WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MAY 6, 2021 35
Dozens of Ridgewood residents march against
displacement on International Workers Day
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDO@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
More than 100 people marched in celebration
of International Workers Day — while calling
for no evictions nor displacement — in
Ridgewood on Saturday, May 1.
Organized by the Ridgewood Tenants Union
(RTU), the march began at Venditti Square where
some members of the tenants association spoke
about how the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately
impacted excluded workers.
“So many of our workers are tenants, they’re
immigrants, they’re people of color, and they’ve
been excluded from systems of government like
relief of so many different kinds,” RTU member
Ahtziri Campos said.
Campos also mentioned the hunger strike that
many excluded workers underwent in March in
order to call on the state legislature to include a
fund for excluded workers. Ultimately, a $2 billion
fund for excluded workers was included in this
year’s state budget, and is in the process of getting
implemented.
“RTU and all of you are celebrating and fighting
for them,” Campos said. “Our mission is very
simple — fighting to build people power.”
Another RTU member, Bonnie Gil, then spoke
about the 17-story tower, Myrtle Point, proposed
right at the site of Venditti Square. The stalled
tower, owned by AB Capstone and Arch Companies,
has been under fire by RTU and local elected
officials for years.
Gil said in addition to bringing in Target, “an
anti-union” chain, it also “breaks her heart” that
many of the workers who will build the tower
won’t be able to afford to live there.
“We are marching against predatory developers
and landlords who are taking over our neighborhoods
who don’t care about the harm they cause
to our community,” Gil said.
The group then kicked off their march up
Myrtle Avenue, chanting, “eviction-free NYC,”
“housing is a human right,” “the rent is too damn
high” and “get up, get down, there’s a housing
crisis in this town,” along the way.
They stopped at the newly opened restaurant,
Rolo’s, on Onderdonk Avenue, where several
people ate outside. The restaurant has ignited
conversations about gentrification among many
community members since it opened in January.
There, RTU members spoke about another
developer, Kermit Westergaard (a part owner
of Rolo’s), who they say is displacing longtime
residents. Westergaard is a developer who’s purchased
several buildings in Ridgewood in the past
decade, renovated them and put them back on the
market.
Ana Gil, 23, a lifelong Ridgewood resident,
shouted “how dare you,” toward the restaurant,
saying she’s never witnessed families being displaced
to build expensive housing.
“This is disgraceful,” Gil shouted.
RTU organizer Raquel Namuche said one of
their members was displaced by Westergaard.
“He’s curating the neighborhood to his liking,
and his vision excludes working-class people such
as myself, my family and my neighbors,” Namuche
said. “We totally understand that everything must
change, but that change should not come at the
cost of our working class neighbors.”
RTU member Kira Josefsson said to combat displacement,
they’re working to build a community
where everyone is working together to “hold these
developers accountable.”
“We want to foster a neighborhood economy
based on solidarity and cooperation that will ensure
that all of our neighbors have a sustainable
way to live in dignity, that nobody is ever at risk
of being displaced from this neighborhood, from
their homes,” Josefsson said.
The march began again on Onderdonk Avenue.
Some of the signs held by the dozens of marches
read “Workers against displacement” and “People
Over Profit.”
The group then stopped at the corner of Fresh
Pond Road and Myrtle Avenue, where they spoke
about their efforts to help unhoused neighbors.
Isa, an RTU member, said the site is where “harm
has continuously been inflicted” on their homeless
neighbors. Isa said the city and the NYPD have
increased “clean up sweeps,” in which they force
homeless individuals to move from their space
and remove their belongings, despite guidance
from the CDC to leave unhoused people where
they are to stop the spread of COVID-19.
“The city’s callous and violent approach to addressing
street homelessness is no way to solve
the crisis,” Isa said. “We cannot force people into
shelters that are unsafe, we cannot throw away
their belongings and take away the spaces that
they have community in, that they sleep in at night.
There’s only one common sense, real solution to
solve homelessness, and that is housing for all.”
For a year, RTU members have checked on homeless
New Yorkers in Ridgewood and Bushwick
every Wednesday and Saturday, providing them
with food and items they may need.
Bailey, an RTU member, said the outreach
project began in response to the city’s subway
closures, in which homeless people were forced
out of the stations at night.
“Since last spring we’ve grown immensely, both
in our work’s capacity and with the relationships,”
Bailey said. “But this year, our community lost
four incredible members.”
Bailey spoke fondly about the four unhoused
New Yorkers to remember them after they recently
passed away. One of them was Pawel Felicjancik,
Photo by Angélica Acevedo
who stayed at an underpass at Fresh Pond Road
and Myrtle Avenue. After Felicjancik passed on
Easter Sunday, a memorial service was held at All
Saints Priory.
“He was someone who lived by his own code
that was rooted in his belief in comradeship and
people’s innate humanity,” Bailey read from a message
written by another RTU member. “His spirit
is deeply missed in this community.”
The group stopped for a moment of silence
for the recently passed community members,
then collected flowers that individuals held on
to throughout the march to leave on a wooden
bench next to a makeshift bed where they said
Felicjancik stayed.
The march continued on Myrtle Avenue making
another stop at RTU’s community fridge, hosted by
Kings Juice Bar located at 955 Seneca Ave., which
is owned by local business owner Adrian King.
There, RTU members spoke about the fridge,
where anyone and everyone can leave and take
food, saying, “It’s not just a source of food; but a
source of community.” For them, it’s also a symbol
of their fight against gentrification.
The march then continued on Myrtle Avenue,
toward Myrtle and Wyckoff Plaza, where the it
ended with music from individuals with instruments
including trumpets and drums.
RTU members also spoke about Jorge Jimenez,
a 48-year-old unhoused neighbor who died after
suffering a stroke last Monday. Jimenez used to
stay at the Myrtle-Wyckoff L train station.
Jimenez’s passing was particularly devastating
for RTU members, as it was on the same day when
he was supposed to move into a new room they
found for him and two weeks before he was supposed
to start a new job.
“Jorge lost his job due to the pandemic and
was an excluded worker, who was subsequently
illegally evicted and experienced homelessness
for the first time,” Bailey said. “Jorge was a Maná
fan and a father. He was incredibly warm and was
looking forward to getting back on his feet.”
Namuche said they created a GoFundMe for
Jimenez, in order to give him a proper burial
and send his remains to his family in Texas. She
emphasized that the tragedy is just one reason
why they’re fighting for housing for all.
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