LOWER EAST SIDE GARDENS
THREATENED BY YUPPIE CONDOS
Antonio Pagan Pushes Housing Scam;
City Council Vote Ignores Public Hearings
By Nancy Drew, Chris Flash, A. Kronstadt
If you follow your nose down the sewer drain of raw deals leading up to the housing development project called Del Este Village, you will come across Lower East Side City Councilman Antonio Pagan. Pagan, who has spent his two terms in office displacing Latino people in his district with well-to-do white folks, is a key proponent of the Del Este Village condominium project which is slated to displace three vital community gardens on the Lower East Side. Pagan is a member of two key council committees charged with the privatization of city-owned property through out New York City, mostly property seized from private landlords for back taxes and occupied by low-income tenants. The 10 BC Garden on 10th Street between Avenues B and C, the Chico Mendez Mural Garden on 11th Street between Avenues A and B, along with two smaller plots on East 11th Street, are all expected to be leveled at the end of September in order to make way for 98 duplex condos with 30 foot private backyards (see Este Village location map--Ed.) But this condo project means a lot more than just the bulldozing of a few flowers and trees. As the name of the project--a rather lame effort at Spanglish--might indicate, Del Este Village is part of a much larger development strategy by Pagan and the real estate industry in New York to remap Loisaida as a trendy enclave for the "middle class"--and soon to be upper middle class. The Del Este project is sponsored by the New York City Housing Partnership, a large consortium of banks, financial and real estate interests that has become the leading developer of new housing on city-owned land. The developer is Donald Capoccia of BFC Partners, who is also one of Pagan's leading campaign contributors. The community sponsor is Lower East Side Coalition Housing Development (LESCHD), the non-profit housing group that Pagan controls, but which is currently being fronted by Zulma Zayas, Pagan's campaign manager in his unsuccessful bid for the Manhattan borough presidency. Over the years, LESCHD has used city, state, federal and corporate funding to create "low-income" housing that reverts to LESCHD's ownership after only 10-15 years. What appears to be a low-income housing program is in reality a real-estate privatization scam. Pagan used his City Council influence to get site control of five consecutive buildings on 13th Street for LESCHD and have squatters who occupied them for more than 10 years violently evicted by police. Pagan and Capoccia have now set their sights on six city-owned lots, most occupied by community gardens which are threatened with immediate demolition. After years of facilitating the takeover of numerous city-owned properties on the Lower East Side for phony low-income housing, Pagan is no longer even trying to appear to be creating housing for low-income tenants. It was Pagan who introduced the NYC Partnership project for approval by the City Council, and it is Pagan who now boasts of the Del Este homes as an example of the "affordable housing" he has brought to his district. Check out the posters plastered all over the neighborhood: "Own Your Own Home Starting at an Estimated $103,000!" In fact, the Del Este duplex condos are priced between $117,200 and $159,800 (more if buyers opt for brand name appliances, high speed internet hook-ups, and cable access, among other "luxury" amenities.) And those prices are AFTER you take into account the $41,200 in city and state subsidies that are used to offset the construction costs of these units. While the duplexes are supposedly restricted to first-time homeowners with incomes of up to $70,950, according to city regulations, 10 percent of the units can be sold to buyers above the income limit, as long as they pay full price (without the subsidy)--ranging from $158,400 for a two bedroom unit to $201,000 for a three-bedroom unit. At an August 23 buying seminar, a marketing agent for BFC Partners openly stated that his company "would love to sell all these units to people above the income limit," adding, "The more people we sell to who are above the subsidy requirement, the better it is for us. Come on, this is capitalism." Such comments have led many to question BFC's willingness to abide by the 10 percent rule. In addition, while the brochures suggest that the condos are "an affordable reality" to those earning as little as $28,000, in order to meet the minimum loan requirement, a family or individual would have to earn at least $43,500 a year. Even then, they would need to be virtually clear of all other debts (i.e. car payment, credit card bill, etc.) so as not to exceed the monthly debt ceiling set by the banks. That's quite a stretch for a neighborhood where the average annual income hovers around $12,500. Adding up the mortgage and maintaintance charges, the monthly cost of these units ranges from $1,190 to $1,828. Most shocking of all, Donald Capoccia of BFC Partners announced at a recent buying seminar that here would be NO PREFERENCE FOR FAMILIES who wish to buy these two and three bedroom condos. This means that a single individual