{"id":12920,"date":"2019-08-03T17:20:44","date_gmt":"2019-08-03T21:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=12920"},"modified":"2019-08-03T17:20:44","modified_gmt":"2019-08-03T21:20:44","slug":"renters-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2019\/08\/03\/renters-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"Tenants Protest After United Properties Hikes Rents Nearly 50 Percent In Malden"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cSometimes it feels inevitable, but it\u2019s not inevitable,\u201d Steve Meacham, an organizer for the housing advocacy group City Life\/Vida Urbana, told the crowd at a rally this afternoon to support tenants in an apartment building at 33 Park St. in Malden fighting rent hikes of nearly 50 percent. \u201cIt\u2019s wrong. \u2026 When the tenants got a 50 percent rent increase they decided they would fight it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The building is owned by United Properties, \u201cthe management entity for all of Andreas [Tsitos\u2019s] properties,\u201d<\/a> according to the corporation\u2019s website. It owns some 800 units in Malden, Meacham said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnited Properties, you can\u2019t hide! We can see your greedy side!\u201d Meacham led the crowd to chant.<\/p>\n

\"City<\/a>
City Life\/Vida Urbana rally to support renters fighting hikes of nearly 50 percent at 33 Park St., Malden, Aug. 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tenants wrote on the facebook invitation to the rally<\/a>: “Our historic apartment building in the heart of Malden was bought earlier this year by a real estate developer who now owns half of the city. Our new landlord has jacked up the rent by almost 50 percent, effectively driving out a majority of the long-term tenants, including the superintendent who had lived here and maintained the residence for more than 30 years. Those of us who are staying have decided to push back against this unfair and exorbitant increase in our rents. We are unable to find comparable housing options in Malden because the landlord has a monopoly on the rental market. But we are the working-class people that make Malden a thriving, diverse, and interesting community, and we refuse to give up our homes without a fight.<\/p>\n

Katherine Bergeron said she\u2019d lived in the building for about 10 years after having to leave Boston housing because of a \u201cslumlord.\u201d \u201cEvery time we feel solid somewhere, we just get kicked out all over again. It\u2019s heartbreaking,\u201d she said, getting choked up.<\/p>\n

\"Stephen<\/a>
Stephen Frederick hugs tenant Katherine Bergeron after she spoke at the City Life\/Vida Urbana rally to support renters fighting hikes of nearly 50 percent at 33 Park St., Malden, Aug. 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe cannot afford this,\u201d said Janak Kumar, who said he\u2019d lived in the building for about 13 years.<\/p>\n

Malden Mayor Gary Christenson and City Councilors John Matheson and Stephen Winslow expressed support for the tenants and a need to keep housing affordable in the city. Representatives of the Chinese Progressive Association, Malden Education Association (a teachers\u2019 union), a union tradesman, and housing activists from East Boston and Jamaica Plain also spoke in support of the tenants.<\/p>\n

\"City<\/a>
City Life\/Vida Urbana organizer Steve Meecham (left) at the rally to support renters fighting hikes of nearly 50 percent at 33 Park St., Malden, Aug. 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI never thought anything like this would happen to me. I always kept my bills paid,\u201d said Bruce Green of the Stony Brook Tenants Association in Hyde Park. \u201cBut, no, not when somebody wants you to move out for his riches. \u2026 Once he gets his more money, he\u2019s going to go for the next neighbor and the next neighbor. \u2026 It\u2019s happening all over the city of Boston. They\u2019re building like crazy, but you think you\u2019re going to be able to afford them?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an important battle and we\u2019re going to win it,\u201d Meacham concluded, \u201cand that\u2019s going to help Malden and residents of the Boston area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Bruce<\/a>
Bruce Green of the Stony Brook Tenants Association speaks at the City Life\/Vida Urbana rally to support renters fighting hikes of nearly 50 percent at 33 Park St., Malden, Aug. 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"East<\/a>
East Boston and Jamaica Plain activists speak at the City Life\/Vida Urbana rally to support renters fighting hikes of nearly 50 percent at 33 Park St., Malden, Aug. 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"City<\/a>
City Life\/Vida Urbana rally to support renters fighting hikes of nearly 50 percent at 33 Park St., Malden, Aug. 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Malden<\/a>
Malden Mayor Gary Christenson (right) shakes hands of tenants during a City Life\/Vida Urbana rally to support renters fighting hikes of nearly 50 percent at 33 Park St., Malden, Aug. 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"City<\/a>
City Life\/Vida Urbana rally to support renters fighting hikes of nearly 50 percent at 33 Park St., Malden, Aug. 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Bruce<\/a>
Bruce Green of the Stony Brook Tenants Association (right) speaks at the City Life\/Vida Urbana rally to support renters fighting hikes of nearly 50 percent at 33 Park St., Malden, Aug. 3, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSometimes it feels inevitable, but it\u2019s not inevitable,\u201d Steve Meacham, an organizer for the housing advocacy group City Life\/Vida Urbana, told the crowd at a rally this afternoon to support tenants in an apartment building at 33 Park St. in Malden fighting rent hikes of nearly 50 percent. \u201cIt\u2019s wrong. \u2026 When the tenants got […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,108],"tags":[399,41,14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12920"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12920"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12923,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12920\/revisions\/12923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}