Living with Legends

     Today, April 1, 2009, the case of  Daniel Peckham vs  Calogero will he heard up in Albany .  Everyone who can make it should go up to Albany and support Dan and his campaign to preserve his rent stabilized apartment against his greedy landlord Larry Tauber.  Dan Peckham, you might remember, is the heroic tenant activist who is the lone hold out in his building on West 21^st St. in Chelsea.  He has single handedly thwarted  the plans of developer Larry Tauber to transform this rent-stabilized building into luxury condos, costing Tauber hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenues and legal fees while the case has slowly been making its way through the courts.  Peckham is a yoga instructor who uses his discipline to avoid the stress of his protracted battle.  Dan has also generously met with the Chelsea Hotel’s tenant activists and shared strategies for fighting greedy landlords.

     At the heart of the case is the so called “phony demolition law” whereby landlords take advantage of a provision in the law allowing them to evict tenants in order to demolish a building.  In this case Tauber is merely gut-renovating the building and trying to claim that it’s a demolition and therefore gives him the right to evict Peckham.  Peckham is joined in this case by the DHCR. This case is important because it could set a precedent and close a loop-hole that has been used to evict many NYC tenants. 
     Landlord Larry Tauber – surprise, surprise – is being represented by none other than the law firm of Belkin Burden who has been representing the Chelsea Hotel recently in its efforts to evict tenants.  If somebody out there travels to Albany let us know how it goes. — Ed Hamilton