Brooklyn Ron

Crusading Lawyer Declares: Worst Predatory Lender of '90s Has Resurfaced

Josh Zinner [photo], the hard-charging lawyer who's been going after predatory lenders, has made a startling find.

Delta Funding Corporation -- which became infamous through the '90s and beyond for tricking elderly, minority homeowners into mortgages they could not afford -- has been born again, this time as First Reliance Capital.

Delta declared bankruptcy a year ago and stopped making court-ordered payments to victims of its past abusive lending practices.

Zinner told BrooklynRon:

“It is unconscionable that the same principals who got rich through Delta Funding’s past fraudulent, abusive, and discriminatory lending practices should be allowed to reconstitute as an FHA lender after filing bankruptcy.”

Zinner worries that unless New York State and/or other regulators step in, First Reliance Capital may rekindle the practices and spirit of its predecessor company, the Long Island-based Delta Funding.

Zinner began his career as Director of the Foreclosure Prevention Project at South Brooklyn Legal Services (SBLS), the first of its kind in New York City to use litigation, outreach and education in a virtual war against predatory lending.

Zinner is now co-director of NEDAP, the Neighborhod Economic Development Advocacy Project.

Zinner says that Delta was, and First Reliance is now, led by Hugh Miller. The Miller family, though hit with legal actions by New York State and other states, denies that its practices were dishonest and predatory.

The author of this BrooklynRon site, in past years, interviewed many Brooklynites and Queens residents who were victims of Delta, having lost their homes after being tricked into loans they could not afford.

This site has previously called on local prosectors to treat predatory lending as a serious crime that inflects great harm on many New Yorkers, especially the elderly. (read by clicking here.)

Recently Channel 9 in New York did an excellent piece on the apparently resuscitated Delta and on Zinner's call for economic justice. (See it on the TV station's website.)

Mayor Bloomberg, You Want to Stop Congestion? Stop Over-Building!

By Paul Moses
Guest Columnist

Now that the Legislature has turned back the proposal for congestion pricing, it is time to do something about the true cause of all that traffic congestion in Manhattan: decades of overbuilding. City Hall has allowed tower after tower to be built high above what the zoning law permitted, leading, predictably, to more and more traffic.

Of course, the group that initiated the congestion pricing plan - The New York City Partnership, lobbying arm of the Chamber of Commerce - would never go for that. It presented congestion pricing  in an attractive green package, but underneath the wrapping, it was just an attempt to open up Manhattan for further real estate overdevelopment by the Partnership's members.

The Partnership, it should be pointed out, was established in part to lobby for construction of Westway, another transportation idea that was really a real estate development plan. Critics said, rightly, that Westway would have drawn more traffic into Manhattan.

Despite all of the environmental studies that are done, the truth of the matter is that development in Manhattan and, more recently, downtown Brooklyn, is carried out with little or no concern among most elected officials and the business community for increased traffic congestion and the air pollution it causes.

If the business/political community were ready to do its part to limit congestion-inducing development in Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn - making the sacrifice of accepting lower property values - then it might be time again for the Partnership to re-hire Dan Klores for another clever PR campaign, cozy up to environmentalists and launch a new effort to convince the public to pay to drive into Manhattan.

It is hard to understand how Mayor Bloomberg expected drivers to make this sacrifice when he had pursued construction of a new stadium that would have drawn thousands more cars into Manhattan and when he had championed massive development that would aggravate the already congested traffic situation in downtown Brooklyn.

The Times, in its story today on Albany's rejection  of congestion pricing,  misunderstood the  politics of the situation:

"Ultimately, some supporters said privately, the same qualities that liberated Mr. Bloomberg to propose such a far-reaching plan — his independence from established power-brokers and detachment from traditional politicking — are what doomed the plan to failure."

In fact, it was steady prodding from the city's establishment - The New York City Partnership in league with The Times - that induced the initially reluctant mayor to embrace congestion pricing. Bloomberg never mentioned congestion pricing in his bid for re-election. Just after Bloomberg's re-election in 2005, the Partnership floated the idea via an article in The Times:

“It is an idea that has been successful in London, and is now being whispered in the ears of City Hall officials after months of behind-the-scenes work by the Partnership for New York City, the city's major business association: congestion pricing.”

