Cover Story: Driven To Failure, the lost cause of the Clean Air Act in New York City by David U. Andrews and Andrew White.
Other stories include a message to the new Giuliani administration; Cynthia Asmann on the Bargain Village flea market in Harlem; Hanna Liebman on the complex problem of domestic violence in traditional Jewish homes; Peter Ortiz on the dangers of fishing in the Hudson River; Steve Mitra on the city's likely unwillingness to organize cooperatives for public housing tenants; Amy Bachrach on renters unknowingly paying unfair property taxes; Errol T. Louis' book review of "No Crystal Stair: African-Americans in the City of Angels," by Lynell George.
Cover Story: Driven To Failure, the lost cause of the Clean Air Act in New York City by David U. Andrews and Andrew White.
Other stories include a message to the new Giuliani administration; Cynthia Asmann on the Bargain Village flea market in Harlem; Hanna Liebman on the complex problem of domestic violence in traditional Jewish homes; Peter Ortiz on the dangers of fishing in the Hudson River; Steve Mitra on the city's likely unwillingness to organize cooperatives for public housing tenants; Amy Bachrach on renters unknowingly paying unfair property taxes; Errol T. Louis' book review of "No Crystal Stair: African-Americans in the City of Angels," by Lynell George.
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Cover Story: Driven To Failure, the lost cause of the Clean Air Act in New York City by David U. Andrews and Andrew White.
Other stories include a message to the new Giuliani administration; Cynthia Asmann on the Bargain Village flea market in Harlem; Hanna Liebman on the complex problem of domestic violence in traditional Jewish homes; Peter Ortiz on the dangers of fishing in the Hudson River; Steve Mitra on the city's likely unwillingness to organize cooperatives for public housing tenants; Amy Bachrach on renters unknowingly paying unfair property taxes; Errol T. Louis' book review of "No Crystal Stair: African-Americans in the City of Angels," by Lynell George.
Direitos autorais:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Formatos disponíveis
Baixe no formato PDF, TXT ou leia online no Scribd
City Limits is published ten times per year. monthly except bi-monthly 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. Editor: Andrew White Senior Editor: Jill Kirschenbaum Associate Editor: Steve Mitra Contributing Editor: Peter Marcuse Production: Chip Cliffe Advertising Representative: Faith Wiggins Office Assistant: Seymour Green Proofreader: Sandy Socolar Photographers: Steven Fish. F.M. Kearney. Andrew Lichtenstein. Suzanne Tobias Sponsors Association for Neighhorhood 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. former City Limits Editor Errol Louis. Central Brooklyn Partnership Mary Martinez. Montefiore Hospital Rebecca Reich. Housing Consultant Andrew Reicher. UHAB Tom Rohbins. Journalist Jay Small . ANHD Walter Stafford. New York University Doug Turetsky. former City Limits Editor Pete Williams . Center for Law and Social Justice Affiliations for identification only. Subscription rates are: for individuals and community groups. $20/0ne Year. $30/Two Years; for businesses. foundations. banks. government agencies and libraries. $35/0ne Year. $50/Two Years. Low income. unemployed. $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. Postmaster: Send address changes to City Limits. 40 Prince St.. NYC 10012. Second class postage paid New York. NY 10001 City Limits (ISSN 0199-0330) (212) 925-9820 FAX (212) 966-3407 Copyright 1993. All Rights Reserved. No portion or portions of this journal may be reprinted 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. MI48106. 2jDECEMBER 1993jCITY UMITS One in 12 Children! W hen you're talking about poverty, reality is easily obscured. Just ask the homeless men and women who have become advocates, or the activists who have worked to win new housing for the homeless and fix the shelter system. Many of them have given up trying to argue that homeless people are not by definition pathological or psychotic. During the last two years, nearly every time an article about homeless- ness has appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and many other newspapers and magazines, the reporters have either explicitly or implicitly assumed that most homeless people are in dire circumstances as a result of mental illness, drug addiction or some other character deficiency. As we've said in this space before, accepting that premise is the easiest way to avoid responsibility for dealing with social and economic inequities in our city. Last month, some progress was made when The New York Times reported that a new University of Pennsylvania study found homeless- ness to be far more common in New York City and Philadelphia than previously believed. The Times reporter noted that "the sheer volume of people who became homeless ... suggest[s] that regional economic prob- lems, not just the behavior ofindividuals, are a factor." Wow. Economics might just be a factor behind homelessness. Isn't that a revelation. It's astonishing how easy it is for this city's opinion-makers to be so oblivious to simple truths. In fact, the findings ofthe Pennsylvania study comprise an emphatic call to rearrange our priorities in dealing with homelessness. Researchers found that one in12 African-American chil- dren in New York City have spent time in a homeless shelter! And the pace at which families are becoming homeless is picking up speed. Now let's see how many reporters and pundits bother to take note of reality and change their assumptions. * * * November's article on the Job Training Partnership Act included the comments of Department of Employment spokesperson Beverly Cheuvront. We should have noted that Cheuvront is also a former editor of this magazine, and as such serves on our board of directors. As the article's content itself should make clear, board members have no control over the editorial content of the magazine; they serve only in an advisory capacity. 0 Cover design by Karen Kane. Photo by Steven Fish. INSIDE TIlE MA A Message to You, Rudy 6 Benchmarks by which to measure the Giuliani administration's commitment to communities. FEATURES Driven to Failure 16 Missed deadlines. Shortsighted programs. Recalcitrant politicians and a governor on the sidelines. Does anyone really think New York can comply with the Clean Air Act? by David U. Andrews and Andrew White Divided We FaIl 22 Co-op ownership sounded like a dream come true for some residents of public housing projects and other low income New Yorkers. Now they're not so sure. by Steve Mitra PROFRE Starting from Scratch 8 Bargain Village, a flea market in Harlem, is offering the homeless a way out and a leg up. by Cynthia Asmann PIPELINES Code of Denial 10 Orthodox Jews are struggling with the fact that religious households are not immune to domestic violence. by Hanna Liebman Toxins for Dinner 14 When it comes to eating Hudson River fish, what you don' t know can kill you. by Peter Ortiz
Cityview Renters Must Strike Back Review A View from the West DEPABTMmTS Editorial Briefs A Melrose Tale HolJ8in8 is the Key Fre8b Start Terminal Jitters 2 Letters Professional 4 Directory 4 4 Job Ads 5 26 by Amy Bachrach 28 by Errol T. Louis 29 30,31 27,31 10 16 22 CITY UMITSIDECEMBER 1993/3 BRIEFS A MELROSE TALE last month, the new Melrose Commons Urban Renewal Project in the South Bronx, a redevelopment plan that sprouted directly from the orga- nizing efforts of neighborhood residents, became the official proposal of the city's depart- ments of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and City Planning. Now the plan has its seven-month journey through the city's uniform lana use review process, or ULURP. "It is beautiful. It's such a relief/' says Dolorinda Lisanti, who has lived in the South Bronx community for 28 years and was one of the first to dis- cover in the late 1980s that her home was slated for demolition under the guidelines of an earlier city plan that would have bulldozed the homes and busi- nesses of hundreds of peOple. She worked with others in the neighborhood to organize Nos Quedamos ('We Stay"), the local group that took control of the planning process and even- tually won the support of Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer. "To see a community come together like this, it's beautiful," says Usanti. Melrose Commons spans 36 acres and, under the new plan, will include 65 separate devel- opment sites, ranging from one- and two-family homes to block- long, seven-story apartment buildings. Unlike the city's origi- nal plan, the proposal includes housing for low income house- holds and little displacement of current residents. Originally, 78 families and 80 businesses were to be moved out of the area; now, if the current plan is ap- proved, about 55 families and 51 businesses will have to move, but most will be given top priority for new homes and stores within the community, according to the planning department. lastspring and summer, Nos Quedamos held community planning sessions and, with the pro bono assistance of Petr Stand from Magnusson Archi- tects and Lee Weintraub from Weintraub and DiDomenico, drafted a preliminary plan. During August and September, 4/DECEMBER 1993/CITY LIMITS the group negotiated with plan- ners from city agencies and ultimately collabOrated with them to draft the current pro- posal. Highlights include a new ''Town Center" where most of the major streets intersect; the area includes a pedestrian mall and retail stores as well as a community center in the now- abandoned landmork Court- house on 1 61 st Street. If the proposal is approved by local community bOards, the bOrough president, the City Planning Commission and the City Council, HPD can l?egin taking bids on pieces of tfie project within a or two. However, mony of the designs for housing developments in the proposal do not fit into any current government housing programs, so it may be 10 years or longer before the entire project is completed. "Planning and development is not a reactive process," says Weintraub. ''You can't just say, 'There's a two-story house pro- gram, so let's build two-story houses.' The decision was made here early on that there is no program for all of this. But when the program comes along the plan is here." Andrew White HOUSING IS THE KEY To the surprise of few housing advocates, preliminary results of an as-yet unreleased study indicate that formerly homeless families are better off living in public housing rather than in buildings owned and managed by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development The study by Beth Weitzman, a professor at New York University, looks at 169 families who moved out of the shelters and into permanent housing in 1992. All of them were deemed to be especially at risk for returning to homeless ness because of their past experienc- es; some, for example, were young mothers who had grown In Bushwick, members of EI Puente, a WIlliamsburg commu.-., group, and students of Bushwic:k High School recently umeiled a 205-foot mural called "LMn' In Peace." The painting Is Intended as a respoIIM to the "Rest In Peace" murals that dot the nelghbortlood, memorializing Individuals who died vioIentIJ on the streets. up in foster care; others were of domestic violence or had a history of drug abuse. Weitzman set out to determine whether or not intensively focused social services could help stabilize families once they leave the homeless shelters. Half of the families in the study took part in an intensive case management (ICM) project funded bY the Edna McConnell Clark Founda- tion and run by four community groups in Harlem, the Lower East Side and the Bronx. The other half did not. Final results from the research are still being ana- lyzed. Initially, however, Weitzman found that the experiences of families who went through the ICM program and those who did not were relatively similar. But she found significant disparity between families who moved into public housi ng and those who moved into city-owned, in rem apartment buildings. In rem buildings are properties taken from landlords who fail to pay property taxes; most are located in troubled neighborhoads and are in very poor physical condition. While only a few of the families returned to the shelter system, those who did were all residents of in rem housing, not public housing, Weitzman says. Those in in rem housing also had a much higher rate of instability in general, she adds. "Projects have a bad reputation, but among people coming out of a shelter, they feel like they've hit the jackpot when they get a place in public housing," she says. Families in the ICM pro- grams receive three months of very close attention from caseworkers who have small case-loads of only three or four families (See City Umits, April 1993). Weitzman's which is due to be released this winter, will look at the impact that ICM had in terms of helping families through counseling and community support as well as concrete services such as getting children into school or hooking up the telephone. This month, the city's Department ot Homeress Services (DHS) expects to begin funding nine new ICM pro- grams for families moving out of the shelters and into permanent housing, and will take over funding from the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation for the four already in place. Andrew White FRESH START After 15 years of turmoil, tenants in four city-owned Park Slope buildings are forming a mutual housing association to take ownership of the properties and commence, they hope, a new era of stability. "In many ways it's been a long and frustrating process," says Brad Lander, executive , 1 director of the Fifth Avenue Committee (FACl, a nonprofit housing and economic develop- ment group that organized the tenants. In December, the buildings will be leased to the new South Brooklyn Mutual Housing Asso- ciation, which in turn will rent them to the current tenants. Next summer, the mutual housing association is expected to pur- chase the buildings, Lander says, and the resiaents will remain as renters. Ownership and manage- ment responsibilities will be shared by the tenants, FAC and the neighborhood residents. The association will have a nine- member board, four elected from among the tenants, two others from the community, one from an apartment waiting list and two from the membership of FAC. The buildings had been in city ownership for about 10 years when, in 1989, they were slated for a $1 million renova- tion under the city's Private Ownership and Management Program (POMP). ''They were in such bod shape that people were afraid to come in to make repairs," soys Madeline Garay, who has lived in one of the buildings since 1977. The city hired Kay Manage- ment Group to do the work with the intention of selling the prop- erty to them. But tenants were not happy with Kay's previous record, so they and FAC suc- cessfully lobbied the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to hire John Touhey of Turf Companies in Kay's place. Lander says that Touhey wanted eventually to sell the buildings bock to the tenants as cooperatives. But along the way, the ten- ants started having misgivings. "What people wanted was long time security, affordability and succession rights; they didn' t feel comfortable going the co- operative route," says Lander. ''The mutual housing concept started getting kicked around in 1992." At the some time, Touhey's contract to rehabilitate the buildings ran into trouble. In July, 1993, Touhey and the city agreed to terminate the POMP contract because ''Turf was For the second year In a .