Some of the guys make jokand talk when we're saying somethinIt's like our ideas don't matter."

budget hearings this month. ''Why not put the two topIherto ftnd a speed we an can wenwith?"

with their own addictions,"says Berman. Young peoplein increasing numbers arefalling into the juvenilejustice system, the childwelfare system, or are beingleft on their own, accordingto government statistics. Infact, advocates for the home-

One of the group's projects has beeto help StreetReach design a joprogram for its youthful participantTo take part, each YES member has create his or her own job descript ion work at StreetReach or Project HomeUniversity Settlement homeless prevetion program for families . They sigcontracts for the part-time jobs, whicpay $5 per hour.

Years later, his eyes still betray the paininflicted by his mother, a drug user anddealer who Blair says physically abusedhim throughout his childhood. "All mylife my mother was putting me down,telling me I'm ignorant and stupid," hesays. "She didn't realize her words couldhave such a powerful effect."After walking out of his mother'shouse in Baltimore three years ago, Blairmoved to New York to try and make iton his own. Today, he lives in a transitional youth residence in the Bronx thatis part of a network of programs thatarrange for emergency shelter and longterm independent living situations foryoung people.He is now completing hissenior year in high school and pursuinghis goal of becoming an artist, teachingweekly art classes at StreetReach-aplace, says Blair, that has given himsomething he never had before. "Thebottom line is kids are on their owntoday," he says. "Most of the time, theyhave no support."Last year, YES member JenniferMorales left home to live with herboyfriend's mother because her father,an alcoholic who she says had beenabusing her mother for many years,began hitting her as well. Morales is 19,although she looks more like 14 , andshe is pregnant, due in July. Her parentsdon't know she's pregnant, but she feelsfortunate to have support from herboyfriend's mother and her friends."Most kids have no one to turn to," shesays. "A lot of parents don't care abouttheir kids. Many are on drugs and theirkids end up on the streets." Jennifer ison leave from New York University,where she hopes to return in the fall tomajor in journalism. Her parents paid

less say teenagers and youngadults are the fastest growing group ofhomeless people living in the city'sshelters.Finding themselves in increasinglydangerous situations, today's runawayteenagers are in urgent need of the mostbasic medical

Thelma and Jasmine, both 13 , aorganizing the library at Project Homand StreetReach while put ting togethservices andother forms ofsupport, according to KathleenConnolly, direc

MEMBERS OF YES INCLUDE HOMnISS RUNAWAYS AND YOUNGpeople coping with domestic abuse. They are learning aboutpublic speaking and comnwnity InvoIYement: Jasmine

tor of develop(left, and Thelma, both 13, are puttingtopIher a storytelling program

ment at TheDoor, a comprehensive youthservice program thatworks withan average of200 to 300young peoplebetween th eages of 12 and21 every day."Problems we'reseeing today are

for small children.

so much more lifet h r e a t e n i ng -AIDS, more homelessness, more kidscoming in for emergency food." ForConnolly the risingincidence of AIDS isparticularly disturbing. "The increaseof mv in the teen population meansthat in 10 years, we'll see an explosionofHIV in young adults," she says.A strong sense ofhope separates YESmembers from many other children'living on their own. They say theybelieve they can change the course of

a storytellinprogram for small childreRobert is training to counsel younpeople. And Morales is the founder aneditor in chief of MK ("More Knowedge"), a new quarterly newsletter. Thpremiere issue, due out in earlsummer, will include a rap on darape, a review of "Tales of the Closeta popular comic book series addressincontinued on page 2

em UMITS/]UNE/JULY 1994


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City for Sale By Andrew WhiteNew York City's new housing commissioner discusses her plansfor selling city-owned buildings to local entrepreneurs.

W ho is the most politicallyinfluential landlord in NewYork City? Donald Trump?Mort Zuckerman? No, it'sRudolph Giuliani. The mayor controlsthe homes of about 150,000 tenants inmore than 3,000 apartmentbuildings taken by the city fromlandlords who failed to payproperty taxes. More than half ofthe apartments in Central Harlemare in the mayor's portfolio, alongwith thousands of others in suchneighborhoods as the SouthBronx, Bedford Stuyvesant,Bush wick and East New York.Like Dinkins and Koch beforehim, Giuliani has sworn to get outof the landlord business. But heplans to put a far more substant ialamount of money into the effortthan his predecessors: during thenext fiscal year, starting July 1,1994, the Department ofHousingPreservation and DevelopmentrHPD) plans to spend $122 million on programs rehabilitatingand sellingoffcity-owned "in rem"apartment buildings to privatelandlords, nonprofit communitygroups and tenant associations.Over the next four years, total spendingon the effort is expected to be more than$470 million. Much of the money isslated for newprograms that have yet tobe designed, including one that willencourage "local entrepreneurs, " smallbusiness people from low ncome neighborhoods, to bu y city-owned buildings.City Limits editor Andrew Whiterecently spoke with HPD CommissionerDeborah Wright about privatization an dthe future ofher agency.

City Limits: Can you give me a senseofho w far along you are in devising thein rem privatization plan?Deborah Wright: We're about halfway there. There's a lot of homework tobe done. Nobody focused on this issuefor fifteen years, and now all of a suddeneverybody wants a solution yesterday.This is not just about occupied buildings; this is about the whole neighborhood. It wouldn't make much sense togo in and fix the occupied in rem build-


ings and no t deal with the rest of thesubstandard housing conditions in theneighborhood. That 's why it's taking usa little while, because we want to do thiscomprehensively.Our hope is that we'll have some-

thing pretty well put together over thenext month, and we will go out andspend some evenings with housing advocates and community boards andmake sure we're all in the same placebefore we go forward.CL: Do you foresee reviving something like the Private OwnershipManagement Program? [Note: thisprogram, known by its acronym POMP,sold rehabilitated city-owned buildings

to private, for-profit landlords duringthe 1980s. The Dinkins administrationphased POMP out after widespreadreports of tenant harassment an dinadequate maintenance. Many landlords also found the program unprofitable.]DW: No. What we're trying to do issomething fresh. There is strength inthe local not for-profit community, thereis strength in the local entrepreneurialcommunity which hasn't been tappedhistorically, and there's strength in ten-

ant ownership. The initiative we comeout with will have opportunities for allthree of those sectors.I think the new view is that theentrepreneurial sector has really beenignored. The POMP program focusedon owners and managers outsideof the local community. Whatwe're trying to do is take the comments from the housing advocacycommuni ty very seriously, whichis to say we don't want to sellproperty to speculators an dpeople who don't have a longterm interest in those communities. There are some folks outsidethe community who are responsible private owners and we wantto give them an opportunity toparticipate. [But] we want to tryto support the talented local folkswho have the greatest stake inwhether or not that communityprospers.

CL: The landlords that stuckwith POMP were the big ones fromoutside the neighborhood. Butthere were many smaller ownerswho couldn't make a go of t. Andif you look back at who abandoned these buildings in the first place,many of them were local owners.

