Sat. 10/24: Save the date!

What a Great Party!

PHOTOS by Sue Susman, Chariss Boisseau, Rachel Hydell, Wilfredo Chau, Jodi Brockington

CLICK HERE FOR MANY MORE PHOTOS & A FEW VIDEOS

Amid a decor of beautiful fall leaves, we ate, we danced, we talked, the

littler ones played at the kiddie table or outside when not dancing or eating, and we all had a wonderful time, thanks to:

• Debbie Gonzalez and Maxine Soares, the Pot Luck Planners who only stopped working for occasional dancing,
• Bobby Moorhead, our intrepid and almost-tireless DJ, who set the tone for the whole evening and made even those sitting down dance in their seats,
• The Set-Up Crew including Andrew Dubin, Eliana and Amelia Pitsirilos, Zena Gonzalez, and Maxine and Debbie,
• The Clean-up Crew, including Debbie and Maxine, with Zena Gonzalez, Kyle Romero, Marissa Rodriguez, Carmen Martell, Janett Gonzalez, Denis Hayward, and Laura Koulish,
• Barbara Geller, who greeted all the incomers, collected names and over $400! and Jess Joseph who helped at the greeting table,
• Mark Price, who wrote name tags
• Wilfredo Chau, our photographer
• Eliana and Amelia Pitsirilos and Tish Howard, who helped set up and brought food plates to homebound tenants and the doorman,
• Marissa Rodriguez, Janett Gonzalez, Carmen Martell, Alice Pagar Ayalew and Yolanda Escolliés who led us in dancing and fun,
• Cary Webb and friends who set up games in the backyard for kids
• Everyone who helped clean up as the event progressed
• Pat Neely for the CDs of Abendmusik she offered
• Eli Northrup, Democratic candidate for NYS Assembly and his aide Neelan Martin who stopped by to talk with people about their concerns
• Councilmember Shaun Abreu who dropped by as we were wrapping up
• and the many people who brought delicious food:

Tenants, watch out for wolves in sheeps' clothing

Cartoon by Sue Susman using Gemini

https://citylimits.org/new-player-enters-debate-over-vacant-rent-stabilized-apartments-what-else-happened-this-week-in-housing/

Comment (not in the City Limits article)  : 

The former head of the Rent Stabilization Association (owners of rent stabilized buildings, which group has now merged with the Real Estate Board of NY to form the NY Apartment Association) has created a new group to deal with apartment warehousing.  The group, "Unlocking Our Housing NYC" has hired canvassers to go door to door to sign up tenants who don't want landlords to hold empty rent-stabilized apartments off the market. (We don't either!)

The problem: The group pretends it doesn't have a solution in mind.  But the head of the group, Jay Martin, has been advocating for years to raise rents on empty apartments.  

One bill that would fulfill landlord wishes is a "vacancy reset" so that for rent-stabilized apartments occupied for at least 10 years, the landlord and the new tenant can set a new base rent. Given the shortage of NYC apartments, that will create a bidding war - and the tenant who offers the HIGHEST rent will get the apartment; that rent will become the new "legal regulated rent" for that apartment.  And that means

• landlords will have an incentive to get long-term tenants out (something we thought we stopped with the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act) and 
• those apartments will only be affordable to the wealthiest tenants. 

Tenants defeated that bill in the last couple of legislative sessions, but we'll have to see about this one. 

The City Limits article doesn't note that where landlords maintain apartments that tenants live in for decades, landlords do not need huge sums of money to get those apartments ready to rent out again once the tenant leaves. 

Get ready for our Pot Luck Party on Sat., Sept. 19, 2026!

We're a party in the case! Save the Rent Freeze!

amNY explains the landlords' lawsuit challenging the Rent Guidelines Board's order to freeze the rents for 1- or 2-year leases renewed any time beginning Oct. 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027.  If you've gotten your lease renewal lately, get it back to Stellar fast!

NOT included  in the amNY report is that OUR TENANT ASSOCIATION is now a party in the case!

At the September 2, 2026 hearing in State Supreme Court, Judge Lantry allowed the Met Council on Housing and Tenants & Neighbors (represented by Legal Aid's Ellen Davidson) and the 5 individual tenants and 3 tenant organizations -- including PA'LANTE - a tenant advocacy organization, and two tenant associations, Hamilton Heights and the Central Park Gardens Tenants' Association -- to intervene as  parties (Respondents), represented by James Fishman and lawyers Vanessa Vecchiarello and Catriona Fox from Himmelstein,Gribben & Joseph, LLP. 

Landlord lawsuit challenging rent freeze - We may be part

Landlords have challenged the rent freeze as political.  A group of tenant associations - including ours! - and some individual tenants are moving to intervene in the lawsuit (to play a full part in it).  

Here's a copy of the papers (which unfortunately misspell my name). 

There was a press conference in front of PA'LANTE Harlem on Friday, August 14, 2026 announcing the filing.  Thanks to Alex Yong for the photos. 

Left to right: Deborah Rand, Elsia Vasquez, Dylan Gribben, Sue Susman, James Fishman, Timothy Collins

We won't know until after August 21, 2026 whether the case will be staying in front of the judge on Staten Island, or will be moved to Manhattan - and it may take more time to find out whether we will be allowed to intervene in the case.   The Met Council on Housing and Tenants & Neighbors have also moved to intervene (represented by Legal Aid and Legal Services).  

Met Council Meeting/Picnic with us!

Met Council on Housing is joining our tenant association this evening at a shared meeting/picnic in the community room and backyard. 

Come to Met Council on Housing's Manhattan Chapter Meeting in our Community Room at 6 PM on Wednesday, July 29 (THIS EVENING!). Bring a dish to share and learn about the rent freeze.