Our Mission
Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village were constructed for veterans returning from World War II. Its buildings are the iconic postwar development for middle-income families who wanted to build and maintain a full and fruitful life in New York City.
We, as the Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association, keep as our foundation this history in mind. Our goals are to preserve our community as affordable housing for families, with proper maintenance and robust open spaces, where people at the middle of the income spectrum can live and raise a family in peace and safety.
To achieve these goals, we operate on the axiom that “a single person can make a difference, together they make change,” and we abide by three principles:
Long-term Affordability
Affordable housing is under perpetual threat in New York. The state legislature, along with the governor and the mayor of New York City, are in constant change, and we have seen, over the years, the impact this has on our city.
We work together, as a grassroots community organization to initiate change, to make our message heard. We hold press events, we go to Albany, we have rallies at City Hall. Working as a grassroots collective, we have proven that we impact this dialogue and instigate change.
High Quality of Life
We love living at Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper. The open space, the Oval, the cafe, the farmers market, the safety. We at the TA work together every day to protect this—our positive sense of community. There are also things that need constant attention. Getting the broken light bulb fixed. Quieting the noisy neighbors above. Managing the trash and recycling. Making sure the washing machines are working. These ongoing, everyday issues are examples of what we work on every single day.
Ongoing Maintenance Combined with MCIs
Many things that have changed with the different property managers over the years, but there has been one constant: the ongoing and everlasting MCI surprises. We understand that it costs money to maintain our homes and fix what’s broken. But we also understand that these are costs that can—and should—be communicated well, and in a way in which we know when they start, when they end, and even what they are for.