The 10 Manhattan Square Drive Building had been under construction for asbestos removal with the tenants still living inside, since early February of 2020, when rent doubled in August. During the pandemic, with residents living with the construction within earshot, daily life became filled with the overwhelming tension of staying safe from eviction, and at the same time, the asbestos at home. The Rochester City-Wide Tenant Union was responsible for organizing and legally assisting tenants in the 10 Manhattan Square complex. Through them, I was able to work with tenants and
understand the complexity of tenants’ rights. Initially, their struggle to overcome the situation Conifer LLC had put them in represented a much larger trend in real estate practices in lower-income areas all over Rochester. However as these tenants struggle on, the neighborhood continues to rise in real estate prices, bringing to the surface much deeper themes of gentrification and housing segregation that have plagued the Rochester area so much in the last decade.
Pam and Billy Barker (center) go through the legal documents of their longstanding fight against Conifer that, 11 months ago, was appealed to the supreme court to determine the validity of tenant protections during the Pandemic. Billy's apartment, like most of the tenants' in the building, is filled with boxes as a result of fears of being ready for eviction when the pandemic subsides.
Signs from previous protests both Owens and Booker has attended from the late 1970s up until 2020 are cluttered behind a basket of laundry. Before coming to Rochester, Billy Booker was a participant in the Attica Prison Riots of 1971. After his release, he was involved in political protests throughout the 1970s primarily surrounding the topic of police brutality in Brooklyn, New York, until he came to Rochester later on.
A friend of Pam Owens, Sara, stands at the balcony door of her apartment, as Pam shows an image of the hallway where asbestos removal is boarded off by a band of red tape reading "danger."
An aerosol medication delivery system sits on the table of a good friend of Pam's, who currently suffers from accumulating fluid in her lungs. Doctors at the University of Rochester speculate this could be a result of asbestos leaks in the air of the building on her floor, where the removal is taking place.
Pam stares out the door behind her, in front of the entrance to the back of the building, currently under construction.
Barbara Rivera (center), and Diallo Payne (right) document the tour on the inside of the building. Barbara has been with the Tenants Union since 2014.
Jaquelyn Brown leans against the doorway of Pam Owen's Apartment during the tour, as Diallo Payne takes video of the eleven tenants in her apartment.
New York State Senator Jeremy Cooney speaks at a rally at the Monroe County Supreme Court on March 2, 2021, during a rally to extend the eviction moratorium that would end that month.
Pam Owens shows Chief Assembly member Harry Bronson images from her room at the 10 Manhattan Square complex.
Pam and Sara stand outside, awaiting a rally of tenants outside the building for a tour of four apartments, broadcasted on facebook. A line of new condos are put up across the parking lot of the back of the building.