Photo Credit: Dave Sanders of the New York Times
Mireya Navarro’s article “Tenants Living Amid Rubble in Rent-Regulated Apartment War” captures the consequences of gentrification and rising housingprices on a microcosmic, personal level. These rising prices and its resulting strain on landlord-tenant disputes can be seen in immigrant families that live in rent-stabilized units in 98 Linden Street of Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Eight months earlier, the landlord sent a notice requesting access to two rent-stabilized units on the ground floor for structural epairs. The workers that arrived demolished the kitchens and bathrooms of the apartments within a few hours. Nearly a year later, these kitchens and bathrooms remain in their dilapidated state.
Juan Calero and Gloria Corea, 67, immigrants from Nicaragua and the inhabitants of one of the units since 1990, pay $675 a month for rent, a value that is less than half the market rate. They share the apartment with their two children and two grandchildren. The family says they cannot afford anything over $1,000 , as only their daughter’s husband, Rolando Cajina, holds a job as a maintenance worker.
The landlord, Joel Israel of Linden VenturesL.L.C., claims that the building is structurally unsound and insists that all tenants move out. Datafrom the Rent Guidelines Board suggests that when the units are vacant, the landlord is allowed to bump the rent to or over the deregulation threshold of $2,500 a month on vacancy and improvement related increases. While the struggle on 98 Linden is not the norm, it is indicative of increased tensions and stakes as rising housing prices make it increasingly difficult for low and moderate income New Yorkers to afford. Gentrifying neighborhoods can even double or triple the stabilized rent, causing tenants to face illegal pressures that may even include demanding proof of citizenship.
With nowhere else to go, the family borrows the bathroom and kitchen of their second floor neighbor as they continue their standoff with their landlord. Calls to the landlord were not returned.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/25/nyregion/in-new-york-push-for-market-rate-housing-pits-landlords-against-tenants.html
On February 23, hundreds of foreign-born youths from across the nation rallied and protested against President Obama’s apparent inaction in resolving the crackdown on undocumented immigrants that has characterized his administration. While the President’s official position on immigration reform has generally been one of sympathy and integration, his aspirations have been largely stifled by the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. Last year, the Senate passed a comprehensive reform bill that had the potential to be a momentous development for the civil rights and liberties of immigrants in the United States. The bill, entitled the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013”, sought to establish a five-year route to lawful permanent residence, followed by citizenship, for illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. Unfortunately, the current speaker of the House recently announced that his caucus was not ready to settle the issue this year, a decision that many perceive as an underhanded effort to shelve the bill until it loses relevancy.
In response to this profound blow, many members of the immigrant community have chosen to shift the focus of their discontent to President Obama, placing the onus of reform exclusively on his shoulders. Their protests concentrate on coercing the president into taking executive and/or unilateral actions to provide greater protections and opportunities for the undocumented, much like he did in 2012 when he instituted the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This program provided deferrals for over half a million illegal minors, affording them the right to obtain legal employment and driver’s licenses in specific states. While Obama maintains that he lacks the legal sanction to allow for any more of these deferrals, he remains outwardly devoted to immigration reform. http://nyti.ms/1fvaQ9C
Hello peopling class. So here goes: my parents met and married in Brooklyn but are originally from the former Soviet Union. My father is originally from a small town in the Zakarpathian region of Ukraine called Khust. This town is close to the Hungarian border. My mother is from a 4,000 year old town by the Caspian Sea in southern Russian called Derbent. My father speaks Yiddish and my mother speaks Juhuri ; the language they have in common is Russian. At the age of 12 my mother moved to Israel where she lived for I think a little under a year in a settlement on a mountain top in the town of Chicundalet, Tveria. (Pardon the spelling, I sounded it out.) Tveria over looks the Red Sea, it is truly gorgeous. After Israel she moved to Vienna where she lived until early adulthood and then moved to Brooklyn New York . Majority of my mothers side of the family live in Ashdod, Israel excluding for her siblings and their children which are my immediate and only family. My fathers brother and his family live in Jersey so I seldom see them, although his father lives in Rehovat, Israel; a town only a half hour drive out of Tel Aviv. Within the Russian community and among Jews I am considered to be a bit of a conundrum because of my mixed heritage.
I am unsure about what I want to major in but am deciding between fine arts, film and theater. I have been drawing since I’ve been a kid and like to practice by sketching people on the train. I am also interested in writing and think that maybe that could be something I could do professionally one day. I don’t know specifically what I want to do with my life but I know it has to be something creative. I attended Mark Twain and Midwood Highschool. A good portion of my highschool experience was spent at DeFarro’s pizza on Avenue J. And like Anna I also share a passion for food. I love reading plays and especially love Eugene O’Neill. I have a younger sister by the name of Jackie, who is much smarter than I am. During the summer I spent every day riding my bike on the boardwalk from beginning to end and back . My favorite season is summer, and I love when its 98 degrees outside and the humidity drives people crazy. It’s legitimately my favorite time of year. Although I also have a soft spot in my heart for Christmas mostly because I don’t celebrate it, and think it’s a fabulously magical holiday. Anyway …I think that just about covers the basics. So I look forward to the rest of the class, and if anyone wants to chat I’m on the second floor at Brookdale. 🙂
The authors of our required text are having a free event on Wednesday, March 5. Attending this event is a good opportunity to earn extra credit.
