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W H E N C O M M U N I T Y G R O U P S M A K E A D E A L
2 CITY UMITS
Cit I.imirs
Volume XIV Number 9
City Limits is published ten times per year.
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Housing Development. Inc.
New York Urban Coalition
Pratt Institute Center for Community and
Environmental Development
Urban Homesteading Assistance Board
Board of Directors"
Harriet Cohen. Community Service
Society
Robert Hayes. Coalition for the Homeless
Rebecca Reich
Andrew Reicher. UHAB
Richard Rivera. Puerto Rican Legal
Defense and Education Fund
Tom Robbins
Ron Shiffman. Pratt Center
Esmerelda Simmons. Center for Law and
Social Justice
Jay Small . ANHD
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City Limits (ISSN 0199-0330)
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Editor: Doug Turetsky
Associate Editor: Lisa Glazer
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Contributing Editors: Beverly Cheuvront .
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Copyright e 1989. All Rights Reserved. No
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COYer photograph of Construction Manogement Program
buildings in the Sou'" Bronx by Sle\/e Hill.
EDITORIAL
Beyond Bricks and Mortar
Imagine setting out to build a new community. You' d probably think
about everything that makes a neighborhood whole and functioning-from
housing to schools to parks and playgrounds. Street cleaning, health care,
police and fire protection and other services would also be considered.
But in Central Harlem and the South Bronx, where city officials are
attempting to build new communities of more than 5,000 families in each
area, very little consideration is being given to issues beyond the bricks and
mortar of the new housing. Given the tidal wave of crime, garbage-strewn
sfreets and social services stretched beyond the breaking point in these two
areas , the city's shortsighted attitude is striking. With thousands of lower
income households ready to move into these already impoverished areas,
these are just the kind of concerns officials should be addressing.
So far, the city's efforts have seemed more like a Keystone Kops comedy
of shirking responsibility. When Associate Editor Lisa Glazer walked into
P.S. 64 in the South Bronx, an elementary school that sits smack in the
middle of a city project to renovate apartments for more than 800 families, .
the school's assistant principal was unaware families with children bound
for her school would be arriving in a few short months. When Glazer posed
the question of comprehensive planning for these communities, most city
officials responded with a series of "not my job" brush offs (see page 16).
Neighborhood revitalization is far more complex than renovating rows of
derelict buildings and hanging out a for rent sign. Unless city officials begin
to address all the needs of these communities, our billion dollar investment
in housing could be wasted.

Last month, City Limits shattered its previous record for new subscrip-
tions in a single month. It's the third time we've broken our own record in
the past year. Much of the credit should go to the New York Foundation,
which has made our subscription drive possible. We greatly appreciate their
support.

. .
And while we're handing out thanks, we'd like to express our apprecia-
tion to all those who have contributed to our current Sustainer program and
who've bought tickets to our October 27th party. Thanks again. 0
Corrections: In the October 1989 issue we incorrectly
stated that the Job Training Partnership Act was enacted
in 1972. The bill, co-authored by then Sen. J. Danforth
Quayle and Sen. Ted Kennedy, was passed in 1982. And
we apologize to Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr. for the "t '
that slipped into his name in that same issue.
.... X.523
INSIDE
FEATURE
Future Shock 12
Thousands of families will soon be moving to the
South Bronx and Central Harlem, some of the poorest
areas in the city. Are the neighborhoods ready for the
influx?
DEPARTMENTS
Editorial
Beyond Bricks and Mortar ................................... 2
Short Term Notes
Homeless Funding ................................................ 4
Fire Fight ............................................................... 4
Think Globally, Act Locally ................................. 4
Housing Now! ....................................................... 5
Neighborhood Notes .. ............................................... 6
Pipeline
Clinic Tackles Fair Housing Complaints ............ 7
Legislation
Low Income Housing Tax Credits
Face Expiration ..................................................... 9
Organize
When Communities Cut a Deal, Who Wins? .... 17
City View
When Banks Form
Community Development Corporations ........... 21
November 1989 3
Busters/Page 7
~ = - - - ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Future/Page 12
4 CITY LIMITS
SHORT TERM NOTES
HOMELESS
FUNDING
Housing advocates in
Washington, D.C. are
optimistic that McKinney Act
funding will increase signifi-
cantly for fiscal year 1990.
Although the federal govern-
ment authorized more than
$600 million in funding for
the last fiscal year, only
$364.8 million was appropri-
ated. This year, both houses
of Congress have appropri-
ated about $600 million and
the legislation is currently in
conference.
Signed into law by former
President Ronald Reagan in
July 1987, the McKinney Act
provides money through
federal departments to a
variety of cities, states and
individual non,profit organi-
zations that offer assistance to
the homeless.
Nonprofit organizations
within New York City that
have received funding include
Covenant House, the Bowery
Residents Committee Human
Services Corporation,
Fountain House, Argus
Community Inc. and St.
Vincent's Hospital.
In the few years that the
McKinney Act was estab-
lished, the funding stream has
never been swift oecause of
complicated procedures.
According to a report ~ y the
General Accounting Office,
funds distributed to shelters by
the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA)
were handed out after
February with the requirement
that all funds be spent by
September 30th, or returned.
As a result, the report states,
many shelters had no FEMA
funds from September 30th
through February. The report
notes that some improvements
have been made in the last
year, but funds are still not
being dispersed as rapidly as
they could be.
The Interagency Council on
the Homeless was established
to disseminate information as
well as monitor programs
receiving McKinney funds but
homeless advocates charge
that so far the agency has not
lived up to its mandate. "One
of the main problems with the
McKinney Act is the inter-
agency council," says Joan
Alker of the National Coali-
tion for the Homeless. "They
were not getting information
out to providers. Their
newsletter would arrive after
deadlines for funding had
passed."
Alker says that a new
director was recently ap-
pointed to the council and
since then performance has
improved slightly. 0 Lisa
Glazer
FIRE FIGHT
It's been more than three
years since a fire struck 306
West 51 st Street, leaving eight
of the building's 39 apart-
ments scorched. Instead of
repairing the damaged
apartments, the landlords
proceeded to wreak more
destruction and then filed in
court for permission to
demolish the rent-regulated
building. The landlords-
Mordy and Pinky Sohn-may
soon get their wish.
State Supreme Court Judge
Francis Pecora ruled last year
in favor of the Sohns' applica-
tion to evict the rent-controlled
tenants and not renew the
leases of the rent-stabilized
tenants, paving the way for
the building's Clemolition. The
Sohns claim they will erect a
40-unit building at the site,
which will not oe subject to
rent regulations. The decision
is headed for Appellate Court
later this month, where New
York Lawyers for the Public
Interest Attorney Marla
Simpson will try to have Judge
Pecora's ruling overturned.
Soon after the March 1986
fire, the Sohns ripped up part
of the roof and gutted
apartments untouched by the
fire. A Criminal Court case is
now pending for the illegal
demolition work. Pinky Sohn is
technically the owner of 306
West 51 st Street, and Mordy
Sohn, named to the Vi/lage
Voice's 10 worst landlord list
for his role in the Clinton
building' s travails and a
compatriot of convicted
arsonist Joe Bald, the manag-
ing agent.
The holes in the roof
caused massive water damage
as rain flooded apartments
unscathed by the fire. With
holes in the roof and no heat,
a pipe burst, flood ing pre-
viously undamaged apart-
ments. Fire-damaged apart-
ments were also gutted, with
the Sohns' workers tossing out
functioning appliances and
plumbing fixtures .
Because of these action, the
tenants filed a harassment
complaint with the state
Division of Housing and
Community Renewal (DHCR) .
But Judge Pecora ruled that
DHCR suspend its investiga-
tion and in his final decision
declared there was no
evidence of harassment.
Any request to demol ish a
rent-regulated building is
normally handled by DHCR.
But the Sohns' lawyers,
Finkelstein, Borah, side-
stepped the administrative
process and petitioned the
court. In his rul ing, Pecora
declared the court' s "concur-
rent jurisdiction" to hear the
case, citing DHCR' s backlog
of administrative reviews.
Perhaps the m o ~ t unusual
aspect of the case was the
finding that the cost of repairs
to the fire-damaged apart-
ments would have precluded
operating the building at a
fair profit. The Sohns claim
it would cost more than
$685,000 to repair the
building and they would not
be able to make an 8.5 per-
cent annual profit following
the expenditure-the state' s
"hardship" threshold.
But Simpson argues the
repair figure is greatly inflated
by adding items such as
parquet floors and plaster to
the renovation tab when less
costly materials like linoleum
and sheetrock would be
sufficient. What's more, in
calculating the repair cost, the
landlords never accounted for
the insurance money they
would receive for the dam-
ages.
Just three months before
the fire, Pinky Sohn signed a
$500,000 mortgage for the
property, substantially
increasing the building's
operating costs. The Sohns
made profits of $24,000 and
$30,000 in the years preced-
ing the fire, according to their
own testimony.
Throughout much of the
three-year ordeal, tenants
have been forced to provide
their own heat and hot water
and make some repairs
themselves. Says tenant leader
Rose Alaio, "We've seen it
aiL" 0 Doug Turetsky
THINK GLOBALLY,
ACT LOCALLY
A growin,9 number of
municipal officials are
beginning to exercise their
local power with a global
perspective, thanks to the
Center for Innovative Diplo-
macy (ClD) . Based in Irvine,
California, ClD promotes local
responses to international
issues such as world peace,
apartheid, pollution and
nuclear weapons and has
8,000 members nationwide.
CID initiatives include
sister-city links that promote
citizen diplomacy, resolutions
passed in favor of a nuclear
weapons freeze and 11 8 laws
banning nuclear weapons
production in local jurisdic-
tions. More than 1 00 cities
have ordered divestment of
public money from firms doing
business in South Africa and
others have declared them-
selves "sanctuaries" for
refugees that the federal
administration refuses to
accept. last year 200 city
officials got together with 100
Nicaraguan mayors to pledge
their commitment to Nica-
ragua's stability.
