Economakis-East Village Fight Gets Nastier

The aggrieved rent-stabilized tenants of 47 East 3rd Street are not giving up their fight against landlord Alistair Economakis, whose efforts since 2003 to convert his East Village building into a grand mansion for his family continue to be stymied by nine pesky renters who won’t budge.

Earlier this month, in the third appeal since Mr. Economakis first began mass eviction proceedings five-a-half-years ago, the state’s highest court sent the case back to housing court and a final verdict could be two years away. Under the owner occupancy clause of the rent law, the Economakis family still needs to prove to the court that they really plan to convert their 60-room, 11,575-square-foot East Village tenement into a single-family residence–tenants fear that their real agenda is to charge market-rate rents.

In the meantime, the hold-out tenants will continue to wage war on their landlord via their blog (Mr. Economakis also has a blog related to the case) and demonstrations. Supporters are holding a protest against the evictions on July 11 at 8 p.m. The East Village Grieve has a photo of the flyer that reads: "Landlord Economakis says: ‘Let them Eat Cake."

"L.E.S. says let him eat shit."

Participants are encouraged to bring cake and donuts. JVNY linked to a post on the Neither More Nor Less blog reporting that all contributed donuts will be reserved for the members of NYPD that show up July 11.

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