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Cover Story: Integration, Myth and Reality by Lisa Glazer.
Other stories include Jeff Bliss on welfare rights activist Frances Taylor; Jeffrey Hoff on the prevalence of small homes replacing big apartment complexes as homes for people living in subsidized housing; Doug Turetsky on whether splashy, high-priced development will continue to reign supreme as New York City moves forward; Eve Heyn on the lack of adequate supermarkets in several New York neighborhoods; Sharmila Voorakkara's account of why she walked out on Street News, a newspaper sold by the homeless.
Cover Story: Integration, Myth and Reality by Lisa Glazer.
Other stories include Jeff Bliss on welfare rights activist Frances Taylor; Jeffrey Hoff on the prevalence of small homes replacing big apartment complexes as homes for people living in subsidized housing; Doug Turetsky on whether splashy, high-priced development will continue to reign supreme as New York City moves forward; Eve Heyn on the lack of adequate supermarkets in several New York neighborhoods; Sharmila Voorakkara's account of why she walked out on Street News, a newspaper sold by the homeless.
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Cover Story: Integration, Myth and Reality by Lisa Glazer.
Other stories include Jeff Bliss on welfare rights activist Frances Taylor; Jeffrey Hoff on the prevalence of small homes replacing big apartment complexes as homes for people living in subsidized housing; Doug Turetsky on whether splashy, high-priced development will continue to reign supreme as New York City moves forward; Eve Heyn on the lack of adequate supermarkets in several New York neighborhoods; Sharmila Voorakkara's account of why she walked out on Street News, a newspaper sold by the homeless.
Copyright:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Verfügbare Formate
Als PDF, TXT herunterladen oder online auf Scribd lesen
August/September 1990 New York's Community Affairs News Magazine $2.00
T H E M O N S T E R P R O J E C T S : H U N T E R S P O I N T A N D T I M E S S Q U A R E S U P E R M A R K E T S H O R T A G E D G O O D B Y E S T R E E T N E W S 2 CITY LIMITS Ciq Volume XV Number 7 City Limits is published ten times per year. monthly except double issues in June/July 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 Mary Martinez. Lead Paint Poisoning Project Rebecca Reich Andrew Reicher. UHAB Richard Rivera. Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (on leave) Tom Robbins Jay Small . ANHD Walter Stafford. New York University Pete Williams. Center for Law and Social Justi ce 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 librari es. $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 Contributing Editors: Marguerite Holloway. Mary Keefe. Peter Marcuse. Jennifer Stern Production: Chi p Cliffe Photographers: Adam Anik. Andrew Lichtenstein Intern: Madeline Dorval 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 46106. Cover photograph by Teun Voeten/lmpact Visuals. EDITORIAL Zoo Story This year some landlords came dressed as kangaroos. The annual spring rite, during which the city's Rent Guidelines Board establishes rent hikes for some 840,000 rent-stabilized apartments, is nothing more than a kangaroo court, property owners charge. And the guidelines board's public meetings little more than a zoo. Tenants wouldn't dis- agree. It's time to put the zoo story to an end and disband the Rent Guidelines Board. The board, appointed by the mayor, is a legislative body and makes its decisions with all the biases and horse trading inherent to such decision-making groups. Rent hikes, which send too many tenants over the precipice and into homelessness, shouldn't be relegated to a game of who's-got-the-votes. The perfidy of the system was blatantly evident this year in Mayor David Dinkins' flip-flop on the board's use of a price index to estimate landlords' operating costs. As borough president, Dinkins described the index as flawed and voted to stop the city from using it. As mayor, he changed course and lobbied strenuously for continuing use of the index. The state legislature, which holds the power to reform the system, must begin to look at options for replacing the board. One such option is to have a state agency set rent hikes-or rollbacks. They could do this by means of an economic formula that takes into account operating and maintenance costs as well as revenues and profits. Until a rent adjust- ment system is established based on clearly defined standards, everyone will remain dissatisfied. * * * With much fanfare and back-slapping, the Dinkins administration and the City Council passed anti-apartheid sanctions that restrict the city's use of banks doing business in South Africa_ But there's a loophole big enough to drive a truck through-one laden with about $6 billion the city plans to float in bonds over the next two years. Just one month before passing the sanctions, the mayor and comptrol- ler announced their selection of the five lead underwriters for its upcoming bond offerings. All five, who will earn million dollar fees, have troubling connections to the apartheid regime. In selecting the five, the mayor and comptroller say they attempted to balance social responsibility with fiscal prudence, and reserved the right to replace any of the firms if they fail to curb ties to South Africa. But Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, one of the lead underwriters, recently went from having no ties to being part of an investment group that purchased Del Monte foods and Kohlberg, Kravis, firms with extensive South African business dealings. Ofthe other four lead underwriters: Shears on Lehman Hutton's parent company, American Express, has licensing agreements with South Afri- can firms; Goldman Sachs and Co. has underwriting agreements in South Africa and is a major shareholder of several South Africa comranies; Bear Sterns and Co. established a $225 million revolving line 0 credit through the Union Bank of Switzerland, which conducts business in South Africa; and The First Boston Corp. is tied through subsidiaries to Credit Suisse, another bank doing business in South Africa. If city officials are serious about their South African sanctions, then the loophole in the new bill needs to be plugged. * * * Correction: In the article "Starrett City: Bucking the Rules?" (June/ July, 1990), we incorrectly stated that the Starrett City complex is owned by the Starrett Housing Corp_ The complex was built and is managed by Starrett Housing Corp. subsidiaries, but it is owned by a partnership headed by Disque Deane. 0
INSIDE FEATURES Is Bigger Still Better? A close look at two megaprojects in the pipeline: Hunters Point and the Times Square redevelopment effort. 12 Integration: Myth and Reality Even in neighborhoods where a variety of people live near each other, integration remains elusive. 16 Starving for Supermarkets A good supermarket is hard to find in many neigh- borhoods. 22 DEPARTMENTS Editorial Zoo Story .................... .............................. .. ................ 2 Short Term Notes Youth Build ............................................................... 4 Home for Whom? .............................. ........................ 4 NYC Homeless Count .............................................. .4 Common Concerns .... ... ...... .... ......... ....... .. ................. 5 Racial Steering? ......................................................... 5 Profile Frances Taylor: Confronting Contradictions .......... 6 Pipeline Built to Last? .............................................................. 9 City View Why I Walked Out From Street News ................... 27 Letters ......... .. .... .... ......... ...... .. ... ............................... 28 August/September 1990 3 Bigger/Page 12 Integration/Page 16 Supermarkets/Page 22 4 CITY LIMITS SHORT TERM NOTES YOUTH BUILD More than a decade ago, teenagers in East Harlem established the Youth Action Program, which teaches young people how to rehabili- tate abandoned buildings while also offerin!:t educa- tional training and job placement. Now two pieces of legislation in Congress may You'" action: carry this movement much further across the country. We've always had the spirit and the desire, but the funding hasn't always been there." The bill has been endorsed by 25 members of Congress and is expected to be voted on early next year. Another proposal, the National Service Act, was introduced this spring by Rep. Legislation being proposed in Washington may fund youth training and construction eHorts across the country. turn the East Harlem experi- ence into a national model. Guy Hawkins (D-California) . The bill aims to create youth corps across the country with funding of more than $150 million dollars. The House version of the bill allocates $10 million for youth con- struction programs, but this would only pay for youth training. Project sponsors would have to find non- federal funding to cover actual costs for construction and rehab work. A Senate version of the bill does not include funding for youth construction training, but advocates are hopeful that this will change before a final version of the bill is voted on this fall. 0 Erika Mallin HOME FOR WHOM? Carmen, a slight 21 -year- old, works during the week as a housekeeper and lives with friends because she can't afford her own apartment. On the weekends, she goes to 975-81 Home Street, a dilapidated city-owned building in the South Bronx, which she is helping to renovate. "I only want to leave my friends' apartment and live here," she says emphatically. Carmen and more than 30 other Bronxites who belong to the Community on the Move housing group may soon have to stop working on the building and turn their hopes elsewhere. The city's Depart- ment of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) plans to demolish the 36-unit structure and replace it with small homes for middle income New Yorkers. Roz Post, a spokesperson for HPD, says the Department of Buildings has declared the structure unsafe. But the city has not yet served eviction papers to the squatters who live in the building. "Most probably court action is the next step," says Post. On a recent Saturday, more than 50 people were Introduced by Rep. Major Owens (D-New York), the Youth Build Act calls for $200 million per year to be admin- istered by the Department of Housing and Urban Develop- ment through a variety of community groups. The gov- ernment would provide up to 90 percent of the costs for projects while 10 percent would come from non-federal sources. Eligible projects would provide stipends to high school drop-outs who would rehabilitate and con- struct housing while also receiving job training and schooling. NEW YORK CITY HOMELESS COUNT The legislation is being backed by the national Youth Build Coalition, which grew out of the East Harlem pro- gram and has helped/romote youth construction an train- ing efforts across the country. David Calvert, who works with the Youth Action Program in East Harlem, says, "This legislation gives us the tools to Adults Children Families in hotels 477 739 Special residences 302 0 Congregate Shelters (Tier 1 ) 630 566 Transitional Shelters (Tier II) 2,904 4,376 Totals 4,313 5,681 Source: NYC Human Resources Administration, July 2, 1990 doing renovation work at the Home Street building, removing rubble and using wheelbarrows to bring in construction materials. Many of them said they live doubled up with friends or in city shelters and do renova- tion work on the weekend. A handful live in the building, which has rotting beams and stairs and lacks water or gas. The building on Home Street is just one of many sites in the West Farms area of the South Bronx that are slated for new construction through the New York City Housing Partnership's New Homes program, which is targeted to families earning between $32,000 and $53,000. "The South Bronx for who?" asks Matthew Lee, one of the leaders of Community on the Move. "Most people in this building and in the South Bronx make between $5,000 and $10,000 a year as vendors and many more are homeless or doubled up." The partnership project will be sponsored by the Mid-Bronx Desperadoes, the housing organization that completed the small homes on Charlotte Street in the South Bronx. Lee Chong, special project director, says the organization is "not taking a position for or against the squatters as the property is still city-owned." Based in the South Bronx, Community on the Move has organized a number of squatter buildings. They also put out a free newspaper, Inner City Press. 0 Erika Mallin Total Total Individuals Families 1,216 358 302 201 1,196 462 7,280 2,175 9,994 3,196 COMMON CONCERNS After a year of planning, a new group is being formed to discuss and represent the common issues and concerns of nonprofit community development and manage- ment organizations in New York City. The new group, referred to by some as a trade association, will be a project of the Association for Neigh- borhood and Housin9 Development (ANHD) . 'We will be organizing over the summer to bring together the groups that will set the priorities," explains Bonnie Brower, executive director of ANHD. An advisory committee will be selected from among the community groups participat- ing in the Rroject. The project, which will function as an advocacy group for the participants, is likely to deal with such issues as contracting and development fees from public and private agencies. Meetings to discuss the formation of the group, which eventually became an ANHD project, were initially con- vened by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the Fund for the City of New York and the New York Community Trust. Management and development groups partici- pating in these meetings included the Ecumenical Development Corparation, Los Sures, Flatbush East Commu- nity Develop'ment Corparation, Bonana-Kelly Community Improvement Association, Brooklyn Ecumenical Coop- eratives and St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corparation. O Doug Turetsky RACIAL STEERING? The New York City Housing Authority has engaged in systemic and pervasive racial discrimination, according to charges in a class action lawsuit filed recently by the legal Aid Society. Scott Rosenberg, an attorney for the Legal Aid Society, says that a variety of housing authority pol icies steered white families away from most projects and into a few predominantly white developments. "This resulted in increased segregation," he sa)l's. "To use taxpayer money to further segregation is a breach of the public trust." Val Coleman, a spokesper- son for the housing authority, responds, "This is an out-of- control, out-of-context bunch of self-righteous Monday- morning quarterbocking. The housing authority is 91.5 percent minority and has for 55 years been involved in the process of building integrated communities and neighbor- hoods." Officials at the city's Commission on Human Rights say they are conducting an investigation to determine whether the housing authority engages in racial steering. They are also attempting to mediate the disRute. The lawsuit claims that the housing authority has discriminated in a number of ways: by using secret codes to denote projects where only whites could be sent; by sometimes requiring people to live in the neighborhood of the projects they applied for; by systematically replacing white families who left some projects with other white families; and by using a quota system that favored whites at certain projects. The lawsuit also charges that the housing authority does not disperse homeless families uniformly through all public housing projects and that some predominantly white projects do not accept homeless families. Among other allegations, the suit also claims that some white immigrant families are placed in predominantly white projects ahead of other families on the waiting list. In .a depasition for a separate lawsuit that charges discrimination at housing projects in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, one housing August/September 1990 5 Unfair housing' A I_sui, charges the New York City Housing Authority with racial discrimination. authority official conceded that some projects were described on internal docu- ments as "phase II," meaning vacant apartments were eClrmarked for white appli- cants. According to Newsday, officials at the authority say they halted any racial steering practices in 1988, after federal courts struck down the use of racial quotas at the subsidized Starrett City housing complex in Brooklyn. When asked about the use of codes and other practices, Coleman from the housing authority says, "As to the specific charges, I won' t comment. Our legal brief is being prepared and we' ll respond adequately to everything they charge." The lawsuit was filed May 31 with little fanfare. Insiders say this was because the Legal Aid Society hoped to meet with city and housing authority officials and remedy the complaints. However, Phillip Thompson, director of housing for Deputy Mayor Barbara Fife, says Mayor David Dinkins has not yet taken a position on the lawsuit. 