RAISING BUSHWICK

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Rising rent prices in New York City are driving landlords to use any means necessary to evict their low income tenants. Tenant harassment is common place and its victims often do not have the means to fight these practices in court. Raising Bushwick: A Mother's Collective proposes an urban exposition strategy to shame "slum lords" into changing these damaging behaviors. Based on the theories of ridicule as an agent of change promoted by Antanas Mockus' subart on citizenship culture, the project uses guerrilla projection tactics to expose the means of harassment used by these landlords. The project also proposes an addition to New York's State eminent domain clause:

NY EM DOM PROC 105.0 Serves as a special clause within the Eminent Domain Procedure Proclamation. If a building owner is convicted of causing deliberate distress to his tenants with the intent to coercively expel them from his premises, said property may be subject to acquisition by the state. The property will then be transferred over to a non-profit organization with the intent to serve for the betterment of defendants affected by forced displacement.

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By taking away these properties from criminal landlords, this statue advocates to lease or sell them to non-profit organizations that advocate for the upward mobility of low income mothers and children. 

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Zarith Pineda + Grace Ng, Zheng Yin

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Five Borough Studio, MAUD, Columbia University, GSAPP

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