The Rally for CHARAS

July 20th, 1998 was the day that CHARAS Community Center was evicted from their space on 9th st between Avenues B and C, the former P.S. 64 building. The property was sold by the city to developer Gregg Singer soon after. For the past 20 years, Singer has tried and failed to develop the space, due to significant protest from the community. Currently, the building sits empty and boarded up. On July 20th, 2018, the 20th anniversary of the CHARAS eviction, members of the community came together to hold a rally outside of the building.

 

An article from the East Village Patch site noted that there were around 200 people there. Those who spoke at the rally are some of the community’s most prominent figures: including founding member of CHARAS, Chino Garcia, City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, Assemblyman Harvey Epstein, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, and District Leaders Anthony Feliciano and Rosie Mendez. Each gave emotional speeches about the fight to save the space and their experiences and memories of the value that the center offered to the community. Chino talked about the benefit that the center provided, “We had after school programs, training programs, bicycle programs, and many other projects… people like Susan Sarandon, Richard Gere, the great singer Pete Seeger…the good thing about this building was that you could rent it by the hour or you could get it for free, you know if you were poor.”  

 

Speakers focused on the key events from the timeline of CHARAS’ more than 20-year history: the intentions of Gregg Singer, Mayor De Blasio’s promises, and the memory of Armando Perez, one of the founders of CHARAS who has killed in 1999. Perez was a role model to many in the community and many of the speakers knew him personally. On display were two expertly crafted paper-mâché puppet heads, about five times the size of a regular head, worn by two protesters. Loisaida Center artists-in-residence Daniel Polnau, Pablo Varona, & Adam Ende crafted a number of larger-than-life puppet heads in 2017, each one an important character in Loisaida (the Spanglish appropriation of the name: Lower East Side) history. Bimbo Rivas’ and Armando Perez’s heads were both displayed at the rally. Both were important figures in establishing CHARAS, and their names were brought up several times. Rivas passed away in 1992.

 

The fight for the community center on 9th street has been long, but many people are hopeful that the community will win. After numerous attempts to develop the building into student housing, Singer can basically use the property as a bank — a process called “land banking” — that creates income over time. Because property prices are rising in New York, each year the property price gets re-evaluated, Singer makes money off of the interest. Basically, Singer could never do anything with the property and still make money. Nonetheless, De Blasio has promised to correct the mistake Giuliani made when he sold the building to Singer and buy back the property. Some are skeptical the current mayor will follow through on this vow, although the number of elected officials supporting such an outcome suggests that anything could happen. Right now, the CHARAS community still has the same spirit they had when they were evicted 20 years ago. Only time will tell what is to become of the space.