'We' re waiting to hear an opinion from our lawyers," he says. "The mayor has said many times that he' s not in favor of racial steering. The question is what the housing authority is doing now." As City Limits goes to press, the mayor has not yet announced who he will appoint to replace Joseph Shuldiner as general manager of the housing authority or whether he will retain Emanuel Popolizio as chair- man. He also hasn' t an- nounced who he will appoint to the housing authority' s board of directors. "He should decide sometime this sum- mer," says Thompson. 0 Lisa Glazer 6 CITY LIMITS PROFILE Frances Taylor: Confronting Contradictions BY JEFF BLISS FRANCES TAYLOR TELLS STORIES without the distracting "ums" and illogic of typical conversation, as if she has gone over the memories again and again in her mind before speaking. Not long ago she sat listening to a group of gay third world men and women discussing "the masses" in the abstract. As a recovering alcoholic, a woman who had been on welfare for 27 years and at one time institu- tionalized, Taylor figured she had something to contribute to the topic. "I raised my hand and I said, 'I'm one of the masses, and I'd like to tell you what it feels like.' They thought I was rude and disruptive. "People were sitting there with master's degrees and one was a poor person who was in the closet as a poor person. She said, ' I don't wallow in my poverty.' My feeling was, if we can't reach a point where we can talk about the pain of being called crazy, the pain of being poor ... that is part of the raison d'etre for everything I do to- day. " In protest she formed a group for welfare mothers on campus and eventually joined the office of then-council member Ruth One of a new generation of welfare-rights organizers, Tay- Frances Taylor: One of a new generation of welfare rights activists. lor has become known for re- lentlessly confronting govern- ment officials and activists alike with the brutal truths of being poor in this country. By voicing these truths, she's trying to bridge the chasm that often exists between the poor and their advocates, as well as politicians, bureaucrats and educa- tors. So far, her tactics have often paid off. While a student at Hunter Col- lege in the mid-1980s, Taylor be- came romantically involved with a fellow student who was a welfare mother of three. One day she was astounded to find out that her lover had to quit school because her oldest child had turned six and the law required her at this point to take a government training program. Messinger as an intern. Partly as a result of Taylor'S work, rules were changed and welfare mothers pursu- ing two-year and four-year degrees are not forced out of school now as long as they meet several qualifica- tions , including maintaining good academic standing. Today Taylor is a student at the City University of New York (CUNY) law school in Queens. She's a coor- dinator of the city's Welfare Rights Organization, the founder ofthe Law Students Antipoverty Project at CUNY and a board member of the National Welfare Rights Union, which was formed in 1987. Messinger, now Manhattan bor- ough president, says, "Frances Tay- lor is a smart, dedicated activist whose work has made a real differ- ence for women on welfare in New York. She's intense and demanding but so are most of our best organiz- ers." Silent Minorities Taylor as well as other welfare rights activists have a broad idea about what needs to be done. "We are trying to break the iso- lation of the poor, " she says. Despite organizations like the Coalition for the Homeless-in fact, because of them-Taylor feels poor people haven't been heard on matters that affect them the most. "It's time to see poor people on TV, not Robert Hayes ," she says of the coalition' s omnipresent presi- dent. More important, she says, it's time for poor people to do their own organizing, with ad- vocates complementing, not subordinating, the efforts of the people they want to help. For a long time Taylor kept her impoverished background to herself. Few people belong to as many "silent minorities"- people not heard of or heard about. As a poor black Jew, she grew up on welfare in Brooklyn and later in Queens. The pub- lic-assistance program provided medical care but not enough money for food. As a result, Taylor and her sister received their nutrition in a roundabout way. Because they were so hungry, the two children would throw up bile, and their mother would have to take them to the doc- tor , who would diagnose their hun- ger and give them vitamins. Later, when Taylor was a teenager, her family would disguise themselves and furtively pick up surplus food at the A&P. Often welfare workers would come to their apartment and ask if they were hiding a man. The only man occasionally home was Taylor's fa- ther, and the only thing she and her sister wanted to hide was the fact that he was a drug addict. Despite the hardships, "there were beautiful times," too. Taylor recalls her rabbi: "If you have never seen a former black Baptist get up and do a sermon with Hebrew and English mixed together, and get the spirit upon him, you have never seen anything .. .1 knew it was strange, but I grew up identifying with that strangeness. " Still the "deep despair" proved overwhelming and Taylor was insti- tutionalized in her late teens. Soon after, she decided she was gay. Taylor waited nine years before coming out to her mother because "I figured I didn't need any more trouble." Eventually she began speaking out-at civil rights demonstrations and gay rights groups. At the same time, she had gotten off welfare and on to Social Security, and with the monthly checks was able to afford college. Through her work at Hunter she was introduced to the major wel- fare rights activists in the country, poor women, for the most part, women like Marian Kramer (now president of the National Welfare Rights Union) whom she had seen protesting on television 20 years earlier. Meeting these activists in- spired Taylor to go to law school. "I had met these welfare recipients and they knew so much." Taylor also wanted to know the ins and outs of the Rube Goldberg bureaucracy and become a "lawyer-activist." Ambitions To be sure, the women she learned from had ambitions that were just as great. Like Taylor, these women had been stigmatized several times over, but they had organized, chained themselves to desks in welfare of- fices and otherwise defied the bu- reaucracy. It seemed at the begin- ning of the 1960s that any chance at reform was remote at best: The poor in the northern urban ghettos were facing the highest unemployment since the Depression; impoverished mothers had few, if any, child-care alternatives; and only one-third of the people eligible for assistance received it. Fortunately for the movement, President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty and the civil rights rrotests had liberalized the politica atmos- phere. With the help of government money, grassroots welfare-rights groups, poor-people advocates and church organizations banded to- gether in 1966 to form the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO). Never before had poor women organized so publicly on a national level. Guida West, director of policy for the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, has written exten- sively about the welfare rights effort. She recalls the newly politicized women for whom "a big part of the It's time for poor people to do their own . . organlzlng, says Taylor. movement was an education ... you had to learn to write, you had to learn how to speak, you had to learn how to organize. " In some basic ways the movement succeeded: By 1969 the number of people on the welfare rolls had doubled, which West believes is partially due to the NWRO. At its peak in the early 1970s, the group claimed 100,000 members. But victory seemed to dissipate the movement's energy rather than focus it. Members stopped coming to meetings, satisfied with their small gains; a fight broke out over control of the organization and the group was set back further when Richard Nixon became president and cut back on government funds to seed welfare organizations. What was left of the NWRO collapsed in 1975. Unfnished Business The group has left plenty of un fin- ished business. Taylor says that the level of assistance in many welfare programs has not been regularly adjusted for cost-of-living increases. That coupled with high rents, she feels, has contributed to New York' s homeless population that could fill Yankee Stadium. As before, women and children are first among victims. Nationally, six out of 10 newborns will spend some time in single-par- ent households, most of which are run by women. Two-thirds of fe- male-headed families now are on some type of assistance, so if basic August/September 1 ~ 7 changes aren't made, a substantial part of the next generation may be on welfare at some point. Looking ahead, activists say continuing attempts at welfare reform remain piecemeal and a national tragedy is unfolding out of an existing tragedy. Now people like Taylor are again trying to build up networks of re- gional organizations and coalitions. With the Antipoverty Law Project, Taylor has been involved with three conferences at CUNY, one of them sponsored by the group. The meet- ings included some tense but often rewarding discussions between a wide variety of individuals: home- less men from Tompkins Square Park, legal advocates, welfare recipients and academics. Taylor admits organizing isn't easy-even on a campus known for its left-leaning advocacy. Most poor students "want to get in and get out." Her lack of diplomacy, too, has also gotten her into trouble several times with even close allies. Her problem, she says, is that when she perceives " contradictions "-homophobia among blacks, sexism and classism in the gay rights movements-she can't keep her mouth shut. "While there are voices in my left ear telling me to be quiet , there are voices in my right ear telling me what I must speak, she says, "because you have to speak about what you see." 0 Jeff Bliss is an assistant editor at the Staten Island Advance. BINDING TOGETHER A socially conscious nonprofit organization teaching individuals with multiple barriers to employment the printing and binding industry can help fulfill your organ ization' s pri nti ng needs. Contact Phil Caldarella at (212) 924-6156 8 CITY LIMITS LIFE UNDER THE NEW CHARTER: A COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVE A conference on how communities will be affected by the new City Charter. Sponsored by New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Inc., in association with The Review of Law and Social Change of the NYU School of Law. Last November, a slim majority of voters approved the Charter referendum, forever changing the way New York City is governed. Whether the revised Charter meets the promises of greater public participation and more responsive government remains to be seen. Nevertheless New York City's communities must learn how government processes have changed with respect to such critical issues as land use, zoning and the provision of City services. SATURDA Y, SEPTEMBER 15, 1990 New York University School of Law 40 Washington Square South 10:15 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. $10 Registration Fee: Scholarships Available for Low Income Individuals For more information contact: Sam Sue or Eddie Bautista at (212) 777-7707 PIPELINE Built to Last? BY JEFFREY HOFF FIFTY YEARS AGO, SUBSIDIZED housing for working-class families meant public housing projects. The sturdy brick buildings then rising on the Lower East Side and in Brooklyn offered a haven from the rickety and dangerous tenements where so many working-class families lived. Following World War II, public policy shifted and young, working families were lured to new suburban developments with federally subsi- dized mortgages. A single-family home with a back yard and barbecue became affordable for many moder- ate income households. Now, with virtually no federal dollars for public housing available, the back yard and barbecue is taking its place in the city's own 10-year housing plan. A big chunk of the new publicly subsidized housing being developed in the city for moderate and middle income families is small homes. The New York City Partner- ship has completed about 2,000 one, two- and three-family homes and may ultimately build a total of 22,000 units. The sponsors of Nehemiah- plan single-family homes have built 1,150 in East New York, 750 in Brownsville and 400 more are under construction. Some housing advo- cates argue that the move towards small, owner-occupied homes in the city offers an array of advantages: human scale development , the pride of homeownership, and quick and cheap construction. Anybody Watching? Even as these new home are rising in neighborhoods from East New York in Brooklyn to Sound view in the Bronx, critics are questioning whether suburban-style housing really is best for the city and whether these new homes are built to last. The latter question is of particular importance to the families plunking down their life savings to buy one of these homes. By one measure, there doesn't appear to be any serious problems. A 1989 state law established a warranty on the sale of all new homes , providing the homeowner with lev- August/September 1990 9 How-to lor homeowners: Willie Morris outside the Nehemiah houses in East Brooklyn. Morris videotapes repair techniques and show the tapes to homeowners. erage to demand repairs from build- ers. The warranty automatically covers claims against con,struction defects for one year; heating, plumb- ing, ventilation, cooling and electri- cal systems for two years; and other materials for six years. According to the state attorney general's office, there have been no claims mediated by state attorneys under this law against the builders of Nehemiah or partnership homes. Conversations with homeowners in both Nehemiah and partnership developments reveal general satis- faction. However, a recent article called East Brooklyn Congregations ' Nehemiah homes "a dream turned nightmare." But the article pointed to a relatively modest 29 complaints, the most serious of which were wa- ter seeping into basements, sewage backups and foundation cracks that need patching-nothing particularly unusual in the world of homebuild- ing. Still. these and other problems exist. And