-, AllIance for the EnvIronment In WlUlamsburg staged a "toxic mile" demotlltlallo.l along the route of the New Yortl CIty Maraa- to protest poIuIIon in the neilhbortlOOd as well as the c:itJ'1 plan to build an incinerator at the Brooklyn Nny Yard. Members of the Jewish and latino COIIIIIIUIIitIe displaJed IIfe..sbe ......, effigies and presented a "toxic theater." financially overextended," ac- cording to Cassondra Vernon, an HPD spokesperson. The city then proposed that FAC take over the buildings, Lander says, but tenants decided they pre- ferred to go ahead with the mutual housing association. Now, the association is expected to hire a developer to finish the remaining city-funded rehabilitation work. When that's complete, the buildings are theirs. Steve Mitra TERMINAL JlnERS Development plans for the Terminal Urban Re- newal Area (ATURA) in down- town Brooklyn are shifting again. Forest City Ratner, the organization that took control of the project in 1992, is focusing on short-term retail development schemes to get it off the ground this year. Forest City, the developer of the nearby Metrotech complex, plans a 500,000 square fOot shopping complex for the ATURA site at Flatbush and avenues. Construction of a 155,OOO-square-foot Bradlee' s discount department store is slated to begin this month, and Forest City is look- ing for a tenant for a proposed 60,OOO-square-foot "regional supermarker'-about twice the size of a normal city supermar- on Avenue. A 1 986 plan by Rose Asso- ciates-which has since bocked out of the a vast office and retail complex, two parking garages, a 10- screen cinema and several hundred units of middle income housing. Local opponents joined together as the ATURA Cooli- tion, and filed a number of lawsuits delaying the project. The office development has since been shelved due to a slack market. Members of the ATURA Coolition concede that they see improvements in the new plan; for example, the developer dropped its original proposal for an eight-story l,OOO-car parking garage in favor of two smaller underground facilities. But they argue that the develop- ment will hurt businesses on nearby Fifth Avenue as well as along the recession-bottered Fulton Mall, and they soy it will worsen traffic and pollution problems in the neighborhood. The group is ambivalent about Brad lee' s, but is strongly opposed to the regional super- market. "Irs too huge," says Felicia Wilson, whose block of South Elliott Place would be- come a dead end facing the store's bock wall . "It would destroy the intimate character of the neighborhood." Forest City chief operating officer Paul Travis angrily dis- misses the coolition as "a bond of crazy radicals with no stake in the community." He argues that the Pathmark in Gowanus didn't drive nearby stores out of business and soys the alterna- tive is "small, overpriced extor- tionate stores that make the poor pay more." Officials of the city's Eco- nomic Development Corpora- tion (EDC) say the large size of the project is needed to lure shoppers with cars to the area. The regional supermarket, they soy, would resemble the Cropsey Avenue Pathmark, which draws customers from neighborhoods along the Belt Parkway. Increased traffic could be accommodated by widening streets and adjl,.lsting the timing of traffic lights, says EDC senior project manager Sonya Horton. Housing development at the site is also slated to begin soon, with 53 three-family houses to be built in the first phase of the project beginning next month. The houses, sponsared by the New York City Partnership, will sell for about $225,000, and will each include two, two- bedroom apartments expected to rent for about $800 apiece. People making a maximum of $53,000 a year will be eligible to buy the houses, according to Partnership project manager Jody Casso Buyers will have to make a 5 percent down pay- ment, and make mortgage payments of roughly $2,000 a month. Also in the plan are another 213 units of middle-income housing and a 113-apartment building at and Carlton avenues for low income senior citizens. Federal funding for the seniors' housing was rejected by "Reagan-Bush holdovers" in the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, says Representotive Major Owens, but he hopes to reverse that decision. Meanwhile, develorment of new office space is stil a possi- bility in the future. EDC's Horton soys that if Bradlee's kick-starts the project, the office towers may become economically viable. Steven Wlshnl. CITY UMITS/ DECEMBER 1993/5 A Message to You, Rudy Benchmarks for a new administration I n his election night speech, Mayor-elect Rudy Giuliani adopted a conciliatory tone. He promised New Yorkers that no community would be ignored in his efforts to improve the quality of life in the city, whether or not they had given him their support. Communities-and not City Hall- are where some of the most inspiring innovations in government originate; they are also where the hard realities of New York life are played out. But for neighborhood ideas to be realized, they often need government support. As the mayor-elect prepares to move into Gracie Mansion, it's important that he understands how neighbor- hood people will measure his accom- plishments and failures. City Limits asked dozens of community activists around the city to help draw up a list of a few small but important programs and projects that will be benchmarks by which to judge Giuliani's respect for the residents oflow income neigh- borhoods. From their recommenda- tions, we offer some of the most notable of many important items that depend on the support of the new mayor, yet can easily be lost in the grand pro- nouncements and City Hall intrigue of a new administration. ~ BEACON SCHOOLS During the last three years, a num- ber of public schools have been open late into the night and throughout the weekend, offering all sorts ofcommu- nity activities including recreation, counseling, education for adults as well as young people, even job train- ing. These are the Beacon Schools, whose primary goal is to give young people a productive alternative to the streets. Today, more than 100,000 New Yorkers in 37 communities take ad- vantage of the services offered by the Beacons, whose after-school services are operated by community-based nonprofits such as Alianza Domini- cana in Washington Heights and Good Shepherd Services in Red Hook. The schools' successes have made them indispensable. a/DECEMBER 1993/CITY UMITS "Asking them to be shut down is like asking a church, synagogue or mosque to be shut down," says Richard Murphy, commissioner of the Depart- ment of Youth Services. The 37 Beacon Schools will cost $18.5 million during the 1994 fiscal year, which ends next June 30th. Murphy's department hopes to add 28 more schools to the roster, increas- ing the budget by $14 million during the 1995 fiscal year. This is a sound investment. The rate at which young people are becoming involved in vio- lent crime is increasing rapidly. If we are to maintain safety on our streets and keep the criminal justice budget under control, we must offer what- ever opportunities we can to help young people find positive value in their lives. ~ THE 197A PLANNING PROCESS Community residents' voices are often the last and the least heard in the planning and development of their neighborhoods. Most of the time, city agencies and real estate developers make policy without them. But the planning process authorized under clause 197a of the City Charter is designed to change that. According to the charter, commu- nity boards are authorized to draft comprehensive plans for neighbor- hood development with the input of a broad cross section of residents. These plans include zoning recommenda- tions, guidelines for new residential, retail and industrial development, as well as parks and other amenities. "They are very much a community's plan. That's what's so important about them," says Doug Turetsky, Deputy Director of Policy and Budget in Man- hattan Borough President Ruth Messinger's office. The first 197a plan, produced by Community Board 3 in the South Bronx, was approved by the City Planning Commission in 1992. Many others are in the works. The 197a plans are pure'ly advisory. Mayor Dinkins expressed his inten- tion to honor them as closely as possible; Mayor Giuliani should do the same. ~ MELROSE COMMONS A stunning change of direction occurred in the Bronx in 1993, when one of the city's' most controversial neighborhood redevelopment schemes was scrapped and rewritten by the people living in the commu- nity. Now the city's housing and plan- ning agencies have adopted the neighborhood's plan as their own (see "A Melrose Tale," page 4.) The result is a model for future urban renewal efforts, and as such it shouldn't be allowed to sit unnoticed on a shelf downtown. At this point, there is no cost estimate for the entire project, with its 2,600 units of hous- ing for low, moderate and middle income families as well as retail space and community facilities. But the incoming mayor's support is critical, because new and innovative housing programs are needed to finance the development work. For the pieces of the plan that fit within existing city programs, contracts could be bid on as early as next summer or fall . ~ URBAN HORIZONS/P.S. 235 A proposal to convert the long- abandoned Morrisania Hospital in the South Bronx into a thriving commu- nity institution, including low income housing, a health clinic, a public school, a day care center and career training programs, is awaiting action by city government. The project is a joint venture of the Women's Housing and Economic Development Corpo- ration (WHEDCO), the Institute for Urban Family Health and the parents' association of P.S. 235, a bilingual school for 700 children in grades pre- K through 8. Last summer, the Urban Horizons/ P.S. 235 proposal was endorsed by the local community board and a task force of representatives from several city agencies. Twenty million dollars in tax credits and state and private grants has already been lined up for the project. But the city has yet to
approve a $3.5 million loan or to give WHEDCO control of the site. The project has apparently been held up by the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which must sign off on the site transfer. The Morrisania Hospital has been empty for almost 20 years, a blight on the face of an already battered com- munity. Urban Horizons represents a new, comprehensive approach to neighborhood revitalization and the Giuliani administration should move quickly to ensure that the project moves forward. FORT WASHINGTON ARMORY The image of more than a thousand homeless men sleeping on cots in the bleak, cavernous space of the Fort Washington Armory became a national symbol of the cruel treat- ment of homeless people during the 1980s. But a visionary proposal to turn the armory in Washington Heights into 200 units of housing for low and mod-erate income people, as well as day care and community facilities, retall stores and a regional sports center, seeks to banish that image forever. The project, still two years away from construction, needs about $30 million in low-interest city loans, which the Department of Housing Preservation and Development has tentatively agreed to, according to Ellen Baxter, director of the Commit- tee for the Heights-Inwood Homeless, which conceived of the project. Necessary private backing is contin- gent on the city loans, so the mayor's support is essential. "We're hopeful that the city's commitments will be honored," says Baxter. THE COMMUNITY CONSULTANT PROGRAM The Department of Housing Preser- vation and Development's Communi- ty Consultant Program funds neigh- borhood groups to provide housing services to low income tenants and home owners. These services include education, counseling and tenant organizing as well as assistance in fighting evictions in housing court. Yet the program has long been treated like a stepchild by the Dinkins admin- istration: its budget has shrunken steadily during the last four years, from $4 million to $2.2 million. The program's low cost is dispro- portionate to its impact, argues John Broderick, facilitator of the Commu- nity Consultant Coalition, an associa- tion of neighborhood groups. "This is basically a homelessness prevention program," he says. By hel ping prevent evictions, community groups keep families off the streets and out of the shelters, something any mayoral administration should be grateful for. The return on investment is obvious: every family in the shelter system costs the city at least $30,000 a year, more than the salary of a single com- munity consultant staffer. THE CAMPAIGN TO SAVE TAYSTEE .JOBS Ever since the Stroehmann Corpo- ration shut down the Taystee bakery plant in Flushing last year, former employees have been working to start a bakery of their own. Many of the 300 laid-off workers formed a coalition with community leaders that is currently seeking a site for a new, plant in one of the city's low income neighborhoods. If all goes well, they will begin operations in early 1995. But the coalition needs the support of the city government. So far , the Dinkins administration has been helpful, says Ken Pajak, the project manager and chief executive officer of the bakery-to-be. The mayor gave a grant of $1 0 ,000 to the project. He also vowed to hand over the $780,000 that the Stroehmann Corporation had won in tax breaks before leaving town- money that Stroehmann must give back. "We' re counting on that $780,000 for the project to succeed, " says Pajak. He adds that the cash will be used to leverage more money from banks and is needed by next summer. The city has said that the money will be collected from Stroehmann once that company sells the site of its former plant. Giuliani should stick to his predecessor's pledge. The project is being closely watched as model of how industrial cities can stem the loss of manufacturing jobs and incubate fledgling, worker-owned ventures. "It's about keeping jobs in the city- good jobs," says Lynn Bell, who chairs the Taystee Campaign. 0 Competitively Priced Insurance We have been providing low-cost insurance programs and quality service for HDFCs, TENANTS, COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT and other NONPROFIT organizations for over a decade. Our Coverages Include: FIRE LIABILITY BONDS DIRECTORS' & OFFICERS' LIABILITY SPECIAL BUILDING PACKAGES "Liberal Payment Terms" PSFS,INC. LET US DO A FREE EVALUATION OF YOUR INSURANCE NEEDS 146 West 29th Street, 12th floor, New York, NY 10001 (212) 279-8300 FAX 714-2161 Ask for: Bola Ramanathan CITY UMITSIDECEMBER 1993/7 By Cynthia Asmann Starting from Scratch Bargain Village is an entrepreneurial incubator for teenagers and homeless men and women. I never thought I'd end up in a shel- ter," says Sandra Windley. "It was just a domino effect." Once she lost her job, Windley says her home was the next thing to go. So she has spent the past few weeks in the Kingsbridge Women's Shelter in the Bronx. Standing behind her table at Bar- gain Village, a weekend flea market operated by homeless New Yorkers and located at the corner of 124th Street and Frederick Douglass Boule- vard in Central Harlem, Windley care- fully arranges and rearranges a selec- tion of pants, shirts, dresses and lingerie she hopes to sell today. Much of the clothing is used and each gar- ment sells for only a dollar or two, but thanks to Marshall England and the Bronx Homeless Task Force, it's all Windley's to sell. "We are based on the theory of what you call 'empowerment,'" says England, the driving force behind the market, one of several projects initi- ated by the task force he founded to help homeless New Yorkers get back on their feet. jewelry. Vendors keep all of their prof- its, are provided space rent-free and currently pay nothing for the mer- chandise; the task force pays for the goods sold at the Harlem market and what it takes to be their own boss, to teach participants that the entrepre- neurial dream of independence and self-reliance is within everyone's grasp. The vendors who enter the pro- gram and stick with it are those who can see a future in it, England ob- serves. And they possess one more crucial attribute, something that all too often gets drained out of those who have wound up in the shelter system: motivation. "That's. the difference between us and some other homeless activist groups," England notes. "Most home- less advocacy groups put more emphasis on attacking government, which is necessary. But while that means doing something for the home- less, it does not mean the homeless doing anything for themselves. That's where we come in." AIr( u_pIoyed homeless adult can become a vendor at Bargain WIage, a flea martlet created by Marshall England (aboe, right), director of the Bronx Homeless Task Force. To expect any assistance from gov- ernment agencies, says England, is to wait too long for too little. "There's no need for us to try and fool ourselves," he observes. "They're going to give [the homeless] the minimum at best, so why not try to give them some basic training so they can move up from that point?" Any unemployed homeless adult is eligible to become a vendor at Bar- gain Village; a similar market, manned entirely by teenagers, operates during the school year at P.S. 55, located at st. Paul's Place and Third Avenue in the Bronx. Open weekends from 10 a.m. to sunset, the markets offer everything from fuzzy dice to costume 8/DECEMBER 1993/CITY UMITS funding from the city Department of Youth Services provides for the mer- chandise sold at P.S. 55. Something in Return For everything England gives he expects something in return, he says. Teens who want to workatP.S. 55, for example, must obtain from their parents a list of housing code viola- tions in their apartment buildings so that action may be taken against the landlord to see that necessary repairs are made. They must also master a list of business terms, such as fixed assets, accounts payable and working capital, in order to participate. And all vendors, youth and adult alike, are required within 30 days of joining Bargain Village to bring in someone else to the market and help them set up their own business. "I use people," England freely admits. As he envisions it, the markets offer vendors the opportunity to learn "My own experience in the shel- ters has shown me that motivation is key," says James Robinson, a resident of the Harlem-One shelter on Frederick Douglass Boulevard and an active Bargain Village participant. "The guys in the shelter need to be encouraged to get out and get involved. Getting them involved is the hardest part. "You have to invest time, and a lot of people are not happy with that idea," Robinson explains, deftly lay- ing out the potential pitfalls facing any entrepreneur, regardless of their business or background. "But once they see what's going on," he says, "they become interested." Working Weekends During a recent visit to the Harlem market, sales were sluggish at the tables of the dozen or so vendors. Still, no one complained about busi- ness being slow or the quality of the merchandise. For some, like Kontessa Ruiz, Bar- gain Village is an opportunity to do something productive outside the shelter. Ruiz, who lost her job and subsequently her home during a pro- tracted court battle to gain an order of protection against an abusive former lover (she was fired for taking too many days off to go to court), now works weekends as a Bargain Village vendor. "It's better than sitting in the shel- ter thinking about everything that's going wrong in my life," Ruiz says. Others, like Windley, see it as a business opportunity. "It's a stepping stone. When I was in the working world I planned on being an entrepre- neur. I studied up on it, read, went to seminars. This is like on-the-job train- ing. By the time I'm economically and financially ready to go into my own business, this will have been a good experience for me." All of the vendors at Bargain Vil- lage hope they can make a better fu- ture for themselves. England is bank- ing on the idea that once they get bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, their days at the shelters will be numbered. Starting a Company I.K. Benny has been in the shelter system for six months; he lost his job managing a McDonald's in midtown Manhattan and could no longer afford the rent for his apartment. With England as his mentor, Benny has already started his own company- Maychic Trading Co.