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Rent Debtors Strike Against Abusive Corporate Landlord

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Reposted by Michael Friedrich

Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 3d

A group of former tenants has organized the first rent debt strike in U.S. history. They are refusing to pay back unjust debts to Equity Residential, a corporate landlord accused of widespread misconduct. I wrote about their campaign for @prospect.org. prospect.org/infrastructu...

The Debt Collective is leading the charge against the real estate behemoth Equity Residential.

Corporate Landlords Show Racist Eviction Patterns

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Reposted by Michael Friedrich

Dan Immergluck @danimmergluck.bsky.social · 3d

Atlanta has been been rapidly gentrifying for years & seen tremendous growth in property values since 2011. Yet the public schools starve. And now Mayor wants to extend its tax increment districts, which include some of city’s hottest areas, for 25 years, diverting more $ from schools. #AtlantaWay

Center for Civic Innovation @civicatlanta.bsky.social · 3d

(3/6) Atlanta Public Schools presented a stark financial outlook marked by rising costs, declining enrollment, and revenue shortfalls. Leaders are looking to consolidate facilities, moderate pay growth, and review program efficiency to restore financial health. youtube.com/watch?v=LvB1...

APS budget report warns of “math problem” as spending outpaces revenue

At its Budget Commission meeting, Atlanta Public Schools (APS) presented a stark financial outlook marked by rising costs, declining enrollment, and revenue shortfalls.

Major cost pressures include state health insurance and pension increases (about $25 million combined), competitive teacher pay, and under-enrolled schools. Enrollment in APS’s traditional public schools has dropped 16% since 2016 as charter and private options have expanded. The report cited an “immediate need for efficiency and sustainability,” warning that extending tax allocation district (TAD) agreements could further constrain revenue.

APS leaders are looking to consolidate facilities, moderate pay growth, and review program efficiency to restore long-term financial health.

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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 3d

The new rent debt strike relies on a strategy that @debtcollective.bsky.social pioneered with student debtors. A small group refused to pay back loans to institutions that defrauded them, creating a "moral shock" that drove a national movement and won billions in relief.

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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 3d

In May, I covered a new study showing that large corporate landlords are disproportionately evicting black tenants in L.A. Equity Residential was the worst offender. @debtcollective.bsky.social is now organizing debtors harmed by the landlord’s eviction practices. bsky.app/profile/mfri...

Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · May 16

A new study shows that large corporate landlords in LA are disproportionately evicting Black tenants in the post-pandemic housing market. The findings are disturbing, but they also raise possibilities for tenant organizing. I wrote about it for @prospect.org. prospect.org/infrastructu...

A new study reveals that large national landlords in Los Angeles are disproportionately evicting Black tenants.

Rent Debtors Strike Against Abusive Corporate Landlord

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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 3d

Many Americans racked up rent debt during the pandemic, often due to corporate landlords’ predatory practices. Now, strikers argue that their debts to Equity Residential are uncollectible under consumer protection laws. Read my report at @prospect.org. prospect.org/infrastructu...

The Debt Collective is leading the charge against the real estate behemoth Equity Residential.

Rent Debtors Strike Against Abusive Corporate Landlord

1 1 2

Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 3d

A group of former tenants has organized the first rent debt strike in U.S. history. They are refusing to pay back unjust debts to Equity Residential, a corporate landlord accused of widespread misconduct. I wrote about their campaign for @prospect.org. prospect.org/infrastructu...

The Debt Collective is leading the charge against the real estate behemoth Equity Residential.

RFK Jr.’s damage to the CDC is ‘past the point of no return,’ Dr. Demetre Daskalakis warns

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Reposted by Michael Friedrich

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Aug 29

there is no question in my mind that rfk jr is the most dangerous person in this administration and that his eugenicist ideology threatens the lives of millions of people www.advocate.com/politics/dem...

