Save NYC Spaces

Culture is born in small diverse spaces

“ These are the places we came from, and where the kids were all ages. Hip hop was like a mutation of disco. It happened in these small places that you want to save. Places like the Executive Playhouse and the Hevalo, and the Dojo and Club 371, Disco Fever, Renaissance Ballroom, Harlem World, all of these places are now gone, they are not open any more. Anything you need from Hip Hop, all the legends, we got your back. ”

“ To start, the Nightlife Mayor should establish sturdy relationships with the culture-specific community based organizations that are waging the struggle to anchor our communities and protect them from displacement, while also bringing out of invisibility all the aesthetic and cultural contributions that make a night cultural scene vibrant, unpredictable, multi-generational. ”

“ Ensure that there are leaders, advisers, and influencers in and for the Office of Nightlife who identify as people of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, two-Spirit, trans and gender non-conforming AND that there are involved persons of varied socioeconomic, cultural, and citizenship and immigration backgrounds. ”

“ Being a DIY space means being terrified to ask for permission, and then being consumed with anxiety while asking for forgiveness. It is constant scramble for resources and plowing through insurmountable roadblocks. ”

“ When a kid from the neighborhood was no longer running things, those original Hip Hop clubs, that were so many, all closed and disappeared by the late 1980s in the Bronx. I was so sorry to see so many great clubs that I loved thrive then disappear. Let’s not let that happen. ”

“ An ill side effect of gentrification besides being forced into a nomadic community due to escalated rents and excessive regulations in some regard, nightlife has become so segregated in class, race and age. ”

“ We are the ordinary people: the spaces that do the most with the least, and who devote our collective energies towards bringing value to our communities. ”

“ The Hospitality Alliance has, by far, been the biggest opponent we have faced in our fight to repeal the Cabaret Law... If you think dancing should be illegal, we find you very much to be the very enemy of nightlife. It's like hiring a librarian who wants to ban books. ”

“ If it is about safety, then teach us how to be safe, if it is about zoning and noise then help us talk to our neighbors and the various administrations. For too long DIY has been a marketing device for developers and realtors… I for one am tired of selling condos!!! ”

“ People come to New York for the mythic cultures, and with the erasure of these cultures, what are they going to come here for? No one's going come to this city to see the beautiful condos. A condo doesn’t matter. ”

“ Hip Hop, Punk Rock, Bebop, Mambo, Disco, New Wave, Salsa Music, House Music - These are all cultural traditions that were born in New York City’s grassroots community spaces, small diverse spaces, all across the city, all across history. ”

“ The Coalition is you and me and everyone we know who believes that it is important to preserve a diverse culture at a neighborhood scale, accessible to people of all incomes, races, immigration status and sexual orientation. ”

“ I sincerely hope that this effort is active in seeking out the spaces that need the help the most, the least privileged in even understanding how bureaucracy works. ”

“ The Office of Nightlife and the Nightlife Mayor position have the unprecedented opportunity to be a leader in offering equitable and actionable solutions to discriminatory policing practices that disproportionately impact communities of color. ”

“ We want to hear from city officials about reasonable safety guidelines. We respectfully ask the city to be more cooperative with DIY spaces rather than playing the "got you" game. ”

“ We're ready to #LetNYCDance! ”