22 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 17, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Photo: Angelica Acevedo/QNS
Ridgewood Tenants Union rallies against
planned luxury apartment tower
BY ANGELICA ACEVEDO
Members of the Ridgewood Tenants
Union (RTU) chanted “no, no to luxury
colonization — yes, yes to homes for all” in
front of Food Bazaar Supermarket during
their rally against a planned new luxury
apartment tower on Monday.
Th e RTU demanded that city offi cials
stop Avery Hall Investments’ (AHI) plan to
build a 24-story luxury apartment building
at 1590 Gates Avenue, right on top of where
the community supermarket, Food Bazaar
Supermarket, is currently located.
“We are also here to demand that our
politicians, like Council member Antonio
Reynoso, fi ght harder to protect us from
displacement and gentrifi cation,” RTU
member Tousif Ahsan said through a
megaphone.
According to a rep from the offi ce of
Councilman Reynoso, AHI is going ahead
with the as-of-right luxury project. AHI
didn’t respond to a request for comment
before press time.
RTU spoke at length about the correlation
between the construction of luxury
apartment buildings and the city’s
increased homelessness rates.
Th ey were joined by Assemblyman
Mike Miller, who gave a short speech
against the proposed new building at
the rally, as well as representatives of
Assemblymen Brian Barnwell, Andrew
Hevesi and Senator Michael Gianaris.
“Th e city should not allow for Avery
Hall to be built,” Miller said. “Food Bazaar
has been a staple in this community for
a long time. My constituents need to
buy aff ordable groceries for their families;
they don’t need luxury apartments.”
Miller said that he “refused to see these
high-rise apartments be built in a working
class neighborhood where people
struggle to make ends meet.”
He also mentioned Mayor Bill de
Blasio’s promise of “ending a tale of two
cities,” saying that the mayor has instead
“made it worse.” Miller added that he will
continue to fi ght for the Home Stability
Support bill that he and Hevesi have supported
to be placed into law.
RTU’s lead organizer, Raquel Namuche,
then took to the megaphone and gave a
passionate statement in response to the
Oct. 7 Community Board 5 meeting in
which Glendale residents gave angry public
statements against the new homeless
shelter on Cooper Avenue.
Among them was Councilman Robert
Holden, who has been against the facility
since it was announced.
“We need politicians to take action to
end homelessness immediately — instead,
our Councilman Robert Holden incites
bigotry and stereotypes and vilifi es our
homeless neighbors,” Namuche said. “And
that is not right. It’s down-right criminal.”
Namuche then spoke on behalf of all
the members of the RTU, and are calling
for the Committee on Standards and
Ethics to investigate Holden. Th ey also
want the Committee on Rules, Privileges,
and Elections at the City Council to remove
Holden off his role as chairperson of the
Technology Committee, as well as his
membership of the Committee on Mental
Health, Disabilities and Addiction and the
Committee on Criminal Justice.
“All of these committees have a role in
looking at ways to serve our homeless
neighbors, and it is dangerous for someone
who plays on stereotypes to create
fear of the homeless to serve on them,”
Namuche said.
Namuche said that even asking for a
disciplinary action is “nice,” and that he
should just “resign immediately.”
“We have to act from a place of compassion,
we have to act from a place of understanding
that the homelessness crisis is
not created by homeless people, it is created
by luxury developers,” she said. “Th ey’re
uprooting us from our homes, and we won’t
take it any longer. So today, we are taking a
stand against Trumpian bigots like Robert
Holden. He does not represent us, and he
should not be allowed at City Council at all.”
Th e RTU then took to Twitter to
announce that they formerly wrote a letter
to City Council Speaker Corey Johnson,
urging him and New York City Council to
begin a disciplinary action for Holden.
QNS reached out to Holden, who
declined to comment on the rally and
RTU’s statements.
At the rally, 72-year-old Emilio Gavino
shared his own housing issues with the
help of Namuche’s translation.
Gavino, a cancer patient, is currently
living with his sister, and although he’s
been applying for senior housing for more
than six months, he hasn’t received any
assistance.
“Th at is just down-right criminal,”
Namuche said, aft er thanking Gavino for
speaking.
Namuche then addressed Avery Hall
directly.
“If you’re watching, if you’re listening,
Ridgewood does not want you. You’re
a luxury colonizer, and on Indigenous
People’s Day, we’re saying no to luxury
colonization, no to luxury developers.”
Assemblyman Mike Miller said he does not want a luxury apartment building in his constituents’ “working-class neighborhood.”
/WWW.QNS.COM
