Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Good Neighbors And One Very Bad Neighbor(g)
The Park Slope Courier reports that the not-for-profit organization Fifth Avenue Committee received a unanimous vote approving their plan to convert a vacant lot at 575 Fifth Avenue “into affordable and supportive housing for the formerly homeless and mentally ill.” Cheers to FAC for their blood, sweat and tears of joy. Michelle de la Uz, the executive director of FAC, says “This is not a clinic, hospital or treatment facility... We help people live and work with dignity.” Truly Fifth Ave is a great place to find work, a life, and a lot more dignity than being quarantined off in some remote industrial site of Brooklyn. The Courier reports there were few dissenters who spoke publicly. One who did was an especially frightening resident of our dear Park Slope: Ms. Patricia Arias (of the Aryan race?). She accused FAC of acting “covertly to conceal the project from residents.” She went on to say that the future tenants would be “better served in a mental facility… We can’t afford to lose our parking.” Well there’s definitely one mentally ill person on the Slope. Perhaps Ms. Arias would be better served in the suburbs.
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The Fifth Avenue Comittee does a lot of good work. They have been very active in helping to protect the rights of long-time Park Slope residents who's landlords have tried to force them out illegaly in order to raise rents. This is a real problem in the area where I live. Older residents who have lived in the nieghborhood for 10+ years, raised their families here, and who are now on fixed incomes, have to deal with landlords who deny basic services like heat and hot water in an attempt to drive out these people who really have no other place to go.
The Fifth Avenue Comittee offers free advice and helps tenants organize and fight back against landlords who see real estate as nothing more than an investment--not realizing that the point of residential real estate is not only to make money, but first and foremost to provide stable housing for Park Slope residents.
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