although the two biggest new home programs have been around for some time, no in-depth study of construction quality exists. Basically all that is available is anec- dotal information. A special concern with both Ne- hemiah homes. which sell to fami- lies earning an average of $31,000, and at the partnership. which sells houses with greater subsidies to families of somewhat higher incomes, is that most purchasers have no experience in homeownership. Wil- lie Morris, who heads the Action Maintenance Team of the Nehemiah homeowners association. notes that he often gets calls from new home- owners who don't know how to drain their water heaters, which must be done every few months. Kathy Wylde, vice president of the partnership, agrees that her or- ganization must also become more involved in assisting the new home- owners. "We have to make people more informed buyers and then give them a phone number to call as prob- lems arise. Either the community development grour or the builder, a city agency or loca hardware store." Flash-off The Nehemiah project is an oasis of neighborhood warmth surrounded by ominous blocks of abandoned shells and run-dpwn public housing projects. On sunny days the streets buzz with people tending stretches of green lawns. washing their cars and children at play. Nearly every home has a special flair out front: an 1 0 CITY LIMITS array of flowers or enlarged entrance- way-easing the monotony of the uniformly designed houses. When the flashing blew off the roof of Michael Cacerras' home and that of his neighbors a few years after moving in, repairs were quickly made by the builder. "They came by and put it back in," he says. Alvino Williams, president of the Powell Street block association, says I.D. Robbins, the former private market developer and City Club president who conceived Nehemiah, "is here every day." Williams, who seems to get a smile and a wave from everyone on his street, says he feels very comfortable bringing his neighbors' complaints directly to Robbins. If anyone has a construction prob- lem homeowner association mem- ber Willie Morris is their advocate before the builder. Although he gets calls from time to time, Morris says, "I don't have anyone on my list now." Owners receive a two-year warranty for $100 at their closing. The war- ranty insures the homeowners against defects in their new homes. If repairs are not needed over the two years the money had been returned. Some homeowners have donated their re- fund to the local public library, but in the future the funds will not be returned so that the money may be used as an insurance fund for future repairs. It is difficult to measure the over- all 'construction quality of partner- ship projects because each is con- tracted separately, so there have been many different builders involved. Discussions with homeowner asso- ciation members in a number of projects reveal some who are rather pleased with their homes while a minority say they are suffering se- vere problems. Kathy Wylde of the agrees four or five proJects, compnsmg some 10 percent of all the homes built under the partnership's supervision, have construction problems. Busted Builder One such project is Leland Gar- dens, a townhouse development tucked south of the Bruckner Expres- sway in the Soundview section of the Bronx. The reasonably attractive three-story, two-family homes are beset by problems-and the builder of the concrete modular homes, a partnership of Sidney Engel and Ray Mariani, is out of business. Since they began to occupy the 104 units in the first phase of Leland Gardens in late 1988, homeowners have encountered severe problems because of leaks between the roof and the walls and condensation in the walls. Puddles collect at the base of the outside walls damaging sheet- rock, insulation, carpets and paint- jobs. In addition, quite a few owners have complaints outstanding on their punch lists, which are made at the time of sale to identify construction problems the buyer expects the builder to fix. "A lot of homeowners are very negative toward the builder, they feel they took the money and ran," says Raoul Lopez, a member of the home- owners association. It was not until months ofletter writing to the builder, the partnership and local politicians that the homeowners got a meeting with the builder and the partnership to discuss the problems. The home- owners hired an engineer to prepare a report describing the extent and cause of damages. Lopez says it is still not clear how the interior dam- age caused by the leaks will be re- paired and who will pay for it. Wylde says that the builder will pay all the costs of installing new roofs and repair the damaged walls. She contends that the problems at Leland Gardens are worse than those at almost all other sites, although she points to significant problems with water damage at the Crotona Park and Tiffany Fox projects in the Bronx as well as at the New Horizons proj- ect in Brooklyn. Wylde attributes the problems to poor engineering rather than poor construction and says the needed corrections have been made. "We have worked very hard to deal with builders who have more to lose by not being responsive and who have deep enough pockets to take care of the finishing operations," Wylde says, adding that most build- ers still come back to make repairs two to three years after a project is completed. Still, the picture is not clear. Rex Curry of the Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental De- velopment, says housing advocates and city officials who promote these programs must take a greater role in assisting the new owners. "We have a responsibility to the families we are subsidizing because we have created this." He suggests that fol- low-up studies be required at all of these projects to determine how well this new housing will stand over time. 0 Jeffrey Hoff is a freelance writer. 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 Billme Name Address City State City Limits/40 Prince Street/New York/NY 10012 Zip August/September 1990 11 12 CITY UMITS FEATURE IS BIGGER STILL BETTER? The 1980s are over,. austerity is in. But splashy public plans like those for Hunters Point and Times Square are still moving ahead. BY DOUG TURETSKY T hroughout much of the 1980s, New York was a city on the make. A countless number of deals went down, and in their wake a seemingly end- less number of office towers and luxury condos went up. Much of this high-priced development activity was driven by city policies, which offered a panoply of incentives to developers. Government officials prom- ised that this frenzied development would reap huge sums for the city's coffers as well as a wealth of new jobs. New York was destined for an era of good and plenty. So what happened? The 1990s have been ushered in by a wave of austerity as the Dinkins administration and the City Council have been forced to raise taxes and slash services. But even as this new reality begins to take hold, two ofthe largest development projects conceived in the go-go years of the 1980s are poised to begin construction: the $2.3 billion Hunters Point waterfront development in Queens and the $2.5 billion 42nd Street redevelop- ment project in Manhattan. True to form, both of these projects, under the tutelage of city and state agencies, are replete with tax abatements and zoning bonuses in return for a promised bonanza of jobs and revenues. To be sure, both property tax revenues and the num- ber of jobs in the city climbed during the 1980s. And some of this growth is certainly connected to the surge of development. Real estate tax revenue grew from $3.2 billion in Fiscal Year 1980 to $6.5 billion in FY90. But according to New York Uni versity economist Emmanuel Tobier, much of this growth came from rises in assess- ments and tax rates, not new development. That's be- cause most ofthe new condos and office towers received so many tax abatements that it will be years before they really contribute to the city's tax revenues, explains Penelope Pi-Sunyer of Alterbudget. A recent report by the city's Department of Finance details just how big a chunk of development revenue the city is currently foregoing. For example, under the 421a tax abatement program for new apartment construction, the city lost out on a possible $176.9 million in the last fiscal year alone. The city's Industrial and Commercial Incentives Program (ICIP) racked up tax breaks of $59.3 million in Fiscal Year 1990. A similar program, the Industrial and Commercial Incentives Board, cost an- other $48.9 million last year. While waiting for these tax breaks to expire-a period sometimes as long as 25 years-the city must pay for the public services new development often requires and absorb other impacts like increased pollution or more crowded streets and subways. In light of such facts, it may well be time to take another look at the promised benefits of such mega-development proposals as the ones for Hunters Point and 42nd Street. Metropolis Rising On a scruffy stretch of Queens waterfront boasting a commanding view of the mid-Manhattan skyline, city and state officials hope to create one of the largest developments in New York's history. The Hunters Point waterfront project would turn some 75 acres into a mammoth commercial and residential project contain- ing 6,400 apartments, two million square feet of office space, a 350-room hotel, parking for 5,600 cars and more than a mile of public esplanade along the East River. This glittering new mini-city would sit in stark con- trast to present-day Hunters Point. An aggressively blue- collar neighborhood where tractor trailers rumble down the streets and small manufacturing plants and ware- houses dominate most blocks, some might consider Hunters Point a neighborhood in decline. Nothing could be farther from the truth. For more than a century, Hunters Point and neighboring Long Island City have been thriving manufac- turing communi- ties. Even as the city as a whole has lost some 200,000 man ufacturing jobs since 1979, Hunters Point and Long Island City have continued to flourish. The 1,300 industrial firms in the area employ 56,000 people-one-third of Queens' blue- collar jobs. Critics charge that the waterfront plan is the catalyst for changes that could completely al ter the neighbor- hood. Real estate speculation and conversion of manufacturing space to office space, which is already occurring on a large scale, could drive prices beyond the reach ofindustrial compa- nies, forcing them out of the city. It's a process that Assemblyman Jerrold Nadler, a longtime critic of the project, calls "industrial gentrifica- tion." Similar to residential gentrification in which African-Americans and Latinos are often the victims, the loss of blue-collar jobs falls most heavily on minori- ties for whom industrial work has often been a source of relatively well-paid employment. "In one case you lose your home, in another your job," says Nadler. But some may also lose their homes. Roughly 2,100 households are nestled among the communities facto- ries and warehouses. Public Development Corporation president Carl Weisbrod acknowledged at a meeting of the City Council's waterfront committee that one-third of these households are at risk of displacement as land- lords near the project site try to cash in on the gentrifi- cation of the neighborhood. Partners Along with PDC, the Hunters Point waterfront project is sponsored by the state's Urban Development Corpora- tion and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The agencies promise a plan that will open the water- front to the public, bring $300 million in revenues to the city over the next 25 years and foster some 9,000 perma- nent jobs. The plan, which has already received City Planning Commission approval, is scheduled for a Board of Estimate vote in August. Some of the biggest names in real estate development and finance are angling for rights to a piece of the waterfront action. One group includes developer Wil- liam Zeckendorf Jr., real estate management honcho Martin Raynes, co-op converter Arthur Cohen, former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volker and former City Planning Commission chairman Herbert Sturz. August/September 1990 13 To lay the groundwork for the development, the Port Authority is committed to in- vesting $125 mil- lion into the proj- ect and the city, through the PDC, another $30 mil- lion. In addition, the project in- cludes substantial tax abatements under the city's 421a program and Industrial and Commercial In- centive Program. But Council ................ ~ Member Walter ~ McCaffrey, a vocif- ~ erous critic of the ~ plan whose dis- trict includes Hunters Point, questions how much the project will really cost public coffers. The new residents, estimated to number as many as 13,500, will require police and fire protection and sanitation services. Mass transportation in the area is already overburdened and requires expan- sion. And although the plan calls for the developer building a school, the Board of Education will have to operate it. All this costs the city. At a hearing of Council Member Stephen DiBrienza's waterfront committee, Weisbrod admitted public costs could exceed the $155 million budgeted. Agency offi- cials are already anticipating the passage this November of the state Environmental Quality Bond Act and plan to request funds for the 19 acres of open space that are part of the proposal. Other costs to the city are also not resoived. The plan calls for the Pepsi Cola Bottling Company and its 600 jobs to move to College Point, but it remains unclear how much the city will contribute to the relocation. An article in Newsdayrevealed that the waterfront site may also suffer from a heavy dose of industrial pollution. Who'll get the tab for the potential clean-up is also unclear. Even "little" costs can creep in. City Limits has learned that on June 26 PDC agreed to kick in another $150,000. The money comes from revenues the agency keeps from its sale of city-owned land. Despite these costs, the public sponsors of the plan insist the balance sheet will favor the city. "We're going to put much more into the city's coffers than we take out," says PDC vice president Lee Silberstein. Others are not so sure the Hunters Point waterfront plan tips the balance sheet as sound public policy. In a critique of the development's Draft Environmental Impact Statement, the Hunters Point Community Coalition asks, "In a time of fiscal constraint and an affordable housing crisis, why is government spending hundreds of mil- lions of dollars to stimulate the development essentially 14 CITY LIMITS of luxury housing?" And the development's toll-along with such private projects as the mammoth Citicorp tower on the eastern edge of Hunters Point and other commercial projects planned or recently completed- on the area's blue-collar jobs could be heavy. The city has spent considerable funds to aid the manufacturing businesses in the area-much ofit through PDC and its in-place industrial park program-and floated industrial revenue bonds to help some 80 Long Island City companies. But the waterfront plan, the city's ear- lier approval of the Citicorp tower and other public and private developments under consideration may under- mine those investments. City Limits has obtained a draft summary of a 1990 report prepared for PDC by the consulting firm of Abeles Phillips Preiss & Shapiro that warns of potential threats to the blue-collar economy from residential and com- mercial development. According to the report three- quarters of the companies in the area rent their space, putting them at risk of development-inspired real estate speculation. Business owners recognizing the transition of the neighborhood may decide that "long-term capital investments in industrial plants [are) not