Charas Community Center Faces December Eviction
By Louise Gross

Barring an eleventh-hour intervention, Charas/El Bohio Cultural and Community Center is scheduled for eviction sometime after December 12. The Lower East Side center appears to have finally run out of legal claims against both the city and new owner Gregg Singer, who bought the building that housed Charas from the city at a public auction in 1998 for $3.1 million. Charas supporters maintain that it was sold in retaliation for their outspoken opposition to the Giuliani administration’s policies. The city refused to discuss proposals or negotiate a deal for the building with Charas, but sold it to Singer for little more than $40,000 down, and gave him a purchase money mortgage of $2 million.

Last February, a jury held that Singer could not evict the 22-year-old center because he did not plan to use it for community use, but the Appellate Term overturned that decision, ruling that Charas never had the right to a jury trial. The Appellate Division upheld that ruling, leaving Charas facing eviction.

Charas’ lawyers, Catharine Grad of Grad & Weinraub and Alan Levine, special counsel for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, then moved for more time for Charas, the artists and organizations that call the center home, to relocate. Judge Saralee Evans gave them six months, or until Dec. 12, to find new space.

Neither Mayor Giuliani nor the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has heeded Charas’ supporters. Several political representatives had met with HUD officials to urge them to enforce federal regulations requiring both public notice and a public hearing before a change in the property’s use, as over $2 million in federal funds were used to help restore the building for use by Charas. HUD refused to enforce those regulations.

In the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack and the US war on Afghanistan, Charas also became an instant hub for relief and antiwar activity. It gave groups a place to meet, grieve or focus on ways in which to channel their rage, frustration and sorrow, in projects like the Gathering of Hope, taking place on November 11.

Supporters vow never to let Gregg Singer get away with turning a vital community center into a youth hostel or luxury condos. They continue to pursue legal strategies, plan direct actions and public demonstrations, and also hold out hope that the next mayor, in the 11th hour, will intercede. Contact the Charas Committee to learn more and get involved: Charas@erols.com; Website, www.Charas.org