Mr. Varvatos could not possibly be serious. If his SoHo store is the "luxury store", as my friend pointed out reading this article - then who the heck is buying the $800 pants in this LES store? The low income?
He is wrong - people with his business practices ARE setting the rents down here. They are not boycotting the outrageousness of these rents with us - they are aquiescing to paying them. That storefront was empty for a year because they were waiting for someone who, unlike Hilly, would not balk at the idea of paying over $30,000 a month to be in that space.
I am not saying Hilly was perfect, that he wasn't behind in his rent when maybe he could have paid it - but I totally understand him drawing a line in the sand, that after 35 years in business on the Bowery, he had his limits of what he felt was fair and reasonable to pay per month.
It is hard for People like Mr. Varvatos and his fashionable, unrebellious followers to understand, but many of us would rather see a starbucks in that space than see culture co-opted like this for the whims of the wealthy. Even a bowery resident would be allowed to sit for hours in a Starbucks if they can scrape up $2.50 for a coffee. I don't think Varvatos' employees will allow the homeless shelter residents to hang out in their store. But it will probably end up being like the luxury hotel a block away - where they put up a row of potted trees to block view of the homeless shelter next door. What is going on is so deeply disturbing to a lot of us.
Surely, Mr. Varvatos's store profits can fund more than "one" concert a month there, as he says. When he speaks of an artist development fund, one can't help but wonder aloud: tax write-off? Throw one concert a month and pose as if you are saving the music, when the very presence of luxury businesses like this (in a neighborhood still demographically poor) is what is killing culture in NYC and pushing so many out?
Let's face it, if your goal in life is to sell $1600 used jackets, there is a gap in your idea of positive action. He should be joining us in the streets at the next rally to protect rent stabilized and affordable housing, and out there with Rev Billy trying to save small cherished mom and pop businesses in the neighborhood... so that future Ramones and Talking Heads and Patti Smiths can afford to keep a toe in this increasingly privatized city. He should see his direct connection.
Mr. Varvatos could not possibly be serious. If his SoHo store is the "luxury store", as my friend pointed out reading this article - then who the heck is buying the $800 pants in this LES store? The low income?
He is wrong - people with his business practices ARE setting the rents down here. They are not boycotting the outrageousness of these rents with us - they are aquiescing to paying them. That storefront was empty for a year because they were waiting for someone who, unlike Hilly, would not balk at the idea of paying over $30,000 a month to be in that space.
I am not saying Hilly was perfect, that he wasn't behind in his rent when maybe he could have paid it - but I totally understand him drawing a line in the sand, that after 35 years in business on the Bowery, he had his limits of what he felt was fair and reasonable to pay per month.
It is hard for People like Mr. Varvatos and his fashionable, unrebellious followers to understand, but many of us would rather see a starbucks in that space than see culture co-opted like this for the whims of the wealthy. Even a bowery resident would be allowed to sit for hours in a Starbucks if they can scrape up $2.50 for a coffee. I don't think Varvatos' employees will allow the homeless shelter residents to hang out in their store. But it will probably end up being like the luxury hotel a block away - where they put up a row of potted trees to block view of the homeless shelter next door. What is going on is so deeply disturbing to a lot of us.
Surely, Mr. Varvatos's store profits can fund more than "one" concert a month there, as he says. When he speaks of an artist development fund, one can't help but wonder aloud: tax write-off? Throw one concert a month and pose as if you are saving the music, when the very presence of luxury businesses like this (in a neighborhood still demographically poor) is what is killing culture in NYC and pushing so many out?
Let's face it, if your goal in life is to sell $1600 used jackets, there is a gap in your idea of positive action. He should be joining us in the streets at the next rally to protect rent stabilized and affordable housing, and out there with Rev Billy trying to save small cherished mom and pop businesses in the neighborhood... so that future Ramones and Talking Heads and Patti Smiths can afford to keep a toe in this increasingly privatized city. He should see his direct connection.
We see what is happening.
We are at www.takeittothebridge.com
Best,
RM