William Swain, associate
director of ClD, says, "The
real push for municipal for-
eign policy comes from cit-
izens themselves who demand
resolutions with international
impact from their city coun-
cils." To illustrate, he points to
a community group in Tea-
neck, New Jersey, which
successfully persuaded its City
Council to pass a resolution
condemning human rights
violations in Brazil. "The
resolution tells the Brazilian
government that peaple are
watching their actions," he
says. "The violations do not
go unnoticed."
Among the ClD member-
ship in New York is Council
Member and Manhattan
Borough President candidate
Ruth Messinger. Messinger is
co-sponsor of a bill currently
pending in the City Council
that would stregthen sanctions
against companies the city
works with that do business in
South Africa.
Working along the same
lines as ClD, Comptroller
Harrison Goldin has also
token a number of steps
towards promoting foreign
policy through local action.
T ~ e comptroller's office
holds $35 million dollars of
New York City Employees
Retirement Funds in shares of
major corporations. Using its
leverage as a share holder, it
forces compliance with the
Sullivan principles, a set of
human rights standards for
U.S. companies in South
Africa. The comptroller's
office reserves the right to sell
a company's stock if it refuses
to comply. Using the same
divestment strategy, the comp-
troller's office has also pro-
moted equity for Catholics in
Northern Ireland under the
McBride pririciples. Working
with a variety of public in-
terest groups, the comptroller's
office also pressured Exxon to
include a scientist on its board
of directors earlier this year.D
Sharmila Voorakkara
Thou.and. march for Hou.ing Nowl:
New Yorker. made their voice. heard at the October 7th rally.
HOUSING NOW!
More than 160 busloads of
New Yorkers joined with
thousands of others from
across the country at the
October 7th Housing Now!
march on the Mall in Wash-
ington, D.C. Before marchers
even reached the Capitol,
legislative leaders felt the
pressure from the rally and
agreed to one of the organiz-
ers' primary demands: a move
to significantly increase
federal funding for low
income housing.
According to Sylvia
Martinez of the Washington,
D.C. office of the National
Coalition for the Homeless,
both House Sreaker Thomas
Foley (D-WA and Senate
Majority Leader Gearge
Mitchell (D-ME) gave verbal
agreements to introduce
legislation that would raise
federal funding of housing to
the more than $30 billion
authorized annually during
the Carter presidency. In
addition, Department of
Housing and Urban Develop-
ment Secretary Jack Kemp
issued a letter vowing to
expand low income housing
programs.
Introducing legislation does
not automatically mean
funding will be restored and
Martinez cautions that
additional funds will not
automatically be targeted to
the lowest income households.
Still, the Housing Now! rally
clearly sent a signal to
Congress that the twin issues
of housing and homelessness
have gained a prominent
ploce on the public agenda.
Labor unions, the U.S.
Conference of Mayors and the
National Organization for
Women were among the more
than 200 national organiza-
tions that endorsed the march.
Local endorsements came from
organizations ranging from
low income housing advocacy
groups to the Associated
Builders and Owners of New
York.
November 1989 5
Before the rally on the
Mall, a separate march with
children pulling small red
wagons filled with letters
requesting aid for the home-
less proceeded to the steps of
the Capitol. The letters were
presented to House Speaker
Foley.
The October 7th march
was initially planned by
homeless advocate Mitch
Snyder, Barry Zigas of the
National Low Income Housing
Coalition, Rev. Joseph Lowery
of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference and
Louise Stark of the National
Coalition for the Homeless.
Speakers at the rally included
the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Gov.
Richard Celeste (D-OH),
Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn,
Casanova from New York's
Tent City and Hollywood
celebrities like Valerie Harper
(who drew taunts from the
crowd for her seemingly
endless introduction of fellow
performers) . 0 Doug
Turetsky
6 CITY LIMITS
NEIGHBOR
NOTES
Bronx
No appeal: Opponents of the
Tibbett Gardens condo plan lost their
attempt to have the appellate divi-
sion of the state Supreme Court re-
consider an injunction against the
plan. Leaders of the Coalition for
Responsible Planning, which is
opposing the Real Estate Board of
New York's effort to build mostly
market-rate housing on the city-
owned site, say their hopes now rest
with the Court of Appeals or the
mayoral candidates.
Brooklyn
Health aid: East Brooklyn Congre-
gations (EBC), a coalition of 45
churches and one synagogue, is
proposing three new neighborhood
primary care centers for their local-
ity. EBC, which seeks oversight re-
sponsibility for the clinics, is also
calling for the revamping of the state
Urban Health Corps, which brings
doctors and health professionals to
poor communitities to aid local clin-
ics. EBC organizer Leo Penta says the
proposal grew out of local protests
and poor qual-
Ity care .at Kmgs County Hospital...
Housmg for Whom?: A coalition
of organizations from south Wil-
liamsburg rallied recently to protest
inequity within the city's housing
plan for their neighborhood. A state-
ment issued by the Southside Hous-
Committee that local people
will not stand for a housing plan for
the rich and outsiders in our low
income neighborhood, an area which
so desperately needs more housing
for its own people, many of whom
are homeless or doubled and tripled
up. It is criminal that out of 600 new
units proposed for the area, only 150
are for poor people."
Manhattan
Tower inferno: Community Board
7 is considering requests for zoning
variances from the developers who
purchased the Towers Nursing Home
building on Central Park West and
105th Street. The developers, Hous-
ing Futures Inc., hope to build a 26-
story residential tower in the rear
yard of the red-brick landmark build-
ing. The tower would have 230 lux-
ury units and "public amenities"-a
restaurant, a health club and a con-
venience store ...
A group of Clinton residents are
challenging developer Larry Silver-
stein by attempting to overturn the
rezoning of a midtown block near
the Times Square development area.
The plaintiffs, low and moderate
income tenants and one local mer-
chant, are suing the Board of Esti-
mate, charging it gave Silverstein's
42nd Street Associates "a blank
check" by rezoning a block-long
parking lot on West 41st Street so
that high-rise apartments and offices
can be built on the site.
Queens
No fun: A proposal to build a lav-
ish amusement park and recreation
complex at Jacob Riis Park was with-
drawn by the National Park Service
after 600 area residents blasted the
plan this summer. Riis Parkis part of
the Gateway Recreation
Area and the National Park Service
has said it doesn't have the money to
redevelop the park and must rely on
Do you need a
job in housing?
a private developer. Since the pro-
posal was withdrawn, the federal
government has allocated $1 million
to study ways to refurbish the park,
according to Ruth Locke, acting dis-
trict manager of Community Board
14 in the Far Rockaways. "We had a
victory but the fight isn't over," says
Locke, explaining that after the study
is completed, money will still be
needed for upgrading. The plan from
the National Parks Service would
have given a developer a 25- to 30-
year lease on the land for the amuse-
ment park in exchange for building
numerous sports facilities. 0
Heating Up
The city's official heating
season started October 1st. As
the weather turns cold, building
owners are required to maintain
an indoor temperature of at least
68 degrees Fahrenheit between 6
a.m. and 10 p.m. if the tempera-
ture is below 55 degrees outdoors.
From 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., the tem-
perature must be at least 55 de-
grees if the temperature is below
40 degrees outdoors.
Tenants who have problems
with heating should call the city's
Central Complaint Bureau, which
is open seven days a week, 24
hours a day, at (212) 960-4800.
Last year, 14 landlords were
arrested and 10 were jailed for
deliberately not providing heat
and hot water. 0
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"
November1989 7
PIPELINE
Discrimination Busters
Clinic Tackles Fair Housing Complaints
BY MARGUERITE HOLLOWAY
BETWEEN THE FALSE BRICK
facades of the Upper West Side's
newest condos and the crumbling
masonry of Harlem's tenements lies
a middle ground where a new seed to
combat segregation is being sown.
New York City's racial barriers, of-
ten reflected in the disparate physi-
cal conditions of predominantly
white or minority neighborhoods, are
now facing attack from a new fair
housing clinic run by two professors
and 16 students at Columbia
University's Law School.
Professors Harriet Rabb and
Conrad Johnson established
Columbia's Fair Housing Clinic in
September. Armed with new federal
legislation and a staff of second- and
third-year law students, they will
advise, counsel and represent vic-
tims of housing discrimination.
The clinic will work in concert
with the city's established fair hous-
ing advocates, such as the Open
Housing Center, the Puerto Rican
Legal Defense and Education Fund
and the city's Human Rights Com-
mission. These groups are generally
understaffed and underfunded,
making them unable to take many
individual complaints to court. The
comparatively well-staffed Colum-
bia clinic will fill this need.
"We are lucky to be able to do this
without having to worry about pay-
ing the rent and turning on the elec-
tric light," says Johnson, who came
to Columbia this year after a decade
as a Legal Aid Society attorney and a
stint teaching at New York's Public
Interest Law School.
Even though Columbia has an
extensive history of abuse when it
comes to tenants in its own build-
ings (see City Limits, January 1986),
the university has a tradition of
advocacy work. Rabb, a Columbia
professor since 1971, has directed
other clinics there focusing on such
issues as employment discrimina-
tion, immigration and education
policy. Student commitment to the
clinics is passionate: Last spring
demonstrators flooded the dean's
Conrad Johnson ond Horriet Robb:
roking odvontage 01 tougher lair housing legislotion.
office, protesting the closing of the
AIDS Law Clinic.
Amendments With Teeth
The new clinic gained impetus
from recent federal legislation. "The
Fair Housing Amendments Act of
1988 put teeth into the Civil Rights
Act of 1968 with regards to hous-
ing," says Johnson. Although the 1 968
law protected against discrimination
on the basis of race, sex, religion and
national origin, there was little en-
forcement power.
