We
began with a moment of silence for tenants who have died since the last in-person
meeting, including Abe Pitsirilos, Naomi Kelly, Louis Gonzalez and Jerome
Nemzer. And one for 9/11 – with thanks
to heroes who are very much alive, like Denise Rivera who drove her MTA bus
down and back to ferry people away from the World Trade Center that day.
Financial Report
Treasurer Joan Browne reported on our current bank account and contributions. If you haven’t renewed your $10 membership this year, or contributed anything to our legal fund – now’s the time. Make your check out to the Central Park Gardens Tenants’ Assoc. and get it to Joan in Apt. 12F. (Please don’t leave cash under the door! If you’re contributing in cash, make sure you get a receipt.)
Building issues
MCI: If you get any papers from the state’s Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) about a Major Capital Improvement rent increase for the balcony and façade work, please contact Sue immediately. We haven’t heard anything yet. This directly affects only rent stabilized tenants.
Pedestrian safety: Thanks to Cynthia Hanratty for her dogged pursuit of safety mirrors at the exit to our garage. Drivers, please use them to keep all passers-by safe.
Personal safety: We have immune-compromised tenants in the building. So even if they get vaccinated (and they should get 3 doses!), they remain vulnerable. Please wear a mask. In addition to masks being required by Stellar and protecting yourself, it shows consideration for your neighbors.
If you can afford it, carry a couple of disposable masks with you to offer to anyone who forgets theirs.
Cameras and smoke detectors in the stairwells: Cynthia Hanratty and Ray Carroll will look into whether Stellar has or must provide working smoke detectors in the stairwells and whether cameras are possible – and their cost.
Warehousing and “Frankensteined” apartments
The 2019 state rent law bars landlords from taking apartments (occupied or empty) out of rent stabilization. To pressure the legislature to change the law and to increase the shortage of apartments, many landlords responded by saying they wouldn’t rent out empty stabilized apartments. CHIP, an association of landlords of rent stabilized apartments, said last year there were 70,000 warehoused rent stabilized apartments. Meanwhile there are 60 to 90,000 homeless in NY – many of them working families - and lots of us have friends and family looking for affordable homes. But warehousing is also a way for landlords to exploit a loophole in the 2019 law. If landlords create a new apartment out of two or more units, the Frankensteined apartment has a new base rent. And there’s no easy way to regulate what that new starting rent is.
The End Apartment Warehousing coalition and other groups are
working with our state legislators to close that loophole. We want the new rent to be the last rent of
each apartment + the $81 that landlords are allowed to add for individual
apartment improvements. Stellar Tenants for Affordable Housing is part of that
group, and you can join in the every-other-week Tuesday meetings on zoom. Ask
Sue for the link.
Also, Gov. Hochul convened a special session of the State Legislature to pass a renewal of the eviction moratorium since so many people remain unable to pay their rents. The moratorium now expires on January 15, 2022. This means that while the landlord can’t evict you for nonpayment during that period, you will still owe the money due – and the landlord can get a judgment against you in court. (You can still be evicted if the court finds you created a nuisance – like loud noise.) Given the US Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the previous moratorium, tenants who file a hardship declaration can now be challenged to prove their hardship in housing court, but they can and should get a free lawyer. (Thanks, Right to Counsel NYC and Council Member Mark Levine!)
If you’re not already on the tenant association email list,
please send your email to sue.susman@gmail.com. Your email
address won’t show to anyone else. And
check out our website, www.cpgta.org, and our
Facebook page, CPG Tenants.
Contact us
with your suggestions and questions and join the tenant association!
Dues: $10/apartment/year.
Legal fund: $100/yearly
(as you can afford)
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The Executive Committee of the CPGTA:
Sue Susman, sue dot susman (at) gmail {dot}com
Joan Browne, joanbrownefaison [at] gmail \dot\ com
Andrew Dubin, ardubin (AT) gmail |dot| com
Denis Hayward, denis{dot]hayward at gmail /dot/ com
Steve Koulish, eskoolman [aT] yahoo (dot) com
Ray von Dohren, vondohren [At] comcast {dot} net
DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, a professor of infectious disease at Vanderbilt, about the Delta variant.
August 26, 2021, NY Times
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