TENANTS ROCKED THE HOUSE!

1,000 tenants, housing advocates, elected officials, clergy and community leaders turned out in force on Tuesday night to demand the end to vacancy decontrol! We had a tremendously successful rally that left everyone excited and ready to carry forward the end of vacancy decontrol and the greatest win for

tenants in decades. Our chants shook that building's foundations, our passion flooded the streets.

Congratulations and Thank you EVERYONE who made it such a success -- the 1,000 who turned out, the 100 volunteers, the dozens who poured countless hours in to make the rally happen! We are making history.

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IN THIS POST:

1- Congratulations & THANK YOU!

2- Support from Elected Officials

3- Stay involved

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1- *Congratulations & Thank You
..to everyone who worked to make the rally a huge success!

The Housing Here and Now steering committee groups: ACORN, Community Voices Heard, Make the Road NY, New York AIDS Housing Network, New York Immigration Coalition, North West Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, Tenants and Neighbors, Working Families Party

Other organizations that mobilized and helped make the rally a success: Casa/New Settlement, Catholic Charities of Brooklyn, Chelsea Tenant Action Committee, City Wide Task Force on Housing Court, East Side Congregations, Flatbush Development Corporation, Goddard Riverside Community Center, Good Old Lower East Side, Housing Conservation Coordinators, Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness & Housing, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Met Council on Housing, Mirabel Sisters, Neighbors Allied for Good Growth, Neighbors Helping Neighbors, Park West Village, People's Firehouse, Pratt Area Community Council, Queers for Economic Justice, Real Rent Reform (R3), RENA (Riverside-Edgecombe Neighborhood Association), Rude Mechanical Orchestra, SRO Project, St. Nicholas NPC/UNO, Tenants PAC, United Neighbors Organization, West Side Neighborhood Alliance

People who were crucial to making it happen: Andres Mares Muro, Angel Vera, Ana Lugo, Ann Bragg, Ann Meigsinger, Anne Sullivan, Bob Masters, Bill Lipton, Diego Gerena-Quinones, Emmanuel Caicedo, Ericka Stallings, Erin Zipper, Erik Beach, Gladys Puglia, Henry Serrano, Hugh Ryan, Jay Toole, Javier Valdes, Jeremy Saunders, Jon Kest, Jon Westin, Laverne Holley, Liz Gardner, Maggie Russell Ciardi, Marc Greenberg, Rev. Mark C. Hallinan, Mike Mckee, Orlando Torres, Pat Boon, Patrick Coleman, Ramona Santana, Tunisha Walker, Lucas Shapiro, Elana Shneyer, Tenaz Dubash, Erin Carmen, Katie Goldstein, Liz McInnes...And more!

Everyone who mobilized, were bus captains and volunteers: Alex Garcia, Amanda Plumb, Annette Kirnan, Ariel Federow, Avi Rosenthalis, Bridgette Beatty, Bryan Sanchinell, Cameron Craig, Cesar Figueroa, Christopher Fussell, Chuck Tice, Clare Dockery, Clive Edwards, Daniel Lang/Levitsky, Dara Silverman, Dave Golden, Diego, Elida Ramirez, Edy Lyons, Edrie Cote, Elida, Emily Margolis, Emily Millay Haddad, Eric Alugas, Erica Weinstein, Eve Goodman, Evellin R Mejia, Francine Brewer, George Finley, Janet Ziff, Jaron Benjamin, Jay Jones, Jean Davis, Jeremiah Jones, Jesse Goldman, Joseph Ferdinand, Kurt Hill , Laura Rocio Ordonez, Leroy Matthews, Margo Kulkarni, Maria Quintanilla, Michael Hartwyk, Omayra Navia, Peter Gillespie, Rafael A Perez, Ronn Merriwether, Ryan Kuonen, Ryan Richardson, Saduf Syal, Sara Lalin, Shannon Barber, Wayne Harrington, Yolanda Coca ... And SO MANY More!

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2- Support from Elected Officials:

On Tuesday December 9th, we held our allies in the State Legislature to our demands to end vacancy decontrol. Everyone who climbed the stage signed the pledge:

-- We will make the repeal of vacancy decontrol a top priority in 2009.

-- By January 10, 2009, I will speak to my Speaker, the future Housing Chair and the Governor and urge them to support the repeal of vacancy decontrol.

We had a strong showing with 13 state elected officials signing on: Senator-Elect Joe Addabbo, Senator Tom Duane, Senator Liz Krueger, Senator Diane Savino, Senator Eric Schniederman, Senator Jose Serrano, Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Senator-Elect Daniel Squadron, Assembly Member Karim Camera, Assembly Member Richard N. Gottfried, Assembly Member Hakeem Jeffries, Assembly Member Jose Peralta, and Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal; City Council Member Gale Brewer also showed her support.

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3- Stay Involved

Membership Meeting & Housing Justice Legislative Advocacy Training

For the last 3 weeks of January, we will be scheduling visits with key State Assembly members and Senators who can push forward the repeal of vacancy decontrol. Join us for a training on conducting lobby visits and a meeting to plan our legislative strategy!

When: Tuesday, January 13^th, 6pm

Where: Grace Church, 86 4th ave (at 11th street) New York, NY

Give feedback

What did you think about the rally? What was good? What could be better next time? What should our next steps be?

Volunteer for Housing Here and Now!

Help build on the energy from Tuesday's rally! We need help with data-entry and phone banking so we can stay in touch with everyone who came. Give an hour or two to Housing Here and Now in the coming month!

RSVP/Contact: Danielle AT Housinghereandnow.org or 646-202-3962

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* We apologize to anyone we missed! Thank you for everything!