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2 CITY UMITS

Volume XV Number 1
City Limits is published ten times per year,
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Harriet Cohen, Community Service
Society
Robert Hayes, Coalition for the Homeless
Rebecca Reich
Andrew Reicher, UHAB
Richard Rivera, Puerto Rican Legal
Defense and Education Fund
Tom Robbins
Ron Shiffman, Pratt Center
Esmerelda Simmons, Center for Law and
Social Justice
Jay Small , ANHD
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Copyright 1990. All Rights Reserved. No
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EDITORIAL
Courting Disaster
In recent weeks, the courts have presented New York tenants and their
advocates with a series of shocking rulings. These three decisions-on
major capital improvement rent increases, the Atlantic Terminal project's
potential for displacing the poor and the demolition of single-room-occu-
pancy housing-spell serious trouble for the preservation of affordable
housing in the 1990s.
The SRO decision-technically a nondecision since the U.S. Supreme
Court choose not to hear the case, thereby upholding the state Court of
Appeals' finding-invalidates the city's moratorium on the destruction ofa
vital housing resource for the poor, the elderly and the infirm. The court
found the moratorium an intrusion on owners' property rights. Apparently
the court considers the right to profit more crucial than the right to a home
for the thousands of people for whom the SROs are the only refuge from the
streets.
In another decision that exonerates the profit motive, the state's highest
court ruled that rent hikes to pay for major capital improvements are a
permanent part of tenants ' rent. That lower income tenants cannot afford
these permanent rent increase also did not concern the courts. Nor did the
fact that these increases encourage unscrupulous property owners to defer
normal maintenance so they can qualify for the MCI rent hikes. Permanent
MCI rent increases lock in a strategy for displacing poor
Displacement of the poor was the focus of the state Appellate Court
decision concerning the Atlantic Terminal project. Rejecting a lawsuit by
area residents charging that the developer of this city-subsidized project
failed to seriously address this troubling question, the court callously
disregarded the ripple effect of gentrification. But there is a silver lining
here: There is still room for an appeal, and in a lengthy dissent, Chief}ustice
Francis T. Murphy wrote, " ... prudence alone would dictate the displacing
consequences of gentrification be carefully considered before embarking
upon an extensive course of development."
As we enter the last decade of the 20th century. there's a lot of talk about
kindness, gentleness and concern. These three rulings send a chilling
message that defies the upbeat hype: The courts are no haven for housing
justice. 0

t
!
INSIDE
FEATURES
Shame of the City 10
A cross section of contemptible New York landlords.
Chronic Disorders 19
"Medicaid Mills" often provide poor treatment as
well as ripping off the Medicaid program.
DEPARTMENTS
Editorial
Courting Disaster .................................................. 2
Short Term Notes
Homeless Count .................................................... 4
B ~ i g h ~ o ~ To:wers ... ,' ................................................ 4
DlscnmlnatIon SUIt .............................................. 4
Bailey Case Drags On ............................................ 5
Still Homeless With AIDS .................................... 5
Housing Money Diverted ..................................... 6
New Banking Rules ........ .... .................................. . 6
Neighborhood Notes .............. .. ............................ ..... 7
Profile
Day Care With a Difference .................................. 8
City View
Housing New York: A Coalition Platform ...... .. 22
Letters .. .............. ....................................................... 25
January 1990 3
Day Care/Page 8
Shame/Page 10
Chronic/Page 19
4 CITY LIMITS
SHORT TERM NOTES
HOMELESS COUNT
The Census Bureau is
planning its first count of
homeless people in the United
States as part of the 1990
census of the country's
population. But even before
Countdown '90:
adversely affect the national
debate over policies to aid the
homeless. "The risk is that the
homeless problem will be
under estimated and that the
effort will leave the impression
that you can actually count the
homeless," says Maria
The new census will include the homeless.
the counting begins, the
bureau has conceded that it is
an impossible job.
Census Bureau homeless
specialist Cynthia Taeuber
acknowledges that the
bureau's count will have its
shortcomings because of the
large number of "hidden
homeless," who do not live in
shelters or places known to
house the homeless. Census
Bureau spokesman Tom Jones
emphasizes that the bureau is
not trying to count all the
homeless and will report
numbers and characteristics of
only selected portions of the
homeless population such as
shelter residents. "There will
be no official count," Jones
says, "We have taken great
pains to explain the limitations
of what we are doing. "
Still , the census count will
be the first governmental
estimate of national homeless
population and will provide
the first "official" source of
significant information about
them.
That has some homeless
advocates worried that the
Census Bureau' s almost
certain undercount could
Foscarinis of the National Law
Center on Homelessness and
Poverty.
On the evening of March
20th between the hours of 6
p.m. and midnight, census
workers will visit shelters to
count the homeless. The
following night, between 2
a .m. and 4 a .m., census staff
will be in cars outside
a b a ~ d o n e d buildings, street
corners, subway entrances
and heating grates to continue
their count. During the overall
census conducted April 1 st,
staff will visit additional
sites-shelters for abused
women, drug and alcohol
treatment centers, homes for
unwed mothers and commer-
cial campgrounds-believed
to house many homeless
individuals and families . They
will also attempt to count
families living doubled-up in a
single apartment.
Foscarinis is skeptical
about these methods of
acquiring information. "When
you ask people to stand
outside abandoned buildings
and count the homeless
people they see on the street,
you end up counting stereo-
types of what they think
homeless people look like, "
she says.
Additionally, Foscarinis is
concerned that families
doubled up in the homes of
family or friends-a major
portion of the hidden home-
less-will also be under-
counted. D Christina
Rossomando
BRIGHTON
TOWERS
As City Limits goes to
press, the City Planning
Commission is scheduled to
vote on the controversial
proposal to build five luxury
towers on the Brighton Beach
oceanfront. Although the plan
received overwhelming
support from the local
community board, many
neighborhood residents are
staunchly opposed to the
project.
More than 1 00 residents
testified against the develop-
ment proposal at the planning
commission' s hearing in
November. Says Jean
Kreiling, a founding member
of the Committee to Preserve
Brighton Beach and Manhat-
tan Beach, "I look at it as the
destruction of the neighbor-
hood."
The Brighton by the Sea
project was first introduced by
the Miami developer Alexan-
der Muss and Sons on the
steps of City Hall in 1986,
with then-Mayor Ed Koch and
Brooklyn Borough President
Howard Golden flanking the
president of the company.
According to Irwin Fruchtman,
a Brighton Beach resident and
former buildings department
commissioner and city
planning official , the city also
began about $5 million in
infrastructure work around the
project site-costs usually
borne by the developer (see
City Limits, December 1987).
But city planners had
trouble defending a project
calling for 2, 200 units on a
site zoned for 300. Although
a scaled-down proposal was
submitted last July, the
developer is still requesting a
rezoning of more than five
times the current allowable
density. Some critics charge
that if the "spot-zoning" is
allowed here, developers will
make similar requests along
the South Brooklrn shoreline.
Opponents 0 the project
have proposed an alternative
plan for the site. The
committee's proposal calls for
a 357-unit project, with 50
units of affordable housing
reserved for neighborhood
senior citizens. 0 Laura
1m pellizzeri
DISCRIMINATION
SUIT
As City Limits goes to
press, Brooklyn Legal Services
is planning legal actions
charging that the United
Jewish Organization and
several government agencies
are defYing a 1979 court
order and continuing to allow
discrimination against Latinos
and blacks in South Williams-
burg's subsidized housing.
Martin Needelman, chief
counsel at Brooklyn Legal
Services A, says the Southside
Fair Housing Committee is
bringing a contempt motion
and a lawsuit against the
United Jewish Organization,
the city's housing department,
the New York City Housing
Authority and the federal
Department of Housing and
Urban Development.
The lawsuit seeks federal
action to halt alleged discrimi -
nation in these subsidized
housing developments:
Jonathan Williams, IndeJ?end-
ence, Taylor Wythe, Bedford
Gardens and clemente plaza.
Among other demands, it calls
for the appointment of a
federal receiver to oversee the
renting and marketing of
vacant housing in the Wil-
liamsburg Urban Renewal
Area.
In 1976, the Williamsburg
Fair Housing Committee
brought a lawsuit contending
a pattern of discrimination
against Latinos and blacks in
public housing complexes
within a 30-block area of city-
owned land in South wil-
liamsburg known as the
Williamsburg Urban Renewal
area. In the course of the
lawsuit, it was found that the
Jonathan Williams and
Independence projects, which
were built by the housing
authority in the early 1960s,
were originally rented up and
kept rented according to
quotas of 70 percent white
and 30 percent non-white . .
During court proceedings it
was also established that the
Taylor Wythe and Bedford
Gardens projects were rented
to 75 percent whites.
After lengthy legal pro-
ceedings, a federal consent
order in 1979 called for new
quotas that favored non-
whites until a more equitable
racial balance of whites and
non-whites was reached.
Once the specified balance
was achieved in each
complex, the apartments were
meant to be filled without
regard to religion or race.
Brooklyn Legal Services
charges that despite the
consent order, Taylor Wythe,
which is a housing authority
project, has remained 60
percent white, and that
Independence and Jonathan
Williams complexes, which
were built by the housing
authority, went down to 68
percent white but remained at
this level. Because the waiting
list for public housing is more
than 90 percent non-white,
Brooklyn Legal Services say
the continuing predominance
of whites is evidence of
discrimination. They also
charge that similar patterns of
discrimination have been
established at the Bedford
Gardens, which is privately
owned but was built with
government subsidies, and
Clemente plaza, an apartment
complex that has been
managed by the city's
Deportment of Housing
Preservation and Development
for the last several years.
The lawsuit also contends
that vacant city lots in the
Williamsburg Urban Renewal
Area have been reserved for
Hasidic-only housing, business
and religious institutions,
including land on which
yeshivas were built as well as
the home of the Satmar Grand
Rabbi .
Responding to the charges
of housing discrimination,
Rabbi Moses T eicheman,
executive director of the
United Jewish Organization,
which sponsored Bedford
Gardens, says, "This is totally
untrue. Do you think these
managers would go against a
consent order? It's insane."
He accuses Brooklyn Legal
Services of having a "ven-
detta" against the Hasidic
community. phone calls to the
housing authority and the
city's housing department
were not returned in time for
publication. 0 Lisa Glazer
BAILEY CASE
DRAGS ON '
Six months after the brutal
murder of tenant organizer
Bruce Bailey, a police
investigation into the killing
has failed to yield a suspect.
Some tenant leaders and
activists have charged that the
police, public officials and the
press have not given the
search for Bailey' s killer the
priority it deserves.
The dismembered body of
the 54-year-old chairman of
the Columbia Tenants Union
was found on June 15th. Since
then, police at the 41 st .
Precinct in the Bronx have had
two detectives working on the
case and have established a
24-hour hotline for anyone
with information about the
murder.
Nellie Bailey, the wife of
the slain organizer, and the
Ad Hoc Committee for Tenants
R ~ g h t s , have lobbied city
officials to intensify the
investigation. The committee,
which anted $10,000 of its
own, has succeeded in getting
officials to commit another
$10,000 in reward money for
January 1990 5
Still no suspect:
Nellie Bailey is calling for intensified investigations into the
murder of her husband
information leading to a
conviction in the case.
But Nellie Bailey and
committee members remain
dissatisfied with the investiga-
tion. They are calling for the
Federal Bureau of Investiga-
tion to join the case and for
local politicians to speak
publicly about the murder of
the noted tenant organizer. 0
Gina Dorcely
STILL HOMELESS
WITH AIDS
In the wake of protests by
overworked caseworkers and
AIDS activists, the city's
Human Resources Administra-
tion is increasing staff and
office space within the division
that coordinates resources for
people with AIDS. Advocates
say the expansion is still
inadequate and charge that
new regulations ignore the
needs of homeless people with
AIDS.
