April 13, 2024
Chris Marte’s State of the District
Christopher Marte, SoHo’s representative at the City Council, will be presenting his 2024 State of the District event tomorrow, Sunday, April 14 from 2:00 to 3:30 pm at PS 130, 143 Baxter Street, between Grand and Hester Streets, where SoHo adjoins Chinatown/Little Italy.
The State of the District is like the State of the Union, but just for us locals.
Chris will be presenting what he has achieved in his first term in office and mapping out the path forward. This event will provide you an opportunity to hear and meet your local representative face-to-face — an option not all elected officials provide their constituents.
Among other things, Marte will be discussing his anti-displacement work and his efforts at maintaining the integrity of our SoHo community.
Join your neighbors tomorrow. RSVP here
March 31, 2024
Stop the Supertalls!! Write Now.
Governor Hochul has introduced legislation to gut a long-standing State zoning cap that regulates the height and bulk of residential buildings in the city — to the delight of the real-estate industry and City Hall.
Tell Our State Legislators to Reject the Scheme
The current height cap has already produced residential buildings 1,500-feet high, 150-stories tall, like the ultra-luxury skyscrapers on Billionaire’s Row on Central Park South, which already boasts the tallest residential building in the world with one unit that sold for $250 million.
Imagine if the cap is removed. Even bigger buildings will be built. Residential neighborhoods throughout the city would be rezoned to any density and height the City administration desires.
The well-respected Municipal Arts Society reports that there are 3.8 billion square-feet of undeveloped air-rights available under the current zoning, equivalent to more than 1,300 Empire State Buildings and enough to house 4 million additional New Yorkers. There is also an abundance of empty office space that can be converted to residential use.
Nevertheless, Hochul, Mayor Adams and several Manhattan politicians who support her efforts are employing specious arguments in an attempt to remove the cap, claiming – without a shred of evidence – that it will add to the pool of affordable housing.
In fact, it will incentivize the demolishing of affordable rent-regulated housing that shelters longtime residents who are disproportionately lower income and elderly.
Joining their effort are a claque of developer acolytes, not least of which is Open New York, the outsider front financed by real-estate interests that so vocally supported the 2021 SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown upzoning. They are well-trained shills strategically positioned to push a pro-developer agenda while pretending to care about affordable housing.
Also in support is the Regional Planning Association, RPA. Not only did the RPA support our 2021 upzoning, but back in the 1960s it spearheaded Robert Moses’ plan to literally demolish SoHo and Chinatown in order to construct a 10-lane super highway connecting the Manhattan Bridge to the Holland Tunnel. Wrong then; wrong now!
The state assembly has already rejected Hochul’s proposal.
However, the state senate has come out with an alternative version that would require about 25% of these new extra-large developments to have modest affordability requirements. It would also exempt historic districts like SoHo/NoHo. But it would leave our neighbors in surrounding communities vulnerable to the whims of developers.
We feel, along with Village Preservation, which alerted us to this development, that If the cap is to be lifted, it should only allow developments that are entirely or primarily affordable.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Tell State Legislators Not to Allow Supersized Developments in Residential Neighborhoods.
WRITE NOW to these 89 legislators in one click of the button below.
March 22, 2024
Glick & Kavanagh Need Your Hello
Too often elected officials remain aloof from the voters. Too often they ignore us.
This will not be the case Sunday in SoHo at the Judd Museum.
State Senator Brian Kavanagh and Assemblymember Deborah Glick will be in our community personally — on the street: meeting us, greeting us, talking to us face-to-face, answering our questions, addressing our concerns and offering constituent assistance.
Senator Kavanagh chairs the Senate Housing Committee and was described this week in City&State as “a staunch advocate for tenant protections”, not to mention coop/condo owners, loft tenants and small business protection.
Assemblymember Glick chairs the Assembly’s Higher Education Committee and her legislative priorities center on women’s, LGBTQ and tenants’ rights, with a focus on the arts.
We in SoHo/NoHo Owe Them a Lot.
You may recall that one especially iniquitous and punitive provision of the 2021 SoHo/NoHo rezoning was a recurring $25,000 fine for any resident lacking artist certification — possibly 90% of us. We would have had to cough up this extortionate shakedown or move out.
Since much of the rent and housing regulations comes out of Albany, Glick and Kavanagh promptly sponsored legislation signed by the governor that now exempts anyone living here prior to the rezoning from that Draconian penalty. Aren’t you glad you dodged that bullet?
How Can We Show Our Thanks?
Simply.
To be elected, a candidate must obviously be on the ballot. However, State election law requires all candidates — even incumbents — to collect a certain number of signatures from voters petitioning the Board of Elections to place them on the ballot. This is where you come in.
We will be there on Sunday asking you to sign the petition. It takes less than a minute and it is your way of showing thanks for the wonderful job our two representatives have done for us — and will continue to do.
So come on over and meet these two excellent legislators and feel free to engage with them firsthand. We need them in office to continue to fight for us in Albany.
WHERE: in front of the Judd Museum, Spring and Mercer Streets
WHEN: Sunday, noon–2:00 pm
March 3, 2024
Parking Survey//Congestion Pricing
Community Board 2 has received the services of a graduate student from the Fund for the City of New York, a foundation that awards fellowship stipends for urban planning studies.
The student is conducting a district-wide parking assessment study to survey what types of parking people use (alternate side, metered, garage), the factors in making that decision, where their parking is located, its ease of access, etc.
The student has been researching and collecting useful data on her own. However, there is a lot of information that is missing but needed for a complete picture. The community board has put together a survey and is asking community groups to distribute it in order to gather more data to help fill those gaps.
Sharing your insights on the parking landscape takes about three minutes and is confidential. Click here for the link to the survey. The report will be issued and distributed later this year.
Congestion Pricing Final Public Hearing
Supporters say congestion pricing — a toll for most vehicles entering the central business district below 59th Street — will greatly reduce traffic passing through our community, especially those en route to the various bridges and tunnels here. Opponents say it will be a financial burden.
Nevertheless, congestion pricing has been passed into law; it is happening. So these hearings are meant to get public input on how to implement the tolls; who, if anyone, gets exemptions; and, if so, how much of a discount.
The MTA will hold the last two of its public hearings soliciting comments on the proposed toll rates tomorrow, Monday, March 4 at 10:00 am and 6:00 pm. It will be a hybrid format with options to participate via Zoom or in-person at MTA headquarters, 2 Broadway, 20th floor.
Those interested in speaking must register in advance. Registration will close 30 minutes following the start of each hearing. Use the links below to register:
Do note the times above, 10am and 6pm. These times were updated on the MTA webpage on March 1. However, you will see that when you register, the MTA page says 8am and 4pm — two hours difference. We suppose that the agency staffers neglected to update the times listed on the original registration page. So we assume it is now 10 am and 6 pm. Either way, register if you wish to comment.
For more information on the program or options for attending and commenting, visit https://new.mta.info/
February 15, 2024
Congestion Pricing Information Session
The MTA Congestion Pricing program, a toll for vehicles entering Manhattan below 60th Street, is set to go into effect later this year.
Its goal is to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution, as well as raising funds for the MTA.
Considering the inordinate number of vehicles traversing SoHo going to the Holland Tunnel, the program could have a significant effect on our neighborhood.
However, it could present financial difficulties for local residents who require their vehicles for, say, medical appointments or work outside Manhattan. More information on the toll rate schedule here.
Senator Brian Kavanagh is seeking to hear from his constituents on this subject and is hosting a meeting on it Thursday, February 15 from 6:00 to 8:30 pm at BMCC TriBeCa Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers Street near West Street.
MTA officials will present their plan and there will be a Q&A with the public. Registration is required via https://bit.ly/mtainfosession
The MTA will also be holding its own public hearings and comment sessions on Thursday, February 29 at 6pm, Friday, March 1 at 10am, Monday, March 4 at 10 am, and Monday March 4 at pm. Click here to register to attend in person or via Zoom at https://mta.zoom.us/j/
January 21, 2024
CB2 Nixes Conversion Tax
Community Board 2 voted solidly Thursday to support Councilman Christopher Marte’s proposal to eliminate the conversion fee that the 2021 SoHo/NoHo rezoning imposes on some residents seeking to change their certificate of occupancy from Joint Live-Work Quarters for Artists use (JLWQA, aka AIR) to straight residential use.
Marte will now attempt to have his proposal included in Mayor Adams’ sweeping citywide rezoning initiative, the City of Yes.
Some fifty people braved the wintery weather to attend the meeting in person in Chinatown, while three dozen others submitted written testimony, with additional attendees on Zoom — all passionately requesting the board support Marte’s proposal. Most were neighborhood artists and pioneers, aging in place, facing the expenses of an uncertain future.
They bemoaned the fact that the monies from the so-called arts fund will likely not see a dime of it returning to the community that produced it. Instead, the rezoning merely suggests that any arts-fund money “should” be spent south of 14th Street, not “must”.
Additionally, the very mechanism for applying the fee is arbitrary and discriminatory.
Only those buildings that were developed, co-oped, and received a JLWQA certificate of occupancy before the Loft Law was enacted in 1982 are subject to the conversion fee should they sell to a non-artist.
However, due to a quirk in the state’s housing laws, buildings developed after 1982 — about half — are subject to the Interim Multiple Dwelling law which exempts them from all those requirements. Clearly this situation is unfair, capricious, and targets the pioneers of SoHo and its older artist residents. It has to go.
Assemblymember Deborah Glick personally appeared to express her support. Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, who now represents NoHo, attended via Zoom, saying she came to “listen” to her constituents.
Tellingly, not a single person spoke out against the motion.
$1,200 or $250,000. What Would You Rather Pay?
When those SoHo/NoHo residents subject to the conversion fee decide to sell their units to a non-artist, the $100 per square-foot fee could kick in.
Those buyers, facing an average fee of about $250,000, will attempt to avoid the expense by seeking a reduction in the asking price. Indeed, we have heard reports of buyers employing this bargaining strategy to try to get a better deal.
However, it all may be a tempest in a teapot.
Since the artists certification requirement was enacted in 1971, not a single non-artist has ever been fined for non-compliance with their certificate of occupancy — let alone evicted.
There is no reason to believe that the city will start enforcing it now after ignoring it for six decades, especially since the money will not go into the city’s coffer, but to some local nebulous “arts fund” administered by a private non-profit.
So what happens if a non-artist resident moves into a space that requires a JLWQA certificate of occupancy?
Well…not much.
The citywide fine for violating a certificate of occupancy is $1,200. The violation is adjudicated not in the courts but by the Environmental Control Board, which handles simple violations, like fines for not picking up after your dog. The process can take a year to conclude, during which time further violations for the same offense are on hold.
Moreover, these violations are “complaint driven”. That is, only if a person informs the Buildings Department of the violation, will the city take any action. And why would anyone become an informant? It makes no sense.
In the past thirty years of fielding phone calls and emails from SoHo/NoHo residents, we have never heard of a single incident of anyone actually stooping to do this. People just don’t like snitching on their neighbors.
Furthermore, how would a Buildings Department inspector know if a person is not a certified artist?
Not very easily, since the agency that issues the certifications, the Department of Cultural Affairs, is underfunded, understaffed, and notoriously unresponsive. Building inspectors are rightfully more concerned about buildings collapsing than chasing down artists.
Thus, the actual chance of a non-artist being fined is, essentially, nil. At worst, the penalty would only be $1,200 maximum — a pittance compared to $250,000,
Of course, some buyers will try to argue contrariwise to benefit their pocketbook. But if sellers hold firm and explain the reality of a mere $1,200 fine, this whole rigamarole might easily be avoided.
Please pass this information along and apply it if your building is one of those liable for the conversion tax.
January 17, 2024
Emergency Meeting Needs Your Testimony
We are reaching out with an urgent call for your testimony ahead of a critical vote regarding the Arts Fund Conversion Fee at the monthly meeting of Community Board 2, Thursday, January 18, 6:30pm.
To testify, you must register here before 5:00 pm on Thursday.
Background:
At last week’s meeting of CB2’s Land Use Committee, Councilmember Christopher Marte presented his plan to eliminate the unfair Arts Fund Conversion Fee, which amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars per home.
You’ll recall the conversion fee was part of the 2021 SoHo/NoHo rezoning. It requires a fee of $100 per square-foot for any dwelling unit currently with a certificate of occupancy for Joint Live/Work Quarters for Artists (JLWQA, aka A.I.R.) to pay a conversion fee of $100 per square-foot just to apply to change the certificate of occupancy to standard residential use. This would most likely kick in when a long-time resident sells to a non-artist.
Shockingly, two committee members — who in the past opposed the Arts Fund — spoke strongly in favor of it this time, arguing it could benefit the arts in the SoHo/NoHo community. In reality, the Department of City Planing intends to give the funds to the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council — which primarily runs cultural projects miles away, like on Governors Island. (see here).
Worse, the SoHo community board members who are themselves subject to the conversion fee and could have represented the interests of JLWQA homeowners on the board were forced to recuse themselves from Thursday’s vote due to an alleged “conflict of interest”. The two members supporting the fee are not so restricted and will undoubtedly press the full board to retain the fee.
This leaves the 1600+ JLWQA families and artists who are subject to this fee without any voting representation on the community board.
Your testimony is needed
We need you to testify why imposing this fee on us is unfair. In particular, we would like as many certified artists and founders of our community to explain why this fee is particularly onerous for them. Please attend. BODIES COUNT!!!
You must register early to testify
The meeting will be held in person starting at 6:30pm at PS130 Hernando De Soto, 146 Baxter Street at Hester Street. Public testimony begins around 7:00.
You must register to testify before 5:00 pm on Thursday.
You can also register to attend by Zoom. Unfortunately, registering for the Zoom meeting does not allow you to speak, only observe on Zoom. So you must attend in order to testify.
If you absolutely cannot attend, please submit written testimony as soon as possible here and CC the SoHo Alliance at info@sohoalliance.org
Further background
The conversion fee must be paid upfront, in full, and is non-refundable — even if the conversion fails for any reason. It is imposed on certified artists and non-artists alike.
A State law we advocated for in 2022 allowed all JLWQA residents to remain in their homes without being forced to convert or pay the fee. However, this protection expires when the homeowner — inevitably — has to move out. This means that existing homeowners will have to pay the fee, either directly by converting before a sale or indirectly by having to give a commensurate discount to the buyer.
Mayor Adams’ recent proposal — City of Yes for Economic Opportunity — would rezone the entire City and permit JLWQA-like apartments everywhere. Councilmember Marte’s proposal is to eliminate the conversion fee because, once JLWQA-like uses are permitted everywhere in the city, charging a fee only to JLWQAs in SoHo and NoHo is even more unfair.
We fully support Marte’s initiative. Moreover, should the community board vote in support of the conversion fee (which it previously opposed 36:1), it could set back the community’s advocacy efforts with the city and the state.
Please register to speak and plan to testify.
December 22, 2023
Morton-Williams Saved!!
Grassroots Effort to Save Morton Williams Supermarket at Bleecker & LaGuardia Succeeds.
Store to remain until at least 2036.
Towards the end of the Bloomberg administration, the city granted NYU’s request to change the zoning of the area between LaGuardia and Mercer from Houston to West 3rd Streets, upzoning it from its low-rise Village zoning to high-rise zoning comparable to midtown.
The city also handed NYU the strip of city-owned parkland on Mercer Street that had contained a children’s playground and dog run to build that huge new structure on Houston Street, the Paulson Center.
Along with other neighborhood organizations, the SoHo Alliance fought this giveaway of our parkland. Our litigation was successful at first, but the city appealed and eventually the highest court in the state, the Court of Appeals in Albany, ruled against our lawsuit.
During the rezoning negotiations, NYU agreed to the construction of a community facility — for example, a public school — on the site of the Morton Williams supermarket, land the university owns.
But NYU said construction had to be completed in a timely manner, several years. Otherwise, NYU could build an institutional building of its own.
Either scenario — a public school or NYU building — would mean the leveling of the Morton Williams supermarket, creating a food desert for the neighborhood. The local Gourmet Garage and Gristede’s have both closed.
So during negotiations with the community board and elected officials in 2012, NYU promised to construct a dedicated space for the supermarket in its Paulson Center.
But when the final documents were signed, no one in city government noticed that NYU failed to put its oral agreement into writing. The Paulson Center was built but without the supermarket NYU had promised us.
And although NYU and Morton Williams signed a 20-year lease in 2020, a clause permitted NYU to terminate the lease if it chose to demolish the building.
Neighbors organized and lobbied our elected officials. One group, Save Our Supermarket, was especially active.
