Tax Spike Could Oust Residents From Long Island City Co-Op

ASTORIA, QUEENS -- In the 15 years she's lived in Citylights, Glenis Long has come to love the waterfront Long Island City co-op and the community she shares it with. This summer, she just might lose it.

Long is one of more than 1,000 Citylights residents - 20 percent of them retirees - who expect their tax and maintenance bills at the 522-middle income complex to jump by 60 percent over the next five years, thanks to an 87 percent spike in property tax assessment this year expected to coincide with the end of a 20-year tax abatement in July.

"There's no way many of us who are living on fixed incomes could possibly afford that," Long told Patch. "I would have to leave New York. "

She's not alone. A crowd of residents who fear losing their homes in the state-owned 48th Avenue complex overlooking the East River gathered blocks away outside the LIC Summit 2018 on Tuesday to demand the Empire State Development step in and save it.

The state built Citylights in 1996 to allow New Yorkers with a modest income to own their own homes, but residents say ESD's Queens West Development Corporation made a series of "bad deals" along the way that have saddled them with a massive mortgage, repair bills and annual "rent" to the state that have already pushed the complex to the brink of unaffordable.

This summer could be the breaking point that forces many out of the complex and, ultimately, New York City itself. Residents say a deal the ESD made under Gov. George Pataki will force the complex to start paying a $5.8 million-per-year tax bill on July 1.

But ESD spokeswoman Amy Varghese told Patch it's the city who drafted the co-op's low-income based proposal, and they have the final say in any changes to that agreement. The state can't legally move forward without city action, she said.

“New York State stands ready and willing with a workable solution to address the needs of residents of CityLights and we are waiting on the City’s mandated written consent to move forward,” Varghese said.

Long, who already struggles to pay her $700 mortgage and $1,700 "rent" to the state, estimates the sudden spike will force her to cough up an extra $1,500 per month.

"We were one of the first buildings in that area along the riverfront...and we were assured it would always be affordable," she said. "I can no longer afford to live there."

Many of her fellow co-op members bear an even higher financial burden, Long said

One of them is Paul Burrows, a retired priest who told Patch he moved to Citylights after 36 years in the ministry because it was a great place to live and, at the time, affordable. He said the new tax would up his monthly bill - not including his mortgage - to $3,500.

"I would be paying as much in maintenance as I paid in rent when I was living in San Fransisco," he said. "I would have to very seriously consider selling and moving out because the cost would be prohibitive for me."

To leave, and watch others be forced to do the same, would gut him, said Burrows, who has grown close to his fellow residents since he moved in.

"These are fabulous people who I’ve come to know and love," he said. "It's a whole range of people from different backgrounds with different stories."

That's part of local politicians have also stepped in to ask the state protect the building. It provides more than 500 affordable apartments in an area now overrun with luxury condos, said City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who joined the rally.

"What’s at stake here is a middle-class affordable community, and we have so little of that in Hunters Point and Long Island City," Bramer told residents. "We need more of what you represent, not less."

He was met with cheers and chants of, "New York State save our homes."

Bramer said he and other local lawmakers are demanding ESD work with them before the July deadline to do just that.

"They cannot pull the rug out from under this community," he said. "They cannot force you from your homes."

Burrows sure hopes not, if for no other reason than the built-in family he's gained from the co-op.

"I'd miss that enormously," he said.

This story was updated with comment from an ESD spokesperson on 06/19/2018.

(Lead image: Longtime Citylights resident and retired Rev. Paul Burrows speaks at a rally to protest an impending tax spike on the co-op that residents fear will force them out of their homes and New York City. Photos by Danielle Woodward/Patch)