DW: I'mnotsurethat'strue.Mysenseis that many of them were not localpeople. They may have started out owning a lot of property locally but theyeventually migrated out of those communities.I f you are part of the local structure,if you live there and you have to go tochurch with the Reverend [Calvin] Butts,and with [Councilmember] VirginiaFields in the audience, it's a lot tougherfor you to walk away from the drugproblem in your building because youknow that on Sunday, or at your business alliance meeting or whatever, folksare going to tell you about it.It's also important to note that thesebuildings aren't like the POMP buildings. These are small, on average eightunit buildings that the larger propertyowners and managers will be a lot lessinterested in. It's uniquely attractive to,say, the guy who is a local superinten-


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dent who may want a couple of buildings and live in the ground floor of oneof them , as opposed to someone whowants to buy up a thousand units.CL: The advantage of a nonprofit ora cooperative is that the "profit" comesin the form of reduced costs and re

duced rents. But if you have for-profitlandlords, they've got to make a livingof f he building. How can they possiblydo that without increasing rents, driving out many low income tenants?DW: There won't be displacement.For one thing, we will deliver the buildings debt-free. Obviously the buildingsare in substandard conditions and needto be upgraded. And we can't expect asophisticated or a small unsophisticatedproperty owner to be able to afford thatbecause the building income just won't

cover [the cost].We have to deal with the tenants. Wehave no intention of displacing people.And in many cases we 'll have to userent vouchers , we 'll haveto use tax credits , we 'llhave to use other forms oftenant support to makesure that people can continue to afford to live intheir substantially upgraded apartment.

ings on a day-to-day basis.CL: You believe there are for-profitbuyers willing to work in partnershipwith a nonprofit group organizing theirtenants?DW: Absolutely. It 's to their benefit.

Organized, intelligent tenants makebuildings run smoothly. There's noquestion about it. And the for-profitguys who don't want to do that are notfor us, because we're no t interested infolks whose only intention is to milk thebuildings. We want people who believein local communities. We have nointention of walking away from thetenants in these buildings.I would think the tenants would bethrilled [with this policy]. Let's face it.Many of he buildings are in very dilapidated condition. For the first time,tenants will be able to call somebodyand get an immediate response, something they haven 't ha d for fifteen yearsin some cases.

CL: It's been a long battle to get Hto consider supporting organizingorder to get more tenants interestecooperative ownership or managemby community groups or others. Twould be a real cultural change herDW: It won't happen interna

There's a built-in tension based onteen years of history. It's easier foradvocacy community to beat up ofaceless bureaucracy than it will broll up their sleeves and work witlocal guy who's trying to make it woIt's a cultural shift at HPD, bu t it 's aa cultural shift for the advocates thhope they'll be willing to make. Itcommitment on both sides.

CL: How quickly do you hope tothis going? I've heard reports that yaim is to sell of f 10,000 units a yearDW: Oh no . We couldn't affordfor one thing. We're budgeted for ab2,500 units a year. We hope to do bethan that. But unlessge t increased fundfrom OMB [the MayOffice of Managemand Budget] we justwobe able to upgrade buildings. We'll see h

we do this year an d ifdo as well as we expto, then we'll feel cofortable going back aasking OMB to helpaccelerate the progrBut we want to prove oselves first.

One of the things thathousing advocates havetold us is that they areconcerned HPD will justsell these buildings andwalk away from them, andnot monitor how well theprograms are going. Weenvision that even withthe entrepreneurial program, we will have forprofit owners partner upwith a local not-for-profitorganization that has thecapacity to organize theresidents an d to have abackup monitoring system. Issues and problemscoming up on a day-today basis [should] behandled locally, insteadof this endless bureaucratic loop where peoplefeel like they have to writeeither me or their localpublic official becausethey can 't get a responsefrom HPD. I think there'sa much more effectiveway of monitoring what'shappening in these build-

INRECENTMONTHS, THE TASKFORCE ONCITY-OWNEDProperty, a coalit ionofcommunity organizationsandhogroups,bas Wnorganizing meetings &roun8 the citY totenants of HPD buildings to the Giuliani administration'sprivatization agenda. When 350 people showed up for ameeting at the Neighborhood Defender Service on May 3rd,organizers from Action for Community Empowerment,Ecumenical Cpmmunity D e v e l o p m , : g . ~ O r g a n i ~ a U o n , Abyssinian Development Corporationand other groupshad toshif t strattlgiesan d turn the session intoan outdoor rally. Theysoon called a second meeting. held on May 17th at SaintMary's Church (pictured above) with about 250 city tenants.

CL: One of the idthat you have discusis using federal low come housing tax crefor the privatizationoccupied in rem buings. How would twould work?DW: Tax creditsthe most flexible fundwe have for low incohousing because it's uity money raised frcorporations who neetax break. I t can be usfor services , it can be usas a reserve against lossan d so that's why I hmentioned it , becaumany of these buildinwill run an operating dci t. I fwe are going to p

M a n ~ ! ; the audience sought information abo. ut buying theirbull ' s through the Tenant Interim (UL) Progrpl."The city says you aren't interested in the program." shldRobby Robinson, whose building recently joined Tn.. "Butthat's because no one knows about the program. They keep ithush-hush. They don't want you to know about it. But as far asI'm c o n c e m ~ , it's the only program that works." AW

CITY UMnS/JUNE/JULY 199


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vent displacement-and if we can't restructure the cost of these buildings bygetting tax breaks and water and sewerbreaks from the city, all of which we'rediscussing-ifwe don't get that packageof incentives, then the tax credits aresomething we'll have to seriously consider.CL: Tax credits would create a reserve fund that would be drawn downover the years. Ultimately it would dissipate.DW: That's why we would prefersomething more permanent like a Section 8 [rent) voucher, or a tax or waterand sewer abatement, so the costs matchthe profile of he renters in the building.CL: What's the outlook for waterandsewer charge abatements for buildings

that have left ci ty ownership?DW: Tax abatement looks good. Thewater and sewer abatement is a lotharder. From a citywide perspective,the fear would be, is this opening thedoor to a wholesale set of applicationsby other private owners who are alsostressed? I don't think that's somethingthe administration will want to do.CL: Do you think that auct ions are alikely approach for privatization ofcityowned housing?DW: No. Unless we can find a way tomake sure the people who are biddingare financially qualified to renovate thebuildings and support the mortgage, it'sjust not viable. It's something we wantto look at down the road because wehave a host of vacant brownstones wedesperately need to find a way to getrenovated. But there have been so manyproblems with the auction program inthe past that I think we'll need to verycarefully study the problems before weeven think about doing it again.CL: What about tenant ownership?The word within HPD has always beenthat advocates are more supportive ofthe Tenant Interim Lease (TIL) programthan tenants. [Note: TIL trains tenantassociations to purchase their cityowned buildings and manage them ascooperatives.) In talking with tenants,I've found that they are interested bu tthey find it onerous the way the systemis set up.DW: TIL will continue to be a part ofwhat we do. It won't be the lead pro-


gram, because by definition it's drivenby tenant applicants. Applications forTIL are way down. So there's a gapbetween what the advocates say and thereality of he applications in-house. Partof what our research entails is explaining the difference.

