[NYtenants-online] Will Silver Defend Tenants or Give In as in 1997?

[Tenant]

NYtenants Online/TenantNet                                6/11/03
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IN THIS ISSUE ...

1. Editorial
2. Emergency Tenant Picket! - today at 5 PM; City Hall
3. Temporary Extender Bill Introduced
4. Phone Blitz to Save Rent Regulations
5. RGB Public Hearing on June 17; Decision on June 19
6. Testifying at the Rent Guidelines Board Public Hearing
7. Rent Regulation: Myths & Facts (by Tim Collins)
8. Silver denies he was tricked on rent law (Ithaca Journal)

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Will Silver Defend Tenants or Give In as in 1997?

As we count down to the expiration the Rent Laws on June 15, we're starting 
to see increased posturing on all sides of the issue. A week ago both 
Pataki and Bruno were claiming they wanted to be 'tenant friendly.' But no 
one was buying that nonsense. In the last few days they are now singing a 
different tune, advocating a lowering of the Vacancy Decontrol provision 
from $2,000 to $1,500. A few Republican Senators have advocated raising the 
threshhold to $2,500, but that would be no more helpful to the hemmoraging 
of rent regulation than an inflation indexing. At most, the posturing seems 
designed to leave the status quo in a 'compromise.'

But the most ludicrous claim appears to be coming from Assembly Speaker 
Sheldon Silver who claims he was not 'snookered' on the Vacancy Decontrol 
provision from 1997 (see article below). Of course he wasn't snookered. He 
was an active participant and shut tenants out of the negotiating process. 
At the time tenants were so focused on Pataki and Bruno they forgot to 
watch what Silver was up to.

But to whatever extent that Silver may realize it was a mistake, what is 
important now is that he rectify it. Can he do so? In our opinion, yes. But 
it's going to take some hardball against equally-equipped players. In 
Albany, nothing happens unless the three men agree. Silver does have the 
political muscle to stop everything until tenants are treated fairly, but 
he will only do so unless there's a large uproar by tenants and his 
immediate constituents (on the Lower East Side).

Which is why we're asking all tenants to call Silver's office and demand he 
take control of this situation in order to repeal Vacancy Decontrol. You 
should also call your local Assemblymember and make the same demand. They 
depend on all their pork and committee assignment stipends by supporting 
Silver, and in turn Silver depends on them for his leadership position. 
Tell them it's time for them to stop talking and start doing.

For details, go to:
http://www.tenant.net/Alerts/2003/silverthon.pdf
http://www.tenant.net/Alerts/2003/silverthon-sp.pdf

Call YOUR state assembly member: 518-455-4100
Call YOUR state senator: 518-455-2800
Call Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver: 212-312-1400
Governor Pataki: 212-681-4580
Mayor Bloomberg: 212-788-3000

To find out who YOUR state representatives are call League of Women Voters:
212-213-5286 or see www.lwvnyc.org


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EMERGENCY TENANT PICKET!
With Less Than A Week Before The Rent Laws Expire, Tenants Ask
“Have You Seen Mayor Bloomberg?”

Emergency Tenant Picket!
Wednesday, June 11, 5:00 – 6:00 pm
East Side of City Hall
(in Manhattan, facing Bklyn Bridge, 4/5/6/J/M/Z trains to Bklyn Bridge)
sponsored by Met Council on Housing
http://www.tenant.net/tengroup/metcouncil/events/June11Pataki-Bloomberg.pdf
http://www.tenant.net/tengroup/metcouncil/events/June11Pataki-Bloomberg-sp.pdf


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TEMPORARY EXTENDER BILL INTRODUCED

The NY State Assembly has introduced a bill to extend the rent laws until 
June 19, 2003. This would have the effect of allowing the principal players 
(Pataki, Bruno and Silver) additional time to stare at each other in case 
no one gives in by June 15th.

The Senate would have to introduce an identical bill by midnight June 11th 
in order to pass such a temporary extender without the need for a Message 
of Necessity from the Governor.

See: http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A08875&sh=t


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PHONE BLITZ TO SAVE RENT REGULATIONS
http://www.tenant.net/Alerts/2003/silverthon.pdf
http://www.tenant.net/Alerts/2003/silverthon-sp.pdf

The rent laws that protect 2.3 million tenants in New York City are set to 
expire at midnight on June 15th. Legislative leaders are poised to renew 
the laws as is, which will steadily kill rent regulation. Demand that all 
vacancy decontrol provisions be repealed – demand that the rent laws be 
strengthened. Without repeal of the vacancy decontrol, there will be no 
rent regulated housing left in 10 years.

Tenants are calling for these changes:
1) repeal of $2,000 vacancy decontrol;
2) reduction of the 20% vacancy allowance;
3) rent protections for apartments leaving the Mitchell-Lama and Section 8 
programs;
4) limits on evictions based on “owner occupancy” to one apartment per 
building.

