Some property owners are proposing the repeal of a law that requires residential lofts in SoHo to be set aside for working artists, according to an article in today's edition of The Wall Street Journal by Joseph De Avila.

Beginning in the 1960s, many artists illegally moved into many of the unusued industrial spaces in SoHo and converted them to residences and studios and the city eventually legalized the conversions on the condition that there be at least one city-certified artist living in each loft, the article noted.

Before too long, many more buildings were converted and the new residents were not all artists and the requirement ws widely ignored for years, the article said.

"Things changed about a year ago when city regulators began cracking down on the rule, according to opponents of the artist requirement and that prompted calls to elminate it because it is "antiquated and ignores the current character of the neighborhood," the article said.

"Co-op boards and condo associations would also be legally at risk for ignoring the artist requirement, people in the industry say, the article said. 'We are tired of putting up with the charade of certified artists,' said Margaret Baisley, a real estate attorney who says four of her clients in the past four months have lost sales because the sudden enforcement has spooked buyers. 'We twist like pretzels to comply with this law.'"

The article said that "building officials say they are just enforcing zoning rules."

Getting the artist-certification rule lifted faces hurdles, he article said, adding that "it would require changing the zoning regulations or SoHo and NoHo, a process that could take years, the article said, adding that it may be necessary to prove "that SoHo's demographics have change and that artists have fled he pricey neighborhood". The article said that Michael Slattery of the Real Estate Board of New York said it's clear that "there is not a large pool of certified artists out here."

The city's Department of Cultural Affairs said that 3,400 artists have been certified since 1971.

SoHo Alliance director Sean Sweeney worrries that repealing the artist requirement could lead to the "mass evictions of renters' as landlords seek higher paying tenants, the article said.

An article by Sara Polsky in yesterday's edition of The New York Post said that the Department of Buildings has denied temporary certificate of occupancy renewals to 10 buildings" and " in response, neighborhood residents have formed the SoHo/NoHo Action Committee to attempt to get the law overturned."

In a comment on her story, BoweryBoy observed that "before artists came along no one wanted to be anywhere near SoHo. They are the reason for the increased attention and value of the area. Whatever break they get - they earned it and they deserve it...And just last year, the NYS govt passed a law that extends the loft law to all 5 boroughs, so changing SoHo now would be going in the opposite direction that the law is currently going."