CL: I've heard that one of the mainreasons tenants fail to get into the TILprogram is because they don't show upfo r training classes in downtownManhattan. A lo t of people in badneighborhoods aren't happy about theidea of eaving their homes after dark togo downtown.DW: What kind of commitment isthat i f people won't go to a class that wepay for? To me that seems like a fairlysmall commitment to make to own theirown home for $250. At a certain point

people have to step up to the plate.I'm committed to making sure TILcontinues. There are a number ofproblems with the program that peoplehave pointed out to me. This is not justabout creating new programs, it's aboutimproving existing programs as well.TIL will play a role. It's driven bydemand. And my view is driven by areal gap in our product offerings, for thelocal entrepreneur, and we want to givethat population a shot at participatingin our programs, which is somethingthey have not had.CL: What do you propose as far ascreating training programs or incentiveprograms for these entrepreneurs?DW: They need the same things thatnot-for-profits and tenants need. Theyneed resources, they need training, theyneed introductions.CL: Right now the city has stoppedtaking control of buildings whose owners have failed to pa y their propertytaxes. How long can that last?DW: Part of our in rem strategy is todetermine how to prevent buildingsfrom becoming distressed so that wedon't end up in a position of having totake them over. We want to focus HPD'swhole array of programs on the problem. Programs could be so much moreeffective i f they were targeted.For example, we have the Participation Loan Program offering low-costloans for private owners to upgrade theirbuildings, and 8A loans for the smallerbuildings, and even the Small HomesLoan Program for three-unit buildings

and smaller. I fwe are going in to stabilize a neighborhood, say four to sixblocks, it makes sense to renovate thevacant buildings, bu t it also makes senseto go out and grab those private ownersand let them know that we have lowcost financing here at HPD. We've neverleafleted a community and pulled owners in. Instead, we've just waited forthem to get through the HPD maze tofigure out i f we've got something available.In addition we need to target ourinspectors. We are way down in thenumber of housing inspectors we haveand we've been talking to a number ofparties about increased financing.We're lobbying very heavily at the statelevel. We also sat down with HUD,which historically has refused to allowus to use federal money for inspectors.But there is a little wedge opening. Theysaid that if we target the inspectors todistressed neighborhoods, they wouldreconsider. So, for example, if we had aspecial team of inspectors targeted inthe neighborhoods where we are doingour occupied in rem initiative, wouldn'tit make sense to offer stabilization of inrem housing, renovation of vacantbuildings, and low-cost loans to privateowners, and have inspectors giving alittle nudge to the private owners whoaren't attracted by the incentive of lowcost financing? It makes sense.

CL: When you were at the HousingAuthority, you worked on trying to helppublic housing residents create smallbusinesses for in-house contracting. Doyou see anything like that to be createdatHPD?DW: That's why I believe so much inthe local entrepreneurs. I think manypeople are missing the point when theyfocus on for-profit versus not-for-profit.A person who is a local entrepreneurhires people locally. It's going to be inthat person's interest because that'swhere he or she lives and does business

every day.One of the biggest criticisms of HPDis that so much of the economic powerbypasses local communities. The vendors are from outside of the community.Many times the developers are. Evensome of the consultants are. People arereally emphasizing local participationbecause we want to harness some of thepower of government expenditure andattract private funds to create jobs andsome economic spin-off. We're not harping on this for nothing. I see it as a verypowerful tool. 0


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May 1994

$1,000,000Chemical Bank's subsidiary

Chemical Community Development, Inc.is proud to announce the financing of a new community-basedwater conservation initiativeto

Cooperative Technologies ServicesInternational Corp (CTSI).

CTSI partners with community groups to market equipment conversionto conserve water usage.

Y4CHEM/CAL

CITY UMIYS/JUNE/JULY 1994


12/32

The city's emergencyrepaIr programgives landlordsthe benefitof the doubt-and leaves tenantsto suffer theconsequences.BY STEVEN WISHNIA

he three Crown Heights buildings haveelegant red and black brick mosaics and cement friezes ontheir facades, remnan,ts of the decorative touches that markedsolid Brooklyn apartment buildings in the early part of thiscentury.But first looks can be deceiving. On the inside, 1470, 1484,and 1488 SterUng Place are thoroughly decrepit, with plumbing so deteriorated the residents didn't have heat or hot waterfor most onast winter. "The pipes were so rotten, they justbroke off in your hand," says tenant leader Eunice Davis.

And in an ironic touch, the lead paint that 60 years ago wasa sign of being able to afford the best is now a crumbling toxinendangering the residents' children. Yet the landlord hasrepeatedly failed to respond to tenants' complaints.These buildings would have once been certain candidatesfor intervention by the city's Emergency Repair Program(ERP), part of the Department of Housing Preservation andDevelopment's (HPD's) bureau of code enforcement. After acity inspection, work crews would have delivered fuel,gotten the heat and hot water running and removed the leadpaint or sealed it up behind a new layer of sheetrock. And alien would have been placed on the property for the cost ofthe work, requiring the landlord to pay up.12/JUNE/JULY 1994/CITY UMITS

But two years ago, housing officials revamped the ERPprogram. In response to budget cuts and countless complaints by landlords of abuses in the system, the agencydecided to try a more accommodating approach, emphasizing cooperation rather than confrontation with propertyowners. That's why in October, 1992, when inspectors foundpeeling lead paint in a fourth-floor apartment where youngchildren live at 1488 Sterling Place, the city gave ReginaTischler, one of the partners in the corporation that owns thethree buildings, the opportunity to repair the hazardousconditions herself. On February 26, 1993, she filed paperswith HPD certifying that the work had been done.

Presumably, this was one of the successes for the newpolicy touted in the Mayor's Management Report of September, 1993, which showed 60 percent of all landlords complying with repair orders-more than twice the rate of theprevious year.Except for one problem. Tischler never did the work.Today, more than a year later, lead paintis still pee ling off thewalls, and Legal Aid attorney Judith Goldener reports thatseveral of the tenants' children have since been found to haveunusually high levels of lead in their blood. The landlordcould not be reached by City Limits for comment.


