Contact: Nellie Hester Bailey: 212-316-2240 Danny Vila: 212-663-6872 Harlem Rally to Protest Gentrification & Displacement Harlem tenants, activists, civic leaders and supporters from throughout the city will rally Saturday, June 29 at 2 p.m. in the front plaza of the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building (125th &7th Ave.) to protest displacement of long time tenants and small local businesses because of escalating residential and commercial rents, illegal evictions/landlord harassment and social service budget cuts. The rally comes three days after the Rent Guideline Board hearing on new rent hikes. The Harlem Coalition to Fighting Gentrification begins the main march at 116th Street & Lexington Avenue at 1:00 PM. At the same time West Harlem protesters will gather at Broadway & Tiemann Place (124th St.). This is the coalition’s second anti-displacement rally—in 2000 a crowd of several hundred marched down 125 Street. According to organizer Nellie Bailey, this second rally “will help to usher in a new chapter of social activism in Harlem, embracing political protest in the tradition of Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell”. She added, “The average tenant in Harlem can’t pay $1,500 rent or $500,000 for a brownstone. Nor can local small businesses afford $100 per sq. ft. like President Bill Clinton. Annual income for the Majority of Harlem resident is at the federal poverty level, new rent hikes will exacerbate the crisis”. NYC Councilman Charles Barron heads Saturday’s list of speakers. Mayor Bloomberg, according to Barron, “cannot be allowed to balance the budget on the backs on the poor.” Another speaker, veteran Harlem activist Jim Haughton describes the current Mayor as a “benign” version of former Mayor Giuliani adding, “While openly less racist Bloomberg will continue the city’s policy of corporate welfare, while Blacks and Latinos are denied jobs, crowd the shelter system or prisons.” The Coalition argues defending civil liberties is key to their ability to continue grassroots organizing unfettered against federal, state and local policies that disproportionately impact communities of color. They cite new federal statute that allows the FBI and the CIA to spy on domestic religious and community groups. Latino organizer Danny Vila echoed the sentiment of the coalition, “local grassroots groups can easily become unwarranted targets, especially in a climate of xenophobia, paranoia and blind patriotism, deadly combinations for government abuse.” He continued, “This is why we march under the banner stop the budget cuts, jobs for all, defend civil liberties & stop the war.” The coalition will present its anti-displacement campaign that includes calling for a moratorium on evictions, the repeal of 1997 Rent Regulations, stop privatization of public housing, and establishment of a NYC Housing Trust Fund, money set aside from the billions of dollars slated for the re-development of lower Manhattan. In Harlem the Coalition has called for revamping the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone to create a cultural district, initiate new affordable housing projects, greater support for local businesses and funding for research on the cultural & economic transition of Harlem.