CITY LIMITS

NOVEMaeR 1989
$1.50 . VOL.5NO.9
Looking for Order in the
'People's' Housing Court
A City-Owned Village
on the Bronx River
In Search of Communities of Interest
To the Editors:
rhank you for the opportunity of responding to
William Price's review of my book, Community OJ In-
terest [August-September, 1980].
Mr. Price appears to have seriously misread my book:
He suggests that I am an advocate of racial segregation
and apartheid policies when in fact the entire book cries
out against racial segregation and the polarization of in-
come and racial groups in America. From my research
and personal experience with cities and communities
across the country, I am convinced that the road to
racial segregation that we are now embarked upon will
only lead to the moral and economic decimation of our
country.
In my book I have tried to outline various policies
which could be implemented to achieve racial and eco-
nomic integration. I suggest first that we group people
by a similarity in age and life-style; my conviction being
that if we can minimize these differences between them
we can make it easier for people to accept their racial
and economic differences. Thus much of the conflict we
see in public housing between blacks and whites is often
really a conflict between elderly and families with chil-
dren, or between young, childless adults and older peo-
ple or families. The other advantage of grouping similar
age and life-style groups together is that we can provide
them with the buildings most suited to their needs: row
houses and walk-ups for families with children; high-
rises for singles and couples without children. If we have
people pursuing a similar interest living together it
simplifies our ability to identify their joint needs and
provide community facilities for them. Thus we can
help to bring them together in joint activities in their
communal spaces and help them to learn that they share
more interests in common than their racial or economic
differences have led them to believe.
Mr. Price has totally misunderstood what I meant by
segregation by age and life-style. Not only am I against
the concept of separate but equal facilities, but I ad-
vocate integration by race and income at the micro-
scale: that is at the level of adjacent apartments in the
same building.
I have become an advocate of racial and economic
quotas in housing reluctantly, but only because I am
convinced that this is the only way to achieve integra-
tion, and the only way to open new and permanent in-
tegrated housing opportunities for blacks and low-
income populations. My position would be different if
blacks formed more than 50 percent of our nation's
population. But as they form less than 20 percent, re-
quiring all government-assisted housing to be integrated
on a 20 to 30 percent quota basis should create a com-
pletely integrated. (at the micro-level) society in ten
years. Currently, with the quota concept unacceptable,
long-term, integrated housing remains a dream. Hous-
ing developments that start by being 30 percent black
become all black (and often all low-income) in less than
five years. Our research shows that most Americans
would welcome racial integration in their community, and
continued on page 22
$-----
THE CD CIRCLE GAME
This past summer, the New York City Housing and
Community Development Coalition submitted to the
federal Department of Housing and Urban Develop-
ment an Administrative Complaint challenging the
City of New York's application for the use of $271
million of Community Development funds. The com-
plaint charged that much of the activites for which
the city sought funding do not principally benefit
the low- and moderate-income people of New York,
although the federal legislation requires that they be
the primary beneficiaries of this aid.
Lower-income community groups and individuals
saw that the City's application to HUD this year, as
in the five CD years preceding, contained many pro-
grams that did not address their needs. Instead it
targeted CD funds in "transition" neighborhoods
where small investments could be used to stabilize
changing communities. The proposed budget in-
cluded only enough money to close out the sweat
equity program, reduced funds for the rehab of com-
munity management buildings, and made no provi-
sion for new jobs through economic development
programs. Despite documentation that the City had
failed even to comply with HUD's previous efforts to
enforce the federal requirements of the CD Act,
HUD dismissed the complaint and released the
City's CD VI money.
HUD, whose function it is to monitor and enforce
compliance with the low- and moderate-income ben-
efit provisions of the law, responded to the CD
Coalition that the complaint had covered many of
the same issues they had been pursuing in their
"ongoing monitoring process." Yet, even with the
added weight of citizens' criticism, HUD once again
overlooked basic flaws in the application and ex-
tended deadlines for compliance. A prime example
of the slipshod way in which HUD reviews the City is
the federal acceptance of the Participation Loan and
8A rehab program as benefiting low- and moderate-
income people without ever checking who actually
occupies a renovated apartment. So long as rents
are low, HUD assumes, low-income people benefit,
even if the apartment is rented to a wealthy person.
For years, neighborhood residents have been
angered by the city's neglect of its poorer com-
munities. The use of CD money has, since the incep-
tion of the program, been a major issue in New York,
3
one which the City government has found sensitive
and controversial. It is now evident that the City is
not alone in manipulating and misallocating its CD
resources; it has found a willing accomplice in the
Area Office of HUD. Without any supervision, guid-
ance or fear of discipline, like a child lacking a
responsible parent, it is no wonder that the City
misbehaves. The Washington Office of HUD must
intervene to stop collusion between its field office
and the City before the poor can expect a fair share
of New York's CD money. 0
Dear Friends and Readers of City Limits:
Since we began publishing in February, 1976, we
have always welcomed and encouraged you to sub-
mit guest articles on housing and related issues.
We attempt to cover as many issues as we can
ourselves but realize that we don't know or hear
about everything that is happening in your neigh-
borhood or field of interest.
It is with this in mind that we again invite you to
send editorial materials to us. We are always in-
terested to hear firsthand from you what is happen-
ing.
Please keep us in mind and pick up that pen or
get out that typewriter.
Cordially,
The Editors
.CITY LIMITS'
City Limits is published monthly except June/July and August/
September by the Association of Neighborhood Housing Developers,
Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Develop-
ment and the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board. Other than edi-
torials, articles in City Limits do not necessarily reflect the opinion of
the sponsoring organizations. Subscription rates: $20 per year; $6 a
year for community-based organizations and individuals. All cor-
respondence should be addressed to CITY LIMITS, llS East 23rd St.,
New York, N.Y. 10010. (212) 477-9074, S.
Second-class postage paid New York, N.Y. 10001
City Limits (lSSN 0199'{)330)
Editor . . .. .. .. . .. . .. . . ....... . .... . .... . . . . . . . . . Tom Robbins
Assistant Editor ..... . . ... . .. ......... . ... . ..... Susan Baldwin
Business Manager .... .... .. . . . ....... .. ..... . ... Carolyn Wells
Design anQ Layout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Louis Fulgoni
Copyright 1980. All rights reserved. No portion or portions oj this
journal may be reprinted without the express written permission oj the
publishers.
City LimitslNovember 1980
A Day in the Housing Court
Eight years ago, amidst a clamor for change from landlords, tenants and judges alike, the Hous-
ing court was established. A review of its experience, however, finds dissatisfaction is still high,
although few see a way out.
Brooklyn Civil Court.
By Susan Baldwin
A day in New York City's Housing Court may not be
as foggy as a day in the High Court of Chancery that
novelist Charles Dickens described, but to many it still
merits his century-old warning: "Suffer any wrong that
can be done to you, rather than come here!"
The mornings and the afternoons are always long,
pensioners mill around, sit on the floor or, if they are
lucky, on benches, and, in some borough courts, cue
around the corner of the understaffed clerks' office
waiting for hours and sometimes all day to fill out forms
that mayor may not keep them in their dwellings for
another few days or weeks.
Cases that rival the famous Dickensian Jarndyce and
City Limits/November 1980 4
Jarndyce are still being heard. They may not be as old as
that one, which was reputed by Dickens to have endured
for half a century, but they are certainly as oblique and
are only understood by a small clique of court fol-
lowers.
"I'm due on the 17th (October)-that's when I'm
supposed to go to the hospital-and I don't want to
come back here one more time," cried Felicia Ortega, a
young black Brooklyn woman who has spent a good
deal of the summer in court because her landlord is at-
tempting to evict her for not paying several months'
rent. "Half of my pregnancy has been upset by them,
and my blood pressure is up . .. I am tired of defending
myself, but I can do it. When they fix up my apartment,
I will pay, but not before .. " As she talks, she glares at
her landlord and his attorney who watch her show a visi-
tor pictures of fallen-down ceilings and general blight in
her apartment-an apartment that the landlord claims is
habitable. Her court appearance was October 9.
Ortega emerged from the housing judge's chambers
shortly after another tenant came storming out of
another courtroom and came close to decking a land-
lord who had just won a judgment against her. Egged
on by calls of "Go get 'em, baby" from bored or angry
tenant-onlookers, the woman was restrained by two
more rational heads who told her she would be in more
trouble if she attacked her landlord. Reason prevailed,
at least for a few moments. Then it dissolved in a
shouting match between the woman and the landlord,
surrounded by his gaggle of recognizable Brooklyn
"landlord" attorneys.
People's Court
"It's a joke when they tell you this is the people's
court," said one community attorney. "They say this is
where the people can come to have their day in court,
but if they come here without a lawyer (pro se), and
most of them do, they might as well throwaway the no-
tion of justice because it just won't happen ... It's true
to say that this is the people's court because this is where
they come to get screwed."
In Queens, two women with small children are pres-
ently walking the streets with no place to go after they
unwittingly signed "stipulations" or agreements autho-
rizing their own evictions.
"I became scared, paranoid, when I was in court,"
said Linda Woodard of Laurelton. "I didn't know what
to do, and the landlord's lawyer was always looking at
me all day ... I didn't have a lawyer. The landladies
wouldn't give me rent receipts, but I had the money
orders. I tried to show them to the judge, but no one
listened. Now I'm out on the streets. My kids aren't in
any school district, and I can't get in the projects
because I was evicted." The Housing Authority accepts
no one with an eviction history.