Without the legal clout to combat
housing discrimination, many cities
have remained segregated. Blacks and
whites are no more likely to live and
interact in integrated urban commu-
nities today than they were in 1970,
according to a recent study published
in the journal Demograhpy. And
New York is one of the 10 most seg-
regated cities in the country.
"I don't think there is a predomi-
nantly white area that is predomi-
nantly white by accident," says
Harvey Fisher, director of the Fair
Housing Division of the city's Hu-
man Rights Commission. "Whether
the area has been white for several
generations, or whether it is more
recently all white, you are dealing
with short-term or long-term hous-
ing segregation."
Nationwide, over two million
instances of such discrimination
occur every year, according to De-
partment of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) estimates. But
only one-quarter of one percent of
these are ever filed. In New York
City, only 122 complaints were filed
in 1986-1987, as opposed to 3,669
employment discrimination com-
plaints.
Unlike on-the-job bias, which
haunts people every day they're at
work, housing discrimination can be
more easily shrugged off. "People
just put it behind them," says Rabb.
"They keep looking until they find a
place to live."
Under the 1988 amendments,
protection is also extended to fami-
lies with children (often single moth-
ers are the target of discrimination)
and people with handicaps. Addi-
tionally, ifHUD administrators find
reasonable cause to suspect discrimi-
nation, attorney fees are covered by
the federal government so clients do
not have to court economic ruin
defending their civil rights.
In the past, long delays in process-
ing fair housing cases, sometimes up
8 CITY LIMITS
to several years , have deterred people
from complaining. But the new
amendments guarantee faster action
and open the way for much stiffer
fines and damage awards against
landlords found guilty of discrimi-
nation. Previously, punitive dam-
ages were limited to just $1,000. Now
fines can go as high as $100,000 and
there's no ceiling on compensatory
damages. "If you are compensated
for discrimination, then it becomes
more useful for you to say, 'I won't
jus(put it behind me,'" says Rabb.
Suspicions
In cases where a client suspects
discrimination but has nothing but
suspicions to go on, the Columbia
clinic's staff will encourage the
complainant to consult the Open
Housing Center. "They will send a
white person who fits the profile of
the black person who went before
and see if there is disparate treat-
ment," says Johnson. "If there is,
than the testers have the right to
bring the case. "
If the tester finds discrimination,
a freeze can be put on the apartment.
"And that does a couple of things,"
Johnson con.tinues. "You may end
up with the apartment, and you cre-
ate some leverage on your part against
the landlord."
Most leverage against discriminat-
ing landlords comes from pattern
and practice (class action) suits-an
efficient way of nailing one landlord
for repeated violations. For groups
with limited resources, pattern and
practice suits are the most cost-effec-
tive, joining a number of individu-
als' complaints into one lawsuit.
According to Richard Rivera of
the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and
Education Fund, Columbia's clinic
will use its leverage to best advan-
tage by taking individual rather than
class action cases. "Because of the
size of our staff (four attorneys) we
cannot do a lot of individual com-
plaints. We just get subsumed by
them," says Rivera. "So if we know
there is a place that we can refer
people, that is good. We are always
looking for help."
Harvey Fisher agrees. "It is a good
example of how the law will have a
tangible effect." He adds, "You have
the potential for the clinic taking on
new cases. It is one more player in
the fight against housing segrega-
tion."
Johnson and Rabb say they intend
to take on pattern and practice suits
as well as individual fair housing
complaints. Given the ample evi-
dence that segregation remains ram-
pant in New York, there are plenty of
cases waiting for everybody. 0
The Fair Housing Clinic is located at
435 West 116th Street, Room 8 E 14,
NYC 10027. (212) 854-4291.
Marguerite Holloway is a freelance
writer living in New York.
An All-Day Conference Focusing on Issues of Autonomy and Self Determination
Saturday, November 18, 1989 9:30 a.m. to 4130 p.m.
More than 40 distinguished women, from diverse disciplines, in workshop panels on a host of topics that concern women:
the drug crisis 0 the media 0 education 0 voluntarism 0 crime
o domestiC violence 0 housing 0 mentoring 0 political action
Keynote address by Jewell Jackson McCabe President, Hotlonol Coolltlon of 100 Block Women, Inc.
R.arely do we take the time or have the opportunity to set aside our everyday routines
and look to our visions. The YWCA's Women of Influence conference presents one of those
rare opportunities ....
Add your 'vOice to the stimulating talk, pro'vOcative thought and poSitive action at the
YWCA on November 18.
Cost: $35 YW members/$40 non-members,
YrVVVCA
of Brooklyn
-Melba Tolliver, Conference Choir
includes lunch end free childcere.
For information, call "oi Crouch or
Deborah Gardner at 718/875-1190.
.30 Third Avenue. corner of Atlantic in downtown Brooklyn
(Just a block from BAM)
LEGISLATION
Giving and Getting
LOy, Income Housing Tax
Credits Face Expiration
BY JOANN LUM
FIVE YEARS AGO ASIAN AMERI-
cans for Equality (AAFE) , a nonprofit
community group based in China-
town, decided to build 59
units of housing for low in-
come and homeless families.
The original cost to rehabili-
tate two buildings on Eldridge
Street was $2 million, but a
1987 fire badly damaged one,
nearly doubling the project' s
price tag. With only $1 mil-
lion in hand, AAFE scrambled
for additional funds while
fighting demolition threats
from the city.
housing programs. Its only opponents
were those objecting to the tax bene-
fits and the loss of federal revenue.
The tax credit program, which has
emerged as the main tax incentive
Creative financing:
November 1989 9
tax credits are simply one of the few
tax shelters that remain since the
1986 tax reform act. "Much benefit
goes to wealthy people who have no
interest in low income housing,"
observes Chester Hartman of the
Washington, D.C.-based Institute for
Policy Studies. "If there were tax
credi ts for bow ling alleys, they'd buy
those tax credits."
According to Patrick Johnson, ex-
ecutive director of the National
Equity Fund, which packages tax
credit investments, investors
in his projects can receive a
tax savings of about 20 per-
cent by the end of the 15-
year period during which
apartments must remain af-
fordable to low income ten-
ants. In other words, a cor-
poration that invests $2 mil-
lion could conceivably come
away at the end of the 15
years with a tax savings (from
credits and depreciation) of
$3.4 million. Today, tenants are prepar-
ing to move into the build-
ings. Half the funds for the
project-$2.6 million-came
from the Federal National
Mortgage Association by way
of the Enterprise Foundation.
Fannie Mae's involvement
was largely due to the availa-
bility of housing tax credits
designed to draw investors
into low income housing
projects. "It's taking advan-
tage of corporate money that
wouldn't otherwise be there,"
says Doris Koo, executive di-
rector of AAFE.
In the face of harsh cuts in
federal assistance for low in-
Tax credits helped rehabilitate AAFE's buildings on Eldridge
Street.
The availability of tax cred-
its for a project is based on a
formula that takes into ac-
count the number of units af-
fordable to families with fed-
erally defined low incomes
and acquisi tion and rehabili-
tation costs. In New York
City, for example, a typical
30-unit project might have
15 low income apartments.
If it costs $10,000 per unit to
acquire the property, $6,000
in acquisitional credit could
be available each year. In
addition, if the total devel-
opment costs were $75,000
come housing, community groups
like AAFE have been forced to come
up with innovative-and often daunt-
ingly complicated-ways to finance
low income housing programs .
Among the patchwork of funding
sources put together for neighbor-
hood projects, the tax program has
created partnerships of corporate and
wealthy individual investors and
nonprofit community groups.
. Established as part of the Tax
Reform Act of 1986, many state
housing agencies , for-profit and
nonprofit housing groups and low
income housing advocacy organiza-
tions lobbied for the credits after the
Reagan administration cut various
for producing low income housing,
requires congressional action to con-
tinue after this year.
In the Reagan era, many afford-
able housing advocates saw tax cred-
its as one of the best programs pos-
sible, given the attitude towards
housing on Capitol Hill . "Clearly, it
was easier politically to get funds
this way than to get direct public
appropriations," says Barry Zigas,
president of the National Low In-
come Housing Coalition.
All That's Left
Corporate investors are not at-
tracted to this business out of the
pure desire to do good. The housing
per unit, 90 percent of the re-
habilitation costs for the 15 units
would be eligible for credits, so the
annual rehabilitation credits would
come to $101,250. Total credits for
the project, then, would be $107,250
a year. The low income units would
be affordable to families of four with
incomes of $20,280 or less; a two
bedroom apartment, for example,
could rent for $412 a month includ-
ing utilities.
Each state receives an annual
credit limit of $1.25 per resident,
which comes to about $3 billion
nationally over the 10-year credit
period. In its first year, 1987, only
about 19 percent of the available
credit was used, increasing to 68
10 CITY LIMITS
percent last year. In those two years
the tax credits were used in 4,600
projects to help rehabilitate, build,
or in a few cases, acquire, property
for 120,000 housing units. And,
according to the National Council of
State Housing Agencies, 90 percent
of the $326 million available this
year will be used to develop an esti-
mated 100,000 units.
Enterprise and LIse
As low income housing tax cred-
its become more widely used by cor-
porations , so
has the in-
raised $66 million from 50 corpora-
tions in the first two years of the
program, with estimated $75 to $90
million expected this year. LISC
President Paul Grogan estimates that
these funds will be plowed into about
6,000 low income apartments. Enter-
prise, which works with smaller
projects, has raised some $80 mil-
lion overall, funding more than 50
projects in a dozen cities.
Tax credits can help raise between
one-third to 40 percent of a project's
development costs, according to
Grogan. "Tax
credits by them-
selves are not volvement of
well-financed
organizations
that serve as
intermediaries
between corpo-
rate investors
and neighbor-
hood housing
groups. The
main interme-
diaries are the
Enterprise
Foundation
h
enough to sub-
"Wit tax credits... sidize proj-
ment, which gets scarcer and
scarcer," says Antonio Pagan, execu-
tive director of the Lower East Side
Coalition for Housing Development
Corporation. "With tax credits and
corporations participating in devel-
oping low income housing, we've
found an expressway for completing
the project. If Enterprise hadn't come
in, it would have taken more time to
package and develop a project."