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he situation at Sterling Place is not unique. In 0 s throughout the city, innumerable landlords

ed responding to emergency repair orders ,not onlyr j I " ' ~ deadlines and filing false certifications, but, morect__ v, by simply ignoring the city's demands that rep de. And the HPD policy that relies on voluntarycompliance has, it turns out, allowed serious problems tolinger for years on end.Alison Cordero, a tenant organizer with the st . NicholasNeighborhood Preservation Corporation in Williamsburg

and Greenpoint, says landlords in the buildings she workswith comply only "after we drag them through the courts fora year or two.""We have not seen any increase in landlords keeping theirbuildings up to code," adds Julio Batista, an aide to CityCouncil Member Stanley Michels, whose district encompasses parts of West Harlem and Washington Heights.

In fact, the city now concedes that the information in the1993 Mayor's Management Report was inaccurate. In recentinterviews with City Limits, Lawrence Schatt, assistantcommissioner for code enforcement and theofficial who oversees the Emergency RepairProgram, explained that an HPD audit performed during the summer of1993 uncoveredsignificant flaws in the statistics. Departmentrepresentatives telephoned tenants in 1,000buildings whose landlords had been countedas in compliance and found that repairs hadnot been done in about 25 percent of them,says Schatt. The city has begun doing regularphone surveys to more closely monitorwhether or not repairs have been completed.

Joel Weissman, a Brooklyn Legal Aid lawyer who was a code enforcement attorneywith HPD from 1989 to 1992, says he doesn'teven trust Schatt's new figures. "Based on myexperience, 25 percent seems really low," hesays. "In a large number of buildings, therepairs just never get done. The program isjust not there in any meaningful way."The Emergency Repair Program has neverbeen considered a pan acea for the ills of NewYork's low income housing stock. Even in1991 , when the city hired private contractorsto make more than 45,000 repairs in privately

And in a City Limits survey last month of 30 troubbuildings in neighborhoods including Central HarlWilliamsburgand Washington Heights, mos t of he buildihad emergency repair orders outstanding and few tenahad seen repairs completed or inspectors returning toscene until more than a year had gone by.

ome buildings in poor neighborhoods have alwor kept. The deterioration of others reflectse 1980s real estate speculation boom and ownflated prices for rental properties who are n

P"nnptlll'fwillingto maintain them. According to "Hous___- _ ~ , . . ~ c k , " a 1993 report by the Community ServSociety, 7,500 buildings-one-sixth of the city's privaowned rental housing stock-are at risk of abandonment,to either serious property tax arrears or impending mortgforeclosures. A 1992 survey by the city DepartmenFinance found that 4,000 buildings were more than a ybehind in their taxes and thus eligible for seizure by the cLydia Melendez and other tenants at West 171st Street in Washington Heights h

been fighting with their landlord for repfor more than two years. Last winter, tendured 10 consecutive days without hwhile temperatures hovered in the teens20s. The building has almost 300 violatilisted on the HPD inspection databincluding 62 categorized as immediahazardous. Many tenants' doors are broand the building is infested with rMelendez has complained repeatedly to Habout conditions in the building,and a numof emergency repair orders have been wten. But the landlord owes 18 months in btaxes, and few of the repairs have been maHousing organizers say they see suchbuings regularly. "We're dealing mostly wbuildings where the landlord has walaway," explains Cordero of the St. NichoNeighborhood Preservation Corporation.At 520 West 144th Street in Harlem, lalord Moishe Bodner failed to provide serviQ for years after he bought the six-story apment building and three others adjacent t

owned buildings, the program was handling "In a large numberonly a small percentage of the housing code for $1.87 million in 1988 (see City LimMarch 1992). He eventually defaulted onmortgages , and after two years in receivship with the federal Resolution Trust Corration, the four 3D-unit buildings are nowby a court-appointed administra tor.They h

violations currently tallied in HPD records. of buildings, theYet in three years the ERP budget has beencut from $12 million to $8 million, and last ..repaIrS Just neveryear the program made only 11,600 emer-gency repairs citywide, tarring roofs, supply- ,ing fuel. refitting boilers and removing lead get done.'paint, among other things. The budget re-

thousands ofviolations, including more th900 categorized as immediately hazardoincluding lead paint, rat infestation acently proposed by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani includes noincrease in funding for ERP; code enforcement overall isslated for significant cuts.

chronic heat and hot water problems. Inspectors have issdozens of emergency repair orders during the last two yeAdela Fernandez , sharing an apartment at 520 West 14CITY UMITS/JUNE/JULY 1994


14/32

Street with her sister, Ramona Lopez, has a thick sheaf ofpinkforms that HPD routine ly mails to tenants, asking whether ornot repairs ordered by the agency have been completed. Untilrecently, if tenants didn't respond to the forms within 21days, the department assumed everything was fine, saysAssistant Commissioner SchaU.Yet the query forms often arrive in tenants' hands after the21-day deadline, according to organizers and tenant lawyers.And they are written in English only. Fernandez and Lopez speak Spanish and never knewthey were supposed to send the forms back toHPD. As a result, a year and a half went bybefore city workers finally showed up to fixchronic plumbing leaks that had destroyedmuch oftheir kitchen an d bathroom ceilings,despite four emergency repair orders issuedto the landlord and the receiver. Meanwhile,windows in the building 's hallways remainbroken more than five months after they wereordered fixed. At least the tenants didn't freezelast winter, Fernandez says-city workers began calling her sister in February to find outwhether the buildings had heat, and ERPended up spending more than $20,000 on fuelto keep the boiler running.

projections for fiscal 1995 anticipate recouping only half ofthe $8 million the agency expects to spend on ERP repairs.Many tenant organizers have found there are better waysto get repairs done than to wait for recalcitrant owners or thecity to take care of hem. "The best way is to sue the landlord,"says Evan Hess of the Northern Manhattan ImprovementCorporation (NMIC) in Washington Heights.At 367 South 5th Street in Williamsburg, the city issued aseries of emergency repair orders demandin g

that the landlord get rid of lead paint in threeapartments and fix a collapsed bathroom ceiling in another. But work didn't begin untilafter the tenants and landlord reached a courtagreement last July, according to Debra Medinaof the Los Sures housing group. The lead wasremoved, but the landlord toldERP he couldn'tget into the apartment to fix the collapsedceiling. Tenants claim he never tried.Among landlords who abide by emergencyrepair orders only when legal pressure hasbeen applied, one of the most notorious isMartin Fine, owner of 10 turn-of-the-centurytenements on Ninth Avenue between West37th and 38th streets in Manhattan.

