This Wednesday, January 7th:

Upper West Side - 7:00pm, Cosi (the back room) - 2186 Broadway (btwn 77 and 78 street), with host Merle Mceldowney and Tracey Keij-Denton.

West Village - 7:00pm, Kettle of Fish, 59 Christopher St. (near 7th Ave.) with host Josh Silverstein.

Astoria, Queens - 7:30pm, - Ommonia Cafe 32-20 Broadway, with host Jeremiah Frei-Pearson and Costa Constantinides.

Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn - 7:00pm, Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead 1669 E. 22nd St. with host Annette Mont and Estelle Glasser.

DFNYC received this email about a rally being organized by Housing Here & Now.  Vacancy Decontrol affects many apartments in New York and ultimately contributes to higher rents overall.  Vacancy Decontrol must be repealed, but it will take effort from the grassroots!

The email about the rally:

~ ~ ~

Rally for Repeal of Vacancy Decontrol

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2008
6:30 - 8:30 pm

Society for Ethical Culture
2 West 64th Street (corner Central Park West)
Manhattan
No. 1 IRT train to 66th Street, or A, B, C or D train to Columbus Circle/59th Street.

Sponsored by Housing Here and Now

Tenant organizations in New York City and suburban counties are launching an intensive campaign to repeal Vacancy Decontrol when the State Legislature reconvenes next month in Albany.

In the last 15 years, Vacancy Decontrol has resulted in the conversion of 200,000 to 300,000 affordable rent-controlled and rent-stabilized units in the downstate region to market-rate, unaffordable apartments. Tenants moving into these deregulated apartments have no basic protections: no limits on how much their landlords can raise their rents, and no tenure protections - no right to remain without the landlord's consent, no statutory tenancy protections as under rent control, no right to an automatic lease renewal as under rent stabilization.

Unless we can repeal this loophole, the entire rent-regulated universe will be lost in the next several years. Vacancy decontrol is responsible for all the distortions we see in the downstate rental housing market, including an upsurge in landlord harassment of tenants, an upsurge in evictions and eviction attempts, and the increasing use of private equity funds to finance predatory purchases of apartment buildings that can be profitable only if the new landlords succeed in forcing regulated tenants to move so the apartment can be permanently decontrolled on vacancy.

With the Democratic takeover of the New York State Senate as a result of the November 4 statewide elections, and a Democratic Governor, we have a new opportunity to enact pro-tenant legislation, to take back what we have lost under Republican control, and to expand tenant protections and preserve our affordable housing supply. We have a big reform agenda and repeal of Vacancy Decontrol is only the first demand. We will have to work to win pro-tenant legislation - we have a powerful adversary, whose power comes from their money. We will need your financial support and your time and effort to win.

Do not miss this important rally, the launch of the campaign to repeal Vacancy Decontrol. The rally promises to be high energy and fun. Come early if you can.

Michael McKee
Treasurer
Tenants Political Action Committee
11 Park Place, Suite 814
New York NY 10007
(212) 577-7001
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Help repeal VACANCY DECONTROL. Attend a rally to

show your support for closing this loophole in our rent laws

on TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the

Society for Ethical Culture, 2 West 64th Street (corner

Central Park West) in Manhattan. To RSVP get in touch with

Housing Here and Now at (718) 246-7900 ext. 247 or info

-at- housinghereandnow.org (replace -at- with @).

This Wednesday, December 3rd:

Upper West Side - 7:00pm, Cosi (the back room) - 2186 Broadway (btwn 77 and 78 street), with host Merle Mceldowney.

West Village - 7:00pm, Kettle of Fish, 59 Christopher St. (near 7th Ave.) with host Josh Silverstein.

Astoria, Queens - 7:00pm, - Mezzo Mezzo, with host Jeremiah Frei-Pearson.

Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn - 7:00pm, (new location this month), 1952 E.23rd Street between Avenues S & T

Congressman Jerrold Nadler has introduced H.RES 1531 , a resolution "Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the President of the United States should not issue pardons to senior members of his administration during the final 90 days of his term of office." 

Although this resolution may be a step toward preventing President Bush from leaving office absolved of any responsibility for the actions of his administration, those who have been urging for so long that Congressman Nadler open impeachment hearings, believe that whatever the merits of  H.RES1531, impeachment hearings are the only way Congress has to prevent Bush from issuing these pardons. 

On Thursday, December 4, at 6:00 p.m., Congressman Nadler will be appearing on a panel with Scott Horton, Elizabeth Holtzman, Burt Neuborne, Michael Ratner, and Antonia Taguba, at an event titled "After Torture: A Harpers' Magazine Forum on justice in the post-Bush era."  

There remains a strong belief, that impeachment hearings were and are still the remedy "in response to President Bush’s widespread abuses of power and potentially criminal transgressions against our Constitution."  (quoted from H.RES 1531)

Here are actions you can take:

Support Congressman Nadler's H.RES 1531 .  Call or write to him and/or go to Democrats.com and sign their petition.

Attend "After Torture: A Harpers' Magazine Forum on justice in the post-Bush era."   and listen and question Nadler yourself.  http://harpers.org/archive/2008/11/hbc-90003871

Flyer with other impeachment advocates outside prior to the "After Torture" forum at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, to remind Congressman Nadler and those attending the forum that his responsibility to the Constitution and the rule of law is to initiate impeachment hearings.

For more information about any of the above, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it