1717 Troutman residents thrown out by NYC at 9pm, no notice
Following a stay of three weeks in Mexico City to complete a commission for a museum in the historical center and staying in a nice hotel and being treated as a respected guest, I returned to New York City to be homeless.
My residence and studio are located at 1717 Troutman in Ridgewood, a corner of Queens. The building is zoned for commercial use and I moved in nearly four years ago, since my previous building, a beautiful 19th century industrial brick building was to be demolished for the construction of condos. As a working artist and professor who needs a wood shop and studio, I have little recourse but to take a lease in a commercial building. The rents in New York City, a city that prides itself for its cultural relevance, are too too high for artists.
Fortunately, I was not here when the fire department broke down the doors of the second and third story residents to throw them out of their homes at 9pm Thursday night, October 18th. The people living and running their small businesses (largely artists paying taxes for studio spaces) at 1717 Troutman had absolutely no prior warning that they were going to be forced out of their homes. The Department of Buildings (DOB) states that our landlord was given a notice one or two weeks before October 18th (I hear different stories whether it was one or two weeks before). And apparently some notice was placed on the front of the building before hand, but it was immediately removed, most likely by the landlord.
The DOB informed the landlord, the man who has not brought the building up to code and claims that it is the responsibility of the landlord to inform the 220 tenants. This strikes me as incredibly irresponsible of the city and the DOB. On October 18th, the DOB pasted VACATE NOTICES on every door of the second and third floor. Just as easily the DOB could have slipped notices under the doors weeks in advance. Instead the DOB left us at the mercy of landlord who is seeking to make a profit on his building.
Now there are 220 tax paying individuals, residents of New York City kicked out of their homes with a 10 hour notice. One would not expect for this to happen in the United States of America. The Red Cross was informed, Animal Shelter was informed ahead of time. Residents were offered up to two nights at a Red Cross shelter. Initially the DOB gave residents one week to remove their belongings and only 4 hours a day to do so - 10am-2pm. Fortunately the hours and days have been extended. However my wife and I just got back from Mexico and we have to work and there is no way that we can get out of this building by Sunday October 28th, we have nowhere to go to or to take all our belongings. This may seem minor compared to the fires in California, but that is a natural disaster, our lives have been turned upside down, when it could have been avoided if people had been properly informed.
Meanwhile there is a business on the second floor, a company that has not been given a vacate notice. They have been granted 30 days to bring their part of the building up to code. Why are individuals being treated differently than this company?! This is the same company that blew the whistle on our landlord, a company that was in a lawsuit with our landlord. So there are 220 citizens paying the price for a conflict between our landlord and the company on the second floor. Meanwhile the city states that it is acting to protect us, because the building is dangerous, it does not have a second exit or functioning sprinklers. Problems that can easily be fixed. The city is acting to protect us by kicking us out of our homes and putting us on the streets with only a 10 hour notice on the morning of the day we were to be thrown out. Now we do not have enough time or the means to move out.
The residents of 1717 Troutman will have a press conference FRIDAY, October 26th at 10am in front of the building to state that we are homeless, we were not given prior warning and to beg for the Vacate to be lifted. Meanwhile my wife and I are staying on the couches of friends, who have graciously offered us space to sleep.
The New York Times covered this story on October 20th, but we need more press in order for elected officials to help us.
October 24th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Help us help the street homeless
Call 311: to report homeless individuals and families who you see on the Streets of New York City (all Boroughs)
Outreach Teams will be sent to offer assistance.
Thank you
October 25th, 2007 at 7:22 am
Troutman building residents should be in touch with Andrew Friedman of the non-profit group Make the Road by Walking 718-418-7690 (they specialize on tenant issues and have legal counsel) and the office of Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan. They are all working together to bring justice to the residents.
Charles Ober
Ridgewood Property Owners & Civic Association
November 13th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Unfortunately, the issue is that landlords are playing games with the city, but the city should not evict people who 1) not aware or should not be aware of building code violations that existed prior to places that are rented as partments. It is not a secret that it is often not dislosed to renters until it’s time to sign the lease, and a landlord gives a “business space� lease agreement, not a renatl agreement when people are already moved in, and there is no way they can argue with that, because initial understanding was that the place is legal. It is NOT the same illegal apartment as some landlords rent basements out - the issue with the city that is not flexible enough to re-zone areas that de-facto became mixed use. I live in a similar situation, and the building actually looks like an apoartment building, and the only problem is that until the city re-zones my block, it is a cat and mouth game between landlords and the DOB. THERE MUST BE A WAY TO FIGHT THIS. We should get an attorneys on our side. The morel issue is that buildings were purchased as manufacturing with certain tax breaks, etc.- so landlords are at fault, and instead of evictions, the city should fine them, not put people out.
November 20th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
This is a difficult situation; I am an artist, live in the area and am familiar with the problem. I understand the “logic” of eviction from an unsafe building; no one wants to be responsible for a building full of people going up in flames with no fire escapes or sprinklers.
But, this is not a problem in any other city I have ever been in, there are warehouses full of artists in almost every other major city in this country and the cities are, on the whole, happy to have them there. It is understood that conditions may be a little sub-standard, but “rent at your own risk” seems to be the more common city stance.
Not in New York. In New York, I think, there is bitterness about rent and a vicious contempt between the “haves” and the “have-nots”. That is, those who own property (or rent significantly below the market rate) and those who are slaves to the financial-commercial monster of this city to be able to afford the absurd market rate rents. This has created (i) dumb and arrogant city agencies intent on over-managing the housing market and (ii) rapacious, unscrupulous landlords who are nonetheless feckless property owners. Anyone perceived to be “getting away with” renting on the cheap are not tolerated by either the city agencies or the landlords.
The real losers in this battle are the artists.
There is ABSOLUTELY NO awareness of the problem facing working artists in this city by the city itself or its agencies. (Disclaimer: my “day job” is at one of these city agencies). OK, landlords are scummy and will always be scummy, I accept that, but the stance of the city here, which should be protecting artists instead of always working against them is ridiculous. Many city officials who pride themselves on being representatives of a “cultural capital” still advocate policies that would turn the whole city into a luxury condo wasteland, populated by hordes of insipid, bland, Sims-like financial sector employees.
When one does find awareness of “artists” by the city, they are either expendable gentrifiers or (sorry if I offend anyone here) art-related professionals, like web designers, marketing and advertising people, company (not freelance) graphic designers, etc. These people are not studio artists. Studio artists need work space. It would also be nice to have a place to live.
Live-work space combos are not just some screw-off kids trying to get away without paying residential rents, live-work spaces are a sad necessity for most artists here, who on the whole would much rather have separate studios and apartments and who even when they are selling their work are in a constant struggle for rent, not to mention health care, basic living expenses and so on.
The problem is that no one sees the problem of artists. If the city would start viewing artists as small manufacturers (which they most certainly are), then the city could start to offer benefits to artists and to those who provide the artists with stable, affordable work space. There are a myriad of industrial benefits offered by various city agencies of which currently most artists enjoy none.
I sympathize with the unfortunate former tenants of 1717 Troutman. But for some time now, droves of artists have been leaving the myth of a New York bohemia behind and moving to other cities where they are wanted (Berlin for example) and where they can afford to live and sell their work. The writing is on the walls. In less than 10 years, if things don’t change, New York will not be the “world cultural capital” for contemporary studio-based art that it is so often advertised as in brochures for luxury condos and in incentive packages for mega-financial institutions.