Brewer mulls decision on de Blasio’s SoHo/NoHo rezoning plan
BY MARK HALLUM
Manhattan Borough President Gale
Brewer heard testimony Aug. 23
on the de Blasio administration’s
plan to rezone SoHo and NoHo, the last
hurdle in the advisory process for approving
the change.
A month after Manhattan Community
Board 2 adopted a resolution to reject the
rezoning, which city offi cials hope will create
more affordable housing in the affl uent
enclave, Brewer will give the administration
her recommendation of whether or not
it should proceed before the Department
of City Planning (DCP) evaluates the plan
for themselves.
Erik Botsford, deputy director of the
Manhattan division of DCP, argued that
the zoning change would not as destructive
to the current way of life that opponents to
the plan suspect, but could better refl ect
how space is already utilized.
“SoHo and NoHo are not uniformly
industrial or uniformly commercial or residential,
but are a mix of all of these from
block to block, building to building, and
in many cases from fl oor to fl oor within
a building,” Botsford said. “The proposal
would also contain no changes to existing
joint living quarters for artists.”
A slide presented to virtual attendees of an Aug. 23 meeting in which Manhattan
Borough President Gale Brewer weighed proposal to rezone SoHo and NoHo.
Jessica Katz, Executive Director at
Citizens Housing and Planning, said during
a separate presentation, though during
the same meeting that her research shows
that Manhattan’s Community Board 7 has
created ten times more affordable housing
than Community Board 2, which includes
SoHo and NoHo.
Jeannine Kiely, Chair of CB2, said the
group felt as through their fi rm stance
against the rezoning plan was not taken
seriously by the city as no changes were
made as a result of the resolution, especially
SCREENSHOT VIA DCP
as it was passed with a nearly unanimous
votes.
“I know Gale Brewer and her entire staff
were at all of these meetings in 2020 … We
were a little disappointed in that that resolution
really didn’t have any impact,” Kiely
said. “The plan fails to achieve affordable
housing objectives and increases displacement,
it fails to maintain the mixed use
neighborhood, it fails to secure a future..”
Whether or not Brewer plans to give
the plan an advisory nod is not clear at the
moment as she will deliberate on the panel
discussion, she asked presenters such as
Katz and Botsford to answer to why more
units of affordable housing is not possible.
“How do we get to 50% or 75% affordable
so that we really have something that
is going to make the community more affordable.
Every time I bring this up, I’m told
that if we do such then we are jeopardizing
Mandatory Inclusionary Housing citywide,”
Brewer asked
Brewer continued to press panelists to
discuss further how the neighborhood
could be saved from developers building
commercial space, as would be their right,
instead of housing. Botsford expressed
confi dence that SoHo and NoHo’s status as
a “hot” place to live will discourage offi ce
or retail development.
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney
chimed in, damning the plan and urging
not only the city to back down, but for
Brewer to evaluate the plan with a “very
sharp pencil.”
“I have seen no guarantee of an increase
in neighborhood public schools,
seats, sanitation, public services, public
and open recreational green space to accommodate
accommodate the incredible
increase in density. What are they doing,
trying to destroy not only in SoHo/NoHo,
but Manhattan?” Maloney said.
Village Works bookstore opens in the East Village
BY TEQUILA MINSKY
At the corner of 1st Avenue and
E. 3rd Street, a sandwich board
points the way west. It reads: Village
Works. Books. Art. Collabs. NYC.
While the pandemic took its toll on
retail and restaurants – long-time favorites,
new enterprises, and chain branches,
now empty storefronts lining Broadway,
Bleecker Street, and all over the city, when
a new shop emerges out of the pandemic
ashes – it’s something to celebrate.
A bright, former architects’ offi ce is Village
Works, a new bookstore that opened in
February and specializes in books all things
New York City – all genres of the art and
artists creating in New York City.
Village Works owner Joseph “Joey”
Sheridan loves books that document and
celebrate the artistic soul of the city. Acquiring
these sorts of books for a while, he
amassed a collection and thought, “I should
share them with the public.” And thus the
beginnings of a shop devoted to all books
tethered to NYC culture.
No stranger to the book biz, Sheridan
worked at Rizzoli for a stint over 20 years
ago and later, sold online used books with
his mom, a business that did well until
A collaboration with a vendor, this simple storefront is filled with light and
culture.
Amazon and its free shipping put it under.
Embedded in street culture, years back,
he hosted the weekly multi-gendered/race
dance party – Café Con Leche and then ran
Urban Works gallery featuring street art on
Mulberry Street. But, more recently when
considering opening a bookstore his friends
opined, “People aren’t interested in history
and the culture of New York.” And then
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
a possible window of opportunity opened.
Rich people and students left the city.
Tourists vanished. “I realized the city was
still here. New New Yorkers had smothered
it and they left. With COVID, the city was
fi lled with working-class folks, no deep
pockets, trying to survive just like me.
COVID helped do a reset.”
There was a revival of street culture
by New Yorkers, by those trying to adapt
to a new environment. Looking at street
culture was no longer a historical nostalgic
exercise. Rather than communicating corporate
America that was the city’s cultural
direction in pre-Pandemic NYC, city artists
were expressing their dreams.
“If I sell books it has to be a niche market,”
Sheridan refl ects, expanding his initial
concept of carrying books of “Village”
artists to all NYC creatives. And, starting
with 2000 books from his personal collection,
he currently offers 5,000 distinct
titles, with a selection growing. Sheridan
buys self-published books and books on the
cheap and accepts donations.
Availing this beautiful space for more
commercial activities also helps pay the
rent. “It’s a bookstore and gallery, and we
engage in collaborations – clothing drops
(launch parties) – fashion and retail,” Sheridan
hoping that most of the “collaborators”
are sympathetic with his mission promoting
New York street culture.
As a gallery Village Works has mounted
seven shows and has published catalogs for
each, on sale, $20. “We just published our
fi rst book by photographer Kurt Boone
who is showing now. The closing party is
Aug. 26.”
4 August 26, 2021 Schneps Media