Much of the following panel centered around the importance of organizing. With Leyva facilitating, the panel included Housing Advocate Tito Delgado (Cooper Square CLT), Professor James DeFilippis (Rutgers University), Council Member Alexa Aviles (District 38), and Community Organizer Elise Goldin (New Economy Project). The lively discussion explored how commercial leases fund CLTs, the importance of fun in community organizing, and the political significance of land. It also frequently returned to the plight of the NYC Housing Authority–the City’s public housing provider which continues to grapple with the results of decades of disinvestment, increasingly turning to privatization to help fund rehabilitation of its units.
