I can no longer count on two hands the number of close friends who are living hand-to-mouth in this city. Here are just a few of the coping mechanisms I've observed:
1. Borrow money from friends and family. Rinse and repeat as needed.
2. Sublet your own apt and couch surf so as not to lose your lease
3. Buy lunch from a lunch truck and make it last for dinner as well
4. Pay bills in rotation. Jan pay the cable. Feb pay the phone. Mar pay Con Ed. And repeat.
5. Miss payments on rent until you end up in housing court. Negotate a settlement. Pay as much of the settlement as possible until...
6. Rent out your couch.
7. Sell shit on Craigslist.
If NYC seems to be getting more and more unfriendly to artists--Actually, not just artists. Working people--seems like the logical thing to do after taking a few steps in a swamp would be to grab onto the nearest tree and work your way back to dry land.
Should artists see the writing on the wall and get the hell out of Dodge?
