Enforcement Coming Loose At The Seams November 7, 2008

The Special Garment Center District zoning might procure space for apparel-related services. But little is being done to enforce proper use of the space. Back in 2000, the New York Industrial Retention Network found that over 200 manufacturing spaces in the Garment District had been illegally converted to office space in the decade after 1993, when funds for enforcement were cut. A percentage of the Garment Center is still being utilized illegally. What good is a law if it isn’t enforced? It’s like granting voting rights while turning a blind eye to the grandfather clause.

While the City may have spared little funds towards this end, a small portion of government money is still being trickled down, even if it is just to one man playing watch dog. To address the lax enforcement within the Garment Center, Tommy Wu, the Business Solutions Coordinator at GIDC (a city-funded, non-profit organization serving as a liason between the garment workers and the larger apparel / fashion industry) patrols the Garment Center daily, visiting factories and other apparel sites. The Garment Center is meaningful to Wu because his parents worked there, and he believes the Garment Center provides “good jobs,” especially for immigrant workers. Wu was kind enough to let me tag along on one of his rounds through the Garment Center.

My sole purpose and goal in following Wu around for a day, was to obtain interviews from factory workers for my second video: NYC Hanging By A Thread. But I inadvertently helped Wu discover the illegal use of at least one space in the Garment Center. On seeing me insert a new videotape while waiting for the elevator, the man next to me solicited me video equipment. His hat-tip: on either the third or fourth floor of the building, I could buy video equipment and digital tapes of all kinds. When we got out of the elevator, Tommy made note of the illegal use of space and said he would have to report it. Busted.

I talked to a few factory owners off-camera that day (many refused to be videotaped). Not only were buildings being converted illegally, but many factories were being forced out of buildings through cunning, yet not illegal means, they said. One factory owner knew other factory owners and workers who were bullied out of their buildings by landlords; landlord fashioned difficult working conditions, limiting hours when building doors remained open.

Wu said such practices weren’t uncommon. He wouldn’t dish names but in one particularly “nasty” instance, a landlord intentionally broke down the elevator and left the unfixed.  In such cases, the GIDC tried to resolve such issues by working with the City. Fatiah M. Hosein, the executive director of GIDC, showed me a letter Christine Quinn, the City Council Speaker, wrote urging one landlord to employ sound business practices.

But in many other cases, tenants were left to fend for themselves. Mark Cohen, the owner of Colorblind Showroom, for example, was forced out of his former showroom when his landlord terminated his lease 3 years prematurely. He spoke to a lawyer who informed him that most leases contain loopholes in fine print. And in any case, the best scenario, Cohen said, was that he would be one of five remaining offices in an empty building. “You can’t win,” was Cohen’s response. After speaking with Cohen, I visited this particular building. It was eerily empty and silent on a bustling 8th Avenue. The only sign of life was the GAP store that occupied the very first floor. Cohen believed the owner of the building was trying to convert it into a hotel. The Hudson Yards rezoning allowed many former apparel-related spaces to be converted for other uses.