June/July 1990 New York's Community Affairs News Magazine $ 2 .

0 0
M O R T G A G E M A N I A DS T A R R E n C I T Y B U C K S T H E R U L E S ?
B U DG E T A X E B L U E S D S T R I V E F O R J O B S
2 CITY UMITS
Citv
Volume XV Number 6
City Limits is published ten times per year.
monthly except double issues in June/Jul y
and August/September. by the City Limits
Community Information Service. Inc . a non-
profit organization devoted to disseminating
information concerning neighborhood
revitalization.
Sponsors
Association for Neighborhood and
Housing Development. Inc.
New York Urban Coalition
Pratt Institute Center for Community and
Environmental Development
Urban Homesteading Assistance Board
Board of Directors"
Eddie Bautista. NYLPIICharter Rights Project
Beverly Cheuvront. Community
Service Society
Rebecca Reich
Andrew Reicher. UHAB
Richard Rivera. Puerto Rican Legal
Defense and Education Fund (on leave)
Tom Robbins
Ron Shiffman. Pratt Center
Jay Small. ANHD
Walter Stafford. New York University
Pete Williams. Center for Law
and Social Justice
* Affiliations for identification only.
Subscription rates are: for individuals and
community groups. $15/0ne Year. $25/Two
Years; for businesses. foundations . banks.
government agencies and libraries. $35/0ne
Year. $50/Two Years. Low income. unem-
ployed. $10/0ne Year.
City Limits welcomes comments and article
contributions. Please include a stamped. self-
addressed envelope for return manuscripts.
Material in City Limits does not necessarily
reflect the opinion of the sponsoring organiza-
tions. Send correspondence to: CITY LIMITS.
40 Prince St . New York. NY 10012.
Second class postage paid
New York. NY 10001
City Limits (ISSN 0199-0330)
(212) 925-9820
FAX (212) 966-3407
Editor: Doug Turetsky
Associate Editor: Lisa Glazer
Business Director: Harry Gadarigian
Contributing Editors: Marguerite Holloway.
Mary Keefe. Peter Marcuse. Jennifer Stern
Production: Chip Cliffe
Photographer: Adam Anik.
Andrew Lichtenstein
Intern: Daniel Zaleski
Copyright 1990. All Rights Reserved. No
portion or portions of this journal may be re-
printed without the express permission of the
publishers.
City Limits is indexed in the Alternative Press
Index and the Avery Index to Architectural
Periodicals and is available on microfilm from
University Microfilms International . Ann
Arbor. MI 48106.
Cover photograph by Andrew lichtenstein.
EDITORIAL
The Good and the Bad
Revolutionary? Hardly. Radical? Not quite. But the Dinkins
administration's recent announcement of changes in the city's 10-year
housing plan are significant-and welcome.
Putting their own stamp on a plan initially crafted by the Koch
administration, Mayor David Dinkins and Department of Housing Pres-
ervation and Development Commissioner Felice Michetti have revised
the housing program over the next four years so that more of the newly
created apartments will be affordable to lower income New Yorkers. And
while the old version ofthe plan included no apartments for single home-
less adults, the Dinkins administration's four-year plan is now promis-
ing to build 3,200 units.
While Dinkins and Michetti have not changed the definitions of low,
moderate and middle income households adopted by Koch, they have
recognized that far too many apartments being created under the 10-year
capital housing plan were only affordable to families at the upper reaches
of these categories. In order to make units affordable to more lower
income families, the administration is providing deeper subsidies to
developers and these subsidies don't have to be repaid as rapidly as
before. But this created a tough choice: Although they've added $101
million to the plan for the next four years, the deeper subsidies mean the
Dinkins administration will actually renovate and create fewer apart-
ments than previously planned. It was the right choice.
Other good choices include the pilot program to construct 500 mixed
income apartments, with 30 percent reserved for the homeless, and a
growing emphasis on comprehensive community development and
economic integration. And while complete information is not yet avail-
able on planned mutual housing association and limited equity co-op
programs, the initial news is good.
But the plan is not without its flaws . Because there are no long-term
operating subsidies, too many apartments may eventually become mar-
ket rate units. And the changes that promote increased affotdability and
additional homeless units in the Vacant Buildings Program are not
immediately mandatory. Still, the mayor's four-year plan takes a giant
step in the right direction.
* * *
What's wrong with this scene? More than 100 city housing depart-
ment, public housing authority and community housing activists are
crowded into the upstairs room of a lower Manhattan bar to say good-bye
to Joe Shuldiner, who's leaving to run Los Angeles' housing authority.
What's wrong is the Dinkins administration's appointments process,
which not only allowed this talented, 17-year veteran of municipal
service to slip away, but the shabby way in which it was done.
In repeated testimonials, Shuldiner was lauded by national leaders,
former city commissioners and current city officials as one of the most
respected administrators in New York and the best housing authority
manager in the nation. Too bad the Dinkins administration's appoint-
ments process squandered the opportunity to keep Shuldiner, who's
willingness to serve New York seemed unbounded. New York's loss is
Los Angeles' gain.
* * *
For the second consecutive year, an article in City Limits has won a
journalism award from the Citizens Housing and Planning Council.
Associate editor Lisa Glazer took top honors for her story, "The Powers
To Be," which appeared in our October 1989 issue. 0

INSIDE
FEATURES
The Unkindest Cut 12
The state's budget axe is poised to cut Home Relief,
a little-known welfare program. Thousands of New
Yorkers may soon become homeless.
Bitter-Sweet Success 16
Think your community has won an environmental
battle? Think again.
DEPARTMENTS
Editorial
The Good and the Bad .............................................. 2
Short Term Notes
City Budget Blues ................................................. 4
Tibbett Tumble? .................................................... 4
Housing Now! ....................................................... 5
Hotels Still Open? ................................................. 5
Profile
STRIVE: Job Training for the Long Haul.. ........... 6
Pipieline
Starret City: Bucking the Rules? .......................... 8
It's a Wonderful Life for Freddie Mac ............... 10
City View
Organizing Futures .............................................. 20
Letters ....................................................................... 21
June/July 1990 3
Unkindest Cut/P
4 CITY UMITS
SHORT TERM NOTES
CITY BUDGET BLUES
While the Dinkins admini-
stration is planning to increase
funding for housing develop-
ment, other crucial housing
programs are facing the city's
budget axe. These include
programs that fund community
groups that assist tenants in a
variety of ways and the city's
own inspection program to
ensure that buildings meet
housing code regulations.
Numerous advocates are
protesting these cuts, describ-
ing them as short-sighted and
ill-planned. "With tnese cuts
you're going to spend more
than you're going to save,"
warns Penelope W. Pi-Sunyer,
executive director of Alter-
budget, which is proposing an
alternative to the city budget.
The more than 100
nonprofit housing groups
funded under the city's
community consultant con-
tracts are among those who
may feel the harsh cut of the
budget axe. Under the initial
budget plan released in
February, the community
consultant program was
targeted for $1 .7 million in
cuts. The program provides
neighborhood groups with
funding to assist tenants who
do not have lawyers in
housing court, help senior
citizens file for rent abate-
ments, aid tenants who
complain of harassment by
landlords and other services.
Sources indicate the city is
now considering cuts that will
eliminate about 20 percent of
the community consultant
budget. Advocates charge the
result will be the loss of
frontline housing organizing
staff. "The toll will Oe really
great," says Anne Pasmanick
of the Community Training
and Resource Center. "There
will be nowhere people can
get that [assistance)."
In recent years, cuts to
community consultant groups
have been softened by funds
provided through the borough
presidents offices. No such
funds are likely to be avail-
able this year.
Activists warn that pro-
jected cuts in the housing
department's inspection force
will also be devastating. The
Dinkins administration's
preliminary budget calls for a
$1 .4 million reduction in the
insrection program, which
wil eliminate cyclical inspec-
tion of buildings for housing
code violations and effectively'
kill efforts to rid aportments of
lead point-a potentially
deadly hazard to children.
The housing department's
inspection squad has already
been cut significantly in the
past year. According to
Pasmanick, the cuts have been
so severe that housing court
judges are now able to order
only a limited number of
inspections when tenants bring
of hazardous
conditions to court.
Eliminating these inspec-
tions may also cost the city
more than it saves, charges
Chris Quinn of the Housing
Justice Campaign. "If the city
was to aggressively collect
those fines, the program could
pay for itself." She adds,
'Without these programs,
we're turning it over to the
good faith of landlords to take
care of low income housing."
Among the other programs
facing significant cuts is the
revolving loon fund run by
NeighbOrhood Housing
Services (NHS). The pr<?9ram
has initially been slated tor $1
million in reduced funding.
Fran Justa of NHS says tIlat
housing department Commis-
sioner Felice Michetti now
promises to replace funds with
bond revenues.
The one bright note on the
budget horizon is that the
recently approved state
budget did not have as deep
cuts in the Neighborhood
Preservation Program (NPP),
which funds community
housing groups, as initially
feared. Although the state
sliced $1. million from the NPP
budget, Hillary lamishaw of
the Neighborhood Initiative
Development Corp. says the
state housing agency, which
administers the contracts, will
try and absorb the cuts
without reducing the amounts
each group receives. 0 Cory
Johnson
TIBBEn TUMBLE?
Born at the behest of
former Mayor Edward Koch,
the Tibbett Gardens condo-
minium project in the Bronx
may soon die by the hands of
the Dinkins administration.
In the most recent version
of the city's capital budget,
$18 million earmarked for
Tibbett Gardens was redi-
rected to housing for low and
moderate income families.
City officials say funding is
still available if plans to build
the middle income develop-
ment proceed, but the future
for the project appeors
doubtful.
Since its inception, cost
estimates for the 750-unit pro-
ject ballooned and in recent
months the Real Estate Board
of New York (REBNY) presen-
ted the mayor's office with
cheaper options for develop-
ment, according to REBNY's
president, Steven Spinola.
REBNY's original plans for
the Tibbett Gardens site called
for 1,001 apartments, but this
was scaled back to 750
aportments in response to
local opposition. According
to the Riverdale Press, the
latest revisions slash the
project in half, proposing six-
story buildings with approxi-
mately 350-400 units.
In 1985, Mayor Edward
Koch wrote to New York
developers asking them to
help solve the housing crisis.
The first response came from
REBNY, which includes some
of the city's most prominent
developers, who created plans
to build mostly middle income
housing on a 10-acre site in
the Kingsbridge section of the
Bronx. They have since made
similar proposals for sites in
Manhattan and Queens.
