cheerful pictures of the St. Patrick's Day paraded and a little rest

http://www.amny.com/
Am New York has some fun joyful pictures of the St. Patrick Day's Parade and reports about the FDNY being back at the front of the line.

I will be pack posting pictures of the my neighborhood and community at the end of next week.

I will keep you posted on any letters I get published but for now I am taking a short rest.
thanks for following my blog and I appreciate your interest and postings.

best,
SBT Artist

St. Patty's Day and thinking of 9-11 today, sadness

Woke up at 5am and have been rushing...writing, typos and frustration..
This latest tragedy evokes 9-11 memories and also a feeling of despair because so many of us spoke up over and over about construction, infrastructure and this may be the worst construction tragedy but it is not the first but one of many tragedies above and below ground post 9-11 in this tsunami of over the top way too rapid development.

Feel very tired and sad for many reasons this morning.

Crane incident that crushed a cab down here -- remember?

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_KGkRtiAkfwQifz5-43TeOhoEnKrrnn98MxbDyVMCypCuqkDPMU2ba0YsYNSIMup1c7nxAeKtqhK9-3XUabF5pM6u80rlw25SToe-fglC2149_dRRNRqm3GfTLTJq1z5J-RZ2TrcEy8rh/s1600-h/_V3R9560-02-1-jbs.jpg

you can go to www.neithermorenorless.blogspot.com
and type in crane in the blog search engine...than scroll down until you see the photos and coverage from the crane incident that crushed the taxi cab by me in the East Village.

You can also type in the word Mercedes in to the blog search engine for www.neithermorenorless.blogspot.com
and see the mercedes toasting like a marshmallow over the man hole cover by Tompkins Square Park...

NY Daily News tried posting but the word count killed me.

In response to op ed piece on Crane tragedy editoral piece: I could not get around the word count so I had to post in pieces on the www.nydailynews.com


Here are photos of another crane incident by me which was shocking but not one died by pure miracle...
you can see the taxi cab crushed and people were injured.
This is the East Village at 3rd Avenue by 13th Street.
Even before this I attended the City Council Task Force Meeting on DOB, Dec 2006 and spoke up about the death toll from construction and injuries.
It is also below ground infrastructure -- we have had deaths and injuries and I believe it is due to this tsunami of community crushing development which has been way too rapid, too many permits and free passes to bust through zoning, self certification of architects, you name it including 7 day a week free passes to work and the USPS to date never notified the State of NY they sold air space over a historic site....try getting a piece of mail delivered with out putting a stamp on it and this was allowed so NYU could set a world record pace tearing down a Church from 1847 to supersize our historic neighborhood for yet another hideous mega dorm because the mayor has his priorities and it is not affordable housing but NYU student housing.

What does this have to do with cranes -- everything. It is all part of the puzzle of real estate deals and construction mega speed builds getting pushed through too fast and in the Lower East Side where I live I see infrastructure problems --- water main breaks, man hole covers exploding, sink holes from sewage and my point is this crane horror is the worst ever but it is not the first and I saw this crane horror that crushed a cab but the people survived. I have called the press and asked them to please cover these stories and I can't get them down here.

I do have a link to NY1 on my blog of me standing with diverse group of community members talking in front of a "medium" size water main break at 2nd Avenue and 7th.
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?&aid=69978&search_result=1&stid=8

We have had to many people die post 9-11 live from construction related injuries, scaffolding and infrastructure and we need the "Safety first!!!!!!!" and accountability!!!!!!!

thanks,
Suzannah B. Troy
www.suzannahbtroy.blogspot.com

http:/www.chelseanow.com/cn_12/builtupcomplaintssome.html
You can see me in a picture here at the Dec. 2006 City Council Task Force Meeting on DOB and I talked about the death toll of construction and protestors against the Trump build at Spring Street before someone died there.

We have spoken up over and over and over calling for safety first and a slow down and accountability.
I know I have.

Happy St. Patty's day

Hi Saint Patty's day's.

Just sad.

Thinking how it is suppose to be a democracy and freedom of speech but it feels like the city has become oligarchs posing as liberals serving their interests.