William Jenkins, a
deputy commissioner at the
Human Resources Administra-
tion (HRA), says the "emer-
gency expansion" includes
extra space in Brooklyn and
Manhattan offices to accomo-
date 40 new caseworkers for
the Division of AIDS Services
(DAS) . In an interview, Jenkins
pledged that HRA would erase
the DAS backlog of 253
people in need of assistance.
Charles King, a member of
ACT-UP New York's housing
caucus, says, "As long as they
[HRA) keep operating on
incremental changes such as
these, there will be as much of
a backlog as there was
before."
One of the reasons that
DAS workers have been
caught in a morass of
confusion is that until recently
HRA did not have specifica-
tions for who is formally
eligible for DAS assistance.
Advocates allege that the
absence of these requirements
has allowed overworked
caseworkers to dismiss clients
using arbitrary rules.
6 CITY LIMITS
As City Limits goes to
press, the city is in the process
of instituting new regulations
passed by the state. Under
the new regulations, people
who have the HIV virus or full-
blown AIDS and are living in
aportments are eligible for
DAS rental assistance,
according to an HRA spokes-
person. However, says the
spokesperson, homeless
people in need of an apart-
ment must have full-blown
AIDS-not just the HIV virus-
to qualify for assistance. King
from ACT-UP's housing caucus
says: "The new regulations
are good news for people
who are HIV-ill and are
housed. But they don't do a
damn thing for those that are
homeless." 0 Sharmila
Voorakarra
HOUSING MONEY
DIVERTED
City officials are diverting
$35 million earmarked for
affordable housing and using
the funds to help cover the
city's projected budget gap.
The revised financial plan
shifts the money from the
Housing Assistance Corpora-
tion to the city's general
operating budget.
The diverted funds are part
of the $100 million given by
the Municipal Assistance
Corporation (MAC) to the city
for the production of afford-
able rental housing. The
Housing Assistance Corpora-
tion, a subsidiary of the city's
Housing Development
Corporation, was created in
1985 to administer the use of
the MAC funds for affordable
housing.
. According to state Comp-
troller Edward Regan, the
diverted funds could have
subsidized some 500 housing
units. Regan describes the
diversion of the $35 million in
Housing Assistance Corpora-
tion funds as "another dubious
action" on the part of city
officials. 0 Doug Turetsky
NEW BANKING
RULES
The city's Banking Commis-
sion is proposing new rules
that would link a bank's
record of community service to
decisionmaking on which
banks the city will use for
depositing its funds. Advo-
cates are greeting the
proposed changes with
tempered optimism.
"This could reolly be a tool
for encouraging community
reinvestment," says Harriet
Cohen, the heod of an
informal coalition of commu-
nity groups active on banking
issues. "The rules are encour-
aging but they don't go far
enough."
Under the city's new
proposals, if more than 75
percent of the branches that a
bank closes in any year are in
low income areas, the city will
withdraw its funds from that
bank. If more than 25 percent
of a bank's branch closings
are in low income areas, the
city will review whether to
withdraw its funds . To be
designated for city deposits,
banks must have a Community
Reinvestment Act rating of at
leost three (on a numerical
scale of one to five) and they
must fill out a community
service questionnaire that
would lead to a numerical
rating from the city indicating
their level of community
involvement.
Suzette Brooks, executive
assistant to the commissioner
of finance, describes the
proposed policy as a tool to
promote banking in low
income communities. "We
don't pretend it's going to
dramatically change bank
behavior but we're going to
use whatever teeth we have,"
she says.
Community reinvestment
activists say the level of
branch closings that leads to
de-designation is overgener-
ous to banks and question the
use of the Community
Reinvestment Act rating. Rev.
John Vaughn, director of the
East Harlem Community
Coalition for Fair Banking,
says, "For the most part, all
banks have to do to get a
three [Community Reinvest-
ment Act] rating is breathe."
Brooks says the Department
of Finance is devising its own
rating system for the commu-
nity service questionnaire,
which will gauge consumer
banking services provided in
low income neighborhoods.
"The rating system is a way to
reward banks who open
automatic teller machines in
poor neighborhoods, banks
who have a good record of
affordable housing lending
and a low minimum [deposit]
requirements for starting an
account," she says, adding
that it is not yet known if the
information in the question-
naires will be made public.
Hearings on the regulations
were scheduled for Dec. 22.
Brooks says that after the
hearing process, the city
hopes to implement the
regulations by the beginning
of this month. "We want to
send letters out to banks in
January telling them about the
new requirements so we can
get the new information by
April and have new designa-
tions by May," she says.
Composed of the mayor,
the finance commissioner, the
comptroller and one other
individual, the city's Banking
Commission designates where
the city places its $250 million
in deposits. Currently there
are 37 banks eligible for city
deposits. 0 Lisa Glazer
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BroJll[
The Banana Kelly Community
Improvement Association is using
an innovative approach ~ t o tenant
selection in a building they have
renovated for formerly homeless
families. Once a few families were
selected as tenants at 800 Fox Street,
these families became part of the
selection committee for their build-
ing. "We're using the skills we've
learned in community organizing to
create an environment where fami-
lies can rebuild their lives," says
Getz Obstfeld, Banana Kelly's ex-
ecutive director ...
Another neighborhood effort to
welcome formed y homeless fami-
lies comes from the Longwood His-
toric Community Association, which
is producing a community resource
handbook for the thousands of fami-
lies moving into Community Board
2. The handbook, which will outline
local schools, social services, shop-
ping and transportation, is part of a
"welcome wagon" effort the commu-
nity association is developing ...
Despite the influx of new resi-
dents to the South Bronx, the local
fire station, Engine 41, remains closed
and litigation surrounding the clo-
sure continues. In the first two weeks
of December, two childen-Richard
Rivera, age 4, and Noraima Guevara,
age 8-were killed in fires in the
area. South Bronx People for Change
protested these deaths outside the
fire commissioner's Christmas party
last month.
Brooklyn
Los Sures , a housing group in
South Williamsburg, recently re-
ceived a $6 million state grant to
build 52 low and moderate income
housing units. The funds came from
the state's Housing Trust Fund. By
state guidelines, a minimum of 30
percent of the tenants in the housing
must have incomes at the public
assistance level...
The Mutual Housing Association
of New York, a cooperative oftenant-
controlled buildings, has received
an $185,000 no-interest loan from
The East New York Savings Bank. In
addition, the bank gave the group a
$15,000 grant.
Manhattan
The Citizens Committee of Wash-
ington Heights and Local 1199 are
organizing more than 300 residents
who live in property owned by Pres-
byterian Hospital. The tenants, who
are employed by Presbyterian, re-
cently received rent increases of up
to 40 percent. The apartments are
exempted from rent stabilizations
laws because Presbyterian is a non-
profit institution. At a Community
Board 12 meeting recently, Edith
Kamiat, a member of the Citizens
Committee and the Metropolitan
Council on Housing, noted that the
hospital employees with hefty rent
increases include nurses, clerical and
housekeeping staff. She says, "A
public benefit institution is supposed
to operate with a conscience, not vic-
timize its low-paid employees and
pauperize them."
Queens
The developers of the controver-
sial Arverne development site will
January 1990 7
soon have another well-connected
player on their team-Harvey Shultz,
commissioner of the city's Depart-
ment of Environmental Protection.
As reported in the Daily News, Shultz
will soon serve as president of Ocean-
view Associates, a joint venture
formed by Forest City Enterprises
and Park Tower Realty. His agency
is currently reviewing the project's
draft environmental impact state-
ment. Oceanview Associates in-
cludes Bruce Ratner, a former Con-
sumer Affairs Commissioner and
George Klein, the designated devel-
oper for the Times Square redevel-
opment project. 0
FAIR DOUSING CLINIC
If you have been denied the opportunity
to rent or buy housing on account of your race,
national origin or because you have young children ...
Columbia Law School's Fair Housing Clinic
may be able to help.
There is no fee for our services.
Call us at (212) 854-4291
8 CITY LIMITS
PROFILE
Day Care With a Difference
BY RENEE DANZIGER
FOR MANY YEARS, LEILA OMADEI
Singh worked as a babysitter, mak-
ing just $245 for 60 hours of work
each week. About a year ago Singh
decided it was time to try to take care
of more than one child at a time, both
to augment her income and add to
her enjoyment.
"In just nine months I was there,
exactly where I wanted, with money,
kids and everything," says Singh,
who now earns $375 as a family day-
care provider. Although her hours
are still long-from 7a.m. to 7p.m.,
five days a week-Singh exudes
enthusiasm about her work.
Herself the mother of four chil-
dren ranging in age from 18 to 28,
Singh enjoys the pleasures as well as
the challenges of looking after the
four toddlers who attend her family
day-care center. "The best part ip
when you see the results [of your
work]," explains Singh, recounting
how two of the children at her center
bit the other children, hit and kicked
her, refused to eat and even vomitted
on her. After weeks of determined
Double 8enelits:
Consuela Manchess takes care 01 her own kids and lour others.
effort , Singh managed to win their
love and cooperation.
Singh was able to become a family
day-care provider with the help of
the Queens Childcare Network, a
nonprofit organization that operates
out of the Forest Hills Community
House. The network was established
in September 1988 as part of Child-
care Inc.'s Neighborhood Childcare
Initiative.
Community Services
With the help of the Neighbor-
hood Childcare Initiative's seed
money, training ap.d continued sup-
port, the Queens Childcare Network
has been able to provide two essen-
tial services to borough communi-
ties. Firstly, it has increased the
availability of day care in in the
borough. When the Queens Child-
care Network was started, there were
less than 10 family day-care provid-
ers in the borough licensed by the
Department of Health. Today, 20
graduates of the network's program
provide day care in Queens, and a
larger number are waiting for their
licenses, which will allow them to
provide day care for for up to six
children.
Secondly, by training and assist-
ing prospective family day-care pro-
viders, the Queens Childcare Net-
work has enabled a growing number
of women to enter a new profes-
sion-one that opens the way for
independence, a degree of financial
gain and work satisfaction.
Annette Berrien, a 40-year-old
graduate of the network's day care
training, says she was inspired
mainly because of her concern for
the kids. "We've lost a whole genera-
tion of children," says Berrien. "I
hope to be of some help to the next
generation.
Basic Training
The Queens Childcare Network
offers nine-week courses covering
basic childcare, business manage-
ment, nutrition, health and safety
and other related subjects. The
classes, which are free, are taught by
Mary Abbate, director of housing and
family programs at the Forest Hills
Community House. Abbate also helps
the students as they set up their child
..
care enterprises. Abbate visits all of
her students once they have applied
to the Department of Health for a
family day-care license, ensuring that
they have the required space, facili-
ties, safety equipment and other
features required for a license.
Abbate believes that "it takes a
lot-an awful lot-of courage to
become a family day-care provider."
Adjusting to the isolation of working
at home can be difficult for anyone
who previousl y worked outside.
Conversely, for anyone who hasn't
previously been employed, the chal-
lenges of day-care provision can be
daunting.
Saying Goodbye
For Singh, the greatest challenge
of all comes when one of the chil-
dren has to leave her care-to start
school. because the family is moving
or some other reason. The emotional
bond that develops between her and
the children she cares for is so strong
that Singh says it is almost as bad as
if one of her own children was leav-
ing. But a child's departure also
means a significant drop in Singh's
income.
