City Council Must Repeal Vacancy Decontrol
The rent laws were last renewed in March 1994. Over the objections of the entire tenant movement, the City Council passed, and Mayor Giuliani signed, a bill that decontrolled rents on any vacant apartment a landlord could charge $2,000 for. Landlords, smelling blood, immediately saw the opportunity to get out from under the rent regulations they hate. The Mayor and Council provided them with the incentive to harass and evict vulnerable tenants like the poor and elderly. The current soaring rents and landlord abuses are a direct result of this 1994 vacancy-decontrol law.
Council Speaker Peter Vallone and 27 City Council members supported the real-estate lobby at that time, and still do -- if the real-estate campaign contributions they've received are any measure. It is highly likely that the real-estate industry is already meeting with your Councilmember and lining up his or her vote against tenant protections when the rent laws come up for renewal just six months from now, in March 1997.
Many tenants think elected officials do not listen to phone calls and read letters. Nothing could be further from the truth. The whole Council and the Mayor are up for re-election in one year, in November 1997. Right about now they are starting to listen very hard. This is the time for tenants to make themselves heard, loudly and often.
Tenants demand that Council members support tenants, not landlords. The 1994 vacancy-decontrol amendment must be repealed so that the harm it is doing is stopped. Using the list below, find your Councilmember and write or call them. If they voted for vacancy decontrol in 1994, tell them you want them to change their position and vote to repeal that law. If they voted against vacancy decontrol in 1994, thank them and tell them to work hard to repeal it. If they did not vote, remind them that repeal is a crucial issue for tenants.
Don't wait to act. Call or write now!
Voted for vacancy decontrol in 1994:
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, (212) 788-3137 or (212) 788-2614
City Hall, New York, NY 10007
Michael J. Abel, (718) 352-0200
199-17A 32 Avenue, Bayside West, NY 11358
Herbert E. Berman, (212) 788-6984
250 Broadway, New York, NY 10007
Una Clarke, (718) 493-7065
648 New York Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203
Lucy Cruz, (718) 518-7110
1967 Trumbull Avenue, Bronx, NY 10473
Michael DeMarco, (718) 931-6063
80 Westchester Square, Bronx, NY 10461
Kenneth K. Fisher, (718) 875-5200
16 Court Street, Rm. 1505, Brooklyn, NY 11241
Wendell Foster, (718) 588-7500
1377 Jerome Avenue, Bronx, NY 10452
John A. Fusco, (718) 980-1017
94 Lincoln Avenue, New York, NY 10306
Julia Harrison, (718) 886-7040
39-15 Main Street, Suite 211, Flushing, NY 11354
Lloyd Henry, (718) 421-6621
1498 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11210
Martin Malave-Dilan, (718) 453-4674
786 Knickerbocker Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11207
Walter L. McCaffrey, (718) 639-1400
62-07 Woodside Avenue, 3rd Floor, Woodside, NY 11377
Jerome X. O'Donovan, (718) 727-9730
36 Richmond Terrace, Rm. 312, Staten Island, NY 10301
Thomas Ognibene, (718) 366-3900
78-25 Metropolitan Avenue, Middle Village, NY 11379
Antonio Pagan, (212) 477-1203
237 First Avenue, New York, NY 10003
Mary Pinkett, (718) 857-0959
324 DeKalb Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205
Jose Rivera, (718) 364-3700
2488 Grand Concourse, Suite 319, Bronx, NY 10458
Annette M. Robinson, (718) 399-8900
1360 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11216
Victor L. Robles, (718) 963-3141
815 Broadway, 5th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11206
Archie Spigner, (718) 776-3700
113-39 Farmers Boulevard, St. Albans, NY 11412
Alfonso C. Stabile, (718) 843-5283
105-20 Cross Bay Boulevard, Ozone Park, NY 11417
Peter F. Vallone, (718) 274-4500
22-45 31st Street, Astoria, NY 11105
Lawrence A. Warden, (718) 994-9951
657 East 233rd Street, Bronx, NY 10466
Juanita E. Watkins, (718) 527-4356
220-07 Merrick Boulevard, Laurelton, NY 11413
Anthony David Weiner, (718) 332-9001
1901 Avenue U, Brooklyn, NY 11229
Thomas White Jr., (718) 322-6121
146-01 Rockaway Boulevard, South Ozone Park, NY 11436
Enoch H. Williams, (718) 604-8132
1670 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11213
Priscilla Wooten, (718) 272-3050
1962 Linden Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY 11207
Voted against vacancy decontrol in 1994:
Sal F. Albanese, (718) 748-4722
476 76th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11209
Stephen DiBrienza, (718) 858-5110
507 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231
Thomas K. Duane, (212) 929-5501
275 7th Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10001
June M. Eisland, (718) 549-0158
3636 Waldo Avenue, Bronx, NY 10463
Ronnie M. Eldridge, (212) 765-4339
10 Columbus Circle, Rm. 1490, New York, NY 10019
Andrew S. Eristoff, (212) 473-4960
409 East 14th Street, Suite B, New York, NY 10009
Kathryn E. Freed, (212) 788-7722
51 Chambers Street, Suite 429, New York, NY 10007
Karen Koslowitz, (718) 544-3212
118-21 Queens Boulevard, Rm. 206, Forest Hills, NY 11375
Howard L. Lasher, (718) 266-2000
532 Neptune Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11224
Sheldon S. Leffler, (718) 465-8202
205-07 Hillside Avenue, Suite 25B, Hollis, NY 11423
Guillermo Linares, (212) 781-0856
656 West 181st Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10033
Helen M. Marshall, (718) 507-0813
97-19 Astoria Boulevard, East Elmhurst, NY 11369
Joan Griffin McCabe, (718) 436-2215
406 43rd Street, 2nd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11232
Stanley E. Michels, (212) 928-1322
656 West 181st Street, New York, NY 10033
Morton Povman, (718) 793-2255
108-18 Queens Boulevard, Forest Hills, NY 11375
Adam Clayton Powell IV, (212) 427-0700
159 East 116th Street, New York, NY 10029
Israel Ruiz, Jr., (718) 220-0738
1 East Fordham Road, Bronx, NY 10468
Absent for the vacancy decontrol vote in 1994:
Noach Dear, (718) 633-9400
4424 16th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11204
C. Virginia Fields, (212) 662-4440
163 West 125th Street, Suite 729, New York, NY 10027
David Rosado, (718) 402-7602
558 Melrose Avenue, 2nd Floor, Bronx, NY 10455
John D. Sabini, (718) 507-3688
37-32 75th Street, Jackson Heights, NY 11372
Not in Council in 1994:
Vito J. Fossella, (718) 984-5151
3944 Richmond Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10312
A. Gifford Miller, (212) 535-5554
336 East 73rd Street, Suite C, New York, NY 10021
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