How many of us spoke up? 

So many and instead of listening and taking action -- same old same old and now this crane tragedy.

+watching HBO John Adams and the camera work is making me sea sick...what were they thinking?

just not celebrating anything right now...

City Council Task Force Meeting on the Dept of Buildings

http:/www.chelseanow.com/cn_12/builtupcomplaintssome.html

You can see me and the paper wrongly states I am anti-development.  I am not.  I am anti-this tsunami of supersized community crushing development.

Dec. 2006 City Council Task Force meeting on DOB

WE talked about this!!!

I know I did and it was a packed house.  I talked about how many construction workers had died at that point and I did bring in infrastructure and evictions as in the lack of affordable housing and of course the tear down of St. Ann's and infrastructure concerns...

why at a DOB city council task force meeting?

Because it is all related!!!!!  You cannot hand out the many permits to build,  supersize at world record paces and not have it impact people's safety and that is above and below ground -- INFRASTRUCTURE  and it was clear this tsunami was for mega dorms, sky piercing luxury condos and hotels and yes mostly all on an old infrastructure.

I keep mentioning the pregnant women that spoke and her concerns about what they were inhaling from the construction sites and there are so many everywhere you go.  And NYU got passes to work 7 days a week and as late as 9PM weekdays for the majority of their mega speed build and under the "not for profit" status -- what a racquet from not paying taxes to the long term noise pollution to pollution and in the context of the horrible tragedy yesterday -- more deaths, more injuries, more people traumatized and more homeless...more people grieving.

So tired of the talk and no action.  No accountability and if the mayor says they don't have the money than slow it down until you have the money.  Bear Stearns just got bailed out, how about NYC?

I guess we won't get action until someone rich and powerful is killed in yet another construction or infrastructure tragedy.  

We have had two tragedies that looked like terrorist attacks, the infrastructure debacle by Grand Central and now this crane tragedy.

In the meantime I can't stop remembering that two amazing good souls Firemen Bobby Beddia and Joseph Graffagino are dead because they take down of the toxic waste dump Deutsche Bank could not have moved slower.  If only NYU had wanted to build a mega dorm there they would be alive.

It is clear who the  Mayor favors and  it is just hard to believe these horrible tragedy is going to make a difference. Why should it.  What is the death toll and number of injuries post 9-11 re: infrastructure and construction and include scaffolding when you answer my question?  Post 9-11 our firehouses closed, lower the NYPD starting salary, and more budget cuts are too come.  There only seems money for the support of mega builds and for little else.

I am angry, I am sad and I am so tired...so tired.

The Wall Street Journal my letter - the link doesn't work

online.wsj.com/article/SB111457272166718054.html
... djm&orderReset=true&Title=Betrayal+at+Ground+Zero&Author=&CreditLine ... as well.

Suzannah B. Troy
New York

...
online.wsj.com/article/SB111457272166718054.html%20
More pages from online.wsj.com

The link no longer works but the letter I had published in The Wall Street Journal "Betrayal at Ground Zero" is as true now as it was than.  When I watch the tragedy on television tonight and think of the infrastructure tragedy by Grand Central that looked like a terrorist attack also it just underscores my points in the letter.  

Also note who was there front line like 9-11 and to date the mayor refuses to honor our rescue workers that died 9-11 with the simple respect due, their rank.  It was also the largest loss of rescue workers in our City's and Nation's history and you would think this fact of history would be acknowledged at the site always.

We do not have the highest paid rescue workers but New York's front line is constantly featured  running in to these large tragic events so you think they would be.  

It looks like more budget cuts are to come, more economic casualties post 9-11, more casualties.  Bear Stearns is getting "rescued".  NYC is in need of rescuing. 

Crane tragedy has a 9-11 feel

I can't tell you about my life right now and I want to to give you context but I will say I am watching more footage on television and it really has a 9-11 feeling.  I also see people deeply traumatized. 

The searching for survivors, the massive plume of smoke, prayers for all.

