city limits magazine, december 1994 issue

8/3/2019 City Limits Magazine, December 1994 Issue

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ecember 1994 NewYork's Urban Affairs NewsMagazine

Return to M etroTech Have Nonpro fits So ld Ou t?


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C i ~ V LimirsVolume XIX Number 10

City Limits is published ten times per year,monthly except bi-monthly issues in June/ Julyand August/September, by the City LimitsCommunity Information Service, Inc., a nonprofit organization devoted to disseminatinginformation concerning neighborhoodrevitalization.Editor: Andrew WhiteSenior Editor: Jill KirschenbaumAssociate Editor: Kim NauerContributing Editors: Peter Marcuse,James BradleyIntern: Amber MalikLayoutIProduction: Laura GilbertAdvertising Representative: Faith WigginsOffice Assista nt: Seymour GreenProofreader: Sandy SocolarPhotographers: Steven Fish, EveMorgenstern, Gregory P. MangoSponsors:Association for Neighborhood andHousing Development, Inc.Pratt Institute Center for Communityand Environmental DevelopmentUrban Homesteading Assistance BoardBoard of Directors':Eddie Bautista, New York Lawyers forthe Public InterestBeverly Cheuvront, City HarvestErrol Louis, Central Brooklyn PartnershipMary Martinez, Montefiore HospitalRebecca Reich, Low Income Housing FundAndrew Reicher, UHABTom Robbins, JournalistJay Small, ANHDWalter Stafford, New York UniversityDoug Thretsky, former City Limits EditorPete Williams, National Urban League Affiliations for identification only.Subscription rates are: for individuals andcommunity groups, $20/0ne Year, $30/TwoYears; for businesses, foundations, banks ,government agencies and libraries, $35/0neYear, $50/Two Years. Low income, unemployed ,$10/0ne Year.City Limits welcomes comments and articlecontributions. Please include a stamped, selfaddressed envelope for return manuscripts.Material in City Limits does not necessarilyreflect the opinion of the sponsoring organizations. Send correspondence to: City Limits, 40Prince St., New York, NY 10012. Postmaster:Send address changes to City Limits, 40 PrinceSt., NYC 10012.Second class postage paidNew York, NY 10001City Limits (ISSN 0199-0330)(212) 925-9620FAX (212) 966-3407Copyright 1994. All Rights Reserved. Noportion or portions of this journal may bereprinted without the express permission ofthe publishers.City Limits is indexed in the Alternative PressIndex and the Avery Index to ArchitecturalPeriodicals and is available on microfilm fromUniversity Microfilms In ternational, Ann Arbor,MI 46106.

2/DECEMBER 1994/CITY LIMITS

Crain's Delirium

Among the many Single Room Occupancy hotels on the Upper WestSide are a pair called the Marion and the Clinton Arms. Not entirely pleasant places to live, they are owned by private landlords andoperated as businesses designed to make a profit.So it came as a surprise to some when the two were referred to as nonprofit social service facilities in a recent article in Crain's New YorkBusiness. Of course, the authors hid their agenda by not actually namingthe hotels; they simply wrote, "Three clients of facilities on the UpperWest Side stabbed a man trying to stop them from robbing a car," using theincident as one more example of nonprofits running amok in civilizedneighborhoods. These "clients" were tenants of the two hotels.The Crain's article was part of a series blasting the nonprofit socialservice sector with a shotgun spray of innuendo and red-baiting concocted by executive editor Steven Malanga and reporter Robin Kamen. Theirdisregard for accuracy reflects exactly the sort of dishonesty that drives thecurrent reactionary attack on nonprofits.For nearly 20 years, City Limits has exposed corruption in the nonprofit sector, particularly in the politically connected social service empires ofpeople like former City Council Member Ramon Velez an d stateAssemblyman Angelo Del Toro. But with a masterful trick of innuendo,Malanga and Kamen used the example set by these poverty pimps to bolster their own attack on quality organizations with excellent track recordswhose only sin has been to provide homes for poor and disabled NewYorkers.The irony is that corrupt social service empires lorded by politicians areinvariably based in low income neighborhoods of color where the averagecitizen's political influence is limited. Yet Crain's primary targetsVolunteers of America, the Cooper Square Committee, the Institute forCommunity Living, Community Access and West Side Federation forSenior Housing-operate in neighborhoods with a growing percentage ofwell-off residents. Guess where the influence lies.For a closer look at the misrepresentations of this NIMBY blitz, seeRobert Kolker's article in last month's City Limits. I f you haven't got a copy,call-we'd be happy to send you one.But more importantly, for those of our readers who are leaders in thebusiness community or work with top executives, please consider theimplications of all of this. Now is the time to speak out. Write a letter toCrain's, or encourage your boss to write one. I f you have been reading CityLimits, you know the scope of poverty in this town. Malanga and Kamen'smisguided offensive strengthens an increasingly vicious assault on theleast powerful people of our city. You might ask them, and the NIMBYactivists who helped craft their articles, what, exactly, they would prefer.Reopening inhumane mental institutions? New orphanages? And perhapswe shouldn't bother to provide housing and services for peop le with AIDS.Instead, we should send them to die on the steps of the New York StockExchange.

* * *

A clarification: our November 1994 article on Family Court, "GuiltyUntil Proven Innocent," did not properly identify Beth Ornstein. She is atraining specialist at the New York State Child Welfare Training Instituteat the Center for Development of Human Services at Buffalo State College.

Cover design by Lynn Baldinger. Photos by Gregory P. Mango.


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FEATUREDown on the Street 16An intensive grassroots effort is underway to reclaim on e city blockin Central Harlem. Now th e city wants to t ryout its latest housinginitiative there. Strange bedfellows, or a marriage made in heaven?

by Andrew White

BUDGET REPORTBlitzkrieg 6Mayor Giuliani's October Plan will gu t city programs already reeling from the last round of budget cuts.

by Steven Wishnia and Andrea Payne

WESTCHESTER REPORTMixed Reviews 8Everyone's talking about Westchester's workfare program. Is it real-ly as good as they say it is? by Ed TagliaferriPIPELINEHistory Repeats 12Residents of Fort Greene want to know what happened to all of thosejobs they were promised, back when MetroTech was just a develop-er's fantasy. by Laura WashingtonIn Nehemiah's Way 22There's a struggle of biblical proportions going on in East New Yorkbetween a powerful church group and a tiny tenants' association.Guess who's winning? by Jill Kirschenbaum

COMMENTARYCityviewManaging th e CrisisReviewNo Solution at All

DEPARTMENTSEditorialBriefsBranching OutLoan Fund Milestone

255

Letters

25by Harold DeRienzo27by Mary EUen Hombs

28ProfessionalDirectory 29,30Job Ads 30,31

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16CITY LlMITSIDECEMBER 1994/3


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Environmental ac:tiYists from the Federation to Preserve the Greenwich WIageWaterfront & Great Port held a demotlStl atiUl'l to protest deweIopment plans forthe Hudson River shoreline by a subsidiary of the state Urban DevelopmentCorporation. The group bumed an oversize check for $80 million, representingmoney the city may lose to the federal government if curTent plans go foIwanl.

Loan Fund MilestoneACCION New York has justpassed the $1 million mark in loansto Latinwned small businesses inthe Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn andQueens.A privately funded nonprofit organization, ACCION New York beganlending to low income micro-entrepreneurs in July, 1991. The aim wasto make credit available to peoplewho , with limited collateral or credithistory, were unable to secure loansj from traditional commercial banks.To date, ACCION has offered some! 400 loans to help finance bodegas,street vendors and other small-scaleoperations.Although the loans can be asdiminutive as $1,000 for an individual borrower, over 60 percent go togroups of three to five borrowers,

which allows the would-be entrepreneurs to take out a Single, more sizable loan at cheaper interest ratesand distribute the money amongthem. At the same time, the groupacts as an alternative to collateralproviding peer pressure and supporto ensure that loan payments are reg

ularly met. In three years of lendingonly $13,945 has been written off.The loans have given small business owners the leverage to reach agreater number of clients, increasetheir inventories and diversify theiproduct base.

Branching Out: I.A.F. takes a new tack According to Delma Soto, executive director of ACCION New Yorkthis kind of incremental growth isthe essence of microenterprise.A national citizens group that hasfostered community action amongchurch congregations for decades isgrOWing fast in the New York region,and has begun to organize among awide array of nonreligious neighborhood-based groups as well.At an October 30th rally on theWorld Trade Center plaza in lowerManhattan, attended by an

estimated 10,000 membersof the Industrial AreasFoundation (lAF), the mainfocus was on holding politicians accountable forreforming government jobtraining programs and creating new Jobs. But leadersalso revealed a new direction in their activist work,announcing plans to bringyouth groups, recent immigrants and tenant associations, among others, intothe fold.We can see the daywhen there will be 50,000or 75,000 people in anopen space large enough to

Edgecombe Avenue force theDepartment of Transportation toenforce the long-ignored ban oncommercial vehicles in their residential neighborhood. Prior to HIT'sinvolvement, the association hadtried for a year to resolve the problem and had gotten "the royal runaround," Inman says. By holding

hold them, not ust 10,000," . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .says IAF national staffer FCIIIIIddoa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TnIde c.IIr .Mike Gecan. The IAF cur-rently has seven member organizations in the New York region, including East Brooklyn Congregations,South Bronx Churches and HarlemInitiatives Together (HIT).Howard Inman of HIT has alreadystarted putting the new strategy intopractice. Over the past few months,his group has helped a block association on 150th Street and

house meetings, developing leadersand encouraging members todemand a meeting with the city offIcial who could really accomplishsome change, HIT also helped thegroup get new traffic lights andspeed limit signs installed.Now they have a more ambitiousgoal -ridding nearby Jackie RobinsonPark of drugs and prostitution.

