Money can buy a lot of things on the Upper East Side. But one thing that money ($1, to be exact) can no longer buy is the exclusive right for the residents of 1 Sutton Place South (including Sigourney Weaver) to use its gorgeous sprawling lawn. The lawn, which famously earned above-fold play on A1 of the NYT last year, reverted to public property when a $1-a-year lease quietly expired in 1990. The City now says it's taking it back for use in a new public esplanade?a prospect that doesn't sit well with co-op owners. More on this epochal real estate battle inside.
Reports the Post,
The co-op's residents say they're not losing their private back yard without a fight. "One would assume that property values of the building would be affected by the city creating a public park there, so the co-op association in its own defense would have to do whatever it could to prevent it," said George Gould, president of the co-op and a former undersecretary of the treasury in the Reagan administration.
In his defense, it must be noted that Mr. Gould has a poin