July 2002 Tenant

continued on page 2 T he June 27 Rent Guidelines Board vote saw more debate and a bigger, louder tenant turn out than any RGB meeting in years. Over 150 tenants, chanting “Roll Back the Rents,” packed the auditorium in the basement of the US Customs House on Bowling Green, despite 20-minute waits at the metal detector. But as it did in May, the board rejected tenant calls to roll back or freeze rents, voting 7-2 to allow increases of 2% for a one-year lease renewal and 4% for two years on rent-stabilized apartments. Lofts will get 1% and 2% increases, and there will be no “poor tax” surcharge on low-rent apartments. “It’s a huge defeat,” tenant representative Adriene Holder said after the meeting. “This year, there should have been a correction. The board is sending out a message that no matter what happens, landlords will always get an increase.” Tenants did get one victory, when the board voted to freeze rents on single-room occupancy hotels, instead of the 2% increase proposed in May. The vote—public members Agustin Rivera, Bart Carmody, and Mort Starobin joining with the two tenant members—obviously shocked RGB chair Marvin Markus. Minutes after he’d denounced the freeze as “totally illogical,” he voted for it, then hastily called a recess. Markus’ vote for the freeze was a procedural ploy; when the board returned, he announced that under Robert’s Rules of Order, he was entitled “as a member of the majority” to move for reconsideration. A “No Revote” chant erupted. “You corrupt...” one man screamed. With Markus now voting no, the freeze passed 5-4. It was the first time the RGB had ever rescinded a preliminary increase on hotels, said Terry Poe of the West Side SRO Law Project. That set the stage for the debate on apartment rents. Tenant member David Pagan, noting that this year is the first time the RGB’s Price Index of Operating Costs (PIOC) showed landlords’ expenses down, called for a rent reduction, -3.5% on one-year leases, -1.75% on two-year leases. “Owners have done well in the past year,” he announced. “Yet we find excuses why the increases should be 2% or higher.” Holder offered a litany of numbers to support a rollback: landlords’ income up 3.5%; their net income before debt rising to 44% of gross; three-eighths of the city’s children living in Another Rent Increase