Below is an email from Ishrat Ansari, owner of Caffe Vivaldi in Greenwich Village, who created a petition at SignOn.org that is getting a lot of attention and may be of interest to people in your area. If you have concerns or feedback about this petition, click here.
Dear New York City MoveOn member,
There is a place in New York that is one-third real and two-thirds magical, and it is about to disappear... unless we do something now.
For 30 years Cafe Vivaldi has nurtured artists writers, poets, and mostly musicians. It has a new landlord, and he wants to triple the rent. We cannot fight him; he is too strong. The only way forward is to appeal to his better side and reason with him not to snuff the life out of this cherished haven of hope and encouragement for young artists.
Our aim is to urge our landlord not to increase our rent to an amount we can never come up with for 685 square feet of space. We want to be fair to him and want him to be fair to us: All we are asking is that he charge us the fair market rent.
That's why I created a petition to Caffe Vivaldi's landlord, Steven Croman, on SignOn.org, which says:
Caffe Vivaldi is a cultural institution. We want your support and patronage to continue doing what we have been doing for the past 28 years; that is, providing a haven for young artists, writers, and musicians so they can continue to contribute to New York's vibrant cultural life.
Only you can help us continue our mission by granting us a lease that reflects the actual current market rent structure.
Will you sign the petition? Click here to add your name, and then pass it along to your friends:
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=267290&id=32964-15342003-ISnDhlx&t=2
Thanks!
–Ishrat Ansari, owner of Cafe Vivaldi