In a twist straight out of It's a Wonderful Life, embattled coffeeshop-cum-bookstore-cum-performance space Vox Pop on Ditmas Park's Cortelyou Road in Brooklyn was saved in an 11th-hour reprieve by 172 local supporters who each coughed up cash to keep it afloat.
The space (which is "owned" and run by a collective of people, not one single owner) owed some $27,000 in back fines to the NYC Department of Health from 2007, and once again was slapped with violations when the DOH did its now-infamous we-need-money crackdown this past January. As a result, Vox Pop lost its food-and-drink license, and was trying to come up with some cash asking for donations for its live music and performance events, as this New York Times article noted. But that wasn't paying the bills -- Vox Pop was three months behind in its rent payments.
And now comes news that the shop has raised enough cash to pay off its fines, in part thanks to a community outpouring from 172 supporters who, according to the Ditmas Park Blog, "bought at least one $50 share." Consider our cockles warmed.
