6 AUGUST 6, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
March and sleep-out event in Ridgewood
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Hundreds of people marched
from Glendale to Bushwick,
and back to Ridgewood where
they held a sleep-out to demand an
eviction-free New York on Saturday,
Aug. 1.
“Today is the day to pay rent, unfortunately,
more than 1 million
people have lost their income and
haven’t been able to pay rent,” said
Raquel Namuche, an organizer with
the Ridgewood Tenants Union (RTU).
“That’s why we’re here demonstrating
to tell Gov. Andrew Cuomo … we
need ‘universal rent relief, the actual
cancellation of rent.'”
While the city has entered phased
opening and hundreds of thousands
returned to work, the city has 1.3 million
workers out of work with the unemployment
rate at about 20 percent
as of July — “a fi gure not seen since the
Great Depression,” according to The
New York Times.
The demonstration, organized by
RTU with support from Mi Casa No
Es Su Casa and various other tenants
associations representing Queens
and Brooklyn, began at the Glendale
Veterans Triangle on Myrtle Avenue
and Cooper Avenue with some English
and Spanish speeches.
Throughout the introduction, protesters
were repeatedly heckled by a
group of people and passersby watching
the event.
The event was one of many eviction
protests held throughout the city
during the months of the COVID-19
pandemic lockdown, as advocates
fear for the safety of tenants at risk
of eviction once Cuomo’s eviction
moratorium expires entirely on Aug.
20. NYC Housing Court began accepting
new eviction fi lings on June 20.
Caty Seger, a lifelong resident of
Glendale, called out Cuomo as well
as Councilman Robert Holden and
Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan for not
doing enough to protect tenants.
“Bob Holden has spent his time in
offi ce being anti-homeless and racist,”
Seger said. “He’s spent more time
fi ghting a homeless shelter than he’s
actually spent guaranteeing housing
for all.”
Seger, a member of RTU, told QNS
that in the 11385 ZIP code, tenants are
not the majority and very little live in
rent-regulated buildings.
“Most of the time they’re in private
houses where a family will just rent
out the second floor, and there’s
usually no lease, no protections. It’s
actually, most of the time not legal,
so because of that we’re particularly
vulnerable to eviction,” she said.
Aft er some speakers, the march
began toward Ridgewood on Myrtle
Avenue, with a fl eet of bicyclists acting
as barriers and traffi c guards. Several
police cars followed them throughout
the route from behind.
The chants ranged from, “Get up,
get down, there’s a housing crisis in
this town” to “I said once I pay my rent,
damn all my money is spent.”
Once the march reached the Myrtle-
Wyckoff Avenues train station, they
turned onto Knickerbocker Avenue
Photos by Angélica Acevedo
toward Starr Street, receiving cheers
from bystanders throughout the route.
Once they reached Starr Street and
Wyckoff Avenue, organizers paused
in front of what they said is notorious
landlord Deodat Lowtan’s home.
Lowtan was number 19 on Public
Advocate Jumaane Williams’ list of
the city’s “Worst Landlords” last year,
with about 583 Housing Preservation
and Development violations and 17
Department of Buildings violations.
One person trying to organize
tenants of Lowtan’s 39 buildings
took to the mic to talk a bit about his
buildings.
“I wish we had more of his tenants to
tell y’all but … there’s so many stories
of the b——- that this guy does,” he said.
“He’s a big fat wart in this neighborhood
and we’re really trying to hold
him accountable because he’s been
doing it for a long time.
By 9:30 p.m., they returned to the
Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenues train station
plaza, which they turned into the
“people’s plaza” for the sleep out.
Several dozen protesters set up
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