Few of the day-care providers
make a significant profit from their
businesses. The average fee charged
by those trained by the Queens Chil d-
care Network is $100 per child for 50
hours of care each week. Much of
this is spent on food, diapers, toys
and other operating costs. Singh, for
example, must supplement her in-
come by doing catering work on the
weekends. But for day-care provider
Consuela Manchess, there's another
benefit: She can take care of her own
two children while earning a small
income caring for four others.
While the day-care providers
struggle to make ends meet charging
$100 per week, many parents can't
afford to pay that much. For low
income parents who want to place a
child with a family day-care pro-
vider, government subsidies are
available. But because of problems
January 1990 9
with the subsidy system, Childcare,
Inc. is advocating for the introduc-
tion of a voucher system.
The Queens Childcare Network
provides ongoing assistance to the
day care providers, who often turn to
Abbate for guidance. Together, they
provide an important service to
neighborhood residents in a city
where the need for local childcare
has been neglected for too long. 0
Renee Danziger is a freelance writer
living in New York.
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Call or write Sue Fox
710 WEST END AVENUE
NEW YORK, N.Y. 10025
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"COMMITMENT"
Since 1980 HEAT has provided low cost home heating oi l. burner and boiler repair services.
and energy management and conservation services to largely minority low and middle income
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As a proponent of economic empowerment for revitalization of the city's communities. HEAT is
committed to assisting newly emerging managers and owners of buildings with the reduction of
energy costs (long recognized as the single most expensive area of building management) .
HEAT has presented tangible opportunities for tenant associations. housing coops. churches.
community organizations. homeowners and small businesses to gain substantial savings and
lower the costs of building operations.
Working collaboratively with other community service organizations with Similar goals. and
working to establish its viability as a business entity. HEAT has committed its revenue gener-
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Through the primary service of providing low cost home heating oil, various heating
plant services and energy maNilement services, HEAT members have collectively

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If you are interested in leaming more about HEAT,
or if you are interested in becoming a HEAT member,
call or write the HEAT office.
10 CITY LIMITS
New York Citys new generation of bad landlords
BY LISA GLAZER & DOUG TURETSKY
A decade ago, stories of landlords torching their building for insurance money
shocked the city. These tactics shifted in the early 1980s, when the fastest way to
the biggest bucks was to hire goons who terrorized tenants to move so buildings
could be converted into ritzy co-ops. As we move into the 1990s, the times are
again changing in what may well be the world's second oldest profession. The
new breed of bad landlord has arrived.
Today's slumlord is far more likely to be armed with a shrewd lawyer than a
baseball bat. He or she knows how to use the courts and administrative hearings
to confound city and state regulations and drive up rents. Whether or not they've
got co-oping in mind, the new generation knows that a set of new windows or a
fancy intercom leads to state-approved rent hikes in regulated buildings.
Operating styles may change over the years, but the legacy of a bad landlord
remains the same. For tenants living in a building where the owner lacks
compassion and is only concerned with maximizing profits, the results are always
deplorable living conditions and ever-rising rents. In a city starved for affordable
housing, the only other options that many tenants face are the streets or the shelter
system.
The following stories reveal the machinations of some of New York's current
crop of contemptible landlords. They provide a cross-section of styles: choking a
building with debt, willfully keeping apartments empty, refusing to make repairs
until a judge orders them, and even then doing a shoddy job. Some of these
landlords display their Neanderthal roots while others reveal the cunning tactics
of the pinstripe bandit. They all deny honest New Y nrkers a decent place to call
home. It's truly the shame of the city.
Whiz Kid
S
teven Green is a thoroughly modern landlord. Adapt-
ing the business style of Wall Street wheeler-deal-
ers, Green has rapidly built a portfolio that currently
includes more than a dozen buildings. But like Wall
Street's leveraged buyouts, which enriched speculators
at the expense of workers ' jobs, Green's purchases are
often built on a mountain of debt strangling repairs and
services for tenants.
Green, who is in his mid-20s, travels to his buildings
in a 1982 Rolls Royce sporting a license plate reading
"Gentrify." Green says the plate is just an example of his
sense of humor, but tenants living in buildings where
heat and hot water is sporadic, walls are crumbling and
other services declining say they don't get the joke.
The city isn't laughing either. Judge Harriet George
recently signed an arrest warrant for Green, who has
racked-up fines of $120,000 for violations at Clearview
Terrace, a Queens garden-apartment complex he bought
in September 1988. The 93-unit complex has more than
600 housing code violations and the landlord has been
slapped with 37 heat and hot water violations. When
tenants went to court last year after going about 70 days
without hot water, neither the landlord nor the manag-
ing agent even bothered to show up.
Steven Green began his real estate business while he
was still working at a Tarrytown deli. With $3,000 in
savings he bought a single co-op apartment, made some
improvements, and then "flipped" it for a profit. He did
this several times before buying his first building on the
day after Christmas in 1984, according to an article in the
Westchester Herald Statesman. In five years his finan-
cial exploits have earned him enemies among tenants
while reaping some tidy rewards-in addition to the
Rolls he owns a Jaguar and a Jeep.
Commenting on Clearview Terrace, the Westchester-
based operator says the Department of Housing Preser-

Steven Green ot the J 989 Boche/or Boll:
He porties while the bills mount,
vation and Development (HPD) is unfairly prosecuting
him. "Clearview Terrace suffered from many, many,
many years of neglect and I have the burden of those
years on me," says Green, who estimates he has spent
$950,000 at the complex, which he hopes to convert into
a co-op. A city official counters that the majority of the
repair work has been done on vacant apartments or fancy
landscaping.
A similar scenario is being played out at a number of
Bronx properties purchased by Green. Green bought 130
West 183rd Street in January 1988 for $775,000 and then
took out a $1.25 million mortgage from the Federal
Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). Soon
after purchasing the 50-unit building he put a marble
floor and recessed lighting in the lobby and installed a
high-tech video intercom system. But these superficial
improvements don't mean much to tenants, who com-
plain ofintermittent heat, water-ravaged bathrooms and
kitchens and roach infestation. "If it involves [repairs]
inside your apartment he's probably not going to do it,"
says Jimmy Hancock, treasurer of the building' s tenant
association. According to HPD, 130 West 183rd Street
has 168 housing code violations, 95 ofthem classified as
serious.
While tenants charge that their problems have gone
unattended, Green has completely renovated at least
five apartments that remain vacant. He tried to turn the
January 1990 11
building into a co-op but had to withdraw the conver-
sion plan several months ago after he failed to provide
basic financial information requested by the attorney
general's office.
Just around the corner at 2300 Loring Place, Green
apparently made some cosmetic repairs but has also let
inhabited apartments deteriorate. James Lloyd, who
moved into a renovated apartment at 2300 Loring Place
more than a year ago, says that "as soon as the vacant
apartments were filled things began to fall apart." His
bathroom ceiling has collapsed and he complains of
irregular heat and hot water. On a recent visit to the
building, the lock on the front door was busted and wires
dangled from the elevator panel in the lobby. The 48-
unit building has 361 housing code violations. Green
also owns two neighboring buildings, 2310 and 2316
Loring Place. Each of these 22-unit buildings has more
than 300 violations.
Green's problems are compounded by mounting debt.
Tenants at 130 West 183rd recently received a notice
from Con Edison warning that electricity to the lobby
and hallways would soon be cut because Green owes
more than $1,100. Behind in his mortgage payments,
Freddie Mac is reportedly close to foreclosing on 130
West 183rd Street and 2300 Loring Place. At 365 East
209th Street, a building Green bought for $300,000 and
six months later refinanced with a $515,000 Freddie
Mac mortgage, tenants have also complained of receiv-
ing disconnect notices from Con Ed because of the
I landlord's back bills.
Green acknowledges his current problems but shrugs
them off, commenting, "the business is cyclical." It's a
cycle that includes saddling buildings with debt, declin-
ing services and rising rents.
Steven Green's financial house of cards could ulti-
mately be the tenants' burden. Even if the cycle breaks
down for Green, he will probably still be touring the city
in his Rolls. His tenants, who can't afford to move,
would then be stuck suffering the consequences.
False Appearances
L
ike his full-size black poodle, Barry Glasser has a
civilized exterior that hides a snarling core. The
owner of at least five New York buildings, Glasser is
renowned for cleverly working the housing court system
and treating his tenants with snide disrespect.
A number of city officials and activists who have dealt
with Glasser describe him as smart, well-educated and
suavely attired-the type of guy who'd be right at home
in the Hamptons. But this aura of ease turns nasty when
Glasser deals with tenants. "His attitude toward tenants
is disdainful," says Brent Sharman from the Housing
Court Task Force.
Glasser's pattern is purchasing a troubled building,
promising to make extensi ve repairs, then making super-
ficial improvements. Sometimes he'll paint the hallway,
install an intercom or even new windows, but many
apartments in his buildings remain bleak, with leaks,
holes and intermittent heat and hot water. While his
tenants shiver, Glasser wears stylish sweaters, driving a
1 2 CITY LIMITS
gleaming red Mitsubishi jeep and his.
with his three-foot tall poodle growlmg by hIS SIde.
Luis Peterson, who lives in a Glasser building at 508
W. 136th Street, tells a typical story. Glasser purchased
the property in 1987. In the last two years the hallways
have been spruced up but there are still 284 building
code violations in the six-story, 25-unit building. On a
recent visit, numerous apartments had pots of water
bubbling on the stove to provide steam heat. "It's a
nightmare," says Peterson, worrying about the health of
his new-born daughter, as well as his two young sons.
"But I only have a certain salary and my family is
growing. Where else can I go?"
Peterson, who is on rent strike and working with the
city to try and wrest control of the building from Glasser,
says the landlord's attitude is as atrocious as his repair
record. "He seems to have so much confidence. He says,
'Forget the city. tht;l city's not going to do anything for
you. '" Glenys Rivera, another tenant in the building, has
a 22-month-old son who has pneumonia, but when she
pleads for regular heat, Glasser scorns her. Josephine
Nunez, another tenant, adds,"Never in my life have I met
someone with such an attitude."
Similar stories are told at 1975 LaFontaine Avenue, a
50-unit Bronx building with a whopping total of 579
building code violations. Glasser purchased the troub-
led building last year with two partners after it had been
run by a court-appointed administrator. He vowed to
make extensive repairs but after a year of ownership,
Glasser's main improvements have been painting the
hallways and starting some plastering. Apartments on
one side of the building continue to have sinking floors
and the city has spent more than $13,000 in emergency
repairs. Juanita Torres, who lives in #4K, says, "The
situation is unbelievable. And we've got 52 children in
the building."
Most of the tenants are now on rent strike and the city
is back in court trying to bring in another outside admin-
istrator. The city is making it's case in front of housing
court judge Howard Trussel-the same judge who al-
lowed Glasser to purchase the building.
A massive apartment building at 2028 Grand Con-
course is another property Glasser purchased after it had
been run by a court-appointed administrator. During a
recent visit the building's hallways were spotless and
the facade seemed recently cleaned, but conditions
within apartments were bleak. Theodore Donaldson,
his wife Emily, and their three children have a leak in
their kitchen, a faulty stove, sporadic heat and hot water
and the crumbling ceiling in their bathroom is peril-
ously close to crashing down.
In typical Glasser fashion, the windows in the build-
ing were recently replaced, but the rotting wood frames
were allowed to remain; the eight-foot window in the
Donaldson's master bedroom is covered with a patch-
work of heavy plastic, towels, a winter coat and a wood
cutting board to keep the cold air from rushing in.
