The-Leader_1973-02-15

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Official
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37tli YEARi No. 43-
BALDWIN
t>0 et4i tItM
M^ICK ROOSEVELt
—r^—tt^-CmSt t i f fi
FREEPpRT, NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 15, 1973 PRICE: TEN CENTS PER COPY
Rent Control
The candidates of Freeporl's
Village Party have launched a
pelilion drive to convince state
legislators—that—the—viilager-
"urgentiy needs local option'rent
control powei's,". Deputy" Mayor
William While announced today.
,_.. White. -!he candidate for.
Maybr. %id hii running mates.-
.Trustee candidates Ralph Franco
and Berltoley Swezey are joining
him In a door-to-door drive lo
obtain signatures on' peition
forms. "We hope lo put thousands
of Freeporl signatures on the
desks of the st'ate lawmah:ers-who -^
can give u.s the teelti we need to
fight agairyjt exhorbilanl rent
incrcasesr White declared..
He said^lhe recent relaxation of
the federal wage^price control
policies, "seemed to signal some
landlords to immediately try to
clobber their tenants with,rent
operating expenses such as fuel. ^
real estate taxes, repairs and
maintenance, .supplies, otc.,„wc
-arrforced tqlncreirkc our'rcnta to
a more realistic level in order to
continuiB tomaintaln the present
high .standards of the building.
Effective March I, 1973,
therefoce, the rent on your^
aparlmcnt Will be 4edHcd> per
month. We will enter into a two-year
lea.sc with you commencing
on that date and expiring
February 28, 1975, at the new^
rental quoted. Plea.se advise thlg
'office immcdiately^whctKer you
wish to con|inuc your lienancy on ,
the leahUterm.H offered. If we do
not hear from you in this regard
by February 15, 1873. we «hall^
assume that you are giving up *
youp apartment on or before
February 28, IOT3, and: nhall
; immediately
on th'oldc^lrLandlord-Tenant Relations Committee. Standing on the same plank 8rW:Village Party Trurtet
candidates BerkeievLSwezey, left, and Ralph Franco. The Village Party hopes to convlnceltota lawmakers
to give Freeport the power to impose rent controls. (Photo by Oscar) '; ^ ,
Million Dollar Health
WMCuity LloMa
Two Break,
Support Sprowal
^HOLDING DOWN THE RENT-Freepoirt's Deputy Maypr William.White, seated rightrgets the f irst f igna-turefon
a peition for local option rent control, fromJMark Domowne, tha-viHaQalslenyant-tepeaMntativB.... magilitude-is-really-a-profiteer.—
^ and ifthe state will give us' the.
power we will put. a stop To 'It^
prompUy," White said.
The Deputy Mayor said he and
-Franco *-and—Swezey—will—visit—
Freeport apartment buildings to
ask tenants to sign their petition.
.jThey_arealf5i).mMkinglheiTlselyesl.
available 10 any tenants ^groups'^
•who wish to di.scus.s strategy with ;
them. Petition forms are- also
available at yillage Parly ,
headquarters, 91 South Grove '
Street, White said, or will be -
delivered to any tenant who calls
him at FR 8-5555. ' .
PcUtions are addre.«>sed to
Slate Senator Norman Levy arid '
AssemblymanArmandD'Ainalo, •
the district rcpresentativj^ in the
, BMiCe-\^duirK'a'pftrt>-" =•
hl^Wpoyoor SO per <^j]|t 6ft leaaeii^; w
expjiy?.dlIiSuchahci!ea8e8:!i.ai:e: ^j: Rh(Mtnil?'lo^ ^'pr6%ecllve'Mattti''
entirely out of }i^e with operatirig for M^rch I, 1973. occupancy,
costs. Any landlordn^holfriefi lO.- P.S. Garages, If available, will
impo.se a rent ral.se of (hat; carry. the following additional
Jn£~late summer '72 THE •
LEADER, after an all-morning
interview, drafted.thelfollowing
—lead to a feature:- .
"A-paradox of enormous and
""far-reaching conseqiiences exists
,today in Freeport for this.Village
was fielected, after careful study
by^the federal governinenL
"IHfoQgh Its Department of.
Health, Education, and Welfare
and Housing AdrhlnistraUori, to
be the^ite of the fourth element
of-a 'nationwide :pilot~progcam
whereby goyemment^ funds are^
3jj|1liEed to brlng-^theimst up-to-date
health care to all strata of
odr society at an suitable cost
within a ciioimplete, all-encomi^
ssing unit."
The. paradox was that the $1.7
—mUlloii^7iOOO—square—foot
structure; located,In Freeport's
Induatrfaj.Parle was^at the time
' of the interview, dying for lack of
patients. THE LEADER feature
was never published because we,
as did apparently other members
of the media, began to hear
rumblings of financial
mismahage^ment..
Last Friday,- the Ipternal
Revenue Service armed with
. evidenpe of unpaid' taxes,
padlocked the doors of the
Freeport Diagnostic Center after
what 'the Freeport Police
Department reports as a heated
debate' between JRS agents and
tenants of the building which at
the time housed patients waiting
to be iseen. It is expected that the
Chemical Bank, holding a
creditors for furniture, equlp-menti
fixtures, etc. The center is
owned by the^non-profit Mill'
Association Inc. -to which in­dividual
practitioners inve.sted
via "rent'' lor; the spac~e they,
occupied.
