Cover Stories: Hundreds Head To Work For Better Neighborhoods by Bernard Cohen; City Council Delays 'In Rem' Role For HPD by Susan Baldwin.
Other stories include Susan Baldwin on the threat of red tape possibly killing a program to give tenants control of landlord-abandoned buildings; Bernard Cohen on community leaders in the South Bronx being left out of city and federal rebuilding plans for the area; An overview of Final Community Development regulations issued by HUD; A group of brief profiles of different CETA workers; Susan Baldwin on Los Sures' project to rehabilitate 400 units of subsidized low income housing; The National Congress of Neighborhood Women in Brooklyn look to save their neighborhoods and seek help from HUD.
Cover Stories: Hundreds Head To Work For Better Neighborhoods by Bernard Cohen; City Council Delays 'In Rem' Role For HPD by Susan Baldwin.
Other stories include Susan Baldwin on the threat of red tape possibly killing a program to give tenants control of landlord-abandoned buildings; Bernard Cohen on community leaders in the South Bronx being left out of city and federal rebuilding plans for the area; An overview of Final Community Development regulations issued by HUD; A group of brief profiles of different CETA workers; Susan Baldwin on Los Sures' project to rehabilitate 400 units of subsidized low income housing; The National Congress of Neighborhood Women in Brooklyn look to save their neighborhoods and seek help from HUD.
Cover Stories: Hundreds Head To Work For Better Neighborhoods by Bernard Cohen; City Council Delays 'In Rem' Role For HPD by Susan Baldwin.
Other stories include Susan Baldwin on the threat of red tape possibly killing a program to give tenants control of landlord-abandoned buildings; Bernard Cohen on community leaders in the South Bronx being left out of city and federal rebuilding plans for the area; An overview of Final Community Development regulations issued by HUD; A group of brief profiles of different CETA workers; Susan Baldwin on Los Sures' project to rehabilitate 400 units of subsidized low income housing; The National Congress of Neighborhood Women in Brooklyn look to save their neighborhoods and seek help from HUD.
March 1978 Vol. 3 No.3 HUNDREDS HEAD TO WORK FOR BETTER NEIGHBORHOODS CITY COUNCIL DELAYS 'IN REM' ROLE FOR HPD by Susan Baldwin A municipal tug-of-war over the lives of thousands of tenants in city- owned In Rem buildings has ended in a five-month truce voted by the City Council in late March to give the city agencies involved a chance to make a lasting peace. Management of at least 100,000 units-estimates vary-of housing taken by the city for non-payment of taxes was originally scheduled to transfer from the Department of General Services' (GSD) Division of Real Property (DRP) to the Department of Housing Preservation and Develop- ment (HPD) on April!. Asked if there is any possibility that the transfer will now be delayed past Sept. 1, the date specified by the City Council's action Mar. 21, Councilman Leon Katz (D-BkIn.), chairman of the Committee on Govern- mental Operations, which met on the issue Mar. 20, said, "No, we expect no further adjournments ... We see no reason for more delay." Katz also said that Commissioners Peter P. Smith (GSD) and Nathan Leventhal (HPD) have been asked by his committee to submit a plan by June 1 for reorganization of HPD to handle the transfer of as many as 25,000 newly-acquired In Rem buildings. Community groups, including an In Rem Task Force organized by Councilwoman Ruth Messinger (D-Man.), opposed any delay in the trans- fer of the In Rem properties. These groups claimed that DRP's record of housing management is very poor, whereas HPD has programs that offer tenants of these generally run-down buildings the chance for building re- habilitation and community-based management and ownership. A report prepared for the In Rem Force asserted, " Previous forms and systems for building management cannot possibly handle the new case- load . . . Merely hiring additional building managers for the Division of Real Property will not suffice." The report went on to urge the city to develop "various forms of non- profit and cooperative ownership, [with] locally and democratically con- trolled planning, management, and development as its cornerstone." continued on page II By Bernard Cohen The largest neighborhood-level effort in memory to upgrade sub- standard housing-one of the most potent symbols of urban decay-and rebuild neighborhoods began in late March. Hundreds of workers flliing fed- erally funded public service jobs fanned out into 40 low income neigh- borhoods to start working as com- munity organizers, management and maintenance specialists, hous- ing services assistants, bookkeepers and secretaries. The one-year employment pro- gram got underway after nearly a year of planning that included end- less negotiations with the city over recruitment of enrollees and a wide range of other procedures. Thirty-seven non-profit commu- nity organizations, joining together through the Association of Neigh- boring Housing Developers, hired 375 persons under Title VI of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA). It marked the first time that non- profit organizations were eligible for large numbers of public service jobs (4,500 out of 27,000). ANHD was the largest single non-profit umbrella in the city. contil/ued 0 1/ page 15 RED TAPE THREATENS 'DIRECT SALES' SUCCESS by Susan Baldwin A program to give tenants control of landlord-aban- doned buildings is in danger of dying from red tape. So say tenant and community leaders and their lawyers about the city's three-year-old Direct Sales pro- gram-a program under which city-owned, residential properties can be sold without public auction directly to approved, non-profit tenant and community groups at a relatively low, negotiated price. Yet, only one such sale has closed to date. "This program is not a panacea for New York City's housing abandonment ills," attorney Lawrence H. McGaughey wrote recently in an analysis of the program. " No doubt tenant-run buildings will become aban- doned too, " he predicted. "But given the failure of all other alternatives, the Direct Sales program is the only choice between rapidly accelerating abandonment or the expenditure of enormous amounts of public funds. " According to most recently-released statistics, the city owned 21,000 occupied apartments in January. If each apartment were found to be in adequate repair to undergo a moderate rehabilitation at $20,000 per unit, the cost to the city would be $420 million. And if the city' s least capital-intensive program, Community Management, were to be utilized for the rehab, the cost at a maximum of $10,000 per unit, would still be $210 million. "Now it is expected the number of city-owned build- ings will increase four times over within the next few months," McGaughey said. "Using the same cost pro- jection used above, it seems fair to say between $840 million and $1.5 billion in immediate rehab funds are needed this year, " he added. But, under Direct Sales, he pointed out, no capital investment of public funds is ordinarily required. Build- ings are sold "as is", and tenants make repairs from rent rolls, or they can apply for Article 8A "mini-loans" of up to $5,000 per unit. Officials at the city's Department of Housing Preser- vation and Development recognize the need for increas- ing the volume of sales but defend the extensive, re- quired paper work as vital to fiscal and organizational accountability. In a recent interview with City Limits. HPD Commis- sioner Nathan Leventhal Said, "Yes, there is good reason to expand the Direct Sales tiny program, as is Community Management. In fact, it's even smaller. " 2 Asked to comment on community complaints regard- ing the extensive documentation required in the pro- gram and the consequent delays in building acceptance, he added, "I know too much time elapses by the time the building gets accepted into the program .... It takes too damn long to get moving, but I'm not concerned about the forms." But, Wendy Faxon, direct sales project coordinator at the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (U-HAB), holds a different view of the bureaucratic, red tape re- quired by the city for tenant and community groups to enter the program. "With the huge number of buildings coming up for abandonment, some real problems with the Direct Sales program have to be solved before it can have any