HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Let's paint a wonderful New Year and for ourselves and our neighbors with: 

(1) Repeal of vacancy decontrol so we don't lose more affordable housing than can be built (and so owners are less tempted to harass tenants)

(2) Rent regulation for ALL tenants - so even market rate tenants can count on lease renewals at reasonable rates  (and the freedom to complain about service cuts)

(3) Enforcement of city and state rent protections without the current years-long wait

(4) An end to (now unending) rent increases for Major Capital Improvements (MCIs) and Individual Apartment Improvements (IAIs)

(5) Home rule over rents and evictions - bring control back from Albany to city politicians accountable to tenants!

(6) A better Rent Guidelines Board (this one can be aided by the mayor-elect although criteria for selection are set by the state)

(7) No more 7.5% mandatory increase for rent controlled tenants  (not in our building)

(8) Repairs for public housing without imposing luxury buildings in their midst

(9) Permanent affordable housing for the homeless, the poor, the middle class,  and for our children and for those moving into NYC.  

(10) A unified tenant movement, 100,000 tenants strong. 

Happy New Year one and all !

Celebrating the New and the Old

As we ring in the New Year, check out photos of the old lobby mural, painted by former tenant Myron Morris with the help of many neighbors, including children in the building.   The photos, provided by Chaim Zlotogorski (son of our late neighbor Abram Zlotogorski), and others show the mural that presented a view of the neighborhood then, just after our building was built and as Tower West next door, were being constructed. 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Summary of the Nov. 20, 2013 General Tenants Meeting

Click here for the Summary.  

-      With a surprise visit by Scott Stringer, Manhattan Borough President (& NYC Comptroller-elect)

Click on "read more" below for a more detailed summary. 

Our building isn't under HUD rules

Claiming the "sequester" made them do it,  the federal government's Housing and Urban

Development agency issued rules in July 2013 ordering some tenants to move to smaller apartments.  This applies to tenants in the Housing Choice Voucher Program, administered through the City's Department of Housing Preservation and Development.  It does not apply to tenants in Central Park Gardens. 

Since our building never received a HUD mortgage and we did not get "enhanced vouchers" when we left Mitchell-Lama, this does not apply to our building.   (It's possible that a few tenants receiving Section 8 in this building may be subject to those rules.)

Rent stabilized tenants in our building may stay in their apartments even if their household has shrunk.  

Protect Yourself as a Tenant!

PROTECT YOURSELF AS A TENANT! 

Owners like Larry Gluck of Stellar Management make a LOT of money from market-rate apartments.   To do that, they have to get rid of the tenants paying affordable rents.  That hurts our community and deprives current and future residents of affordable homes.   So Stellar’s attorneys at Kossoff and Unger are calling tenants (even on Thanksgiving weekend) with a “carrot” (a small amount of money to find another home) and a “stick” (a reason they might go after you legally).  

STELLAR OFFERS MONEY TO GET YOU TO LEAVE YOUR APARTMENT

The money is never enough to live on and much less than Stellar will be getting for your apartment.  If you want to stay in your apartment, contact us.  If you would be willing to move for enough money, negotiate through a lawyer or representative. Click on “read more” below for details. 

STELLAR THREATENS TO TAKE YOU TO COURT OR NOT RENEW YOUR LEASE

• Do you own property  elsewhere or travel? It’s ok if you live here 183 days or more each year.  Keep records!
• Pay your rent on the 1^st of the month, or get help with it.
• Roommates are ok – but tell Stellar if they’re here 30 days or more.
• If you’re trying to get a lease in your own name after the person named on the lease leaves, contact us!

Keep a copy of your lease and rent bills, and CONTACT US.

Click on "read more" for details.