A few days ago, we expressed our opinion that the Lower East Side's Co-Op Village has an "Eastern Bloc feel." This did not sit well with posters to the Co-Op Village Message Board, who apparently feel otherwise. So, we made them an offer: pen a paen to the Co-Op Village, and we'd post it here. Responses below, and inside.
From Spammy:
Coop Village,
It makes me wanna pillage,
the big fence around Seward sewage.Stupid Super Rich stay away,
Ugly poor design keeps them at bay,
Too late to make it Jane Jacobs-friendly anyway.Secret East River bandshell park,
No bars to keep people happy after dark,
So we sit all day on our computers and snark snark snark!
From Malcion:
East River,From Randle Schmalz:
It makes me quiver,
When I am hungry and no one will deliver.Almagamated,
Makes me elated,
When I dream about that girl I once dated.Hillman Housing,
Doesn't sound very arousing,
Time to get out and start carousing.Seward Park,
There is not much to remark,
Closest to the train, the bars and Noah's Ark.
As for the architectural merits of Co-op Village (especially Seward Park and East River Co-ops), I agree with Michael that we are the product of well-intentioned but misguided urban-renewal plans of the 1950s and 1960s. The towers-in-a-plaza ideology of Le Corbusier et al are anti-urban (pace Jane Jacobs and Spammy) in that they reduce the street-level interaction vibrant urban neighborhoods provide.That said, the exterior design of our buildings is actually quite good