City Limits Magazine, March 1978 Issue

8/3/2019 City Limits Magazine, March 1978 Issue

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CITY LIMITSCOMMUNITY HOUSING NEWSMarch 1978 Vol. 3 No.3

HUNDREDS HEAD TO WORKFOR BETTER NEIGHBORHOODS

CITY COUNCIL DELAYS'IN REM' ROLE FOR HPD

by Susan BaldwinA municipal tug-of-war over the lives of thousands of tenants in cityowned In Rem buildings has ended in a five-month truce voted by the CityCouncil in late March to give the city agencies involved a chance to make alasting peace.Management of at least 100,000 units-estimates vary-of housingtaken by the city for non-payment of taxes was originally scheduled to

transfer from the Department of General Services' (GSD) Division of RealProperty (DRP) to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) on April!.Asked i f here is any possibility that the t ransfer will now be delayed past

By BernardCohen

The largest neighborhood-leveleffort in memory to upgrade substandard housing-one of the mostpotent symbols of urban decay-andrebuild neighborhoods began in lateMarch.Hundreds of workers flliing federally funded public service jobsfanned out into 40 low income neighborhoods to start working as community organizers, managementand maintenance specialists, hous


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RED TAPE THREATENS'DIRECT SALES' SUCCESS

by Susan Baldwin

A program to give tenants control of landlord-abandoned buildings is in danger of dying from red tape.So say tenant and community leaders and theirlawyers about the city's three-year-old Direct Sales pro

gram-a program under which city-owned, residentialproperties can be sold without public auction directly toapproved, non-profit tenant and community groups at arelatively low, negotiated price. Yet, only one such salehas closed to date.

"This program is not a panacea for New York City'shousing abandonment ills," attorney Lawrence H.McGaughey wrote recently in an analysis of theprogram." No doubt tenant-run buildings will become abandoned too, " he predicted. "But given the failure of allother alternatives, the Direct Sales program is the onlychoice between rapidly accelerating abandonment orthe expenditure of enormous amounts of public funds. "According to most recently-released statistics, thecity owned 21,000 occupied apartments in January. I feach apartmen t were found to be in adequate repair toundergo a moderate rehabilitation at $20,000 per unit,the cost to the city would be $420 million. And if thecity's least capital-intensive program, CommunityManagement, were to be utilized for the rehab, the costat a maximum of $10,000 per unit, would still be $210million.

Asked to comment on community complaints regarding the extensive documentation required in the program and the consequent delays in building acceptance,he added, "I know too much time elapses by the timethe building gets accepted into the program . . . . t takestoo damn long to get moving, but I'm not concernedabout the forms."But, Wendy Faxon, direct sales project coordinator atthe Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (U-HAB),holds a different view of the bureaucratic, red tape required by the city for tenant and community groups toenter the program.

"With the huge number of buildings coming up forabandonment, some real problems with the DirectSales program have to be solved before it can have anyimpact," she said. "A t this point with all the forms required, 1 really can't in good conscience recommend itto the groups."Suggesting that the objective of the Direct Sales program should be "to become completely self -managingand self-sufficient," Faxon added, "Organized tenantgroups who have expressed a desire to take over themanagement of their building should be able to walk inthe door at HPD, present three basic documents, andleave the same day with a management contract."Three basic documents that tenants should present toreceive the management contract, preliminary to sale,


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"What we really have here is a fairly new program eventhough it has been around on paper for two or threeyears . . . . There are a lot of documents to go through,maybe 35, because it is a new program."Smith also explained the importance of requiring several petitions, forms, and documents from tenants-e.g., written agreements to rent increases, and buildinginspectors' detailed reports on the structural conditionsin the building, explaining that these requirements arenecessary if both the city and the tenants are to have arealistic picture of the conditions of the building and theauthenticity of the tenant organization.

"W e don't want a few tenants coming down here toour office saying that they represent the others, only tofmd when we go to visit the building that these peopleare as much strangers as we are," Smith said. "Fac-tions do exist or develop in the buildings and we haveto know this [their existence]. "Tenants have no doubt about HPD's existence. Justhow obstruct ive the program can be for well-organizedand well-meaning tenants is illustrated by the experience of the one tenant group that worked its waythrough the bureaucratic maze and finally bought itsbuilding last August."Unless they do something to lighten up the regulations, I' ll never stop knocking Direct Sales," said BessStevenson, tenant organizer and vice president of theMetropolitan Council on Housing, who fought alongwith ten tenant families at 1104 Clay Avenue in theMorrisania section of the Bronx in thei r struggle to ownthei r own building.

