July 07, 2006

Hip-hop museum planned at its Bronx birthplace

A hip-hop museum may be coming to the Bronx, the early epicenter of the music and culture, as part of a mixed-use development given $1.5 million from the City Council, according to the Sun.

The Northeast Bronx Redevelopment Corporation plans to give one or two floors to the museum in a complex that would also include low- to moderate-income housing, a theater, a recording studio and a gym.

It would be located at 212th Street and White Plains Road, the site of an abandoned MTA transfer station. Pre-construction cleanup of the site could take up to two years, but that's nt the only hurdle the museum will need to clear, according to the Sun.

"I'm the biggest LL Cool J fan in the council, but this is not a proper use of taxpayer money," the council's Republican leader, James Oddo of Staten Island, said. He added that he supported a hip-hop museum, but only as a private venture. "If this is such a great idea, then it sells itself," he said.

July 7, 2006 09:19 AM in Museums, Out of Manhattan

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