Tenants Fight Eviction on Bergen Street
A Prospect Heights block party yesterday had homemade food, loud music and a louder message: Good neighbors do not evict neighbors. The Fifth Avenue Committee-organized event was aimed at drawing attention to the plight of four rent-stabilized tenants facing eviction from 533 Bergen Street, and it highlighted bubbling tensions over affordable housing, gentrification and Atlantic…
A Prospect Heights block party yesterday had homemade food, loud music and a louder message: Good neighbors do not evict neighbors. The Fifth Avenue Committee-organized event was aimed at drawing attention to the plight of four rent-stabilized tenants facing eviction from 533 Bergen Street, and it highlighted bubbling tensions over affordable housing, gentrification and Atlantic Yards. Councilmember Letitia James, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery and various activists spoke in support of the longtime tenants, who are fighting lawsuits from 533 Bergen’s new owners. The two couples that bought the building last year—Dan Bailey and Felicity Loughrey, along with Deanne Cheuk and Andre Wiesmayr—claim they want to evict the tenants because Bailey and Loughrey intend to construct a triplex for themselves out of the units. Under current laws, landlords of rent-stabilized buildings are allowed to evict tenants if they plan to live in the units themselves.
Most speakers called for reforming rent-regulation laws and maintaining affordability for low-income residents. Rents in Prospect Heights are increasingly beyond the means of most working-class families, said Councilmember James. We must preserve this community’s diversity. James and Senator Montgomery both characterized the push to evict 533 Bergen’s tenants as secondary displacement from Atlantic Yards. Brent Meltzer, a lawyer with South Brooklyn Legal Services who is representing one of the tenants, noted that if the landlords succeed with the evictions, 3,500 square feet that four families live in will be given over to just one family. The most basic articulation of the situation, however, came from Rosa Negron, one of 533 Bergen’s residents: How you going to evict people who’ve been living here all these years?
there seems to be a great deal of misinformation on the subject of “rent stabilization”
every situation is different and can’t be lumped together. not every landlord is intent on fraud, not every tenant is a saint.
check out the link below describing the situation alluded to regarding the Rent Stabilized building on East 3rd Street in the east village
http://www.economakis.com/
The appeals court upheld the owner of this property’s right to reclaim “rent stabilized” units for personal use. By the way it was a 4-0 decision.
Clearly the Law is on the owners side in these situations.
If the Law were changed then there would in effect be no difference between “rent stabilized” and “rent controlled”
The fact is that “rent stabilized” is a legal definition that allows for the owner to reclaim units for personal use.
While I feel sorry for the tenants who are forced to move it is no different than any other tenant who is forced to move when an owner does not renew a lease. These situations happen every day all over the country. is it realy worthy of a “block party” to bring this situation to light. My god if every tenant whose lease is not renewed held a block party, the entire economy would grind to a halt. Should we have block parties for people who lose their jobs too?
My guess is that there are no villans here, so why try to create them?
“does anyone else think that this situation does not bode well for the new owner’s once/if they move in? there names and address are out there, people are protesting…how will they be treated by their new neighbors? no moral judgement here on what they are doing, just wondering.”
8.18
That is precisely the objective of this group. We have a combination of thuggery, a shake-down and demagoguery at work here. How to explain a “block party” zeroing in on these particular owners? How to explain the publicity all over the place? They are not promoting a piece of legislation that any of these two-bit politicians have ACTUALLY introduced.
This is street theater at its worst. The politicians engage in some cheap demagoguery, without actually doing anything. The tennants get a bigger pay-off. The street mob gets to enjoy a block party, complete with “home cooked” food.
“Wouldnt the rent stabilized tenants in this story have been better off using their time to look for other apartments” – well maybe they were working 2 jobs, plus taking care of kids and family, or even going to night school to try to better themselves? You don’t know, so how can you judge? Now you’re going to tell people what to do with their time? It’s bad enough you’ve elected to dictate where and how they live.
“[perhaps further out from where they live now, I dont see why that is such a big deal]”, – Oh? I don’t see anyone on this blog moving out to Far Rockaway or the North Bronx. Not good enough for you, but no big deal for someone else. Do you know anything about these people except for your presumed generalizations? No.
“they are obviously just staying put and trying to create a fuss to get a payout from the owners.” Oh yeah, obviously. More than likely they just want to stay where they’ve lived for 20 years. Hard to fathom that, I’m sure.
“And who is to say that the new owners aren’t as ‘diverse’ as the tenants” – Who cares, this is about economics, not race or ethnicity. Some of you people would kick your own grandmothers out into the street.
“this is bullshit.” – Truer words were never spoken.
does anyone else think that this situation does not bode well for the new owner’s once/if they move in? there names and address are out there, people are protesting…how will they be treated by their new neighbors? no moral judgement here on what they are doing, just wondering.
5:27 – I cant wait for these tenants to be evicted too, I’m going to follow this story and wish the landlords luck
Wouldnt the rent stabilized tenants in this story have been better off using their time to look for other apartments [perhaps further out from where they live now, I dont see why that is such a big deal], they are obviously just staying put and trying to create a fuss to get a payout from the owners. And who is to say that the new owners aren’t as ‘diverse’ as the tenants – this is bullshit.
Hi 4:43, 3:28 here. My gf was given a newly constructed 1-bed place at Murray Hill section several years ago with 500-$600 monthly rent. She refused! Ha! there goes your theory out the window…not everybody pounce at the site of freebies because some believe theres always a price at the end of the day.
She decided to make it on her own and we bought a place together few years later in Park Slope and we are better off for it.
I came across a statistic the other day that said 25% of the tenants in NYC receive gov’t assistance to pay for rent. Think of that – one in four! So if you ask where tenants get the sense of entitlement there is your answer – from our politicians, who buy off votes will gov’t handouts. I don’t know if these particular tenants were receiving rent subsidies, but it’s the same mindset, of getting something for nothing (in this case the misplaced belief that a tenant has an “ownership” stake in their rental apartment). According to tenants and politicians, landlords are all evil, scum sucking vampires and thus have no rights, and all tenants are hard working angels being “abused” by the system. The problem with NYC is it’s almost impossible to get the bad tenants out of buildings, making it very difficult to run buildings profitably in working class neighborhoods (in Manhattan the upside is so great you can carry a handful of deadbeat tenants). Public interest stories like this infuriate me, maybe if our politicians had ever worked a real day in their life, and attempted to run a business or own a building in NYC and deal with all the regulations, taxes, fees, union b.s., etc., then maybe they would be a little bit more understanding of landlords. And let’s face it, the vast majority of landlords are small business owners, immigrants, etc. just trying to get ahead in life. Screw these tenants, can’t wait until they get evicted!
Where is the other couple going to live?