Pagan's group is building Loisaida
Family Houses on East 4th Street,
34-units of permanent housing for
homeless families that will be com-
pleted in January. Half of the nearly
$5 million cost of the project was
raised through tax credit investments.
Some groups have also been able
to use tax credits to maintain a re-
serve fund in case a project runs into
economic difficulties later on. Pagan
adds that working with organizations
like Enterprise and LISC also gave
him "access to an incredible source
of expertise and guidance we couldn't
have had in-house."
we've found an
expressway for
completing the
project. "
ects," he says.
"You need to
combine them
with low inter-
est loans and
other funds."
Many com-
munity groups
around the
country have
been doing just
and the Local
Initiative Support Corporation
(LISC), a nonprofit corporation
founded by the Ford Foundation.
LISC is the largest player, having
that, some quite
successfully. "Our traditional route
was to shop around for whatever tid-
bits of financing we could get from
the city, state and federal govern-
But others see a growing layer of
red tape. Almost everyone agrees that
direct subsidies would be more effi-
cient. Accounting and legal costs in
administering the tax credits are high,
and the cumulative revenue loss from
supporting the credits is about $580
million so far. "Distributing money
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Your community housing insurance professionals
through the tax system is a compli-
cated way of doing it," says Peter
Marcuse, a planning professor at
Columbia Universit y. "And the
people who benefit from it are
wealthy individuals and corpora-
tions. "
Everyone Makes Money
Elizabeth Strom, a planner for
Progress of People's Development
Corporation, an affiliate of Brookl yn
Catholic Charities, agrees that the
program is flawed. Her group is
working on three projects receiving
tax credit money, two of them in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn should be
completed this month. "Enterprise
and Fannie Mae have been helpful
and we couldn't have done it with-
out them," says Strom. "But the idea
that this is an efficient way to fund
housing is ridiculous. The easiest
thing for the government to do would
be to say 'How much money do you
need to construct? Here's the money,
it's with one percent interest.' But
instead they do it in a way that Fan-
nie Mae makes money, every lawyer
on the eastern seaboard makes
money. Even Enterprise makes
money. We pay them more than
$120,000 in fees per project."
Enterprise' s subsidiary, the East-
ern Social Investment Corporation,
which administers the tax credit
funds, receives a fee of eight percent
of equity funds raised. Strom argues
that "with the amount spent on syn-
dication you could build a few more
units of housing."
But Johnson of the National Eq-
uity Fund defends the tax credit
system, estimating that on his proj-
ects the program yields 50 to 70 cents
on the dollar for housing construc-
tion.
Some critics are also concerned
that the tax credit program turns most
of the control over a project to inter-
mediaries and investors. Marcuse
suggests that cuts grassroots groups
out of housing development. "They
have to buy into a high-tech, bureau-
cratic system," he says. "Grassroots
organizations become dependent on
these outside professional groups."
But some with direct experience
disagree. One organizer at Mount
Hope Housing Corporation in the
Bronx says that "partners and inter-
mediaries aren't looking for control
because control means responsibil-
ity. They have an agreement with
their investors and they have to make
sure that's met. But they aren't in any
more of a controlling position than
banks."
The issue of
November 1989 11
natives. While there is legislation
currently pending in Congress to
expand the federal role in housing
production (see City Limits, May
1989), the tax
credit program
control is cen-
tral to any dis-
cussion about
the long-term
affordability of
these housing
projects. Cur-
rently, tax
credit statutes
guarantee the
low income
status of a proj-
ect for 15 years,
"The idea that this
itself needs
congressional
action by De-
cembef 31st or
it will expire.
So far, the
House Ways
and Means
Committee has
voted to perma-
nently extend
the program
[tax credits] is an
efficient way to
fund housing is
ridiculous. "
and the only
threat of a build-
ing becoming a higher income en-
clave during that period is ifthe gov-
ernment recaptures the credits. Com-
munity groups and the tax credit
intermediaries often try to work in
protective mechanisms beyond the
15 years. Some of the methods to
maintain affordability include deed
restrictions, lease provisions that gi ve
nonprofits purchase options and the
regulatory restrictions tied to other
government funding sources. But
Zigas warns that many investors
"won't keep projects low income a
minute longer than they have to."
Whatever the immediate benefits
of tax credits, housing advocates al-
ways stress that there are better alter-
and several
amendments to
expand usage
of the program have been approved.
A similar bill is pending in the Sen-
ate. Since the tax credit provisions
are actually part of the Budget Rec-
onciliation bill, final legislative ac-
tion will probably not occur until the
end of the year.
Meanwhile, community groups are
proceeding with their projects and
welcoming whatever funds they can
put their hands on, including tax
credits. But they are equally aware of
Zigas' observation, "You can't end
the low income housing situation
with this kind of device." 0
JoAnn Lum is a journalist based in
New York City.
Subscribe to
CITY LIMITS
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12 CITY LIMITS
FUTURE SHOCK
Thousands of families will be moving into the South Bronx and Central Harlem as a result
of the city's 10-year housing plan. Are these areas ready for the influx?
BY LISA GLAZER
"This program is literally rebuilding
Harlem, rebuilding the South Bronx ...
These neighborhoods will not be rec-
ognizable five years from now."
-Abraham Biderman, New York
City Housing Commissioner, com-
mentingon the 10-yearhousingplan.
I
t 's 10:30 on a gray Tuesday morn-
ing and 10 women and one man
are in the midst of an orientation
session before moving into apart-
ments owned by the city in the
South Bronx. Jaquetta Dockery in-
troduces herself to her future neigh-
bors: ''I'm 24 and I've got three kids.
We're quiet and friendly. We've spent
one year in the shelter system." Char-
les Joseph chips in, "I'm a single guy,
30 years old, currently living at the
Cambridge Hotel. I'm anxious to
organize my life and get myself to-
gether."
The orientation is taking place in
one of the apartments available for
rent: the walls are freshly painted,
the wood floor is polished, there are
shiny white tiles in the bathroom
and large, modern appliances in the
kitchen. The orientation participants
are sitting in the living room on fold-
out chairs and the sense of hope is as
tangible as the soft, sweet doughnuts
many of them are munching on.
One step outside the front door,
however, and the atmosphere
changes. To the right there's a row of
boarded-up buildings. To the left is a
collection of derelict storefronts.
Across the street is a large lot where
the carcasses of abandoned vehicles
spill onto the sidewalk and the street.
There are about 25 people shuffling
around amid the rubble, distributing
car parts and selling crack. Right
next to the lot is a city-owned build-
ing that still hasn't been fixed up.
The front door is unlocked and pock-
marked with bullet holes.
Now in it's third year, the city's
10-year, $5.1 billion housing plan is
New start?
Formerly homeless families in an oreinta
tion se .. ion before moving into permanent
housing. Half a block away from the new
housing is a lot strewn with carca .. es of
abandoned vehicles.
starting to produce results. Thou-
sands of families, many from the
welfare hotels, are moving into newly
renovated, city-owned housing,
much ofit located in the South Bronx
and Harlem. These are areas where
drug use is rampant, crime is high,
and social services as well as the
physical infrastructure are stretched
to meet the needs of current resi-
dents-yet the city is barely looking
beyond bricks and mortar to con-
sider the broader needs of these
communities (see sidebar, page 16).
Eloise Banks, who chairs the
housing committee of Community
Board 10 in Central Harlem, says,
"We watched buildings die right in
front of our eyes. A lot of people
moved out or were burnt out. Now
the buildings are getting fixed up
and we're welcoming people back
into the neighborhood. But we need
more than just housing."
Herb Samuels, chairman of Com-
munity Board 4 in the South Bronx,
adds, "I see an acceleration in the
provision of housing but there's a
very limited amount of support serv-
ices to go along with it. There's a lot
of activity but very little planning."
This month, the first of more than
800 families are moving into a six-
block stretch of rehabilitated build-
ings in Community Board 4 in the
South Bronx and a similar effort will
produce apartments for more than
700 new families in Community
Board 10 in Central Harlem starting
in December 1990. These apartments
are just one part of a massive wave of
new housing, which could bring more
than 5,000 new families to each
community board by the middle of
the next decade, according to Catie
Marshall, a spokesperson for the
city's Department of Housing Preser-
vation and Development (HPD).
Advocates and policy analysts are
debating the ramifications of the 10-
year plan while at the same time a
variety oflocal officials, community
groups and philanthropies are scram-
bling to serve the families moving
into the new apartments renovated
through the plan. Tentative steps
have been made towards planning,
particularly within HPD's Construc-
tion Management Program, but a
broad array of local experts say that
unless the city expands these efforts,
the new housing may face a rapid
decline.
"Planning in
the comprehen-
sive way is not
being done," says
Bernd Zimmer-
mann, the former
head of Bronx
City Planning
who now works
for Borough
President Fer-
nando Ferrer. "If
you don't do this,
you risk your in-
vestment."
"By just devel-
oping housing
units the city is
dealing with
physical devel-
opment," adds
Diane Morales,
director of com-
munity services
in Harlem for Borough President and
mayoral candidate David Dinkins.
"We also need to address the issue of
human development. Unless the two
happen hand in hand, you're creat-
ing another ghetto. If would be a real
pity to put all this money into qual-
ity housing and have it all go down
the tubes."
Focus Resources
If there's anyone person with an
overview of what's going to happen
in the next few years in the South
Bronx and Central Harlem, it's proba-
bly Berle Driscoll. Working with a
team of researchers, Driscoll recently
compiled a voluminous report on
health care, schools and job training
in community boards 4 and 10 for a
philanthropic organization, the Edna
McConnell Clark Foundation.
