Weinstein Fired From RGB!
By Kenny Schaeffer

Edward Weinstein, a "public" member of the city Rent Guidelines Board, who was a frequent target of tenant indignation, has been fired by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

In his three years on the RGB, Weinstein, a retired corporate accountant, attracted tenant anger because he expressed open disdain for the rent regulations he was entrusted to enforce. He also encouraged the use of police violence to suppress legitimate tenant input into the RGB process. "These aren’t terrorists, they’re tenants," City Councilmember Steve DiBrienza (D-Brooklyn) observed after several elderly and peaceful protesters were arrested and roughed up during the board’s preliminary vote last May.

Last June, Weinstein cast the fifth and deciding vote in favor of the "poor tax"--a permanent, compounded $15 per month surcharge on apartments renting for $500 a month or less--apparently on orders from City Hall. He had previously told advocates that he intended to vote against this extra charge, which targets low-income, mostly minority, families who already pay, on average, half their income as rent. The poor tax has contributed to the loss of more than 200,000 apartments renting for less than $500 since 1993. Weinstein’s obedience to the City Hall directive in June made a mockery of his earlier speech denouncing tenant advocates for asserting that the mayor controls the RGB votes of his appointees.

Met Council has been demanding that Weinstein, as well as RGB chair Ed Hochman, be removed from the board because of their open contempt for the rent-stabilization law, for the tenants who have been victimized by the RGB’s unreasonable rent increases, and for the tenants who come to the public meetings to express their views.

Met Council is also calling for 0% increases this year, which would only partially compensate for the improperly elevated rent levels in rent-stabilized apartments.

In addition, Met Council is urging the City Council to pass Intro 859, which would give the Council advice and consent over RGB appointments, removing them from the mayor’s exclusive control. It would also change the requirements for service as a public member to five years experience in public service, nonprofits, or housing. The current requirement, five years experience in business, finance, or housing, has resulted in the five "public" seats being filled by five businessmen who in no way represent the public.

Intro 859 was introduced last December, but so far Council Speaker Peter Vallone (D-Queens) has not shown any indication that he is willing to address this critical issue. RGB deliberations for the coming year begin in April, with a preliminary vote in May, and public testimony and the final vote in June.

The firing of Edward Weinstein, who epitomized what was wrong with the Giuliani RGB, is an encouraging sign. "Hopefully, this is an opportunity for us to get someone who understands the needs of tenants and will be a voice of balance at least on that board, as well as an opportunity for the Council to use its authority to accomplish what we propose in the legislation," noted Councilmember Bill Perkins (D-Manhattan), a prime sponsor of Intro 859. "We certainly don’t need a counter-demonstrator who is so overtly antagonistic to the cries and the demands of victims of the housing crisis who come to the public RGB meetings to voice their desire get some equity."

The nine-member RGB, consisting of two landlord, two tenant, and five public members, sets rent increases for the over 2,000,000 New Yorkers who live in the city’s one million rent-stabilized apartments. Charged with limiting rent increases under the 1969 Rent Stabilization Law "to prevent exactions of unjust, unreasonable and oppressive rents--and to forestall profiteering, speculation and other disruptive practices tending to produce threats to the public health, safety and general welfare," the RGB has instead imposed unjustified rent increases year after year, contributing to the loss of affordable housing. Last June, despite record landlord profits, the RGB imposed the highest increases in five years, including the infamous "poor tax" on low-rent apartments.