>ABC No Rio: we fought the law, and we won!
>
>26 years ago, a small group of artists occupied an
abandoned building
>on Delancy Street. They put up an art show commenting
on the housing
>crisis in New York, focused by their actions on the
quantity of
>abandoned properties on the Lower East Side owned by
the city itself.
>
>The art show was immediately shut down; the artwork
confiscated. The
>city, by its over reaction, turned a minor event into
a large
>scandal. To end the scandal, the city agreed to rent
the first floor
>and basement of a building the city owned on
Rivington street to the
>group of artists.
>
>The space became know as ABC No Rio, taking its name
from the
>reflection of a decayed sign across the street that
once said Abagado
>Notorio and looked as if it said Abc No rio.
>
>What ABC No Rio is can best be summed up by the
following quote from
>the ABC No Rio website .
>"We seek to facilitate cross-pollination between
artists and
>activists. ABC No Rio is a place where people share
resources and
>ideas to impact society, culture and community. We
believe that art
>and activism should be for everyone, not just the
professionals,
>experts, and cognoscenti. Our dream is cadres of
actively aware
>artists and artfully aware activists."
>
>The artists running the space eventually took over
the abandoned
>floors above and converted them into usable studios
and living space.
>
>The city made numerous attempts to evict ABC No Rio.
Time and time
>again the city lost. The city's last attempt was
giving ownership of
>the building to a non-profit housing organization,
Asian Americans
>for Equality. AAFE, responding to the public pressure
No Rio
>organized, asked the City to withdraw the building
from their
>project.[1]
>
>In February 1997, a protest converged on the offices
of the New York
>City Department of Housing Preservation and
Development (HPD), one of
>the agencies responsible for city owned property.
>
>A crowd was marching towards the office of the
Commissioner of HPD.
>She heard the protest coming down the hall and as she
said later,
>realized she had a choice. She could call in the
police and escalate
>the situation, or she could sit down and talk. She
opted to talk and
>eventually offered a deal.
>
>I was at home that day, waiting to do legal support
for those
>arrested. When the phone rang, and I was told of the
day's events I
>thought it was a joke. Later someone framed it for me
with this
>rumor: The Head of HPD at the time had been an
exchange student in
>Mexico in 1968 when a large student demonstration
turned into a
>massacre because of the stubbornness of a bureaucrat;
this was her
>chance to learn from that and do the right thing.
>
>9 and a half years ago, as a result of that day, the
City and ABC No
>Rio entered into an agreement. All people living in
the building
>would move out; all the space would be converted to
various community
>uses. ABC would have to hire architects and
structural engineers;
>come up with plans to renovate the building and bring
it back up to
>code. ABC No Rio would also have to raise enough
money to renovate
>the building.
>
>If these conditions were met, the city promised to
start the
>procedure to transfer ownership of and rezone the
building.
>
>That process would require review and approval of:
the department of
>Housing Preservation and Development; the land use
committee of the
>local Community Board; the full Community Board; the
City Planning
>Commission; the Borough President; the City Council;
and the Mayor.
>
>We kept our end of the deal. Everyone voluntarily
moved out (no
>evictions) and most continued to participate in the
project. The
>upper floors of the building were fixed up, which
supplemented the
>first floor art gallery and performance space with a
kitchen used to
>feed people in Tompkins Square by the local chapter
of Food Not
>Bombs; a library of marginal publications and zines;
a books to
>prisoners program, Books through Bars; a meeting
room/classroom
>available to community groups; a fully equipped
darkroom; a
>silkscreen printshop; video editing; and a public
access computer
>center.
>
>Much to our shock and surprise, the city held to its
end of the deal.
>Even more shocking, ABC No Rio was able to raise
enough money for
>phase one of renovation, the major structural repair.
>
>In December, the folks from HPD called. They needed
us to send a
>couple people to an important meeting. It seems that
the process was
>over. They wanted us to submit revised architects
plans and numbers;
>bank account statement; and get a lawyer so they
could finalize the
>transfer of the building by the end of January.
>
>As these things go, there were delays and more
delays. But, it is now
>reality. This past week, on Thursday June 29th 2006,
the City of New
>York transferred ownership of 156 Rivington to ABC No
Rio in exchange
>for a check for $1. I'm a bit sad that they would not
let us give
>them the money in dimes and nickles (or even some
glass beads and
>trinkets).
>
>Yes folks. It looks like we won.
>
>Three or four generations of artists and activists
went head to head
>with city hall for 26 years and won. We forced them
to the table;
>demanded they take us seriously, on our terms. As a
result, we have
>created a permanent home for the culture of
opposition.
>
>Renovation starts in the fall.
>
>To date, we have raised over $290,000 [2]. The
majority of the
>donations are below $100. That's a lot of love from a
lot of people.
>
>To everyone that provided support, money, art for
auction, talent,
>beer, etc to aid our efforts, I send my thanks and
respect. We could
>not have done this without the thousands of you that
had our backs.
>
>I'm still in shock. Slowly the reality is sinking in.
Over 9 years
>ago when ABC No Rio started on the fundraising push,
as a joke I bet
>someone $10 that it would never happen.
>
>It was my way of saying that I was going to help and
I did not care
>how impossible our goal seemed. I can't remember who
the bet is with,
>but I'm eager to pay up.
>
>
>
>
>
>notes:
>[1] Some have sugested that I point out the fact that
8 years later,
>AAFE Exec. Dir. Chris Kui had been appointed to the
City Planning
>Commission -- one of the groups that had to approve
the transfer of
>the building. At that City Planning Commission
hearing Mr Kui was
>extraordinarily gracious and magnanimous, and spoke
favorably of ABC
>No Rio to his colleagues on the commission.
>
>[2] Total renovation costs will end up somewhere
between 500,000 and
>900,000 depending on labor costs, material costs and
other factors
>beyond our control. We still need to raise the rest
of that money,
>but now that we own the building new sources of grant
funding are
>open to us.
>
>--
>-------------------------------------------
>Openflows Networks Ltd.
>New York | Toronto | Montreal | Vienna
>http://why.openflows.org
>People are intelligent. Machines are tools.
>
>
>
># distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use
without permission
># <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net
criticism,
># collaborative text filtering and cultural politics
of the nets
># more info: majordomo@??? and "info
nettime-l" in the msg
body
># archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@???
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
