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Activist Bookstore in NYC Facing Eviction for Handing Out Overdose Prevention Kits

The bookstore may pursue the option of a Yellowstone injunction in order to prevent a judge from evicting them.

Bluestockings Cooperative Bookstore, a longstanding, cooperatively owned activist bookstore on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, is now facing eviction for, in part, handing out the opioid overdose treatment spray Narcan for free to anyone who wants it, Curbed reported this week.

In October, Bluestockings, which has been in its present location since 1999, received a 15-day “notice to cure” from its landlord that lists violations including “unauthorized use of the premises as a medical facility.” The notice also chastises Bluestockings for “permitting homeless individuals to use the basement restroom” creating a “hazardous condition” for other tenants in the area by handing out food.

To resolve the order, Bluestockings would likely have to stop offering free resources like overdose prevention training and stop handing out free items like toothpaste and socks. But bookstore worker Raquel Espasande told Curbed, “We will never stop offering our completely legal, free resources to the community.”

Espasande added that the bookstore may pursue the option of a Yellowstone injunction, which would pause any and all eviction proceedings until a judge has the chance to rule on the validity of the violation accusations.

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Helen HolmesCulture Reporter

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