At 3035 Rochambeau, another building in the Bronx,
the city has been fighting Glasser for years. Barry Glasser
serves as the manager of the building, which is owned
by his father, Leon, and he's paid more than $3,000 in
' fines for refusing to follow court orders for repairs and
there are still 243 building code violations in the 35-unit
Fixing a hole:
Theodore Donaldson can't get decent repairs even though landlord
Barry Glasser's oHice is in the same building_
building. David Hill , a tenant in the building, says "All
he cares about is revenue. Tenants mean nothing to
him."
City Limits recently visited Glasser at his manage-
ment office, which is located in the 2028 Grand Con-
course building in the Bronx. In stark contrast to "the
deteriorating conditions in tenant apartments, Glasser's
office was freshly painted, with framed art posters lihing
the walls. The black poodle barked viciously as Glasser
got up from his computer to snarl, "I don't want totalk
about my buildings. Get out of here-NOW!"
The Warehousing Queen of Queens
T
he warehousing queen of Queens, Rita Stark con-
trols scores of commercial properties and clusters of
apartment buildings in Hollis, Jamaica, Far Rocka-
way and Sunnyside. Local officials and activists say she
holds the keys to approximately 300 empty apartments-
enough to make a sizeable dent in the borough's home-
less population.
"About half of the apartments
in these buildings are vacant," says
Andrew Kelman, director ofhous-
ing for Borough President Claire
Shulman. "It's ironic and sad that
there are so many vacant apart-
ments here when there's an af-
fordable housing crisis in the
borough."
Two years ago, the borough
president's office convened a task
force to eliminate the incessant
drug dealing in East Jamaica. Rita
Stark attended and encouraged
police efforts to arrest the legions
of dealers operating from the
stoops, lobbies and empty apart-
ments of her property. Once the
sweep of arrests was completed,
and the task force tried to con-
vince her to rent out apartments,
Stark opted out of involvement.
Now tenants say the dealers are
drifting back in.
January 1990 13
Roffen situation:
On recent visits to Stark build-
ings, there were dozens of boarded -
up apartments. Yet when workers
from the Jamaica Neighborhood
Ruby Clark is facing eviction-her apartment may soon join the hundreds of others warehoused
by londlady Rita Stark.
Stabilization Program (NSP) send people in need of a
home to the Stark realty office on Jamaica Avenue, the
needy are reportedly told there are no current vacancies.
she's just not prepared to rent them out,"
says Barry Jamison, director of the NSP office.
While officials struggle to convince Stark to rent out
more apartments, current tenants and the city's housing
department are battling for decent living conditions.
One of the worst of Stark's buildings is located on
Francis Lewis Boulevard. From the outside, the struc-
ture looks uninhabited, but a small broken window on
the top left hand side of a front door-used as a mail
chute-indicates that there are people living inside.
Conditions within 110-11 Francis Lewis Boulevard
include broken windows, buckled floors and entire
walls of crumbling plaster, not to mention the presence
of drug dealers on the top floor.
Maxine Davis, a tenant in the building, says, "When
you go out you're afraid to come back in." Her neighbor,
Ruby Clark, says she tells her friends not to come
visiting. Clark points to a massive hole above her
kitchen that was almost used as an escape route for drug
dealers during a recent raid by the Tactical Narcotics
Team. She also shows the yellowing wallpaper in her
daughter's bedroom that has been steadily rotting from
leaks, and describes an expensive wall unit she had to
throw out because of water damage. The window by her
bed is covered with heavy plastic because the glass pane
is cracked. An upstairs neighbor, Pauline Hicks, lives in
near-darkness because water leaks directly on to some of
her lighting fixtures.
Coordinated action from the city's housing litigation
bureau is forcing Stark to clean up her act in some of her
buildings. The city is currently bringing a comprehen-
sive case for repairs in four Hollis A venue buildings
managed by Stark. On Jamaica A venue, the city acquired
a court order for repairs on a slew of buildings on or
near Jamaica Avenue-202-05 Jamaica Avenue, 91-18
195th Street, 193-20 and 193-30 Jamaica Avenue. In
Sunnyside, three Stark buildings on 47th Avenue have
been the source of numerous separate court actions
calling for basic repairs . City officials say that once Stark
receives a court order, she'll usuall y make the required
amount of repairs-but large numbers of apartments
remain empty.
Action from the city is even more necessary than
usual in Stark buildings because few of the landlady'S
tenants are willing to take her to court. This is because
of an unusual Stark business strategy-some of the
tenants have their rent checks returned uncashed. For
residents on a limited income, the break is initially
welcome. But tenants who bring in an inspector to try
and improve conditions or form a tenant association
often find that the landlady is hardly benevolent. "Stark
has an 'I won' t bug you if you don't bug me' kind of
attitude," explains a tenant organizer. Jamison from the
Jamaica NSP office adds, "It's one ofthose things-once
tenants join tenant associations, they're taken to court
[for nonpayment ofrent) and subsequently they want to
let things continue as they did before."
Queens officials and activists are at a loss when they
try to explain Rita Stark's motivations for keeping
apartments empty because the most obvious explana-
tion-co-op or condo conversion-doesn't fit for the
majority of these Queens neighborhoods. And it's not
even clear if Rita Stark formally owns Fred Stark Realty
or is still in the process of inheriting the vast property
holdings her father accumulated before he died a few
years ago. (Stark did not return repeated phone calls
from City Limits.)
14 CITY LIMITS
As City Limits goes to press, the landlady is moving
ahead in an attempt to evict Davis and Clark from the
Francis Lewis Boulevard building. (Although Stark
started proceedings months ago, the 72-hour eviction
notice was hand-delivered shortly after city officials
came to visit the building.) Because the building is not
covered by rent stabilization, Clark and Davis, who say
the landlady has not accepted their rent for four years,
have little recourse against the action.
So by the end of this month, there may be two more
empty apartments under Rita Stark's control. While
Stark is working within the law, there's no doubt she's
contributing to homelessness. Looking ahead to her
possible eviction, Maxine Davis says, "I don't have
anywhere to go. It 's a bad feeling. I don't want to go to
a shelter or a hotel but we may end up there."
Malik's Revenge
M
ohammed Malik has devised a sly method to
harass tenants who stand up for their rights. When
tenant association leaders complain too loudly
about poor conditions or illegal
rent hikes he goes to court to have
them evicted. How? Malik doesn't
give receipts nor cash their rent
checks, so when the mood strikes
him he tells housing court judges
the tenants haven't paid their rent.
Malik has engaged in a cam-
paign to intimidate tenant asso-
ciation members at 84-11 Elmhurst
Avenue, threatening to "evict all
those SOBs," according to a har-
assment report by the state. And
he's made good on that promise.
He recently evicted tenant leader
Tony D'Silva, who is challenging
the eviction, and has tried to evict
Gustavo Hernandez, a 23-year resi-
dent of the rent-stabilized build-
ing. Tenants, including Hernan-
dez, say that Malik often fails to
provide lease renewals for a long
period of time, and when he does
demands arbitrary rent increases.
city has also taken Malik to court, where he was fined
$3,650 for failure to correct building code violations
and provide heat and hot water.
Malik runs his burgeoning real estate empire, which
includes at least five buildings, from a liquor store on
Queens Boulevard. Malik's attorney, Niles Welikson,
says his client has tried to make repairs but can't always
gain access to tenants' apartments. But that doesn't
explain why on a recent visit City Limits found the lock
on the front door to the building busted, permitting
anyone access to the lobby or urine-fouled stairwell.
Welikson admits, "There are some repairs that should
have been done that may not have been done in a timely
fashion."
The Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) is also probing Malik. Malik bought the 146-unit
Angelique Apartments from HUD in June 1985. Since
then two management reports have charged Malik with
serious violations of the purchase agreement, including
poor bookkeeping and misusing tenant security depos-
its. Malik has failed to provide HUD with audits of
building income and expenses for the last four years.
Federal inspectors have also cited him for failing to
make repairs and provide preventive maintenance.
Although HUD hiked tenants' rents
20 percent when Malik bought the
Angelique in order to help him
renovate it, a city inspection last
September found 113 violations,
78 of them classified as immed-
iately hazardous.
Although federal reports have
blasted his management of the
Angelique, Malik recently suc-
ceeded in evicting several tenants
from the building. Following a
well-publicized protest of the evic-
tions, Malik filed eviction notices
for approximately 20 more ten-
ants. Attorney Welikson defends
the actions saying, "The uproar
was over evictions that were per-
fectly legal." But State Senator Le-
onard Stavisky, who has written
to HUD Secretary Jack Kemp urg-
ing that he foreclose on the Angel-
ique, charges that Malik is con-
tributing to homelessness in New
York.
DHCR has charged Malik with
harassment of tenant association
members at 84-11 Elmhurst A ve-
nue and is investigating harassment complaints against
him at the Angelique. The city's Human Rights Commis-
sion has two pending investigations into Malik. He also
faces a contempt hearing for failing to comply with an
order he signed with the city to correct 89 violations at
134-37 Maple Avenue. In addition, a city inspection of
134-38 Maple Avenue cited Malik for 180 violations.
When Hernandez refused to pay Malik's place:
the arbitrary increase Malik went Mohammed Malik runs his burg_ninfJ real.state
to court. empire Irom this Qu_ns Soul.vard I.quor store.
Almost immediately following
Malik's purchase of 84-11 Elmhurst Avenue basic serv-
ices came to a halt, say tenant association members. In
March 1985 Malik signed a repair agreement, ending a
nine-month rent strike. But tenant association president
Roberto Montoya, whose rent checks haven't been cashed
since May 1988, says most of the repairs still haven't
been made.
In January 1988 the state Division of Housing and
Community R:enewal (DHCR) cited Malik for failing to
make repans It had ordered several months earlier and
noted that conditions had continued to deteriorate. The
Malik told City Limits, "You won't get a story out of
~ e . " ~ u t after years of harassing his tenants and ignor-
mg CIty, state and federal demands to maintain his
Queens buildings, Malik's actions speak for themselves.
...
Architect of Misery
I
avid Turner pays close attention to details on his
four-story Greek Revival brownstone at 243 W.
22nd Street. A thirtysomething architect, he waxes
lyrical about the antique front door, the original facade
and 19th century parlor. When it comes to his tenants,
all ofthem poor, living in single rooms and sharing two
small bathrooms, his attention
turns from the fine points of
preservation to the details of dis-
placement.
Turner purchased the build-
ing two years ago, and tenants
say he's been working diligently
to get rid of them and hasten
upscale renovations that include
an apartment for himself, a back
extension and three lush green-
houses.
Because the city's moratori um
on the conversion of single room
occupancy (SRO) buildings has
been overturned, Turner may
well be the harbinger of scores
ofSRO landlords who will trans-
form their low income build-
ings to luxury dwellings, swel-
ling the ranks of the city's home-
less.
Turner's townhouse:
January 1990 15
work-even though Joseph ("Dino") Yemmo, who lives
in a fourth-floor apartment, requires a respirator 15
hours a day because he has cystic fibrosis. On August 4,
Yemmo was rushed to the hospital and Emergency
Medical Service workers were hampered in their effort
to use a stretcher because the floors were so full of
rubble.
Shortly after Yemmo checked into the hospital, the
city stopped Turner from con-
tinuinghis renovation and since
then city and state agencies have
been monitoring the building.
Despite this, Turner continues
to scrimp on basic maintenance
such as cleaning the halls, pro-
viding linen service and mop-
ping the bathroom. "I'm trying
to run the building as economi-
cally as possible," he explains,
saying that he's taking a loss on
the building because the ten-
ants are on rent strike.