impact," she said. "At this point with all the forms re- quired, 1 really can't in good conscience recommend it to the groups." Suggesting that the objective of the Direct Sales pro- gram should be "to become completely self-managing and self-sufficient," Faxon added, "Organized tenant groups who have expressed a desire to take over the management of their building should be able to walk in the door at HPD, present three basic documents, and leave the same day with a management contract." Three basic documents that tenants should present to receive the management contract, preliminary to sale, she explained, are a list of resident tenants, proof of a liability insurance policy, and a petition signed by 60 per cent of the tenants affirming their desire to enter into a self-management agreement with the city. According to Faxon's records, about one-third of the tenants residing in buildings that are presently or are about to be taken In Rem by the city are well-organized and should be permitted to enter directly into manage- ment agreements with the idea of arriving, at a later date, at a pre-negotiated, reasonable price for the sale of the building by the city to the tenants. At present, tenant associations must submit 12 dif- ferent documents to HPD for approval and must wait for HPD to return another 20 documents before the Direct Sales agreement is completed and title to the building is eventually transferred to the tenants. Acknowledging that tenants may have reason to be- come "frustrated" by the documentation required by the program, William A. Smith, the newly-appointed director of the Direct Sales program at HPD's Division of Evaluation and Compliance, told City Limits recently, "What we really have here is a fairly new program even though it has been around on paper for two or three years .... There are a lot of documents to go through, maybe 35, because it is a new program." Smith also explained the importance of requiring sev- eral petitions, forms, and documents from tenants- e.g., written agreements to rent increases, and building inspectors' detailed reports on the structural conditions in the building, explaining that these requirements are necessary if both the city and the tenants are to have a realistic picture of the conditions of the building and the authenticity of the tenant organization. "We don't want a few tenants coming down here to our office saying that they represent the others, only to fmd when we go to visit the building that these people are as much strangers as we are," Smith said. "Fac- tions do exist or develop in the buildings and we have to know this [their existence]. " Tenants have no doubt about HPD's existence. Just how obstructive the program can be for well-organized and well-meaning tenants is illustrated by the exper- ience of the one tenant group that worked its way through the bureaucratic maze and finally bought its building last August. "Unless they do something to lighten up the regula- tions, I'll never stop knocking Direct Sales," said Bess Stevenson, tenant organizer and vice president of the Metropolitan Council on Housing, who fought along with ten tenant families at 1104 Clay Avenue in the Morrisania section of the Bronx in their struggle to own their own building. "We were fighting with the city for over 12 years," she explained, noting that future plans for Direct Sales should include "giving the tenants a freer hand" in flXing the building. "Most of these tenants are senior citizens and the ob- stacles the city put in the way were too much for them," she continued, adding that the city tried to make the residents take out a $100,000 loan for a rehab job on the building, at the same time the tenants were able to bring in their own architect who quoted a figure of about $80,000 to do "everything they needed." In the end, the tenants of 1104 Clay Avenue found that their main expenditure was the purchase of a $15,000 boiler, which they paid for out of the rent roll. And, with a small loan from the Consumer Farmer Foundation to pay for fire and liability insurance as well as for title and recording fees, they were able to close on the building in August. Another group of tenants, headed by Marilyn Strick- land, who reside at 934 Barretto St., between Southern Boulevard and Fox Street in the South Bronx, are fight- ing to keep temporary control over their building until the Direct Sales application is processed in order to avoid coming under the control of the Division of Real Property (DRP). 3 The building, the site of a bitter municipal loan fight with the controversial Weintraub, most recently fin- ished a successful 7 A administratorship period and its residents are anxious to have a management in the Direct Sales program approved without the normal seven to nine month delay. "We have had so much trouble in this building," Strickland said, warning that, although 20 of the build- ing's 24 apartments are presently occupied, many would be vacant by the end of the month when the city's real estate department is slated to take charge. "The tenants here all know how badly they [DRP] run the buildings, and they [tenants] have said that they will move out if we can't move on this application," she added. Direct Sales director Smith is currently looking into the possibility of the city's waiving the normal pro- cedure that would put this building under the jurisdic- tion of DRP until the management contract with HPD is consummated and title to the property is transferred. How can the program be streamlined and still offer the city a reasonable hope of removing them from the in rem category and placing them back on the tax rolls? McGaughey has an idea. "Perhaps the easiest way to eliminate much of the red tape now existing, and to redirect the program," he has pointed out in his report, "would be to issue leases for rent rather than management contracts for the per- iod between intake into the program and transfer of the deed." Noting that a "leasee is more than an agent," and "has an estate in the land," McGaughey explained that the issuance of a lease rather than a management con- tract would eliminate the idea "prevalent now that tenant rent monies are' city money' ." If the tenants were to have a lease arrangement, they could submit audited annual reports to the State Attor- ney General and bypass monthly accounting with the city. Also, under this arrangement, the city need not be involved with tenants for nonpayment of rent. "If the building pays its rent, the city keeps its hands off," he continued. "If not, the city terminates the lease and sells the building at auction to the highest bidder." Reached at press time, McGaughey said of his pro- posals and the current Direct Sales program, "They [the city] don't really ~ ~ e m to have a set group of guide- lines for Direct Sales. They are making policy as they go along. There is no program to speak of, and what will be hitting them April 1st, otherwise known as April Fool's Day, is a tidal wave [of In Rem buildings]." "But," he concluded, "if you allow the tenants to run their own buildings with the idea of buying them eventually at the reasonable price, say $200 per unit, all the city has left to do is sit back and skim off the cream. This way, Direct Sales doesn't costthe city a nickel." 