The Struggle for Space - Institute for Social Ecology

Chapter 1
The Struggle for Space
lOYears of Turf battling on the LowerEaet Side
gy 1arah Fergueon
June2005-"It'soneminutebeforemidnight.
Theparkis nowclosed."
Thetin voicebteated
fromthe Loudspeaker
of a squadcarstowlycirclingTompkins
Square's
windingpaths,disrupti n g a f e wamo roucou
s p teon
s be n ches,
a pairof dogwalker s,
som edr unks
dozingin the s ur prisingLy
crispsummer
ajr. Butasidefroma ratherwe[|.dressed
couptewhowondered
atoud,
"Whydo they haveto closethe parkon sucha beautifuI
night?"therewaslittle objection.
A clumpof collegekidsin artsypunkattireclustered
at the exit,checked
ce[[phones,
debated
whichbaror partyto try out next.Butthe reaIpunks,the crustyatcohoLic
traveters,
hadaLready
retiredto the EastRiverto drinktheirspare-changed
beerunfettered
by potice.
Thatmotteyrabbleof squatters
andhippies,
anarchist
bjkemessengers,
homeless
agitators
a n ds o a p-bo xi ng
ra d i calwsho 'don cem adethis par ktheircr ucjble
andcr usade,
hadlong
s i n c em o v e d
on .
ThecopspadLocked
the gatesandcattedit a night.
Therewasa timewhenctosing
Tompkins
Square
wasunthinkabte.
In 1988,whenpolice
attempted
to imposea 1.a.m.curfew,
it sparked
a bloodyriot. Butfor morethan L50years
priorto that (asidefroma L5-year
spanfollowing
the CiviIWarwhenthe parkwasrequisiparade
ground),
tionedasa miLitary
park"a
Tompkins
Square
wasconsidered
a "peopte's
c o m m u ni ty
l i vi n gro o m,recrea ti onal
gr ound
ar ena,
andr adical
stom ping
that stayed
ope n.
Fromthe "breadriots"of 1857and1.874andthe draftr'iotof 1,863,
Tompkins
Square
earned
a repas a stagefor politicking
andsociaL
strife,a Legacy
that contjnued
throughthe 1960s
and'70s,whenthe parkbecame
mecca
for
a
downtown
bohemia,
with smoke-ins
and[oveins andantiwarraLlies
organized
by the Diggers
andYippies,
andfreeconcerts
with the
G r a t e f uDLe a dJa
, n i sJop l i nJi
, mi H endr ix,
Char tes
M ingus
andSunRa.In oneinfam ous
inc i denton Memorjal
policebrutallyrousted
Dayin 1.967,
group
andarrested
a
of hippiesand
PuertoRicans
guitarsandbeatingcongas,
whowerestrumming
in defiance
of the "KeepOff
the Grass"
signs.(There
were38 arrests
anddozens
of injuries.)
A judgedismissed
the
charges,
stating,"Thiscourtwitl not denyequalprotection
to the unwashed,
unshod,
u n k e m pan
t, du n i nh i bi ted ." l
Amblingthroughthe parknow,with its verdantlawnsandgardens
tendedwjth the hetpof
jt's
vo[unteers
sponsored
by corporate
interests, hardto fathomthat Legacy.
It's hardto
comprehend
a tjmewhenneighborhood
people
-squatters,
politicos
tenement
dwel[ers,
and
poets
Lunatic
-wouLdput theirbodieson the Lineto ctashwith the bluemeanjes
overthe
rightto occupya four-bLock-square
patchof earth.0r that punksfromNewJerseyandLong a d n
Is[andwouldactuallycommute
to takepartin the Friday
andSaturday-night
bottLethrowing t#t
andstreetbonfires
that became,
fromL988to 1.991.,
something
of a neighborhood
rite.
KAA:a-.2rC?
A K . ao i c aT: o l i L i c aalr t d S o c ia lfr ie lo r v o f th e L o we rEa e t Sid e
I n t hi s po st-9/1 ,1 moment,
w iththe geogr aphy
of oppr ession
blownopenasfar asthe m i nd
pieceof greenin
cansee,it's sometimes
hardto remember
howa turf warovera scrappy
its locusand
the middleof NewYorkCitycouLd
haveso captivated
a movement,
become
spirituaI
center,with the battlecryof "Freethe Land!"
Memoryintercepts
hollowed-out
refrainof congadrums,"Pigsouta da park
policesirenechoingLikegraffiti bleedingthroughfreshlypaintedwalls.
,r a
TOTALWAR FOR LIVINOg?ACE
Thesquat ti ng
W ha t's
ch a n g eids th e no ti onthat thiswas0URspace
to be defended.
and
p o ti ti cal
move men
198 5to 1995
tht a t roseup in andar ound
Tom pkins
Squarfreomr oughLy
East
wasin manywaysthe Lastgeneration
activists
to
conceive
of
the
Lower
S'ide
as
of
o p posi ti o nsp
a La ce .
grewout of a muchlargeranddecades-oLd
ThebattleoverTompkins
struggle
Square
to preservethe multiethnic,
natureof the neighborhood
againstthe forcesof
working-ctass
"urbanrenewaL"
gentrification.
and
Forthe squatters,
homeless
activjsts,
artists,andsocial
gam r e ne g a d w
e sh oag i tate the
d re,defending
the par kwaspar tof a m uchm or eam biti ous
bjt to Liberate
buitdings
andrubble-strewn
space,
to wrestcontrolof the city'sabandoned
Lotsandcreatea newkindof community
operating
outsidethe reaLm
of property
law.
Theact of squatting
city-owned
buitdings,
of exempting
themfromthe cycleof specu|.at j o n,w a sn o t a symb o tiprotest
hands- on
c
but an em inently
assau[t
on the bedr o cof
k N ew
YorkcapitaLismreaIestate-whjchofferedtangibteresutts:
Yougot a cheapplaceto live
a n dco n so rt
w i thfel towra d i c a[s
m aking
ar t andr agging
on the system .
In this context,Tompkins
Square
served
as botha livingsym boL
of the neighborhood's
di s s e nta n da ph ysi caL
g of
L o cufo
s r or ganizing
andagitating
against
the hom ogenizin
ti de
w e al tha n dred e ve l op men t.
"T h ei d e aof spa ce
-of o rga nizing
- cam e fr omthe negative,
fr omth e i dea
ar ound
space
that the government
wasactjvelymovingto spatiatly
deconcentrate
innercity areas,"
says
"It
formersquatter
partof
andactivistFrankMorales. became
an operative
understanding,
t h e a n a l ysiosf area sL i kethe SouthBr onxandLowerEastSide."
A r adi caI
E p i scoppariI e stw hohadheLped
a gr oupsuccessfulty
hom estead
a coup [e
of bui l " di n g si n th e S ou thB ro n x,Mo r ales
ar r jved
on the LowerEastSidein 1985wjtha stac kof
federaL
housing
documents
reLating
to the Kerner
Commission
Reporton the riotsthat
r i p p e dthrou g hA me ri cai 's
nn ercjtiesdur ingthe late1960s.
gener aLLy
W hil"e
thoug htof asa
ratherbenevolent
attemptto remedy
the country's
deepening
racialdivide(thereport
"m
oving
f a m o u slwya rne th
d e U .S w
. as
towar dtwo societies,
oneb[ack,onewhjte- s epar a t ean du n e q u a l "the
), K erner
Repor t'author
s
s m adesom econtr over sial
also
r eco m m endajn
tjonsfor restoring
order urbanareas.
povertyandthe growinghosIn orderto aLlevjate
jn
"slums,"
tility towardmajnstream
societyby minorities
living theseovercrowded
the
l,oueinq/Squale
Sarah Ferquoon
"substantial
'eportrecommended
policies
Negromovement
out of the ghettos,"
to encourage
a n di n t ot h e w h i te-do mi n a sub
te d u rbs.2
34#
( HUD)and
andUr banDevelopm ent
S u b s e q u edo
ntcu menfrom
ts the D e p a r tm ent
of Housing
Kerner
referred
to a policyof "spatialdeconcentraCommission
consultant
AnthonyDowns
y co n ce n tratithe
fundsand
J o n "- e s s e nti a tlde
ngpoorfr omthe innercitiesby withholding
Whether
or
development.
services
to theseareasin orderto makewayfor moremjddle-ctass
'ot "SpatialD" jtselfwaseverinstjtutedas publicpolicyremains
unclear;
the documentathis
:on seemed
vagueat best.ButwhenYoLanda
Ward,the activistwho'dsoughtto expose
the sense
wasshotto deathon a Washjngton,
DCstreetin 1985,it reconfirmed
conspiracy,
in a waron the poor .3
a n o n gu r b a nra d i ca[s
th a t th e go ve rnm ent
wasactivety
engaged
PubLished
graphiczineWorldWar3 lllustrated
in 1.9864,
this theoryof spatiaI
in the radicaL
squatter
activists.
ceconcentration
wascentralto the perspective
of the moremiLitant
to
cut ser vices
I o m i n go u t of th e fi scacri
l si s,w he nthe Beamand
e Kochadm inistr ations
of tenebLocks
s the L o w erE astSideandthe SouthBr onxandwhoLe
to o r n e i g h bo rho ol idke
:'entswereburnedto the groundin arsonfires,it waseasyto seewhy.Lessconspiratorial
of
mightbe temptedto castthe city'sactionsduringthat periodas moreindicative
-inds
money
nothing
to
be
racistbureaucracy
wjth no
and
:epraved
negtect
by an institutionalty
qainedfromhelpingthe poor.(DanieL
hadfamousLy
advocated
a po[icyof
Patrjck
Moynihan
' : e n i g nn e g te ct"A;beB ea me's
"pLanned
ho u si ng
Star rcam eup withthe ter m
czarRoger
plotto cLear
the
MoraLes,
But
for
community
agitators
[ike
this wasa concerted
srrinkage.")
the potice,the military,andthe Federal
urbandissentinvolving
roor andneutraLize
(FEMA)s
andrealestate
Management
Agency
actingin concertwith city ptanners
Emergency
and
di[apidated
oe v e l o p eAn
r s. dthe su b se q u e n
speculation
on the abandoned
o t,
b scene
n o u s i nsgt o cko f th e E astV i Ll agi e
fottowed
by the city' spar am i Li n th e 1980sandear ty' 90s,
wouldserveas proofof the conspiracy:
raryevictions
of squatters
andhome[ess,
jn thisspatiaI
' W es a wt h e ta ki ngo f bu i Ld i ngas p a r tof a counter attack
war ,soto speak ,"
"From
XoraLes
stratexplains.
territoryas a defensive
thenon, the notjonof space-seizing
e g ya g a i n st thj so n sl au g h
tot re move
a ndpushIpoorpeopLe]
out of the ar ea- becam ethe
was
com m unjties
of r esistance
c e r t e ro f w h a tw e w ereta l ki n gab o u t.Thejdeaof buiLding
practica[.
We
were
ideology,
not abstract
but ultimately
I'eciselythat. It washands-on
resisting
this effortto remove
usfromtheseareas."
--e strategy,
"wasbothaffirmative-taking
to
Morales
buitdings
or makinggardens
exptains,
:-eatefreespace,
to extendthe spacewheretherewasno speculation;
anddefensivethe reaLestateprescefending
the squats
that hadatready
beentaken,andtherebysLowing
in the area."
s*resaroundyou,whichin turn hetpedpreserve
the low renthousing
I-e notionof freespaceaLsoharkened
a
backto the Diggers
of the 1960s(themselves
:rrowback
to the 17thcenturysquatter
movement
in England)
andProudhon's
old anarchist
ixiage,"propertyis theft." It wasalsoa reactjonto the stultificationof the traditionalLeft
In contrast
to marching
rnd the evisceration
of the workpLace
as a fieLdfor sociaIstruggte.
in the streets,
gains:To
squatting
wasdirectactionthat couLd
boastof morethansymboLic
trxe a buitdinqandmakea homein oneof the richestcitiesin the wortd.Tomakethat
Ke e i e l a n ce
A K ad i c a lT o l i L i c aaln d S o c ia llio to r y o f th e L o we rEa e I Sid e
I
/1
/t
t "*":r
buiidinga stagefor politicaldissentandan anti-consumption
yournose
lifestyle,
thumbing
at the systemandthe markettheocrats
whoservedMammon.