Had the people from 150thand Edgecombe approached himfor help in years past, Inman sayshe would have had to askwhether they belonged to achurch in the area, or suggestedthey join a congregation affiliatedwith IAF, such as CovenantAvenue Baptist. "But some peo-ple are not interested inchurch, he says, "andthere was a large body ofpeople we were notspeaking to.Members of theblock association haveeach paid $25 in dues tojoin what is being calledMetro IAF." The relationship between Metro IAFand the other IAF affiliates in the New Yorkarea is stili beingdefined, Gecan says.IAF leaders basedtheir decision to move ino.. this new direction partlyon what they see aswidespread frustrationwith the t w ~ r t y political system, Inman says."People need someplaceto go. We're saying this is wherethey should put their efforts,instead of the Democratic orRepublican parties, he explains."We want to be able to holdsenators and congressmenaccountable. Given our methodof turning people out, we'll be aforce to be reckoned with.Robin Epstein

"This is a way to help people helpthemselves ," Soto says. The loanshave created or strengthenedapproximately 231 jobs to dateFurthermore, Soto stresses, over 35percent of ACCION loans have goneto women entrepreneurs, helpingthem realize an increasingly secure,if not totally independent, future.Romalinda Rivera is a case inpoint. Currently receiving publicaSSistance, Rivera is studying for ajob in the health services industry.She is also operating a small retailclothing business out of her apartment with two other women, andthey just rece ived their third loanfrom ACCION-$3,OOO to buy moremerchandise and further expandtheir growing business."Business is good ," says Rivera ."I plan to leave welfare soon:At the other end of the spectrumis Paloma Communications. Lastyear, four freelance writers took outa $6,000 loan to start a companythat produces newsletters and magazines for a variety of agencies andorganizations in the Dominicancommunity, including the DominicanChamber of Commerce. When business started to expand rapidly, thegroup went back to ACCION for asecond loan, this time for $40,000 .Without the first loan the company would never have gotten 'off theground, says Nelson Muniz, one ofthe owners of Paloma Communications. Today, the company employstwo staffers, has just hired threemore, and plans are in the works toexpand operations further into mailorder and telecommunicationsAmber Malik

CITY LlMITSIDECEMBER 1994/5


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Blitzkrieg By Steven Wishnia and Andrea PayneGiuliani's October Plan leaves a trail of devastationin the agencies that serve the city's poorest residents.The verdict is in: Mayor RudolphGiuliani's plan to cu t $1.1 bil lion fromthe city's budget would leave many ofthe city's social services with littlemore than Tinker Toy support. By thetime City Limits reaches newsstands,the City Council should have taken avote on the proposal, known as theOctober Plan. What follows is just asmall sample of the cuts currently onthe table. Some of them may beexcised before December 1, accordingto Giuliani budget director AbrahamLackman. Most will not. We have notincluded here some of the cuts thathave received wide attention, including an estimated 80 percentreduction in contracts with theDepartment of Youth Services. 2One important note: With theelection of Governor GeorgePataki, observers fear any newhelp for the city budget fromAlbany is now just a fantasy. Ifthe October Plan is any indication, they add, the mayor doesn'tseem to want the aid anyway: hisproposal cuts millions fromservices already heavily supported by state and federal matchingfunds.o Day Care:At a time when Mayor Giulianiseeks to decrease welfare rolls,advocates predict his plan toeliminate 1,982 subsidized daycare slots could force some lowincome parents to leave jobs andschool an d seek public assistanceinstead. And while the city will realizean immediate savings of $6.2 million,it will also lose $18 million in matching federal and state funds.These cuts would close between 20and 30 day care centers , advocates say.This will impact heavily on lowincome working families, says NancyKolban, executive director of ChildCare Inc. "As more women enter theworkforce, we're talking about cuttingback the services available to them.[Any] economic development strategycannot work without good child careservices," Kolban says, adding thatchildren will lose a much-neededjump on their education.6/DECEMBER 1994/CITY LIMITS

o Emergency Food:Eliminating the city's Emergency FoodAssistance Program would save $2.1million this years and $6.5 million inthe next. But approximately 100 of thecity's 600 soup kitchens and foodpantries would close immediately, estimates Liz Krueger, associate director ofthe Communi ty Food Resource Center.The ability to feed the 250,000 to300,000 people annually who dependon these meals is further jeopardizedbecause the federal government isslashing its own donations of surplusfood by two-thirds next January.Hungry people may have a more

difficult time finding free mealsbecause the city's cuts would also leadto the closing of the Food and HungerHotline referral service and a foodstamp outreach program that bringsmillions of dollars in federal aid to thecity's poorest residents.o Mental Health:Programs for alcoholics, the mentallyretarded and developmentally disabled would lose al l city supportunder the October Plan, saving $4.4million. And providers of all othermental health services face an overall16.4 percent reduction in programfunding. These cuts would save $1.7million this year and $2.2 million in

fiscal 1996.As yet, no one knows which programs would face elimination underthe universal cut, bu t estimates arethat as many as 20,000 people will beaffected when the dust settles, saysPhillip Saperia, executive director ofthe Coalition of Voluntary MentalHealth Agencies. This is because everydollar cut by the city is likely to lead tocuts in matching funds from the stateand charities. "By cutting $2.2 millionin city support, the mayor may beeliminating as much as $14 million instate aid, Medicaid and private fees, aswell as $85 million in state reinvest-ment dollars specifically aimed atNew York City," he explains.At the Staten Island MentalHealth Society, 500 of its 2,000treatment slots for severely traumatized children-many of themhomicidal, suicidal or victims ofabuse-would be eliminated,says executive director KennethPopler. "These cuts are unbelievable," he adds.

o Housing:Along with substantial reductionsin staffing at the Department ofHousing Preservation and Development, the October Plan wouldeliminate city-funded legal services (amounting to $1 millionthis year, $1.3 million next year)for poor tenants who do notreceive federally-funded publicassistance. I t would also deeplywound the Community ConsultantProgram, eliminating $2.5 million incontracts with neighborhood groupsthat organize and assist tenants. Morethan 80 percent of this program wouldbe cut by next year.Tenants in private buildings wouldbe hit hardest, says Anne Pasmanick ofthe Community Resource and TrainingCenter. "The bottom line is there's notgoing to be a lot of help," she says. Thecity would also cut the maximumamount of back rent it will cover forwelfare tenants from 12 months tofour, an annual savings of $4.5 million.Scott Sommer of Legal Services callsthis cu t "a classic example of beingpenny-wise and pound-foolish. To not


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pay $3,000 in rent arrears andthen pay $3,000 a month for ashelter? I can't explain it."o Homelessness:"There'll be more families sleeping on the floor of the BronxEmergency Assistance Unit," saysSteve Banks, coordinator of theLegal Ai d Society's HomelessFamily Rights Project. The $6.5million in cuts will reducepayments to nonprofit shelteroperators, delay the opening ofsome single room occupancy facilities for single men and womenand eliminate the long-plannedexpansion of an intensive casemanagement program, that helpsfamilies relocating to permanenthousing deal with problems suchas tracking down missing publicassistance checks or requesting repairsand other services. Banks says the cutsin the latter program could send morefamilies back to the shelters. "The mostnonsensical cuts are the ones in programs that prevent people from beinghomeless," he says.o Family Preservation:Mayor Giuliani's plan would eliminatetreatment programs providing servicesto drug-addicted women and theirchildren. The city expects to save $1.6million in this fiscal year and $2.5 million in the next. However, these budget reduction measures could easilyend up costing the city more money inincreased foster care and boarder babycosts, as well as several million dollarsin state and federal fundingA chief goal of family rehabilitationis to keep children out of foster care byproviding mothers with services suchas drug treatment, day care and jobtraining. The programs now serve 700families with 2,000 children. A "charitable estimate" is that 10 percent ofthese children would be placed in foster care immediately as a result of thecuts, says Mike Arsham, director forsocial service policy for the Council ofFamily and Child Caring Agencies. Inaddition. newborns now discharged toparents taking part in the programwould instead remain in costly hospital care, says Carmen Gaines, programdirector of Community Services forChildren and Families at St. Luke'sRoosevelt Hospital.o Corrections:The October Plan would eliminate allcity-funded drug treatment in the jails,