"W e were fighting with the city for over 12 years,"she explained, noting that future plans for Direct Salesshould include "giving the tenants a freer hand" inflXing the building.

"Most of these tenants are senior citizens and the ob

The building, the site of a bitter municipal loan fightwith the controversial Weintraub, most recently finished a successful 7A administratorship period and itsresidents are anxious to have a management in theDirect Sales program approved without the normalseven to nine month delay."We have had so much trouble in this building,"Strickland said, warning that , although 20 of the building's 24 apartments are presently occupied, manywould be vacant by the end of the month when thecity's real estate department is slated to take charge.

"The tenants here all know how badly they [DRP]run the buildings, and they [tenants] have said thatthey will move out i f we can't move on this application,"she added.Direct Sales director Smith is currently looking intothe possibility of the city's waiving the normal procedure that would pu t this building under the jurisdiction of DRP until the management contract with HPD isconsummated and title to the property is transferred.

How can the program be streamlined and still offerthe city a reasonable hope of removing them from the inrem category and placing them back on the tax rolls?McGaughey has an idea.

"Perhaps the easiest way to eliminate much of thered tape now existing, and to redirect the program," hehas pointed out in his report, "would be to issue leasesfor rent rather than management contracts for the period between intake into the program and transfer of thedeed."Noting that a "leasee is more than an agent," and"has an estate in the land," McGaughey explained thatthe issuance of a lease rather than a management contract would eliminate the idea "prevalent now thattenant rent monies are' city money' "

I f he tenants were to have a lease arrangement, they


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SOUTH BRONX SNUBBEDBy Bernard Cohen

The South Bronx feels left out of the city and federalplan to rebuild the South Bronx.Community leaders assert that they have not been included in the city's planning process despite officialacknowledgment that a redevelopment plan that is imposed on the South Bronx could well repeat the failuresof the past.Local elected officials, community board representatives, community developers, clergy and others said in

m i d ~ M a r c h that they were still completely in the darkabout the evolving plan, even as pieces of it were beingleaked to the media.Spurning at least for the moment a March 9 invitationto meet with Mayor Koch, representatives of the sixcommunity boards in the South Bronx were seeking ameeting with Jack Watson, a Presidential assistantworking on the project.Xavier Rodriguez, chairman of Planning Board 3,said Watson had met with the boards last Novemberand promised that they would be partners in designingthe plan for the South Bronx.

"The initial commitment made by the federal government while the Beame administration was in officehas not been lived up to by the new administration,"Rodriguez said. "W e want to ask Watson to reaffirmthat whole partnership."He charged that Koch has alienated communityboards through a number of actions.

Another city source said he understood that the

said on March 17. "A s of this point, the only basis ofdiscussion is the Beame program," he said, referring toa dated planning document hurriedly prepared afterPresident Carter's visit to the South Bronx las t October.Hippocrates P. Kourakos, president of the SouthBronx Community Housing Corp., said he has had individual discussions with federal and city officials."What has come from those discussions isguesswork," he added. "This community wants inputinto the decisions."Ramon Rueda of Peoples Development Corp., whogreeted Carter on his visit and urged him to providemore federal dollars for the South Bronx, said he was"just sitting by while the city and federal governmentwork out their own plan."

"The city has lost another opportunity to tap into indigenous talent and creativity, " Rueda added .A statement released by a newly announced coalitionof South Bronx community groups at a news conferenceon March 11 warned, "Any Bronx redevelopmentprojects coming off the drawing board must be carried


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ON REDEVELOPMENT PLANout from now on with the active participation of SouthBronx ins titutions and South Bronx people. "Federal, state and local officials elected from theSouth Bronx also feel shut ou t of the process. "Pleaseconsult the natives here in the South Bronx, Mr. Koch,"Councilman Gilberto Gerena-Valentin said at the samenews conference. "Don't surprise us because in theend you're the one who is going to be surprised."

In interviews, the community leaders asserted thatthey were not asking for veto power over the plan bu tthat they did want a substantial voice in determiningpriorities and the chance to make sure that money andjobs intended for the South Bronx poor are not divertedelsewhere. What they especially do not want is a "cere-monial" role, they said.

