Posted by TenantNet on September 09, 1997 at 10:13:34:
MARGARITA LOPEZ FOR NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL
After the last six-month Rent War roller coaster ride in Albany, most
rational people should be tired and drained of politics. But someone
deemed that the Democratic Party would have a primary in early September.
So this year, on September 9th, there are primaries for the Mayor,
the Manhattan Borough President and the New York City Council.
Of the latter, one race in particular, on Manhattan's Lower East Side
and Gramercy area (up to 35th Street) is an open seat and hotly
contested -- and VERY CRITICAL FOR TENANTS OF ALL AREAS OF NYC.
EVEN IF YOU LIVE IN OTHER PARTS OF TOWN, it's important that you call
all your friends on the Lower East Side. Get them to vote for MARGARITA
LOPEZ, get them to leaflet their building with Lopez flyers, get their
tenant associations involved, or all three. And if you don't know
anyone on the Lower East Side, consider it a daytrip to a foreign
country. Get off your duff and down to Lopez campaign headquarters.
(see below for details)
Four years from now, term limits dictates that most of today's City
Council will go away. Any councilperson elected this year can remain
and most likely will end up in the leadership or as Speaker of the
new City Council which takes office in 2001.
IT'S IMPORTANT THIS SEAT GETS OCCUPIED BY A TENANT ADVOCATE. Antonio
Pagan, notorious friend of landlords and a member of the Housing and
Buildings Committee, is vacating after two terms to run for Borough
President, so the seat is up for grabs and can have a significant
impact on NYC housing policy and on what happens to Rent Control and
Rent Stabilization in the next six years. NYC Council will need to
renew the rent laws in 2000, only three years away and if people like
Pagan are still in power, you might consider moving to Idaho.
The opposition candidate, Judy Rapfogel (whose husband has bundled "soft
money" for Rudy Guiliani) has been annointed by her boss, Sheldon Silver,
to be the "Heir of Pagan" and potentially "Heir of Vallone" and represents
the worst in "insider and sellout" NYC politics. She is spending lots
of money misrepresenting her background and slave ties to the corrupt
machine. It will take tenant involvement from all over to overcome
this Tammany Hall con job.
MARGARITA LOPEZ is a longtime Lower East Side housing and tenant
advocate -- Female Democratic Party District Leader for the
63rd Assembly District, Part B, Margarita has organized thousands
of tenants against attempts to deregulate public and private
housing, and has helped organize residents to prevent the sale
of neighborhood cultural community centers.
Margarita worked for ten years as Team Leader, engaged in outreach
work at Project Reachout, the oldest outreach program in New York
State, which helps the homeless mentally ill find homes, clothes,
and jobs. Prior to that, she developed the first outreach program
for the homeless mentally ill at the Bowery Residents Committee.
Her work with the homeless mentally ill population was documented in
a film produced by PBS, "The Broken Mind", as well as by the New
York Times, National Geographic and numerous other news and
television programs.
>From 1982 to 1996, Margarita served as a member of Lower Manhattan's
Community Board No. 3.
AS A TENANT ORGANIZER FOR ACTION FOR PROGRESS and as
CHAIR OF THE JOINT PLANNING COUNCIL, Margarita helped
create thousands of low and moderate income apartments
in New York.
o She is a founding member of the People's Federal Credit
Union
o Led the fights to save NENA Health Clinic and the
neighborhood family planning clinic
o Organized opposition to the Brooklyn Navy Yard
Incinerator
o Advocated for neighborhood AIDS services.
o Helped build grassroots community organizations
as a member of North Star Foundations funding board.
Margarita has fought for a multi-racial/multi-ethnic agenda
in New York City and she received THE FANNIE LOU HAMER AWARD
for her work toward racial and women's equality, and
interracial, intercultural and inter-ethnic unity.
Margarita has been a board member of the Astrea Lesbian
Action Foundation; helped form the Puerto Rican
Initiative to Develop Empowerment(PRIDE)a gay and
lesbian political organization; and was AWARDED THE
CHARLES A. REVSON FELLOWSHIP BY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, in
1994, for her distinguished contribution to the
betterment of New York City.
She was invited by the MACARTHUR FOUNDATION to serve on
the Advisory Committee on Mental Illness and the Law,
and has been associated with the National Resource
Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness. She also
served as a consultant for the federal Office of
Programs for the Homeless Mentally Ill and has
contributed to publications dedicated to the work with
this population.
Margarita was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where she
began her political and social activism by founding
several of the first feminist and gay and lesbian
organizations in the 1970's.
--------------------------
If you're in NYC Council District #2 and a registered Democrat, you
can vote for Margarita Lopez. It includes most of the Lower East Side,
the East Village, much of Gramercy.
The Eastern boundary is the East River
The Western boundary is 5th Ave.
The Northern boundary is 35th Street.
And Southward it goes all the way to the Vladeck Housing Projects
past Grand Street.
CONTACT THE LOPEZ campaign at:
Friends of Margarita López
33 W. 14th Street (bet. 5th and 6th)
807-7666
MARGARITA LOPEZ
Democratic Candidate for New York City Council -- District 2
Democratic Primary, Tuesday September 9, 1997
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