Again the front line is the same front line 9-11.  I just can't believe there may be more cuts to our front line.  I can't believe how many of us have asked for a slow down on way too many passes to build -- it all felt too fast, most supersizing on the city's old infrastructure and the death toll and injuries post 9-11 related to above ground -- the construction and scaffolding and below ground the infrastructure.  When I got my infrastructure letter published in AM New York Jan. 11, 2007, I walked my letter over to Con Ed and I hand wrote them a note and asked if they could ask the mayor to slow down because of safety concerns.

The tsunami of development which brought a massive amount of construction and infrastructure expansion and all this supersizing in historic areas where the infrastructure is old has been so upsetting and I know I am one of many people that asked for a slow down.  We wanted accountability and we wanted safety first.  We watch another tragedy unfold and I do not feel this will be the last.  

I am incredible sad tonight and very tired.  This has a 9-11 feeling.  I also was shocked in the changes -- the tsunami of over the top way too rapid development that came post 9-11.  I thought I lived in the East Village and woke up to a bad xerox of midtown.   I will always remember the parishioners crying and praying on the street after they were turned out of St. Ann's and again we endured so much pollution especially noise as did New Yorkers city wide  and that was a concern discussed at the City Council Task force meeting on DOB, I spoke at and I remember a pregnant Mom speaking up concerned about what she was inhaling being next to one of these sites.

My heart goes out to every body and the families of the victims.   My heart goes out to the rescue workers and I am wearing a 9-11 Memorial shirt for a fireman and I feel sadness because they went from heroes to zeroes.  To date the mayor denies them their rank on the 9-11 memorial. Fire houses closed.  More cuts are to come.   The NYPD starting salary lowered. EMS salaries I have always heard are low and yet they continue to be our front line.

I am waiting mode for closure re: my home of 20 years and it is a deeply traumatic event which I can't write about right now but what I saw tonight on the television and what it evokes is even more so for people I saw interviewed for more families that are losing loved ones way too soon.

It is midnight and I just want to go to sleep but I can't just yet.

For now I wait.  

 

Let's face it, we are scared

We all have looked at these massive cranes with fear. I saw the after math of the crane incident with the cab crushed like an accordion  one block from  me (East Village).  The crane that scares me the most right now in my neighborhood is the Cooper Union crane.

Many of us walk in the street rather than under the scaffolding. 

I have warned people not to park their cars over manholes because I have seen a Mercedes toasted like a marshmallow.

I have posted a "medium" size water main break on this site (look under my links NY1) that looks like the East River at 2nd Avenue and 7th Street.  I saw a sink hole a few blocks away that was sewage related and few blocks down another man hole blew (Thanksgiving morning).

It just gets little press but it happens with way too much frequency and my theory is it is this tsunami of over the top development which is moving way to fast.  

It is above ground and below and the concerns -- it feels to me -- do not get the priority that the speed of all these construction builds.

Just saw footage on the news and just like the infrastructure catastrophe by Grand Central --- it looks like a terrorist attack.

SAFETY first!!!!!  Accountability and safety first!!!!!

Prayers to all...

Body Bag Boom NY Daily News July 7, 2007 my letter

July 7, 2007 New York Daily News



Body bag boom
Manhattan: Re "New law tightens screws on builders" (July 4): Too little, too late. How many construction workers and civilians have been injured or died in this tsunami of community-crushing development?Suzannah B. Troy http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2007/07/07/2007-07-07_voice_of_the_people.html


I talked about the deaths and injuries at the City Council Task Force Meeting on DOB and I have this letter and my concerns are above ground and below meaning infrastructure and it ties in to a tsunami of over the top development city wide that is moving way to fast and is should be safety first and accountability.

http://www.chelseanow.com/cn_12/builtupcomplaintssome.html
I am not anti-development. I am anti-over the top community crushing development and way to rapid in terms of safety and accountability.


+Just heard on the news 46 people died in NYC in re: to construction related injuries in 2006, I do not know if it is accurate but post 9-11 I believe a high amount of people have been injured or died.

Another tragedy and of course the rescue workers are first on the scene and condolences and wishes of safety for those on the scene.

