New York as a Global Creative Hub: A Competitive Analysis of Four Theories on World Cities

Elizabeth Currid, University of Southern California. writes this compelling analysis in the 2006 edition of the Economic Development Quarterly:

New York as a Global Creative Hub: A Competitive Analysis of Four Theories on World Cities
How New York City has maintained its position atop the global urban hierarchy as a leading player in the world and national economy is part of the broader discussion on why cities grow and why some remain at the top of the heap decade on decade. There are several dominant theories explaining New York City’s success, most notably those that argue the city is a center of command and control or managerial elite and is a global hub of finance and its related services. Yet an emerging framework explaining New York City’s dominant position argues for the importance of global creative centers. From an occupational analysis of these competing hypotheses emerges a picture of New York City as a great bastion of creativity and cultural and artistic production. These results provide a unique perspective on New York City’s position in the world hierarchy of cities and new opportunities for economic development strategies.

A link to the full text can be found in the RESEARCH section above.

Over 4000 Signatures: Demanding Live/Work Protection

There have been numerous petitions out there in support of the Multiple Dwelling Amendment.

Just look at this one PetitionOnline.com

4200 signed this petition – and this was only in support of 200 live work spaces there were threatened (and subsequently  lost).

We hope Senators Daniel  Squadron, Malcolm Smith and  John Sampson understand how important this bill is and how intense the outcry will be if this bill will not come to a vote and evictions are following.

Metropolitan Council on Housing Urges to Contact Your Senators

Will the Senate Take Up Tenant Demands?

When the Republicans orchestrated a coup on the State Senate on June 8, many political insiders considered the movement to reform New York’s rent laws dead for this year. However, Met Council and other housing groups from across the city began sending dozens of tenants to Albany on a daily basis. We packed the hallways around the Senate chambers and held lively protests. We all wore red “Real Rent Reform” tee-shirts, we all held huge signs, and our loud chants filled the halls of the Capitol building. Tenant groups were the only ones to be in Albany every single day after the coup. The Senators, and the media, took notice. This outpouring of energetic support moved our issues back to the forefront of the political debate, and it kept our issue alive.

What Can Tenants Do:

Every day, call and write to Governor Patterson, your State Senator, and the leader of the Senate Democrats, John Sampson, and urge them to support tenants in the extraordinary sessions by making sure that they include the housing bills on any legislative agenda that they negotiate.
John Sampson can be reached at (518) 455-2788 or sampson@senate.state.ny.us. You can find your State Senator’s contact information at: http://www.nysenate.gov/senators.

You can reach Governor Patterson’s office at 518-474-8390.

The Governor’s most influential aides can be reached at Larry.Schwartz@chamber.state.ny.us
Peter.Kiernam@chamber.state.ny.us
Haley.Plourde-Cole@chamber.state.ny.us

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Please consider volunteering at Met Council! The Met Council staff is working ’round-the-clock to ensure a tenant victory in Albany, and we need extra support answering tenant questions on our hotline and performing a variety of administrative tasks. If you can handle a walk up two flights of stairs to our office and have time to get involved, contact Rachel at 212-979-6238 extension 207 or rachel@metcouncil.net to find out how you can get involved.

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Senator Liz Krueger's Position on Bill S5881, a.k.a. the Loft Law Amendment

“I agree that this is important legislation.  The extension to the current Loft Law would facilitate constructive relationships between tenants and loft building owners through the loft board, protect tenant’s rights and any structural improvements they make or have made to their neighborhoods, as well as provide building owners with a reasonable timeline to make required building modifications.”

Quoted from an e-mail letter sent to constituents, June 29th, 2009.

It never hurts to thank her for her support:

State Senator Liz Krueger <liz@lizkrueger.com>

Tel:   (212) 490-9535 / Fax:  (212) 490-2151

Albany Office

Tel:   (518) 455-2297 / Fax:  (518) 426-6874

Email: lkrueger@senate.state.ny.us

To the NYS SENATE LEADERSHIP

A critical bill affecting  Live/Work tenants passed by the Assembly (Lopez A05667A) in June 2009 and subsequently introduced into the Senate (Squadron S5881) to amend the NYC Loft Law to cover a new generation of live/work tenants who have built out industrial spaces and created new housing and businesses with our own sweat equity at no cost to the tax payer.

A pending Court of Appeals decision on the split between the First and Second Department’s applicability of the ETPA to such tenants may yet again cause mass evictions comparable to those in Dumbo on Christmas Eve 2000 and allow landlords and developers to cash in on the neighborhoods we have helped build.

We urge the NYS Senate’s leadership  strongly to include S5881 on the next session agenda, September 10th.  Your authority is called upon to restore the unequivocal mandate of the electorate.

New York Live Work Tenants Association

Why This Bill is Crucial

The Multiple Dwelling Law Amendment creates essential protection for NYC live/work tenants. Allows landlords and tenants to jointly brings buildings into compliance.

The intent of this bill is to regularize the large number of manufacturing buildings, or portions of buildings, which have been adapted by their tenants, mostly artists, at their own expense, to live/work (residential) purposes, and are de facto multiple dwellings. This law provides a means for landlords and tenants to jointly bring their buildings into compliance.

Most affected buildings are in formerly neglected and abandoned neighborhoods where artists put their skills and resourcefulness to work, converting empty and unused warehouse/manufacturing spaces to live/work spaces. Tenants entered their leases at market rates, and thus have both helped property owners and sustained communities around the city. Without their initiative, these buildings would be vacant, likely eventually abandoned, and the neighborhoods, instead of renewed and revitalized, would continue decaying and falling apart.

Now, in 2009, in times of great economic hardship, with foreclosures and unemployment at levels not seen for decades, do we really want to subject thousands of working and rent paying members of our communities to immediate eviction? Bill S5881 IS THE ONLY PROTECTION against that fate.

Passage of this Bill is extremely pressing as the courts have offered little security. Conflicting rulings by the First and Second Department Appellate Divisions will soon face resolution in the NYS Court of Appeals, and were this decision to favor the Brooklyn reading of the ETPA, thousands could face immediate eviction.

Thanks to the continued support of Assemblyman Vito Lopez, and all the co-sponsors of the bill, the law was passed in the Assembly on June 17, 2009.  And thanks to Senator Daniel Squadron, who introduced Bill S5881 to the Senate, and the co-sponsors, there is a realistic chance to for this critically important legislation.