PWVTA logo by Schaefer with banner
NO MAHS CONFERENCE MARCH 27
NO MORE “AFFORDABLE” HOUSING SCAMS:
TOWARDS COMMUNITY CONTROL OF LAND IN NEW YORK CITY
Saturday, March 27th  9:30 – 5
Hunter College/CUNY, West Building, 8th Floor
68th and Lexington Ave
NO MAHS is a forum for housing
activists, tenants, squatters, community
organizers and homeless people to
discuss how to secure land and how to
access and preserve truly affordable
housing and community space, through:
• Direct action
• Land trusts and land banking
• Community planning
• Participatory budgeting
RSVP and more info call 212-650-3328
communitylandnyc@gmail.com
conference flyer and THE CALL
[on PREDATORY EQUITY]
NY Times 1-31-10
All Those Little Stuyvesant Towns
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
WHEN money grew on trees during the late great credit boom, private equity firms plunged headlong into New York City real estate. Not only did these companies snag dazzling Manhattan office towers, they also paid up for thousands of mundane rental apartments across the five boroughs.
>> CONTINUED HERE >>
Ruling Overturns "Tax"
on Long-term Rent Stabilized Tenants
ANOTHER TENANT VICTORY FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING, FOR NOW
On January 20th, State Supreme Court Justice Emily Jane Goodman set aside the 2008 order of the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) that imposed a bigger rent increase, in percentage terms, on long-term tenants paying less than $1000 per month than on other tenants.
   Under the 2008 order, tenants who had lived in a rent-stabilized apartment for six years or more and were paying less than $1000 per month could be charged a specific minimum dollar amount for a lease renewal--$45 for a one-year renewal and $85 for a two-year renewal--while rent increases for other tenants were limited to 4.5% for a one-year lease renewal and 8.5% for a two-year renewal.
   Judge Goodman reasoned that the housing emergency, which is the reason for rent stabilization, exists for all tenants. She noted that this new order imposed a much bigger percentage increase on long-term tenants with rents below $1000 than on other tenants. "In other words,"she said, the order "in effect penalizes tenants failing to move in a city that has virtually no affordable housing."She concluded that the RGB did not have the authority to create a separate class of tenants based on length of residency.
   The Goodman decision will be appealed, and it will take some time to play out in the court system. The City Council filed a brief supporting the tenants. The Corporation Council of New York City represented the RGB.
   The Corporation Counsel has indicated that it will prevent action to enforce the decision until all appeals are decided. If the Goodman ruling is upheld, long-term tenants whose rents were under $1000 in 2008-2009 and whose leases were renewed in that year will be owed refunds and will have their rents reduced.
   The decision, if upheld, would also affect the minimum rent increases imposed by the RGB for 2009-2010 lease renewals. A considerable number of PWV tenants will be affected by the final decision, so stay tuned.
By PWVTA Legal Committee Chair Dean Heitner 2-2-10
Met Council 1-29-10
Court Strikes Down RGB's 'Poor Tax'!
On Jan. 22, the New York State Supreme Court ruled that the New York City Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) exceeded its authority in 2008 and 2009 when it issued minimum rent increases for long term rent-stabilized tenants with rents under $1,000.
>> CONTINUED HERE >>
POETRY READING -- FEBRUARY 22
PWV resident Irving Polsky announces a poetry reading at Eretz Kosher, 692 Columbus Ave. at 94th St. on Monday, Feb. 22 at 7:30pm.
   His late brother's poems and essays from the book "Thoughts of Being" will be read on topics ranging from the Holocaust, to relationships from his Viet Nam war experience to teenage angst.
MORE INFO AND POSTER HERE
NY Times January 26
Fallout Is Wide in Failed Deal for Stuyvesant Town
In the beginning, investors and lenders could not get enough of the record-breaking $5.4 billion deal to buy the largest apartment complexes in Manhattan: Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.
    Now, three years later, they cannot get away from it fast enough.
    The partnership that bought the 80-acre property on the East River announced on Monday that it was turning the keys over to its lenders after it defaulted on its loans and the value of the property fell below $2 billion.
    Yet in walking away, the partners, Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty, have left tenants in limbo and other investors with far bigger losses. STORY CONTINUED HERE - PDF
www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/nyregion/26stuy.html?hp
NY TIMES JANUARY 25
Ruling Could Mean Lower Rents for 300,000 Tenant
By CARA BUCKLEY
To most renters in New York City, it sounds like a modest, even enviable, rent increase: pay an additional $45 if your monthly rent happened to be less than $1,000 and you had been living in the same apartment for more than six years.
   But to the City Council, and advocates for New York’s lower-paying tenants, the increase issued by the city’s Rent Guidelines Board in 2008 amounted to what they called a “poor tax.” And in a ruling that came down last week, Justice Emily Jane Goodman of State Supreme Court in Manhattan agreed.
>> CONTINUED HERE >>
MARKUS LEAVES RENT GUIDELINES BOARD
Marvin "Markup" Markus leaves the RGB,
Tenants Wonder What's Next
Marvin Markus stepped down as Chairman of the Rent Guidelines Board this past week. During Markus's tenure at the RGB, the board approved some of the highest rent increases for rent-stabilized apartments in years, and repeatedly punished long term tenants who have lower rents with minimum increases - known commonly as a 'poor tax' - earning the chair the nickname "Marvin Markup".
    The departure of Markus from the RGB doesn't necessarily mean that the RGB will start giving tenants relief. All five of the board's public members have stated that they fundamentally don't believe in the system of rent-regulation - which should disqualify them from serving on the RGB.
    Mayor Bloomberg's should not consider any of the RGB's current public members for the post of chair, and should appoint a chairperson with a concern for maintaining affordable rents. Unfortunately, the power to appoint members of the RGB rests in the hands of the mayor alone. Our reform bill in Albany would change this, by requiring the mayor to submit his candidates to the City Council for approval.