"W e are willing to work with the city in terms ofwhich way the plan goes," said one community boardmember.Asked about the lack of community participation,Lloyd Kaplan, executive director of the mayor'sCoordinating Council, said the new administration hasbeen preoccupied with efforts to get its own planningefforts organized."Government takes time to start up. Partnershipassumes that government is ready to play its role, thatgovernment has its act together," Kaplan said. "I think

we're atthat point now."He declined to say what planning role he foresaw forthe community. Asked if a community representativewould be appointed to the Council, Kaplan replied,"Maybe it's time to examine that as a possibility."The redevelopment plan for the South Bronx will

contemplated assistance for 4,000 units of new andrehabil itated housing a year for ftve years plus development of a so-called New Town area totalling 2,700 unitsinitially and 5,000 ultimately.Pieced together from several sources, here is how thehousing section ofthe plan was taking shape.(1) A mixture of new construction and substant ial rehabilitation in three areas: Bronx Park South; a trianglebounded by Longwood Avenue, Southern Boulevardand Westchester Avenue; and a rectangle west andsouth of St. Mary's Park.These are sections considered by the city to have astrong core from which to build out into decayed neighborhoods.(2) Moderate rehabilitation along the much moredensely crowded Grand Concourse corridor. Speciftcallyunder study is the area from 153rd Street to FordhamRoad. The buildings here tend to be larger, better builtand less deteriorated than other South Bronx housing.But decay is setting in and development of a workablemoderate rehabilitation program to combat it is beingundertaken.

(3) New construction of low-rise (three-story) cooperatives and rental units at Charlotte Stree t and BostonRoad, one of the stops on President Carter's visit lastyear. This is the so-called New Town area. Originalplans called for the new housing to be built in a largerarea, including the Bathgate section. But, stressing theneed to show impact, Deputy Mayor Herman Badillosuccessfully insisted on concentrating at least the ftrstphase of development.Those involved in the plan said it was still regarded


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HUD ISSUES FINAL CD REGSFinal Community Development regulations that willshape how local governments may spend more than 512billion in the next three years were issued by HUD onMarch 1.The fmal regulations proved disappointing to citizensgroups that were hoping for a stronger federal commitment to targeting CD funds to low and moderateincome persons and to meaningful citizen participation.In these two areas, the fInal rules are weaker than theproposed regs published Oct. 25, reflecting the

pressure exerted by local government officials whoviewed the earlier version as "too restrictive."Of major signiftcance is HUD's retreat from the 75percent rule, which would have required local governments to spend three-quarters of their CD programfunds on projects that benefIt low and moderate incomepersons. HUD has now decided to treat the 75 percentprinciple as a guideline rather than a rule.What this means in practice is that an applicationthat states that 75 percent or more of CD funds will beused for projects that benefIt low and moderate incomepersons will be presumed to comply with the overallintent of the law. These applications will be exemptfrom a HUD review on this point prior to funding.

CD applications that do not make the 75 percentclaim will be subject to a prior review to determinewhether they principally benefIt low and moderateincome persons.Among the enforcement problems with thiscompromise are:

responses within 15 days to citizen complaints. Instead,the locality is to make reasonable efforts to insurecontinuity of involvement by citizens.Only communities with populations over 50,000 willhave to provide for citizen participation at the neighborhood level. Three stages of hearings (fordevelopment of the application, implementation of theprogram and performance) are required. Annual performance reports must now include citizens commentsand a summary of any actions taken by the applicant inresponse. These reports must be submitted by the endof the eighth month of the program year so that theycan be used by HUD in evaluating the next year'sapplication.The fInal regulations remove the emphasis onallowing citizen groups to select their own sources oftechnical assistance. Applicants can provide bilingualsummaries of program documents rather than completetranslations. To better ensure that citizen objectionswill be considered during the application review period,HUD will not approve an application until at least 45days after its receipt instead of 30 days:

In other changes:BENEFITS-Unfortunately, the regulations do notrequire applicants to quantify benefIts to low income

persons as distinct from moderate income persons.However, there is new general wording that CDactivities must address the needs of low "as well as"moderate income persons. A provision has been addedthat the nature and result of a project, not simply its


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designating target areas for concentrated funding butallows more room for flexibility. Eliminated is the threeto five-year time limit that would have discouragedlocalities from undertaking long-term housing andcommunity development projects in severely blightedareas.EXCEPTIONS-The proposed regulations had an"exceptions" category specifying that 25 percent of CDprogram funds could be used on projects that did notprincipally benefi t low and moderate income persons.That language has been dropped along with a defectiveprovision that would have enabled the HUD Secretaryto waive the 25 percent limit.