Summing up her findings, Dris-
coll says, "Anything in human serv-
ices is in crisis in these neighbor-
hoods. There's a critical need for
youth programming. And in both
communities the greatest need is for
coordination and more comprehen-
sive programs." In light of the hous-
ing efforts and the influx of new
residents, she recommends focusing
attention and resources on both these
community boards.
Officials from City Hall are quick
to oppose this sort of suggestion.
After all, they say, in the era of tight
local budgets and depleted federal
funding, every New York neighbor-
hood needs services. But statistics
show that some neighborhoods are
undoubtedly needier than others.
After nearly a decade of Reagan-
omics, the median income in Com-
munity Board 10 in Central Harlem
and Community Board 4 in the South
Bronx remains less than $10,000
and more than a third of the popula-
tion in each area survives on public
assistance. Central Harlem has the
highest death rate in the city and the
proportion of teen births is nearly-
double that of the rest of the city. In
the South Bronx, nearly 20 percent
ofthe population has no medical in-
surance and according to the last
census, 53 percent of the population
did not have a high school diploma.
It's difficult to understand these
statistics without reviewing recent
history. Although Harlem and the
South Bronx both have proud pasts,
in the last 20 years they were deci-
mated by waves of arson and aban-
donment and much of the middle
class population fled to the suburbs.
During the fiscal crisis ofthe 1970s,
New York embarked on an unofficial
policy of "planned shrinkage" and
services in these areas were allowed
to deteriorate. At the same time, the
city became a major property holder
because numerous landlords failed
to pay back taxes. Some buildings
from this era were demolished, oth-
ers remained empty, and some con-
tinued to have tenants, who paid
rent to HPD's Office of Central Man-
agement.
November 1989 13
The majority of city-owned prop-
erty is located in the South Bronx,
Harlem and parts of Brooklyn, and
city officials say this is the reason
that most of the new housing, espe-
cially for formerly homeless fami-
lies, is being built in these areas. As
housing official Peter Cantillo puts
it, "What's our choice? Leave the
homeless in midtown Manhattan or
try and place them in these, granted,
fragile neighborhoods ... and see what
can be done?"
Limited Progress
So how's the city doing? Once a
family moves into a new neighbor-
hood, two of the basic tasks are trans-
ferring children into schools and
learning about local resources. Late
planning and limited communica-
tion between bureaucracies is ham-
pering even these efforts.
This month, the first of more than
800 families are moving into Con-
struction Management Program
apartments on Walton and Townsend
avenues in the South Bronx. Smack
in the middle of the new housing is
P.S. 64, an elementary school where
kindergarteners are currently being
bussed to another school because of
lack of classroom space.
Commenting in September on the
effect that the new housing will have
on the school. assistant principal
Adrienne Holder said, "What we
know about the new housing, we get
by word of mouth." She was subse-
quently contacted by the sponsor of
the housing, Settlement Housing
Fund, as well as the borough
president's office-just weeks before
the new families were scheduled to
arrive. Arrangements to transfer the
sixth grade students to the local junior
high are now being 'fast-tracked so
the school can accommodate the
newcomers.
This catch-up work is also occur-
ring at the upper levels of the Board
of Education. At the same time as
HPD was implementing its 10-year
housing plan, the Board of Educa-
tion was writing a five-year strategy
for the newly-formed Schools Con-
struction Authority. Because of dif-
ficulty obtaining information about
where the new housing would be
located, Amy Linden, chief execu-
tive for school facilities, says, "I know
that initially District 5 (in Central
Harlem) and District 9 (in the South
14 CITY UMITS
Bronx) were not given priority."
Linden says the plan is now being
revised to consider the needs of the
families about to move into these
areas and representatives from the
Board of Education, the housing
department and the Human Re-
sources Administration (HRA) are
communicating regularly.
Michael Levine, senior assistant
to the schools chancellor, says that
the Board of Ed has a team of five
educators who have worked with
homeless families who will be help-
ing school districts receiving relo-
cated families . He adds that these
districts are also targeting relocated
families for drop-out prevention and
parent outreach programs.
"We've been aware of the scope of
the housing for about a year now and
there's been a technical transfer of
data about the new housing within
the last three or four months," he
says.
Besides transferring children to
schools, another key step for relo-
cated families is learning about local
resources. When formerly homeless
families move into a new apartment,
a caseworker from the HRA's Office
of Family Services (OFS) is supposed
to visit within the first five days to
introduce the newcomers to the com-
munity and provide assistance with
tasks such as transferring income
maintenance checks. According to
the mayor's most recant management
report, 3,667 families were relocated
last year from the welfare hotels, but
OFS caseworkers never visited more
than 500 of these families .
James McKeon, OFS director in
the Hunts Point-Longwood section
ofthe Bronx, offers a partial explana-
tion for this gap,
saying that
and 40 families to visit, and the
number is rising as more housing is
completed. "We've had massive
changes in the last year. More than
three-quarters of our caseload is now
relocated families. By next month
one or two of the caseworkers might
have 45 families to visit."
The mayor's management report
notes that 3 7
percent of the
families who
have just moved
out of the shel-
ter system may
not be inter-
ested in meeting
with a represen-
tative of HRA.
AformerOFS
caseworker,
who now works
for another city
agency, has a
different expla-
nation. "We
were inundated
at OFS," she
says. "We were
never really able
to develop ties to
This month the
first of more than
800 families are
moving into rehab-
bed apartments.
Smack in the
middle of the new
housing is an over-
caseworkers at
OFS quit their
jobs in the last
fiscal year, and
OFS is cur-
rently recruit-
ing for more
staff-but
these posi-
tions are now
in question be-
cause of the
city's hiring
freeze.
Besides
schools and
referral to lo-
cal resources,
crowded school.
the families. I left
because I wanted to work somewhere
I could really have an effect."
McKeon says that his four case-
workers usually have between 35
another obvi-
ous service in
any neigh-
Housing Rehabilitation
borhood is street cleaning. In many
parts of Central Harlem and the South
Bronx, this is clearly lacking: rancid
garbage gathers in front of storefronts,
sidewalks are cracked and the streets
are riddled with potholes.
These impressions are backed up
by the mayor's most recent manage-
ment report, which notes that eight
of the city's 59 sanitation districts
had less than half their streets
cleaned to "acceptable" levels. Five
of these eight districts were located
in the South Bronx and Harlem. These
five districts also experienced a sig-
nificant decline in cleanliness from
the previous year, according to the
report.
A Look at Community Boards 4 & 10
Number of housing units
being rehabilitated
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
Total: 5380
[=:J Planned
~ In construction
_ Completed
"Number of units is
slightly more than
number of apart-
ments that will
result because of
consol idation.
Housing Effort
Community Board 4
in the South Bronx
Community Board 10
in Central Harlem
(Source: NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
as of October 1989. Does not include new construction.)
Despite the overall lack of plan-
ning, a few departments within city
agencies have begun to address the
broader needs of the communities
where families are being placed. At
the forefront of this effort is the
Division of Homeless Housing at
HPD. "There's an enormous need for
comprehensive planning around the
repopulation of communities within
the 10-year plan," says Assistant
Commissioner Stephen Nor-
man.
Norman's office is working
on coordination at a number of
levels: at the ground level ,
families who move into apart-
ments within the Special Ini-
tiatives Program (SIP) attend
an orientation seminar where
they meet representatives from
the local school and commu-
nity district, as well as learn-
ing skills including the way to
fix fuse boxes and how to form
tenant associations.
However, limited resources
are hampering the effect of the
orientation. At a recent SIP
orientation session, at least a
third of the participants were
Sranish speaking, yet neither
o the tenant educators was
fully bilingual. Millie Velez,
the orientation coordinator, is
fluent in Spanish, but she
rarely has time to translate.
"This is something we need to
work on," she acknowledges.
On a wider policy level, HPD
In construction:
November 1989 15
An urban planner working
with the Housing Develop-
ment Institute, Peg Seip is co-
ordinating services for CMP
buildings due to open in 1991
in the Highbridge section of
the South Bronx in Commu-
nity Board 4. The city has
made a commitment to open
one day-care center, but Seip
and a local community group,
South Bronx People for
Change, are battling for up to
five new day-care centers.
"You just can't relocate 20,000
kids into a neighborhood
where the schools are over-
crowded and day-care centers
can't meet the needs," she
says.
Formerly abandoned buildings are now being renovated.
has shown a rare flash of bu-
reaucratic flexibility and
changed the composition of the
families moving into SIP buildings
from 100 percent formerly homeless
to half formerly homeless and the
rest low and moderate income fami-
lies. Norman says that the larger clus-
ters of SIP buildings will include
space for referral agencies and 50
day-care centers are in design or con-
struction in conjunction with reha-
bilitated housing for families from
the city's shelter system.
South Bronx People for
Change had to stage a protest
in September at the Agency
for Child Development before
a representative from the
agency agreed to meet with
their group. The subsequent
meeting in October brought
200 people demanding in-
creased day care, according
to People for Change member
Taty Ferrer, who says, "A lot
"Day care is clearly a critical area,"
he says. "We have to deal with real-
ity-a lot of the families from the
welfare hotels are led by women.
Whenever we have suitable space in
our buildings we call in the Agency
for Child Development to do day
care."
Within the Division of Homeless
Housing, the effort generating the
greatest amount of optimism is the
Construction Management Program
(CMP), which transfers renovated
clusters of buildings to nonprofit
housing developers.
Carol Lamberg, executive director
of Settlement Housing Fund, which
is the sponsor of the CMP housing on
Townsend and Walton avenues in
the South Bronx says, "We're con-
tracting to Citizens Advice Bureau to
make sure entitlements are trans-
ferred, Alexander's is going to staff
and run an employment program and
the city is building a new day-care
center. I've gone from panic and
despair to working on this and get-
ting some response. Now we're very
excited. We think that when the
tenants come in it will have a very
positive impact on the community."
