World renowned street artist Banksy is currently in New York City, and decided to put up his newest piece in East New York, Brooklyn. Local entrepreneurs have been charging people $20 per view to get a look at the piece, and it's quickly becoming an issue.
One woman who spoke to the Gothamist explained the situation, citing East New York as a forgotten neighborhood that isn't putting up with droves of gentrifying yuppie folk.
"They have been guarding it for a while drinking heavily, so who knows. They are pretty angry about how many white people are coming here," said the woman. "Side note, I have some cred here because I work close to that spot. The general feeling is that nobody cares about this neighborhood and now that they have something of value they should benefit. Omar's name came up several times and they are not going to allow anyone to deface it. They didn't charge me because one guy has seen me around. They reported that several yellow cabs have pulled up with people wanting to get a look. They are firm about the $20 fee and tried to warn me when I left about the crews from the area projects robbing people who look like they don't belong. They wouldn't let me take a picture, but were happy to let me take a nice, long look while blocking some others who had not paid."
If you have $20 or a large cheese pizza, head over to East New York and you should be able to get a peek. Check out a video of the businessmen above.