The School Construction Authority had until December 31 of this year to commit to the construction of a new school or else NYU could exercise its option to build whatever it chose. However, the city has said construction of a new school would not be feasible at this time, for several reasons.
Any construction would likely mean the ruination of the award-winning LaGuardia Corner Garden adjacent to Morton Williams.
So it is with satisfaction that yesterday the School Construction Authority and NYU reached a deal: NYU has agreed to let Morton Williams stay until the end of its lease in 2031 and to extend the lease with a five-year renewal option into 2036.
Now that the standoff has been resolved, Morton Williams has said that it will renovate the store with updated equipment and features.
Special thanks to our local electeds who pressured NYU to do the right thing, especially Congressman Jerry Nadler, Councilmember Christopher Marte and Assemblymember Deborah Glick, as well as State Senators Brian Kavanagh and Brad Hoylman-Sigel, and also Councilmember Carlina Rivera and our new congressman, Daniel Goldman.
*********************
SoHo Alliance Annual Fundraising Drive – Help Us Help You.
We only ask once a year. Our volunteers do the work because they love our community.
However, our website, email server, supplies, equipment, services, consultants, and multiple lawsuits do not come cheaply.
So — please — donate to our appeal and support our non-profit’s efforts in 2024 and beyond. It benefits you.
Pay with a debit or credit card or Paypal here
Or send a check to:
SoHo Alliance
PO Box 429
New York, NY 10012
December 5, 2023
WE Are the Majority:Rally to License E-Bikes
WHAT: Rally & Press Conference to Support Licensing of e-Bikes
WHO: Victims of e-bike accidents, safety advocates, city council members and common citizens like ourselves
WHEN: Wednesday, December 6 at noon (arrive by 11:45am)
WHERE: City Hall, East Gate, Park Row, directly across from the Brooklyn Bridge
The SoHo Alliance has been receiving calls to do something about the mushrooming growth of reckless e-bikers who flout the law, recklessly ride on bothx sidewalks and bike lanes, run red lights, and behave with general contempt for public safety.
One reason for this behavior is their lack of accountability. It’s hard to ticket an offender if there is no way to identify the errant rider.
Councilmember Robert Holden has introduced a bill before the City Council that would require the NYC Department of Transportation to register and issue license plates for e-vehicles. Of the 51 councilmembers, a majority, 32, have signed on. The bill would pass.
However, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is not allowing it to come for a vote. To override that decision, a 2/3rd supermajority of the council, 34 members, is required to force a vote.
Opponents of this sensible legislation include lobbyists for the delivery workers and Transportation Alternatives, which absurdly contends that licensing of e-bikes will eventually lead to licensing of pedal bicycles.
Accountability Changes Behavior = Lives Saved & Fewer Injuries
We are the majority. Please attend.
November 30, 2023
SoHo News & Tidbits
Free Covid Tests
The U.S. Postal Service is again providing free at-home COVID test delivery. You can have four free test-kits mailed to you by clicking here. If you need assistance placing your order, call 800-232-0233.
NYU Gym Open to Residents
NYU is offering gym membership to Community Board 2 residents at its new gym in the Paulson Center, that humungous building recently constructed on Houston and Mercer Streets. The gym features exercise rooms, aerobics space, weight machines, a large swimming pool and other features.
Although it is open to local residents only on Saturdays and Sundays from 9:00am to 2:00pm, the rates are relatively inexpensive: $55 for six visits or $110 for twelve visits.
To apply for membership, visit the Fitness Membership Office on the ground floor of 404 Lafayette Street in NoHo. For additional information and hours, call the membership office at 212-998-2045
Stop E-Bike Mayhem: Save The Date
Next Wednesday, December 6 at noon, the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, EVSA, will be holding a press conference at City Hall to support Councilmember Robert Holden’s bill requiring the NYC Department of Transportation to license e-bikes.
A large turnout would put pressure on the City Council to pass this legislation. Try to make it. Save the Date. More information to follow.
Disappearing Mail Boxes
You may have recently noticed that most of our sidewalk mail boxes have been locked and some boxes even removed. This has been occurring in many neighborhoods to deter theft. Apparently, thieves looking for checks use glue boards to fish out envelopes from the boxes. If they find a check, they bleach out and fraudulently alter the intended recipient’s name.
The post office says it intends to replace the old boxes with tamper-proof models.
In the meantime, that requires going to the post office to mail. There may be a couple of operational boxes scattered about, like the box on the north side of Houston Street at Wooster Street.
You can also try leaving your outgoing mail in your building lobby with a note to the postal carrier requesting they pick up the mail. This usually works.
1st Precinct Community Council Meeting Thursday
The last community council meeting of the year will be held Thursday, November 30, at 6:00pm at the 1st Precinct, 16 Ericsson Place in TriBeCa. Meet the new commanding officer, Captain Joel Rosenthal and his team of officers. If you have questions, concerns or complaints, get involved. Be heard.
November 13, 2023
E-bike Menace:What Can You Do?
With the explosion of food delivery services, the SoHo Alliance has been fielding calls from residents upset with the dangerous proliferation of rogue electric bikes, mopeds and scooters careening on our streets, sidewalks and bike lanes.
Not only do these daredevil e-bikers instill fear in pedestrians, they have injured countless individuals and even killed several people. Something has to be done to rein in these cowboys. Click here to read just a few news reports from thevillagesun.com of deaths and injuries reported locally.
But this menace is a city-wide problem that needs a city-wide solution.
Fortunately, a citywide organization, the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, EVSA, has formed to lobby to get these outlaw riders under control. EVSA demands stricter enforcement of existing traffic laws, something the Adams administration seems reluctant to do.
if you want to do something about this problem, follow the organization on Twitter https://twitter.com/
******************************
Legislatively, action is being taken on the state and city levels.
State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Tony Simone have introduced three pieces of legislation in Albany to regulate e-bikes.
Their first bill would require e-vehicles used by commercial delivery apps, like Grubhub, Uber Eats and DoorDash, to be licensed, making it much easier to identify lawless riders. One reason for the reckless behavior by the delivery workers is that they are under pressure from the companies to deliver the goods ASAP, safety notwithstanding.
The second bill requires the companies to provide insurance for their delivery workers, so that the injured would have some recourse to compensation.
Thirdly, if an e-bike is involved in a hit-and-run, the penalties should be the same as for automobile hit-and-runs. Currently, these penalties differ considerably and this bill would rectify that disparity.
Let the senator know you support his legislation. Email his office at hoylman@nysenate.gov or send an official message to his website, here.
Assemblymember Alex Bores and State Senator Liz Krueger have introduced legislation that would require any moped or motorcycle to be registered and have a license plate at the time of purchase.
In the City Council, Queens Councilmember Robert Holden has introduced a similar bill, Intro. 0758-2022, to register and license e-bikes with the City Department of Transportation.
Supporting this bill would seem like a no-brainer. However, a cohort of lobbyists that includes Transportation Alternatives, Los Deliveristas Unidos, the Street Vendors Project, and Open Plans (the group pushing the outdoor eating sheds as well as closing off streets in SoHo) oppose this sensible legislation since it interferes with their “vision” of New York, disregarding the safety of the public.
To support the City Council legislation, email Councilmember Holden’s office District30@
State Senator Kavanagh’s Community Convention
Our State Senator Brian Kavanagh will be hosting a Community Convention this Sunday, October 15, noon to 5:00 pm at M.S.131, 100 Hester Street between Chrystie and Allen Streets.
State Senator Kavanagh is the chair of the Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development and can answer in detail questions regarding housing, rent laws and the Loft Law, among other topics.
You’ll have the opportunity to hear from Senator Kavanagh and other local elected officials, participate in breakout rooms to discuss pressing issues facing our community, and meet representatives from local community organizations and government agencies.
The event will be a good chance to meet your SoHo/NoHo/Downtown neighbors, talk about issues that are important to us, and learn about resources available for you in the district.
Doors open and the community resource fair begins at noon. The Convention program begins at 1:00 pm.
RSVP here.
September 25, 2023
Two Important Police Meetings
SoHo west of Broadway is covered by the First Precinct. The precinct is divided into four Sectors and most of SoHo is within the First Precinct’s Sector D.
Every three months, the neighborhood coordination officers for each sector conduct a Build-the-Block meeting to discuss our public safety concerns.
This is a great opportunity to bring any problems or criminal activity you witness or have experienced directly to the officers responsible for our neighborhood. It generally is more effective than calling 311.
This quarter’s Build-the-Block meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 26 at 6:30 pm at Saint Anthony’s Church basement, on Sullivan Street just south of Houston.
Additionally, the First Precinct Community Council monthly meeting will be held this Thursday, September 28 at 6:00 pm at the First Precinct station house, 16 Ericsson Place at Varick Street.
This is another police/civilian forum which provides us the regular opportunity to bring safety and quality-of-life issues ranging from criminal activity, rogue e-bikers, illegal peddling, noise and traffic complaints, etc. directly to the police. The new captain, Joel Rosenthal, will be there to introduce himself and take questions.
September 5, 2023
Demand a Trafic Light Before Someone is Killed!!
Several years ago, as a car made a U-turn from the north side to the south side of Houston Street at Wooster, a speeding taxi traveling east on the south side swerved to avoid smashing into it.
The swerving taxi lost control and ended up, literally, in the lobby of 61 West Houston Street/160Wooster Street. The doorman could have been killed were he standing by the door.
About twenty years ago, a young woman crossing the same intersection early one Sunday morning was hit and killed by a car.
SoHo residents have often reported to us the apprehension they feel when crossing that intersection — the only intersection along the entire two-mile length of busy Houston Street without a traffic light!!
It is long past due that the city install one.
The SoHo Alliance has been able to get the Traffic & Transportation Committee of Community Board 2 to schedule a hearing requesting a traffic light at that intersection.
The meeting will be this Thursday, September 7 at 6:30 pm. It will by hybrid, both in-person and with Zoom.
To register for Zoom, click here.
If you cannot attend, please send us a brief email requesting the traffic light and we shall forward it the the committee chair: info@sohoalliance.org
The in-person meeting will be at the community board office, 3 Washington Square Village, across from the Morton-Williams supermarket, at Bleecker Street and the extension of Wooster Street north of Houston Street. Map. Register to attend in person here.
Our item is the second on the agenda, so will be heard around 6:45 pm.
This photo shows how dangerous speeding cars can be on a Houston Street intersection that does have a traffic light. It is time we have one on Wooster Street before someone is seriously injured or again killed.
August 8, 2023
Last Tuesday, a State Supreme Court judge issued an injunction enjoining Mayor Adams’ from continuing his practice of weekly renewal of the “temporary” covid-era emergenc
The successful legal action was filed by CueUp – the Coalition United for Equitable Urban Policy – a citywide grassroots organization in which the SoHo Alliance is very involved.
The Open Restaurants program – those street dining sheds – expropriate public space for private use, attract rats, collect garbage, hinder emergency vehicles, block pedestrian access and introduce a noisy, late-night, party environment into once quiet residential neighborhoods.
The Open Restaurants program – those street dining sheds – expropriate public space for private use, attract rats, collect garbage, hinder emergency vehicles, block pedestrian access and introduce a noisy, late-night, party environment into once quiet residential neighborhoods.
Mayor de Blasio issued the executive order authorizing the temporary program in 2020 during the height of the pandemic to help struggling restaurant and bars. New Yorkers supported that measure.
However, Justice Arlene Bluth agreed with us that the covid emergency no longer exists. In her decision, she noted that the petitioners “will continue to suffer from the loss of public use of the sidewalks and other public areas covered under the executive order without the issuance of an injunction.”
The judge also noted that injunctions should only be ordered when the party seeking relief “demonstrates a likelihood of ultimate success and irreparable damage if the injunction is withheld.” That is very encouraging.
Under the judge’s ruling, the city can no longer accept new applications for street sheds. We do not know if the city plans an appeal.
Bad News: Council Approves Rat Shacks
Disappointingly, just two days later, the City Council voted 34-9 to permanently legalize the Open Restaurants program. The lobbyist-driven legislation was pushed by the Hospitality Alliance, an organization that advocates for the restaurant, bar and nightlife industry.
There was not a single meaningful Council hearing on the bill. In fact, 44 community boards voted 26-18 opposing the program.
Yet the bill’s sponsor, Councilmember Marjorie Velazquez, who has not a single shed anywhere near her home in the Bronx, refused a face-to-face meeting with opponents, including the SoHo Alliance.
But she did find plenty of time to socialize regularly with the Hospitality Alliance’s paid lobbyist, Andrew Rigie. In typical quid pro quo fashion, Velazquez has now received thousands of campaign dollars from restaurant owners and the likes of GrubHub.
Councilmember Christopher Marte and West SoHo/Greenwich Village councilmember Eric Bottcher bucked the mayor and voted against the bill, with Marte detailing eloquently why this bill hurts neighborhoods to solely benefit just one well-organized, well-financed industry.
Councilmember Carlina Rivera, who represents NoHo and much of the East Side – and whose husband owns at least four restaurants – voted in favor of the legislation, self-servingly ignoring the best interests of her constituents. No surprise there!
The new legislation allows curbside sheds to operate from 10:00 am until midnight, seven days a week, eight months a year from April through November.
From December through March, the sheds are supposed to be dismantled for the winter months. However, considering the general lack of enforcement by the city of so many of its own laws and the hospitality industry’s past record of ignoring basic rules of the emergency order, don’t be surprised if these sheds stay up all year long.
In historic districts like SoHo/NoHo and Greenwich Village, the sheds will require design approval by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. But that is just a formality and will not eliminate the vermin, uncollected trash and late-night noise these street sheds generate.
Galling to those of us who pay high rents or property taxes, this is a land giveaway. The application fee is a mere $1,050, payable once every four years. The annual rental rates start at $5 per square-foot in the outer boroughs and $25 per square-foot in popular Downtown neighborhoods like SoHo/NoHo. That rent is about 10% of the current rate for local ground-floor rentals. Quite a deal.
Battle Just Begun = Back to Court
Consequently, this legislation now prompts yet another court case.
Last year, in a lawsuit by CueUp demanding an Environmental Impact Statement(EIS) on the legislation, the Appellate Court ruled the case was not “ripe” since no law had yet passed. Now that it has, CueUp will soon file a motion for an Environmental Impact Statement.
We have confidence that a neutral court will see that a program that expropriates public space, clutters streets and pedestrian crossings, breeds vermin, hinders emergency vehicles, collects trash and garbage, displays illegal billboards, attracts graffiti, and generates a noisy party environment in residential neighbors surely has a negative impact on the urban environment.
We Can’t Fight City Hall Without Your Help.
Lawyer and court fees don’t come cheap.
To contribute to CueUp’s legal battle to preserve our character and quality of life, please give generously on the SoHo Alliance website. Donate here.
Mail checks to: SoHo Alliance, PO Box 429, NY, NY 10012
July 2, 2023
SoHo Delivers Big for Marte = 91%
As expected, Councilmember Christopher Marte won re-election handily, achieving 63% against three opponents. The closest runner-up, Susan Lee, received less than half his total with 30%.
However, it was in SoHo where Marte soared to victory with an incredible 91% of the vote. Runner-up Lee landed just 6% here.
Such a margin is unheard of in politics.
The rule-of-thumb is incumbents can count on 85% of the vote against a single, weak candidate. However, Marte’s opponents were multiple and Lee received some political club support as well as some union backing. So Marte’s 91% here is unprecedented.
Thanks to all of you who took the time and effort to make this success possible.
Marte also did well in the South Village, the neighborhood between West Broadway and Sixth Avenue, with 80% of the vote. In West SoHo, he received 72%.
This compares to TriBeCa where Marte received a 69% share. In Battery Park City/Financial District, he received 57%. On the Lower East Side, Marte scored 65% and tallied 48% in Chinatown.
Clearly, SoHo and the South Village were the vanguard propelling Marte to his substantial victory.
In the Council District 2 election, north of Houston Street on the East Side, community activist Allie Ryan ran surprisingly well against incumbent Carlina Rivera, the torchbearer for the SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown rezoning and other questionable projects.
Without support from a single poltical club or trade union but based solely on her efforts as a community activist, Ryan scored 39% to Rivera’s 61%.
Considering that council district was purposely configured to favor an Hispanic candidate, Ryan’s impressive showing reflects the displeasure so many of Rivera’s constituents feel towards her. Rivera is term-limited and will be gone in two years, but we expect Allie Ryan is not going away.
Again, thanks to all who voted.
June 26, 2023
Voter Beware: Stop Margaret Chin’s Protégé
Recent research by the SoHo Alliance has uncovered very disturbing information regarding a candidate in Tuesday’s city council election.