REBNY's proposal was the
first of a handful of large-
scale housing initiatives put
forword by major developers.
The others include Samuel
Lefrak's plans to build on the
Seward Park site on the Lower
East Side and the Milstein
Organization's plans to build
in Clinton. In each of these
efforts, the city offered tq
provide land at a minimal cost
and a per unit subsidy starting
at $25,000. The subsidy
would be made mostly in the
form of loans to be repaid as
apartments were sold.
However, the per unit
subsidy for Tibbett Gardens
climbed as high as $84,000
by the end of 1989, and
members of the city's Housing
Development Corporation
(HDCl, which helps finance
housing, started to raise
questions about the invest-
ment. Concern focused on the
fact that the city-not REBNY
or the financial institutions
providing funds-might be
responsible for repaying the
construction loan if the
apartments didn't sell. HDC
has already committed some
$2 million to the project,
which won't be repaid if
Tibbett Gardens is killed.
Local leaders in the Bronx
are hoping that the plan will
die and be replaced by an
additional school on the site,
which was originally acquired
by the Wagner administration
to be used for a cluster of
schools known as an educa-
tional park.
'We're holding our breath,
waiting for its last gasp,
hoping the city will have the
sense to put a school there,"
says Mark Friedlander, chair-
man of Community Board 8.
Friedlander says that plans for
an elementary school in-
cluded in the Tibbett Gardens
effort are still going ahead but
adds there is still a dire need
for an intermediate school in
the area, which is part of the
city's most overcrowded
school district.
Clint Roswell, spokesper-
son for borough president
Fernando Ferrer, adds that
Tibbett Gardens appears to be
"dying by its own weight and
lack of interest." He also says
that most of the community is
united by its desire for another
school on the site.
Despite this local sentiment
and the city's recent actions,
Spinola from REBNY remains
confident. "The city is still
talking with us about the
program," he says. "I would
like to see construction this
summer." 0 Lisa Glazer
HOUSING NOW!
Homeless New Yorkers and
their advocates joined with
others from a round the
country on the last weekend of
May for "Housing Now, The
Next Step," a conference in
Cincinnati , Ohio. The
conference was a follow-up to
the October 1989 housing
march in Washington that
brought together more than
100,000 people.
Conference organizers
addressed ways to restore
national funding for housing
and establish housing
priorities, as well as to ways
to bridge the gap between the
homeless and their advocates.
Among the New York
participants were grassroots
homeless advocates who
formed a coalition this winter
to promote their common
goals.
Jean Chappell, a founding
member of Parents on the
Move, an advocacy group
formed by homeless mothers
in the Brooklyn Arms Hotel,
made frequent trips to
Washington in recent months
to help organize the confer-
ence along with Larry Wood,
director of Housing Now!
New York, and numerous
others.
Chappell is also a founding
member of a coalition of
grassroots homeless activists
that was created in February.
The coalition meets twice a
month at the headquarters of
Local 1199. Representatives
from about 35 organizations
attend, according to Chappell .
These groups include Parents
on the Move, the Hotel
Tenants Rights Project, and the
United Homeless Organiza-
tion, among others. "We're
looking for a united front so
we can support one another,"
explains Chappell . 0 Dan
Zaleski
HOTELS STILL
OPEN?
As City Limits goes to
press, there are more than
1,000 families in the city's
Junel July 1990 5
A volunteer in the HWorlcing as Neighbors" workathon lends a hand to lowincome homesteaders ot
Destiny Co-op in Brooklyn. Participants in the spring eHort donated time at more than 40 commu-
nity service projects in New Yorlc, and collected pledges from friends for the hours they worked to
send medical aid to Centrol America.
welfare hotels and officials
from the Dinkins administra-
tion admit they may not meet
the June 30th deodline for
closing the hotels.
Nancy Wackstein, director
of the Mayor's Office on
Homelessness and SRO
Housing, says that even if the
hotels aren't closed on time,
each family will be assigned
to permanent housing or an
apartment-style transitional
shelter by June 30th.
"We' re certainly trying for
June 30th but we would
consider it a success if we had
a destination certain for each
family ... and were moving
people out within two or three
weeks," she says. Wackstein
says that even if the city
doesn't meet the deadline, the
federal government will
continue to pay half the cost
of the hotels until the fall.
According to information
compiled by the city's Human
Resources Administration, in
May there were still 1,081
families in 19 welfare hotels.
Of the 19 hotels, two are in
Brooklyn, one is in the Bronx
and the rest are evenly
divided between Manhattan
and Queens. The Allerton
hotel in midtown Manhattan
had the largest number of
families, 128.
In an effort to assist the
closure of the hotels, the New
York City Housing Authority
recently agreed to make an
additional 479 apartments
available for homeless families
in 1990. This would bring the
total number of housing
authority apartments set aside
for homeless families to
2,279, according to spokes-
person Roy Metcalfe.
Wackstein attributes the
possible delay in closing the
hotels to a number of factors.
"when we came into office,
the effort to move families out
hadn't had a lot of focus ...
things had slipped. We had
to renegotiate with the hous-
ing authority and mobilize
agencies to streamline and
expedite what they were
doing." She adds that pro-
duction of apartment-style
transitional shelters is behind
schedule and notes that the
number of homeless families
entering the city's shelter sys-
tem recently increased. "In the
last month, new entries were
up, which was a cause of con-
siderable concern," she says.
Advocates for the homeless
have mixed reactions to the
city' s attempt to the close the
hotels. Rose Anello, staff
associate at the Citizens
Committee for Children, says,
"I think they' re moving along.
They were left with a huge
task. Is he [Dinkins] doing a
good job? If he succeeds in
linking families with housing,
I'd say ... he deserves credit."
But Anello also says that the
problems of families moving
into city-owned housing in the
South Bronx, Harlem and
central Brooklyn are
enormous.
Kristin Morse from the
Coalition for the Homeless
adds, "I understand the
problems they're having ... 1
would say the biggest worry is
they [city officials] don't have
the foresight to help families
into the apartments and orient
people. A lot of the [perma-
nent housing] units are still
substandard."
Threatened with a loss of
$70 million in federal aid for
homeless families, the city
announced plans to close the
welfare hotels within two
years in the summer of 1988.
In August 1988, the city's
welfare hotels sheltered 3,306
families in 47 hotels. 0 Lisa
Glazer
6 CITY UMITS
PROFILE
STRIVE: Job Training for the Long Haul
BY MARY KEEFE
IT LOOKED LIKE ONE OF A THOU-
sand corporate meetings: a large room
filled with standard-issue office
chairs, men wearing starched shirts
and ties, women in dresses and blaz-
ers, not a hair out of place. Yet in-
stead of taking place in Wall Street or
midtown, this meeting occurred in
the basement of a community center
in East Harlem. The 27 participants
were enrolled in STRIVE, a three-
week employment training program
designed to help people find perma-
nent jobs and keep them.
It was the third day of the program
and each member of the group gave a
five-minute speech that was recorded
on video. For many, the experience
was nerve-wracking. Nahir Gon-
azalez, a lively 20-year-old, panicked
during her speech but eventually
completed it and later called five
minutes "the longest time ever."
Donna Valdes, who came to STRIVE
because she has trouble staying at
jobs, says she nearly didn't come to
the class because of her fear of public
speaking.
"You were nervous and you didn't
want to get up here today. But you
did it," announces Frank Horton, 29,
a STRIVE graduate who now leads
the program in East Harlem with
equal measures of patience and
toughness. "There's places you want
to be in your life, but you are
afraid ... You expect people to under-
stand that fear. We can understand it
all day long, but until you cross that
bridge and take on the responsibil-
ity, it won't change."
STRIVE, which stands for Sup-
port and Training Resulting in Valu-
able Employment, focuses on people
who are often labeled "hard-to-
employ." Of the 516 East Harlem
STRIVE graduates between 1985 and
1988, 49 percent were high school
drop-outs, 75 percent were on public
assistance, 45 percent were parents
and 97 percent were black or Latino.
The average age was 23.
Low Self-Esteem
According to Horton, many of the
people in the program are struggling
with low self-esteem and language
barriers. "Their confidence is ter-
Confidence builder:
Frank Horton leading a STRIVE session.
rible," he says. "My job is to deal
with their attitudes. They have gone
to job after job and not been success-
ful." At STRIVE, he says, "before
they know it they have 20 or 30
positive experiences since they
walked in."
These positive experiences appear
to payoff-since opening in 1985,
the program has placed 79 percent of
its 853 graduates in jobs. And fol-
low-up calls four times a year show
that 80 percent remain employed.
"We don't think our training is
complete until someone is stably
employed," says Michael Frey,
founder and president of STRIVE.
To him, that means two years in a job
that's not a dead end.
Frey started STRIVE five years ago
to replicate a program he was im-
pressed with while serving as direc-
tor of the Henry Street Settlement.
The job training effort is privately
funded and meets needs that are
ignored by government-funded pro-
grams under the federal Job Training
and Partnership Act UTPA). Many
advocates criticize JTPA because the
emphasis is job placement rather than
job retention.
Since its inception, STRIVE has
expanded and now has a second
branch located in a public housing
project in the Bronx. The program is
poised to take another leap because
the New York-based Clark Founda-
tion recently awarded it a $4 million
challenge grant. Over the next five
years, the STRIVE staffers have to
raise another $8 million to fund
expansion into eight new locations
and to place 10,000 young New
Yorkers in permanent jobs. The grant
is a "particularly large one" for the
Clark Foundation, and what sold the
board was STRIVE's five-year record
of job retention rates, according to
Joseph Cruickshank, secretary of the
foundation.
Rob Carmona, executive director
of STRIVE, says that the key to
STRIVE's job retention rates is ex-
tensive personal contact and indi-
vidual calls to graduates at regular
three-month intervals. The program
is short and intensive, and once it is
over, graduates have lifetime access
for extra help with personal prob-
lems, assistance moving up the job
ladder or into higher education.
Job developers at each STRIVE
location work with New York em-
ployers to help find slots that gradu-
ates can apply for, although many
people find their own jobs, Carmona
says. Most of the jobs are in back
office operations, in areas like build-
ing operations and hospitals. The
police department runs recruiting
workshops at the Bronx location.
Program Meets Needs
Last October, Miriam Gaston read
an ad for STRIVE in a newspaper
after she'd been out of work for a
year. She was looking for jobs, but
everyone asked about computer train-
ing, which she lacked, and she was
fearful about interviews. "I was
nervous about what people would
think of me and in an interview I
would clam up and get nervous," she
recalls. The program fit her needs
because it was brief, included com-
puter training and was free. At the
time, Gaston was 26, supporting her
two-year-old daughter on public
assistance and living with her mother
in Brooklyn.