worthwhile anymore. " Everyone agrees that the Hunters Point waterfront, much of it laying fallow, is a sorely underutilized area crying out for redevelopment. But project opponents like attorney and Municipal Art So- ciety board mem- ber Phillip How- ard, who has been hired to represent the community coalition, argue that it's simply too big. And it's this bigness that multi- plies the costs and overw helms the public benefits. Says McCaffrey, "This project has been around for a long time. It has aged but it has not matured." Times Square Perhaps no Troubled woters: plan calls for bulldozing a huge chunk of a 13-acre swathe of land stretching from 40th to 43rd streets between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. On the site are supposed to rise four mammoth towers containing a total of 4.1 million square feet of office space, a 20-story wholesale furniture mart and a 750-room hotel. The plan, whi ch is sponsored by UDC and PDC, also calls for the restoration of nine theaters on 42nd Street and some $127 million in improvements to the Times Square subway station. Public officials conceived the project as a means to "clean-up" 42nd Street, for decades a tawdry strip in the heart of midtown Manhattan. The new development would demolish the porn shops and, by the weight ofthe thousands of new people it would bring to the area, force the drug dealers, hustlers, prostitutes, and derelicts off the street. To succeed the project had to be huge and, proponents argued, all the pieces had to go forward together. But plans for the mart and hotel have stumbled, so public development officials are preparing to let Times Square Center Associates, a partnership between George Klein and Prudential Insurance Company of America, build the office towers without the other pieces of the project in place. To make way for the towers , some 200 businesses will be displaced. Few of them are porn shops. While Peepland, the largest porno shop on the block will continue to roll its triple X fea- tures, the plush building at 1451 Broadway, owned and occupied by Rosenthal & Rosenthal, a finan- cial institution, will meet the wrecking ball. Also slated for demolition is Times Square Stu- dios at 1481 Broadway, the largest Hispanic- owned independ- ent TV studio in the country. project has been more widely dis- cussed and hotly debated than the A mini-city is planned for this Queens waterfront. When Rebecca Robertson, the president of the city and state proposal to redevelop 42nd Street. Still, six years after the Board of Estimate approved the plan and an avalanche of lawsuits failed to derail it, many questions about the project remain. Disagreements con- tinue to rage over how deeply the city is subsidizing the project as well as the more fundamental issue of whether the massive redevelopment scheme is even necessary. The 42nd Street Development Project is the largest urban renewal effort initiated in the state's history. The 42nd Street Devel- opment Project, a subsidiary of UDC, talks about the plan, it's not office towers she envisions. Robertson speaks animatedly about turning 42nd Street into a thriving entertainment strip, with bright lights flashing above newly renovated theaters and tourists and New Yorkers alike flocking to the area. " It will be like a constant 24-hour fair," she says. But Columbia University planning professor Elliot Sclar argues that for many lower income New Yorkers, the movie theaters and fast food restaurants in the area already provide a viable entertainment strip. "She [Robertson] wants an entertainment district for nice people. Let's put it that way," says Sclar, who believes the idea behind the plan is to rid the street of cheap res- taurants and stores as much as crime and porn. Cleaned Out? Times Square futures: August/September 1990 15 Other elements ofthe public benefits from the project are also dubious. According to Leichter's office, the city will pay more than half of the renova- tion costs of the Times Square sub- way station. While the developers will spend $49 million, the city and transit authority will kick in more than $80 million and cover any cost overruns. What will this money buy? A mez- zanine and shop- ping arcade that will connect the four office build- ings, move the sub- way entrances in- side the towers and change the location of the shuttle. Critics like Lori- jean Saigh, an ac- ti vist and Hell's Kitchen resident, charge that about the only thing the construction of the office towers will clean out is the city's coffers. Rob- ertson insists the project will eventu- ally reap $250 mil- Redevelopment boss Rebecca Robertson and the model lor the new 42nd Street. Show Time? Even plans for lion a year in property taxes. Nonsense charges West Side State Senator Franz Leichter, a staunch opponent ofthe project who calls it a billion dollar giveaway. According to an analysis by Leichter's staff of the 7,000 page lease agreement be- tween the public sponsors and the office tower develop- ers, the city will actually owe the developers more money after 23 years than the city takes in. The primary reason: The agreement calls for the developers to pay $88 million of the acquisition costs for the site and then lend the city any additional money required. The city will pay Times Square Center Associates interest on this loan of one percent above prime rate, even though the city routinely borrows money itself at below prime rate. Leichter charges that the loan repayment combined with other benefits, including a massive zoning bonus for the towers, amounts to more than a $1.5 billion boon for the developers. Asked about the Leichter analysis, Robertson referred City Limits to a paper prepared for Community Board 5 by former project president Carl Weisbrod (now head of PDC). The paper, written in February 1989, claims that Leichter's analysis is based on wildly inflated costs to purchase the land. Leichter based his analysis on the city borrowing $100 million from the developers , but Weisbrod wrote the figure was unlikely to go beyond $73 million. Time has proven Leichter correct. Last April , the mayor and governor touted the state court decision paving the way for UDC to take title to the land. What they didn't mention was that the judge's decision pegged the acquisition costs at $241 million-meaning the city would be repaying a loan of $153 million, substantially more than even Leichter estimated. the theater restora- tion, another of the driving public purposes ofthe proj- ect, remain unclear. Times Square Center Associates will pay the acquisition costs for six theaters and fund the renovation of one. The Neederlander Organization, the second largest theater operator on Broadway, will renovate and operate two theaters. But funding for the renovation of the other theaters and who will operate them has not yet been decided. Although the project sponsors have had 44 proposals for about a year, none have been chosen, leading some critics to surmise the city will ultimately have to foot the bill. Ironically, some of the public benefits from the the planned redevelopment have occurred before a single girder has risen on 42nd Street. Office towers and hotels are springing up on all sides of Times Square, bringing many of the same people to the area the 42nd Street planners hoped to attract. The Durst Organization pur- chased the leases for eight of the theaters on 42nd Street and pumped $7 million into their renovation as movie houses, according to Douglas Durst. These theaters, which the project sponsors intend to condemn, show the same kind of first-run Hollywood films you're likely to find in any neighborhood. Nonetheless, 42nd Street is still an undisputed center of sleaze, where a woman walking alone is a sure target for harassment. Less clear is how four highly-subsidized office towers will effectively change that. Just three blocks north, the Marriott Hotel towers over Broadway. Built with millions of dollars of public sub- sidies, it was supposed to clean up the street. But half a block from the high-priced hotel, the lights sparkle and business apparently booms at the New Paris Theater, which promises "girls, girls, girls." 0 16 CITY UMITS FEATURE INTEGRATION BY LISA GLAZER N ew York City today is home to 7 million people from every corner of the globe. Dividedinto the broadest, most clumsy categories of race, the ci ty is approxi- mately 46 percent white, 24 percent b l a c ~ , 23 percent His- pamc and 7 percent Asian. On the streets, in subways and at workplaces, people from immensely varied Myth and Reality Hispanics mixed and the intertwining influ- ences of race and class created complex and ambiguous results. In general terms, when whites moved into pre- dominantly black or Hispanic neighbor- hoods, this led to gen- trification and dis- placement. When blacks moved into white neighborhoods, unscrupulous real es- tate agents and block- busters often followed close behind, fueling An enormous variety of New Yorkers mingle on the streets, in subways and at work. But New York remains one of the 10 most segregated cities in the nation. backgrounds mingle freely. And at City Hall, New York's first black mayor, David Dinkins, has assembled a staff that seems to mirror the diversity of the city. Still, for all the talk of unity and harmr;my, New York's neighborhoods are very divided. Interpretations of cen- sus statistics for the last two decades show that segrega- tion levels in New York have barely changed since the days of legal discrimination. The most recent Housing and Vacancy Survey divides the city into 54 areas, which roughl y follow neighborhood lines. N earl y half of these areas remain very homogeneous, with at least 75 percent of their residents from one racial group. And New York is one of the 10 most segregated cities in the nation, according to the academic journal Demography. Segregation is easy to oppose when it's imposed by steering from realtors, exclusionary zoning or the brute force of violence in neighborhoods like Howard Beach and Bensonhurst. Yet the alternative to segregation-in- tegration-appears difficult to achieve, maintain or en- force. And it's hardly a concert that's uniformly em- braced. After all, generations 0 immigrants have clus- tered together in neighborhoods, providing each other with support services and political clout. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People brought legal challenges that led to integration in shops and schools, but there's also a lengthy tradition of black nationalism that eschews integration as an attempt to try to dilute the strength of the black com- munity. In the past 20 years, idealistic attempts to promote in- tegration have tapered off as whites, blacks, Asians and white flight and disin- vestment by banks and declining services from city agencies. Not surprisingly, many advocates nowadays are openly cynical about some of the lofty notions that accompany integration. "In the 1 960s the tone was blacks and whites living together, isn't it lovely," recalls Phyllis Spiro, as- sociate director ofthe Open Housing Center. "But in all my years here, the main reason people have come to us is because they want better housing, better services and better schools." When New York neighborhoods underwent dramatic changes in the 1 970s, residents from a variety of neigh- borhoods formed organizations to try and stop their blocks from being swallowed up by a growing wave of blight. Particularly in middle-class white neighbor- hoods , these groups walked a delicate line, attempting to stem white flight and protect the property values of existing residents while also welcoming new arrivals, many of them black and Hispanic. By working together to ensure the neighborhood had better housing, services and schools, some of these groups helped establish rela- tively stable neighborhoods with a mix of races and classes-and even changed a few attitudes along the way. But even in these neighborhoods, integration remains elusive. Areas that appear integrated may, upon closer inspection, still have pockets of segregation and the original residents may still retain local control. Or areas that appear very mixed may still harbor lingering racism towards blacks, who remain the most highly segregated group in American society, regardless of income. When integration seems to have taken place, it's only through concerted efforts by individuals as well as institutions: community groups, schools, churches, synagogues and mosques. Even then, integration may still be little more than a transitional phase. Here' s a closer look at three neighborhoods that are often described as among the city's most integrated. Flatbush With a mix of apartment houses , small homes and luxurious Victorian mansions on wide, tree-lined streets, the Flatbush neighborhood nurtured the mythology of "old Brooklyn:" borough of churches, home of the Dodg- ers and a solid base for scores of Irish, German and Italian immigrants scrabbling to establish themselves in the city's middle class. These days, most of Flatbush's white population ap- pears securely ensconced in the upper reaches of the middle class. But there are still legions of newcomers strug- gling to get ahead: mostly Caribbeans, South Americans and Southeast Asians . With sprawling boundaries that edge beyond Coney Island, Foster, Bedford and Parkside avenues, Flatbush's population is very mixed: 46.9 percent white, 39.1 percent black, 5 per- cent Puerto Rican, 3.5 Asian and 5.6 percent others, according to the 1987 Housing and Vacancy Survey. Ten.e time.: August/September 1990 17 Ditmas Park West and Prospect Park South, to name a few. Some ofthese areas are designated as historic land- mark districts and include ornately detailed Victorian and Tudor mansions. Local residents say that although the mini-communi- ties remain predominantly white, they're also home to more than a handful of upper middle-class blacks, Asians and Hispanics. Among the residents ofDitmas Park West is Dith Pran, the Cambodian whose life was featured in the movie "The Killing Fields." He says, "This is a middle class neighborhood. Many different people live here. It's very beautiful, with lots of trees, gardens and green grass. We have our own private security system." Further east, across Ocean Avenue, the neighborhood changes and is mostly apartment buildings and small row houses. Roberto Lozano, 30, lives with his family in a crowded apartment building at 525 East 21st Street. "This neighborhood is better than where I used to live in East New York," he says. "There are some rowdy young people, there's a lot of tension, but that ' s how it is everywhere. Lozano lives in a building that is mostl y Panamanian, but says his block is primarily Jamaican. Alvin Berk, chair- man of Community Board 14 and a life- long resident of the The boycott 01 0 Korean grocery in F'otbu.h expo.ed .ome 01 the 'otent ten.ion in the neighborhood The differences in the community reflect broader divisions in Brooklyn. Flatbush lies in between the pre- dominantly black communities of Cen- tral Brooklyn-Crown Heights, Bedford- Stuyvesant and Ocean Hill-Brownsville- and the predomi- neighborhood, says, "Flatbush is a very complex and heterogeneous community. I'm not saying it's heaven here but I truly think people move into Flatbush because of it's diversity. We're probably more effectively inte- grated than most places in the city. " There's no question that Flatbush today is extremely diverse. But whether the vastly different races, classes and nationalities are able to traverse their differences re- mains an open question. The boycotting of a Korean gro- cery by a coalition of blacks has highlighted some ofthe latent tension in the area. Upon closer inspection, some residents say Flatbush is more like two communities than one. "There's some