-complete with business cards and sales pitch, and has been scouring the city on foot, looking for wholesalers who can offer the best prices for the merchandise he sells at the market. Currently he is selling a variety of items, including videotapes, audio cassettes and sun- glasses, and would like to find a manu- facturer who will go into partnership with him to produce T-shirts and sweat suits he has designed. Benny has also been recruiting men from the Franklin Men's Shelter and the Harlem-One shelter, where he is a resident, to man tables at the market. "My company helps them," he ex- plains. "I buy the merchandise and they can have it on credit, and pay me back later." Benny and a few other shelter residents have even spun off their own organization, called the Homeless Self-Help Group, which helps its members job-hunt, write resumes and prepare for interviews. Benny's is the very sort of regenera- tive thinking that England believes will make Bargain Village a success. "There are some things people have to do for themselves," Benny says. "What's great about Bargain Village is that the people here don't care who or what you are," says vendor Mark Eaton, aWards Island shelter resident. "Y ou can just walk in off the street. It' s a decent way of making cash." The idea for the market, explains England, came out of the realization that a home is not the only thing a homeless person needs. "Can you imagine what it's like to help some- one get into an apartment, and then they lose it? Women kept coming back [to the shelters] ashamed to tell me that they were back. [They lose their "The answer to homelessness is not a home. It's a job and a home." housing] because they can't pay the rent. So they wind up back in the shelter. I said to myself, 'This is a whirlwind. This is not going to stop.' That's why I say someday, someone is going to tell the true story about home- lessness. The answer is not a home. The answer is a job and a home and the wherewithal to maintain both." The Bronx Homeless Task Force is just one of many projects England has initiated over the years through a larger umbrella organization he founded called the League of Autonomous Bronx Organizations for Renewal, or L.A.B.O.R. Established in 1965 and made up of a consortium of commu- nity groups, churches and representa- tives from Bronx Community Board 3,L.A.B.O.R. runs a food pantry, which distributes free canned food and fresh vegetables twice a week, operates two day care centers, a youth program and "empowerment schools," in addition to the flea markets. The schools, which offer classes two times a month at a number of locations around the city including the Kingsbridge Women's Shelter and Kings County Hospital, have been developed on the same premise that guides the markets-that people need to develop a variety of skills in order to learn how to advocate for them- selves and survive on their own. Clas'ses at Kingsbridge, for example, have focused on how to lobby for better food and sanitary conditions at the shelter and an imfroved intake process for mentally il residents. No Lights, Leaky Roof England, who gave up his job as a social worker at a residential facility for the mentally disabled in 1988 to devote himself full time to L.A.B.O.R. and the Bronx Homeless Task Force, hopes that by working at the flea markets, participants will not only earn much needed money, but self- respect as well. The process, England admits, can be a slow one. Bargain Village's "warehouse," for example, based in a former gas station, has no lights and a leaky roof that makes operating on rainy days impossible. England is currently trying to raise the money necessary to repair the roof and get the electricity turned on, but he is con- vinced that once those matters are addressed, Bargain Village will be a self-sustaining money-maker. "Mr. England is genuinely con- cerned about people and the com- munity, and that's why he's been so successful," notes Nouk Bassomb, a resident of the Franklin Men's Shelter who spends much of his time at the market trying to recruit members for the Homeless Self-Help Group. The organization recently received a small grant from the Citizens Committee for New York City to help publish its newsletter, "The Homeless Tribune," of which Bassomb is the editor, and to print flyers to publicize Bargain Village. "Homeless people are not helpless," Bassomb points out. "We want to be known as people who are trying to do something." = Cynthia Asmann is a former City Limits intern. Advertise in City Limits! Call Faith Wiggins at (917) 253-3887 CITY UMns/DECEMBER 1993/9 By Hanna Liebman Code of Denial Victims of domestic violence in traditional Jewish homes face a complicated escape. T here is no sign, no bell. But for a particular group of women, there is a glimmer of hope behind the nondescript parlcing- lot entrance to the Transition Center in Far Rockaway, Queens. This is a shelter for battered women, a familiar- enough resource to most people-but not for a Hasidic Jew like 25-year- old Rebeccah, who, with her 3-year-old son, has decided she must get away from her abusive husband. The center is the only such shelter in New York City that can accommodate the myriad complications surrounding her deci- sion to leave. Rachel Pill, theOrtho- dox social worker at the Transition Center, occa- sionally clucks her tongue in sympathy as she talks on the phone with Rebeccah, a mem- ber of the Lubavitcher Hasidic sect in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, who has been married four years to a battering hus- band. facility for Orthodox women. So Pill and Harris set these women up in private homes with families who have volunteered to house them until they can find a more permanent place to stay. At the same time, the center's staff helps them get on public assis- organization for it, or a shelter. Absolutely no." This sort of denial means that a woman from the Orthodox Jewish tradition-especially the more ex- tremely close-knit Hasidic segment- faces tremendous religious and cultural hurdles in dealing with abuse. If she follows her initial instinct to reach out to a trusted rabbi for advice, often she will be told her troubles are her own fault, counselors say. If she seeks services outside the community, she confronts language barriers- many Orthodox women speak Hebrew or Yiddish as their first language- and the difficulty of adhering to Jewish di- etary restrictions. Even if she gets the help she needs, she risks perma- nent exile from the reli- gious community in whose midst she has always lived. "There is a very men- acing force that is acti- vated against women who disclose any indica- tions of social problems within the community," says Amy Neustein, a victim-turned-advocate. Harris agrees: "These women have the same options as the regular population [of battered women], but they don't have the option to use them." Erasing Identity "Rebeccah, are you ready? I have a place for you to go." A pause, but not a long one, and then: Battered Orthodox Jewish WOOIeII who leave their husbands risk being exiled from their community. "I sit in a famine- laden exile," says Neustein, who went through a harrowing court case some years "Y ou 've got a lot of guts, Rebeccah. I'm very impressed." It's been 13 years since the center opened its doors and became the first city-funded shelter in the nation to offer kosher meals. But only now are people really becoming aware of the issue of domestic violence in the Orthodox Jewish community, says Barbara Harris, the center's director, "It's coming out. Women realize it's not a shocker to come forward and say, 'I need help.'" Rebeccah will be directed to a safe house this afternoon. Since the center's 55 beds are city-funded, they are open to all women, so sometimes, like now, there are no openings in the kosher 10jDECEMBER 1993/CITY UMITS tance, locate apartments, pursue their cases in court and access a wide range of services. Deeply Cloistered Problem Advocates note that the hush-hush tendency of the Orthodox community has made domestic abuse a deeply cloistered and dangerous problem. Yet leaders in the community say publicly that domestic violence is not an issue. "In the Hasidic world, that problem does not exist that much," says the wife of the Grand Rebbe SmelkaRubin, who is the spiritual leader of the Sulitza Hasidic sect in Far Rockaway. "Not to an extent that you need an ago over custody of her daughter. Neustein lost the case, but subse- quently obtained a Ph.D. and estab- lished Help Us Regain the Children, an advocacy group based in the Man- hattan Beach section of Brooklyn that offers legal assistance to Orthodox women and also functions as a lobby- ing and public relations organization. "These women are blackballed," says Neustein. "They can't remarry, their children are taken away, they lose viability, access to food, clothing, shelter, money," even access to their synagogue. One woman, Neustein says, was banned from the neigh- borhood butcher shop, the only place , j 1 to buy kosher meat, after pub- licly reporting a rape. It's an insidious process, Neustein ex- plains. The woman's victim- ization caused a ripple whose ultimate effect was to erase her identity. On top of being raped, she was now a woman who could no longer buy food for her home. Often, blame for domestic abuse is placed squarely on the victim: first, for the abuse, and second, for her decision to con- sult with professionals or courts outside the Orthodox group, says James P. Yudes, a family law specialist based" in Springfield, New Jersey, who has handled hundreds of domestic abuse cases from within the Orthodox population in his 18 years of practice. hear a sympathetic voice. Ebron also says she gets calls from women seeking advice. Most don't call back for three or four months, if they ever call back at all. The city has an estimated 250,000 Orthodox Jews, accord- ing to Ebron's organization. Yet the Transition Center remains the only shelter in New York City with kosher facilities. That raises serious problems for many women. For one thing, since the shelter is open to any- one who needs help whether they are Orthodox or not, even rabbis sympathetic to abused women may urge them not to go there. The mentality is, "Don't use the [non-Jewish] courts or shelters," explains one coun- selor. "Because of the Hasidic community's basic concept that things are resolved within the community, their tendency is going to be to ostracize the abused spouse," Yudes adds. "The hus- band will stay and be self-righ- teous," while the wife is faulted for renouncing her own people. en And for Orthodox women ~ from Far Rockaway, it's simply ~ not safe to go to the center. "For ~ most [non-Orthodox] women, ____ '---.... ~ they leave and sometimes the ''Orthodox women are reallzJng It's nola shocker to come forward husbands look for them, some- and say, 'I need help,'" says Barbara Harris labove), director of times they don't. But in the Or- the Transition Center in Far Rockaway. thodox community a husband "I moved into his house, his neighborhood," remarks a woman who says she left her husband when she was eight months pregnant be- cause he repeatedly beat and abused her. But the community "sees him as a role-model father deserted by his wife," she says. "I feel very disillu- sioned." A woman who leaves an abusive husband is likely to be shunned by her community, even her friends, advocates explain. The community may have difficulty accepting that a seemingly charming man, one who gives to the synagogue and dobbins (prays) with the rest of them, could be the perpetrator of such ungodly acts as battery and sexual assault. Mean- while, the men remarry, often fairly quickly, says Yudes; but a woman, under traditional Jewish law, may not remarry unless her former husband grants her a get, his permission to do so. In some cases, Yudes says, courts have been able to compel a man to compl y with his former wife's request for a get. The possibility of complete exile means that an Orthodox woman may be more fearful of confronting her abuser than other women. At the same time, an Orthodox woman is not raised to live on her own outside a family. She often lacks job skills or hasn't used them in a long time, advocates say, and, according to Pill, "Every- thing [financial] is in his name .... [The women] walk in here with the clothes on their backs." If an Orthodox woman leaves her home, she almost automatically be- comes destitute and is in immediate need of public assistance, says Jackie Ebron, director of crisis intervention for the Metropolitan New York Coor- dinating Council on Jewish Poverty. Rarely Make a Stand It's no wonder, then, that Orthodox women tend to wait from eight to 15 years to report the abuse, about seven years longer than women in the non- Orthodox population, according to Pill and other counselors. In fact, they have found that Orthodox women rarely make a stand if the abuse is restricted to themselves; it's only when their children are abused that these women can justify breaking up the family. Yet the number of women willing to take that step appears to be rising. Pill says her organization has been inundated with calls in recent months , and she receives about a dozen calls a week from women who jus"t need to always looks for her, always," says Pill. "The entire community gets involved in this." Husbands in Far Rockaway who suspect their wives have gone to a shelter can find the Transition Center with relative ease. Men can also look for their wives through the schools. There are only a few Jewish day schools in the city, says Pill, and the children have to be placed at one of them. "We had an incident two years ago where the husband walked into one of the schools with a fakeliece of paper from the court, hande it to a secre- tary, and she handed over the chil- dren, " Pill recalls. "He kidnapped the children. Because if a father walks in and says 'I want my children' and he looks respectable, there is no concept that he shouldn't have the children." Now area schools have become partners with Transition Center, learning how to cooperate with court protection mandates. Pill adds that it isn't always easy to allay the fears of the safe-house providers. The family awaiting Rebeccah'sarrival wants to know what might happen if the woman's husband finds her and shows up on their doorstep in a rage. Pill explains that if the man locates her, he would most likely be conciliatory, abject, the utter CITY UMITS/DECEMBER 1993/11 picture of charm. He would beg for Rebeccah to return to him and make shalom bayit, or peace in the house. Dirty Laundry The majority of abused Orthodox women will return to their husbands at some point, often simply because they feel so isolated and uprooted. "Seven times out of 1 0 they go back to the abuser because the outside world is so foreign to them.