475 Kent Tenants to Bloomberg: Let Us Back In!

Wonder if Clinton or Obama will have any response? There's an opportunity for either of them to win some votes!

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 4:14 PM

A letter to Bloomberg....oh yeah, that'll work. Good thing the authors CC'd Obama and Hillary, but they somehow forgot Michael Strahan and Alan Cumming!

FYI, if you plan to write to the mayor (and assorted global elected officials) to ask for special treatment now that the building you have occupied illegally has been shut down for safety reasons, should probably spell "imminent" correctly.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 4:23 PM

They forgot to cc Queen Elizabeth. It was probably just an oversight...

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 4:38 PM

I felt sorry for them when this happened but now I just plain old despise them. Get over it, all of you decided to rent in an illegal building and now want specail treatment and cc'ing every Tom, Dick, and Harry? Lame.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 4:42 PM

All those creatives and not one editor/proofreader in the bunch?

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 4:44 PM

Bloomberg should take heed. Lives are disrupted, some have children, and works of art endangered. I think the tenants should sue the landlord for knowingly leasing the basement for a bakery, which was a hazard. All tenants should also sue for allowing this to happen with gross negligence. These are wonderfully creative people who contribute to the culture and the economy of New York. When you go to look at museums/galleries you see their works. After all this time, my theory is the landlord is in cahoots the city/FDNY because the sinister plan is to sell the waterfront bldg to developers. You're talking big moolah for this property, so what if the landlord pays the fine, it's worth it. Besides, reporting violations seems the snickiest way to get rid of illegal tenants in 24 hrs pronto, what would take years in court. I know you're gonna say blah, blah, blah, but just want what we want.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 4:49 PM

These are "wonderfully creative people", some with children, who have illegally rented illegally leased spaces. Of course, no one should have rented them out in the first place, but they did, and these tenants jumped at them. If the tenants can sue the landlord for illegally leasing the basement to a bakery, can't someone sue the tenants for illegally leasing all of their "creative spaces"?

I'm sorry, but their creativity and cultural contributions do not come into play here. (And this is coming from someone who works in a cultural and creative field, with artists, on a daily basis).

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 5:06 PM

"After all this time, my theory is the landlord is in cahoots the city/FDNY because the sinister plan is to sell the waterfront bldg to developers."

Yeah. Ray Kelly, Nick Scopetta and the landlord got together and figured if they built a matzo factory in the basement, piled grain high in giant heaps, and disabled a standpipe, they would have a reason to shut the building down and eventually sell it to a big-shot developer who would convert this dump into high-end condos. Sure. Happens every day!

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 5:07 PM

"These are wonderfully creative people who contribute to the culture and the economy of New York. When you go to look at museums/galleries you see their works."

If they actually have talent, they can make money and pay market rent for legal apartments. Nobody gets a free ride because they claim to be an artist.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 5:23 PM

You people are so angry. You're not even out on the streets like these guys.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 5:23 PM

Indeed it apparently does.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 5:23 PM

I work in a top New York contemporary gallery, and I don't think a single artist on our roster lives/lived at 274 Kent.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 5:26 PM

"After all this time, my theory is the landlord is in cahoots the city/FDNY because the sinister plan is to sell the waterfront bldg to developers."

I know a former tenant who claims that, to the contrary, the FDNY actually has it out for the landlord because there was a death in a fire at another building they owned. This is not a tenant vs. evil landlord case. They believe it its the city and FDNY that are wrong.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 5:27 PM

5:26, it's 475 Kent. And nobody cares if you work at "top contemporary gallery." Jackass.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 6:02 PM

6:02 And nobody cares about 475 Kent.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 6:10 PM

Matzoh anyone?

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 6:27 PM

I think they should be allowed to retrieve their possessions, sure. Live and work? Not until the space is legal. So... the walls are foot-tick slabs of concrete? Great. Fire axes can't cut through concrete. I would suspect that is one reason why a working sprinkler system would be required.

I really truly have all the sympathy in the world for these people up until the point -- and this keeps happening every time I muster up more sympathy -- some yahoo posts something about all of their important cultural contributions to like, society, New York, and Williamsburg. And then I lose it again. Then I remember everyone else who's ever lost their illegal workspace, legal house, good housing deal in this city for whatever reason. Because there are tons of these stories. This is not a new story, a unique story, a special story and it would be wise to remember that. In fact it's almost a murphy's law -- you have a good deal in New York? Someday, it may come to an end. Hopefully when it does you will not be 70 and have no savings or insurance.

So please, please stop telling me about how important and wonderful you all are, oh denizens of 475 Kent. I happen to know some of you, actually. I even like you. I want everything to work out for you. Just, no one at 475 is omgspeshul. Seriously. You're really not.