0 SOUTH BRONX SNUBBED By Bernard Cohen The South Bronx feels left out of the city and federal plan to rebuild the South Bronx. Community leaders assert that they have not been in- cluded in the city's planning process despite official acknowledgment that a redevelopment plan that is im- posed on the South Bronx could well repeat the failures of the past. Local elected officials, community board representa- tives, community developers, clergy and others said in that they were still completely in the dark about the evolving plan, even as pieces of it were being leaked to the media. Spurning at least for the moment a March 9 invitation to meet with Mayor Koch, representatives of the six community boards in the South Bronx were seeking a meeting with Jack Watson, a Presidential assistant working on the project. Xavier Rodriguez, chairman of Planning Board 3, said Watson had met with the boards last November and promised that they would be partners in designing the plan for the South Bronx. "The initial commitment made by the federal gov- ernment while the Beame administration was in office has not been lived up to by the new administration," Rodriguez said. "We want to ask Watson to reaffirm that whole partnership." He charged that Koch has alienated community boards through a number of actions. Another city source said he understood that the coalition wanted to reassess its position prior to a meeting with the city, suggesting that the coalition may have exceeded its actual mandate from the community. The city has been saying it would unveil its plan in early April. A South Bronx Coordinating Council composed of high city officials (and no community representatives) was appointed by Koch on January 26 to formulate the plan. The Coordinating Council was known to be feeling conflicting political pressures by the third week in March. Some high officials were known to have serious doubts that there had been adequate planning by the city to warrant an announcement. Others were feeling the need to make something public- even if it had to be called very tentative. "We're at a crossroads," one member of the Council said, referring to the timing question. He said the issue would probably not be resolved until the very end of March. "There has been a problem as far as lack of input," Dana Driskell, district manager of Planning Board 3 4 said on March 17. "As of this point, the only basis of discussion is the Beame program," he said, referring to a dated planning document hurriedly prepared after President Carter's visit to the South Bronx last October. Hippocrates P. Kourakos, president of the South Bronx Community Housing Corp., said he has had indi- vidual discussions with federal and city officials. "What has come from those discussions is guesswork," he added. "This community wants input into the decisions." Ramon Rueda of Peoples Development Corp., who greeted Carter on his visit and urged him to provide more federal dollars for the South Bronx, said he was "just sitting by while the city and federal government work out their own plan." "The city has lost another opportunity to tap into in- digenous talent and creativity, " Rueda added. A statement released by a newly announced coalition of South Bronx community groups at a news conference on March 11 warned, "Any Bronx redevelopment projects coming off the drawing board must be carried ON REDEVELOPMENT PLAN out from now on with the active participation of South Bronx institutions and South Bronx people. " Federal, state and local officials elected from the South Bronx also feel shut out of the process. "Please consult the natives here in the South Bronx, Mr. Koch," Councilman Gilberto Gerena-Valentin said at the same news conference. "Don't surprise us because in the end you're the one who is going to be surprised." In interviews, the community leaders asserted that they were not asking for veto power over the plan but that they did want a substantial voice in determining priorities and the chance to make sure that money and jobs intended for the South Bronx poor are not diverted elsewhere. What they especially do not want is a "cere- monial" role, they said. "We are willing to work with the city in terms of which way the plan goes," said one community board member. Asked about the lack of community participation, Lloyd Kaplan, executive director of the mayor's Coordinating Council, said the new administration has been preoccupied with efforts to get its own planning efforts organized. "Government takes time to start up. Partnership assumes that government is ready to play its role, that government has its act together," Kaplan said. "I think we're atthat point now." He declined to say what planning role he foresaw for the community. Asked if a community representative would be appointed to the Council, Kaplan replied, "Maybe it's time to examine that as a possibility." The redevelopment plan for the South Bronx will focus on two areas: economic development aimed at creating jobs as a ftrst priority and housing. A suggested price tag of $800 million to $1 billion was called "conservative" by Kaplan. Most of the money will come from the federal government if it approves the plan. The federal government has not made a speciftc dollar commitment, leading to "cat and mouse" planning, according to a number of officials. "Obvious- ly there will be extra money" for the city to implement its plan, said Alan Wiener, the federal liaison officer working under Watson. The strategy being pushed by Koch is to aim assist- ance at areas of existing strength, particularly locations where there has been public and private investment and where institutions, jobs and good housing already exist. "The administration wants to concentrate in target areas so that in three years you will be able to see a real product and change," one city source said. City Limits has learned that as of mid-March the plan 5 contemplated assistance for 4,000 units of new and rehabilitated housing a year for ftve years plus develop- ment of a so-called New Town area totalling 2,700 units initially and 5,000 ultimately. Pieced together from several sources, here is how the housing section ofthe plan was taking shape. (1) A mixture of new construction and substantial re- habilitation in three areas: Bronx Park South; a triangle bounded by Longwood Avenue, Southern Boulevard and W estchester Avenue; and a rectangle west and south of St. Mary's Park. These are sections considered by the city to have a strong core from which to build out into decayed neigh- borhoods. (2) Moderate rehabilitation along the much more densely crowded Grand Concourse corridor. Speciftcally under study is the area from 153rd Street to Fordham Road. The buildings here tend to be larger, better built and less deteriorated than other South Bronx housing. But decay is setting in and development of a workable moderate rehabilitation program to combat it is being undertaken. (3) New construction of low-rise (three-story) cooper- atives and rental units at Charlotte Street and Boston Road, one of the stops on President Carter's visit last year. This is the so-called New Town area. Original plans called for the new housing to be built in a larger area, including the Bathgate section. But, stressing the need to show impact, Deputy Mayor Herman Badillo successfully insisted on concentrating at least the ftrst phase of development. Those involved in the plan said it was still regarded as preliminary and subject to change. How much of this housing will be developed by South Bronx developers, including experienced community- based organizations, is not known. Questioned about this, Kaplan said, "Sometimes you ftnd a conflict between the objectives of a training program and getting housing built. Weare trying to design a program that recognizes these trade-offs and meets both needs in ways that are rational and responsive. "That implies that where possible, there have got to be jobs for community people in rebuilding the commu- nity. " In an interview, Wiener called the housing com- ponent the" easy piece" compared with the bigger task of creating a large volume of jobs through industrial development and commercial revitalization. "Anybody can build low income housing," Wiener said. "To simply provide for an infusion of Section 8 (housing subsidy) for people who aren't working will put us back to where we are today." 0 HUD ISSUES FINAL CD REGS Final Community Development regulations that will shape how local governments may spend more than 512 billion in the next three years were issued by HUD on March 1. The fmal regulations proved disappointing to citizens groups that were hoping for a stronger federal commit- ment to targeting CD funds to low and moderate income persons and to meaningful citizen participation. In these two areas, the fInal rules are weaker than the proposed regs published Oct. 25, reflecting the pressure exerted by local government officials who viewed the earlier version as "too restrictive." Of major signiftcance is HUD's retreat from the 75 percent rule, which would have required local govern- ments to spend three-quarters of their CD program funds on projects that benefIt low and moderate income persons. HUD has now decided to treat the 75 percent principle as a guideline rather than a rule. What this means in practice is that an application that states that 75 percent or more of CD funds will be used for projects that benefIt low and moderate income persons will be presumed to comply with the overall intent of the law. These applications will be exempt from a HUD review on this point prior to funding. CD applications that do not make the 75 percent claim will be subject to a prior