Greens, WFP Challenge Lead-Sellout Councilmember
by Kenny Schaeffer

In 1998 voters in New York State guaranteed ballot status to two new political parties, the Green Party and the Working Families Party, by giving each of them more than 50,000 votes in the gubernatorial election against George Pataki. Tenants in New York City are beginning to realize that by only considering candidates from the Democratic Party, we lose the ability to hold our representatives accountable when they succumb to the corrupting influence of campaign contributions from the real-estate industry.

The 48th City Council district in Brooklyn (stretching from Flatbush to Manhattan Beach) is a case in point. In 1997, the district’s former Councilmember, Democrat Anthony Weiner, solicited real-estate contributions by promoting a landlord “self-certification” bill, which would have required the city to erase housing-code violations whenever an owner claimed to have corrected one. Fierce pressure from Weiner’s constituents and tenants around the city forced the withdrawal of this bill.

In 1999, Councilmember Mike Nelson, who won Weiner’s Council seat in a special election after he was elected to Congress, supported the real-estate industry and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in gutting the laws that protect babies and toddlers from lead-paint poisoning. In New York City, 30,000 children already suffer from lead poisoning, caused by exposure to lead dust and lead paint in homes and schools. It can cause permanent brain damage, learning disabilities, violent behavior, seizures, or death.

Mike Nelson gave lip service to these concerns, yet he voted against the interests of children and for the real-estate industry when he supported this law.

Now he has the gall to hand out campaign literature taking credit for making it a wonderful bill [see Nelson campaign flyer on page 8]. But don’t kid yourself. It is not a wonderful bill. The new law (Local Law 38) was unanimously condemned by doctors and public-health experts, because it does not protect children against lead dust, by excluding friction areas like windows and doors from coverage; it allows owners to self-certify lead-removal work; and it makes it almost impossible for the families of children who suffer from lead poisoning to win lawsuits against negligent landlords.

Next March, the Council will vote on the laws that protect the homes of 1,000,000 rent-stabilized households in New York City. These rent regulations must be renewed by March 31. The real-estate industry, which inflicted grievous damage on the rent-regulatory system between 1993 and 1997, will be out for blood.

That makes this year’s election—in which Mike Nelson is running to finish Rep. Weiner’s unexpired Council term—especially significant. Nelson is the only incumbent facing the voters this year, so this race will be a key indicator of voters’ reaction to the Lead Poisoning Act of 1999 and what it suggests about the renewal of the rent laws next spring.

Can Mike Nelson be trusted to stand up to the real-estate industry, and say “no” to its slick arguments and thick checkbook? Mike Nelson voted “no” on children and tenants on June 30 when he voted for the Lead Poisoning Act. Now tenants in the 48th District will have an opportunity to vote “no” on Mike Nelson, thanks to the ballot access gained in 1998. The Green Party has nominated Sonya Ostrom, a 71-year-old peace and anti-nuclear activist, who will face Nelson in the general election on Nov. 2.

The Working Families Party has also endorsed Ostrom. According to director Dan Cantor, the WFP is trying to “build a competent, lively, multiracial and class oriented electoral vehicle,” based on community organizations and unions. “We need to build a political organization that can articulate our values in public life.”

1999 is a “warm up” for the elections in 2000, when WFP intends to contest a “great number” of state legislative races in New York City and upstate, according to Cantor. In the Ostrom-Nelson race, as well as in the Manhattan race to fill the council seat vacated by Andrew Eristoff, “we want to get people used to voting on our line,” he adds, because WFP intends to be “part of a coalition that produces the new City Council when term limits open up the majority of Council seats in 2001.

Cantor was not defensive about WFP’s nomination of Peter Vallone as its standard bearer in 1998. “We did what was necessary to get the ballot status. “We did what was necessary to get the ballot status we need to change the political landscape in New York. People make history, but not under circumstances of their own choosing. The task now is to establish our presence on issue, including affordable housing and rent regulation.” At its September board meeting, Met Council will finalize plans for this November’s elections. With the Council deciding the fate of the entire rent-regulatory system in March, tenants around the city will be watching the race in the 48th District very closely. To get involved in Met Council’s political action, and the fight to renew and strengthen rent and eviction protections, call (212) 693-0553.