After a whirlwind month of back-and-forthing with Cooper Union, the St. Mark's Bookshop in the East Village has been granted a rent reduction from the university, after all!
Although Bookshop owners Bob Contant and Terry McCoy told us just last week that Cooper Union had denied their requests for a $5,000 monthly reduction, the Times is reporting that a deal has been reached thanks to Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer, who met with both sides to work out an agreement. The school agreed to drop the rent from $20,000/month to $17,500/month, and forgive $7,000 in debt. "I tried to split the difference," Stringer said.
“When an independent bookstore goes out of business, a part of us goes with it," added Stringer, who said he was compelled to act after seeing the outpouring of support for the bookstore from neighborhood groups. Jamshed Bharucha, the president of Cooper Union—which is facing its own financial difficulties—said "Despite our constraints, we felt it was important to help them because of what their presence means to our community. The relief that we’re providing is so that the bookstore can come up with a viable and sustainable business plan not dependent on further subsidies." Stringer, Bharucha, and Contant and McCoy will be speaking at a press conference later today.
So, good job, everybody who signed that petition, but now it's time to get down to business: Bookshop owner Contant emphasized that the store isn't out of the woods yet, and encouraged people, as always, to come in and buy a book.