Susan Lee is Margaret Chin’s protégé and one of her biggest supporters. Yet Lee has willfully suppressed this fact throughout her campaign.
As a graduate student, Lee interred at AAFE, an organization Chin proudly proclaims she helped establish. Lee quickly rose up the ranks at AAFE to Program Manager for Community Development, while Chin was deputy executive director.
After that, an obscure report published by the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Social Science reveals that Lee took the drastic step in 2009 of quitting her salaried job to work as Volunteer Coordinator for Chin’s city council campaign, successfully getting Chin elected. Lee then worked in Chin’s office as Interim Director of Community Relations.
We all remember that Chin was the architect of the SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown upzoning, among other disasters. What part did Susan Lee play in securing that upzoning when she worked in “community relations” for Chin?
Chin also worked to secure the SoHo Business Improvement District, the brainchild of hyper-developer Jeffrey Gural, who owns more than fifty trophy properties throughout the city, including two big ones on Broadway in SoHo. Not surprisingly, Gural has contributed handsomely to Lee’s election campaign. Gural knows a good investment when he sees one.
Most disturbing, supporters of Lee illegally have been sending vicious and false anonymous mailings attacking Christopher Marte, without identifying themselves — or their source of funding. This concealment is a deliberate and blatant violation of NYC Campaign Finance laws.
One postcard carries a Daily News banner but concocts a fabricated story and a scurrilous quote it attributes to Marte, meant to embarrass and undermine him. Such skullduggery is a poor reflection on Ms. Lee, recalling the adage, “You can judge someone by the company they keep”.
Do you want a Margaret Chin acolyte representing you? Don’t let history repeat itself.
VOTE YOUR BEST INTEREST. VOTE CHRIS MARTE.
Some voting sites have changed. If you are unsure where to vote, we urge you to find out here. Polls open from 6am to 9pm.
June 16, 2023
Polling Sites Changed / Voter Beware!!
Polling Sites Changed
Voter Beware: Real-Estate Speculators Spending Big to Defeat Local Activists
Hours & New Voting Locations
Early voting starts Saturday, June 17 through Sunday, June 25. Election Day is Tuesday, June 27. See hours below.
Due to renovations at St. Anthony’s Church, most SoHo residents will be early voting at City-As-School High School, 19 Clarkson Street between 7th Avenue South and Hudson Street. The accessible entrance is on West Houston Street. View map here.
However, some voters in lower southeast SoHo will be voting at Hamilton Madison House, 50 Madison Street. View map here.
Unfortunately, both sites are pretty distant for many SoHo residents. Nevertheless, don’t let that deter you. In this quiet election cycle, your vote is exceedingly important. Every vote counts.
To confirm your poll site, visit https://findmypollsite.
******************************
Voter Beware: Real-Estate Speculators Spending Big to Defeat Local Activists
Two incumbents are being challenged:
– Christopher Marte in Council District 1 = SoHo and lower Manhattan
– Carlina Rivera in Council District 2 = NoHo, the East Village and midtown
(Rivera was Margaret Chin’s cohort in the upzoning of SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown in 2021 and has never seen a developer she doesn’t like. She is being challenged by community activist and environmentalist, Allie Ryan. See more below.)
Christopher Marte, who has served SoHo well since taking office in 2021, is being challenged by two opponents.
One is Susan Lee, whose campaign is being partially funded by a PAC financed by real-estate speculators out of Brooklyn.
This consortium, led by Thor Equities, Saratoga Casino Holdings, and Legends, a global sports and entertainment behemoth, seeks to develop a gigantic $3 billion gambling casino and hotel development across from the iconic Coney Island boardwalk. Of course, most Coney Islanders don’t want Las Vegas in their beloved neighborhood.
So why is a PAC of Brooklyn real-estate speculators and casino operators donating so heavily to Susan Lee in lower Manhattan? What do they expect in return?
Moreover, Ursula Jung, Marte’s other opponent, and Ms. Lee see Marte as the leading candidate.
So the two have formed an alliance to manipulate the ranked-choice voting system, in which voters list their choice of candidates in ranked order.
Lee and Jung are urging voters to “bullet vote”. That is: vote for both of them but not at all for Marte, not even as a third-choice preference.
This cynical strategy, of course, would deny Marte receiving any votes in this tight race.
Let’s counter Lee and Jung’s cynical election ploy and turn the tables on them. When it is time to rank your choice for city council vote for only one candidate, Christopher Marte and deny these two opportunists the edge they seek.
**********************************************************************
Community activist and environmentalist, Allie Ryan, is challenging Carlina Rivera in Council District 2, which covers NoHo, the East Village and the East Side as far as 33rd Street.
Although she doesn’t represent SoHo, Rivera worked hand-in-glove with Margaret Chin to upzone SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown. But it gets worse.
Rivera voted with Chin to inflict a repeating fine of $25,000 to non-artists living in AIR/JLWQA lofts. (Fortunately, the state legislature nixed that.)
Rivera also voted to impose a $100/sq.ft. conversion fee for a non-artist living in an AIR/JLWQA loft who wishes to change their certificate of occupancy to residential. That part of the upzoning is currently being challenged in court. Stay tuned.
Open New York, the lobbying group that pushed for the SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown upzoning, has contributed over $10,000 to Rivera, an ample payback for her servility.
Rivera’s actions on the Lower East Side have been equally appalling, like her sponsorship of the demolition of the East River Park and playing the race card against those who opposed her plan. We don’t have space here to elaborate but you can read about it here
Her opponent is a dedicated community activist and environmentalist, Allie Ryan, who is always on the right side of the issues. So often, we don’t have space to list all the good causes she has supported. Read about them here
If you know anyone in Council District 2, please contact them and urge them to vote for Allie Ryan.
Early voting hours:
- Sat, June 17, 9-5
- Sun, June 18, 9-5
- Mon, June 19, 9-5
- Tue, June 20, 8-4
- Wed, June 21, 10-8
- Thu, June 22, 10-8
- Fri, June 23, 8-4
- Sat, June 24, 9-5
- Sun, June 25, 9-5
June 8, 2023
1st Pct. Police Meeting:Tomorrow
The First Precinct Build-the-Block community meeting that was postponed yesterday due to poor air conditions has been rescheduled.
The meeting will be tomorrow, Friday, June 9 at 6:00 pm via Zoom, since the air quality may persist for a few more days preventing an outdoor meeting.
This meeting will provide us an opportunity to meet our local “beat” cops to introduce ourselves, ask questions or voice concerns.
Here is the link to the meeting:
https://www.zoomgov.
https://www.zoomgov.
Meeting ID: 161 460 9130
Passcode: @1PCTBTB
One tap mobile: +16468287666,,
Passcode: @1PCTBTB
One tap mobile: +16468287666,,
p.s. SoHo folk residing in the 5th Precinct, the area extending east from the east side Broadway, have asked why there are no similar meetings for them.
It is a good question and we are not quite sure why. Basically, from our experience, the 5th Precinct’s community outreach has been much less than the 1st Precinct. Perhaps residents should contact the captain or community affairs officers of that precinct and try to get more involvement.
June 7, 2023
SoHo News Updates
The 1st Police Precinct — specifically Sector D — covers SoHo from the west side of Broadway to the Hudson River.
Tomorrow evening, Wednesday, June 7, at 6:00 pm, the two local community affairs officers for Sector D, Lieutenant Matt O’Mara and Officer Greg Pasiecnzik, will be at Father Fagan Park on the corner of Prince Street and Sixth Avenue for a Build A Block meeting.
This will be an opportunity to bring your issues and concerns that affect our neighborhood directly to the NYPD’s attention.
This will be a more personal event than the monthly Community Council meetings at which the actual police brass are present to address a much larger audience of the precinct.
The June meeting of the Community Council, the last until September, will be held on Thursday, June 22, 6:00 pm, at the 1st Precinct, 16 Ericsson Place off Varick Street.
May 11, 2023
New Crosswalks Proposed
Our apologies for the short notice, but this evening, Thursday, May 11 at 6:30 pm, the Landmarks Committee of Community Board 2 will be hearing a presentation by the Department of Transportation regarding its plan to install non-standard pedestrian ramps with granite paver crosswalks at:
Prince St. & Mercer St.
Prince St. & Greene St.
Prince St. & Wooster St.
Prince St. & Macdougal St..
Spring St. & Greene St.
Broome St. & Greene St.
Broome St. & Mercer St.
Grand St. & Mercer St.
Grand St. & Wooster St.
Sixth Ave & Charlton St.
Sixth Ave. & King St
The objective is to upgrade the non-standard ramps at these intersections and to install ADA compliant crosswalks. Click here to see the slide show of tonight’s presentation.
This should be a good thing. However, a review of the presentation shows that DOT is using relatively large 24-inch pavers. When Greene and Mercer Streets were re-cobblestoned about twenty-five years ago, similar-sized pavers were installed in the intersections.
But because the roadbed beneath is curved to allow drainage, heavy trucks cracked the oversized straight pavers. Deep fissures and gaps resulted. So deep that several people tripped, seriously injuring themselves, and sued the city. We don’t want this to happen again.
It took several years, but the SoHo Alliance was able to convince the Transportation Department to replace the large pavers with the smaller brick-size pavers presently there. Those do not crack and cause pedestrian injuries.
Again, this project is a good thing, but community input is encouraged.
Also on tonight’s agenda is a discussion of a proposal by the mayor for greater cooperation between the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Department of Buildings to ensure the safety and preservation of landmark buildings.
You may recall that in early March, the SoHo Alliance joined in a rally with other preservation groups at City Hall, protesting the deterioration and even collapse of several historic buildings in Greenwich Village. It appears the administration heard us and is proceeding with more rigorous oversight when landmarked buildings are being renovated.
To register for tonight’s virtual meeting, click here.
May 7, 2023
SoHo/NoHo Rezoning & Affordable Housing
As part of the 2021 SoHo/NoHo rezoning, the city pledged several “givebacks” to our community.
Some were downright dodgy, like the $15,000,000 to renovate a far-away park on the Lower East Side and $8,800,000 to rehabilitate the Allen/Pike Street Malls, located over a mile from SoHo.
In return, SoHo/NoHo was upzoned to allow increases in building heights up to 240% greater than previously allowed, as well as the legalization of big-box stores from the former 10,000 square-foot limit to 40,000 square feet, among other affronts.
However, the one benefit the community received in return for the outrageous upzoning was the promise of approximately one hundred 100% affordable housing units to be built on the vacant 25,000 square-foot city-owned lot on the northeast corner of West Houston and Hudson Streets, where the West Village borders West SoHo (the area west of Sixth Avenue to the Hudson River).
The site has been somewhat controversial. It was a former parking lot that the city appropriated by eminent domain in 2002 to construct an access shaft to the Third Water Tunnel built hundreds of feet beneath it.
As part of negotiations with the community board and elected officials, the city agreed to allow 13,622 square-feet on the northern portion of the lot to be given over for the construction of high-quality, 100% affordable housing with community amenities, like a public gym. The southern portion of the lot hosts the water tunnel infrastructure and will be going through a separate process to develop it as a sitting park.
This 100% affordability is not to be confused with de Blasio’s zoning scheme for SoHo/NoHo, which would allow taller buildings than the zoning permits if just a mere 20% of the units are set aside for affordable housing, with the other 80% at market rate.
Interestingly, this is the same site that advocates for the preservation of the lovely Elizabeth Street Garden have long suggested as an alternative location for the 20% affordable housing project that former councilmember Margaret Chin pushed to be built on the Elizabeth Street Garden site, which would result in the destruction of that delightful urban oasis. That scheme of hers is now on hold due to litigation.
Now the city is finally moving ahead with the affordable housing undertaking at Houston and Hudson. Last month at Community Board 2, representatives from the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) presented three building options, ranging from 14 to 23 stories with approximately 106 to 181 affordable units.
As part of the official process, the city is now soliciting public opinion on the project and a second community board meeting will be held virtually this Wednesday, May 11, at 6:30 pm. We highly encourage you to register for it here.
The city will also be holding a public workshop to solicit further input from residents and we shall alert you when a date is set.
This feedback can include the income range to qualify for the affordable housing, the height and massing of the building, and what type of community amenity we desire.
We strongly urge you to be part of this project. Attend the meetings and workshop. You can email HPD now to give your input at 388HudsonRFP@hpd.nyc.gov
After this public part of the process is completed, a Request for Proposal will go out to developers to implement the project. This scenario can take between three to eight years from start to completion..
Remember. This project is happening as a result of the SoHo/NoHo rezoning. We must have a say on what will develop there. It is being built on our backs. Attend the meetings, email the officials, and let your voice be heard. You earned it.
April 30, 2023
Good News: FCC Demands Review of 5G Towers in SoHo / Hochul’s Plan for Megatalls Fails
You may recall we reported last December on the city’s plan to allow CityBridge, a telecommunications company, to install massive, three-story tall, 32-foot high, 5G towers with illuminated advertising in four locations in SoHo: two on Prince Street and two on Broadway.
Originally proposed by the de Blasio administration, the towers are purportedly intended to provide high-speed Wi-Fi and cell phone service, particularly in “internet deserts” in “underserved areas”.
So why in SoHo, where most folk have hi-speed internet and cell phone service? The answer is clear.
Siting these hulking towers in our low-rise historic district has nothing to do with equity. The clear reason is that our highly-traversed streets abounding in luxury retail is the ideal place for advertisers to sell their products to the multitude of tourists and shoppers who flock here.
In response to complaints from the SoHo Alliance and other preservationist groups, in early April Congressman Jerry Nadler wrote to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the agency that regulates these towers.
Nadler maintained that the design and large footprint of these towers would be out of context with the nature of historic districts and negatively affect their coherent streetscape. Further calling the city’s bluff, Nadler has requested data on where service “deserts” currently exist. You can bet not in SoHo.
The congressman’s action is based on the National Historic Preservation Act, which, among other things, requires that any federal agency identify and assess whether its actions may have adverse effects on historic districts – and evaluate alternative locations.
In response to Nadler’s letter, the FCC has just issued a directive to CityBridge that it must complete historic and environmental reviews before constructing any of these structures in our historic districts. This is gratifying and we thank Congressman Nadler for his intercession. We shall keep you abreast of future developments.
*****************
Governor Hochul’s Plan for MegaTall Buildings Fails During Budget Talks
In the past we have asked you to contact our state elected officials and request they reject proposals to eliminate the current limit of a 12 Floor-to-Area Ratio (FAR) on new buildings.
The Floor-to-Area Ratio is a formula used by urban planners to determine the height and bulk of developments. Its purpose is to limit the size of a building in relation to the size of the lot on which it’s located. To put it in context, the new 1,500-feet supertall buildings along West 57 Street’s “Billionaire’s Row” were built under current zoning that allows a mere 10 FAR residential development.
Originally, with little fanfare, Mayor de Blasio twice tried and failed to sneak the proposal through in Albany. This year, Hochul inappropriately inserted it as part of her budget negotiations.
But with strong pressure from local state electeds, including Assemblymember Deborah Glick and new Assemblymember Grace Lee, who represents SoHo east of Crosby Street, this ill-conceived proposal was defeated. It could return as separate legislation but we confidently trust our electeds will continue to oppose this giveaway to real-estate speculators.
April 22, 2023
When Trees Were Banned in SoHo: Looking Back on Earth Day
Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970. Today, Earth Day 2023, it is hard to believe that 23 years later, as late as 1993, trees were strictly prohibited in SoHo.
That’s right. The Landmarks Preservation Commission would issue violations and fines to any building that planted a tree or placed a planter on its sidewalk.
This policy was rooted on the notion that trees would ruin the historical integrity of the SoHo Cast-Iron Historic District, since SoHo is zoned for manufacturing and the Commission claimed there were no trees here when SoHo began to industrialize in the 19th century.
In fact, the Commission’s assumption was incorrect. Research produced photographs of trees along Broadway in the 19th century.
The SoHo Alliance, joining with the Grand-Canal Park Group, launched a joint media and civil disobedience campaign to overturn this misguided policy.
A week after Earth Day 1993, on April 28, the SoHo Alliance managed to have a story planted on the front page of the New York Times. Read it here.
Our planting bore fruit. A budding debate sprouted between deep-rooted environmentalists and strict preservationists. It was not your garden-variety controversy.
Letters to the Editor were divided. Some writers called for the end to the prohibition; others wanted it maintained.
It got so heated that the head of the US Forest Service in Washington, DC actually wrote in favor of continuing the tree ban. This was so ironic, considering that, not far from his office, cherry trees on the National Mall were in full bloom that very week.
Faced with administrative intransigence, SoHo activists simply ignored the law. Buildings with hollow sidewalk vaults set out containers. Those that could fashion tree pits planted saplings in them.
