IPNTA Newsletters

June/July 2003

Keep On Keeping On!
Our Battle Continues in Spite of Buyout!

The buyout notice that tenants received on Thursday, June 26, sent some residents into a funk, leaving them with a sinking feeling that the battle to save our homes is over, and that the landlord won.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

In efforts to secure signatures for our Campaign to Preserve Affordable Housing, IPNTA members reported that some tenants are despondent, and feel that contributing time and money to the fight is useless.

But now is the worst time to ease up in our vigilance and commitment.

“The facts speak for themselves,” said Neil Fabricant, IPNTA’s president. “You don’t get a turnout like we had, nor raise the money like we have, without the organization we’ve built, the support we have, the legal , political and financial people we’ve hired, and the strategy that we’ve developed.”

That strategy, he added, “makes sense to people who understand what’s real and what isn’t.”

Indeed, the first part of the strategy has already worked—namely, to switch our focus from Albany, where we stand little or no chance, to the City Council, where we have already made significant inroads: getting Gifford Miller to a rally, in which he makes a public commitment to the cause, is not something accomplished by day dreaming. It happened only because so many of us made a commitment. Our victory will require no less of an effort.

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