At the P.I.E. Campaign's Strategy Session on passing the Andrea Stewart-Cousins bill on February 9, 2009, the overflow crowd of Mitchell-Lama leaders developed borough-by-borough (or neighborhood-by-neighborhood) plans.
Tenant leaders will be contacting our State Senators and Assembly Members to
- cosponsor the Stewart-Cousins bill (which has been slightly revised - see below)
- urge their colleagues to do the same,
- work to get the bill passed, and
- stand up at a press conference to be called about the bill.
The Stewart-Cousins bill puts all developments leaving Mitchell-Lama or Section 8 projects into rent stabilization- regardless of the year they were built
- without "unique or peculiar circumstances" increases
and applies to buildings that have already left their programs as well as to those yet to leave.
The bill has been revised to add that the starting stabilized rent in post-1973 buildings that have already left Mitchell-Lama will be the last Mitchell-Lama rent paid plus increases ordered under Rent Guidelines Board since the building left.
Click on "read more" below for more details and what you can do.
Tenants in various districts made plans to contact their state representatives. On the Upper West Side, for example, tenant leaders have drafted a letter for all tenants to sign. Feel free to adapt it for your building and send it to your state elected officials. You can find out how many Mitchell-Lama rental units there are in your district by clicking here for the chart.
Tenant leaders will take those letters when they meet with Senator Perkins in a few weeks. Tenant leaders will meet on February 17th to plan for that meeting with Senator Perkins and - it is hoped - with all the Assembly Members who represent those same developments. (Contact Sue for more details.)
If you would like to participate in any borough, contact Amy of the P.I.E. Campaign for more information.
