ITHACA, N.Y. –– A group of around 30 protestors from the Ithaca Tenants Union gathered outside Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick’s home Monday night before then marching to City Hall to demand he draft and eventually sign an executive order canceling rent.
Chants of “33 days” echoed throughout downtown as the group marched, emphasizing the number of days since the mayor and common council passed their resolution requesting approval from the New York State Department of Health to grant Myrick the power to issue an executive order forgiving three months of rent.
Unemployment in Tompkins County has skyrocketed to more than 10% since the start of the coronavirus pandemic back in March. Renters –– who comprise more than 70% of Ithaca’s residents –– have been provided little economic relief in the wake of the pandemic outside of an executive order signed by the governor halting evictions set to expire in August.
Since the passing of their resolution, the city has been in a back and forth with the state DOH, who has requested a copy of the executive order before deciding whether or not to approve the emergency measure.
The ITU, which has garnered national attention for their #cancelrent campaign, has been frustrated by the perceived slow progress on the part of the mayor’s office in drafting the order and sending it along.
“Working through our existing system of government, creating resolutions, executive orders, asking this and that legislator for permission or approval — it’s an exhausting uphill battle, and we can only win by embracing our position outside that system and joining our neighbors in organized action,” ITU Organizer Genevieve Rand said in a statement.
The action on behalf of the union was two-fold Monday –– as protestors chanted and marched, leadership was meeting with the mayor over the phone to discuss the timeline and steps needed to move forward. After several hours of protesting, Mayor Myrick agreed to draft and send the order to the DOH within 24 hours, and came out to address the crowd.
“We at City Hall have been hamstrung by delays,” Myrick told the crowd. “But by 5 p.m. tomorrow I’ll be able to send the executive order to the Department of Health for their approval.”
“We got an elected official out of their office and into the street, changing his tune from over a month of delays to agreement on immediate action,” Rand said. “Now that our mayor is using the power Council gave him to create this #CancelRent Executive Order, we can finally get a response from the Department of Health. Whichever way that goes, there will be more work to do to overcome centuries of racist and classist housing inequality.”
As has been his view since discussions with ITU began back in April, Mayor Myrick believes that in order for any sort of rent forgiveness to succeed, the participation of the state and federal governments are a necessity.
“I hope that the state and federal government will greatly enhance their rental assistance program and evictions protections. The state and the fed has not done enough to protect renters and working people. If they don’t and we face hundreds of evictions here in Ithaca, then we need to be prepared to protect those tenants as well,” Myrick told the Voice Tuesday morning.