Marisa Redanty

Marisa Redanty is an actress with many TV, film and theater credits, who plays a starring role as an activist in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen Neighborhood.

She is perhaps best known for her work on behalf of her 3,000+ neighbors at Manhattan Plaza, a 1,689-unit, federally subsidized affordable housing complex, most of which is designated for performing artists. From 2002-2010, she served as Tenants Association President and she continues to advocate for the residents there as President Emeritus. Under her leadership, the tenants association grew into the vital organization it is today, building strong working relationships with management, local elected officials and other neighborhood groups.

In 2004, when Manhattan Plaza was sold by its original owner, Ms. Redanty was a leader in the team of entertainment unions, public offi cials and tenants who negotiated with the buyer to enter into a new project-based Section 8 contract, preserving affordability for current and future residents.

More recently, Ms. Redanty worked alongside the neighborhood’s elected officials to preserve Manhattan Plaza’s unique occupancy preferences, which set aside 70% of the units for performing artists, 15% for local seniors and 15% for other community residents. She helped ensure the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development agreed to the same preferences at a new projectbased Section 8 development at 529 West 29th Street.

More than a tenant advocate, Ms. Redanty has never shied away from an important fight for her community, from organizing against the proposed West Side Stadium, to helping secure theater space in a new development at the gateway to the Hudson Yards, to coordinating a community and police response to address a spike in purse and cell phone snatchings. She is currently spearheading an eff ort to secure a new home in the neighborhood for a displaced market that was the community’s primary source of reasonably-priced fresh produce.

With her big personality, big heart and ability to get things done, Ms. Redanty is truly a woman of distinction.