Critical Mass: More Fun Without Police!

Posted by Duncan Meisel at 2:05 PM, April 30, 2008

Whether out of preoccupation with the acquittal in the Sean Bell trial or some other reason, the New York Police Department decided to totally skip out on harassing the April Critical Mass ride.

Recently two new videos have emerged online documenting police harassment of photographers, and acts of violence against riders , but there is hope that April might set a precedent for lighter policing of the event in the future, particularly for the Bike Month ride in May.

Bikeblog has a full report on the ride.

From Community Group to Condo: The Saga of 49 E. Houston and Times Up!

Posted by Duncan Meisel at 4:15 PM, April 29, 2008

Even among the old New York holdouts to gentrification, 49 E. Houston was a little strange. Not only did the one-story storefront stick out next to nearby remodeled walkups and rising glass facades, but until recently, the grassroots environmental non-profit Times Up! hosted bike repair workshops, political rides and activist meet-ups out of the aging building. The new 49 Houston should be strange too, but in a very different way. The product of real estate maneuvering and architectural ambition, the building will stand 14-stories high, with a cantilevered upper half that will suspend seven of its stories 25-feet above an adjacent walkup.

The ambitious new building provides a visually striking example of the effort to maximize floor space with minimal ground floor space. Hanging seven stories of condo a full 25 feet over an adjacent building has never been tried in New York, and the new building has already stirred controversy at the real estate porn blog Curbed. According to city documents, 49 and 51 Houston are part of the same zoning lot, and an agreement between the owners of the two lots will allow #49 to over flow to the east with its cantilever design.

Amid all the depressing tales of New York City gentrification, just how 49 Houston Street went from community organizing space to condos is a story all of its own.

“It was a real community kind of space," said Bill Dipaloa, the Director of Times Up!. "The space gave a lot. It was the reason a lot of community gardens got saved”

Dipaloa said the group has been getting angry calls about the group’s recent relocations, but wants to challenge treating the move as the all-too-typical gentrification story: “The real story for Times Up! is that for many years, that building was not gentrified” he said.

Times Up! moved into 49 Houston full time after owner Steve Stollman got involved with the group during the 2003 “Bike Summer.” After a little while, he offered them use of the building’s basement to create a ‘bike library’ and educational space for mechanics and workshops. Up until then, Stollman had run his own business out of the storefront, and for many years had allowed other community groups to gather and work in the space. Eventually, the trials of activism and issues with money caught up with Stollman.

“To have a one story building when you could have 12 there—that’s not very viable. I sustained it for 33 years because I didn’t give a fuck.” Stollman said. Eventually, “I got tired of not being able to pay my bills.”

Stollman give Times Up! the heads-up on a possible sale in advance, setting them off on a city wide search for new funding or comparable space that continues today, after an unexpectedly short residence at The Hub bike shop in the West Village.

“For the past two years, we’ve been having weekly meetings to try to save the space” Dipaloa said. “We had to build enough energy to save the space or buy a new one.” That led to a wide range of efforts, including a series of fundraising dance parties, and a search process that turned Times Up!’s cadre of anti-authoritarian bike mechanics and other volunteers into realtors-on-the-prowl for a mixed-use, ground-floor space that might measure up to their digs at 49 Houston.

Running a non-profit group in a decisively for-profit real estate market has left Times Up! in a sort of permanent limbo, a situation that most likely will dog the group for the years to come—not that they're not trying.

Their efforts included attempting a partnership with Science Adventure Camps, a summer camp program that needed to expand, and whose owner, Science Teacher Sarah, was a fan of Times Up!. The partnership has yet to bear fruit for either of the organizations. Twice the groups have found a suitable space, only to have it sold before they could make an offer.

“Whenever we find somewhere cheap enough and centrally located, it tends to get sold within 12 hours” Sarah said. “In any other city, I’m sure these problems would have been solved by now.”

Times Up! Forced to Move Again

Posted by Duncan Meisel at 1:47 PM, April 21, 2008

Gotta make room for....you guessed it!.... more condos.

The clock is ticking away once again for Times Up! Less than one month after losing their long-time headquarters at 49 Houston St., a hot real estate market is forcing the grassroots alternative transportation and environmental group to move again. Rent will double next month for the space Times Up! shares with The Hub bike shop in the West Village, which means the group is back in the hunt for space to house their myriad workshops, actions and offices.

“We know it was a month-to-month lease, but not even three weeks after we get there, they tell us the rent has been doubled” said Bill Dipaloa, Director of Times Up! and space manager for the shop. “We haven’t even unpacked half the boxes.”

Despite the rent increase, bikes will continue to be a part of the Hub’s current location, because a company that makes cargo and ad bikes inked a five-year lease on Times Up!’s current location. “At this time, we’re optimistic, that at least some variation on the theme of this space will continue” said George Bliss, the Hub's owner. “It’s likely that the store will have to go through a big change, maybe have to do a focus on higher-end stuff, instead of trying to deal with everyone who comes in the door, just to pay the rent.”

Times Up! was first uprooted after their landlord at 49 Houston St. sold to developers after years of barely making the rent. Their previous landlord, Steve Stollman, gave the organization a year to raise the funds to meet higher rents before asking them to leave.

“We’ve been using that space for 10 years, and for the past two years we’ve been having weekly meetings trying to save the space” he said. “Times Up! was extremely successful when it was in that space. Unfortunately doing good work and being extremely successful doesn’t pay the bills.”

This new move will also impede one of Times Up!’s primary activities over the years: providing meeting and collaboration space for activist groups of all stripes. Besides the cycling resources it offered to all comers, the organization played host to puppet and banner making and regular activist movie screenings, Dipaloa said.

An outside chance remains that Times Up! could return to 49 Houston St. in the future. The previous owner, Steve Stollman retains a buyback option for ground-floor retail in the building that will be constructed.

“He’s going to move back to the 1st floor, there’s a contract for him whereby he sold the space to my clients, and there’s a buyback provision for the first floor for him, and he’ll have a continued presence,” said architect Arpad Baksa. “I think it’s a good thing for the community.”

However, rising rents on the Lower East Side could thwart the group's dreams once again. “If the neighborhood continues to gentrify wildly, that may be more difficult” Stollman said. “I’m not getting that space back for 2 years, and since my expenses will be higher, rent will be much more expensive, and might be too rich for them.”

Times Up!’s struggle with Manhattan real estate will continue. They plan to host a benefit party on the 25th , in the hopes of raising money to stay in place, or find a stable location soon. Diapaloa hopes the event will draw awareness to their work and their role in the community.

“We’re using this party on the 25th to bring attention to save the space," Diapaloa said. "That was how we used to save community gardens, you bring people into a space and tell them ‘This is being destroyed in a few days’ and sometimes they’re really willing to make a change.”

Police Agreement: More Access and Less Horse Attacks for Political Protesters

Posted by Duncan Meisel at 5:08 PM, April 15, 2008

photo by CarbonNYC via Flickr

New York City protests might lose a little of their cattle-drive feel after a legal agreement between the New York City Police Department and the a New York Civil Liberties Union. For years the department has used barricades and mounted officers to control access to political demonstrations, but today agreed to change course on the use of these herding tactics.