Both women were evicted from their apartments by
their landlords even though they attempted to pay rent
because the landlords wanted these apartments for
themselves. Both were denied hearings before a housing
judge because legal aid attorneys were not able to ac-
company them to court even though they sent letters
asking for later trial dates.
The only thing that Woodard has that most other ten-
ants do not have is a letter from Mayor Koch acknowl-
edging her plight and asking her to get in touch with him
in three weeks if she doesn't find housing. "I could be
dead by then," she asserted. "It's only a matter of time,
and I feel I'm going crazy." Woodard wrote to Koch
early in September asking for help after she learned of
her imminent eviction.
5
Total Chaos
Stories abound from Housing Court, and terms like,
"It's a riot," " ... a zoo," "It's total chaos" are fre-
quently used to describe it. On the surface, every fac-
tion-tenants, landlords, judges, attorneys, community
and tenant associations-complain about the court, but
few have suggestions for correcting it and many argue,
"It might as well stay the same because we have learned
to live with it and what will replace it? Do we want to
take a chance on something else?"
Created in 1972 by an act of the State Legislature "to
maintain and provide habitable housing," the Housing
Court, or the Housing Part of the New York Civil
Court, opened its doors October I, 1973. According to a
city document describing this act, "The purpose of the
Housing Court is to improve compliance with the New
York State Multiple Dwelling Law and the New York Ci-
ty Housing Maintenance Code," and "The objective of
the act is to provide for timely removal of violations and
improvement of the city's housing stock." All forms of
housing-rent-controlled, decontrolled, and rent stabi-
lized-fall under the jurisdiction of this act that created
the Housing Court.
Sixteen hearing officers, now known as housing
judges, sit on the bench in New York's five boroughs.
Appointed by the City Administrative Judge, they serve
five years and receive an annual salary of $34,900
which, with a cost of living adjustment, will rise to
$36,000 this year.
Among its permissible powers are the authority to:
impose civil penalties for violations; collect costs for the
violations' correction; enforce liens against owners;
issue injunctions and restraining or other orders to en-
force standards; deal with the issues of nonpayment of
rent, evictions, appointment of receivers and 7 A ad-
ministrators; and vest title in the city to abandoned
dwellings.
They are also empowered to provide all other official
functions of the Civil Court with the exception of
presiding over a case slated for a jury trial.
Following court protocol, a Civil Court judge is in
charge of the calling of the main calendar each day and
then assigns the cases to the Housing Part. The Civil
Court judge does, however, have the right of first
refusal of a case and sits on cases when housing judges
are on vacation. In addition, Civil Court judges are
mandated by law to sit on all jury trial cases.
Stepchildren
"Housing Court judges are made to feel like stepchil-
dren of the Civil Court and this really isn't fair," said
Lorraine Miller, a Civil Court judge in Kings (Brooklyn)
County who, prior to this appointment, served four
years as a housing judge. "Most of the important and
exciting business that comes to the Civil Court is hous-
ing, and most of its income comes from this part be-
cause so many cases are heard ... In fact, I think every
City Limits/November 1980
judge in Civil Court should be required to have a back-
ground in housing."
Civil Court records for 1978 and 1979 show a total fil-
ing of 425,022 and 416,244 petitions, respectively, in
these two years, representing incomes of $5,556,075 in
1978 and $5,513,499 in 1979.
"If this money were plowed back into Housing Court
for better facilities, back-up services, more judges, and
more personnel, this part would really be able to show
marked advances, " Miller added.
Why, then, are so many people, particularly the land-
lords, upset with Housing Court?
Said one jurist, "The Housing Court was created to
bring efficiency into the courts. This is what the land-
lords wanted, and I think it's fascinating that they don't
like it. Housing Court has always been a three-ring cir-
cus, and I have always been opposed to it because it was
created to expedite and make easier the ability of land-
lords to recover their rents and harass and intimidate
tenants."
HThe motto over the judges chambers
in Brooklyn should read, HWhere's the
rent?'
In the "olden days," according to city Housing Of-
ficial Bruce Gould, one of the architects of the present
court system, "all they did in Landlord/Tenant Court
was ask the tenant, 'Did you pay your rent?' And then
they gave him five days to pay. Basically, it was an open
and shut case . .. Now we are talking about code en-
forcement and removal of violations."
Responding to charges that the Housing Court is too
lenient now that violations have been decriminalized,
Gould added, "It's true they used to hear violations in
the Criminal Court, and an average fine could be $10 to
$12-50 cents a violation. That really was no incentive
to remove violations."
Clanging of CeU Doors
The critics believe that the clanging of cell doors and
the rattling of handcuffs might remind rapacious land-
lords that by refusing to fix hazardous violations in their
buildings they are moving closer to spending some time
in jail. Others suggest that an atmosphere similar to that
of the traffic violations bureau would be appropriate
because "not even a landlord could beat a traffic
ticket. "
"There should be trials of landlords. They should be
treated like any other common criminal," said Betty
Terrell, executive director of the Association of Neigh-
borhood Housing Developers and a former tenant or-
ganizer in the Morris Heights section of The Bronx.
"What's so special about them?"
Manhattan Housing Court Judge Harriet George be-
lieves that there is nothing to be gained by putting a
delinquent landlord behind bars and asserts, "This cer-
City Limits/November 1980 6
tainly doesn't save the tenants' house. The threat of los-
ing the building is more of a threat than going to jail."
Maurice Harbater, one of the two housing judges in
Queens, recounts the time he did send a landlord to jail
for four days but admits that he tries to solve his cases
by compromise. "I try to avoid war and, instead, have
an armistice."
But Harbater and Housing Judge Howard Trussel of
The Bronx, in addition to believing in the art of com-
promise, argue that the only way tenants will get better
services, and the housing stock in deteriorating areas
saved, is by tenants paying their rent into court to ar-
range for repairs. "Nothing is achieved by tenants with-
holding rents except that their building will probably
become abandoned and they will be forced to look for
scarce new housing," Judge Trussel said. "But, if the
tenant pays into the court, the court can order the
repairs and make sure they're done . . . This is why I in-
spect buildings to see if violations are removed and why
I have recommended the appointment of a temporary
administrator to get work done quickly."
Tenant lawyers and legal service organizations are
very critical of this move to "disenfranchise" or take
away from tenants their last and most inalienable right
-the right to withhold rent.
Withholding Rent
"It's ridiculous to ask a tenant to pay money into the
court. It's as good as lost there. Withholding rent is the
only thing that really hurts that can be held over the
landlord's head," said Leonard Lerner, a well-known
Manhattan tenant lawyer. "We have made progress out
of this chaos in Housing Court. Why should we give this
up to appease the landlord?"
"The motto over the judges' chambers in Brooklyn
should read, 'Where's the rent?' ", said an insider who
asked to remain anonymous. "All the court here is, is a
collection agency for the landlords .. . Even when they
give the people a judgment [in a dispossess proceeding]
and agree that apartments are uninhabitable, this means
the landlord won in the long run because if the tenant
doesn't pay rent into the court, he'll be evicted in five
days even though the landlord hasn't made any repairs
... this court is ridiculously anti-tenant."
Legal service advocates polled from all four boroughs
except Staten Island contend that tenants have the best
chance of being heard in Manhattan because the judges
are more progressive and less tied to the local political
machine and because, more and more, the white middle
class is taking up a lot of space on court benches.
Normally, however, these more affluent tenants are
represented by attorneys-a condition that many poorer
clients do not share.
One of the greatest problems faced by tenants is find-
ing lawyers to represent them in court. There are too
many cases, too few attorneys, and many cases are so
complicated that they are far more expensive to try in
court for the amount of rent owed.
"Very often people don't even know they're being
sued until it's too late," said Manhattan Civil Court
Judge Eliot Wilko "The marshal comes to the door to
remove your belongings. This is when the tenant first
learns what's happening ... Even if the tenant catches
on beforehand, it is ridiculous to say to this tenant, 'If
you want your day in court, pay your rent money in
court.' That's like suing ITT for $800 million."
Some say that nonpayment and resulting eviction
cases are not the worst legal ordeals faced by tenants in
their ongoing survival battles to save their homes. Many
tenants may attempt to pay their rent only to find that
the landlord refuses to accept it. Or, they may try to
renew a lease and are not granted this renewal. Or, the
landlord may bring charges against them, alleging de-
struction of property or creating a public nuisance. This
type of action is known as an "eviction holdover" and,
according to many attorneys, it is both a very complicat-
ed and popular way to evict tenants.
Jury Trial
"This is one of the reasons I go for a jury trial
because these are not simple cases to defend," said
Lerner, noting that' 'Six people on a jury are better able
to judge a case than a judge sitting alone acting like a
judge ... who is not so open to looking at the facts but is
more involved in the legal implications."
What can be done to change the image of the Housing
Court? Some critics shrug their shoulders and walk
away, smiling. Others have more positive suggestions
for its future.
