“It always seems impossible until it’s done” – Nelson Mandela
– On December 2014 we were told it was over. It’s September 2017 and Rivington House is not occupied by luxury owners.
– MFY is suing for the FOIL release of documents from the NY State Department of Health in the case of Rivington House and CABS.
– The AG is persisting in their refusal to allow The Allure Group who flipped Rivington House to buy two other nursing homes. One that houses former occupants of Rivington House.
– Pike Street will be a site for assisted living for seniors (we still need nursing homes but this is a positive outcome).
– Transparency requirements enacted for deed restriction removals City-wide (thanks CM Chin and MBP Brewer).
– Our electeds (Brewer, Chin, Squadron, Niou) have followed our communities request to fight alongside us for RH – They have stood with us. We won’t agree on everything – but we knew this was a cause we collectively wouldn’t give up on.
– Community board 3 passed every necessary resolution on behalf of this struggle.
– Added to exposure for the need of a funded and independent (from politics and the nursing home industry) NYState watchdog role for the nursing home industry.
– We held a forum on Health Care on the future use of Rivington House. Imagining a future with a continuum of care with options to move in and out of care as needed. Building a community hub of active, desegregated care for everyone.
– We built a coalition of groups and individuals who made us smarter on senior right, disability rights, care providers and receivers and building a caring society that works for everyone.
– We helped keep RH alive in the media with the help of the free press.
– We were among this years recipients of the LES Hero Awards.
– We helped expose corruption and/or incompetence in city and state agencies. Five Investigations transpired from City to State to Federal.
– We added our voice to other worthy struggles such as the return of Charos.
– We have a promise made at the Town Hall by the Mayor for an invitation to a meeting with the buyers of Rivington House asked for and planned by Council Member Chin.
– We modeled the refusal to turn our backs on our neighbors and a stand against the enormous wealth, power and influence in our city.
– We asked a Garden Group who hired the Capalino lobbyists firm not to use Rivington House as the backdrop for an unrelated cause (Capalino played a pivotal role in Rivington House’s ultimate sale to luxury developers). It was an affront to the people here who lost their homes.
We will not give up this fight: win, lose or draw.