-" says Ebron, adding: "If they go back, they don't come out again .... They will sign away everything. " For the moment, though, more services are sorely needed. Safe houses are only stopgap emergency measures and don't foster a woman's indepen- dence, and there is a need for more shelters that have kosher kitchens and are attuned to the special needs of Orthodox women. "Someone needs to cough up money to make a safe place for Jewish women to go, and this is a grandiose idea right now," Pill laments. She and Harris are working closely with Project Tikvah (Hebrew for "hope") in Rockland County, which is establishing its own kosher shelter in cooperation with the existing Rockland Family Shelter. In addition, they take every opportunity to try to convince rabbis and others influen- tial in the Orthodox fold to support their efforts. "One of the concerns has always been washing dirty laundry in public. But not dealing with it is washing dirty laundry in public," asserts Rabbi David Senter, an Orthodox rabbi who is spearheading Project Tikvah, which has just received approval on a grant to hire a full-time Orthodox social worker at the Rockland Family Shelter. It's a start. But, Pill points out, support groups need to be formed. More Orthodox social workers have to be trained to handle these cases. Reporting abuse must engender validation and services, not stigma, Until then, secluded doorways in far- flung neighborhoods will be their por- tals to safety and understanding. 0 Hanna Liebman is a reporter at MediaWeek. The Power to be Heard: A special issue on community organizing in New York and the nation from CIty Llmlft6 New York's award-winning urban affairs monthly. Strategy. Analysis. Opinion. ACT UP, ACORN, East Brooklyn Congregations and more! Geoffrey Canada on the future of our cities. Marjorie Moore on environmental justice. Profiles. Resource Guide. 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Community Development Group C> 1993 Chemical Banking Corporation em UMn:s/ DECEMBER 1993/ 13 By Peter Ortiz Toxins for Dinner Many New Yorkers fish in the Hudson River to put food on the table. Few realize it could be a fatal mistake. O n almost any Saturday, Ysidro Molina can be found at his favorite fishing spot on a rocky piece of Hudson River shore- line in Washington Heights. A steep 20-foot slope separates the secluded area, where Molina and his friends have come to fish for years, from the soccer fields of Inwood Hill Park. "I come out here twice a week," says Molina, a 42-year-old custodian at Bronx Community College, who brought along his 3-year-old son on a recent afternoon. -The cooler weather is said to bring out more striped bass, fishermen here say. Fishing the Hudson has become a popular sport for anglers like Molina who regularly cast their lines into the polluted river that runs down the western border of the city to New York harbor. But one man's pastime is another man's poison when the catch of the day may be laced with PCBs- cancer-causing chemicals once used in the manufacture of electrical trans- formers, among other things. PCBs have also been linked to decreased birth w.eights and behavioral dys- function in newborn babies. Environ- 14/DECEMBER 1993/CITY UMITS mentalists are concerned that many New Yorkers who fish the Hudson are unaware of the dangers and are eating their catch. A recent survey by an upstate non- profit group, the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, found that a large percen- tage of city residents who fish in the river-especially African-American and Hispanic anglers-eat what they catch, and most are unaware of the toxins they are ingesting. The Clearwater and other organizations are now pushing the state to jump- start its somnolent public education efforts in an effort to get the message out. Toxic Discharge In addition to PCBs, the Hudson is host to many other toxins, including thousands of pounds of methanol, phenol and formaldehyde. In all, 99 companies located along the Hudson discharged 4,934,942 pounds of the toxic chemicals into the river in 1990 alone, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Exposure to these toxins may cause miscarriages, birth defects, develop- mental delays, mental retardation and other serious health problems. Limited time and resources have led researchers to focus their atten- tion on the harmful effects of PCBs, by far the most dangerous of the sub- stances found in large quantities in the Hudson's waters. In 1975, the state health and environmental agencies released advisories on the dangers of eating PCB-contaminated fish after it was discovered that two General Electric plants north of Albany had dumped 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson over a 30-year period. Although the federal government enacted a ban on the production of PCBs in 1976 and GE was ordered to stop its dumping by a New York State court in 1977, the company has since admitted releasing the carcinogens into the river until the early 1980s. The problem has not subsided in recent years. In 1991, GE monitoring stations, set up under court order, began to document spikes in the levels of PCB contamination. The increases were due to high quantities of PCBs leaching into the ground water and hence into the river, according to another Clearwater study, "Turning the Tide: The Case for Toxics Use Reduction," published in August of this year. "This release caused a 300 percent increase in the PCB levels in fish caught in the upper Hudson from 1991 to 1992," the study reported, citing research by the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). No License Required Residents of upstate river commu- nities have been banned from fishing in the Hudson for many years. The state Department of Health (DOH) advises lower Hudson anglers to con- sume no more than one meal of fish per month of a number of species, including striped bass, northern pike, walleye and bluefish. Some fish should not be consumed at all, such as American eel, white perch and carp. This advisory is printed in the New York State Fishing Regulations Guide, which is sent to all licensed fisher- men, and includes tips on how to clean a PCB-contaminated fish for safer consumption. It recommends that women of childbearing age, in- fants and children under age 15 "should not eat fish with elevated contaminant levels"-which covers every species listed in the guide. But people fishing from the ! riverbanks in New York City rarely see the state guide, because no license is required for fishing in the lower Hudson. The only way they learn of the toxins is by word of mouth or through the local media. "We always do a press release when new recom- mendations come out," says William Fagel, a DOH spokesman. Environmentalists counter that such press releases are inadequate, given the ethnically diverse popula- tion that fishes in the city. The Clearwater survey of336 Hudson River anglers found that only 30 percent of Hispanic fishermen and women and 45 percent of African-Americans were aware of the health advisory. The survey also found that those who had read the advisory were less likely to eat what they catch or to give it away to others to eat. Most importantly, the survey found that 77 percent of African-Americans and 94 percent of Hispanics eat their catch, and of those, nearly 87 percent reported sharing the fish with others. More than half said they share the fish with women of childbearing age or , children' underthe age of15. Many of the anglers said that "food" was the primary reason that they fish, echoing the findings of a 1991 study by Bar- bara Knuth, a researcher at Cornell University, who found that minority groups tend to eat a greater amount of contaminated fish. "The press releases on health advi- sories are pretty spotty," charges Bridget Barclay, principal investiga- tor of the Clearwater survey, which questioned people at 20 different sites along the upper and lower Hudson. "Sometimes papers pick it up and sometimes they do not," she adds. "And when they do, [the information] is not complete." Knuth is also critical of the health advisories themselves, particularly of the DOH's warning to women and children. "The real mes- sage is they should not be consuming fish from those waters," Knuth says. "It does not state that directly." Entirely Unaware In Washington Heights, the failure to communicate is very clear. "I give the bass to my cousin. He eats it," says Molina, who was entirely unaware of the dangers of eating PCB-contami- nated fish, including striped bass. Environmentalists are calling for the posting of health advisory signs at popular fishing locations. Upstate areas north of the Troy Dam, for example, are marked with "no fishing" signs (though the signs are not always effective-some anglers continue to fish this stretch of the river). But there are currently no postings downstate. "I think both DEC and DOH efforts to inform people about health advisories are a total failure," says Anne Rabe, executive director for the Citizens Environmental Coalition, an Albany-based group. "We've been asking for years that they put up signs to warn people." Rabe's organization is now working with DOH to improve its outreach methods. With the more diverse population fishing in the lower Hudson, environ- mentalists are calling for advisories to be posted in several languages. Michael Heiman, an associate pro- fessor of Environmental Studies at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and a consultant on environmental issues in New York City, says that English-only health advisories for New York's multilingual population are of little value. "Non-English speaking' and low income people will be the ones who will be affected the most," says Heiman. "They may not be aware of a health advisory because it is written in English." Joonki Park, a 72-year-old Korean immigrant, is representative of those who may be at risk. Park frequents a spot in the Spuyten Duyvil section of the Bronx, where the Harlem River meets the Hudson. "I share with my wife," he says, smiling, showing off a striped bass and an American eel he has just pulled from the murky water. The fish eaten by Park and others can contain "a thousand or even a @QDrn million times more contaminants than the water itself," Heiman says. PCBs accumulate in the sediments of the riverbed and work their way up the food chain, adds Emma Sears, a spokesperson for Clearwater. Eels, for example, are bottom feeders, and so tend to live their lives in the most polluted part of the river, consequently accumulating large levels of PCBs, Sears says. . "Over the course of months and years, contaminants build up in fish," explains Dr. John Waldman, a research associate at the Hudson River Foun- dation for Science and Environmen- tal Research. The process is called "bioaccumulation," in which PCBs build up in the flesh or tissue of fish that eat other contaminated fish, even though the actual concentration of PCBs in the water may be minute. Trying to Deal Officials say they are trying to deal with the problem. "We just received a grant from the EPA to get information out," says Lawrence Skinner, head of contaminant monitoring programs for the Division of Fish and Wildlife at DEC. He outlines a program that will train workers to go to sites along the Hudson and establish personal con- tact with fishermen starting next spring. In addition, he says, paper handouts with a summary of the health advisory in several different languages will be distributed. The handouts will be available by the end of this year, Skinner reports. D Peter Ortiz is a New York reporter for the Mainichi news organization of Japan. 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 CITY UMITS/DECEMBER 1993/15 When it comes to complying with the federal Clean Air Act, cutting the number of cars on the road isn't part of New York's equation. By most accounts, the law is a lost cause. BY DAVID U. ANDREWS AND ANDREW WHITE ew York State is the gambler at the table, poker- faced and confident. Billions of dollars are at stake, and the state is betting that the federal government will fold its hand. The wager is about enforcement of the Clean Air Act. In the past, it was hardly a risky bet. States and cities across the country routinely failed to meet required goals for improve- ments in air quality, and federal regulators did little or nothing about it; New York was one of the most egregious offenders. All of that was supposed to change, however, after Presi- dent George Bush signed off on the 1990 amendments to the clean air law. With his signature, the 20-year-old legislation grew new, sharp teeth, authorizing federal regulators to place heavy sanctions on states that don't comply on time. Now, three years later, the deadlines are speeding past; New York's failure to meet the new guidelines could spell fiscal disaster, with the state losing billions of dollars in federal aid as well as local autonomy in environmental and transportation plan- ning. The state is far enough behind in complying with the strict 1990 air quality standards that experts, both in and out of government, say the only way New York can avoid such draconian penalties is if Washington decides to ease up on enforcement or change the law. Either that, or the state could totally change direction and mount an all-out assault on the primary cause of air pollution in New York City: cars and trucks. It's a move that the administration of Governor Mario Cuomo has been loathe to make. Last month, Thomas Jorling, commissioner of the state's Department of Environmental Conservation, asked the fed- eral Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to relax the rules; New York, he said, simply can't produce a plan for reducing hydrocarbon pollutants as much and as quickly as 18jDECEMBER 1993jCITY UMITS required by the law. His request was part of a newly-drafted plan for reducing ozone smog, submitted November 15th to the EPA. At press time, the federal response was still uncer- tain. The commissioner's action comes after years of slow planning, with agencies at times working at cross-purposes, state budget restrictions undermining compliance and, envi- ronmentalists charge, a lack of leadership from the Cuomo administration and obstructionism by members of the state legislature. "We are fast approaching a disaster," says Brian Ketcham, who as a city Department of Environmental Protection em- ployee in the early 1970s oversaw the drafting of the city's first comprehensive clean air plan. He now works as a private engineer on transportation issues. "The city and state have done this with smoke and mirrors for 20 years," he says. But if the federal government hangs tough, he adds, "The state will have no choice but to buckle down and do this properly." It's been three years now since the Congress and President Bush enacted the stringent amendments meant to ensure states' compliance with clean air standards; there is still one year to go before New York is required to file a final plan outlining exactly how it will meet those standards in order to dramatically improve air quality by the year 2007. The state has adopted a broad selection of measures designed to reduce air pollution, mainly relying on a tech- nology-based approach emphasizing cleaner-burning gaso- line, more fuel-efficient vehicles and improved smokestack filtration devices, among other things. em UMITS/DECEMBER 1993/17 But in terms of reaching the goals set out in the 1990 amendments, New York's track record is mediocre. For example, during the last year and a half: ~ The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) failed to file complete interim pollution-reduction plans on time and in a form that complies with the Clean Air Act. ~ The state legislature missed a federal deadline for passing legislation granting new powers to environmental agencies, enabling them to enforce air quality laws (the legislation was finally passed, nine months late). ~ Planners at the state Department of Transportation and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council allo- cated more than half of newly available federal air quality improvement funds for New York City to projects that almost across the board will fail to reduce emissions, and could, according to state environmental officials, have the long- term effect of increasing pollution. ~ State officials have failed to come up with pollution mitigation plans required by the 1990 law that will reduce by 15 percent emissions of volatile organic compounds, which cause ozone smog, by 1996. "The state as a whole has not looked at this seriously," says Lee Wasserman of the New York Environmental Planning Lobby, based in Albany. "There's been no leadership at the executive level to bring these agencies together. It's a mess." Even some state environmental officials blame Cuomo for not taking a more prominent role in the clean air battle, though they will not criticize their boss on the record. They Island as there