Judges Wilk and Miller have argued that housing
judges would improve their public images if they were to
be elected rather than appointed. Miller, along with
Judge Harbater, thinks the Housing Part should be-
come a separate court, like the Criminal and Family
Courts. "
The landlords and their advocates contend
collection would be higher if,.the city's
Social were more cooper.ative and
TUlI"_""'rtv checks to its clients, thus
UU1LUnH\..l a better chance of his rent.
A Great
An optimistic tenant awaits her neanm'x
According to Katz, RSA limits itself to meeting with
housing court judges to pass on its membership's com-
plaints.
Asserting that his firm is not amateurish in its deal-
ings with housing law and the court, Daniel Finkelstein,
one of the city's major landlord-oriented real estate
lawyers, complained about the Manhattan court's "pro-
tenant" bent and close scrutiny of the "Warranty of
Habitability" law and queried, "What are you sup-
posed to do? Throw out the grand piano because it's out
of tune?"
According to Finkelstein, the Housing Court spends
too much time hearing testimony from tenants who are
Stories abound from Housing Court,
and terms like Hit's a riot," Hit's a zoo, "
Hit's total chaos" are frequently used to
describe it.
withholding rent and have no intention of paying it even
if repairs are made on their apartments. "Many of them
skip after all this time in court," he added. "That's why
we call them skippers."
A Day In Court
"I keep hearing that the court is supposed to be for
the tenant to have a day in court, but I haven't found
that to be the case," said Barbara Williamson, a para-
legal advisor in Queens who was evicted last year from a
HUD-owned house after a monumental court battle
argued on the merits of the warranty of habitability
legislation.
"I've gotten into the law and still this knowledge
hasn't saved my new housing," she explained, noting
that the windows in her $375-a-month apartment were
falling out of their frames and the boiler had not
in over six months. "I've been to court and it's
for me and my family. We'll have to
weeks. The person who supposedly owns
't. I know this because I did a title
landlady who should not be
... ,....wu, lives in Florida and gives a
and is unavailable ... It's
Community Groups Face Unexpected Dilemma
Tenant associations and community organizations are
finding themselves faced with a dilemma that they never
expected when they first became involved with manag-
ing and eventually owning the city's tax-foreclosed
properties: the eviction of tenants for nonpayment of
rent.
"We never thought about it much until we felt the
pressure from the city and the other tenants to evict
tenants who were not paying their rents," said Barbara
SchUff, director of housing organizing at Los Sures in
Brooklyn. "What was even worse was finding someone
to evict them."
A City Limits poll of a number of nonprofit,
community-based legal service offices in Manhattan,
Brooklyn, The Bronx, and Queens revealed that all of
them were sympathetic to the groups' problems but
could not be accommodating.
"Philosophically, we just couldn't help out with the
evictions even though in many cases we have been re-
sponsible for helping tenants associations get into the
TIL (Tenant Interim Lease) program or win 7 A status,"
said David Weschler, director of Community Law Of-
fices in Harlem. "We have spent too much time in the
neighborhoods building up our credibility and trust
among the residents, and we just cannot take the chance
of being associated with the eviction wagon when the
marshal comes to throw out the tenant."
What do the community groups do? Some of the
larger ones, particularly those in the Community
Management program, go to the real estate law firms
used by landlords to evict tenants. It is an expensive
proposition, and they must spend a disproportionate
amount of time and money-up to six months and $500
on each case-carrying out the dispossess proceedings,
but economics leaves them no other choice.
Recent delays in the issuance of eviction warrants by
the Housing Court due to clerical staff shortages have
provoked lawyers' complaints and have interfered with
community managers' performance obligations to the
city.
Such problems work an even more serious hardship
on tenants' associations in TIL and 7A-run buildings,
which must pay all their expenses from a rent roll that is
often $2,000 or less a month. So far, the city has not
come forth with any alternative proposals for handling
this situation, but the city has said that for any
organization to continue in its alternative programs it
must maintain a high rent-paying status in any of the
buildings involved in its "treatment" programs.
According to Jeffrey Eichenwald, a representative of
one of the first buildings to enter the TIL program,
"It's almost ridiculous for us to go to court for evictions
City Limits/November 1980
8
because we are told by HPD to ask for rent increases ...
This falls between the cracks in the landlord-tenant
law .. . Also, the city has a real problem here, namely it
has not dealt with its alternative programs on a legal basis,
and, at the very least, on the administrative basis ... We
really should not be working out this problem in court
because until the city gets its act together, it's going to
be shot down."
"We don't have any written or set policy regarding
this issue, but we are well aware of it," said Paula
White, coordinating attorney for housing law for Com-
munity Action for Legal Services (CALS). "But, I do
know that we do not represent anyone who is trying to
evict another person ... The way we operate now is that
each attorney makes a decision, and decisions are made
borough to borough and office to office, but clearly
even though we may have had some interest in the
groups' ventures, we do not see ourselves benefitting or
helping others by getting involved in eviction cases."
CALS represents a number of tenants ' who are with-
holding rent because, they claim, they are not receiving
proper services in the city's Alternative Management
buildings.
"I think it's irresponsible to collect rent if there are
violations," said Daniel Greenberg, of the Mobilization
for Youth, one of CALS's offices. "This person may be
considered by the tenants' association to be a bad tenant
but he does have rights, and we are representing them
... Why should anyone pay rent when the apartment is
not habitable? . .. Also, this goes beyond discussion of
conditions in an apartment, ... It really is a class issue.
Maybe a certain clique has taken over a building and
now it is up to legal services to defend the 'bad
tenant' ... Maybe evictions shouldn't take place, but
rather, the problems should be worked out. .. We really
should not be figuring out who are the worthy poor. " 0
Economic Development Programmer
Department of City Planning seeks Programmer/
Analyst for applications in commercial revitaliza-
tion, employment studies, retail trade analysis. Re-
qUirements: B.A. plus two years COBOL or PL/I
Programming experience and background in plan-
ning. Salary: $19,000 to $22,000 per year de-
pending on experience. Submit resume to:
D. Young
Dept. of City Planning
16th Floor
2 Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10007
An Equal Opportunity Employer
_."
Self-Help Grants for Fout NYC Groups
Four New York City neighborhood groups have
received federal grants totalling $451,938 for housing
rehabilitation and economic development projects. The
grants, which are awarded by the u.s. Department of
Housing and Urban Development under the National
Self-Help Development Program, will be used in con-
junction with private financing and other government
programs, and will go toward such uses as lowering the
down payment costs for low- and moderate-income co-
operatives and building acquisition costs.
The grants are part of the second round of funding for
the self-help program, which awarded $5.3 million to 46
groups in urban and rural areas. Last spring, in the pro-
gram's first cycle, seven New York City groups shared
$944,227.
The organizations receiving funding in New York City
are: Catholic Charities, in combination with a local
development corporation; the Fifth Avenue Committee;
the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition
and the Renigades Housing Movement.
"This proves what neighborhood groups can do when
they are given the funding," said Joseph McNeely of the
Office of Neighborhood Self-Help Development. "In
many of these projects, groups are recycling syndication
proceeds earned from Section 8 projects they have co-
sponsored. "
The Renigades Housing Movement, an East Harlem-
based group, is one of the few groups nationally to be
using their grant for economic development. The Ren-
igades plan to use their $117,938 grant for acquiring and
rehabilitating two vacant industrial buildings and leas-
ing space to existing light manufacturing firms and new
minority-owned businesses. Construction costs for the
project are estimated at $300,000.
The Fifth Avenue Committee, in the lower Park Slope
section of Brooklyn, will apply its $118,000 federal
grant toward the purchase and rehabilitation of eleven
vacant buildings on Warren Street. With Citibank
providing the construction financing, and permanent
financing by the Aetna Life and Casualty Company, the
group will use the city's Participation Loan Program to
rehab and then sell the buildings to moderate-income
residents who will then live in one of the buildings' three
units and rent the other two. The group is attempting to
get Section 8 housing assistance payment certificates for
the two rental apartments.
Also in Brooklyn, in the Windsor Terrace section,
Catholic Charities, in conjunction with a local devel-
opment corporation, will rehabilitate seven vacant
buildings, four of which are presently city-owned. Using
a Section 312 loan, the group will offer the rehabilitated
units for sale as low-income cooperatives. The $118,000
HUD grant will help the group lower the down-payment
for the co-op apartments. In all the project will develop
49 units.
The Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coali-
tion will spend its $98,000 grant on rehabilitation of
nine privately owned multi-family buildings in the
northwest Bronx in a joint effort among landlords, ten-
ants, financial institutions and city agencies. The group
will also develop packages and commitments for six ad-
ditional buildings. Aetna Life and Casualty and five lo-
cal savings banks are participating in financing the ef-
fort.
Next year's allocation for the National Self-Help De-
velopment Program was rescued from a list of HUD
programs slated to be dropped by a Congressional Con-
ference committee this summer. A total of $9 million
was reported out of the committee-a cut of $6 million
from the amount requested. 0
On October 6, the Manhattan Valley Development Corporation began handing out application forms to low
income city residents who could become future occupants of 59 "gut" rehabilitated rent subsidized apartments.
The line for applications began forming at MVDC's Columbus Avenue office before 6 a.m. that day and well
over 2, 000 families have already returned the application forms for the 59 openings. MVDC views the tenant sel-
ection process as an almost impossible task but expects to announce its choices in time for occupancy early in 1981.
