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Vox Pop, Lefty Cafe & Bookstore, in Dire Straits in Ditmas Park
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 16, 2009
Modified Mar 16, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 16, 2009
Modified Mar 16, 2009
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Collectively running a lefty cafe and bookstore is just not as romantic as it sounds. Vox Pop in Ditmas Park is in deep weeds; the health department shut down the food-and-beverage operation at the shop in January because of $29,000 in unpaid fines, not to mention evidence of vermin. Now the phone's been disconnected, they're three months behind on the rent, and some locals are worried that the demise of the four-year-old gathering place may signal a broader degentrification in Ditmas Park. Employee Debi Ryan explains to the Times: "There are financial problems due to—I don't want to call it mismanagement, I want to call it lack of management." Former co-owner Sander Hicks, who also founded Soft Skull Press, resigned over the unpaid fines, but it's a vicious cycle: without revenue from the cafe it's hard to raise the money to pay the fines to reopen the cafe. All this has customers like Oliver Moné deeply vexed: "This is aggravating. I like the coffee. I like the place. Dunkin’ Donuts is O.K., but this is prime stuff. I mean, I hate Starbucks. God, I hate Starbucks."
Tagged
ditmas park
vox pop
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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