Ftyers
circulating
in the neighborhood
spokeof "TotaIWarfor LivingSpace."
Andindeed,
the battleoverthe squatsandTompkins
Square
tookon mythicovertones,
with activjsts
castingthe fightto "freethe [and"as a guerrilta
struggle
againstthe rightwing
ideological
assault
of the Reagan
admjnistration,
peasor in sotidarity
with the uprisings
of landtess
antsin LatinAmerica.
Thatstancegavethis otherwise
[oca[struggle
its radjcalcachet,
punksandactjvists
attracting
fromacross
the U.S.andEurope,
atongwith the usuaIparasitic elements
of the sectarjan
Leftseekingto capitatize
off the latestsocialunrest.
0f course,
manyminorities
andlong-term
LowerEastSiders
sawthe squatters
andTompkins
Square
agitators
lessasdefenders
of the neighborhood
andmoreasinterlopers
on their
turf. (TheLEShasneverbeenkindto newcomers,
andit hadseena[[ manner
of idealism
before.)
THE MYTHOSOF TOM?KINggQUARE
Thisconception
of the LowerEastSideasa kjndof finalfrontierfor urbanstruggle
drew
fromthe area's
radicalhistory-a cultureof dissentthat datesbackto the neighborhood's
formation
asan immigrant
entrypointandworkingclassstum,hometo sociatists,
anarchists,feminists
andnumerous
competing
ethnicgroupsvyingfor space.
Tompkins
Square
ptayeda keyrolejn the creation
of that ethos.Whenit wasconstructed
in 1834,city officialsexpected
the parkto attractwealthyfamilies
to the area,[ikethosealready
occupying
eleganttownhouses
to the westof Second
Avenue.
Butthe expansion
of the wealthydistrict washaltedby the economic
depression
of 1837.Instead,
the neighborhood
surrounding the parkwassoonfiLLed
with German
andIrishimmigrants
drawnto workin the [oca[
shipyards,
knownasthe DryDock,alongthe EastRiver.6
Livingconditions
in the overcrowded
tenements
wereabysmal
andgrewworseduringthe
economic
crunchof 1.857,
whenmanywerethrownout of work.Forthe first of manytimes,
Tompkins
Square
wastransformed
into a fietdof protest,as unemployed
DryDockworkers
jobs
demonstrated
provide
to demand
pubtic
that the city
projects
in
suchasthe construction of CentraI
Park,then underway.
Parkbenches
weretorn apartfor bonfires.
A NewYork
"THE
Times
headtine
read:
UNEMPL0YED:
GreatGatherings
in Tompkins
Square
andthe Park.
U.S.Troops
Guard
the Custom
House."
CityHattresponded
to thesedjsturbances
by havingthe parkcomptetely
renovated
in 1859.
Butthis effortto imposea newstandard
of decorum
wasshort-tived.
Large-scale
rioting
eruptedin Tompkins
Square
andacross
the city jn 1863to protestthe CjvitWardraft
(beyond
not wantingto fightfor "negroes,"
manypoorwhiteswerepissed
that the rjch
cou[dget out of the draftby paying$lOO;.2
Threeyearstater,the Statelegislature
hadthe
wholeparkrazedandtransformed
into a drittgroundfor the NewYorkStatemititia.The
heavymilitarypresence
in the areadid little to coolneighborhood
- fromfemiagitators
nistsadvocating
women's
suffrage
to anarchists
andsociatists
urgingworkingctassrevolution, or organizing
rentstrikesandboycotts
for cheaper
food.
loueinq/Aopa- ..
Sarah Feraueon
Tensjons
,,panic,,
exptoded
in JanuaryLg74,in the wakeof the financial
of 1g73,when
policebrutal'l'y
shutdowna ].0,000-strong
rattyof workers
"1'*.'
andunempLoyed
in Tompkins
Square,
clubbing
jn
bothdemonstrators
andbystinders a meleethat laborleadersamuel
Gompers
described
as"an orgyof bruta[ity.,'8
Accounts
of the eventeerilypresage
the
Tompkins
squareriot of 1988.withoutwarning,policeon horseback
surrounded
the square
andsuddenty
,,Women
charged
into the crowdfroma[[iideswith theirnightsticks
swinging.
andchi[dren
wentscreaming
in at[directions.
Manyof themweretrampLed
underfoot
in the
stampede
for the gates.In the streets,
bystanders
wereriddendownandmercilessly
ctubb'ed
by mounted
officers."9
Newspaper
reportsdemonized
the demonstrators
as,,riotous
communists"raisingthe specter
of the "redf[ag"overManhattan.
Butthjs brutal.
attackon the
workingctassatsoserved
to radicalize
andatienate
the locaIpopu[ace
fromthe city at large,
settingoff a dynamic
of militantLowerEastSiders
resisting
CityHattthat woul.d
repeatfor
generations
to come.
Sixmonthsafterthe 1'874riot,some3,000peoplegathered
in Tompkins
Square
andresolved
that the parkshouLd
atways
remain"opento the peoplefor thejrfreeassemb[y."
LocaIresidentscampaigned
for the removaI
of the mititary,
,nd in 1.87g,
the whoteparkwasfinatty
reinstated
for pubticuse.1o
It's worthreviewing
this eartyhistorybecause
it hetpsaccount
for the degree
of politicaL
andeconomic
exceptionalism
that evolved
on the LowerEastSide-the w1ythe neighborhoodseemed
to functionfor so manydecades
as an islanduntoitself.Desp"ite
the area,s
retativetyeasyproximityto the downtown
financialdistrict,effortsby Newyork,sru[ingc[ass
to transform
the neighborhood
into a Watl,
Streetbedroom
wererepeatedly
confounaed
by a
combination
of community
resistance
andeconomic
downturns.
In L929,the Rockefettersponsored
Regional
P[anAssociation
cameup with an ambjtious
scheme
to razeLarge
blocks
of tenements
to erecta secondAvenue
"high-class"
speedway,
high-rises,
modern
shops,
evena yachtbasinon the EastRiver.
Theplanmetheavyneighborhood
oppositjon
fromtenant andlaborgroups,
but waslargelysunkby the arrjvaiofthe GreatDepression.
SimiLarty,
a
L956urbanrenewal
ptanby RobertMoses
that wouldhavemoweddownwholebl.ocks
of
tenements
between
EastNinthStreetandDelancey
Streetwasdefeated
by a decade
of
intensepoLitical
organizing
by the Cooper
Square
tommittee,combined
with the ongoing
exodus
of the middtectasses
to the suburbs,
whichdrewgovernment
andinvestment
capita[
out of the innercities.11
Instead,otherwavesof immigrants
-Puerto Ricans
andDominjcans,
.n& Afri.unAmericans
fleeingpovertyin the South-flooded the LowerEastSide,retrenching perception
the
of
the areaas an "ethnicstum."AssociaIgeographer
NeiLsmithwrites,"in the postwar
period,
disjnvestment
andabandonment,
demotition
andpubticwarehousing,
werethe majortactics
of a virutentantiurbanism
that converted
the LowerEastSideinto iomethingof a free-fire
zone."72
Cheap
rentsdrewbeatniks
andartistsfromthe Greenwjch
Vittage
in the ,50s,thenthe hippiesof the '60s,atongwith atl manner
of radicalfactions
fromthe Diggers
to the young
Lords,BtackPanthers,
free-loving
communalists,
Kerista
sexcultists,Jervishing
Hare
Krishnas,
andUpAgainstthe WattMotherfuckers.
Theradicalized,
otrbeat;.r;; of the nejqh-
Keeist,ance
A Rad i c a T
l o l i t i c aal n d S o cia lAie to r yo f tr h eL o we rEa sf,Sid e
tlita
b o r hoo dco
, mbi newdi thth e d eepening
by the inftuxof her oi n,
squator
andcr im ewr ought
gave
EastSideits r e putati on
speed
a n dcra ckco ca i ne
i n th e' 60s,' 70s,
the
Lower
and' 80s,
as an "out[aw"zone.
gaLteries
Withthe arrivalof artistsin the early'80ssprouting
renegade
andperformance
spaces
in the area's
that outlawflavorbecame
chic.Manyof
bottomed-out
storefronts,
thesenewartistswerewhiteandmiddteclass,stakingout a newfrontieragainstthe soutlessconsumerism
adminisof the suburbs
andfrightening
CotdWarposturing
of the Reagan
tration.Theyreveled
in the clashof theirfreewheeling,
downscale
bohemia
thrivingin the
shadow
of the corporate
titansthat ruledmidtownandWa[[Street.Buttheirmediagenic
spectacte
madethempilotfishfor gentrification,
andCityHaL[rushed
as bothspeculators
to capitatize
on the notionof the "EastVi[|.age"
asthe newhipsterSoHo.13
In 1.98L,
for examp[e,
MayorEdKochproposed
to devetopauctioning
off vacantbuildings
groupsand
ersto createartistco-ops.Butthe ptanwasfiercety
opposed
by locathousing
manyartiststhemsetves
financed
whenit waslearned
that the co-ops,pub|.icty
as Lowand
moderate-income
housing,
wouldse[[for $50,000
andcouldbe fLipped
at marketratesafter
(JPC)
-a coalition
ontythreeyears.Members
of the LowerEastSideJointP|"anning
Counci|"
groups,
of morethan30 housing
manyof themclosety
atignedwith the
andcommunity
"This
proclaiming:
Cooper
Square
Committee
tenements
-tacked up signson the abandoned
LandIs Ours.Property
of the People
of the LowerEastSide:Specutators
Keep0ut!" (0neof
thesesignssti[[proudl.y
adorns"CSquat"at 155Avenue
C),andthe planwasvoteddown
by the Boardof Estimate
in 1983.1a
HOMEgTEADERg
TAKEOVER
pioneers
Manyof the members
of the JPCwerethemsetves
in the first waveof homesteading
on the LowerEastSidethat beganin the mid1970s.Whitetherehadbeensporadiceffortsat squattingin previous
(bookstikeEdSanders'
decades
Tales
of BeatnikGlory
pads),
andWiltiamKotzwinkte's
TheFanManarerjfe with scenes
of hippiecrash
the notjon
of peopleusing"sweatequity"to futtyrenovate
for low-income
housing
buildings
took root
'inthe '70s,led by neighborhood
resjdents
andtenantsof in-rembuil.dings
whorefused
to
leaveduringthe ons[aught
of firesandabandonment
fiscaL
that sweptthe areaduringthe
crisis,atongwith someinspired
socialactivists
drawnto the urbanbattlezone.At the time
their effortswerequitecelebrated.
In 1.976,CBS
Evening
Newswith WalterCronkite
featured
a reporton the LLthStreetMovement,
a g{oupof homesteaders
whotookoverseveral
abandoned
buitdings
on EastL1thStreet,presenting
the groupas pioneers
in the fight
againsturbandespair.
Thegroupwasfounded
by locaIresidents
andactivists
suchas Michael
Friedberg,
a maverjck fromSouthAfrica,whoteamedup with InterfaithAdopt-a-Building,
a newtyformed,
citywidesweatequitygroup.Bytoday'sstandards,
their projectto createa kindof self-sufficientcommune
in the EastVittage
seems
witdlyidealistic.
At 519East]"1th,the homesteaders
installed
an Africanfish farmin the basement,
alongwith sotarpanets
anda windmi[[on the roof,andat onepointevensucceeded
in forcingConEdison
to buythe excess
tloueinglSquale
Sarah Ferguoon
eLectricity
it generated.