9 City Limits/November 1980
Two East Side Acres of Green Try to Hang On
Ruppert-Green garden off of Second Avenue on Upper East Side.
By Michael Henry Powell
For the last seven years, the Ruppert-Green garden
stood as an anomaly among the luxury high-rises and
smaller tenements of the Upper East Side. A two-acre,
block-long lot on East 93rd Street between 2nd and 3rd
Avenues, the garden is a tightly knit plot, subdivided in-
to eighty-two separate garden patches and surrounded
by trees, bushes and flowers. In a textbook example of
self-help and community planning, neighborhood resi-
dents, funded and aided by city agencies and private
foundations, built a green sanctuary amidst the towers
of Manhattan.
Now, however, the city Department of Housing Pres-
ervation and Development is preparing to refer the plot
Michael Henry Powell has written and reported on his wide travels. to
Southeast Asia and the Upper East Side among other places. He is
currently a housing organizer in Brooklyn.
City Limits/November 1980 10
for development. Private developers will be asked to
submit housing development plans for the property.
Residents fear the garden will disappear, supplanted by
doormen, garages and luxury apartments. As Joe
Wright, a member of the Ruppert-Green Gardens board
of directors, put it, "It looks as though we will just have
to pack up our tomatoes and leave."
The survival of the Ruppert-Green garden centers on
a number of issues, including the role of open spaces in
New York. As Stephen Schwartz, of the Trust for
Public Land, a nonprofit group trying to mediate the
present situation, points out, "The concept of having
permanent open spaces in the city is a controversial one.
Their value is great, but they involve a type of long-
range planning rarely found in these situations."
[
The position of the Ruppert-Green Garden, Inc. on this
issue is clear; they want to stay and work out a mutually
agreeable arrangement with the local community board
and would-be developers. The plot in question is an old
urban renewal site, obtained through eminent domain in
the early 1960s by the federal government. Shelly Stiles,
president of the Gardens, said, "The area was originally
part of a trade-off betwen the city and the community.
The Ruppert Towers were built with the rather explicit
assumption that a school, or some other nonresidential
public use would be planned for our area." Unfortu-
nately, " Stiles continued, "this agreement was verbal
and seems to hold no weight with the city. HPD just sees
dollar signs." And large dollar signs at that. The two-
acre plot is valued at between $4 and $6 million.
These monetary factors are not being overlooked by
the garden org<U1ization. The organization, now with a
long waiting list for garden plots from the new upper-
income dwellers of Ruppert Towers, started as an eco-
nomically mixed group of community residents. The
members have a large emotional stake in the garden and
believe a compromise can be worked out.
While stressing that their studies are not yet com-
pleted, Garden members list three main objectives: re-
tention of the garden in smaller form with a foot-for-
foot trade-off to create a park or play area, low density
on the site, and the sale of the land at market rate.
Stephen Schwartz believes these objectives are not un-
reasonable, even with less density. "The city abounds
with examples of public spaces increasing the value of
the surrounding housing." The Garden members, how-
ever, have been repeatedly frustrated in their attempts
to meet with HPD. As Joe Wright put it, "HPD just
considers us an obstruction. It's hard to come up with a
compatible program when HPD won't tell us what they
want." The Garden has also asked Community Board 8
for assistance. While the board's plans are ambiguous,
they, too, are involved in what Shelly Stiles terms "a
frustrating guessing game with HPD."
The issue between Community Board 8 and the city is
density. Board 8 already has one of the highest density
ratios in the city. Morton Delson, board chairman,
clearly considers density a major concern. "More high
density housing," he said, "would clearly create an
untenable situation. Transportation, police and sanita-
tion are all woefully underequipped to deal with the pro-
posed added population." Delson also questioned the
need for more luxury housing "in an area where elderly
or not to push for the garden?"
This noncommital stance frustrates some members of
the Garden. They agree, however, that HPD's reluc-
tance to include the local community in its deliberations
is a major sticking point. As Conrad Levenson, an ar-
chitect working with the garden, said, "The community
board has its own priorities . .. Their problem and ours
is that HPD is apparently adopting a 'master stroke' ap-
proach to development, whereby the developer provides
a skeletal RFP and leaves the imagination to the devel-
opers and community board." This would be in con-
trast to the old city policy of giving the community
board considerable leeway in formulating the RFP. As
Delson said, "If this is the city policy and we are just be-
ing presented with a fait accompli that would run right
in the face of the city charter, which stipulates that we
[the community board] must be consulted on these mat-
ters. "
HPD has yet to formally issue its request for pro-
posals, but officials say it will include a set-aside of
some open area for community use. Since neither size
nor location is to be specified, it appears that this con-
cession will fail to appease either the gardeners or the
community board.
The Ruppert-Green Garden and the community
board are now in a holding pattern, waiting to hear
from HPD. The Garden members are working at enlist-
ing the kind of political support that Levenson, for one,
thinks "is vital to its existence."
Meanwhile, both the Garden and the community
board do not rule out posible legal action on either envi-
ronmental or political grounds. As Levenson said, "A
case could be made that the land site was already paid
for by the taxpayers and that any money made from the
resale of the land should go back to the taxpayers." Le-
gal action is not a course favored by either the board or
Garden. As Stiles said, however, "The whole way we've
been treated by HPD makes me feel real desperate." 0
/ -. . /'"C
.. ;-.:
r<>
J
;:
:;. J?:tK i.1 .,.,. -::
.. -=_.: =-:-
". > .... , . .t.': ........ ' > ... AP'J ..
and lower-income people are increasingly strapped for -"
h
. " .. . ,,'
ousmg. - .1" '\) ---;0;-. .r.-"'''f .
y -- tl'J: '. ' . ..I
Delson does not rule out working with the garden. - J,. -il,tls\"l' . ,. ..
First, however, he wants Board 8 to be included in the '\.:" O, _ tll:'---
planning at HPD. As Delson commented, "The board
should always playa large part in drawing up the RFP -
[Request For Proposal]". unless you know what the
plans are, and have input, how can you decide whether
. ..
0 :::::;1-
11 City limits/November 1980
In Rem Village on the Bronx River
Harding Park bungalow cottage.
By Tom Robbins
In 1963, Pepe Mena took a wrong turn off of Sound-
view Avenue in the East Bronx and found himself in a
cluster of neglected bungalow cottages nestled against
the mouth of the Bronx River. For Pepe, it was as
though having gotten lost in The Bronx, he found him-
self back in Puerto Rico.
"It reminded me of myoid country," he recalled, "of
'EI Fanguito' (literally, the muddy place), the poor fish-
ing villagers in Puerto Rico who were moved off their
land by the government because they said it was unsafe,
and then sold to developers for millions."
The little hamlet that Mena stumbled upon was called
Harding Park. Like a handful of other small sea
communities dotting New York City, it had, in its one
hundred-year history, followed a progression from sum-
mertime retreat to year-round home for 240 working-
class families. Tucked away on the southern shore of
Clason Point, one of the large promontories that jut out
from The Bronx into the East River, Harding Park to-
day is the largest contiguous section of residential city-
owned land in New York.
City Limits/November 1980 12
It is also a community of homeowners whose claim to
their homes is arguable since they rent the ground on
which they sit; it is a community of mapped, yet nonex-
istent, city streets, a community that has experienced
rapid racial change in almost total harmony; and, it is a
community that has withstood the onslaught of flood,
hurricane and Robert Moses and lived to tell the tales.
And now, after decades of legal battles, Harding
Park residents may be about to see their dream come
true: to own their homes and land in deed as well as
word.
Separated by several vacant, overgrown acres from
the rest of the surrounding area, where Mitchell-Lama
highrises and large industry spread themselves along the
Bronx River Parkway, Harding Park has an isolate re-
mote quality of its own. Its remoteness has made it an
ideal spot for dumping-of landfill, garbage and the oc-
casional victim of an underworld execution. The city
streets leading into the area dissipate into rough, water-
damaged roads. Here and there is the sign of a munici-
pal presence: a cement road barrier, an occasional street
lamp or a solitary hydrant pump lost in the middle of a
snarl of wild grapevines showing where a street ought to
be, or perhaps once had been.
Over the next few weeks, residents of Harding Park
will be mulling over a package deal the city has pro-
posed. In exchange for a reconstructed sewer system,
tieing into the city sewage lines, a survey of property
lines and housing plans, certificates of occupancy for
the violation-filled homes, and title, deed, and owner-
ship of all 240 homes to the Harding Park Association,
which in turn can then convey the buildings to their in-
dividual owners, the city is asking $1 million.
Not included in the city's offering is removal of near-
ly a quarter mile of rock deposited just off-shore by
Robert Moses in the late 1950 s, nor responsibility for
the maintenance of the several private roads that mean-
der through Harding Park. But even with the prospect
of total responsibility for their own secluded corner of
The Bronx, the citizens of Harding Park seem well
disposed to the plan, which could cost the low- and
moderate-income families perhaps as much as $5,000
apiece.
Tents By the River
Back at the turn of the century, summertime refugees
from Manhattan and the lower Bronx rode trolley, ferry
and steamer to Clason Point where an amusement park
rivaling Coney Island sat. Thomas Higgs, owner of one
hundred acres adjoining the park, decided to lease tent-
ing sites to the visitors who would return summer after
summer. When the apartment shortage following World
War I struck, some campers began converting their
leased plots to bungalows for year-round living.
