Variety: With film and TV production in New York City filling local sound stages to capacity, the city will construct a new, 100,000-square-foot production facility as part of a $136 million development project in Brooklyn that will also create new spaces for garment manufacturers and other industries related to film, TV, and fashion.
2 comments:
I think it's wonderful that New York City is willing to invest so much money into the arts, but I can’t help but wonder if this is the best use of its money. Yes this will create upwards of 100,000 jobs for people in the city in the next 10 years, but there are other big problems in the city besides filming space. For example, New York City’s homeless rate is the highest it’s been since the great depression. It was estimated by the Coalition for the Homeless that in 2016, 127,652 different people slept in homeless shelters. This does not include the thousands of people that sleep in parks or in the subway system, which as of now there is no accurate way to estimate. Currently, the largest men’s shelter in New York City is in a condemned building. Without housing people can not get a job, because most jobs require an address. Providing permanent housing places for these people or temporary housing that provides things such as child care and support for people as they look for new housing. Also, most people being evicted in housing court do not have lawyers, unlike the landlords that they are fighting against. This 136 million dollars could go to help people before they get evicted or to organizations like The Doe Fund that help homeless men and women in New York City find work. I feel that the money would be better spent going to initiatives to help these people rather the studio space for filmmakers. Though the arts may seem more interesting and more fun to support and homeless people are the easiest to not want to help, we need to keep them in mind before spending millions of dollars on arts initiatives.
I love that New York City is willing to spend money to create jobs in the arts. I understand that, that amount of money could go to better use for a city with a big homeless population and a lot of families in poverty. However, with the addition of this studio many filming companies will move to New York and start filming there. Many jobs will have to be hired and most of the workers will be from New York. I believe that this will help NYC by having huge companies come in and hiring workers from New York. I really hope that the Mayor request the hire of people who need the job, to get jobs in some capacity at the new studio. This could be an opportunity for the city to show how much they support the arts while supporting the people who need jobs. I cannot wait to see how this project finishes out in 2020.
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