Rochester's City-Wide Tenant Union installs protest art on Parcel 5, city quickly discards it

Early Tuesday morning, organizers with Roc City-Wide Tenant Union met at Parcel 5 in downtown Rochester. The organizers carried tables, children’s chairs, a mattress and other items labeled with messages like, "Stop evictions," "Imagine leaving your whole life behind," "Senator Cooney, Good Cause Now," and "8k evictions filed a year in ROC."

The items were assembled in front of the red and blue "I (heart) ROC" sign, itself a recent art installation in Rochester.

The discarded furniture used for the public demonstration and art installation were collected by Rochester tenants, who found the items on curbs across the city; likely after evictions. The installation symbolized a family’s belongings left behind and thrown to the curb after an eviction is completed.

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"It takes a long time for someone to accumulate their belongings," CWTU campaign coordinator Liz McGriff said in a statement.

"When you lose your housing, you lose everything. When you’re evicted, you may move in with your family and friends, but if that’s not an option, you may end up in shelters or on the street. All you can take with you is just what you carry," McGriff said.

Ritti Singh, communications coordinator with CWTU, stayed with the installation for most of the morning. While she was there, many people stopped to take photos of the installation, to look at it and ask her questions about it.

In downtown Rochester, with its luxury apartments and office buildings and the eateries in Mercantile on Main, discarded furniture and items — remnants of an eviction — are an uncommon sight. This is in stark juxtaposition to other parts of the city, where the scene is more common, Singh said.

By installing the pieces in the center of downtown, organizers were able to bring a community issue front of mind for who are typically unaffected by it, Singh said.

The location of the installation was also intentional in another way: the "I heart ROC" sign is directly across from Senator Jeremy Cooney’s (D-56) office.

The current eviction moratorium is set to expire on Jan. 15. CWTU is calling for Senator Cooney to support Senator Julia Salazar’s Good Cause Eviction bill, which is currently in committee in Albany.

"Prior to the pandemic, Rochester saw 8,000 evictions filed each year, the equivalent of almost one out of ten Rochester households," CWTU said in a statement. "Good Cause Eviction Protections give tenants the right to renew their tenancy, enhances their right to organize, and provides protections against unreasonable rent hikes. Good Cause is sometimes called the 'Right to Remain' because tenants can remain in their housing without the fear of eviction due to retaliation or gentrification."

In a statement, Singh said it's necessary "to move from pandemic protections to permanent protections."

"We were in a housing crisis long before the pandemic, and we’re going to remain in one unless we address the deeper issues in our housing system. Passing Good Cause at the state level is the first step."

CWTU is specifically calling on Cooney for his support of the bill, as the majority of Rochester’s state delegation is already in support of Good Cause. Cooney formerly supported it, though he withdrew his support of the bill in July of this year.

CWTU notes that Cooney has received $11, 800, or the largest possible non-family campaign contribution for senators in new York state, in campaign donations from the Real Estate Board of NY, the state’s leading real estate lobby group.

Around 9:30 a.m., less than 2 hours after the installation was put up, city workers disassembled and removed it, toting it away in a white truck.

"We are disappointed that the City chose to quickly dismantle a peaceful, nonviolent protest meant to provoke dialogue among Rochester residents," Singh said in a statement. "Parcel 5 is a public space that all Rochester residents should be able to use to express themselves."

This is the second time residents have used the space to spark public conversation. Earlier this year, in April, a group of residents placed signs that read “Daniel Prude Square” on light poles around Parcel 5. By 7:30 AM that morning, City workers were actively removing the signs.

Adria R. Walker covers public education for the Democrat and Chronicle in partnership with Report for America. Follow her on Twitter at @adriawalkr or send her an email at arwalker@gannett.com. You can support her work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester City-Wide Tenant Union Parcel 5 protest art