"We can't fix the

Bob Kalin, a tenant organizer with HousingConservation Coordinators in Clinton, callsFine "the last of the old-school slumlords" inthe neighborhood. The buildings were onceso drug-infested that police had to borrow acity bus to haul off buyers nabbed in acrackhouse raid. Fine owes 11 years of realestate taxes on the properties, but he hasavoided seizure by filing for bankruptcy. Heowes ERP $80,000. The tenants have been incourt with him for 15 years.whole city. There Fine has been doing some repairs recently,partly in response to Housing Court JudgeArthur Birnbaum's threat to jail him and partlybecause he is trying to stave off the tenants'bid to take over the buildings. The halls havebeen painted and replastered, and one resi-

ordered repairs citywide, Schatt explains. aren't enoughInspectors' ranks have been decimated bybudget cuts since 1991, thanks primarily to resources."the elimination of $8 million in state aid. The500-plus squad of inspectors on the HPDroster in 1989 has been cut to 207 and will fall to 187 next yearif Mayor Giuliani's budget plan is approved (see CityLimits,March 1994). Most of those who remain are aSSigned only tocheck heat and hot water complaints or make inspectionsordered by judges in Housing Court.There are a few other penalties for proper ty owners whodon't comply, bu t they are mild. Landlords can self-certifythat repair work has been completed; the fine for false selfcertification is $250 per repair. The City Council took noaction on a 1993 HPD proposal to increase the fine to $1,000.Seizure of the property is not much of a threat either.Mayor Giuliani has temporarily postponed vesting privateproperties for nonpayment of taxes or government liens,saying that the city should avoid taking on the managementof any more decrepit buildings. As a result, HPD's budget14/JUNE/JULY 1994/CITY UMITS

dent recently got cold water for the first timein 15 months. Tenants ha d only 15 days without heat thiswinter, the best record in years, says Kalin.

T ntil 1992, the ERP program was a favoriteor l ~ d l o r d groups who accused the city of beingto s all property owners. They complain ed abouto'verc1larges y the private con tractors ERPhired to do repairsda ut b 'ng charged for work that was never done. Evente - cates agree that many of the landlords' complaints were justified. Weissman of Legal Aid says ERP was

"one of the worst-run programs in the city," with littleaccountability for the private contractors who did most of thework. In one incident, a repair crew put an exposed steampipe barely a foot away from the front of a toilet, leaving the


15/32

tenants to risk getting scalded when they used the bathroom.In 1991 and '92, landlord lobbyists pushedhard for changes

in ERP and they found a sympathetic ear: City CouncilMember Archie Spigner of Queens, chair of the council'shousing committee, who held a public hearing on the program. Soon after, then-HPD Commissioner Felice Michettirestructured ERP, giving landlords more time to comply.HPD also virtually el iminated the use of outside contractors,employing agency maintenance and repair staff instead."Owner groups always said that, given a chance, owners

would make repairs," Schatt explains. "That fits in with myphilosophy: Give them the opportunity to do the right thing,and hold them accountable."Yet, as the 1993 audit found, holding landlords accountable was not such a simple task. After the audit, ERP begana pilot program on the Lower East Side to improve its tenantoutreach. That effort has recently been expanded to all fiveboroughs, with 17 city workers making follow-up calls totenants to check on repairs, according to Vernon ofHPD. Thedepar tment is also hiring four more workers to call tenants onevenings and weekends, sidestepping the Giuliani personnelcuts by using temporary per-diem employees reassignedfrom the agency's Central Complaint Bureau, she says.Anne Pasmanick of the Community Resource and Training Center charges that calling tenants a few times is "flimsy"followup, however. She points out that tenants aren't qualified to assess major structural repairs like roofing or boilerwork, and the sheer number of repairs needed in decrepit

buildings may cause them to overlook less threatenrepairs that haven't been done.

any landlords are willing to keep thshape, as Schatt contends. Unfortunatese buildings are most likely to need ema thtt aren't getting the work done. "I assubetter landlords out there, but we get the wos, ay. NMIC."When HPD finally gets around to doing the job, theygreat work, but we have families sitting around for six, eig

ten months in safe houses waiting for [lead abatement] to done," adds Michael Kink, a Legal Aid lawyer in HarlemBut Schatt will not concede that the ERP policy is failin"We can't fix the whole city," he says. "[HPD] can't do all work that needs to be done in private housing. There areenough resources." Furthermore, he argues, "No one hsuffered because of the changes. Tenants aren't sufferingTenants might take a different view. The residents of14Sterling Place had to buy a pump to get sewage out of thbasement, and they paid for several pipes to be replaced afthey had burst. Down the block at 1484 Sterling, the tenafixed broken hall windows in January, 10 months after city ordered the landlord to do the same. "People got tiredfreezing," says Eunice Davis. 0

Steven Wishnia is a frequent contributor to City Limits.

mBankersliustCompanyCommunity Development Group

A resource for the non-profitdevelopment community Gary Hattem, Managing Director

Amy Brusiloff, Vice President280 Park Avenue, 19West

New York, New York 10017Tel: 212 .454 .3677 Fax: 212 .454 .2380



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Lead paint poisons thousands of children each year, but community groupsfear that new regulations could undermine housing affordability.'1' ~ e r e are two mil-hon apartmentsin New York Citythat were builtbefore 1960, the year lead

paint was banned in housingconstruction. Unless the oldpaint has been removed,young children living inthese buildings are potentialvictims of the toxic scourgeof lead poisoning, which canimpair a child 's intellectualdevelopment and causesevere learning disabilities,according to the federalCenters for Disease Controland Prevention; at highlevels, it can even be fatal.

implication of these risingcosts is that the housing willjust not get built," says FranJusta, executive director oNeighborhood Housing Services, which packages loansand grants for refurbishingbuildings in low incomeneighborhoods . "Peoplewill not be housed.""No one wants to jeopardize kids, " echoes JimBuckley of UniversityNeighborhood Housing inthe Bronx, an organizationthat helps tenants rehabilitate and buy their buildingsfrom private landlords . "Butif people tell us you have tospend X amount of dollarstell us where the money isgoing to come from."'1' e city gov.ern-cr ment prOVIdes

financial assis-tance to nonprofit1>: groups and private land-

Yet many neighborhoodhousing groups worry thatstrictnew government guidelines for the removal of leadpaint will push the cost ofrehabilitation work so highthat the housing they produce will no longer be affordable to low income tenants.And already, insurance companies are threatening tomake life far more difficultan d more expensive-fornonprofits contractors and

IIY S ' I ' I ~ V I ~ II I '1' Illllords to rehabilitate morethan 10,000 apartmentseach year. For now, there is

private landlords alike by refusing all liability coverage forlead paint poisoning, leaving anyone involved in a rehabilitation job open to severe losses from civil lawsuits.The lead paint dilemma couldn't come at a worse time.New York City is in the grip of a housing crisis that promisesto deepen as each year goes by. Recent surveys show thatovercrowding in rental apartments is more extensive than ithas been in 30 years, and thousands of privately-ownedbuildings are on the verge of abandonment or foreclosurebecause of unpaid mortgages and taxes .As a result, longtime housing advocates say they areunsure on which side of the lead issue their allegiances lie."No one wants to see children getting lead-poisoned, but the16/JUNE/JULY 1994/CITY UMITS

still a great deal of uncertainty about exactly what impact government lead abatementguidelines will have on this work. In fact , laws mandating theelimination of lead paint hazards have been on the city'sbooks since 1982. So far, enforcement has been spotty, but alongstanding lawsuit by local health and antipoverty advocates and new federal regulations due for release later thisyear are helping shape a radica lly different climate.The most concrete evidence of the change is a set of rulespu t into effect by the city's Department of Health (DOH) lastMarch. They include detailed guidelines spelling out exactlyhow contractors must go about the removal of the toxic paint,and they affect all apartments in which a child has beenfound to be lead-poisoned, as well as any apartments where


17/32

inspectors from the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) find peeling paint or other leadviolations.

