Compiled by RACHEL LEE HARRIS
Published: May 16, 2010
NYTimes

The Metropolitan Transit Authority has threatened to evict the experimental media and theater group 3-Legged Dog from its Lower Manhattan building. The authority notified the group on Friday that it would begin eviction proceedings on Monday if 3-Legged Dog did not pay the more than $306,000 it owes the authority in back rent and interest. The group signed a 20-year lease in 2002 for space at 80 Greenwich Street, now known as 3LD Art & Technology Center, agreeing to pay $21,666.67 per month there after its former location at 30 West Broadway was destroyed in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, The Wall Street Journal reported. Kevin Cunningham, 3-Legged Dog’s executive artistic director, confirmed that the company had fallen behind in payments when foundations withdrew financial support because of the recession. He also said the theater had been forced to spend its own money on building maintenance, including asbestos abatement, without reimbursement from the authority. Though he said he had offered to negotiate a payment plan, the two companies have been unable to reach an agreement. The authority’s spokesman, Jeremy Soffin, told The Journal, “I don’t know how anyone can justify letting this tenant rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in back rent at a time when state cuts and deteriorating tax revenues have forced the M.T.A. to lay off station agents and cut service.”

*****We need people to write letters to their elected officials immediately urging them to force the MTA to do the right thing. We need balanced press coverage that represents our point of view. We need people to write letters to the editor. We need the community and cultural value to be a part of the argument not just the money.*****