Ah yes. So this is how a great recovery feels like. House prices rise, rentals rise… and fewer people own homes especially millennials( I find it telling that the newest source of mainstream news on that matter was written a year ago…). I mean, sure, you could just allow yourself to be fooled into taking out a mortgage at extra-low interest rates- but you guys are wise to how they used this ploy to destroy the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans including your parents in that last financial crisis… No, you decided to invest in yourself instead- get a degree and you’re set for life, no way they could cheat you out of investing in yourself, right?! Alas, that degree isn’t very useful when you’ve got a minimum wage job… so I guess you guys already have enough student debt to worry about without having to shoulder housing debt.
Yes, clearly the FED’s brilliant QE plan wasn’t just a wealth transfer to the rich who are ever and always will “accidentally” benefit from the FED’s policies…. and you guys should not riot in the streets over this trifling matter…
Now go back to sleep in your natural-environmentally-sustaining home on your biodegradable cardboard bed and receive the mana of trickle-down economics from the passing rich man who provides you with a freshly brewed sample of the finest thousand-dollar vintage he’d savored the night before. And smile, says the government; at least you got some.
New York was once a haven for artists, great musicians like David Bryne and Patti Smith found stardom in that place. Now, it’s become a haven for another sort of artist; the con-artist. The rich owning ever more properties and pushing rents ever higher because of their monopoly have pushed out much of the talented creatives. Rents in New York have sky-rocketed some 75% between 2000 and 2012. And developers are building to cater to the rich, launching condos and luxury homes targeted at these fat cats who often would rather leave these places untenanted, instead of focusing on the rest of the People who actually need homes.
But you see, people forget what makes New York special; it was never just about Wall Street; I mean, of the 50 reasons New York is the best city in the world (according to TimeOut), barely any of them have anything to do with Fat Cats or Corporate-entities or Big Banks or Wall Street… in fact, most of the reasons have to do with the artists, whom these other guys are trying so hard to push out. Ironically, they are killing the goose that lays their golden eggs, because nobody wants to live in a city filled with expensive buildings but with no soul. Musician Patti Smith said something very similar when she spoke about what the young and dis-empowered can do about this situation in four powerful words: “find a new city”.
But, if you don’t wish to wait for New York to succeed in its quest to destroy itself via a deficit of creativity… there is one other option:
The NYC Real Estate Investment Cooperative, a group that was set up by local artists, activists and residents. To pitch in and get a “vote” simply put in 10 dollars, and you get the same vote as every other investor. Investors vote to choose a commercial space to buy… and after that, the building is saved from the corporates, and rented at affordable rents forever to the local community as a small business or artists’ sanctuary… Within a month the project received pledges amounting to 1.2 million dollars.
It seems like as good an idea as any, coops are probably the most humane form of capitalism out there, but they’re gonna need a lot more support before New York can be saved… and you’re fighting against people who have way more influence, money and power than you do. Show your support for this worthy cause, they’re still recruiting new members; but don’t bet on Patti being wrong yet; finding and building up the reputation of another city that cares about artists and the struggling young might be the only way for most to survive- and show the 1% who really represents New York’s soul.
This Article (As New York Becomes Too Expensive For Artists, A $10 Idea Might Save Its Soul) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author(CoNN) and AnonHQ.com.
Sources: UpWorthy,