Turner promises that if he
can complete his renovations,
he will accommodate the ten-
ants in the building. "I hope we
can heal the wounds," he says,
proclaiming himself a peace-
maker. Yet in his next breath he
denigrates Bob Doherty, dis-
misses the tenant claims as
"false" and accUses the West
Side SRO Law Project, which is
aiding the tenants, of going after
him. "They call up 20 people,
saying there's a crisis going on.
It's like a lynch mob mentality."
When Turner bought the
building in 1987, there were 14
rent-stabilized tenants living in
the 18-unit structure. He paid
most of them to leave or evicted
them. Today, just four tenants
remain. For the last six months
they've been living amid con-
struction debris without consis-
tent heat, hot water or mainte-
Pretty on the outside, rubble on the inside.
As City Limits goes to press,
Terry Poe from the West Side
SRO Law Project reports that a
new heating system has only been partially installed.
Negotiations for temporary rehousing have not been
completed because tenants say they don't have an ade-
quate guarantee that once they move out they'll be able
to move back in. Turner says the tenants should trust
him. "I'm an architect," he explains. "I'm not a sleazy
landlord."
nance services. As the weather turns bitter, frigid air
blows throughout the entire building because the back
was demolished this summer and is only covered with
sheet of clear plastic.
"It's like living in war-torn Europe," says Bill Doherty,
a tenant who has lived in the building for 12 years.
"There's junk in the hallways .. .it's perilous to your
health just to get in and out of the place."
In order to officially start renovation work, Turner
had to obtain a certificate of non-harassment from the
city's housing department. Although the city found
enough evidence to hold a hearing, the proceedings
ultimately went in Turner's favor and the certificate was
issued. Renovations began in earnest and in a tenant
safety notice the landlord promised to provide heat and
hot water, keep the hall ways clear and maintain electric-
ity.
These promises were not entirely fulfilled. On a
recent visit, the hallways were lined with construction
debris. In the midst of renovation, the boiler was taken
out and replaced with small space heaters that provide
a minimum of warmth. And in the first week of August,
the electricity went off briefly during construction
Bhutta's Brooklyn
S
ometimes the tenants are so exasperated they can
barely keep from laughing when they talk. about
their three-year ordeal with landlord Mohammed
Bhutta. But they are all too aware that the misadventures
can be deadly serious.
Graciella Cruz and Sonia Hernandez of 331 Keap
Street remember the time they were in housing court to
testify that Bhutta had failed to repair the broken boiler
when another tenant came rushing into the courtroom
with some news: Lack of heat caused a frozen pipe to
burst, unleashing a torrent of water that sent broken
16 CITY LIMITS
plaster crashing down, narrowly missing an elderly
woman home in bed.
In a telephone interview, Bhutta says the 36-unit
building is completely renovated. But a city inspection
last June documented 433 housing code violations, 30 of
them classified as immediately hazardous. The land-
lord, who lives in the Queens neighborhood of Astoria,
even owes the city $2,700 for emergency repairs it was
forced to make at 331 Keap.
Tenants have been on rent strike for three years and
have repeatedly gone to housing court to press for
repairs. When a sewage pipe ruptured, spewing waste a
foot high in the basement, Bhutta reportedly told some
tenants it wasn't his problem. A strong tenant associa-
tion formed to make small repairs and provide heat and
hot water.
But the landlord apparently didn't like tenants pro-
viding themsel ves with heat and engaged in a game of cat
and mouse, sneaking into the basement to shut the
boiler. Cruz recalls the night she and several other
women caught him in the boiler room and chased him
out of the building.
Residents thought it was all coming to an end when
Bhutta contracted with OP Management to manage and
then buy the building. Tenants halted their attempt to
have a have a court-appointed administrator manage the
building and immediately began paying rent to OP.
But the proposed sale appears to have been a bluff.
The deal, which included another Bhutta building, 374
Keap, that has also been on rent strike, was scuttled just
before its scheduled completion in November. Bhutta
charges the tenants blocked him from completing the
sale, although Brooklyn Legal Services attorney Wayne
Saitta, who has represented the tenants in housing court,
says it is the second time Bhutta has backed out.
At nearby 210 Roebling Street, tenants have also
engaged in a three-year long fight against Bhutta. The
building, overrun by drug dealers until concerted police
action began last winter, had many vacant apartments.
With the dealers gone Bhutta renovated the vacant apart-
ments and began charging rents of at least $500 in this
impoverished Williamsburg neighborhood.
The apartments of tenant association members con-
tinue to go unrepaired. The wind rattles the broken
panes and rotted sashes of the windows in Nephtali
Soto's apartment. Elizabeth Figeroa remembers the time
her foot went through a wooden floorboard, rotten from
the steady stream of water from a cracked pipe. The floor
has been repaired but water continues to gush from a
broken faucet in her bathroom and buckled plaster and
water stains are testaments to other leaks.
Bhutta says he has renovated 22 of the 39 apartments
at 210 Roebling and installed a new boiler. But a city
inspection last August found 607 building code viola-
tions, including 39 classified as life threatening. An-
other Bhutta building, 380 South Fourth Street, has 168
building code violations, 18 of them classified as life
threatening.
Bhutta blames most of his problems on a small group
of tenants who, he says, are urged on by Los Sures, a
neighborhood housing group that has helped the tenant
associations make repairs and press for court-appointed
administrators to manage his properties. "They're like a
Flushed out:
Mohammed Bhutta blames his problems on tenant organizers.
bunch of Communists," Bhutta says of Los Sures. "They
don't want landlords to own the buildings."
But tenants say all they want is a landlord who'll do
more than just demand the rent.
Divide and Profit
A
lex Varveris is an old-fashioned kind of landlord.
He let's his buildings run down, while trying to
squeeze tenants for every last penny in rent and
evading the rules of city and state housing agencies.
Ralph Turturro, who lives in a Varveris building at
420 Clinton Avenue, describes his landlord as "this
little Napoleonic kind of guy" who thinks his buildings
are his kingdom. Tenants charge that Varveris some-
times exercises his rule physically-one tenant has filed
a complaint with the Queens district attorney's office
following a claimed beating by a Varveris' handyman
and others say he has disrupted tenant association
meetings and tried to have an organizer thrown out.
Varveris is also facing court fines and potential jail time
for ignoring orders to correct housing code violations.
When Varveris isn't stalking his fiefdom, he's figuring
new angles to make a buck. With Pratt Institute just a few
blocks away and housing for students in short supply,
Alex Varveris realized he could make a bundle turning
vacant apartments at his 420 Clinton Avenue building
into single rooms for students. The enterprising land-
lord now has several rent-stabilized apartments rented
by the room. The deal: $200. or more for a room and no
lease.
Besides the opportunity to earn more than ifhe rented
each apartment whole, Varveris may have reasoned that
students would be unlikely to complain about crum-
bling ceilings and walls, faulty plumbing and lack of
heat and hot water. The students also became a foil for
registering false rent increases with the state Division of
Housing and Community Renewal. Over a few years
time Varveris boosted registered rents for the student-
occupied apartments to the $1,000 rarige-well more
than other apartments in the building. .
While rents went up, repairs went undone. Tenants
from the building say water poured out of ceiling fix-
tures, floors buckled and trash mounted. Last winter,
after a fire in the boiler room left them without heat for
17 days, tenants like Ralph and Mary Turturro became
fed up with the worsening conditions-the building has
more than 200 housing code violations according to city
records-and went on rent strike. "We know this is an
old building, we're not stupid ... we just want to make
sure it's safe," says Mary Turturro.
Tenants at 420 Clinton Avenue should consider them-
selves lucky. At 89-07 34th Avenue in Jackson Heights,
Varveris once tried to have the tenants arrested for
sweeping the lobby.
During the a pproximatel y 10 years Varveris has owned
the 133-unit building, it has become a scourge on the
neighborhood, according to Barbara Kuchuk of the
Jackson Heights Community Development Corporation.
An inspection last July revealed 414 housing code viola-
tions, 56 classified as immediately hazardous. City offi-
cials now have a case pending for the appointment of an
administrator to wrest management of the building from
Varveris.
Given the state of disrepair, one would think Varveris
rarely visited the notorious Jackson Heights building.
But tenant leader Carmen Rodriguez says the landlord is
often present, along with his brother George, banging on
doors demanding the rent. "He told me, 'This is my
building and I do whatever I want,'" says Rodriguez.
Varveris, who once chased Daily News columnist
Juan Gonzalez from the building, denies owning 89-07
34th Avenue. Contacted by City Limits, Varveris claimed
he had nothing to do with that building and hung up the
phone when he was asked about 420 Clinton Avenue.
The slippery landlord, who lives in Long Beach and
apparently works from his home, operates under several
corporate names, including Anoula and Deka realty.
In October 1988 Varveris did temporarily lose control
of the building because he owed the city $10,000 in back
taxes. But that didn't stop him from ordering tenants to
January 1990 .. 17
keep paying him rent. When 47 households ignored him
and followed official instructions to pay rent to the city,
Varveris went to housing court and tried-unsuccess-
fully-to have the tenants evicted.
Varveris owns a number of other violation-riddled
buildings. His 77 -unit building at 114-05 170th Street,
also known as American Towers, racked up 221 housing
code violations during an inspection in September. He
has signed an order to correct 66 violations at 406 Albee .
Square and recently signed an agreement to correct 45
violations, which he had falsely certified as repaired
according to a city official, at 233 Jamaica Avenue.
Varveris has also been fined $36,000 for hot water
violations at 41-98 Forley Street as well as $2,000 for
contempt of court.
But Varveris doesn' t appear worried. One city em-
ployee recalls walking into a Queens courtroom and
finding Alex Varveris sitting in the judge's chair, his feet
up on the podium reading a newspaper.
Scrooge of the Christmas Tree Inn
A
nthony Guddemi is the Scrooge of the Christmas
Tree Inn, raising rents and eking out heat, hot water
and repairs to the 25 people living in his Staten Is-
land rooming house. Many of the tenants are former psy-
chiatric patients who have lived in the building for years
and survive on modest amounts of money from social
security or public assistance. .
Inside the ramshackle, colonial-style structure at 51
Wilbur Street, Guddemi's cold-heartedness is evident in
matters large and small. Martha Jones from MFY Legal
Services says Guddemi waits for a number of years after
the Rent Guidelines Board announces an increase to tag
it on to the rents of his fixed-income tenants, creating a
lump of money owed that sometimes reaches beyond
$1,000. Jones says legal actions on this issue have
created so much stress that at least two tenants have
returned to psychiatric institutions while others have
agreed to settle rather than deal with the trauma of a
court case.
On day-to-day matters, Guddemi is equally grudging.
In the last three years, the landlord has been taken to
court at least once a year to ensure heat, hot water, linen
or basic repairs for the tenants. A state Supreme Court
order was necessary before Guddemi would restore a
pay phone in the building. And a while back the tenants
quit their backyard gardening efforts. How come? "I
complained about the water," Guddemi explains in a
phone interview. "The bill goes high, high, high .. .! got
a family. You want me to go on welfare?"
Guddemi acquired his building in the 1960s and a
mixture of alcoholics and former psychiatric patients
moved in. Longtime tenants say he assumed the role of
patriarch, keeping them dependent by cashing public
assistance or social security checks, then doling out
small change for cigarettes, alcohol and snack food. In-
vestigations in the late 1970s by the Staten Island Ad-
vance found tenants unfed, sleeping on filthy sheets and
soiled mattresses, with beer cans and empty liquor
1 8 CITY LIMITS
bottles strewn about the halls, rooms and
the front lawn.