Informally, the community grew, until more than 240
families were making the campground (redubbed Har-
ding Park in 1924 after the then President) their home.
In an era when housing codes were only scantily en-
forced, the community grew without major municipal
hindrance. The area attracted insular people-Irish,
Finns, Norwegians and Swedes, as well as Germans and
Italians-many of whom had made, or still did make,
their living from the water.
In spite of numerous changes in the overall property
ownership, the residents remained tenants, paying
ground rent to a succession of private owners. Their
repeated attempts to purchase their plots were rebuffed
by landlords keeping a watchful eye on the possibilties
for lucrative large-scale development.
In the late 1950s tenants of Harding Park won a sig-
nificant victory in court when they opposed the current
owner's attempt to collect large rent increases. The
courts ruled that the residents were legally rent con-
trolled in the same fashion as apartment dwellers in pre-
World War II buildings. A law pushed through the
legislature by then Governor Rockefeller reinforced that
status.
But the most dangerous thrust against the Harding
13
Park community came when New York City Parks
Commissioner and master builder Robert Moses pro-
posed to raze the "Soundview slums" as he contemp-
tuously referred to them, and replace them with luxury
housing and a marina. Following a logic that served him
well on numerous other occasions, Moses opted simply
to begin the work before any approval had been won.
Without warning, huge barges and dumptrucks began
dumping rockfill a few feet off the shore.
Helen Ocuzzio, whose father settled in Harding Park
just after World War II, remembers hurling tomatoes at
the windshields of Moses' trucks as they lumbered down
the narrow, unpaved streets. The planned "urban re-
newal" for Harding Park died after serious questions
were raised over the favorable terms of sale of the prop-
erty to influential Bronx politicians. But, despite the end
of the Moses threat, a seawall of rock was left curving
outward from the edge of Harding Park, blocking an
area where families had swum together.
The added rockfill also served to highlight the major
problem in the little infrastructure that exists in Harding
Park. The crumbling, six-inch clay pipes that serve as a
sewage system empty directly into the water. Previously,
the normal tidal action of the river had washed the sew-
age away, but now, with the rock blocking the river's
flow, the closed-in area became virtually an open cess-
pool.
The last private owner of Harding Park, Federated
Homes, walked away from the property in 1978. Foiled
in all attempts to either raise rents or convert the area in-
to commercial or recreational usage-a zoning change
to low-rise residential had been the final dent in that
plan-the speculative possibilities waned. When the
change in the city's law regarding real estate tax delin-
quency opened the floodgates for thousands of apart-
ments to become the property of an unwilling city gov-
ernment, Harding Park was swept in right along with
the rest.
Transition
A visitor entering Harding Park via Gildersleeve Ave-
nue first passes the community's pride-the Aviation
Volunteer Fire Department where an ambulance and a
second-hand pumper sit in a garage that doubles as
community meeting place and firehouse. .
"The nearest city firehouse used to be two and a half
miles away," said Arthur Seifert, who lives around the
corner in Pugsley Creek and is the area historian. "Now
the city is a mile closer, but two years ago we answered
600 alarms." Like other structures, the firehouse needs
upgrading. But next door, a Hispanic family is complet-
ing work on what they say will eventually be $75,000
worth of renovation and additions to a shack purchased
for $1,500. Because plot sizes are so small-one-half the
size of an average city plot of 25 feet by 90 feet-the ver-
satile homebuilders start building anew around the bun-
galow in which they are living. The final step in this pro-
City Limits/November 1980
cess is demolition of the old structure now encased in a
new shell.
When Pepe Mena first happened upon his northern
'El Fanguito,' many of the houses, some little more
than shacks, were in disrepair. Mena was the first His-
panic to move into Harding Park, and once there,
whenever he knew of a structure for sale he quickly
brought in a friend to purchase it, in one of the sub legal
transactions that must characterize all property ex-
change among the deedless homeowners.
The community is now roughly fifty percent Hispan-
ic:.:Dominicans, Cubans and Puerto Ricans joining the
older European settlers. The transition has been rel-
a t i ~ e l y peaceful, and almost unmarred by racial animos-
i t y ~
,iWhen I first moved into Harding Park," said Mena,
"s6me kids wrote outside on the street, 'Spic, Get Out!
This is an Irish Reservation.' I didn't worry about it. I
went and bought them a six-pack of beer and that was
the end of it."
The Hispanics who moved in brought with them their
savings and a willingness to take a risk in a legally pre-
carious situation. Martin Ward, who came to Harding
Park just in time to be flooded out in the great hurricane
of 1938 which sucked away bungalows and houseboats
never to be seen again, said the coming of the Hispanics
had been a blessing to the community.
Many of the newcomers were older people, verging on
retirement. Overall, the Harding Park Association esti-
mates its population at fifty percent senior citizens,
many of whom had balked at putting further invest-
ments into their homes because of the constant threat of
eviction and demolition that hung over the community.
These days, however, in many spots Harding Park
has the air of a revitalized community about it. New
plywood- and tarpaper-covered frames are growing
around aged bungalow cottages. The sound of hammers
and electric saws fills the air.
While some blocks show signs of care, effort and in-
vestment, not just in the homes themselves, but also in
the lawns and walkways, others stand out as still dilapi-
dated and unimproved, which is one reason residents
have stipulated they are not interested in cooperative
status when and if the sale of the land is made.
Some of the older cottages lie snuggled in dense
foliage-willows, oaks, ailanthus and creeping ivy
abound. Behind the carport of Pepe Mena's house, an
ancient chestnut tree stands. Harding Park's proximity
to the water and heavy tree covering make the area a
brief respite for visiting tropical birds. Pepe Mena is
currently spending a good deal of time observing five
green parrots that have been around all summer and
early fall. "We've got parrots, canaries, parakeets, all
kinds of strange birds," he said. Besides the birds, the
area also sports fig trees, wild grapes, cherries and
strawberry bushes which cluster in the backyards and in
City Limits/November 1980 14
the untended areas where no surveyor has mapped out a
property line. Roosters and chickens roaming the streets
down by the river's edge complete the picture of a com-
munity that has somehow been bypassed in time.
City Sewers
Dealing with Harding Park may have seemed a small
problem compared to the thousands of tenement dwell-
ers for whom the city was landlord. But not for long.
Early in his reign, Charles Raymond, at the time the city
Housing Department's commissioner for property
management, came face to face with the feisty tenants
of the Bronx River. With a degree of self-organization
that already had been tested and tempered in legal bat-
tles, the community demanded attention to its rapidly
growing sewage problem. Ocuzzio, then President of
the Harding Park Association, said she threatened "to
have 240 bags of excrement" on Raymond's desk if he
didn't deliver plumbing assistance forthwith.
The association enlisted the aid of local political
leaders. Congressman Mario Biaggi, State Senator John
Calandra and Assemblyman John Dearie all made help-
ful calls to the city on behalf of Harding Park. Resi-
dents also went out and hired Olga Mahl, an experi-
enced housing attorney, to represent them in their nego-
tiations.
Raymond assured residents that an arrangement
could and would be worked out. Anticipation in the
Park mounted, but little progress toward sale appeared
to be being made. The city did contract to have repair
work done-some $100,000 was spent repairing broken
sewer lines. But it was clear that patchwork repairs
would not solve the problem. Ultimately, the solution to
the sewage problem was part and parcel of the larger
dilemma-how to transfer title to the residents of Har-
ding Park.
"There's not a house in Harding Park that is in com-
pliance with any housing code ever written," declared
Steve Norman, who for the past year has been the city's
main troubleshooter for Harding Park. Except for pos-
sible safety threats, the noncompliance of the bun-
galows will be dispatched with by a wave of the
planner's magic wand-called "grandfathering" the
buildings under the code, Le., in existence before the
rules were written, they will be allowed to remain as is.
Owners doing new construction, however, insists Nor-
man, should at least file plans with the Buildings
Department.
But, said Olga Mahl, "The buildings department has
given its benediction on the renovations. They don't
want to hear about Harding Park," she claimed. "To
them it's a nightmare."
Solving Harding Park's sewage problem also has its
nightmarish qualities. On a hot day this past summer,
Norman and three workers from the water department
came to the Moses-created "lagoon" searching for the
outfall pipes of the system. Ebbtide, recalled Norman,
was an unfortunate time for an exploratory search. The
new sewer system should solve what Mahl describes as a
"health disaster" in the lagoon. But as for dredging and
removal of the rockfill, the city estimates that work
could cost millions and make the purchase price for the
Park out of the residents' reach. "I'm also concerned
that there may be heavy metals down there," Norman
said. "There could be PCBs stirred up once you go dig-
ging around." He also notes that the rockfill has served
as a bulkhead for the homes near the water's edge,
checking further erosion.
The rockfill and the purchase price could become
sticking points in the negotiations between the Park and
the city. There are homeowners in Harding Park who
believe that having paid for their homes once, they
should not be forced to do so again. The city, however,
is optimistic. "We've arrived at a good solution," said
William Eimicke, city property management commis-
sioner. "Right now it's still pretty fragile, but I hope it
will go through."

Looking across the lagoon, out past Moses' unwanted
bulkhead, on a recent overcast day, the dark grey sky-
Harding Park vacationers, circa 1898.
line of Manhattan was sharply etched against the sky.