(Ihe scheme
admittedty
didn't|.astLong;
the wjndmi|.L
is sti[[there
but neverfunctjoned
alLthat weLL
andhasbeendormant
for years.)Theyalsotransformed
a
1
d_ry
*
*c
seriesof drug-infested
lotson EastL2thStreetinto a community
gardencaLted
EtSoL
BriLLante-one
of the fewsuchgreenspaces
in NewYorkCitythat is cooperatively
ownedby
[ocaL
residents.l5
Impressed
by the success
of the 11thStreetMovement
andsimilarprojects
in the South
B r o n xa n dEastH arl e m,
P re sj deJi
n tmm yCar ter
author ized
a NationaL
Ur banHom estead'i ng
Demonstration
Program
in 1"977,
whichfunneted
federalmonies
into homesteading
projects,
g e n e r a [t[hyr o u g he sta b l i sh e
d mmunity
co
or ganizations
suchasAdopt- A- BuiLding
andUHA B
( t h eU r b a nHo meste a d A
i ng
ssi stan Boar
ce d) .0ther
s
eschewed
the r edtapeandbur eaucr ac y
of theseschemes
in favorof a more"setf-help"-minded
approach,
suchasA BetterWay,a
groupof [ocaIactivists
andtenantswhotookoverfourtenements
on EastSixthStreet.In
fact,it wasin partto quella rashof unauthorized
buitdingoccupations
across
the city by
bothtenantsandactivistgroupsLikeACORN
Banana
(in
and
Kel.ty the Bronx)that the city
l a u n c h ei tds ow nho meste a d iprog
ng r am
,
in 1980.Thepr ogr amwhich
wasfair [yjnfor m aL
in
its earlyyears,grantedgroupstitle andfinancial
assistance
to renovate
buitdings
that the
city otherwise
mighthavetorn down.
In the earlydays,onehomesteader
remembers,
a groupcouldforma tenantassociation
to
"Wewou[djust go into these
rehaba buiLding
andactualty
getthe city to delivermaterja[s.
buitdings
andstartguttingthemout to kjndof stakeour claim,thenbackthat up by putting in an application
for the city Ihomesteading]
program
or to getfundingfromthe
government
federa[
or state,"saysHoward
Brandstein,
executjve
directorof the SixthStreet
C o m m u n iCe
ty n te w
r, h oh e L p ehdo mestead
num er ous
buiLdings
on the LowerEastSide
t h r o u g hAd opt-a-B ui Ldan
i ng
dR A IN(Rehabititation
in Actionfor Im pr ovem ent
of
Neighborhoods),
a Local
groupfundedby the LowerEastSideCatholjc
sweat-equity
Area
"We'dtetl the city we wereapplying
(LESCAC).
Conference
for funding,andthe city would
giveus provisionaI
st'tecontroL.
Thecityjust didn'tcare.Theneighborhood
wasn'tworth
a n y t h i nb
g ackth e n ,"B ran d stesa
i n ys.
At onepoint,homesteaders
couldquatifyfor $45,000perunit or morein city andstateand
federalfundingto renovate
buitdings.16
Brandstein
estjmates
morethan30 buiLdings
were
homesteaded
on the LowerEastSideby various
groups.
Manyof thosehomesteaders
wenton
to become
members
of the Local
community
board,suchas Margarita
Lopez,
whowassubsequentlyelectedto represent
the neighborhood
on the CityCouncil;
othersbecame
successful
a r t i s t s u c hasco mpo seBrsutchMo rrjs
andJem eeI
M oondoc,
andactorLujsGuzm an.
But manyotherswereLeftout in the coLd.Reagan
dumped
prothe federalhomesteading
gramalongwith aLl"
"greenrenewal"
of Carter's
effortsassoonas hetookoffice,andthe
city'shousing
department
became
increasingLy
restrjctive
aboutapproving
buitdings,
eventua[[ycanceling
its program
in L986as reaLestatevaluesacross
the city surged.
Cityofficialsnowinsistthat homesteading
wasnever"practicaL"
enoughto be considered
a
v i a b l em e a ns
o f cre a ti ng
l o w -i nco me
housing.
Fora[[thosebuildings
that succeeded,
m any
othersdissoLved
in internaIdisputes
or as peopledriftedoff. In fact,manyof the truLy
K e s i e l a nce
A K adi c a l? o l i t i c aal n d S o cia llio to r y o f r ' h eL o we rEa sNSid e
'i" *
'+
housing
of the city andits sanctioned
fed up with the refusaL
became
needyhomesteaders
untiLtheywerefulLyrenovated.
groupsto allowpeopleto Ljvein the buildings
to create
as a means
with homesteadjng
disiLLusioned
alsobecame
Localhousing
advocates
intensif i ed.
pr essur in
esthe neighbor hood
as m ar ket
h o u si ng -esp e ciaLl"y
[ o w-i n co me
"HomesteadinE
of setfstructure
moreof an anarchist
wasinherentty
reflects:
Brandstein
in
hoLd
tog
ether
it
didn'
t
m
odel,
but
ver
y
elabor
ate
g o v e rnmen
t
It
was
a
i n e a chbu i l d i ng.
termsof the forcesthat weretearingpeopleaparton the LowerEastSide.Therewasno
this cooper ati sv tr
e uc to keepbuiLding
L ce p ti on
i n the neighbor hood
con
L o ng earp o L i ti ca
s tr y i ngto
|' ikeownerand
the situation- behaving
e ou l dstarte xploiting
t u r e. . . P eo p lw
wereendingup in conftict.Atso,there
A Lotof buiLdings
get out of the resaLe
restrictions.
Andthe
a criticaImassof peopLe.
we weren'tdrawing
weren'tenoughpeoptewjth skil"Ls;
so theydidn'tfa|.[into this kindof capitalneeded
supportstructures
buildings
themseLves
w oul d
the tenem e nts
e a landtr ust,"wher eby
i s t t hi nki ngS. ow e cameup witha schemfor
[and
t
r
us
t.
a
com
m
unity
be
held
by
wou[d
but
the
Land
co-ops,
b e ow ne das l ow -i nco me
al one
wasthat hom esteading
andotherJPCites,
i n the e ye sof B r andstejn
T h epro b [e m,
to s ubs um e
wasthr eatening
that by the m id- 80s
c o u[dno t ch e ckth e w a veo f gentr ification
hous i ng
adv oties
on the LowerEastSide.Neighbor hood
u n d e ve L o pper oper
d
t h e re mai ni ng
numbers
of
plans
off
[arge
to
auctjon
Koch's
to fightingoff
catesturnedtheirattentjons
50- 50cr osss ubs i dy
d e vetoperThat
s. fightLedto the infam ous
e m p tybu i l d i ngto
s pri va te
for
to be renovated
in-rembuitdings
pLan,
the remajning
to aLlow
the city agreed
whereby
off vacantlotsfor
for the abiLity
to seLL
in exchange
housing
lowandmoderate-income
17
market-rate
development.
in 1.987,
appr oved
Boar d3 andfinaLLy
N e go ti atebdy me mbe rs
o f theJPCandCom m unity
overthe city'sreal-estatep[anwasconsidered
a triumphof localism
the cross-subsidy
at
novelconcept
werea relatively
(Housing
cross-subsidies
friendLy
housing
bureaucracy.
the
buiLdings
get
money
renovate
the
to
probLem,
where
to
was
The
of
course,
the time).
the stock
andfoLlowing
peopLe?
for [ow-income
Thefedsweren'tgivingmuchof anything,
marketcrashof 1,987
, the cjtv wasn'teither.
gQUATTERgMOVEIN
on the
takingoverbuiLdings
wasa[ready
of activists
In the meantime,
a newgeneration
thanthe com m uni ty
notionof hom esteading
L o werE astS i dea, n dpu sh i ng
a m or er adjcaI
of whoth e s quatg r o u pth
s a t ca meb e fo re
the m .Ther ehavebeenso m anym isconceptions
identityhasalwaysbeenhardto define.Somewere
terswere,andin facttheircollectjve
but foundthat the city hadcanandtitte to buitdings,
Locals
whosoughtoffjciaL
sanction
occupying
program
-or wererefused
entry,suchasthe residents
celledits homesteading
D,
which
were
taken
over
C
and
Avenues
Streetbetween
threetenements
on EastSeventh
who
wereradicaLs
in the earty1.970s.Others
by a mixtureof originaItenantsandsquatters
"the
or to sustaintheirdownfromnecessity,
Manysquatted
wantedno partof
system."
to createtheirown
theywantedthe freedom
because
wardlymobiLe
art careers.Others
with theirown
market.0r to demonstrate
homes
andliveoutsidethe "rents[ave"housinq
loueinglS quaLe
Sarah Ferqueon
handsthe criminatity
of a housing
bureaucracy
that couldleaveso manywithouthomes.
Therewasneveranysing[ereason
if you pressed.
Theiroutsider
statuswasrejnforced
by the state'srefusal
to recognize
sweatequityasa
means
of creatinghousing
anyLonger.
ThatrefusaL
helpeddefinea moreradjcaL
anddesperatepopuLation.
Anyone
wi[[ingto livewith perpetuaI
threatof evictionhadto be something
of a rebel-whetheryou calledyourself
or a squatter.
a homesteader
phitosophies:
Stjt[,withinthe squatting
scenethereweretwo somewhat
overlapping
those
whoconsidered
themselves
homesteaders
usingself-help
to createhomes,
with the ultimate
aimof forcingthe city to givethemtit[e to the property;
in defiandthosewhosquatted
"free"
(or
anceof property
[aws.believing
housing
shouldbe
at leastfreeto thosevrho
worked
it.)
to reclaim
DavidBoyteepitomized
recruitandNew
A formerPoLice
Academy
the formerphil,osophy.
Sc h o oul n i versi ty
stud e n t,
B oyl eh e tped
foundthe 13thStr eetHom esteading
Coalition,
w h ' i ctho o kove rsi xbu i tdi ngosn L3 thbetween
Avenues
A andB in the m id- 1980s.
Boyle
sayshe got the ideato squatthe buil.dings
fromSarahFarley,
a formerciviLrightsorganizer
f r o mt h e So u thw hoha dsq u a ttead b uilding
on EastSixthStr eetin the' 70s( it laterbur ned
downa
) n dra na grou pca[[e d
(Local
LAND
Actionfor Neighbor hood
Devetopm ent)
out of th e
thrift shopon the groundfloor.
jn the [empty][ots,whichI did at SixthStreet,"
"Sarah
told meto workon buildinggardens
n o t e sBo y l ew, hoh e l ,pefou
d n dth e S i xthStr eetandAvenue
B Com m unjty
Gar den.' And
the n
shesajdto starttakingoverbuildings."
Potitti,an Italianartist
Boytesayshe andRoLando
whoimmigrated
mixof
to the LowerEastSidein 1.980,
initiattytriedto join the fractious
homesteaders
on EastSeventh
Streetbetween
C andD but wereput off by the infighting.la
Theythenopeneda buitdingon EastThirdStreet,whichgot takenoverby Mickey
Cesar,
the
"Popeof Dope"pot deater.
infamous
Theyatsomadea stabat clearing
out a nascent
squat
on EastFjfthStreet,whjchBoylesayswasalready
occupied
by severaI
homeLess
drunksand
junk.te
a coupLe
of streetpeddLers
whoobjected
to theireffortsto remove
their
ThenFarley
directedBoyle,Polittj,anda youngactivjstnamedMarjssa
DeDominici
to the
swathof unoccuoied
tenements
on East13thStreet.
"Wewere[ikegung-ho
Marxists
in
Sandinjsta
at that point,"saysBoyte."Wewereinterested
doingsometh'ing
new.Ourinspiration
wasthe Mondragon
cooperatives
led by the BasqtJe
separatists
in Spain[duringthe 1950s].Rather
than pursuing
somekindof militaryprogram,
the Mondragons
betieve
the bestwayto obtajnindependence
wasto controL
the [andand
industry.
Sowe thoughtwe weregoingto be settingup somesortof cooperative
economy
on the LowerEastSide.Andthe first stepwasgivingvalueto people's
labor,so the sweat
equitythingreallydovetaited
into that. Weactua[yprintedup ourownmoneywith some
laborguy'sfaceon it that we usedas receipts.
