Indentity check: If you spent the week trash-talking to the Villager about a couple of hot-button issues, then hello there Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation director Andrew Berman, thanks for reading. First up: the St. Ann's NYU megadorm. The Hudson Companies is pissed that everyone keeps calling the 26-story dorm the tallest building in the East Village, because the 21-story Sculpture for Living (top left) is actually taller. Scoopy's Notebook(!) got Berman's response:
“It sounds like the Hudson/N.Y.U. spin machine is desperately flailing — again,” he said. “Anything to shift attention away from their 250-foot-tall monstrosity. I don’t know the height of the Astor Pl. tower. But the Astor Pl. tower is west of Fourth Ave. and the Bowery. It’s not in the East Village. I think Fourth Ave. and the Bowery are the universally recognized western boundary of the East Village — west of that is Community Board 2.”Wow, talk about nitpicking! The SfL is about 20 feet west of Fourth Avenue. It's not like it's ass deep in the Meatpacking District or anything. Speaking of MePa, next up for Berman is the Hotel Gansevoort's infamous meatboard. Specifically, the smaller signage under the VW ad. One of those Sarah Silverman/MTV Movie Awards ads you've probably seen on buses around town has been put up, with the message, "For a good time, call 1-877-SARAH-07." The Hotel had promised critics that the billboard would be used for fashion brands, and the faux-phone sex ad has only pissed Meatpackers off more. Berman's shot this time is a little more subtle. His reponse: "Remember their claim that the billboards would only be for fashion- and art-related advertisements?"
Somewhat disappointing, but the heavy lifting is picked up by neighborhood kingpin Keith McNally, who said:
“I think it’s an ugly, commercial monstrosity that reflects the ignorance, greed and disrespect that the hotel owners have for the people and the neighborhood,” said McNally, who has led protests of the billboard. “No one in the neighborhood wants it there. But in the end, commerce and greed are more important to him [Achenbaum] than the people in the neighborhood and the neighborhood itself, which enabled him to be here in the first place.”Burn! Berman and McNally are also distributing the slightly Shakespearean "Shame, the Gansevoort Hotel" signs to local businesses. Catchy.
· Hotel pushes ’hood’s buttons with Silverman ‘phone-sex’ ad [Villager]
· Scoopy's notebook [Villager]