4 people killed crane incident 51rst and 2nd Avenue

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=79456

I am posting NY1's coverage -- 4 people killed crane related death....
51rst and 2nd Avenue

I am moving but my view has the "crane condo" by me where there was another crane incident and it was dramatic and people where injured but no one was killed. There are photos of the damage from this incident on other local blogs which was circa a year ago? including a taxi in the middle of 3rd Avenue crushed but they people lived...injured but alive. I just started this blog in December.

At every incident either people are killed or I find myself saying it's a miracle no one was killed and I am talking about infrastructure and construction including scaffolding.

Charles Ludlam and being Ridiculous at La Mama

March 15, 2008
Saturday at 3:00pm
La Mama

http://www.lamama.org/

Everett QUINTON on Everett Quinton and Charles Ludlam and being RIDICULOUS

My good friend David Kaufman wrote Ridiculous a biography on Charles Ludlam and he is on his way to La Mama Theatre to join the Ludlam love fest!!!!!


I am what I am...I love that song...
Sometimes I feel like I am a gay man and my life has a Charles Ludlam Ridiculous meet Alfred Hitchcock quality. Just joking....sort of...

Here is an earlier posting about David's new book coming out this year on Doris Day.



http://suzannahbtroy.blogspot.com/2008/01/david-kaufman-and-suzannah-b-troy-hold.html


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_MaMa_Experimental_Theatre_Club
La Mama was started in 1961 by Ellen Stewart and she is an enduring ground breaker and keeps the spirit of the East Village alive and burning!!!!!!

I have a photo of the facade with busts on this blog...search the blog engine under La Mama

Free Tibet and thoughts on Global Politics

Free Tibet!

Could you imagine is China, Russia, etc.  (big list of etc.)  and all those competing with the USA were held to the same standards as America is?  Of course we don't meet the standard but they are even further away meeting those standards.

China's human rights violations extend to their own people and on so many other issues as well.   

Europe organized itself as the European Union to compete with the USA and finally it is paying off for them in one way and that is the Euro is stronger than the dollar.

EU is slammed Bill Gates but he had that here too and was able to side step it but I don't think he can do the same with the EU.

EU is holier than thou with us but a lot of those countries have a history of blood on their hands and soil.  Just my bitter feeling.  

Anyway, free Tibet.

How ironic the Olympics might pressure China to behave better because of course it brings in big bucks and they world is watching.

I wish we could start using far more solar power and any tech alternatives other than oil.

I am glad I live in the USA, just wish I could find a quiet Bohemian community and retire from the mainstream world...just my tired thoughts....

Tina Negron and Adrienne Shelly

If you drew a line from where Tina Negron and Adrienne Shelly were murdered and a line from my front door it would cut through the connecting  line.  This is close to home.

 I believe both women spoke up -- dared to speak up to their attackers.  Tina would never have the opportunity to become a mother and Adrienne leaves behind a beautiful 2 year who will be deprived of knowing the Mom that loved her so much her masterpiece "Waitress" is infused with love for her daughter.  Adrienne Shelly's daughter will always know how deeply her Mom loved her and Tina's Mom knows how much her daughter loved her and she must face life with out Tina.  No parent wants to out live their child.  No child wants to grow up with out their Mom.

My heart goes out to both these families.

 Tina knew her murderer.   Adrienne did not.

I believe both women spoke up and both died violently.

The men wanted to dictate to them and blame them for their violent impulses.

May they rest in peace and my heart goes out to their loved ones.

I wish the were stronger protective guidelines and safety measures in place to protect women and it can be in their work place or in their home, in the lobby, the stair well, the elevators, the street....

If only it could be fought they way society fights breast cancer and more women endure bouts of hostile behavior, intimidation, being put downs, lied about aka trashed that can end in death by violence than women dieing from breast cancer -- that is my theory for the USA and globally.

Control

Control is part of the package of intimidation, verbal abuse and a hostile environment that I believe go hand in hand with violence towards women.

You do not have to be dating or intimate to have experienced this and for someone women it can feel very violent but it never escalates to murder but the hostile environment is so disturbing it is feels like form of violence and it is a form of duress and clearly part of intimidation and again like a circle, back to trying to control her...like a slow motion hate crime.