If youcoutdn'tpayyourrentmoneyto the
b u i l d i n gw, hi chw asth e n[i ke$ 7 5or $100a m onth,youcoutdpayit with Labor
notes."
According
to Boy[e,
functioned
fairlyefficientty
for abouta year,with roughLy
this system
60
m e m b e r"W
s. i theve ryonpa
e yi ng$7 5to $100,we hada coupte
thousand
a m onthto spend
14#
K e e i e t a n ce
A K ad i c a lT o l i L i c aaln d S o c ia llio Io r y o f t' h e L o we rEa st Sid e
rqn
to do somebig
whichmeantwe wereabteto payoutsidecontractors
on the buildings,
going.We
tinefromthe street.Wehada realcommonweal
Likerunan electrical
$8,000-job,
Butwe
homesteaders.
Legal
weremovingtowardbeinga partof RAIN,towardbecoming
whiLewe
in
the
buitdings
were
living
we
RAIN
because
modelthan
hada moreadventurous
renovated
them."
with
wasa majorstickingpointin negotiations
whi[eyou renovated
Livingin the buiLdings
theyworked
got awaywith inhabiting
the spaces
the city.Whitemanyearlyhomesteaders
jn
the housing
bureaucrats
and
eyes
of
city
that wasn'tan option the
on, by the early'80s,
program.
peopleinto its tegalhomesteading
groupsthat funneted
because
"Thecity rea[Ly
againstyouwhenyou movedpeopleinto a buiLding,
wentnuctear
that meantyouweretakingit over,"saysBoyle."Thecity didn'twantpeopleto Uvethere.
Whenhomewith squatters.
andthe city wou[dn'tdeaL
Thatmeantyouweresquatting,
on a bui l di ng,
wentin andstar tedwor king
grou p L
s i keR A INa n dAdopt- a- Building
s t e ad i ng
Buttheydidn'tgo so far asto say,we havethis buiLdtheydid it withoutcity permission.
our positionwas,we haveit."
invested
energyin it. Whereas
we've
ing. It wasmore[ike,
"Groups
the two camps.
between
Nevertheless,
Boylesaysinitiatlytherewassomecrossover
morethantheywere
werereatlybuildinga constituency
LikeRAINandAdopt-a-Building
"Thepeop[e
whocam eto wor kday s
in thejrgr oups
B o yl em aintains.
t a k ingove rb u i l d j ng s,"
people
into
it. Weshowed
up
'+
moved
who
the
buiLding
weren'tnecessari[y
d L cl
- ^-'+i^"r'r
PcllLlLuLcl
andtheyhetpedus a bit, too." (In fact,Boyle
buitdings,
andworkedon someof RAIN's
jnitjate
tenements
declaring
to put up signson abandoned
the JPCscheme
sayshe heLped
"ForSate"
"Property
response
to
aL|"
the
in
djrect
Lower
East
Side"
of the
them
of the People
the signsfromthe tin the city hadused
signsthat the city wastackingup.Theyfashioned
andspraypaintedthemat oneof the 13thStreetsquats.
to boardup the vacantbuildings,
Boyleand
with squatters,
In orderto get aroundthe factthat the city wouldnot negotiate
group,
formedtheirownnot-for-profit
someof the other1"3thStreethomesteaders
(0RE)."Theideawasto havean entitythat the city could
Enterprises
Outstanding
Renewal
Asa legalnot-for-profit,
theywoutdn't
dealwjth us,"Boyleexptains.
dealwith, because
join
grantsto startthe
group
got
The
Counci[.
0REwasatlowed
to
the JojntPLanning
program
of the
with othermembers
LowerEastSide's
first recycling
andwasinstrumentat
0REandthe 13th
CreditUnion.Al.though
foundthe LowerEastSidePeople's
JPCin hel,ping
boardfor a coup[eof
fromthe [ocaIcommunity
Streethomesteaders
initiatlywonapprovaI
homestead
unraveted
a Legal
Boylesaysthe group's
drjveto become
thejrbuil"dings,
because
of internaldisputes.
"Wegot a coupleof badapplesin therewhotookapartthe program
by goingfor rent
"We
part
a
of RAIN,and
strikesagainstus,"Boylesays. weremovingtowardbecoming
somepeopledidn'twantto go that way.I thinktheyfiguredthat oncewe werepartof
RAIN,theycouldn'tget awaywith not payingrent,so it waseasierto takeus out. Sothey
takeus
andthen RAINwoutdn't
initiatedthis campaign
of rumor-mongering
andscandal,
in."
loueinglSquaLe
Sarah Ferauoon
Bythat time,the 13thStreetbuitdings
hadattracted
whofett housing
othersquatters
effortsto imposerules "] q{-l
shouLd
be free.Theyclashed
with Boyteandthe other0REmembers'
r'qr*
"I wasprettyStalinistat the time,"Boyteconcedes.
"I felt that if we were
andstructure.
tryingto produce
somekindof
somekindof sma[[utopianthing,you hadto work,produce
money,
Buttheseotherpeopledidn'twantanypartof 'the
andcontribute
to the coltective.
s y s t e m , ' a nadt th a t p o i nt,w ew erea system
Sotheyspenta[[theirener [in the buiLdings].
gy resisting
he
us," says.
Others
involvedat the timewouldno doubtobjectvociferously
to Boyle's
versjonof events.
js
personatWhat's
intensity
atways
been
fascjnating
about
the
squats
the
of
competing
[20]
itjes,ideaLs
andobjectives
withinthem.Forat[its conflicts,
the 13thStreetscenebecame
a
projects,
seedpod
for othersquatting
in the
effortsandart
suchasthe ShuttleTheatre
jazz
groundfloorof 537East13thStreet,whichbecame
plays,
a venuefor LivingTheatre
improvs
andperformances
by Local
andtraveling
artists[ikeBabaOl,atunji.
O C C U T IE D
T E R R IT O R IE 9
Another
corridor
of squatsevolved
on EastEighthStreetbetween
Avenues
B andC when
M i c h a eShe
l n keat mu si ci aan
(
who
n dsetf- taught
etectr ician hadatsobeeninspir ed
by Sar ah
Farley),
openedup an emptytenement
at 31.9EastEighthStreetin the springof 1984with
hisgirlfriend
Natasha
andsomeotherpeoplefromthe neighborhood
whowereseeking
c h e a ph o u si ng0n
. eof the m,a Jamaicanr Am erwom
ican annam ed
TyaScott,splitfr om31 9
andopenedup herownbuitdingacross
the streetat 316EastEighthStreetw'ithhersons
andtheirextended
(Tyakeptherdistance
famities.
fromlle re<tnf tho <nrrattipg
sceneand
conceived
of herselfmoreas a property
owner.)
Laterthat fa[|.,someactivists
traveling
with the RockAgainstReagan
fromthe
tour returned
Repub|.ican
Convention
in Da[[as
andbrokeinto the backof 327-29EastEighthStreet.
According
to YippieJerry"the PeddLer"
Wade,
the buiLding
wasmoreof a crashpaduntiI
"English"
SteveHarrington
andCathyThompson
arrjved,
freshfromthe squatting
scenein
jdeats
Europe
andlookingto put in practice
the revoLutionary andsquatting
they'd
ski|.[s
Learned
there.Wadesayshe hel.ped
sledgehammer
openthe frontdoorwith Harrington
and
CathyThompson
in December
1,984.
Theyweresoonjoinedby FrankMora[es,
whohad
returned
to the LowerEastSidein 1985seeking
to applythe modelof homesteading
he'd
l e a r n eidn the B ron x.
Theintersectjon
of radicaljdeaLism
at327-29provedto be a fertj[emjx."Wedidn'treatly
b e c o moer gan i zed
as'squ a tte rs'u ntil
we opened
up 327- 29,"
saysW ade,
whohadear tier
takenoveranotherabandoned
buitdingat 643East11thStreet."WewerestiLL
arguingabout
the useof the wordsquatting,
andwhetherwe shou|"d
be squatters
or homesteaders.
Most
peoplewantedto ca|.L
you
it homesteading.
Theykeptsaying'squatting
is something do
whenyoutakea shit.'But we weren'thomesteaders.
Wedidn'tquatifyfor anyof the Ihomeprograms,
steading]
andmostof thoseprograms
wouldn'twantus anyway,
evenif we did
Then
Engtish
Steve
and
Cathy
came
and
started
using
the
term
squatting
left and
lLaughsl.
right,andwe kindof wentwith it fromthere."
Keeielance
A KadicalTolif,ical
and SocialHietrorv
of trheLowerEast Side
Recatls
Harrington:
I t"i.J
"T"
LJ
F\:
Wewerethe anarchjst
squatters,
so we hadno intentionof goinglegat.
Becoming
legaIwou|.d
havebeentoo muchdeating
with the system.
We'dbeen
squatting
in Europe,
whereyoujust didn'tconsider
that, wherebecoming
[ega[
wasup therewith informing
on yourneighbor.
It wastoo much.That'showwe
th o u g hof
t i t b a ckth e n .
According
to Morates,327
became
a pit stopfor activists
andfolkstraveting
the undergroundcircuit- jncluding
folksinger
Michette
Shocked,
whosquatted
therefor a summer
andheldhootenannjes
in the ground-floor
community
room."327 wasa mothership
on the
"Peopte
b[ock,"he reca[[s.
froma[[overthe worldwerecomingthere-from Brixton,Latin
Amerjca,
differentpartsof the US,Italy,Lotsof fi[m crews.Wherever
peopleweresquatting,
theywouldhearaboutsquatting
in NewYorkandtheyjust showed
up there.Between
1985
and'87,we hadaLlkindsof thingsgoingon there.It wasreatlygreat. . . Soonafterthat,
two or threeotherbuiLdings
wereopenedup on the block.So EighthStreetbecame
the injpoint,andlittteby Littte,we movedout to [othersquats]in the neighbortiatjumping-0ff
h o o d ."
AdmittedLy,
the othersquats
that openedon EighthStreetremained
rathermarginal.
Across
the streetat 336-38EastEighthStreet,Momma
Lee,a spiritedmiddle-aged
woman,
presided
overa kindof collective
crashpadfor punkrockers,
transients,
druggies
and
numerous
dogsinsidea cavernous
double-barreled
tenement
that neverseemed
to get
workedon much.Dwight,a formershelterresident,
ledthe squatnextdoorandrana[[nightpunkfestsin an abandoned
garage
downthe btockdubbed
the Peop[e's
Warehouse.
318wasoccupied
by severaI
formerstreetdwellers
a[ongwith RaLphie
andhis hardcore
punkcrew,Squatter
Rot.
Butthe EighthStreetscenewassignificant
because
it marked
the emergence
of a moremjLitant,youthfulandopentycontentious
squatting
movement.
Notontydid theyopen[ydefy
the city by takingoverthe buildings,
theywentagainstthe otderhousing
advocates
in the
neighborhood,
whoalready
hadtheirdibson someof thosetenements.
"EighthStreetvioLated
the peacetreatywe hadwith LESCAC
andthe JPC,"saysJosh
jn a rentstrjkebuiLding
Whalen,
a writeranddefactosquatter
(he Lived
for 20 years)."We
haddividedthe territoryamongus |'ikerivaIgangs,andeveryone
knewit washandsoff
EighthStreet."
Othersquatscroppedup on EastNinthStreet,AvenueC,ThjrdStreet,TenthStreet,Fourth
Street,SixthStreet,FifthStreet-fueLed
by the arrivaIof youngpunksandactivists
funneLing thoughthe old Yippieheadquarters
at Number
9 Bteecker
Street,the Anarchist
Switchboard
on EastNinthStreet,or the RockAgainstRacjsm
concerlnetwork(whichwas
founded
in Engtand
by squatter-friendty
punkbandstikeTheCtash),
as wet[asyoungartists
lookingto maketheir markin NewYork.Notatl werenewcomers
of course.
