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At Yvette Helin Studios an employee sands down a two-foot carbon-fiber head. It's Chuckie, of Nickelodeon's Rug Rats cartoon gang. The assorted giant feet of Chuckie's cartoon pals stand on a shelf nearby. Helin's costume manufactuing business is located in Greenpoint, one block from the waterfront. It is prime real estate and she is worried that she will lose her space when her lease expires.
TAPE: Helin: The owners say they are not interested in selling but I'm sure if somebody came up to them with the right price ... you know.
Landlords can increase their profit four-fold by converting their industrial spaces to apartments. Now, Greenpoint and Williamsburg are facing a rezoning proposal which would allow high-density residential use in areas that are currently zoned for manufacturing. Paul Parkhill is a director at the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center, a non-profit that leases long-term space to manufacturers in the neighborhood.
TAPE: Parkhill: Our fear is that the rezoning, is kindof gonna open the candy store for the developers and create a scenario where over the course of time all of those bldgs all of those mix of uses are going to disappear in favor of residential use of one stripe or another and probably predominantly upscale residential use.
According to the New York Industrial Retention Network, 4000 people work for manufacturing businesses in these neighborhoods. Local artists and immigrants make up the majority of the workforce. Parkhill says they are a valuable resource for creative manufacturers.
TAPE: Parkhill: Part of what makes Greenpoint and Williasmburg interesting and unusual neighborhoods is that they're not just bedroom communities, that they're neighborhoods where people make things.
Around the corner from Helin's studio, Franko Gotte's business manufactures window displays for department stores in Manhattan. He says his business won't be compatible with with increased residential density.
TAPE: Gotte: we make noise we work sometimes on a Saturday or at night. I think once people move in they're going to be unhappy with us and they will complain and there will be problems. So eventually it's going to be either quiet businesses and residents, or just residents.
Some residents think that wouldn't be bad. A business owner who asked not to be identified for fear he'll be harrassed by development opponents, believes that eventually the neighborhood will be purely residential and that would improve the quality of life . He says that traffic, noise, and pollution from industry cause complaints. Unlike Gotte and Helin he owns his space and is happy that after thirty years his property is now valuable.
But businesses that rent don't have the same options. Moving is costly, space is difficult to find, and many of the creative industries depend on their proximity to Manhattan. Yvette Helin says that moving her costume company further away would destroy her business.
TAPE: Helin: I don't want to be further into Brooklyn because everybody from Manhattan thinks Brooklyn, is like, uh China.
SOUND: fade in factory machines, sanders, solders, etc.
These businesses don't rely just on proximity to Manhattan, they rely on proximity to each other. Dawn Ladd runs a lighting preservation and restoration company in Williamsburg. Her company relies on glass blowers, lazer-cutters, and parts manufacturers located nearby. Ladd says that manufacturers have strength in numbers.
TAPE: Ladd: The fact that we can go right around the corner and pick up our parts here and there is really what makes us strong and able to survive.
If manufacturers start leaving and Ladd has to go further for her supplies, she says, it could hurt her business and force her to lay off employees.
At the heart of the debate is what residents envision their neighborhood will be in ten years. Proponents of the rezoning welcome an influx of income that will reclaim derelict properties and attract stores and restaurants. Opponents fear that the diversity that makes their neighborhoods vibrant will drain away. Dawn Ladd thinks Williamsburg already has what urban planners strive to achieve in other cities.
TAPE:Ladd: This precious, fragile mixture of industry, commercial, residential, retail, artist. To me a city that offers diversity is the best and highest use for our buildings and our space, and, we have that here in Williamsburg.
That is why industry advocates have proposed that 40 manufacturing blocks, scattered throughout the two neighborhoods, be exempted from the rezoning. The city has currently agreed to exempt about ten blocks. The city will finalize its recommendations in March and the City Council will vote on the plan later this spring. Adelia Honeywood, Columbia Radio News.