However, she adds, "We're getting
promises but I'm still worried about
implementation. "
Settlement Housing is just one of
a number of nonprofit developers,
including the New York City Hous-
ing Authority and the Housing De-
velopment Institute of the Archdio-
cese of New York, that are getting
ready to take over CMP buildings.
Even though broader needs are being
addressed in all these efforts, many
involved in the projects say these are
only the first steps toward adequate
service provision-and note that the
apartments being provided by the
division of homelesshousing are just
one part of a much larger amount of
housing that is being built without
social service linkage.
of the mothers who are moving in
want to work or go to school, and
they can't do that without day care.
We're going to fight to get this."
No Heat
On August 9th, 1988 Frances
Torres and herthreet:hildren, Pedro,
Rafael and Frances, moved out of the
Prince George Hotel and into a city-
owned apartment on Walton Ave-
nue near 167th Street in the South
Bronx. "When we first arrived there
was no heat and hot water and that
was how it was all winter. We had to
eat restaurant food and we used gas
from the stove to keep the apartment
warm," she says.
The building the Torres family
lives in used to be run by HPD's
Office of Central Management and is
now part of a city-sponsored private
ownership program. After months of
protests, the heat and hot water were
turned on, but other problems per-
sist.
The entrance to the building where
the Torres family lives is blocked by
junkies and drug transactions take
place in an alley below the building.
"This is a high crime, high drug area,"
16 CITY LIMITS
says Frances Torres, noting that two
people were recently murdered
across the street from her new home.
Torres also adds that she has not
yet recei ved a visit from the Office of
Family Services and the schools she
sends her children to are over-
crowded. "I feel frustrated," she says.
"Every time I open one door another
10 close behind me."
Last year 2,100 families from the
welfare hotels moved into apartments
being run by HPD's Office of Central
Management. Although many of
these buildings are slated for im-
provements, they are notorious for
being among the city's worst hous-
ing, with innumerable code viola-
tions and a history of negligent
ownership.
Relatively few families from the
welfare hotels and transitional shel-
ters are lucky enough to move into
large-scale housing programs with
day care, employment training and
other social services. Many families
will wind up in scattered apartments
where this sort of social service link-
age is not being planned.
FarSighted Foundation
Despite the city's lack of coordi-
nated planning, the Edna McConnell
Clark Foundation has provided $2.5
million in funding for a wide array of
researchers and organizations work-
ing with relocated families.
"We were concerned that the
majority of the families were moving
into fragile neighborhoods, so we set
out to find out what services are out
there, which groups should expand,"
says Susan Notkin, director of pro-
grams for homeless families for the
foundation.
Across the city many of the inno-
vative efforts surrounding the new
housing are being funded by the Clark
Foundation. Funding was given to
urban researcher Sarah Greenblatt,
who is developing an intensive case
managment model for families in
need of close assistance, as well as to
the Single Parents Resource Center,
which works directly with 30 fami-
lies on tenant empowerment issues.
The Clark Foundation also funded
the Metis Associates report, which
lists services in community boards 4
and 10, as well as offering assess-
ments of these services and policy
suggestions.
The Metis report recommends that
along with the new housing, ap-
proaches that look at strengthening
families as well as community groups
should be considered. With under-
stated force, it concludes, "The alter-
native to policy revision is contin-
ued drug abuse, crime, early death
and further deterioration of an urban
infrastructure presently incapable of
meeting the needs of its citizens."
At the end of the three-day orien-
tation session, the participants have
become close and chatty. Sitting in
the hallway at the HPD office, wait-
ing for his lease, Charles Joseph
describes how he managed to sur-
vive his stay at the Cambridge Hotel.
"I got through it because I try to think
positively and just be patient until
something materializes. I knew the
city would come around eventually
and meet my expectations."
Unless the city starts to look ahead
and address the lack of services-
ranging from day care to garbage
collection-in the South Bronx and
Central Harlem, these expectations
could be dashed. If this doesn't hap-
pen, the new housing could easily
become another sad example of short-
term planning that leads to long-
term disaster. []
November 1989 17
ORGANIZE
When Community Groups Cut a Deal,
Who Wins?
BY JENNIFER STERN
COLUMBUSCENTERINMANHAT-
tan and Metrotech in downtown
Brooklyn are just two of a growing
number of large-scale projects in the
city that have been modified or
temporarily waylaid by well-organ-
ized community opposition. In bQth
the Metrotech and Columbus Center
cases, opponents settled their chal-
lenges with the developer only to
have new opposition groups arise.
What's going on here? Does anybody
represent communitywide interests
or is everybody just going for a slice
of the settlement pie?
Columbus Center
The battle over what edifice would
eventually stand at Columbus Circle
has been a long one, dating far before
the Board of Estimate's 1987 approval
ofthe mammoth 2.7 million square-
foot building to be developed by
Boston Properties and Salomon
Brothers. The approval sent tremors
through the surrounding neighbor-
hoods, whose three community
boards opposed the project, and ulti-
mately precipitated two lawsuits,
which were filed and argued in tan-
dem. The first suit was led by the
Municipal Art Society (MAS), a high
profile, citywide group that paid the
bill for the legal challenge and in-
cluded as plaintiffs the Parks Coun-
cil, three members of the local com-
munity boards' Tri-board Task Force
(who filed as individuals) and a resi-
dent of the Coliseum Park Apart-
ments. The second set of plaintiffs
were the Clinton Planning Council
and the Clinton Coalition of Con-
cern, who were represented by Marla
Simpson of the New York Lawyers
for the Public Interest.
Upper West Side celebrities like
Jackie Onasis and Bill Moyers led a
protest in which thousands came
with raised umbrellas to symbolize
the s ~ a d o w s the project would cast
over the southern end of the park.
But this protest cast its own shadow
over less glamorous issues of equal
Columbus Circle:
Conflicting voices from the community about appropriate development.
concern to many of the project's
opponents.
Filed in state court, the lawsuits
addressed a number of issues and
environmental concerns including
air pollution and the potential dis-
placement of nearby businesses and
residents due to spiraling property
values. The suits also charged that
the city, which was to reap one-half
of the agreed upon $455 million
purchase price, had illegally sold
the developers a zoning bonus-the
right to erect a building 20 percent
bigger than zoning rules allowed in
exchange for a $40 million upgrade
of the Columbus Circle subway sta-
tion.
In December 1987 the state Su-
preme Court ruled against the zon-
ing bonus, a decision that is now
being appealed. On the heels of the
court decision, the project suffered a
second blow when Salomon Broth-
ers, a partner and prime tenant in the
project, pulled out of the deal.
Boston Properties went back to
the drawing board, hiring a new
architect, David Childs of Skidmore,
Ownings and Merrill, to design a
smaller building more in the spirit of
traditional West Side architecture.
Childs' first design was rejected by
community groups as still too big;
the second-175 feet shorter than
the original-was ultimately ac-
cepted as part of a legal settlement
hammered out in a series of meetings
last April.
According to Edward Kirkland, a
plaintiff who had represented Com-
munity Board 4 On the Tri-Board
Task Force, the initial decision to
settle was made by MAS and the
agreement on the building'S design
and bulk was presented to the other
litigants as a fait accompli. But other
parties were heavily involved in
negotiations over other details of the
settlement, including an agreement
by the developer to provide commu-
nity space within the project and
agreement by the city to provide 120
units oflow income housing near the
site. The final project , in fact, is
smaller than allowed under current
zoning guidelines for the site. Those
signing on to the settlement agreed
to pursue no further suits against the
project.
In a triumphant news conference
on April 19th, the city and developer
heralded the settlement. But their
enthusiastic announcement masked
the continued opposition of many
community members. Although
18 CITY UMITS
Community Board 5 endorsed the
settlement several days later, both
boards 4 and 7 condemned the set-
tlement , arguing the building would
still be too big and the decisionmak-
ing process was still flawed. (As part
of the settlement, officials agreed
never to sell a city-owned site with-
out first consulting with the local
community. Just several weeks later,
the city selected the developer for
the Arverne Urban Renewal Area,
again without consulting community
leaders on the final decision.)
But the battle over Columbus
Center continued. In September, a
new group, the Coalition Against
Columbus Center, spearheaded by
State Sen. Manfred Ohrenstein and
comprised of a number of groups
and individuals including the Coali-
tion for a Livable West Side, filed
two lawsuits-a federal suit address-
ing improprieties in the deal and a
taxpayer's suit. Mary Brendle, dis-
trict assistant to Ohrenstein, says the
senator decided to pursue the suits
when a questionnaire mailed to
constituents got what she calls an
"unheard of" 2,200 replies against
the project.
With the filing of the new suits,
the finger pointing has begun. The
Coalition Against Columbus Center -
accuses the Municipal Art Society
and its co-plaintiffs of making too
much of a compromise. Those who
settled question what a new suit could
achieve.
The Coalition, which at presstime
had raised more than $13,000 of the
estimated $50,000 needed for its legal
challenges, has the goal "to declare
the sale null and void and have a
process of planning first (for the
Columbus Circle site) . Public land
should have a public purpose," says
Brendle, asserting that the city should
plan for the most appropriate use,
then issue a Request for Proposals.
Brendle says that MAS saw the
third plan for the site as "a graceful
way to get out of it and claim a
victory," since the organization was
having a hard time coming up with
the money to continue the suit. Al-
though MAS originally hired Peter
Paden of Teitelbaum & Hiller as their
attorney, board member Phillip
Howard was handling the the ap-
peal, Brendle points out.
Edward Kirkland, Stephen Wilder
and Ethel Sheffer were MAS's co-
plaintiffs in the suit, essentially
representing their respective com-
munity boards although they filed as
individuals. All three agree the build-
ing is still too big, but their reactions
to the settlement range from minor
disappointment to a fierce assertion
that more was ultimately achieved
through the political settlement than
could have been accomplished
through further litigation.
