Famous Photographer Faces Eviction

[drg]

One more note from the News -

The linked article details the story of several famed residents of the apartments of Carnegie Hall in NY who are facing 're-location'. I am sure they see it as eviction, which of course is the 'legal' term.

Two of those mentioned are well known if not indeed truly famous photographers including the story's main subject. Even a NY Times photographer is caught up in this tale of progress.

The Duchess of Carnegie fight to keep Rent Controlled Apartment.

[JSPhoto]

Progress..... yeah right. I really get tired of progress, which recently has been destroying more history than making things better. Here they are moving graves to expand a highway, just to have bigger wrecks and kill more people. Then a few years back they moved people out of a retirement complex and bulldozed a cemetery (didn't remove bodies or headstones, just bulldozed it all) for a new supersize warehouse..... the company that built it is bankrupt now, 200 jobs gone, right along with all the history buried there, not too mention displacing elderly residents for what, an empty building no one can afford.

JS

[jetrim]

Here they are moving graves to expand a highway, just to have bigger wrecks and kill more people. Then a few years back they moved people out of a retirement complex and bulldozed a cemetery (didn't remove bodies or headstones, just bulldozed it all) for a new supersize warehouse..... the company that built it is bankrupt now, 200 jobs gone, right along with all the history buried there, not too mention displacing elderly residents for what, an empty building no one can afford.

JS

With all due respect, this story doesn't sound anywhere near as bad as those you've described. People get kicked out of apartments all the time for far less noble causes, and it sure sounds like they are bending over backwards to help these people relocate. How many landlords have you met that would offer to pick up the difference in rent for the rest of your life? If they own the building, they could dump these folks out on their butts without any assistance at all, and still be well within their rights. Local politicians invoking "eminent domain" to displace local home and business OWNERS in an effort to line their own pockets with kickbacks from wealthy developers, is a far more egregious misuse of power in my book.

[drg]

That it is a historic move is one criteria to this being an important story. These are not just 'apartments', these are prime piece of both real estate and American Art history.

They can't just 'dump' them out because these are 'rent-controlled' units. The legacy of rent control in NY city is one replete with court cases (usually won by the tenants if they've followed the rules), major news coverage, and not infrequently it is sad to say it may involve criminal behavior.

That aside, you are living in Carnegie Hall, you've got a lifetime lease (rent controlled leases are effectively that with guarantees of certain stipulations and clauses), and suddenly you are notified that you are being evicted!

If these were just tenants, but many, if not all of these residents have intimate connections with what has gone on in the building and make it significant.

I'm watching for the 'next chapter' in this, or if it will wind up just having a requiem like many other great American stories.