10 year old girl raped in the Bronx

So shocking and I just caught this on the news.  It was the 2nd rape on the news tonight, Brooklyn, and both were horrifying but a 10 year old girl in the Bronx...

no words....

also two different incidents -- one a young girl sitting in her living room grazed by a bullet another incident teenager injured related to a gun incident.  

City wide I have been hoping for a demonstration against community crushing development and now I would like one against violence -- against women and children, stop the violence... 

If people see something they need to speak up....

Tina Negron in my thoughts

I was writing about Adrienne Shelly today and a deeply moving comment was posted on my site that resonates for me. This is the 2nd deeply moving communication I have received about Tina Negron and again my heart goes out to her family and all that loved her.

The issue of violence towards women, hostile expressions that can escalate and of course this comment brought force Tina's last words and it was about control... another key word that goes with violence directed at women.

Please read the piece I wrote on Tina Negron and I hope they catch this murder asap and put him away just like Adrienne Shelly's murderer.  

Tina Negron

Just read an amazing comment that gave me chills and I think of Adrienne Shelly and Tina Negron


http://suzannahbtroy.blogspot.com/2008/03/tina-negrons-murder-help-catch-him-here.html

Here is the photo and the wanted sign in Spanish please help if you can by sending our the photo and info to catch this murderer.

Adrienne Shelly's family speaks up in court

I sent this letter in to one of the papers covering the story of the family's anger and grief. I know it won't be published so I am posting it on my site. She was murdered in the West Village.

I wrote it for everyone who has been a victim of violence and blamed by the abuser.

Adrienne Shelly brilliant life was cut short by a coward who attempted to blame her by making his heinous murder look like a suicide hanging her.
"Waitress" the last film she made, wrote, directed and acted in touched on violence toward women and the blame game but the film was about rising above it and ultimately it was about love even ending with a small cameo with her beautiful little daughter and a song Shelly co-write that is as much a love letter to her daughter as is the film.   This film is an  original, masterful film making, life and love affirming and Adrienne Shelly deserves an Oscar posthumously for her courageous quirky film that ultimately celebrates love.

Cowards can lie, trash, blame and murder their victims but they cannot destroy all the goodness and Adrienne Shelly was clearly a powerfully loving dynamo in real life as a mother as much as she was a film maker.

My heart goes out to her family and to all those people that love her.

Suzannah B. Troy


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/nyregion/15actress.html?st=cse&sq=Adrienne+Shelly&scp=6
This is the only article I read that reported the cowardly liar changed his story and why? If he changed his story he would get a lesser sentence but either way he will be in jail but another child in NYC is growing up with out a mom.

Note: This article refers to her as an actress when in fact she was a powerful film maker which is another way I believe women are dismissed. The article I read today did acknowledge her achievements. I feel so sad for her family. The film is truly a love letter to a little girl who has been robbed of growing up to know first hand how much she was loved.

NYU and the other Universities lack of actions speaker louder than their p.r.

I don't understand the rapidity of NYU's buy up, tear down supersizing and leasing of the neighborhood and their lack of accountability except that they have the most powerful connections and deepest pockets and they are the no. 1 real estate magnate in NYC and all not for profit.  Again, I ask you how much would be the taxes they would have to pay to the city if they were not for profit?

How many thousands of students do they have and could you imagine if each one did volunteer work for the community they now dominate so they came to understand about the senior citizens, tutoring/mentoring children, more scholarships for our poor, free computer use for poor including homeless, help with homeless, drugs and alcohol problems, evictions, small businesses and how NYU and every University that has student housing here can help and the place to organize this are community outreach resource centers in the massive student housing that occupies the East Village and every where there are mega dorms and student housing like Stuy Town, Chelsea and South St. Seaport.

You can type in NYU in the search engine for this blog and take a look at my postings.

The first one was this one from December:

NYU moves at a rapid and powerful pace and gets newspapers to print their p.r. but actions or the lack of speaker louder than their public relations.