BuLtet
Space
squaton EastThirdStreetwasfounded
in 1986by Andrew
andPauICastrucci,
twin brothers
whohadbeenpricedout of theirart gatleryon Avenue
B, andsomemembers
of the
HouoinqlSquale
)arah Ferguaon
"garden"
Rivington
Schoolart gang,whooperated
metal-sculpture
a ratheranarchic
on an
abandoned
lot on the cornerof Rivington
andForsyth
streets.
Thenewarrivals
dovetailed I s{,u
pushed
with the otderactivists,
streetdwetters,
andtocaIresidents
out of theirrentalapart- r u(r
mentsto createan eclectic,
dissentious
mix.
Morethanjust buildinghousing,
squatting
wasseenasan extension
for otherarenas
of
socialactivism.
Therewasan earlycrossover
homesteading
America
between
andthe Central
sotidarity
movement.
Activists
whohadbeentraveting
to war-tornNicaragua
andE|'Salvador
in the 1980sto buiLdhousing
andschools
decided
to turn theirattentionto fixingsomeof
the bombed-out
buitdings
in p|'aces
[ikethe LowerEastSide,Brooktyn,
andthe Bronx.Some
of the earlymembers
of 209EastSeventh
Street"homestead,"
for instance,
weremembers
of
the Nicaragua
Construction
Brigade.
Thegrowthof squatting
alsocoincided
with the surgein activism
aroundhomelessness,
w h i c ha, st he cri si smush roo med
i n 1 980s,
becamsom
e ething
of an "in" cause.
Indeed,
the
moreactivist-oriented
squatters
English
suchas Morales,
Steve,Thompson,
andAtfredo
Gonzalez
peopleinto the squatting
activety
soughtto recruithometess
movement
by giving
workshops
in city shelters
throughgroupssuchasthe Valentines
DayCommittee.
"Wewereorganizing
againstthe forcedrelocation
of poorpeopleinto the shelters,"
explains
"andwe sawsquatting
Morates,
as an antidoteto that." In the process,
theyalsosoughtto
converthousing
advocates
whoremained
skeptical
of squatting
asa means
to createvjable
homes
for [ow-income
peopte.
peopteon the
At the time,Morates
says,'Mostof the housing
left didn'twantto touchsquatting."
Thesquatters
evenadvertised
for newrecruitson the backpagesof the Villagel/oice("Need
a Home?
Squat. . .") andon the WBAIradjoshowListeners'
Action,whichwasthenfunctioningas a kjndof cjtizen-[ed
homeless
reliefprojectin conjunction
wjth the foodpantry
at the CathedraI
of St. Johnthe Divine.
RecaLLs
Morales:
Wegot on the radioandsaid'showup at Seventh
andB on Saturday
morningif
youwantto work,'andlike50 peoptefromthe tri-stateareawouldshowup,
mosttybecause
theywantedto volunteer
to hetpout. People
wouldcome,otd
andyoung,experienced
andnot, andactually
volunteer
to shovelrubbleor
paint.Thisoneguycamein andorganized
scrape
a crewof welders
andconstruction workers
to rep[ace
the entirestairsin onesquaton EastEighthStreet.They
just showed
up oneday,andaftera monthof weekends
workingon it, it was
done.
A keyfactorin the expansion
of the squatting
scenewasthe creation
of Eviction
Watch,,an
activistphonetree usedto fendoff evictioneffortsby [oca[police,as wetlas attacksby
groupsanddrugdealers.
competing
housing
In a movement
withoutanycentratized
structure,Eviction
Watchbecame
an important
tooI for networking
withinthe squatsandwith
supporters
in the community.
Theyatsoset up a communat
kitchenin the groundfloorof
Ke e i e L an ce
A K ad i c a lT o l i t i c aal n d S o cia llie to r y o f th e L o we rEa sf,Sid e
tn4
537EastL3thStreetto feedpeopleusingfoodcutledfromdumpsters
or donated
fromLocar
restaurants,
whichmeantthat squatters
whodjdn'thavekitchens
couldoo cadgea meal
whentheyneeded
to.
"Therewasa Level
of self-organization
in the beginning,
andfor a whj[e,a kjndof organic
"We
just
connection,"
saysMorales. weren't inhabiting
space,
we wereactuatly
changing
jn action'kjndof way."
the environment,
workingit, in a 'freedom
YOU RH O U 1 E 1 9 MIN E
At the heightof the movement
in 1988-1989,
therewereabouttwo-dozen
squatted
buitdingson the LowerEastSide,andprobabty
two dozenmorejn EastHartem,
Washington
Heights,
andthe SouthBronx.Whitethe squatsuptownweremorecohesive[y
workingctass
androotedin theircommunities
of cotor,the sceneon the LowerEastSidewasmorecountercultural
andprovocative,
as rendered
in the iconicftyersthat plastered
the nabe,from
Johnthe Communist's
predictions
of imminentmartjallawto Missing
Foundation
screeds
Like"TheParty's
0ver,""YourHouseIs Mjne,"and"i.988= 1.933."
However
hyperbolic,
suchrhetoricreflected
gentrification
howsevere
hadbecome
on the
LowerEastSide.Bythe wjnterof 1,984,
sma|.[
cockroach-infested
apartments
that rentedfor
$ 4 00a mo n thw eresu d d e n ty,
with m inorr enovations,
goingfor $1200andup- thank si n
"0peration
targepartto the NYPD's
Pressure
Point,"whenscores
of officers
rounded
up an
astounding
1.4,000
drugsuspects
over18 months.
Stripped
of its mostviolentandbrazen
drugtrade,Alphabet
Citywentfrombeingoneof the poorest
areasjn the city to oneof
the most"up andcoming."Increasing
numbers
of etderlyandLatinos
weredrivenfrom
thejrrent-controlled
unitsthrougha combination
of iLLegat
buyouts,
harassment,
anddenial
of services
as [andtords
emptiedbuiLdings
in orderto drjveup theirresate
vatue.Whote
buitdings
werewarehoused
vacantwhilethe streetsbecame
floodedwith homeless
peopte
- refugees
of the crackepidemic,
the closingof statementalhospitals,
Reagan-era
crackdownson wetfare
andsocialservices,
andan insanerentaL
marketthat meantonestipand
youwereout the door.21
Themoremititantsquatters
sawthemsetves
asestablishing
a kindof beachhead
against
gentrification
-their presence
broughtneighboring
property
vatuesdown- andagitated
insidethe parkwith ratliesandsmoke-ins
andpunkconcerts,
atongwith frequentmarches
to the Local
officesof the city'sDepartment
of Housing
Preservation
andDevetopment
(HPD).Influenced
by the theoryof SpatiaID andthe transfer
of authorityoverhomeless
shelters
to FEMA,
John"the Communist"
PotakandseveraI
othersformedthe Emergency
Coalition
AgainstMartialLawandbeganprotesting
everything
frompoticebruta[ityand
AIDSto the sheltersystem
whileca[[ingfor massrentstrikes.
Indeed,JerryWadesayshe
andPotakfantasized
aboutbuitdingan Amerjcan
versionof the Christianja
FreeState,the
countercultural
meccabuil,tby Danish
squatters
whotookoveran areaof deserted
army
barracks
in Copenha
gen.22
"JohnandI hadaLways
wantedto attractradicaIhippies,"
saysWadeof histhrowback
ideatism."Therewasa realconscious
effortto bringin hippies,
but by that tjme,therejust
Loueinq/SquaLe
Sarah Fergueon
wasn'tenoughhippiesaroundanymore
in the neighborhood,
so we setttedfor punks.We
usedto recrujtpeopteoff Avenue
A."
n
Butasjdefroma fewtussLes
with [oca[precinct
cops,the anti-police-state
rhetoricremained
d osson th e scene
m o r eo f a pa ran o igl
thananyr ealguidingethos.Beyond
the djehar rdadi ca[s,mostfotksweremoreDIY(doit yoursetf)
thanardently
anarchist,
too busyscrapping
to makea living,makeart andbuitdtheirhomes
thanto seekout confrontations
with
oo[ice.
..A
mn
t {3il}
RIOT19 NOW IN PROOREggIN TOMPKINg9QUARE'23
T h a tc h an g ew
d i ththe p o l i ceri ot of August6, 1988.0n that night,Johnthe Com m unj s t's
predictions
andMissing
Foundation's
of imminentmartiaILawappeared
to cometrueas more
than400copsstormed
throughTompkins
Square
andjts surrounding
streets,
brutal[yclubbingprotesters
indiscrjminatety.
It wasatmostasif the neighborhood's
andbystanders
historywascaughton repeat,thingsaccelerated
out of controlso quickly,
subsuming
the
jmmedjate
-gentrification,displacement,
triggers
the effortto ctampdownon the area's
anything-goes
counterculture
epochaL
eventthat wou[dresonate
for
-into this votati[e,
yearsto come.
Theostensibte
causeof the riot wasthe impositjon
of a 1 a.m.curfewin Tompkins
Square
in
response
to neighboring
residents'
comptaints
aboutrowdyreveters
spiLling
out of the bars
jnsjdethe park.But underlying
"concerts"
alongAvenue
A andhotdinglate-night
that were
growing
gentrification
tensions
overthe way
wasundermining
the multicultural
baseof the
neighborhood.
Theprevious
summer,
a p[anby the Parks
department
to closeTompkins
Square
temporariLy
revelers
to makerepairs
anddiscourage
wasrejected
by the locaIcommuptot
nity boardaftersomecomplained
promote
it wasa city
to
realestatespecutation.
So
whenthe curfewcropped
up unexpectedly
in the midstof a powerfuL
heatwavejn 1988,it
put even[oca[dog-walkers
on edge.
Activists,
squatters
amongthem,sawthe curfewasanothereffortto tamethe LowerEast
Sidefor a wealthier
ThemjLitants
wereapoplectic.
Thiswasan invasjon
ctassof peopte.
of
theirturf, an effortby the policeandreaLestatedevelopers
to assertcontroL
overthe "peopte's"park,to remake
its rough,unsocialjzed
moreakinto Union
edgesinto something
Square.
Someof thesesquatters
andactivistshadfoughtto saveAdamPurp[e's
renowned
Garden
of
Edenfromthe city'sbulldozers
andwereinvolved
in a campaign
to preserve
La Ptaza
parkon EastNinthStreet,whichwasthenslatedto become
Cultura[,
a community-til.Led
a
seniorcitizenhome.
Theyput out leafletscallingon the community
to resist.Butthe reactjon
of boththe cops
andthe community
paranoid
wentbeyondeventhe most
mititants'
wet dreams,
asthe battle
ragedin the streetstiI dawnwjth a fury not seenjn decades.
Nodoubtmostof the thuggerycamefromthe police,whowerectearlyspoitingfor a fight afterbeingforcedto retreat
fromthe parkthe previous
weekend.
0n July30, whena sma[L
contingent
of 9th Precjnct
Ke e i e l ance
A KadicalTolihical
and Sociallietory of rhe LowerEast eide
policearrivedto breakup a midnightraltycaltedto oppose
the curfew,
theywerebeaten
backby a hajLof bottles.Fivepoticewereinjuredjn scuffles,
including
onewhosuffered
a
brokenwrist,andfourpeoptewerecharged
with feLonies,
amongthemJerryWade,
whohad
helpedsparkthe meleeby spraying
a [ineof policewith a canof shaken
beer.24
In the foLlowing
days,WadeandotherLocaI
agitators
recat[that copsdrivingon patroL
"We're
wouLd
stowdownto threaten,
gonnaget youguyson Saturday
night."
"It wasalmostLikea gangfight,"saysMorales.
"Everyone
knewtherewasgonnabe a
showdown
on Saturday
night."
Sti[[,no oneexpected
that po[icewouLd
arrivewjth theirbadges
covered,
futlyprepared
to
bustheads,
or that theywouldbe ca[|.ed
provocatjve
out in such
numbers
-including
about30 mounted
policeon horseback,
sharpshooters
on neighboring
rooftops,
a mobite
post,
command
anda heticopter
that swooped
menacingly
(Fifty-three
overthe crowds.
peoplewereinjuredoverthe course
of the night,inctuding
14 cops,3]. werearrested,
and
L2Lcomplaints
of poticebrutalityandexcessive
forcewere[odged.)