The new rules require that city agencies be notified beforeany abatement work is begun, and that, in some cases,apartments be vacated while the work is underway. In addition , a final cleanup must be performed using a specialvacuum that captures the smallest particles of dust. Afterward, DOH also requires a set of laboratory tests on dustcollected from any room where an abatement takes place."None of this was needed before," says Mendell Raksin, aBrooklyn-based general contractor who has worked for many

going to have budgets to cover this," exclaims Justa,who sit is not far-fetched to assume that every moderate rehabiltion job will cost an additional $15,000 cost per apartme"We're in kind of a bind right now ," Buckley agre"Frankly, we just can't add $15,000 to the cost of an apment and keep it affordable." In fact, his organizationalready feeling the impact. The group has been finalizfinancing for two buildings that tenants are purchasing,the negotiations have been delayed by uncertainty aboutrehabilitation costs now that the DOH rules are in place

Apply Buckley'S experience to the city's entire develment portfolio and you have a situation in which afforda

years renovating city-owned buildings. "It'slike the whole world has changed."According to Harold Shultz, deputy commissioner for HPD's Office of Housing Policyand Supervision, the cost of abatement workhas doubled as a result of the new guidelines .Depending on the apartment and the extent ofthe work that's required, abatement now costsanywhere from $850 to well over $1 ,50 0 , hesays, and sometimes as much as $10,000.

" ' I ' I ~ I ..I . IJS" T D I ~ l l l ~

housing does not get rehabilitated or, at best,pipeline is slowed considerably, developsay. "If it's going to cost more money per rebilitation job, common sense says that thegoing to be less done," says Allan Blitz, direcof the Program Loan Fund of the Commu

I l f ) N I ~ Y Services Society.

And the abatement guidelines are only pof the problem. In recent years, insurance copanies in New York State have been increingly reluctant to protect landlords fromliability associated with lead poisoning. Lyear, according to the State Insurance Depment, 21 companies were granted the righ

But private landlords charge that Shultz 'sestimates are too low. "A job that may have cos tyou between $5 0 and $100 [before the newregulations] will now cost about a couple ofthousand," says Dan Margulies of the Commu-

IS f.f)INf.'I'f) f ~ f ) l l l ~ 1 ~ l l f ) II. "

nity Housing Improvement Program, a landlord advocacygroup representing 2,50 0 property owners. "A violation thatcost $8 ,000 to fix will now cost about $15,000," he continues.Cost estimates pu t together by the Community PreservationCorporation, a coalition of banks that lends to nonprofitdevelopers and private landlords in low and moderate in come communities, corroborate Margulies' figures. The costsare so substantial, says John McCarthy, the organization'sexecutive vice president, that "there is a danger of choking offrehabilitation activity."

f ' ty officials counter that the new rules do not applydirectly to most rehabilitation work, bu t only torepairs demanded by health and housing inspec"I tors. But the DOH rules are just the beginning: strictnew federal regulations are slated to be issued later this year,and by the time they take full effect in 1996, they are likely tospur changes that will carry substantial added costs for anyrehabilitation job in a building with lead paint.The federal regulations are the result of the 1992 Housingand Community Development Act, signed into law by thenPres ident George Bush. The law included a passage known as"Title 10 ," which mandated the federal government to issueregulations by the end of this year outlining a new certification process for lead abatement workers, work rules, inspection and testing, essentially creating a whole new industrysimilar to what grew up around asbestos removal."It's just going to drive nonprofits out ofhousing. No one 's

issue policies that specifically exclude leadtheir coverage . Thirty-five others petitioned the insuradepartment to do the same, but have been denied, sspokesperson John Cologna. Margulies says that small lalords with just one or two buildings are already unable toinsurance covering lead poisoning.This could have serious repercussions for nonprofi t comunity groups owning and managing buildings as well as profit owners and contractors, according to McCarthy ofCPC. He has not yet heard of projects that have actually bstopped because of the lack of insurance. But long-teprospects, as coverage gets harder and harder to obtain, lbleak for all concerned.

Last October, a Bronx jury awarded $7.8 million to a chwho had been lead-poisoned in a city-owned buildinglawsuit like that against an uninsured landlord-whetheis a tenant-owned cooperative, a nonprofit or a privlandlord-would have devastating consequences. "Altakes is one lawsuit to wipe you out," says Margulies. "It isworth it."

II t activists who have fought long and hardtougher public health regulations point out thwhatever the costs and hardships suffered developers and landlords, they don't come clto the problems of children who are lead-poisoned. Lpaint poisoning has devastating effects on young childrdamaging their learning capacity and sometimes causdeafness and anemia. In 1991 , the Centers for Disease Con



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and Prevention tightened their definition of what was considered a harmful level oflead in blood, based on new data onthe effects of mild poisoning."We really don't have the option of saying that we can'taddress this problem," says Heidi Most of the Maryland-based National Center for Lead-Safe Housing, a group fundedby the Fannie Mae and Enterprise foundations. "It affectspoor and minori ty neighborhoods the most, so not addressingit has wide-ranging policy implications."Judging from the laws that have been on New York City'sbooks for more than a decade, observers might easily thinkthat New York has one of the boldest and most progressivepolicies on lead paint in the nation. The stuff was bannedfrom use in housing here more than 30 years ago, 18 yearsbefore the federal government implemented similar legislation. And laws mandating the removal of lead

board," adds Andy Goldberg, another NYCCELP attorney"But the thing is, kids are getting poisoned. Yes, these ruleadd a cost...but the alternative is a greater cost."

I loise Johnson couldn't agree more. Some 10 yearJI ago, blood tests revealed that her two children ha' . . to be hospitalized for severe lead poisoning afte... they had eaten large amounts of paint they peeleoff the walls of her Bronx apartment. The city promptly hirecontractors to scrape and repaint the apartmen , but Johnson'troubles were only beginning: when the children were released from the hospital, they came back to a home indisarray, with their furniture and toys covered with lead duspaint from old apartments went into effect in "1')4...f)I'I.)4...1982; 10 years later, the federal government

and paint chips. Jones' best efforts at cleaninup did not prevent her son from ingesting thpoisonous material once again. He was forcedto return to the hospital two more times durininally caught up. ,IIJS'I'8 1 l V ) ~ the next year and a half.Today, Johnson's teenage son is partiallBut so far, enforcement of he rules has beenlax, advocates charge. For years, city inspectors have ignored the problem, often failing tocite landlords for blatant lead violations, saysPhilip Berns of the Bronx Legal Aid SocietyLead Prevention Project. "And when they citethem, they don't follow up to make sure theviolations are cleared," he says (see "BlindTrust," page 12).