earning as much as $70,949 could qualify for the $41,200 subsidy and buy a two or three bedroom duplex at below market costs, then turn around and rent out the extra bedrooms for more money. (While subletting is technically not allowed, who will monitor a private condo association once these units are sold?) Moreover, after five years, the condos can be sold to anyone over the $70,950 limit, as long as they pay off the mortgage and what's left of the $40,000 subsidy, which gets amortized over a 25 year period. And yet, HPD, Pagan and proponents on Community Board 3 (CB3) have justified these condos as permanent, affordable housing for families in the community. All of this fine print presents a far different picture from the one initially painted by proponents of the NYC Housing Partnership condos like Pagan-appointed CB3 chair Susan Vaughn when CB3 first released the sites for development in September 1995. Vaughn and other board members claimed that the Partnership project would help alleviate overcrowding in public housing projects by allowing "double-wage-earning families" who might otherwise be forced to move to the suburbs a chance to buy into their own neighborhood. Vaughn and other Pagan-appointed members of CB3 claimed that it was selfish of the gardeners to hold onto land when it could be used to create permanent affordable housing for those who need it. Obviously, Del Este Village is a sweetheart deal for Capoccia, who is being handed the development rights to more than $2.2 million in property with virtually no money down. Unlike most real estate deals, the city underwrites the loans for NYC Housing Partnership-sponsored development, allowing private developers like Capoccia to reap profit with very little risk. Of course, Pagan also makes out in the deal. Capoccia's BFC Partners was one of the leading contributors to Pagan's failed bid for Manhattan Borough President, contributing more than $4,200, according to the latest filings available from the Campaign Finance Board. The architect for the Del Este Village project, Leslie Feder, also contributed $500 to Pagan's campaign for Borough President. BFC has also contributed at least $10,000 to Giuliani's mayoral campaign. Over the past year, Pagan has gone out of his way to align himself with Giuliani, fueling speculation that his own lackluster campaign for Borough President, in which he received only 8 percent of the vote, was just a ploy to keep himself in the running for some political post in the likely event of a second Giuliani term. Certainly, deep-pocketed friends like Capoccia help increase Pagan's political capital with the mayor. The insensitivity of Pagan and his allies toward the community was evident at a recent CB3 Housing Committee meeting, when the NYC Housing Partnership and members of Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) presented plans to demolish the Rodriguez Garden on Suffolk and Rivington Streets in order to build 53 more Partnership condos. At the meeting, LESCHD's executive director Zulma Zayas defended the planned razing of the Rodriguez, 10 BC, and Mendez gardens, claiming that "one of them [the gardens] is used to run numbers, one of them is a parlor to distribute political literature, and the other is a private place for the family to have Labor Day parties." Zayas said, "they are stealing from the community; they open the fire hydrants and they play loud music." Zayas also took issue with the claim that the condos were too expensive for people in the neighborhood. "We received over 10,000 applications for 13th Street," Zayas said, describing the recent lottery for the supposedly low-income apartments that her organization helped develop after the city gutted the former 13th Street squats. "And you know what's so sad is that most of the people don't qualify [for the apartments] because they have too much money." Too rich for subsidized housing? Gee, isn't that sad! Considering that she lives around the corner from it, Zayas should know that the 10 BC Garden was founded in 1987 by several mostly Latino families and friends, who united together to kick out the drug dealers. Since then, the neighbors who maintain the garden estimate that they have removed at least 10 full dumpsters of rubble and trash from the lots, which extend through to 11th Street, and have towed away numerous wrecked cars, which were once used by junkies to shoot up. For several years, the garden ran a weekly film series, screening films from around the world. Over the years, there have been weddings and baptisms in the garden, birthday and graduation parties, and numerous other cultural events including Halloween and Easter Parties for kids. Named after the Brazilian rain forest martyr Chico Mendez, the Mendez Mural Garden was created six years ago by a diverse group of local residents, including sculptor Ken Hiratsuka, who helped lay out the garden's fanciful design, Cover Magazine publisher Jeff Wright, and Nelson Rodriguez, a youth counselor who is like a big brother to the numerous children from the block who come to play in the garden. Other Lower East Side gardens threatened by Partnership condos include Green Oasis and Gilbert's Sculpture Garden on 8th Street, between C and D, the 