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By: Land & Housing Action Group, 20-May-10
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| FUREE Members Protest (courtesy Brownstowner.com) |
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“What we’re saying is, in the middle of an affordable housing crisis, stop bailing out hotels and major development and start focusing on low-income and working-class families in this country.” - FUREE executive director Valery Jean in the New York Times.
Chanting “Housing, not Hotels,” members of Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE) crashed the fancy grand opening of the Sheraton Hotel Brooklyn on Thursday, May 20. The 321 room hotel was feted with a food, elected officials and media, but not many local residents.
“If the city of New York has money to subsidize wealthy corporation like Sheraton to build luxury hotel rooms during a recession, they should have money to build housing that is affordable to residents of Brooklyn,” argued Diana Smith, Board Secretary of FUREE. Members and other residents continued the protest even after the Sheraton called in the police. The action is part of FUREE’s “Take Back our CommUNITY” campaign for community control over land and housing.
The Sheraton Hotel is located in the historic Downtown Brooklyn neighborhood, just off the Fulton Mall, a community devastated by the closing of nearly hundreds of mom and pop businesses and skyrocketing rental prices. The subsidized private venture is opening during a recession when thousands of additional new hotel rooms are coming online in Brooklyn, threatening to glut the market and squander the public investment.
The brand new hotel stands directly across the street from a home used in the 1800s as a stop on the Underground Railroad, where blacks escaping slavery hid and rested on their way to freedom. Community organizations, including FUREE, have been attempting for years to secure historic designation at the location. While the city refused the designation, it did approve three brand new hotels on the same block. No affordable housing is scheduled to be built on the same block.
FUREE contends that this, and similar large-scale projects, threaten the social and economic fabric, history and identity of the low-income communities of color in which they are built. Mayor Bloomberg’s 2004 Downtown Brooklyn Plan gives millions of dollars of public subsidies to developments which will permanently transform- and possibly eliminate- low-income communities.
Dignitaries at the ribbon cutting included Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Downtown Brooklyn Partnership president Joe Chan, among others. FUREE members, however, were not as happy as the Sheraton Hotel corporation to see the dignitaries.
“Joe Chan and other politicians are taking buildings that people live in, destroying them and making big condos and hotels that no one can afford,” complained 19 year old FUREE youth leader and Brooklyn resident Elvin Paulino. “We are mad, so we are recruiting new members and are going to take down these politicians and developers with whatever we can.”
Founded in 2001, FUREE is a Brooklyn-based, membership led multi-racial organization of more than 500 families that organizes low-income and working families to promote equality, improve economic conditions, and build collective power to win systemic changes at the local, state and national level. Primarily led by women of color with an emphasis on community and family, FUREE uses direct action, leadership development, community organizing, and political education to achieve our vision and goals.
FUREE will host its annual convention on Saturday, May 22 at PS 67, located at 51 Edwards St. (between Myrtle Ave. & Tillary St.) in Brooklyn beginning at 12 noon. For more information, visit to FUREE.org, call 718-852-2960 or email info@furee.org.
FUREE is an autonomous organization which is also a part of the Take Back the Land Movement. The action is part of the May 2010 National Month of Action to demand the human right to housing, called for by the Take Back the Land Movement (takebacktheland.org) in conjunction with the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC- economichumanrights.org). The Take Back the Land Movement is supported by the US Human Rights Network (USHRNetwork.org). The Actions are expected in at least twelve (12) US cities and include housing takeovers and the defense of families facing eviction.
READ THE NY TIME STORY
READ THE BROWNSTONER.COM STORY