NYC Non-Profit Public Interest Law Firm Gives Hope To Tenants In Lawsuit Against Gentrifying-Seeking, North Bronx Landlord Looking To Give Them The Boot

In the Bedford Park section of The Bronx, Norwood News reports:

• For the past six months, the small band of tenants at 267 E. 202nd St., a 2-story apartment building, have dealt with an uncertainty that hasn’t quite been resolved: are they staying or going?
  
  It’s a question that’s been on the minds of these tenants who’ve built lives there for as long as 30 years.
  
  “Everybody’s been living in that building for so long,” said Cynthia Garcia, a tenant and single mother of two children. “Everybody’s like family.”
  
  The piece of property, resting at the tip of Briggs Avenue in a sleepy part of Bedford Park, remains a source of attention for a lawyer looking to keep tenants in their homes, a lawmaker who’s kept an eye on developments, and housing advocates who balk at the ongoing urbanization of the neighborhood.
  
  Together they’ve all set their sights on the new owner, Peter Fine, a housing developer who spent some years building homes in wealthy parts of Florida state. He’s since been taken to court, propagating a situation that, at its core, is arguing the future look of Bedford Park. It’s since inspired petitions demanding lawmakers downzone the district.
  
  Fine is now answering a lawsuit originally filed against Genesis Realty, which had sent 30-day eviction notices to tenants in February. The original suit, filed by the tenants’ attorney, Andrew Darcy,(1) demanded repairs inside the building be made. The suit doubled as insurance to keep the tenants in their homes. The two sides are expected in court in July to conference with the court over repairs.
  
  For tenants, their fears seem rooted with one conclusion: Fine wants to clear the building so it could be bulldozed, making way for new housing. Just what kind of housing remains unclear.

For more, see Residents, Holding to Bedford Park Home, Plug Away.

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(1) Andrew Darcy is a staff attorney with MFY Legal Services, a non-profit public interest law firm that provides free legal assistance to vulnerable and under-served residents of New York City on a wide range of civil legal issues.