West Village Houses tenants pin hopes on new Albany bill

[consigliere]

Here's an article about another proposed buyout from the Mitchell-Lama program, from the February 05, 2003 online edition of The Villager:
 
West Village Houses tenants pin hopes on new Albany bill
 
by Elizabeth O'Brien
 
Residents of the West Village Houses were buoyed when a bill supporting rent protections passed the State Assembly on the heels of the Sunday rally they held to save their homes from a looming buyout of the Mitchell-Lama program.
 
If signed into law, the rent-regulation bill that passed on Monday would make it more difficult for owners of Mitchell-Lama properties to convert them to market-rate units after buying out of the program. Under the bill, all buildings that leave the Mitchell-Lama program would become rent stabilized regardless of whether they were occupied before Jan. 1, 1974, the cutoff date for the city's rent-stabilization program.
 
West Village Associates, the owners of the West Village Houses complex, have begun the process of removing the property from the Mitchell-Lama program, under which rents are kept well below market rate. On Sunday, several hundred residents gathered with local politicians at Morton and Washington Sts. to urge the city to preserve its affordable housing.
 
Among those attending the rally were Rep. Jerrold Nadler, State Senator Tom Duane, Assemblymember Deborah Glick, Councilmembers Chris Quinn and Gail Brewer, Democratic State Committeeman Larry Moss and Democratic District Leaders Aubrey Lees and Arthur Schwartz.
 
"The tenants here are very energized" by the rally and the bill, said Katy Bordonaro, president of the West Village Houses Tenants Association.
 
In order to become law, the rent-regulation bill must be passed by the State Senate and approved by Gov. Pataki. It will likely face an uphill battle in the Senate, since the Senate's Republican majority leader, Joseph Bruno, has in the past tried to weaken New York City rent protections. In addition, Bruno was recently quoted as saying that before they deal with rent laws, lawmakers must address more pressing matters like Gov. Pataki's budget proposal.
 
Tenant action like last Sunday's rally will help lawmakers in favor of the bill as they negotiate for its passage, said a legislative aide.
 
"The more pressure the tenants can bring to bear on the Republican senators, the more pressure those senators can bring to their colleagues in the final compromise," said Jonathan Harkavy, chief of staff for Assemblymember Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn), the bill's sponsor and the chairperson of the Assembly's housing committee.
 
The West Village Tenants Association has also filed suit in New York State Supreme court against the complex's owners. Their suit, filed Jan. 13, claims that the complex should be protected by rent stabilization in the event of a buyout and that the landlord must notify tenants individually about their status before the buyout, said Carol Ule, the attorney for the tenants.
 
Representatives for the owners vowed to fight the suit.
 
"Although West Village Associates believes that the lawsuit is completely without merit and intends to protect its legal rights vigorously, it nonetheless has been engaged in compromise discussions with the Tenants' Association and its advisors, as well as applicable City agencies and public officials, for several months now," said Steve Vitoff, a spokesperson for Seward & Kissel, the attorneys representing West Village Associates, in a prepared statement. Vitoff declined further comment on the negotiations.
 
The average rent on a two-bedroom apartment at West Village Houses is $900. Market-rate rents are estimated at about triple this amount, which worries tenants.
 
"I don't mind a reasonable increase in rent," said Brian Hotchkiss, a longtime resident who attended the rally. "But if it goes up to what the landlord wants, I'd be forced out of the city completely."