PROJECTS WHICH PREVENT SLUMS ORBLIGHT-Dropped from this category are projects thatwere specifically aimed at attracting higher incomeresidents.ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT-Economic development activities are no longer limited to distressedcities. HUD feels that by applying the "plainly inappropriate" criteria outlined elsewhere in the regs, itcan accomplish the purpose of preventing cities withrelatively strong economies from using CD funds forcommercial or industrial developments. The regs statethat economic development projects are supposed togenerate long-term jobs for low and moderate incomepersons; however, HUD has deleted a paragraph thatwould have required a commitment to permanent jobsfor lower income persons in the development ofindustrial parks.HOUSING ASSISTANCE PLANS-As in the past,communities must describe their housing stock, outlinethe housing needs of their low and moderate incomepersons and establish goals for addressing those needs.The new regs require HAP goals that remedy 15percent of the state needs over a three year period,

funds. That is why last September HUD cut a $9 millionstreet repair program from the city's CD application.On Jan. 30, HUD changed its mind, stating thatbecause of snow damage to the streets, the repairprogram qualified as "interim assistance to alleviateharmful conditions in which immediate public action isnecessary. "HUD set the following conditions. The potholes andcave-ins must be in low and moderate income areas,and only "Class C (18 inches or more in diameter)potholes and cave-ins" qualify, according to a HUDruling.Keep that in mind the next time you are jarred to thebone while riding in a bus or car. 0FEDERAL HEARING SET

ON BANK LENDINGFederal hearings on a law that is intended to makecertain that financial institutions provide for the creditneeds of the communities in which they do business arebeing scheduled for late April in New York City.Tentative dates for the redlining hearings are April20 and 21. The location has not yet been decided.The hearings here will be part of a nationwide seriesbeing conducted by four federal regulatory agencies on

the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977.That law requires the federal agencies to take intoaccount a financial institution's local lending recordwhen evaluating an application for permission to mergewith another bank, open a new branch or obtain acharter or deposit insurance.The law says that "regulated financial institutionshave a continuing and affirmative obligation to helpmeet the credit needs of the local communities in which


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A FEW CETA FACESFritz Ringler, who has been unemployed three years,is a graduate of the School of Social Work at SUNY,Stonybrook. A tenant activist for the past few years inBrooklyn, his special project has been developing a firemonitoring program for the Peoples Firehouse inBrooklyn."I applied for the position of project coordinator," hesaid, noting that "it's one thing to be in favor of rehabilitating houses, but if you're going to rehabilitate

these properties, you don' t want them to burn down assoon as you're finished."For several years, Ringler's task force has been investigating ways to prevent crime and curtail fires inhis neighborhood.Asked i f he felt bi tter because he had not been able tomake use of his graduate education, Ringler said, "M yeducation wasn't a waste of time. It has come in handy.1 have had some opportunities, but 1 turned them downto do this work, which 1 think is very important, becausewe have to do something about the fires out here. Anyway, I get along."Commenting on the CET A job program, heconcluded, "I think the project is important, but theycertainly aren't making it easy for people to apply. Andfrom my experience with other CETA programs, this isgeared to fail right from the start unless someonecomes in and does a miraculous job of cleaning it up."

Fritz Ringler

Take the arduous process of qualifying for a publicservice job and multiply it by ten and you have the caseof Alicia Juana Sapire.Sapire and her son left Argentina in 1976 to escapefrom the repressive military dictatorship there. Shearrived in the United States in April, 1977 and wasgranted official political asylum last October.Unemployed since her arrival here, Sapire applied toStrycker's Bay Coordinating Council in Manhattan foran open space coordinator's job. While being certifiedby the state for eligibility prior to her interview, shewas told she needed a U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service "green card" to qualify. She repliedthat she did not yet have a green card but produced aUSINS card that said" employment authorized."