Atthough
MayorKochandPoliceCommissioner
BenWardinitiaLLy
soughtto b[amethe rjot
"skjnheads
on
anddegenerates
fromScarsdale,"
mostin the crowdthat nightweresimpty
loca[swhoLiked
to hangout in the parkor folksspiLling
out of nearbybarsandrestaurants
on a hot Saturday
night.Bystagingsucha massive
displayof forceandbrutallycharging
the crowd,the policemanaged
to galvanize
[argenumbers
of locaIresidents
andbystanders
whojoinedthe miLitants
"PigsGoHome!"
bLocking
trafficatongAvenue
A chanting
Butjf the rjot hadnot beenptanned,
there'sno question
that some'inthe crowdhel,ped
escalate
the confrontatjon
by settingoff M-80firecrackers
andchucking
bottlesat potice.
Therehadatready
beenan informaL
campaign
of "property
devaLuation"
by someon the
scene.Random
acts,[ikeleavinga quarterstickof dynamite
undera parkedcopcarto btow
out the windows,
werenot unheard
of backthen.Theweekbeforethe riot, copsandlocal
[andtords
wereset on edgeby Leaftets
plastered
on doorways
the nightbeforethe riot, vowing to "burndown"the houses
of al"tthosewhosupported
the curfew.
An absurd
threat,no
doubt,but provocative
nonethetess.
Atthough
the rjot wasnot tedby squatters
andanarchists,
it hetpedpropeIthejrcauseinto
the timetight.
Mediacrewsswarmed
into the neighborhood
seeking
to uncover
the "shadjf
owy"worldeastof Avenue
A, andmanyreturned
porwith sympatheticsensationalized
traitsof the scrappy
fotkswho'dturnedrubble-fitted
tenements
into homes.
And,asin the
1'874parkriot,the 1988riot aLsohetpedradicatize
the surrounding
community,
whichnow
fett jtselfunderassautt
fromCityHaLL.
SuddenLy
residents
of the Christodora
House
-the
luxurycondominjum
buildingon Avenue
B andNinthStreetthat hadbecome
a hatedsymbol of gentrification
-were visitingthe parkwjth carepackages
for the hometess.
RudoLf
Piper,the ownerof the Tunnelnightclub
in Chelsea
who'dgottenbattered
by the copsduring the riot, appeared
"yuppie"invaders.
on newsbroadcasts
denouncing
Boosted
by swetting
numbers
of supporters,
the moremilitantsquatters
andagitators
stepped
up theirresjstance
in the park."Wedecjded
to squatthe park,"saysMorales
of the
lo u e in q l Sq u a te
SarahFerauoon
c a m p a i gt n
heyl edto en co u ragaen ddefend
the gr owing
hom etess
encam pm ent
in Tom pk i ns
"It wasa conscjous
Square.
effortto reconfigure
the natureof the park,andalsomakethjs
^]!* rol
m o r et h a ns ymbo [ipcrote st
a g a i nst
the lackof housing
andhor r ibte
conditions
in the sheL- i s 'f
ters,"Morales
says.
Johnthe Communist
andJerrythe Peddler
erected
a teepeeon oneof the centraIgreens
"Free
emblazoned
with the slogan,
the Land!"Theyandotherspromoted
the parkencampmentas botha refugefor the homeless
anda kindof firewa[[againstfurthergentrification
eastof Avenue
A. Protesting
in the park,theybetieved,
wouLd
drawheatawayfromtheir
b u i L d i n g s.
In retrospect,
Morates
concedes
this notionof staginga long-term
encampment
in the park
wasnot sustainable
-especiallyasthe city beganreferring
moreandmorehomeless
people,
ev'icted
fromotherparksandpublicspaces,
"It created
to Tompkins
Square.
an untenable
situatjon
for us.It wasa contradiction,"
Morales
saysof the tent city that woutdswe[[to
nearly400 peopLe.
Andmanysquatters
steered
awayfromthe parkbattle,seeingit asa distractionfromthe hardworktheyneeded
to accomplish
in theirbuitdings.
Butinitiallythere
wasa lot of supporton the LowerEastSidefor the "handsoff the hometess"
stance.Fora
brjefwindowof time (1988-1991),
Tompkins
Square
wasredefined,
locallyandevennationaLly,asa "symbolof resjstance
to gentrification."
WARINTHENEIOHBORHOOD
Butwhi[ethe parkriot hetpedwin supportfor the squatters'
cause,
it aLsoampedthe [eve[
of confrontation
with po[ice,settingoff a cycteof jncreasingl"y
miLitarized
battlesasthe city
moved
i n t o dj vestth i s po p u ta ti on
of "thjeves
andtr oublem aker
frs"
omits buiLdings.
Thefirst casuaLty
wasTyaScott'ssquaton EastEighthStreet,whjchthe city condemned
"accidentally"
aftera butldozer
nickedthe frontfaqade
whileclearing
the remains
of an
abandoned
tenement
nextdoor.Whatbeganas a rush-job
demolition
turnedinto a six-hour
standoff
as supporters,
mobiLjzed
by Eviction
Watch,rushed
to Tya'sbuitdingin the earty
hoursof Apri[L, 1989.I canrecaLl
a mobof about20 squatters
andincensed
loca[srushing
at the plywood
construction
fencewieldinga poticebarrjcade
asa batteringram,storming
pastthe astonished
beatcopspostedto defendthe demotition
crew[ikea hordeof crazed
Vi k i n g s .
Thefight over319 EastEighthStreet- whenthe city useda fire in the buiLding
as a pretext for eviction- wasevenmoreEscape
FromNewYork.Inmy notesof the period,I find
this effortto account
for the poticepresence
assembted
on May9, 1989:
9 5 c o p so n Aven u B
e
30 copsat 8th andC
3 3 c o p sa t 9th a n dC
3 3 c o p sa t 7th a n dB
13 mounted
policeat 9th andC
police
5
with dogsat 9th andB
Ke e i s L a n ce
A KadicalTolitical
and SocialtlieNory
of the LowerEaet Side
I E-i !{
guarding
3?sharpshooters
on rooftops,
lot on 7th
(about
1.bustoad
of copsat 8th
30 inside),2 emptypoticebusses
on C
3 poticemedjavans
In fact,morethan400 policeweredispatched
to maintaina compLete
cordonaroundtwo
city btocksfor five daysasthe demotition
crewworkedroundthe clock,usinghigh-powered
kl.iegLights
that tit up the bLock
Ljkea movieset,as a giantwrecking
ballslammed
into the
buitding,
sending
policeoverkillandexpense
up giantplumes
(the
of dust.Themassive
demolition
prompted
costsalonewereestimated
at $600,000)
criesof outrage
fromno Less
t h a nC ath o tiAcrchb i sho
p h nC ar dinal
Jo
0' Connor
EpiscopaI
,
Ar chbishop
M ichael
Kend at[,
and
Manhattan
Borough
President
DavidDinkins.
Thescenewaseasilycastasa Davidand
Goliathnarrative
of squatters
struggling
to createhomes
versus
the city bureaucrats
intent
o n c r u s hi ng
th e m.
Justtwo weekseartier,
the squatters
at 3L9hadmanaged
to subvertthe city'sdemolition
plans.Therewasthe grandheroism
of Wittie,a gaymanwhomovedto 319afterbeing
madehometess
pastthe police[inesandscated
by AIDS.Hesauntered
the fire escape
to
reclaim
piss
the building,dumping
bottlesof fermented fromthe roofthat sentthe cops
anddemolition
workers
runningfor cover.Thena ragtagcrew[edby Morales
lassoed
the
jn
constructjon
scaffotding
andyankedit down,as city officialslookedon disbeljef.
Despite
the unorthodox
tactics,this mediagenic
victoryearned
the squatters
somepopular
supporl,as we[[asthe heLpof somearchitects
fromthe PrattInstitute,whoarguedthe
buitdingcoutdbe saved.
Sowhenthe city imposed
a stateof virtualmartialLawon the
neighborhood,
with policeoccupying
neighboring
rooftops
for daysandforcingresidents
to
showID to entertheirownbuildings,
it hadevenco-opowners
voicingconspiracy
theories.
Looking
at my notesof the streetprotests,
what'sstrikingis howradicaI
the sentiments
expressed
by locatresidents
were.Standingon the policebarricades,
with bottlesftyingand
M-80sexptoding
in the distance,
I interviewed
a manwholivedat a recently
co-oped
buildingat 323EastEighthStreetwhosaidhis bedroom
hadbeendamaged
by the demotition at 319.A nurseat BethIsraelhospital,
he wastryingto reason
wjth the cops."I'm
sickof privatecapitalgettingeverything
it wants,andwhatmakes
greatgetting
America
"The
screwed,"
he responded
whenaskedwhyhe wasout theredemonstrating. thingthat
makes
NewYorksucha greatplaceis the varietyof tifestyles.
garden,
It's a beautifuI
and
theywantto tearit downandmakeit into a homogenous,
ptastic-turfed
climate-controlted,
lawn."
Famed
"There
attorneyWitliamKunstler,
whowasthendefending
the squatters,
declared:
areseedsof rebetlion
here,peoplepushed
to theirouter[imits.Whatcoutdbe morecomp e L L i ng
pe o p l taking
e
tha nh o mel ess
overan abandoned
building?"
'A thousand
Kunstler's
lawpartner,
RonKuby,wasevenmoreemphatic:
yearsof property
lawsaysthe buildjngs
arefor the owners.
There's
no common
lawfor squatters
in the U.S.
Butif you get a massmovement,
the lawswi[[fottow.Wesawthat in the CiviIRightsmovement."
Houoinql9quate
SarahFergueon
PYRRHICVICTORY?
RonKuby's
prediction
did not cometrue.Butbackthenthe riotsandstreetprotests
reatty
felt Likeminiepics.Theactjvists
wereemboldened
by the neighborhood's
history-evenif
withinthe LowerEastSidetherewereoftenprofound
disputes
between
squatters
andcommunityhousing
groupsthat tendedto splitatonggenerationa[
[ines.Thefotkswhohad
h e l p e sd q u athe
t C hri sto d oHraou se
i n the late' 60swiththe BLack
Pantherand
s Young
L o r d sa, n dwhotoo ko ve ran a b a n d oned
schooI
in 1.979
to cr eate
the CHARAS/EI
Bohiocommunitycenteron EastNinthStreet,nowsawthis newgeneratjon
of squatters
asirresponsib[e,revolutionary
wannabes
pl,aying
a gamein a placewherethe stakesweretoo high.The
c o m p e t i t i on
fo r che a ph o u si ng
w a sfi er ce.
W hatgavesom etwenty- som ething
ar tistor cotLegd
e r o p - out
the ri g h tto co pa cra shpadandr um b[e
withthe policewhenther ewer e
wholefamities
doubled
andtripledup in the projects
with no ptaceto go?Thesquatters
wastedbuitdings,
theysaid.Theypassed
out wjth theircandles
lit andLetthejrhouses
burn
down.Theywereparasites
dancing
amidthe trutyurbanpoor.
Forthe squatters,
the housing
advocates
werepimpsandsett-outs
who'dtradedin theirradicalrootsfor careers
spentgrappling
with a bureaucracy
intenton dispensing
crumbs
at best.
Theiranswer
to the housing
crisiswasthe 50/50plan-a compromise
that squatters
said
woutdonlyfuelgentrification
anddisplacement
by sanctioning
newmarketratehousing
nextto lowincomerehabs.
Yetthe two frontsreinforced
eachother,despite
theirdifferences.
Thehousing
advocates
on
the LowerEastSidehadaLways
operated
to the left of the basetine
poLitic
that governed
the
restof Manhattan.
Thatchanged
wjth the 1991etection
to the CityCounciI
of Antonio
Pagan,
a neo-conDemocrat
whoupsetthe longtimeliberalincumbent
MiriamFriedlander.
