From the new issue of The Villager:
Party out of bounds
To The Editor:
And now N.Y.U. states that it plans to expand by 40 percent. Obviously, most of that will have to be in the East Village, since there’s not much space left for their grand ambitions in the Village.
Why does N.Y.U. have to be bigger? What’s the point? So we can choke on their destructiveness to the local population?
God forbid they should get any part of Governors Island; do we have to kick out Bloomberg immediately to make sure that doesn’t happen? The people, the residents that is, need Governors Island for recreation! Those students can go to the Rockies or Europe or wherever they like for their time off.
The view of the Judson Church tower has been ruined by the ugly military-style dorms atop a “law school” for which N.Y.U. tore down the Poe House and allowed Washington Square to be overshadowed. East Village, watch out for buildings around Tompkins Square — soon your sun too will be overshadowed by N.Y.U. high-rises!
It’s a party school and that’s a big part of what residents have against this planned expansion. We in the East Village have seen blood on the sidewalk and students screaming at cops that their fathers are big shots. They’re here to drink themselves numb.
Martin Delarue
This may seem simplistic, but....the financial situation of 2008 has not been magically cured, it's only been papered over. The next few years will likely see a very serious economic situation developing. New York City is cutting back on services, especially police. Put it all together and this won't be as attractive a place for privileged children to live. NYU scales back its plans. We're saved for a couple of decades. In fact, some of the developments we all hate of the past ten years will be put into reverse for a while. The only problem is, it won't be pretty for the rest of us, either.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more with you, John. I'm always surprised to hear people say that "whew, the worst is over!" Hardly. There are enormous city and state budget gaps that we really won't feel for a few more years... and we'll see a continued erosion of city services. And we're already seeing the effects of a reduced police force.
ReplyDeletecrime, save us now....
ReplyDeleteDoes, NYU have to own EVERYTHING? For god sakes......can't they just build their own private island at this point?
ReplyDelete