Letters

Pro-Pataki, Pro-Tenant? You Can’t Be Both

In response to Assemblymember John Ravitz’s letter (Tenant/Inquilino, Apr. ’98) responding to my letter in the March issue: He supports Governor Pataki. Does that mean he thinks his constituents should also vote for Pataki? I fail to see how someone can support my biggest enemy and still be my friend. Can there be any doubt among tenants that Pataki is our biggest enemy?

Assemblymember Ravitz talks of a coalition of Democrats and Republicans to preserve tenants’ rights. If there were no Republicans, we wouldn’t have our rights under attack. It was the State Senate majority criminals who led the attack last year.

Republicans, as landlord agents, want to chip away at tenants. Tenants must do everything possible to weaken the Republican Party. If we can’t vote them out, no politicians will fear us, and Democrats too will be tempted to sell us out for landlord money.

William Mayer
Manhattan

‘A Landlords’ Monarchy’

I have just read your article on the Rent Guidelines Board and the replacement of some of its members (Apr. ’98 Tenant). We must not allow the selection of members (controlled by landlords’ political contributions) who will vote for further increases for rent-stabilized tenants.

Under the new laws, there is no legal protection for tenants. The state DHCR, which at one time was a safety net for tenants, has had virtually all authority taken away from them. Perpetuating these grossly unfair laws will permit landlords to continue reaping untold profits. While there are some small landlords who are doing poorly, if the majority were losing money, they would not continue to amass additional properties and increase their already huge portfolios. Now they are deliberately withholding apartments from the market in order to drive the vacancy rate to a point where the demand is so great that apartments will rent for whatever they demand.

None of the landlords are willing to open their books to public scrutiny to determine what their alleged losses are. I will not and cannot believe that their plight is so devastating.

While landlords are entitled to earn profits, they must not be allowed to do so at the expense of the majority of low and middle-income wage-earners who work in New York City and pay taxes. Met Council and all tenants’ groups must do their utmost to keep New York City from becoming a landlords’ monarchy.

Anne Reifman
Manhattan