Source item

Quoted context

These are the quoted author’s words.

In the 1960s through 1970s, huge numbers of buildings in New York City were abandoned, because their owners could not make enough money to cover the expense of providing apartments to their tenants, could not legally get rid of their tenants so long as the building stood, and could not sell their buildings because no one wanted an “asset” that permanently lost money month after month. The only non-destructive recourse that they had available was to disappear, and so thousands of buildings eventually had their landlords vanish. A relatively small number of landlords hired arsonists to burn their buildings to the ground, because the destruction of the building was literally the only means by which a lease could be broken, leaving them at least with a vacant lot that didn’t cost them money. Large chunks of the city started to resemble a warzone.

perrymetzger ↗