RESOURCE CENTER
Newark Tenants United is a collection of affiliated Tenant Associations in the City of Newark, NJ, who are working together to achieve common goals. This website serves as a clearing-house of information on how to get things done, and how to organize a Tenants Association in the City of Newark, NJ. By working together with other tenants who are serious about changing Newark for the better, public policy will advance. Each affiliated Tenant Association is independant and makes their own decisions. This is an inclusive organziation, other buildings will be added as they come on board. To reach us by email, use ericmartindale2@gmail.com.
Tenants at 380 & 402 Mt. Prospect, The Colonnade, and
The Pavillion can see your own Home Page, with Breaking News for your buildings, by clicking the above gray tabs with your building name.
Are you struggling with getting management in your building to make repairs inside your apartment? What you need to know is HERE, on this website --- On the above gray bar, click the TENANT RESOURCE DIRECTORY. This gives advise on how a tenant can solve any problem, especially unit repair and code enforcement issues.
Issues affecting tenants are still very low on the city's priority list. Renters compromise approximately 75% of the population of Newark, NJ, and for the most part we are all totally un-empowered and disenfranchised. The following is a summary of city-wide tenants issues:
(1) END TAX SURCHARGE APPLICATIONS --- Pass an ordinance to prohibit landlords from making applications to the Rent Control Board to request rent hikes to cover an increase in property taxes. Property owners can instead file for a property tax appeal.
(2) COMPLETE TRANSPARENCY IN CODE ENFORCEMENT VIOLATIONS --- Newark needs the type of software and database that is used in New York City. www.nyc.gov, or do a google search for HPD. You can type in any NYC address and see the history of all violations as well as any open matter. It’s amazing and empowering. The City of Newark is not utilizing Code Enforcement as a revenue-generating program, and as a result, tenants are completely disenfranchised by the process, as follows.
- There is no software tracking a violation from the day it is issued through the court system. The Court system adds it's own court docket # for any violation that goes to court, which is fine, but they are not communicating the results back to Code Enforcement. It is virtually impossible to correlate a violation # to a court docket #. We’ve been told that the Courts are now reporting some information back to Code Enforcement and notes are being added on some cases, but the real answer is with the software described above.
- Tenants who secure inspections from Code Enforcement are not notified of: (a) which issues became actual violations, the Municipal Court Docket Number, the court date, judge’s name, and courtroom number, and (b) the Court decision. Collectively, this gives them the impression that "the city did nothing" or “the city doesn’t care”. This disenfranchises tenants and disaffects voters.
- Lack of information on Code Violation Court decisions makes it difficult for tenants to process Small Claims Court cases because there is no “proof”.
(3) ALLOW JOINT APPLICATIONS FOR RENT CREDITS --- The Rent Control Board should allow tenant leaders and/or Tenant Associations to make joint applications to the Board on behalf of all tenants in a building, whether they are in attendance or not. These applications include requests for rent credits when it has been documented by Code Enforcement that central heat or central air was down for the entire building. It is absurd to make each tenant physically go to city hall to file their own case, and all the separate cases are a total waste of the Rent Control Board’s time and resources.
(4) TENANT ADVOCATE --- There should be a staff member at the city’s Rent Control Department who is the official Tenant Advocate. A tenant advocate is someone who is not neutral on landlord/tenant matters, and who will provide real advice. Maria Hernandez does not fill this role. The Tenant Advocate should also serve as an intermediary with both City and State code enforcers, compile information on landlord/tenant law and case law, give an annual report to the Mayor & Council, and have adequate knowledge of legal matters to give tenants good advice on landlord/tenant disputes. The Tenant Advocate shall also monitor the actions of Landlord-Tenant attorneys and document any excesses.
(5) LEASE VALIDATION COURT PROCESS --- Landlords are increasingly adding clauses to leases which are illegal and unenforceable, but their presence on the lease disenfranchises tenants who don’t know their rights. A process needs to be set up, possibly involving a Tenant Advocate and the Court System, in which a tenant or a tenants association can request a judge’s review of a questionable lease. If found to be faulty, landlords would then be ordered to rescind and rewrite all the leases for the entire building, and to post a notice in a common area for tenants to see.
(6) SUPPORT STATE LEGISLATION FOR LEGAL FEE EQUALITY --- Every lease has a boiler-plated clause that the tenant pays the landlord’s legal fees if they lose in court. However, the reverse is typically not granted, which is unusual in the field of law. If the lease has the legal fee clause, then the lease should also state that tenants would be entitled to legal fees if the tenant wins in court. Passage of such legislation would maintain the basic principle of fairness and equity, and it could prompt many landlords to remove the clause from their leases in its entirely. That would help to lead society in a less-litigious direction. This legislation is being generated by tenant activists in Jersey City, and has the support of the NJ Tenants Organization. We request official support and lobbying action from the Newark Mayor and City Council, including securing the co-sponsorship of all legislators representing parts of Newark.