This guerrilla campaign continued for over three years, despite hefty fines from the City.
In the summer of 1996 the Landmarks Commission relented and reversed its position. That autumn the Parks Department planted 39 trees that residents funded. Shortly afterwards, attractive period planters designed by residents were approved. Now trees and shrubs are ubiquitous throughout our neighborhood.
So this Earth Day, let’s celebrate and congratulate our activists and environmentalists who fought for a Green SoHo.
**************
REPORT ON THE RALLY TO REFORM LANDMARKS COMMISSION:
Talking about the Landmarks Preservation Commission, you may recall that in March we announced a rally by preservationists and local activists calling for a reformation on the way the Commission has been behaving in recent years.
Once overly-protective, in the past decade or so the Commission has been bending over backwards to seemingly give developers whatever they ask for. This often results in buildings and renovations out of character with historic districts. Some of the agency’s cavalier decisions have even led to the demolition or destruction of historic buildings.
Well, our rally had some success. Shortly afterwards, the administration announced it will “do more” by exercising greater transparency and greater scrutiny of applications. However, nothing specific was promised. We shall continue to monitor developments and keep you informed.
March 31, 2023
We need you! Sunday, April 2, Noon-1:30 pm, Gourmet Garage
SoHo’s city councilmember, Christopher Marte, Is running for re-election in June.
However, to be on the ballot, all candidates — even incumbents like Christopher — require 900 valid signatures of registered voters in order to be placed on the ballot by the Board of Elections.
Unlike other neighborhoods with large apartment buildings where we could knock on people’s doors to collect the signatures, or a central location like a weekly farmer’s market or a large supermarket, it is very difficult to collect signatures in SoHo which lacks these amenities. Christopher and I need your help.
Marte has done well for SoHo:
– He was a vocal opponent of Blasio’s rezoning and very supportive of the SoHo Alliance’s position.
– He is currently a plaintiff in a lawsuit to prevent the spread of NYU facilities, like dormitories, into our community.
– He has used his discretionary council funding to provide cleanup services two days a week for SoHo.
– He lead a press conference and demonstration last week calling for an independent Landmarks Preservation Commission, not one staffed by developer-friendly commissioners who would build high-rise behemoths in our low-rise neighborhood.
– Plus other SoHo-friendly initiatives.
We need your help. Christopher and I will be collecting signatures this Sunday, April 2 from noon until 1:30 in front of the Gourmet Garage, 489 Broome Street between Wooster and West Broadway.
PLEASE help. Stop by and sign. It only takes a moment and ensures that you will represented in government by someone who is looking out for you and your interests — not the interest of real-estate speculators or agenda-driven lobbyists.
It will also provide you the opportunity to meet and speak with Christopher. He has an open ear for your concerns and will readily provide any answer possible for your questions or issues.
The weather is expected to be nice on Sunday. Mark it down and please stop by.
March 5, 2023
45 Mercer/Galli = 2am Closing?
The former Galli restaurant space at 45 Mercer Street, north of Grand Street, is being taken over by new management that is requesting a new liquor license. Such changes trigger community input and review of the application.
Galli was primarily a neighborhood restaurant open until 11:00 pm during the week and midnight on Friday and Saturday. In fact, the SoHo Alliance and over a hundred people signed a letter of support of its liquor license when Galli opened in 2012.
The new management has not reached out to anyone in the community and is requesting a 2:00 a.m. closing time. It will be adding a second bar and hosting private parties.
The restaurant group taking over has several restaurants in the city and nation-wide, drawing in “celebrities and politicians“.
Plans also call for a sidewalk shed, those unsightly “rat shacks” meant as an emergency bailout during the pandemic but that so many New Yorkers now want gone since the covid has largely subsided. These sheds attract vermin, trash and loud late-night revelers.
That block is quiet in the evening and full of residents.
If you oppose the extension of the closing time to 2:00 am, attend the community board meeting on the application and voice your opinion.
The hearing on the application is this Tuesday, March 7 at 6:30. https://cbmanhattan.
You can attend the meeting virtually. Register using the link https://zoom.us/webinar/
The more who speak out, the better the chances the NY State Liquor Authority will deny the application. If you absolutely cannot attend, email us and we shall forward it to the community board: info@sohoalliance.org
Here is a link if you wish to review their application to the community board. https://cbmanhattan.
March 5, 2023
Rally for Landmarks Reform: Tuesday, March 7, 9:15 am, 250 Broadway across from City Hall,
as the Members of the City Council Landmarks Subcommittee Prepare to Meet.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission was formed in 1962 to protect our city’s significant architectural, historical, and cultural buildings and districts.
However, beginning with Giuliani and extending through the Bloomberg, de Blasio and current administration, the commission has become compromised — less interested in historic preservation and more inclined to acquiesce to the wishes of the city’s powerful real estate industry. The LPC is now a revolving door of real estate interests. We demand an end to this charade.
It is time to broaden representation so that those places that we value most in our city are preserved, safe from the predations of big real estate. We want reforms to insulate the LPC from lobbyists and real estate influence. We seek an LPC that upholds the Landmarks Law and adheres to a democratic standard in its internal proceedings.
For example, when the city upzoned SoHo/NoHo — the first historic districts to be upzoned in the commission’s 60-years existence — the agency never said a word.
Worse, last year in the low-rise South Street Seaport Historic
When this skullduggery was brought to State Supreme Court, the judge issued a restraining order halting the project, declaring “the LPC failed adequately to acknowledge, much less explain, its departure from previous rulings.”
Other examples of the commission’s failure to follow its mandate include three different instances in Greenwich Village recently where the LPC approved work that resulted in the destruction of eleven historic 19th-century buildings and significant damage to two others.
In the Gansevoort Market Historic District in 2021, the commission approved the demolition of all but the facades of a row of nine 1840s houses to accommodate the construction of a 135-foot tall glass tower directly behind them. But once construction began, the historic facades were jeopardized, deemed to be at risk, and the Department of Buildings ordered the historic facades of all nine buildings demolished.
Last November at 14 Gay Street, the city ordered a 19th-century town house demolished when renovation work approved by the LPC caused structural defects that undermined the building’s integrity and posed an immediate safety threat.
Last month the Buildings Department issued an evacuation order for 10 Fifth Avenue when large cracks developed and masonry from the building’s facade landed on the sidewalk. Signs of movement at 12 Fifth Avenue were also observed. It is believed these occurrences are due to pile-driving at nearby 14 Fifth Avenue during construction of an LPC-approved 21-story tower being built there. Previously, a 5-story residential building occupied the site since 1848 before the Landmarks Commission approved its demolition.
(For more details, visit thevillagesun.com, which has extensive coverage of these troubling incidents.)
So please join us on Tuesday. With the new SoHo/NoHo upzoning approved, there is no telling what is in store for us.
Participants include Councilmember Christopher Marte, Save our Seaport, Humanscale NYC, Citywide Land Use Coalition, Historic Districts Council, Berry Street Alliance, SoHo Alliance, Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, Preserve our Brooklyn Neighborhoods, CUEUP, Committee for Environmentally Sound Development, Moving Forward Unidos, Inwood Preservation, Citizens for Responsible Neighborhood Planning of Clinton Hill and Fort Green, Society for Clinton Hill, Stop Sunnyside Yards.
February 5, 2023
Liquor Application for Late-Night Club Withdrawn
You may recall in early December we reported on an application to the State Liquor Authority for a wine and beer license by a music producer who claimed he needs to sell liquor at a “clothing store” he is proposing to open at 66 Greene Street.
The only problem is the “clothing store” is to stay open until 2:00 a.m. with a DJ spinning music. Only the front part of the store will have retail sales with the rest of the ground floor and the entire basement set aside as a lounge with alcohol served and bouncers present.
Clearly he planned to skirt our zoning and open a late-night club on this residential block.
The community board scheduled a hearing in the first week of December and a couple of dozen residents spoke against the application. Faced with such opposition, his lawyer asked for a postponement, claiming his client wanted to meet with the neighbors to better present his plans. However, he never reached out and several emails from the community requesting a meeting were ignored.
The applicant scheduled a hearing at the community board for early January but cancelled at the last minute without explanation or follow-up.
Meanwhile, in January the SoHo Alliance filed an official complaint with the Department of Buildings citing inconsistencies between the planned operation and the existing certificate of occupancy, as well as code violations. The complaint was escalated to an Executive Complaint and we understand the application is being audited now by the Buildings Department.
Faced with this dose of reality, the applicant’s lawyer has now notified the community board that his client is withdrawing his application with the State Liquor Authority.
We do not know if this is a permanent end to his plans or just a postponement until the applicant obtains a conforming certificate of occupancy for a club (which is difficult to obtain in SoHo) and meets other stringent code requirements.
This episode is a reminder that community action can deter unfriendly projects and remind unwelcome enterprises that SoHo is not to be dealt with lightly.
We thank all of you who attended the hearing as well as the Department of Buildings for its intercession on the community’s behalf.
PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
December 29, 2022
Time is Running Out
Our members are volunteers but a functioning grassroots non-profit like the SoHo Alliance has expenses to meet.
Besides standard operating costs and upkeep, we also spend a huge amount of money on legal representation and consultants defending your community. Without these efforts over the years, SoHo would look a lot different than it does today. This is where you come in.
Please contribute to our annual appeal.
Click here to donate by credit/debit card or Paypal.
Or send your check to: SoHo Alliance, PO Box 429, New York, NY 10012
Below is a summary of what we have done this year alone. Please help us maintain our successes in 2023.
– Helped secure the first mayoral veto in eight years, overturning former Councilmember Margaret Chin’s vindictive and draconian legislation that would have imposed continuing fines of $25,000 on non-artist residents living in “artist quarters”, aka JLWQA / AIR units.
– Brought State Senator Brian Kavanagh on board to pass Assemblymember Deborah Glick’s bill that ensures SoHo/NoHo residents living in artist joint live-work quarters prior to December 15, 2021 can continue occupying their homes without fear of displacement or threat of penalties — regardless of their status as a certified artist.
– Organized a letter-writing campaign to quell an initiative by anonymous “stakeholders” who sought to create a new Business Improvement District, or BID, that would reach into all of SoHo from Mercer to Sullivan Streets. BIDs are funded by increased property taxes, are autonomous and, by law, are controlled by real-estate interests.
– Marshaled residents to lobby our state electeds to remove a provision introduced into the state budget by Governor Hochul that would have eliminated the limit on the size of residential developments. For context, the new supertall buildings on 57th Street were built under existing zoning allowances. Hochul’s plan would have removed those limits. Our elected officials listened to us and the governor’s plan was defeated.
– Worked closely with the Coalition United for Equitable Urban Policy, CueUp, to oppose the mayor’s permanent street-dining program. Welcomed at first during the covid peak, these unsightly and bedraggled shacks now clutter and obstruct our streetscape, are rat magnets, fire hazards and the bane of the unfortunate residents who live close to these noisy intrusions. A NY State Supreme Court agreed with us, the city appealed, and we continue to meet and lobby electeds to eliminate this expropriation of public space for one industry’s benefit.
– Monitored the city’s plan for a homeless shelter at 10 Wooster Street.
– Celebrated the summer opening of SoHo’s newest park on Broome and Lafayette Streets, Rapkin-Gayle Plaza.
– Encouraged voters during the June primaries to get out and vote, as well as educating them on which candidates would best serve our community. As a result, winning candidates did their finest in SoHo, a testament to the faith voters have in us and a reminder to electeds that we are a powerful voting bloc, not to be dismissed.
– Liaised with the First Precinct community affairs officers to establish a closer working relation between the police and our community.
– Warned of the city’s plan to introduce hideously tall, privately-owned 5G cell towers whose real purpose will be illuminated advertising displays aimed at tourists and shoppers.
– Provides a 7-day-a-week telephone hotline to answer the queries and concerns of residents and small businesses alike.
– Is working with residents to defeat the deceptive liquor application by a music promoter trying to open a late-night club on Greene Street disguised as a “clothing store”.
Click here to donate by credit/debit card or Paypal.
Or send your check to: SoHo Alliance, PO Box 429, New York, NY 10012
PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
December 24, 2022
SoHo Year in Review
As 2022 draws to a close, we need your help.
The list below outlines just some efforts by the SoHo Alliance this year benefitting your neighborhood – and you. SoHo’s needs are great and our request is small. We only make this appeal once — at year’s end.
Please contribute to our annual appeal. It’s an investment that will benefit you in 2023 and beyond.
Click here to go to our website to donate by credit/debit card or Paypal. If you use Paypal, our email is info@sohoalliance.org
Or send your check to: SoHo Alliance, PO Box 429, New York, NY 10012
2022 IN REVIEW
In 2022, among other things, the SoHo Alliance:
– Helped secure the first mayoral veto in eight years, overturning former Councilmember Margaret Chin’s vindictive and draconian legislation that would have imposed continuing fines of $25,000 on non-artist residents living in “artist quarters”, aka JLWQA / AIR units.
– Brought State Senator Brian Kavanagh on board to pass Assemblymember Deborah Glick’s bill that ensures SoHo/NoHo residents living in artist joint live-work quarters prior to December 15, 2021 can continue occupying their homes without fear of displacement or threat of penalties — regardless of their status as a certified artist.
– Organized a letter-writing campaign to quell an initiative by anonymous “stakeholders” who sought to create a new Business Improvement District, or BID, that would reach into all of SoHo from Mercer to Sullivan Streets. BIDs are funded by increased property taxes, are autonomous and, by law, are controlled by real-estate interests.
– Marshaled residents to lobby our state electeds to remove a provision introduced into the state budget by Governor Hochul that would have eliminated the limit on the size of residential developments. For context, the new supertall buildings on 57th Street were built under existing zoning allowances. Hochul’s plan would have removed those limits. Our electeds listened to us and the governor’s plan was defeated.
– Worked closely with the Coalition United for Equitable Urban Policy, CueUp, to oppose the mayor’s permanent street-dining program. Welcomed at first during the covid peak, these unsightly and bedraggled shacks now clutter and obstruct our streetscape, are rat magnets, fire hazards and the bane of the unfortunate residents who live close to these noisy intrusions. A NY State Supreme Court agreed with us, the city appealed, and we continue to meet and lobby electeds to eliminate this expropriation of public space for one industry’s benefit.
– Monitored the city’s plan for a homeless shelter at 10 Wooster Street.
– Celebrated the summer opening of SoHo’s newest park on Broome and Lafayette Streets, Rapkin-Gayle Plaza.
– Encouraged voters during the June primaries to get out and vote, as well as educating them on which candidates would best serve our community. As a result, winning candidates did their finest in SoHo, a testament to the faith voters have in us and a reminder to electeds that we are a powerful voting bloc, not to be dismissed.
– Liaised with the First Precinct community-affairs officers to establish a closer working relation between the police and our community.
– Warned of the city’s plan to introduce hideously tall, privately-owned 5G cell towers whose real purpose will be illuminated advertising displays aimed at tourists and shoppers.
– Provides a 7-day-a-week telephone hotline to answer the queries and concerns of residents and small businesses alike.
– Is working with residents to defeat the deceptive liquor application by a music promoter trying to open a late-night club on Greene Street disguised as a “clothing store”.
Thank you for your support.
Click here to go to our website to donate by credit/debit card or Paypal. If you use Paypal, our email is info@sohoalliance.org
Or send your check to: SoHo Alliance, PO Box 429, New York, NY 10012
December 21, 2022
5G Towers in SoHo?
The NYC Office of Technology and Innovation is proposing to install 5G cell towers throughout the city, two here in SoHo. The 32-foot-tall towers provide free Wi-Fi, USB charging and nationwide calling — replete with large, illuminated digital screens for commercial advertising. See the photo at the bottom.
The purported reason for these gargantuan monoliths is to “bridge the digital divide in underserved communities” with an “equitable deployment mandate”. The agency seeks to install over 2,000 in the coming years, allegedly focusing on neighborhoods in the outer boroughs and Manhattan north of 96th Street, which it calls “Wi-Fi deserts”.
However, one tower is proposed for 110 Prince Street on the southwest corner with Greene Street, catty-corner from the Apple store, which, ironically, offers free Wi-Fi. The other is proposed for 568 Broadway on the northeast corner with Prince Street and in front of the busy N,R subway station.
So why are the earliest of these towers planned for two of the most congested intersections in Manhattan in a neighborhood saturated with broadband Wi-Fi options? SoHo is certainly not an underserved Wi-Fi desert. We all have access to high-speed cable and internet.
It is quite clear. It is not about digital equity. It is all about pushing more commercial advertising into SoHo at our expense.
