Name: Karen
Occupation: Retired, Social Worker
Location: 10th Street and 1st Avenue
Time: 1:15pm on Monday, December 3
I’ve lived in Manhattan my whole life. I was born on 26th Street and I lived in Stuyvesant Town for most of the time, and I’ve been living in this neighborhood for 5 years. But I had relatives living on 7th Street since I was born, so I’ve always been around here. I would visit my grandmother and my aunt. That’s why I feel very connected to this area.
I’m retired now. I was a social worker for the Veterans hospital on 23rd Street. I worked there for 30 years and then I just felt like I had enough. It was a hard job but I was glad that I did it.
In the last several years, I worked in a program for women veterans. I totally changed what I did. That became a whole different thing because their needs weren’t being met by the hospital because the hospital was used to serving men. That was very different and a lot of the women had a lot of problems.
Unfortunately, the VA is closed right now because of the storm. They had very bad electrical damage and they don’t know when it’s going to open up. The veterans who depend on it have to go to the Brooklyn VA or other places.
During the 1970s and 1980s, it was a horror show around here. Unfortunately, a lot of the bad stuff is the stuff that stands out. Like, I still get creeped out whenever I go over to Tompkins Square Park. Even though it’s OK there now basically, I can’t psychologically, I just cringe when I walk near that Park, because it was so horrible. I remember these tents and burning garbage cans and all of these really awful, dangerous homeless people. Avenue A was my cutoff point; I wouldn’t walk further east. Avenue B, C, D — forget about it.
I had a boyfriend in college — both his front teeth were knocked out in Tompkins Square Park. I think it was just a night mugging and it didn’t even seem that shocking to me.
And then I had this other boyfriend who lived on the block where the Hells Angels lived, and he went into a supermarket. I’m not sure if it was a Key Food or an A&P, but he was attacked in the supermarket and he had to pick up a broom to defend himself in there. I think he went in there to steal tuna fish.
My favorite place right now is this little dive — it’s just a counter and there no tables. It’s called Stage [Restaurant] and it’s next to that "Stomp" show. I love that place. I get their beef goulash; and their potato pancakes; and pierogies; and blintzes; and soups; and meatloaf; just about everything that I’ve had there is really good. You can go and spend 12 bucks for a full meal and the guys are so nice.
Location: "In the heart of the old aristocratic Stuyvesant and Astor Place section, a new and distinctive residential neighborhood is rapidly spring up. This district, so rich in City tradition, is once more coming into prominence as a desirable location for the modern home."
"The congested state of New York's transportation will never become a menace to residents of WARREN HALL. Within two blocks is the Astor Place Place station of the Fourth Avenue Subway, the 9th Street station of the Third Avenue Elevated and any number of surface lines leading in all directions."
This is a dangerous location for food lovers! Blackhound bakery is right downstairs and the famous Veselka Polish diner is one block away. You can sit out front and enjoy your iced coffee at Dunkin Donuts before heading across the street to take advantage of the twice weekly farmers market.
BoysLikeBarbies and MERMAIDFARM Media Arts present I HEART HURRICANE RELIEF, a benefit for Occupy Sandy at the Sidewalk Cafe.
Music, poetry, comedy, plus live auctions and raffles to support those in the process of recovering from Hurricane Sandy. $10 suggested donation. 5:30 p.m. — midnight.
Jeffrey Lewis
Victor Varnado
Debe Dalton
John F. O'Donnell
Madison Cano
Jessica Delfino
Bernard King Presents
Myka Fox
Bridget and the Squares
The DeLorean Sisters
Tim Shea
Peter Loureiro
Sean T. Hanratty and the Mighty Mighty
Hosted by A Brief View of the Hudson
ON THE AUCTION BLOCK:
- Vintage jewelry and accessories from Dusty Buttons
- A Photograph from rock and roll photographer Jonnie Miles
- A gift certificate to Mark Garrison Salon
- 2 $25 bar tabs at the Sidewalk Cafe
- A Bridget and the Squares shwag bag
- A $50 bar tab at Sophie's Bar
- A $50 bar tab at Mona's Bar
- A $50 bar tab at Josie's Bar
- A complimentary massage from Jessica Laine Trugman Massage
IN ADDITION to monetary relief, we are asking all in attendance to please go take a look at the Occupy Sandy website, and are encouraging all to bring any supplies they are currently requesting to the event. They have expressed a dire need for volunteers, especially on the weekends, and team leaders and organizers who can commit for extended periods of time. A representative from the Occupy Sandy group will be there accepting donations and have information for the ways in which you can help!
Students for a Free Cooper Union have been in the Peter Cooper Suite for >28 hours. Candlelight vigil on the ground: twitter.com/FreeCooperUnio…
— Free Cooper Union (@FreeCooperUnion) December 5, 2012
Ah, yes, the "iconic," "quirky" poverty of the New York City streets! Imagine having a wallet that conjures all the romance of sleeping on sidewalks in a city where an unprecedented number of people are now without a roof over their heads.