“The CDC you knew is over,” the infectious diseases doctor told The Advocate. “Unless someone takes radical action, there is nothing there that can be salvaged.”

www.advocate.com

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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · Aug 27

The Trump administration has deployed armed troops and masked paramilitaries to brutally kidnap people from U.S. streets.

That is why, as a Democratic member of Congress, I am proposing a bill that provides these agents with a free subscription to the Headspace meditation app.

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Reposted by Michael Friedrich

Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · Aug 21

In the 1970s, landlords burned their buildings for profit, displacing thousands of tenants in poor neighborhoods. For @thebaffler.com, I wrote about @benchansfield.bsky.social's excellent “Born in Flames” and the consequences of the arson wave. thebaffler.com/latest/ring-...

A new book explores the incentives that sparked an arson wave in the Bronx during the 1970s.

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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · Aug 23

What, in your estimation, does your comment have to do with this post, the essay it’s linked to, or the book under review?

Reposted by Michael Friedrich

The Baffler @thebaffler.com · Aug 22

“Born in Flames” investigates the wave of arson that swept across the Bronx in the 1970s—and the landlords who were often behind it. @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social reviews the history of white-collar criminals run amok.

A new book explores the incentives that sparked an arson wave in the Bronx during the 1970s.

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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · Aug 23

I wrote about “Born in Flames,” a new history of 1970s arson-for-profit, financialization of housing, and the consequences for tenants, for @thebaffler.com.

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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · Aug 21

“The arson wave was, in a sense, a free-market slum-clearance program,” Ansfield writes.

It made way for today’s inexorable gentrification process, led by the finance, insurance, and real estate sectors that rose to dominance in the 1970s. thebaffler.com/latest/ring-...

A new book explores the incentives that sparked an arson wave in the Bronx during the 1970s.

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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · Aug 21

Corporate elites continue to push private risk onto the public, as they did with inner-city risks fifty years ago, Ansfield notes. Today, state-sponsored insurance indemnifies capital from climate risks, from the coast of Florida to “firebelt” areas like the Pacific Palisades in California.

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Reposted by Michael Friedrich

Bench Ansfield @benchansfield.bsky.social · Aug 21

So grateful for this very sharp review of Born in Flames in
@thebaffler.com

Thank you @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social ! !

Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · Aug 21

In the 1970s, landlords burned their buildings for profit, displacing thousands of tenants in poor neighborhoods. For @thebaffler.com, I wrote about @benchansfield.bsky.social's excellent “Born in Flames” and the consequences of the arson wave. thebaffler.com/latest/ring-...

A new book explores the incentives that sparked an arson wave in the Bronx during the 1970s.

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Reposted by Michael Friedrich

New York Review of Architecture @nyreviewofarch.bsky.social · Aug 21

“There are, of course, some experiences that you just cannot realize without the paternalism of private enterprise.”

@mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social‬ puts out park conservancies to pasture in NYRA no. 46/47.

nyra.nyc/articles/cen...

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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · Aug 21

The arsons of the 1970s make a fitting origin point for our present urban crisis. They helped clear the ground for today’s highly financialized, boom-and-bust real estate cycles and the dire housing instability that they have yielded for working people. thebaffler.com/latest/ring-...

A new book explores the incentives that sparked an arson wave in the Bronx during the 1970s.

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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · Aug 21

In the 1970s, landlords burned their buildings for profit, displacing thousands of tenants in poor neighborhoods. For @thebaffler.com, I wrote about @benchansfield.bsky.social's excellent “Born in Flames” and the consequences of the arson wave. thebaffler.com/latest/ring-...

A new book explores the incentives that sparked an arson wave in the Bronx during the 1970s.

2 17 43

Reposted by Michael Friedrich

The Baffler @thebaffler.com · Aug 21

In the 1970s, a wave of arson swept across the Bronx. As @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social writes in a review of “Born in Flames,” it helped pave the way for today’s highly financialized, boom-and-bust real estate cycles.