review to determine whether they principally benefIt low and moderate income persons. Among the enforcement problems with this compromise are: (1) Prior review places an additional administrative burden on HUD which, based on its past record, lacks the capacity to fulftll the monitoring and general administrative responsibilities it already has. (2) The standards for determining compliance in cases where the 75 percent calculation is not used are vague. (3) There is neither a remedy spelled out for failure by the applicant to comply with its own 75 percent commitment nor any indication of how such failure would affect the applicant's standing. HUD said the change from the strict wording in the proposed regulations was based on complaints from local governments that the rule would be too restrictive, create administrative burdens and limit local flexibility. With Citizen Participation, the fInal regulations stress the purely advisory role of citizens. There is still no requirement that a written citizen participation plan be submitted with the application. A proposal for an ongoing citizens advisory committee has been dropped along with one that would have required written 6 responses within 15 days to citizen complaints. Instead, the locality is to make reasonable efforts to insure continuity of involvement by citizens. Only communities with populations over 50,000 will have to provide for citizen participation at the neigh- borhood level. Three stages of hearings (for development of the application, implementation of the program and performance) are required. Annual per- formance reports must now include citizens comments and a summary of any actions taken by the applicant in response. These reports must be submitted by the end of the eighth month of the program year so that they can be used by HUD in evaluating the next year's application. The fInal regulations remove the emphasis on allowing citizen groups to select their own sources of technical assistance. Applicants can provide bilingual summaries of program documents rather than complete translations. To better ensure that citizen objections will be considered during the application review period, HUD will not approve an application until at least 45 days after its receipt instead of 30 days: In other changes: BENEFITS-Unfortunately, the regulations do not require applicants to quantify benefIts to low income persons as distinct from moderate income persons. However, there is new general wording that CD activities must address the needs of low "as well as" moderate income persons. A provision has been added that the nature and result of a project, not simply its geographic location, will determine who is benefItting and therefore whether the activity is eligible. In the preamble to the new regulations, HUD says "our intention is to carry out the statutory objective of bene- fItting low and moderate income persons in a strong and committed fashion. " FUNDING OF NON-PROFITS-Non-profIt organiza- tions including neighborhood based groups qualify for block grants for all activities normally eligible for CD funds plus planning and administrative costs. DISPLACEMENT-One of the biggest disappoint- ments in the new regs is HUD's refusal to face up to the problem of displacement resulting from CD activities. HUD has left the matter to the localities rather than take steps that could have ranged from banning displacement to requiring local governments to submit relocation plans, provide housing or show that there is sufficient suitable replacement housing. NEIGHBORHOOD STRATEGY AREA-Formerly labeled "Comprehensive Neighborhood Revitalization Area," the new term continues HUD's emphasis or. designating target areas for concentrated funding but allows more room for flexibility. Eliminated is the three to five-year time limit that would have discouraged localities from undertaking long-term housing and community development projects in severely blighted areas. EXCEPTIONS-The proposed regulations had an "exceptions" category specifying that 25 percent of CD program funds could be used on projects that did not principally benefit low and moderate income persons. That language has been dropped along with a defective provision that would have enabled the HUD Secretary to waive the 25 percent limit. PROJECTS WHICH PREVENT SLUMS OR BLIGHT-Dropped from this category are projects that were specifically aimed at attracting higher income residents. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT-Economic develop- ment activities are no longer limited to distressed cities. HUD feels that by applying the "plainly inap- propriate" criteria outlined elsewhere in the regs, it can accomplish the purpose of preventing cities with relatively strong economies from using CD funds for commercial or industrial developments. The regs state that economic development projects are supposed to generate long-term jobs for low and moderate income persons; however, HUD has deleted a paragraph that would have required a commitment to permanent jobs for lower income persons in the development of industrial parks. HOUSING ASSISTANCE PLANS-As in the past, communities must describe their housing stock, outline the housing needs of their low and moderate income persons and establish goals for addressing those needs. The new regs require HAP goals that remedy 15 percent of the state needs over a three year period, marking a greater emphasis on performance. The proposed requirement to include a description of all low income neighborhoods has been eliminated. Most of the regulations are effective May 1. How- ever, the rules on eligible activities, including economic development projects by non-profit organizations, take effect March 1. Copies of the regulations are available at ANHD. City Limits thanks Brian Sullivan of PraU Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development and Mary Brooks of Suburban Action Institute for their assistance with this report. Classy Potholes In a policy reversal, HUD has told New York City it may use Community Development block grant funds to repair potholes. However, since potholes come in all shapes and sizes, HUD has specified which ones. Only "Class C" potholes and cave-ins. Street repairs are not normally an eligible use for CD 7 funds. That is why last September HUD cut a $9 million street repair program from the city's CD application. On Jan. 30, HUD changed its mind, stating that because of snow damage to the streets, the repair program qualified as "interim assistance to alleviate harmful conditions in which immediate public action is necessary. " HUD set the following conditions. The potholes and cave-ins must be in low and moderate income areas, and only "Class C (18 inches or more in diameter) potholes and cave-ins" qualify, according to a HUD ruling. Keep that in mind the next time you are jarred to the bone while riding in a bus or car. 0 FEDERAL HEARING SET ON BANK LENDING Federal hearings on a law that is intended to make certain that financial institutions provide for the credit needs of the communities in which they do business are being scheduled for late April in New York City. Tentative dates for the redlining hearings are April 20 and 21. The location has not yet been decided. The hearings here will be part of a nationwide series being conducted by four federal regulatory agencies on the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. That law requires the federal agencies to take into account a financial institution's local lending record when evaluating an application for permission to merge with another bank, open a new branch or obtain a charter or deposit insurance. The law says that "regulated financial institutions have a continuing and affirmative obligation to help meet the credit needs of the local communities in which they are chartered." The agencies have until November 6, 1978, to write regulations to implement the Community Reinvestment Act. Hence the hearings. For further information on the hearings contact Roger Hayes or Michael McKee of Peoples Housing Network,533-5650. Meanwhile, a New York City Coalition of anti-red- lining groups, working on the same issue at the state level, met recently with the New York State Banking Board. That meeting followed a hearing in Brooklyn that drew hundreds of neighborhood residents con- cerned about disinvestment. The large turnout, the presence of Superintendent of Banks Muriel Siebert and members of her staff and the fact that it was the first time in memory that the department had granted a rule-making hearing pointed to the importance of the issue. Members of the Coalition Against Redlining were planning to meet individually with members of the State Banking Board before new regulations are issued. 