including beds for 90 0 prisoners, aswell as all other inmate therapy andcounseling. Supervision in jail recreational areas would be cut by onequarter, and the city's work releaseprogram would be eliminated."For a law-and-order mayor,[Giuliani is] taking steps that willprobably contribute to increasingcrime in the streets," charges RobertGangi of the Correctional Associationof New York. According to Gangi, thenumber of guards will be reduced byalmost one-sixth by next June-justabout the same time the inmate population, swelled by "quality of life"arrests, is projected to pass 20,000.The city would also cut $1.5 millionfrom alternatives-to-incarceration programs, according to Elizabeth Gainesof the Osborne Society, which administers two such programs.o Hospitals:The city would cut $107 million fromits $356 million annual contribution tothe public hospital system. The effectwould be primarily in staffing; officials are looking for 2,500 to 3,000 ofthe system's 40,000 workers to takebuyouts. Harlem Hospital, which haslost patients to both expanded outpatient clinics an d increasinglyMedicaid-friendly private hospitals,will lose one-sixth of its beds andmore than 200 workers, says MarshallEngland, head of the hospital's community advisory board. The jobs lostwould be primarily in what JohnRonches of the Committee of Internsand Residents calls "invisible, butimportant" jobs, such as techniciansand transporters, though nurses would

also be among them.This is adding insult to injury,administrators say. The city'scontribution already fails tocover the expense of mandatedservices such as medical care forpolice, firefighters and prisoners.o Sanitation:The big hits here are in the recycling program, says Larry Shapiroof the New York Public InterestResearch Group. The city plans tocut $8 million this year and $13million next year by reducingpublic education and outreachprograms, cutting enforcementofficers by one-third, and terminating an intensive recyclingpilot program in Park Slope,Brooklyn. Recycling collectionsin the Bronx, Upper Manhattanand parts of Brooklyn would also becut from weekly to biweekly.Shapiro argues that while educatingpeople about recycling doesn't directly pick up garbage, these cuts will"ultimately condemn the program tofailure."

o Transit:The October Plan cuts $230 million incity aid to the Transit Authoritybetween now and July 1996; previouscuts included $52 million in operatingaid and $750 million in capital funds.No specific services have been slatedfor the guillotine, says Gene Russianoffof the Straphangers Campaign, bu t"when you cut $230 million from theirbudget in a year and a half, there aregoing to be some serious repercussions." The casualties could includethe $1.25 fare, the proposed monthlypass and double-fare-zone discounts,and maintenance and repair work. 0Steven Wishnia is a frequentcontributor to City Limits. AndreaPayne is a freelance writer basedin Brooklyn.

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Call Faith Wigginsat (917) 253-3887CITY LlMITSIDECEMBER 1994/7


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Mixed ReviewsWorkfare rhetoric targets cheats, but much of the savingscomes from shifting costs to Washington.H eriberto Rios sweeps thefloors inside the CottageGardens public housing complex in Yonkers and says heis satisfied, for now.It's been two years since he held afull-time job and this assignment, aspart of Westchester County's workfareprogram, is keeping him busy. "I'drather be working than in the house,"says the 33-year-old Yonkers resident .During the last nine months, Rioshas worked 20 hours a week for thecounty, mopping floors, raking leavesand performing general maintenancework around this municipal housingproject. In return, he has gotten his$400 monthly Home Relief check.That's about $4.60 an hour.Rios' situation is typical of manyother people in Westchester's five-yearold workfare program, called Pride inWork. The program has been touted bymany reform-minded Republicans asan example of how government cansave money and promote the importance of work among adult recipientsof state- and county-funded HorneRelief, the welfare program that supports primarily single men andwomen, as well as childless couples.The program has caught the eye ofMayor Rudolph Giuliani, whoannounced recently that he intends touse Westchester's workfare program asa model for New York City'S. He hopesto save $80 million a year in welfarepayments by exposing fraud and keeping people who could otherwise find

And critics also note that Rios' situation mirrors exactly what's wrong withthe program. He's getting no job training, only manual labor assignments.And the county is using cheap laborinstead of hiring full-time workers,undercutting the unionized municipalworkforce. Moreover, i f Rios has aproblem with the job, they add, or if hereally can't work because of a physicalor psychological problem, he couldlose his benefits and end up homeless.Reelection CampaignPride in Work was unveiled in early1989 and became a cornerstone ofRepublican County Executive AndrewO'Rourke's reelection campaign thatyear and again in 1993. He won bothtimes.Men and women on Home Relief aregiven jobs ranging from sweepingoffices to clerical work, from flushinghydrants to painting fences. They workfor the county, other municipalities andeven some nonprofit organizations. Ifthey don't show up for their assignment, they are eventually dropped fromthe rolls.With these rigid requirements inplace, welfare cheats can be easilyweeded out, says Westchester Commissioner of Social Services MaryGlass. People working off the booksare no longer able to keep their underthe-table jobs and still collect HomeRelief, she explains.

To crack down on cheats, the county developed a computer program for

By Ed Tagliaferri

covered instead by SupplementalSecurity Income (SSI), a form of SocialSecurity that is funded by the state andfederal governments. Home Relief, onthe other hand, is funded by the stateand county governments with no contribution from the federal government.As a result of the shift, officials say,Westchester has avoided $15.6 millionin welfare costs. They make no apologies for the move. In fact, O'Rourke hasoften criticized the state for passingunfunded mandates down to localgovernments and has publicly reveledin the opportunity to pass this costback up the line.Weeded Out

To demonstrate Pride in Work's success, officials note that in 1989, thecounty spent $44.6 million on HomeRelief. This year, the county budgeted$38.3 million. Meanwhile, between1990 and this year, the number of county residents on general assistance grewby less than one percent, to 7,638 people. During the same period, with themetropolitan area's economy in free-fallmuch of that time, New York City'sHome Relief numbers jumped nearly 60percent, to more than 243,000, according to the state Department of SocialServices.Glass also says that 15,000 peoplehave left or been bumped off the HorneRelief rolls since 1989, either becausethey found jobs, were eligible foranother form of assistance or wereweeded out as cheats.

an era when welfare reform has become a political mantra, Pride in Work has kept the Horolls stable, cut its cost to the county and reaped millions of dollars worth of free lab

employment off the Horne Reliefrolls.Indeed, workfare has been a politician's dream in Westchester. In an erawhen welfare reform has become apolitical mantra, Pride in Work haskept the Horne Relief rolls stable, cutits cost to the county and reaped millions of dollars worth of free labor.But observers point out that a largeportion of the county's savings hasbeen achieved by simply shifting coststo the state and federal governments,ultimately saving taxpayers nothing.S/DECEMBER 1994/CITV LIMITS

checking the background of anyoneapplying for assistance. Employmentand tax records are reviewed, as arewelfare case histories. The clients arescreened by social workers to determine whether or not they have anydrug or alcohol problems or physicaldisabilities that might prevent themfrom working.This is where the biggest single savings has been achieved: over the pastfive years, the county has found that3,000 people on Home Relief could be

However, while about 9,000 of thosepeople stayed off the rolls, the restcame back and reappl ied at some point.Among them are nearly 2,000 peoplewho challenged their loss of benefits,arguing that they were wronglyremoved from the rolls. Only 200 havewon their appeals following a hearing.Advocates for welfare charge thehearing process is unfair, and the highnumber of failed appeals is proof.While the county advises people thatthey can have legal representation at


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their hearings, none is provided.Jerry Levy of Westchester-PutnamLegal Services says that during thepast year, his office has representedfewer than a dozen people at appealshearings. And the people who make itto the appeals process in the first placeare only the most visible part of theproblem, he notes. He believes thatmany men and women with legitimatedisabilities are being knocked off theHome Relief rolls without evenattempting to defend themselves."This is such a beaten population," hesays. "They don 't challenge things."Paula Roberts, a lawyer with theCenter for Law and Social Research inWashington, D.C., agrees. "Part of theproblem is that i f you are really disabled, you 're probably not a primecandidate for advocating [for yourself], " she explains .Levy contends that a good lawyercould overturn the county's actions in80 percent of the cases mainly by challenging the medical evaluation of theclient. But free legal representation forthe poor in the hearing process wouldrun counter to the demands of welfarereform. He suggests, as do many othercritics, that the actual intent of workfare programs is to disqualify peoplefrom receiving their benefits, thus keeping costs down.Stepping Stones

Workfare has received mixed reviewslocally and nationwide, according toRoberts and other researchers. She saysthat some workfare programs work well:"They can be stepping stones for gettinga real job." But at the same time, sheadds, "What you are really doing is displacing workers. What you're doing istaking jobs away from other workersand getting the work done at lowerwages with no benefits."The union representing Westchester County municipal employeesshares these concerns. "You wonder . . isit easier to lay off our workers whenthey know they've got these low-paidwelfare people?" asks Anita Manley,spokeswoman for the Civil ServiceEmployees Association, which represents 6 ,500 county workers.Rafael Salas, a laid-off landscaperwho also rakes leaves and sweeps up atCottage Gardens, is the perfect example. Salas says he doesn't mind thework. But when he performed the samejob professionally, he earned abouttwice what he 's currently getting paidthrough workfare. About all he canhope for now is a full-time job at

Cottage Gardens should one open up,he says.Most participants in Pride in Workreceive little or no training-only 86 0Home Relief recipients attended training classes last year. CommissionerGlass says that those who are identified as willing and able to learn newskills are offered job training in computers, office work and the health carefields. All of the training programs arefunded by the state or federal government. "I think we 're training all thepeople who are trainable ," she says.MeaningfulOne study of workfare programsacross the country indicates that mostparticipants feel the tasks they havebeen given are "meaningful."

