Chinatown Tenants Launch Hunger Strike

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — Tenants of an unsafe Chinatown building launched a hunger strike on Thursday to pressure city officials to ensure that repairs to the building are made speedily so that the residents can return to their homes.

The ongoing saga at 85 Bowery, the Chinatown building that was vacated on Jan. 18, continues this week after building inspectors determined that the main staircase was so dangerous and unstable that it would require a brand-new staircase before the building could be occupied again.

"Repair is not an option," the city's department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) said in a statement. "Only a full replacement of the stairs and several structural supports can address the conditions."

The new stairs, plus additional repairs to the building, will take at least another eight weeks to complete, leaving the tenants forced out of their homes for at least three months before the building is safe to occupy.

The residents, an estimated 95 of whom were displaced last month, have been locked in ongoing legal battle with their landlord Joseph Betesh since 2015. The tenants and their allies say they believe that Betesh is trying to push them out of the building so that its rent can be raised for new tenants. Betesh has denied these claims and has promised prompt repairs for the building.

Three of the tenants at 85 Bowery began the hunger strike at a protest on Thursday morning, demanding that the city give them a clear deadline for when they can return to their homes, among other measures.

The tenants have repeatedly criticized city agencies, saying they haven't done enough to force Betesh to complete the repairs promptly.

On Wednesday, HPD said in a statement that "given the extraordinary circumstances at this building" city agencies were reviewing plans should Betesh fail to complete the structural repairs.

"If the owner does not continue to do the work necessary to rebuild the stairs and the DOB issues an Immediate Declaration of Emergency, HPD will be prepared to contract out the necessary work to restore the building to occupancy," HPD said in the statement.

Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou, who represents Chinatown, has been working with the tenants since their displacement last month.

"I understand tenants' skepticism on repairs given the landlord's track record of willful neglect, and I will continue to push both the City and landlord for accountability and speedy construction," Niou said in a statement on Thursday. "It is a positive step that the City is exploring taking over repairs should the landlord fail to meet construction milestones. However, the pressure must be kept as we approach three weeks since the vacate order left dozens of families homeless."

Niou expressed dismay that the tenants would not be able to return home for the Lunar New Year on Feb. 16, a holiday which a majority of the tenants celebrate.

Betesh is paying for some tenants to stay at a nearby Chinatown hotel after residents were initially put up at a Brooklyn lodging far from their neighborhood.

Image credit: Ciara McCarthy / Patch