To the Editor:
David Silver’s letter to the editor in last week’s Downtown Express (“Need to protect”) was short on accuracy, if not imagination. The Mitchell-Lama law (not the Department of Housing and Community Renewal) explicitly provides shareholders the right to vote for privatization with no reference whatsoever to maintenance or rent, despite whatever legislative “spirit” Mr. Silver may conjure.
Additionally, those many Mitchell-Lama and similar cooperatives that have previously privatized have not experienced any onerous maintenance increases, the basis of his demand for legislative relief. In fact, Mitchell-Lama cooperatives themselves offer no immunity from maintenance increases.
Jesse Mandel