0 A FEW CETA FACES Fritz Ringler, who has been unemployed three years, is a graduate of the School of Social Work at SUNY, Stonybrook. A tenant activist for the past few years in Brooklyn, his special project has been developing a fire monitoring program for the Peoples Firehouse in Brooklyn. "I applied for the position of project coordinator," he said, noting that "it's one thing to be in favor of re- habilitating houses, but if you're going to rehabilitate these properties, you don't want them to burn down as soon as you're finished." For several years, Ringler's task force has been in- vestigating ways to prevent crime and curtail fires in his neighborhood. Asked if he felt bitter because he had not been able to make use of his graduate education, Ringler said, "My education wasn't a waste of time. It has come in handy. 1 have had some opportunities, but 1 turned them down to do this work, which 1 think is very important, because we have to do something about the fires out here. Any- way, I get along. " Commenting on the CET A job program, he concluded, "I think the project is important, but they certainly aren't making it easy for people to apply. And from my experience with other CETA programs, this is geared to fail right from the start unless someone comes in and does a miraculous job of cleaning it up." I 1 i .J Alex Natal Alex Natal, 20, was a construciton trainee for a sweat equity building at 507-09 East 11th Street. Unemployed since last August, Natal pays a small amount of rent for his apartment there. "I'm giving what I can," he said. After waiting most of a day to be certified and then interviewed by Adopt-a-Building, Natal was offered the maintenance job he wanted. 8 Fritz Ringler Take the arduous process of qualifying for a public service job and multiply it by ten and you have the case of Alicia Juana Sapire. Sapire and her son left Argentina in 1976 to escape from the repressive military dictatorship there. She arrived in the United States in April, 1977 and was granted official political asylum last October. Unemployed since her arrival here, Sapire applied to Strycker's Bay Coordinating Council in Manhattan for an open space coordinator's job. While being certified by the state for eligibility prior to her interview, she was told she needed a U.S. Immigration and Natural- ization Service "green card" to qualify. She replied that she did not yet have a green card but produced a USINS card that said" employment authorized." "It says here that I can work," she told the state certifier. He remained adamant. No green card, no job. The situation looked discouraging until another state certifier, overhearing a discussion of the problem, looked at the card, said it was valid and approved the young woman. Sapire's problems were not over. Although Stryck- er's Bay offered her a job, she was then informed by the city Department of Employment that she could not work without a social security card. Again things looked bleak but almost the next day, the social security card she had applied for some time ago arrived in the mail and the crisis was over. Alicia Juana Sapire Frank Korzeniewski Marie Exume is an unemployed elementary school teacher who recently turned down a scholarship for a Ph.D. program at New York University. She applied for the CET A position of social services assistant. "There just seems to be an over-surplus of teachers," she said, noting that her CET A application would entail "starting from scratch with an entirely new career. " "Let's put it this way," Marie explained. "I want to work very badly. I loved teaching. I loved working with little children, but I realize that there wasn't much future for me in this field." The CET A job will involve working with senior citizens. Exume is overqualified for the job, in that the edu- cational requirements ask simply for a high school diploma and two years of college ending in an associate degree. Is she upset by her new job prospect? Not at all. "I will be making somewhat less than I did teaching at my last job in the day care center," she admitted, "but I think I will become exposed to a lot of new things that I've never seen before. I think this job is more chal- lenging than teaching day care. And senior citizens cer- tainly need help. I hope this program will be a success." Haitian by birth, Marie has been supporting herself recently as a part-time interpreter in the courts, representing Haitians. "This job is a challenge, too," she added, "but I really want to work full time. Maybe I'll learn to speak Spanish too at this new job." 9 "They tell me I was rejected because I make too much money on Social Security," Korzeniewski, a 72- year-old retired furniture craftsman, said following his disappointing interview. "They also said the same thing to my buddy [John Mentz]. We are both senior citizens, and we're both in the same boat." Korzeniewski and Mentz serve as volunteers with the Peoples Firehouse in Brooklyn. They were applying for part-time jobs under CETA VI on an arson task force at the firehouse and were led to believe by both the Neigh- borhood Manpower center and the State Employment Service in Brooklyn that they were eligible for this em- ployment. Asked how he felt about the rejection, Korzeniewski said, "When you're my age, you learn to live with dis- appointment. I go 'down to the firehouse every Tuesday night, so I guess I'll continue to do that. It is a disap- pointment,/ really. I guess they're saying that you have to live at the poverty level all your life. " Korzeniewski and his wife, who is homebound with arthritis, collect about 5500 a month from their joint Social Security benefits. One of the community interviewers, Gary Hattem of St. Nicholas Houses, said of Korzeniewski's and Mentz's rejections, "It's really a shame that Social Security is considered income, unlike welfare and un- employment. It sounds as if the authorities are saying they're [both men] making too much money on Social Security. " Another CETA interviewer interjected, "The federal guidelines are discriminatory against the elderly. That's how I see it. ' , Marie Exume STATE GIVES NEIGHBORHOODS $500,000 Eleven ANHD member organizations are among 50 community-based housing groups throughout New York State who have received $10,000 grants under the new Neighborhood Perservation Act of 1977. Governor Hugh L. Carey announced the awarding of $500,000 in grants on March 15, saying that the state funds will strengthen the organizations and enable them "to concentrate on activities that will preserve and restore their communities while attracting a much larger investment of public and private financial resources. " The initial grant covers a six-month period. Carey has proposed to increase the funding for the program to $5 million in the fiscal year beginning April 1. More than 100 neighborhood organizations applied for grants totalling $7.2 million in the first round. The Neighborhood Preservation Act provides funding for the administrative expenses of nonprofit community-based organizations involved in rehabilitat- Nathan Leventhal, commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, tells City Limits that he has no plans for a major reorganization of his 2,500-member housing agency for the next two years. He did say, however, that he is interviewing pros- pective candidates to replace his former deputy com- missioner, Paul Dickstein. According to Leventhal, the replacement officer may be renamed Director of Operations. Commenting on possible departmental changes, the commissioner said, "I feel we may have some changes in titles and functions." He also expressed a possible need to consolidate HPD's rehabilitation programs. In addition, he men- tioned the possibility of instituting a new program in management analysis. A new intra-departmental chart for HPD should be available within the next 30 days, he concluded. 