astor place has already had the hell gentrified out of it, as tracer points out. you describe it upthread as "skater kids, gutter punks, irritating NYU'rs and pretentious Cooper Union brats hanging out at the Cube right in front of your lobby, the constant traffic stemming from Lafayette zooming up to 4th Avenue, the constant spillout of human cattle coming in and out of the Astor Place subway station." it's like someone's trying to pave prospect park. the area is a total nightmare anyway. from an urban conservationist perspective, i don't see how this will make it worse. and if you're worried about martini-swigging eurotrash, note that page six ground zero butter has been right there on lafayette street for a while now.
― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 13 August 2004 17:10 (nineteen years ago) link