"It may no t have taught welfarerecipients new skills , bu t neither wasit make-work," reported the September1993 study, published by theManhattan-based Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation. Thereport also noted that most of the people surveyed would have preferred areal job, and said there was "little

evidence" that the work experienceprovided by workfare programs led toconsistent employment or ha d anyeffect on future earnings.Still, there's no denying that someparticipants find some benefit to theprogram. At Cottage Gardens , the sixworkfare staffers all say they arepleased to have something useful todo . Walter Nichols , unemployed fortwo years from the building trade, sayshe enjoys using his maintenance skillsaround the development, though heand the others would rather have realjobs. "There are no jobs anywhere,"agrees Rios, with a shake of his head."I wish I could get a job here." DEd Tagliaferri is a staff reporter forthe Gannett Westchester newspapers.

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G1JTSY.INCIS

Life inside a city-owned crack den .. public agencies cut-ting deals for private developers ..landlords who col-lect the rent and let their buildings rot. Each month,CITY LIMITS probes the misguided public policies andinefficient bureaucracies besetting New York. But wedon't think it's good enough just to highlight the muck.CITY LIMITS looks for answers. We uncover the storiesof activists and local organizers fighting to save theirneighborhoods. That's why CITY LIMITS has won ninejournalism awards in recent years. Isn't it time yousubscribed?

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History RepeatsDid MetroTech create jobs for Fort Greene's unemployed?Hardly. Now it's Atlantic Terminal's turn.

W hen executives of theForest City Ratner development group applied forfederal subsidies to buildan office and academic complex inDowntown Brooklyn eight years ago,they estimated the project would create 1,071 new jobs for area residents. Ina fact sheet accompanying thethe park are nice. But that doesn't feedand clothe people."According to the developer, an affirmative action program for construction companies and laborers hascreated a number of short-term jobs forlocal residents. But as far as full-timeoffice work or employ-

By Laura Washington

Seedy StretchDowntown Brooklyn has undergonea dramatic transformation since thedecade began. Sleek office towers anda brand new university campus haveshot up on the once seedy stretch ofland between the off ramps of theManhattan and Brooklyn bridges.Several major financial companieshave moved here from the canyons ofWall Street and the broad avenues ofmidtown Manhattan to a new life inBrooklyn. Lauded by the Brooklynborough president's office for revivingdowntown and establishing the area asthe third largest business center inNew York City, optimistic developershave even come up with a newmoniker-"Wall Street East." Twoadditional office towers have gone upnearby since MetroTech broke groundin 1989, and there are two more pro-

application ,they even dugup some dramatic statisticsunderlining theneighborhood'sdesperate needfor an economicbooster shot.After all, 24 percent of the population had incomes below thefederal povertyline.Today, MetroTech is bustlingwith some 10,000

__________ .~ _ . l L . J ~ e : c : t s : . : i n : . t h : : e ~ w ~ o : r : k s that include moreoffice space, ahotel an d retailstores.office workers. But most i f not all ofthose employees came east whencompanies like Chase ManhattanBank, an d Bear, Stearns an dCompany relocated their headquarters from Manhattan. Meanwhile,the residents of Fort Greene-theneighborhood literally across thestreet from MetroTech, home to the4,900 residents of three publichousing projects and the mostimpoverished area borderingDowntown Brooklyn-say they arestill waiting to experience the economic benefit of the new, $1 billion complex. Asked if MetroTech's arrival hasbenefited the community they live in,the prevailing answer here is aresounding "No.""The impression was that MetroTechwould create jobs for local people,"notes Kathy Peake, an aide to stateAssemblyman Joseph Lentol. "FortGreene has not seen the fruits of that.""Forest City Ratner sponsors freeconcerts in Fort Greene Park," addsNiger Campbell, a resident of theneighborhood and an organizer withthe Fifth Avenue Committee, a lowincome housing group. "Concerts in12/DECEMBER 1994/CITY LIMITS

ment in the service industries isconcerned, observers say there's littleevidence of an impact. Even the selfcontained design of the complex hascreated a sense of division here, withbroad blank walls facing eastwardtoward the Ingersoll and WhitmanHouses on the other side of FlatbushAvenue."[MetroTechl has isolated itselffrom the community as i f in afortress," observes Fort Greene resident Benjamin Irvin. "And consequently, a very wary relationshipexists between MetroTech employeesand the community."

MetroTech.is ajoint effort of theCity of New York,Polytechnic University and theForest City RatnerCompanies , aCleveland-basedreal estate development companyheaded by formercommissioner ofconsumer affairsBruce Ratner. Theproject was conceived in the 1970sby Polytechnic's president, Dr. George

Rugliarello. He envisioned a commercial and academic complex that wouldmeld the resources of Polytechnic-anengineering school that lacked a campus but boasted a high-powered faculty and a reputation for doing extensiveresearch in the telecommunicationsand computer fields-with the needsof major financial institutions lookingfor a competitive edge in the globalmarketplace.To add bait to the hook-this, afterall, was a time when companies weremoving their offices out to the suburbs


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"The impression wasin search of lower rents an d better taxbreaks-the city offered what ultimate- that MetroT_ly came to $329 million dollars' worth....... create L . I - L_f incentives to the developers and "", , . , . , . ..,.-prospective tenants, including a 13-year exemption from real estate taxes,

a 12-year abatement of the commercialrent tax and a 12-year corporate taxcredit of $500 for every employeelocal people Fort Gree... has aot

moved to the Brooklyn offices. seen the fruits of thaI."Today, four years into the project, 80percent of the ll-building site is complete. The Polytechnic campus is here,along with the offices of BrooklynUnion Gas and the Securities IndustryAutomation Corporation (SIAC),which processes financial transactionsfor the New York Stock Exchange.The development did have its casualties. Approximately 200 residentswere bought out and relocated fromthe site, as were some 60 businessesand five governmental agencies whenthe area was razed in 1989.But the project's supporters arguedthe losses would be more than offsetby improvements to the area, which isbordered on the west by Jay Street andthe nearby Brooklyn Borough Hall, onthe east by Flatbush Avenue Extensionand Long Island University, and on thenorth by New York City TechnicalCollege. The infusion of thousands ofMetroTech employees into the areawould create a trickle-down effect ondowntown retail businesses, they said,including the discount bazaar alongnearby Fulton Street. And it wouldspur an increased demand for moregoods an d services-and, in turn,more jobs.Static OpportunitiesSuch an effect has yet to be seen,however. Employment opportunitiesfor local residents in retail remain static, according to reports in Crain's NewYork Business. Toys 'R' Us is now acornerstone store at the Gallery, formerly the Albee Square Mall, whichForest City Ratner purchased in 1990and renamed in an effort to move itupscale. Vacancy rates in the shoppingcenter have steadily declined sincethen-from 40 percent in 1990 to 10percent today. But store owners saybusiness has not increased significantly, and many small retailers have beenreplaced by larger national chains suchas Foot Locker and Barnes & Noble.The proprietors of the century-oldGage & Tollner restaurant, a few blocksto the west, hoped to see their businessflourish with the coming of MetroTech's minions. They didn't; the own-

ers were forced to file for bankruptcyprotection in March of last year.Ken Adams, the new executivedirector of the Downtown BrooklynBusiness Improvement District, insiststhat it is still too early to measure theimpact of MetroTech on retail businessin the area, though he acknowledgesgrowth has been slow. "We still have along way to go. Not enough of theworkers are going to Gage & Tollner, orA&S. Our job is to try to change that."Permanent JobsMost of all, there is little to indicatethat MetroTech has created anywherenear the more than 1,000 permanentnew jobs promised to local residentsback in 1986, or the services necessaryto prepare and place people in positions with the financial and information services businesses located there.The city's Economic DevelopmentCorporation established the DowntownBrooklyn Training and EmploymentCouncil (DBTEC) in 1992 to addresssuch needs. But since it opened 18months ago, it has placed only about90 people in permanent positions,reports director Earl Haye.Haye explains that many of thecompanies at MetroTech tend to go tocommercial temp agencies when theyhave low-level positions to fill; thatway they can avoid the soaring costs ofhealth coverage and other fringe benefits. In addition, he says, many companies have had hiring freezes since hisoffice opened.Most significant, he adds, is the factthat there are few low-skill positionsavailable. "We are telling traininggroups that they have to prepare theirstudents to do more. Basic data entryskills are not enough, for example. Thecompanies want them to be able to docustomer service too, and have goodcommunications skills." The peopleMetroTech companies are hiring haveadvanced computer skills, Haye saysskills that the 40 job-training groupsaffiliated with DBTEC are notequIpped to provide.

