Why would anyone assume that artists automatically have good politics?

I love that these artists are booting the tenants. Rent stabilization is the most unfair situation that lucky people find themselves in our city. Go ARTISTS Go!

Gee these tenants are being evicted, why do they deserve to stay in a building that they do NOT even own? Why do they think they have any rights to stay in a building they do not own just because they happened to have scored a rent stabilized deal - they've had their run of BARGAIN rent and now it's time for them to pay market rate like everyone else in this city does.

Yeah, those damn poor people. They have some nerve paying their rent, with regular rent increases, and living in a neighborhood that no one wanted to live in until Mr & Mrs Yuppie & their partners decided that it was "cool" and bought a building below market rate. And some of those tenants are senior citizens. How dare they not just move out onto the street because a greedy couple doesn't have enough to satisfy them.

I have a rent stablized apartment in Brooklyn, and after reading the other comments I realize that some of the other people are transplants, because no true New yorker would feel this way. Do me a favor and go back to where you came from. New Yorkers have compasion for people. You do not even know these peoples stories, this might be the only place they can afford. Next time you take a cab, or ride the train think about it because the conductor or Cab driver need rent stablization to remain in this city so they can.

No one knows the real stories of the Tenants OR the Landlords - who is to say that the Landlords dont have their own hard-luck stories, afterall they are the ones that have invested the time and money in this building that they bought legally and are not even allowed to live in, they are not doing anything illegal by exercising their right to live in a building they own. The tenants are the ones that are being unlawful by remaining there, they are probably not even paying rent and using all this publicity to distract from that.

oh I DON'T KNOW. I think they all have good points.

Gentrification and these types of evictions can't be solved on a case by case basis. The stories of either party, the artists or the tenants, should not matter objectively. That's where these arguments always break down. There needs to be something uniformly standard that acts as a "moral" barometer in these situations. I don't know, how about a city enforced law that doesn't subject people's lives to the whims of free market enterprise.

Kesh: you live in a city that lives off of the whims of free market enterprise (Wall Street, you know), without which New York would've gone belly up, the way of Detroit and Newark, a long time ago.

Quite clearly, there are WAY too many unskilled people living in NYC - the jobless rate for native-born men without a high school diploma is nightmarish, well above 50%. In other parts of the country it is much, much lower.

They should leave the city and, likely, the state: there are plenty of unskilled jobs available in the Southwest, Pacific Northwest, Florida, Georgia and many other rapidly developing parts of the country.

The market works perfectly well. But sometimes you have to reach out for it in order to provide a decent life for your children and spouse.

Hipster Doofuses GET OUT! you're ruining NY. Evicting families and cancer survivors - be proud. you've captured that true artistic spirit. Roxie & Richard - maybe you should actually know something about rent stabilization law & its history before you start running your yap.

Hipster doofuses fronting like their artists isn't cute anymore. your little walk on the wild side is putting people on the street. visit a shelter, if you think i'm joking.

Wiesmayr, Cheuk, Bailey and Loughrey - you should be ashamed of yourselves. did you ever intend to keep the rent stabilized apts when you bought it? or did you just pretend you would to get the cheap price knowing all along you were just gonna use the owner use loophole to throw these families on the street. How do you sleep at night?

Waah waah anti-hipster! You think a freakin' history of rent stabilization will make me change my mind. Who cares why it started? I'm a little familiar with the history of welfare and I'd like to see that go too! This is a big country. Not everyone needs to live in overpriced NYC. You know you can get a 3br condo for about $60k in some parts of the country? I work like an animal to pay top dollar to stay in this city and i'm not complaining about it. You gotta do what you gotta do.

The Village Voice, directs readers to the tenants' web site, yet somehow omitted to include the Owner's web site in the 'infamous' property it mentions:
www.economakis.com

I wonder if these tenants have even bothered to apply elsewhere for affordable housing? Some people are deserving of what amounts to charity, others should just move on. Without effective means testing, rent- stabilization isn't helping those truely in need. I was once evicted from a rent-stabilized apartment when I was earning minimum wages. I busted my ass to find another affordable place and improve my financial situation. It never occured to me that I was entitled to live there indefinitely, I didn't own it.

The tenants should move out. They don't own the building. Rent stabilization is wrong and creates artificial housing shortages, which makes rent way too high in non-stabilized units. There are undoubtedly places that these people can move to, provided they are willing to get off their a@#$@ and look. What is so friggin great about this town that people are willing to live here even though its unaffordable? Do you have some god given right to live anywhere you want, beyond your means, and have others pick up the tab?

What a frickin mess. I feel for those poor people. Being forced out of your home is simply awful. I know it's legal and they were just renting but most of us in this world can not afford to buy a home especially here in New York. I'm assuming that they can not just move out of the city because they have family and roots set here. What the hell is wrong with some of these bloogers!? Perhaps the city has made them hard. Maybe THEY need to move out of the city. let's be honest...new york city is a greedy stinky cesspool full of opportunist shits. Something like this does not surprise me. I'm not sure why anyone would want to live here. God speed to those tenants.