9th Street and Avenue C garden, and the Casita Garden on 9th Street, between C and D. All of these gardens were approved for Partnership condos by CB3 in September 1995, and have been in limbo ever since. The clearing and cultivation of the city-owned lots by gardeners has been a stabilizing force in the community, contributing to the betterment of their neighborhoods at no cost to the city. Ironically, with the real estate market on the upswing, these gardens have made the Lower East Side more attractive to yuppies and developers who now want those sites for new market rate and luxury housing. Aside from the 6th Street and Avenue B Garden and El Jardin del Paradiso, both of which have been awarded park status by the city, no community garden on the Lower East Side is safe. All told, the city and CB3 plan to develop 22 so-called "vacant" sites on the Lower East Side for either Partnership "middle class" condos or flat-out market rate housing--a process which could radically alter the economic balance and social makeup of the neighborhood while robbing the community of vital green space. This rush to demolition is part of a stepped-up citywide effort by Mayor Giuliani's Administration to sell off all "vacant" city-owned properties. Already, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) has placed over half of the 776 community gardens throughout the city "on hold" because of pending development plans. Most of these gardens will likely be awarded to the Partnership, which is the leading developer of new housing on city-owned land. In the process, gardeners are being falsely pitted against the dire need for housing, when in reality the low-density style of housing that the Partnership develops is not intended to solve the housing crisis as much as it is to "de-densify" poor neighborhoods. (See story in SHADOW #41--Ed.) In Harlem, five long-standing community gardens on 122nd Street are also slated to be bulldozed at the end of September to make way for Partnership homes. They include the 20-year-old Garden of Love, Project Harmony, the Five-Star Garden, and the Golden Lions Garden--some of the most magnificent and well-used community gardens in the city. When asked at a City Council public hearing why the plans for the Partnership "town-houses"--which feature 30-foot private back yards--could not be altered to allow for at least some community space, HPD deputy commissioner Mary Bolton told the gardeners assembled that "community space is inconsistent with home ownership." Two other gardens in the Bronx and one in Brooklyn are also in the process of being approved by the City Council for Partnership housing, despite the vigilance of the gardeners, who have been forcing their way into City Council committee meetings to challenge the sale of these green spaces. In particular, gardeners are challenging the failure of the Council to identify the lots they are selling as gardens when they are voting to dispose of them. Instead, gardens are routinely classified as vacant "blighted" rubble strewn lots, allowing the city to dispose of the sites even more quickly, without having to go through a more openly-publicized public review process and without having to perform environmental impact studies. (When the Partnership plan went before CB3 last September, neither gardeners nor adjacent property owners were notified, and after their voting, many CB3 members admitted that they were unaware they were voting to eliminate the gardens.) The City Council's action on the garden issue, including that of many of its progressive members, has been negative. The entire City Council membership, including Liberal councilmembers Tom Duane, Sal Albanese and Virginia Fields, voted for Resolution 2350 on May 14, turning the 10 BC, 11 BC and Mendez Mural gardens over for development. Duane also voted for the Resolution when it passed the Land Use Committee, of which he is a member. At City Council subcommittee meetings on "Private Use of Public Spaces" held on July 29 and August 21 for public hearings, despite the fact that the vote against the gardens was already a done deal, Duane and Albanese claimed to be unaware that the sites are actively tended gardens when they voted to pass Resolution 2350 in May. Many gardening activists are confused by the treachery of their favorite politicians, yet strangely, some are pathetically clinging to the dim hope that somehow these same politicians who betrayed them will do something to help them. Lower East Side Democratic City Council candidate Margarita Lopez has appeared at marches supporting the gardens and has pledged her support for their continued existence. Unlike her soon-to-be colleagues on the Council, Lopez is not likely to claim to be in the dark when votes concerning her neighborhood are made. Unfortunately, Margarita Lopez may not take her City Council seat in time to prevent the transfer and destruction of the garden sites for Pagan and Capoccia's Del Este Village project. If this proves to be true, at least with Lopez in place, the precious few remaining garden sites and community resources have a better chance to be saved. In the meantime, some activists have been pursuing a lawsuit that stays the demolition of the gardens while