The new kiosk towers will be operated by tech consortium CityBridge, the same company that installed those failed LinkNYC internet kiosks that replaced pay phones and promised to be the cutting edge for public Wi-Fi accessibility, but instead became unused advertising obstructions on the sidewalk.
Further, CityBridge put the majority of those 1,966 kiosks in Manhattan but few in the outer boroughs, where at-home and mobile broadband are sorely lacking.
Into the bargain, the company failed to meet its advertising revenue goal and defaulted on $60 million it owed the city, facing bankruptcy in 2019.
We can only expect the same shenanigans with their 5G towers — advertising kiosks in upscale Manhattan neighborhoods, while poorer neighborhoods who need the high-speed internet will continue to wait for digital equity.
Despite this scandal, the city is giving CityBridge another chance. Why?
SoHo is a world-renowned historic district with some of the narrowest sidewalks anywhere. Prince Street is only 11-feet deep.
These towers will detract from the landscape of the Cast-Iron Historic District, clutter the public realm with additional street furniture and create unsafe walking conditions, especially for the elderly and those with mobility issues. Pedestri
To add insult to injury, for additional revenue, CityBridge will be renting out space in the towers to other communication companies, like ATT, Verizon and T-Mobile. This is expropriation of public space for private benefit.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Send an email to the principals involved, requesting that the towers be located in less congested areas and in underserved communities — not in congested, historic districts like SoHo that are technologically well equipped.
Dash off a quick email to:
– Ms. Leslie Brown, External Affairs & Communications, Office of Technology and Innovation: lebrown@oti.nyc.
– Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine: mark.levine@
– Community Board 2: cb2manhattan@nyc.rr.com
– Mr. Matthew Fraser, Chief Technology Officer, Office of Technology and Innovation: mfraser@oti.nyyc.
– Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi: mjoshi@cityhall.nyc.gov
– Mayor Eric Adams: https://www.nyc.gov/
PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS!!
December 11, 2022
Update: Clothing Store or Trojan Horse?
Last week the Liquor Licensing Committee of Community Board 2 heard the application by a British music producer for a beer/wine license for a “clothing” store under construction at 66 Greene Street, complete with music, a restaurant and bar, open until 2:00 a.m. Clearly, it is to be a club, despite the applicant’s denials that it is going to be a clothing store.
Dozens of residents from throughout SoHo spoke live or emailed in opposition to the application.
Faced with such resistance, the applicant’s lawyer unexpectedly requested the hearing be postponed until January to give the applicant, Alexander Grant, aka, Alex da Kid, an opportunity to discuss his operation with his neighbors.
Neighbors are organizing to present a united front. If you would like to be part of that effort, email us at info@sohoalliance.org and we shall keep you in the loop.
PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
December 7, 2022
Shocking Photos of Proposed Club
We recently emailed you regarding a proposed club at 66 Greene Street that is applying for a beer and wine license before the community board last evening.
A resident has just sent us photos of an event recently held there — without booze being served. The operation is worse than we ever imagined. It shows the true intent of the owner’s intention for our community. Imagine these guys after they had a few drinks past midnight. This operation must not be allowed to get a license to serve alcohol that will only cause more problems.
Note the “security”, who look more like masked thugs and who did nothing to fix the problem.
Note the crowds blocking vehicular and pedestrian traffic on both sides of the street.
Note the loudspeakers blasting out music into our neighborhood.
All compliments of the owner, a newcomer to New York, who told the SoHo Alliance that people should live in the suburbs if they don’t want noise.
December 6, 2022
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing?
On Tuesday evening, December 6, the owner of a proposed clothing store at 66 Greene Street will appear before the community board seeking a beer and wine license for his business.
The only problem is this “clothing store” intends to stay open until 2:00 am, serving alcohol and a hefty dose of music.
Although retail stores and galleries can dispense complimentary wine and beer as a gesture of good will, selling it is strictly prohibited.
The front portion of the ground floor will be for clothing retail but the rear will be a lounge with music and alcohol. The entire basement is set aside as a bar without a full kitchen or chef, serving only sushi.
There will be “security” and a professional sound engineer. Sound proofing has not been determined. There will be “promoted events”. The owner is a music producer. Some clothing store. Sounds more like a late-night club.
The certificate of occupancy allows a store on the ground floor but there is no such certificate for the basement.
Although the license applicant has stated to us that he recently bought the building, property records show that it is owned by two other individuals. When questioned by us over this discrepancy, the applicant said he often does that. Say what?!?
Attempts by the SoHo Alliance to persuade the applicant to meet with his neighbors to arrive at some kind of agreement have been futile.
We have been successful in keeping clubs out of SoHo. This application seems like a ploy to get around zoning and alcohol licensing restrictions that prohibit these types of operations in our neighborhood.
The community board meeting begins at 6:30 but there will be other applications prior. It likely won’t be heard until 7:00 pm. It will be conducted via Zoom.
Register using the link below:
PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
November 20, 2022
SoHo Memory Project
SoHo’s unique story would be lost and forgotten were it not for the SoHo Memory Project.
The Project’s paper and digital collection contains a trove of stories, ephemera and memorabilia that chronicle SoHo’s evolution from farmland to high-end retail and residential hub.
Founded in 2011, its mission is to preserve and celebrate SoHo’s past so that present and future generations understand our neighborhood’s rich and unique history — and can make informed decisions as we shape its future.
If you have never visited the website, give yourself a treat and click here.
In February 2023, the SoHo Memory Project’s archive will become part of the New-York Historical Society Library’s permanent collection, cementing SoHo’s place in our city’s history.
The archives include digitized versions of SoHo Alliance’s print newsletters from 1983-20. Inclusion will ensure that our community’s activist legacy becomes a permanent part of the New York experience.
The SoHo Memory Project Legacy Campaign is currently fundraising to record and preserve its digital collection as a vital historical resource.
Please contribute so that present and future generations understand and appreciate what a wonderfully vibrant neighborhood SoHo was and continues to be.
Donate here.
The SoHo Memory Project is a 501c-3 nonprofit. All donations are tax-deductible. Please be as generous as possible.
PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
November 13, 2022
We Smell a Rat
It looks like the City Council is pulling a fast one.
On November 22, it will vote on a bill to set the rules for a permanent Open Restaurant program. The legislation was created behind closed doors with the help of the well-funded New York Hospitality Alliance, the city’s restaurant and nightlife lobbyists – with no public input.
The Open Restaurant program – those sheds that clutter our public streets – was supposed to be a temporary measure to help restaurants during the pandemic. New Yorkers welcomed it.
However, the pandemic waned, indoor dining resumed, and the city has returned to normal. Except Open Restaurants.
The sheds have devolved into unsightly shacks, rat-infested, graffitied, trash dumps that blight our communities. They are the bane of residents who live near them, who must endure their din well into the night, illegal amplified music, and squalid conditions on once quaint streets. Moreover, the vast majority of these sheds are located downtown, with most other city neighborhoods spared.
The Open Restaurant program is privatization of public space. It is a land grab by the hospitality industry and a free giveaway from the City Council. Restaurateurs don’t pay a dime for this free space. But we do wonder how much they contribute to some councilmembers re-election campaign.
.
The prior Sidewalk Cafe program, which had been in place for decades, charged $5,000 minimum annually for the privilege of using public space. Open Restaurants don’t pay a dime to the City. Is this fair? The City Council seems to think it is.
The Council wants to deny any input or comment from residents who live with the noise, the rats, the trash, the unswept streets, and blocked sidewalks. The message to residents is the same as it has been for the last two years: Shut Up.
We must deliver our own message: WE WILL BE HEARD.
NO CLOSED-DOOR DEALS FOR OPEN RESTAURANTS
Protest Tuesday, November 15, 12:30 pm
Protest Tuesday, November 15, 12:30 pm
OUR DEMANDS
1. Hold public hearings
2. Commission an Environmental Impact Study
3. Engage Community Boards in the planning processOn November 15, we’ll be taking these demands to the street, directly to the City Council.
We will gather outside the City Council offices at 250 Broadway. We carry signs. We chant. We picket. A small group stands in front of the Council offices with their mouths taped, symbolizing how the Council is treating residents of this city. A float pulls up to the curb with a mock-up of a shed, complete with rats and hanging trash bags. It will have a loud speaker that blasts the cacophony that unfortunate residents live with every night – directly into the offices of the City Council. This demonstration will be a raucous expression of public outrage, but we need you to make it work.
Our efforts have changed the media conversation, from outdoor dining as a no-brainer, to outdoor dining as a neighborhood horror. Now we have to close the deal. We need a big turnout to show the Council and the media that we are powerful and that we are united. Even if you’re not accustomed to going to demonstrations, please show up and be heard. It’ll be an hour out of a day that will help restore our streets. If not, it’s noise-rats-trash forever.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 12:30 pm
Meet at the corner of Broadway and Murray Street across from City Hall Park.
RSVP HERE. That will help us know how many posters and flyers to print.
PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
October 31, 2022
First Police Precinct Community Meeting
The First Police Precinct covers SoHo from the west side of Broadway to the Hudson River (the 5th Precinct extends eastward from the east side of Broadway).
Every month, the First Precinct Community Council holds an evening meeting to provide an opportunity for the community to meet our local patrol officers as well as the brass.
This forum gives us an opportunity to ask questions or voice our concerns on any police, crime or quality-of-life matter. Such face-to-face meetings are often more productive than phoning 311 with a problem.
The meetings are usually held on the last Thursday of the month, but this month the meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 2 at 6:00 pm at the First Precinct itself, 16 Ericsson Place at the corner of Varick Street.
If you have any issues to discuss, or just curious, you should attend.
PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
October 2, 2022
City Wants to Split SoHo/NoHo
Don’t Let Them Do It. Don’t Dilute Our Strength
The City Charter mandates that City Council district lines be redrawn every ten years to reflect the city’s changing demographics and population.
The NYC Districting Commission held public hearings earlier this year and has just released a proposed map that splits SoHo/NoHo into two different council districts, separating long-time allies, neighbor from neighbor.
Currently, SoHo and NoHo are in Council District 1, represented by Christopher Marte. However, the proposed map removes NoHo from Marte’s district and places it in an East Side district that runs as far up as 34th Street and Fifth Avenue. This separation reduces SoHo/NoHo’s voting strength and eviscerates our political representation. That is illegal.
The 1965 Federal Voting Rights Act requires redistricting preserve “identifiable communities of interest” defined by “shared interests”.
Ethnic and minority groups often define communities of interest. However, communities of interest can also be determined by members with shared interests, such as:
– housing patterns and living conditions (lofts, live-work arrangements)
– occupation and employment patterns
– income levels and educational backgrounds
– similar economic centers (agricultural, industrial, commercial, cultural)
– historical neighborhoods
– shared participation in civic organizations
– location within a single school district
– shared environmental concerns
– shared transportation routes
– high property taxes
Such is the case with SoHo/NoHo, two similar communities differing primarily by one letter of the alphabet and a location relative to Houston Street. In other words, no difference.
SoHo and NoHo share a unique zoning stretching back to the 1970s, distinct from any other neighborhood in the entire city.
The City Council acknowledged and reaffirmed the SoHo/NoHo commonality last year when it approved the rezoning, the SoHo/NoHo Neighborhood Plan, in which the City treated SoHo/NoHo as a unique, unified “special district”.
SoHo/NoHo:
– share a similar history dating back half a century when urban pioneers created these neighborhoods
– have long been considered a single community by the City government
– underwent similar real-estate development and adoptive re-use conversions
– possess a disproportionate number of residents employed in the arts, cultural or creative fields, many residing in joint live-work conditions
– share a similar demographic and education level
– serve as an important economic center for tourism and commercial retail, as well as fashion, culture and the arts
– are Historic Districts designated by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
– worked together as close allies in countless civic and political campaigns — and continue to do so
– are both within School District 2
– share a transportation hub
– have high property taxes compared to most of the city, all of which necessitate a common elected official to advocate for us
What Can You Do to Stop This?
Ten years ago, the Districting Commission also attempted to divide SoHo/NoHo. Our efforts then convinced them to change their plan. We must do the same now.
Email the Districting Commission
| Email Here |
Do it now. Use our bullet points or compose your own appeal. It need not be lengthy.
But do something now before it is too late. Don’t let the City divide us.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS GUIDE TO FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
Sincerely,
Sean Sweeney
August 7, 2022
Voters Guide: DID endorses Jo Anne Simon for Congress & Vittoria Fariello for State Senate
Redistricting has placed SoHo/NoHo in brand-new Congressional and State Senate districts.
Jerry Nadler will no longer represent SoHo and Carolyn Maloney will no longer represent parts of NoHo. Twelve candidates are vying to replace them. There is also a competitive race in the new State Senate district.
Folk have been asking the SoHo Alliance for advice. We tell them the SoHo Alliance is non-partisan, but whoever wins the Democratic primary here invariably gets the office. Our politically-active neighbors in Downtown Independent Democrats (DID) have issued their analysis, a detailed two-page Voters Guide. Access and read it here.
DID Endorses Jo Anne Simon for Congress & Vittoria Fariello for State Senate.
Ms. Simon represents northwest Brooklyn in the State Assembly, where she has excelled in passing legislation on education, gun violence prevention, gender equity, paid family leave, equal pay for equal work, and voting reform, to list a few.
Assemblymember Simon is equally effective as a passionate community advocate for her district, having first-hand experience with rezoning —battling against displacement and for maximum affordable housing.
Jo Anne fought to save the Long Island College Hospital, demanded more affordable housing in Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yard development, secured the city’s first traffic-calming study, and worked with her community to clean up the toxic Gowanus Canal.
There are other leading candidates.
Yuh-Line Niou represents the Lower East Side and lower Manhattan in the State Assembly. She is a staunch progressive who listens to and works with the community and her constituents.
When redistricting saw suburban upstate first-term congressman Mondaire Jones in danger of losing his seat, he moved into our district in June. Jones has been a congressman for only one year and a neighbor for just one summer. There are more experienced candidates.
The lead lawyer in the Trump impeachment, Daniel Goldman, has Washington experience but little local. Although a TriBeCa resident for fifteen years, he has not been involved in local issues. Without a record, we have no idea how he would perform if elected.
City Councilmember Carlina Rivera:
– Led the fight to upzone SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown along with Margaret Chin — who has endorsed her.
– Pushed the $100 square-foot conversion fee to convert from JLWQA (artist housing) to straight residential use, a use-change fee imposed on no other neighborhood in the city.
– Voted to impose a Draconian recurring $25,000 fine on her own constituents who were not “certified” artists, which Mayor Adams fortunately vetoed.
– Supports the destruction of our beloved Elizabeth Street Garden.
DID endorses Jo Anne Simone for Congress.
******************************
DID Endorses Vittoria Fariello for State Senate.
Vittoria Fariello is challenging the incumbent, Brian Kavanagh. Mr. Kavanagh is a seasoned legislator but many say it is time for change: time for a representative who will engage and stand with our downtown community to find creative solutions to complex problems. Such a person is Vittoria Fariello.
A downtown resident for 25 years, a public-service attorney and mother of four, Fariello serves as a local Democratic district leader. She is quick to challenge the maneuverings of the Manhattan political machine. Fariello changed party rules that allowed party bosses to abuse their power and she sued the party boss when he tried to disenfranchise grassroots activists.
Vittoria began her public-service career as a community organizer, working with public-assistance recipients who had their benefits threatened by the Giuliani administration. She has worked with the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights and served in the Immigration Unit of the Legal Aid Society.
Vittoria has been a leader of the Coalition for a 100% Affordable 5 World Trade Center, with preference for 9/11 survivors and first responders. She has pledged to fight for universal health care for all New Yorkers, full funding of the Environmental Bond Act, Green New Deal for New York, installation of offshore turbines, and a Green New Deal for New York.
Christopher Marte has also endorsed Fariello, declaring “Vittoria Fariello unequivocally stands with the working people of Lower Manhattan. I’ve been with Vittoria on picket lines and at protests. Vittoria doesn’t waver from a fight and has impressed me with her commitment to the urgent needs of her future constituents.”
******************************
Early voting begins next Saturday, August 13 through Sunday, August 21 at St. Anthony’s church basement on Houston Street. Find precise days and times here.
Election day is Tuesday, August 23. Find your poll site here.
If you cannot vote in person, get your absentee ballot here.
Turnout will be very low. Your vote is tremendously important.
PLEASE SHARE THIS GUIDE WITH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
July 24, 2022
SoHo/NoHo July News Updates
Last week Governor Hochul signed a bill into law that now permits non-artist residents of SoHo and NoHo residing in units zoned for Joint Live-Work Quarters for Artists (JLWQA) prior to December 15, 2021 to continue their non-conforming residency without any fear of penalties or fines.
