¡Chino García, Presente!
By Dan Chodorkoff
A hero has passed. Carlos “Chino” García died Friday, July 24th. Chino was a teacher, a leader, and an
inspiration to generations of activists on New York’s Lower East Side. He and Bimbo Rivas coined the
name Loisaida for their neighborhood. He was a force to be reckoned with. At age 16 he became
warlord for the Cheyennes, a Lower East Side street gang, but by the time he was 18 he had moved out
of gang life to found The Real Great Society, a grassroots organization dedicated to helping his
community. He went on to co-found CHARAS, a community development organization that helped to
spark the sweat equity urban homesteading movement, in which collectives seized abandoned buildings,
initially as squatters, and using their own labor, rehabbed the buildings into low income tenants co-
operatives some of which demonstrated the first urban application of solar energy. They were taught to
build domes by Buckminster Fuller. CHARAS also built numerous community gardens, a cultural plaza
(La Plaza Cultural), a neighborhood recycling center, and in 1974 they took over a school that had been
abandoned by the city and created CHARAS/El Bohio, a community center that served the neighborhood
until it was auctioned off by Rudy Giuliani, leading to a twenty year battle to regain the space for
community use.
Chino was tireless in his work to create an effective counterforce to the city bureaucracy, organizing quarterly “town meetings” where activists marshaled their forces to oppose the city’s redevelopment plans for their neighborhood, counterposing alternatives that focused on open space, community controlled housing, and ecological approaches to energy and food production. He was amazing organizer who was able to rally people around him and, using a combination of protest, direct action, and political organizing achieved great things, His work had a transformational impact on Loisaida, in terms of both the physical and cultural environment. His community meant everything to Chino, who was known to many as the “Mayor” of Loisaida. His generosity was legendary. He would walk through Tompkins Square Park checking to see that unhoused folk were alright, often providing them with a place to stay if they needed one. He battled police brutality and corrupt politicians , He was always there for others when they needed help, and his positivity and energy sustained the movement through difficult times. From the mid-1980’s on much of the movement’s energy was devoted to anti-gentrification work where, once again, Chino took a leadership role
He was great friend of the ISE for over 50 years. We began to work together in 1974. The ISE was deeply involved in alternative technologies like solar and wind power as well as ecological agriculture and aquaculture. We were approached by Chino to help provide technical assistance for some of their projects. A strong relationship developed and over the years we sent brigades of students to assist with CHARAS projects in New York, and Chino and others came to Vermont to help us build domes and teach us about their approach to community organizing. It was a truly reciprocal relationship based in mutual respect and affection. We were lucky to have Chino agree to serve on our Board; unfortunately he became ill shortly after joining. He struggled for many years with congestive heart failure, spending the last several years of his life in and out of hospitals and rehab centers, but he never lost his optimism and his sense of hope, with which he continued to inspire others, even from his hospital bed. Chino will be sorely missed by his community, those of us at the ISE, and his many friends from around the world. La lucha continua. Chino, rest in peace and power.
