The Blog Party

On June 30th, there will be a Mayoral Candidates Forum addressing the issue of affordable housing in New York City. This forum will be held at St. Paul’s Chapel, Broadway and Fulton Street, beginning at 5:30pm and running until 7:30pm. Candidates Gifford Miller, C. Virginia Fields, Anthony Weiner, and Fernando Ferrer are confirmed to attend. Mayor Bloomberg has been invited.

It is being presented by Habitat for Humanity NYC.

Also - another cool affordable housing resource is Housing First! which is “an unprecedented alliance of organizations, institutions, businesses and individuals concerned with stimulating massive new investment in New York’s housing infrastructure — a campaign has been launched to build and sustain affordable housing for all New Yorkers.”

Very cool. Oh, and did I mention that I believe that government should be about facilitating networks between citizen advocacy groups, not dictating policy from the top down? Just in case I forgot.

“The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, in one of its most closely watched property rights cases in years, that fostering economic development is an appropriate use of the government’s power of eminent domain.”

Read more in the Times.

The case was in New London, CT but has local relevance in terms of Ratner’s project for downtown Brooklyn and other proposed projects in NYC.

There’s also an article in the Daily News about the Supreme Court decision as well as a human interest story on the effects of Ratner’s eminent domain land-grab.

And in case you needed further convincing of how unethical and rapacious landlords and developers are, the Daily News also has an article about how rent hikes in Kips Bay are forcing out tenants. Kips Bay Court was formerly a Mitchell-Lama development known as Phipps Plaza West but was taken out of the program early:

“Phipps Houses president Adam Weinstein did not return calls seeking comment. His organization - a century-old affordable-housing provider - took Phipps Plaza West out of Mitchell-Lama after it was sued by investors who wanted it converted to a market-rate property.”

The tenant profiled in the article is a quadriplegic named Sue Strong:

“Her rent was raised to $3,000 per month from $792 - and even with a federally funded Section 8 voucher to pick up part of the tab, Strong isn’t paying as much as the landlord wants. The personal funds she was living on have run out, and she’s only got a monthly Social Security check of $653.”

This is despicable.

Everyone wants a vibrant NYC with a healthy economy, everyone wants to help NYC grow and be economically viable. But if you force everybody out and make rents completely unaffordable, you ruin the fabric of the city, you kill its lifeblood.

If elected Mayor I will take on these rapacious, greedy landlords and work to create more housing for people, stronger rent controls and development accountability. New York for New Yorkers not just billionaires!

For those of you concerned with affordable housing in this city, you might want to check out this event. The NYC Rent Guidelines Board will hold public hearings on June 14th and June 16th on the “preliminary” guidelines for rent stabilized tenants of 2 to 4.5% for a one year lease and 4 to 7% for a two year lease (affecting those signed between October 1, 2005 and September 30, 2006). Tenant turnout at these hearings is crucial to avoiding a third year of high increases. Call the RGB to sign up to testify at one of the public hearings at 212-385-2934. Met Council will be happy to help you prepare testimony.

Manhattan:
Thursday, June 16th 10 am to 6 pm
Cooper Union, 7 East 7th Street
(corner of 3rd Ave) Manhattan
(Trains: R/W to 8th Street; 6 to Astor)

If you’re in a rent-stabilized apartment then this could be a good chance to be heard. And check out the Metropolitan Council on Housing’s website for info on affordable housing, tenant’s rights and more.

Now the fun stuff - remember that this Sunday June 12th at Galapagos:

“Say Goodnight Gracie Mansion” -An All-Star Evening of Alternative Comedy and petition-signing party for AndyForMayor.org

Doors at 8 p.m.
Show at 9 p.m.

featuring performances from Jon Friedman (The Rejection Show), Bob Powers (girlsarepretty.com), Todd Levin (tremble.com), Michelle Collins (votergasm.org), Carolyn Castiglia, Becky Yamamoto & other special surprise guests.

Fun stuff!

Alright! No West Side Stadium (nytimes.com)! That’s great. Sheldon Silver said:

“Am I supposed to sell out the community I have fought for and represented for more than a quarter of a century?” Mr. Silver said during a news conference in his Albany office before the vote. “Am I supposed to turn my back on Lower Manhattan as it struggles for recovery? For what? The stadium? For the hope of bringing the Olympics to New York City?

“And to those who say, ‘What about the jobs?’ let me point out that the mayor and the governor have had almost four years to establish a construction schedule for Lower Manhattan. If they would simply honor the commitments they made in the aftermath of the attacks, they would make rebuilding Lower Manhattan the top priority that it ought to be.”

Now maybe we can start talking about affordable housing and real solutions.

The City Council overwhelmingly approved plans yesterday to rezone 175 waterfront blocks in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, removing the last major hurdle to the city’s most ambitious redevelopment effort in decades.

The article in the NY Times continues:

“When we talk about jobs, when we talk about affordable housing, when we talk about open space - those are not privileges,” [Councilwoman Diana Reyna] added. “Those are rights.”

Maybe when they build all that housing they’ll re-open Engine 212.