Preserving SoHo for artists an absurdity?

I didn't hear about it. Wow. Interesting story. I wonder how it will all play out.

@Uraniumfish Ever consider law school?

It does seem absurd . . . until you read the 2nd reader comment and then you kind of (well, at least I did) start to see why the law is there. . . .

@NeverSleeps Aha! Why do you ask about law school? I think it was always clear to me I would be an artist, but I do get kind of geeky on law and logic. I'm a kind of arm chair law dork, enjoying it vicariously.

@Uraniumfish It's the abundance of law-related forum topics is all!

Yeah, like I said, my inner law dork gets to come out in various ways...

Hah! So thaaaat's why. It seems like everybody I know who has property in SoHo makes a big effort to seem artsy in some way.

@Uraniumfish thanks for posting this ..had no idea..

@Uraniumfish Well, I'm glad you've found an outlet for your inner lawyer.

My outlet for my inner lawyer is The Good Wife. Law and Order too, obviously - but that's mostly for my inner cop. I think law is insanely cool - and flirted very briefly with the idea of studying to be a canon lawyer

Being an actor who plays a lawyer would be insanely cool. Personally I think being an actual lawyer would probably be insanely boring. Unless you have a super extroverted outer lawyer dork about you.

@NeverSleeps more than boring you have to be willing to devote your life to your work. My brother is a litigator with big law firm in NYC and he seems to be at work all the time, late nights, weekends its all work and more work.

Yeah, all of my lawyer friends seem pretty much married to their job. And, even the interesting cases leave me with glazed eyes if they talk about them enough.

@NeverSleeps @uptowngirl Yes, I too have a lawyer in the family and the poor guy had to work on Christmas - he is ALWAYS working. You definitely have to love the job or there is no way you could be happy doing it.

@JenMac Really? I've heard some good courtroom stories - maybe it just depends on who's telling them?

Okay, but lawyers get to make their bundles early and then retire, no? I've never seen a stressed-out lawyer past 40, by that point they've paid their dues and can start to collect.

Actually, the only stressed out lawyers past 40 I've heard of are the ones who do pro bono work and get righteous and such.

It's still a time consuming job, even when you stop being the guy who stays around on weekends and holidays to research things. And some types of lawyering are more stressful than others.

@Uraniumfish - how about Jack McCoy? I miss Law and Order already, darn it!

@uraniumfish I am going to mention this to my brother who is 35 and is a totally stressed out lawyer in the city.. only 5 more years until he is home and free.. he is in such a state lately that he has been considering leaving the city even the country for a more agreeable work/life balance.

@broadwaybk: a good friend of mine was working on a case that involved Sirhan Sirhan a few years ago. His getting into it started off so promising on the entertainment scale; but, when he really started dropping minute details about the case, I wanted to be anywhere else.

@ajadedidealist I was startled to see Jack McCoy starring in the film version of The Glass Menagerie beside Katherine Hepburn. I guess that's why my mom knows Jack McCoy as Sam Waterson.

Haha! I first saw Sam Waterson as Benedick in a film version of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing! I have to say I prefer him as Jack McCoy, though. I really like the new one - Alana de la Garza/Connie as well. And Linus Roache is great! The new cast has such good chemistry.

@Uraniumfish I think lawyers who work for huge firms stay pretty stressed out. As a lawyer, you constantly have to prove yourself especially if you want to work up the lawyer chain.

@JenMac I suppose I just like hearing about murder trials....is that horrible?

@BroadwayBK: not horrible at all! I have about 15 books on serial killers. I find the subject matter fascinating. I'm always game for a good, grotesque intrigue.

I'm a big mystery fan, although I love old school and/or historical mysteries - Agatha Christie in the former instance, and then Lindsey Davis's Ancient Rome series and Boris Akunin's Russian mysteries. I liked Laurie R. King's Beekeeper's Apprentice (mostly because the protagonist was a blonde, half-American Oxford theology student - and therefore pretty much ME!) but I find the later installments disappointing. But mysteries in general are fun guilty pleasures for me, though I'm not big on contemporary thrillers

Isn't murder every American's favorite topic? I can't get enough of those true life murder mystery shows.

@neversleeps: ahahahaha! Yes, bbq's, baseball, and murder: The American weekend.