Bloomberg shot the idea down quickly, but The Times persisted with an editorial, telling the mayor, “there's no time like the present to begin thinking about it.”

(Paul Moses is a Professor of Journalism at Brooklyn College. See previous Brooklyn Ron post on Professor Moses.)

Creator of U.S. Finance System Was Caribbean-American With Links to Brooklyn

In a speech that showed off his oratorical powers, grasp of history and appreciation of the pain of the sub-prime crisis, Barack Obama mentioned someone we should know more about.

That was Alexander Hamilton, the father of the American financial system whose hard money policies were balanced by the (sometimes hypocritical and racist) populism of Thomas Jefferson.

We can't help but note that the financial crisis of the moment - the sub-prime housing dilemma that was caused by greedy, predatory lenders and their co-conspirators - has been affecting Brooklyn far more than most urban areas in the country.

And the irony must be noted that Brooklyn is also the capital of Caribbean-America, a place that would have (we must believe) occupied a special place in the heart of Alexander Hamilton, who was born on the tiny island of Nevis and lived and prospered on the U.S. mainland as an immigrant.

As we note the importance of understanding history in dealing with this sub-prime mess, New Yorkers and Brooklynites should also be aware that Brooklyn was the home of another native of Nevis, who (like Hamilton) spent time in the New York State legislature and who fought against housing discrimination.

Bertram L. Baker (1898 to 1985) immigrated to Brooklyn, where in 1948 he became the first black person in the borough ever elected to office. Baker [photo, right] represented Bedford-Stuyvesant in the State Assembly for 22 years. In the mid-50s he authored what is considered to be the first law in the nation to outlaw housing discrimination.

[Note: Hamilton - born 1755 and died 1804 - also served in the New York State Assembly.]

[Note further: Baker was a beloved maternal ancestor of ours.]

Jeffries Sets Up New Group to Battle Displacement in Areas Near Downtown

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries is establishing a new Operation Preserve to help working-class and lower-income residents being hard hit by the fast-paced development taking place in communities near Downtown.

The new group specifically will work with residents of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Prospect Heights, Jeffries said at a press conference covered by The Brooklyn Paper.

“The displacement of low- and moderate-income residents from our community is not a black issue or a white issue, it is all about the color green,” said Jeffries (D–Fort Greene). “This must end, and it must end now.”

The clinic will be staffed on Thursday and Friday evenings by attorneys from the CUNY Community Legal Resource Network.

[Photo is of Jeffries press conference, taken by Noelle D’Arrigo.]

What Will Obama Do About the Housing Crisis in Central Brooklyn?

                                                                                                 

We need to know soon exactly what Barack Obama will do about the subprime crisis that has led to so many foreclosures of homes.

It seems from quick Internet searches that Hillary ("The Frigidaire") Clinton has been more out front on this issue, offering a plan to freeze interest rates and create a multi-billion dollar pool to help those homeowners hard hit by the crisis.

No single community has been affected by this crisis as much as Central Brooklyn, with Bed Stuy/Crown Heighs topping the national list of zip codes with home foreclosures.

This is a crisis affecting many tens of thousands and it is not getting enough attention.

The accompany map here, prepared by the wonderful Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP), shows so clearly how this terrible and painful problem is affecting Central Brooklyn, Eastern Brooklyn and Southeast Queens.

Appropriately enough, the foreclosure-heavy areas are in blood red.

Death of Ledger Causes Reflection on Fickleness of Brooklyn's Boom

He was Oscar-nominated and a symbol of the new wave reflecting openness and honesty in things sexual and artistic.

And so when Heath Ledger – the 'Brokeback Mountain' star found dead, with prescription pills near his bed – moved some time ago to Brooklyn with his Baby Mommy and co-star Michelle Williams, it was an affirmation to many, mostly of the newcomer variety, of the new popularity of their recently chosen borough.

The presence of shy Australian Ledger was a particular source of delight for gawkers and realtors in Bococa, that strangely named neighborhood between Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope to which Ledger and Williams had transplanted themselves along with their little daughter.

(See previous BrooklynRon post on the 'Brits Coming to Brooklyn.')

