"Not For Sale: A project Against Displacement"
Sponsored by PADD, Group Material, Metropolitan Council on Housing, June 1983
All photographs and objects were found during the renovation/re-habitation of 37 Canal St after 40 years of vacancy.
Statement (excerpts)
"I had to move. My landlord told me so. He wanted the apartment for himself. He had prepared me, given me two years notice he said. When he first bought the building I had already lived there for six years. It was a rent-controlled apartment. He seemed like a nice guy……First he wanted the parlor floor… My personal life was in shambles and I did want to make a change. My apartment had been broken into. The rats were out of control and essential services had been interrupted. The ceiling fell down and a huge hole dug-out denying access to the backyard……..I saw an add in the newspaper. It said,
 “8 Apartments for Rent
Good for Artist to Fix-up.
CHEAP”
At first I thought it must be some kind of joke….At first we did not tell each other the special deals we had made with the landlord.
I don’t want to be forced or coerced into moving again. The business of displacing people is a dirty one. It happens daily all over New York City, especially here on the Lower East Side.
The question that keeps coming back to me is : “Where do all the people go?”
I wondered who lived in my apartment before me. I found pieces of life from a long time ago but no answers..." |