0 Housing Conservation Coordinators will conduct another six-week energy conservation boiler-burner, maintenance and repair course, beginning March 28 and running through May 16. Classes will be held every Tuesday and Thursday from 7 until 9:30 p.m. Graduation will be May 23 when certificates will be awarded to those enrollees who have successfully completed the course. The first classroom session will be held at the HCC storefront, 777 10th Avenue. The next classes through May 9 will be held in the boiler room of one of the local tenements. Instruction from May 11 through May 16 will be at the Vorhees Institute of Technology, 450 West 10 ing and preserving housing. To qualify, a group must be nonprofit, in existence for one year with a demonstrated capacity to perform neighborhood preservation activities, representative of the neighborhood and have the ability to become economically self-sufficient within three years-the maximum period a group can receive funding under the law. ANHD organizations receiving grants were Pueblo Nuevo Housing and Development Association, Morris Heights Neighborhood Improvement Association, Housing Conservation Coordinators, Manhattan Valley Development Corp., Interfaith Adopt-a-Building, Coalition for Human Housing, West Harlem Community Organization, Kelly Street Block Association, East New York Development Corp., Sunset Park Redevelopment Committee and Metro-North Association. 0 41st Street, in the "climate control room." Enrollment in the course is $15. Each class is limited to 25 students. The subject matter to be covered in the course is boilers, burners, boiler cleaning, oil ftIter replacement, safety mechanisms, relay replacement, weatherization, and radiator repair. For further information about the course, telephone 541-5966 or 541-5938. 0 Planning Unity in Action (UPA) will hold its second annual two-day conference on issues affecting the Lower East Side April 8 and 9 at the Tompkins Square Boys Club, 287 East 10th Street. The conference, sponsored by the Challenge for Those Who Dare, a community-based group of citizens dedicated to the growth and development of the com- munity, is the first "neighborhood unifying" conference scheduled for the Lower East Side since the first one was called in 1969 by Ernesto Martinez, former chairperson of the Lower East Side Coalition for Human Housing. The Saturday session will open with registration at 9:30 a.m. followed by work sessions in the morning, afternoon and evening. Lunch and dinner will be served. Sunday's program will feature a work session on com- prehensive coordination of a three-year master plan for the area, ideas for future action, and a closing celebra- tion feast. Subjects to be included in the workshop discussions are human housing, total health, local power, community economics, lifelong development, and celebration of the community. 0 'In Rem' continued According to the Task Force report, "The true poten- tial of owner-occupants, tenant cooperatives and non- profit community groups to own, manage and maintain property has not yet been fully tested nor adequately developed.' , Arguing before the Council committee for a full year's delay in the transfer to HPD, General Services Commissioner Smith maintained that DRP would pour up to $50 million of Community Development funds into "preventive maintenance" of the In Rem properties. "Unless we get the delay," Smith asserted, "these buildings are not going to be run right .... It is against my own personal interest to ask for this. I could walk away and do something else .... But if you do not grant this, calamity will be on your hands." Refuting Smith's contention. Jane Benedict, head of the Metropolitan Council on Housing, testified, "I am here to support no extension to the Department of Real Estate. It is true that the department needs a house cleaning, but are we going to allow the culprits to monitor their own house cleaning?" Benedict reiterated other community leaders' criti- cism of DRP's lack of services in the city-owned build- ings, and also referred to the recent improper DRP auc- tion sale of properties in the South Bronx where the Carter administration's revitalization plan will be carried out. "In Rem buildings are a hot issue," she charged. "We know about these buildings that were sold for $25, $50, and $125 to speculators. Now the city will have to take them back with the taxpayers' money." "There must be a moratorium on the .sale of these [city-owned] buildings right now," Benedict continued. "I am calling for a three-year moratorium with the ten- ants running the buildings, during which time there will be an orderly working out of how the tenants run . the buildings. " According to Councilman Katz, DRP has agreed to hire an additional 600 employes to carry out the pro- posed preventive maintenance program. Their salaries, which, Smith estimated, will run to about $8 million annually, will be covered by the $50 million Community Development grant. Seeking details regarding the future transfer of the properties, Councilwoman Miriam Friedlander (D-Man.) asked, "What happens to this $50 million if the buildings are shifted in a shorter period of time? Will the money shift, too? Will the money go to the community group that is overseeing the building? .... In order to allow that community group to take over the building, can we put part of that money in the budget for it?" During the committee's roll call vote Mar. 20, Councilman Abraham Gerges (D-BkIn.) said he intend- ed to call a press conference at a later date deploring the transfer agreement. "I think this transfer is going to be a disaster," he charged. "It seems to me that this section of real estate should go to the New York City Housing Authority or stay where it is [DRP] ... I am going to introduce legis- lation to transfer this to the Housing Authority." But for now, at least, the transfer agreement and timetable stand. Long-suffering tenants of the city, accustomed to neglect, will have to wait and see whether the bureaucratic truce brings any improve- ment in the quality of their housing. 0 Roger Hayes of Peoples Housing Network leading class in SCHOOL FOR ORGANIZERS. Weekly series has been drawing overflow crowds of up to 60. Future enrollment will be limited. 11 LOS SURES SET TO REHAB 400 SECTION 8 UNITS by Susan Baldwin A major test of HUD's Section 8 subsidy program for substantial rehabilitation is set to get underway in Brooklyn's Southside Williamsburg section in early April, after nearly two years of government processing. Los Sures (Southside Community Housing Develop- ment Corporation) is the non-profit community sponsor of the two-phase project, expected to yield 401 units of subsidized low income housing. Phase I will redesign 12 abandoned six-story walk-up tenements on South 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Streets to produce 201 apartments at a total cost of $8.7 million. Phase II, slated to start from four to six months later, will add 200 more units to the neighborhood revitaliza- tion effort. The rehabilitation of the first four buildings in the program is scheduled to be complete after nine months' work. Phase I should be fmished within 14 to 18 months of commencement. To build the project, Los Sures created a subsidiary to enter into a general partnership-known as SUMET -with the Metropolitan Rehabilitation Corporation, a Manhattan-based private developer. "Even though we had to deviate from our overall revitalization policy and go outside [the community] for developers, we believe that it was worth it," said Douglas Moritz, director of Los Sures's development company. "This way we can deal with a greater number of properties than we could with sweat equity or homesteading.' , The entire project will be subsidized with Section 8 funding under one of 12 HUD demonstration grants allocated to groups in primarily low income neighbor- hoods around the city. The 12 buildings in Phase I, all abandoned, were built by manufacturers at the turn of the century to accomodate their immigrant work force, which had moved to the Southside of Williamsburg from their first homes on the Lower East Side. The present layout of the apartments is cramped. The gut rehab work will reduce the 25 apartments in each building to about 12, with an emphasis on two-, three-, and four-bedroom units. The one and two-bedroom units which now prevail are not suitable for the large families which make up this largely Hispanic community. The rehab cost per unit will be close to $50,000. The law firm which handled the packaging of the Section 8 demonstration grant was Tufo, Johnston & Allegaert. Its legal fee was said to be $80,000. Metro- politan Rehabilitation Corp., the private developer, is a long-time client of the law firm, and was recommended 12 by the firm to Los SoUres as a