After neighborhood protests, the state' s
Department of Social Services placed a
community mental health team in the
building and since then the mental health
staff has instituted a regular meal pro-
gram, provided fresh paint and furniture
for a social room as well as keeping rec-
ords of the tenants' finances . Guddemi
rewarded the mental health staff with a
lock-out four years ago because they
weren't paying rent on their one-room
office. The counselors had to operate out
of a car until the dispute was resolved.
he manages at least one
building in the Bronx.
True to form, the five-
story, 11-unit building at
1121 Teller Avenue has
152 building code viola-
tions.
Guddemi says that he
does his best to make
repairs and provide serv-
ices, explaining that it's
a struggle for him to make
ends meet. He adds that
he does increa'se rents on
a timely basis and charges
that the problem is that
tenants refuse to pay the
increases. (Jones from
I MFY Legal Services
I counters that Guddemi
..... has no documentation for
~ this claim.)
In the winter the tenants say they have
to call the heat hotline frequently. "The
landlord-he half freezes us in winter,"
says Nury Payne, a 37-year-old resident.
"He gives us a little heat but it's still cold.
We have to go to bed with our clothes on
and we watch TV with our coats on. "
Payne and other residents say that the
heat goes down most frequently in the
evening, when the psychiatric staff have
gone home. Guddemi accuses the ten-
ants of tampering with the thermostat.
Then he adds, "Heat is supposed to be on
from six in the morning to 10 at night.
Sometimes I give it 24 hours a day. No-
all the time I give it. "
Scrooge of the Christmas Tree Inn:
~ Regardless of these
:!i disputes, the landlord is
~ emphatic that he truly
~ cares about his tenants.
-< An itinerant preacher
and proselytizer he notes,
"God says whatever you
d<J to the-poor you do to --
"Sometimes I give it [heat] 24 hours a day; N_" the
time I give it," says landlord Anthony Guddemi.
Joan Walsh, the community mental health nurse at the
Inn, says that while Guddemi used to be a regular and
intimidating presence in the building, in recent years
he's mellowed slightly and is around less often because
Now we 'Ileet

more .nsurance
needs than ever
for groups
likevours.
me. Sometimes I pray for them [the tenants], I talk to
them about God." One of the Staten Island tenants
retorts , " He says praise the lord, praise the lord, things
like that. But you have to tell him to fix things, the most
basic complaints." 0
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January 1990 19
FEATURE
Chronic Disorders
"Medicaid mills" are often more than just monetary
rip-offs-they also deliver second-class health care to the poor.
BY MARGO SCHNEID MAN
F
or years Judi Clark's elderly uncle
had been going to a Fort Greene
"Medicaid mill" near his house
for medical treatment. It was con-
venient, he didn't have to wait a long
time, and the doctor would prescribe
medicine to alleviate his aches and
pains. When the pain in his bones,
which the doctor had diagnosed as
rheumatism, became so acute he
could barely walk, the doctor wrote
him a prescription for a walker and
ordered him to "exercise his joints."
Clark visited her uncle weekly and
made sure he followed the doctor's
orders. It would take him two excru-
ciatingly painful hours to hobble
around the block, she bitterly recalls.
After four months of this pain her
uncle fell and was taken to the nearby
community clinic. He was diagnosed
with bone cancer and was dead within
a month.
Clark, who is an active member of
the Brooklyn Health Action Com-
mittee, says, "These mills need to be
closed up. They do irreparable
damage. If they can't provide mini-
mal care then they should not exist."
Clark's advice is easier said than
done. Storefront medical offices,
sometimes known as "Medicaid
mills," have filled an enormous gap
in the American health system for
decades, providing easily-accessible
primary care for low income people.
Although not all of these medical
offices offer poor care, a significant
proportion provide dangerously
inadequate treatment while bilking
the state Medicaid program of mil-
lions of dollars annually.
In the most common scenario,
"Medicaid mills" earn their name by
rushing vast numbers of patients
through brief exams and prescribing
unnecessary drugs, x-rays and lab
tests in exchange for kickbacks from
nearby pharmacies and testing cen-
ters. More extreme situations in-
clude "ping ponging" patients be-
tween doctors as a way to boost
Medicaid billing and the prescrip-
tion of addictive drugs , which are
then sometimes sold on the street.
A forthcoming Community Serv-
ice Society (CSS) study of 450 pri-
mary care health offices in nine of
the city's poorest communities finds
that many "appear to derive most of
their income from Medicaid by see-
ing a large number of patients ...
prescribing unnecessary tests , drugs
and treatments and requiring patients
to make very freqllent visits."
While the extensive Medicaid
fraud perpetrated in storefront medi-
cal offices has received considerable
attention, the quality of care pro-
vided by these offices is an issue that
is rarely addressed-even though the
patients who use these facilities are
those most in need of high-quality
20 CITY LIMITS
care: children, the elderly and the
chronically ill in areas where infant
mortality, sexually transmitted dis-
eases and death rates are equal to
those in Third World countries.
Reasons for ignoring the issue of
the quality of medical care are nu-
merous. The state laws regulating
these offices have very large loop-
holes and enforcement is perilously
lax. Officials say they're loathe to
impose tighter regulations for fear of
driving out the few doctors who do
provide treatment for Medicaid pa-
tients. And even those doctors who
say they want to provide quality care
admit to compromising their stan-
dards by rushing patients in order to
create a lucrative volume of billings
to Medicaid.
Health advocates describe these
problems as emblematic of a health
system where the profit motive of
doctors works at cross purposes with
the provision of quality treatment
for all citizens, regardless of their
income.
Anjean Carter, a co-author of the
CSS report, says, "This is a country
that believes people should pay their
own way. If people can't pay, they
get nothing or second -class care."
She adds, "The state does some
monitoring [of storefront medical
offices] but they don't have enough
inspectors. I don't think most of
these places provide very good
care ... but there isn't much else for
people from low income communi-
ties except the hospital emergency
room."
Dr. Norma Goodwin, a Brooklyn-
based health educator who founded
Healthwatch Information Services,
says, "This is an ongoing problem
and the problem is going to continue
because little attention is being given
to quality of care. It's a sad commen-
tary on the rest of the health care
delivery system that people [in poor
communities] find Medicaid mills
are the most responsive to their
needs."
Few Facilities Regulated
The state Department of Social
Services (DSS), which administers
the Medicaid program, inspects store-
front medical offices for Medicaid
fraud and abuse. The state Depart-
ment of Health (DOH) has some
authority to monitor them for qual-
ity of care-but the "shared health
facilities" requirements within the .
Public Health Law only cover offices
with four or more physicians who
use common waiting and examina-
tion rooms and the services of office
personnel and equipment. This defi-
nition leaves doctors' offices with
one, two or three physicians entirely
unregulated by government agencies.
"When the shared health facilities
law was instituted in the 1970s it
was an attempt to get at these 'Medi-
caid mills'," says Shay Bergin, ex-
ecutive director of the state
Assembly's committee on health.
"But all you have to do to evade the
law is have three physicians instead
of four."
The facilities that do fall within
the definition of the law have to
register with the state-but even this
requirement was not forcefully
mandated until last year, when the
state legislature imposed penalties
for facilities that failed to register.
Thus, although storefront medi-
cal offices line the streets of inner-
city neighborhoods, there are less
than 100 registered shared health
facilities in New York City, accord-
ing to Laura Winters, a senior admin-
istrator for DOH's Office of Health
Systems Management. These facili-
ties are monitored by 20 investiga-
tors, who also have to monitor 115
diagnostic and treatment centers
and 60 dialysis centers statewide as
well as a variety of other facilities.
By law, the diagnostic and treatment
centers and the dialysis centers have
to be inspected on an annual basis,
while shared health facilities have
no set timetable for inspections. So
it's no surprise that even the offices
that are regulated sometimes fall
through the cracks, uninspected since
the early 1980s. "We really don't
have the time to go out all that of-
ten," says one state official, request-
ing anonymity.
Another reason for the lack
of concerted action is the law
regulating the facilities only
offers the most general guide-
lines for treatment. For ex-
ample, Winters says the law
has no specific guidelines for
medical exams. Joanne
Costatino, deputy commis-
sioner for medical assistance
at DSS, says the law" does not
have a lot of teeth to it."
January 1990 21
Prosecution records drive
home this point. Although the
state Department of Social
Services regularly litigates
against doctors for Medicaid
abuse, the state Department
of Health has never closed
down a storefront medical
office for poor quality of care,
according to Winters.
Aniean Carter:
on research and specialty
skills-a focus that occurs at
the expense of primary care
training in poor communities.
Recognizing the critical
shortage of quality primary
care physicians in the city's
low income communities, As-
sembI yman Richard Gottfried
and several state legislators
are at work on a bill, which
may be introduced this
month, to selectively increase
Medicaid reimbursement
rates for primary care. The
increase, at least doubling the
present rates, would be pro-
vided to those doctors who
meet certain standards of care,
such as having 24-hour an-
swering services, board certi-
fication and admitting privi-
leges to hospitals. "1# people can't pay they get nothing or second-class care."
Unwanted Business
State officials contend that more
stringent quality of care stipulations
for shared health facili ties could dri ve
out the few doctors who provide care
for Medicaid patients. Their concern
could be well-placed-less than 15
percent of New York doctors accept
Medicaid patients. Between 1975
and 1985, the number of physicians
practicing in the city grew by 10
percent, yet the number of general
practitioners grew by only one per-
cent. During that same period, in
Brooklyn and the Bronx the number
of practicing physicians actually
declined.
The reason for the lack of primary
care physicians (also known as fam-
ily doctors or general practitioners)
in poor communities is mostly eco-
nomic. Unlike the rest of the medi-
cal profession, working with Medi-
caid patients is not highly lucrative.
Medicaid pays doctors approxi-
mately $11 for each patient they see
and physicians say they have to see
at least six patients an hour to make
a living.
Dr. Steven Franco, an internist who
practices in a registered Fort Greene
health office, admits that the care he
gives is compromised by having to
see so many patients. "I do a fairly
good exam," he says. "But if the
Medicaid reimbursement rates were
brought up to $40 I would spend
more time."
Franco and other doctors inter-
viewed for this article say they earn
between $70,000 and $100,000 a year.
Although this figure may seem steep,
Medicaid doctors say it is signifi-
cantly less than the amount many of
their colleagues make, and add that
they have high expenses such as rent
and malpractice insurance.
Franco and many other doctors
who serve Medicaid patients are
foreign-trained. According to the
Community Service Society report ,
70 percent of the practitioners in the
city's poor communities are foreign
medical school graduates. Christel
Brellochs, a co-author of the study,
says the reason for this is the focus
that American medical schools place
In the long run, health advo-
cates say, money spent by the state
on increasing Medicaid rates, assur-
ing the quality of small practices in
low income communities and devel-
oping medical school programs to
train doctors to work in these areas
will be money saved in costly hospi-
tal care. Dr. Norma Goodwin, the
Brooklyn health educator, says, "As
the system is now, people are getting
sick and dying because of the inade-
quate focus on preventive care. And
these mills are both a symptom and
a cause." 0
Margo Schneidman is a freelance
writer living in New York.
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come and see for yourself!
2nd International Conference April 29 May 5, 1990
Your are invited by a network of London-based social service providers to
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Package price of $1275.00 includes:
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For complete itinerary and invi tation to slide presentation contact: Intercommunication Trust. 184
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(Intercommunication Trust is a division of Church Action with the Unemployed. a nonprofit charity)
22 CITY LIMITS
CITY VIEW
HOUSING NEW YORK
A Coalition Platform
As the 1 990s approach, New York City remains mired
in a housing and homeless crisis of unprecedented pro-
portions. More than 250,000 people are homeless, living
on the streets, in shelters, double- or tripled-up in over-
crowded apartments or in substandard housing. The
wait for an apartment in public housing now hovers near
20 years . These facts bear
witness to the city's mammoth
shortage of affordable hous-
ing.