On the construction side, ForeCity Ratner claims to have more thamet its goal for an aggressive affirmative action program. According to thcompany, 30 percent of the construction contracts are currently with busnesses owned by women or minoritiean d th e construction workforceroughly 50 percent women anminorities. More than one-third of thconstruction laborers are from thneighborhood, they add.City Council Member Mary Pinkebelieves MetroTech has been benefcial. "To improve a community, yoneed an economic infusion. Mom anPop stores alone can't do it. To thdegree that MetroTech has brought igrowth businesses, it has greatlenhanced the area in which we livThe beginning is there."

Pinkett says Forest City Ratneshould be commended for its contribution to recreation and education in tharea. Some tenants of MetroTech havformed partnerships with Brooklyschools, for example, such as ChasManhattan's Smart Start program, scholarship initiative for 20 graduatinhigh school seniors planning to attenBrooklyn colleges. And Forest CitRatner sponsors a summer job programthat hires high school studentpart time in maintenance and clericapositions.But there are other areas in whicresidents feel they have been negleced. Michael Boyd, director of the FoGreene Community Action Networkrecalls that a portion of the $8 millioUrban Development Action Gran(UDAG) awarded to Forest City Ratnewas earmarked for the beautificatioof the area surrounding MetroTechHowever, Boyd says, "The funds weneverywhere but east. Nothing pasFlatbush Avenue got attention. Howfar do you have to go to get to the surrounding community? We are righacross the street." Forest City Ratnespokesperson Joyce Baumgartnehowever, denies that UDAG moniewere ever designated for that purposeAnd while Borough PresidenHoward Golden recently announcethat the downtown area will be gettina face-lift-plans are being made tadd distinctive street signs, new sidewalks, updated lighting, and trees tcreate a unified visual image-criticpoint out that, once again, Fort Greenis not included in the plan.Eric Blackwell, editor of the FoGreene News and a member of thlocal community school board, call

CITY LlMITS/DECEMBER 1994/1


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the situation "the tale of two cities,separate and unequal.""Who is looking out for our community?" he asks. "The developmentplans should have had attached tothem the inclusion of ne w parks, newschools. In this case, all that has beenan afterthought. That puts all the cardsin the developers' hands, and thatdoesn't make sense. Their bottom lineis profit."No Systematic EffortResidents are now wondering if the$530 million Atlantic Terminal project, another city-subsidized ForestCity Ratner undertaking on a 24-acresite located above the nearby FlatbushAvenue terminal of the Long IslandRailroad, will provide the kind ofopportunities they say MetroTech hasfailed to realize. Community groupsmonitoring the project are skeptical.The problem, says Brad Lander,executive director of the Fifth AvenueCommittee, is that there has been nosystematic effort made to pinpointexactly what the developers' responsibilities are to the community, andwhat can be done in the future if they

''The funds went- - - - - -everywhere but east.far do you

have to go to get tothe _lTOIIndingcommunity? We are

don't meet these responsibilities."We sent the Borough President'sAdvisory Committee on AtlanticTerminal a letter with a ton of questions," he says. "We asked them to setsome targets in terms of the creation ofmeaningful career track positions, hiring an d training programs, an d whatthey would do i f they didn't meetthose targets. What kind of communitystructure would be set up?" So far,says Lander, his group hasn't receiveda reply."Public officials so strongly wantdevelopment, they are unwilling topress for those kinds of agreements or

concessions," Lander continues. "Wehave a federal, state and city corporatedevelopment policy with no clue howto l ink-or the willingness to ensurecommunity jobs for people of color."Reap the BenefitsIt will take more than a ribbon-cutting ceremony to insure that FortGreene residents reap the benefits theyfeel they have coming to them. JohnMollenkopf, a professor at the CityUniversity of New York's GraduateCenter and an urban renewal specialist, is not optimistic."There are ways, for example, tolink the New York City school systemto the telecommunications and computer industries," he explains. So far,however, those connections have notbeen made. Mollenkopf suspects thatMetroTech will turn out to be a "classic urban renewal project, good forcompanies and generating a plus forthe city fiscally. But it [won't] impactFort Greene. There are lost opportunities." 0Laura Washington is a copy editorat Vogue.

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Ntw York University is an ajfimraliwocoonlequal opponunity instiUIUm.

THE ENVIRONMENTTackle the Issues.At New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, you willacquire the skills necessary to tackle the issues of a professional career in public, nonprofit, andhealth organizations. Programs of study include. Public Administration. Urban Planning Health Policy and Management. You can study full or part time; financial aid is available.Career placement services are available to all Wagner students. Find out what the WagnerGraduate School of Public Service can do for you.Call1-800-771-4NYU, ext.709, Monday Robert F. Wagnerthrough Friday or send in the coupon below. G R A D U A TE S C H O O L O F P U B L I C SERVICEr-----------------------------,0 Public Administ ration 0 Urban Planning 0 Health Policy and Management 0 Saturday Programs 0 Doctoral Programs II New York University NAME IRobert F. Wagner GraduateI School of Public Service ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP CODE II 4 Washington Square North I

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Congratulations toJill Kirschenbaum,

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CITY LIMITS/DECEMBER 1994/1


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By Andrew White

"Mother Pearl" Chambers outside her window on West 119th Street

The tale ofone block in CentralHarlem where residents are stirringthe coals ofcommunity action-and preparing to bargain with thecity over who will own their homes.

Halfway down West 119th Street in CentralHarlem, past th e streetcorner dice gamean d a row of gutted brownstones withcinderblocks in place of doorways, the motherof all compassion leans out from her firstfloor window."Mother Pearl" Chambers spends a good part of mostevery day with her elbows set on the window sill, keepingan eye on the men, women, boys and girls that pass by onher block between Fifth and Lenox avenues, where she haslived since 1945. To the many homeless and poor people16/DECEMBER 1994/CITY LIMITS

who stop by her window day after day, she provides food,clothes, comfort and wisdom; sometimes even a few dollars.On a chill November morning, a young and very preg-

nant Jeanette Ortiz stops beside the stoop of Number 48 tospeak with "this woman Pearl, my mentor." Ortiz is home-less, just out of prison after a short stay for selling drugs.She tried to get a place in a shelter, bu t it didn't work out.So she is still homeless, walking the length and breadth ofthe block where she has lived off and on for much of herlife. Pearl encourages he r to be careful and stay warm, andhands her a few things."I can see myself like her someday," Ortiz says with abeaming smile and a nervous hand clutching a pack ofNewport cigarettes. "She's aware of the people that needhelp. She's given me shoes and clothing from her house."Ortiz is barely 20. Up close her worn thin face indicatesa brutal life. As she walks away, Pearl's eyes betray a deepsadness. "She's on drugs," she says. "I've known her sinceshe was so young, she's lived in so many buildings on thisblock." When Ortiz was arrested, she was living in an aban-doned house across the street without heat or water. Her


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baby is due in December. "I told her I think it will comesooner," Pearl says, quietly. "I don't know how much wecan help her. But we have to try."

A ccording to conventional wisdom, PearlChambers and Jeanette Ortiz represent the oldand the new, two sides of life in America's poorurban neighborhoods: the disappearing historyof communal responsibility and support networks, and the rise of violence, drug addiction,unplanned motherhood and dependency. But conventionalwisdom is often wrong.The small gifts of compassion emerging from Number 48are to some a sure sign of Harlem's greatest strengths, of thespiritual core of a community written off as lost long ago.For many years Mother Pearl was one of a small number ofpeople here striving to make a difference: she organizedannual block parties for 20 straight summers, arrangeddecent burials for scores of indigent men and women whodied alone, and still regularly sweeps the sidewalk clear oflitter. But today she is part of a blossoming movement of oldand young alike building on the community's strengths,reversing the long decline of West 119th Street."It's beginning to grow again. It's getting clean again.There are young minds bringing us together," saysMarguerite Gordon, a local church leader who is 86 yearsold and has lived in her brownstone home on the north sideof the block for more than five decades. "It can be a goodblock. It has been in the past, so why not now?"There are two strands of change threading through thefabric of West 119th Street: first, the people of the blockcoming together, building new relationships with oneanother and learning to advocate for repairs in housing,better services and a stronger sense of mutual responsibility; and second, the city government sketching plans for anew direction in housing policy. West 119th between Fifthand Lenox is near the top of the current list of blocks beingconsidered for the first round of the Giuliani administration's initiative to rehabilitate and sell city-owned buildings to small businessmen and women, as well as to neighborhood-based nonprofits and tenants themselves. IfHarlem's tumultuous politics don't reverse the city'scourse, the program could be in full swing herewithin a month or two.At the point where the two strands knot together is Community Pride, a government-fundedgroup experimenting with innovative strategiesfor rebuilding a spirit of community, organizingtenants and providing a broad array of youth programs an d social services. A project of theRheedlen Centers for Children and Families, aleading provider of youth development programs,Community Pride is one of a number of comprehensive community-building initiatives underway around the country combining social servicesand advocacy with organizing. I t is also one of theneighborhood groups the city hopes will facilitatethe new housing initiative.Of course, when this kind of enterprise isfunded by government-as many say it ought tobe-questions inevitably arise. The story of

