Thomas Vitullo-Martin and Sumner Rosen, The New York Times, Dec. 28, 1980
To The Editor: The issues at stake at the Belnord (”Controversy Lives On at the Belnord,” Nov. 16) go beyond this particular building and its tenants. What is at stake is the city’s ability to preserve housing for the middle class in Manhattan in the face of owners’ power. Our struggle is, therefore, important to everyone concerned.
The owner of this building owns others. She has virtually destroyed one residential building and is trying to oust tenants in others. City agencies have not effectively curbed these efforts.
Judge Ralph Waldo Sparks, whom Michael Goodwin quotes as saying that the Belnord tenants and landlord ”deserve each other,” first imposed an agreement on both sides, then refused to enforce it, and finally canceled it.
The owner has filed plans that show her intention to convert apartments into small units, increasing the building’s profitability. But to do so she must first succeed in getting existing tenants out. The families who live in the Belnord represent two, sometimes three generations of residence. They cherish their homes and the community in which they live. That is why they have banded together to resist this effort.
The families who live in the Belnord represent two, sometimes three generations of residence. They cherish their homes and the community in which they live.”
Sumner Rosen, Thomas Vitullo-Martin, co-chairs, Belnord Landmark Conservancy
