Harlem Tenants Council Harlem Tenants Council Critical Thinking Series Obama: Race, Class, & Politics (Part II) Obamaminia and Dr. Rev. Jeremiah Wright in a ¡°¡®Post race America¡°; Neoliberalism, War and the Democratic Party Candidates safeguarding the strategic interests of a crumbling and broke empire; What are our alternatives plus more! Friday, April 4, 2008 6 to 9 PM Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial & Education Center 3940 Broadway at 165th Street Moderator: Herb Boyd, Award winning Author & Journalist Panelists: Amiri Baraka, International Acclaimed Poet &Writer Malaak Shabazz, UNIFEM & Women for Baraka Obama Anthony Monteiro, Associate Director Institute for the Study of Race & Social Thought, Temple University Others to be announced. The forum continues our critical dialogue on race and class in US politics from a Black left perspective: the political crimes of the Clintons against Black people; an indepth analysis of Obama ¡®s unconventional¡± presidential bid touted as transcending US racial politics; the role of the Black Left in providing a clear analysis on the dangerous paradigm of post racial politics in America eagerly endorsed and promoted by Senator Barack Obama. How does the Black left seize the ¡°window of opportunity¡± Obamamania presents to build a Black United Front? How does this happen and what hasn¡¯t it happen? In reality is the Black Left so joined at the hip with the Democratic Party that it has presented Obama as the lesser of the two evils because he is Black and ¡°our moment in history has arrived?¡° In the privacy of the voting booth will white America transcend the politics of race? If you are curious about any of these issues join us for this much needed debate. Co-sponsored by the Harlem Tenants Council and the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial & Education Center Contact the Harlem Tenants Council at 646-812-5188 or email:Harlem tenants@gmail.com. HARLEM TENANTS COUNCIL TOWNHALL MEETING Gentrification Tasmanian Hits Harlem With a Bang: Get on the Unity Boat to Save Harlem! Are you fed up with high rent, shoddy or no repairs, no heat & hot water, luxury condos all over Harlem with few if any local residents getting jobs, the silence of elected officials, the rezoning of 125th Street, Columbia University's Expansion, eminent domain abuse, developments all over East, West and Central for the wealthy and rich corporation. IF SO, JOIN US ON: Saturday, March 15, 2008 (1 PM to 4 PM) Harriet Tubman School (Auditorium) 250 West 127th Street (Between Adam Clayton Powell and Frederick Douglass Blvds) Opening Session: A Demand for Action from Elected Officials Invited: New York City Council Members Inez Dickens, Robert Jackson and Melissa Mark Viverto; State Assemblyman Keith Wright, State Senator Bill Perkins, Congressman Charles Rangel and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. Tenant Education & Empowerment: Review of Legislation & Public Policies : Presenter: Joe Lamport, Citywide Task Force on Housing Court Campaign for Civil Right to Counsel in New York State: the right of counsel in civil legal matters related to human rights including the right of counsel in Housing Court. New York City Council proposed legislation to provide counsel for low income senior citizens in Housing Court. Ethics of Housing Court Judges: Learn how you can report the details of your housing court experience that can have an impact on the reappointment of Housing Court judges in 2008. Reports to the Community: Racketeering Lawsuit Against Pinnacle (Attorney Kim Powell, BRUSH (Buyers and Renters United to Save Harlem) Abyssinian Development Corp: One of Harlem's Worst Landlords? Organizing Against Vantage Properties Legal Action to Oppose Rezoning of 125th Street Unity Statement: : Toward Building a United Tenant Coalition of Greater Harlem & Washington Heights. For additional information contact the Harlem Tenants Council at 212-234-5005 or 646-812-5188. Email:Harlemtenants@gmail.com . HARLEM COMMUNITY FORUM What¡¯s happening on 125th Street? The proposed rezoning of 125th St. will drastically and permanently alter the character of Harlem¡¯s main commercial street. It will also drive out more Black residents. The community has to be prepared to voice its opposition at the upcoming public hearing of the City Planning Commission that will take place on Jan 30th. Come to the "What's Up on 125th St." Community Forum to learn about the rezoning proposal that might well be the nail in the coffin that seals Central Harlem's fate unless the community fights back! KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! Wednesday, January 23, 2008 6 to 9 PM St. Ambrose Church 9 West 130th Street (Between Fifth Avenue & Malcolm X Blvd) Guest panelists will include opponents of Columbia University expansion in West Harlem. The 125th Street River to River rezoning proposal was certified on October 1, 2007 by the Department of City Planning that will hold a public hearing on the rezoning application on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 starting at 9:30 AM at the City College of New York in Aaron Davis Hall, 138 Convent Avenue at West 135th St. The public can attend and testify at the hearing.   