    We are watching the situation and will inform members of actions to take as things develop.

Extracted from Metropolitan Council on Housing newsletter 1-15-10

Sue Susman sends tenant leaders a book review:

Hi, all.
I just finished reading "Going Public, An Oranizer's Guide to Citizen Action" by Michael Gecan - a gift meant to make the rounds of the tenant leaders in the building where I live.
    Gecan, of the Industrial Areas Foundation founded by Saul Alinsky, notes that what any organization should strive for is power - rather than working solely on a single issue. Only with a large base can we confront power in the private and government sectors.
    We have begun that through various efforts in this neighborhood, and I hope we can develop it further. One way to develop it further, he notes, is to get to know one another as people and as supports for one another and resources for particular struggles.
    Along that line, Gecan cites a remarkable person whose strength, dignity and force of effort played a crucial role in the development of the Nehemiah Houses and in the relationship of the East Brooklyn Congregations with many of our elected officials.
    That person is the Rev. Heidi Neumark, then working out of a church in the South Bronx and now the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church on 100th Street.
    So those of us who were impressed by Pastor Neumark's planning efforts and speech at the shopping cart rally before the construction began on Columbus, can now know - if we didn't then - that we have a truly wonderful person - and resource- in our midst.
    Once people in my building finish reading it, we can lend it out to others - and it's available at the NY Public Library.

- Sue  sue.susman@gmail.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
uws mailing list uws@save-ml.org http://save-ml.org/mailman/listinfo/uws_save-ml.org
Bloomberg.com November 9
Tishman Nears Restructuring, Sale of Stuyvesant Town (Update1)
By Hui-yong Yu, Jonathan Keehner and Oshrat Carmiel
Tishman Speyer Properties LP and BlackRock Realty, the owners of Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Town- Peter Cooper Village, moved closer to restructuring $3 billion in debt on the apartment complex as the property verges on default,... MORE HERE
More stories on the J-51 Decision, with URLs supplied by Sue Susman:
Wolf Haldenstein Wins Major Victory for Tenants
in Landmark NYS Court of ...
Reuters
... had illegally deregulated and raised rents at
approximately 4000 apartments in buildings where
New York City J-51 tax benefits had been granted. ...