YOUR state assembly member: 518-455-4100
YOUR state senator: 518-455-2800
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver: 212-312-1400
Governor Pataki: 212-681-4580
Mayor Bloomberg: 212-788-3000

To find out who YOUR state representatives are call League of Women Voters: 
212-213-5286 or see www.lwvnyc.org

Make These Five Calls to Save Your Home.


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RGB PUBLIC HEARING ON JUNE 17; DECISION ON JUNE 19

The Rent Guidelines Board is the city agency which determines rent 
increases for renewal leases on all rent-stabilized apartments in New York 
City. Although landlord profits from stabilized housing have risen to new 
heights over the past 4 years, the RGB has still hammered tenants with rent 
increases. This year, with landlords screaming about fuel costs and the 
property tax increase, the RGB is proposing rent increases of 5.5% and 8.5% 
for one and two year lease renewals respectively. Tenants must come out in 
record numbers to stop these rent increases, which would be the
highest in over a decade. The RGB will makes it’s final decision about the 
rent increases on June 19.

Call Mayor Bloomberg. Demand that his RGB
freeze rents in these hard times: (212) 788-3000.

Come to the RGB Meetings. Testify at the Public Hearing.
Tell the RGB How Increases Will Harm Your Community.

http://www.tenant.net/tengroup/metcouncil/events/rgb-flyer.pdf
http://www.tenant.net/tengroup/metcouncil/events/rgb-flyer-sp.pdf


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TESTIFYING AT THE RENT GUIDELINES BOARD PUBLIC HEARING

June 17th the Rent Guidelines Board will hear from the public.
Here's a guide on how to present your testimony.
http://www.tenant.net/tengroup/metcouncil/events/TestifyingatRGB.pdf


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RENT REGULATION: MYTHS & FACTS
Tenant Attorney Tim Collins pokes holes in the Real Estate/Media campaign 
against rent regulations. In Acrobat.
http://www.tenant.net/tengroup/metcouncil/events/MythsandFacts.pdf


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SILVER DENIES HE WAS TRICKED ON RENT LAW
http://www.theithacajournal.com/news/stories/20030610/localnews/452135.html
By YANCEY ROY
Gannett News Service
June 10, 2003

ALBANY -- The Legislature's top Democrat said Monday he didn't get 
"snookered" six years into agreeing to a slow phase-out of rent-controlled 
apartments in metro New York. But he's vowed to rollback a provision that 
does just that.

With less than a week before rent-stabilization law expires, Assembly 
Speaker Sheldon Silver said it won't do much good to simply renew the 
statute. Legislators and the governor must alter a provision that allows 
landlords to exempt apartments from regulations when the monthly rent 
reaches $2,000. As a result, the ranks of rent-controlled apartments have 
dropped 100,000, most of it coming over the last six years.

Silver agreed to that provision in 1997, the last time rent laws were 
changed. At a news conference intended to pressure Republicans, Silver said 
he didn't make a mistake six years ago.

"It hasn't worked the way it was supposed to," Silver said, surrounding by 
more than a dozen legislators and a handful of tenant advocates. "The 
economy has changed. There was no escalator in the (rent threshold) number 
... I don't think we were snookered six years ago. You were dealing with a 
situation where the governor and the (Republican-led) Senate had vowed to 
end rent control."

Republicans didn't sound as though they would budge. Gov. George Pataki 
said the law is working "very, very well."

"I want to see an orderly transition to a marketplace consistent with what 
we did in 1997," Pataki said after a 90-minute, closed-door meeting with 
Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, Rensselaer 
County. "The Assembly has proposed repealing all of the changes in 1997 and 
I think that would be a huge step backward and don't think that should 
happen."

There are about 1.1 million rent-stabilized apartments in the state, all 
but about 60,000 in the five boroughs of New York. Westchester County has 
about 45,000 rent-controlled apartments; Rockland County has about 5,000.

Advocates say rent control is the cornerstone of affordable housing in the 
metro area. They have produced a study that says that half the dwellers in 
rent-controlled apartments have a household income of $32,000 or less. The 
system also provides landlords with secure tenants and generous tax 
benefits for participating, tenants say.

Opponents say the system benefits Manhattanites with six-figure incomes who 
often sock away money for second homes. The system also discourages 
investments in creating new apartments, they say.

Silver tried to pressure Gov. George Pataki to negotiate a new rent-control 
law before current one expires on Sunday. With the governor fighting New 
York City officials over aid this year, the transit authority imposing a 
fare hike on city buses and subways, and no solution yet for rent laws, 
Pataki is "waging his own private battle with the city and its families," 
Silver charged.