Pagan
became
a darlingof the Manhattan
Institute,a conservative
thinktank,for seeking
to
curbthe excesses
of NewYorkliberatism
that the LowerEastSidehadcometo epitomize.
Backed
by the poticeunion,he rodeto poweron a campaign
to evictthe hometess
fromthe
park,roustthe anarchists
andsquatters,
andstoptettingthe areabe a "dumping
ground"
for socialservices.
Hiselectioncoincided
with the dramatic
closingof the parkfor a twoyearrenovation
that wouldpermanently
ctearthe homeless
shantjes
andestabtish
the 12
a.m.curfewthat remains
in placetoday.
ThisfinaIrectamation
of Tompkins
prettymuchcLosed
Square
the bookon the park'slegacy
asa cautdron
of unrest.It wasfotlowed
by paramilitary
evictionassaults
on five East13th
Streetsquats,
spearheaded
"lazy"
by Pagan,
whopitted
squatters
againsta scheme
to use
low-income
tax creditsto renovate
the buitdings
for more"deserving"
poor.In i.995,the
city wentso far asto sendin sharpshooters
personnel
andan armored
carrierto evictthe
squatters,
whowetded
themsetves
insidethe buiLdings.
(Mostwerebootedout then,though
a lawsuitaltowed
residents
to remainin threeof the buil.dings
untit].996,whenthe police
againforcefullyevictedeveryone,
andthe buil,dings
weregutted.)
Theuseof tax creditsto produce
[ow-income
housing
reflects
the triumphof market-based
strategies
for urbanrenewal
overthe otd state-sponsored
modelof subsidized
housing
- not
15S
Ke s i s L a n ce
A KadicalTolirical
and SocialHieloryof the LowerEaot Side
r6*
to mentionanylingering
idealism
aboutgrassroots
sweatequity.WhiLe
Paganlambasted
"treat
the 13thStreethomesteaders
as privileged
troubtemakers
who
the wholeneighborhoodas a radjcalRomper
Room,"the not-for-profit
organization
he directed,
LowerEast
SideCoatition
Housing
Development,
madeout quitenicety:LESCHD
ownsandmanages
the
formerL3thStreetsquatsas lowandmoderate-income
housing.
(Afterleavingoffice,Pagan
returned
to LESCHD
as a "staffanalyst.")
WouldPagan's
andCityHalt'scampaign
to evjctthe squatshavebeenso successful
hadthe
actjvistsnot spentso muchtime-and potiticaIcapital-fightingto defendTompkins
Square
andthe homeless
encampment
there?There's
no question
that the increasingty
squatid
conditions
broughtby hundreds
of needypeopteoccupying
the playgrounds
and
proper
lawnswjthout
sanitation
-combinedwith the parkwarrjors'
andservices
often
inanelyprovocative
effortsto recreate
the 1988policerjot- undermined
community
support.Looking
back,evenhardtjners
LikeMorates
andHarrington
concede
that the squatters
invo[ved
in the parkcausecouLd
havemademoreconcrete
gainsby focusing
on upgrading
thejrbuitdings
ratherthanscrapping
with potice."Wewereso integrated
with the jssuesof
genocide
andracismin the shelters,
we cou|'dn't
it," saysMoraLes
separate
of the sociaL
struggte
aroundthe park.
"If the squatscenehadn'thappened,
the parkbattlewouLdn't
havehappened,"
concludes
"It waspartof whatwe wereabout,bringingpeoplein off the streetsandinto
Harrington.
the squats.
Sothe homeless
situationin the parkwaspartandparcelwith the wholesquatting movement."
Indeed,the 1988riot andsubsequent
parkbattleshetped
inspireTentCity,a groupof formerparkdwetlers,
whomarched
on Washington
to demand
housing
andattempted
their
ownbuildingtakeovers
on the LowerEastSjde.[SeeSection
Three,
Chapter
2, "TentCity"
b y R onC a sa n o va .]
Butthe effortto integrate
probtems,
streetpeopte,
manywith drugandatcohoL
into the
oftenanarchjc
andcontentious
proved
worldof squatting
far moredjfficultto achjeve.
"Mostof the fstreet]peoplewhocamethroughanddid okaywouldcleanup theiract and
"Theyrea[Ly
then moveon," saysHarrington.
didn'twantto staylivingin the buildings.
0therswetookin -quite oftenI thjnkwe did thema disservice.
Wewereso radicalthen,
we neverbetieved
in gettingpeopteservices,
andsomeof thesepeopterea[[ydid need
that. Theyhadrealsubstance
problems,
abuseor mentaL
heaLth
or I mean,someof them
couldn'tevenreallyreadandyet we weren'treallyprepared
to dealwith that. It waslike,
graba hammer
andstartbuitdinga waL[,andtheyjust couLdn't
fuckingdo it. They'dhang
aroundgettingfuckedup.Andthenthey'dsteala camera
or something,
andwe'dthrow
t h e mo u t."
Sarah Feraueorr
J
GOING LEGAL
is significant.
The
Stil,L,
the factthat peoplewouldevenattemptsucha socialexperiment
yearsof costtyparkbattlesandsquatevictions
hetpedconvince
the city to
undoubtedly
of
whicharenowin the process
11 of the dozenremaining
LowerEastSidesquats,
[egalize
b e c o m i n[o
g w -i nco me
co-op s.2 s
I fi l
of luckand
Thesesquatters
througha combination
arethe survivors,
the onesthat managed
ground.
in
its
finalyear
hard-won
That
the
administratjon
experience,
to hotdtheir
Giuliani
is a reflection
of howditiin officewouldeveragreeto grantthemtitle to theirbuil,dings
-some
genttymanyworked
of which
to restore
the bujldings
andrehabthejrlivingspaces
the dealin
nowlookbetterthanyouraverage
officials,
whofinalized
co-op.Bloomberg
scenehad
September
2002,saidtheyweremotjvated
by the factthat the squatting
"matured"
popuLation
of famdiverse
overthe yearsandhadcometo includea moreraciatly
iliesandpeoptewith stabtejobs- blithetyoverlooking
the factthat manywerethe same
rabbterousers
simplygrownup a bit. But
the city hadfoughtwith for so manyyears.They'd
legaIobservers
saythe city musthavealsorealized
that if it movedto evictthesesquatters
possesin court,it woutdhaveriskedLosing
andtherebycodifying
the rightto takeadverse
in a waythat coutdhavedramaticaLLy
expanded
the rightsof squatsionof city properties
in the city.
terselsewhere
mustbring
Butwhilethe city hascededthemthe buiLdings
for a do[[arapiece,
the squatters
grantsafforded
to the homesteaders
of the
themup to codewithoutanyof the government
'80s,let alonethe heftytax breaks
receive
for settingasidea porthat for-profitdevel"opers
peopte.
not aLtowed
to se[Lor
And
the
squatter
ar
s
e
t i o n o f t h ei rap a rtme nto
ts [ow -j ncom e
per m an ent
withcr eating
r e n t t h e i rs p a cefor
s profi t.S oi n a s ense,
theyar ebeingchar ged
andnot-for-profit
low-income
housing,
withoutanyof the subsjdjes
that bothdevetopers
groupsnormaL|'y
housing
receive.
The11 buildings
haveformeda newcoaUtion
with UHAB,whichis overseeing
to negotiate
process.
Butoutsideof that formalunity,thesedaysthe
the financing
andrenovation
"squatters'"
fightsarelargelyinternal.Theyarereconciling
theirspacewjthinthe system,
promise
tradingin freerentfor the
of security,
whiLebattlingto keepthe banks,contractors
p[edged
to keepthe monthandUHABfromdrivingup theirmortgages.
WhiLe
UHABinitiaLLy
[ y m a i n t e n a nch
cea rgeLso w -$ 3 0 0to $750depending
on apar tm ent
size- m anyfearm o untpushing
poor
more
out.
ing rehabcostswit[ become
mechanism
for
and
dysfunctionaI
a
the
Meanwhile,
to cometo terms
fightshaveemerged
asthe nowlegalhomesteaders
struggle
wjth whatreaIownership
means.
If onepersondoesn'tpay,whodoes?
of theirspaces
gar dens,
I n t h e s a m evei n,ma n yof th e n e i ghbor hood'
com
s m unity
whichwer estar tedon
squatted
[and,havewonpreservation.
Theyarenowworkjngto set up bylawsandboardsof
governance,
-aL[ the formalizing
elements
that consticontending
with jnsurance
tiabiLities
tute property
ownership.
R e e i e l a n ce
A K adi c a lT o l i t i c aal n d S o c ia llio L o r v o f tr h eL o we rEa st Sid e
ptanis reshaping
MeanwhiLe,
a newurbanrenewal
the community,
this onespearheaded
by
groupthat defeated
the Cooper
Square
Committee.
Thesameprogressive
housing
Robert
Moses'
scheme
to mowdownbtocksof tenements
for upscate
housing
hasjust leveted
the
old Cuando
community
Avenue
centeron the cornerof Second
andHouston
Street,along
with fourhjstorictoft buitdings
on the Bowery-including
a formerbrotheIandsaloon
occupied
by feministauthorKateMj|.[et.
Theseproperties
weresacrificed
to makewayfor
just 25 percent
700-units
of newhousing,
of whichwil,l,
be dedicated
to lowandmoderate
incomepeopLe.
Therestof the housing,
whichincludes
housing
a 14-story
compLex
on the
cornerof Houston
inctuding
andBowery,
wi[[be luxuryapartments,
200,000
square
feetset
asidefor commerciaI
space,
wherea WhoLe
Foods
is slatedto open.
TherearestiL[a few countercultural
venues
left in the nabe,suchasABCNo Rio,
Btuestockings
bookstore,
andthe moreavowedly
LeftyMayDayBooks,housed
at the
Theaterfor the NewCityon FirstAvenue.
There's
aLsoan effortto resuscitate
the East
"legacyof counterculture"
Village's
viathe HOWL!
Festival,
a week-Long
celebration
of the
arts-though onewonders
whether
in reinforcing
this effortwittontysucceed
the kindof
hackneyed
places
nostalgia
andcountercultural
boutiquing
that haveovertaken
[ike
Woodstock,
renderinq
radicalism
a touristattraction,
detached
fromits roots.
Butthe notionof organizing
aroundspaceasa locusfor politicaIstruggte
no longer
applies.
Poljtical
organizing
thesedayscenters
on the wat the media,the corporate
co[onizatjonof the g|.obe.
Theplayers
andbatttesarefar-flungandtransitory
by nature.There
arestilLlocaIstruggles,
suchasthe campaign
to blocka proposed
23-story
luxurytoweron
Houston
Streetby [ocaIresidents
whofearit wil.l.
inundate
the areaandhastengentrification, or the ongoingeffortto rectaim
the old CHARAS/EI
Bohiocommunity
centeron East
NinthStreet,wherethe newownerhasproposed
buil.ding
a L9-story
dorm.(In an ironic
twist,thesedaysthe fotkspetitioning
in Tompkins
Square
areresidents
of the Christodora
pe n th o u se
H o u sei n, cl ud i ng
o wnerM jchael
Rosen,
whodeveloped
the swankRedSquar e
apartment
complex
on Houston
Streetin the late'80s,andwhonowspeaks
earnestty
about
"sanctity"
the needto preserve
the
of neighborhood
againsthigh-rise
incursions.)
Sti[|',thesearedefensive,
property
rear-guard
tactics.Theideaof takingor reclaiming
and
usingthat asa basefor furthersociaIagitationis gone.Unl,ike
the youngidea[ists
of the
' 6 0 s ,'70 s,
a n d '80 s,
i t se e ms
u n[ikely
that the cur r ent
cr opof newcom er
tosthe LowerEas t
Sjdewouldatignthemsetves
with anyneighborhood-wide
struggte
againstgentrification.26
jnto
TheEastViftage's
identityhasalready
beensubsumed the gridof Manhattan
real
"entertainment
estate.It's no [ongeran is[andof diversity
or culturaIresjstance
but an
district" (to useCityHall'sphrase)-atrendythemeparkof bars,restaurants,
andchicboutiqueswhoseshiftingaesthetics
lookmoreto LA,Tokyo,Paris,
or Berlinratherthananyt h i n gi nd i ge n o u sty
Lo i sai da
w,hatever
that is. ( Theneighbor hood
wasalways
sucha c oncatenation
of cuttures
andinf[uences.
it becomes
harderto pin downwhatthat essential
Loisaida
spiriteverwas.)
