With rent control and rent stabilization in play, why are people fearful of being displaced?
A. I think they are most fearful now because of the economic crisis that we’re in. And if you’re unemployed you can certainly be displaced because you can’t pay your rent. If you have a job, how long will you be able to work? I think [it is a] very obvious and understandable sense of vulnerability that you have when you are a low-income person in a city that has become increasingly more expensive to live in. In places in Manhattan, where you have all of the trappings of wealth people see either in media or in actuality—I think it just serves to reinforce your fears. Q. The 1964 Harlem riots preceded riots in other U.S. cities. Do you see improvement in the quality of life here preceding improvement in historically black communities in, for example Miami? A. Miami, […] I visit on a regular basis. Overtown [historically black neighborhood in Miami]—it’s pretty rough out there. And that should be of concern to the city fathers—when you have that kind of juxtaposition of intense poverty li