interaction ... but not a lot. Ac- tually, I see a sort of gulf," says Edward Powell , a found- ing member ofUMMA. UMMA operates a neighborhood patrol as well as youth and senior activities, and is named after the Arabic word for community. The dichotomy in Flatbush is partly based on the differences in housing. Towards the western part of the neighborhood are a cluster of unique planned communi- ties from the turn of the century: Beverly Square West , nantly white southern neighborhoods of Borough Park, Midwood and Flatlands. Fifteen years ago, when much of Brooklyn was in flux, Flatbush was seen as the front line for stopping the spread of arson, abandonment, white flight and disin- vestment. Alarmed by the transformations going on in their midst, a group of white homeowners formed the Flatbush Development Corporation (FDC) in 1975. Started by volunteers, FDC received support from major institututions. Early funding came from the Ford Foundation and shortly afterwards Citibank chose the area for a pilot project in neighborhood stabilization. The organization also facilitated numerous loans through the city' s Participation Loan Program for renovation of apartment houses. Additionally, the organization has strong political connections: state Assembly speaker Mel Miller lives in the area and is a founding member of FDC. Anthony Gliedman, a former city housing commis- sioner, is also a resident and an FDC supporter. Over the years, FDC has expanded and today it has a large staff, providing afterschool and evening programs 1 8 CITY LIMITS at local schools, adolescent community services and employment programs and refugee services. They also work with merchants and develop and rehabilitate low income housing, among numerous other activities. The most skeptical observer might note that FDC was able to grow and flourish because local and city officials had a vested interest in ensuring the area remained predominantly white and middle class. But FDC mem- bers say economic and racial integration was one oftheir earliest goals. As Ella Weiss, vice president of FDC's board of directors, puts it, "Our concerns stretched to cover the private homes and the apartment buildings. We wanted to have an integrated neighborhood ... and we have an integrated neighborhood. Some sections are more integrated than others. There are pockets. But there's a total sense in the community-in the schools and the shopping areas-that there's integration." One easy measure of community integration is the mix oflocalleadershi p. By that measure, Flatbush still has a way to go. Most elected officials from the area are white homeowners. The community board is only starting to reflect the composition of the neighborhood. And 13 of FDC's 14 board members are white homeowners. When asked about this disparity, Weiss says that in the past 15 years, the board has had 34 white and 11 minority board members, some ofthem tenants. She adds that FDC's staff is racially mixed. Still, Gail Smith, the sole tenant and only black on the board, says, "In the past I've heard the perception that FDC board members are homeowners and are not really concerned about the apartment dwellers." Does this perception still exist? "Yes," she says. "It's the truth. Those feelings are still there and they'll be there until we can get a balance on the board that reflects the community. This is an issue we have to deal with." Basically the people were Irish, German, Italian and Jewish. Today it's a multi-ethnic community. I use my block as a guide: it's still predominantly white but we have an Indian family, three or four Korean families and some Peruvians. It really is a mini-United Nations." Statistics from the city's Housing and Vacancy Survey only give a broadbrush sense of the mix in the commu- nity: 56.9 percent white, 15.5 percent black, 10.6 per- cent Puerto Rican, 8.1 percent Asian and 9 percent others. Local residents say that the new census figures may show that the white community has continued to decrease, while the Hispanic and Asian communities have climbed. When describing the area's residents, they get down to specifics: Cubans, Colombians, Do- minicans, Koreans, Indians, Argentinians, Russians- and that's just the beginning. Located just south of LaGuardia airport, Jackson Heights is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue, Junction Boulevard and 69th Street. One of the first planned communities in the United States, the neighborhood has scores of statel y co-ops as well as small homes and apartment build- ings. The housing mix reflects the area's in- come range, which runs the gamut from very poor immigrants to well-paid business executives. For the broader community, one of the most difficult issues to deal with recently has been the boycott on Church Avenue. Although they didn't Cross-cultural communication: In the 1970s the neighborhood experi- enced white flight but a sizeable number of residents stayed be- cause of their ties to the community and the quali ty of the hous- ing. As the area has become increasingly diverse, local institu- tions have been cre- ated to meet new get much media attention or lead to resolution, numerous community groups did try to mediate After a simmering dispute betw'een the Jacicson Heights Beautification Group and Indian merchants on 74th Street, Abraham Mammen from the Delhi Palace ;oined the board of the beautification group. the conflict. UMMA held a town meeting at Erasmus High School. The Church Avenue Merchants Block Association held monthly meetings. Even the community board and local politi- cians initiated discussions. What about FDC? "We participated in meetings, but we weren't on the front line, " says Weiss. "That's not our role. The main thing we're doing is programmatically reaching out. We have programs for the disadvantaged, no matter what their racial make-up." Jackson Heights Jackson Heights is home to a dizzying array of races and nationalities. This diversity is most clearly re- flected in the range of foods available: everything from empenadas to bagels to curry to tempurah can be bought from the mom-and-pop establishments that line the streets of this northern Queens neighborhood. Mary Sarro, district manager of the local community board says, "I live and grew up in Jackson Heights. needs. The Jackson Heigts-Elmhurst Kehillah, named after the Hebrew term for community, is a coalition of synagogues and community groups that was created in 1975 to try and find common ground between the oldtim- ers and the newcomers. The Colombian Civic Associa- tion was formed as the Colombian community grew. Two years ago the Cultural Awareness Council was set up to hold forums and mediate differences between the various ethnic groups. These differences are not easily articulated or re- solved. For several years, a number of residents were upset about what they perceived to be a growing prob- lem with litter and traffic on 74th Street, which has become a regional center for Indian shops. Concern escalated and the Jackson Heights Beautification Group became so upset that they held a rally, which gathered more than 300 people last fall. Working together: August/September 1990 19 a lot of the co-ops were restricted. If you weren't a white Anglo-Saxon Protes- tant, you couldn't get in. " Has this policy been obliterated? "Yes and no," she replies. "It was there and to a degree it's still there but nobody talks about it. If people can find a way to discriminate, they will. But it's not blatant." Kingshridge Heights An L-shaped "Some of the mer- chants said we shouldn't let them march," recalls Abra- ham Mammen from the Delhi Palace on 74th Street. "But I said let them express themselves and then we'll deal with it." In the end, some of the Indian merchants joined the march and now Mammen is on the board of directors of the beautification group. The Indian merchants have formed a business association and are helping put garbage cans on the street cor- Tenants from 2875 Sedgewick Avenue in Kingsbridge Heights. AI Chapman, president of the local neighborhood association, is third from the right in back. neighborhood in the northwest Bronx, Kingsbridge Heights is bounded by the ners. Although some community members still express concern about the litter created by the distribution of fliers on 74th Street, some level of trust between the dif- ferent groups has been established and the channels of communication are open. On another issue, community members are more circumspect. For all its diversity, the black population of Jackson Heights remains very small. When ask,ed why this is, Judy Grubin from the Cultural Awareness Council says, "I really can't tell you." Sarro from the community board explains that there are middle-class black neighbor- hoods nearby and blacks might ask realtors to find them apartments there. "Certainly Jackson Heights has never been closed to blacks," she says. After a pause she adds, "Well, the perception may be out there ... after all , Junc- tion Boulevard is considered the Mason-Dixon line of north Queens." Harvey Fisher, director of fair housing for the city's Commission on Human Rights , says the perception may be based on reality. "Openness to diversity often stops at people of color who are black. We see increases in inte- gration in neighborhoods with a small number of blacks, where blacks aren't seen as a threat. We' ve definitely gotten complaints from Jackson Heights." Last January, the Commission on Human Rights ruled that the board of an all-white co-op at 35-24 82nd Street discriminated when they turned down Mary Shoyinka's application to buy an apartment. Shoyinka is white but her former husband is Nigerian and she has custody of their children. The news about Shoyinka doesn' t shock many resi- dents, who acknowledge that along with a reputation for diversity in recent decades , Jackson Heights also has a quiet history of discrimination. Up until World War II, they say, Jews were often excluded from co-ops. As recently as 1960 one man recalls being turned away from an apartment because he was Puerto Rican. And way back, Catholics weren't welcome in the neighborhood. Barbara Kuchuk, executive director of the local com- munity development corporation, explains, "Years ago Jerome Park reservoir, Kingsbridge Road and Heath Avenue. Set back from the local shopping area, it's a quiet residential neighborhood with tree-lined streets, tidy apartment buildings and numerous small homes. Twenty years ago, the area wasn't nearly as peaceful. Some of the most striking demographic changes in New York City's history took place in the Bronx in the 1970s, when economic recession spurred a vicious pattern of arson, abandonment and widespread white flight. While the South Bronx burned, residents of the north- ern half of the borough watched anxiously, wondering how far the flames would fan. As early as 1972, con- cerned clergy met with an agenda of enlightened se1- interest: How could they persuade people to stay? From this group grew the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC), which did extensive tenant organizing while fighting the banks and insurance com- panies that were pulling their assets out of the borough. "Most of our neighborhoods are multi-racial," says Mary Daly, an organizer for the coalition. "Our organiza- tion could very easily been racist, responding to the threat of blacks and Hispanics moving north. But it's always been an internal goal to try and make the organi- zation multi-racial. Some people call us the original rainbow coalition." A few decades ago, most of the residents of Kings- bridge Heights were Irish Catholics or German Jews. Today the area is much more diverse: According to the Housing and Vacancy Survey, it's 40.1 percent white, 28.3 percent Puerto Rican, 19.4 percent black 4.4 per- cent Asian and 7.8 percent others. Heidi Guzman, a 10-year resident of 2800 University Avenue, says her building is typical. "We've got Jamai- cans, black Americans , Spanish, Irish, Italians and Do- minicans, " she says, listing the names ofthe families in her building. "That was one of the reasons I moved in. It helps the kids have a better attitude." Attitudes in Kingsbridge Heights seem to be fairly tol- erant. That may be because the Kingsbridge Heights Neighborhood Improvement Association (KHNIA), 20 CITY LIMITS which is part of NWBCCC, does building-by-building organizing that helps forge links in the community. The group has been doing this since the early 1970s, when they set up a neighborhood patrol and fought to turn an abandoned police station into a community center. "The neighborhood patrol was critical," recalls Joe Muriana, who did organizing in the neighborhood for eight years. "It became a social institution, almost a club." He adds that most of the buildings he helped organize were extremely integrated. Still , analysis of census figures from 1980 show that even here there are invisible barriers. Kingsbridge Heights is wedged between predominantly white Riverdale to the northwest and predominantly Hispanic University Heights to the southeast. Block-by-block data shows that the northern section of Kingsbridge Heights remains predominantly white, while the southern section is much more mixed. Bill Bosworth, a professor of political science at Lehman College, says that many of the whites in the Voices From the Neighborhood City Limits posed this question to a number of people from neighborhood groups: How do you deal with racial tension in the neighborhood you work in? David Pagan Los Sures WIlliamsburg, Brooklyn We' re involved here with Has- sidim and Hispanics. I've sat down with the other side to try and dis- cuss how we can share services, but basically there' s very little communication right now. People are going after limited resources- in our neighborhood the most limited resource is housing. We're trying to provide housing so we can alleviate some of the tension. Valerio Orselli Cooper Square Committee Lower East Side, Manhattan Our main goal is building afford- able and racially integrated hous- ing. We organize the community on a multi-ethnic basis, focusing on issues that are a concern to all. The Lower East Side is a tradi- tional home for immigrants and we've had them all. As long as the different groups don' t infringe on each other' s rights , there's tolerance. Yves Vilus Erasmus Neighborhood Federation East Flatbush, Brooklyn The only recent tension was on Church Avenue. Our organiza- tion has nothing to do with that, we weren't involved at all. If an individual wants to participate in the protest, that's up to them. Actually there isn't much racial tension here. This is mostly a Caribbean neighbor- hood-there aren't even many African-Americans. But everyone has fear because of Bensonhurst and Howard Beach. Lydia Tom Asian Americans for Equality Based In Chinatown, provides assis- tance to Asians In all boroughs Asian Americans for Equality was born through a successful struggle of the Asian community march- ing, picketing and advocating side- by-side with African-Americans, Hispanics and whites for the hir- ing of minority construction workers at Confucius Plaza. Through education within the Asian commu- nity and outreach to others and in coalition with others, AAFE is working to break down the walls that separate communities and build bridges of mutual understanding. Vivian Becker Pratt Area Community Council Fort Greene and Clinton Hili, Brooklyn You have to have roots in the community so the work you do reflects the needs of the people in the community. We're a multi-ra- cial, multi-ethnic organization and we have monthly meetings which are a forum for people to discuss issues. Fort Greene and Clinton Hill are very sensitive to racial tension because we're going through a lot of changes with gentrification. A lot of racism is also classism. My