Negotiations To Keep Brooklyn Great Grandma In Home Of 40+ Years Stall; Activists Plan On Another Protest

In Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Bed Stuy Patch reports:

• Negotiations faltered again last Wednesday for Ms. Mary Ward, the Brooklyn great-grandmother whose home was sold following a predatory lending scheme. After an eviction blockade the prior Friday, August 19, organized by non-profit housing advocates and local residents, supporters were able to postpone the eviction of Ms. Ward by city marshals.



• The successful blockade ended with Assembly member Annette Robinson volunteering to mediate a meeting on behalf of Ms. Ward and the property’s new owner, Shameem Chowdhury, set for last Monday, August 22. Lawyers for Ms. Ward submitted to Chowdhury a formal offer of $70,000—money Ms. Ward had in escrow. Additionally, Chowdury could donate the property to a land trust as a tax write off.



• However, Chowdhury has been unresponsive. After he no-showed for the Monday meeting, and the second meeting rescheduled for that Wednesday, August 24, lawyers for Ms. Ward have started preparing a contingency plan in the likely event that the property’s new owner refuses to negotiate.

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• Lawyers for Ms. Ward offer their reason why the home's sale was illegal in the following article: An Illegal Home Sale, According to Common Law.



• And finally, Shameem Chowdhury talks! Click here to read the exclusive interview he gave Bed-Stuy Patch: Housing Speculator to Ms. Ward: "I'm Innocent".

For more, see Still no Deal for 82-Yr-Old Great Grandma; Another Protest Planned (After a second no-show by the property's owner, organizers plan another protest and march).