The Rent Is Too Damn Low

Gadfly tenant activist Jimmy McMillan, whose campaign for New York governor charmed many, is being evicted from his apartment. You may recall that McMillan ran on the Rent Is Too Damn High ticket. In a switch, McMillan says his landlord is kicking him out because his rent is too damn low.

Jimmy McMillan says he pays $872.96 for a rent-controlled ground-floor apartment on St. Marks Place in the East Village — which he’s had since the late-1970s, when the rent was around $275. But the man who founded the tenants-rights party says his landlords are giving him the boot so they can pull in way more dough. “I’ve been here since 1977, and they want more money!” McMillan said. “It’s about ‘My Rent is Too Damn Low.'” So McMillan now has a new crusade — waging a legal battle to keep the hipster-haven apartment he shares with his adult son — a mission that meshes well with the credo of his populist political party.

McMillan says he’s running for president in 2012.