I am deeply traumatized from what has happened and it is all way too "close to home" and I am going to rest now.   I have "acid burn" in my throat which call 9-11 throat.

http://suzannahbtroy.blogspot.com/2007/12/north-side-of-stunning-historic-police.html

This posting about the historic police building underscores A BUILDING THAT HONORED IT'S RESPONSIBILITY FOR A COMMUNITY FACILITY.

Every you search under NYU, search under Cooper Union.

Cooper Union, The New School, NY Law and SVA all jumped on the NYU student housing band wagon making the East Village into a massive University-ville and they did not even need to abuse eminent domain to do it.  The USPS never notified the State of New York they were selling air rights over a historical site -- St. Ann's and if you do not put a stamp on a letter does it get delivered?

The people and small businesses, the historic New York that is barely left are owed something and we are tired of hearing highly paid public relations telling the press we love them and they are working with us.  

American Indian Museum by Battery Park and memorials-memories

http://www.americanindian.si.edu/subpage.cfm?subpage=visitor&second=ny&third=hours

Here is the link to the American Indian Museum with a beautiful photo and this stunning building is a place to visit.
They have powerful exhibitions including modern art.

I remember going down town after 9-11 and seeing the soldiers sleeping down there in the small park. Seems like a strange unreal dream and I doubt my reality...did I see soldiers there? Yes.

Anyway I love to walk around and I visit  the Viet Nam War Memorial made of glass at 55 Water Street with letters from soldiers and moving quotes. My most favorite letter is from a Ranger that never made it home. I love his letter and I am deeply moved every time I return to read it.   When I would do long distance runs I would run from the front door of my building in the East Village down the East River or West Side Highway and read his letter.  Sometimes I would run up the stairs over to the memorial for those that died in the first terrorist attack at the World Trade Center and I remember one woman was pregnant.  I miss these runs and I can't run anymore but I am so grateful I did these runs.

There are World War 2 memorials in Battery Park. My Dad served in WW2.

Also in Battery Park is the Korean War Memorial with the negative space forming a soldier's body in a visual eternity that is also a sun dial that marks the exact time the peace treaty was signed if I recall correctly. I remember I wrote the parks dept because they planted trees that would block the sun and they wrote me back and said that I along with Korean Vets had contacted them and they would remove the trees which they did.

*You could send in your suggestions for the WTC Memorial which I did and I felt there should be a feature even if it is on-line or available at the site to translate contributions by the family and friends --- memories, letters like the Viet Nam Vet memorial that reminds us of our soldiers humanity and their thoughts, loves and concerns.

I want the FDNY, NYPD, PAPD and EMS to be acknowledged with their rank which to date the mayor says is not going to happen.

Suzannah and feline love ones from Whiskers & City Critters

These are my two loved ones I adopted last year and both are blind in one eyes and they are older cats that needed homes.  Whiskers is located at 235 East 9th Street by 2nd Avenue

1800whiskers.com and they are very kind and devoted to healthy living for pets and helping find homes for four legged friends in need.  City Critters worked with Whiskers and we are all a lot happier for their hard work.  They are devoted New Yorkers helping animals and people together!!!   www.citycritters.org  

There are people in this city that work day and night to help the people and animals to keep on keeping on.

 Bravo!!!

 The Buffalo Blanket is an American Indian Blanket that has a spiritual message about never giving up.  I got it at Common Ground that had to move to 16th Street.

http://thecommonground.8m.net/

Pat's Bench, National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum

It is a photo actually a video grab of a bench dedicated to Capt. Patrick Brown and all the firemen that died with him 9-11 from Ladder 3 with a sign I hand painted about our firefighters NYC heart and soul.

During the big black out I was happy to see neighbors sitting on Pat's Bench and I felt like the guys from Ladder 3 where there looking over them.

In memory of Capt. Patrick Brown 11-9-52  09-11-01

Ladder 3, Ladder 26, Rescue 2, Ladder 28, Engine 69

Packing up

I am still an owner in the coop where I have lived for 20 years and I can't wait to close this chapter but I have to wait  because it is a process and at this point I wait for the coop board to go through the package.

