Residents Rally on 20th Anniversary of Auctioning of CHARAS

East Village, New York NY, July 22, 2018 -- More than 200 people, both long-time and more recent residents; in addition to elected officials including Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, NYC Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, former NYC Council member Rosie Mendez, NY State Assembly member Harvey Epstein, Anthony Feliciano, District Leader for the 74th Assembly District, and a representative from NY State Senator Brad Hoylman's office and reps from East Village community organizations joined both new neighborhood residents and long-time community advocates at former P.S. 64, on East 9th Street between Avenues B & C. The building is better known as CHARAS/El Bohio. The group joined in rallying for the return of CHARAS to the Lower East Side Community and to ask Mayor de Blasio to take the next steps to return the building, as he had announced at a Town Hall meeting on October 12, 2017.

The rally, organized by neighborhood residents, drew attention to the neglect that the CHARAS building has experienced over the past twenty years after being sold at an auction on July 20th 1998 to developer Gregg Singer. Singer has left the building vacant and has allowed it to seriously deteriorate for the past twenty years. This has caused a major loss to the Lower East Side. For over the former 20 years CHARAS had occupied this building as a core place in the community where residents could enjoy spaces for artists and art lovers, for social programming and for many other activities benefiting local public residents. More information on the full history of CHARAS can be found in links at the end of this article.

The action featured performances by local artists, continues CHARAS' campaign efforts to keep a clear focus on this piece of city infrastructure; and to ensure that Mayor de Blasio continues his conversation with the activits about returning the building to the community as he had promised last year.

"CHARAS was a space where Lower East Side residents and people from nearby communities came together to explore their love of the arts and of activism, and for improving the lives of New Yorkers. While Loisaida has changed a lot over the past 20 years, there's no better time to bring it back. With everything going on in Washington and in our city, we can't leave this building sitting and wasting away for another 20 years -- our residents need ot now," said Councilwoman Carlina Rivera. "I'm encouraged by Mayor de Blasio's support for this cause, and I look forward to joining him at the table in the coming months to take action and restore CHARAS into something we can all be proud of ."

"Twenty years ago city government took a prized asset away from this community, and for twenty years this community has fought to get it back," said Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer. I commend Mayor de Blasio for committing to try to right this wrong, and urge him to direct his administration to move quickly."

Former Council member Rosie Mendez said: "The Giuliani administration auctioned our cultural center to the highest bidder 20 years ago to a developer who did nt have a plan in place for the future use of the building as was required with the dale of any city owned building. The building has sat vacant with plans that have not complied with the city's zoning and with the Department of Buildings' regulations. In a Council District 2 Town Hall Meeting, Mayor Bill de Blasio said 'Decisions made a long time ago were a mistake. To place that building in the hands of a private owner was a failed mistake. So I'm announcing tinight, the city's interest in reacquiring that building. We are ready to right the wrongs of the past . . . .' Let's make it so. Years keep adding up up and the developer has not put a plan in place the develop the building within the community facility deed restrictions."

"For 20 years we have witnessed the sad spectacle of a steadily decaying structure blighting our neighborhood where once stood a beautiful, vibrant community center. We trust Mayor de Blasio will continue to make brogress toward keeping his promise to the community to reacquire our beloved CHARAS/El Bohio" said New York State Assembly Member Harvey Epstein.

"It is really sad to see a building that was created for community use to go unused for two decades when there is such great need for affordable space for the arts, culture a nd not profit organizations in our community", said CHARAS community activist Chino Garcia. Garcia also spoke in detail about the history of CHARAS. More of that history in detail can be found in a link at the end of this article.

"On the 20th anniversary of the auction of the former PS 64, the East Village Community Coalition looks forward to working with the Mayor's office, Council Member Carlina Rivera, Community Board 3, CHARAS, our coalition partners and our neighbors to see thjis cherished landmark returned to true community use. We are ready to right the wrong of the past," said Saura Sewell, Executive Director of the East Village Community Coalition.

For more details on the history of CHARAS, see the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation article at:

https://www.6sqft.com/development-dispute-over-p-s-64-in-the-east-village-continues-two-decades-later/

and at:

http://gvshp.org/blog/2013/12/20/whats-up-with-that-rotting-school-on-east-9th-street/

Group photo at the top of this story by Ted Reich. Additional photos by Ted, of this and of other Lower East Side events can be seen on his Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/ted.rreich.735/photos_all?lst=100016661413468%3A1732942227%3A1532309170

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