The place was packed to the rafters, with several would-be attendees turned away by the fire marshall.

Click on "read more" below for some points made at the event.

Mitchell Lama Residents Coalition co-chair Jackie Peters and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer opened the event. Stringer noted that "it's obscene that we're losing the people who built these neighbrhoods," and that those in trouble include tenants in Mitchell-Lama, rent stabilization, and rent control. He called for the construction of more affordable housing.

Scott Stringer introduced Congressman Charles Rangel, chairman of the House's Ways and Means Committee, who pointed out that Mitchell-Lama tenants were a victim of their own success, and underscored what has to be done to change the dearth of affordable housing, particularly on federal level.

DHCR Commissioner Deborah Van Amerongen stated strongly that preserving and building affordable housing for a diverse New York City are a priority for her, and she and Gov. Spitzer want to stem the rising tide of Mitchell-Lama buyouts.

Noting the wide variation in Mitchell-Lama issues, from an aging building infrastructure to small clusters of individual artists' apartments, to large communities like Starrett City, she stressed the three "Cs" :

Coordination among all the agencies holding Mitchell-Lama mortgages;

Collaboration among the city, state, and federal agencies supervising Mitchell-Lamas, and

Creativity -- audaciously maintaining the affordability of the state's assets.

In particular, she noted that the Housing Finance Administration, headed by Priscilla Almodovar, is planning $50 million ($25 for downstate) to help fund loans that could keep developments in Mitchell-Lama.

However, neither Commissioner Van Amerongen nor Deputy Commissioner David Cabrera was specific about any policy matters, including "unique or peculiar," which neither of them addressed.

Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. cited a long string of figures of loss --- almost 1/4 of affordable housing units have been lost, another 13,000 on their way out, another 17,000 who have filed notice to leave . . . at a pace that was hard to follow but underscored the urgency of the situation. He too supported legislation for the:

• State to refinance mortgage and put all buildings leaving Mitchell-Lama into rent stabilization without "unique or peculiar" increases;

• Federal government to save existing homes

• City to work with financial programs and unions to produce more Mitchell-Lamas, and to establish a new Mitchell-Lama program.

In a spirited speech, Rita Popper of the PIE coalition talked about

• Protection for tenants in buildings that are leaving or have left Mitchell-Lama. She noted that those in post-1973 buildings are at the mercy of their landlords since they go directly to market rate. Those in pre-1974 buildings go into rent stabilization but need protection from "unique or peculiar" increases that could raise their initial rent stabilized rents to market rate.

  She pointed out that we need a repeal of vacancy decontrol in order to preserve the city's stock of affordable housing. Further, we need a repeal of the Urstadt Law, the law that took control over rent regulation & evictions away from the City and gave it to upstate NY Senators who are not accountable to NYC tenants.

  Pulling no punches, she noted that while the Mayor talks about preservation, "Who is he kidding?!" Moderate-income New Yorkers still have no place to move to.

• Incentives - keeping Mitchell-Lama owners in the program may cost money, but it will be less expensive than building all new developments.

• Enforcement - the supervising and mortgage agencies should not permit landlords to buy out where there are violations of the law, of regulations, and of individual agreements. Landlords should not be rewarded for simply hanging onto their buildings.

Council Speaker Chris Quinn spoke about working with what she termed a cooperative City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. She noted two bills, Intro 203 and 204, on keeping buildings affordable if they get J-51 tax breaks, and other bills that would penalize landlords harassing tenants, or whose buildings are full of violations.

Council Member Gale Brewer spoke to great acclaim about keeping buildings livable, and getting new laws passed to do so.

In the panel discussion that followed, Assembly Member Vito Lopez noted that he has no interest in passing one-house bills, and suggested that tenants pressure the Republicans (the majority party in the state Senate) to enact bills like A.795. He noted that while A.795 protects Mitchell-Lamas built from 1974 on, he may add it to protect buildings taken out of the federal Section 8 program, He did not promise to protect pre-1974's from the same "unique or peculiar circumstances" from which the bill protects later buildings.

Housing Committee Chair Lopez introduced Assembly Member Jonathan Bing, head of the Mitchell-Lama subcommittee and author of a bill to stop "unique or peculiar" increases for the pre-1974 Mitchell-Lamas. Assembly Member Bing told a group of tenant leaders in the pre-1974 group later that he would support a bill that would put all Mitchell-Lamas into rent stabilization upon leaving the program, and protect them all from "unique or peculiar circumstances.

One tenant panelist noted that when buildings leave the Mitchell-Lama program, the owners often reap a windfall profit (particularly in Co-ops). She urged -- to great audience enthusiasm -- that there be a stiff tax on these windfall profits to deter privatization.

That supported the many tenants present who wore "No to Privatization" buttons.