The rezoning proposal has been rejected by Community Board 10 with conditions because the rezoning will allow the projected development of 2,600 units of luxury housing (80% market and 20% affordable); the loss of 71 local businesses; displacement of thousands low and slightly moderate income families and individuals; greater bulk and height for new developments, up to 29 stories on the north side of 125th St.; environmental denigration from traffic congestion and possible demolition of historic buildings. The forum will provide a comprehensive overview of the rezoning proposal; the politics behind the "revitalization" of 125th street including the role of Columbia University; the mandated public review procedures; the abuse of eminent domain; the importance of historic preservation; and the inherent weaknesses of a community benefit package controlled by elected officials. Attend this critical information forum to get all the information you need to testify at the  1/30 hearing of the City Planning Department plus much more!  For additional information contact the Harlem Tenants Council at 212-234-5005 or email: nelliehester@yahoo.com or harlemtenants@aol.com. Sponsored by the Harlem Tenants Council: Endorsed by: Coalition to Save Harlem, Coalition to Preserve Community, the Delano Village Tenants Association,  (list in formation) HARLEM COMMUNITY FORUM What¡¯s happening on 125th Street? The proposed rezoning of 125th St. will drastically and permanently alter the character of Harlem¡¯s main commercial street. It will also drive out more Black residents. The community has to be prepared to voice its opposition at the upcoming public hearing of the City Planning Commission that will take place on Jan 30th. Come to the "What's Up on 125th St." Community Forum to learn about the rezoning proposal that might well be the nail in the coffin that seals Central Harlem's fate unless the community fights back! KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! Wednesday, January 23, 2008 6 to 9 PM St. Ambrose Church 9 West 130th Street (Between Fifth Avenue & Malcolm X Blvd) Guest panelists will include opponents of Columbia University expansion in West Harlem. The 125th Street River to River rezoning proposal was certified on October 1, 2007 by the Department of City Planning that will hold a public hearing on the rezoning application on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 starting at 9:30 AM at the City College of New York in Aaron Davis Hall, 138 Convent Avenue at West 135th St. The public can attend and testify at the hearing.   The rezoning proposal has been rejected by Community Board 10 with conditions because the rezoning will allow the projected development of 2,600 units of luxury housing (80% market and 20% affordable); the loss of 71 local businesses; displacement of thousands low and slightly moderate income families and individuals; greater bulk and height for new developments, up to 29 stories on the north side of 125th St.; environmental denigration from traffic congestion and possible demolition of historic buildings. The forum will provide a comprehensive overview of the rezoning proposal; the politics behind the "revitalization" of 125th street including the role of Columbia University; the mandated public review procedures; the abuse of eminent domain; the importance of historic preservation; and the inherent weaknesses of a community benefit package controlled by elected officials. Attend this critical information forum to get all the information you need to testify at the  1/30 hearing of the City Planning Department plus much more!  For additional information contact the Harlem Tenants Council at 212-234-5005 or email: nelliehester@yahoo.com or harlemtenants@aol.com. Sponsored by the Harlem Tenants Council: Endorsed by: Coalition to Save Harlem, Coalition to Preserve Community, the Delano Village Tenants Association,  (list in formation) HARLEM: RACE, CLASS & GENTRIFICATION ¡°Saving the Soul of Black Businesses in Harlem : Ending the Economic Siege of Our Community¡± ¡°Wake up & Smell the Power of Your Black Dollars¡± Connecting the dots Community Forum   St. Ambrose Church Saturday, July 14, 2007          9 West 130th Street                                                                                                         (Between Fifth and Lenox Avenues)         Speakers: Sikhulu Shange (owner of the Record Shack for past 35 years), Minister Kevin Mahammad (Mosque #7), Rev. James David Manning (ATLAH Ministries), Harlem Filmmaker Duana Butler, Maurice Powell ( 125th St. Vendors), Representatives from the 116thVendors, Nellie Bailey ( Harlem Tenants Council), and others!!    