Conference organizer Nellie Hester Bailey, director of the Harlem Tenants Council, cited the provisions of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in telling the approximately 100 tenants, researchers and organizers gathered: “Housing is not an entitlement; housing is a basic human right.”
That bedrock concept informed the analysis of many of the nearly 50 panelists, including Rod Wallace, co-author of the 1999 book, "A Plague on Your Houses: How New York Was Burned Down and National Public Health Crumbled," documenting how the closing of firehouses in New York City's minority communities in the 1970's led to a string of public health catastrophes. The forces that disperse communities of color in the U.S. are “another form of ethnic cleansing, violating fundamental tenets of international law and principles of human rights,” Wallace said.
Most, if not all, of the participants who gathered June 1 and 2 in the sanctuary of St. Ambrose Church attributed their common experiences to government policies and market decisions at local, national and global levels. When a woman questioned why there would be so many white panelists at a Harlem conference, Bailey explained that neighborhood-changing forces can actually bring citizens together. “Gentrification is about fundamental social transference. Alliances and coalitions form the basis of what is both a race and class struggle,” she said. In fact, a conference goal was to forge alliances across geographic and ethnic divides. It was co-sponsored by Harlem Fightback, the Delano Village Tenants Association and St. Ambrose Church, with a long list of endorsers.
Deborah Wallace, co-author of the book "A Plague on Your Houses," recounted the details about fire engine companies that were removed from neighborhoods targeted for "planned shrinkage" three decades ago. According to Wallace, “In Williamsburg, Harlem, Sunset Park, the city deliberately pulled essential services, then rezoned ‘blighted areas.’” She connected this with the RAND Corporation's involvement – at Mayor John Lindsay's behest – in NYC policy in late 1960s, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan's suggestion – while a presidential aide, before he became a U.S. senator from New York – that President Nixon treat the issue of race with “benign neglect.” In today's Williamsburg, Chinatown and Washington Heights, participants said, city services are still lacking.
Columbia University's controversial expansion plans were a major topic of discussion. Columbia student Bryan Mercer, from the Student Coalition on Expansion and Gentrification, moderated one workshop and said students will analyze documents submitted by the university during the coming land use review process. The tenants' association at 3333 Broadway, which is near the edge of Columbia’s proposed expansion, was a conference endorser. Attendees railed against the seeming “all or nothing” positions of both developers and the city. Meanwhile, Community Board 9 has a development vision – called a 197-a plan – that would allow development “without displacement and disruption,” said Jordi Reyes-Montblanc, the board chair.