To the east, airplanes rose and landed from LaGuardia
Airport, occasionally passing low overhead with a sus-
tained roar. Just to the south across the Bronx River,
the huge warehouses of the Hunts Point market sit.
Harding Park's attraction as prime waterfront real
estate seems obvious, even to the uninitiated. Like the
owners before it, the speculative possibilities of the Park
flickered briefly across the drawing boards of the city
housing department. Its decision to reject that option
may well earn it the everlasting gratitude of the people
of Harding Park.
Recently, Pepe Mena took time out from putting new
insulation into his house to show some visitors a par-
ticularly dilapidated hut where one of the Park's senior
citizens lives in apparent obliviousness to the dangerous
pitch of the roof over his head. Breaking off suddenly
from his conversation, Mena pointed overhead. "Look,
there's the parrot," he exclaimed. A flash of bright
green and a loud screech came from above. For several
minutes Pepe Mena said little, constantly scrutinizing
the leaves and sky. "I waste so much time looking at
those damn parrots," he said shaking his head. 0
15 City Limits/November 1980
An Inner Oty Health Hazard
, "
&7.,'

By Eric Goldstein
"I can easily tell them apart from the other children,"
said Devika Hubbard, director of the Winifred Wheeler
Nursery School in the Matt Haven section of the South
Bronx. "They look drowsy, less alert." The children in
question are those whose families frequently turn on
their gas stoves when landlords fail to provide adequate
central heat. Last winter seventy of Hubbard's pupils
and 120 families participated in a public health study on
the use of gas ranges for heating in Bronx apartments.
"This is a largely unrecognized health problem," said
Diana Hartel, a Columbia University graduate student
in Public Health who directed the study. Assisted by
workers from the East Side Settlement House, Hartel
1l!easured levels of nitrogen dioxide and carbon monox-
itre, both potentially lethal gases, in 120 subsidized and
apartments, inhabited by black and His-
tfanic families whose yearly incomes averaged $6,000.
., The research found, not surprisingly, that the most
common response to inadequate central heating is to
turn on the stove or oven, or both. Hartel estimates that
half the households in the South Bronx use the range for
distress heating, and said the percentage is likely to be
high wherever central heating is inadequate. Twenty-
three percent of the families she visited kept the range
on for heating either "frequently" or "constantly" dur-
ing cold weather. Of these, twelve percent left it running
Eric Goldstein has written for numerous publications and is presently
a staff reporter for The Villager.
City Limits/November 1980 16
all night.
To make matters worse, many families kept all doors
and windows shut, and plugged cracks and gaps in win-
dows, doors, and floors with rags, plywood, and card-
board. This way, heat escapes more slowly-but so do
the gases. "Some of the people who grew up in the
Caribbean try to make their indoor air tropical,"
observed Hartel. "They keep their burners and ovens
running continuously, with a pot of water on the stove
for humidity. Their windows are closed and steamed up,
and the temperature inside often reaches 75 or 80
degrees."
Hartel performed preliminary psycho-motor tests on
seventy preschoolers which confirmed Hubbard's obser-
vations about their appearance. The children coming
from homes in which the gas range was used regularly to
help heat the premises showed a slower response rate in
the tests than the other children, their performance
worsening after cold snaps, when the use of the range
increased.
Gas ranges produce, among other pollutants, nitro-
gen dioxide (N0
2
) and carbon monoxide (CO). Carbon
monoxide is a lethal, odorless gas which prevents the
uptake of oxygen in the bloodstream. In large doses, it
is fatal. In small doses it causes drowsiness or fainting.
Studies have also linked it to the development of heart
disease.
Nitrogen dioxide has been shown to increase suscep-
tibility to respiratory infection in animals. Researchers
suspect similar effects on humans. Although it was un-
able to isolate nitrogen dioxide as the culprit, a 1979
study of 4,827 English and Scottish children showed
that the incidence of respiratory illness was higher in
children living in homes with gas ranges than homes
with electric ranges.
When ventilation was poor in the apartments Hartel
visited, the chemical substances reached levels three to
five times the outdoor standards set by the Environmen-
tal Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA has not yet es-
tablished indoor standards for any air pollutants, al-
though the Occupational Safety and Health Admin-
istration has set standards for the workplace.
With an increasing national stress on energy conser-
vation, the health impact of gas range emissions and
other forms of pollution in the home promises to be-
come a major housing and energy issue. People are opt-
ing increasingly for gas appliances as the price of gas
fuel becomes more competitive. More significantly,
many weatherization strategies reduce ventilation: the
more airtight a unit, the lower the rate of air change,
meaning, of course, the longer pollutants are trapped
inside.
These trends in energy conservation are growing at a
time when, as EPA conservation specialist David Berg
puts it, "Studies are beginning to establish that we
receive most of our exposure to certain pollutants in-
doors rather than outdoors." Berg is involved in the
newly formed Interagency Research Group on Indoor
Air Quality. A joint effort of the EPA, the Department
of Energy (DOE), the Department of Housing and Ur-
ban Development, the Consumer Products Safety Com-
mission, and other federal agencies, this is the first ma-
jor indoor pollution program to focus on the home
rather than the workplace. The consortium plans to
award grants for studies of the health effects of gas
range pollution, ambient cigarette smoke, insulation
materials such as asbestos and formaldehyde, caulking
substances, radon (a radioactive gas given off by con-
crete and other building materials), and other pollutants
commonly found in homes.
The DOE is eagerly following these studies because of
their implications for the Department's proposed Build-
ing Energy Performance Standards (BEPS). Four years
in preparation, these standards would set consumption
guidelines for most new construction, thus altering the
way buildings are constructed in this country. Accord-
ing to James Binkley, of DOE's Conservation and Solar
Energy office, the BEPS could result in an Air Change
Per Hour rate for new buildings that is half the average
rate in existing buildings. This means that the exfiltra-
tion of pollutants in new buildings would take twice as
long on the average as they do now. DOE is investigat-
ing the feasibility of "heat exchangers"-devices which
use heat recovered from air leaving the home to heat in-
coming air-as a solution to this problem.
Agencies involved in the weatherization of low- and
moderate-income New York City apartments do not see,
at this point, health hazards resulting from their tech-
niques. Both Steve Minden, an architect for the Energy
Task Force, and Andy Reicher, of the Urban Home-
steading Assistance Board, say that normal weatheriza-
tion work in the city does not drastically tighten the
"building envelope." Reicher says that all the kitchens
in UHAB weatherization projects have either windows
or mechanical exhaust fans, and that UHAB avoids in-
sulation materials whose safety is being questioned,
such as plastic vapor barriers. "Basically," he adds,
"we haven't worried too much about the health efects
of weatherization in New York because you just can't
take a l00-year-old tenement and tighten it up that
much."
"With poor ventilation, simply baking a turkey in the
oven will raise nitrogen dioxide levels above the EPA
outdoor standard," says David Berg. In South Bronx
kitchens, where stoves are used not only for cooking but
also for distress heating, Hartel estimates the average
nitrogen dioxide level during a 24-hour period to be
three times the EPA outdoor standard.
The most effective way to reduce this hazard would
be to force landlords to provide adequate central heat-
ing. More realistically, the levels of gas range pollutants
in a household can be lowered by opening doors or win-
dows, by use of an exhaust fan, an electric heater, or
having the range adjusted. By a simple adjustment, a
mechanic can bring the levels of carbon monoxide and
nitrogen dioxide produced by the flame to an
"optimal" balance.
In a follow-up meeting with the participating fami-
lies, Hartel discussed her findings. "They were in-
terested," she says, "but they told us that when the cold
weather comes, their first concern is to stay warm."
Richard Arcari, Con Edison's Director of Central
Commercial Services, acknowledged that sample studies
show that in cold weather gas use among some residen-
tial Con Ed customers far exceeds the amount required
for normal operation of a range for cooking. Arcari re-
fuses to estimate how many of Con Ed's 948,000 gas
customers use their stoves for distress heating. "Con
Ed's contact with the household stops at the meter. We
send out inserts with our bills about proper use of the
stove, but beyond that we're not involved in this prob-
lem. "
"When I first came to the community with my re-
search plan," observes Hartel, "some people thought
this was just another racist study to show low mental
performance among minority groups. But the partici-
pants came to realize that gas range pollution was an en-
vironmental problem of special importance to the urban
poor." 0
17 City Limits/November 1980
HUD STUDY CITIES RACIAL BIAS IN MORTGAGES
Minorities in California and New York continue to
face widespread discrimination in the mortgage market,
according to a study prepared for the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development.
A study of mortgage application data collected in
those two States examined the different treatment ap-
plicants received on the basis of race, sex, marital
status, and redlining, that is, the location of the proper-
ty. Practices by lenders considered discriminatory were:
denial of application; charging above average interest;
giving less of a loan than originally sought; variations in
loan fees; and underappraising the property.
Racial discrimination against prospective minority
homebuyers was widespread though not equally severe
for all minorities or in all areas. Mortgage applications
from blacks were 1.58 to 7.82 times as likely to be denied
as were similar applications from whites in 18 of the 32
California study areas and in six of the 10 New York
study areas. Blacks were charged higher loan fees in five
of eight areas where the practice was studied. In another
eight areas where interest rates were examined, blacks
were charged higher rates in two areas.