Special Report: Marcus Garvey Park Drummers Will not Be Silence! The so called ¡°revitalization¡± of Harlem is taking place with the ethnic cleansing of local Black businesses. Major corporate chains are moving in while local Black businesses are being forced out, incredibly with funds from the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ) that subsidized $11.2 million in loans to Harlem USA that also received funds from Chase Manhattan Bank and the Empire State Development Corp.  This is nothing more than ¡°economic racism¡±!! Join us in this powerful community discussion on how to take back the local Black economic life of Harlem. Light Refreshments Served Sponsors: Harlem Tenants Council (HTC at 212-234-5005 or email: harlemtenants@aol.com) and Harlem Committee To Protect Black Businesses ( 212-866-1600). Directions: 2 or 3 Train to 125th or 135th Street . According to Nellie Hester Bailey of the Harlem Tenants Council a 2005 study released by the Vera Institute of Justice documented Central Harlem as producing the highest number of homelessness individuals and families than any neighborhood in Manhattan. Bailey said, ¡°Not only do we have a housing crisis in New York City but the unemployment rate for Black men is also at a crisis level. How can it be that we have a former sitting President of the US with an office in Harlem but none of these critical issues are at the forefront of any public policy discussion in this world renowned historic Black community.¡± Bailey charged the established media outlets of largely ignoring the displacement and rising homelessness occurring throughout Harlem. She said, ¡°The media apparently wants a sanitized version of Harlem¡¯s so called second renaissance without the backdrop of African Americans being deliberately pushed out by greedy recalcitrant landlords who in fact dictate housing policy on both a city and state level.¡± Tenants of Harlem along with the Harlem Tenants Council will release their People¡¯s Housing Platform. The group is also asking to meet with President Clinton. 1st Annual Harlem Anti-Gentrification Conference The Historic Community of Harlem under Attack: Fight Back and Resistance Forging Alliances and Building Principle Unity In Memory of Afro Dominican Political Activist Fior Cruz June 1st & June 2nd 2007 St. Ambrose Church @ 9 West 130th Street (Between Fifth and Lenox Avenues) CONFERENCE AGENDA June 1, 2007: 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM Opening Plenary: ¡ùRace, Class & Gentrification¡ì 4 to 6 PM: Documentary Film and Discussion: "Brooklyn Matters¡ì an insightful documentary that reveals the fuller truth about the Atlantic Yards proposal and highlights how a few powerful men are circumventing community participation and planning principles to try to push their own interests forward. Produced and Directed by Isabel Hill. Discussion after screening. Invited: Isabel Hill 6 to 8 PM: Opening Plenary: An analysis of Race, Class, Gentrification & the Necessity for Mobilized Resistance: Moderated by Gil Noble, Producer & Host of ¡ùLike It Is¡ì Panelists: Neil Smith: Director/The Center for Place, Culture & Politics & author, ¡ùThe New Urban Frontier: Gentrification & the Revanchist City¡ì William Sales: Chair/Dept of African American Studies, Seton Hall University Daniel Goldstein: Develop Don£ªt Destroy Brooklyn Robert Fitch: author, ¡ùThe Assassination of New York¡ì Nellie Hester Bailey, Director/ Harlem Tenants Council Invited: Dr. Mindy Fullilove: author, ¡ùRoot Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, and What We Can Do About It¡ì 8 to 9 PM: Social Hour & Networking June 2, 2007: MORNING CONFERENCE AGENDA 8 to 9 AM: Registration 9 to 10 AM: Morning Plenary: Moderated by Attorney Rosemari Mealy Panelists: Phil DePaolo (President of The New York Community Council): Gentrification and the Two Sides of Williamsburg Hyun Lee: CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities Camille Yarborough: Culture & Gentrification in Harlem Rosita Romero, Dominican Women Development Center: The impact of gentrification on women of color. Professor Sam Anderson: Anti-gentrification work as part of building a united front against oppression John Fisher (Director of Tenant.Net): Politics and the Tenant Movement 10 AM 12 Noon: Workshops 1) Senior Citizens: Tenant Protections & Supportive Services: Senior citizens are more vulnerable to landlord harassment and abuse than most, complicated by the natural aging process that necessities a range of supportive services, critical interventions and safety networks. Escalating gentrification in Harlem and throughout NYC has left many seniors traumatically stressed leading to more serious complications. This workshop will present legislative initiatives, housing support services and copying tools for seniors presented by the distinguish African American psychiatrist and psycho-analyst Dr. Henry McCurtis. Panelists: Dr. Henry McCurtis, (Other panelists to be announced.) 