More to argue on about arts districts and arts

1. This article from the New York Times, "Adjusting Vision of Waterfront Arts District to Include High Rises," is about what I think of as "arts districts" in strong real estate markets. From the article:

Whether or not you care to see Jersey City as New York’s sixth borough, you could write a pretty interesting urban history centered on the 12 or so blocks now designated as its Powerhouse Arts District. But before you did, you would have to sort through two distinct story lines about how the tale has evolved.

One is a story of betrayal, how almost two decades of hard work and advocacy that produced a visionary plan for a low-rise arts district that preserved the area’s past was shunted aside in favor of plans for megatowers and cookie-cutter urban development. The second is a story about the malleability of urban life, how neighborhoods always evolve and how no planning document can ever be exempt from the vagaries of market forces and social trends.

It’s probably appropriate that either narrative culminates at the same point: a shootout over an abandoned matzo factory. In this case, it was a bitterly contested decision by the City Council last month to approve a proposal by the giant home builder Toll Brothers to construct three residential towers of 30 stories or more. Two would be on the site of an old Manischewitz factory; one would be across the street.

It came after a heated meeting at which nearly all the 45 or so people who spoke opposed changes in the plan. Nearby residents have threatened lawsuits to stop the project.

“We’re insulted by this scheme,” said Jill Edelman, president of the neighborhood association in the area. “It’s not only not in keeping with the vision of the redevelopment plan, but it goes counter to it and it destroys it.”

2. And this piece, from the Arizona Republic (Phoenix), "Decorated industrial space venue for Tempe concert," is more about arts districts or arts uses in weak real estate markets.

When the real estate market heats up, hip uses for artists get crowded out by people with money who want to live by but not within the arts-oriented lifestyle.

William Hermann/The Arizona Republic. Guadalupe graffiti artist Such Styles sprays up a new work at a Tempe storage facility that will host the Convergent Concert May 17.

3. Some articles about arts and the creative economy and engagement:

-- Effort to boost not just attendance, but engagement from the Philadelphia Inquirer
-- How to reach and engage the renaissance generation from the Houston Chronicle
-- Creating a new economy: Group promotes the region as a destination for knowledge workers from Wicked Local Salem
-- It's time to get creative from the Boston Globe
-- Report shows that arts organizations are being “stifled” by a lack of facility space and diversity from Fort Collins (CO) Now.