This legislation, enshrined in the state’s Multiple Dwelling Law, legalizes the thousands of SoHo/NoHo non-artist residents who had been living in fear of eviction or governmental penalties, some of them for decades. You can read the law here.
The law, first proposed by the Coaltion for Fairness in SoHo and NoHo, was sponsored by Deborah Glick in the Assembly and by Brian Kavanagh in the State Senate. We applaud their efforts at removing this outdated zoning provision.
It remains to be seen how the city will handle new residents who move in after December 15.
So far we have heard of no talk of the city suddenly enforcing the artist requirement on newcomers. However, the forces behind the rezoning, like the Department of City Planning, will likely still attempt to implement some of the onerous provisions of the upzoning, like the punitive $100 per square-foot filing fee for those residents who may want to convert from JLWQA to straight residential. Stay tuned.
******************************
Absentee Ballots
You may recall that the political district lines initially drawn up this spring in Albany were thrown out by a court-appointed arbitrator and new lines had to be drawn. That took time.
Hence a Democratic Party primary election for these two offices is now scheduled for August 23, mid-summer. This election will determine who will represent you in Congress and the State Senate in the years ahead.
We expect turnout to be very low, especially since the election is during the vacation season. It is essential your vote be counted. Do not disenfranchise yourself. If you think you will not be in the city that day, please request an absentee ballot now. Click here https://nycabsentee.com/
PLEASE SHARE THIS UPDATE WITH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
July 14, 2022
A New Park for SoHo
There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new SoHo neighborhood park this Friday, July 15 at 11:00 a.m. All are welcome!!
The Rapkin-Gayle Plaza is located on a former parking lot at the northwest corner of Grand and Lafayette Streets. The city condemned the lot to utilize it for an access shaft to the new Third Water Tunnel, 512 feet below ground. The plaza consists of paved brick with a center and border of green vegetation, with benches to sit and relax.
SoHo activists agitated for years to turn the 12,500 square-foot lot into a park once the tunnel and shaft construction were completed, since our neighborhood lacks so sorely in open space.
The plaza is named in honor of Chester Rapkin and Margot Gayle, the veritable father and mother of SoHo.
Rapkin was a city planner who coined the name SoHo in 1962 to give an identity to the gritty industrial area. Rapkin argued that the aging manufacturing spaces provided employment for thousands of underskilled workers – as well as an incubator for artists to “manufacture” their work. Working at the Department of City Planning, he is responsible for the 1971 rezoning that transformed SoHo into a success story.
Margot Gayle crusaded to preserve the cast-iron architecture for which SoHo is now world-famous. She was very influential in SoHo’s 1973 designation as an historic district. Her later efforts resulted in the extension of the SoHo Cast-Iron Historic District eastwards and westwards in 2010. We owe so much to these two.
Do try to come to the opening ceremony on Friday morning.
July 12, 2022
SoHo Brings Home the Bacon / Absentee Voting Begins
SoHo Brings Home the Bacon
We’ve analyzed the results of the June 28th local Democratic Primary elections and find that SoHo/NoHo voters were crucial in spurring the victories of Deborah Glick and Grace Lee, the two state Assembly candidates endorsed by our politically active neighbors in the Downtown Independent Democrats.
Assemblymember Glick achieved an overall 70%-30% mandate against the challenger who supported the SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown rezoning and the destruction of our Elizabeth Street Garden.
The 66th Assembly District covers the Village, SoHo/NoHo and TriBeCa. Here is the voting breakdown.
- 65%-35% in Greenwich Village (Houston Street to 14th Street, Broadway to the Hudson River)
- 67%-33% in the East Village (Houston Street to 14th Street, 4th Ave to 1st Ave)
- 73%-27% in TriBeCa (Canal Street to Vesey Street, Broadway to the Hudson River)
- 76%-24% in NoHo (Houston Street to Astor Place, Broadway to Bowery)
- 86%-14% in SoHo (Houston Street to Canal Street, West Broadway to Crosby Street)
Likewise in the 65th Assembly District, covering eastern SoHo, the Lower East Side and lower Manhattan, the other endorsed candidate, Grace Lee, won handily, garnering 49% of the overall vote in a 4-way race. Like Glick, Ms. Lee did very well in SoHo, raking in 71% of the vote in the SoHo portion covering Crosby Street eastward to Lafayette/Centre Streets.
Thanks to all of you who took the time to vote.
******************************
Absentee Voting Begins: Get Your Ballot Now
Speaking of elections, there will be another Primary election on August 23, this time for congress and state senate.
The 2022 redistricting has altered the lines for the House of Representatives. Our current congressman, Jerry Nadler, has seen his old district in SoHo redrawn. The SoHo congressional district now covers all of Manhattan south of 14th Street as well as northern Brooklyn. Nadler has chosen to run against another veteran, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, in a new district north of 14th Street where both reside.
As a result, some fifteen candidates are now competing to represent us in this new congressional district.
Downtown Independent Democrats has endorsed in those races: Jo Anne Simon for Congress and Vittoria Fariello for State Senate. More on them at a later date, but you can read about them here and here.
Since election day occurs in late August, many voters may not be in the city then. If this describes you, it is essential your vote be counted.
Request an absentee ballot now: https://nycabsentee.com/
The statistics above from the June Primary demonstrate the power of the SoHo/NoHo vote. Don’t miss out. Turnout will be exceptionally light. In the June Primary, only 12% citywide voted. So your vote will have great weight. Exercise it. Get your absentee ballot now.
PLEASE SHARE THIS UPDATE WITH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS
June 26, 2022
The future of our community depends upon you. Vote.
Although the SoHo Alliance is non-partisan, the fact is that lower Manhattan has a 6-1 Democratic majority. It is inevitable that whoever win the Democratic primaries will be our next elected representatives.
If you are a registered Democrat, please vote. The future of our community depends upon you.
Below are the recommendations of the Downtown Independent Democrats, DID, our friends and neighborhood political activists. Voters may know whom they want for president or governor, but “down-ballot” races get little press coverage and can be overlooked by voters. Thus these following D.I.D. recommendations:
66th Assembly District – Deborah Glick
65th Assembly District – Grace Lee
State Committee Member – 65th Assembly District – Kathryn Freed
State Committee Member – 66th Assembly District – Rachel Lavine
Civil Court, 2nd District – David Fraiden
Manhattan Surrogate Court – Hilary Gingold
Early Voting continues today and tomorrow. Polls are open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Polls are closed Monday. Primary day is Tuesday, June 28, when polls are open from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm.
* * *
66th Assembly District – covers the lower West Side, including SoHo, NoHo, Greenwich Village and TriBeCa.
Deborah Glick for Assembly
This year we have a classic contest between an incumbent who supports residents and reasonable land development versus a novice candidate who is in the back pocket of the real estate lobby.
Deborah Glick is one of our strongest advocates in Albany for tenants’ rights. Glick sponsored and won renewal of the Loft Law. She was the most outspoken elected official in opposing the upzoning of SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown.
Famously championing women’s and LGBTQ rights, Glick’s leadership in passing the Reproductive Health Act has ensured protection of abortion rights in our state. She was the lead sponsor of the Women’s Health and Wellness Act that promotes early detection and prevention of certain medical conditions affecting women.
In contrast to Glick’s support of residents over developers, her opponent, Ryder Kessler, is a well-funded shill for the real estate industry. Tellingly, 95% of his campaign contributions have come from special interests located outside our community.
Kessler won the endorsement of Open NY, a lobbying outfit founded by a wealthy landlord and heir to a steel fortune. Like Open NY, Kessler strongly supports the upzoning of SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown and the destruction of our beloved Elizabeth Street Garden. It is unclear what he actually does for a living. Yet he was able to loan his campaign $70,000.
Go with Glick.
* * *
65th Assembly District – covers the Lower East Side and southern Manhattan, including SoHo from the east side of Crosby Street to Lafayette/Centre Streets eastward
Grace Lee for Assembly
The district’s current assemblymember, Yuh-Line Niou, is stepping down to run for Congress in the August Congressional primaries. Sever
The D.I.D. has wholeheartedly endorsed Grace Lee, a passionate community organizer.
Ms. Lee co-founded Children First, a parent-led grassroots coalition fighting for the safe cleanup of a toxic mercury site in the South Street Seaport. Her steadfast organizing in the face of intense opposition from the developer, the Howard Hughes Corporation, has secured strong oversight rules and an independent monitor for the site cleanup.
Lee has also worked closely with deaf tenants living in deplorable conditions at a Federal housing complex for the hearing and speech impaired on the Lower East Side, helping them stand up to their building’s management. Grace helped organize the largest Thanksgiving food drive in lower Manhattan, donating and delivering thousands of turkeys to families in NYCHA housing.
Her opponents’ efforts to improve our neighborhood pale in comparison, if they exist at all. It is for these reasons D.I.D. endorsed Grace Lee in the 65th Assembly District.
* * *
Democratic State Committee — The most important election you never heard of.
Kathryn Freed for State Committee in the 65th Assembly District
Members of the Democratic State Committee serve as the local representatives within the statewide Democratic Party organization. The State Committee sets party policy and endorses candidates for statewide office.
Two candidates are squaring off: Jenny Lam Low and Kathryn Freed.
Ms. Low has been current State Committee member for the past fourteen years but has not once engaged with voters on party policy. She is employed as an advisor to the City Council Speaker and is a Board of Elections commissioner, a party-appointed patronage position. Ms. Low is part and parcel of the Democratic Party Establishment.
On the other hand, Kathryn Freed is independent.
Kathryn was a co-founder of the SoHo Alliance. We elected her three times as our City Councilmember in the 1990s. She owed her job to the voters and fought hard for us, not the bosses. Term-limited, she was then elected first to the Civil Court and then to State Supreme Court, retiring last year.
Freed has pledged to make the state party more transparent, less involved with insider politics, and more concerned with the needs of everyday New Yorkers.
* * *
Rachel Lavine for State Committee in the 66th Assembly District
Two candidates are competing for State Committee in the 66th Assembly District, Rachel Lavine and Erin Hussein. Hussein has run for City Council and we agree with many of her positions. However, incumbent Rachel Lavine has served us so magnificently that it would be folly to replace her.
For example, Lavine is co-founder and chair of the State Committee’s Progressive Caucus. Just one of Lavine’s accomplishments there was writing and passing a State Committee resolution calling for the banning of hydrofracking in our state, which in turn led to Governor Cuomo’s moratorium on the practice. Rachel currently serves on the board of Eleanor’s Legacy, which works to elect pro-choice women. She first worked as a litigator and then public-interest attorney at Safe Horizon, the city’s largest victims-service agency, advocating for survivors of domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault. Lavine is the one to go with.
* * *
Judicial:
Civil Court, 2nd Municipal District – covers SoHo and parts of Greenwich Village, the East Village, Lower East Side and Chinatown
David Fraiden for Civil Court
Civil Court judges handle family issues, property damage, back rent, and landlord/tenant disputes. Two candidates are vying for this Civil Court seat.
Carmen Pacheco lives in Brooklyn but is opportunistically running for the bench here in Manhattan. Worse, Pacheco has earned the dubious honor of being placed on the Public Advocate’s annual list of “Worst Landlords.” Do we want one of the city’s worst landlords adjudicating landlord/tenant disputes? She also has been accused of hurling racial slurs at a Black neighbor.
On the other hand, David Fraiden, a Lower East Side lawyer and, until recently, a Federal immigration judge, has solid progressive and ethical credentials, has judicial experience — unlike his opponent — and has been endorsed by most of the local Democratic Party district leaders.
* * *
Manhattan Surrogate Court
Surrogate Court judges hear cases involving wills, guardianships, adoptions, and the administration of estates. Two good candidates are contending, Elba Galvan and Hilary Gingold. After interviewing both at D.I.D.’s open public meeting, Downtown Independent Democrats endorsed Hilary Gingold for Surrogate Court.
For more endorsement information from Downtown Independent Democrats or how to get involved, visit their website here.
PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
June 18, 2022
Vote!!
Early Voting begins today and continues through Primary day, Tuesday, June 28. To find your polling site for Primary day, click here. To find the days and hours for early voting or for absentee ballot information, click here.
* * *
Although the SoHo Alliance is non-partisan, the fact is that lower Manhattan has a 6-1 Democratic majority. It is inevitable that whoever win the Democratic primaries will be our next elected representatives.
Below are the recommendations of the Downtown Independent Democrats, DID, our friends and neighborhood political activists. Voters may know whom they want for president or governor, but some “down-ballot” races are overlooked in the press. Thus these following recommendations:
66th Assembly District – Deborah Glick
65th Assembly District – Grace Lee
State Committee Member – 65th Assembly District – Kathryn Freed
State Committee Member – 66th Assembly District – Rachel Lavine
Civil Court, 2nd District – David Fraiden
Manhattan Surrogate Court – Hilary Gingold
* * *
66th Assembly District – covers the lower West Side, including SoHo, NoHo, Greenwich Village and TriBeCa.
Deborah Glick for Assembly
This year we have a classic contest between an incumbent who supports residents and reasonable land development versus a novice candidate who is in the back pocket of the real estate lobby.
Deborah Glick is one of our strongest advocates in Albany for tenants’ rights. Glick sponsored and won renewal of the Loft Law. She was the most outspoken elected official in opposing the upzoning of SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown.
Famously championing women’s and LGBTQ rights, Glick’s leadership in passing the Reproductive Health Act has ensured protection of abortion rights in our state. She was the lead sponsor of the Women’s Health and Wellness Act that promotes early detection and prevention of certain medical conditions affecting women.
In contrast to Glick’s support of residents over developers, her opponent, Ryder Kessler, is a well-funded shill for the real estate industry. Tellingly, 95% of his campaign contributions have come from special interests located outside our community.
Kessler won the endorsement of Open NY, a lobbying outfit founded by a wealthy landlord and heir to a steel fortune. Like Open NY, Kessler strongly supports the upzoning of SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown and the destruction of our beloved Elizabeth Street Garden. It is unclear what he actually does for a living. Yet he was able to loan his campaign $70,000.
Go with Glick.
* * *
65th Assembly District – covers the Lower East Side and southern Manhattan, including SoHo from the east side of Crosby Street to Lafayette/Centre Streets eastward
Grace Lee for Assembly
The district’s current assemblymember, Yuh-Line Niou, is stepping down to run for Congress in the August Congressional primaries. Sever
The D.I.D. has wholeheartedly endorsed Grace Lee, a passionate community organizer.
Ms. Lee co-founded Children First, a parent-led grassroots coalition fighting for the safe cleanup of a toxic mercury site in the South Street Seaport. Her steadfast organizing in the face of intense opposition from the developer, the Howard Hughes Corporation, has secured strong oversight rules and an independent monitor for the site cleanup.
Lee has also worked closely with deaf tenants living in deplorable conditions at a Federal housing complex for the hearing and speech impaired on the Lower East Side, helping them stand up to their building’s management. Grace helped organize the largest Thanksgiving food drive in lower Manhattan, donating and delivering thousands of turkeys to families in NYCHA housing.
Her opponents’ efforts to improve our neighborhood pale in comparison, if they exist at all. It is for these reasons D.I.D. endorsed Grace Lee in the 65th Assembly District.
* * *
Democratic State Committee — The most important election you never heard of.
Kathryn Freed for State Committee in the 65th Assembly District
Members of the Democratic State Committee serve as the local representatives within the statewide Democratic Party organization. The State Committee sets party policy and endorses candidates for statewide office.
Two candidates are squaring off: Jenny Lam Low and Kathryn Freed.
Ms. Low has been current State Committee member for the past fourteen years but has not once engaged with voters on party policy. She is employed as an advisor to the City Council Speaker and is a Board of Elections commissioner, a party-appointed patronage position. Ms. Low is part and parcel of the Democratic Party Establishment.
On the other hand, Kathryn Freed is independent.
Kathryn was a co-founder of the SoHo Alliance. We elected her three times as our City Councilmember in the 1990s. She owed her job to the voters and fought hard for us, not the bosses. Term-limited, she was then elected first to the Civil Court and then to State Supreme Court, retiring last year.
Freed has pledged to make the state party more transparent, less involved with insider politics, and more concerned with the needs of everyday New Yorkers.
* * *
Rachel Lavine for State Committee in the 65th Assembly District
Two candidates are competing for State Committee in the 66th Assembly District, Rachel Lavine and Erin Hussein. Hussein has run for City Council and we agree with many of her positions. However, incumbent Rachel Lavine has served us so magnificently that it would be folly to replace her.