To move after 20 years in one place and the area was my home for 25 years -- my entire adult life -- it is traumatic but even more so for reasons I am not going to write about right now. 

My friend pointed out my sign is cancer and we are home bodies.  It is true.  You can read the posting below to get some insight in to one big reason I am leaving.  I am so happy I will never have to see another NYU mega dorm from my windows or be reminded of the parishioners of St. Ann's crying and praying on the street after being turned out.  I will be near by but what bothers me the most about the changes that hurt-destroyed my neighborhood that others call "progress" will no longer be staring me in the face.

I also wonder how much more I can take of city living with out a place to escape to and in a few months I will be 46 years old.  I wonder if I will go mainstream and get married.  I also think about leaving in  x amount of years to live a quieter more peaceful existence.

NYU must give us community outreach resource centers and all the Universities that have mega dorms in the East Village!

St. Ann's from 1847 survived everything but NYU's need and greed to build yet another mega dorm in the East Village.  NYU has megadormed the E.V. to death.  120 East 12th Street

I sat down with NYU reps circa 2 years ago (?) including Alicia Hurley and had a rep. from Andrew Berman's (www.gvshp.org) as my witness and I asked for a community outreach center.  I wanted the first one to be in what was the store front of Tower Video that is now NYU Student Housing.  I want as many community outreach resource centers in the store fronts of mega dorms and that is every mega dorm in the East Village.

My windows face 12th Street for the last 20 years and I saw mega dorm after mega dorm being built including The New School Mega dorm.  

The East Village is unique because I believe we are the only neighborhood in the city that has so many (way too many mega dorms, leased buildings, buildings devoted to NYU student housing--they wait for buildings to be emptied out to pounce on to expand their global real estate holdings) mega dorms including NYU, The New School, Cooper Union, SVA, and New York Law mega dorm that dwarfs the block on 3rd Street.  They must open their doors to us and support the communities struggles to remain in the neighborhood and that includes small businesses.

NYU says they care....they want to hear what the community has to say.     Well how about giving "Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen" shelter like Cooper Union mega dorm did with St. Marks Books which cannot afford St. Marks rent.

Even Whole Foods could take in Whole Earth Bakery and Kitchen to honor this small business since they have 2 mega stores with in one mile of each other...14th Street and Houston Street and by doing , recreating this small "mom and son" business in the window of their mega store on Houston Street they would stand out in a positive community minded way rather than blend in as another generic mega-entity on the Lower East Side.

Supporting a vegan bakery is green.  Putting gardens and trees on every mega dorm roof is green, getting the college kids to walk and ride bicycles with bike stations George Bliss from Hub Station could set up  for them is green but it only seems about the green of making the bucks which student housing is at the expense of the neighborhood and that is East and West Village, Stuy Town buy Town, affordable housing oxymoron - never meant to be NYU student housing) to South St. Seaport.

Gentrification has become supersification and it is shocking to me.  I thought I lived in the East Village not a bad xerox of mid-town.  Evictions continue to rise, struggles continue for those fighting to remain here.  In the meantime the East Village has this "temporary" population which is huge -- of college kids that invade the neighborhood they think is cool to party and some to really study not understanding there is a growing population of aging people, that families that need to get their kids to bed and their neighbors are 4 or 5 college kids sharing an apt. or the complicated problems of what I call NYU-Las Vegas-ville which is here to accommodate our temporary visitors, college kids, tourists, business people visiting all the mega hotels that have popped up along with the mega dorms and sky piercing condos that appear half empty or are they pied e tierres?  We have a population of thousands do not live here as part of the community but to party and we want the college kids to have these community resource centers in their dorms to recognize the community and to get involved in supporting the community.

http://suzannahbtroy.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-letter-in-metro-godzilla-aint-got.html
http://suzannahbtroy.blogspot.com/2007/12/north-side-of-stunning-historic-police.html

Here are two posting to give you some visuals and there are more if you search my site and other sites that cover the East Village.  I contrast the fact the NYPD building honors it's community facility agreement even though it is now condo's.  I am told the mega dorms are built under the guise of being a "community facility" yet they exclude the community.