Welcome to 50 Murray Tenant’s Association.
The success we will have will depend on every one of you participating.
Based on the meeting of Jan 12 where we have over 20 apartments represented, we are ready to move forward on:
- Litigation to get our apartments rent stabilized, and
- Messaging this to the other tenants in our building
To ensure the above happens, 50 Murray Tenant’s Association needs to be formalized, a team needs to be put together to manage the association and related activities and finances.
As mentioned at the meeting, this can not be a one-man show. So please submit your name to me if there’s a particular role you would like to play in helping to:
- Get the message out
- Be part of the management team
- Run the finances
- Other
Please specify what you would like to do, if there’s a role that you would like to have (officer, treasurer, etc.), and why you think you would be a good fit (experience, contacts, can spare the time, etc.)
great website and work. let me know if there is anything i can add to the conversation or dialogue. of particular interest for me is anyone in the building who may have media or political relationships…
John,
I live in 53 Park Place and have for the last X years, I was curious, if you know if the same applies to 53 Park Place and whether you are planning to bring 53 park place tenants into the fold as well, given these buildings are essentially run as one. we are having the same issues here with ridiculous rent increases.
I’d love to chat if you have a few minutes.
Thanks.
Yes, we are bringing 53 Park Place in, matter of fact we have several persons signed up, so they will be part of the process.
hI jOHN — SORRY ABOUT ALL CAPS, IT WON’T LET ME ENTER MIXED CASE — A FEW QUICK Q’S:
ARE YOU ONLY SEEKING REIMBURSEMENT FOR OVERCHARGES OF THE PAST FOUR YEARS, PER THE EXAMPLE IN YOUR FAQ’S? — EVEN THOUGH THE TAX ABATEMENT EXTENDS MUCH FARTHER BACK IN TIME?
DOES ONE HAVE TO PAY AND JOIN TO BE A PARTY TO THE SUIT? — OR ARE YOU FILING ON BEHALF OF ALL TENANTS?
IF YOU WANT TO MAXIMIZE PARTICIPATION, WHY NOT EXTEND SIGN-UP DEADLINE BEYOND MARCH 21 — MOST 53 PARK PLACE RESIDENTS LIKE ME ARE ONLY FINDING OUT VIA THE FLYER TODAY, MARCH 13.
THANKS!
Why do the tenants need to take this action? If it’s the state that provided the tax abatement in exchange for some consideration, why won’t DHCR or the Borough President or our state senator initiate some legal action on behalf of constituents? The fact that no state agency–which would seem to have a basis to act and the resources to enforce the law–is bringing suit against Clipper suggests to me that the alleged violation is far from obvious and any action we would bring is not certain to succeed.
How do I estimate the potential value of taking some action against the landlord? in other words, what would my rent be if the landlord were honoring rent stabilization guidelines? it would seem that the correct rent under stabilization guidelines would be further affected by the number of times a unit’s tenant has changed, which is a factor about which I have no information. The legal expense and unpleasantness of taking adversarial steps discourages the impetus to join this action by the tenants’ association, especially for uncertain success and a perhaps insignificant payoff.
I’d welcome an informed legal opinion that points to compelling value of joining this action and explains why this action is the best way to remedy a violation.
The mechanisms in place to address rent-overcharges are left to the tenants in a process that can take 2 years or longer (info on this process can be found on this website). From a political standpoint, we have our State Senator and City Council member on board; the Senator providing an amicus brief on a current 421-g case. We’ll ask for that same support in our action. As for any self-policing environment where there are only essentially a handful of apartment buildings falling specifically under the 421-g classification, there is little support for the political system to expend the time and expense to pursue this. It is ultimately left to us, the tenants.
You can find all sorts of information about this on this site and on the internet. A good place to start is: http://www.50mta.com/faq
There was a wall street journal article on 421-g:
http://on.wsj.com/1Fxun1T