Community Corner
Warren Schreiber: My Biggest Challenge
When Coop and Condo residents were slapped with triple digit property tax increases, this Queens housing advocate decided to take on City Hall. Sponsored by Grape-Nuts.
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Warren Schreiber is a tireless community organizer, a voice that brings Queens issues to the forefront. He’s president of the Bay Terrace Community Alliance, a founding member and Co-President of the Presidents Co-op & Condo Council and member of Community Board 7.
Schreiber talks to Patch about fighting and winning concessions on onerous tax increases:
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Q. What’s the biggest challenge you’ve taken on?
A. I’m an advocate for the coop and condo community. I’m co-president of an organization that represents 63-64 coops in Northeast Queens. That’s almost 100,000 residents. Two years ago we found that we were going to be hit with double- and triple-digit property tax increases, in the form of increased valuations.
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We immediately mobilized. Basically we took on the City of New York, including Mayor Bloomberg. We began to hold town meetings – in one we attracted 900 people, it was standing-room only, that day we had a parkway in Queens completely backed up with people wanting to get in.
Finally we convinced speaker Quinn to hold hearings at the Finance Committee – and we were able to reach a point that the Department of Finance had to admit they had made some mistakes. They called them computer glitches.
Q. What inspired you to take on this challenge?
A. What inspired me to take on this battle? These are tough economic times. There are people on fixed incomes, or out of work. A lot of people could have been forced out of their homes if we didn’t fight the increases.
Anyhow it’s my belief, and a lot of people‘s belief, that coops and condos represent the last bastion of middle class housing in Queens. They're as close as we’ll ever get to affordable home ownership. We were fighting to preserve a place for the middle class in Queens – and a large portion of the housing stock in New York City.
Q. Did you succeed?
A. In the end, they rolled back many of the increases, some had been as high as 150 percent, and they rolled them back to as low as 9 percent.
That fight still continues. We’re fighting for tax equity for the coop and condo community,that’s the bigger battle, that’s the end game. But this was one of the biggest battles. It wasn't the entire war, but we proved that you can take on City Hall. We let them know who we are.
About this column: We’re dedicating the month of April and May to telling the stories of people locally and statewide who have overcome the impossible, affecting positive change in their own lives, or in communities. Sponsored by Grape-Nuts.