Editorial

• Lopez for City Council
• Messinger for Mayor
• Vote No on the Constitutional Convention

Get Out the Vote for Margarita

Against amazing odds, Margarita Lopez, Met Council's endorsed candidate, won the Democratic primary for City Council in District 2. She is now running on Tuesday, November 4 against a Republican and a Liberal. Margarita must win again, and win big. She is known as a strong, outspoken supporter of tenants' rights.

We ask you to do the following: Please vote. Margarita won by 231 votes -- every vote counts. Get your neighbors and friends to vote -- the district is the Lower East Side and the mid-East Side, from 14th to 35th Streets. Volunteer -- call (212) 807-7666 and say you are a Met Council member. The campaign needs volunteers on election day.

Vote Yes for Ruth Messinger

While much has been said in the press about the wonders of Rudolph Giuliani and the lackluster quality of Ruth Messinger's campaign for mayor, Met Council urges its members to vote as tenants.

There is no question of who would be a better mayor for tenants: Ruth Messinger. Before she became Manhattan Borough President, Messinger was an outstanding City Councilmember who showed intelligent, vigorous support for tenants' rights. Messinger blasted the anti-tenant mayor, Ed Koch, at every available chance. When you enter the voting booth, think of yourself as a tenant and remember the following:

The New York City Rent Guidelines Board. This board is appointed by the mayor, and the only time we have had decent public members was during the mayoralty of David Dinkins (and they were not all that great). Giuliani's RGB appointments have been pro-real estate advocates who have set guideline increases for tenants even in years when landlords' costs did not go up a cent. Giuliani's RGB members have repeatedly passed high increases for low-rent apartments and for vacant apartments-a process which has had a devastating effect on the supply of low-rent apartments.

The Renewal of the Rent Laws. While Giuliani said he supported the renewal of the rent laws in June of this year (he would have been lynched if he had admitted he opposed them), he was not very active in their support. Giuliani could have used his popularity in Republican Senate districts to heat up the issue, but he did little.

Mandatory Deposit of Rent in Housing Court. Giuliani supported the landlords on this one and now we have an unfair, unconstitutional law that will lead to the evictions of perhaps 40,000 more families each year.

Public Housing Deregulation. Giuliani supported the deregulation of New York City's public housing and advocated the repeal of the Brooke Amendment, which caps tenants' rents at 30% of their income.

Vote No on the Constitutional Convention

On November 4, in addition to voting for mayor and other citywide positions, voters will have the option of deciding on whether or not the state should hold a Constitutional Convention in 1999.

The New York State Constitution requires that the voters get to choose every 20 years whether or not they would like a Constitutional Convention for the purposes of revising and amending the state constitution. Outside of a convention, the state Legislature can vote for amendments, which are then placed before the voters for ratification. If it is approved, next year the voters would elect three delegates from each State Senate district and 15 statewide delegates.

So what is so bad about this? A number of interesting people and organizations support holding a convention: former Governor Mario Cuomo, current Governor George Pataki, the Citizen's Union, the Business Council of New York, and the Daily News and New York Post editorial boards. So what could be so bad? Guess what those endorsers all have in common -- they don't like rent regulations and poor tenants.

A Constitutional Convention in 1999 would be bad for New York City tenants in a number of ways. To begin, the procedure of choosing delegates would ensure that the convention would look like the State Senate. Do you want Joe Bruno, Guy Velella, and Serphin Maltese revising your state constitution? The process would ensure that the delegates would be existing elected officials supported by voters in the predominantly Republican Senate districts around the state. Because of the way the districts are drawn, the upstate and Long Island delegates would dominate.

From these delegates we might get a number of horrible constitutional amendments:

Abolition of rent protections. The Convention could vote to include a prohibition against rent regulations and eviction protections.

Establishment of Initiative and Referendum. Under this system (now existing in Massachusetts and California), voters statewide would be able to place referenda on the ballot. Landlords used this method successfully to get rid of rent regulations in Boston (through the votes of people who lived outside of the city and were not affected by the laws). In California, real-estate interests have been working on a similar path.

Removal of Article 17 from the Constitution: "The aid, care and support of the needy are public concerns and shall be provided by the state." Thanks to a lawsuit calling on this vital clause of the state constitution (the Jiggetts case), thousands of poor families on public assistance who faced eviction have had their shelter allowances increased to cover their rents. Judges have found that the state Department of Social Services violated the constitution by setting the shelter allowance too low to meet housing costs in New York City. This decision has kept thousands of families from the homeless shelters. The conservatives in the state oppose this provision (and Democrats like Mario Cuomo have tried to stop the state from complying with the Jiggetts ruling), and will work at the convention to remove it.

Met Council urges its members to vote against holding a constitutional convention.

Save this date: November 3, 1998, when New York tenants will have the opportunity to vote against the re-election of both Governor George Pataki and his ally Alfonse D'Amato. Pataki and D'Amato used the Republican control of the State Senate to force tremendous weakening of tenants' rights and affordable-housing protections when the rent-stabilization law was renewed in June, including the mandatory-eviction law, steep vacancy increases for most apartments, complete deregulation of many apartments, weakening of overcharge enforcement and succession rights, and demolition of occupied housing. So as you vote this year, remember that there are only 364 days until we get a chance to show Pataki and D'Amato our gratitude.