Institutions

Community & Social Issues / Institutions — No Comments
16
May 11

The Closing of St. Vincent’s: Challenge and Opportunity

St. Vincent’s served Greenwich Village for 161 years. The fact that it was the sole medical center in the area made it an especially important and vital part of the community. The medical center was an important part of many resident’s lives. The EMS presence in the community was also comforting and provided community members with a sense of identity– that they had a top-notch ambulance service of their own. “There’s a lot of heartbroken people inside the ER. … They have been the heart and soul of this hospital for many years,” said Eileen Dunn, a St. Vincent’s nurse for 24 years. ‘I think on 9/11 we saw what hatred could do. We’re seeing today what greed and politics can do to a hospital.’” (JEMS).

Continue reading →

Community & Social Issues / Historical Development / Urban Planning / Institutions — No Comments
16
May 11

Saving Jefferson Market Courthouse

Effective community activism is a full time commitment: fundraising, campaigning, planning, strategizing and doing everything in one’s power to advance a cause. Greenwich Village residents took on that commitment to save the Jefferson Market Courthouse, get the Courthouse’s clock working again and transform the building into a branch of the New York Public Library. The Jefferson Market Courthouse would have fallen if it were not for the Village Committee’s creation, in 1960, and determined activism through the sixties and seventies. In order to save the Jefferson Market Courthouse, often referred to as “Old Jeff,” and its Clock, the Village Committee used all financial, lobbying and creative resources it had. The Village Committee’s dedication was based in its love for the building and clock, its belief in Old Jeff’s significance to the Greenwich Village neighborhood and the usefulness of the clock that sat atop the Old Jeff’s tall clock tower.

The efforts of the Village Neighborhood Committee and Greenwich Village activists are well documented; Committee correspondence and statements, newspaper articles and historical sources all exhibit the reasoning and journey of the Committee. The clock was a practical, iconic part of Old Jeff, which became a piece of Christmastime Village tradition. The building that stood on Sixth Avenue and West Tenth Street, whether it was a courthouse or library, was an architectural, aesthetic and cultural asset for Greenwich Village, and its residents realized that. These feelings in mind, Village residents wrote letters, raise funds, donated money, decorated their beloved clock tower, spent their time, talked to local organizations and businesses and lobbied their city government to preserve Jefferson Market Courthouse. A look through Committee records and the journalistic articles of the time would give any individual a valuable lesson in preservation, community activism and strong willed determination.

Continue reading →

Arts & Media / Institutions — No Comments
16
May 11

A Voice at Last: Why the Village Voice was a Pivotal Greenwich Village Institution

“I had some dim intuitive feeling that what was wrong with all journalism is that the reporter tended to be objective and that that was one of the great lies of all time.” – Norman Mailer

In 1955, three friends – novelist Norman Mailer, psychologist Ed Fancher, and New School student Dan Wolf – decided to take a little sojourn into the world of journalism. They scraped together $10,000, set up an office at 22 Greenwich Avenue, and the Village Voice was born.

There’s a reason they named it the Village “Voice” rather than “Times” or “Post” or “Gazette”; the Voice didn’t blandly and objectively report the news from the Village. Its founders had true passion for the Village, it was their adopted home, and they breathed the unique spirit and indomitable personality of the Village into every issue of the Voice.

At the time, the Village Voice was a truly revolutionary idea – it represented a completely new form of journalism. The quote by Norman Mailer at the top of this page is a mission statement of sorts for the Voice: it was a paper that was totally driven by the personalities of its writers. The Voice was “of the Village” because the voices were “of the Village.”

If there’s one sentiment that Villagers all seem to share, it’s that they all take enormous pride in the fact that they are “of the Village,” and that pride is reflected in every page. The sense of community among Villagers is rarely found in a city as large as New York, and the Voice gave this unique community just that – a voice.

– Cassie Youngstrom

This is an excerpt from a longer paper. For more information, contact the author at cyoungst@hunter.cuny.edu.

Continue reading →

Community & Social Issues / Historical Development / Urban Planning / Institutions — No Comments
16
May 11

The New School Universtiy: A Village Institution or Not?

Since its founding in 1919, The New School had undergone a vast multitude of structural expansions, internal divisions, some controversy within the administration, and yet, garnered much recognition thanks to the academic accomplishments of its students and faculty. This is largely due to its location in the bohemian Greenwich Village.

Continue reading →