Back in September, the tenants of 950 Rutland met for the first meeting of their relaunched tenant association! A past tenant association fell apart years ago when one of the tenant leaders passed away and, also, when the nonprofit helping them organize stopped showing up.
BED got a call from a tenant dealing with leak issues and we figured the problems werent confined to one unit. We began canvassing and doorknocking and talking to tenants about the building, about their experiences and issues, about the old TAs, the super, the neighborhood. —
The meeting in September was electric: 25 tenants showed up and there was a unanimous frustration (a righteous one) that more tenants were not present. This was not a bitter frustration but a galvanizing one: the tenants of 950 Rutland left the meeting set on growing the TA and and transforming their conditions.
Since then the TA has grown to encompass much of the building with dedicated building floor captains and building captains. The tenants are now branching out to neighboring buildings also owned by their landlord to form a portfolio wide tenants council. Updates soon to come.
If you’d like to support us in these struggles to build tenant power across Brooklyn please reach out and join us!