2) Know Your Rights: Over 95% of tenants appear in New York City Housing Courts without an attorney while the overwhelming numbers of landlords retain legal counsel. These inherent inequities have created a revolving door of evictions deepening the homeless crisis. Landlords are increasing offering buyouts to empty buildings that many low income tenants are accepting without the benefit of knowing their rights. Tenant education is the first defense against displacement: lease renewals, preferential rents, primary residence, landlord harassment, & buyout offers: Panelists to be announced. 3). Delano Village Workshops: **Due to anticipated turnout this workshop has been designated for Delano tenants only: Delano Village, a seven building complex of 1,800 units in Harlem is symbolic of international finance capital targeting low end rental complexes for purchase and eventual co-op or condo conversion with the aim of driving out working class tenants of color, particularly African Americans in Harlem This workshop will review preferential rents, primary tenancy, MCI£ªs and legal update. Presenter: Valerie Orridge, President of Delano Village Tenants Association. 12 NOON TO 1:00 PM: LUNCH AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS 1 PM to 3:30 PM 4) A Plague on Our Houses: ¡ùA Plague on Your Houses¡ì authors Deborah and Roderick Wallace will present their carefully researched book on New York City£ªs ¡ùplanned shrinkage¡ì and social engineering policies, some of them conceived by the Rand Corporation that deliberately eliminated fire control resources in areas targeted for clearance. After an epidemic of housing abandonment by landlords about two million people were uprooted. Robert Fitch, author of ¡ùThe Assassination of New York¡ì traces the ruling elite control of the city£ªs economic and political life to increase the value of the land they own by driving out low rent workers and eliminating factories, to be replaced by high rent professionals, high rise towers, and the expansions of universities and hospitals. This critical workshop examines the demise and ¡ùrevitalization¡ì of communities such as Harlem to achieve this goal. Panelists: Deborah and Roderick Wallace; Author Robert Fitch. 5). Building Alliances: a critical and candid examination of the relationship between the fight for immigrant rights and the historic civil rights movement: This workshop will explore the divisions of economic rivalry, xenophobia within communities of color, and anti-Black prejudices of reactionary forces within the immigrant rights movement in addition to white ethnic chauvinism within the struggle juxtaposed to the lessons of the civil rights movement: The discussion will also explore the political dynamics of Black and Latino unity in NYC politics and social justice movements: Lessons to be learned in building a solidarity movement. Moderator: Fallou Gueye, former President of the Association of Senegalese in America; Panelists: Cleo Silvers, HTC Board Member; (Others TBA) 3:30 PM to 6 PM Workshops 6). Gentrification in Harlem: No single development project in Harlem will permanently alter its ethnic, socioeconomic and physical landscape than that of Columbia University£ªs 18 acre land grab in West Harlem. Columbia University, the third largest landlord in New York City has mounted an aggressive campaign of harassment, intimidation, omissions and deception to win and justify its ¡ùall or nothing¡ì position that seek 100% control of the proposed footprint that will lead to the eviction of residents and businesses using eminent domain. This workshop will present an in-depth portrait of community opposition to the expansion, and a history of the university£ªs adversarial and ¡ùmanagerial¡ì relationship to the Harlem community including dangerous and deadly medical experiments on Blacks. Bryan Mercer, Students against Expansion & Gentrification; MarioMazzoni, Coalition to Preserve Community; Attorney and Civil Rights Activist Norm Siegel, (Others TBA) 7) Building Coalition and Alliances: An analysis of gentrification as a human rights issue and the commonality of struggle against gentrification in building alliances: Lesson and best practices from organizers and activists fighting gentrification and displacement in their neighborhoods. Moderator: Marcos Tejeda, Harlem Tenants Council. Panelists: Samuel White Jr. Harlem Community Activist; Helena Wong, CAAAY Organizing Asian Committee; Damaris Reyes, Executive Director of Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), Fran Luck, Lower Eastside Activist and Producer of WBAI£ªs ¡ùJoy of Resistance,¡ì Phil DePaolo, President of The New York Community Council, Kim Powell (BRUSH), Joyce Culler, Simpson Street Tenants Association (Bronx). 