Wednesday, March 25, 2015

STATEMENT BY VICTOR PAPA, PRESIDENT/ DIRECTORTWO BRIDGES NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL

Thank you all for gathering with us this morning.

Today I will welcome two sister agencies, CAAAV and GOLES, who are fierce defenders of tenant rights; fierce defenders of the most vulnerable tenants against unjust landlord practices that cause painful displacement and disrupt the lives of families. In this case, a senior citizen tenant of this community, living alone -- living on a fixed income and living in total anxiety -- since she literally no place to go. They will express their sentiments about this case, which they can amply substantiate by the noble mission and long experience of their respective organizations toward protecting low-income tenants.

Two Bridges shares those sentiments, sentiments that will shed light on lamentable results of a speculative real estate market that pervades the Lower East Side, Chinatown and Little Italy; indeed pervades every neighborhood in this city with a force so indomitable that ones most dire circumstance is not even a fleeting, distinct consideration.

I will talk about the Italian American Museum and how disgraceful their presence in this community continues to be. While we can no longer dispute the results of the legal adjudication of this case, we can dispute the abject moral abrogation of how this museum is handling it. The museum won. Their tenant lost. Our neighbor has to go.

Almost to the moment when the case was decided in their favor, the museum wasted not a moment to authorize the marshals to give notice that she will be escorted out from her life-long tenancy. Now the museum will have a 2nd floor apartment, free of rent-control regulations, and quite available for a rental amount that meets the high market standards for a fashionable neighborhood. Now their piece of real-estate is worth even more, their investment more profitable, but in the end, their disguise, under the veil of a museum, finally exposed for who they truly are.

They are no different than any speculating landlord and developer found all over this city, except that they claim lofty academic credentials as an anchor of the community exploiting, under the guise of a museum, the noble history and culture of Italian-Americans, who ironically wish to evict a quintessential Italian-American in the most quintessential Italian-American community: Little Italy.

We are now only left to appeal to any sense of decency that they allow 85-year old Ms. Sarno to stay in her apartment the rest of her life--at most, but at least to stave off the marshals until she finds suitable alternate residency. Matilda Raffa Cuomo, Dr. La Guardia and Mr. Peter Vallone, trustees of this museumprotect this tenant. Phil Foglia, Executive Vice Presidentanswer my appeal on behalf of this tenant. Joseph Scelsa, if you are the academic you claim to be, admit that this eviction is the most egregious violation of history that you and your museum claim to promote.

If Ms. Sarno is removed from this apartment, the museum isnt worth a centimeter of historical integrity and Italian-Americans all over this nation should stand against it and never, ever give it any means of support.

ABOUT TWO BRIDGES NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL Two Bridges Neighborhood Council (TBNC) has been dedicated to serving the many neighborhoods of Manhattan's Lower East Side since 1955. We create equitable housing, celebrate cultural diversity through neighborhood-based programs, and work together with local residents, businesses, entrepreneurs, and leaders to stimulate and maintain economic vitality. TBNC is also the sponsor of the Chinatown Little Italy Historic District, and the developer of the Two Bridges Urban Renewal District which yields over 1,500 units of affordable housing and commercial development.

For more information on todays participating organizations, please see: CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities www.caaav.org Good Ole Lower East Side (GOLES) www.goles.org | Two Bridges Neighborhood Council, Inc. www.twobridges.org