(7) ENFORCEMENT OF SECURITY GUARD ORDINANCE --- This was passed on April 1, 2009. Some individual buildings over 100 units still have daytime guards that are not employed by outside licensed security firms, or they are not complying with the armed guard provision for the overnight shift. And there are still some groups of buildings of two or more buildings (each less than 100 units, but they total over 100 units) that are in complete non-compliance, including 311 and 330 Mt. Prospect Ave.
(8) SUPERINTENDENT IDENTIFICATION ORDINANCE --- The name and unit # for both the Superintendent and the Black Seal Boiler Operator must be posted in the entrance of each building so that tenants, police, and fire personnel can reach them in the event of an emergency. If it is the same person, that’s fine, but the information posted should specifically state his name, his Superintendent registration number, and his Black Seal Boiler Operator’s number. This proposed ordinance should be considered to be a matter of public safety.
(9) BALANCED REPRESENTATION ON THE RENT CONTROL BOARD --- The definition of "Tenant Representative" should NOT include tenants who are currently or formerly employed as agents of landlords. Current Rent Control Board member Annie Cheatam is a "tenant representative" who is actually a retired career property manager. The fact that she was appointed to represent tenant interests is a clear indication that someone in power does not want tenant issues addressed.
(10) RESTORE CODE ENFORCEMENT STAFFING LEVELS --- The 2010 Budget crisis hit disproportionally upon the staff of Code Enforcement. This budget crisis was an opportunity for city officials to shave down Code Enforcement at the request of landlords. Restoring the staffing levels will allow tenants issues to be addressed.
(11) PARKS --- Push for more parks and playgrounds, and the Riverfront Walkway. This is a quality of life issue.
(12) ABANDONED PROPERTIES --- Identify abandoned houses and buildings, which mar the city’s neighborhoods and detract from the Quality of Life, and work within the city administration for their demolition.
(13) ESTABLISH COMMUNITY BOARDS / DEMOCRACY-ON-FIRE --- Newark could implement some version of New York City's setup of Community boards to allow for local control and direct community empowerment of every portion of the city. See http://www.nyc.gov/html/cau/html/cb/about.shtml Each Borough of NYC is segmented into "communities” with a local governing structure. Here’s an excerpt direct from NYC’s website:
“Community boards are local representative bodies. There are 59 community boards throughout the City, and each one consists of up to 50 unsalaried members…Each community board is led by a District Manager who establishes an office, hires staff, and implements procedures to improve the delivery of City services to the district. While the main responsibility of the board office is to receive complaints from community residents, they also maintain other duties, such as processing permits for block parties and street fairs. Many boards choose to provide additional services and manage special projects that cater to specific community needs, including organizing tenants associations, coordinating neighborhood cleanup programs, and more.”
For a city the size of Newark, one community board for every 20,000 - 35,000 people would make sense. “Community” diminishes above that population in suburban towns. The community boards should be composed of 9 elected members, not dozens of appointed members like in NY. The city councilperson’s and mayor’s staff can be downsized proportionally to pay for the District Managers and staff, because the Community Boards will be filling that function, but much more thoroughly and democratically. The staff (in some cases the same staff, relocated) would be reporting to the local community board instead of reporting to one elected official. The goal is to decentralize Newark and restructure the city in such a way as to give significant power, home rule, and community involvement to both tenants and homeowners, so that neighborhood and tenant issues can be addressed. Meanwhile the Newark City Council would be tasked to focus on the “big picture” issues. Imagine 20 community boards in Newark all demanding accountability and performance? All the city departments, the local police precincts, and the elected officials would be held super-accountable to these community power centers. The stronger the communities are, the better, and they would continuously source the next generation of candidates for mayor and city council. No elected official should ever fear democracy, and this would be democracy-on-fire. If anyone really wants to fix Newark, this type of bottom-up restructuring is how to do it. Give the power to the people, to the neighborhoods. Newark's step in establishing 20 "Superneighborhoods" was a baby-step in this direction. Let’s go to the next step. Motivated citizens could potentially petition to elect a Charter Commission, which would restructure the entire government of Newark and make this happen. An easier way would be for the Mayor & Council to do it internally. As of right now, all options are on the table.
What each tenant organization or individual tenant activist can accomplish, on their own, is small compared to these larger goals. After years of advocating for tenants, the realization has set in that the system itself is the problem. Changing the faces at city hall will accomplish nothing; the problem is far deeper. It is the structure of the government and the ordinances on the books that is holding back Newark, and that is what has to be changed.