The quick training is part of the
design, according to Frey. Many of
the STRIVE participants are in dire
need of a job and don't have the time
or money for a lengthy training pro-
gram. At STRIVE, participants train
eight hours a day for three weeks,
learning communication and inter-
viewing skills, building confidence,
and looking at how to handle on-the-
problems. Basic "learner-
friendly" computer training is avail-
able to everyone and day care is
provided at one ofthe two branches.
Ten days after Gaston graduated
from STRIVE, she landed a job as an
administrative secretary at the gradu-
ate film department of New York
University. Summing up why
STRIVE has helped turn her life
Junel July 1990 7
around, she says, "Being on public
assistance is not exactly an ego build-
ing experience so you don't always
come in with the best attitude." At
STRIVE, she says, "there's always a
sense of pride and respect." 0
Mary Keefe is a freelance writer fo-
cusing on community issues.
For news that makes a. difference ...
Subscribe to CITY LIMITS!
Just $15 brings you a year's coverage of news from
your block to City Hall. Keep up with the people,
politics and policies shaping your neighborhood.
Subscribe Now and Save 33% ofIthe cover price.
o Pay now and we'll add an extra issue to your subscription FREE.
Individual & community group rate:
o $15/1 year 0 $25/2 years
Business, gov't & institutional rate:
o $35/1 year 0 $50/2 year
o Bill me
Name
Address
City State
City Limits/40 Prince Street/New York/NY 10012
Zip
Competitively Priced Insurance
LET us DO A FREE EVAWATION OF
YOUR INSURANCE NEEDS
have been providing low-cost insurance programs and quality service
for HDFC's, TENANTS, COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT and other NONPROFIT
organizations for the past 10 years.
Our Coverages Include:
UABILITY BONDS DIRECTORS' & OFFICERS' UABIUTY
SPECIAL BUILDING PACKAGES
"Liberal Payment Terms"

306 FIFTH AVE.
NEW YORK, NY. 10001
(212) 279-8300
Ask for: Bala Ramanathan
8 CITY LIMITS
PIPELINE
Starrett City: Bucking the Rules?
BY LISA GLAZER
FOR MORE THAN A DECADE, THE
race-conscious rental policies at the
Starrett City housing complex in
Brooklyn were the source oflawsuits
and intense public scrutiny. Finally,
a year and a half ago, the owners of
the publicly subsidized development
signed a consent order with the u.S.
government and promised to stop
using racial quotas that ensured the
project remained predominantly
white.
But shortly after the consent de-
cree was signed, the management of
Starrett City started an aggressive
campaign to rent some of the vacant
apartments in the development at
fair market rates. Because of this,
Starrett City's rental policies are back
in the spotlight.
A recent fact sheet from Starrett
City reads, " ... a number of fair mar-
ket, non-subsidized residents cur-
rently enjoy the unique Starrett ...
lifestyle. Due to the limited amount
of available subsidy funds, vacated ...
apartments will be largely rented at
market rates."
Although the overview is still
unclear, some longtime observers of
Starrett City say this could be an
attempt to undermine the consent
order and retain white tenants as the
majority. State and federal officials
say the Starrett managers are not
allowed to rent apartments at fair
market rates, but Starrett officials are
continuing nonetheless.
"The fair market thing may be an
attempt to increase the possibility of
getting white families
J
given the
economics," says Harvey Fisher,
director of the fair housing division
of the city's Commission on Human
Rights. "While there may not be an
up front show of discrimination here
I would be wary of any change in
Starrett's rental policy which would
have the effect of discriminating
against black or Latin applicants."
Phyllis Spiro, a fair housing advo-
cate from the Open Housing Center,
which took part in a suit against
Starrett City's racial quotas, adds, "If
Starrett is looking for a mechanism
to attract more whites ... then this
would be a way to do that." Spiro
says she has received 15 complaints
New question:
Can Starrett City oHer apartments at lair marlcet rents?
about Starrett City's rental policies
in the past six months.
Devorah Fong, a spokesperson for
Grenadier Realty, which runs Star-
rett City, denies wrongdoing. "We
are in no way trying to circumvent
the consent decree," she says.
Burtis M. Dougherty, who signed
the consent order on behalf of the
u.S. government, says he has received
complaints about Starrett City, but
refuses to comment further, explain-
ing that he is not directly involved in
the enforcement of the consent de-
cree. Amy Casner, a spokesperson
for the Justice Department, also re-
fuses to comment on whether Star-
rett City's fair market rental policies
affect the consent decree.
Waiting Game
Since its inception in the 1970s,
the management of Starrett City
maintained a racial balance-ap-
proximately 35 percent blacks and
Latinos and 65 percent whites-
because they believed that if the
complex became mostly black and
Latino, whites would flee. While this
system preserved integration, it
meant that blacks and Latinos lan-
guished for years on waiting lists
while white applicants were on an
express track to apartments.
In 1979 the Open Housing Center
challenged the quota system and after
a lengthy battle agreed to a small
increase in the number of minorities
allowed to live in the complex, among
other changes. In 1984, the Reagan
administration challenged the quo-
tas as part of its efforts to eliminate
affirmative action. The case was taken
to the Supreme Court, where the
justices upheld a lower court ruling
that the quotas violated federal law.
Since signing a consent order last
spring, Starrett City has had to rent
apartments on a colorblind basis.
In the last year, newspaper adver-
tisements offered hefty rent conces-
sions to entice tenants to the com-
plex. And a May 1989 letter to cur-
rent tenants explaining the fair mar-
ket rent program reads, " ... We all
think Starrett is a very special place
to live ... Your assistance in attracting
new residents under this program
will help assure its continued stabil-
ity and success."
Fong from Grenadier explains that
Starrett decided to rent apartments
at fair market rates because subsidy
levels have remained stable while
operating costs soared. According to
Fong, subsidy regulations allow
Starrett to rent out 10 percent of the
apartments-or approximately 580
apartments-at fair market rates. She
says the apartments are only being
made available to people who meet
income guidelines under the state's
middle income Mitchell-Lama hous-
ing program.
Federal and state officials say
Starrett doesn't have this option. A
recent letter from Myron Holtz, dep-
uty commissioner of the state's
Department of Housing and Commu-
nity Renewal (DHCR), reads: "Star-
rett is ... required to immediately cease
renting apartments to fair market
tenants."
"We've indicated to them that they
can't rent to market rate families,"
adds Gerard Sheridan, director for
housing management in the regional
office of the federal Department of
Housing and Urban Development
(HUD). Sheridan says Starrett can
only rent to families who qualify for
the federal subsidy programs.
When asked what action would be
taken against Starrett City, officials
could not provide definitive answers.
HUD officials deferred to DHCR, the
agency that has direct responsibility
for supervising the housing complex.
And Tom Viola from DHCR says,
"We are working on this and trying
to get them to cease and desist ... we're
still trying to reach a resolution."
Public Funds, Private Investors
The complex that is now known
as Starrett City was built in the 1970s
by the union-backed United Hous-
ing Foundation but the organization
didn't have enough funding to com-
plete the development and control
passed to a small group of investors
led by Disque Deane. Robert C. Rosen-
berg, a former first deputy housing
commissioner, was brought in to run
the complex as general manager.
Starrett City was financed with a
$362 million mortgage from the
state's Housing Finance Agency, and
today it receives federal subsidies
under a variety of programs-Sec-
tion 236, Section 8 and the Rental
Assistance Program (RAP). Each
subsidy program is geared towards
individuals or families within a
specific income level. If a family'S
income increases beyond the level
allowed, their rent is adjusted and
they can remain in the complex.
According to the most recent
published information regarding the
subsidies, the 1986-1987 Report to
the Legislature on Mitchell-Lama
Housing, Starrett City received $19.9
million annually from HUD to
subsidize families housed within the
Section 236 program. Under the RAP
and Section 8 programs, Starrett City
also received HUD funding to subsi-
dize more than 5,500 apartments.
Starrett City has 5,881 apartments.
Fong says that the dispute between
Starrett and the government agen-
cies is over whether tenants able to
afford fair market rents have prior-
ity over families on the Section 236
waiting list. "There was a disagree-
ment about whether we could give
preference to fair market families
over families on the Section 236
waiting list," she says. "We are going
to 236 people first. They are not being
denied."
According to Fong, Starrett City's
waiting list has been pruned from
18,000 to about 6,000 and there are
now only about 850 names on the
Section 236 waiting list. "These
people have all been contacted," she
says, explaining that the vast major-
ity were not interested in moving in
or were rejected because of their
credit history.
Despite Fong's arguments, a letter
from DHCR states that even if the
Section 236 list is exhausted, it is up
to Starrett City to find new appli-
cants. The letter also notes that Star-
rett City has been less than forthcom-
ing with information about their
rental policies: "Our attempts to dis-
cuss these complaints with rental
office staff have been met with vague
June/July 1990 9
and inconclusive responses and
marked resistance to our requests for
access to office records," writes
deputy commissioner Holtz.
Eric Hauser, a spokesperson for
Rep. Charles Schumer, whose dis-
trict . includes Starrett City, echoes
this point. "It is difficult to pin down
exactly what is going on. Our office
has gotten calls from constituents
who are equally confused. And Star-
rett doesn't seem enthusiastic about
clarifying the situation."
But Victor Bach, director of hous-
ing policy and research for the
Community Service Society, has a
forward-thinking interpretation: "I
think this is a long-term real estate
strategy to up the income levels they
serve and bring in a tenancy that's
open to conversion, a tenancy that
can afford high rents without federal
subsidies," he says. Bach explains
that by the Starrett City
may be able to opt out of its federal
contracts.
While Starrett City is wrangling
with state and federal officials, the
city is going ahead with efforts to
provide hefty subsidies for Spring
Creek Estates, a plan to create 4,700
housing units on land near Starrett
City. Most of the housing will be for
middle income New Yorkers. Star-
rett Housing Corporation, which
owns Starrett City and Grenadier
Realty, has submitted a proposal to
develop the new housing. As part of
, this broader effort, Starrett City is
often referred to now as Starrett at
Spring Creek. 0
SUPPORT SERVICES FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
Writing 0 Reports 0 Proposals 0 Newsletters 0 Manuals 0 Program
Description and Justification 0 Procedures 0 Training Materials
Research and Evaluation 0 Needs Assessment 0 Project Monitoring and
Documentation 0 Census/Demographics 0 Project and Performance
Evaluation
Planning and Development 0 Projects and Organizations 0 Budgets
o Management 0 Procedures and Systems
Call or write Sue Fox
710 WEST END AVENUE
NEW YORK, NY 10025
(212) 222-9946
10 CITY UMITS
PIPELINE
It's a Wonderful Life
for Freddie Mac
Nicknamed Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation is doing
booming business. That boom may be costing New York.
