CHARAS EVICTED
Seven Arrested as Sheriffs Seize Building for Developer

Charas, a Lower East Side community arts center, was evicted Dec. 27, after more than three years of fighting their building’s sale to developer Gregg Singer. Tenant/Inquilino spoke with Susan Howard, who organized much of the resistance.

TENANT/INQUILINO: We were shocked when we heard that Charas/El Bohio community center was evicted, and that you and six other activists were arrested in the process. What happened?

Susan Howard: Well, we were initially served with a 72-hour notice of eviction on Dec. 14. We fully expected to be evicted before a scheduled court date of Dec. 18. Fortunately, we had a large community presence and demonstration on Dec. 17, which I believe stopped the sheriff from evicting us before we got to court.

Why was the sheriff’s office involved? Doesn’t the city marshal handle landlord-tenant evictions?

I think the new owner, Gregg Singer, had connections with the Giuliani administration, and wanted to evict us before he left office. The sheriffs don’t follow the same regulations as the marshals. They can evict on a 72-hour notice instead of a six-day notice. City marshals also have a policy of not evicting tenants between Dec. 14 and Jan. 1. We were actually evicted during Giuliani’s farewell speech.

So you made it to court on Dec. 18. What was the outcome?

The court date was another example of the injustice Charas has experienced in the 3 1/2-year battle against the sale and eviction. We had filed an motion to request more time to find a new location, as well as to try and move 22 years of archives and arts materials from the building. We also hoped more time would move us into the next administration, and were in the process of reaching out to Bloomberg’s transition team to try and get help in stopping our eviction. We were scheduled in Civil Court for oral arguments at 2:15 p.m., but at 2:10 our lawyers were handed a written opinion by the Appellate Term, which ordered our judge, Saralee Evans, not to grant us any further stay of eviction. It was outrageous. We appealed their decision, but were denied a stay pending appeal. The only consolation we got from the Civil Court was a six-day notice of eviction instead of a three-day notice, so we had three more days to move out.

Three whole days. What did you do with that time?

First, we had a Christmas party, sort of a "going away but not giving up" party. Then, we planned a demonstration and civil disobedience. We wanted to make sure the public and the press witnessed the eviction of a community center for that of a private developer. Of course neither Gregg Singer nor Giuliani wanted any press, so the eviction watch began in earnest. We learned that the sheriff’s office does not have to give out information on evictions, whereas the city marshals must tell you if you’re scheduled for eviction the afternoon before. Clearly, the sheriff’s office did not want us to know when they were coming.

So you decided to stay and wait for the sheriff. When was Charas finally evicted, and what happened that day?

By 10 a.m. on Dec. 27, most of us had decided that the eviction was not going to happen, and were hurrying off to work or sleep. Then at about 10:30, three people arrived and said that they were with a security company and were there to look at the job. I realized they were waiting for the sheriff, and went to tell activists that were prepared to lock down on the front steps in an act of civil disobedience.

What do you mean by "lock down"?

We used four-foot-long cylinders made out of steel, chicken wire and red, white, and blue duct tape. We placed chains around our wrists, inserted our arms into the cylinders and chained our arms to each other from inside. Quickly, we had seven people chained and connected by four cylinders. On the outside of each cylinder we wrote the word "community." We had planned to lock down to an iron fence on the front steps, but the sheriff and police arrived within minutes, and we had no choice but to lock down where we were, inside the building on the first floor.

What happened when the sheriff arrived?

Some people heard helicopters first, and starting running over to Charas, I saw cops in riot gear, emergency-service personnel, Chief Allan Hoehl barking orders, sheriffs, the Manhattan South Task Force, and brass and patrolmen from the Ninth Precinct. Chief Hoehl was obviously irritated that we had managed to lock down, but had come prepared. They barricaded the streets, emptied out and searched the building, and then started to try and cut us out of the cylinders.

So there weren’t many people around when they finally arrived. How long did it take them to cut you out of the cylinders?

It took a while, maybe an hour, to cut us, or in my case, force us out of the cylinders, cuff us, and slip us out the back door and into paddy wagons. We were then taken to the Ninth Precinct and charged with resisting arrest and obstruction of governmental administration. We were given desk appearance tickets and were released between four and nine hours later. We were given a court date of Jan. 31.

Do you think you accomplished anything by your actions?

I do. It was a very public eviction. We had a massive amount of press. Our eviction ran in a constant cycle on NY1, and Channel 7 ran our story right after Giuliani’s farewell speech. The print press was pretty inaccurate, but Singer and Giuliani would have evicted us without notice if not for our actions.

Is the battle to save Charas over?

It’s far from over. The building is restricted for community facility use, and we as a community will make sure that it is. The day after our eviction, Gregg Singer erected a 10-foot fence around the property to keep us out. We are planning a demonstration sometime this month to bring attention to loss of our center and the lack of any plans for its use.

Viva Charas! Viva Armando Perez!

For more info or to keep in touch, go to http://www.charas.org.