Tuesday, May 1, 2012

No Miracle At The (Former) West Broadway Prayer Center...

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

Last November, this blog was paying attention to the West Broadway Prayer Center controversy. Jariland Spence, the nice lady who was the heart and soul of the center, was facing eviction from her landlord. Mainstream media was reporting on the story and the implication of their reporting seemed to be they were hoping for some kind of Christmas miracle, since Spence owed back rent and faced eviction as a "serious buyer" for the building supposedly waited in the wings.

While stuck in Afghanistan, I searched in vain for some kind of followup story on this subject. There were none. Well, I've got yer follow up story right here...

There might be a miracle on 34th Street, but don't expect any miracles on the tough part of West Broadway. In the space formerly occupied by the prayer center, there is now a business called Five Star Home Care, Inc.

Notably, "Five Star" only displays a single star on its sign. So is it really "One Star" home service? Seldom does one have the opportunity to see such bad business sign design come to actual completion and get pressed into service.

Rumors of a building buyer waiting in the wings still appear to be rumors at this point, or perhaps hopes and dreams that fell through, or even big fat lies. Online city property records still show the owner as John L. and Helen F. Reider. These records are often out of date when it comes to showing previous sales but I've noticed the current owner is updated with greater frequency.

I've searched for any online info about the current status of the Prayer Center as an organization and as a one woman project. Lots of information remains online about the old prayer center and its two "we are being evicted" crises. However, I haven't found anything that would tell me the current status of the organization. If anybody has info, please contribute to the discussion. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This may or may not be relevant- you do not pay your rent you get kicked the fuck out. Such is life. Fair enough.