Then, several months ago, Ledger and Williams did the thing that movie stars do. They said goodbye to each other and to the young coupling that had delivered a child, and they fled to new relationships and new places.

Ledger's relocation to Manhattan left many to say that this so-called rise of Bococa was nothing more than an illusion, brought to life by a handful of glittering personalities who chose, for the moment, to be side by side with other newcomers, many of them in Brooklyn only because they could not afford Manhattan rents.

(See New York Times piece back then on 'Brooklyn's Fragile Eco-System.')

Today there is much reflecting on this and other topics and emotions related to the death of Heath Ledger in the blogosphere, notably the Gawker and Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn.

Bococa Really Means: The British are Coming! Man the Gates!

The first time I heard Bococa, I thought to myself, Now what the hell kind of name is that for a Brooklyn neighborhood?

It's supposed to be a combination of Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens.

But I knew this much: No self-respecting Brooklynite would ever say Bococa to refer to any of those places.

And I've been right. It's not native Brooklynites saying the word; and it's certainly not anybody self-respecting. It's realtors and Brits.

To make it all official, the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph of London recently ran an article praising the community, new name and all, and warning that the Brits, lured by favorable exchange rates, are flocking there for investment and domicile.

A Slap in the Face of History: Taking the Black out of Fort Greene

Sometimes defining moments come upon us so softly that few notice the stark transformation taking place before our eyes.

Such is the case with the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, where ongoing gentrification is bringing in monied professionals into the neighborhood, as black residents and struggling black entrepreneurs are being displaced.

Survival of the fittest, some might say; but that only fudges, perhaps intentionally, the truth of what is happening, which is that the monied interests and property owners are pushing out the very kinds of black businesses and black artists who have long defined and given special value to Fort Greene.

Public Tenants Being Harrassed to Make Way for Rich Newcomers?

It's known all around the world that Downtown Brooklyn is being re-done, going upscale so quickly that blinding dust is being kicked up from Fort Greene to Prospect Park.

And the victims of this present and coming gentrification are the poor and working class blacks and others in the public housing projects of Fort Greene.

At the Whitman and Ingersoll housing projects off Myrtle Avenue, some residents say they are being stopped and frisked by police with a frequency that raises suspicions it is all part of a plan.

The plan, should one exist, they suspect might be to force them out of the community, in order to make way for higher-income (and dare we say lighter-complexioned) residents eager to live centrally in the up-and-coming borough of Kings.

Councilmember Leticia James, for one, wants an investigation of the charges being leveled by some of her constituents.

And the NAACP Legal Defense Fund is getting involved also, with the possibility of a suit again the city becoming increasingly real.

"We're being targeted," said on black man living in the projects there, quoted without being further identified on Channel 12's Brooklyn news station.

An extremely interesting posting several months ago on a popular Brooklyn blog, the Brownstoner, offered important background on the city's plans for the Whitman and Ingersoll houses.

The piece addresses the "rumors . . . about the low-income residents being pushed out to clear the way for conversions of the buildings into coops."

Two Trees Forces Black Woman Out of Downtown Brooklyn Apartment?

We are hoping this is not a sign of things to come, but a black disabled women is claiming that Two Trees Management put her through hell and embarrassment in verifying her eligibilty for a n apartment unit.

According to the Daily News, the 321-unit luxury apartment building in question is on Court Street and is supposed to set aside 64 units for moderate-income people like the woman in question.

Two Trees received tax breaks under the state's 8-0020 Program and is supposed to be obligated to make the set-asides.

But the black woman, 44-year-old Yvette Woodard (pictured here with son Ryan), filed a lawsuit on Oct. 10 claiming that her application for a unit at the building was rejected after an overly rigid investigation.

Two Trees called her to task for, among other things, an outstanding cable bill of $1.61.

On its web site, Two Trees says it has "grown to represent the revitalization of the Brooklyn waterfront and surrounding neighborhood."

So this what the revitalization of the waterfront is going to mean? Keeping "them" out of Brooklyn Heights?

Let's hope this kind of alleged behavior will not characterize the development of the coming Brooklyn
Bridge Park and other projects for the changing Downtown area.

The Daily News reports that the Walentases "are known for turning DUMBO into one of the priciest and most luxurious neighborhoods in Brooklyn."