Monday, December 13, 2010
My Life In Hell
Then there is Laurence Gluck and what he did to the Mitchell Lama developement which was privatized in 2004. All because Bloomberg allowed him to repay his J-51 tax benifits. Gluck is also responsible for unlawfully deregulating more then 1,300 affordable apartments at the Independence Plaza North, a complex of Mitchell Lama. Gluck decided to sell when the housing boom went bust as a result of all the forclosures in 2007 a direct result of the speculating on which people would be unlucky enough to lose their homes; they were a set of investments put together in packages called derivitives. Developers skirt the law with the help of Bloomberg, Pataki etc. but who cares? Mitchell Lama was started by the insurance company Met Life during world war two to help returning soldiers and their families. Then Met Life got greedy and conspired along with Bloomberg and Pataki. So any affordable, low income housing will probably end up the same way as either high end luxury apts. or condos only the ultra wealthy like Bloomberg can afford. Where does that leave the little guy? It's almost like David vs Goliath. In the mean time I'm freezing.
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I agree that Gluck (and his colleague Jerome Belson) have made enormous efforts to reduce the stock of Mitchell-Lama housing and for de-regulating Independence Plaza despite the J-51.
ReplyDeleteOne point of clarification: Mitchell-Lama was started by NY State's legislature. Met Life set up Stuyvesant Town (a rent stabilized and NOT Mitchell-Lama) development for returning white veterans of World War II, and Riverton Apartments (also rent stabilized and NOT Mitchell-Lama) for returning black veterans.
We have to fear for Mitchell-Lamas AND for rent stabilization: the state's rent regulation laws expire in June 2011, and we have to make sure they are (1) renewed, and (2) strengthened - an uphill battle.
Concerned organizations should join the Real Rent Reform Campaign (and individuals should support it!).
- Sue
www.save-ml.org