Homeless, drug issues top fi rst G.V. civic meet
BY GABE HERMAN
Greenwich Village residents
gathered at the inaugural meeting
of the West Washington
Place Block Association on Sept. 18 to
discuss problems on the block, including
higher drug use and homelessness
in recent years.
Nancy Bass Wyden, owner of the
Strand Book Store at Broadway and E.
12 St., and Rosalind Resnick organized
the event, which Resnick hosted at one
of her townhouses on the block.
Residents crowded into the townhouse,
and Resnick said it was a much
bigger crowd than she anticipated.
While she expected around 13 people to
come, there were several dozen there.
Resnick credited a preview article in
The Villager about the meeting, which
offi cers from the Sixth Precinct also
cited as their reason for attending.
The residents of Washington Place,
just west of Washington Square Park,
voiced many of the same problems that
Wyden and Resnick originally told The
Villager were their driving reasons for
forming the block association.
Drug use on the street was out of
control, many attendees said.
One neighbor claimed that people
shoot up under scaffolding on the block
Photo by Gabe Herman
Neighbors crowded into a townhouse on Washington Place for the
meeting.
that has poor lighting. A woman said
she saw a group of four people smoking
crack, and they wouldn’t let her into her
house. She said there have been drugs
in the area for a long time, but noted
that lately, “It feels more dangerous.”
“Our kids have seen too much already,”
another woman said, “like in the
morning on the way to school.”
One resident suggested an education
campaign for tourists who don’t seem
to understand where that money is going
when they give to a street beggar.
But many attendees said the real concern
was with the drug dealers, and
that they had compassion for users who
needed help.
Police Offi cer Nicholas Virgilio, a
Neighborhood Coordination Offi cer
(NCO) from the Sixth Precinct, said
that in recent years, there were fewer
cops on the streets.
“If I was running the show, there
would be cops on the beat again,
walking,” Virgilio said. There used
to be narcotics teams in each precinct,
he noted, but now those teams
are borough-wide.
Police can’t search people for drugs
unless they’re outwardly seen, according
to state law, the offi cer said. Residents
at the meeting said that a person
may shoot up so fast, that by the time
police arrive it’s too late.
“I share your frustration,” one of the
offi cers in attendance said. “It’s diffi cult
with the time delay.”
Another NCO, Police Offi cer Brian
Garcia, said that police have been going
through Washington Square Park and
making drug arrests, usually nabbing
around 15 people per sweep.
“Unfortunately we can’t do that every
day,” he said, and added they plan to do
that once or twice a month.
Police offi cers also said that surveillance
cameras can help deter crime.
Some residents asked about hiring private
security. It would be costly, but offi
cers said that it’s legal to do.
A woman at the meeting said that
cops are not equipped to deal with
mental health issues, and that there is a
need for mental health crisis units and
people who can address needs of many
users for rehabilitation.
“I don’t think it’s going to be solved
with just what’s been brought up so
far,” she said.
East Side resiliency approved despite LES protests
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
The city’s $1.45 billion East Side
fl ood protection plan is one
step closer to becoming a reality
after the New York City Planning
Commission voted to approve the East
Side Coastal Resiliency project (ESCR)
on Sept. 23.
“The ESCR project responds to one
of the most pressing issues that the city
and the globe is facing, seven years after
Sandy parts of our city are still recovering
from its devastation including areas
that would be protected by this project,”
said City Planning Commission Chair
Marisa Lago. “This application is a pivotal
step in protecting nearly 200,000
New Yorkers in Lower Manhattan and
includes tens of thousands of residents
living in public housing.”
The ESCR was proposed after
Hurricane Sandy and is an effort to
protect lower Manhattan from fl ooding
and rising sea-levels attributed to
climate change.
The plan calls for strengthening 2.4
miles of coastline from Montgomery to
East 25th Streets by creating a series
of fl ood walls, levies, reconstructing
bridges at Delancey and 10th Streets,
while also raising East River Park by 8
to 9 feet by placing piles of dirt on top
of the existing landscape.
During the hear, members of East
River Action, held signs reading “No!”
and “Save our lungs, no landfi lls.” The
East Village/Lower East Side community
group has repeatedly opposed
the plan since it would cause the park
to temporarily close for three and half
years. Although the group does support
the city’s plan to use fl ood walls, levies
and berms.
The vote comes two days after hundreds
of East River Park users took
Rendering courtesy of the NYC Department of City Planning
part in a fake burial of the ESCR plan
to protest the park’s closure. Protesters
also expressed concern about the impact
that dropping tons of dirt to raise
the park would have on neighboring
community members. Other expressed
outrage that hundreds of park trees
would be destroyed as part of the plan.
“Voting to approve the project with
the understanding that it requires the
still multi-year closure of the park
is not a decision made lightly,” said
Lago. “Parks and open space are essential
to the vibrancy and health of
a community. East River Park is not
only a place for active and passive recreation
but also gathering space for
the community.”
For opponents, the park’s closure
means a loss of community.
As the plan heads towards the fi nal
stages of the ULURP process, it waits
approval from City Council and then
the Mayor. According to Curbed, construction
on the ESCR is set to start in
March of next year.
Schneps Media TVG September 26, 2019 3