Queens Ledger Article: 304 St. John's Place and HUD

Subject: Queens Ledger Article: 304 St. John's Place and HUD

From the Queens Ledger:
Dateline : Thursday, July 27, 2006
Is Hood HUDding in Right Direction?

By Nik Kovac
"Take a good look around you," encouraged Fayette Thom, a resident of 304 St. John's Place. "This is one of the most beautiful parts of the city, of the state. It has one of the longest park meadows in the nation. I want to stay. That's why we're all here today."

The four-story apartment building she lives in with her husband Irvin, where they have been raising a family since 1981, lies on the south side of the street, with its back directly to the grand park-facing towers of Eastern Parkway. "Most people don't even know this street exists," smiled Irvin last Sunday afternoon, when their unusually wide sidewalk was unusually full of people.

Most people don't know it exists because it's an oddly angled tributary off the main flow of St. John's Place, a street that runs all the way from Park Slope through Prospect and then Crown Heights. Near the northwest entrance to Prospect Park, it gets sucked into the eddy of access roads and roundabouts surrounding Grand Army Plaza.

Last Sunday afternoon, that off the beaten path location just west of Underhill Avenue did not stop dozens of local tenants, along with a few of their best politician friends, from rallying for 20 more years of HUD-subsidized rents at 304 St. John's and at its sister location on 212 Crown Street.

"The contract that lets these buildings stay affordable," explained Anne Lessy, director of community organizing for the Pratt Area Community Council, "between HUD and now the new landlord is going to expire in May." The contract was originally signed more than two decades ago when that area of Prospect Heights was very different than it is today.
"There was a fire every night and gunshots," recalled Irvin, who claims his family was the first to move into 304 St. John's in 1981 after the HUD contract subsidized a gut-rehab of the four-story, 40-unit building. "In all of these buildings," he said, pointing across the street, "people had to get their water from the fire hydrants."

"Now that our trees are beautiful," exclaimed Fayette, pointing to new plantings on the block, "and a 17-story building is going up, there's no room for us. We can all remember when this block was burned out. We survived the hard part, and now they want us out."

There is no confirmation yet, from either HUD or the building's new owner, the Olympic Diamond Corporation, that the current tenants will be forced out next spring. But the tenants and their local councilwoman, Letitia James, believe they can already read the economic writings on the newly rehabbed walls all around them.

"We all know what's going on," decried James. "Developers are getting $500,000 for each unit now, including that new 17-story building, which has no affordable units, but it's getting a [421-a] tax abatement anyway."
"I used to live around here," she recalled, "and I remember when all of the units were affordable."

Zaida Lawyer has been living around the corner, on Park Place and Vanderbilt Avenue, for 40 years. "Everything used to be affordable," she said of the old days. "Now on either side of me is a condo and a coop. And people are paying what my whole house is worth to buy one unit in those buildings. There's no rentals anymore. You've got to be able to buy."
The story is the same on St. John's Place, where 304 is the only non-coop or non-condo building left on the block. "This affordable housing shortage," argued State Senator Carl Andrews, "is not just a local problem. It's a national problem."

Andrews is now running for U.S. Congress, and he had a message for the federal agency that will help control the future of 304 St. John's. "HUD needs to put a moratorium," he argued, "on allowing developers to opt out of these programs. When I'm elected to Congress, this is one of the first things I'm going to deal with."

"There are opportunities for HUD to provide more money," pointed out Lessy, "in order to get the contract renewed. These residents live and work and worship in this community."

And the residents take particular pride in how they live. "We clean our own building," bragged Irvin. "We don't have the management company do it. We take care of it ourselves, and it's the cleanest building in Brooklyn. You could eat off the floors."

"A lot times," continued Lessy at the rally, "when people think of affordable housing, they think of rundown buildings with lots of code violations. That is not the case here at all. This is a successful example. I'd like to see more emphasis on preserving this housing rather than always thinking about new construction."

Hakeem Jeffries, a candidate for state assembly, agreed. "It has to be a two-pronged approach," he said. "It has to be offensive and defensive." In other words, as well as building more affordable housing, the units that already exist need to be preserved.

As an example of what he will fight for if elected to the state legislature, Jeffries said, "Since '98 New York State has stopped contributing to NYCHA [New York City Housing Authority]. New York State should start funding NYCHA again. Unless the state gets back in the business of affordable housing, this neighborhood is going to become a bastion for the wealthy and well-off."

"These developers," decried James, "are trying to Manhattanize Brooklyn - but only a certain part of Brooklyn - and we are going to lose our flavor. We are going to lose our diversity." James then gestured towards six-year-old Alejandra Cricklow, who had been standing next to her for most of the rally. "I want her to be able to stay in this neighborhood, so that when she grows up she can become the councilwoman."

When the Star caught up with Cricklow afterwards, however, she did not indicate any political ambitions. "I want to be an artist," she said, before revealing a list of her current activities, most of which take place at nearby playgrounds. "I swing on the swings," she admitted. "I climb the monkey bars. I go down the slide."

Irvin in particular was concerned that children of a certain economic class would no longer be able to enjoy Brooklyn like his kids did, if affordable housing subsidies are not continued. "We sent all of our kids to college," he said proudly. "And the youngest boy, he's going to med school now."
Michelle Aubin has lived in 304 St. John's for almost as long as Irvin and Fayette Thom. She works as a secretary in the same building where young Alejandra Cricklow goes to school - P.S. 9 on Underhill Avenue. "Because we've all lived here so long," she smiled, while sitting on the front steps after the rally, "we all know each other. We all help each other out. It's a close-knit community."

Aubin was one of the many residents of the HUD-subsidized building to recall that when they first moved in back in the early 80s, the buildings across the street were largely abandoned, and anyone who lived there got their water from the fire hydrants. Connie Lesold, a member of Community Board 8's Fire Safety Committee, has a different memory, though, of why those buildings were largely abandoned.

"It wasn't because nobody wanted to live in them," she said. "It was because developers wanted the tenants out, just like they do know. And they used the same tactics as they're using now. 25 years ago two children were killed on this block," she lamented, pointing towards the property next to the new 17-story tower under construction, "in a fire. The owner wanted everybody out, because they wanted to move new people in. It's the same story as today."

Indeed, Lesold's committee, which covers Prospect and Crown Heights, has made the rise in arsons one of its top priorities this year. And this month, they finally got some good news, as the number of suspicious fires in CB8 dropped for the first time all year.

In the case of St. John's place, the gentrification is nearly complete, except for the 304 building. And no fire will be needed to displace those tenants next year if HUD and the new owner fail to sign a new contract. "Let me lend my support to your struggle," rallied Jeffries, "against intense gentrification.

Fayette Thom took a forgiving view of the new demographic wave tiding into her block and neighborhood. "We understand why you want to move here," she said to the faceless masses of homebuyers, "but why should we be displaced? We should all be allowed to bask in the beauty of Brooklyn."