For example, Lavine is co-founder and chair of the State Committee’s Progressive Caucus. Just one of Lavine’s accomplishments there was writing and passing a State Committee resolution calling for the banning of hydrofracking in our state, which in turn led to Governor Cuomo’s moratorium on the practice. Rachel currently serves on the board of Eleanor’s Legacy, which works to elect pro-choice women. She first worked as a litigator and then public-interest attorney at Safe Horizon, the city’s largest victims-service agency, advocating for survivors of domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault. Lavine is the one to go with.
* * *
Judicial:
Civil Court, 2nd Municipal District – covers SoHo and parts of Greenwich Village, the East Village, Lower East Side and Chinatown
David Fraiden for Civil Court
Civil Court judges handle family issues, property damage, back rent, and landlord/tenant disputes. Two candidates are vying for this Civil Court seat.
Carmen Pacheco lives in Brooklyn but is opportunistically running for the bench here in Manhattan. Worse, Pacheco has earned the dubious honor of being placed on the Public Advocate’s annual list of “Worst Landlords.” Do we want one of the city’s worst landlords adjudicating landlord/tenant disputes? She also has been accused of hurling racial slurs at a Black neighbor.
On the other hand, David Fraiden, a Lower East Side lawyer and, until recently, a Federal immigration judge, has solid progressive and ethical credentials, has judicial experience — unlike his opponent — and has been endorsed by most of the local Democratic Party district leaders.
* * *
Manhattan Surrogate Court
Surrogate Court judges hear cases involving wills, guardianships, adoptions, and the administration of estates. Two good candidates are contending, Elba Galvan and Hilary Gingold. After interviewing both at D.I.D.’s open public meeting, Downtown Independent Democrats endorsed Hilary Gingold for Surrogate Court.
For more endorsement information from Downtown Independent Democrats or how to get involved, visit their website here.
PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS
June 12, 2022
Good News! You’re Legal!!
In the final days of this year’s session in Albany, the legislature unanimously passed a law introduced by Deborah Glick in the Assembly and sponsored by Brian Kavanagh in the State Senate that will permit all SoHo/NoHo tenants — both owners and renters — living in joint live-work quarters for artists (JLWQA) prior to December 15, 2021 to continue occupying their units regardless of their status as a certified artist. Such living units comprise the vast majority of SoHo/NoHo residences.
In the final days of de Blasio’s administration in December, Councilmembers Margaret Chin and Carlina Rivera, SoHo/NoHo’s representatives, not only encouraged their Council colleagues to outrageously upzone our neighborhood but also to allow buildings currently zoned for manufacturing use to be rezoned for residential use.
However, the Chin/Rivera rezoning legislation to permit the residential conversion required us to fork over an unholy conversion fee of $100 per square foot — hundreds of thousands of dollars — just to file the application. Throughout the city, applications for a change of use entail a nominal filing fee of a few hundred dollars. Worse, there was no guarantee that a conversion would even be successful.
To convert a 19th-century manufacturing building to meet 21st-century residential building code requirements would cost additional hundreds of thousand of dollars — if possible it all, due to structural impediments inherent in these old buildings. Things like light and air, handicap accessibility, and fire safety issues.
As a result, most residents would not be able to convert and would be living in their homes under a Damocles Sword of impending disaster, including heavy fines, the inability to obtain a certificate-of-occupancy, and even eviction.
Now all residents can safely occupy their homes under the same rights, whether artist or non-artist. It is telling that it took our Albany representatives to undo the damage brought upon us by our local representatives in the City Council.
We thank both Assemblymember Deborah Glick and Senator Brian Kavanagh unreservedly for their efforts in protecting our tenancies.
Assemblymember Glick’s bill was prompted by the lobbying efforts of the Coalition for Fairness in SoHo and NoHo, to which we are most grateful. The SoHo Alliance secured Senator Kavanagh’s support. Again, we thank both our state legislators for their admirable work.
On another note, the Coalition for Fairness in SoHo and NoHo lawsuit to negate the upzoning is currently in court. The city asked for time to submit its papers and we await an outcome.
For more information on the Glick/Kavanagh legislation, read the details of the law here.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS GOOD NEWS TO FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
May 15, 2022
Marte Sweeps SoHo
He swept SoHo in last year’s election and he’s still sweeping it.
City Councilmember Christopher Marte announced on Wednesday that he has reallocated funding to hire ACE workers to sweep our streets from Mercer to Wooster, Houston to Canal, three days week. ACE workers will also be maintaining the corner trash bins that currently often overflow with trash.
Dressed in their red work clothes, workers from ACE, the Agency of Community Empowerment Programs for the Homeless, were a familiar sight on SoHo streets for years.
However, the program suffered from perennial fundraising shortfalls, causing it to cease its “free” street cleaning operation in 2016. (ACE is still retained by the SoHo Broadway Initiative to clean Broadway and the abutting side streets.)
In response to ACE’s departure, in 2017 Clean-Up SoHo, a volunteer group with which the SoHo Alliance was involved, raised sufficient funds to purchase some eighty corner trash bins and hire workers for a year to bag and empty the trash on a daily basis. However, fundraising and organizing the cleaning services is basically a full-time job, beyond the scope of community volunteers.
So for the past several years, due in no small part to the budget cuts to the Department of Sanitation, SoHo streets have become increasingly littered.
In response, earlier this year there was an effort to organize a BID, a Business Improvement District, to raise funds to clean the streets by increasing property taxes. With property taxes rising more than 10% annually here, that is the last thing we need.
Not to mention that BIDs push for changes that primarily benefit commercial property owners and large multinational retailers — not local small businesses or residents. The role the SoHo Broadway BID played in the recent upzoning of SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown testifies to that. Who wants a BID to control the rest of SoHo in perpetuity?
Thus Councilmember Marte’s grant is a double blessing. We get cleaner streets and retain local control.
Marte says this funding is not a one-off, but will continue as long as he is in office. It is in tandem with a similar program he has arranged to clean Delancey Street on the Lower East Side.
Marte announced the news at a press conference last Wednesday at the corner of Greene and Prince Streets joined by ACE workers and local community activists.
Our neighborhood provides the city so much revenue in property and sales tax receipts, yet has been the forgotten stepchild of so many past administrations, getting nothing in return but filthy streets and crowded sidewalks. It is so gratifying to have an elected official who helps rectify that unfair situation. Thank you, Chris.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS GOOD NEWS TO FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
April 24, 2022
NYU Sues NYC//ADA Scam//Fundraiser
NYU Sues NYC
New York University has filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court to overturn a portion of the recent SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown rezoning that prohibits university uses in our neighborhood. The city council removed these uses at the last minute in response to community concerns of NYU expansionism, including frat houses and student dorms.
During the two-year rezoning process, a NYU representative sat on the strategic Envision SoHo/NoHo Advisory Board yet never uttered a single word until a board member finally asked what the NYU’s intentions here were. The representative tersely responded, “NYU has none.” Unsurprisingly, we now learn otherwise.
The lawsuit claims that state law permits university uses in residential neighborhoods. The recent rezoning placed a residential-zone overlay here to permit residential use, while still maintaining the underlying manufacturing zoning. You may recall that the rezoning proponents claimed the reason for the rezoning in the first place was to replace the “outdated” manufacturing zoning, showing clearly what an abject failure the process has proved to be.
NYU claims no current intention to expand into our community but wants to keep its options open. Options like the monstrousbuilding for student dormitories and classrooms going up for the past five years on Houston and Mercer Streets.
Speaking of which, NYU has announced that the project, originally set for completion this spring, will not open until spring 2023.
Happy Hour Fundraiser
Reminder: I am hosting a Happy Hour Fundraiser this Wednesday evening from 6:00 to 7:30 at my loft for Vittoria Fariello, local community activist running for State Senate.
Vittoria has a compelling resumé fighting corruption and strongly supporting housing, health care and labor issues. Read more about Vittoria here: www.vittorianyc.com
Tickets available here: https://votevit.us/soho
Vittoria for the People
65 Columbia Street #21D
New York NY 10002
New York NY 10002
Looking forward to seeing you.
ADA Scam Returns – Protect Yourself
The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA, is a worthy civil rights law designed to prohibit discrimination based on disability. However, a couple of disreputable lawyers are raking in millions in legal fees suing local buildings and/or businesses that do not comply precisely with the law.
They find disabled persons to represent and then direct them to a business that does not have a handicap ramp and a sign notifying the disabled to ring a buzzer for assistance.
They then file a federal lawsuit claiming their civil rights were denied and seek compensatory damages, usually no more than a thousand dollars.
But then the disreputable lawyers send a bill for tens of thousand of dollars for filing what are basically duplicative boilerplate lawsuits. Their usual asking price to settle starts at $30,000.
This scheme has been going on for years. Covid slowed it down. Now it has returned with a vengeance. An iconic SoHo bar was hit, a nail salon, and countless other businesses and buildings. An Italian restaurant on Houston Street was forced out of business when it could not meet the extortionate payment demand. Don’t let it happen to you.
What can you do to avoid this scam? Simple.
Purchase one of those blue and white signs “ADA Access – Ring Bell for Assistance” for $15, attach it to the front of your building/business along with a $20 wireless buzzer to contact store employees inside. Then buy a light-weight portable ramp for about $260 for inside the store.
We strongly urge you to do this. This threat is real. This lawyer is reputed to have someone going around on an almost daily basis looking for buildings and businesses to extort. Don’t let it happen to you.
The $300 you invest now might save you $30,000 later on.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
Sincerely,
Sean Sweeney
April 10, 2022
Glick’s Bill to Legalize ALL SoHo/NoHo Residents // Super-Talls Removed from State Budget
Assemblymember Deborah Glick has just introduced legislation that will permit SoHo/NoHo residents living in joint live-work quarters for artists (JLWQA) prior to December 31, 2021 to continue residing in their homes without requiring occupancy by a certified artist.
This welcomed legislation will ensure that residents who lack artist certification can still remain in their homes without fear of displacement or threat of draconian penalties, like the punitive and vindictive fines of tens of thousands of dollars introduced by Margaret Chin in her last days in the City Council.
The Land Use Committe of Community Board 2 will host a presentation by Assemblymember Glick’s office regarding the legislation. Read the bill here.
Discussion will follow. We urge you to attend and you are welcomed to comment and ask questions.
When: Wednesday, April 13, 6:30 pm
Please register for the Zoom meeting using the link below:
https://us06web.zoom.us/
https://us06web.zoom.us/
PLEASE FORWARD THIS GOOD NEWS TO FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
************************
State Legislature Kills Plan to Lift Height/Bulk Limits for Supertalls
Thanks to opposition from so many city elected officials, community activists, and preservation groups, Governor Kathy Hochul’s budget proposal lifting the limit on the height and bulk of supertall luxury residential buildings was removed from the final State budget that was approved last week. Her proposal was tentatively removed in early negotiations last month and we are pleased to report it has remained out
Below are some of the supertalls allowed under current zoning, casting shadows on Central Park and residential neighborhoods. Imagine if the cap were lifted in your neighborhood.
Please forward this information to friends and neighbors.
March 27, 2022
Judge Rejects City’s Claim; Orders Environmental Review of “Open Restaurants” Impact
In a lawsuit filed by beleaguered residents against the city’s Permanent Open Restaurants program, a State Supreme Court judge last Wednesday shot down the city’s absurd claim that these outdoor dining shacks have no significant impact on noise and traffic.
Justice Frank Nervo declared the city’s claim was “arbitrary and capricious” and ordered the city to perform “nothing less than a comprehensive and earnest consideration and examination” of the impacts of the program, as required by New York State law.
The ruling will not necessarily remove the existing shacks but will affect this “emergency” program when it is to be renewed later this year.
Background:
For countless decades, outdoor dining — that is, sidewalk cafes with proper permits — was not allowed in residential neighborhoods, only in districts zoned commercial or manufacturing.
SoHo is still zoned for manufacturing despite over 8,000 residents, but in 1976 SoHo activists amended the zoning to afford our residents the same protections that other city residents possess. That is why there are no sidewalk cafes within SoHo.
The SoHo Alliance did not object several years ago when the restaurant industry lobbied for sidewalk cafes on our two wide thoroughfares, Lafayette Street and Sixth Avenue. We try to be reasonable. But we managed to continue the restrictions on Crosby Street and West Broadway, streets the restaurant industry also wanted.
Then Covid hit.
We value our restaurants and their workers, who, like so many, were hit hard by the pandemic. No one objected to these sheds going up on a temporary basis to aid this one industry, an industry that already has received $72.2 billion dollars in federal Covid recovery funds.
However, some people take advantage of a good thing. Many of the operators of these shacks soon abused the program. Complaints poured in regarding loud noise well past midnight, garbage and litter, rats, fire-safety issues, and handicap-accessibility problems.
Click here to view this horrific video of what the residents of just one block on the Lower East Side must endure every weekend.
Under the traditional sidewalk-cafe program, restaurants paid at least $5,000 biennially for the privilege of using public streets. They adhered to strict regulations on hours, noise and placement. There were few complaints. On the other hand, the current Open Restaurant operations don’t pay a dime for acquiring expensive city real estate.
The pandemic is waning and indoor dining is back. So the reason for this temporary emergency program and land giveaway no longer exists.
Nonetheless, Mayor de Blasio decreed that this temporary program be made permanent, obviously gotten to by the hospitality industry, one of the most powerful lobbies in the state.
In order to implement the program, which produced a ten-fold increase in outdoor eating sites, his administration nullified the zoning regulations that had long prohibited outdoor dining in residential neighborhoods.
Notwithstanding, state law requires that major rezoning overhauls like this undergo a quality environmental review to examine the effects the program will have on traffic, noise and safety, which de Blasio’s administration failed to do. Hence, a lawsuit was inevitable.
The Lawsuit
Neighborhood associations from as far afield as Chelsea and Greenwich Village to the East Village, from SoHo to the Bowery, from Chinatown to the Lower East Side, from Williamsburg to Sunnyside, fed up and incensed by the city’s failure to obey state law, formed CueUp, the Coalition United for Equitable Urban Policy to challenge deBlasio’s debacle.
CueUp raised money and hired an experienced attorney and zoning expert to challenge the proposed legislation.
The Decision
Justice Nervo was scathing in his appraisal of the city’s behavior and arrogance.
“For a taxpayer supported agency to declare, in effect, the Open Restaurants Program and Outdoor Seating have no negative impact on our streets and communities because that Agency has unilaterally made that determination, serves only as a thinly-veiled attempt to avoid statutory scrutiny of the program by a baseless declaration of its own omnipotence,” Nervo declared.
Continuing, he wrote that the environmental issue “warrants nothing less than a comprehensive and earnest consideration and examination of the actual impacts of the already implemented program upon the daily functioning of the City’s sidewalks and streets, as well as the impact upon locally affected residents”
Further, “{The city’s} bald assertion that no significant impact on noise or traffic is attributable to the program is arbitrary and capricious considering the plain evidence that noise complaints have increased in areas where the program has been implemented.”
This decision seriously affects the timeline for the permanent implementation of the program that is difficult to predict. The city must now go back to the drawing board and establish hard rules for this program. Or the city may appeal. We shall keep you abreast.
What Can You Do?
Funds are needed to pay for the attorney and zoning consultants. The SoHo Alliance is pleased to be the financial conduit for the two dozen neighborhood associations that comprise CueUp.
Please contribute to this valiant effort by sending a contribution via the SoHo Alliance Paypal page. Be sure to credit it to CueUp. Click here.
Or, send a check payable to the SoHo Alliance, with “CueUp” in the Memo line, to:
SoHo Alliance
PO Box 429
New York, NY 10012
March 20, 2022
Real Estate Giveaway Thwarted / Battle Not Over
Last month we asked you to email our state elected officials and request they reject Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2023 budget proposal to eliminate the current statewide residential limit of a 12 Floor-to-Area Ratio.
The Floor-to-Area Ratio is a formula used by urban planners to determine the height and bulk of developments. To put it in context, the new 1,000-feet supertall buildings along West 57 Street’s “Billionaire’s Row” were built under current zoning that allows a mere 10 FAR residential development.
The recent SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown rezoning included allowances for up to 12 FAR. If this cap were lifted, no doubt the allowances would have gone even higher, resulting in unsightly, imposing skyscrapers in our community.
Well, our efforts, spearheaded by Village Preservation, have paid off. The state senate and assembly have rejected Hochul’s giveaway to real-estate speculators. Our victory will prevent massively oversized residential developments in our neighborhood and throughout the city.
