By Hye-Jin Kim
AsAmNews Staff Writer
The second hunger strike this year by residents at 85 Bowery in New York City ended on Friday afternoon, after the landlord agreed to a strict return date and penalties if delayed.
The strike, which began Wednesday outside the gates of City Hall, demanded that officials force landlord and Dr. Jays shoe mogul Joseph Betesh to set a firm date for the tenants return; they haven’t been allowed in the building since January as one improvement snowballed into a host of needed others — from an aging staircase to crumbling beans and asbestos.
The tenants feared that Betesh was purposefully delaying their return with building renovations to scare them off, kick them out or raise the rent. They feared this temporary eviction would become permanent either formally or informally.
But on Friday afternoon, after months of inaction from city officials, the landlord agreed to a return home date of August 31. If this deadline is missed, he promised to compensate each family $250 per day for the first two weeks. After than, this penalty would jump to $500 per day per family.
According to Chinatown resident Karlin Chan who was at the hunger strike, tenant leaders including Vincent Cao, an organzer for Youth Against Displacement, announced this as a “victory” for the dozens of 85 Bowery tenants.
But a celebratory toast might be premature. “Tenants should be optimistically cautious because the agreement’s language has not been worked out by their lawyer, yet,” Chan said to AsAmNews.
No formal contract has been signed as of June 1. Also, in a letter prior to the hunger strike agreement, Betesh gave a move-in date estimate of August 16, or 15 days earlier than the agreed upon date of August 31.
Throughout what might be Chinatown’s most publicized landlord vs. tenant battle of the year, the neighborhood’s assembly-member Yuh-Line Niou has been vocal in her support.
She released a statement on day one of the hunger strike: “It has been almost half a year since these tenants were evacuated, and still, they have no clear idea of when they will be able to return home. It has been one delay after another, and while it is paramount that the tenants return to a safe and habitable home, I believe that repairs should be expedited in order to bring the tenants home in a timely manner … I urge the city and the landlord to provide a transparent and clear timeline that includes a date for tenants to move back in.”
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