Community Pride, still in its infancy as a community actionorganization, offers a revealing glimpse into the tremendous possibilities and the complicated dilemmas that facethose engaged in such innovative approaches to neighborhood revitalization."These groups are testing a hypothesis," says ShereceWest, program associate for the Annie B. Casey Foundation, which is funding similar projects nationwide. "If youput resources in place with the right partners, engage theresidents in the right way and have the willingness of thecity to work with you, can you move a successful community building agenda? It's still a bit too soon to say."Community Pride has brought together a disparate arrayof people on West 119th Street, including many who live inthe 19 city-owned buildings on the block (all of them takenfrom tax-delinquent landlords during the last decade and ahalf). The tenants want much-needed repairs, but areapprehensive about the city's new housing plan.

"The city can't just come in and do anything they want,"explains Rosetta Carey, a tenant on the block for 11 yearand super of five city-owned buildings. "They have to comin and speak with the people. That's the way it has to be."This leaves Community Pride-whose government funding comes through a contract with the tenants' landlord, thecity's Department of Housing Preservation and Developmen(HPD)-in a potentially delicate position. The way HPDCommissioner Deborah Wright's new plan for selling cityproperties plays out on West 119th Street promises to betest case for the entire concept of government and community collaboration.Lee Farrow, the lead organizer with CommunityPride, and Geoffrey Canada,Rheedlen's president, saythey are committed first andforemost to the people ofWest 119th. "We're going tostay with that community,an d that's regardless ofwhether we keep city funding or not," says Canada. "Ifwe find out that this does

"The city can'tjust come in anddo anythingthey want ... Theyhave to comein and speakwith the people. "



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not work for the community, we will do whatever is possible to change this process." poverty."So Rheedlen set out to see i f t could change the nature ofpoverty in one small part of the city: a block on West 119thStreet where housing conditions are ba d an d drugs and violence loom large over everyday life, bu t where there is alsoa strong foundation on which to build. For one thing, there'sa well-established church-Emmanuel A.M.E.-as well as acooperative apartment building that tenants purchased from

construction dumpster by the curb on the northside of the street is overflowing with garbagegathered from rear alleyways and yards, tossedfrom apartment windows by tenants too lazy totake their refuse down to the garbage cans, saysWillie Johnson, the super

for four of the city buildings. He is a "While "ou mightquiet, solidly built man who can be , , the city, standing as a model of whatcould be for the residents of the remaining city-owned buildings. There is also ablock association, numerous homeowners and elders like Mother Pearl with awealth of experience and devotion totheir community.

found on the sidewalk almost every have to come inday, keeping an eye on things. He ha slived on the block since 1961. "Some of on the short termthese people don't care," he says, in a and deal withtone that says this should be no sur-prise to anyone. the symptoms that 119th Street lies onBut a people's capacity to respect the edge of one of thetheir home can depend on whether it is poverty produces, poorest census tractsa home worth respecting, argues Farrow. h I I in New York City. In"Home should be an environment t e on y rea cure th e four-block areawhere you feel like a human being. But is changing the stretching southward,the physical conditions here are so bad, the median annual household income isyou can see gaping holes, ceilings falling nature ofpoverty. " only $8,856. More than one-third of thedown," she says. "People do not like residents are children and at least three-living in bad conditions. But they end quarters of them are being raised byup conforming to them because they a single parent, according to the 1990don't feel they have a choice ... People's census.need to survive has overwhelmed the With a high density of city-ownedgoodness people have." housing, the area has a double-edged

For the staff at Rheedlen, the genesis connection to the city's shelter systemof Community Pride was in th e lessons for homeless families. Most familiesthey learned from another of their pro- seeking shelter come from neighbor-jects, Neighborhood Gold, which pro- hoods like this one, studies show, andvides comprehensive support services the nature of housing here appears to beand case management for families mov- a large part of the reason why: a 1993ing from homeless shelters into apart- report by Anna Lou Dehavenon of thements in Central Harlem. The group Action Research Project on Hunger,quickly found that services were only a Homelessness and Family Health foundsmall part of what they ha d to do. that one-third of all families seeking"We realized you couldn't save fami- shelter came from city-owned buildings,lies without dealing with housing primarily because of intolerable physicalissues, and th e real stuff that made fam- conditions or drug activity. City-ownedilies stronger was what was happening housing is also one of the few resourcesin the community," Canada recalls. the city has for placing homeless familiesNeighborhood Gold began to organize a: in permanent apartments. Well over halftenants in city-owned buildings where i'i: the families in city-owned buildingsomost formerly homeless families lived, today moved there directly from thehelping them drive ou t drug dealers

It was clear, Canada says, that community organizing was prevent homelessness by improving services to tenants in citythe single most effective tool for overcoming instability in owned buildings, Rheedlen won a multiyear, annual contractany given neighborhood: developing people's strengths as of $200,000 to do the work in Central Harlem. Soon after,well as their desire and ability to change things, and thus Community Pride set up shop in a brownstone on West 122ndcountering the ravages of poverty. "Sometimes when you look Street and raised another $150,000 from the Edna McConnellat problems, you come up with solutions based on mental Clark Foundation for organizing and other work.health issues, drug issues, racial issues, when th e real issue is Many of the people they try to help don't live on Westmostly poverty," says Canada. "While you might have to 119th Street. By contract, the organization provides sercome in on th e short term and deal with the symptoms that vices to tenants throughout the southern part of Centralpoverty produces, the only real cure is changing the nature of Harlem. Much of their work involves arrang ing for home carel8IDECEMBER 1994/CITY LIMITS


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The idea is not toflood the communitywith social services,but to providethe resources thatneighborhoods likethis have not beenable to affordof their own accord.

attendants or healthservices for elderlypeople, or advocating for apartmentrepairs from the city.But there are farmore difficult casesas well, such ashelping a mothercope with her 13-and 14-year-oldchildren who havebecome addicted todrugs, or workingwith an older manwho has strong leadership skills bu tneeds to kick analcohol habit.

In the last year,seven youths withties to CommunityPride have sufferedviolent deaths onHarlem streets. Whenone young man was

Lee Farrow. director of Community Pride shot dead on theblock last year, hismother, who lived near the spot where it happened, could nolonger face the horrible pa tch of sidewalk. Community Pridehelped her move away from the area, rebuild her life and carefor her other young children.It can be extraordinarily difficult work, says social worker

Leslie Sims, but i t is more "real" than many social workersever get to experience. "When you finish a case, it can be sofulfilling. You can believe in what you are doing."The idea, adds Farrow, is not to flood the community

with social services, bu t to provide the resources that neighborhoods like this have not been able to afford of their ownaccord."We don't need social services any more than anyoneelse," suggests Janice Dozier, a choreographer who is secretary of the tenant association at 8 West 119th Street andwho has been working with Community Pride to pull theblock together. "What we need is organization. Peopledowntown have advocates who know what's available.They band together and spend money and scream for whatthey want. Uptown, they don't know. When you approachinstitutions they push you aside."

Part of Community Pride's organizing strategy hasbeen to build trust with the neighborhoodthrough its youth programs and to build a senseof community through celebrations. After schooland in the evening, the two-story office on West122nd is alive with young people. Tutors work onmath problems with students at a large table in the kitchen,teenagers in the back yard map out a fashion show. It's allpart of a greater design to create a safe hang-out space-anda place to do homework-while fostering creativity and apositive neighborly connection. Many, bu t not all, of the

youths are from West 119th Street.Block parties, small weekly "worship" sessions duringthe summer and holiday parties have brought together theelders, the parents and their children, even a few of thehardest to reach-the older teenagers. At least 400 peopleshowed up in a borrowed auditorium the Friday beforeHalloween for a Community Harvest celebration of games,food and music planned by about 40 residen ts of West 119thand 120th streets."It was everything right about a community that mostpeople would think there was nothing right about," saysCanada. "There were parents with children spending anevening, giving them a positive alternative to the crazinessthat we see in Halloween. It's a different way to help people recognize their strength as a community, even whileacknowledging that there are problems within that community. Using the strength to tackle the issues, no t doing it insuch a way that everything is focused on a problem. If welearn to celebrate, we'll be much more organized and we'llbe ready to tackle the crises when they come."That's not to say things have turned around overnight.Young dealers maintain a blatant presence throughout theneighborhood. And one Monday evening, as 14 residentsgather with Community Pride organizers in the basement of8 West 119th, a rehabili tated tenement , four teenage girls onthe sidewalk huddle around the flame of a lighter, flaringcrystals of crack in their glass pipe. It's not really anythingout of the ordinary, one woman says, as the girls head offdown the block.But these meetings, too, are becoming something thepeople on the block can count on, where the work of organizing and educating residents to take the lead in planningfor the future of their community will take place. This isFarrow's message to the small group as they gather amongthe gas meters and low-slung pipes, and begin to discusstheir options under the city's new housing plan.

