Saturday, October 1, 2011

High Line killing small businesses


From Urbanite:

Many of the high hopes that small-business owners had for the High Line have fallen hard.

The lush green artery is killing off a chunk of New York’s entrepreneurial and gritty industrial past as the real estate developers, landlords and other profiteers cash in on the city’s latest chic attraction, some small- business owners said.

The elevated park has been widely praised since its first leg opened in 2009, developing into a major tourist attraction. But few of the 2 million annual visitors likely hold the opinion of the owner D & R Auto Parts.

“The High Line sucks,” he griped to amNewYork. He said he would “rather have my knees cut off” than take a stroll along the sylvan pathway, as his profits have dropped 35% to 40% since it opened. Prior to the 2005 zoning changes that encouraged development to help the High Line, the area was a sparsely populated urban backwater, filled with low-rise buildings, artist lofts, auto shops and small industry. Now it brims with luxury housing, high-end boutiques and tourists from all over the globe.

Local businesses — “the marble countertop guy, the bar, the restaurant” — are vanishing as a result of the “perfect storm” caused by High Line-related gentrification, the increasing cost of operating a small business, the city’s stepped-up enforcement of revenue-generating activities such as ticket writing and inspections, and the recession, the auto-parts vendor lamented. He refused to be quoted by name, saying he feared retribution by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

A City commits suicide

Anonymous said...

It is not the High Line killing those businesses --it's the unregulated greed of landlords.

I deal daily with those sorts of business owners, little fish who think they are "rich" and bray about "free markets".. Then the leech hands them a new lease at four times their current rent. Take it or leave.

Deke DaSilva said...

I deal daily with those sorts of business owners

You really are quite a unique little snowflake, aren't you Lino?

Anonymous said...

Sure it's killing small industrial businesses, but it is also enabling small businesses such as restaurants and boutiques and creating new development in the area.

This is not the eminent domain abuse like we see at willets point, these are our free markets at work. Yes it sucks for these particular businesses, but that is one consequence of capitalism. We have to take the bad with the good.

Queens Crapper said...

Rezoning businesses out of existence is not capitalism.

Anonymous said...

Guess laughing boy 2 comments above missed the restaurant owner in the photo.

Hell Gate Kid said...

High Line? All foreign tourists.

It is an open question as to how long it will last. My guess is not long at all.

Wait till the economy tanks in 2012. A lot of things will start to change. A lot of things ....

Anonymous said...

Huh? This once hooker laden stretch of Manhattan now is bursting with tourists and families and people with money, and it's called a disaster for business? Boy, there is no straight talk anymore, anywhere.

Anonymous said...

Who cares? Since when do Manhattanites care what happens in Queens. Their all just going to have to muddle though the newest craze in NYC, there'll be another one next year!

Anonymous said...

Google, which owns this blog, is headquartered there

Anonymous said...

Stuff that increases the value of a commercial properties just happens, just like stuff that decreases the value of commercial properties just happens. I wish D&R Auto Parts success in relocating, but that's life in the big city.

Anonymous said...

The long term cost of maintaining the trendy "High Line" will strip NYC of tax revenues that are badly needed elsewhere...like schools, hospitals, emergency services, etc.

Let the super rich that live along "the ribbon" pay for it all!

Don't put your hand in my pocket.

Charge admission to the tourists who long to take their stroll.

Anonymous said...

A city cannot commit suicide
without the help of its voters, community boards, the city council and Der Mayor!

Dr. Kevorkian is gone.
Mayor Mike has taken his place.

Anyone need some assistance toward the "Big Sleep"?

No?

I guess that the downturned economy is already killing us New Yorkers pretty damn good!

Gee, wasn't "hizzoner" supposed to save us from all that?

Anonymous said...

Is it true Crappy, does google own this blog? Say it ain't so,Crappy, Say it ain't so!