"Rent Rage" in the Streets
31 Arrested at June 12 Protest

By Steven Wishnia

Tenant protests increased in both numbers and militance as the June 15 expiration of the rent laws neared.

On June 12, over 1,000 demonstrators jammed 42nd Street in midtown Manhattan, marching from the Real Estate Board of New York headquarters to Governor Pataki’s office on Third Avenue. Riot police kept the crowd away from the building entrance, and 31 people were arrested after protesters blocked traffic on Third Avenue.

"We’re here to save the rent laws and tenant protections against Pataki, D’Amato, and Bruno, who want to evict everybody with high rents," said Gerald Sieger, 70. Some--Legal Aid lawyer Lisa Edwards and Met Council activist Deborah Schutt--carried mock versions of 72-hour eviction notices addressed to Governor Pataki. Police tried to force the demonstrators onto the sidewalk as they turned from Madison Avenue onto 42nd Street, shoving them and bumping them with motor-scooters, but the crowd surged into the street, heading east to Second Avenue and then doubling back on 40th Street towards Pataki’s offices.

Motorcycle cops tried to block 40th Street, but the protesters raced by the barricade. Riot police then formed a line at Third Avenue, knocking down an elderly woman as the demonstrators pushed forward. At about 6:30 PM, about 15 people, mainly from the Lower East Side, sat down in the middle of Third Avenue and were arrested. A few minutes later, another group, including Schutt and Met Council activists Scott Sommer, Kenny Schaeffer, and Jeanie and Dave Dubnau, sat down on the west side of Third Avenue and were also arrested.

A few hundred demonstrators then marched to the 19th Precinct station-house on East 51st Street. Met Council organizer Jon Lilienthal was arrested on the way when he got into a dispute with a woman who tried to drive through the crowd.

The 31 people arrested were charged with disorderly conduct. All but three--Lower East Side activists who were also charged with resisting arrest--were released within a few hours.

"I’m pleased at the turnout, but I’m unhappy it wasn’t bigger," reflected Stanley Kalfus of the Queens League of United Tenants.

On the night of June 15, at least 300 more demonstrators gathered for a loud vigil in front of Pataki’s offices, chanting "Evict Pataki" over a booming bass drum as the minutes ticked down to the midnight deadline. The crowd hushed as the laws expired, fading away in anger and disappointment soon afterwards at the news of a last-minute backroom deal to give landlords massive vacancy increases.