FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Scam Artist Slumlord
Hank Freid Makes Millions off City Dollars while Permanent
Residents Kicked out of Fake Hotels. Tenants at their
Wits’ End: Do Something, New York City!
WHAT:
Tenant rally and street theater to denounce the continued
operation of illegal hotels by Hank Freid and other
“scamlords” across the city
WHO:
Tenants, the Royal York Players, Councilmember Melissa
Mark Viverito
WHEN:
Saturday, May 3, 2008, 12:00 p.m.
WHERE:
In front of the Hank Freid’s Broadway Studios
at 230 West 101st Street, at the corner of Broadway
and West 101st Street
VISUALS:
Street theater by the Royal York Players, Giant talking
head of Hank Freid, Banners and signs: Hank Freid
is All Greed, Department of Bribes, Homes not Hostels
On Saturday, May 3rd at 12pm, tenants will gather
to show their frustration with Illegal Hotel Operators
like slumlord Hank Freid, who was nominated as New
York City’s 5th Worst Landlord by Housing Here
and Now. He has consistently used aggressive harassment
tactics to empty his buildings. However, Hank Freid
is a slumlord with a particularly insidious past.
In a contract with HRA to house people living with
HIV/AIDS, Hank Freid raked in millions of dollars.
Instead of putting the money into making his buildings
safe, clean, and secure, he let the buildings crumble.
When the contract with HRA was terminated, he began
building his chain of flashy “budget chic”
hotels in single room occupancy (SRO) residential
buildings! Hank Freid has scammed the New York City
housing system for too long. Tenants are fed up, and
they want the City to act now!
Illegal hotels operators have created a disaster
for New York City. Landlords continue aggressively
to evict tenants from their affordable housing, and
then rent their apartments as hotel and hostel rooms,
often booked over the Internet to unsuspecting tourists
visiting the City. City Council members have stood
behind a bill to crack down on illegal hotels, while
the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement has
investigated some of the buildings. However, New Yorkers
are losing their homes right now to illegal hotels.
We need the City to step up and make change for us
NOW! We need an end to rental of residential units
to tourists and to have those units returned to the
affordable housing market for residents of New York
City.
Sponsors for the rally include: City Councilmember
Melissa Mark Viverito, Housing Conservation Coordinators,
New York City AIDS Housing Network, West Side Neighborhood
Alliance, and the Goddard Riverside West Side SRO
Law Project.
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