Spinning history to save a Bronx Mitchell-Lama

Residents of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx are trying to stop their building’s owner from pulling the property out of the Mitchell-Lama affordable housing program by saying the location is the birthplace of hip-hop. DJ Kool Herc, widely credited as one of hip-hop’s founding fathers, used to spin in one of the building’s recreation rooms in the early ’70s. Residents say the building should be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, a designation they hope would prevent the owner from taking the property out of Mitchell-Lama and charging market-rate rents, thereby fundamentally altering its status as a moderate-income enclave. more [NYT]