Sounds like a great premise for a murder mystery, @Jenmac. I'm a fan of the English country house mystery myself, though

@JenMac @NeverSleeps Funny.

The next door neighbor did it?

@BroadwayBK Are lawyers at big firms stressed out all the time because they know that ultimately they're stealing from the poor to give to the rich? That might get pretty stressful.

@DBlack, I think they're stressed because they won't get any of the poor's money until they become partner.

@DBlack @JenMac Spot on.

@Everyone the Soho for Artists controversy seems to be holding up sales in Manhattan's sluggish real estate economy.. Do the laws make sense?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/nyregion/12soho.html?pagewanted=1&src=twt&twt=nytimes

While I agree that SoHo is living a big charade, I'm not crying for financiers who can't ask a bloated price on their SoHo lofts. Yeah, let them try to get certified as artists, hah!

I thought this was a pertinent part of the conundrum: "The bottom has not dropped out, and the typical artist will still be unable to afford to move in. But the sudden re-awakening of the artist-in-residency requirement is making it hard for SoHo to keep up its real estate vibe."

What's the point of making sure only artists move in when the only "artists" (ie Bon Jovi) that can afford a space in the neighborhood don't even need that space to create art? SoHo isn't exactly the modern boho neighborhood, that's for sure. I guess in this modern era it does in fact seem like absurdity to preserve the neighborhood as an artists' community because, um, it stopped being one a while back.

Even more absurd is the city's process for certifying potential residents as "artists."

Then again, it looks as if this artist law could be just what the doctor ordered for driving real estate prices way down. Here's to hoping.

@NeverSleeps It truly is an absurd law especially there are hardly any true artists who will be able to afford to buy those lofts at their lofty prices. As for driving prices down, don't know if that will happen for we know in NYC sellers can sit with their their unsold/ unleased property for ages without budging from their price expectations,

@Everyone just came across a piece that highlights the precarious conditions of artists in the city seems like they are fleeing NYC for cities like Detroit, Cleavland , Chicago because they can't afford to New York City anymore.
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20101114/FREE/311149985

I know a filthy rich "gallerist" who owns one of those SoHo lofts and uses it for his "shows." Whatever. They are parties fro his other filthy rich friends, at which they show each other's unspeakably mediocre "art," meanwhile he has an illegal apartment in the back and gets to live in SoHo. Yeah, the whole thing is a sham. But I'm not all that sorry he has to go though so many hoops to keep his place going. Let him suffer a little, what do I care.

@uptowngirl Right, I doubt that real estate prices will drop in Soho as well. More likely the local landlords, brokers and agents will just somehow do away with this law. Those with a couple of Soho buildings in their pocket are likely to have a few legislators on tap as well.

@BroadwayBK Too true. In the meantime, I'm glad that they don't get to make those couple of percentage points more on their property values.

@uptowngirl Just saw your posting; I've been thinking about fleeing the city myself. But to someplace REALLY affordable. In South America.

@BroadwayBK are you serious? any ideas where?

Meh, I'm here for the long haul, I think. I tried living elsewhere and didn't manage to stay away.

@uptowngirl Only slightly serious. Like Uraniumfish, I find it difficult to stay away from NYC. But I do want to see Buenos Aires. And tour the continent in general. And maybe stay a while to perfect my Spanish.

@BroadwayBK the husband has often expressed a desire to retire in Buenos Aires, he's never been but has seen way too many House Hunters International program on the HGTV which often showcase the gorgeous Recoleta district of B.A.. Actually we have been talking of retiring a lot lately even though its still a few decades away..we recently went to Bangkok and noticed that real estate wasn't too expensive, cost of living was low and the Thais have good health care which is still affordable so that maybe an option as well.

@uptowngirl That's definitely the way to retire - find a lovely spot where the cost of living is affordable! I love New York, but it doesn't exactly fit the retirement ideal.

@BroadwayBk and those bone chilling winters don't help when you are a member of the aged class. Have many senior citizens in my building who complain about the cold a lot if they think that the super is being stingy with the heat in order to conserve energy.

Retirement will probably be the coast of Spain for me, unless the Spanish change their tax laws too much by then.

@ Uraniumfish that sounds absolutely wonderful - good weather, good food and wine and free health care.. blissful though I hope the Spaniards don't go belly up as well.

@uptowngirl I've got a tiny little retirement wish that says maybe they won't...ah that food and wine.