New York City government
must take an aggressive ap-
proach to this crisis, effecting
policies and programs that not
only produce new housing but
preserve and protect our ex-
isting resources and popula-
tion. The city must build
housing for the poor, a market
the private sector does not
serve, and extend rent regula-
tions to its entire housing
stock. To preserve and main-
tain existing buildings, code
enforcement must be im-
proved and housing court re-
formed so it no longer func-
tions primarily as a rent-collection service. Planning for
the city's neighborhoods must take into account com-
munity and boroughwide needs while emphasizing racial _
and economic integration.
Many of the principles stated below can be instituted
directly by the Mayor of New York. For those that require
legislative action in Albany or Washington, the Mayor
can be a forceful advocate. By adopting the principles
presented here, the Mayor has the opportunity to effec-
tively and decisively impact on the city's housing and
homeless crisis.
TENANT PROTECTIONS
1. Extend rent and tenure protections to cover all non-
regulated rental housing, including the city-owned
stock, small buildings, and projects being removed
from HUD, DHCR or HPD regulation.
2. Establish rent-setting guidelines according to the
economics of housing-not politics-and impose a
rent freeze until the system is reformed.
3. Make tenant protection laws permanent.
4. Reform Major Capital Improvement (MCI) rent in-
crease provisions by:
tightening eligibility
abolishing permanent surcharges
excluding eligibility in instances of deferred main-
tenance or code violations.
5. Reform cooperative and condominium conversion
laws to protect tenants and resident shareholders by:
raising consent requirements to 35% of resident
tenants
reducing number of vacant units that can be
warehoused
allowing the Attorney General to require violation
removal before conversion
imposing rent regulations on non-owner occupied
units in co-ops and condos.
6. Enact tenant protections to cover succession rights for
non-related roommates.
7. Require nonprofit developers or managers of all resi-
dential buildings to contractually extend rent and ten-
ure protections to their residents.
8. Allow New York City to enact stricter tenant protec-
tion laws by repealing the Urstadt Law-full home rule.
9. Enact the Commercial Rent Arbitration Law.
10. Ensure continued housing affordability for low-
income residents who are not senior citizens through
tax exemptions to owners under a Senior Citizen Rent
Increase Exemption (SCRIE)-type program.
11. Reform Housing Court by:
guaranteeing the right to counsel for low-income
tenants in all eviction proceedings
expanding programs that pay rent arrears for low-
income tenants facing eviction
implementing the use of "plain language" and bilin-
guallegal documents
requiring the removal of housing code violations
prior to instituting any eviction action
dedicating more parts to repair and 7 A cases
improving selection procedures and training of
judges.
PRESERVATION
1. Implement aggressive and effective housing code en-
forcement by:
enlarging code enforcement staff
clearing the current backlog of violations and then
remaining up to date
collecting all outstanding fines
instituting better management and investigative
procedures to eliminate corruption
, increasing funding of the Emergency Repair Pro-
gram
expanding use of selective vesting for buildings
with excessive code violations.
2. Expand the use of 7 A administrators, eliminate the
imposition of MCI rent increases for repair and mainte-
nance work done while the building is managed by a 7 A
administrator, increase training of 7 A administrators
and immediately comply with the law requiring a list of
approved 7 A administrators.
3. Expand the 8A loan program to cover vacant apart-
ments and other necessary improvements while ensur-
ing that restructured rents remain affordable to existing
tenants.
4. Restrict programs based on tax expenditures to low
and moderate income housing.
5. Use powers of eminent domain to take public control
of the remaining privately owned SRO stock.
6. Create Special Preservation Districts triggered by in-
creases in the rate of building sales, real estate values,
rent-to-income ratios, redemptions and/or city-spon-
sored housing development for households with higher
incomes than current community residents. These dis-
tricts would have local code enforcement and anti-
harassment units, higher funding for community-con-
sultant contracts and be eligible for special zoning pro-
tections and accelerated vestings of buildings.
7. Establish a Preservation Trust Fund with revenues
collected from housing code violation fines and the
repayment of PLP, 8A loans and other preservation-
related programs to fund the Special Preservation
Districts and to augment the funding of other preserva-
tion activities.
8. Enact anti-warehousing legislation.
9. Preserve and improve public housing by:
obtaining increased modernization funds and oper-
ating subsidies from Congress
prohibiting its privatization
rolling rents back to 25% of income.
10. Reform policies on occupied in rem housing by:
prohibiting its sale to private, for-profit o w n ~ r s and
placing it in public If other forms of nonprofIt own-
ership such as mutual housing associations or land
trusts, which will keep them as a permanent re-
source for low and moderate income households
ensuring the right of in rem tenants to select their
own choice of management options
extending tenure protections and setting maximum
rents based on tenants' ability to pay
January 1990 23
enforcing housing code inspections and other main-
tenance mechanisms for in rem tenants.
11. Prevent private buy-outs or expiration of income or
use restrictions of publicly subsidized housing-e.g.
Mitchell-Lama, Section 8 new construction or substan-
tial rehabilitation, Section 236-and create a funding
program to help purchase privately owned buildings
facing these risks.
12. Reform the direct vendor payment system for tenants
receiving public assistance.
PRODUCTION
1. The city's housing resources, comprised of public
funds and land, should be equitably targeted and
distributed. All publicly subsidized housing should
. reflect the percentage that each eligible income group
represents in the city's general population and, by an
objective measure, each income group's housing need.
2. Each publicly subsidized housing development must
contain an income mix of eligible tenants.
3. All housing created with public funds or resources
must permanently remain in social or public ownership,
with no buy-outs or expiration of use or income restric-
tions.
4 . To meet the city's housing needs, all sources of pro-
duction must be tapped, including nonprofit commu-
nity-based organizations; the New York City Housing
Authority; and private contractors, especially minority
and women-owned businesses.
5. Publicly funded or assisted housing renovation or
new construction programs must comply with prevail-
ing wage standards under the Davis-Bacon Act and
similar labor statutes. The city shall provide and fund
apprenticeship programs and community hiring halls
for underrepresented populations in the construction
industry. City policies governing current and prospec-
tive employment and training programs must provide a
livable wage, generate opportunities for genuine skills
with priority for local residents.
6. All housing produced with public resources should
be financed with capital grants for construction and
have available reserves to provide long-term operating
subsidies.
7. Tenants should have a role in choosing from a range
of management options, including cooperative manage-
ment.
8. Tax expenditures must be restricted to affordable, not
luxury housing.
9. Each subsidized housing project should be of appro-
24 CITY UMITS
priate scale and density to make maximum and proper
use of the land and to fit neighborhood and residential
needs.
10. Institute a linkage program to private development
requiring that the developer of any market-rate residen-
tial or commercial project either contribute funds by a
set formula to a Housing Trust Fund for the preservation
or production of permanent low-income housing or
produce the equivalent of 10% of the project as low-
income housing for which they will receive no zoning
or tax benefits.
11. More public housing should be built.
12. Public property must not be used for market-rate
housing.
13. All housing restricted to low-income occupancy
should be exempt from real estate taxes, but may instead
be subject to appropriate and affordable payments in
lieu of taxes (PILOTS).
14. The city should implement a program for the produc-
tion of SRO housing to meet the needs of the general
population of single, low-income individuals and for
special-needs single populations.
15. Public funds should not be used to produce new or
currently planned transitional housing or shelters.
PLANNING
1. The city must develop and implement a comprehen-
sive plan based on a process that includes community
and boroughwide assessments of overall housing needs
and available and obtainable resources to meet those
needs. During this process, the city shall encourage and
elicit maximum community participation through the
development of neighborhood-generated plans that are
consistent with citywide and specific community needs.
2. In developing this comprehensive plan, the city will
establish its priorities in accordance with the differing
needs of population subgroups and with reference to
zoning scale and proper density.
3. Public facilities (from such benefits as parks to such
burdens as jails) included in the comprehensive plan
must be allocated in a fair and equitable manner among
all the city's neighborhoods, irregardless of the uneven
distribution of public property.
4. Community housing needs must be assessed and
planned in conjunction with planning for other commu-
nity services such as schools, transportation, sanitatiolil.,
police, fire, day care and other social and support serv-
ices.
5. Zoning laws and the administrative code should be
changed to allow for the development of SROs, for their
classification as Class A residences, and their inclusion
in existing or new Class A residences.
6. All planning should seek to preserve and develop ra-
cially and economically integrated communities.
7. Eliminate the use of congregate shelters.
8. Homeless people should have the option to return to
the communities from which they were displaced. 0
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306 FIFTH AVE.
NEW YORK, N.Y. 10001
(212) 279-8300
Ask for: Bola Ramanathan
LETTERS
No Roses
To the Editor:
I came away from reading Jennifer
Stern's article "When Community
Groups Cut a Deal, Who Wins?"
(November 1989) thinking,"ls this
all there is?" Throughout the article
Stern sprinkles key questions such
as "What's going on here?" or "So
who is ultimately representing-and
determining-the community's di-
verse interests?" and then fails to
address them in any meaningful way.
In many ways, the comparisons
between these two projects are clas-
sic examples of the class divisions
that permeate New York's develop-
ment politics. The Municipal Art
Society's approach to the Columbus
Circle development may be more
palatable to the unengaged observer,
since it would appear to draw more
on the testimony and wisdom of
"experts;" while the rabble in
Brooklyn is only in it for the money.
I mean, it's starting to sound like City
Limits is asking the old New York
Timesey question-How dare these
people expect to get paid-offfor being
displaced?
Almost every controversial com-
munity development brings up these
types of questions , particularly when
a neighborhood-based organization
makes demands on a developer. Is it
less legitimate to ask to be compen-
sated for the loss of home and busi-
ness then for the loss oflight, air and
a view? If rich people start a lawsuit,
is it more significant than a suit filed
by working people?
Nobody comes out smelling like a
rose in these issues, but I really didn't
expect to find such biases in my
favorite journal.
Rebecca Reich
Brooklyn
Stern replies: I did not imply that the
concerns of the opponents ofColum-
bus Center were any more valid than
the concerns of those who sued the
city and Metrotech developer for a
better displacement package. In fact ,
no effort was made to compare the
two cases. If any of the project oppo-
nents were taken to task, it was the
less-than-disadvantaged members of
STAND, who for months positioned
themselves as opponents of the proj-
ect itself, then wound up settling for
a hefty displacement package for
STAND members only, leaving the
project unchanged. Did they settle
because they truly believed they could
not effect change in the Metrotech
project or because the money was
too good to turn down? We don't
know because, post-settlement, their
leaders suddenly stopped returning
City Limits' phone calls. In either
case, the poor and working class
residents on the site were left on
their own.
Certainly someone displaced by a
project is more deserving than some-
one losing light and air. But should
anyone be displaced or lose light
and air to oversized projects like
these? Unfortunately, because of
money and other concerns, neither
STAND nor the Municipal Art Soci-
ety nor any less wealthy groups pur-
sued these issues fully. Unfortu-
nately, in these cases the answer to
"who represents the comm unity" was
no one.
No Such Place
To the Editor:
The November 1989 Neighbor-
hood Notes column made reference
to the Far Rockaways. There is no
such place as the Far Rockaways:
There is a section in Queens called
Far Rockaway and sections in the
Rockaways such as Neponsit and
Roxbury, where Riis Park borders.
I also want to say that as an electri-
cal worker, I'm upset over the fact
January 1990 25
that our government would rather
refurbish the park than redevelop it.