"The Municipal Art Society was
paying, and they decided they' d
gotten as much as they could," says
Kirkland. "Their lawyers told us they
couldn't win another suit."
He adds, "We were a little disap-
pointed, but we could understand.
They spent hundreds of thousands
of dollars. (To continue the suit) we
would have had to raise the money
oursel ves."
Sheffer also contends that MAS
was right to settle. "You have to weigh
whether continued litigation would
result in some of the gains we think
we were able to achieve, " she says.
Wilder echoes her view. "We've
won enough of a victory," he says.
"One of the horrors of (the battle
over) Westway is that it went on too
long-like Vietnam. There's a point
at which you have to admit you're
defeated." Yet he says he believes
the settlement represents the inter-
ests of the community.
So who's right? Establishment
sentiment is against the Ohrenstein
suit. The New York Times calls it
"perverse-and costly-obstruction-
ism." The mayor unleashed a major
public relations offensive, claiming
that if the suit continues it will cause
an alarming city budget deficit-al-
though the city has actually included
the sale price of the site in its ex-
pense budget since 1986 and has
been carrying the deficit created by
its inclusion since then.
City officials have portrayed the
Municipal Art Society and its associ-
ates as the responsible opponents
who struck a reasonable bargain. Yet
that bargain was presented to MAS's
allies as a done deal. Although they
all negotiated the specifics of the
settlement package, their bargaining
position was certainly weakened
once MAS had decided, in a series of
private lunch meetings with city
officials, to withdraw its suit. Two of
the three affected community boards
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November 1989 19
stricted to the approximately 65
households whose incomes would
qualify them for housing authority
apartments. According to Lynn Kelly,
a staff attorney in Legal Aid's Ap-
peals and Law Reform unit, the group
had actually won an agreement from
the city and developer to provide
low income housing on and off site
as part ofthe 1987 Board of Estimate
resolution on Metrotech, but went to
court later that year to force the city
and developer to finalize the details.
The group had originally met with
STAND, says Kelly, to consider join-
ing their causes, but STAND wanted
to pursue environmental issues while
the low income group decided to
pursue issues specific to them. Kelly
notes that the low income tenants
also could not afford the dues re-
quired for STAND membership.
Artist's rendering 0' the Metrotech development.
Although the
December 1988
settlement pro-
duced no changes
in the project, it
offered individual
STAND members
very generous
terms to relocate.
Property owners
were given an
advance from the
developer based
on the condemna-
tion offer from the
city. Commercial
tenants were given
money and assis-
tance to relocate
their businesses.
And residential
tenants were of-
fered either the op-
portunity to move
The developer eventually agreed
to rehabilitate a historic firehouse on
the Metrotech site and several build-
ings in Prospect Heights for the ten-
ants. The buildings will be managed
by the New York Urban Coalition's
objected to the settlement, as did the
Coalition for a Livable West Side. So
who is ultimately representing-and
determining-the community's di-
verse interests?
Metrotech
The battle over Metrotech, a 16-
acre development of office and
academic buildings in downtown
Brooklyn by Forest City Ratner
Enterprises and Polytechnic Univer-
sity, has been fought much more
quietly and ultimately on a more
modest scale. The controversy, which
began over the appropriateness of
the project itself, eventually came to
focus on relocation oflocal residents
and businesses.
Soon after its approval by the Board
of Estimate in 1987, a coalition of
local residents, businesses and arj:
ists who lived and worked in lofts
organized a group called STAND
(Stand Together Against Neighbor-
hood Decay) and filed a lawsuit
challenging the project on environ-
mental and historic preservation
issues. They were represented by the
law firm of Berle, Kass and Case,
famed for its role in the battle against
Westway. According to Michael
Gerrard, a partner in the firm, the
group's original intention was to stop
the project or to effect major revi-
sions in it. But before the case was
decided the group reached a settle-
ment with the developers.
into one of22 units
in a Prospect Heights school build-
ing being renovated as apartments
by Forest City (seven STAND mem-
bers selected
that option) or
to accept cash
settlements
non profi t man-
agement arm
and for four
ranging from
$123,000 to
$685,000 based
on the size of
their living
space. The set-
tlement was
limited only to
STAND's ap-
proximately 40
members, each
of whom had
paid sizable
dues to cover
Members of the
STAND organization
were offered very
generous terms to
relocate from the
Metrotech site.
years tenants
will pay the
same rent as in
their former
apartmen ts.
After that most
tenants will
pay up to 30
percent oftheir
household in-
comes in rent.
The developer
also set aside
an operating
legal costs.
Why did
STAND mem-
bers give up their high-minded aspi-
rations to alter the project and settle
instead for personal gain ? STAND
leader Donna Henes failed to return
several phone calls. Their attorney
says simply, "They reached the con-
clusion their interests were best rep-
resented by the settlement they got."
A second suit was filed against the
project in 1987 by the Legal Aid
Society. The class action suit sought
housing for low income tenants who
would be displaced by the project,
and the eventual settlement was re-
fund. Other op-
tions were of-
fered to those
not interested
in the new housing, including those
who wanted to move out ofthe area.
The ultimate aim of the group,
says Kelly, was not to stop the proj-
ect but to ensure that low income
housing was part of the project plan.
Although she is pleased with the
settlement, she says, " It was a waste
of legal resources to do these cases
when the city could have provided
housing in the first place."
With all that money floating
around for settlements, a new group
soon appeared. SURVIVE was formed
20 CITY LIMITS
last February to represent 41 house-
holds and businesses not covered in
the previous settlements. Like those
pursuing the last Columbus Center
suit, SURVIVE has been denounced
as irresponsible and Public Develop-
ment Corporation President James
Stuckey has charged that SURVIVE
members are newcomers who did
not live in the area when the project
was approved.
According to SURVIVE attorney
David Ng, most members of the group
had 'Ii ved or had their businesses on
the site prior to the Board of Estimate
decision. And of the 10 to 15 that had
moved in afterwards, Ng says, "They
did not know they would be evicted.
Their landlords did not tell them
they were moving onto a develop-
ment site."
SURVIVE member Ken Knapp says
he and others did not join STAND for
a number of reasons: some because
they could not afford the fees, some
because they did not know about it
and others, like himself, who did not
think they needed to. "I thought I'd
be dealt with fairly," says Knapp.
Until SURVIVE was organized and
began threatening to hold up the
project in court, says, the city's
Department of Housing Preservation
and Development, which is respon-
sible for relocations in urban renewal
areas, had done a "shoddy job" of
fulfilling its legal responsibilities.
"They have shown people inferior
places in bad neighborhoods," he
says. (Under federal relocation law,
the city is required to offer residents
comparable units and to pay up to
$4,200 in moving expenses and as an
initial rent subsidy.)
The group fought their eviction
notices from February, when the first
group members received them, until
September, when SURVIVE reached
an agreement with the city. In the
agreement SURVIVE members con-
sented to move out and the city to
make a good faith effort to find
comparable apartments. In addition,
the developer agreed to pay the group
more than $2 million, which was
divvied up among SURVIVE mem-
bers.
So who represented the commu-
nity here? Ultimately no one. STAND
started out as a group purporting to
represent the interests of the com-
munity, but ended up accepting a
deal for its own members. The
broader questions about the project
were never addressed. 0
SUPPORT SERVICES FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
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HEAT has presented tangible opportunities for tenant associations, housing coops. churches,
community organizations, homeowners and small businesses to gain substantial savings and
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Working collaboratively with other community service organizations with similar goals. and
working to establish its viability as a business entity, HEAT has committed its revenue gener-
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November 1989 21
CITY VIEWS
Help or Hype?
H
When Banks Open Community
Development Corporations
BY ERROL T. LOUIS
IT'S NO SECRET TO COMMUNITY
activists that many of the problems
facing lower income neighborhoods
can be traced directly to the policies
of banking institutions, many of
which routinely restrict access to
credit and banking services.
The shameful record, while well-
documented, is worth repeating here.
Even when income is taken into
account, there is a long-standing
pattern of New York City banks ~
denying mortgages to applicants from ~
Latino and African-American areas, ~
while white neighborhoods with l:
virtually identical income levels get z ~
two or three times the number of U
loans (see City Limits, February 1989). Errol T.Louis:
As a study by State Sen. Franz Malee the best of what's availa&le, but push
Leichter noted, waves of bank branch for more.
closings have tended to take place in
lower income areas, while wealthy
and suburban districts have gained
branches. Things have gotten so bad
that shortly before the September
primary the mayor threatened to stop
depositing city funds in banks that
pull out of low income areas.
It wasn't supposed to happen this
way. Most ofthe major banks in New
York have set up entire institutions-
bank-sponsored community devel-
opment corporations (CDCs)-to deal
with their own shortcomings in
community reinvestment. Some of
these bank CDCs have been innova-
tive and helpful, others less so.
Nationwide, about 45 CDCs have
been started by banks, beginning in
the early 1970s. Like other CDCs,
these institutions are chartered with
the mission of helping to meet the
development needs of low income
areas. That can mean making low
income housing loans, grants to
community groups or serving as an
economic catalyst by arranging
complex financial packages for a
community project.
City Views is a forum for opinion
and does not necessarily reflect
the views of City Limits.
Unlike most community develop-
ment corporations, the overwhelm-
ing majority of bank-sponsored CDCs
are designed as profit-making ven-
tures. While many have community
advisors, final decision-making is of-
ten left to the bankers. (At the Chase
Manhattan CDC, the newest in the
city, the exact nature of community
input remains unresolved.) While a
lack of community input doesn't
automatically render bank CDCs
useless, it does suggest a disappoint-
ing limit to the amount of reform
banks will impose upon themselves.
