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From the EPA to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC),
our communities’ health and economic needs are suffering as
a result of the government cover-ups and lies. Through several demonstrations,
some changes were achieved but LMDC’s relief policies under
Gov. Pataki’s leadership and HUD’s supervision continue
to rob the poor and feed the rich, rejecting many of us and forcing
others to wait indefinitely.
Since May, the LMDC has been meeting secretly to decide how to
use the $1.3 billion in so-called “surplus” funds –
money originally from Federal Anti-Poverty HUD funds that were supposed
to help 9/11 victims living in Lower Manhattan. Instead, LMDC helped
rich West Side residents but never gave Chinatown and LES residents
the same opportunity. Now Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg have already
taken $50 million to build luxury housing for the rich. (Only 300
apartments will be “affordable” housing - for people who
make $50,000-85,000/year.) How can they claim that there is a surplus
when most of us have never received a penny?
The case against the LMDC was further strengthened by a recent
letter sent to HUD Secretary Martinez by Congressional Members Nydia
Velazquez, Jerrold Nadler, and Carolyn Maloney in which they cite
the LMDC’s failure to follow the guidelines Congress established
in issuing the federal Community Development Block Grant HUD funds.
For example, they cite LMDC's obligation to “make every effort
possible to respond to applications…within 45 days of submission
to an application” and that “individuals living on or
south of 14th Street would be eligible for services.”
LMDC claims they want to hear from us but what they really intend
to do is deceive the community in order to quickly kick us out of
Lower Manhattan. No money has gone to protect current low-income
housing. No money has gone to protect our health – every day
we’re getting sicker and sicker from the toxic fallout of the
9/11 disaster. No money has gone to protect and set aside jobs for
working people living in the Lower East Side and
Chinatown.
LMDC cannot keep their doors closed any longer! Thousands of residents
of the Lower East Side and Chinatown spoke out on Sunday September
7th at the Town Hall Meeting.
JOIN us and demand that LMDC fix residential grant program and pay
us now and that LMDC immediately invest the “surplus”
money to rebuild the lives of all low-income
working people in the LES and Chinatown.
Call (646) 256-3859 for more information on how
you can get involved in saving our community!
Sponsored by the LES Consortium for LMDC Equity
& Beyond Ground Zero Network
Asian American Legal and Education Defense Fund, Cabrini Immigrant
Services,Chinese Staff & Workers’ Association,
Immigrant Social Services, It’s Time, National Mobilization
Against SweatShops, St. Teresa’s Church, Urban Justice Center
NMASS Home | Beyond
Ground Zero Network
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