IPNTA Newsletters

March 2003

IPNTA Builds Coalitions With Neighbor Groups

Last month, tenants read here that Community Board #1 unanimously supported a resolution affirming the right of IPN tenants to remain in their homes, in the face of a potential buyout by the owners.

CB 1’s support was only the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

Since then, other local groups have endorsed our demands. Among them are the parents association of PS 234, the Washington Market Park Board, and the Downtown Independent Democrats. These endorsements are a result of IPNTA members attending meetings after meetings, reaching out to numerous organizations.

Here’s a few:

• Tenants & Neighbors, perhaps the strongest tenant support group in New York State; the Downtown Independent Democratic Club (DID); the Borough President’s Mitchell-Lama Task Force and the World Trade Center Residents Coalition.
• In addition, we showed up and voiced our loud support at the recent rally of our neighbors just to the north of us, the West Village Housing group’s struggle. They’ve already received their buyout notice!
• And finally, we attended the New York Assembly Committee on Housing, to make our presence known.

As Diane Lapson, one of our founders and a vice president, has said: “Wherever you go, there’s an IPN tenant!

Finally, we’ve connected to Ralph Carbone, the president of local 1359, District Council 37, a major labor group.

And, believe it or not, we’ve been meeting with the city’s HPD (department of Housing Preservation & Development) for years. HPD’s recent regulations require Mitchell-Lama owner/developers to give one year’s notice of intention to exit the program.

We are effective. But we can’t continue to do this alone. We need your active participation, even if only for a brief time.

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