Q. and A. on New York Rent Ruling
New York Times
These tenants live in apartments in previously
regulated buildings that received a tax abatement,
known as J-51, intended to encourage owners to invest in ...
Impact of Ruling in Stuyvesant Town Case Could
Take Years to Determine
New York Times
... he said, had allowed landlords to raise rents
beyond certain levels and deregulate apartments,
while receiving tax breaks under the city's J-51 program, ...
Stuy Town Ruling Could Be Costly To NYC Landlords
WCBS-TV New York
The dispute centers on the "J-51 tax abatement."
It gives landlords a tax break to renovate apartments.
"The Court of Appeals said very clearly you cannot ...
 
Court rules rents improperly raised in Stuy Town
New York Post  By BRENDAN SCOTT and KAJA WHITEHOUSE Last Updated: 1:23 PM, October 22, 2009 Posted: 10:40 AM, October 22, 2009 ALBANY –
In a decision that could have costly implications for landlords across the city, the state's highest court this morning ruled that the owners of the sprawling Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town apartment complexes had improperly raised rents on thousands of tenants.
    The stunning 4-2 decision by the state Court of Appeals may force the current owner of the Manhattan complexes, Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty, and the prior landlord, Metropolitan Life, to pay tenants tens of millions of dollars for damages and rent overcharges. The majority ruled that the landlords had improperly raised rents beyond set levels on some 4,000 apartment while collecting city tax breaks to make renovations. The ruling, which upholds a March decision by a lower court, could impact the owners of as many 80,000 apartments across the city.
    The ruling is a huge defeat for the real estate powerhouse, which bought the property at a record $5.4 billion at the height of the real estate boom in 2006. The goal was to replace rent-stabilized tenants with renters who would pay higher market rates. The court’s ruling today not only thwarts those plans, it could lead to foreclosure, watchers predict. Real estate experts have been predicting "jingle keys" – a term referencing keys jingling in the mail – for Stuy Town for several months now, as cash coffers funding the property have dwindled. "This basically puts Tishman Speyer out of the picture – absent even any miracle I can think of," predicted a tenant of the property. "We agree," the court wrote, with the argument that "the current and former owners of the properties, respectively, were not entitled to take advantage of the luxury decontrol provisions of the Rent Stabilization Law, while simultaneously receiving tax incentive benefits."
    The ruling upheld a decision by a lower appeals court in Manhattan. "While we respect the Court’s decision, we view this as an unfortunate outcome for New York," a Tishman spokesman said in a statement. "The ruling, which reverses 15 years of government practice, raises a number of difficult issues that will need to be resolved by the courts and various government agencies in the coming months and years."
NEW YORK POST is a registered trademark of NYP Holdings, Inc. nypost.com , nypostonline.com , and newyorkpost.com are trademarks of NYP Holdings, Inc. Copyright 2009 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy | Terms of Use