/endrant

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 6:48 PM

I have never seen a group of more mean spirited people than one this website. The people in this building are paying market rents. Most of the people have been living here for a decade they are not trustifarians as most of the people who post on this website. If they had jobs they wouldn't have the time to spend all their time being miserable.
I hope that the folks from 475 Kent can return to their homes before too much more damage is done. Unfortunately when you live in a live/work loft you take the risk of something like this happening.
The true sad fact is the true artist in NYC is dying and its become a city of self involved kids who either work on Wall Street or are substidized by Mom and Dad.
It gets more boring by the day......

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 7:14 PM

amen 7:14
curbed posts get more assinine by the day

by the way anyone at all no matter what their occupation is losing or fighting llike hell if they have any type of affordable housing in NYC. It doesn't matter if you own or not. Sooner or later someone will build in front of your big glass condo windows or a developer will dig a foundation carelessly adjacent to your co-op and damage it. No one is immune. They'll come for you sooner or later. The economy is going down the tubes anyway. Better mend your ways.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 8:22 PM

amen 7:14
These posts get more assinine by the day. It's getting to be like Curbed around here

by the way anyone at all no matter what their occupation is losing or fighting llike hell if they have any type of affordable housing in NYC. It doesn't matter if you own or not. Sooner or later someone will build in front of your big glass condo windows or a developer will dig a foundation carelessly adjacent to your co-op and damage it. No one is immune. They'll come for you sooner or later. The economy is going down the tubes anyway. Better mend your ways.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 8:23 PM

5:26 - Prestige don't pay rent. Galleries don't pay shit even if your cute, esp. if you can't get your facts right. But you're proud I suppose, to be a peon and sit there like you're some hot shot. News is, you're a nobody just like anyone else in the gallery front desk. The same gallery wonn't care about you nor your art.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 8:46 PM

When you live in an illegal space, you are taking the risk (of eviction) along with the reward (of low rents). If you are too dumb to realize that simple fact of life, then I have no sympathy left for you. If you are too arrogant to even admit your role in your own failings and you begin to blame others and demand special treatment, well... then I despise you.

And I really wish Brownstoner would let this die. (Tho' by posting I guess I am being self-contradictory).

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 9:00 PM

"The people in this building are paying market rents"

No. Wrong again. Sorry if you think it's "mean" for me to say, but many were rent controlled.

Anyone who is getting away with not paying market rent should be putting the surplus into the bank. When they lose this unfair deal it'll be more useful than the extra oil paints.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 9:17 PM

9:00 Kick the man while his down. You are the arrogant one, practicing the holier than thou 'tude. Biyaatch!

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 9:18 PM

FYI, no such thing as "rent controlled" anymore after the 70s. We pay market rent for all its worth.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 9:24 PM

My impression, and what is true of most loft buildings I've known is that a few people held the primary lease and sublet to the others at market rents. That is how it is usually done. So those few probably paid next to nothing month-to-month but assumed more of the risk in terms of deposits and initial investment.

Again, I really everyone the best, but this city has a hard enough time enforcing rules for legal residences. When you're in one that isn't, you have to realize that you're signing away your rights. That is why some of us (gasp!) artists never did rent commercial spaces.

Well, that and per square foot they were actually more expensive than residential... which always makes me wonder about these poor artists...

But that is another story.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 9:38 PM

The tenants can't be blamed. Housing shortages in this city are widespread. ANY space with a roof is potential live-work space, think SOHO thirty years ago. These people were not "getting a free ride" nor are they asking for one. They pay market value rent just like everyone else. The landlord cashed their checks, he knew people were living there. That is a legal agreement. If it were not for the 'illegal bakery' he would be in court with each canceled check working against him.

At the very least they should have 3 months to re-locate themselves and their possessions. These are people who lost their housing & work spaces I don't judge what their professions are. I don't really care what they do. I am shocked at
how ignorant & cold hearted some the responses are. On second thought I am not really...considering the way this city has changed over the past twenty years.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 11:03 PM

They should Sue everybody because its never their own fault

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 11:16 PM

Let's pile on and spend lots of time criticizing a bunch of people who thought they were moving into a legit building with a code-compliant owner who then got booted out onto the street. Then, let's spend a lot of time getting real high and mighty because we "work in top New York contemporary gallery" or because we have the convoluted and meandering view that "If they actually have talent, they can make money and pay market rent for legal apartments. Nobody gets a free ride because they claim to be an artist." Then,we can dump on the developers, the City, the politicians and everyone else, simply because this is an anonymous board and, what fun it is.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 11:29 PM

what's BS about the tenants crap is that there are so many artists that purposely DO NOT illegally rent. they sacrifice to specifically rent commercial space to work and then live in a residence. they are acting like it was there only option. AND IT WASN'T.

also, they knowingly gave money to an obvious crook. it's disgusting to fund to the landlord. god knows what that guy will pull next.

i work in a creative field and have supported artists for my whole career. really honorable people do not behave like these jerks.

AND, the risks the people with children took in living in that building. it's horrible. GROW UP and put your children first and move somewhere else.

Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 11:52 PM

I thought the point of the letter was that some residents actually use their space for commercial purposes, in compliance with the buildings legal use, and their businesses are in jepoardy due to the evacuation. I know there are several film and photography studios, at least one sculpture studio, and a fine art print shop all located in the building.

Posted by: guest at February 9, 2008 12:31 AM

The point of the letter was they formed a media committee @475 and here it is.

I feel sorry for the tenants but they should sue the landlord. Good luck with that.

Posted by: guest at February 9, 2008 3:21 AM

The letter seems kind of demanding... maybe tone it down to asking politely next time..the mayor doesnt owe them shit

Posted by: guest at February 9, 2008 10:27 AM

This is an awful situation for the tenants. The same thing can happen to anyone due to a fire or other disaster. In these cases one has to summon up the courage to put the past behind and start over. Being a victim of a house fire is no easier than this. At leasr these people can salvage their possessions.
I would be very surpised if the building ever goes back to the way it was before, people are wasting time and energy that they could spend on finding a new home and settling in. The important thing is to be alive and healthy. Even in NY a building is not worth it. Move on. I know it is difficult but it must be done.

Posted by: guest at February 9, 2008 1:06 PM

This predicament that they are in doesn't happen to those of us with sense.

Why? Because we don't rent illegal apartments.

And to those that say they should sue the landlord for "letting" them rent these illegal apartments: you are everything that is wrong with the litigation system in this country

Posted by: guest at February 9, 2008 2:22 PM

Boo hoo hoo, poor tenants of 475 Kent!

See that sugar refinery that just blew up and killed a bunch of people? Well, that coulda been you guys! So as far as I'm concerned, between that and the fact that you've been squatting in an illegal building for well over a decade, you're luck has been used up.

Go get your shit out of the building so the landlord can get to work on converting it to a luxury property that is LEGAL. If you want to move back after that, I'm sure you'll be welcome.

But puh-lease, stop your whining and bitching already. You knew the day was coming when the other shoe would drop.

And honestly, I can't believe the landlord hasn't tried to burn down the building yet.

Posted by: guest at February 9, 2008 3:49 PM

3:49 no amt of therapy will exorcise you of your insensitivity, hatred and evilness. same shit can happen to you and when it does we'll think of your arrogance - you drunken sot!

Posted by: guest at February 9, 2008 4:25 PM

This is such a repeat of what happened at water street in 2000. Sorry guys, you got fucked, just like the tenants of 247 water and 1717 Troutman.

Posted by: guest at February 9, 2008 6:01 PM

The city is acting horribly.
In light of the tragedy at the Deutschebank Building, due largely to NYFD manegerial incompetence, the fire dept brass is trying to compensate by being sadists in Brooklyn. Sadism as an alternative to competence is a long established government agency routine.
Torture the inhabitants of this building, throw them out into the freezing night, and it will show the public that the NYFD is on its toes and doing its job.
disgraceful!

Posted by: guest at February 10, 2008 11:48 AM

4:25 - "exorcise" Good thing you're an artist and don't have a real career requiring spelling skills. LOL.

Posted by: guest at February 10, 2008 12:36 PM

they spelled it right, moron

Posted by: guest at February 10, 2008 1:03 PM

hey jackass-- get a dictionary and look up "exorcise". then stop laughing. cause you're a jackass.

3:49, the whole point of this mess is that it was a "fire hazard"-- the building isn't flammable, it can't burn.

i love how everyone likes to throw around the term "illegal". it really lends a certain cachet to your weak argument. rents there are the same as anywhere else. the spaces were individual and unique, not the cookie cutter crap construction found in all the new "luxury" glass boxes.

the 150 year old brownstones with rotting joists and floors that drop an inch or two across a 12 foot span are no safer. 100 year old pine floors anyone? cloth wiring installed when your grandma was in diapers the first time? and yet thousands and thousands of people live in buildings like this all over the place.

how many article have you read about families and children dying in fires in buildings like that? families burn to death every month in old brownstones and the like.

and how many people even get injured in fires in buildings like 475 Kent? Deutschebank was a different scenario. the standpipes are fixed here. buildings like 475 Kent only burn down when they are full of clothes and burned down by a lone homeless arsonist.

it's a joke to call this building dangerous and it's ignorant to attack the tenants. get your shit straight before you go spouting off like you know what you're talking about. and kiss your broker before you go to bed tonight. he saved your ass by charging you an arm and a leg for an overvalued box. how 'bout that housing bubble?

Posted by: guest at February 10, 2008 9:33 PM

Bloomberg said this in response to the letter, "TLDR."

Posted by: guest at February 11, 2008 8:53 AM

You would think that atleast some of these bohemian tenants would be married to bourgeoise types who would look after the nitty gritty details of running an old complex building.

Posted by: guest at February 11, 2008 4:35 PM

anyone have a Twinky? I'm hungry

Posted by: guest at May 2, 2008 6:00 PM