As 2022 draws to a close, we need your help.
The list below outlines just some efforts by the SoHo Alliance this year benefitting your neighborhood – and you. SoHo’s needs are great and our request is small. We only make this appeal once — at year’s end.
Please contribute to our annual appeal. It’s an investment that will benefit you in 2023 and beyond.
Click here to donate by credit/debit card or Paypal.
Or send your check to: SoHo Alliance, PO Box 429, New York, NY 10012
2022 IN REVIEW
In 2022, among other things, the SoHo Alliance:
– Helped secure the first mayoral veto in eight years, overturning former Councilmember Margaret Chin’s vindictive and draconian legislation that would have imposed continuing fines of $25,000 on non-artist residents living in “artist quarters”, aka JLWQA / AIR units.
– Brought State Senator Brian Kavanagh on board to pass Assemblymember Deborah Glick’s bill that ensures SoHo/NoHo residents living in artist joint live-work quarters prior to December 15, 2021 can continue occupying their homes without fear of displacement or threat of penalties — regardless of their status as a certified artist.
– Organized a letter-writing campaign to quell an initiative by anonymous “stakeholders” who sought to create a new Business Improvement District, or BID, that would reach into all of SoHo from Mercer to Sullivan Streets. BIDs are funded by increased property taxes, are autonomous and, by law, are controlled by real-estate interests.
– Marshaled residents to lobby our state electeds to remove a provision introduced into the state budget by Governor Hochul that would have eliminated the limit on the size of residential developments. For context, the new supertall buildings on 57th Street were built under existing zoning allowances. Hochul’s plan would have removed those limits. Our elected officials listened to us and the governor’s plan was defeated.
– Worked closely with the Coalition United for Equitable Urban Policy, CueUp, to oppose the mayor’s permanent street-dining program. Welcomed at first during the covid peak, these unsightly and bedraggled shacks now clutter and obstruct our streetscape, are rat magnets, fire hazards and the bane of the unfortunate residents who live close to these noisy intrusions. A NY State Supreme Court agreed with us, the city appealed, and we continue to meet and lobby electeds to eliminate this expropriation of public space for one industry’s benefit.
– Monitored the city’s plan for a homeless shelter at 10 Wooster Street.
– Celebrated the summer opening of SoHo’s newest park on Broome and Lafayette Streets, Rapkin-Gayle Plaza.
– Encouraged voters during the June primaries to get out and vote, as well as educating them on which candidates would best serve our community. As a result, winning candidates did their finest in SoHo, a testament to the faith voters have in us and a reminder to electeds that we are a powerful voting bloc, not to be dismissed.
– Liaised with the First Precinct community affairs officers to establish a closer working relation between the police and our community.
– Warned of the city’s plan to introduce hideously tall, privately-owned 5G cell towers whose real purpose will be illuminated advertising displays aimed at tourists and shoppers.
– Provides a 7-day-a-week telephone hotline to answer the queries and concerns of residents and small businesses alike.
– Is working with residents to defeat the deceptive liquor application by a music promoter trying to open a late-night club on Greene Street disguised as a “clothing store”.
Thank you for your support.
Click here to donate by credit/debit card or Paypal.
Or send your check to: SoHo Alliance, PO Box 429, New York, NY 10012
PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.
Sincerely,
Sean Sweeney
Director
SoHo Alliance
PO Box 429
New York, NY 10012
212-353-8466
SoHo Journal 