BY DOUG TURETSKY
REMEMBER GEORGE BAILEY, THE
small-town banker in the film "It's a
Wonderful Life?" When Bailey's sav-
ings and loan hit the skids, the towns-
folk stuck with him. The local sav-
ings bank was viewed as a part of the
community. Everybody in town put
their money into the local savings
and loan and that's where townsfolk
turned when they needed money to
buy a home.
That was about the extent of a
savings bank's business. No risky
deals, no big profits: the bankers were
called three-six-three men because
they paid three percent interest to
their depositors, charged six percent
interest on their mortgages and made
it to the golf course by three in the
afternoon.
Savings and loans have changed
dramatically since Bailey's day.
When Ronald Reagan signed the S&L
deregulation bill in 1982, he opened
the floodgates to a tide of abuse that
has washed over the industry and
resulted in a bailout now projected
to cost taxpayers some $500 billion.
Well before deregulation funda-
mentally altered the way many S&Ls
do business, there were some other
moves that changed the way the banks
operate. In 1970, under lobbying
pressure from the savings banks,
Congress created the Federal Home
Loan Mortgage Corporation, com-
monly known as Freddie Mac. It
transformed the way S&Ls handled
most mortgages, spelling potential
disaster for New York - and the
nation.
When Freddie Mac was created, it
gave the savings banks an outlet for
selling their mortgage loans, much
like mortgage brokers sold their loans
to the Federal National Mortgage
Association. Freddie Mac repackages
loans and sells them as mortgage-
backed securities to Wall Street in an
arena called the secondary mortgage
market. Because Freddie Mac has
the implicit backing of the federal
government, investors see the corpo-
ration as a safe bet, explains Freddie
Mac official Paul Allen.
The theory behind all this buying
and selling of mortgages is that it
links the nation's capital markets to
local banks and makes more money
available for housing. Sirriply put,
when a bank sells a mortgage to Fred-
die Mac, the S&L makes a quick profit
and has money to write a new loan.
In this brave new banking world,
the traditional relationship between
local bankers and home buyers or
landlords doesn't count for much.
Instead of paying close attention to
the needs of their local customers,
banks tailor their mortgage loans to
the demands of Freddie Mac offi-
cials, who, in turn, are listening to
the demands of Wall Street. In this
new and complicated chain of rela-
tionships, accountability and blame
are easily spread. Banks often issue
mortgages for buildings in commu-
nities hundreds of miles away, and
there isn't much checking to find out
whether the building can really
support the mortgage.
In the short term, everyone in-
volved seemed to prosper. Real es-
tate operators had access to easy cash.
The banks earned more by selling
large loans to Freddie Mac. And
Freddie Mac had a seemingly insa-
tiable appetite to buy loans to be
repackaged as securities. But the
ultimate results of this cycle may be
more devastating than anything
George Bailey ever dreamed.
Flush Freddie
Twenty years ago, the secondary
mortgage market was a small part of
the mortgage industry. Today, Fred-
die Mac is a behemoth, holding more
than $300 billion in mortgages. Last
year alone, Freddie Mac gobbled up
$ 79 billion in mortgages, issued $125
billion in securities and earned $437
million in profits.
Because new rules passed under
the S&L bailout bill require the banks
to meet tougher guidelines, Freddie
Mac's share of the market is likely to
grow even more. And that's just fine
with Freddie Mac's stockholders,
who've seen their investments sky-
rocket. In 1989, Freddie Mac's stock
zoomed from a low of $48.75 per
share to more than $100.
With all this housing money gen-
erated by a congressionally chartered
business floating around, one might
think affordable housing activists
would be overjoyed. In fact, a grow-
ing number of low income housing
experts see Freddie Mac as a bane
rather than a boon. Says Howard
Banker of Neighborhood Housing
Services of America, "Freddie Mac
was a catastrophe for affordable
housing in New York City."
Capitol Talk
When Freddie Mac officials talk
on Capitol Hill about their positive
role in promoting affordable hous-
ing, they often point to the North-
west Bronx. But real estate profes-
sionals, housing lenders, public offi-
cials and organizers from the North-
west Bronx Community and Clergy
Coalition tell another story. They
say the area may be on the brink of
disaster. The reason: Freddie Mac's
over-financing, which spurred ram-
pant speculation by some real estate
operators, is now causing an appar-
ent rise in defaults and foreclosures.
Three years ago, city housing offi-
cials warned Freddie Mac they were
over-mortgaging Bronx buildings.
Freddie Mac refused to listen.
As one self-described Bronx real
estate operator says, Freddie Mac
created a market where one hadn't
existed before, bringing much needed
capital to renovate the area's declin-
ing housing stock. With property
values suddenly on the rise, banks
and brokers from as far away as Miami
Beach scrambled to
write Bronx loans they
could then sell to Fred-
die Mac. A building
would be bought at one
price and then refi-
nanced for hundred of
thousands of dollars
more just a few months
later (see City Limits,
March 1989). For ex-
ample, 130 West 183rd
Street, a 51-unit build-
ing, was purchased for
$750,000 and then
refinanced for $1.2
million just several
months later.
Classic pyramid
schemes were set into
motion. " Up and
coming" landlords
Its a wonderful life:
Could George Bailey calm an overled Freddie Mac?
like Steven Green (see City Limits,
January 1990) and Abraham Gin
would use the "excess" money from
one building to purchase another.
Freddie Mac's ferocious appetite to
buy and securitize mortgages fueled
the speculation as its own bottom
line boomed.
But the foundation of this specu-
lative pyramid has begun to crack.
Streets like Loring Place in the Bronx
are lined with Green' s defaulted
buildings and Gin' s once-heralded
empire is now bankrupt. Real estate
sources say foreclosures on build-
ings with Freddie Mac mortgages are
mushrooming in the Northwest
Bronx, where the corporation has
more than 600 mortgages, as well as
other parts of the city.
Freddie Mac admits it has a de-
fault problem nationwide-as do
many other mortgage institutions
since the real estate bubble has burst.
Its losses on multi-family housing
more than doubled last year to $99
million. But Freddie Mac denies it
has any problem in the Bronx.
It 's a denial that belies Freddie
Mac's stated commitment to afford-
able housing. Acknowledging prob-
lems in the Bronx would mean
admitting the corporation had been
buying mortgages of properties with
wildly inflated values . And it
wouldn't be the first time.
Several years ago Freddie Mac
stopped buying mortgages on Flor-
ida homes built by the General De-
velopment Corp. because the com-
pany was selling them at inflated
prices. But, as Robert Reno wrote in
Newsday, Freddie Mac never tried to
pull the plug on General Develop-
ment and warn potential home buy-
ers. To do so would have meant alert-
ing the holders of Freddie Mac's mort-
gage-backed securities that some of
the mortgages were junk.
Legislators and Treasury Depart-
ment officials on Capitol Hill are
now worried that Freddie Mac might
be holding too much junk and may
eventually require a federal bailout.
Freddie Mac balances some $300
billion in mortgages on just $1.9 bil-
lion in equity. Until last year, the
Federal Home Loan Bank Board, the
organization that stood by while the
S&Ls were looted, was responsible
for regulating Freddie Mac. Now the
Department of Housing and Urban
Development has that role.
Standard-Bearer
Ultimately, Freddie Mac and the
other secondary mortgage market
companies are driven by their need
to protect their stockholders and bond
buyers. And because Freddie Mac
and the others have grown so big,
they now effectively call the shots in
the mortgage market. If a loan doesn't
meet Freddie Mac's (or the other
secondary market entities) criteria,
many bankers won't lend.
The result has been a standardiza-
tion of the mortgage market, some-
thing Freddie Mac trumpets as a major
accomplishment. While national
standards may make it easier for
Freddie Mac to buy loans, its under-
June/July 1990 11
mines the very diverse
credit needs of indi-
viduals and commu-
nities. In "The Urban
Housing Crisis: Social,
Economic and Legal Is-
sues and Prospects,"
Arlene Zarembka con-
cludes: "This [stan-
dardization], in turn,
will make it more dif-
ficult for less expen-
sive housing or hous-
ing located in less
valuable neighbor-
hoods to obtain mort-
gage financing."
Freddie Mac' s char-
ter was recently rewrit-
ten to underscore the
corporation' s respon-
sibility to serve the
nation's affordable housing needs.
Freddie Mac has since announced
an affordable housing unit that will
be part of its marketing department
and promised a $40 million invest-
ment in the Local Initiative Support
Corp.'s housing tax credit partner-
ships.
Many housing activists believe
Freddie Mac should do much more.
Representatives from the Center for
Community Change (CCC) and
ACORN have been meeting with
Freddie Mac officials in Washington
to press for more far reaching pro-
grams. Allen Fishbein, general coun-
sel to CCC, is attempting to get Fred-
die Mac officials to recognize the
differences between for-profit and
nonprofit developers. He wants Fred-
die Mac to offer more favorable loan
terms to nonprofits, but he says,
"Their [Freddie Mac] tendency is to
see it all as one market. "
North west Bronx activists are also
pressing Freddie Mac to make some
fundamental changes in the way they
do business. Worried that the fore-
closed properties in their neighbor-
hoods will just be sold to the next
group of speculators, activists are
asking Freddie Mac to take a loss on
their over-mortgaged properties and
let the tenants buy the buildings.
Back in George Bailey's day, loc&l
bankers listened to their customers,
who were also their neighbors. Fred-
die Mac's ear is cocked to Wall Street,
but with activists knocking on their
doors in Washington, it's clearly time
for a change. 0
12 CITY UMITS
FEATURE
The Unkindest Cut
Home Relief is the last vestige of support in the state's tattered safety net.
Now it's the target of the budget axe.
BY MARY KEEFE
, , I ' m healthy, I want to work. It's not that I want to
be on welfare," says Angelo Rosario, a slightly
built man wearing a worn Reebok t-shirt and De-
troit Pistons cap. The 33-year-old Bronx resident never
graduated from high school, and it's been some time
since he held a job packing boxes for Manhattan fashion
companies or working as a messenger. Three years ago
he enrolled in a private trade school. Not long after the
school shut down, saddling him with a $3,500 loan he
can't repay and none of the promised training.
