Film with one of our tenants

For the past two years Na'ava has worked on a film about her father's civil rights activities and more.  

You are invited to the premier showing of Red Father at the Soho International film Festival on Friday May 16 at 5:30 PM (new time!) at Village East Cinema.  There will be   Q& A  afterwards and there are lots of good restaurants in the neighborhood.  

Goddard Riverside State Budget & Legislative Forum - April 24

All Welcome!  Join us to Speak Out, Get Information and Take Action!

Goddard Riverside Family Council 

invites you to a 

State Budget and Legislative Forum

Hear reports from our Upper West Side NYS Assemblymembers and ask your questions

Thursday, April 24

4 pm to 5:30 pm 

Goddard Riverside Community Center

593 Columbus Avenue at W. 88th Street

After months of negotiations and input from the public, the Governor and legislature have adopted a new NYS budget for the next fiscal year.  What was accomplished? What is left as unfinished business?  Updates on: campaign finance reform; expanding Pre-K and afterschool programs; new funding for senior, housing, and mental health programs; NYS Dream Act and other pending legislation.

All welcome to attend!

Information:  212-799-9400 x216

More Seniors Can Avoid Rent Increases

Because of a new state law,  seniors (62 and older) may be able to freeze their rents at their current level.

Beginning July 1st, when the law should go into effect, qualified seniors can apply for the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE).   

To qualify, you need all of these: 

1. The senior lives in a rent stabilized apartment.

2. The senior is named on the lease.

3. The combined household annual income is no more than $50,000 (before July 1st, the limit is $29,000).

4. The tenant is paying at least 1/3 of the household income in rent - or will be with a new lease renewal.

Usually tenants apply when they get their lease renewal form from the landlord.  

Click here for instructions and an application.

Summary of March 14, 2014 General Tenants Meeting

New Tenants Have New Rights
As of Jan. 8, 2014, new tenants moving into what was a rent stabilized apartment have the right to know the last rent stabilized rent, how the owner claims it was de-regulated, and if the tenant asks within 60 days of moving in, get the documentation supporting the owner’s claim of improvement costs. That’s important if the new tenant wants to try to get the apartment back into rent stabilization – and fight an overcharge!

Stabilized Tenants Have to Renew Leases When Due

The law used to be that if you forgot to renew your lease, it was automatically renewed for one year.  That is no longer true.  If you forget to renew your lease, you will find a notice taped to your door saying Stellar can take you to court for remaining past your last lease.  Make sure to sign the apartment renewal lease (not just the garage renewal lease) and return 2 copies by certified mail, return receipt requested to Stellar.  You have just 60 days from getting the renewal to do it.  Stellar then has 30 days to return it to you.  You can TELL A MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE YOUR LEASE RENEWAL DATE IF YOU WANT A REMINDER NEXT TIME. 

Front Door Security
If your intercom doesn’t work or if you find people at your apartment door never having called upstairs about it, write it on a requisition slip at the doorman’s desk.  Stellar is now collecting phone numbers to go with the intercoms, so make sure to provide yours. 

Rent Freeze? 

Mayor de Blasio promised to try to get a rent freeze by the next Rent Guidelines Board. Of the 9-person board (2 tenant reps, 2 landlord reps, 4 public reps) with staggered terms of service, this Mayor gets to appoint the chair, 2 tenant representatives and one public representative.  The RGB sets renewal increases (or not!) each June for leases that are renewed any time for 1 year starting Oct. 1. 

Tenants are planning a rally at 9 AM on March 27, 2014 (the first RGB hearing this year) at the Municipal Building at 1 Centre St., and then will pressure on the Mayor and the board. 

Is the Landlord Taking You to Court? 

Please tell someone on the Executive Committee. We can refer you to a lawyer (free if you qualify, or paid), and we need to know what Stellar is up to – so we can tell the powers-that-be. 

We mourn the passing of Felix Fibich, age 96, and offer our condolences to his companion Jaya Pulami Magar. See the NY Times obituary. 