LUX NEWS October 22, 2009
STORY AND COMMENTS HERE

THE STORY IN CRAINS 10-23-09: Court hands Stuy Town tenants huge victory

THE STORY IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 10-22-09: "While NYC Renters Rejoice, More Pain for Tishman and Co."  
West Side Spirit -- October 15
CRANE CRUSHES SIDEWALK SHED
No injuries reported at Columbus Square construction site
By Dan Rivoli, October 8, 2009
A crane accident on the afternoon of Oct. 8 partly crushed scaffolding that covers a pedestrian walkway at the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and West 97th Street.
Department of Buildings spokesperson Ryan Fitzgibbon said it was not a major accident and there were no reported injuries. The incident occurred, she said, as workers were dismantling the crane, at 775 Columbus Ave., and a counterweight fell, damaging the sidewalk shed. The 13-story, mixed-use building was under construction and is stable, according to Fitzgibbon.
The department issued a full stop work order for the crane, and issued Environmental Control Board violations to the crane’s owner, crane operator and the site’s general contractor for failing to safeguard the public and property affected by construction operations. Work on site is continuing, however.
STORY CONTINUES HERE>>
WALL STREET JOURNAL: THE PROPERTY REPORT October 15, 2009
Stuy Town -- An Apartment Complex Teeters
One of the biggest, most high-profile deals of the commercial real-estate boom is in danger of imminent default, say people familiar with the matter, signaling the beginning of what is expected to be a wave of commercial-property failures.
STORY CONTINUES HERE>>
PWVTA WORKS FOR YOU!
Our vision for Park West Village
Remember why you moved here? Large, affordable apartments, trees, Central Park, views, and the diverse population of neighbors who could become a personal universe of good friends!
     All this and more has made Park West Village a very special place. But now new stores and monstrous buildings on Columbus Avenue are upending our wonderful neighborhood. “Columbus Village” would be a destination shopping area like the East Side or Columbus Circle.
     The PWVTA has worked to create a vision of the PWV community that’s manifested in our lives here today. We provide helpful information, protect your rights, and connect with other advocacy groups and local elected officials to resolve issues of common concern.
     Your participation is welcomed too — JOIN US!
PWVTA brochure
PWVTA BROCHURE HERE!
PWVTA memo to the Mayor and the
Mayor's Office of Environmental Coordination  July 27, 2009
The Park West Village Tenants’ Association sent the letter contained in the PDF file HERE to the Mayor and his Office of Environmental Coordination (MOEC) asking that the City broaden its environmental review procedures to include projects like those underway in Park West Village.
    We cited examples of the efforts made by our community to be included in planning and review processes.
    Development continues at Park West Village and environs. We hope you will join us in letting the Mayor, relevant agencies and other elected representatives know of your concerns on this matter.

Maggi Peyton, President, Park West Village Tenants’ Association
President@pwvta.org www.pwvta.org 212-662-2610
ARE YOU BEING OVERCHARGED?
If you have moved into an apartment in 784, 788 or 792 Columbus Avenue, there is a strong possibility that you are being overcharged.
   These buildings are covered by the New York State Rent Stabilization Law which requires landlords to follow a specific formula when setting new rents following an apartment vacancy. The owners of Park West Village have a history of overcharging new tenants by inflating the costs of apartment renovations
   What should you do? Call the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) at 718-739-6400 and request the rent history on your apartment.
   Upon receiving the rent history, call the PWVTA Hotline at 212-662-2610 to set up an appointment with a member of the Overcharge Committee who will help you through the process.
   For more information click on homepage link “PAST PWVTA NEWSLETTERS” below. There you’ll find details on PWV’s history of rent overcharges in the March 2008 newsletter.
784, 788, 792 COLUMBUS AVE MCI RENT INCREASES
[NEW INFO: SCRIE / DRIE]
On Jan 31, 2008, the New York State Department of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) approved a further increase of 75 cents per room in the basic monthly rent of rent-stabilized apartments at 784, 788, and 792 Columbus Avenue. This increase, for hallway carpeting, was granted in response to a PAR (“petition for administrative review”) filed by the PWVTA and a PAR filed by the landlord of rent increases previously granted by DHCR for roof, boiler/water tank, and elevator upgrades but denied for other items, including hallway upgrade. The PWVTA challenged the amounts previously approved. >>MCI RENT INCREASES CONTINUED ON NEWS PAGE HERE>>
PWVTA EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16,  7:30 pm.
Ryan Health Center Community Room
MORE INFO call PWVTA Hotline: 212-662-2610 or write us at Info@pwvta.org
JOIN/RENEW THE PWVTA HERE!
Associate Members Welcomed!
neighbors shaking handsAt its membership meeting March 15, 2007, the PWVTA adopted a new membership status for Park West Village residents who may not be tenants. Termed "Associate Members", they can enjoy most of the status and privileges of other PWVTA members except for specific votes pertaining to tenant-members only, including the ability to serve on the PWVTA Executive Board.
Membership coupon HERE>>