Welfare caseworkers send Rosario to employment
agencies and public work programs. He's tried the mer-
chants up and down Fordham Road and filled out
applications at all the fast food chains. "It's the same old
story. You leave your address but they never get back to
you," says a frustrated Rosario.
Rosario lives on a meager public assistance stirend
known as Home Relief. It's the bottom of the barre, the
last vestige of support in the state's tattered safety net for
single adults or families without dependent children.
Rosario's current monthly allotment is $352-much ofit
going for rent for a small room. Now elected officials
want to save money by cutting people like Rosario from
the state-funded Home Relief rolls.
"Home Relief is the most stigmatized of all the public
assistance programs," says Guida West, director of pol-
icy, advocacy and research at the Federation of Protes-
tant Welfare Agencies. To many New Yorkers, the eld-
erly or people with disabilities are the deserving poor
and the presence of children makes assistance accept-
able for poor families, explains West. "But Home Relief
has always been seen as able adults ... the public notion
is that if you just try harder you will get a job."
Despite the harsh reality that jobs are getting harder to
find in a state with a declining economy, this notion is
gaining acceptance among a growing number of elected
officials. A year ago state legislation was passed requir-
ing all "job ready" Home Relief recipients to join a new
Job Search program or get cut from the assistance rolls.
But the program is little more than a sketchy assessment
of who is job ready and provides no funds for job training
or placement. Before Job Search is even fully imple-
mented, much less evaluated, bills have been proposed
by both Gov. Mario Cuomo and Republican state sena-
tors that would place further restrictions on Home Relief
benefits. Recipients deemed job ready could not collect
Home Relief for more than six months during any 18-
month period. State officials may be hoping to reduce
public assistance expenditures, but advocates for the
poor say the result will be a surge in homelessness.
Bootstraps
"These people are going to become homeless because
they've got no other means to support themselves," says
Kristin Morse of the Coalition for the Homeless. "The
idea is that this will give
people impetus to pull
themselves up by their
bootstraps-even though
they don't have any boots."
In the last few months, a
broad coalition of advo-
cates, including the coali-
tion, United Way and the
statewide Hunger Action
Network have lobbied ex-
tensively to try and defeat
the proposed cuts to Home
Relief. Advocates are claim-
ing a temporary victory
because the cuts are not
included in the most recent
version of the ever-chang-
ing budget. However, this
is subject to change and
legislators from the Repub-
lican-controlled Senate say
they intend to raise the
proposals again, at the very
least to be used as a bar-
gaining chip in negotiations
that continue even after the
budget is announced.
Jerry Willins and his son, Jerell.
June/July 1990 13
males, an unpublished state Department of Social Serv-
ices (DSS) survey reveals that nearly half of those on the
Home Relief rolls are women, some with children under
19. Many have serious health problems. And large
numbers are eligible for other public assistance pro-
grams like federally funded Social Security Insurance,
but have been cut off because of bureaucratic bungling.
Although those on Home Relief are often character-
ized as laggards, a 1987 state study of recipients outside
New York City showed that
about half the men and
women received benefits for
only about six months. DSS
records indicate that in 1988
16,000 Home Relief clients
found employment.
The city's Human Re-
sources Administration es-
timates that 36,600 Home
Relief recipients in the five
boroughs will eventually be
labeled job ready and re-
quired to undertake their
own job hunt. They are the
targets of the newly pro-
posed legislation, which
could cut off their benefits
for a year at a time if they
don't satisfy job-hunting
requirements. "We believe
in the inherent value of
work," says DSS spokesper-
son Mark Lewis.
Whatever decision is
reached will be made
within the broader context
of the state's implementa-
tion of federally mandated
welfare reform. In a classic
case of government propos-
als working at cross-pur-
poses, just as the state is
gearing up to spend more
money on support programs
for recipients of Aid to
Willins was cu' from the Home Re'ief rolls six months ago.
Pronounced ;ob ready, he's b_n unable to 'and a ;ob.
But some state officials
apparently recognize that
the job search will often be
futile. A DSS fact sheet is-
sued just six months before
the creation of Job Search
states, "Even among those
who are able-bodied and
available for work, Home
Relief recipients tend to
lack the essential educa-
tional and vocational back-
ground for job-seeking suc-
cess." According to the un-
published state survey, 56
percent of those receiving
Families with Dependent Children, another welfare
program, legislators are considering reducing benefits
for those receiving Home Relief.
"The state is breaking down a commitment to treating
all people on public assistance the same way," says Don
Friedman, a legal services attorney who works regularly
with the Citywide Welfare Advocacy Network. If the
cuts are made, he says, "They're saving money on the
backs of people on Home Relief."
Beyond the Stereotypes
Home Relief recipients comprise about 20 percent of
all public assistance cases. Despite stereotypes that the
vast majority of Home Relief recipients are able-bodied
Home Relief never finished high school and 25 percent
only completed grammar school. As the state's economy
begins to slide, the competition for jobs is intensifying
and even so-called entry-level jobs are demanding an
increasing level of skills. In fact, the state's own budget
division estimates the number of individuals needing
public assistance will rise in the next year.
Take That Job
Still, Lewis insists, "A lot of people on public assis-
tance don't believe they have to work. One of the philo-
sophical issues this bill raises is should someone on
welfare be required to take a job at McDonald's. The
administration's position comes down to: If there are
14 CITY LIMITS
jobs in the commu-
nity people should
be in them."
Public assis-
tance advocates
like Myrna Perez
of the Citizens
Advice Bureau in
the Bronx argue
that Home Relief
provides too few
benefits to help
recipients negoti-
ate even the most
basic job search.
"They get so little.
How are they
going to dress to
go on interviews?
People can't even buy clothes or shoes. And even
McDonald's is going to ask for skills," says Perez.
To critics like those at the Coalition for the Homeless,
the latest attempts to tighten Home Relief rules have
more to do with forcing people off the public assistance
rolls than helping them gain skills and jobs. Thousands
of city residents were "churned" from public assistance
rolls during the 1980s, and Home Relief recipients ac-
counted for about 60 percent ofthe people who had their
benefits cut, according to a coalition report.
The proposed rules may well add to these totals. The
Coalition for the Homeless report says that if 1,700
people were forced into the shelter system because of
stricter Home Reliefrules, the cost would exceed the $25
million officials say would be saved in reduced public
assistance benefits.
The Pennsylvania Example
New York is not the first state to attempt such reduc-
tions. Since 1982 Pennsylvania has had a law limiting
cash benefits to a population similar to those on Home
Relief in New York. In Pennsylvania, anyone aged 18-45
deemed work ready and "transitionally needy" is lim-
ited to just three months of benefits during any 12-
Who's Job Ready?
Last year state legislation was passed requmng
local social service agencies to evaluate the job readi-
ness of all applicants and recipients of Home Relief. A
state administrative directive provides a one-page
form with eight yes or no answers to be filled out by
overburdened social workers expected to make snap
judgments about mental and physical health, educa-
tion and English proficiency, vocational skills and
substance abuse history of those receiving Home Re-
lief. The social worker must also put this information
into the context of the local job market.
If the social worker's evaluation labels a recipient
job ready, he or she is required to make at least three
contacts a week with prospective employers over a
120-day period and provide proof of these contacts to
Myrna P.re% (I.It):
Hom Iief recipi.nts
"get so li", .... peopl.
can't .v.n buy clo"'.s
orsh_s."
Kristin Mors. (below):
H cuts are mad.,
"''''.s. people are
going to become
hom.I .... "
month period. Jane Malone, di-
rector of the Office of Services to
the Homeless in Philadelphia, says
that a local study found that of the
150,000 people who lost their
benefits, no more than 15 percent
have found jobs.
Pennsylvania officials also
drew up rules requiring what the
state calls General Assistance re-
cipients to make a
proscribed num-
ber of job contacts.
According to
Malone, one job
that lasted three or
more months was
found for approxi-
mately every 9,000
contacts made.
That left recipi-
ents with an aver-
age annual wage of
just $2,390.
Such facts
seem to confirm
advocates' charges
that further reduc-
tions in New
z York's Home Re-
~ lief benefits will
<{ lead to increased
V'l homelessness and
demand on emer-
gency food services as well as escalating health prob-
lems for those who lose their Medicaid benefits.
Under federally mandated welfare reform, the state is
developing support programs that will be tied to job
training and work requirements. But these reforms only
apply to recipients of federally funded Aid to Families
with Dependent Children (AFDC). As these reforms go
into effect, pressure will continue to mount to cut Home
Relief costs to pay for the AFDC reforms.
a caseworker every two weeks. If someone leaves the
Home Relief rolls and then reapplies, the process
begins again.
Anyone who is deemed job ready but fails to satisfy
the job-search requirements is cut off from Home
Relief, Food Stamp and Medicaid benefits for 45 days.
Punishment escalates if the person reapplies and again
fails to meet the job-search demands. Benefits won't be
reinstated during this sanction period even if the
individual begins a job search.
The city has already begun to implement Job Search
for new Home Relief applicants. They are given a
booklet when they apply and are expected to immedi-
ately begin making job contacts, according to Human
Resources Administration spokesman John Beckman.
He says the program was initiated too recently to be
evaluated. 0 Mary Keefe
A broad statewide coalition of advocacy and service
groups is lobbying Albany legislators to offer Home
Relief recipients many of the same assistance programs
being proposed for those receiving AFDC (even though
a huge battle continues to rage over the inadequacy of
some of these programs). "The best thing to do for Home
Relief recipients would be to match efforts with proper
counseling, proper education and proper job training
programs," says James Mulligan of the Citywide Welfare
Advocacy Network. "Right now they're not doing that.
They' re not taking a holistic approach to the problem."
But as long as the perception of Home Relief recipi-
ents as the undeserving poor persists, legislators are
likely to perceive the program as prime for the budget
axe.
"The public is operating out of missassumptions and
public assumptions are reflected in the assumptions of
legislators," says West of the Federation of Protestant
Welfare Agencies. "Garbage in, garbage out. You define
the problems erroneously and you get stupid solutions. "0
don't miss the
City Limits
spectacular spring fundraiser
Tuesday, June 5th, 6:00 p.m.
The Place: Two Boots Restaurant
514 Second Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
$10 Cover Hors d'oeuvres Cash Bar
Call (212) 925-9820 for further information
June/July 1990 15
The Center for Popular Economics'
Summer Institute 1990
A week of intensive economics training which
provides an integrated view of economics,
designed for activists, organizers, and
educators, to make their work more effective.
