Posted on by Alexis Carrozza

ITF Post: “Save New York City’s Fashion Factories” op-ed in NYT

Here’s an excerpt of an op-ed by fashion designer Nanette Lepore and her husband, Robert Savage, about Bill de Blasio’s proposal to move the garment district from Manhattan to Sunset Park:

Manufacturing in New York City’s garment district is in jeopardy of unraveling at its seams. The city’s Economic Development Corporation may soon begin the certification process to lift the zoning laws that have protected fashion and apparel businesses in these few blocks in Midtown Manhattan for decades.

The intention is for manufacturers to relocate to Sunset Park, Brooklyn. With lower rents and longer leases, the development corporation hopes to lure factory owners to a 200,000-square-foot industrial space, now being renovated. The garment district’s Business Improvement District has voted to provide financial assistance to cover some expenses for relocating factories; in exchange, the zoning laws will be lifted. If the local community boards approve the plan, it will be brought before the City Council for a vote, and the changes could occur in as little as a couple of months.

Some questions for thought:

  • Read the initial reporting about the proposed changes; what is the main reason for changing the zoning laws and moving the fashion district?
    • What evidence is cited in favor of changing zoning laws?
    • How will these changes theoretically benefit the fashion industry in New York?
    • Do you find this proposal convincing?
  • Read the entire op-ed by Lepore and Savage; why do they claim manufacturing in New York is in danger?
    • What evidence do they cite to argue against changing zoning laws?
    • Do you find their argument convincing?
  • Is de Blasio’s plan similar to other types of developments studied this semester?
  • How does this specific case, the zoning laws and move to Sunset Park, fit with the core question of the class: who has the power to shape New York?
Posted on by Alexis Carrozza

ITF Post: “The Maraschino Mogul’s Secret Life” by Ian Frazier at The New Yorker

In light of the recent seminar discussion of light manufacturing in New York City, I wanted to share an article written by Ian Frazier for The New Yorker about the Maraschino Cherry Factory in Red Hook. The article is an excellent investigation into the history of the factory, the owner and family of the factory, and the ensuing lawsuits filed by his family. Here’s Frazier’s description of the factory and its place in the community:

In the nineteen-seventies [the factory] had moved from Carroll Gardens to Dikeman Street, in Red Hook. [Owner Arthur Mondella] set about expanding that location into two adjacent buildings, and eventually the factory occupied a total floor space of thirty-eight thousand square feet. He scaled up what had been essentially a mom-and-pop operation; his mother and his sister, Joanne, worked there, too, but he ran the show, increasing production capacity and acquiring large-volume food-service clients. In 2014, he made a seven-million-dollar investment in automation so that one day the place would “run itself,” as he told his daughters.

In the basement, police discovered a hydroponic system for cultivating marijuana.Illustration by Janne Iivonen. Source: The New Yorker.

Despite automating, he wanted to keep his human workforce intact. By all accounts, he cared about his employees. Lots of ex-offenders had jobs at Dell’s. The Red Hook Houses, a nearby low-income housing project, supplied him with workers who needed the paycheck. Mondella was known for giving salary advances, and loans whose repayment was not vigorously pursued. He hired a homeless man, provided him an advance for a deposit, and let him use a company truck to move into a new apartment. Gang tattoos could be seen on the muscular, maraschino-red-stained arms of guys on the factory floor.

Read the rest of the article here (or check the class GDrive folder for a hard copy).

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ITF Post: Links for Week of March 26

Need inspiration for your posts? Don’t worry, I’ve got your back!

First: Why not argue for the superiority of Liza Minnelli’s “New York, New York” compared to Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York”? (ITF Note: I am dead serious about this! Liza 4Ever!) 

WNYC, “History of Zoning” with Brian Lehrer: “The first zoning laws were created in New York City 101 years ago. Mike Wallace, distinguished professor of history at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, director of the Gotham Center for New York City History and author of Greater Gotham: A History of New York City from 1898 to 1919 (The History of NYC Series), and Jenny Schuetz, Brookings Institution fellow, talk about how zoning changed the shape and power structure of the city.”

Click for more links including a movie about why LA wants to be NYC (duh) and info about the documentary “If These Knishes Could Talk”!

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Posted on by Alexis Carrozza

ITF Post: Hipsters, Urban Space, and Authenticity in 2018

Though the image of a ridiculously-dressed hipster is slowly fading as the economy grows, it’s worth revisiting the construction of the hipster figure (well as other images associated with hipsters like mason jars, “quirky,” interesting facial hair, urban chickens, DIY gourmet mayonnaise) and perceptions of authenticity and urban spaces. While the hipster was first understood as a specific Williamsburg resident, the word came to be associated with specific neighborhoods like Silver Lake in Los Angeles and then, more broadly, “hipster” referred to a certain type of gentrification of urban spaces. By 2018, the word “hipster” has run its course due to overuse and Portland really hates Portlandia. Moreover, the cultural and political changes between the height of the word’s use (about 2005-2010 judging by this, this, and all the entries here ) and now has made the concept seem less relevant than ever.

Yet its worth pointing out the the image of a hipster as a young-ish, DIY-type person living in “gritty” (pre-gentrified) neighborhoods in legacy cities arose in the public imagination during the Great Recession. Why? Well, according to a quote attributed by Coco Chanel, “Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity.” The Great Recession, then, becomes the backdrop for activities and lifestyle of the hipster: DIY, handmade, artisanal, ironic (“ironic”) clothing that may or may not be flannel.

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Posted on by Naveera Arif

The Impact of the Need for “Authenticity”

The idea of “authenticity” has its stake in many different conversations and debates, including a push towards the truth in a time when facts are scarce, a quest for originality, and an emphasis on going back to the fundamentals behind embellishments created in our society. “Authenticity” becomes an important topic of discussion when focusing on culture, whether that be for cities of America or of a group of people in a lesser known country on the other side of the world. Sharon Zukin, in Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places, identifies this idea of authenticity as a type of culture used as a cause for waves of migrations of certain people in particular areas like Williamsburg (49-50), as an appropriate description of the hip hop cultures formed by African American communities of “black Brooklyn” (56), and the semblance of the history of Harlem used to create a specific image of the “dark ghetto” and the “Harlem Renaissance” (68-71). In trying to define the “authenticity” that attracted people to these areas, Zukin focused on the people and history of each of the areas as the basis for why they were considered authentic and why people fought to protect it or to follow it.

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