" I t says here that I can work," she told the statecertifier. He remained adamant. No green card, no job.The situation looked discouraging until another statecertifier, overhearing a discussion of the problem,looked at the card, said it was valid and approved the


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Frank Korzeniewski

Marie Exume is an unemployed elementary schoolteacher who recently turned down a scholarship for aPh.D. program at New York University. She applied forthe CET A position of social services assistant."There just seems to be an over-surplus ofteachers," she said, noting that her CET A applicationwould entail "starting from scratch with an entirelynew career. "

"Let's put it this way," Marie explained. "I want towork very badly. I loved teaching. I loved working withlittle children, but I realize that there wasn't muchfuture for me in this field."The CET A job will involve working with seniorcitizens.Exume is overqualified for the job, in that the educational requirements ask simply for a high school

"They tell me I was rejected because I make toomuch money on Social Security," Korzeniewski, a 72-year-old retired furniture craftsman, said following hisdisappointing interview. "They also said the samething to my buddy [John Mentz]. We are both seniorcitizens, and we're both in the same boat."Korzeniewski and Mentz serve as volunteers with thePeoples Firehouse in Brooklyn. They were applying forpart-time jobs under CETA VI on an arson task force atthe firehouse and were led to believe by both the Neighborhood Manpower center and the State EmploymentService in Brooklyn that they were eligible for this employment.Asked how he felt about the rejection, Korzeniewskisaid, "When you're my age, you learn to live with disappointment. I go 'down to the firehouse every Tuesdaynight, so I guess I'll continue to do that. I t is a disappointment,/ really. I guess they're saying that you haveto live at the poverty level all your life. "Korzeniewski and his wife, who is homebound witharthritis, collect about 5500 a month from their jointSocial Security benefi ts.One of the community interviewers, Gary Hattem ofSt. Nicholas Houses, said of Korzeniewski's andMentz's rejections, "It's really a shame that SocialSecurity is considered income, unlike welfare and unemployment. I t sounds as if the authorities are sayingthey're [both men] making too much money on SocialSecurity. "Another CETA interviewer interjected, "The federalguidelines are discriminatory against the elderly.


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STATE GIVES NEIGHBORHOODS $500,000Eleven ANHD member organizations are among 50community-based housing groups throughout NewYork State who have received $10,000 grants under thenew Neighborhood Perservation Act of 1977.Governor Hugh L. Carey announced the awarding of$500,000 in grants on March 15, saying that the statefunds will strengthen the organizations and enablethem "to concentrate on activities that will preserveand restore their communities while attracting a muchlarger investment of public and private financialresources. "The initial grant covers a six-month period. Careyhas proposed to increase the funding for the program to

$5 million in the fiscal year beginning April 1.More than 100 neighborhood organizations appliedfor grants totalling $7.2 million in the first round.The Neighborhood Preservation Act providesfunding for the administrative expenses of nonprofitcommunity-based organizations involved in rehabilitat-

Nathan Leventhal, commissioner of the Departmentof Housing Preservation and Development, tells CityLimits that he has no plans for a major reorganization ofhis 2,500-member housing agency for the next twoyears.He did say, however, that he is interviewing prospective candidates to replace his former deputy com

missioner, Paul Dickstein.According to Leventhal, the replacement officer maybe renamed Director of Operations.Commenting on possible departmental changes, the

ing and preserving housing.To qualify, a group must be nonprofit, in existencefor one year with a demonstrated capacity to performneighborhood preservation activities, representative

of the neighborhood and have the ability to becomeeconomically self-sufficient within three years-themaximum period a group can receive funding under thelaw.ANHD organizations receiving grants were PuebloNuevo Housing and Development Association, MorrisHeights Neighborhood Improvement Association,Housing Conservation Coordinators, Manhattan ValleyDevelopment Corp., Interfaith Adopt-a-Building,Coalition for Human Housing, West Harlem CommunityOrganization, Kelly Street Block Association, East NewYork Development Corp., Sunset Park RedevelopmentCommitteeand Metro-North Association. 0

41st Street, in the "climate control room."Enrollment in the course is $15. Each class is limitedto 25 students.The subject matter to be covered in the course isboilers, burners, boiler cleaning, oil ftIter replacement,safety mechanisms, relay replacement, weatherization,and radiator repair.For further information about the course, telephone541-5966 or 541-5938. 0Planning Unity in Action (UPA) will hold its second


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'In Rem' continuedAccording to the Task Force report, "The true potential of owner-occupants, tenant cooperatives and nonprofit community groups to own, manage and maintainproperty has not yet been fully tested nor adequatelydeveloped.' ,Arguing before the Council committee for a fullyear's delay in the transfer to HPD, General ServicesCommissioner Smith maintained that DRP would pourup to $50 million of Community Development funds into"preventive maintenance" of the In Rem properties.