NO PREVIOUS ECONOMICS TRAINING NECESSARY
The topics for this year include:
"'the economics of the environment
"'democratizing the U.S. financial system
"'plant closures and runaway shops
"'the third world debt crisis
"'the U.S. as a debtor nation
"'the economics of housing
and much morel!!
This year's institute runs from July 29-August 4
Scholarships are available, and on-site daycare
is available.
THE APPLICATION DEADLINE IS JULY 14TH
Write to:
The Center for Popular Economics
Box 78SC ,. Amherst, MA 01004
Hold These Dates
NOVEMBER 6 - 8, 1990
UPROOTING POVERTY
THROUGH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
In celebration of our 25th anniversary, the Pratt Institute. Center for Community
and Environmental Development will be sponsoring a working conference
to develop a new agenda for eliminating poverty.
For groups wishing to participate in the event, please contact:
Eva Neubauer, Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development,
379 DeKalb Avenue, 2nd floor Brooklyn, NY 11205, 718/636-3486
16 CItY UMITS
FEATURE
Bitter-Sweet Success
Think your community has won a battle against a local polluter? Think again.
BY MARGUERITE HOLLOW A Y
F
ive years ago, Jane Califf could no longer tolerate
the stench of nail polish in her Boerum Hill,
Brooklyn, apartment. She joined the Boerum Hill-
South Brooklyn Clean Air Committee, which after sev-
eral years of struggle, won the fight to get the noxious
emissions from a local factory out of their air.
Ten years ago, -
Marty Sonnenfeld
started talking to
people about the
odor, color, and
taste of their Ja-
maica, Qu-e-ens,
water - and about
their white clothes
that would not
come clean, except
at the dry cleaner.
In 1985, Sonnenfeld
and the Jamaica
Clean Water Coali-
tion won the fight
to have thelast New
York City weH wa-
ter condemned and
the privately owned
Jamaica Water Sup-
ply Company pur-
chased by the city.
the hands of a vast city, state and federal bureaucracies.
As Arthur Kell, a citywide toxics organizer for the
New York Public Interest Research Group puts it, "Battles
on environmental issues typically test the stamina of the
most committed grassroots activists. These battles must
be followed through on a complex number of levels ... the
battle isn't over until it's over."
Once government agencies start to regulate a hazard,
grassroots activism
can be defused by
bureaucratic bun-
gling as well as
mystifying scien-
tific jargon. Also,
it's obviously eas-
ier to target a prob-
lem than imple-
ment a solution; for
example, momen-
tum can be lost
because agencies
are hesitant to take
on the risks of new
and alternative
technologies ,
sometimes with
good reason. And
in neighborhoods
where polluters are
also a primary em-
~ l o y e r , the battle
lines are not so
clearly drawn.
Califf and Son-
nenfeld are just a
few of -the thou-
sands of New York
City residents who
have joined grass-
roots community
Mixed me .. age.:
ShI,. and federal agencie. aren't coordinating enforcement 01 air emi .. ion.
from tfte Ulano factory in 80erum Hill.
"It's not easy,"
says Barry Com-
moner, a veteran
environmental ad-
vocate who runs
groups grappling with environmental hazards close to
home. Their struggles may not be as well publicized as
global effottst9 steI1l the greenhouse effect , but they're
part of a growing number of urban environmentalists
who are gaining S'Ophistication and achieving some
success. _
So why is Califf still plagued by fumes? And why are
half of the residents of Jamaica - with some 500,000
residents - still drinking well water that may be tainted?
Some community groups that successfully wage war
against environmental threats seem to experience only
the bitter side of bitter-sweet victory. After hard-fought
battles, the Boerum Hill-South Brooklyn Clean Air
Committee and the Jamaica Safe Water Coalition ap-
peared to be .. the winners when government regulators
agreed to sfep in and take control of environmental
hazards. Yet neither group has seen significant im-
provements. Their struggles are dead in the water, lost in
the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems at Queens
College. "If you decide you want to solve the problem
you do everything possible and as the issues move from
one level to another, you just follow them. It 's a constant
battle ... you just have to keep going. "
Toluene Troubles
Boerum Hill , Brooklyn, with its brownstones, public
housing projects and small businesses, is home to work-
ing-class families as well as artists with a need for large
spaces and low rent. It' s also the base for the Ulano fac-
tory, a squat brick building that was the city's largest
emitter of toluene-a dangerous solvent that may cause
cancer.
More than a decade ago, Boerum Hill residents first
wrote to officials asking for an investigation into the
odorous emissions from the factory at 280 Bergen Street.
After a community demonstration generated publicity,
the state's Department of
Environmental Conservation
(DEC) tested the facility in
1981. They found the com-
pany in violation of state
regulations and ordered a
gradual reduction of emis-
sions by 1985.
But 1985. brought no
change: DEC granted the
company an extension. At
that point, Jane Califf got in-
volved "because it was so
creepy to go down the block
and smell nail polish." The
Brooklyn Lung Association
joined the fight and the Clean
Air Committee enlisted tech-
nical consultants to help
interpret state data and test
emissions from the factory.
Quality concern.:
Junel July 1990 17
getridof95 percent. Accord-
ing to Califf, DEC was going
to give Ulano a permit but
then the EPA stepped in to
say the state agency couldn't
violate its own regulations.
Helper from the EPA says
that it's up to the state to
revise their regulations if they
want the incinerator to re-
ceive a permit. "The state
needs to propose the change.
We cannot revise a state
plan." She adds that the EPA
may draft a letter to DEC to
prompt some action.
Watered-Down
The water that most New
York City residents drink
comes from upstate and is re-
nowned for having a high
standard of cleanliness-it's
:.<: even been described as "the
~ champagne of drinking wa-
~ ter."
~ But some half million resi-
Finally, last summer, af-
ter a decade of struggle, vic-
tory appeared to be in sight.
Ulano was required to be in
total compliance with new
sol vent emission regulations.
These regulations were
drafted to lessen ozone pol-
lution by reducing Volatile
Organic Compounds (VOCs)
Marly Sonnenleld and Jamaica ,...id.",. demanded
clean wafer live yean ago. Theyre .till waiting.
dents of Jamaica , Queens, and
Nassau County don't have the
opportunity to drink from
this source. Their water
- the precursors of smog. To be in compliance, Ulano
agreed to two changes. They would move their toluene-
related processes to a factory in Massachusetts, which
had pollution control technology in place, and they
would also change their New York City processes to
water-based solvents that would not evaporate and float
downwind.
And now? Progress on getting rid of toluene as well
as other VOCs appears to be hampered by lack of coordi-
nation by the two monitoring agencies, the state DEC
and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
When asked by City Limits whether toluene processes
had indeed been moved to Massachusetts, the written
response from a company official, Robert Gold, was
ambiguous. "We have been eliminating the use of
toluene in our facilities, and in conjunction with the
Environmental Protection Agency we are in the last
stages of this elimination."
Ulano officials say they're working in conjunction
with the EPA, but when City Limits called the EPA to
check on the company's progress, spokesperson Kim
Helper reported that the state is handling the case. Yet
Mike Kormanick, an engineer from the state DEC, is ada-
mant that the EPA is the lead agency on the issue.
Ulano's attempts to remove smog-creating VOCs have
not moved very far, apparently because, once again, the
state and the bureaucracies are sending mixed messages.
As required, Ulano has installed an incinerator to rid the
air of VOCs-but it sits silent on the roof. DEC officials
say Ulano has not been issued a permit for the incinera-
tor because state regu:lations call for 98 percent of the
pollution to be eliminated and the incinerator will only
comes from the Jamaica Water Supply Company, which
provides water from 62 underground wells that offer a
liquid of questionable quality.
The city's Department of Health (DOH) and company
officials say the well water isn't a health hazard because
it meets government standards, but in the last decade at
least 17 Jamaica Water Supply wells were closed down
because of contamination. Many local residents are
skeptical about the water quality, including Council
Member Archie Spigner, who quips, "I love Jamaica
water. It's the best water in the world. Just don't drink
it." ,
The reason for the dubious quality of the well water
is run-off from local industries, which has sent harmful
chemicals into the city's groundwater. Water percolat-
ing down through the soil makes its way between auto
repair shops, gas stations, dry cleaners. and other indus-
tries using solvents and de-greasers. Because of the
dangers of contamination and the pressure of popula-
tion growth, most of the city switched to using upstate
water long ago.
Most ofthe city, that is, except for Jamaica (and parts
of Nassau County). When the state Department of Health
tested for quality in these areas back in 1979 they found
trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, according to
DOH's Arthur Ashendorff. Both compounds cause can-
cer in laboratory animals. Other contaminants found in
the wells included toluene and chloroform.
In the early 1980s, Marty Sonnenfeld, a toxics re-
searcher at the Hunter College Community Environ-
mental Health Center, started organizing in Queens
around the issue of water quality. As Sonnenfeld recalls,
18 CITY UMITS
the greatest concern came from African-Americans who
suffered from the poorest quality water. "People would
ask, 'What happens when I drink this stuff? Can I bathe
my daughter in it?"
The Jamaica Clean Water Coalition was created, with
strong support from African-Americans who looked at
their water supply and saw evidence of racism. "There
was an outrage about social justice," says Sonnenfeld.
"People asked, 'How come they get city water over there
and I can't get it here?' Without exception, the blacker
the community, the worse the contamination."
Ron LaLande, who headed the coalition, agrees. If this
had been a primarily white community "the city would
have paid a lot more heed to the outcry," he says, adding,
"It upset me that there
were no government-
sponsored medical
studies" of health ef-
fects of the water.
With the commu-
nity strongly mobi-
lized and unified, leg-
islators took heed. In
1985, a bill commit-
ted the city to con-
demn Jamaica Water
Supply Company and
purchase it. "We had
practically drafted the
bill," says Sonnen-
feld. "This was a tre-
mendously successful
community organiza-
tion."
C'o .. ,,'ation.hip:
This spring, the company finally submitted their
selling price: $800 million, according to the Daily News.
City officials say they're willing to pay $75 million.
Clearly, negotiations have a long way to go.
But even if the purchase was accelerated, it is unclear
what, if anything, the city would do differently than the
company-at least until the year 2000, when the newest
water main is expected to supply Jamaica with reservoir
water from upstate. As a partial solution, the city now
supplies water to peripheral areas of Jamaica-those
closest to city water mains-such as Kew Gardens,
Richmond Hills and Hollis Hills. "All white communi-
ties," notes Sonnenfeld.