feeling is you have to address the prob- lems that cause the tension: housing, unemployment and education. community are elderly and once they die out the neighborhood may reflect the rest of the Bronx and become increasingly Hispanic. Referring to the white population, he says, "You've got a difference between here and further south. "It's the difference between a blowout and a slow leak. But there's no question there's an evolution going on. This is a neighborhood in tran- sition." People in the neighborhood see a different picture- they say new Irish and Russian immigrants are moving in. Even so, Al Chapman, president of KHNIA, says who's moving in doesn't matter as long as the neighbor- hood remains stable, with good services and strong institutions. As he puts it, "As long as there's a decent lifestyle, it doesn't matter who lives here." Equal Opportunity In the long run, decent services and strong institu- tions may be a more important and realistic goal than perfectly mixed salt-pepper-cumin-and-cayenne com- munities. Fair housing advocates say people will con- tinue to live with others like themselves, and that's fine as long as they have options to live in more varied communities if they wish. Beyond that, they say, what's important is fair distribution of services and resources throughout the city. "I'm not for integration-I'm for equal opportunity of August/September 1990 21 choice," says Esmerelda Simmons, director of the Center for Law and Social Justice in Brooklyn. Born in the Albany housing project, Simmons moved with her family to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Prospect- Lefferts Gardens when she was eight. They were the first black family on the block. "My father believed in the concept of integration, that by moving to a white neighborhood we'd have better opportunities. But for me going to school was a daily rite of passage. I encountered daily slurs, people yelling at me to get out and stay in my own neighborhood." Over a period of decades, most whites eventually left Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and now it is predomi- nantly black. Simmons says, "The truth is that integra- tion was never achieved except for a fleeting moment. I'm one of the products of that time." Today Simmons chooses to live and and work in the heart of black Brooklyn, Bedford-Stuyvesant. "In ev- ery single place I've ever moved, I've never been wel- comed," she says. "But when I moved to Bedford- Stuyvesant, people who didn't know me came out to welcome me. It was a surprise and a delight. It was unique in my experience. "In reality, integration relies on the collective will of a variety of people to live peaceably and with respect," Simmons concludes. For her and many others, that day is still a long way off. 0 !I Bankers Trust Company Community Development Group A resource for the development community Gary Hattem,Vice President 280 Park New York, New York 10017
22 CITY LIMITS FEATURE Starving for Supermarkets When it comes to supermarkets, many New York neighborhoods are undernourished. BY EVE HEYN At the same time, food chain owners are indicating a desire to add city neighborhoods to their menus. Heavy crowds and light competition now seem appealing in lower income neighborhoods once abandoned by food retailers for the more affluent suburbs. But astronomical city rents and a host of obstacles come with the deal. And city officials, who have ignored the problem for decades, . have failed to whet the appetites of supermarket chain S outheast Queens has no shortage of small "mom and pop" food stores. One bodega per commer- cial block typically beckons families from single homes and brick row houses with neatly mani- cured yards. But like many parts of New York City, the 400,OOO-strong, black, middle-class commu- nity lacks a large, modern supermarket. owners or satiate the anger of residents. People make due, but they pay a price. Hollis resident Annie Smith shops entirely at a nearby West Side Bounty Met Food stocked with lower quality meat and produce Not every New York neighborhood lacks food stores: and higher priced goods than the larger supermarkets in In Manhattan's Upper West Side, eight medium-sized nearby Long Island. supermarkets, mostly Sloan' s and Red Apples, lace Nola Southerland, an assistant manager at New York Broadway between 95th and 110th Street. Greengrocers, Telephone, drives to the giant Waldbaums in Long meat and fish markets weave in between. Island to stock up for her family of five. "I make my "Some ofthe things you see right away are [that] you of where to shop. All kinds of food are she says. "Why not spend the money here?" -;4 .. . . staples and fresh produce and meat. And Southeast Queens residents are not .... '" a natural result of competition" that controls hungry for supermarkets. Hundreds otf says Liz Krueger, associate director of the Com- New Yorkers have no convenient place to sh Resource Center, a food, hunger and nutri- people, who pay car fare out of the on. "People in low income communities inflated prices in nearby bodegas and th less options for where to shop, less problem poses not only an inconvenience within the stores they can shop at and higher hardship. Supermarket-starved communities lief. that the absence of supermarkets in many low income neighborhoods forces the poor to pay more in frequent runs to corner bodegas and medium- sized supermarkets, which can't buy in less expensive bulk quantities from suppliers. Some shoppers simply refuse. "It irks me that if! want a can of milk, this can of milk can cost 75 or 85 cents. You're not just talking pennies off," complains Nola Southerland. So, she drives to the Long Island Waldbaums where canned milk recently cost 53 cents and nine food staples-milk, cheese, cereal, tuna, juice, bread, rice, butter and eggs-totaled $15.26. Annie Smith, who is retired and owns no car, walks to the smaller Met Food where the same items August/September 1990 23 Blanca Ramirez, executive director of South Bronx People for Change. Chain supermarkets were not always so scarce in the Bronx, a borough now heavy in supermarket-starved communities. In 1970, 228 supermarkets operated in the borough; by 1988, the number plummeted to 99. It:s a pattern that repeated itself nationwide, as super- markets bolted their doors and chased middle-class households to the suburbs. Of the grocery stores that closed in low income neighborhoods nationwide in 1981, 90 percent did so to relocate in the suburbs, according to a congressional report. The suburbs offered cheaper land, less van- totaled $16.83. A $14 round trip cab to Wald- baums seems hardly worth the trip, and the city bus line ends short of the supermarket. SUPERMARKET SHUFFLE dalism and other savings. Unloading a truck, for example , might take three to four hours on a congested city street but just 15 minutes at a typi- cal 50,000 square foot suburban store. "Garbage costs are outrageous. Every time you need to hire a contractor, it's a problem," says Bett y Greitzer, a spokesperson for Supermarkets Gen- eral Corp., which owns Pathmark. Borough # of markets in 1970* Brooklyn Bronx Manhattan Queens Staten Island 360 228 302 330 33 # of markets in 1988** 139 99 174 148 19 % Decline 61% 5q% 42% 55% 42% Each month, the city's Department of Consumer Affairs con- ducts a price survey of more than 100 markets. An analysis by City Lim- its of prices during the months of April and May, the two most re- cent surveys available, revealed that wide dis- crepancies in prices from one section of the city to another some- * $500,000 or more in annual sales **$2 million or more in annual sales Source: I'rogrllSSlve Brocer mBglIZlne times exist. For example, in May the average price of a can of Bumble Bee tuna in markets surveyed in the South Bronx was $1.16; the same can of tuna cost an average of just 83 cents in markets surveyed in the wealthier Rego Park/Forest Hills area of Queens. In April , a half-gallon of whole milk cost an average of 20 cents more in the South Bronx than in the Queens markets. But when City Limits averaged the April prices of nine basic food items, the bill totaled 22 cents less in the South Bronx than Rego Park/Forest Hills. The very next month, those same items cost a South Bronx shopper 25 cents more than a Rego Park/Forest Hills shopper. Getting There But prices at the markets only tell part of the story. In the first place, you've got to be able to get to a supermar- ket. "When food stamps come, everybody will go out of the community [tol catch the sales," says Joanne Smith- erman Jones, a community outreach worker with High- bridge Community Life Center. Everybody, that is, ex- cept families without cars who cannot afford bus and taxi fares. In poorer neighborhoods where supermarkets are often scarce and many residents don' t own cars, a famil y'S choice or where to purchase their food may be severely restricted. In the South Bronx neighborhood of High- bridge that can mean juggling grocery bags 10 blocks from pricier, medium-sized markets stocked with vege- tables that are "not only limp, they're dead, " complains City rents further boost costs. Rents of$12 to $14 per square foot "would be considered expen- sive" in the suburbs, says Joseph Madenberg, who lo- cates sites for supermarket chains. In the city, rents can swell to $50 per square foot in prime locations. A typical 6,000 square foot city store also misses the profits a one-stop suburban superstore reaps from delis and pricier non-food items such as prescriptions, flow- ers and videos. "These are all encumbrances. This is why you don't have them rushing into the city," says Bill Vitulli, an A&P vice president. Profit-makers? While they may not be rushing back, more supermar- ket chain owners are eyeing New York's underserved neighborhoods as potentially profit-rich. Everybody has to spend a certain amount every year for food, the theory goes. And crowded low income neighborhoods with little supermarket competition offer limitless shoppers , if not limitless disposable income, to support a profit. Shoppers flock to the brand new Waldbaums in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn and the five-year-old Path- mark in lower Manhattan 24-hours a day. And a much- welcomed 50,000 square foot Waldbaums is under construction near Yankee Stadium in the South Bronx. Supermarkets "definitely" want to come back, says Bill Vitulli of A&P. But city costs and inconveniences keep many away. Other cities have begun to chip away at the problem. In Knoxville, Tennessee, the transit authority considers access to supermarkets when mapping bus routes. Super- 24 CITY LIMITS Food for People, Not Profit FOOD COOPERATIVES SPROUTED THROUGHOUT the 1970s as local residents joined together to create an alternative to the profit-motivated r e t a i ~ food market. With membership dues and grants, the co-ops got off the ground, keeping costs low by purchasing from wholesalers and relying on the members' own labor. The following is background and membership in- formation on a few of the long-standing cooperatives and food resources here in New York. With the excep- tion of SHARE, these cooperatives have member-elected board of directors and members have direct input into how these co-ops are run. They carry organic and pesticide-free produce, dry goods, fruits and vege- tables and in some cases, name brand products, paper goods, and health and beauty items. Park Slope The Park Slope Food Coop was established in 1973 by 10 local residents who wanted to purchase food from suppliers interested in quality and affordability, not just profit. The co-op now has more than 2,000 members, who pay cost plus a 16 percent mark-up for their purchases. Working membership is required as part of the co-op's philosophy to build and maintain the cooperative community. Location: 782 Union Street, Brooklyn, (718) 622- 0560 Membership: Working members only, except for seniors and disabled) Member work requirements: Approx. 2-1/2 hours .every four weeks . Dues: $10 biannual fee; $30 one-time refundable deposit Food stamps: Accepted with one-time $10 deposit Flatbush The Flatbush Food Co-op began in 1976 in Barry Smith's basement. He and his roommates joined to- gether in search of good food at lowerlrices. They enrolled in a course on how to start a foo cooperative and began with prepaid orders and a handful of mem- bers. Soon after they moved to their present location in Flatbush and now have more than 500 members. Location:1318 Cortelyou Road, Brooklyn, (718) 284- 9486 Membership: not required-open to the public; both working and non-working memberships Member work requirements: three hours per month or two hours per week Discounts: 3 percent for non-working members; eight percent for members working three hours per month; 16 percent for members working two hours per week Dues: $10 non-refundable annual fee ($15 for fami- lies); $25 refundable annual deposit Food stamps: accepted Good Food Cooperative With a mandate to provide affordable food to the East Village community, the Good Food Co-op opened in 1973. The co-op is sponsored by the Cooper Square Development Committee and operates out of a city- owned building managed by the committee. Good Food originally required membership but has since opened its doors to anyone from the community who wants to shop. According to Gregor Jones, the co-op's manager, Good Food caters to everyone "from yuppies to squatters. " The co-op has approximately 300 work- ing and non-working members. Location: 58. East 4th Street, New York, (212) 260- 4045 Membership: not required-open to the public; both working and non-working memberships Member work requirements: four hours per month Discounts: 10 percent for non-working members; 20 percent for working members; 10 percent for seniors/ disabled Dues: $10 refundable annual deposit ($15 for fami- lies) ; $17 non-refundable fee for non-working mem- bers . Food stamps : accepted and five percent discount given SHARE While the Self Help and Resource Exchange (SHARE) is not a storefront cooperative, it does offer similar benefits. SHARE, which began in San Diego in 1985, is a nationwide organization of more than 13,000 mem- bers. Its primary goal, according too Angela Hope- Weusi , director of SHARE, New York, was to "satisfy both physical and spiritual hunger." Participants contribute $13 per month and two hours per month of community service either through SHARE or affiliated community services. In return participants receive a monthly food package worth $30 to $35 filled with fruits, vegetables, grains, meats and other staples. SHARE has offices in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens where one can sign up for community service and make pick-ups of food packages. Location: 4000 Park Avenue, Bronx, (212) 583-8500 Membership: required Member work requirements: two hours per month of community service Discounts: $30-$35 food package for $13 Dues: $13 per month Food stamps: accepted In addition to co-ops, another food purchasing al- ternative is the city's growing network of green mar- kets. These markets bring the producers of fruits, vegetables, cheese, bread and other items directly to communities-cutting wholesalers and retailers out of the food chain and therefore often providing prod- ucts at cheaper-than-store prices. 