8) Gentrification and the Growing Economic Crisis in the US: Although touted as the world£ªs super power the US economy teeters on collapse. Borrowed money not production props up the economy. With staggering debts such as 644.3 billions to Japan, 349.6 billions to China, 239.1 billion to the UK and cost of 7 to 8 billion dollars a month for current military operations and reconstruction in Iraq, can the US economy sustain itself? The collapse of infrastructure, the skeleton around which a city is built, only deepens the crisis. Wars, bloated military spending, debt, infrastructure decay, prison industrial complex, repression of civil liberties, rising unemployment & homelessness. What can we do? Moderator: Nellie Hester Bailey, Panelists: Professor Komozi Woodward; Rosita Romero, Dominican Women Development Center; Brian Jones, International Socialist Organization; Lynne Stewart; Jim Haughton, Harlem Fight Back; Professor Tony Monterio, African American Studies, Temple University. 6 PM to 7 PM: Closing Plenary: Which Way Forward: Forging Alliances around Principle Unity: Moderated by Cleo Silver, Harlem Tenants Council; Panelist: Professor Komozi Woodward, author of Ground ÿLocal Black Power Movements; Nellie Hester Bailey, Harlem Tenants Council; Rosita Romero, Dominican Women Development Center; Mae Jackson, Harlem Tenants Council & Art Without Walls; John Fisher (Director of Tenant.Net). (Others TBA) 7 PM to 9 PM: Dinner and Networking (Dinner $10) * $5 Suggested Donation for conference but NO ONE WILL BE TURNED AWAY! Follow-up Convention Meeting: Date to be Announced. Sponsored by Harlem Tenants Council, Delano Village Tenants Association, St. Ambrose Church, Harlem Fight Back. Endorsements (in formation) December 12th Movement; Million More Movement Harlem Local Organizing Committee, Concerned Citizens Outreach to Save Harlem Hospital & Rehab Service, Emma Chapman, Phil DePaolo New York Community Council; International Action Center; Art Without Walls, Caring for Creators of Change, Simpson Street Tenants Association (Bronx), Attorney Tarif Warren. For additional information contact Harlem Tenants Council at 212-234-5005 or Email at harlemtenants@aol.com. ** Warning: No independent video taping or audio taping of this conference is allowed without the expressed permission of the Harlem Tenants Council. In particular for those who have previously taped programs of the Harlem Tenants and have not submitted copies of those tapings to the organization your request will be denied. This policy will be vigorously enforced. Posted by Simeon Bankoff at 9:58 AM    Labels: Affordable Housing, Event, Harlem, Talking Heads 2 comments: Anonymous said... This is a ridiculous and counter-productive name for a conference, might as well call it the anti-progress or we want our neighborhood to return to the dump it was conference. Energy should be focused on assisting those that are negatively impacted by gentrification and not balking the process which has brought so much good. 9:22 AM    Anonymous said... I'm wondering if the first commenter event bothered reading beyond the title of conference. Looks like they have some positive things on the agenda. Although there is no arguing that the name of the conference sets off a negative tone (why not the pro-Harlem conference or pro-preservation conference) the content of the discussion might be worth checking out. Besides, I think the protest would be heard louder if the first commenter actually attended the conference or contacted the organizers rather than posting to blogs. 2:12 PM    Harlem Tenants Council picketed office of President Bill Clinton Wednesday, July 19, 2006 Harlem Tenants Council Contact: Nellie Bailey 212-234-5005 Valerie Orridge: 212-368-5249 For Immediate Release On Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 3:30 PM in front of 55 West 125th Street, the office building that house the luxury office of President William Jefferson Clinton, hundreds of Harlem tenants and their supporters from across New York City protested against rising eviction and growing homelessness in Harlem. According to long time residents President Clinton, whom famed African American novelist Toni Morrison dubbed the ¡°Black President,¡± appears to be oblivious to the plight of poor, working class and even moderate income Blacks being squeezed out of the historic community of Harlem. Valerie Orridge, President of the Tenants Association of Delano Village, a sprawling 1,600 unit complex in Central Harlem, and an organizer of the event said, ¡° President Clinton needs to understand the tremendous pressures landlords are exerting against tenants in Harlem today, all of it designed to drive African Americans out of here but we have no place to go!¡± Orridge believe Clinton¡¯s move Uptown exacerbated an already soaring real estate market for commercial and residential rentals. She said, ¡°Just look at all of the small local businesses now gone from 125th! Street because they could not¡¯t afford the escalating rents. At this rate Harlem as we know is becoming unrecognizable.¡± 21 West 130th St New York, NY 10037 harlemtenants@gmail.com 646-812-5188      Copyright 2008; Harlem Tenants Council