Sonnenfeld urges filtration of the entire well system.
Currently, three fil-
ters-costing
$150,000 each-are in
use in Jamaica. But
this kind of filtration
may just be creating a
new problem because
it releases pollutants
into the air. When con-
fronted with this di-
lemma, local experts
just raised their hands
in dismay.
Working Together
The Dutch Kills
neighborhood in
Queens is solidly
working class, a place
where residents and
industry have co-ex-
isted for years. Refer-
ring to the owners of
~ the numerous small
~ factories that employ
Despite this victory,
there were some lin-
gering doubts in the
community. "We ac-
cepted the legislative
move with skepti-
cism," says Seymour
Schwartz, who was
then active in the coa-
Th. Po'y PIa.tic. lactory (right) i. next to ,..idenfia' home. in Dutch Kill.,
Qu_n
many local residents,
George Stamatiades,
president of the Dutch
lition. The legislators "did that to get the heat offthem-
selves because the community was strongly organized
then. And so they defused us."
Time has proven Schwartz right. Not much has hap-
pened since 1985. Although wells are monitored four
times a year by the city and the company, "the contami-
nants are still in there, but in lower levels," says Sonnen-
feld. The city is supposed to be purchasing the rest of the
wells from the Jamaica Water Supply Company, but the
selling process is moving a:head at a sloth-like pace.
As time passes, officials from the water company
continue to proclaim that their water is, was and will be
safe for drinking. Despite these assurances, Sonnenfeld,
LaLande and Schwartz are adamant that the water re-
mains a serious health concern. "It's a time bomb," says
Schwartz. Contaminated "drug products and food prod-
ucts are removed at once from the shelves-look at
Perrier. Should the profit motive allow Jamaica Water to
drag its feet when hundreds of thousands of lives are
affected?"
Kills Civic Associa-
tion, says, "We're in a partnership with them. We're not
in an adversarial relationship. If the workforce lives
within walking distance you watch out for each other."
The Dutch Kills Civic Association has had some
success from their approach-most notably an agree-
ment with the officials from a nearby lacquer factory,
who agreed to put a vent over an opening in the factory
where fumes were being emitted.
However, in a new confrontation with a plastic manu-
facturing company it has become "necessary to push
buttons for city agencies which have an uncanny way of
making life miserable for everyone," says Stamatiades.
In a case that recalls the Ulano struggle, residents next to
Poly Plastics at 36-36 36th Street are complaining about
noxious odors from the factory. "You can't even breathe,"
says Liz Goff, a nearby resident who has reported about
the complaints for the Long Island City Journal.
Poly Plastics' vice president, Sheldon Rothchild, says
the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administra-
tion (OSHA) tested the air inside the factory and found
it fine. OSHA's Salvatore
Roberto says that was indeed
true, and that the EPA is re-
sponsible for air quality out-
side. City Department of En-
vironmental Protection (DEP)
officials say there is no prob-
lem, aside from a building
violation: Poly Plastics cur-
rently has no certificate of
occupancy, but has until mid-
June to get it renewed. The
Department of Buildings
seems more concerned about
the fumes than the DEP: the
company's certificate was not
renewed "because of odors,"
says spokesman Vahe Tirya-
kian.
Even in this instance,
where a community group
appears willing to work with
business, the labyrinth of
local and federal regulations
are working at cross-pur-
poses. It remains to be seen
whether the Dutch Kills Civic
Association will have to
change tactics and become
confrontational.
Frustrating Setbacks
Setbacks are frustrating,
Georve Stelmatiade.:
" ha. &.come Nnece .. ary tel pu.h &uttan. lor city a"encie.,
which have an uncanny way 01 maleinfl ,ife mi .. ra&'e lor
everyone."
June/July 1990 19
its source have been side-
lined in favor of a regulatory
approach, which is less po-
li ticall y controversial. "In the
broadest terms, many envi-
ronmental groups ... have
decided to regulate the
amount of pollutants and
have failed to really achieve
the prevention of pollution
to begin with," he says.
Others, like Commoner,
say the problem is a lack of
leadership from politicians
who set the agenda for en-
forcement agencies. Point-
ing blame directly towards
Gov. Mario Cuomo and for-
mer President Ronald Re-
agan, he says, "The state en-
vironmental program is very
poor and the EPA has its
troubles too. In this instance,
lwe're dependent upon
elected officials. If they don't
do their job, you move onto
political activity."
He continues, "We live in
a society where government
is not responsi ve to the needs
of people .. .it's only respon-
sive to the needs of people
with money. So what's new?
but longtime environmental advocates say they are just
one part of what sometimes seems like a never ending
struggle. Kell from NYPIRG says that part of the rroblem
is the framework within which environmenta change
takes place. For decades , attempts to stop pollution at
You can wring your hands, but [the problem] isn't solved
until it's solved." 0
Marguerite Holloway is a freelance writer who focuses
on environmental and public health issues.
"COMMITMENT"
Since 1980 HEAT has provided low cost home heating oil . burner and boiler repair services.
and energy management and conservation services to largely minority low and middle income
neighborhoods in the Bronx. Brooklyn. Manhattan and Queens.
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-
ating capacity and potential to providing services that work for. and lead to. stable. productive
communities.
Throup the primary service of proyidinglow cost home heating oil, y.rious heating
pIMt services MId ener'KY manqement services, HEAT members Mye collectively

HOUSING ENERGY ALLIANCE FOR TENANTS COOP CORP.
853 BROADWAY. SUITE 414, NEW YORK. N.Y. 10003 1212'505-0286
If you .re interested in learning more.bout HEAT,
or if you .re interested in becoming. HEAT member,
c:.11 or write the HEAT office.
20 CITY UMITS
.
CITY VIEW
Community Development:
Running on Empty in Central Brooklyn
BY MARK WINSTON GRIFFITH
WHEN I GRADUATED FROM COL-
lege five years ago, my suburb-bound,
upwardly mobile classmates were
not surprised to learn that I was plan-
ning to return to the streets of "Do-
or-Die" Bed-Stuy. The
move was a perfectly
natural one for me.
Having been away for
more than 10 years, it
was time to reconcile
a personal and pro-
fessional relationship
with Central
Brooklyn that my fam-
ily began almost 40
years ago.
My parents, uncles
and aunts were in-
volved in what is now
an integral part of
Brooklyn lore-the
Ocean-Hill Browns-
ville decentralization
battle, the Model Cit-
ies program and sum-
mer academy and
countless other black
consciousness struggles and war-on-
poverty programs. When I was grow-
ing up, terms like "community em-
powerment" and "economic devel-
opment" meant nothing to me. But I
vi vidl y remember the pal pable sense
of determination and endless possi-
bility that pervaded the air. Hell
yeah, we were poor, but with a blue-
print of the future tucked away in
our back pockets, it was just a matter
of time before we created a new real-
ity for ourselves.
No Secret
It's no secret that neighborhoods
like Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights and
Harlem are still waiting to achieve
self-determination-despite the fact
that black officials are now regularly
elected. Those of us who work for
City View is a forum for opinion
and does not necessarily reflect
the views of City Limits.
community development organiza-
tions, the last institutional remnants
from the spirit of the 1960s, accept
patience as an unwritten part of the
job. We know that by definition,
"the struggle" is a long and protracted
one. But these days development
organizations in Central Brookl yn are
running low on idealism and my
colleagues are finding little else to
sustain them. At least four groups in
Central Brooklyn have directors who
are on the verge of leaving and a few
may even disband because major
funding cuts are looming.
In a few short years as a commu-
nity development professional, I have
tasted the disillusionment and cyni-
cism that many of these directors
speak of. It's more than a simple
matter of grassroots burnout. When
city and state funding agencies op-
press organizations with overwhelm-
ing bureaucratic obligations and
severely restrict input on commu-
nity planning, it's easy to start be-
lieving that your role is simply to
uphold a government-subsidized
status quo.
Conclusions
Once you've reached that demor-
alizing conclusion, it's hard to keep
working with a clear conscience. An
alternative does exist: developing
local institutions that are not depen-
dant on city and state funding. To
many, the choice may seem ludi-
crous: How can a low income com-
munity actually build and thrive
using its own resources? The way I
see it, there's no other choice. It's
simply a matter of following the
legacy handed down to me by my
family and environment.
At the moment, only a handful of
young people venture into the field
of community development and most
of them leave after a few frustrating
years. The challenge to Central
Brooklyn and a dozen other similar
areas is to attract new, creative lead-
ership to the profession, leadership
that believes we, the black and his-
torically disenfranchised, still have
the capacity to reinvent ourselves.
Of course, the hours will be long and
in most cases the pay will stink. In
the meantime, it will be the toughest
job we will ever need to love. 0
Mark Winston Griffith lives in
Bedford-Stuyvesant and has worked
for the Crown Heights Neighborhood
Improvement Association and Cen-
tral Brooklyn Partnership for Eco-
nomic Development. He is currently
organizing a Central Brooklyn credit
union.
Visit social
service projects in
London, England
HandsOn Fact Finding Tour
November 10- 17, 1990
$485
plus flight.
included: course fees and
private lodging.
Details (212) 576 1182
GOOD SAMARITAN TOURS
LETTERS
Archive Omissions
To the Editor:
In Daniel Zaleski's "Archives
Fight" (April, 1990), your reporting
included some inaccuracies and
omitted some important information.
Your statement that "the Teitel-
baum Group ... paid $10 to lease the
... building" is incomplete and mis-
leading. A $10 payment was consid-
eration for the first amendment of
the lease in 1982 but was not an
element of the rent.
The rent for the Archive is sub-
stantial. It consists of payments in
lieu of real estate taxes, a percentage
of refinancing proceeds, a participa-
tion in proceeds from any future co-
op conversion or sale of the project
and other obligations as well as base
rent ($10,000 per apartment) and
eight percent of gross rent from
commercial space.
To date, more than $2 million in
rent has been paid. This money goes
to the New York City Historic Prop-
erties Fund. And in addition to rent,
the Archive Fund, which comprises
the money that would have been
paid as sales tax for construction
materials, is distributed to local
groups at the direction of Commu-
nity Board 2.
As to the issue of the community
groups selected to occupy the semi-
public space, it is the developer, not
the community board, who is re-
sponsible. Community Board 2 and
the Urban Development Corporation
only review and comment on the
selection. Of the many groups that
applied, those that have been se-
lected are our first choice and we
have been trying to respond to each
group's specific needs and get them
to become tenants.