are people. In New York City fewer than one in four people owns a car, but the number is growing. Congestion on the city's highways and avenues is as bad as it has ever been, in spite of the economic slowdown. These numbers help to explain why implementation of the Clean Air Act has been a tortuous exercise from the start. Missed deadlines and government-approved extensions have been the name of the game since the law was enacted in 1970; one of the very earliest mandates-a 90 percent reduction in tailpipe emissions-took years longer to implement than Congress originally required. And compared to today's hurdles, that was a relatively simple step involving the installation of catalytic converters and the downsizing of new cars. During the 1970s and '80s, even as controls on other sources of pollution improved, the number of miles Americans traveled by car exploded. And by 1989, more than half of the nation's population lived in metropolitan regions that failed to meet the federal air quality standard for ozone smog. On sunny summer days, exposure to ozone can scar people's lungs and send scores of asthma sufferers to the city's emer- gency rooms. The 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act require a 15 percent reduction in ozone smog by 1996 and a 3 percent decrease each year thereafter; finally, by 2007, the state and city will have to be in full compliance with federal air quality standards. If the law is properly enforced, there can no longer be several days each summer when ozone levels far exceed the maximum of .12 parts per million, as there are today. argue that strong political leadership is necessary in the complicated and un- popular effort to change people's driving habits-and that's the only way, they say, that the Clean Air Act will ever be fully complied with. "There's been no leadership at the executive level. DEC officials are doubtful these goals can be met, given the way things are going now. "We expect we're going to come up short," says Robert Hampston, assistant commissioner of environmen- tal quality. "When [planners) begin to roll out the numbers on growth [of auto- mobile use between 1996 and 2007), it's In the meantime, they and their allies outside government agree that DEC has essentially been left to carry the clean air It's a mess." ball alone, with little involvement or support from the transportation depart- ment, the legislature or the governor's office. "DEC is working night and day on this," says Richard Kassel, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "They are taking their job incredibly seriously. But the mandates are just huge, and they're not getting any support." The number one source of pollution in metropolitan New York is the internal-combustion-engine-on-wheels: cars and trucks are responsible for an estimated 90 percent of carbon monoxide in the urban atmosphere and upwards of 40 to 50 percent of the gases that cause ozone smog. Across the region, car culture has almost reached the saturation point, with nearly as many automobiles on Long 18/DECEMBER 1993/CITY UMITS going to be a little more difficult." The key factor in meeting federal re- quirements is to control the number of cars on the road, Hampston explains. The state Department of Transportation, he adds, doesn't seem to understand the implications. "The transportation sector has mobility goals, to reduce delays and make citizens as mobile as they want to be," Hampston says. Thus, rather than looking for ways to cut the number of trips people take in their cars, the agencies respon- sible for transportation planning are focusing their resources on reducing highway and street congestion: clearing bottle- necks, building and widening roads, adding carpool lanes, putting up better signs and creating high tech "intelligent vehicle highway systems"-that is, computerized control systems that use radios, fiber optics, message boards and dashboard consoles to alert drivers to traffic jams and direct them to alternate routes. Because easing congestion has the immediate effect of improving air quality-cars and trucks pollute less when they are traveling at a moderately fast speed than when they are standing still or accelerating from a stop-transpor- tation officials argue that their projects are contributing to cleaner air. But DEC officials are not includ- ing these measures in the pollution reduction strategies they submit to the federal government because a few years after traffic congestion is reduced, says Hampston, there will simply be more cars on the road. Traffic jams are a disincentive to drivers. Take them away and more people will drive; eventually, new bottlenecks and traffic jams will appear. portation agencies are taking and explains Tripp's fears. CMAQ funding for New York City over the next five years totals roughly $450 million. More than $233 million of that is slated to be spent on new intelligent vehicle highway systems, signage improve- ments and similar projects. Less than $50 million is allotted to projects designed to reduce the num- ber of cars and trucks on the road, such as cross-harbor barge facilities for freight transport, new ferry op- erations, improved bicycle and pe- destrian right-of-ways, traffic calm- ing strategies and studies on the potential impact of "congestion pricing," which would, for instance, levy new tolls on drivers coming into Manhattan during rush hour traffic peaks. "You have the issue of whether they are only providing more high- way capacity and more encourage- mentformore vehicles to be driven, more miles to be traveled, " Hampston explains. "Simply stick- On the day the Cuomo administration submitted Its latest clean air plan to the EPA, members of Transportation AlternatIves __ lSbaled on East 42nd Street. The remaining CMAQ money is part of the budget of the Metropoli- tan Transportation Authority, ipg in a [carpool] lane and predicting it will reduce so many vehicle miles traveled is not a permanent measure. You are, in fact, creating additional capacity." Planners have to as- sume, he says, that every additional mile driven causes a net increase in emissions. Wth much fanfare, the federal government took a new direction in transportation funding in 1992 when Congress passed the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). The act was designed to allow states more discretion than ever before in the allocation of federal highway money, allowing some of it to be given to transit programs and air quality improvement initiatives. So far, under ISTEA, the federal government has provided about $20 billion over six years to the tri-state region sur- rounding New York City. About $8 billion of that money is slated for improvements to the mass transit infrastructure, including subways, commuter rail and buses. Most of the remaining $12 to 13 billion is for highway spending, $2 to 3 billion of which is slated for projects to expand existing highways, according to Jim Tripp, general counsel to the Environmental Defense Fund. He contends the expansion work will damage air quality, not improve it. Officials with the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council , the state-run, regional agency responsible for decid- ing how to spend ISTEA money, dispute Tripp's assessment. But a look at a list of specific projects funded by one large segment of ISTEA money-the Congestion Management Air Quality (CMAQ) program-reveals the direction the trans- which will use it to fund construc- tion of the new subway tunnel between East 63rd Street and the Queens Boulevard line, and to pay for long-planned improvements on subway tracks, stations and depots. Asked why so much of the CMAQ money is going to highway projects, DEC's Hampston expresses frustration about the transportation planners. "I don't think they are getting the message that the Clean Air Act...should be pur- sued," he says. "They have no role [in the pollution-reduc- tion planning process] because they are not offering any- thing. " federal air quality standards, New York City is moderately out of compliance for carbon monoxide, which causes heart strain, respiratory problems and impairs vision. The city and its surrounding region are also considered severely out of compliance for ozone smog-the worst of any area east of California. And, according to state environ- mental officials, federal regulators are soon likely to desig- nate Manhattan as an area badly polluted with particulates- that is, the sooty dust that spews from diesel trucks and buses, incinerators and heating plants and causes lung damage and heart disease. Among the projects currently in the works to improve air quality are a number of measures pushed by DEC and the federal government, including new permit fees and pollution control requirements for factories , incinerators and power plants; new rules for capturing the vapors from gasoline tankers loading and unloading their cargoes; and restrictions on the chemicals used in dry cleaning and print shops and the CITY UMITSIDECEMBER 1993/19 types of solvents used in paints. On the transportation side, DEC plans include rigorous new biennial emission control tests for every vehicle on the road, the introduction of new, reformulated gasoline and the adoption of California's low emission automobile standards. A law mandated by the federal government and passed by the state legislature in August, 1993-nine months later than required by the Clean Air Act amendments-gave DEC the authority to begin forcing large companies to mandate carpooling, telecommuting or whatever else is necessary to reduce by 25 percent the number of cars heading to work between the hours of6 and 10 in the morning. Companies that have more than 100 employees and fail to comply may eventually face state fines. Yet many of these proposals are still being challenged in court and in the state legislature. Car manufacturers and dealers don't want the California vehicle standards imposed on them; petroleum companies have resisted the reformu- lated gasoline rules; and members of the state legislature have pressed for delays or the scrapping of both of these projects as well as the emission control testing program. "The legislature is very good at focusing on the interests of individual industries without having a clue about the whole picture," says Wasserman of the Environmental Planning Lobby. "They fail to see the broader picture. " Of course, the broader picture that looms down the road is the prospect of federal sanctions for noncompli- ance. information required by federal regulators. The first missed deadline was in November, 1992, by which time the state was supposed to have set up a number of new regulations, pollution permitting procedures and forecasting methods. If the state doesn't have all of those things in place by July 15, 1994, then the sanctions could kick in soon after. Hampston says his agency has plotted a timetable that should prevent EPA sanctions in 1994. But, he adds, there's a very good chance the federal regulators will start the clock ticking once again after they review the ozone reduction plan submitted by the state last month. The real test will come next fall, once the state' s final pollution reduction plan is sent to the EPA. But the question environmentalists are now asking is whether the federal agency will ever really pursue the en- forcement option, even if New York fails to reach the goals set in 1990. "The state could be gambling on the fact that if nothing happens, the law will be rewritten," says Jon Orcutt of Transportation Alternatives, a bicycle, pedestrian and transit advocacy group. Politics may preclude strict enforcement, Orcutt says. Once it becomes clear that the only way to enforce the law is to get people out of their cars, Congress may see fit to rewrite the law. And although the EP A may be strapped into levy- ing the sanctions on New York once it determines that the state's plans are inadequate, it can prob- ably avoid making that de- termination in the first place, explains Michael B. Gerrard of the Manhat- tan law firm, Berle, Kass and Case, which special- izes in environmental law. The 1990 Clean Air Act amendments include a laundry listofmanqatory sanctions for regions judged in violation of federal standards. If the states don't comply, Con- gress has given the EPA the right to withhold fed- eral highway mainte- nance and construction money, one of the single biggest sources of public works funding to states. The law also enables EPA to place restrictions on development in non- "What we .... finding Is u..t while un .... cIeIner ... the procress Is offset "The history of Clean Air Act enforcement over the years has been much more one of saber rattling by more .... more .nd more people drlYlnc," ..,. the EPA's by Werner. complying states and to impose its own pollution reduction plan if a state fails to do so on its own. Behind the strict new amendments was Congress' desires "to remove the options for political influence" over environ- mental enforcement, a problem that previously allowed states to avoid difficult decisions and evade compliance, says Ray Werner, chief of the EPA's Region 2 air protection branch. So far, New York has technically missed every deadline; although the DEC has submitted the required pollution plans on time, none have included all of the 2O/DECEMBER 1993jCITY UMITS rather than saber thrust- ing," says Gerrard. "The enforcing agencies have a well- demonstrated capacity to blink. " "I think the actual decision [to impose sanctions) could be elevated from the EPA to the White House," he adds. "I think it will involve politics of the highest order." At the moment, two other states face the immediate possi- bility of federal sanctions-California and Illinois. California has failed to produce a new automobile emission inspection and maintenance program required by the federal law, and Illinois has resisted adopting an adequate plan requiring large employers to reduce the number of employees commut- ing in their cars at rush hour. Both states have been threatened with penalties. "I think the main thing to watch is how the EPA acts in California," says David Driesen of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "That will be a big indication of where they are politically." The California legislature is due to convene in January; if they fail to pass a new inspection and main- tenance program and the EPA refuses to take action, then environmental organizations plan to file suit, Driesen says. "You have to run out of solutions," says Hampston. "You have to reach the point where we don't have anymore cost-effective options and [the transportation department) doesn't have any more. Then you have to look at changing lifestyles, changing the way a driver pays for what he is doing. "My wife drives to work. I drive to work. We drive on the weekend. When it doesn't cost you anything to do it, you tend to do it," he says. But the EPA has internal problems as Transportation ..... neer lINn Ketcham well. It is already behind in posting clean air up drhinc Is ............. bIy cheIIp. Brian Ketcham and transportation activist Charlie Komanoffhave put together a com- plan explaining how the gov- ernment could deal directly with the cost regulations that were due out months ago. For that reason, says Peter Iwanowicz of the American Lung Association of New York, few environmentalists really expect the federal agency to take action here within the next few years. "They are having enough trouble writing their own rules," he argues. 