Frances Axler Goldin (June 22, 1924- May 16, 2020) was a housing rights activist and literary agent in New York City.
Beginning in 1959, she led a successful campaign to defeat an urban renewal plan of Robert Moses, which would have replaced historic, affordable housing with a freeway in the Lower East Side.
She experienced antisemitism, and bricks flew at her family's window when they lit candles on Friday night for Shabbat on at least two occasions.
At Jefferson, Goldin studied the history of capitalism and socialism, and she read Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
[6] The couple moved to the Lower East Side in Manhattan, where they lived in a one-bedroom apartment in the fourth floor of a building.
"[9][5] Goldin first became involved with housing rights activism when she visited the Lower East Side Tenement and Consumer Council.
[3] In 1959, she led an effort to oppose a Robert Moses plan to bulldoze twelve blocks of the Lower East Side, which was marketed as "urban renewal."
The plan was to build a proposed Cross-Manhattan Expressway, so that wealthy residents could more easily commute to Wall Street.
[1][10] Through these efforts, Goldin co-founded Cooper Square Committee, along with Thelma Burdick and Walter Thabit.
[1] In 1961, the Committee released Alternate Plan for Cooper Square, which proposed the building of public housing on vacant lots.
Through their pressures, a vote was made by the New York City Board of Estimate, which adopted the Alternate Plan for Cooper Square.
[6] Despite these efforts, the Committee struggled to find wider support in local government until David Dinkins became mayor.
[9] Finally, in 2012, the Committee's plan came to fruition, after years of activism, when the city decided to develop a housing cooperative, where residents could buy their apartments for as little as $250 per unit.
"[10] The story of Cooper Square Committee has inspired other local groups that advocate for the poor in New York City, such as Picture the Homeless.
In total, 1800 residents had been displaced by Seward Park Urban Renewal Area on Delancey Street, with the evacuation process largely completed by 1959.
In 2018, after fifty years of struggle, a 100-unit low-income senior citizen building was completed in the area, where 50% of the units are allocated for affordable housing.
Her clients included Dorothy Allison, Staceyann Chin, Martin Duberman, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Barbara Kingsolver, Adrienne Rich, Robert Meeropol, Juan Gonzalez, and Mike Wallace.
[16] Every year since then Goldin attended the NYC Pride Parade where she was always seen holding the same banner: "I Adore My Lesbian Daughters- Keep Them Safe.
[3] The Indypendent dedicated a full page obituary to her, in which they wrote, "Frances Goldin was relentless, her enthusiasm infectious.