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In what way do they deal with gentrification? It seems like your argument is that it just doesn't happen to such an extreme in places that aren't major cities?

In what way do they deal with gentrification? It seems like your argument is that it just doesn't happen to such an extreme in places that aren't major cities? I don't think that's true -- take a trip up to Beacon, NY. Regardless, my interest is in how we can compensate artists that kick this process off rather than just using them to make a landowner's property more valuable. Can they be compensated in some sort of equity like early stage startup employees are, so that after 10 years of producing work and making somewhere hip they aren't just thrown out to make room for some luxury project? Can there be tools made to make it easier to purchase these distressed properties as co-ops that they can collectively own and produce out of? No one wants the blight of old, abandoned buildings that could otherwise be productive. However, this plan they've proposed just sounds like a way to get artists to make landlords and real estate agents money in the long run.

mattlutze 11y ago
My comment was that, yes, though I'd really want to see counter-examples that aren't New York City's suburbs I guess. It's kinda a world unto itself. The idea here seems to be reducing starting capital needed for brick-and-mortar start-ups. How do we compensate the artists? I think they're already being compensated with nearly free workshops/office space, which sounds like the tipping point between starting the business in the first place for a lot of these folks. The article talks about how it was a non-starter to purchase the buildings from the property owners because of a host of reasons I'll not reprint... It's about craftspeople and small businesses, and helping little people in these communities to experiment with new business ideas, not about making landlords rich. Both both sides have to see a benefit for it to work, and just trying to legislate turnover of old buildings to non-profits to build co-ops isn't going to get much love from the property owners (who probably have more political power)

mattlutze 11y ago

My comment was that, yes, though I'd really want to see counter-examples that aren't New York City's suburbs I guess. It's kinda a world unto itself. The idea here seems to be reducing starting capital needed for brick-and-mortar start-ups. How do we compensate the artists? I think they're already being compensated with nearly free workshops/office space, which sounds like the tipping point between starting the business in the first place for a lot of these folks. The article talks about how it was a non-starter to purchase the buildings from the property owners because of a host of reasons I'll not reprint... It's about craftspeople and small businesses, and helping little people in these communities to experiment with new business ideas, not about making landlords rich. Both both sides have to see a benefit for it to work, and just trying to legislate turnover of old buildings to non-profits to build co-ops isn't going to get much love from the property owners (who probably have more political power)