co-general partner. Former Deputy Mayor John Zuccotti, who returned as a partner to the Tufo, Johnston firm last year at the end of his city service, first became known to Los Sures when the Rev. Brian Karvelis of Transfiguration Church, and a member of the Williamsburg Housing Association, asked the then deputy mayor to intercede in a community struggle between the Hispanic and Hasidic communities over the rental policy for Roberto Clemente Plaza. The Los Sures Management Co., a Los Sures subsidiary, manages the 532-unit Mitchell Lama housing project. The original rental plan, still tied up in court, was to rent 75 per cent of the housing to the minority community and 25 per cent to whites. Referring to the rehab proposal, the Rev. Mr. Karvelis said, "I am a friend of the Los Sures organization. I helped them form it many years ago. They are the only organization of their kind doing work out here for the poor people." "They have done a marvelous job," Karvelis said of the Los Sures effort. "It's the only job that has been done to profit the poor man in the street. I think the rehab work is a far better, more economical method to revitalize this area and bring in rentals at levels people can afford, because of the Section 8 subsidy. The Krauss rents have come in at a much higher level." Karvelis also praised the Los Sures project "because there is no displacement," he said. "They chose buildings that were either burned out or abandoned." Displacement had been a big problem with the construction of Clemente Plaza. Asked to comment on the proposed rehabilitation project, Councilman Luis Olmedo, whose district includes this area, said recently, "We need much more Section 8 money for Williamsburg, but I want this money for housing for the poor people who really need it. " Olmedo is concerned that the tenant selection process might produce tenants from outside the area who are members of St. Peter and Paul Church or Transfiguration who do not need the housing as much as poorer people living in the area. Under the terms of the demonstration program, Los Sures will be in charge of tenant selection. Councilman Olmedo is a founding member of Los Sures and honorary chairman of its board. He left the board as a voting member in 1974 when he took his seat on the City Council. "I felt I should quit the board because of any possible conflict of interest," Olmedo explained, noting that he did not think it would be proper to be voting on a board that could be receiving city money. One of the main problems with getting the SUMET projects underway was establishing clear title to the properties, Moritz observed. "We were dealing with landlords who had abandoned the buildings, milked tens of thousands of dollars out of the buildings, had used whatever political connections they had not to pay taxes and avoid In Rem proceedings, and then they were able to walk away from these buildings with anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000 for the properties," said Moritz. "We even had a warrant out for the arrest of one of the landlords." "This was a heavy price we had to pay," Moritz added. "None of the decisions to take these buildings were easy, and to buy from these guys represented a deviation from our traditional philosophy, but we really saw no other way, if we were to get housing at rents people could afford for our community." Moritz reviewed for City Limits the history of the SUMET project. Los Sures wentto HUD in May, 1976, and asked for a list of available Section 8 packages. In June, Marilyn Melkonian, then with the Tufo, Johnston law firm and now in HUD's Washington office, described by Moritz as "a dynamite woman," got in touch with the group and mentioned the possibility of a general partnership with Metropolitan. By August, Los Sures had developed the plan for this rehabilitation. In October, 1976, the Los Sures board formally recognized the relationship with Metropolitan. In December, 1976, HUD put a notice in the newspaper acknowledging that there was money for 12 demonstra- tion Section 8 grants. Los Sures was awarded one of the 12. The project was held up, however, at the City Planning Commission, which had some questions about the housing design. Los Sures ftnally gained the com- mission's approval in time to go before the Board of Estimate in December, 1977. "Our main problem now is selling the ten per cent outside-investor share," said Moritz. "The total of this investment is $1 million. We've had a couple of offers, but what comes into playas much as anything else is time. We would have had an easier time of selling the tax shelter in December than we are having in March, because people are thinking more seriously along these [tax] lines at the end of the year. But we are still negotiating," Moritz said. Moritz pointed out that the outside investors- known as limited partners in SUMET -want to examine Los Sures's relationship with Metropolitan, and to determine whether this is a good or bad venture before committing their ten per cent share. The 90 per cent balance of the project cost is picked up by the bank and guaranteed by federal mortgage insurance and 100 per cent subsidy commitment by HUD. 13 Los Sures will be managing the properties. They will also share in the tax-shelter profits, Los Sures taking one-third, and Metropolitan, two-thirds. Los Sures is committed to reinvesting any profits back into the properties in the form of improvements or additional social services. They have no firm commitment from Metropolitan to do likewise, although, Moritz asserted, "To date, Metropolitan is willing to do almost anything to make the project work, and may be willing to reinvest. " Asked to estimate Los Sures's share of profit from sale of the tax shelter, Moritz said, "That depends on about a zillion things ... The reason why we negotiated our share on a sliding, one-third, two-thirds basis was so that we could participate in the profits based on that scale rather than on a rigid dollar figure." Moritz is somewhat worried about the "ten percenters" who may make demands on the project. "Putting that aside, we will share in some of the proceeds of the shelter," he predicted. Proceeds of the shelter sale go to SUMET I, the housing corporation. Plans call for establishing a salary line for community labor coordinator, and for getting organizational fees to pay for Los Sures's overhead on the job. The labor coordinator will be responsible for seeking minority employment in at least the same percentage-SO per cent-as prevailed in recent new construction projects in the area and for maximizing participation of minority group subcontractors. Moritz, however, said that he could not give estimates of the total numbers of jobs for the Los Sures's Southside community as negotiation sessions with Metropolitan have not taken place to date. Reached at press time for comment on possible delays in starting construction, Wilfredo Vargas, administrator of Los Sures, said, "We expect to begin in ten days [early April]. We understand from Metro- politan that they have the work permits. Subcontractors are ready to go to work right away." According to Councilman Olmedo, the partnership plans to go ahead with the start of construction even without the ten per cent commitment from the private investors. Barbara Scott, a spokesperson in the housing depart- ment of the Tufo, Johnston, Zuccotti & Allegaert law firm, confirmed that work was currently scheduled to begin early in April. She explained that no formal closing date had been announced. HUD officials also told City Limits that the law firm had submitted a final Section 8 proposal for SUMET ll-an application that, if found acceptable, would mean that work on this second 2oo-unit phase could possibly start up within four to six months. Joseph Lopes, director of public relations at HUD's area office could not be reached at press time to confirm that SUMET I would commence by early April. NEIGHBORHOOD WOMEN SEEK HELP FROM HUD Low and moderate income people are being pushed out of Park Slope, the building abandonment rate has doubled in no time, the houses and the rehabilitation program in Bushwick are ridiculous. In fact, half the houses that were to be fixed up are burned down. What can we do to save our neighborhoods? These statistics and points of view are a few of many expressed by working class and poor neighborhood women who attended a two-day conference March 2 and 3 at the Skillman A venue headquarters of the National Congress of