Local residents and housing advocates say State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr., whose name means “sword” in Spanish, has stabbed them in the back by siding with Republicans, not supporting rent laws that would preserve affordable housing and essentially paralyzing the state legislature.

More than 100 people protested outside of Fordham Place, the office building where Espada claims to have a district office, located at Fordham Road and Webster Avenue (though the building’s manager told the Norwood News he had never heard of Espada before he became a tabloid fixture).

Millie Colon, a Bedford Park resident and a member of Community Action for Safe Apartments (CASA), said Espada has not been honest with the community.

“A lot of people have been misguided and misinformed by him.” Colon said. “He continuously says he is in support of our plight and then he turns around and he has his own agenda. He continuously evaded us and didn’t support us.”

For months, tenants and advocates in Espada’s district have been on his back to support a raft of bills that would strengthen rent laws, including a bill that would repeal vacancy decontrol, which allows landlords to raise rents on apartments without restrictions once they hit $2,000.

Advocates say the repeal would preserve hundreds of thousands of the city’s rent-regulated apartments and point out that Espada’s district contains more rent-regulated apartments — 77,000 — than all but one other state senator.

Tenant advocates had  high hopes that the state’s Democrats, which began the year in charge of the state Senate, Assembly and governor’s office for the first time since 1965, would have the power to push through a package of rent laws.

But two weeks ago, Espada, who as head of the Senate Housing Committee spent the entire spring stalling on the rent bills, became the linchpin of a Republican power grab, along with Hiram Monserrate, a Queens Democrat. The two voted to put the Republicans back into Senate leadership positions and, in return, Espada was given the title of Senate president, which would make him governor if David Paterson became incapacitated or even left the state.

Monserrate has since moved back into the Democratic camp, leaving Espada as the sole renegade keeping power away from his own party and leaving the Senate at an impasse.

The chamber remains deadlocked at 31-31. Espada claims the leadership vote, which Monserrate participated in, gave Republicans power, though either side would need 32 votes to pass anything.

Democrats counter that the vote was  illegal. Last week, a judge told the two sides to work it out on their own. But, as of press time, there was no compromise.

The deadlock is great news for pro-landlord groups who were fighting hard to keep bills like the ending of vacancy decontrol off the floor.

In May, after protesters picketed Espada at a Manhattan restaurant where he was giving a speech to pro-landlord groups, the senator told tenant advocates in Albany that he would work with them and address (though not necessarily support) all of the rent law bills. 

But at that point Espada was already conspiring with Republicans to take over the Senate.  On top of that, Stanley Schlein, a longtime Bronx power broker who represented Espada last fall in negotiations with Democratic conference leader Malcolm Smith, is now working for the two biggest pro-landlord and developer groups in the state — the Rent Stabilization Association and the Real Estate Board.

The week after the Republican takeover, Espada said he wouldn’t support the repeal of rent control.

Espada did not return calls for this article, but told The New York Times that his support from real estate groups didn’t affect his decision, though he declined to say how much money he has received.

Joseph Strasburg, the president of the Rent Stabilization Association, also did not return calls for this article and has refused to say how much money his group has given Espada, but has repeatedly said he supports Espada’s move. 

Back in the Bronx, Espada has recently been spotted at a Yankees game enjoying box seats and outside of the Bedford Park building he claims is his primary residence. Other people who live there, however, have maintained since last August that they rarely ever see him. A Bronx court certified the building as his primary residence last fall, but Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson recently convened a grand jury to investigate the situation. In response, Espada sued the DA’s office for politically targeting him.
Regardless, residents at the rally said Espada has “sold out” his community.

“We need a leader who actually does lead us,” said Esperanza Vasquez. “[A leader] who lives in the Bronx and thinks about Latinos, and thinks about the conditions in which we are living in.”