Rockaway Playland was torn down a
few years ago and was to be replaced
by high-rise condos. Now we only
have one amusement park, Coney
Island, which is going to shame. I
hope New York gets better and City
Limits keeps pushing to get more
people involved in what's happen-
ing today and in the future.
Kevin B. Young
Flushing
Law School
To the Editor:
In the November 1989 article
"Clinic Tackles Fair Housing Com-
plain ts" by Margueri te Holloway you
briefly describe Mr. Conrad Johnson's
background. Described is a "stint
teaching at New York's Public Inter-
est Law School." However, I believe
this should read as a stint at the City
University of New York Law School
at Queens College. Mr. Johnson was
employed at the CUNY Law School
from 1987-89.
Linda A. Geary
Bronx
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Barry K. Mallin
Attorney At Law
A decade of service representing
community development organizations
and low income cooperatives.
56 Thomas Street
New York, N.Y. 10013
.Telephone 212/619-6800
DEBRA BECHTEL - Attorney
Concentrating in Real Estate & Non-Profit Law
Title and loan closings 0 All city housing programs
Mutual housing associations 0 Coopertive conversions
Advice to low income co-op boards of directors
100 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201, (718) 624-6850
architectural/engineering serllices for nonprofit developers
o Building Evaluation and Inspection
o Feasibility Studies 0 Construction Supervision
o Preliminary Design/Scope of Work Studies
o Complete Construction Drawings & Specifications
Call John Harris RA. for an evaluation of your project's needs
458 BERGEN STREET, BROOKLYN, NY 11217 (718) 398-1440
BERNARD CARR ASSOCIATES
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1740 Victor Street, Bronx, NY 10462 Tel. (212)824-5044
TURF COMPANIES
Buiiding Management/Consultants
Specializing in management & development
services to low income housing cooperatives,
community organizations and co-op
boards of directors
329 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11217
Mr. John Touhey
718/857 -0468
SMOLLENS and BURAtN/eK,
COUNSELLORS AT LAW
Specializing in representing tenants only in
landlord/tenant proceedings, cooperative
conversions, loft proceedings. We represent
sellers/buyers in house, condo and co-op closings.
15 Maiden Lane, Suite 1800
New York, NY 10038
2121406-3320
LAWRENCE H. McGAUGHEY
Attorney at Law
Real Estate, Subsidized Housing,Wills,
Trust & Estates,Business and Not-for-Profit
Corporations, Ecclesiastical Law
217 Broadway, Suite 610
New York, NY 10007
212/513-0981
ARCHITECTURAL & PLANNING DIVISION
Urban Homesteading Assistance Board
Specialists In Nonprofit Housing
and Community Facilities
FULL ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES
Zoning Analyses' Design Through Construction Documents
Inspection, Evaluation & Feasibility Reports
Contact Betsy Calhoun or Paul Castrucci, RA 212/226-4119
40 Prince Street, New York, NY 10012
Abeles Phillips Preiss & Shapiro, Inc.
Zoning
Land Use
Planning and Development Consultants
Real Estate Feasibility
Economic Development
Housing
Market Studies
434 Sixth Ave., New York NY 10011
307 N. Main St., Highstown NJ 08520
REACH 25,000
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MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS 0 COMMERCIAL DEVELOPERS
AND MUCH MORE
To place a low-cost Professional Directory listing
please call our Ad Director at 212/925-9820.
WORKSHOP
REALESTATEjPLANNING. National nonprofit land conservation group
seeks Project Manager to design & implement real estate trans-
actions & public policy initiatives to save open space in NYC. RE
exp essential. Sal: low-mid $30s. Resume/cover letter: NYCLP,
Trust for Public Land, 666 Broadway, NYC 10012.
HOUSIIIGSPECIALIST. Citywide nonprofit housing organization seeks
housing specialist to assist low-income tenant associations. Exp
w/housing prefd. Spanish reqd. Sal : $22,333. Exc bnfts. Resume:
Fernando Alarcon, UHAB, 40 Prince St. , NYC 10012.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR/COMMUNITY ORGANIZER. The Sunnyside
Foundation for community planning & preservation in Queens
seeks dynamic, self-motivated individual to conduct cmmty pro-
grams in housing issues, crime prevention, public info & outreach
& genl organizing. Two yrs exp or degrees in related urban
issues. Strong mgmtlwriting skills a must. Sal : $20K or commens
w/exp. Health/other bnfts incldg rent subsidized apt in cmmty.
Resume: The Sunnyside Foundation, 41 -13 47th St. , Sunnyside,
NY 11104 or call Nina 718/392-9139.
PARALEGAL. Legal services office seeks paralegal for new, special
project to assist low/mod income people obtain divorces. Con-
duct interviews w/clients, maintain control on individual case reqs
& status. Must be aggressive, organized, reliable and able/willing
to assume responsibility. Relevant exp, Spanish fluency & famili-
arity w/computers prefd. Salary per collective bargaining agree-
ment. Resume: Lucas E. Andino, Managing Atty, MFY Legal
Services Inc, 170 E. 116th St., NYC 10029. 212/427-0693.
SOCIAL WORKER. Coalition for the Homeless sks MSW w/min 3 yrs
expo Responsible for client outreach/i ntake, supervision of in-
terns & indiv advocacy w/AIDS project. CASEWORKER. W/exp
to provide case mgmt to rehoused families. Knowl of job training
entitlements & housing reqd. Persons of color encouraged to
apply. Exc bnfts. Spanish speaking a +. Resume: Coalition for the
Homeless, 105 E. 22nd St., Rm 519, NYC 10010. E.O.E.
IDMINISTRATIVEASSISTANT. Prominent real estate firm in Manhat-
tan seeks bright, energetic individual to assist VP Marketing.
Duties incld correspondence, research, writing, preparation of
marketing presentations, coordination of special events. Must be
well organized, good writing & interpersonal skills. BA English
prefd. Exc bnfts incld tuition refund. Nonsmoking office. E.O.E.
Call 10-3 for appt. 718/642-2550.
CONSTRUCTION SITE SUPERVISOR. Exciting oppty for take-charge
individuals w/genl construction bkgrnd to train, motivate & super-
vise 5 person crews in prestigious, nonprofit , new model work
training program. Driver's lic. Sal : $20K + full bnfts. 212/818-
1220.
CHAIR: URBAN POLICY ANALYSIS & MANAGEMENT. For New School
for Social Research, Grad School of Mgmt and Urban Policy.
Teaching/administrative responsibilities. Help shape develop-
ment of an MS degree program that combines rigorous training
in a core curriculum w/opptys to address policy & mgmt problems.
Earned doctorate prefd but persons without Ph.D. who have
extensive record of profl accomplishment within the field encour-
aged to apply. Applications due February 1, 1990. Vitae & three
refs to: Dr. John Jeffries, Assoc. Dean, Graduate School of
Management & Urban Policy, 66 Fifth Avenue, NYC 10011.
E.O.E.lAffirmative Action Employer. Members of minority groups/
women encouraged to apply.
January 1990 27
COLLECTIONS CLERK. Two F/T positions avail at Brooklyn-based
RE mgmt firm for individuals w/good interpersonal skills to handle
delinquent rental accounts. Interact w/tenants, attorneys, collec-
tion agency. HS diploma, collections/customer service exp,
computer knowledge reqd. Must have or obtain RE sales lic.
Good bnfts, health club membership, tuition refund. Call 1 0-3 for
appt. 718/642-2550.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. For not-for-profit youth arts organization.
Community/social service orientation prefd. Three yrs adminis-
trative expo Sal: mid $20s & up, commens w/exp. Resume: T.T.
Frost, 112 Garfield, Place #2L, Brooklyn, NY 11215.
DIRECTOR OF HOUSING MANAGEMENT. Direct housing operations for
over 500 units in 10 hotels. College degree + 5 yrs exp, at least
2 at supervisory level. $39K starting salary + exc bnfts. Complete
job announcement avail. S.R.O. Housing, 311 South Spring St.,
#1110, Los Angeles, CA, 90013.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. Dynamic, nonprofit neighborhood develop-
ment corp seeks energetic self-starter w/ exp in management,
planning & organization. Commitment to community advocacy
essential. Knowledge of 1-4 housing rehab & loan underwriting
desirable. Resume: Chair, Neighborhood Housing Services of
East Flatbush, 2806 Church Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11226.
DIRECTOR OF INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. For Queens L. D. C. Duties
include marketing, zoning, loan packaging & tech assistance for
existing/potential firms. Will be involved in R.E. development
work in 2 commercial areas. B.A. + 4yrs exp or M.A. in Business,
Financing or Planning + 2yrs expo Sal: low-mid $30s/bnfts.
Resume: R.D.R.C., P.O.Box 1400, Far Rockaway, NY 11691.
COMMUNITY SERVICES DIRECTOR. Community-based housing corp.
seeks responsible indiv for community svcs. Self-starter. Prefer
applicant w/at least BA deg in one of the social sciences or 3yrs
exp in cmmty org. Sal to $25K. Resume: Ken Gulley, Mid-
Brooklyn CED, 480 Monroe St., Bklyn, NY 11221.
Youth Action Program, a unique, successful, community-
based youth program in East Harlem seeks skilled, com-
mitted professionals for several key positions. Support
young people in carrying out a range of community im-
provement projects.
SENIOR CONSTRUCTION SITE SUPERVISOR. Responsibili ties indd
overseeing on-the-job training in construction trades for
youth trainees. Report to construction mgr. Ten yrs min
exp in NYC heavy gut rehab. Sal:$38K. Resumes attn:
David Calvert.
DIRECTOR OF FUNDRAISING. Energetic, people-oriented,
committed to working w/young people. Exp in research &
proposal writing. Strong writing/verbal skills. Overall
fundraising & program cleve 1 responsibility. BA w/3 yrs
fundraising or related expo Sal commens w/exp. Resumes
attn: Carla Precht.
LIFE PLANNING COUNSELOR. Down to earth counselor w/exc
skills in individual, group & crisis counseling for ages 13-
24. Exc communication, writing, admin skills. Must be
avail afternoons & eves. Sal:$22-25K. Resumes attn: Ubaka
Hill.
All applications by resume/cover letter only. Youth Ac-
tion Program, 1280 Fifth Avenue, NYC 10029. Minorities/
women encouraged to apply.
Is Another Decade of Growing Homelessness Inevitable?
Homelessness In The 1990s:
New Directions For A New Decade
THE PARTNERSHIP
FOR THE HOMELESS
presents
ACTION DAY '90
Most of the Cold Winter Lies Ahead
Join Us on January 27th (9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.)
The New School For Social Research
66 West 12th Street
Andrew M. Cuomo:
"Making a Difference for the Homeless in a New Decade"
U.S. Rep. Charles E. Schumer:
"Federal Initiatives for Closing the Affordable Housing Gap in the1990s"
Peter P. Smith:
"A New York City Agenda for Addressing Homelessness in the New Decade"
The Homeless Articulate Their
Needs For The 1990s
Employment Programs: What
Works For The Homeless
PANELS
Affordable Housing Strategies,
Funding And Models
Children And Homelessness:
A Generation At Risk
Public Policy For Public Places
Where Do The Homeless Fit?
Supportive Housing For Homeless
People With AIDS: Two New Models
(No Fee - Lunch will be provided. Due to limited seating, reservations must be in by January 22,1990)
REGISTRATION FORM
Name ___
Address
----------------------------------------------------
City _
Phone Affiliation ~-----
o I will attend 0 I 'will not attend
State Zip __
Please detach and return to: The Partnership For The Homeless
115 West 31st Street, New York, N.Y. 10001-2109
AN INTERFAITH ORGANIZATION Any questions? Call (212) 947-3444

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