Meeting in emergency session
JasUhuPsday night, as they had
twice before, a group gf^
Freeporters, representing the
iVillage Administration, the
ScfioSl- Community Relation,
office, the Family ^Services
Association, the" "iPreiiport
-Health Consumer Council, and
concerned individuals -beard
volunteer attorneys, Dan Mandel
and James Leonardo predict the
death knell that was to occur to
the Center which had opened with
much—-fanfare- last—^April-
Although sobered by the news,
• the igroup reniatn^ undaunted in
their plans to reopen the facility
with a hoped-for hew group of
practioners to serve the health
needs of not only the
economically T disadvantaged
including senior citizens and
Medicaid patients, but also a
large group, of, ^'medically-neglected",,'
middle income
residents of tl^e'rcgion,
*AIthough'>shiny new, and
housing the lati^t in'equipment,
the Center not"bnly sufferedfrom
whispers of financial
mismanagement which dated
back to its planning stages in
Hempstead, but also because a
larjge" majority of the people it
was created to serve did not know
Jomer Rand^ one of thel foun­ding,
niembers of the United
Residents of Freeport, resigned
from the -Party's--executive'.
committee (although published
reports indicate he resigned from
the Party) after URF refused to
endqr.se the Black Convention's
Trustee • " candidate,^„.^Chris
SprowaU-and-ls now throwing his
support to the black .candidate
v/hose is scheduled to begin an
—(Continued on Page 7)
monthly rentals.'-Heated^arage-
£ $30160, jJnhea ted.: .$25.oo.!l.-.__.
Lewk lold the LEADER that •
his present rent, with heated
garage, is $70less, and that he,, as
-IheTJthersrhadTtistbeen offered a
new lease on the expiration of the
old. He .said that while he and the .
-olhers-agreed_lhc-owner: wa»=-_
entitled to a ral''®'" rent inface-gf
rising costs, they also fell a 60%
hike was dLsapportionatcly high'.
They also argued with Martin's
rofminccs to "maintenance" and
"pr^icnt high standards" telling
of palming their own apartments,
insufficient wiring, and of leaks
and cracks,'Their anger^was
increased-when Dowohe an-nounced.
that he had learned that^
the buildinghad "received p
• $50,WM IffidUctibirirr^assesBed
i^-
Flasli.
Soirie'110077meinrefS~6r ~ the
Suburban Party meeting In
conventioirTTuesday night,
nornihated attorney and Human
Relations Commissioner Ed
Yamin for Mayor, Lloyd Orr to
return to the Village Board as
Trustee and retired Village
state legislature^ dnd to
Assemblymaa^Gnerge .Earrell,:—~evaluation,-probably due-to the
-cn-ehaicmaaotthe Joint Lcgislalive ^"^ low rents fixed at the time of the
ComTnlttee-on-Laws—Affecting "^pfice freeze,,= thus reducing
Local Government.
Superrntfnderii~ljf Wgliways
* Harry Chulsano for the second
Trusteeship. The-convention did
hot endorse r Judge Edwin
Freedman for Village Justice.
. Some 35 tenants of the* 41 unit
apartment house on the south-
'west corner of Pine a'nd South
Grove Streets, gathered 4n the
apartment jof Stanley Lewis last
"Wednesday riight to meet with
Mark Domowne, chairman of the
Village's Tenant-Landlord
Relations Committee to protest
rent Increa.ses as high as 60%.
property faxes.
Faced; With a -two week
deadline, the tenants, many o^
which are senior citizens, turned
to Domoivnef who as an apart­ment
dv/cHer Himself, was ap-pointcd
the comm}ttTO_chajrmaji
There was no floor fight. It was i^Lewis, a long-time merchant in
sizeable mortage will foreclose —of its existence. In addition, in a
'shortlyiind there is a long,list of ,. move unique in the' annals of
announced that foui' meetings
between the Party and the ilnlted
Residents to agree on a .fusion
ticket had been fruitless.
medicine, jhe Center prdposed to
s offer head-lo-loe health care
under one roof by bringing
togethjir M.D.'Sj" dentists,
chiroprpctors, op^ticians and
podiatrists.* The move was
rep"ortedly. frowned upon by
members of . local ' medical
societies, with doctors on the staff
denied ho.spital priviledges
forcing {hem to turn over the care
of any patient requiring
hospitalization.
the Village andr the "oldest" '
tenant of the complex having
moved in at Its completion in ..
1949, contacted Demowne when
he arid the other reijidents
received notice of the rent hikes
from the owner, ,_Eugene. B..
Martin,' President of Qeeah
Gardens Inc;, Manhattan. Tlie
letter Lewis received dated -
January 24, reads:
"Our records indicate that your
lease on the subject apartment
expired on October 31, 1972, and
that you have thereafter
remained in occupancy as a'
month-to-month tenant. Because
of the. iremendous increases in
when he turned to Mayor Hobert
Sweeney for help in a personal
dispute. Domowne has handled
some 1000 landlord-tenant
disagreemeiiti on a vofunlary
basis since his 190 appointment. '
The chaii^man's -advice' was ,
ih-Bt to organize ("the wealthiest
..landlord can't alford'td suii each
tenant"! ind secondly io actively
Bupporl Mayor Sweeney's drive
tcki.thitdugh Slatfe;Senator Nor'
' man Levy and "AssemMyman'
Armartd D'Amato/ create'
legislation which would allow.the
Village to impose rent coritrol
within Freeport's boundaries. To*
cries of "the woV is practically at"
the door!" Domowne told (he
tenants, "The landlord gave you
two weeks. OK; now write him
and tell him you'll give hint a
month!" He told them, they'could
(Continued on P ^ 7) >