'I'f) f . ) ~ ' I ' "7"1'8 ' 1 ' 8 ) ~ I'Ilf)f.llll'l. "

deafand has trouble in school. He didn't learto read until he was 13 years old. "The doctosays he is damaged," Johnson remarks withstoicism that has come from narrating her stormany times over the last decade. "But it's nohis fault. It's like he had an accident when h

In 1985, the New York City Coalition to End Lead Poisoning (NYCCELP) filed a lawsuit charging that, among otherthings, the city could not comply with its own 1982 lawwithout setting up specific procedures for removing or covering all lead-based paint. The courts agreed in 1989, and thecity was eventually forced to draft the current DOH rules aftera more recent contempt ruling. In fact, the city has still notfully complied, says Lucy Billings, one of the attorneys forNYCCELP. The law goes further than simply demandingcertain lead abatement procedures, she says; it makes anylead paint in an apartment where a child under age seven isliving a violation of the housing code."Just because the paint isn't peeling now does not mean itwon't peel later," she says.

In fact, for the 1993 fiscal year, the City Council appropriated $17 million to enforce the lead abatement law, yet theDinkins administration did not spend the money. Billingsclaims that the administration was simply unwilling to abideby a law it did not like. At the time, officials argued thatenforcement was just too expensive.As for the current uproar among housing developers andproperty owners, activists say it is due to an overwhelmingresistance to change that they have encountered over andover again. "These rules can be followed. People just have toget with the program," says Megan Charlop, who runs a safehouse at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx wherefamilies can stay while lead paint is being abated in theirapartments.

"There's resistance to dealing with the problem across the18/JUNE/JULY 1994/CITY UMITS

was young ... He was not born this way."For Johnson, the changes in the city's laws couldn't comsoon enough. Even though i t's too late for her son, she nowvolunteers at Montefiore's safe house, reaching out to educate mothers about the dangers to which their young childremay be exposed."It's about time things were changed," she says. "It's timthey had stricter rules so what happened to me doesnhappen to other mothers."

"r ile housing developers agonize with theiconsciences and try to determine how best tocope with the coming changes, not all of thnews they are hearing is bad. The 1992 federalegislation included some money to be made available tolandlords in low income neighborhoods for lead paint abatement. The type ofwork to be funded is still being finalized bythe National Center for Lead-Safe Housing, which has beedesignated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to write the guidelines."We understand this is a problem in which governmenhas to step in and help, " says David Jacobs, deputy directoof the center. "It can't be done [by property owners] alone.It's a nugget of hopeful information for Jim Buckley andothers in the housing community, who are unsure whethethere will be any other funding made available to cover thcost oflead abatement. "We need the support," Buckley says"And frankly, we're not going to be able to pay it back." 0


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......,CHASECommunityDevelopmentCorporation

The Chase Community DevelopmentCorporation Finances Housing andEconomic Development Projects,including:New ConstructionRehabilitationSpecial Needs HousingHomeless SheltersHome MortgagesSmall Business LoansLoan Consortia

For information, call theCommunity-Based Development Unit(212) 552-9737

We Look Forward to Your Call!



20/32

The struggle to provide tenants with legal representation in Housing CourtBY HANNA LIEBMAN AND JILL KIRSCHENBAUM

After decades of elevision crime dramas, almost any 10-yearold child in the United States could recite the Miranda rightsby heart. The right to an attorney, even for those who can'tThl.s IS the afford to pay, has been etched deeply intoour collective consciousness.second of Most New Yorkers might assume theya t'!Vo-part have the right to an attorney in the city'sseries. Housing Court as well. They would bewrong. It took many decades for legal activists to win the rightto counsel in the criminalcourts, and even today ithas not been extendedthroughout the judicialsystem. In Housing Court,where each year tens ofthousands of people arethreatened with th eprospect oflosing the roofover their heads, there isno such guaranteedprotection. It is a state ofaffairs that has seriousramifications for anyunlucky person who endsup there.

interpreter. The result was a "stipulation," written by thlandlord's attorney, signed by Wierzbowski and approved bthe judge. The document required him to pay his back renthen move out.Wierzbowski was under the impression that the stipultion outlined a sentence handed down by the judge. "Thwas his first contact with jurisprudence in the States and hfelt that i f he judge had all the evidence, then [the judge] wacapable and willing to make the right decision without bias

says Jacek Birkowski, tenant advocate with ThPeople's Firehouse,Greenpoint communigroup that Wierzbowslater contacted. Hcouldn'thave been furthfrom the truth: a stipultion is little more thansettlement between a landlord and a tenant, writtewith the assent of a judgbu t without the courtactive involvement.Cii With the clock tickinon the time Wierzbows

ill had left before his schedake Waldemar Wierzbowski, a Polish danceinstructor who came tothe United States 15 years

Waldemar Wl8I'Zbowski was nearty evicted from his Greenpoint apartment because hecouldn't afford an attorney when he MIlt to Housing Court. uled eviction, Birkowssteered him to Brooklyago. He stopped paying rent when his landlord ignoredrepeated requests for repairs of problems in his Greenpointapartment, including holes in the ceiling, falling plaster anda torn up floor. Soon Wierzbowski was summoned to Housing Court to face eviction proceedings. He appeared withoutlegal representation and was assigned a court-appointed20/JUNE/]ULY 1994/CITY UMITS

Legal Services Corportion A, which is now seeking to have the agreement abadoned. "It was patently unfair, unjust and one-sided," sayEric Feinberg, a lawyer in that office. "It's a clear case oftenant who, i f he had been represented by an attorney, woulhave had dramatically different results."

Wierzbowski was lucky to get any help at all. Accordin


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to studies, tenants are so cowed by the rapid-fire justice ofHousing Court that they often cave in to unreasonable terms.Others are so threatened by the mere prospect of going tocourt without legal advice that they fail to demand muchneeded building repairs, or they simply move out when theyreceive a notice from the landlord.

Wierzbowski's experience is emblematic of one of themost pressing problems in one of the messiest court systemsaround. But his tale only scratches the surface: evidence israpidly mounting that the lack oflegal representation for tenants inHousing Court is no t only causingthousands of people to lose theirhomes each year, bu t may also becosting the city millions and millions of taxpayer dollars that couldbe far better spent.

come by. A 1986 study by the City-Wide Task ForceHousing Court, a tenant advocacy group, found thatpercent of all court-approved stipulations agreed to by botenants and landlords ordered rent to be paid, while fewthan 40 percent ordered apartments to be repaired. Whamore, followup inspections by the Task Force found that onhalf of the stipulated repairs were ever actually completeDouglas Palms of Bushwick is well aware of how difficit can be to get repairs, even after the landlord agrees in coto make them. When he founddroppings in his infant daughtecrib two years ago, Palms immeately called their landlord, whosays had been negligent about roa

and rodent infestation problems esince they moved into the eight-ubuilding on Linden Street in 19No effective measures were forcoming, says Palms, an d last yewhen the rats and roaches were tworsthe had ever seen, he had takall he could stand."I held my rent and [the lanlord] took me to court. It was quithassle," says Palms. "It didn't gotrial, which was a mistake. I agreto a stipulation that really tied in, where I had to pay and he hadfix the rat holes in the basementPalms paid the back rent. Gettthe landlord to comply with tstipulation was another matthowever.