Photo provided by Patricia Jordan

Speaker:  Pat Jordan
Pat joined the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) in September 1983.  She worked as the Director of Tenant Support Services, Division of Property Management’s Management and Disposition, Office of Housing Operations from when the Unit was established in the 1980’s up until 2009.  She has been involved in Tenant Support Services protecting tenants from unsafe living conditions or displacement from fires, city-issued vacates orders, and eminent domain projects. That includes finding them new homes and helping them adjust to their new environments, including rental subsidies, social services, moving services, and more. In 2009 she became director of a unit specializing in HPD’s emergency shelter system and the Homeless Rental Unit.  More recently, she became director of a unit supporting low-income tenants working to own their buildings as co-ops once the buildings are rehabilitated. In the meantime, Hurricane Sandy struck, and Pat volunteered to manage the Medical Needs Shelter established at John Jay College.

Aside from HPD, Pat volunteered for Black Citizens for a Fair Media for over 25 years. That group wants to portray minorities positively throughout society and encourage equitable hiring throughout the industry. She is also a member of the Emma L. Bowen Foundation for Minority Interests in Media, creating access for minority youth to enter the industry.  With little else to do (!) Pat has written articles on minority youth, urban high schools, and the homeless.   And before joining HPD, Pat was Assistant to the Deputy Schools Chancellor, a consultant to the Economic Development Council of NYC, a Community Relations Specialist for the US Department of Justice, a Researcher and Lecturer at Hunter College’s Dept. of Planning & Urban Affairs, and more. 

The Community Room was full, with a rapt audience as Pat spoke about becoming an activist at a young age – marching against the war in Vietnam, fighting for civil rights in the Justice Department, and finding herself working for the NYC government in HPD.  There, she developed programs as she saw the need for them.  In the context of equal rights and opportunities for all, she has always worked to ensure that people with few resources get more, that those who need support get it.  We’re lucky to have her as a tenant, a floor captain, and a speaker.

Come to our next meeting,  

Wed., May 14, 2014, to hear a representative of the NYC Fire Department.   

QUESTIONS, COMMENTS or SUGGESTIONS?  Please JOIN US!

The Executive Committee
• Sue Susman, president, sue [at sign] janak.org
• Na’ava Ades, vice president/sec’y, naavaa [at symbol] gmail.com
• Joan Browne, vice preident/treas., jbbrownefaison [@ sign] att.net
• Rich Jordan, vice president, richj214 [at symbol] aol.com
• Steve Koulish, vice president, eskoolman (at) yahoo (dot   ) com
• Greg Murray, vice president, gregmurray866(  "at" sign )  gmail.com

Felix Fibich has passed away

Felix Fibich, our long time neighbor, passed away on March 20, 2014, at the age of 96.  His long-time companion Jay is receiving visitors (if you call first) for the Jewish mourning ceremony known as "shiva" until Monday evening.

Felix was a choreographer and dancer all his life - as well as an actor (in Law & Order, among other productions).  In a well-known Super Bowl half-time ad, he was seen teaching a football team to float like butterflies.   See the NY Times obituary. 

Until his last years, he was always cheerful, always optimistic.  Having survived the Nazis with his beloved (late) wife, and making a living in his chosen field, he was happy with the community he formed in his adopted country.

March 27 Rally for Rent Freeze at RGB Meeting

2014: YEAR OF THE RENT FREEZE

A Report of Tenant Experiences

_____________________________

Thursday, March 27, 2014 at 9 AM sharp!

1 Centre Street (the Municipal Building)   

RALLY & PRESS CONFERENCE                

______________________________

Join a coalition of city-wide tenants, advocates,  and elected officials at the first meeting of the Rent Guidelines Board as we demand that the Mayor's new Board vote for what all New Yorkers need -  A RENT FREEZE!     Let's make it happen. 

How the City's Housing Agency Can Help YOU - General Tenants Meeting

Wed., March 12, 2014 at 8 PM Come hear our neighbor PATRICIA  JORDAN on her years at HPD (NYC’s housing agency) and How tenants can solve apartment problems and protect themselves. ___ Come to the Community Room at 8 PM, March 12, 2014 Refreshments!