1:e EPA, like the state DEC, recognizes that some pain is necessary if the state is ever going to comply with the Clean Air Act. "What we are finding is that while cars are cleaner, and factories are cleaner and a lot of the most polluting smoke- stack industries are no longer with us in the northeast, the progress is being significantly offset by more and more and more people driving," says the EPA's Werner. "As the degree of the problem increases," he adds, "the measures that you have to look for are more expensive usually, and in some cases, impinge, in some people's minds, on people's lifestyles." "The only way you are really going to improve mobility is to reduce the number of vehicles trying to occupy the same space," Hampston agrees. "You need education and disin- centives. It's a bitter pill." Obviously, politicians are not eager to tell people it's time to stop driving their cars. This, environmentalists speculate, is one reason why Cuomo has not taken an active role in support of the Clean Air Act. If he did, he would have to accept a new transportation agenda, and accede some of the transportation department's responsibilities to environmen- tal officials who have a clearer sense of the importance of controlling automobile use. Still, says Tripp of the Environmental Defense Fund, the state could be moving forward in the meantime with simple, small projects that would "begin to develop the institutional pressure at DEC to take traffic control measures seriously." Such projects could include bicycle lockers at the region's major train stations, regional fare cards for mass transit and an extensive network of bikeways for commuting and recre- ation. What will it take to make the state transportation planners face the fact that people have to be lured out of their cars? problem. Their proposal would revolutionize the way New Yorkers pay for transportation, making drivers pay far more than they do today and dramatically reducing mass transit fares. In "Win-Win Transportation: A No Losers Approach to Financing Transport in NYC and the Region," Ketcham and Komanoff evaluate the cost of car culture to the region. They analyze what it costs to maintain roadways in the area, the value of time lost to motorists stuck in traffic, structural damage caused to buildings by truck vibrations, health care costs of car accidents and other ways that driving taxes society. They conclude that motorists don't pay anywhere near the full cost of their impact on the region. Since only two in five New York City families own cars, this means that the nondrivers end up heavily subsidizing the habit ofa minority of city residents. Because driving is unreasonably cheap, Ketcham and Komanoff argue, mass transit looks less attrac- tive to motorists than if it competed with cars on a level playing field. Ketcham and Komanoff propose slowly raising permitting fees and tolls for cars, increasing the price of gas, levying "smog fees" based on the age and make of a driver's car, and other schemes to finance mass transit and ultimately do away with the subsidy for drivers. Essentially they propose to double over a 25-year period what motorists pay for the freedom to drive, phasing in the increases so that the metro- politan area's economy-and its residents-can more easily adjust to the changes. Many of the government planners now working on air quality consider the Ketcham and Komanoff plan to be far- fetched; they and others argue that any increase in tolls and fees is as unpopular as a tax increase and is politically unviable. But Ketcham responds that all of the technological inno- vations now being proposed by the government skirt the real issue. "Right now, alternative fuels are just a big silver bullet," he says. "That's what the people want; they want an easy solution." 0 David U. Andrews is a Manhattan-based freelance writer whose articles have appeared in In These Times. CITY UMITS/DECEMBER 1993/21 Divided We Fall Organizing new cooperatives for tenants of public housing may take more work than the city is willing to do. BY STEVE MITRA .I ust one year ago, Iris Cajigas lived with her two daughters in a roach and mouse infested one- bedroom apartment in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. The animal occupation was just one of her concerns. "It was just too small for us. It was no good," Cajigas says. "I had to convert my living room into a bedroom to give my daughters some privacy." Unable to find an apartment she could afford, Cajigas, who works as a secretary, had decided her only option was to wait for a slot in a housing project run by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA); she had put her name on the agency's waiting list many years before. Since then, Cajigas' living situation has taken a decisive turn for the better. She and her daughters are one of 716 families who will soon be eligible to purchase cooperative apartments under a federally funded program that aims to empower residents of public housing through home own- ership. The apartments are in 39 formerly-abandoned buildings in the South Bronx and northern Manhattan, rehabilitated by NYCHA over the last two years with $63 million in federal funds. Last spring, Cajigas moved into her new home-a three- bedroom apartment with smooth hardwood floors, new appliances and no mice or roaches. In accordance with the program, Cajigas is currently a renter, but if all goes well, she will be able to buy her apartment within a year. 22jDECEMBER 1993jCITY UMITS It sounds like an ideal solution. The program Cajigas is enrolled in is called MHOP-for Multifamily Homeown- ership Program-and it is spoken of with pride and affec- tion by NYCHA officials. It is the local version of a federal program-Homeownership and Opportunity for People Everywhere (HOPE)-which originated under the Bush administration and touted home ownership as the key to solving many urban problems. But organizing a cooperative among people who have never before owned their homes takes a great deal of work, and many of the tenants are beginning to wonder if NYCHA is truly committed to that kind of an effort. They express a growing sense of dissatisfaction with the MHOP program, their complaints ranging from inadequate heat and hot water and lack of security, to not getting all the amenities they were promised and being kept in the dark about what to expect when the buildings become theirs to own and manage. While NYCHA officials say these are simply start-up problems that every new program faces, some housing experts say they have a deeper significance. Even though MHOP is supposed to instill a sense of ownership among public housing residents-which in turn is supposed to change people's lives-NYCHA has done little to engen- der such feelings, experts say. Tenants, for example, have no management responsi- bilities or rights during the year-long interim rental period required by NYCHA before they can buy their apartments, so they don't get the practice of expected to be between $9,000 working together as a cooperative and $12,000. No one's monthly before the time comes to buy. In- payment will be more than 35 deed, NYCHA may be ignoring percent of their income. critical lessons that other housing Before the buildings are turned authorities have learned from fed- over to the tenants, at least 60 eral pilot programs developed in percent of the residents of a given the mid-1980s, and disregarding cluster must approve the plan. In the hard-won knowledge ofhous- the meantime, NYCHA has con- ing groups throughout the city. tracted with the Urban Home- "It seems like the city just came steading Assistance Board into the area and moved people in (UHAB) to provide financial coun- who didn't have to go through seling and management training anything to get the housing. They ~ to the residents. are just getting the benefit of what z someone else has done," says ~ Growing Complaints Carmelia Goffe, president of the JAn Rnllia (.bowel, who Is INchIng tenants how to nln their en But apprehension about the big Brownsville Nehemiah Home- buildings, says they .rupprehellslYe about becoming owners. leap to ownership is growing owners Association, whose 2,300 Iris CaJIps (facing pap, with daU8hter Marlal says HYeNA Is among MHOP residents, even member families own homes built unresponsive to her complaints. though the vote is still many during the last decade by East months away. The complaints are Brooklyn Congregations, a group oflocal churches. "They strongly reminiscent of those expressed by residents in won't get a sense of ownership." traditional public housing projects. Even Cajigas, who is on the resident council of her In a building on Prospect Avenue in the Morrisania building, says that her apartment "is fine just as a shelter. section of the South Bronx, Delores Spellman says she gets But for a cooperative that I will own, I don't know .... " heat and hot water only sporadically on the weekends. Other MHOP residents, such as Ingrid Herod, have also She also complains that since the building'S intercom started having second thoughts. "When I first came here, system has been broken for weeks, some residents have I fell in love with my apartment," Herod says. "Now I'm taken to leaving the front door open and anyone can walk starting to get turned off.. .. I don't like it. It seems the right in. Yet when she tries to get the attention of NYCHA Housing Authority is running an experiment on us." management, she says there is no response. "You'd think Reducing Poverty Jack Kemp, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), started the HOPE program in 1990. A HUD brochure describing the initiative stated that home ownership "plays a major role in helping change attitudes and behavior and reducing poverty levels." Under the HOPE program, state housing authorities and tenant councils can apply for funds to rehabilitate existing housing projects and sell them to residents as cooperatives; funds are also available for residents' train- ing and counseling. In New York-which has a third of the total public housing stock in the country-NYCHA offi- cials decided against privatizing the existing stock of public housing in order to preserve affordable rentals. Instead, they chose to rehabilitate smaller, more manage- able vacant buildings. Public housing residents were told late last year they could apply for apartments that they would eventually own under MHOP. The response was overwhelming: approximately 9,600 people applied for 716 apartments, according to Linda Cappella, director ofNYCHA' s planning department. Resi- dents of public housing who earned between 40 and 80 percent of the median income in their area were given first priority, with those on the waiting list for public hous- ing-like Cajigas-next in line. People started moving into the apartments in five building clusters in the Bronx and two in Manhattan this past spring and summer. The buildings are now more than 90 percent occupied, according to Cappella, except one set of buildings in Manhattan still partially under con- struction. Purchase prices of the apartments will depend entirely on the income of the occupants and could range from as little as $250 to as much as $40,000; the average is that if this was a model program [NYCHA] would want to put their best foot forward," she says angrily. Herod, a neighbor of Spellman, says that when she applied for the program, she was promised there would be an in-house laundry. As it stands now, there is none. She says that she doesn't know where to turn to get answers to her questions. Her building has a resident council, but Herod says she is unclear as to its purpose. "Why are we not getting what we are supposed to get?" she asks. In another building, Stephanie Collins complains that other residents throw garbage in the hallways and bang holes in the walls. "It's just the people. Why do people do this?" she asks with a mixture of hurt and despair in her voice. She says that no one in the building has ever confronted the tenants who are responsible. "You don't do that. People start to ask: 'Who are you to say this?' People don't realize this will be theirs." Collins moved into the MHOP building this March from a one-bedroom apartment in the Monroe Houses in Clasons Point, a NYHCA project she calls "wild" with "many shootings" where she had lived for four years. Still, she says, "I don't want to buy something that I'll think later on, 'Oh my God, what did I do?'" Delia Martinez, a neighbor of Cajigas who lives in a West Farms Road MHOP building, says that several tenants' apartments were burglarized this summer. "The lock was removed, the apartment robbed, then the lock was put back on and painted over. Now, that has to be an inside job," she says. As a result, the residents now harbor a deep distrust of one another, Martinez says. Housing Authority officials concede that there is dis- satisfaction among residents, but say the roots of the problem have more to do with the newness of the program and with staffing problems. Tom Pryor, deputy director of CITY UMITS/DECEMBER 1993/23 planning at NYCHA, says the agency's employees who manage MHOP buildings also supervise the Housing Authority's other developments. So "it is difficult to get them between projects." But Cajigas contends that every time she questions NYCHA about her problems, the Housing Authority is not responsive-even though she is a member of the building'S elected resident management council, intended to be a precursor to the cooperative board. "They're all passing the buck," she says. "There is no coordination." Spellman's fear is more basic: that the residents will be saddled with a responsibility they will not be able to bear at the end of the rental period. "When the time comes to buy, all the responsibility will be ours. No one has brought us together as a group to say what that really means." No Management Rights NYCHA's desultory management style may be the best argument there is for selling the buildings to the tenants as soon as possible, so that they can deal with complaints themselves. But interviews with cooperative housing ex- perts and with UHAB employees who are providing man- agement training reveal a deeper problem that could undermine the entire project ifleft unattended. According to Juan Revilla, who heads the UHAB training project for MHOP buildings, there is unenthusiastic attendance at the classes. When tenants do show up, they invariably express trepidation about where the program is headed. Revilla says the dissatisfaction has everything to do with NYCHA not being responsive to tenants' concerns on the one hand, and on the other, the agency's failure to give tenants the authority to fix problems on their own. For instance, Revilla explains, even though UHAB has set up resident councils in every building, they exist in name only and are unable to resolve administrative issues, which remain tightly controlled by NYCHA. Yet when the time comes to buy, tenants are expected to already understand the ins and outs of cooperative ownership, and to be able to work together to keep the buildings financially sound. Andrew Reicher, executive director of UHAB, says this makes little sense. "If I had to do the program, I would let tenants assume full responsibility for the buildings when NYCHA is still around, so it can help when they make mistakes," he says. Reicher adds that another city agency, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, does precisely that when they prepare to sell city-owned apartment buildings to tenants under the Tenant Interim Lease pro- gram. "It just makes sense to give them control as soon as possible, when the resources are available," Reicher adds. Since 60 percent of the tenants in each MHOP building will have to approve the co-op conversion, the residents' apprehension could be fatal to the program. "I don't think many tenants are going to buy [their apartments] when the time comes," Revilla says. Ignoring Past Lessons There have been many other experiments with first- time home ownership among low and moderate income tenants, both in the city and across the country. Experts say that NYCHA is not heeding oflessons already learned. In East New York and Brownsville, East Brooklyn Congregations has fostered a remarkably stable commu- nity of people, many of whom formerly lived in public housing projects and who now own affordable rowhouses 24jDECEMBER 1993jCITY UMITS in otherwise blighted and drug-plagued neighborhoods. Their efforts have often been cited as one of the most successful examples of urban organizing, and the secret of their success, says Goffe of the Brownsville Nehemiah Homeowners Association, is that the owners were able to control their destinies from the outset. "It's not an issue of propping people up in a crime- infested area and saying, 'You are on your own,'" she says. "You have to have a culture in which people get a sense of ownership. That's what makes the difference, and that's what develops leadership." In the case of East Brooklyn Congregations, paid orga- nizers made the rounds of the future homeowners even before they moved in, explaining what was at stake and preparing them for ownership. Across the Hudson River, the Paterson Housing Authority in New Jersey participated in a HUD pilot program started in 1985 that transferred 242 apartments in 36 public housing buildings to the residents. Felix Raymond, executive director of the authority, says that residents were involved in every step of the project. Still, it was a struggle because <?f the cynicism of public housing residents. "We're dealing with a population that has particularly low expectations of government," he says. "Then they slowly saw some victories and they began to see that execution was complex." One of the valuable lessons Raymond says he learned was the importance of community organizing throughout the entire process. "There have to be a lot of resources set aside for this kind of patient community development effort," says Raymond. "You cannot just be parroting something. The organization has to change its mind-set." Valuable Opportunity At the end of the first year, New York's MHOP residents will be asked to buy their apartments. As required by NYCHA guidelines, they've already been saving up for their first payment by setting aside some money each month in an escrow account, officials say. The New York Mortgage Coalition, a partnership of 11 New York-area banks, has expressed an interest in financing the mort- gages, according to