0 Erika Mallin markets have cooperated by selling grocery carts at cost to shoppers using public transportation. A community group shuttles shoppers, and a mayoral food task force is examining financial incentives and technical assis- tance to lure supermarkets into underserved areas. The task force formed after the city council passed a 1981 resolution to improve the inner-city food supply and "recognize the availability of food for all citizens as a matter of public concern." Similar task forces, with the backing of local mayors , recommend food policies in Baltimore and Philadelphia. Small Potatoes By comparison, New York's efforts pale. Under new Department of Consumer Affairs commissioner Mark Green, the issue is beginning to undergo scrutiny. Con- sumer Affairs officials are comparing the number offood stores and prices in low, middle and upper income neighborhoods, as City Limits goes to press, for a report critics say is long overdue. But the city has no programs targeted to wooing supermarkets into underserved neigh- borhoods. Supermarkets merely take advantage of rou- tine tax reductions and technical assistance available to eligible retail businesses, says Susan Glickman, a spokes- person for the city' s Office of Business Development. But food is not like socks, "it is a necessity of life. Therefore it should be looked at in a different way," than furniture stores and other businesses, argues Kathy Goldman, director of the Community Food Resource Center. Since 1980, the center has advocated a food policy office to coordinate the gamut offood issues, from school lunches to supermarkets, now spread between 20 or so agencies. A food office operates within the Human Resources Administration, but its role is primarily lim- ited to agency programs. "There is a department of August/September 1990 25 housing. There is a department of education. There is no department of food. There is nobody looking at the issue in any serious way," Goldman says. "There has to be some attention paid." In the absence of city attention, some communities have taken upon themselves the hunt for affordable food: The Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation brought in a Pathmark through a joint operating agree- ment where the community group owns two-thirds of the supermarket. In Southeast Queens, churchgoers shuttle fellow congregation members to supermarkets outside the community. In another supermarket-starved neighborhood, community organizers hope to negotiate with top city officials for assistance in luring a major supermarket and the jobs and economic advantages that come with it. o But such piecemeal efforts barely feed the citywide need for more supermarkets. In the mean time, the poor will often be forced to pay more. 0 Eve Heyn is a freelance journalist. GROUND FLOOR OFFICE SPACE Available for lease to not-far-profit organization at 409 Lafayette Street Rental: $12 per square foot, triple net. For further information, call 212-645-7575 Competitively Priced Insurance LET us DO A FREE EVAWATION OF YOUR INSURANCE NEEDS have been praviding 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: LIABILITY BONDS DIRECTORS' & OFFICERS' LIABILITY SPECIAL BUILDING PACKAGES "Liberal Payment Terms"
306 FIFTH AVE. NEW YORK, N.Y. 10001 (212) 279-8300 Ask for: Bala Ramanathan 26 CITY UMITS Celebrate With Us ANHD is celebrating its "Sweet Sixteen," sixteen years of effective housing advocacy, with a birthday bash on October 27, 1990 (place to be announced). Hold the date for a cocktail party, hop, prom, blast, bash, good time. Something for every generation, with music from the fifties, sixties, and onward. We're publishing a journal with a yearbook theme. Your ads can range from the traditional plain typeset copy to "class pictures" of your staff, Board, organization, clients, or whatever. You also can send us a "most likely to ... (succeed, waste time, become a bureaucrat, become a politician, win a lawsuit, etc.)" photo of yourself or someone else (enclose proper permis- sion, please). Have fun with the ads - be creative! To reserve a ticket or a journal ad, clip the coupon below. Deadline for advertising copy is August 31, 1990. To: Association for Neighborhood Housing and Development, Inc. 236 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001 o Please reserve __ Sweet Sixteen Party tickets at $25.00 (includes a complimentary drink) o Please reserve the following size of advertising space in the ANHD Sweet Sixteen yearbook o Full page (8 1/2 x 11) ($350) o Half page (5 1/2 x 8 1/2) ($200) o Quarter page (5 1/2 x 41/4) ($100) o Eighth page (2 3/4 x 2) ($50) o Camera Ready copy or text of ad is enclosed o Please reserve space for a "most likely to ... " photo (1 x 1 1/4) ($50) o Photo is enclosed o Please list my name/the following names on a special page for Friends of ANHD ($25) Name ____________________________________________________________ __ Organization ______________________________________________________ _ Address __________________________________________________________ __ City ___________________________________ State ___ Zip code __________ __ Telephone Authorizing signature ____________________ _ CITY VIEW Why I Walked Out From Street NeW's BY SHARMILA VOORAKKARA I'M 22 YEARS OLD AND I WAS raised in a small town in southern New Jersey. When I was seven I lived for a summer in India. It was the first time I'd ever seen people who were starving and living on the streets. When I came to New York fi ve years ago to go to col- lege, it really upset me to see homeless- ness every- where. It was like a third world coun- try even though this is one of the richest cities in the world. I started working at Street News in March because I believed newspa- pers sold by the homeless could hel p make a difference. Hutchinson Per- sons and Wendy Koltun, the found- ers, talked up the organization as a way to help the homeless help them- selves. But no more than three days after I started as Persons' assistant, I found out that he was opposed to service and advocacy organizations like the Coalition for the Homeless, as well as shelters and even subsidized housing. Over the course of the three and a half months that I worked at Street News, I learned that the organization was far from being about empower- ing the homeless to have a voice of their own. During weekly sales meetings, Persons routinely told salespeople to "shut up" when they approached him with questions or complaints about sales policies. They were told they were disruptive, lazy and "had problems." It didn't take long for me to realize that salespeople worked for less City View is a forum for opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views of City Limits. money and in worse conditions than sweatshop workers. Any attempt they made to unionize themselves was aborted by Persons. They worked for 45 cents a paper (with an extra five cents per paper put in a deposit fund) and Persons made sure they were "independent contractors" and therefore weren't entitled to any benefits. . Although Persons said that Street Aid, the parent organization of Street News, provided an apartment refer- ral service, weekly AA meetings, and "sales/therapy" sessions, those things were more rhetoric than real- ity. There was no apartment referral service whatsoever. The AA meet- ings were intermittent. And Persons insisted that the sales meetings be called "salesltherapy" sessions even though the meeting had nothing to do with therapy. But as Persons confided to me, sales technique was therapy. No Support The longer I worked at Street News, the more I saw how arbitrary the rules and policies were. Salespeople, under penalty of immediate termi- nation, were not allowed into the business office without an appoint- ment with Persons, which was virtu- ally impossible to get. At one point a salesperson named John McClellan was wrongly admit- ted into the psychiatric ward of Metropolitan Hosrital after being mugged. His socia worker told him that without the release of his de- posit fund he couldn't be released. McClellan had saved enough money in his fund from his sales to get a room at the YMCA. He called Persons to ask that it be released, and Persons refused. Later on, Persons explained to the staff that what McClellan really wanted was "just a hand out." He said, "John just wanted me to believe that he was too help- less to go out and get to work. I didn't give him his money and he's doing just fine now. He's out selling pa- pers again." Until the McClellan event, I thought there was at least some good August/September 1990 27 in Street News. I saw that salespeople relied on the money they made from selling newspaper to buy food for meals. But I also became aware of the terrible price they had to pay for those meals. It cost them their voice in how the organization was run, their dignity and their independ- ence-the very things Street News was supposedly founded for. While my doubts were growing, the office was usually crazed with calls from people who wanted to volunteer or start up Street News offices in other parts of the country. We were inundated with free office equipment and supplies. But around February, calls from the press be- came routine in light of persistent allegations about financial wrong- doing. Shortly afterwards, Persons in- sisted that all of the staff should write articles for the next issue de- nouncing the negative press and supporting Street News. Hardly anyone wanted to do this-most of the staff were pleased that the media was looking into the organization's questionable finances. That day was a catalyst for many of the Street News staffers. I realized that by going to work I showed sup- port of Street News policies, even if deep down I thought they were wrong. On May 15, I walked out with seven others. It was the first time I had ever taken a stand on anything. I didn't have a job to go to when I left and I still had a month's back rent to pay. All those things still had to be taken care of. But it wasn't worth it. When I left Street News , I walked away with a better understanding of where I stood when it comes to feed- ing and housing the poor. I learned that I don't buy into the standard American work ethic that if you can't find work it's all your own fault and you're useless. I realized that people without jobs and food deserve assis- tance so they can truly help them- selves. Most importantly, I realized that I have the ability to stand up for my beliefs. 0 Sharmila Voorakkara is working at Crossroads, a for-profit alternative to Street News which is being run with input by the homeless. The organization hopes to sell penny stocks to salespeople. 28 CITY UMITS LETIERS Brimming with Innuendo To the Editor: Lisa Glazer's "Starrett City: Buck- ing the Rules?" (June/July 1990) ignores several critical factors regard- ing this nation's most successfully integrated development. This is up- setting because she had several con- versations with our public affairs officer and chose to ignore the facts. Consequently, the article is brim- ming with innuendo and little sub- stance. Starrett's Affirmative Fair Hous- ing Plan was designed to ensure an integrated and stable community. The marketing program received approvals from all governing hous- ing agencies during Starrett's early rent up. Starrett's population, 55 percent white and 45 percent minor- ity (which includes Hispanics, Asians and blacks) live and prosper together in a community recognized around the world for its racial and ethnic harmony at a time when so much racial strife exists elsewhere in our city. The waiting list for Starrett has been predominantly minority for two important reasons-Starrett's prox- imity to East New York, a predomi- nantly minority community, and minorities' limited accessibility to excellent, affordable and decent housing. The discrimination case settle- ment of 1984 provided an increased number of apartments in Starrett for minority groups. (It had always been Starrett's goal to maximize minority participation.) The settlement also sought to ease the overwhelming number of minority applicants who rushed to find housing in Starrett by demanding an increase in minority participation in other Mitchell-Lama developments throughout New York City. The implication that Starrett's "fair market" campaign is something new and underhanded is absurd and of- fensive. Starrett was developed as an Article II Mitchell-Lama Devel- opment and is therefore not pre- cluded from renting to families who are eligible under the Mitchell-Lama program. In fact, its "236" contract specifically allows the owners to lease 10 percent of the units to fair market Mitchell-Lama tenants with- out Department of Housing and Ur- ban Development (HUD) approval and we are not close to the number. This is something we have been doing since 1973 without objection. The fact that the majority of the so-called Mitchell-Lama tenants who have rented are minorities was not re- ported by Glazer. Glazer quoted several federal and state officials, however she failed to state the reason it is necessary to rent some apartments to non-subsidized tenants: Neither the state nor the federal government will commit to providing Starrett with additional Section 8 subsidy funds necessary to fund the two rent increases that were already approved by both the De- partment of Housing and Commu- nity Renewal (DHCR) and HUD. Con- sequently, we do not have sufficient HOUSIHG HQWI--HOMEl'OWN CVEf\yov\E .DESERVES A HOME! october 1 to 7. 1990 \ ! ... '0 . J01n commun1t1es around the country as they "turn up the ./ "HOUSING heat" on their Congressional I \ and the Bush r ,; 4, adm1n1strat10n to push for , , decent, affordable housing I I and an end to homelessness. LA For a week, throughout America, people will be staging rallies, teach-ins, interfaith services, lobbying meetings and more in their hometowns to demand that Congress pass: The Mickey Leland Peace Dividend Housing Assistance Act or 1990 (HR4621) Contact: (212) 316-7544 or (212) 947-3444 or write to: This bill would restore to federal housing programs $125 billion over five years. It needs your support! Come to a local planning meeting or call for a calendar of events now. HOUSING NOW! New York Cathedral of St. John the Divine 1047 Amsterdam Avenue New York, N.Y. 10025 Section 8 funds to cover all our Sec- tion 8 units and are decreasing the number occupied by attrition to prevent our running out of subsidy. In addition, neither HUD nor DHCR is in a position to discuss the future of Section 8 tenants when the sub- sidy contract expires in 1996. This too escaped mention in Glazer's ar- ticle. We are currently advertising for both "236" and Mitchell-Lama ten- ants to fill vacancies as they occur except where we have RAP units and funds available, in which case we fill the unit from our RAP waiting list. The "consent order" also specifically recognized that various programs coexist at Starrett and merely requires that we rent by program in chrono- logical order provided funds exist. Robert C. Rosenberg Chairman Grenadier Realty Corporation Lisa Glazer replies: Most of the information in your second, third and fourth paragraphs is included in my article. The contention that it is per- missible to rent to fair market Mitch- ell-Lama tenants is being disputed by state and federal housing offi- cials. The Starrett explanation for the fair market rental policy-that you don 'tget sufficient government fund- ing-was mentioned twice in the article. Finally, I did not report your contention about the racial compo- sition of the fair market tenants because this information was not given to me. When I asked your public affairs officer if the fair market pol- icy had the effect of favoring whites, she said, "No matter what their ethnic background, people can move in. " August/September 1990 29 Terrific To the Editor: I just finished reading Marguerite Holloway'S article "Bitter-Sweet Success" (June/July 1990). I thought it was terrific. You made a very good point and I think the piece will really get people thinking. Congratulations. Eric Goldstein Staff Attorney Natural Resources Defense Council 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, N.Y. 10025 (212) 222-9946 Nowwe.neet 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. Courteously. Efficiently. And professionally.
