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PACC
Events
Legal Clinic
If
you are having issues
with your landlord, come
find out your rights...
Wednesday, February 20
and every 3rd
Wednesday thereafter
6:00
PM
201 DeKalb
Avenue
Call
718-522-2613 x 24
for more info.
...............................
First
Time
Home-Buyer Workshop
Looking for a home?
Our experts can give you the 411 on what you need to know.
Thursdays in January at 6:30
pm:
3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th, 31st
and
Every Tuesday
in March at 6:30 PM:
(4th, 11th, 18th
and 25th)
call 718-783-3549
X 10 to register.
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In the next PACC Talk:
A letter from Deb Howard, PACC's
Executive Director.
Ms. Howard addresses our valued PACC Talkers with
PACC's recent acheivements and her forecast for 2008.
Theres no place like home.
A chat with the newest PACC renters and homeowners.
The newer
faces at PACC.
An
introduction to the employees that have recently joined us, and
honoring the recent accomplishments of our long term staff.
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In this Issue
Councilwoman Letitia James and PACC
Hold a Town Hall Meeting to Discuss Tenant Harrassment and Displacement
PACC
Welcomes its Newest Commercial Tenant to Fulton Street!
PACC
receives an Award of Excellence from the Home Depot Foundation
PACC Salutes its Past and Present Funders
.............................................................................................
Councilwoman Letitia James and PACC Hold
The Anti-Displacement Town Hall Meeting
On October 3rd 2007,
Councilmember Letitia James and PACC hosted a
town hall meeting to confront the issues of Tenant Displacement and
Harassment. Over two hundred disgruntled community residents were
present to sound off and protest the unscrupulous tactics that
landlords have been using to hurl long-term tenants out of their homes
in favor of renting to newcomers who can afford to pay higher
rents.
Hon. James opened up the meeting by saying,"Families are being
displaced because they simply cannot afford to live in their
neighborhood anymore. Alongside the Hon. James was 57th
District Assemblyman, Hakeem Jeffries. He referred to
race when he said that displacement is not about skin color,
"It's about the color of money, and we need to hit landlords where it
hurts".
Even
Youngsters were present to lend their support! Ajanee Fryar holds up a
sign she made especially for the rally.
The
Hon. Letitia James, Councilwoman representing the 35th Council
District.
Rev.
David Dyson, the
popular Pastor of Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church
where the rally was held, reported a harrowing incident of harassment
towards one of the parishioners by her landlord. Dyson and the
parishioners were shocked when upon investigation they found out that
the landlord was a well known commercial bank. Dyson went on to say
that after an eviction notice was sent to this woman, he along with
members of the church had a successful "sit-in" at the woman's building
until the landlord backed down.
The crowd at Laffayette Avenue Presbyterian
Church takes stock of what they can do about Tenant Displacement.
A number of
renters took turns to speak of the shady practices that their landlords
have carried out. Some of them include- refusing rent payments and
ignoring requests for repairs. Letitia Martinez, a 16 year resident of
266 Washington Avenue, and her family were sent a 10 day
eviction notice when she hired an outside contractor to fix holes in
her shower after repeated requests for repairs to the owner went
unheeded. Another concerned renter, Joe Presley of 25 Lafayette, has
lived in his building for 15 years. One day he arrived home to find
city workers surveying the outside of the building. When he tried to
inquire, he was quickly shooed away, only to come across a for sale ad
on the building in the New York Times classifieds the following day. He
told the crowd, he remembers when Fort Green was "questionable" but now
that it is popular, he is nervous that he and other long-term tenants
may be pushed out.
Shantella Jackson of 99 Lafayette
Shantella
Jackson, who has called 99 Lafayette her home for 16 years, spoke about
her ongoing issues with Dermot (the management company that purchased
her building in February 2007). Ms. Jackson is wheelchair bound and her
livelihood depends greatly on a reliable elevator to get in and out of
the building. There have been several times where she could not go to
work because the elevator had malfunctioned. Despite
inquiries, she was not given any information about a repair
date. Since Dermot has purchased 99 Lafayette, older tenants say they
have been neglected in favor of newer tenants as vacant apartments are
renovated and rents tripled.
PACC
Community Organizer, Mr.Hector Rivera, dons a PACC "Displacement Watch"
Tee-shirt.
Ms Althea Watson took to the podium and alleged
that some apartments are purposely set to fail inspections so that the
occupants would have to vacate. Upon their return, the apartments were
rented out at higher rents "to cover costs". Ms Watson had a message
for the crowd, "You must organize!". One of the ways tenants can help
themselves is by banding with other tenants and formang a building
association. A former tenant in jeopardy who now volunteers her time to
assist community organizing at PACC, Ms Watson helped establish the PACC Leadership
Group. The PACC Leadership Group (PLG) is a committee dedicated to
issues in the community such as education, health-care and neighborhood
concerns. To learn more about the PACC Leadership Group, please call
Ms. Juanita Edwards at 718-522-2613 x 16.
UPDATE:
the Dermot Company has purchased 5
rent stabilized buildings in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill- 25 and 99
Lafayette, 266 Washington and 260 and 262 Saint James Place- and is
representative of the new face of private equity investment in
affordable rental housing. PACC, with the assistance
of South Brooklyn Legal Services, is working with over 40 tenants
facing eviction for nonpayment (brought frivolously) and challenges to
their legal tenancy. We are also working with Milano Graduate students
to document patterns of harassment.
Hakeem
Jeffries reassures the crowd.
.............................................................................................
PACC Proudly Welcomes
Their Newest Tenants at the Grand Opening of Autour Du Monde.