Additionally, my quote that the
renovation work is complete was
taken out of context. The renovation
ofthe Archive is complete; the land-
lord work in the semi-public space is
not. Landlord work within the ten-
ant spaces will be coordinated with
the plans of specific tenants. This
will allow the tenant, for example, to
select the color that the walls and
ceiling are painted or to get a credit
for the basic light fixtures the land-
lord would provide if the tenant
wants a different fixture.
City Limits is ofinterest and value
to its readers not just for its point of
view but also for the information it
provides. An accurate article is the
best means of establishing a credible
point of view.
John Pettit West III
Rockrose Development Corp.
Zaleski replies: Thank you for the
clarification in regards to payment
of rent from the Archive Building.
That Rockrose makes payments to
the historic properties fund and pay-
ments in lieu of taxes to local groups
is really beside the point. The build-
ing would probably be generating
more tax revenue for the city if it was
treated like the private development
project it is. The fact that Rockrose
plans to complete such work as par-
titioning and painting does not ad-
dress the major issues that most
tenants spoke of-ventilation for air
conditioning and heating and the
need for space suitable for office use.
Despite several meetings with Rock-
rose over the past year, agreements
have not been reached.
There They Go Again
To the Editor:
Once again, the role of the New
York City Partnership is mistakenly
portrayed by City Limits as a devel-
oper competing with local groups-
rather than as a source of technical
assistance and financing for housing
projects built under a city homeown-
ership program-in Lisa Glazer's
"Pride and Poverty in Bedford-
Stuyvesant" (May 1990).
The Housing Partnership, like the
Enterprise Foundation and the Local
Initiative Support Corporation, is an
intermediary that helps the housing
department administer a city afford-
able housing production program.
Incidentally, the partnership also
administers the city's only minority
home builder program-the Small
Builder Assistance Program-which
was favorably referenced without
credit to the partnership in the same
issue of City Limits.
Because the Housing Partnership
program depends on mostly private
funds for financing, its developers
must be bankable home builders.
However, development teams in-
clude nonprofit community groups
in planning and marketing roles and,
June' July 1990 21
.. it
occasionally, as co-developers. In no
case does the partnership become
involved in a project unless it has the
support ofthe board and
one or more community-based non-
profit organizations,
In Bed-Stuy, t.he partnershif pro-
gram currently has five smal proj-
ects in construction or about to start.
All call for two-family homes, with
household incomes starting at
$28,000. All are beirig developed by
local Brooklyn bu.ilders, including
two African-American firms from the
immediate neighb.orhood, with the
support of church and community
development groups.
The partnersb.ip prograPl offers
homeownership opportunities and
economic integration that many
communities desperately want, and
has done so without significant dis-
placement. It fills a afford-
able housing need for working fami-
lies earning $25-$45,000 annually
who are unserved by low or market
rate housing. The program is also
beginning to reach lower income
homeowners through limited divi-
dend cooperatives, additional subsi-
dies and new financing mechanisms.
While moderate and middle in-
come housing may not be the first
priority of a community, it is almost
always part of the ove..rall plan. When
this is the case, the Iiousing Partner-
ship is available to help.
Kathryn Wylde
Housing Partnership
Development Corp.
Glazer replies: We acknowledge
the partnership works through local
nonprofits and However,
the Bed-Stuy story doolt with broad
policy issues an.d on this level the
partnership does compete with local
groups. There's a limited amount of
subsidy dollars and (l large portion
of these are going to partnership proj-
ects, which are part of a city housing
plan that didn't incl.ude
input. This doesn't happen in a vac-
uum-it's taking place at the expense
of development inspired and created
by local organizations.
Editor's note: City Limits wel-
comes letters from our readers.
We ask that you try to keep your
letters to 300 words in length.
.- Ie 0 . ' . : s S 0 :\ \ . , .t . Ie . : ( ' '. ' 0 Ie , .
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 UlrlCBS tor 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
J-51 TAX BENEFIT EXPEDITING
Specialists in:
HDFC'S Gut Rehabilitation
Vacant Building Program Developments
CALL TODAY FOR A FREE CONSULTATION
1740 Vietor Street, Bronx, NY 10462 Tel. (212)824-5044
REACH 20,000
NEW YORK DECISION-MAKERS
NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS 0 COMMERCIAL DEVELOPERS
AND MUCH MORE
To place a low-cost Professional Directory listing
please call 212/925-9820.
COMPUTER-EASE
Got MAC Files but a PC Computer?
Got PC Files but a MAC Computer?
CITY LIMITS Can Solve Your Problems!
Just $10 to Convert a File
Many Programs Available - Quick Turnaround
Call CITY LIMITS: 212/925-9820
SMOLLENS and GURALNleN,
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
ABHlTETUBAI.. & PLANNING DIVISION
Urban Homesteading Assistance Board
Specialists In Nohprofit Housing
and Community Facilities
FULL ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES
Zoning Analyses' Design Through Construction Documents
Inspection, Evaluation & Feasibility Reports
Contact Betsy Calhoun or Paul Castrucci, R.A. 2121226-4119
40 Prince Street, New York, NY 10012
TURF COMPANIES
Building 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
Rebecca Reich
718/857 -0468
Himmelstein & McConnell
Attorneys at Law
Residential and commercial tenant representation
in individual and group cases; cooperative and condo-
minium conversions and cooperative board represen-
tation; real estate; cloSings, general civil practice.
325 Broadway, Suite 402
New York, NY 10007
(212) 349-3000
,
WORKSHOP
PROJECT DIRECTOR. First director of "local enforcement unit" for
Manhattan CB3. This attorney will hire & lead staff of 2 lawyers,
3 organizers and 1 paralegal to do housing preservation and anti-
displacement work. Will work closely wi local advisory commit-
tees & other CBOs. Exp in tenant advocacy essential. Salary:
$50K +, wi exc benefits. Resume, references and writing sample:
Wayne Hawley, MFY Legal Services, 41 Avenue A, NYC 10019.
EMPLOYMENT COORDINATOR. Assisting business coordinator wi
compiling monthly statistics and reports for OBD. Market
services to businesses and applicants. Tie services into public
training and employment programs where applicable. Also
outreach to business. Salary: $18K+. BA in urban planningl
studies preferred. Resumes: Flores Forbes, Woodside on the
Move, 58-14 Roosevelt Avenue, Woodside, NY 11377.
DIRECTOR OF TRAINING. Citywide nonprofit housing organization
seeks person to oversee training of tenants in self-management
and cooperative ownership. Experience with low income hous-
ing, participatory education, staff supervision preferred. Salary
negotiable based on experience, Send resume to Susan Wefald,
Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, 40 Prince St. , NYC
10012
HOUSING ORGANIZER. Responsibilities: Organize tenants, counsel
on legal rights, negotiate wi landlords, agents & attorneys. Some
court work. Paralegal training provided. Requirements: Good
communication skills, oral and written. Spanish desirable. Sal-
ary: Commensurate wi exp, benefits. Resumes: Good Old Lower
East Side, 525 E. 6th St. , NYC 10009. Att: Ed Delgado, Director.
Nowwelneet

more Insurance
needs than ever
for groups
likevours.
June/July 1990 23
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. Nonprofit neighborhood development cor-
poration seeks energetic self starter with experience in manage-
ment, planning, fundraising and organizing. Starting salary:
$29,000 + exc benefits. Resume: Search Committee, Neighbor-
hood Housing Services, 127 Beverly Road, Brooklyn, NY 11218.
HOUSING CONSERVATION COORDINATORS
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. Nonprofit housing advocacy organi-
zation serving Clinton community in Manhattan for the past
19 years seeks an Executive Director to manage a 30
person/$1 million agency. Activities of agencies include
tenant advocacy and legal representation, technical assis-
tance and weatherization.
Requirements: minimum of three years experience in
management of nonprofit community-based housing or-
ganization; good verbal (including public speaking) and
written communication skills required; proven fundraising
and government contracting ability; successful experience
in supervision of staff; proven fiscal management, budget-
ing and accounting skills; knowledge of issues affecting low
income tenants and neighborhoods; and knowledge of
HPD and DHCR programs helpful.
Responsibilities: work with and report directly to the
Board of Directors; responsible for the administration, co-
ordination and overall implementation of organization's ac-
tivities and programs; responsible for supervision and di-
rection of staff; responsible for administration of govern-
ment contracts and fundraising; and work with staff to pro-
vide central vision and focus for organization's activities.
Salary: $40,000 plus benefits.
Start date: July 1, 1990.
Send resume to: HCC Search Committee,
777 Tenth Avenue, New York, NY 10019.
For 15 years we've insured tenant and community
groups all over New York City. Now, in our new,
larger headquarters we can offer more programs
and quicker service than ever before. Courteousl.v.
Efficiently. And professionally.
Richards and Fenniman, Inc. has always provided
extremely competitive insurance programs based
on a careful evaluation of the special needs of our
customers. And because of the volume of business
we handle, we can often couple these programs
with low-cost financing, if required.
We've been a leader from the start. And with our new
expanded services which now include life and bene-
fits insurance, we can do even more for you.
For information call:
Ingrid Kaminski, v.P.
(212) 267-8080.
~ . n c I Fennlm..-., Inc.
123 William Street, New York, New York 10038-3804
Your community housing insurance professionals
gNe"W York
Manhattan for
Rent, 1785-1850
Elizabeth Blackmar
"A masterful interdisciplinary study.
... Even in [the nineteenth century] the
landlord class had already succeeded in
creating scarcity by grabbing up huge
tracts of land and renting bits of it to
the less fortunate."-Utne Reader
Blackmar charts the history of the Man-
hattan real estate market and explains
how changing property and labor rela-
tions transformed housing into a com-
modity. $29.95
At bookstores, or call 800-666-2211
(credit card orders only)
Alone Together
A HISTORY OF NEW YORK'S
EARLY APARTMENTS
Elizabeth Collins Cromley
Alone Together presents a history of the
"invention" of New York apartment
houses in the nineteenth century.
Because local tenements suggested that
multiple dwellings were by nature
lower class, apartment houses were
seen as a threat to the social distinction
between the middle and working
classes.
"More than just architectural history,
[Alone Together] is a glimpse at the evo-
lution of American urban culture."
=Publishets Weekly
"Cromley is the first person to look at
the apartment house in a serious and
sustained way. Awonderful book."
-Dell Upton, University of California,
Berkeley. $24.95
124Roberts Place Ithaca, NY 14850
Cornell University Press