Theatomjzatjon
of sociaIstruggleon the LowerEastSidereftects
the sp[intering
of communities
andworkplaces
broughton by gtobalization.
Forrelative"old-tjmers"
ljkeme,
thereis a sense
that the spiritof the LowerEastSidehasbeenhoftowed
out,
tloueinq/9quaNe
SarahFergueon
deconcentrated.
Theold romance
of the EastVitlageasa harborfor outcasts,
fuck-ups,
and
artistswasdefeated
by the militaristic
incursions
of the Giuljaniadministration,
foLlowed
bv
"'
the ethosof marketefFiciency
embodied
in the Bloomberg
administration,
for wh;;;.;
smoking
cigarettes
in a baror catchinq
a napon the subway
is consjdered
a tjcketable
offense.
Bohemias
arepredicated
on cheaprentsandfreetime,the timeto mixit up with people
froma[[ racesandcLasses
andtransgress
sociaIbarriers,
andso reinvent
one'sretationship
to
the wortd.Withoutcheaprents,thereis no freetime.Kidsworkingfourjobsto payfor a
cramped
bedroom
in a $2400a month,Ikea-furnished
apartment
don'thavethe luxuryof
jnteraction.
suchfree-floating
Starbucks
becomes
theirlivingroom,Barnes
andNobLe
their
Library,
the barsa fietdfor networking
andsetf-promotion
and/oran escape
fromthe getaheadgrind.Fighting
the system
is a wasteof time;the strugg[e
nowjs to havea stakein
it.
Manyof the old-guard
rebelsandradsarenowraisingfamities
or haveescaped
to upstateor
ptaces
Vermont,
wherefreeminutes
don'tonLycomewith cell,phoneplans.Butthoseof us
w h ol i v edth rou g hth i s pe ri o do f sociaIupheavaI
in the neighbor hood
needto r em em ber
and
celebrate
the idealism,
however
flawed,that fuetedthe movement
to "tiberate"
anddefend
the LowerEastSide.Theideathat peoptehavea rightto housing
provides
a checkto the
d e h u m an i zimarket
ng
fu n d a men talism
of ourtim es.
"It wasliminalspace,"
saysDavidBoyte,reflecting
on the bombed-out
landscape
that he
encountered
on the LowerEastSjdein the early'80s.
"Theproperty
wasneitherherenor
there.It wasn'tquitecontroll,ed
by the government
or contested
by the [andlords
who
walkedawayfromit. That'sthe spacein whichchange
takesplace,Lhekjndof spacethat's
important
for revolutionary
ideasto comeforward.
"Backthen,the LowerEastSidewasan incubator,
but it djdn't[ast.It wasatready
becoming
a constrictive
"If you'regonnachange
environment,"
Boytecontinues.
the world,you'renot
goingto change
it by hangingout on the LowerEastSideandtaLking
to the samepeople,
because
the LowerEastSideis not the world.In factit sortof hasan entropyaboutjt."
AutholsNote:Thisessaybeganas an effortto reassess
whythe battlesoverTompkins
Squore
Parkmattered,giventhat there'sso little battlingoverit now.Thatinquiryled inevitabtyto
the struggles
by variousgroupsto claimturf on the LowerEastSide,from the earLyhomesteaderswhotookoverabondoned
tenements
ondfoundedcommunity
gardensin forsakenlots,to
the squatters,whodid the somebut wererendered
outLaws
whenthe city cancelled
its homesteadingprogram.Thisremainsan incomplete
surveyof a complexsocialmovement
that
evolvedovertime.Left out ore the voicesof the manyquietdoersand artists,womenand
mothers,
professionols
and laborerswhosehardworksucceeded
in preserving
the buitdings.
I
Ieavethat exploration
to anotherchapter.
t
3 frffi
Ke e i e l a n c e
A KadicalToliNical
and SocialHistorv of r,heLowerEast Side
Endnotes:
I *'.iZL
Downtow,
of RebetHon."
Parkandthe LowerEastSideLegacy
1. Quotedby BiLL
in "Tompkins
Square
Weinberg
February
74,7990.
(NewYork:Bantam
Books,
1968),chapters
2. Report
Advisory
Commission
on CivilDisorders
of the Nationa[
10- t /.
deemed
a streetrobfor Ward's
murder,
whichprosecutors
3. Threemenwere'infact arrested
andconvicted
ptedguiltyto charge:
to [ife,andhistwo accomptices
berygoneawry.Theshooterwassentenced
to 15-years
etsea blockawayjust priorto Ward's
for theirrote,andfor robbingsomeone
of manslaughter
androbbery
theirownwide._,
movement,
whoconducted
in the housing
kitting.Neverthetess,
frjendsandsupporters
Ward's
for herwork,noting
publicized
investigation
to insjstthat shehadbeenassassjnated
of the case,contjnued
phonecattsthreatening
herwith bodi[yharm.[See:"3 SEMenPtea:
that shehadbeenharassed
andreceived
"ManGetsJaiIjn
1.7,1.981.;
Post,November
Activist,"by A[ Kamen,
Woshington
Guiltyto Murder
of Housing
Post,
March
10,
1982.
Washington
Wejser,
Actjvist's
Death,"by A[ Kamen
and Benjamin
]
No.6,7986
4. WorldWor3 llLustrated.
(FEMA)Agency
which
Emergency
Management
5. Muchwasmadeout of the factthat in 1987,the Federa[
disasters
in 1979to oversee
domestjc
securityandreliefin the eventof naturaIandnuctear
wasestabtished
reliefeffortsestabfederathometess
atsoput in chargeof administering
and/orwartimeemergencies-was
Former
mititarybasesand
Act of 1987,whichcodifiedthe rightto shetter.
tishedby the StewartMcKinney
prompting
for the poor.
prisons
fearsof newfederal"Bantustans"
shelters.
wereretrofitted
as homeless
"Tompkins
Parkandthe LowerEastSide
fromBit[Weinberg's
Square
drawsheavily
6. Thjshistorical
overview
Square
andJeanneHouck,'? Historyof Tompkins
as wetlas MarciReaven
Legacy
of RebeL[ion,"
cjtedeartier,
Park,"pub[ishedinFrom
UrbanVillagetoEastVillage,JanetL.Abu-Lughod,ed.(Cambridge:Btackwe[tPres
1994),pp.81-98.
LowerEastSide,(Amsterdam
Land:EthnicCultures
on NewYork's
7. MarioMafh,Gatewoy
to the Promised
L994),p.33.
Monographs
in American
Studies,
in NewYorkCity
RealEstote,ond Resistance
8. Christopher
Mele,TheSellingof the LowerEastSide:Culture,
(University
Press,
2000),p. 58.
of Minnesota
Publishers,
1978),:.
in the UnitedStates,
lzol.1 (NewYork:International
9. PhiLipFoner,
TheLaborMovement
City(NewYork:
ond the Revonchist
448. Quotedby NeiLSmith,Ihe NewUrbanFrontier:Gentrificotion
Routledge,
1996),p. 11.SeeatsoRaven
andHouck.
pp.87-88.
10.Reaven
andHouck,
11.SeeMele,chapter
1.
3 andSmith,chapter
12.Smith,p. 21.
duringthe 1960sin an effortto rein13.Thename"EastVil.Lage"
wasfirst promoted
by realestateinterests
it fromthe imageof the
destination,
anddisassociate
ventthe areanorthof Houston
Streetas a fashionabte
LowerEastSideas a workingclassslum.
LowerEostSide
in ThePoftable
14. Rosatyn
Deutsche
Ryan,"TheFineArt of Gentrification,"
andCaraGendel
Votume
4, Number
1, Spring1987;onlineat http: www.abcnorio.org/about/history/fine-art.html
"TenantResponses
Movement
in Ne,,
TheTenant
Crisis,1970-1984,"
15. Ronatd
Lawson,
to the UrbanHousing
(Rutgers
YorkCity,1904-1984
Press,
1986);ontineat http://www.tenant.net/Community/
University
"UrbanAgricutture
TheAquaian,
is Working
in the Middleof Manhattan,"
history/histO5b.html..
JohnKa[ish,
June25, 1980.
/ouein4/9quate
)arah Ferauoon
J
16.Intervjews
wjth CarolAbrams,
spokesperson
for the Department
of Housing,
Preservation
andDevelopment
August22, 2002;andHowardBrandstejn,
whobesides
beinga homesteader
wasthe formerdirectorof the
Home0wnership
Projectfor Catholic
Archdiocese
Charities,
of NewYork.
l SS
17.According
to Va[0rsetU,
executive
directorof the Cooper
Square
MutuaIHousing
Assocjatjon
anda former
member
of the JPC,the JPCandCB3forcedthe city to providefundsupfrontto do the [ow-income
rehabs
first.
The1000newunitsof market-rate
unitswereneverbuitt."Wepurposety
setected
the sitesfor that market-rate
housing
that werenextto lowincomehousing.
5o theyneverhappened.
Wedid not knowat the timethat that
woutdmakethemthat unattractive,
(Interview
but that'swhathappened."
with 0rse[ti,May2004)
18.According
to East7th Streetresidents,
thosebuitdings
werethenbeingrun by a "MaBarker-type"
woman
andherdrug-deating
sons.
19.Thisis Boyte's
versionof the story.According
to JimmyStewart,a streetpeddLer
andelectrjcian
whofirst
movedinto the FifthStreetsquatin 1,982,
whathe andhis partner"Web"objectedto wasBoyte's
effortto
"takeover"the buitding.(Interview
with Stewart,June1.4,2004.)
20. Brandstein
reca[[s
that RAINrejected
the 13thStreetsquatters
because
theywerefor the mostpartwhite
- a common
if somewhat
exaggerated
atlegation
madeby housingadvocates,
whotendedto overtook
minority
participation.
0ther13thStreetsquatters
saythey rejected
OREandBoyte's
leadership
because
theyviewed
hjm asa "takeover
artist"out to establish
ownership
of the buiLdings
for himsetf,
or because
they did not
believegoingwith RAINwouldgivethemcontrolof theirbuildings.
21.According
to Census
figures,14.5percentof the Latinopoputation
on the LowerEastSideteft between
1980and1990.
22.It wouldbe wrongto overptay
ECAMA's
fottowing;
for the mostpartthe groupwasa frontfor Johnthe
propaganda
Communist's
one-man
machine
andoffereda caricature
of resistance
to oppression.
ButJTCwas
expertat showingup at atl the demonstrations
paintedbanners
with big, brightl.y
andstacksof ftyersbearinga
mixof angrydenunciations
of the policecoltaged
with ctippings
of the latestgovernment
atrocityagainstthe
poor.
23.Thiswasthe headtine
usedin the 1874editionof the Neraz
YorkGraphic,
citedin AndrewCastrucci's
lour
HouseIs Mine,BulletSpaceColtective,
1993.
24.Ihatsamenight,Wade
andseveraI
otheractivists
hadbeenjnvitedto appear
with rabidtatkshowhost
MortonDowney
at Downey's
nightclubact in midtown.Theyarrivedat the parkaroundmidnight,drunk,
pumped
andbearingseveral
casesof beer.
25.Oneotherlongstanding
homestead
on East7th Streetrefused
to enterinto the dealandhenceremains
in
legal[imbo.
26.Thischapterwaswrittenbeforethe currentmovement
to rezone
the LowerEastSideto [imit hiqh-rise
incursions.
It remains
to be seenhowwetlresidents
wit|'unitearoundthat.