Community Pressure
The limits serve as a reminder that
bank CDCs are, by and large, the
result of community pressure. Rein-
vestment campaigns of the 1970s first
placed credit discrimination on the
public agenda, leading to the 1977
Community Reinvestment Act,
which allows community groups to
challenge banks and restricts busi-.
ness expansion for banks that are
shown to be biased in their lending.
The banks reacted by setting up
CDCs, some of which were capital-
ized with as much as $10 million. In
a number of cases the result was
innovative, flexible lending: a CDC
can make loans using less rigidly
conventional profit-seeking criteria
than its parent bank.
Chemical Community Develop-
ment has continued in this tradition
by underwriting a number of good
projects since its creation in 1988.
For example, it offers a product called
Affordable Housing Certificates of
Deposit (CD). The instruments are
like any other bank CD, except that
the buyer agrees to accept a below-
market rate of interest. The differ-
ence is used to support community
groups or to reduce the rate non-
profit groups have to pay on existing
construction loans.-
No Interest
In another innovative program,
Chemical's CDC deposited $250,000
to local development-oriented credit
unions at no interest. The credit
unions, in turn, lend the funds to
people who would otherwise be un-
able to get a bank loan.
But Chemical may be the excep-
tion that proves the rule. Near the
other end of the spectrum is Citicorp' s
CDC, which actually uses the same
underwriting criteria as the bank
itself. And in New Jersey, First Fidel-
ity signed a formal agreement to have
its CDC expand operations through-
out the state-but in return commu-
nity signatories to the agreement had
to promise not to file Community
Reinvestment Act challenges against
the bank for three years.
One can think of a bank CDC as
roughly analogous to a pollution-
control device attached to a factory
smokestack: while the gadget may
help reduce the damage, the prob-
lem eventuall y needs to be dealt with
at the source. For community groups
working to make long-term changes
in the way credit is allocated, bank
CDCs offer a familiar strategic op-
tion: make the best of what' s avail-
able but keep pushing for more. 0
Errol T. Louis, a Brooklyn-based con-
sultant on community development
issues, writes frequently for City
Limits.
I- II 0 I,' I ~ S S 1 0 ~ :\ I.. I) I II I ~ (' 'I' 0 II \
ROBERT H. REACH - Architect
Real Estate Development Services
housing, planning, urban design, zoning
Providing consultant services specializing in
housing programs, proposals to RFPs & planning
350 Broadway, Suite 300
New York, NY 10013
1212) 966-4322
1212) 941-8119 Fax
DEBRA BECHTEL - Atto.rney
Concentrating in Real Estate & Non-Profit Law
Title and loan closings 0 All city housing programs
Mutual housing associations 0 Coopertive conversions
Advice to low income co-op boards of directors
100 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201, (718) 624-6850
DELLAPA & LEWIS
Real Estate Attorneys & Development Consultants
Real Estate and Not-For-Profit Law
Condominium and Cooperative Offerings
Residential. and Commercial Tax Abatement
150 Nassau Street, Suite 1630, New York, NY 10038
2121732-2700 2121732-2773 FAX
BERNARD CARR ASSOCIATES
J-51 TAX BENEFIT EXPEDITING
Specialists in:
HDFC'S Gut Rehabilitation
Vacant Building Program Developments
If yml huv .. 4"umplt .. .>d m' a ... planning u huilding l't hahilitatiHn I)I"Ojt' 4' 1,
WI' I' un savt' y,,"r TIME. MONEY, unt! SANITY.
CALL TODAY FOR A FREE CONSULTATIO
1740 Victor Street, Bronx, NY 10462 Tel, (212)824-5044
TURF COMPANIES
Building Management/Consultants
Specializing in management & development
services to low income housing cooperatives,
community organizations and co-op
boards of directors
329 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11217
Mr. John Touhey
718/857-0468
"ir
SMOLLENS and GURAL NICK,
COUNSELLORS AT LAW
Specializing in representing tenants only in
landlord/tenant proceedings, cooperative
conversions, loft proceedings. We represent
sellers/buyers in house, condo and co-op closings.
15 Maiden Lane, Suite 1800
New York, NY 10038
212/406-3320
LAWRENCE H. McGAUGHEY
Attorney at Law
Real Estate, Subsidized Housing, Wills,
Trust & Estates,Business and Not-for-Profit
Corporations, Ecclesiastical Law
21 7 Broadway, Suite 610
New York, NY 1 0007
212/51 3-0981
GULIELMETTI & GESMER, P.C.
Attorneys
Lofts 0 Real Estate
Domestic Relations 0 Artistic Representation
Personal Injury 0 Discrimination
401 Bt' oadway
New York, N.Y. 10013
(212) 219-2114
(212) 966-2162 FAX
GEOGRAPHYA INC.
Consultants To Non-Profits in
Recreational, Cultural, Art & Tour Programs
Culture for community economic development
Culture as a fundraising tool
Mr. H. Margulies
67-35 Yellowstone Blvd
Forest Hills, NY 11375
(718) 261-8476/ 522-5620
Abeles Phillips Preiss & Shapiro, Inc.
Zoning
Land Use
Planning and Development Consultants
Real Estate Feasibility
Economic Development
Housing
Market Studies
434 Sixth Ave., New York NY 10011
307 N. Main St. , Highstown NJ 08520
212-475-3030
609-448-4753
WORKSHOPS
STAFF ATTORNEY. Lower East Side tenant advocacy & neigh-
borhood preservation org seeks housing attny. Knowledge of
tenant organizing & exp in rent strikes desirable. Potential for
community impact litigation. Salary: Low 30s, benefits. Resu-
mes: Search Committee, c/o E.V.P., 151 First Ave, Box 5, NYC
10003
PSYCHOLOGIST/MSW. Counseling position avail w/primary
location in Manhattan. Concentration on individual counseling &
crisis intervention for homeless adults in a rapidly expanding life
skills & job-readiness prog. MSW reqd. Knowl of NY referral
sources a +. Competitive sal w/bnfts. Resumes: Deborah Cutler,
The HOPE Program, 157 Montague St., Brooklyn, NY 11201.
COMMUNITY ASSISTANT. Office of State Senator Franz Leich-
ter. Provide constituent svcs for Washington Heights/Inwood.
Good oppty to gain exp in organizing/advocacy, tenant/landlord
relations, entitlements, etc. Salary: Mid-teens, full bnfts. Spanish
fluency reqd. Computer exp a +. Resumes: Sen. Franz Leichter,
656 W. 181st St., NYC 10033. 212/781-6593.
HOUSING PROGRAM DIRECTOR. Oppty to work in one of
NYC's best community-based housing orgs. Administer $2+
million low income prog leading to tenant owned co-ops. Super-
vise maintenence, construction & mgmt staff. Development opptys.
Spanish helpful. Sal based on expo Resumes: Ms. V. VerEecke,
St. Nicholas NPC, 11-29 Catherine St. , Brooklyn, NY 11211 .
BROOKL YN OFFICE SPACE FOR NONPROFITS. Newly
renovated, spacious offices avail at Bedford-Stuyvesant Multi-
Service Center, 1958 Fulton St. (bet Ralph & Howard Aves) .
Rent: $9.00 per sq ft; inclds util , maint & security. Use of 650 seat
auditorium also avail. Contact: Mr. Charles Joshua at 718-493-
0410/11 .
November 1989 23
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. For NHS of East Flatbush, a nonprofit
community -based prog. Must have exp in community organizing,
organizational mgmt, staff supervision, competence in planning/
budgeting, knowl of 1-4 family hsng rehab & loan packaging.
College prefd. Sal from $27,000. Resumes: Chair, Neighborhood
Housing Services of East Flatbush, 3009 Glenwood Rd, Brooklyn,
NY 11210.
SOCIAL WORKER. Dynamic program for homeless vets living in
a Salvation Army residence in Long Island City. Good case work
skills & commitment reqd. MSW prefd. Drug/alchohol exp a +.
Resumes: Joan Hauprich, 21 -10 Borden Avenue, L.I.C., NY
11101. 718/784-5690.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZER. For West Side SRO Law Project.
Work w/SRO tenant groups & groups throughout NYC; advocate
before govt agencies; represent clients at admin hearings. Act as
paralegal. Survey conditions in SROs & report organizing efforts.
Req: able to advocate for clients, negotiate strategies, work w/
diverse orgs. Housing/tenant/cmmty organizing helpful. Spanish
fluency prefd. Sal : $22,500. Resumes: Saralee E. Evans, God-
dard-Riverside Community Center, 647 Columbus Avenue, NYC
10025.
CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEYS/INVESTIGATORS. The Law
Enforcement Bureau of the NYC Commission on Human Rights
is now interviewing for current & future staff attorney & investi-
gator vacancies. Applicants for attorney positions must be admit-
ted to practice in N.Y. and have at least 1 yr post-admission expo
Public interest exp prefd. Salary: Approx $2?,000 to start for
attorney; $38,000 start for investigator. Resumes & writing
samples: Craig Gurian, Legal Director, Law Enforcement Bu-
reau, NYC Commission on Human Rights, 52 Duane St.- 7th fl.,
NYC 10007.
Competitively Priced Insurance
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306 FIFTH AVE.
NEW YORK, N.Y. 10001
(212) 279-8300
Ask for: Bala Ramanathan
Community Capital Bank
(in organization)
$6,000,000 Offering
240,000 Shares of Common Stock
at $25 per Share
Community Capital Bank will be a new commercial bank specializing
in lending for affordable housing and small business in New York City.
The bank's office will be located in Brooklyn. The bank has not yet
received all regulatory approvals necessary to open for business.
To obtain a copy of the bank's offering circular, or for further
information, please contact:
Community Capital Bank
(in organization)
P.O. Box 404920
Brooklyn, New York 11240
718/768 9344
This announcement is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy these securities.
This offering is made only by the bank's offering circular.