Tenants Take it to the Street as Seminary Adds Insult to Injury

by Vajra Kilgour

The tenants of 515-521 West 122nd Street in Manhattan, where the Jewish Theological Seminary is attempting to evict 23 families to gain dormitory space for students, took their battle to the street a few weeks ago--116th and 125th Street, that is.

Although 17 of the families threatened with eviction are African or of African descent. JTS has denied that its eviction plan is racist in intent or impact. But recently, the tenants discovered that the seminary’s travel directions to the public, on its World Wide Web site, contain a quasi-hysterical warning to stay away from JTS’ immediate neighbors to the north and east. The directions read:

"The #1/9 [train] stops at Broadway (Columbia University). Get off here and walk north to the JTS. DO NOT GET OFF AT 125TH AND WALK BACK! ALSO DO NOT WALK ACROSS TOWN AT 116TH OR 125TH. THESE ARE HIGH CRIME AREAS. The 1/9 will take you just about anywhere on the West Side."

Apparently, the seminary never double-checked its assertion that the neighborhood is dangerous with the local police precinct, which is proud of its record as an area where the crime rate is consistently among the lowest in the city.

Tenants denounced the seminary’s subway directions as being redolent of both race and class bigotry, noting that the neighborhood north and east of the seminary is overwhelmingly working-class and nonwhite--just like the tenants themselves.

The tenants have been distributing a leaflet to all local businesses pointing out the negative impact on them of the seminary’s warning against pedestrian traffic. Jim Fitzer, a tenant at 521 West 122nd St. who was served with eviction papers last Christmas Eve, lost his business--The Bread Shop, a popular bakery and gathering place on Broadway just below 125th Street-- when his landlord (who took over from JTS some years ago) refused to offer a reasonable lease-renewal rent increase. The bakery’s former site is right on the route visitors to JTS would take if they ignored the Web-site warning and got off at the nearest subway stop.

Local newspapers, TV and radio have picked up the story of JTS’ bad-neighbor policy, but the seminary has refused to comment about its war on the tenants and its attitude toward the surrounding community--seemingly oblivious to the lessons nearby Columbia University was forced to learn in the 1960s and 1980s. People who have written to the seminary to express their outrage over the looming evictions have received letters back which misrepresent both the tenants’ and the seminary’s actions and positions. This letter only constitutes a transparent attempt to put a good face on the cruelty and heartlessness of JTS’ behavior.

Meanwhile, after winning the first round in Housing Court, the tenants lost the latest round when Civil Court Judge Martin Shulman ruled that the eviction notices recently servedon six households were adequate. The first 15 cases brought had been dismissed by Judge Joan Madden, who noted that the seminary’s papers were "fatally defective" because they did not assert a basis for evicting long-term residents. The seminary changed its notices to claim it may evict tenants because it is a charitable or educational institution which "owned or controlled" the buildings when they moved in.

The rent-stabilization law allows purely educational--but not religious--institutions to evict tenants in certain circumstances. JTS is trying to use Judge Shulman’s decision to influence the Appellate Term of state Supreme Court, which is hearing the seminary’s appeal of Judge Madden’s order on September 2. The six new cases are also continuing their way through court. The tenants are represented by Kathy Grad and David Weinraub.