An Appeal from Downtown Music Gallery

DMG NEEDS YOUR HELP!

At the end of this past January, our five-year lease ran out here at
342 Bowery. Our landlord has graciously given us another 3-6 months
to find another place but, with 4 to 5 times the rent we're paying
being offered by bar/restaurants ['cause we know you can't get a
drink anywhere around here - NOT!] for the space our stay will come
to an end soon.

We have been searching for a new location for the past 6 months, but
if it's anything close to the 1500 sq. ft. we now occupy and need, no
matter how far east we go, the realtors are convincing the landlords
to hold off renting until they get a minimum of $ 60-75 per sq ft per
year - which for 1500 sq ft means a monthly base rent nut of
$7500-9400 - even on Ave D, where no one ventures to!

The only people who can afford that are banks that now make a tidy
new-found profit off of people taking $20 out of their account every
ten minutes [!] and national chains that take a tax loss to blanket
NYC with their outlets. No merchant who deals in anything but items
that have over 1000% markup [like drinks] can afford to stay in
business here, not even groceries and supermarkets, which have all
been closing rapidly. Just think: the overuse of debit cards has
caused the price of all everyday goods and food to skyrocket - most
of the increased amount just goes to the rent!

Anyone in NYC knows there are many spaces - in both prime and not
prime areas - that have remained empty for YEARS due to realtors who
have sold their bill of goods to landlords - when we've met those
landlords, many have lamented the money they've lost due to the
pressure from realtors, and were perfectly willing to talk lower
prices, when beforehand the agent said they wouldn't budge [and
wouldn't put us in contact directly, naturally]

We have many friends here in NYC, some 10,000 of you around the world
receive our newsletter each week. What we would like is a basement,
second floor or higher loft space [with elevator] with about 1,500
square feet for under $4000, hopefully in lower Manhattan - we don't
really care what it looks like, or what some snobs might have to say
about the neighborhood, just as long as it's secure. We'll do the
rest.

We would love to stay in the Lower Manhattan, but we might have to
move to mid-town or further uptown or even nearby in Brooklyn or
Queens

If you know of a space for us to rent - especially where we deal with
the landlord directly - please contact us immediately!

Our time here is limited. We may have to go with one overpriced
space - that otherwise meets our needs - within two weeks, so we'd
like to hear from you before then

Thank You

Bruce, Manny, Mikey, Chuck, Bret & all at DMG