Hispanic applicants received approximately the same
treatment as white applicants in the State of New York,
with the exception of the New York City metropolitan
areas. In California, on the other hand, savings and
loan associations consistently discriminated against
Spanish applicants. In both States, treatment of Asian
National
low Income Housing
Coalition
WE'RE TRYING TO CONVINCE
CONGRESS THAT LOW-INCOME
PEOPLE HAVE A RIGHT TO
DECENT, AFFORDABLE HOUSI NG.
We need your help to show them the broad
support there is for major changes in our
housing policy.
PLEASE JOIN US-Receive our Action
Alerts, and find out what you can do.
WRITE OR CALL:
215 Eighth Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20002
(202) 544-2544
City Limits/November 1980 18
applicants was not significantly different from white
applicants.
The tests for redlining yielded mixed results. Discri-
mination on the basis of property location often took
the form of underappraisal. Some support was found
for allegations that lenders redline older or largely
minority neighborhoods.
Study findings did not indicate discrimination against
females, although a few study areas showed higher
chances of application denial or downward modifica-
tion for female-only applicants. The underappraisal of
properties was the practice most often encountered by
the female-only applicant. There was little evidence sug-
gesting that lenders discount a wife's income.
Among the sex and marital categories studied, the
group found to receive the most unfavorable treatment
from lenders were applicants from male-only house-
holds. In two-thirds of the New York study areas, for in-
stance, such applicants were more than twice as likely to
be denied a mortgage as a male-female household. In
California, they were found to pay higher interest rates
and loan fees than any of the other household
categories.
The Joint Center for Urban Studies of the Massachu-
setts Institute of Technology and Harvard University
prepared the study with a $162,000 grant from HUD's
Office of Policy Development and Research. 0
EAST/WEST CONCOURSE
PRESERVATION CORPORATION
Announces the opening of its
Eviction Prevention Center
A New York State Neighborhood Preservation Corporation,
East/West will assist tenants with dispossesses, eviction
notices and tenant-initiated actions. Individual assistance
and housing court representation will be provided through
the Eviction Clinic. The Center will be open:
Wednesday 9 AM to 1 PM -
Individual Counseling
Thursday evening 7 PM - Clinic
Friday afternoon 3 PM - Clinic
The Center is free, but due to limited space, tenants should
call to register. Clinics for individual buildings or tenant
associations are also available, at the tenants' building or
the Center upon request.
For further information call;
Charlei N. Henderson Jr., Director
East/West Concourse Preservation Corporation
901 Sheridan Avenue
Bronx 10451
(212) 5888868, 67
City Drafts Displacement Policy
In response to a request from the federal Department of
Housing and Urban Development, the city housing
agency has formulated a draft policy statement on how
it will avoid displacement of low- and moderate-income
tenants through the use of federal Community Develop-
ment Block Grant funds.
Although the policy has been accepted by HUD, and
incorporated into the city's Housing Assistance Plan, ci-
ty housing officials have said the policy is "still under
discussion" and not yet an official document.
The policy focuses on four programs which are fund-
ed through the block grants: the Article SA Loan Pro-
gram, the Participation Loan Program, the disposition
of In Rem buildings, and Section 8 substantial rehabili-
tation.
Accusations of displacement engendered through the
programs have been raised frequently by community
groups, although no comprehensive study has yet been
made of the problem. As a first step toward that work, a
conference on displacement, sponsored by a coalition of
community groups, will be held this month. Much of
the conference's focus will be directed at the effect of
federally funded programs. The conference will be held
at District 65, 65 Astor Place in Manhattan on Novem-
ber 15.
The city's policy is prefaced by a disclaimer that any
displacement has resulted from the programs. "There
has not yet been sufficient evidence to support specific
claims that displacement has occurred," it says. The
policy affirms that in approving developers and owners
involved in Section 8, Participation Loan and Article
8A programs, the city requires disclosure statements
from prospective participants, as well as making its own
check through city records to determine if there is a pre-
vious history of displacement or harassment.
Stating that since the Participation Loan Program is
aimed at moderate rehabilitation, with tenants remain-
ing in occupancy, the policy says, "The potential for
prior displacement or harassment is extremely
unlikely." The policy states, further, that after each ten-
ant has been informed of the extent of the proposed re-
habilitation and the resulting rent increases, "Approval
must be obtained from at least 70 percent of the tenants
before [the city] will propose that a loan can be closed."
As a measure to further insure that tenants can re-
main in place, the policy cites the availability of Section
8 existing housing subsidy certificates for those families
that meet the eligibility criteria, and would be paying
more than a quarter of their income in rent.
As remedies when displacement or harassment has
been ascertained, the policy stresses the use of present
housing laws which provide for fines and other penalties
when a finding of harassment is made. Further, the poli-
cy states: "The city ... maintains a strict policy which
precludes further dealings with developers or owners
against whom harassment or displacement has been
alleged."
For further information on the displacement con-
ference, contact Ray Rodriguez at the Pratt Center at
(212) 636-3486. 0
19
It Works I
TRY ADVERTISING IN
CITY LIMITS
A marketing survey of 15 sample
community groups showed more than
$14 million spent on rehab supplies
last year.
For further information on display
and classified advertising rates call
(212) 477-9074.
City Limits/November 1980
Short Term Notes
Anti-Westway Group Formed
A new city-wide anti-Westway coalition working to
ensure the trade-in of $1.5 billion in federal transporta-
tion funds for mass transit has called on Mayor Koch
and other elected officials to support this effort.
Known as the City-Wide Committee for a Trade-In,
its membership comprises public officials and agency
directors,
In its campaign to trade in the Westway funding, the
coalition is supporting the Metropolitan Action In-
stitute's complaint which charges that the construction
of Westway would constitute discriminatory action.
According to Paul Davidoff, executive director of the
Metropolitan Action Institute, "The charge leveled
against Westway represents a new area of civil rights ac-
tivity. Until now, transportation planning in New York
has made little acknowledgment of the differences in car
ownership patterns between relatively affluent and rel-
atively poor groups. Since large numbers of blacks and
Puerto Ricans in New York are without automobiles,
proportionately many more than whites, the building of
a super highway would tend to exaggerate the difference
in mobility opportunities."
He also pointed out that the construction of the high-
way would offer far fewer job opportunities than would
a mass transit improvement package. 0
Found: An Affordable
Rehab Program
New York City's unique efforts with its huge
stock of city-owned buildings is receiving national
attention. The Department of Housing Preserva-
tion and Development reports being swamped by
network television, radio and out-of-town press
requests for information on a new city program
aimed at eliminating the blighting effects of va-
cant, tinned-up city-owned buildings.
The program is a $50,000 effort to cover the tin
window seals of abandoned buildings, on blocks
which have just one or two such structures, with
plastic decals depicting a brownstone-type charm
of wooden shutters and potted plants. At a cost of
$6 each, the decals, which were designed by CET A
workers under a cultural program that has since
been severely cut, have been used in Brooklyn on
blocks requested by local planning boards. Resi-
dents of those blocks, apparently despairing of
ever seeing the buildings revived, have been
cheered by the modest improvement.
The decal program received major play in all
three New York dailies, as well as on numerous
evening news telecasts. The publicity was in sharp
contrast to the dearth of reporting on the alter-
native management programs, or community ef-
forts to increase city spending on rehabilitation. 0
Conference Call
The first comprehensive conference dealing with
alternative management programs for city-owned build-
ings will be held November 7 and 8 at Hunter College.
Sponsored by the Community Service Society and Hun-
ter College, the form and content of the conference has
been set by a broad committee consisting of both city
housing officials and representatives of neighborhood
groups working with city-owned buildings.
"This will be the first time that people in the com-
munities and city housing department staff have gotten
together to discuss mutual problems in an open
context," said Peter Meiser of the Community Service
Society.
The conference will open Friday evening with ad-
dresses by Hunter College President and former HUD
Assistant Secretary Donna Shalala and Deputy Mayor
City Limits/November 1980 20
Nathan Leventhal. On Saturday, HPD Deputy Com-
missioner for Property Management William Eimicke
will speak on the status of the problem of city-owned
housing and the city's role as manager. Workshops in
the morning and afternoon will focus on important as-
pects of alternative management, including: rehab
design and implementation, maintaining the stock of
low-income housing, legal aspects of sales and coop-
eratives, financing rehabilitation and the community-
based organizations as housing manager.
Following the workshops, HPD Assistant Commis-
sioner Philip St. Georges and Robert Schur, author of
The Neighborhood Housing Movement and a housing
consultant, will speak on the future of alternative man-
agement and the housing movement. For more informa-
tion call Yvette Shiffman or Peter Meiser at (212)
254-8900. 0
Senior Citizen Rent Exemption Increased
On October 16, the City Council unanimously extend-
ed the annual income ceiling for eligible senior citizens
in the Senior Citizen Rent Exemption Program from
$6,500 to $8,000 and made it retroactive to July I, 1980.
This means that rent-controlled tenants 60 years of age
or older who did not challenge the fuel pass along in July
still have the chance to avoid paying the passalong, as
well as future rent increases, if this increased income
ceiling makes them eligible for the city-run program.
