What is the "SoHo Alliance"?

by A.R.I.T.I.S.T. (received 1/29/96)


provided through OPENAIR-MARKET NET


"They're vicious...and they don't represent the spirit

of the community...the Alliance has become the self-

appointed moral conscience of SoHo and the scourge

of potential restauranteurs...their current mission is

to keep the neighborhood safe from discos...eating

and drinking establishments and a growing population

of vendors". Village Voice 3/14/94


"Whenever a new development is proposed, whether

it's another hotel, outdoor seating at a restaurant,

stores leasing space in the neighborhood or a venue

for live music, myopic Tribecans can always count on

Freed for opposition...There's a certain snobbery at

work here among the enemies of economic progress.

Longtime residents of SoHo...are likely to protest

any addition to the neighborhood they think they

invented all by themselves. They're resentful of

people who moved there after the pioneer days."

New York Press 5/17-23/95


City Council Member Kathryn Freed on SoHo's bar

patrons:

"You get these roving bands of bar patrons at three

and four in the morning stumbling through the streets

singing and shouting and getting drunken, urinating

in the streets." Manhattan Spirit, 1994


Kathryn Freed on retail stores on Broadway:

"Council Member Kathryn Freed says she is

"especially incensed against the arrival of large retail

stores..." Villager, 11/29/95


Kathryn Freed on street artists: "They're parasites".

Christian Science Monitor, 7/14/94

Kathryn Freed on tourists:

"SoHo has hundreds of thousands of tourists. It's

suffering from too many people taking up too much

space. There isn't a square inch that isn't taken up on

the weekends." Christian Science Monitor 7/14/94


Kathryn Freed on First Amendment rights in SoHo,

N.Y.C.'s artist enclave:

"In a place like SoHo...there are higher concerns

than Mr. Lederman's right to sell his art". NY

Times, 1/24/96


"We hope the Councilwoman, being an attorney, is

aware that filing a false police report is a crime".

Housing Dept. spokesman quoted in Manhattan

Spirit, 12/22/94


SoHo Alliance Director Sean Sweeney on outdoor

cafes operated by "Europeans":

"It's cultural Imperialism...they think they can come

in here and strip our community...We're not

Appalachia. We're not a bunch of rednecks and if

they continue to try and do this we're going to use

our political power to stop them." New York Times

4/30/95


Mary Boone, art dealer and SoHo Alliance tenant on

tourists:

"I don't want a crowd in my gallery...I don't want to

be part of the bourgeoisie." Mary Boone, Village

Voice 3/14/94


"SoHo gallery owner Mary Boone has confirmed the

report that she will be moving off West Broadway to

somewhere north of 57th Street in an effort to escape

what she views as the tourist-destroyed essence of

SoHo". Villager 12/13/95


Kathryn Freed is the political power behind the

SoHo Alliance. "Working together" (N.Y. Times,

1/24/96) they are directly responsible for every

artist arrest in SoHo, every bar that lost it license or

was denied one, every confiscated table and chair

from an outdoor cafe and every attempt to discourage

tourism, stores, low income housing, vending etc. in SoHo.

Freed helped the Alliance make the area into a

special "artists only" district. This exclusive zoning

allowed "Alliance" members to cheaply buy up the

dilapidated buildings and develop them into highly

profitable rentals. Then they arranged to get the area

rezoned so that they could more profitably rent their

properties to non-artists. It's the Alliance itself

which transformed the area into a commercial venue.

By getting parts of SoHo landmarked, the Alliance

landlords avoid having to bring their crumbling

and unsafe properties up to code, which would cost

millions and eat up their profits.


They are now attempting to develop a Community

Court for SoHo [Villager 11/29/95] where street

artists, restauranteurs, homeless people and other

"criminals" would be forced to stand trial before a

judge appointed by and directly answerable to them.


Two First Precinct Captains have been transferred to

other assignments because they didn't arrest enough

artists in SoHo to satisfy Freed and the Alliance. Her

preoccupation with vendors and street artists doesn't

stop at SoHo's borders. She routinely pressures the

police to arrest Chinese immigrant vendors in

Chinatown, ticket produce stands and harass local

businesses. -Villager 1/24/96


Are Freed and the Alliance just overprotective of their turf, or is there a method to their madness? Every action of theirs can be directly ascribed to one goal: preserving the elitist image of SoHo and thus the astronomical rents they are able to charge. It's time an in-depth investigation of this gross misuse of public office to deny citizens' free speech and free enterprise was undertaken.


Robert Lederman, A.R.T.I.S.T. (718) 369-2111; e-mail ARTISTpres@aol.com

http://homepage.interaccess.com/~mar/nyc.html


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