In what organizers called the largest tenants’ meeting ever at the Hoboken Housing Authority (HHA), more than 250 people packed into a basement community room on Marshall Drive Tuesday night to protest changes in their lease agreements and call for the removal of the HHA’s Executive Director, E. Troy Washington. The meeting was arranged informally by the tenants and was publicized through flyers and word-of-mouth. Washington and other top housing officials were not present. “I’ve lived in the Housing Authority all my life and I’ve never seen so many people so angry about one thing before,” said Jackson Gardens South Tenant Association President Linda Walker, who organized the meeting with Jackson Gardens North Tenant Association President Gene Rodriguez and other residents. “We are united on this.” In a meeting punctuated by blasts of a whistle to quiet the crowd, and interrupted repeatedly to allow for translations into Spanish, a slew of outraged speakers urged their neighbors not to sign a new lease agreement Housing Authority managers have drafted because they say it is unfair. Instead, they urged tenants to sign a petition that they plan to send to federal officials including federal Department of Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Andrew Cuomo. HUD oversees public housing authorities. “The residents of the Hoboken Housing Authority are calling for the immediate removal of Mr. Troy Washington as Executive Director,” former Housing Authority tenant Carmelo Garcia read to the crowd from the petition he co-authored, as dozens of people began to scramble for pens to sign. “Mr. Washington has disregarded and discounted our concerns in the formation of a vision and overhaul plan for the Hoboken Housing Authority… He is forcing us to sign a lease that is against our will that we believe does not adequately or fairly remedy the issues we are hoping to have resolved.” Washington declined Thursday to comment on the meeting. The volunteer board of commissioners that oversees Washington had held a public hearing in December to listen to feedback from tenants about the new lease, but only five tenants showed up. At the time, Washington said he was disheartened that few people had turned out. Tenants at the meeting said they had not had enough time to review the lease. At last week’s meeting, residents said they had been unaware of what was in the lease at that time, but now that they have taken the time to review it, a number of them are not happy. “The fact that we get a $25 fee for late rent payments is the worst part of this,” said recently-appointed HHA Commissioner Arlette Braxton, who also lives in the projects, as the meeting broke up. “We used to have pay $10, but they only pay $7 over in Church Towers and that housing is for a higher income level.” Other residents said that new surcharges based on the number of televisions and air conditioners that tenants own are particularly onerous. “We have to pay for our air conditioners even in the winter when we are not using them,” said Nilsa Rivera. “It’s just not right.” “Think about the absurdity of having to pay extra to have your television and your air conditioning,” added Garcia. “Its almost unconstitutional.” As the meeting progressed, more and more residents urged their neighbors to call for Washington’s resignation. “I want to tell you that when Washington says that he is not going anywhere, Richard Nixon said the same thing,” yelled Willard Scott as he pumped his fist into the air and the crowd cheered. “When I was a kid I heard a story about a cat that was eating all the mice in a kitchen. The mouse family got together and said, ‘what should we do?’ and somebody said ‘put a bell on its neck and we’ll know where it is.’ Well I’m the one who is going to put the bell on Mr. Washington’s neck.” Rodriguez urged tenants not to sign the lease, arguing that there were blank spaces on the contract that might be filled in after tenants put their signature on it. After the applause died down, Carlos Morales, who was barely visible in the sea of tenants, shouted, “Washington is only one and we are 500,” as the crowd erupted into shouts of solidarity. Washington has recently completed his first year as executive director. He took control of the agency after serving as comptroller for ten months. In his year in office, Washington has started to implement changes like the construction of new facades on the HHA’s buildings and the rehabilitation of bathrooms in Jackson Gardens. Even though he has had the unqualified support of the board of commissioners, some residents say that things have become worse, not better, under his watch. “Things are much, much worse here,” Walker said. “It’s time for a change.”
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