Senior citizens 62 years of age or older who live in rent-
stabilized or rent-controlled housing, have an annual
household income of $8,000 or less after taxes, and pay
at least one-third of their income for rent can qualify by
filling out an exemption application, available at Dis-
trict Rent Offices and senior citizen centers. The retroac-
tive clause for rent-controlled tenants also applies to
rent-stabilized residents. The final filing date for both
categories is December 31, 1980.
Rent-stabilized senior citizens will probably benefit
from a recent administrative change in the exemption
POSITIONS AVAILABLE
Supervising Attorney
The Legal Aid Society is seeking an attorney
with four or more years relevant experience to
supervise a staff of attorneys and paralegals in
counseling owners and tenants. Representation
of low-income tenant organizations and com-
munity housing groups. Article 7 A proceedings,
housing litigation, building management, anti-
abandonment strategies, building acquisitions
by tenant, rehabilitation financing and co-op
conversions. Administrative ability and knowl-
edge of government housing programs required
Salary commensurate with experience.
Attorney
The Legal Aid Society is seeking an attorney
with one to two years' experience in poverty law
to specialize in the areas of landlord, tenant and
welfare relations. Duties include: representation
of individual low-income clients in Housing
Court, summary proceedings, administrative
hearings, appeals and Article 7A proceedings.
Required to train and supervise volunteer at-
torneys, law students and legal assistants in
handling housing and welfare cases. Effective
litigation and writing skills required. Salary
$20,000 plus.
Send resume to: Community Law Offices
230 East 106th Street
New York, NY 10029
Attn: Pierre Nau
program. As of Oct. 1, 1980, all processing of applica-
tions for rent-stabilized tel1ants is being done by HPD's
Division of Rent Control at 110 Church St., Manhattan.
The Conciliation and Appeals Board will no longer pro-
cess applications for rent-stabilized tenants, and the
process is expected to move faster. Joan M. BrintonO
21
Conference Call
Conference on Housing-Creative and workable strat-
egies for reducing the cost of new and rehabilitated ren-
tal housing for low-, moderate- and middle-income
families will be explored at a two-day conference on No-
vember 20 and 21st at the Holiday Inn and the New
York Coliseum in New York City. Sponsored by the
Center for Community Development and the states of
Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, the conference
is directed to practitioners in the fields of community
development, planning, housing development, finance
and government. For more information contact Susan
Stetson (914) 761-5991.
A New Publication from Prentice
Bowsher Associates
People Who Care: Making Hous-
ing Work for the Poor
By Prentice Bowsher
A compelling look at 13 community-baled
low income houling groupi in leven ~ o r
citiel from New York to Denver.
Through the words of neighborhood partici-
pants, this 2g5-page study reviews the phi-
losophies and operations, and records some
of the processes behind neighborhood self-
help efforts. Analyzing both the accomplish-
ments, and some of the problems, this
in-depth look at the experience of commun-
ity-based housing groups covers the origins
of the housing movement and also takes a
look at what the future may hold.
People Who Care
$5 for individuals and non-profits, $10 for
all others
Available from: Prentice Bowsher Associates
1522 Connecticut Ave. N. W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
City Limits/November 1980
Con tin uedfrom page two
INTERESTS: AN EXCHANGE
in their building, if they could be guaranteed that it
would not exceed 20 percent to 30 percent low-income
or black. People are not afraid of differences, they are
afraid of change and afraid of being overwhelmed by it.
It is interesting to note, too, that all surveys of blacks
on the question of integretation show that better than 60
percent prefer to live in integrated communities and
housing developments where white, middle-class resi-
dents predominate. This they feel will guarantee them:
better housing 1Daintenance, better schools and shop-
ping, better parks and cleaner streets, and lower crime
rates.
I hope that some of your readers who respond to my
book have also had the opportunity to read it; it would
be a shame if all of them responded only to the rep-
rehensible ideas Mr. Price gives me credit for.
Oscar Newman
Institute for Community Design Analysis
To the Editors:
In his letter, Oscar Newman has stressed again, the
main elements of "Community of Interest" which I
criticized; among these, racial quotas based on the "tip-
ping point" idea as a mechanism for achieving integra-
tion. If, indeed, integration is still a national goal for
the 1980s.
In "Community of Interest," Newman called for the
creation of "microenvironments" which would be "cre-
ated by people who select themselves." In his letter,
Newman tells City Limits readers that "I advocate in-
tegration by race and income at the micro-scale; that is
at the level of adjacent apartments in the same
building." Only the most naive would assume that the
self-selection process in our society today would nor-
mally result in racial integration. There is too much
evidence to the contrary. Tokenism, perhaps, not in-
tegration. And if the self-selection process did not work
naturally to exclude or severely limit access, Newman
would impose constraints by proposing, according to
the book, "a mix of income groups that will allow the
values and life styles of the upper-income group to dom-
inate" and provide a "percentage of low-income and/or
,black families that is determined by the community and
strictly adhered to."
Newman, it seems to me, concedes the point in his
book when he places emphasis, not on integration at the
"micro-scale," but states instead "a microenvironment
serving one life style group can be juxtaposed with other
types serving other groups to produce a complex, in-
tegrated society at the macro-scale." That does sound
like separate-but-equal to me.
Newman may come to his advocacy of racial quotas
"reluctantly," but he's gotten there. And, again in his
letter, he justifies them by saying people-whites, that
would be-are "not afraid of differences, they are
afraid of change and afraid of being overwhelmed by
it." Therefore restrict by such quotas, the group whose
numbers might "overwhelm"-that is, make them sta-
tistically and politically impotent. This, it seems to me,
is the utilization of racism to recreate it by once more
limiting the power of non-whites. Why, for once, don't
we recognize racism for what it is, a mechanism to de-
prive an unwanted-by some-minority group of power
and, as a matter of fact, stealing anything of value they
have including living space-land?
Newman may not have the same experience as some
others who have worked in urban communities and
heard the same sentiments expressed by housing devel-
opers grabbing land for gentrification. In one recent
case in Manhattan, a developer wanting land in a low-
income, non-white community asserted the need for bet-
ter "role models" for ghetto youth-when the real need
was for jobs and better housing. So the new sociology
fits the need for profits.
Newman says that surveys of blacks show that they
prefer to live "where white, middle-class residents
predominate" because this would "guarantee them" all
the better things. One wonders who the blacks were
who were surveyed and even how the questions were
phrased. But, beyond that; it may be that there are ad-
vantages in sitting at the master's table over picking cot-
ton. But is this to be our criterion as we enter the decade
of the 1980s-as contrasted with a real struggle against
racism which may be creating a new permanent under-
class of jobless members of minority groups-no matter
how many visible symbols of middle-class success we
may see?
And is "We Shall Overcome" now to be reinterpreted
to mean "We Shall Overwhelm?"
William A. Price
James Brown, Jobs Counselor, Dies
James N. Brown, Jobs Counselor for the Employ-
ment Development Unit of the Association of Neigh-
borhood Housing Developers, died after a prolonged ill-
ness on October 27 at Bellevue Hospital. Brown,
37-years-old, suffered from multiple infections of the
pancreas and liver.
A former sergeant in the United States Air Force,
Brown joined the Association's staff earlier this year
after several years employment with federally funded
manpower training programs. From 1977 to 1978 he was
Manpower Director of the South Bronx/Morrisania
Service Center and was a consultant to numerous job
development organizations, including Coalition JOBS
of the New York Urban Coalition, the Vera Criminal
Justice Institute and Bedford-Stuyvesant Youth-In-
Action.
Yvonne Lee, director of the Job Development Unit at
ANHD said, "His work was so important to him. He
cared so much about the people he was working with,
and it made what we do so much more meaningful for
each one of us in the job development unit/' 0
City Limits/November 1980 22
A GREAT PLACE TO SAVE
... AND NEARBY TOO.
Classified
Community Developer/Housing Organizer Needed-Duties include
tenant and community organizing, management of housing clinic,
supervision of housing staff, coordination of Displacement Preven-
tion Project, grant writing. Salary range: $13,000 to $14,000. Contact
Bonnie Genevich, Children and Youth Development Services, 441 4th
Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11215. Telephone: (212) 788-4800.
"Your Anchor Banker
... understands"

:F'a:rak
Brooklyn Offic."
5323 5th Avenue/439-7300 13th Avenue at 48th Streetl436-3700 726 Grand
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250 Brighton Beach Avenue/743-8100
Other Offices in ManhaHan' The Bronx. Staten Island. Long Island
Wealchester. Rockland
MEMBER F.D.I.C. CHARTERED 1888
If You Are In Housing ...
Think about advertising your prod-
uct! services in CITY LIMITS.
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To: The Editors, CITY LIMITS
115 East 23rd Street, New York, New York 10010
Please enter my subscription to CITY LIMITS.
Individuals and community-based organizations:
o One year $6 (ten issues) 0 Two years $10 (twenty issues)
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23
City Limits/November 1980
Fourteenth Street Market, Manhattan
COMMUNITY OF INTEREST: AN EXCHANGE p. 2 A CITY-OWNED VILLAGE p. 12
ORDER IN THE HOUSING COURT p. 4 INNER CITY HEALTH HAZARD p. 16
A GARDEN MIDST THE HI-RISES p. 10 SHORT TERM NOTES p. 20
City Limits
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New York, N.Y. 10010
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