others have been engaging in a street level approach. On August 23, neighborhood activists and gardeners picketed a sales seminar held by Del Este Village on East 8th Street, giving prospective buyers copies of a May 13 Village Voice article that described the shoddy and cheaply built housing by the NYC Housing Partnership in the Bronx. According to the article, which described leaking roofs, sinking and cracking floors, eroding foundations and improperly installed boilers, "Many [homeowners] want out, but can't leave: the threat of a hefty fine forces these working and middle-class families to stay in their government-subsidized homes for 15 years." On September 11, demonstrators organized by the Citywide Committee to Preserve Community Land Use Rights disrupted a City Council meeting. On September 18 they took over the offices of the NYC Partnership at 1 Battery Park Plaza, where they issued a statement demanding that the Partnership "immediately cease implementing programs that displace existing projects without extensive and meaningful review..." A member of the coalition told the SHADOW, "We want to expand beyond the gardens. It's a land use issue. The reality is that they're building unaffordable housing under the guise of destroying community gardens for housing." More actions around this issue are upcoming. As predicted previously in the SHADOW, low-income tenants and community gardeners are now finding themselves victimized by the same repression experienced by squatters for years: illegal evictions, demolitions and police actions. In their defense, gardeners can apply the same tactics employed by the squatter community: building a network of neighborhood support and defense, setting up a phone tree wherein a list of people can be called for a quick response to any assaults on the gardens, preparations for meeting the bulldozers, and unpredictable actions against those responsible for destroying the gardens. It is assumed that the city will try to demolish the remaining gardens and lots as the weather gets colder, since they expect that less people are likely to confront and fight them. No matter what the enemy expects, it looks like it's going to be a Redwood Summer this winter!! For information about defending the gardens and future actions, contact these groups: The New York City Coalition for the Preservation of Gardens at 7777969 The Lower East Side Collective at 802-8081 The Citywide Committee to Preserve Community Land Use Rights at their Community Unity meetings every Tuesday at 7:00 pm at Charas at 610 East 9th Street (at Avenue B). Also, you might want to contact those involved in and responsible for the destruction of gardens and open spaces in order to express your feelings: Richard Roberts, Commissioner of Housing, Preservation and Development (directly responsible for handing gardens to developers): 863-6100 Virginia Fields, City Councilmember on Land Use Committee, (voted to give gardens to developers; now candidate for Manhattan Borough President): 788-6972 Veronica White, President of New York City Partnership, (the business organization behind the plan to bulldoze the gardens): 493-7400 Del Este Village (the condo project to be built on Lower East Side garden sites): 214 Avenue A, 673-8445 Lower East Side Coalition Housing Development (LESCHD) (the poverty pimp housing group controlled by outgoing Councilman Pagan; responsible for taking the 13th Street Squats; now trying to take over community gardens): 67 Avenue D, 387-0961 and 308 East 8th Street, 254-1916, 260-6233, 677-3015, 677-4772 BFC Associates (construction company headed by Pagan contributor Donald Capoccia; slated to build condos on garden sites; also destroyed 13th Street Squats in gut renovation project): 2226 First Avenue, 722-3671 Donald Capoccia (Pagan's real estate partner and campaign contributor; heads BFC Associates): 74 East 3rd Street (#1B), 420-0453 Antonio Pagan (City Councilmember on Land Use Committee who not only voted to hand gardens to his developer pal Capoccia, but whose housing group LESCHD will manage the sites): 7 East 3rd Street (#10), 473-6995 Zulma Zayas (acting head of LESCHD while Pagan pulls in the big deals and big bucks through his position on the City Council): 170 Avenue C (#13F), 982-5877 When a SHADOW reporter attempted to confront Duane and Albanese at the August 21 meeting on their hypocrisy, he was shouted down by an activist gardener who also writes for various publications who said, "Shut up--we don't want to alienate him [Albanese]." A pro-gardener demonstrator wearing green face paint told the SHADOW that despite Duane and Albanese's backstabbing, he would vote for Albanese, because "we have to get rid of Giuliani." A while later however, the green-faced garden supporter suddenly rose and shouted at Albanese and left the room. After more pointless questioning of official city "flak catchers," Albanese made a meaningless general remark approving the gardeners' efforts to improve their community. The audience, all of whom supported the gardens, responded with loud applause. When asked why she was applauding Albanese even after he voted against the gardens, an activist/gardener told the SHADOW, "I agreed with the sentiment he was expressing."