Neighborhood Women in Brooklyn. The conference, an outgrowth of a national Washington-based women's housing issues conference in April, 1976, was the first of a series of community conferences involving the role of women in making housing policy and determining the quality of neigh- borhood life. Other neighborhood workshops are scheduled to take place around the country this year under the auspices of HUD's Women's Policy and Program Division, a department formed four years ago which is now under the new HUD neighborhood unit headed by HUD Assistant Secretary Msg. Geno Baroni. "My office started out as an ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) office for women when the Community Development Act passed in 1974," said Joyce Skinner, director of the division. "Then they were talking about a fair housing act, a move that forced government to add sex to that legislation." "Women make up a substantial part of the country's population," she continued, "and it's our belief that they should be out there in the forefront making policy decisions in the planning of housing. The time has come for them to move out of the background." The National Congress of Neighborhood Women, Neighborhood women speak out at HUD conference host for the conference, was founded in 1975 following a meeting in Washington at the National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs, the organization founded by Baroni in 1970. Resource consultants at the conference included Skinner and three other members of her division, women from HUD's area office, and at least one female official from the New York City Planning Commission. The topics raised during the conference ranged from such questions as "What is Section 8 and how do we get it?" to "Dealing with Bureaucracies," commercial revitalization, organizing women as neighborhood tenant leaders, homesteading, public housing manage- ment, credit, home buying, rehabilitation programs, how to combat wholesale redlining of neighborhoods, reclaiming abandoned homes and lots, and finally what to do to put an end to the systematic displacement of poor people from neighborhoods. "I was hoping that the conference would have come up with more of a 'do-it' program," said Ellen Friedman, an architect who is employed as aCETA worker at the Ethnic Neighborhood Action Center in Brooklyn. "We have been trying to do rehabilitation of tenements here in this neighborhood and we haven't been as successful as some groups, like Los Sures, because we haven't mastered the political steps that you have to go through to get the programs working," she explained, noting that any groups, including women's organizations involved in housing, must learn how to get enough funds channeled into the neighbor- hoods. "For this idea to be successful on the local neighbor- hood level," she concluded, "you really have to master the strategy of how to package the housing and then direct it to the right officials." 0 14 CET A continued The small army of new workers will augment the efforts of the community groups in blighted areas of Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx to rebuild their neighborhoods through a variety of housing projects. They will be offering homeownership counseling in East New York, devising social services programs for the elderly in Williamsburg, improving fire prevention in Northside, organizing tenants in Flatbush, and supplying building maintenance on the Lower East Side, for example. Problems with how the city Department of Employ- ment was implementing the CET A program developed at almost every turn during the planning stage. Initially, for example, DOE refused to allow the Asso- ciation to pass on administrative funds to the groups, which would have left them without money to cover their own program expenses. These and other regulations were withdrawn by DOE along the way. However, it was dissatisfaction with the way the city Department of Employment was structuring recruit- ment that proved to be the most controversial of the large number of procedures opposed by the CET A VI organizations. The way the issue was resolved provides a rich insight into how bureaucracy can confound itself. DOE planned initially to use three citywide sources to refer job applicants: its own Neighborhood Manpower Service Centers, the New York State Employment Ser- vice and the New York City Department of Social Services. The CET A groups complained that this system would not produce applicants qualified for the highly special- ized jobs being offered and would make it almost im- possible to match suitable residents with jobs in their own areas. The organizations proposed that an additional agency pool " referral source be formed so that they could seek out and refer qualified enrollees from their own neighborhoods. The city accepted the agency pool source but set up a formula .that was to determine the percentage of appli- cants referred by each source. It was NYSES, 50 percent; DOSS, 17'/2 percent; NMSC, 17'12 percent and agency pool, 15 percent. Despite misgivings about how this would work, the organizations rushed to complete their working conditions forms-listing descriptions of each job and the number of people they wanted to interview. Three sites were selected in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brook- lyn and interViews were scheduled for February 28- March 3. On Tuesday, February 21, the groups turned the forms into DOE for photocopying and distribution to the other referral sources. DOE said the copies would be ready by Thursday, February 23 or Friday, the 24th. Friday arrived and they had not yet been duplicated. By 15 Monday, they still were not available. When they were not ready on Tuesday, the interview schedule for all of the 37 groups had to be postponed a day. The forms were finally ready for distribution to the referral sources on Wednesday but through a bureau- cratic mishap, the forms intended for the Neighborhood Manpower Service Centers in Manhattan and the Bronx ended up in Brooklyn. As a result, the groups saw virtually no one on Wed- nesday and Thursday since few referrals were coming through NYSES and DOSS and most of the agency out- reach recruits were not scheduled until Friday. By noon Friday, for example, the South Bronx Community Housing Corporation had filled only four out of 12 slots and Julie Cruz, SBCHC's office manager, said she had yet to interview a single application for secretary. Frustration at the interview sites ran high. " Nothing is happening here because the bureaucracy is incapable of responding to its own rules and regulations," Steve Katz of People's Development Corporation in the Bronx said. Bob Lowe of Metro North Association in East Harlem said the regional Manpower office had misplaced his interview schedule so that instead of interviewing eight persons for an organizer assistant job he had seen only one. By the end of the four-day hiring period, 269 persons had been offered jobs. On March 10 they all reported to DOE headquarters for what everyone agrees was an efficiently run mass fmal certification prior to starting work on March 27. Acknowledging that recruitment procedure problems " possibly could have happened, " Thomas McEnery, DOE assistant commissioner for public service employ- ment, said his department was having to process more than 1,000 persons a week into various CETA program projects and added: " Considering the size of the (ANHD) project and the involvement of various agencies under the constraints of the eligibility criteria, I think things went pretty well." D .CITY LIMITS. published monthly by the Association of Neighborhood Housing Developers, , 29 East 22nd Street, New York, New York 10010 (212) 6747610 Editor . .... . . .. . .. . . ........................... Bernard Cohen Assistant Editor . . . . ..... . . . . . . .. . . ... . .......... Susan Baldwi n Design and Layout .. ... . ....... . .... . .... . ..... . . . Louis Fulgoni Production . . .. . . ... . ... .... . ..... . ... . . .. . . Marianne Czernin Copyright 1978. All rights reserved. No portion or portions of this Newsletter may be reprinted without t he express written permission of the Association of Neighborhood Developers. Inc. IN THIS ISSUE o CETA Housing Jobs o Direct Sales o South Bronx Plan Ol9.l t.l9 U ~ OlOOl 'A'N ')jJOA MaN .99J.S p u ~ ~ .S83 6 ~ 'OUI sJadolaAaa DufSl10H poolIJOq4 6 !9N ~ UOQB!OOSSV o Los Sures Section 8 Demonstration o Final CD Regulations Have You Sent Us YourSubscription?