City To Help Artists Get Their Piece of the Rock
WYNC is reporting that the city is setting up a $100 million fund to help artists purchase the spaces in which they live and work. In announcing the fund’s creation, City Housing Commissioner Sean Donovan noted that artists deserve to share in the wealth that their pioneering efforts create. “If we believe as I think…
WYNC is reporting that the city is setting up a $100 million fund to help artists purchase the spaces in which they live and work. In announcing the fund’s creation, City Housing Commissioner Sean Donovan noted that artists deserve to share in the wealth that their pioneering efforts create. “If we believe as I think many of us do, that artists not just need affordable housing, but actually create real estate value, what we’re trying to do is create a fund that would actually leverage some of that, bring in investment dollars to follow artists, and allow them, for reduced prices, to buy their space.” Remember the discussion we had about the fate of the artists on South 11th Street?
$100 Million Fund for Artist Housing [WNYC]
Why pick on artists? Do single childless people get to complain that their money goes to schools? Do non-drivers get to compalin about roads? Have we stopped giving assistance to those in need or stop paying for subsidized housing? Where’s the howling over the money Ratner is getting? Why complain about artists and then say the money could go to schools? Why should married people with kids get tax breaks that I can’t?
Puhlease.
Re-read jim’s comments, especially the last sentence
“It is not to minimize the importance of….other moderate/low income people…but one problem at a time”
My mom is a home healthcare worker, and a retired senior citizen. I would love to find an affordable home for her too.
But lets concentrate on solving, one problem at a time, please?
I think we’re all rallying behind the same cause, affordable housing. No need to act like lobsters in a barrel.
umm a lot of us yuppie jackasses moved here from bushwick, williamsburg etc. after we became more successful “artists,” teachers, etc. than we used to be.
this whole thing pisses me off– Why should the city decide that people who work in any given sector of the economy deserve a break just because it’s got cultural cache? If we’re going to give someone a break, it should be someone who does a social good for all of us. How about home healthcare workers, or nurses, or pre-school teachers..
let’s not re-gurgitate that artist debate…please….been there done that.
whats hilarious is, all you yuppie jackasses would never dream of moving to Bushwick, DUMBO, or Wiliamsburg way back in the day unless the artists were there first to make it more desirable to you.
depends on how ‘creative’ he or she is. But i don’t think the housing commission would look favorably on that one. Maybe there’s a blurb on their website explaining who would qualify for the artist moniker
Jim, would a porn star count as an artist?
Just one more point – the goal of the program is to help artists buy their home studios. Moving to Co-Op city might not be a real option for these people because of space needs.
There are lots of housing programs for all kinds of people at all kinds of income levels. Teachers and cops should check with their union as I am sure there are some programs that would benefit them. $100 mio is really just a drop in the bucket for a worthwhile goal – keeping artists in the city. It is not to minimize the importance of keeping other moderate/low income people in the city, but one problem at a time.