Cappella. But if the magic number of 60 percent isn't reached when NYCHA asks the tenants to vote on whether or not to go co-op, Cappella says that NYCHA will work with residents for up to four more years to get them to buy. Dissatisfied residents will also have the option to move back into housing projects in the borough of their choice. If, after four years, NYHCA has not succeeded in reaching the 60 percent mark, the apartments will remain as con- ventional rentals. If the program fails, a valuable opportunity for home ownership will be lost, some say. "Home ownership changes everything. It gives people a sense of control over their lives," says Reicher. "Overall, MHOP is a good program. I hope it works." But for NYCHA to succeed, it must follow the example of other organizations in overcoming the residents' lack of faith, according to a 1989 report commissioned by HUD to evaluate pilot programs like the one in Paterson. "Generally it's a tough thing for anybody to run a cooperative, let alone low income people," says Bill Rohe, professor of Urban Planning at the University of North Carolina and one of the authors of the report. "Organizing and training is key." 0 Ylm can make a difference. At New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, you will acquire the skills necessary for a profesSional career in public, nonprofit, and health organizations. Programs of study include Urban Planning. PublicAdministration Health Policy and Management. Study full time or part time. Financial aid is available. Career placement services are available to all Wagner students. Find out what the Wagner Graduate School can do for you: Call (212) 998-7400 Monday through Friday. ~ ~ < = > ~ ----------------------------------------- ~ New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service 4 Washington Square North, New York, N. Y. 10003 ROBERTF. Please send me information on: o Urban Planning 0 Public Administration 0 Health Policy and Management o Saturday programs 0 Doctoral programs NAME ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP CODE I TELEPHONE SOCIAL SECURITY NO. New York University i. In aHi.rnutive action/equal opportunity institution. T71 Bankers1iustCompany Community Development Group A resource for the non ... profit development community Gary Hattem, Vice President 280 Park Avenue, 19 West New York, New York 10017 Tel: 212A54,3487 FAX 454,2380 er CITY UMRS/DECEMBER 1993/ 25 By Amy Bachrach Renters Must Strike Back A ttention, renters. Did you know that you pay property taxes, and at a much higher rate than homeowners? Did you know that despite the fact that you far out- number people who own one-, two- or three-family homes, it is these homeowners who have historically determined property tax policy in New York City? It's true. Of the 51 City Council dis- tricts, a major- ity of residents in 29 of them live in apart- ment buildings, either as renters or as co-op and condo owners. Yet renters have been politically silent on the issue, dangerously unaware that they are affected by property tax policy. Unless this trend is reversed and renters become involved in shaping tax reform, there will be insufficient pressure brought to bear on elected officials to create a more equitable formula for property assessment, particularly in light of a new mayor with the same Queens political base as Council Speaker Peter Vallone. The speaker has favored homeowners' interests depite the fact that his dis- trict is among those with a majority of apartment dwellers. "Renters are the wild card," observes Bill Thomas of Mayor Dinkins' Department of Finance, The ABC's of Property Tax New York City's property tax gen- erated almost $8 billion in fiscal year 1993, or 46 percent of all tax rev- enues. It is the only tax the city can raise without approval from Albany, making it invaluable in preventing cuts to critical services such as low income housing, more police on the beat and funding for child care. But every time we raise property taxes, we Cityview is a forum for opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views. of City Limits. 26jDECEMBER 1993jCITY UMns exacerbate inequities in the system. Property taxes are not based upon the market value of a piece of real estate but on an assessed value that is a percentage of market value. This percentage is different for various classes of residential real estate. Currently, Class I real estate, which includes owners of one-, two- and three-family homes, has an effective tax rate of .846 percent, while Class II, which includes all other residential property-rental buildings, co-ops and condominiums-has an effective taxrateof2.46 percent of market value, according to a study prepared for the City Project by Hunter College eco- nomics professor Howard Chernick. In other words, apartment owners and renters pay roughly three times as much tax as homeowners. Historically, this inequity devel- oped because of pressure from homeowners to keep property taxes down, and became codified into state law in 1983 when the state legisla- ture decided that home assessments could not increase by more than 6 percent in anyone year or 20 percent Renters are not aware that they are paying unfair property taxes. over a five-year period. Meanwhile, assessments of apartment owners' and renters' properties were left to rise, unchecked. As a resul t, while in 1985, property taxes amounted to less than one-fifth of rent stabilized buildings' overall operating expenses, according to Tim Collins, executive director of the Rent Guidelines Board, today, that figure has grown to more than one-fourth. Skyrocketing operating costs are the single largest factor driving rent increases. "By 1991, the average rent stabi- lized apartment dweller was indirectly paying over $1000 a year in pr.operty taxes," Collins says. Meanwhile, since renters don't have equity in their apart- ments, they can't deduct their share of the property tax from their income taxes, as homeowners can. So where homeowners get a double benefit, rent- ers get doubly mugged. Reform Commission Growing awareness of such extreme inequities has led to the formation of the City of New York Real Property Tax Reform Commission, a joint en- deavor of Mayor David Dinkins and the City Council. The commission is studying the property tax system and is expected to generate proposals for reform by December 31,1993. The commission's first set of borough-based public hearings were held in October. Testimony was given by the City Project and several other good government groups, as well as representatives of co-ops and condos and apartment building landlords. But there were very few who testified on behalf of renters, and such an absence in the future could mean renters will continue to carry an undue burden of property taxes. The next public hear- ing is scheduled for December 13th; failure of renters to testify can result only in their interests continuing to be ignored. The City Project proposes the following to insure that renters have a greater say in tax policies: Fairness. New tax structures now under consideration would shift much more of the tax burden onto homeowners. Well-organized oppo- sition to such a move would likely jeopardize the passage of tax reform measures. The City Project recom- mends that tax relief be offered to those with limited or fixed incomes. Currently, a homeowner with an income ofless than $18,000 is eligible for such a break. Two years ago, Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger recommended that this be raised to $40,000, to protect people of moderate income, the working poor, senior citizens and others unable to afford dramatic increases in property taxes. Simplicity. The tax structure should be easily understood, com- puted and disputed. Not only are renters unaware of the fact that they are paying property taxes, they don't know at what percentage it is being computed and are consequently ham- pered from challenging the numbers. Whereas homeowners receive a tax assessment bill from the city that they have a right to dispute if they believe it is too high, renters receive no such bill. They should. Stability. The real estate tax is central to our ability to predict city revenue because it does not reflect economic shifts in personal or corpo- rate income or sales. The city should rescind the property tax freeze, put in place in 1991 after fierce lobbying by homeowners and businesses, to add predictability to our services. Sufficiency. The property tax should raise enough revenue to fund the services necessary to maintain a decent quality of life for all New Yorkers. Restructuring the tax assessment formulas is one way to address that. What Can You Do? This month, community groups and tenant associations should attend the December 13th hearing of the tax reform commission and testify in response to their proposals. They should also organize fellow renters and meet with local City Council members and state legislators to urge them to take the interests of renters into account when the reform propos- als are debated. 0 JOB ADVERTISEMENT STAFF AnORlEY. Responsibilities: Staff attorney for a project established to protect tenants in single room occupancy housing (I.e. rooming houses and hotels). The attorney will work as part of a team with community organizers to represent tenants and tenant associations in court and before administrative agencies, to educate SRO tenants about their rights to organize the community to fight to save SRO housing. The staff attorney will provide legal advice and counseling to individual tenants and groups of tenants. Requirements: Admitted to the New York Bar. Two to three years experience in the practice of law, including concentrated practice in the areas of tenant group representation or equivalent housing law experience, familiarity with SRO housing issues preferred. Bilingual Spanish helpful. Salary: Nat'l Org. of Legal Services Workers (UAW) Union Scale: $29K depending on admittance and experience. Starting Date: 12115/93. Send Resume: Elizabeth Kane, West Side SRO Law Project, Goddard Riverside Community Center, 647 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY 10025. EOE, MlF. r-------------------------, Subscribe to City LiDlits City Limits probes the misguided public poliCies and inefficient bureaucracies besetting New York. But we don't think it' s good enough just to highlight the muck. City Limits looks for answers. We uncover the stories of activists and local organizers fighting to save their neighborhoods. That's why City Limits has won seven maJor journalism awards. Isn't it time you subscribed? YES I Start my subscription to City Limits. o $20/one year (10 issues) o $30/two years Business/Government/libraries o $35/one year 0 $50/two year Narne ____________________ __ Address __________________ __ City ________ State _ Zip _ L City Limits, 40 Prince Street, New York, NY 10012 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ NIIN YDflI( IS AI" Of PfOIJI.I IIIfHO DISIIlVI A I.Or ,.0lIl GllDI'r I'IfAIII'IIIY'VI .,N GlrDIIG. From the spectacular sights of the circus to the art of dancing to the skill of building affordable housing, New Yorkers are always striving for a prosperous, healthy community. And through our CitiBuilders'" program, we'd like to give New Yorkers credit for doing what they do. And the credit they need to do it. Whether it's for small businesses, community development, affordable housing projects or not- for-profit organizations, a CitiBuilders loan can help you grow. 1990 Citibank. N.A. Offered only through Citibank's Economic Development Banking Center. our CitiBuilders program gives local communities the same access to financial services that big business expects. And our resources and financial expertise help communities grow in a variety of ways. With a variety of services at affordable rates and terms. So give us a call today at (718) 248-8900. Because it's a lot easier to grow and thrive ~ in your community when you're getting l..:.I the credit you deserve. t T N ~ CITY UMITS/DECEMBER 1993/27 By Errol T. Louis A View from the West "No Crystal Stair: African-Americans in the Cityof Angels," by LyneJl George, Verso, 1992, 243 pages, $24.95 hardcover. S ome of the sharpest, most pro- vocative thinking about American cities these days is coming out of Los Angeles. Even before the Rodney King case and the 1992 riots, a number of West Coast filmmakers, fiction writers and social analysts were busy investigating the stresses and strains running through Los Angeles, asking what the trends in the nation's second largest city might mean for the country as a whole. Steve Martin's L.A. Story lovingly spoofed the emptiness of the city's middle class, while director Ridley Scott created a bleak, hyper-violent 21st century Los Angeles as the setting for his science fiction cult classic, Blade Runner. First released in 1983, interest in Scott's apocalyptic vision has not waned, as evidenced by the release ofthe director's cut in 1992. At the same time, the early 1990s have seen West Coast rappers steal the spotlight from their New York counterparts with angry musical montages of simmering, undiluted violence. And in 1990, Mike Davis of the Southern California Institute of Architecture thrust himself into the front ranks of urban criticism with his powerful book, City of Quartz, and a subsequent series of articles and pamphlets that dissect the bitter political, social and symbolic struggles for power that characterize modern Los Angeles. Strategy of Neglect According to Davis, events like the L.A. uprising and the recent defeat of former Mayor Tom Bradley's liberal coalition at the hands of a law-and- order Republican candidate signal a planned conservative strategy of ne- glect and abandonment. In 1977, for example, federal funds amounted to 17 percent of Los Angeles' budget. By 1985, the Reagan-Bush administra- tion had cut federal support to just 2 percent of the city budget, at a time when AIDS, crack and the decline of manufacturing jobs made government assistance more necessary than ever. Enter Lynell George, an award- 28/DECEMBER 1993jCITY UMITS winning columnist for the L.A. Weekly, with her own exploration of the city. While other cultural critics have tended to go on the attack-Ice Cube spits out profane indictments of police brutality, Mike Davis marshals ideology and statistics to expose the motives of the Los Angeles power brokers-George takes a more per- sonal, conciliatory approach to the problems of her hometown. No Crys- tal Stair is a set of moody, thoughtful essays on L.A.'s black community and the future of the city. George is the child of African- Americans who migrated to the West Coast during World War II, drawn by A new approach to understanding a troubled city jobs in the shipbuilding industry and the promise of relief from the suffo- cating racism of the deep South. Although Los Angeles turned out not to be a safe haven from American racism, the city's black community remained, and grew into the large, diverse set of neighborhoods that out- siders mistakenly lump together under the name" South Central." George has a reporter's command of the facts. She leads off with an analysis of the city budget, and shows how political rhetoric about educat- ing children and revitaliZing the city has been accompanied by steadily declining public funds for these purposes. We learn, for example, that the Reagan administration cut federal funding for job training in Los Angeles from $120 million in 1979 to $42 million in 1983. But the soul of the book lies in George's writings about the extra- ordinary people who live in L.A.'s neighborhoods. As a tour guide, George is respectful but not patroniz- ing: these are real people we are meet- ing, yet this is not some romantic ode to "the people." The essays include a portrait of a church's dedicated choral director and his pivotal role in the life and vitality of the congregation he serves, a tire- less community organizer who works with drug abusers, an independent filmmaker who has strived to present stories and images of black Ameri- cans not regularly seen on movie screens today, and a young rapper intent on maintaining her integrity as a performer and communicating her message of self-respect to her fans. Most chapters include probing black- and-white photographs of George's friends and neighbors, visual reflec- tions of her word portraits. A Healing Vision What emerges, in the end, is a healing vision that suggests that most solutions to the major urban problems lie within us. George's strength is that she believes deeply in the power of simple human decency, and she has the courage to say so. This approach has its limits, however. George is adept at analyzing budgets and poli- cies, for example, but she does it so sparingly that we are often left hungry for hard facts. Still, No Crystal Stair is a new approach to understanding a troubled city. George's strong, spiri- tual voice supplements and even challenges the hard-edged polemics (a