Charas Beats Back Eviction
By Steven Wishnia

Real-estate speculator Gregg Singer does not have the right to evict the Charas community arts center from the Lower East Side building he bought in 1998, a Manhattan Civil Court jury ruled Feb. 5.

The jury held that Singer, who paid $3.15 million for the former public school at 605 East Ninth St. at an auction of city-owned property, had not proved that he would comply with restrictions in the deed requiring him to rent it for "community uses."

"The consensus among the jurors was that Singer’s testimony was what sunk him," said juror Allan Tulchin, a high-school history teacher. "He came across as a complete liar and sleaze. He couldn’t even answer questions from his own lawyer straight."

The decision bars Singer from evicting Charas, which has occupied the building since 1979, and over the years provided space for scores of community and arts groups, as well as hosting the 1983 premiere of Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, the first full-length movie directed by an NYU film student named Spike Lee. However, it doesn’t require Singer to give Charas a lease.

"It’s an important victory. He can’t just kick us out," said Cathy Grad, one of Charas’ lawyers. "We hope it causes Singer to negotiate with us. But this decision doesn’t force him to negotiate with us."

Singer has said he would give Charas a lease, but only if they paid the full market rate of $32 a square foot, or $3,200 a month for a 1,000-square-foot space.

"He wants market rates. No one can afford market rates," said Charas organizer Susan Howard. "Our biggest interest is to negotiate with Singer. He refuses to negotiate."

Since Singer took over the building and announced his intent to oust Charas, protesters have greeted him every time he brought a prospective tenant by, as well as picketing outside his home in a Murray Hill luxury high-rise, chanting "Stay Out of Our Neighborhood-And We’ll Stay Out of Yours." When a hostel chain called Banana Bungalows was considering renting the space, Charas supporters demonstrated outside their headquarters, with a brass band playing "Yes, We Have No Bananas." Singer painted over early-’80s-vintage protest murals on the front of the building, calling them "graffiti." He later painted over a memorial portrait of Armando Perez, the Charas co-founder who was murdered in Queens in 1999, saying it was an inappropriate image to have on a building he was trying to rent. Perez’s murder remains unsolved.

While the decision does not force Singer to give Charas a lease, the alternative is further litigation, according to Grad. Singer is already suing Charas and everyone who opposed him in a Housing Court case involving the building for $600,000. He is also appealing an order by Judge Lucy Billings that paved the way for this trial. She refused to dismiss Charas’ case outright, and ruled that Singer had to prove he would comply with the community-use requirement.

"Will he give up? I doubt it seriously," says Howard.