more Insurance needs than ever fOl'groups lice yours. 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) 2678080. ~ ..... FennImen.lnc. 123 William Street. New York, New York 10038-3804 Your community housing insurance professionals I- II 0 I' I: S S 1 0 , \ I . It 1 II I ~ ( ' 'I' 0 II \ 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 serrices for nonprofit derelopers 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 Re habilitation Vacant Building Program Developments CALL TODAY FOR A FREE CONSULTATION 1740 Victor Street, Bronx, NY 10462 Tel. (212)824-5044 ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING for City Agencies and Nonprofits ILLUSTRATION: Maps Floorplans. Technical Drawings Graphs IYPESEITING: Manuals Brochures Newsletters PENNYROYAL PUBLICATIONS For a free estimate call Sarah Babb at (212) 864-5109 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 GURALNICK, 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 212/406-3320 ARCHITECTURAL & PLANNING DIVISION Urban Homesteading Assistance Board Specialists In Nonprofit Housing and Community Facilities FULL ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES Zoning Analyses Design Through Construction Documents Inspection, Evaluation & Feasibility Reports Contact Betsy Calhoun or Paul Castrucci , R.A. 212/226-4119 40 Prince Street, New York, NY 10012 WM. SHUBERT & COMPANY Real Estate Appraisers Excellent Quality Prompt Delivery Dedicated to Community Service 3190 Riverdale Ave., Bronx, NY 601-2200 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 GRANT WRITER. Housing agency serving homeless mentally ill seeks exp grant writer. Responsibilities: Identify funding sources & prepare material necessary for ongoing fund raising activities including brochures, reports, press releases & proposals. Assist coord special events. Visit with funders as reqrd. Staff support avail to assist research & prod. Requirements: Exp & strong commun skills. Salary: Negotiable. Resume: Steve Coe, Executive Director, Community Access Inc., 95 Avenue A, NYC 10009. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR. Director seeks orgnzd self-dscplnd asst for nonprofit to obtain financing for energy conservation prjcts in low income multifam housing. Rspnsblts: marketing; fincl analysis; loan pckgng; prog, fiscal & office mgmt. Qual : exptrain in business/proj mgmt or housing/devel finance, commun & organ skills & commit- ment. Financl analysis, computer & energy/construc skills a +. Salary $26k +. Resume: CONSERVE, Inc., 99 Hudson St, NYC 10013. MANAGER. Seeking credit union mgr, preferably with background in housing and community devlpt. Spanish a +. Women & minorities encouraged to apply. Salary: $21 k, benefits included. Resume, letter: Self Help Works Federal Credit Union, 40 Prince St, 2nd Fir, NYC 10012. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. Lutheran affil South Bronx nonprofit neighbd devlpt corp seeks individ with MA in social work or related field. Must be exp in program devlpt, fundraising & fiscal mgmt; good commun skills & ability to work with diverse staff & board. Exp with admin of NYC grants, knowledge of Spanish a +. Women & minorities encrgd to apply. Salary to $40k depend on qualif & expo Resume by Aug 20: Box 319H, Scarsdale, NY 10583. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INTERMEDIARY. National nonprofit hous- ing & community devlpt intermediary seeks 2 Assistant Program Officers to work with VPs in oversight & devlpt of programs thruout country. Must have strong speaking, writing, presentation & ana- lytic skills. BAIBS & at least 2 yrs exp in housing, community devlpt or related field. Advanced degree pref. Resume, letter: Vice President's Office, LlSC, 733 Third Ave, NYC 10017. "COMMITMENT" August/September 1990 31 OFFICE MANAGER/ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT. The Upper Room AIDS Ministry is a multi-racial, gay-affirmative Harlem-based AIDS ministry with homeless people. We are new, vibrant & energetic. Must be organized, exp, with good interpersonal skills & unafraid of learning new things. Resume: URAM, POB 1994, NYC 10011. SENIOR SOCIAL WORIER/PARALEGAL. Work with project attnys & organizers providing services to clients in East Side SROs. Evalu- ate entitlement problems of SRO tenants, interview clients, advo- cacy before social or govt agencies, rep at admin hearings, tenant outreach & organizing. MSW prefd. Relevant exp, Spanish lang a +. Salary from $23,750/collective bargain agrmnt + benefits. Mi- norities, women, people with disabil encrgd to apply. Contact: O. Karen Stamm, Managing Attny, East Side SRO Legal Service Project, 223 Grand St, NYC 10013. (212) 996-7410. 3 HOUSING/SUPPORT SERVICES COORDINATORS. The Partnership for the Homeless seeks 2 staff to coord the relocation of homeless families to perm housing, which includes relating to volunteers assigned to manage community linkages & adjustment. 1 addi- tional staff to develop & coord transitional & permanent housing with support services for homeless singles with AIDS. Salary: $20- 26k & exc benefits. Resumes: M. Winkler, The Partnership for the Homeless, 115 W. 31st St, 4th Fir, NYC 10001-2109. DIRECTOR. Creative, exp mgr needed by dynamic nonprofit for citywide program serving volunteer neighborhood groups. Admin cash grants programs, annual conf & respond to requests for tech assist. BA + 2-5 yrs training expo Exc benefits. EOE. Resume & salary req: CCNYC, 3 W 29th St, NYC 10001 Att: Personnel. COMMUNITY DIRECTOR/TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE DIRECTOR. The RAIN Community Land Trust, community-based nonprofit housing dev org seeks people for its Board of Directors. 2 positions: Community Dir & Tech Assist Dir. Must work in community struggles, have knowledge of low & mod income housing issues; commit to political action, land trust concept. Minorities & women enrgd to apply. Resume, letter: RAIN-CL T, 638 E 6th St, NYC 10009. Deadline Aug 1. Call Amanda McMurray, (212) 998-8090 if later. 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. Throulh the primary service of providing low cost home heating oil, various heating plant services and energy management services, HEAT members have collectively Mved over $5.1 minion. HOUSING ENERGY ALLIANCE FOR TENANTS COOP CORP. 853 BROADWAY. SUITE 414. NEW YORK. N.Y. 10003 \2121505-0286 If you are interested in learning more about HEAT, or if you are interested in becoming a HEAT member, call or write the HEAT office. CONGRATULATIONS! Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation OBUSTYLocal Development Corporation Park Slope Fifth Avenue Local Development Corporation Pratt Area Community Council Private Sector Resource Center Progress of Peoples Development Corporation Project Reach Youth Prospect Lefferts Gardens Neighborhood Association Pueblo Nuevo Housing and Development Association Queens Citizens Organization Queens Community Civic Corporation Queens Teen Pregnancy Network R. A. I.N. Community Land Trust, Inc. Ridgewood Local Development Corporation Rockaway Development and Revitalization Corporation Roosevelt Assistance Corporation St. Albans Local Development Corporation St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corporation Services Now for Adult Persons, Inc. South Brooklyn Local Development Corporation Southeastern Greenpoint Crime Prevention Program Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation Strycker's Bay Neighborhood Council, Inc. Tenant Takeover Team, Inc. Tri-Pact, Inc. Urban Homesteading Assistance Board Urban Renewal Committee of South Jamaica, Inc. Weeksville Community Services, Inc. West Side Crime Prevention Program West Harlem Community Organization, Inc. Woodside on the Move Youth Dares Youth Environmental Services, Inc. The East New York Savings Bank is pleased to announce that the following community organizations in our service area (Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Nassau) have been chosen to receive Community Action Assistance Grants from the Bank for their neighborhood preservation and improvement endeavors: We salute the achievements of these exemplary grassroots organizations and appreciate and support their continuing commitment to making our communities a better place in which to live and conduct business. Alley Pond Environmental Center Alliance of Queens Artists, Inc. Asian Americans for Equality Atlantic Avenue Association Local Development Corporation BECNew Communities HDFC, Inc. Bensonhurst Redevelopment Corporation Brighton Neighborhood Association Broad Channel Civic Association Brooklyn Arts and Cultural Association Canarsie Neighborhood Development Corporation Carroll Gardens Association, Inc. Central Astoria Local Development Coalition Children's Arts and Sciences Workshops, Inc. City Limits Clinton Housing Development Company, Inc. Conserve, Inc. Cooper Square Committee Corona Community Development Corporation Council of Neighborhood Organizations, Inc. Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation East Harlem Interfaith East New York Urban Youth Corps Housing Development Fund Company, Inc. East Williamsburg Valley Industrial Development Corporation Ecumenical Community Development Organization Elmhurst Economic Development Corporation Encore Community Center, Inc. Essex Street and Neighbors Block Association Fifth Avenue Committee, Inc. Flatbush Development Corporation Flatbush East Community Development Corporation Flatbush Family Network Flatbush Tenants' Council Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts Gateway Community Restoration, Inc. Greater Jamaica Development Corporation Greater Sheepshead Bay Development Corporation Greater Woodhaven Development Corporation Habitat for Humanity Hope Community, Inc. Housing Conservation Coordinators Hunters Point Community Development Corporation Interfaith Adopt-A-Building, Inc. Jackson Heights Community Development Corporation Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island Jewish Community Council of the Rockaway Peninsula Local Development Corporation Del Barrio, Inc. Local Development Corporation of East New York Long Island Women's Equal Opportunity Council, Inc. Los Sures Lower East Side Coalition Housing Development, Inc. Manhattan Borough Development Corporation Manhattan Valley Development Corporation Meltdown Performing Arts, Inc. Mid-Brooklyn Community Economic Development Corporation Middle Earth Crisis Counseling and Referral Center Midwood Development Corporation Midwood Field Concert Series, Inc. Nassau Senior Forum National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions Neighborhood Housing Services of Jamaica, Inc. New York Hispanic Housing Coalition North Brooklyn Development Corporation Northeast Brooklyn Housing Development Corporation --p~ /? J Y . P t . ~<-1 < ' 7 Paul B. Murray President and CEO ~ l!.d.l~;; .\lwood Colfins , III Chid Opel alilll! Officl'l- fAST~EwYOR.K THE EAST NEW YORK SAVINGS BANK MEMBER FDIC