la Mike Davis) that often dominate debates over urban policy. Her handling of the issue of street violence-for many of us, the urban question-is typical of her approach. She grieves at the way public officials openly use stereotypes of black and brown people for political gain, and documents how declining city spend- ing on social services has been matched by the reckless, wildly violent methods of the Los Angeles police under their former police chief, Darryl Gates. Finally, she offers a redemptive suggestion that quietly hits the mark. "Looking from the inside, one thing is clear above all else: local govern- ment's whole policy toward South Central has been a failure .... Solutions to problems as old and intricate as these don't come quickly: they are complex and costly; they involve setting people free rather than locking them up." Let the church say "Amen." 0 Errol T. Louis is the manager and treasurer of the Central Brooklyn Credit Union. Running with the Enemy? To the Editor: I would like to clarify some of the issues raised by the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) in. your recent articles about job training ("Job Training Flap," August/September 1993, and "Out-of-Work Blues," November 1993). We share a fundamental philosophy with IAF that neighborhood-based groups are best equipped to serve people in their communities. They understand the day-to-day struggles their neighbors face, and they believe deeply in bringing services that lead to true empowerment. That is why the Department of Employment-unlike most other Job Training Partnership Act entities around the country- funds skills-training programs with long-established and well-respected community-based groups committed to improving conditions in their neigh- borhoods. Moreover, community-based train- ing ensures that federal dollars go directly to neighborhood groups, re- inforcing and building on their infra- structure, thereby enabling them to continue serving disadvantaged New Yorkers. Like IAF, we recognize the insuffi- ciency of funds, which permits only two to three percent of all New York- ers eligible for services to receive them. And we are both seeking to improve the JTP A system as a whole. I am concerned about IAF's pro- posals for a voucher system for job training, a system with many of the same flaws as Section 8 housing vouchers. As housing activists will attest, just because a family has a Section 8 voucher doesn't mean that landlords will welcome them or pro- vide excellent services. Likewise a training voucher does not guarantee a job-seeker a spot in a college program or a vocational school, nor does it ensure quality training. To the contrary, a voucher system will eliminate nonprofit community- based job training, fostering vocational schools as the primary alternative. Community groups, with their usu- ally fragile budgets, will not be able to compete against for-profits, to whom JTPA funds will be lucrative addi- tional funding. At the same time, neighborhoods will lose the economic stimulus that comes with spending training dollars in the community and in encouraging local businesses to hire from the neighborhood. Count among the losers people with the greatest deficits-high school dropouts with low reading ability. Unlike our community agencies, trade schools and colleges are not required to serve them. Under IAF's proposals there would be no services available for our neediest citizens. And while many for-profit trade schools provide excellent services, IAF has clearly pointed out past abuses among vocational schools. A vast new monitoring system will have to be created to ensure that clients are not defrauded. The real issue is that job training programs are severely underfunded. Since the mid -1980s, federal job train- ing funds coming to New York City have been cut by 80 percent, at a time when the needs are reater than ever. I hope that IAF wil join with us in demanding that New Yorkers get the resources they need to adequately prepare for careers in this difficult economy. Josephine Nieves Commissioner Department of Employment Addendum To the Editor: There are two factual errors in Alexia Lewnes' otherwise great article on the midwifery services at the North Central Bronx Hospital (June/July 1993). First, she states that there are just three nurse-midwifery schools in New York. There is one more-the Community-Based Nurse-Midwifery Education Program-that has enrolled some 60 New York nurses. And second, the purpose of the two studies mandated by the Professional Midwifery Practice Act is to study the incentives for and barriers to the education of midwives, and to offer proposals for programs which do not require completion of a nursing education to become a midwife. Ruth Watson Lubic General Director Maternity Center Association We want to hear what you have to say! Send your letters to City Limits, 40 Prince Street, New York, NY 10012. Your Neighborhood Housing Insurance Specialist F N E W t f ~ K INCORPORATED We have changed our name and have become more computerized to offer you quicker and more efficient service than ever before. For nearly 20 years, R&F of New York, Inc. has provided insurance to tenants and community groups. We have developed extremely competitive insurance programs based on a careful evaluation of the special needs of our customers. Due to the volume of business we handle, we can often couple these programs with low-cost financing, if required. We have been a leader from the start and are dedicated to the City of New York. For information call : Ingrid Kaminski, Senior Vice President R&F of New York, Inc. 1 Wall Street Court, New York, NY 10005-3302 (212) 269-8080, FAX (212) 269-8112 (800) 635-6002 CITY UMITS/OECEMBER 1993/29 PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY Phlllning and Archileclure fur Ihe l\un-I'rulil Specializing in Feasibility Studies, Zoning Analysis & Design of Housing, Health Care and Educational Projects Magnus Magnusson, AlA MAGNUSSON. ARCHITECTS 10 East 40th Street, 39th Floor, New York, NY 10016 Facsimile 212 481 3768 Telephone 212 6835977 DEBRA BECHTEL - Attorney Concentrating in Real Estate & Non-Profit Law Title and loan clOSings 0 All city housing programs Mutual housing associations 0 Cooperative conversions Advice to low income co-op boards of directors 100 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201, (718) 624-6850 LPC DEVELQPMENT SERVICES , ,:",'1:W::'. ' , L :"b a project of Lexington Planning Coalition Inc. Proposal Writing - Grantsmanship Grass-Roots Funaraising Campaigns Public & Private Sectors JO YlARS nnRlrNC WITH MINORITY e80'S eOMMUNITlfS 1939 3rd Avenue New York, NY 10029 212-427-4927 Rolando Cintron Director of Development LAWRENCE H. McGAUGHEY Attorney at Law Meeting the challenges of affordable housing for 20 years. Providing legal services in the areas of General Real Estate, Business, Trust & Estates, and Elder Law. 217 Broadway, Suite 610 New York, NY 10007 (212) 513-0981 William .Jacobs Certified Puhlic Accllunl,1Il1 Over 25 years experience specializing in nonprofit housing HDFCs, Neighborhood Preservation Corporations Cenifted Annual Audits, Compilation and Review Services, Management Advisory Services, Tax Consultation and Preparation Call Todar For A Free c-uIUfion 77 Quaker Ridge Road. Suite 215 New Rochelle. N_Y. 10804 914-633-5095 Fax 914-633-5097 30jDECEMBER 1993jCITY UMrTS TURF COMPANIES Building Management/Consultants Specializing in management & development services to low income housing cooperatives, community organizations and co-op boards of directors 230 Flatbush Avenue Brooklyn, N.Y. 11217 John Touhey 718/857 -0468 C ommunity D evelopment Legal AsSistance Center a project of the lawyers Alliance for New York, a organization Real Estate. Corporate and Tax Legal Representation to Organizations Tax Syndications Mutual Housing Associations Homeless Housing Economic Development HDFCs Not-for-profit corporations Community Development Credit Unions and Loan Funds 99 Hudson Street. 14th FIr. , NYC. 10013 (212) 219-1800 COMPUTER SERVICES Hardware Sales: Software Sales: mM Compatible Computers Data Base Super VGA Monitors Accounting Okidata Laser Printers UtilitieslNetwork Okidata Dot Matrix Printers Word Processing Services: Network/Hardware/Software Installation, Training, Custom Software, Hand Holding Clients Include: ANHD, MHANY, NBS, UHAB Morris Kornbluth 718-857-9157 David H. Grumer Certified Public Accountant 25 West 45th Street, Suite 1401, New York, New York 10036 (212) 354 1770 Financial Audits Compilation and Review Services Management Advisory Consulting Tax Return Preparation & Advice Over a decade of service to community and nonprofit organizations. Change\IVorkers 171 Avenue B New York, NY 10009 (212) 674-1308 Fax (212) 674-0361 Changeworkers provides affordable project services to not-for-profit organizations. Fundraising Publishing Computing Money Management Board Development Concrete products, not abstract plans. PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY GINBERG & HABERMAN Attorneys at Law Formerly of Counsel to DHPD of the City of NY. Engaged in the general practice of law including representing individual tenants, groups and associations in all legal matters. 6 West 32nd Street, NYC (212) 643-7183 PUBLICITY PLUS CONTRACTS TRAINING FINANCING. PROMOTION SELF HELP MATERIALS Valerie White PO Box 265 Huntington Station, NY 11746 718 279 5196 JOB ADS TENANT ORGANIZER to organize tenants associations in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant. Responsibilities: Improve bldg conditions, develop leadership skills among tenants, liaison between tenants and management where necessary; counseling, -information, referrals. Requirements: community-oriented; self starter w/ knowledge of NYC housing law and regs helpful; comm dev experience and bilingual (Spanish) a plus; good communication skills. Salary low to mid 20s DOE. Excellent benefits. Resume and cover letter to Vivian Becker, PACC, 201 DeKalb Avenue, Brooklyn 11205; fax (718) 522-2613. TRAINING DEVELOPMENT SPECIAUST. Promote low income housing through self-help, by developing curricula and facilitating classes. Proposal writing and computer skills required. Spanish a plus. Minority candidates encour- aged to apply. Send resumes to: S. Kovan. c/o UHAB, 40 Prince Street, 2nd Floor, NYC 10012 or Fax to: (212) 966 3407. BUILDING MANAGER. Responsible for facility management/rent collection for 81 unit CR/SRO for homeless mentally ill. Supervise maintenance staff, coordinate meal program, aid in tenant selection, collect rents. BNBS or minimum three years' housing experience required. Salary approximately $30k. Send resumes to: Progress of Peoples Development Corporation, 191 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. CASE MANAGER. Responsible for professional intervention with tenants of 36-unit residence for low-income families and work with neighborhood family service center. Support of tenant's aSSOCiation, crisis intervention, referrals, entitlements, group work. Applicant should be energetic, self- starter. BNBSW. Spanish a +. Salary approximately $20k. Send resumes to: Progress of Peoples Development Corporation, 191 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 . COMMUNITY ORGANIZING JOBS AVAIWLE. Multi-ethnic, community--based, grassroots organization seeks individuals to help empower tenant and neighborhood groups to win affordable housing and safe streets. long hours including evenings, exciting work. Salary $18k-20k. Spanish and organizing experience helpful but not required. Women and minorities encouraged to apply. Send resume to: Brien R. O'Toole, Executive Director, NWBCCC, 103 East 196 Street, Bronx, NY 10468. PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT for a university-based community devel- opmenttechnical assistance training provider. Responsible for assisting the program development associate in drafting proposals, reports and publica- tions, conducting correspondence and coordinating special events such as conferences, meetings, and international exchanges. Must have excellent writing, communication and computer skills and be willing to take respon- sibility for multiple tasks. B.A. required, some experience in community development or related field desirable. Salary: mid to upper 20s + excellent benefits. Must send writing sample, cover letter and resume to PICCED- ClPD Search 379 DeKalb Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205. EOE. SUPERlmNDENT for Special Needs and low-Income 123 unit apartment building. Includes bright 2-bedroom unit at the historic Gouverneur Court, 621 Water Street. Salary negotiable depending upon experience, Resume to Personnel Director, Community Access, 200 Avenue A, NYC 10009. PROJECT MANAGER. A non-profit real estate development consulting com- pany seeks a project manager to identify potential sites; review design; assemble the development team; put together the financing package; gain public approval; oversee construction; coordinate rent-up; and demon- strate an ability to bring order, structure and control to large, complex projects. The successful candidate must have experience in management of complicated quantitative efforts, e.g. development of budgets/financial analysis. Candidate must have a facility for managing political processes involving numerous and widely varied constituencies. Compensation de- pends on experience ($45k-$55k). Women and minorities encouraged to apply. Send resumes to: The Community Builders, 100 North 17th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103. COMMUNITY ORGANIZER. Community-based lower East Side organization seeks community organizer to plan and carry out grassroots campaigns for tenants' rights and neighborhood improvement, including anti-drug organiz- ing. Qualifications: experience with and commitment to direct action orga- nizing, a sense of humor, and willingness to work long hours. Bi-lingual (English/Spanish) required. Salary $22-$25k. Send resume to: Executive Director, GOlES, 525 East 6th Street, NYC 10009. SOCIAL WORKER/COUNSELORS for Emmaus House/Harlem, an innovative community of homeless people building new lives through work, supportive community, education and services. Requirements: Experience with the homeless and addiction issues a must. Responsibilities: One-to--one counseling and case management. MSWforCounseling Supervisor, BS for Counselors. Write: Fr. David Kirk, Emmaus House, P.O. Box 1177, NYC 10035. (212) 410 6006. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. Growing community land trust seeks Executive Director to lead membership in housing development and community revitalization projects. Applicants should be energetic, have excellent organizational and administrative skills, relate well in culturally diverse setting. BA plus minimum two years experience in non-profit administration. Salary $29k-$32k. Send resume to REAPS, PO Box 340, Yonkers, NY 10705. Minority and women candidates encouraged to apply. PROJECT COORDINATOR. Community land trust seeks person with organizing skills for membership development and training, technical skills to guide planning/implementation projects. Applicants should have minimum two years post high-school education plus two years in community organization or related experience, relate well with different racial/ethnic groups, some knowledge of housing development. Salary: $20k-$25k. Send resume to REAPS, PO Box 340, Yonkers, NY 10705. Minority and women candidates encouraged to apply. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR PROPERTY MANAGEMENT at Upper West Side non- profit housing organization. Supervise property management operations for 900 units in 3 SROs and 3 elderly apt. buildings. Overall responsibility for maintenance, rent collection, purchasing and budgets. Knowledge of Sec- tion 8 procedures is a must. Minimum five years experience in property management. Bachelor's degree. Salary: $45,000 plus benefits. EOE. Resume and cover letter to: Deputy Director, West Side Federation for Senior Housing, 2345 Broadway, New York, NY 10024. CITY UMITS/DECEMBER 1993/31 Creating An Economic Development Agenda For The 21 st Century ADVANCING COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT HOST NEW YORK CITY TECHNICAL COLLEGE 300 JAY STREET BROOKLYN, NY Dr. Charles Meredith, President December 10, 1993 9:30am-5:00pm 8:30am Registration For Information Contact (718).260.4990 East Fulton Street Group Communiversity is a 21 st Century Partnership Initiative Thinking Globally Educating Locally Education for Community Development Due to the generous support of the financial participants of the 21 st Century Partnership, the conference fee for non- profit organizations is $15.00. General public $5.00. The conference fee for corporations and government agencies is $30.00 unless otherwise arranged. I EAST FULTON STREET GROUP COMMUNIVERSITY Investing Toward The 21 st Century Community Reinvestment Conference Co-sponsored by National Community Reinvestment Coalition