"Unless we get the delay," Smith asserted, "thesebuildings are not going to be run right . . . . t is againstmy own personal interest to ask for this. I could walkaway and do something else . . . . But i f you do not grantthis, calamity will be on your hands."Refuting Smith's contention. Jane Benedict, head ofthe Metropolitan Council on Housing, testified, "I amhere to support no extension to the Department of RealEstate. It is true that the department needs a housecleaning, but are we going to allow the culprits tomonitor their own house cleaning?"Benedict reiterated other community leaders' criticism of DRP's lack of services in the city-owned buildings, and also referred to the recent improper DRP auction sale of properties in the South Bronx where theCarter administration's revitalization plan will becarried out.

"In Rem buildings are a hot issue," she charged."W e know about these buildings that were sold for $25,$50, and $125 to speculators. Now the city will have totake them back with the taxpayers' money."

"There must be a moratorium on the .sale of these[city-owned] buildings right now," Benedict continued.

"I am calling for a three-year moratorium with the tenants running the buildings, during which time therewill be an orderly working out of how the tenants run. he buildings. "According to Councilman Katz, DRP has agreed tohire an additional 600 employes to carry out the proposed preventive maintenance program. Their salaries,which, Smith estimated, will run to about $8 millionannually, will be covered by the $50 million CommunityDevelopment grant .Seeking details regarding the future transfer of the

properties, Councilwoman Miriam Friedlander(D-Man.) asked, "What happens to this $50 million i fthe buildings are shifted in a shorter period of time?Will the money shift, too? Will the money go to thecommunity group that is overseeing the building? . . . .In order to allow that community group to take over thebuilding, can we put part of that money in the budgetfor it?"During the committee's roll call vote Mar. 20,Councilman Abraham Gerges (D-BkIn.) said he intended to call a press conference at a later date deploringthe transfer agreement."I think this transfer is going to be a disaster," hecharged. "It seems to me that this section of real esta teshould go to the New York City Housing Authority orstay where it is [DRP] . . . I am going to introduce legislation to transfer this to the Housing Authority."But for now, at least, the transfer agreement andtimetable stand. Long-suffering tenants of the city,accustomed to neglect, will have to wait and seewhether the bureaucratic truce brings any improvement in the quality of their housing. 0


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LOS SURES SET TO REHAB400 SECTION 8 UNITS by Susan Baldwin

A major test of HUD's Section 8 subsidy program forsubstantial rehabilitation is set to get underway inBrooklyn's Southside Williamsburg section in earlyApril, after nearly two years of government processing.Los Sures (Southside Community Housing Development Corporation) is the non-profit community sponsor

of the two-phase project, expected to yield 401 units ofsubsidized low income housing.Phase I will redesign 12 abandoned six-story walk-uptenements on South 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Streets toproduce 201 apartments at a total cost of $8.7 million.Phase II , slated to start from four to six months later,will add 200 more units to the neighborhood revitalization effort.The rehabilitation of the first four buildings in theprogram is scheduled to be complete after nine months'work. Phase I should be fmished within 14 to 18 monthsof commencement.To build the project, Los Sures created a subsidiaryto enter into a general partnership-known as SUMET-with the Metropolitan Rehabilitation Corporation, aManhattan-based private developer.

"Even though we had to deviate from our overallrevitalization policy and go outside [the community] fordevelopers, we believe that it was worth it," saidDouglas Moritz, director of Los Sures's developmentcompany. "This way we can deal with a greater numberof properties than we could with sweat equity orhomesteading.' ,

by the firm to Los SoUres as a co-general partner.Former Deputy Mayor John Zuccotti, who returnedas a partner to the Tufo, Johnston firm last year at theend of his city service, first became known to Los Sureswhen the Rev. Brian Karvelis of TransfigurationChurch, and a member of the Williamsburg HousingAssociation, asked the then deputy mayor to intercedein a community struggle between the Hispanic andHasidic communities over the rental policy for RobertoClemente Plaza. The Los Sures Management Co., a LosSures subsidiary, manages the 532-unit Mitchell Lamahousing project. The original rental plan, still tied up incourt, was to rent 75 per cent of the housing to theminority community and 25 per cent to whites.Referring to the rehab proposal, the Rev. Mr.Karvelis said, "I am a friend of the Los Suresorganization. I helped them form it many years ago.They are the only organization of thei r kind doing workout here for the poor people."