@uptowngirl I'm having enough problems with dry skin about a week into winter. I can only imagine what the same weather is going to feel like on my skin 30 years from now.

@BroadwayBK it's my hair that is playing up in the tropics,the humidity is making it fizz and making me long for the NYC chemical filled, soft water.. guess you really can't have it all can you?

I cannot imagine being old and living here. Nothing is easy to do and I'm young! I get loving New York and all, but getting pelted with snow and trash when you're 80 trying to buy milk? No thanks.

New York makes the already-crotchety extra crotchety!

My grandma is in her 80's and lives alone in New York, and LOVES it! She goes out every night to events (operas, theatre, ballet, museums), volunteers on about 50 different committees, takes cabs everywhere, and is always going to lectures/taking courses/etc. I think NYC can be great for older people; it provides excellent opportunities for stimulation, a wide friendship base, and doesn't require driving!

@ajadedidealist I have some friends who live in my apartment building who are in their early 70's and seem to have a similar lifestyle. I guess if you have no money worries and good health then living in NYC in your advanced years can be a lot of fun.
'

@ajadedidealist I have some friends who live in my apartment building who are in their early 70's and seem to have a similar lifestyle. I guess if you have no money worries and good health then living in NYC in your advanced years can be a lot of fun.
'

@ajadedidealist I have some friends who live in my apartment building who are in their early 70's and seem to have a similar lifestyle. I guess if you have no money worries and good health then living in NYC in your advanced years can be a lot of fun.
'

@ajadedidealist I have some friends who live in my apartment building who are in their early 70's and seem to have a similar lifestyle. I guess if you have no money worries and good health then living in NYC in your advanced years can be a lot of fun.
'

@ajadedidealist I have some friends who live in my apartment building who are in their early 70's and seem to have a similar lifestyle. I guess if you have no money worries and good health then living in NYC in your advanced years can be a lot of fun.
'

@ajadedidealist I have some friends who live in my apartment building who are in their early 70's and seem to have a similar lifestyle. I guess if you have no money worries and good health then living in NYC in your advanced years can be a lot of fun.
'

@ajadedidealist I have some friends who live in my apartment building who are in their early 70's and seem to have a similar lifestyle. I guess if you have no money worries and good health then living in NYC in your advanced years can be a lot of fun.

@ajadedidealist Your grams sounds like someone I want to hang out with.

I suppose retirement in NYC is totally doable if you have the means to do so. Personally, I look forward to living out my golden old days in warm weather. Warm weather that's not humid.

@BroadwayBk Much as I love NYC I too now seem to think that perhaps I would like to be somewhere warm..somewhere in Asia perhaps during the later part of my life...Thailand currently gets my vote..

haha, yeah, @BroadwayBK; my grandma's pretty awesome! She's constantly taking courses on art, Irish poetry, international relations; she must be the most learned woman I've ever met!

@uptowngirl I wouldn't mind a tropical climate myself. Lately I've been longing to go for a leisurely swim....

@ajadedidealist I wouldn't mind such a life.

When do we get to retire again?

@BroadwayBK 62?65? when does social security kick inn?

@uptowngirl omg. I have no idea. But I think I better start saving.

@uptowngirl Hah! I wouldn't count on social security by the time any of us reach that age! So, yeah, better start saving.

This conversation took a depressing turn - from what luxury resort we'll be spending our retirements at to how there will be no social security left for any of us!

@NeverSleeps with the US's ballooning deficit it seems like a given that Social security will be extinct for our generation.

I'm not planning to do without retirement in Spain, social security or not! Though it's depressing to think there will be nothing left for us all, at least it helps me think realistically about what to do...

@Uraniumfish: According to a report by a government official, if the US Government does not stop lending money out from the SSN fund, by the year 2020, the SSN account will be dried out, which means no one will get it. Right now there are measures in Congress to stop this, but I haven't heard anything in a while.

I think it's kinda of odd that we know SSN will be null and void yet we have to continue to pay it.

I'm totally retiring somewhere warm.

@JenMac I second that I really can't take the cold anymore..love the heat humidity et al and uncomfortable though the heat is your skin always looks better.

I thought there was some question among economists as to what exactly is going to happen with Social Security trust fund?

@BroadwayBK that's one answer I would like to know as well

@uptowngirl Same here.