But this victory could be fleeting. Although Hochul’s proposal has been withdrawn from the budget, which is due April 1, there is always last minute horse trading and side deals that could see it introduced as the deadline nears. So please email our electeds to make sure this onerous proposal is laid to rest for good.
February 13, 2022
New Lawsuit Filed
The Coalition for Fairness in SoHo and NoHo filed a lawsuit Thursday in State Supreme Court challenging the City’s recent SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown upzoning on multiple grounds.
These include the City’s failure to take a “hard look” at the upzoning’s environmental and socio-economic impact, its unconstitutional “taking” of property without just compensation, and its potential displacement of both artists and non-artists, as well as low-income residents in what the City disingenuously calls “SoHo East” but which everyone else in the city knows is Chinatown.
The legal action also challenges the imposition of the onerous $100 per square-foot fee to convert from artists live-work quarters to straight residential use and the extreme construction costs associated with upgrading to current building codes, which costs the rezoning conveniently ignored.
The lawsuit also focuses on the failure of the upzoning to seriously examine the effects it will have on the several historic districts within the upzoned area.
Notably, the lawsuit highlights the City’s failure over six decades to enforce the requirement that one occupant of a living space must be a City-certified artist, while now cruelly punishing those whom it had allowed to reside peacefully in their lofts for decades.
“This rezoning is a land grab by big developers disguised as redistribution of wealth. It violates the constitutional rights of the city’s longtime residents including the elderly, retirees, artists and working families,” Jack Lester, the coalition’s attorney, wrote in a statement.
February 8, 2022
Email Electeds to Stop Supertall Luxury Giveaway
Governor Kathy Hochul has proposed in her 2023 budget the elimination of the statewide limit on the size of residential developments, currently limited to a Floor-to-Area Ratio of 12 (12FAR). FAR is a formula urban planners use to determine the maximum height and bulk of buildings.
For context, the new 1,000-feet supertall buildings along 57th Street’s “Billionaire’s Row” were built under zoning that allows a mere 10FAR residential development. Imagine what our city will look like by increasing exponentially that height and bulk giveaway.
Although Hochul is framing this move in terms of creating more affordable housing, the truth is she has already amassed a campaign fortune of a record-setting $21.6 million from special interests, mostly real estate money, according to the New York Times, which reported, “For Manhattan’s mega-rich real estate developers, Ms. Hochul…signaled support for the kind of grand projects that foretell a windfall.”
The recent SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown upzoning allowed new development up to the legally allowed limit of 12FAR. Had it not been for the existing limit, the plan no doubt would have included even greater densities.
Residential structures of over 12FAR will almost certainly be entirely or largely luxury development, like the billion dollar luxury tower just announced for Houston and Washington Street to our west. Hochul’s proposal will only benefit developers and the very wealthy and not the average New Yorker.
What can you do? Click the link below to email our city, state and federal electeds, asking them to pressure the removal of this onerous proposal from the 2023 state budget.
February 4, 2022
Rally Saturday to Reclaim Our Streets & Sidewalks
JOIN US! Saturday, February 5, Noon, Father Demo Square, Bleecker St. & 6th Avenue
We love our neighborhood restaurants and their workers. They, like most local businesses, suffered during the pandemic.
We were supportive when Mayor de Blasio permitted them to temporarily appropriate our streets and sidewalks when indoor dining was so restricted during the emergency. Oddly, no other businesses were given free rein and free rent to use our public realm. Could this be because the restaurant lobby is well organized, very powerful and soundly financed?
The emergency outdoor dining program was never meant to last forever. Yet just a few months after the temporary program started, the city council passed Local Law 114 mandating that the Open Restaurants Program, and its 12,000 dining setups cluttering our streets, be made PERMANENT.
The Permanent Open Restaurants program serves us nice food but also serves us noise, mounds of trash, rats, fire hazards, blocked sidewalks. Ambulances and fire trucks can’t access our homes from these narrow, cluttered, impassable streets.
The problems were there from the beginning for all to see, yet the mayor and the city council chose not to look or listen.
Some might say there is none on their block and don’t mind the shacks. Well, walk to MacDougal between Prince and Houston and empathize with the poor people who live on that block, now wall-to-wall with these noisy, unsightly shacks.
Our Community Boards listened. In a vote that shook the de Blasio administration, the city’s 59 community boards rejected Permanent Open Restaurants by a whopping 62% to 38% margin. Not surprisingly, community boards with the greatest concentration of these outdoor shacks, like ours, were the most opposed.
We are not against outdoor dining. However, prior to Permanent Open Restaurants, sidewalk cafes and restaurants were well-regulated, required permits, and paid at least $5,000 annually to the City for the right to use our public space. Under de Blasio’s program, regulation is non-existent and the restaurants don’t pay us a dime in rent. We want a return to the more socially-conscious sidewalk cafe/restaurant regulations.
The SoHo Alliance has allied with the Coalition United for Equitable Urban Policy (CUEUP), an alliance of neighborhood and block associations, civic organizations, businesses, and residents, and we oppose Permanent Open Restaurants.
CueUp testified at public hearing and flooded social media, appearing on Channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 11, WINS radio, CNBC, and on the nationally syndicated Inside Edition. Our members have been interviewed frequently in the New York Times.
Now it’s time for us, for YOU, to take to the streets. Let the new mayor and city council hear your voices!
JOIN US! On Saturday, February 5, @ NOON at Father Demo Square, 220 Bleecker St. @ 6th Ave. and let YOUR protest voices be HEARD!
Bring your signs and mask up! The march will culminate with a large rally beneath the Washington Square Park Arch.
Urge your neighbors to RSVP here, and attend the rally. Now is the moment! If we fail to act, the shacks will be outside our windows FOREVER!
January 23, 2022
Fees Explained/Chin “Loser of the Week”/Legal Update
City&State, the daily newsletter for the political community, conducted its weekly poll for “This Week’s Biggest Winners and Losers” on Friday.
To no one’s surprise, Margaret Chin surged with 54% of the votes in a three-way contest, earning her “Biggest Loser of the Week”. The poll was predicated on Mayor Adams’ veto of Chin’s vindictive and outrageous fines that she tried to levy on her own constituents.
This booby prize is a fitting retirement gift to one of the most spiteful and ineffective politicians ever to sit in the city council.
Zoning Fees Explained
Many of you have contacted the SoHo Alliance with questions about the rezoning’s conversion-fee option and the conversion fee’s relation to Chin’s vindictive legislation that fined non-artist residents. There also have been questions regarding the legal actions the community is involved in.
To address Chin’s bill: the mayor vetoed it. It is dead.
As a result, there is currently no penalty for non-artists living in Joint Live-Work Quarters for Artists (JLWQA, aka AIR) contrary to the unit’s Certificate of Occupancy.
Supposedly there had been a fine of $1,250 in place for units in violation of their JLWQA Certificate of Occupancy, although no one had been aware of it until recently nor had ever heard it being implemented.
Chin’s bill raised that relatively small fine to heinous levels. With her bill now vetoed, there appears to be no penalty structure currently in place. Maybe, when the mayor gets around to it, a fine may be re-introduced, perhaps to the prior $1,250 level — substantial but not insurmountable. But for now, we are out of the woods.
On the other hand, the conversion fee of $100 per square foot to apply to convert from JLWQA to straight residential use is part of the recent rezoning and is entirely voluntary. No law can compel someone to change a use.
In addition to the conversion fee, substantial additional expenses to convert to residential use might include architect, expediter and engineer’s fees, filing fees, and substantial costs to upgrade a former factory building to current residential code standards. These costs might include ADA accessibility upgrades, fire and safety improvements, reconfiguration of the units, and the like.
SoHo/NoHo spaces generally range from 1,200 to 5,000 square feet. So to apply to convert would range from $120,000 to half a million, not including the subsequent professional and construction expenses.
What would be the benefit? Frankly, little.
It might assuage fears of city harassment for residing in a space contrary to its use as artists’ space. But let’s look at the record.
In the fifty years in which the artist requirement has been in effect, no one has ever been evicted or displaced for not being a certified artist. Nor has it hurt property values, as is self-evident.
There is anecdotal talk of bank’s charging a bit higher on mortgage rates for a non-artist purchaser of a JLWQA unit. However, this writer did research and asked a SoHo bank’s mortgage officer if not having artist certification would affect the terms of a loan. The experienced loan officer’s response was, “What’s artist certification?”
So, if a non-artist wants to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to have a conforming certificate of occupancy, that is one’s prerogative.
But, practically speaking, it might be a waste of money, especially since the city has ignored that zoning requirement since 1971 and is not likely to begin now.
Additionally, the conversion fees are slated to go into a nebulous arts fund where — we kid you not – SoHo/NoHo arts groups will likely not receive anything, since we are not considered a “disenfranchised” neighborhood. So why would anyone want to take part in this boondoggle?
Regarding the lawsuits:
Currently, our friends at the Coaltion for Fairness in SoHo and NoHo have been fundraising and hiring professionals to address the challenges in the SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown rezoning through multiple efforts, including legislative, legal, and other channels. They may file a new legal challenge soon. Do reach out to sohonohocoalition@gmail.com for more information on their efforts and how to support them.
The Coalition’s current work is separate from the 2021 effort by the SoHo Alliance, the Broadway Residents Coalition and the NoHo Neighborhood Association, who filed two lawsuits challenging the rezoning on administrative grounds. Namely, the city failed to give sufficient and timely notification of the rezoning, as well as failing to establish rules on how the rezoning should proceed, as the law requires.
Although our earlier effort was not successful, the judge’s reasoning was so skewed that an appeal is warranted. So we filed a Notice to Appeal before the deadline to keep our options open. We have six months to file the actual legal briefs in the appellate court. Until then, we are in a holding pattern, waiting to see how the efforts of the Coalition for Fairness in SoHo and NoHo develop.
We hope this has been helpful.
January 15, 2022
Veto! Adams Lands One on the Chin
Mayor Eric Adams responded to our flood of emails and vetoed Margaret Chin’s vindictive and punitive legislation yesterday, mere hours before the deadline.
This is a remarkable victory for us and a final repudiation of Chin’s twelve feckless years in office.
Her bill would have levied massive fines for people living in SoHo/NoHo who are not “certified” artists, currently the majority of residents.
We gratefully thank the mayor for vetoing Chin’s legislation which benefitted nothing except her vengeful nature. Read his full statement here.
Great thanks also goes to our new councilmember, Christopher Marte, who scored a big political victory in his first fortnight in office. His skillful navigation of the issue benefitted us all.
Thanks also is due to all of you who emailed and lobbied to get this bill nixed. Notables include the Coalition for Fairness in SoHo and NoHo, Village Preservation, NoHo Neighborhood Association, Broadway Residents Coalition, Community Board 2, SoHo Alliance, and all the other groups and individuals too numerous to mention.
Instead of a curse, Chin’s legislation has actually been a blessing to SoHo/NoHo. It has invigorated an entire demographic that previously had not been involved in community activism. Networks have been established that never existed. It has show the power of an organized community.
We even thank Chin – for strengthening what she sought to destroy. Chin thought she had the last laugh. She forgot the old saying, “Those who laugh last, laugh best.”
PLEASE FORWARD THIS GOOD NEWS OF OUR VICTORY TO FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
What’s Next?
Although we won this first round, the struggle continues.
Mayor Adams’ statement reaffirms his “100% support of the SoHo/NoHo rezoning”, while noting that he wants to “productively work together”. We respect his opinion and are honored that he wishes to work with us.
However, we believe the rezoning is fundamentally flawed, pushed through in the last days of a failed mayor, completely ignoring the six months of community input during the 2019 Envision SoHo/NoHo process and a gift to de Blasio’s developer contributors.
We are going full-steam ahead with our lawsuit to have the courts address the serious defects that the prior council ignored.
If you want more information on that, please contact Amit Solomon at the Coalition for Fairness in SoHo and NoHo sohonohocoalition@gmail.com .
What Can YOU Do? = Get involved Politically!
Our victory illustrates the achievements that a politically active community can accomplish with its elected officials.
It can be a fruitful symbiotic relation. Marte raked in his highest percentage of votes in SoHo/NoHo. He worked hard for us when we needed it. That’s how democracy should work.
Although the SoHo Alliance is non-partisan — we never favor Democrat or Republican – the simple fact is that downtown Manhattan has a 6-1 Democratic Party majority. Not voting in the Democratic Primary is throwing your voting enfranchisement down the drain. Whoever wins the local Democratic primary invariably goes on to win the November general election. Vote for whatever poltical party you want in November, but vote for your local leaders in the June primaries.
Thus we strongly urge you to get involved with the local Democratic club, the Downtown Independent Democrats.
DID is a reform club founded in 1972 by SoHo community activists, including a co-founder of the SoHo Alliance and some of the same activists who fought for the original, successful 1971 SoHo zoning. In fact, DID was one of the original constituent organizations founding the SoHo Alliance in 1982.
DID has supported us politically during the current rezoning process. Chris Marte started his poltical career in DID. So did our former councilmember, Kathryn Freed. The current and past chairs of Community Board 2 are district leaders out of DID. Leaders in the NoHo Neighborhood Association, Broadway Residents Coalition, Elizabeth Street Garden, and many other community groups, as well as this writer, all have roles in the club.
January 2, 2022
Chin’s Vendetta = What Can We Do?
Chin’s Vendetta
It’s well established that Margaret Chin has held a political grudge against SoHo going back decades, ever since SoHo voters overwhelmingly rejected her at the polls numerous times, as far back as 1991 when the co-founder of the SoHo Alliance defeated her for City Council.
Well, Chin has sown her revenge in her final days in office.
She not only voted for – but spoke out in favor of – de Blasio’s upzoning for SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown which has passed the Council with little modification. The New York Times correctly described de Blasio’s scheme: “For the real-estate class, the spigot of largess produced one of the biggest gifts of all, the passage of a plan to radically rezone SoHo”
Some highlights:
– Big-box retail stores as well as NYU dorms and frat houses will now be permitted.
– Landmark standards were eviscerated to permit greater height, bulk and density.
– Thousands of luxury, market-rate units to be built without a scintilla of a guarantee that a single unit of affordable housing will ever happen, plus more atrocities.
To further twist the screws, Chin supported the flip-tax of $100 per square-foot for a homeowner to convert to straight “Residential” use from “Joint-Live/Work-Quarters-for-
JLWQA use is the most common use in SoHo/NoHo, at least 1,636 units according to City Planning. Zoning requires that a JLWQA unit be occupied by an artist certified by the Department of Cultural Affairs, which is notoriously dysfunctional in determining who is an artist and who is not.
Moreover, for decades the city turned its head and allowed countless non-certified residents to reside here with impunity while collecting tens of millions in property taxes from the increased property valuation.
Now Chin’s flip-tax will extort thousands of residents, many elderly, who want to do right and legalize their residential status. She did not impose a similar flip-tax on commercial properties that want to convert to retail — only on residents.
For example, it would cost a non-certified-artist owner of a 2,500 square-foot residence $250,000 to legalize their home, not to mention professional fees and expenses to bring manufacturing buildings up to residential code requirements.
It gets worse.
In November, unannounced, Chin introduced outrageous and unprecedented legislation that now ranks non-artist JLWQA residency as a “major violation,” the same violation as, say, a work site would receive if a worker was killed or injured on the job.
The first violation starts at $15,000 minimum and subsequent violations $25,000 minimum, with monthly penalties of $1,000 until the flip-tax is paid or the residents are forced from their homes.
The legislation did not have a single co-sponsor, very unusual. As an affront to democracy, there was not a single word of debate on the bill or public testimony allowed.
But the councilmembers rubber-stamped it anyway, as Carlina Rivera egged on her colleagues and as Speaker Corey Johnson eulogized rhapsodically over Margaret Chin.
Borough President Gale Brewer, who lied to our faces repeatedly in 2019 that the Envision SoHo/NoHo process was just a study and no rezoning was planned, has not uttered a word of apology or remorse for the shameful Frankenstein monster she helped create. Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!
What Can We Do?
A group has formed to mount a legal challenge to the rezoning, especially Chin’s extortionate penalties: The Coalition for Fairness in SoHo and NoHo. The SoHo Alliance is working with the Coalition for Fairness in this endeavor.
The Coalition will host a community webinar on Thursday, January 6 at 7:00 pm. Find out what you can do to protect our homes. Register for the Zoom webinar at https://us02web.zoom.us/
The Coalition has created a GoFundMe page to raise funds to retain attorney Jack Lester, who will evaluate the situation and propose a course of action. The SoHo Alliance has used Lester in the past and is pleased with his performance.
We encourage you to join and contribute. (There is no need to tip – GoFundMe already charges for the service.) There is also an option to contribute by check. Contact sohonohocoalition@
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.