We, the Students for a Free Cooper Union, who reclaimed The Peter Cooper Suite from the current Cooper Union administration yesterday at noon, have established base overnight. We will continue holding this space until our demands are met or we are otherwise removed: we will not negotiate.
To this point we have publicly presented our terms and principles and reached out to the broader community and press, but we have yet to be contacted in any capacity by the president. Faced with ideological opposition to the expansionist model, Jamshed Bharucha has withdrawn from public view and shirked his responsibilities overseeing the college.
We denounce our president’s repeated absence in the face of community organizing. Last year, while the New York City Police Department arrested our students, our administration was nowhere to be seen; and chants of “Where is our president?” still echo today. We need transparency, not invisibility. In contrast, the public has come together in support of our principles and demands. Displays of solidarity — from tweets all around the world to a candlelit vigil eight floors below — resonate our rejection of the global system of student debt and articulate aggravations that are felt worldwide.
Yesterday, an anonymous source shared a report with us detailing the results of a committee convened to analyze the feasibility of implementing undergraduate tuition in the School of Engineering. The research concluded that within 10 years, students could face between $40,000 and $80,000 in tuition fees.
Since we received and shared this document, other members of the community have stepped forward to clarify the nature of the report. It is our understanding now that this committee was one of many tasked to research revenue generation for the school. We struggle with the fact that all of this information has come to light solely from a leaked document, and not the from our expectations of transparency and candor.
In response to the undervaluing of student voices and the continuous dismissal of community organizing, Students for a Free Cooper Union are holding a press conference on Tuesday, December 4, 2012 to address the aforementioned points. We are organizing our fellow students as public intermediaries to speak on our behalf while we retain the Peter Cooper Suite.
We invite everyone to this press conference in front of Cooper Union at 7 East 7th Street at 2:30 PM
3:00 Chain-cutting ceremony and proclamation by Rosie Mendez
3:45 Slideshow by Seth Tobocman with Eric Bliss, Ben Barson and Joe Merolla
4:30 Talk and slideshow by Adam Purple
4:45 Reading by Maggie Wrigley
4:55 Reading by Felix
5:05 Slideshow by Mac McGill
5:35 Talk by Ben Shepard
5:50 Slideshow by Fly
6:30 Talk by Frank Morales
6:40 Spoken word by Pete Missing
7:00 Sermon and songs by Reverend Billy and The Church of Stop Shopping
8:00 March by Rude Mechanical Orchestra
8:30 Performance by Rude Mechanical Orchestra
Deejaying by DJ Dirtyfinger
What could be better than living downtown in a 2800' full floor corner loft steps away from Whole Foods, great shopping, fine restaurants and superior transportation? Imagine getting off the elevator and stepping directly into your dramatic new home with its sweeping New York City vistas including a view of Union Square Park, high ceilings and beautiful details throughout. Best of all, there is an updated modern kitchen for you to cook the wonderful fresh produce you've scored from the nearby Union Square farmers market ... You have the option of renting this special home with the owner's tasteful furnishings ... or you can bring your own.
Students at Cooper Union NYC have locked themselves into the top floor of the uni's main bldg.
— Elizabeth Coss (@ChangeThruArt) December 3, 2012
Occupy Cooper Union! - 12 students have seized the eighth floor to oppose tuition/fee hikes. fb.me/1MF23khHW
— OccupyColleges (@OccupyColleges) December 3, 2012
One year ago, our current administration put tuition on the table for the first time in over 110 years. Students, alumni, and community members came together to organize, protest, and offer creative, viable, sustainable, solutions that avoided the implementation of tuition at our school.
One year later, undergraduate tuition is still on the table and the voting date is fast approaching. In response we are making a call to action! At 12 pm on Dec 3, 2012 join us at Cooper Union to let our administration know education is a right! We believe and are committed to the idea of free and sustainable education, not just for our institution but for all institutions!
12pm-6 pm: Join us outside the foundation building for a day of outdoors classes. Occupy Peter Cooper Park! ... We'll be picketing, handing out literature about student movements (including our own), making art, and making noise!
6-10 pm: Free and Open to the Public! Join us in Cooper's historic Great Hall for a public Community Summit on the state of higher education in NYC! Presentation on the current debt/tuition crisis, international student movements, and sustainable solutions. After presentations, speakers will sit on a panel for open question/answer segment.
Soon afterward, she said, maintenance workers arrived and tried to force their way into the room.
“They were drilling and ramming the door,” she said. “It was very scary.”
The students pushed back, Ms. Sobel said, and yelled to the workers that their bodies were against the doors. After about 20 minutes, she said, the entry attempts ended.
Ms. Sobel said that the students had brought with them sleeping bags, blankets and food, including oatmeal and ramen noodles, and were planning to stay “as long as necessary” to get their message across to the administration.
Cooper Union officials said they were still formulating a response to the occupation of the Clocktower.
