The residents of Van Dyke Houses in Brooklyn, New York, deserve fair and free elections to ensure they are represented by neighbors who care about their welfare.

On December 18, there were not fair elections.

We demand that NYCHA and HUD throw out the Dec. 18, 2021 elections for Tenant Association and set up new elections for the Tenant Association or Resident Council for Van Dyke Houses. We demand this because:

1. TA President Lisa Kenner, with NYCHA approval, illegally demanded that every resident who wanted to vote pay $2 in order to get voting rights. Even though this was overturned upon a protest by Mr. Robert Scott, many people did not now they could vote for FREE and so they did not vote. NYCHA had approved the $2 fee in the bylaws before Mr. Scott’s protest. This is not right.

2. TA President and previous boards manipulate by-laws and elections to stay in power and we want to establish 3-year term limits. Ms. Kenner refused to hold elections for 20 years until forced in December 2021, flagrantly violating the law which requires elections every 3 years. Nobody at NYCHA or HUD held her or the board accountable for not having elections.

3. TA President Lisa Kenner and NYCHA must turn over all financial records during her tenure as we believe funds were not properly spent and may have even wrongly denied Board members stipends allowed under regulations.

4, Nine days after Dec. 18 elections, when Robert Scott was declared winner of 1st Vice President, Mr. Stanback, who monitored the elections, changed the vote to say that Rhonda White won by 3 votes. Neither candidate, including Mr. Scott, were present when the vote tally was changed. Whether true or not, the procedure was behind closed doors and gave the impression of illegality. Ms. White is a friend of Ms. Kenner, who has served on the board before. Mr. Scott is not.

5. We believe it is time for new leadership at Van Dyke Houses. We have lost faith in the current leadership.

6. Under new elections, we demand that public letters go to every resident on a lease, declaring that is is FREE to vote in elections and encouraging everyone to run, so the Tenant Association is truly representative of the population.

WE DEMAND THAT NYCHA DO ITS JOB AND MAKE SURE THAT ELECTIONS ARE FAIR AT VAN DYKE HOUSES. WE HAVE SEROUS DOUBTS AS TO WHETHER NYCHA HAS BEEN WORKING IN GOOD FAITH AND ENSURING COMPLIANCE WITH ALL REGULATIONS FOR THE PEOPLE OF VAN DYKE HOUSES. IT IS WRONG FOR ANY TENANT PRESIDENT TO HOLD OFFICE FOR MORE THAN TWO DECADES. PERIOD.