Housing experts say the Giuliani administration'sprogram for selling off city-owned apartmentbuildings represents a sea change in city policy.Commissioner Wright has mapped out the firststages, focusing about $47 million in HPDresources during the next several months onrefurbishing perhaps a dozen troubled blocks ci tywide andboosting the real estate market there. The piece of the planshe has promoted most intently is the NeighborhoodEntrepreneurs Program (NEP), in which small businessowners who have management experience and are based inlow income communities will be offered the chance to purchase groups of city-owned buildings."People out there have proven that they can manage property," Wright told a City Council committee at a recent hearing. "But they cannot access the financial resources theyneed" to purchase buildings and do the necessary upkeepand rehabilitation work. "This program will link local entrepreneurs to the downtown business community," she added,thus making cred it accessible.NEP will be run by the New York City HousingPartnership, a nonprofit affiliated with the Chamber ofCommerce that has developed thousands of units of moderate and middle income housing in recent years. Ownership



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a:'iI:

"

of buildings entering the program will be turned over to ashell corporation controlled by the Partnership, Wright says,so the city can avoid "the panoply of rules governing purchasing, contracting and so on" that could tie the city's handsand slow the process.While the buildings are in the Partnership's hands, theprospective buyers will take over management, oversee themostly government-funded rehabilitation, work with tenants and prove their competence as landlords. Only then,after passing through all of this and winning the approvalof HPD, the Partnership and a neighborhood nonprofitassigned to monitor the project, can the actual sale go forward. The whole process should take anywhere from two to"What we need isorganization. Peopledowntown haveadvocates who knowwhat's available andscream for what theywant. Uptown, theydon't know. When youapproach institutionsthey push you aside. "

Janice Dozier, secretary of the tenantassociation at 8West 119th Street.

three years in mostcases, says KathyWylde, director ofthe Housing Partnership.What i f the tenants don't like whatthey see along theway? "It would notbe fair to the [prospective] owners tole t the tenantsdecide unilaterallywhether the saleshould go through,"Wylde says. "Wewill set up a process with objectiveperformance standards. I f the Partnership, HPD andthe nonprofit monitor are not satisfied,that will reflect tenant dissatisfactionand they will nothave the right topurchase the building."She adds that150 small businesspeople involved inreal estate management have shelledout $25 to buy acopy of the program's request forqualifications. The applications from those still interestedwere due back by the end of November.Who will these entrepreneurs be? According to the application rules, they must be based in the neighborhoods

where the buildings are located, they cannot own morethan 250 units of housing, they cannot have a record of tenant harassment, tax foreclosure or serious housing code violations, and they must have rehabilitation and managementexperience, among other things."I've been in the business thirty-five years," says WilfredDeFour of Saverin Realty in Central Harlem. He owns 6020IDECEMBER 1994/elTY LIMITS

apartments in the community, manages another 20, andintends to apply for the program. "It looks doable," he says."Not a cinch, but doable. In the past, HPD requirementswere so stiff it was difficult for small businesspeople to beinvolved, but this is different."Leroy W. Morrison of Lemor Realty on 135th Street alsohopes to get involved. He has worked with nonprofits in thepast as a building manager and believes organized tenantsare an asset to any decent landlord. As for turning a profit?"I believe it can be done ... A lot of things are unspecifiedat this point, but I believe it's worth a shot."

Two years after Community Pride arrived on 119thStreet, what's expected of them under their citycontract may be set to change. "CommissionerWright has been out to see Community Pride,"says former HPD assistant commissioner RichardHeitler, who worked closely with the Harlemorganization until he recently left his government job. "Shesees it as something of a model of what grassroots groups'involvement could be" in the city's ne w privatization program. "It's exactly what they ha d in mind."

That may not be exactly what Community Pride has inmind, however. Canada and Farrow insist that they are organizing the community for the broader goal of communityitself, to build leadership, share resources, improve theneighborhood and plan for the future. On that score, theysay, they want the residents of West 119th Street to take thelead, rather than the dictates of their city funders.At community meetings and in interviews with tenants,the question of ownership is becoming a central part of thediscussion.Caristha Easton remembers the last time she had aprivate landlord, when she moved to the block in 1975. Hewas a local preacher, and he refused to provide heat or hotwater. "I just used the stove. You got to know how to use it."Many people here have similar stories. It's not as thoughthey write off any possibility of a private owner: "Not all ofthem are slumlords," says Rita Russell. "There are decentlandlords. But I would want a building that all the tenantsowned. That would be their responsibility." One of theoptions the city is proposing as an alternative to NEP is tenant ownership through the city's Tenant Inter-im Lease program (TIL).Dozier's building at 8 West 119th has been in the TIL program for two years; the tenants expect to purchase the 20-unit property in 1995. They have already established anevening tenant patrol. taken over management, overseensome of the rehabilitation and gone to court to evict sixproblem tenants who were involved in drugs."You would not have come in here two years ago," says herson Vernon, who lives on the top floor. "This was a crackedout building. It was rough.""We've cleaned up a little section of this block," Doziersays. "Once other people see we respect this block, theybegin to respect it."Mother Pearl is also interested in TIL, especially if herfive-unit building could enter the program along with thelarger one next door; that way enough tenants would beinvolved so that the burden wouldn't fall exclusively onher and the other seniors who live there. Easton says the


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same thing.But TIL does have problems as well: Rita Russell andmembers of another organization working with tenants onWest 119th Street, Action for Community Empowerment,point out that no tenant should have to buy a building inbad shape. In too many cases, Russell says, properties havebeen sold to tenants before they have been properly rehabilitated.As for NEP, many affordable-housing advocates warn thatthe program could present many opportunities for abuse."It's a masterful se t of loopholes," says Jay Small of theAssociation of Neighborhood Housing an d Developmentabout the NEP guidelines outlined in the request for qualifications. Others warn that a profit simply can't be made onthese properties, even i f they are sold in combination withextensive subsidies and vacant buildings that can be rentedat near-market rates, as is the plan.All of this leaves Community Pride and the residents of119th Street in an urgent posture. I f Harlem politicos decidethe city can go ahead and target West 119th St reet for the privatization effort, tenants wi ll have only a short time-roughly two to three months, according to HPO-to organize tenant associations and decide if they would like to make a goof it in TIL or tr y something other than NEP.During the basement meeting at Number 8, tenants saythey are unsure what all of this means, but each has verydeep concerns about whether they will have a role in influencing what happens. Dozier says she wants to be sure thatresidents of the block get whatever jobs are created through

the program-something the Partnership says will be a kepart ofNEP."We'll have to have a movement, we'll have to have aaction around these things," Farrow says, reassuringl"We'll have to be ready when it starts."In private, her enthusiasm is tempered with worry, however, as she recognizes the stakes for Community Pride. came up here to do homeless prevention, support servicand block-by-block organizing," she says. "Here we are twyears later at center stage of this big program. They havnext to no money allocated for nonprofits to do suppowork in NEP. They say they are trying to tap existiresources ... But if things go kaput, we are caught up in it.would be just as well if they did it on another block so wcould see how it goes."

