The reviews are in on the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) final vote:

"… BAFFLED…" - Bruce Lambert, NY TIMES
"I WAS FLABBERGASTED…" - David Pagan, RGB Tenant Member (NY TIMES 6/22)
"… A STUNNING MOVE…" - Tom Topousis, NY POST
"… A SURPRISE…" - Lisa L. Colangelo and Dave Goldiner, DAILY NEWS
"… UNEXPECTED…" - CRAIN'S NY BUSINESS
"… A STRANGE YEAR…" - GOTHAM GAZETTE

....... The response comes from the board's last minute decision to raise rents by 4% on one-year leases and 6% on two-year leases, replacing the 3%/5% numbers that passed in preliminary votes. This last minute reversal is what shocked most observers, but it will hardly come as a surprise to the approximately 2.3 million rent stabilized tenants who will once again be paying the rent increases.

.......The true surprise of the evening was the board's 5 to 4 decision defeating the poor tax for the first time since Guiliani took office. The poor tax is a $15/month charge on apartments renting for under $500. Some tenants believed this to be a victory, but others saw it as a device to deflect attention from the so-called sudden 4%/6% increase.

....... Two hundred tenants streamed into the basement auditorium at Cooper Union, pushing for a rent freeze. Armed with poster boards and rallying cries, the raucous crowd chanted and noisily protested the proceedings. When the high profile numbers were announced (4%/6%; 5 to 4 defeat of poor tax) a group of four tenant leaders engaged in a civil disobedience sit-in on the floor in front of the panel causing a flock of cameramen to descend on the four for close ups. Police backup was called in to control the crowd, manage the sit-in participants, and shoo away the cameramen, but with every major network covering the event, they were careful to be on their best behavior. The tenants succeeded in flustering the nine-member board, forcing them into two extended recesses before the inevitable vote.

.......Much to the surprise of everyone involved, the sit-in participants were not arrested despite calls from Owner Member Castallano for their arrests (which the chairman refused). This was a shocking contrast to last year's meeting where four protesters were arrested, including three senior citizens for simply talking.

.......The meeting was a long three and a half hours and it appeared to be a battle of who could last the longest. Many of the major networks cleared when the police allowed the sit-in to continue, as did many tenants. The RGB was left staring at sit-in protestors in front of the stage and the remaining press trying to penetrate the police wall that had formed around them. A scare came late in the game as Owner Member Vincent Castellano made an attempt to slip one past the dwindling crowd. Castellano requested a re-vote on the poor tax, persistently challenging the less experienced Chairman, Steven Sinacori, to follow his lead. Eventually Sinacori gave in and granted the re-vote, but the restless board denied it by an even wider margin in an effort to speed to the end of their agenda.

.......The meeting was adjourned in a muffled ending with board members talking over each other and crowd members voicing their own opinions. Preceding the meeting's close, the board managed to slip in additional increases of 2% on hotels and loft increases of 1% on one-year leases and 2% on two-year leases.

.......The New York Times, in a follow-up article on June 22 reported that Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani supports the RGB's last-minute decision… Many tenants, who accused Guiliani of controlling the entire proceeding, were not surprised.

Note: The new 4%/6% rate affects leases renewed between October 1, 2001 and September 30, 2002.

The following tables calculate the increase amounts on one and two year leases applying to this period:

One Year Leases:

Two Year Leases:

* Rents that reach $2000 can be 'luxury' decontrolled. These numbers are here as an example for our readers. The higher a tenant's rent, the more severe the increase. Those at the higher end of the rent scale are pushed geometrically faster towards decontrol. Once decontrolled the rents could conceivably be quadrupled. A $2000 'luxury' decontrol in this market is ludicrous and inexcusable. A family living in a rundown rat-trap without services such as heat and repairs, should hardly lose stabilization protection on the basis that their overpriced apartment is a 'luxury'- Ronin

**- Additional reporting by Ronin.

***- Yes. That's last month's guest host, Dave Powell, trying to get arrested in the picture. He was the only non-senior arrested last year. Says Powell of last years protests, "I wasn't trying to get arrested." He also noted the irony of not being arrested this year when he and the other three sit-in protesters were trying their best to get arrested, complete with Lawyer's Guild lawyers on call.