Yukie Ohta |

Balancing the Equities: Counting Artists Because Artists Count in SoHo

If you live anywhere in lower Manhattan, no doubt you have heard about the Envision SoHo/NoHo planning process, which aims “to examine key land use and zoning issues in the two neighborhoods and seek community input to develop strategies to both honor SoHo/NoHo’s history and ensure the continued vitality of the neighborhoods.” SoHo is historically an artists’ neighborhood, so one would assume “community input” includes input from artists, but this is not the case. There are no artists in the Process Advisory Group that is to "help develop recommendations to inform the future of SoHo and NoHo." This must change if the planning process is to be legitimate.