WE DID IT!
July 14, 2018
Dear Friends and Supporters,
Through years of organizing and struggle, the Bowery tenants were finally able to sign an agreement with landlord Joseph Betesh. This is an unprecedented agreement that sets in stone items like: guaranteed deadline of August 31st with penalty on landlord if passed; guaranteed hotel stay paid by the landlord throughout the repair; rent-stabilized leases; compensation for property damages, loss of rooms and lawyer’s fee; no rent increase for repairs. It is a stunning accomplishment, and it could have not been achieved without the support of the community, and that includes you. It shows the people united will never be defeated. However, we should not forget the years of suffering the tenants had to go through; it could have been avoided had Mayor Bill de Blasio adopted the Chinatown Working Group rezoning plan to protect the community.
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Hunger Strike on City Hall!
HUNGER STRIKE Against De Blasio’s Collusion with Landlords & Developers
Launch time: Wednesday 5/30/2018 @ 11am
Location: City Hall entrance (Broadway and Murray St)
The tenants of 85 Bowery–including babies and seniors–were displaced in the cold night of January 18, by their landlord Joseph Betesh in collaboration with City agencies with the excuse of making repairs. Since then, these families have been homeless, forced into cramped conditions. The Bowery tenants’ actions to go back home, including a 5-day hunger strike, made the Mayor’s Office oversee the repairs. Nevertheless, Mayor de Blasio not only has allowed Betesh to keep delaying the repair process, but also has condoned his most outrageous act–tossing the tenants’ belongings into dumpsters!
The mistreatment of the Bowery tenants is shocking but not surprising, as de Blasio has been pushing for pro-developer rezoning plans, while refusing to pass community-led rezoning plans like the Chinatown Working Group plan. He is making NYC a city only for the rich. For a mayor who prides himself on being a protector of working families and immigrant communities, this is shameful.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! New Yorkers are fed up with Mayor de Blasio’s collusion with landlords and developers that keep tenants out and displace communities across the city. The Bowery tenants are resuming the hunger strike. They are fighting to go back home and are taking the lead to put an end to De Blasio’s displacement agenda.
The tenants and supporters demand Mayor de Blasio:
· Guarantee on paper a deadline by which the tenants can return home
· Stop having City agencies evict tenants on behalf of landlords
· End pro-developers displacement agenda; instead, pass community-led rezoning plans like the Chinatown Working Group plan.
Citywide Alliance Against Displacement
Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the LES
peoplefirstnyc.org 
We can march + kick + scream till we all drop from physical and/or emotional exhaustion, but all that will be mostly for naught unless we blow the lid off the EB5-VISA SCAM + other dark money schemes facilitating the cóndo-building frenzy that EXTELL and many other politically-savvy and well-positioned developers traffic in.
Nothing will change until we force the hand of our 3 branches of government to open the books and get back to basics. #endEB5visas #endCitizensUnited #end421a #endPoorDoors #stopthesaleofourPublicAssets #stopthe return toFEUDALISM
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We can march + kick + scream till we all drop from physical and/or emotional exhaustion, but all that will be mostly for naught unless we blow the lid off the EB5-VISA SCAM + other dark money schemes facilitating the cóndo-building frenzy that EXTELL and many other politically-savvy and well-positioned developers traffic in. Please consider amplifying the goals + objectives of the March, as well as the Working Group.
Nothing will change until we force the hand of our 3 branches of government to open the books and get back to basics. #endEB5visas #endCitizensUnited #end421a #endPoorDoors #stopthesaleofourPublicAssets #stopthereturn toFEUDALISM
LikeLike