Abigail Savitch-Lew

Happy New Year friends. There are three months left until the publication of my debut novel, Livonia Chow Mein, and I’m coming at you today with two book-related action items. Below are two ways you can back Livonia while supporting the working-class communities of color that make NYC run — and not the corporate oligarchs that leach off our cities and believe they should run the world!

1. Don’t order Livonia Chow Mein from Amazon. Order from Yu & Me Books, here!
   • You’ll be supporting NYC’s first Asian American woman-owned bookstore.
   • Books will come signed & personalized.
   • You can choose to pick up in store, or have them mailed (nation-wide and even internationally).
   • Pre-order now, and the book will be ready on April 21.
2. If you’re a New York City resident: please call your council member and the new Council Speaker, Julie Menin, and urge them to enact the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA).
   • COPA tackles a root cause of our affordability crisis – speculators (a.k.a. the Blackstones of the world) snatching up NYC apartment buildings when they go up for sale. Instead, this bill would help ensure that more at-risk buildings move into the hands of responsible, community-driven organizations.
   • Time is running out; please call before January 29!
   • One of the main characters in Livonia Chow Mein, Lina Rodriguez-Armstrong, is a community land trust organizer. She would want all of us to take action!

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT COPA

COPA is a NYC Council bill that would give vetted, mission-driven affordable housing providers, including community land trusts, a first opportunity to make competitive offers on certain multifamily buildings when owners choose to sell. By giving these organizations a fair chance to compete in a market dominated by speculative investors, COPA helps ensure that at-risk buildings can be acquired by organizations that are truly committed to long-term, deeply and permanently affordable housing and community control.

The City Council passed COPA on December 18, 2025, but lame duck mayor Eric Adams vetoed this critical bill on December 31. We’re calling on NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin to bring COPA back to the Council floor and pass it again with a super majority to override the veto (it already has Mayor Mamdani’s support). The clock is ticking—that override must happen by February 7th!

Full disclosure—I work part-time at New Economy Project, an organization that has been leading the campaign to pass this bill. However, I’m urging you now in my individual capacity, and speaking as a New Yorker whose chosen family is deeply impacted by the displacement and eviction crisis.

Keep the faith! ‘Till next time,

Abby