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From: Harry DeRienzo

To: vergesh Hide

tnbrooks@yahoo.com Vera Roman
Lee Allen Sajata 
Janice

Cc: Hope Burgess Marie Graziano

Anna Burnham

Problems with our Local

Councilmember
October 6, 20?l at izeilO am

Good evening 

We have a situation that I believe needs to be
shared with the Board of Directors. I apologize for
this, but we are all accountable and

Cou ncilrnember Saiamanca is actively threatening
not only to stop support and oppose any future
projectsr'funding but he told Hope Burgess today
that he actively seeking to rescind his approval of
the $90,000 he approved for Banana Kelly as part
of the Stabilizing NYC program. I do not think our

has: heroin unit ran this: hi:

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the $90,000 he approved for Banana Kelly as part
of the Stabilizing NYC program. I do not think our
contract has been registered yet, so this may be
possible. This is the program where we organize
tenants, like the tenants in 919 Prospect Avenue,
who are being victimized by landlords who paid too
much for their buildings (or are simply greedier than
most) and are trying to actively harass tenants out
of their (relatively) affordable apartments. And just
like getting funding from one source often facilitates
getting funding from other sources, sometimes the
reverse is true as well. Losing funding from one
source can have a cascading impact on other
current and potential sources. This is especially
true if the Councilmember is actively intervening
with HPD and the Mayor's Office of Contracts to
take something away or stop something soming to
us. These kinds of interventions in the past have
prompted Inspector General audits for all of our
contracts with the city.

Background: As far as I know, Take Back the Bronx
was planning an anti-gentrification rally and
demonstration Take Back the Hood. But they did
not identify themselves on the flyers. In fact, this
call to action had no named sponsors. i saw the
fiyer, but ignored it. It did not come up at meetings
or as something we supported or advocated with
our leadership. I should have paid more attention.

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our leadership. I should have paid more attention.

At any rate, a couple of Fridays ago was upstate
and received a call from Councilmember
Salamanca. He asked me if Banana Keliy was
protesting him outside his office. I told him no. He
told me that our organizers were out there so how
can I say that we were not a part of it. He then
complained that we were calling him a ?Pimp" and
said that he had to defend himself on Bronx 12. He
sent me a copy of a placard of a photo of him, with
the words ?New Pimp on the Block? underneath.
Standing next to the sign was our lead organizer
Anna Burnham. She was not holding the sign and
actually looked like she was lost in thought, as
opposed to chanting. But he used that to say we
were part of this.

Anna subsequently wrote an email to him, stating
that she went to the rally because she was asked
to by a group that is part of the Southern Boulevard
coalition; that Banana Kelly had nothing to do with
the messaging, and she did not approve or it. I
believe her and believe in hindsight she should
have not been there, but she was and sometimes
we find ourselves in these kinds of situations.

Our Councilmember believed that I was avoiding
him so he called Russell and Hope separately in for

i3 l i <s 1/

 

 

 

 

 

 1:called Russell and Hope separately in for
meetings. He told Russell that he would no longer
support Banana Kelly and told Hope that he was
looking to pull the $90,000 allocated to us in the
budget. He told her that he believes Anna?s email
to him was ?disingenuous," that he ?knows for a
fact" that we helped organize this effort because,
according to him, all of the fiyers were printed out
of our 1283 Westchester Avenue office, and
basically told Hope that he is not going to ?chase
me down," that he is not going to allow Banana
Kelly to use money that he approved for us to
demonstrate against him, that we have never given
him a chance to prove himself, and that I should
know that he cannot work with Banana Kelly as
long as Anna is here because we obviously have
no accountability from our staff.

I think he is taking this further than is warranted,
but i do understand how he can feel that we were
actually a part of the messaging, especially since
one of our organizers was carrying a sign with a
photo of the Council Speaker, stating in words that
she is a Beat Estate Gusano, which translated
means ?maggot.?

Concerned about all of this, but also that I thought
he believed I was avoiding him, i did call him earlier
(now yesterday). He was not told by his scheduler

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(new yesterday). He was not told by his scheduler
that the reason I had to cancel my meeting with him
tomorrow is because my cousin passed away and
the funeral is 10:30 On Friday on Long Island (our
meeting was supposed to be at 10). was pleased
that he was not resistant to meeting and I think it
makes sense for me to meet with him with our
Board Chair, Theodora, when I have a new date. I
think it is important that he know that we all
accountable for our actions, including me.

As far as Anna is concerned, I am not in the habit
of terminating employment when people make
mistakes. I am when people do not learn from
them, but we should never let anyone outside our
organization dictate our staffing. Our organizers
are young and will make mistakes. As I see it, the
mistake they made here was being ignorant that
their actions could actually hurt the very people
they are being paid to help. The actions also may
have broken one of the Cardinal rules of
organizing never get ahead of your own people.
If our own people were not ready for this kind of
confrontation and we are far from being anything
like ready for such a confrontation then our
organizers should not be involved either.

I am hopeful that the meeting with the
Councilmember will be productive. Sorry to lay all

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I He tunded the summer camp to the tune ot
$20,000 this year.

I He approved $100,000 for Banana Kelly JOE
NYC projects, which will be used for energy
retrofits and solar.

I As mentioned above, he approved $90,000
targeted for Banana Kelly as part of
Stabilizing NYC.

We have to be independent but we also have to be
smart and not let our egos get in the way of our
mission. I see this as a learning experience, but
we have a real problem that needs to be resolved
at the same time.

I will keep you posted. In the meantime, Hope will
be scheduling a meeting with our board, resident
leadership, and organizing staff for when Anna
comes back from (a well-deserved) vacation.

Again, sorry to lay all of this on you, it is out there
and our Councilmember is not being shy about

sharing his feelings about us with others.

Harry

 

 

 

 

 

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confrontation and we are far from being anything
like ready for such a confrontation then our
organizers should not be involved either.

I am hopeful that the meeting with the
Councilmember will be productive. Sorry to lay all
of this on you, but you have a right to know when
our funding and our programs are threatened.
Beyond the $90,000 he is trying to take back:

I The Council Speaker can also hurt us.
Indirectly. she can hurt us on any matter, but
directly she can pull the rug out from under
the CLT project we are doing in East Harlem
with Picture the Homeless. where she is also
a fu nder and the local Councilmember.

I We will need extensions on all of the HDFC
real estate tax exemptions for the Core
portfolio as part of the refinancing we are
currently working on for those 447' units. If
our Councilmembers does not approve of the
HDFC exemption, the full Council will not.

I We will need the same kind of real estate
exemption for the Podolsky portfolio, He can
stop that as well.

I If we are successful in getting 919 away from
Seth Miller, again we will need the same
exemptions, which he can stop.

I He funded the summer camp to the tune of
$20,000 this year.

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