"They have done a marvelous job," Karvelis said ofthe Los Sures effort. "It's the only job that has beendone to profit the poor man in the street. I think therehab work is a far better, more economical method torevitalize this area and bring in rentals at levels peoplecan afford, because of the Section 8 subsidy. TheKrauss rents have come in at a much higher level."Karvelis also praised the Los Sures project "becausethere is no displacement," he said. "They chosebuildings that were either burned out or abandoned."


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did not think it would be proper to be voting on a boardthat could be receiving city money.One of the main problems with getting the SUMETprojects underway was establishing clear title to theproperties, Moritz observed. "W e were dealing withlandlords who had abandoned the buildings, milkedtens of thousands of dollars out of the buildings, hadused whatever political connections they had not to paytaxes and avoid In Rem proceedings, and then theywere able to walk away from these buildings withanywhere from $5,000 to $50,000 for the properties,"said Moritz. "W e even had a warrant out for the arrestof one of the landlords."

"This was a heavy price we had to pay," Moritzadded. "None of the decisions to take these buildingswere easy, and to buy from these guys represented adeviation from our traditional philosophy, but we reallysaw no other way, i f we were to get housing at rentspeople could afford for our community."Moritz reviewed for City Limits the history of theSUMET project.Los Sures wentto HUD in May, 1976, and asked for alist of available Section 8 packages. In June, MarilynMelkonian, then with the Tufo, Johnston law firm andnow in HUD's Washington office, described by Moritzas "a dynamite woman," got in touch with the groupand mentioned the possibility of a general partnershipwith Metropolitan.By August, Los Sures had developed the plan for thisrehabilitation. In October, 1976, the Los Sures boardformally recognized the relationship with Metropolitan.In December, 1976, HUD put a notice in the newspaperacknowledging that there was money for 12 demonstration Section 8 grants. Los Sures was awarded one of the12.The project was held up, however, at the City

Los Sures will be managing the properties . They willalso share in the tax-shelter profits, Los Sures takingone-third, and Metropolitan, two-thirds. Los Sures iscommitted to reinvesting any profits back into theproperties in the form of improvements or additionalsocial services. They have no firm commitment fromMetropolitan to do likewise, although, Moritz asserted,"T o date, Metropolitan is willing to do almost anythingto make the project work, and may be willing toreinvest."Asked to estimate Los Sures's share of profit from saleof the tax shelter, Moritz said, "That depends on abouta zillion things . . . The reason why we negotiated ourshare on a sliding, one-third, two-thirds basis was sothat we could participate in the profits based on thatscale rather than on a rigid dollar figure."Moritz is somewhat worried about the "tenpercenters" who may make demands on the project.

"Putting that aside, we will share in some of theproceeds of the shelter," he predicted. Proceeds of theshelter sale go to SUMET I, the housing corporation.Plans call for establishing a salary line for communitylabor coordinator, and for getting organizational fees topay for Los Sures's overhead on the job.The labor coordinator will be responsible for seekingminority employment in at least the samepercentage-SO per cent-as prevailed in recent newconstruction projects in the area and for maximizingparticipation of minority group subcontractors.Moritz, however, said that he could not giveestimates of the total numbers of jobs for the Los Sures'sSouthside community as negotiation sessions withMetropolitan have not taken place to date.Reached at press time for comment on possibledelays in starting construction, Wilfredo Vargas,administrator of Los Sures, said, "W e expect to begin


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NEIGHBORHOOD WOMENSEEK HELP FROM HUD

Low and moderate income people are being pushedout of Park Slope, the building abandonment rate hasdoubled in no time, the houses and the rehabilitationprogram in Bushwick are ridiculous. In fact, half thehouses that were to be fixed up are burned down. Whatcan we do to save our neighborhoods?These statist ics and points of view are a few of manyexpressed by working class and poor neighborhoodwomen who attended a two-day conference March 2and 3 at the Skillman Avenue headquarters of theNational Congress of Neighborhood Women inBrooklyn.The conference, an outgrowth of a nationalWashington-based women's housing issues conferencein April, 1976, was the first of a series of communityconferences involving the role of women in makinghousing policy and determining the quality of neighborhood life. Other neighborhood workshops arescheduled to take place around the country this yearunder the auspices of HUD's Women's Policy andProgram Division, a department formed four years agowhich is now under the new HUD neighborhood unitheaded by HUD Assistant Secretary Msg. Geno Baroni.