Monday,
December 10th, was a day of jubilation for PACC and residents of
Clinton Hill, as PACC's newest tenant, Autour Du Monde, a French fusion
restaurant and bar, opened its doors.
Autour Du Monde Owners Olivier Jimenez and
Pauline Abdelkader are presented with a proclaimation from Deputy
Borough President, Yvonne Graham.
Autour Du Monde, ("Around the World" in English),
offers a cuisine which is an exciting blend of its owners' French
heritage and their love of ethnic flavors. Restaurateurs Oliver Jimenez
and Pauline Abdelkader, a husband and wife team, met in their native
France and have been in the restaurant industry for 38 years combined.
At a chance meeting, they struck up a friendship with Chef Pascal
Bettig, the third partner of the Autour Du Monde team. For Jimenez,
opening a restaurant of his own has been a dream turned reality. "We
are proud of our extensive experience in the restaurant industry. The
opening of our own restaurant has been a huge accomplishment," says Ms.
Abdelkader.
(l-r) Deb Howard, Letitia James, Pascale Bettig,
Pauline Abdelkader, Olivier Jimenez, Dale Charles
Autour Du Monde, 860 Fulton Street, is located in a
neighborhood that is under-going rapid gentrification. PACC a
non-profit organization, dedicated to community diversity and
commercial revitalization, strives to ensure that neighborhood
entrepreneurs are able to participate in the growth and revitalization
by actively seeking to partner with community residents. Located at the
busy corner of Fulton Street and Clinton Ave, the restaurant is close
to the subway entrance. The corner is seeing renewed vigor through the
work of PACC, the new owners of Autour Du Monde, as well as a
storefront improvement grant from the Independence Community
Foundation.
Patrons support Abdelkader and Jimenez by
shouting "Frommage!" as the photo is taken.
PACC launched its Economic Development initiative
in 1997 with the mission of creating vibrant commercial corridors and
sustainable businesses. PACC helps empower local residents, business
owners and entrepreneurs by providing information, funding, referrals
and training. PACC seeks and channels economic resources such as
storefront improvement grants to the community.The Independence
Community Foundation grant of $15,000 will allow PACC to allocate
$3,000 each to 5 businesses to cover the costs of new awnings, gates
and light fixtures.
Among those attending the celebration were Yvonne Graham, Brooklyn
Deputy Borough President, Councilwoman Letitia James and, the
Commissioner of Small Business Services, Robert Walsh.
UPDATE: after five
years of effort to convince a bank to locate on Fulton Street in
Clinton Hill, North Fork Bank will be opening on the opposite corner of
Clinton and Fulton Street. With no bank for 23 blocks of this
commercial strip, Fulton Street, its businesses and residents, has been
undeserved by the banking industry for many years.
.............................................................................................
PACC receives an Award of Excellence
from The Home Depot Foundation
PACC was pleased to recieve
"Honorable Mention" at the 2007 Home Depot Foundation Awards of
Excellence. The award was made to PACC's Bedford-Stuyvesant 203K homes,
comprised of 10 brownstone and frame homes
renovated with "green building" features such as R-24 blown in
insulation, flueless boilers, and individual thermostat- controlled
radiators plus low-flow toilets and energy star appliances. Chris Benedict RA, a nationally
known architect for green design, was the architect for the project.
The Home Depot award seen here is
made of recycled glass.
The
Home Depot Staff and an Advisory Committee of green building experts
reviewed completed projects that combined affordability with healthy,
sustainable measures in the design, construction or rehabilitation of
affordable housing. "It is important for us to incorporate green design
into our affordable housing developments," said Drew Kiriazides, PACC's
Housing Development Director, "both as a global environmental issue as
well as to keep energy costs down. Many of our low- and moderate-income
homebuyers will appreciate having low utility bills while doing their
part for resource conservation."
The Home Depot Foundation Awards of
Excellence is a national competition that evaluates projects located
throughout the country.
.............................................................................................
A Word of Thanks to PACC's Supporters
In
2007, PACC welcomed new supporters and strengthened our relationships
with our ongoing funders. Without the support of these corporations,
foundations and government agencies, our work could not be as fruitful
as it has been. We are incredibly thankful and would like to express
our gratitude to:
Corporations:
Astoria Federal
Savings
Bank
of New York
Citibank
Deutsche
Bank
Home
Depot Foundation
HSBC
Bank USA
JP
Morgan Chase
North
Fork Bank
Local
Initiative Support Corporation
M
& T Bank
The
New York Mortgage Coalition
Washington
Mutual Bank
Foundations:
Butler
Family Foundation
Booth
Ferris Foundation
Enterprise
Independence
Community Foundation
Neighborhood
Opportunities Fund Initiative for Neighborhood & City Wide
Organizing
New
York Community Trust
Surdna
Foundation
Taconic
Foundation
Corporation
for Supportive Housing
Government:
Council
Member Letitia James
New
York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene
New
York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development
New
York City Human Resources Administration (HASA)
New
York City Department of Small Business Services
New
York State Division of Housing & Community Renewal
Preserve
Assets and Community Equity (PACE) HPD, Mayor's Office
Senator
Velmanette Montgomery
Comprehensive
Neighborhood Economic Development (CNED) Mayor's Office
Brooklyn
Borough President
New
York City Council
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To
make a donation, to sign up for affordable housing info or if
you'd like to find out how you can lend your talents and input to the
work we do
Call
us at (718) 522-2613
or
Email us by
replying to this newsletter, if
you have a question, need more information or to unsubscribe from PACC
Talk.
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