OUR VISION FOR NEWARK
Although individual tenants can and do have opinions to the contrary, the majority of our supporters want Newark to become safer, more economically vibrant, and a bit more upscale in the city's downtown. Or perhaps we should say "less economically depressed" in the city's downtown. We are against crime, drug problems, and gangs.
We don't get involved in the politics of Newark. But we do support the plans of the Cory Booker administration for the emergence of a trendy community in the downtown of Newark, in order to create thousands of jobs for the hard-working citizens of Newark and to improve the image of the city as a whole. It is important that any new buildings are inclusive to people of all walks of life. There is a vision of downtown Newark becoming a thriving and diverse place, like parts of Manhattan. We have no objections to mid and high-rent buildings being constructed in or near the Downtown, as they would add to the diversity of the existing housing stock. Diversity is good, both culturally and economically. What's most important in Newark and the world is that the human condition improves and civilization advances. Households that are economically stable are often the ones that can contribute their time and money towards improving their community.
Our founders at 380 and 402 Mt. Prospect Avenue started this effort by campaigning to prevent two of the best buildings in Newark from falling into neglect and disrepair. Tenants who demand a high quality of life shouldn't be driven out of any building in Newark.
We want stop buildings from falling into a deepening spiral of crime, poverty, neglect, and disrepair.
We know these problems feed upon each other, and they worsen as concerned tenants give up and more. As problems worsen, the history of Newark is that many privately-owned complexes have been abandoned and boarded up. In the last few years alone, many complexes have been lost. There are 4 problems with this.
(1) That's a total business loss for the owners.
(2) It destroys the tax base of the city. The loss of tax revenue hinders the ability of the city to provide needed social services for it's citizens,
(3) Buildings on their way down cause a much greater burden on city, county, state, federal, and non-profit resources, including police, fire, code enforcement, courts, education, and social services of all kinds. The cost to the taxpayer becomes astronomical, and
(4) Tenants who are caught in declining buildings have their lives tragically affected in so many ways:
- Their quality of life is affected by code violations inside their units such as leaks, crumbling plaster walls and ceilings, mold issues, no heat, broken appliances, etc, or due to the deterioration of common areas including hallways, lobbies, elevators, etc.
- They feel insecure, and they live in fear of thugs and gangs, or vicious dogs,
- They or their friends, neighbors, and family members become the victims of crime,
- They watch as their children or grandchildren abandon the values of their families or their faith, and they become part of the gang and street scene. Many wind up incarcerated or involved in troubled relationships. Others, especially men, become poor examples as a parent, perpetuating a cycle of troubles to the next generation,
- It's generally a cultural, moral, and spiritual drain on the human condition.
- Ultimately tenants are forced to move as their building becomes too unsafe and unbearable, or it becomes completely abandoned.
We feel it is important for our readers to have an understanding that all four problems exist, however it is the tenant problems that we are focussed on.
There was no organization in Newark directly focussed on these tenant problems before we came onto the scene. Landlords typically don't care about these problems, they just want the rent to be paid on time. Their law firms are getting more ferocious, sometimes abusing the law and over-stepping the bounds of attorney ethics. The legislature of the State of New Jersey no longer has the committment to tenant interests that it had in the past. Nor does the City of Newark, simply because tenants are not as organized as in the past, or because certain tenant leaders have alienated city officials. We hope to counter these trends. We differ from the Newark HUD Tenants Coalition, which at times opposes redevelopment and/or economic development. The organizations do share many common goals, and we agree that it is in everyone's best interest if city officials hear from more tenant leaders.
We generally support social services of all kinds and we agree that creating more housing stock for the economically disadvantaged is important for Newark; it just isn't our focus. There are
dozens of organizations which focus on those problems. They are doing good work, and we wish them the best.
To a large degree, all the public and private social service organizations are focussing on the results of what happens when buildings decline. We want to stop it from happening in the first place. Our goals are similar, we're just attacking the problem from different ends. Wasn't it Ben Franklin who said "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".
Before our formation, there was no organization in Newark who's primary focus was on Code Enforcement, Quality of Life issues, safety issues, and the prevention of crime, especially as they pertain to tenants. Our goal is to fill this gaping void in Newark's network of activists and non-profit groups.
Our focus is strongly on our
QUALITY OF LIFE. That is the fundamental difference between the two Newark-based tenant organizations. We want to keep our buildings and our neighborhoods CLEAN, SAFE, and QUIET for ourselves, our neighbors, and for our children. Most of our supporters are working-class and middle-income tenants who believe that Newark has turned the corner, and stands ready to become the jewel of the Garden State.
