BD’s Ouster Represents a Great Victory for Anti-Gentrification Forces

Well, BD hasn’t come back, and as such, I just want to step back and point out—before we lose sight of this in our ongoing struggle--that their ouster represents a great victory for the residents of the Chelsea Hotel.  And it’s a victory not only for us, but for tenants of New York as a whole, and for all those allied in the fight against gentrification.  For here’s this huge real-estate firm,  whose owners came out and stated at the outset that they intended to evict the permanent tenants, gut renovate the Chelsea, and turn it into a fancy boutique hotel.  And where are Born and Drukier and their underlings now?  It seems we’ve evicted them!
        Sure, we had help from the downturn in the economy, and from the division between BD and the shareholders, and certainly from the press and the outraged public, but basically we got rid of them by organizing and staying together.  We lost 15 of our fellow residents, and we haven’t yet won the war, but we’ve won a huge battle.  And if a bunch of self-centered artists such as ourselves can do it, surely others can do it as well.  Let’s throw the greedy profiteers out of our city and return it to the real New Yorkers. -- Ed Hamilton (Photo: Robert Lambert's most recent painting.)