A s soon as you walk intoBrooklyn Housing Court,i t feels like you've steppedonto a hamster treadmill. Thewheels are spinning,bu t it doesn'tseem possible to get from one placeto another; nor is there a cleardirection of where you are supposed to go. Bewildered peoplestand in long queues stretchingout from every room. It is hardlywhat one would expect from acourt: there are none of the imprints of officialdom to suggest itis a fair, upstanding place. It isoften as crowded as a rush-hoursubway train. A report last February by The Fund for Modern Courtsblasted the Brooklyn court for its

The CityWide Task Force on Housing Court operatesinfonnation tables In each courthouse to advise tenantswho have no legal representation.

"I think that it was very muunfair." Palms says. "You couldas dedicated as possible, bu t younot a lawyer; you need someboversed in legal matters." Pa lms sa

poor conditions: "Severe overcrowding, understaffing, deplorable physical facilities, inordinate waiting times and alack of public information hinder the fair administration ofjustice."Tenants appearing in any of the city's four Housing Courtsone each in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Manhattanfind themselves very much alone. It is the largest pro se (Latinfor "appearing for oneself') court in the state, with only 12percent of tenants represented by legal counsel, comparedwith 98 percent of the landlords .

And though the court was established 20 years ago as theplace where landlords would be held accountable for properly maintaining rental property through strict code enforcement, its original intent has long since been abandoned (seeCityLimits, April 1994). Today, rent collection comprises 92percent of the Housing Court's actions; in many cases, theresult is eviction.

Evidence of the one-sidedness of the system is easy to

he regrets not having gotten advsooner. He knows now, for example, that he could hainsisted on having an inspector visit the premises priorsigning any agreement, an inspection that could have suported his right to a rent reduction until the repairs wmade.

So many cases are decided by these stipulations thobservers believe the notion of justice in Housing Court hbeen utterly subverted."Significant rights are being waived unwillingly," atteArnold S. Cohen, executive director of Queens Legal Servic"Judges aren't able to and don't question tenants abostipulations. "

And it is the poorest residents from the most dilapidatneighborhoods who most often wind up in Housing CouNearly half of them have incomes below $10,000 a yeaccording to a study released last summer by the City-WTask Force and the Community Training and ResouCenter (CTRC). Eighty-seven percent are black and Hispan

CITY UMITS/JUNE/]ULY 1994


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I n addition to the unchecked deterioration of the city'srental stock-a principal cause of homelessness in NewYork City-studies show that eviction is the other majorcause of homelessness here. The impact on the city is severe.According to a 1993 report by anthropologi st Anna LouDehavenon for the Action Research Project on Hunger,Homelessness and Family Health, 50 percent of the familiesentering homeless shelters say they have been forced toabandon their apartments because of poor housing conditions. Thirty-eight percent have been evicted, most fornonpayment of rent due to inadequa te welfare shelter allowances, disputes over the landlord's delivery of essentialservices or other problems. Dehavenon conducted her studyover a year's time, interviewing hundreds of families at thecity's Emergency Assistance Units, the front door to theshelter system.Currently, according to city statistics, there are more than23,000 people living in municipal shelters, at a staggeringcost of over $200 million in direct shelter costs and services.And this does not take into consideration the hundreds ofthousands of New Yorkers considered by city officials to beat risk ofbecoming homeless because they are living doubledup with relativesor are in unsafe and dilapidated apartments.Meanwhile, every year an estimated 24,000 householdsare evicted by city marshals. Yet it is impossible to assess thetrue eviction rate citywide, since more than 100,000 petitionsfor nonpayment of rent filed annually by landlords are neveranswered in court by the tenants involved. Many simplymove out of their apartments because they are intimidated bythe prospect of going to court or just don't speak English wellenough to know what their options are. Others settle withtheir landlords out of court.The correlation between Housing Court proceedings andhomelessness has not gone unnoticed by city pol icy makers.A 1987 report by the Mayor's Advisory Task Force on theHomeless prompted a pilot eviction prevention project fundedby the Human Resources Administration (HRA), the city'swelfare agency, to provide legal representation to familieseligible for Aid to Families withDependent Children (AFDC).In 1990, after the program had been underway for 18 months,HRA reported that the project had "saved 3,600 families fromeviction or restored them to apartments from which they hadbeen evicted, a 90 percent success rate." In some cases, thelawyers forced landlords to reduce rent overcharges or toaddress threatening repair issues; in others, they helpedclients apply for AFDC and additional rent subsidies. Thebeneficial impact of legal representation.on the lives of thepoor had been made quite clear.

L ast summer's analysis by the City-Wide Task Force onHousing Court and CTRC affirmed the city's findingsand extrapolated the program's potential savings totaxpayers. Simply by providing representation in HousingCourt, the city could save millions of dollars a year and keepthousands of New Yorkers out of the shelter system, the22/JUNE/JULY 1994/CITY UMITS

authors concluded. Using a conservative city estimate, thecalculated that 5,414 families enter shelters each year as result of eviction. If legal represen tation were available, thstudy estimated 4,873 families would remain in their aparments and not need a place in a homeless shelter. Anothe3,963 single people would also avoid entry to the shelters bvirtue of the right to counsel, the report continued. Based othe costs of sheltering these people, the total savings woulbe $150 million, less the cost of representation-figured a$1,200 per case. The result was a substantial savings to thcity of $67 million.Of course, the numbers do not adequately reflect the tothat homelessness has on its victims. But for those rescued blegal representation, the benefits are obvious.Maria Jimenez, a 33-year-old Bronx resident who emigrated from the Dominican Republic two years ago with hethree children, lost her job as a nanny last September anquickly fell behind in paying her bills. "Everything accumulated. Paying for food, my children's school," she recallsThen, Jimenez, who speaks no English, received evictiopapers. Somehow, she says, she was able to delay a finajudgment for several months, but ultimately she found herself signing a stipulation in Housing Court in which thlandlord's attorney specified "No more 72s," meaning shcould be evicted at any time without a 72-hour notice.

Only a last-minute referral to Nelida Malave, the stafattorney at the Neighborhood Association of InterculturaAffairs, a Bronx community group, kept the city marshal

city limits magazine, june/july 1994 issue

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