"My office started out as an ERA (Equal RightsAmendment) office for women when the CommunityDevelopment Act passed in 1974," said Joyce Skinner,director of the division. "Then they were talking abouta fair housing act, a move that forced government toadd sex to that legislation."

"Women make up a substantial part of the country'spopulation," she continued, "and it's our belief that

host for the conference, was founded in 1975 followinga meeting in Washington at the National Center forUrban Ethnic Affairs, the organization founded byBaroni in 1970.Resource consultants at the conference includedSkinner and three other members of her division,women from HUD's area office, and at least one femaleofficial from the New York City Planning Commission.The topics raised during the conference ranged fromsuch questions as "What is Section 8 and how do weget it?" to "Dealing with Bureaucracies," commercialrevitalization, organizing women as neighborhoodtenant leaders, homesteading, public housing management, credit, home buying, rehabilitation programs,how to combat wholesale redlining of neighborhoods,reclaiming abandoned homes and lots, and finally whatto do to put an end to the systematic displacement ofpoor people from neighborhoods.

"I was hoping that the conference would have comeup with more of a 'do-it' program," said EllenFriedman, an architect who is employed as aCETAworker at the Ethnic Neighborhood Action Center inBrooklyn."W e have been trying to do rehabilitation oftenements here in this neighborhood and we haven't

been as successful as some groups, like Los Sures,because we haven't mastered the political steps thatyou have to go through to get the programs working,"she explained, noting that any groups, includingwomen's organizations involved in housing, must learnhow to get enough funds channeled into the neighbor


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CET A continuedThe small army of new workers will augment theefforts of the community groups in blighted areas ofManhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx to rebuild theirneighborhoods through a variety of housing projects.They will be offering homeownership counseling inEast New York, devising social services programs for

the elderly in Williamsburg, improving fire preventionin Northside, organizing tenants in Flatbush, andsupplying building maintenance on the Lower EastSide, for example.Problems with how the city Department of Employment was implementing the CET A program developedat almost every turn during the planning stage.

Initially, for example, DOE refused to allow the Association to pass on administrative funds to the groups,which would have left them without money to covertheir own program expenses.These and other regulations were withdrawn byDOE along the way.However, it was dissatisfaction with the way the cityDepartment of Employment was structuring recruitment that proved to be the most controversial of thelarge number of procedures opposed by the CETA VIorganizations. The way the issue was resolved providesa rich insight into how bureaucracy can confound itself.DOE planned initially to use three citywide sources torefer job applicants: its own Neighborhood ManpowerService Centers, the New York State Employment Service and the New York City Department of SocialServices.The CETA groups complained that this system wouldnot produce applicants qualified for the highly specialized jobs being offered and would make it almost impossible to match suitable residents with jobs in theirown areas.

Monday, they still were not available. When they werenot ready on Tuesday, the interview schedule for all ofthe 37 groups had to be postponed a day.The forms were finally ready for distribution to thereferral sources on Wednesday but through a bureaucratic mishap, the forms intended for the NeighborhoodManpower Service Centers in Manhattan and the Bronxended up in Brooklyn.As a result, the groups saw virtually no one on Wednesday and Thursday since few referrals were comingthrough NYSES and DOSS and most of the agency outreach recruits were not scheduled until Friday.By noon Friday, for example, the South BronxCommunity Housing Corporation had filled only fourout of 12 slots and Julie Cruz, SBCHC's office manager ,said she had yet to interview a single application forsecretary.Frustration at the interview sites ran high. " Nothingis happening here because the bureaucracy is incapableof responding to its own rules and regulations," SteveKatz of People's Development Corporation in the Bronxsaid.Bob Lowe of Metro North Association in East Harlemsaid the regional Manpower office had misplaced hisinterview schedule so that instead of interviewing eightpersons for an organizer assistant job he had seen onlyone .By the end of the four-day hiring period, 269 persons

had been offered jobs. On March 10 they all reported toDOE headquarters for what everyone agrees was anefficiently run mass fmal certification prior to startingwork on March 27.Acknowledging that recruitment procedure problems" possibly could have happened ," Thomas McEnery,DOE assistant commissioner for public service employ


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IN THIS ISSUE

o CETA Housing Jobso Direct Saleso South Bronx Plan

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o Los Sures Section 8 Demonstrationo Final CD Regulations

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City Limits Magazine, March 1978 Issue

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Transcript of City Limits Magazine, March 1978 Issue