The clock starts ticking immediately, even if the first adjournment is used by a tenant to get a lawyer, or requested by a judge trying to manage a crowded calendar. Those who post the sum initially but fail to keep up payments as the case winds its way through court will face eviction, as will those who fail to post the first amount demanded. Tenants say mandatory rent deposit would rob them of due process and force them to pay before having much chance to defend themselves. And we believe that it will be a nightmare for us simply in terms of administration. It will require tremendous additional resources with clerks and bookkeeping.'' Besides Leibell's bill, there is a measure by Brooklyn assemblyman Nick Perry and one by Assemblyman Ed Griffith, also of Brooklyn.
Sources say Silver is unlikely to let either assembly bill make progress.
In the senate, however, Bruno will be more than happy to set Leibell's bill sailing. And Leibell is perhaps showing his gratitude via flattery, aping the majority leader. Like his boss, who came down to New York City from his Rensselaer estate in December to begin a war to dismantle the laws that protect 2.6 million New York renters, Leibell, too, is turning his eye miles from his upstate district to the distant metropolis of New York City. Daily, the corridors of the courts swell with the city's poorest tenants seeking what is likely their last recourse before eviction. Each year, about 320,000 cases are filed, mostly because tenants aren't paying rent.