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AMBI: (UNDER NARR)
Traffic and kids playing outside at Trinity School
NARR:
In the late sixties, Trinity School wanted to build a high school at 91st and Columbus. To do so, they'd have to knock down a couple of apartment buildings, displacing a lot of local residents. So, they made a deal with the city. Trinity built 200 affordable apartments on top of the new school.
In 1970, Christine Spencer was one of the first to move in. Back then, the neighbourhood was pretty seedy… but she liked the variety of people around her. She's raised two kids there.
AX: (CHRISTINE SPENCER) (0:21)
I wanted them to grow up in a diverse neighbourhood with people of all cultures, all religions, so they get a taste of the world. I've travelled all over the world like a gazillion times, and my kids grew up knowing that people are people. They didn't have to learn about it.
NARR:
Now, however, Trinity School wants to get out of the landlord business. In June they announced they'd be selling the building above their school. Current residents apartments will mostly become rent-stabilized, but as apartments become vacant, they'll be turned into market-rate condos. On the Upper West Side, that means expensive condos. And when that happens, Spencer says, the community will become less colorful.
AX: (CHRISTINE SPENCER) (0:13)
You lose the very thing that makes the culture of New York. You lose the people who give that extra little flavor. You know, it's like plain rice on a plate: you have to put seasoning in it to make it taste a little better.
NARR:
Myles Amend, Trinity's director for development, says that the school simply want to sell what has become a valuable asset in order to fund their endowment.
AX: MYLES AMEND (0:16)
I think that when a not-for-profit institution, such as a school, owns property, the purpose of owning that property is to advance the educational mission of the institution.
NARR:
Amend says that if the sale goes through, nobody will be evicted -- that's the law, after all. He says Trinity School is confident that the new buyer will treat the tenants well.
Jim Paul, co-chair of the Trinity House Tenants Association, is sceptical. He says landlords can find underhanded ways to push tenants out, especially when there's money to be made.
AX: JIM PAUL (0:15)
If they harass people, they give up, and they leave, and there's no actual eviction, but there's a grinding down of people's will to live in the building.
NARR:
Paul and the Trinity tenants oppose the sale. They're looking for help from city and state politicians.
AX: JIM PAUL (0:15)
If there's enough political pressure brought to bear and enough public officials decide they're going to draw the line here, than we will succeed.
NARR:
Lots of local politicians already back the tenants at Trinity House. But housing advocates hope that a broader solution will come from changing New York state laws around affordable housing. For years, the Republican majority in the State Senate has blocked any changes to tenant legislation.
John Raskin works on affordable housing issues, and thinks the national elections could help change things in Albany.
AX: JOHN RASKIN (0:10)
I think that everyone sees a huge opportunity in another presidential year. The more people come to the polls, especially in New York, it means more Democrats come to the polls.
NARR:
Raskin says that of course landlords want to make as much money as possible, but that the only way to balance that with tenants' needs is by changing the law.
AX: JOHN RASKIN (0:13)
I wouldn't tell these landlords that they really have to preserve 20% of their building as permanent affordable housing because it's the right thing to do, I'd tell them to do it because collectively, we've decided that's an important public good, and so we've legislated it.
NARR: (AMBI TRINITY STREET TONE AGAIN, UNDERNEATH)
The city has yet to approve the sale of Trinity House. Spencer simply hopes that the neighbourhood she's loved for 38 years keeps the variety that makes it interesting.
AX: CHRISTINE SPENCER (0:13)
I have nothing against people moving into the neighbourhood -- if you can afford a million, two, four, more power to you. Just don't push everybody else out! There's no place to go!
NARR:
The last legal struggle around Trinity House took four years to resolve; this one's been going for only seven months.
SOC:
Adam Hirsch, Columbia Radio News