Love Saves the Day

“Well …” She rests one hand on the stack of papers she was reading while Josh made his toast. “I have a complete list from the tenants of every unaddressed maintenance and repair issue. There are about two hundred, actually.” She makes a face. “And I’ve noted every statutory regulation that would be violated by the proposed deal between the landlord and the development corporation wanting to buy the property. Mostly because the regulations are so contradictory that nobody could be in compliance with all of them.” She rubs the corners of her eyes beneath her reading glasses with the thumb and first finger of her right hand. “Honestly, I don’t know who writes this stuff. Luckily for us, though, all the confusion works in our favor. You said the property’s been assessed at seven and a half million and that the tenants have raised ten through grants and loans?” Josh nods. “The development corporation’s offering fifteen. We’ll offer eight and try to convince all parties that a prolonged legal battle would be more painful and expensive than the property’s worth.”

Josh pushes his plate of toast away, then puts a piece on the floor so I can lick the butter from its top. “So you’re saying this could all be settled today?”

Laura makes a pfft sound. “No. We just want to get the ball rolling and show them how serious we are about fighting this thing. We’ll let the landlord talk us up to ten million if we have to. Hopefully either the development corporation will drop their bid or the landlord will decide it’s better to take our ten million now than spend months or years fighting for the development corporation’s fifteen.”

Josh still looks doubtful. “What about a DHCR hearing? The City paid for ninety-five percent of that building. Technically they get a say in whether or not it’s converted out of the Mitchell-Lama program.”

“They do have the right to a say in it, and as a matter of principle maybe they should exercise that right more often,” Laura says. “But as a matter of practice, they generally don’t. The problem with a hearing is that it’s a one-shot, yes-or-no thing. And if our side gets the no, it’s game over.” She pauses to take a sip from her glass of orange juice. When she starts talking again, her voice is gentle. “I know you have this romantic idea of a big hearing and cheering crowds, but realistically a compromise is nearly always the best solution. The landlord gets more than the property’s technically worth, the tenants gain all the rights and privileges of ownership, the community gets to retain affordable housing along with the programs and services the music studio offers. This would be a good thing for everybody.”

Josh stands up to dump the rest of his toast in the trash and give me a nibble of cheese from the package on the counter. “You’re right,” he tells Laura. “I guess I’ve been working on this so hard for the past few months, it’s hard to think of my part in it being over.”

Laura looks surprised. “But it’s not! It’s more important now than ever for you to keep up the pressure on the publicity front. That’s what’ll convince the landlord he might lose at a hearing if he were to turn us down flat and walk away from the table. Every news camera and article in the paper is one more reason for him to question the strength of his position.”

I never knew that a human you actually know could end up on TV. But a week after Anise came over to visit us, there she was on our TV set, along with a bunch of other humans who Josh said were famous musicians. They were in a room with no windows and lots of musical instruments, and Josh and Laura were there, too! They were standing in the background, while a man with a microphone talked to Anise and some other people. Laura and Josh were already home when the show came on, and it was weird to see them here in the room with me and also tiny versions of them on the TV screen at the same time.

After that the phone rang constantly for weeks. People were calling Josh to talk about doing more TV shows and newspaper word-writing about the building, and the people who own the building were calling Laura to talk about what they should do with it. Laura was hardly at home at all those few weeks, because she was always out at meetings with the humans who live there and with other lawyers. Finally one day she came home with the news that the negotiating was over. She was still taking off her coat and hanging it in the front closet when Josh came down the stairs with an anxious look on his face. “Well?” he asked.

“It’s done.” Laura’s voice was very serious, and Josh’s face went white. “The owner’s willing to take nine from the tenants’ association. The developer dropped his bid. The lawyer for the tenants’ association and I have to get some paperwork going to make it official, but …” The smile on Laura’s face was wider than just about any smile I’ve ever seen. “It’s over.”