Thursday, December 27, 2007

Farewell, happy place

It's not the medieval architectural flourishes of One Bank Street or the wide, checkered hallways that inspire such loyalty, although they are lovely. It's not even the rent—most tenants being kicked out are paying market rate and could probably find similarly priced apartments nearby. It's something much less tangible that has inspired Wilking and a handful of others to organize against their landlord: that some residents can rattle off each other's phone numbers from memory; that they count on one another to cat-sit and water plants; that younger residents check in on their elderly neighbors. It's a building with a romantic history that has been passed down through a community of people formed almost by accident, an urban family conveniently living under the same roof.

Motel Sucks: Exploiting a Depression-era loophole, more landlords are booting renters for short-term hotel guests

This type of thing is discouraged by Bloomberg's Department of City Planning. Tourists are more important (see post above).

Photo from Village Voice

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is an outrage. Look at all the frivolous legislation by city council.

This has to be stopped now!!

Again, thank you to Crappy. You venture places that the gutless media, politicians, and preservationts don't even dare!