On the other hand, she adds, it's about time the city gserious about doing a wholesale rehabilitation of its crumbling housing stock. "People have been living in these coditions so long it has become normal. Poor services, devasttion, dilapidated conditions. I see the devastation of peoplelives while we sit around talking about things. Let's not mait a political thing. Let's just start." 0

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In Nehemiah's WayA scramble between East Brooklyn Congregations andtenants of the buildings they want to raze

Tenants in nine East New Yorkapartment buildings thought they ha dturned the corner last March in theirlong struggle to reclaim their homesfrom years of landlord neglect. Thenthey discovered that the city and alocal community organization wantedto tear their buildings down.The tenants of Williams Avenuemost of whom are poor or elderlymobilized and won a significant victory last month, convincing the CityPlanning Commission and housingofficials to spare their homes from thewrecking ball. But their struggle is notyet over.Members of East Brooklyn Congregations (EBC), the community organization seeking to raze the buildings,say they intend to take their case to theCity Council. Their aim is to overturnthe planning commission's decision,which they charge threatens an exten-

acres of vacant land and decrepitbUildings in some of the toughest sections of the Bronx, Brownsville andEast New York to make way forenclaves of these low-priced homes,most of which are bought by familieswith incomes in the $20,000 to$60,000 range. People on all points ofthe political spectrum admire thegroup for making the dream of homeownership possible for more than2,500 moderate-income families.Tearing down the nine attachedbuildings on Williams Avenue wouldhave enabled EBC to construct 20 ofthe 700 homes scheduled for the nextround of the Nehemiah project, namedfor a Biblical prophet who rebuiltJerusalem. But many affordable housing advocates say they do not understand the logic of tearing down 135viable apartments to make way for afew single family homes. "Given thefact that we are currently in a housingcrisis, how can thecity justify that?" asksAndrew Reicher,

executive director ofthe Urban Homesteaders Assistance Board."It is a classic example of what's beenwrong with urbanrenewal programs."This is the latesttwist in a long EBCorganizing campaignto move forward withNehemiah development. For several

Avenue tenants are fighting to stay in their homes. years, the group negotiated with the administration of then-Mayor David Dinkinsover the scope of the project. Initiallythe city offered only enough land tobuild about 200 houses, but EBCcharged this was insufficient for the"critical mass" of new homes and families needed to stabilize the crime-ridden area. Leaders demanded enoughland to build between 700 and 800homes, or there would be no deal. Thetwo sides finally reached an agreementfor the larger plan in October, 1992.

sive urban renewal program slated forthe area.PowerhouseEast Brooklyn Congregations (EBC),a powerhouse neighborhood organization representing 51 religious groupsan d thousands of parishioners, isseeking to replace the nine 15-unitapartment buildings with a row of newhouses as part of its Nehemiah housing program. Over the last two decades , EBC an d sister organizationsaround the city have cleared dozens of22IDECEMBER 1994/CITY LIMITS

The agreement did not originallyinclude the string of contested apart-

.,

By Jill Kirschenbaum

ment buildings on Williams Avenue,according to a memo of understandingwith the housing department. But cityofficials opened the door to demolition last year when, at the behest ofEBC, they included the buildings in anamendment to the renewal plan.History of FailureEBC leaders claim the buildingshave a 15-year history of failure, arguing that the city's Department ofHousing Preservation and Development (HPD) has spent hundreds ofthousands of dollars to maintain thebuildings only to see them slip intoever-worsening condition. Worse, thebuildings became havens for drug usersand sellers in the mid to late 1980s."You look at the history of thebuildings, and the history is that theyhave never worked," says EBC organizer Ken Thorbourne. He says the evidence shows that the buildings areunmanageable and would become acancerous sore if they were left tostand amidst a new development ofNehemiah homes.

Trouble is, the Williams Avenuetenants-some who have neighborhood ties going back three decadesdon't want to leave. All have incomesfar below those needed to getNehemiah mortgages, and they are notinterested in the alternative EBC andthe city have offered them: moving toother city-owned apartments or topublic housing projects.Their supporters charge that EBC istoo eager to displace the poor in thename of progress. For some, observesRon Shiffman, a member of the CityPlanning Commission, "Nehemiah .hasbeen a blessing. But at the same time,it's important to recognize that thereare people here trying to make EastNew York work. ... We must not pi t onegroup of people struggling to rebuildtheir community against anothergroup struggling to maintain it."The tenants agree that there havebeen serious problems with drugs andcrime on the block and in the buildings. But, they counter, they have suffered through years of mismanagementby private landlords and city caretakers without having a meaningful say in


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the way the properties havebeennm."I've worked hard torepair my place on my own,"says tenant John Hall. "I pu tin a toilet and a wash basin,cabinets and a stove. I did myfloors and retiled the bathroom. The way I did myapartment, it's my home. An d I don'tintend to move."Under a CurseA superstitious person mightbelieve that the short block betweenLivonia and Riverdale has been undera curse for the last 25 years. Peoplehave a way of talking about the buildings from 486 to 532 Williams Avenueas though they are possessed, like anurban Amityville Horror.

The nine properties were first renovated by the city in the mid-1970s andstructured as a nonprofit, tenant-runcooperative. But the rehabilitation wasshoddy, recalls Abdur RahmanFarrakhan, a housing activist familiarwith the project, and the tenants werenever properly organized and trainedto run the buildings. When maintenance problems developed and the coop members began to quarrel, a fractious rent strike drove the buildingsinto tax arrears and, ultimately, cityownership in 1983.In 1984, the city contracted with aprivate landlord to manage the buildings under the now-defunct PrivateOwnership Management Program(POMP). The firm of Eiges & Eiges, asubsidiary of the William Crown realestate company, received the city contract for the properties, along with asubsidy of $1,200 per apartment forrenovations. In 1986, William Crownpurchased the nine buildings from thecity for $234,000. They were tobecome one of POMP's mo st spectacular failures.In a lawsuit brought against WilliamCrown by HPD at the end of 1990,court papers indicate that the buildings rapidly deteriorated under themanagement of Eiges & Eiges and that"widespread and egregious violationsof the Housing Maintenance Codeexisted at the time of sale" in 1986.The city hauled William Crown intohousing court in 1989 for failure toprovide heat and hot water, resultingin nearly $1 million in fines andorders to correct all building violations. But the work was never done.As tenants fled the intolerable conditions, drug dealers and their cus-

tomers took over the vacant apartments, roaming the hallways and terrorizing the remaining tenants.Finally, in November 1990, HPDbrought contempt proceedings againstWilliam Crown in Housing Court forfailing to provide services and correctoutstanding violations. At the time,there were 995 housing code violations. The court appointed an outsideadministrator to take over management and repair of the buildings.Farrakhan, executive director of theOceanhill Brownsville TenantAssociation, was tapped to take over.He was charged with the unenviabletask of booting out the now firmlyentrenched drug trade, making repairsand renting the vacant apartments. Butthe city gave him no money for the job,Farrakhan recalls, and he quicklybegan to lose ground. Only after LegalAid filed a lawsuit did HPD finallyallocate $124,394 from its 7 AFinancial Assistance Program. Thecity also agreed to replace the heatingsystem, at a cost of some $400,000.But it was all he could do to coverthe cost of managing the buildings,while trying at the same to time to routillegal tenants, Farrakhan says. "Asfast as we tried to repair the apartments, the dealers would break in andsteal. We could never catch up."Still, tenants and Legal Aid attorneyMimi Rosenberg say that overall management of the buildings underFarrakhan was woefully inadequate. InApril 1993, Rosenberg filed a contemptmotion against him and the city movedto remove him as administrator.

Court BattleDuring the yearlong cour t battle thatfollowed, the tenants of WilliamsAvenue were once again on their own,without a superintendent or buildingmanager. The buildings' boilers,housed in unlocked basements, werevandalized anew. When plumbingleaks developed at 520 Williams thispast January, tenants called the FireDepartment, which had no recoursebut to turn off the water and the heat.The city placed vacate orders on threebuildings that shared the same boiler,

and the tenants were forced outto shelters or to stay with familyor friends. By then, there weremore than 1500 code violationsin the nine buildings.Finally, with the help of LegalAid, the tenants filed a suit instate Supreme Court to force thecity to take emergency measures-not only to repair the boilers,heating risers and plumbing systems,but to provide on-site building managers and to secure the buildings onceand for all against further vandalism.The tenants were allowed to moveback into two of the vacated buildingsin March, and at long last, conditionsat Williams Avenue began to stabilize.Tenants had regular heat and ho twater at last. Hallways and commonareas were given fresh coats of paint

broken windows an d doors werereplaced. Even new intercoms andmailboxes were installed, allowing forregular mail delivery for the first timein years. The tenants met with HPDofficials and organizers from the EasNew York Urban Youth Corps, a nearby low income housing manager anddeveloper, and began discussing thepossibility of getting into the city'sTenant Interim Lease (TIL) programwhich would allow them to manageand ultimately purchase the buildingsthemselves. It was only then that theylearned of EBC's desire to tear thebuildings down.Crash CourseAfter hearing the news, the tenantsembarked on a crash course in grassroots organizing. They educated themselves about the city's land-use reviewprocess. They sent letters to the mayorthe borough president and other cityand state officials, informing them otheir desire to stay put and get into theTIL program. They followed up with atelephone campaign and petitionssigned by some 100 tenants.On October 12th, the final day ohearings before the City PlanningCommission on the Second Amendment to the Urban Renewal Plan forEast New York, lines were drawn downthe middle of the City Hall hearingroom. EBC clergy leaders and some 100congregants bused in for the occasionfilled the seats to the right of the aislewhile 50 Williams Avenue tenan ts tooktheir seats to the left.The EBC case was simple: homeowners were, by virtue of their financial commitment, more likely to dowhat had to be done to keep their



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neighborhoods safe."What's the definition of a successfulbuilding?" testified Irving Domenick, amember of the Brownsville NehemiahHomeowners Association and the EBCstrategy team. "Tenants who pay rent,low vacancy rates and low seriouscrime. For the last 15 years, thesebuildings have failed. Can they be

turned around? Maybe. But we can'tand will not ask people to invest theirlife savings in a maybe."The Williams Avenue tenants countered

city limits magazine, december 1994 issue

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