A Robin Hood Story In The Village

Greenwich Village is legendary in NYC for its ability to fight overdevelopment and maintain a "village" feel in the midst of one of the largest cities in the world. Pier 40, at Houston Street and the Hudson River, is the latest battlefront in this war to maintain some balance in the development of the village.

The New York Times has a story today on the Pier 40 battle and it describes the group that I’ve been involved in as a "merry band." That’s an accurate cross reference to the Robin Hood story. The rich in our version is Related, a large, powerful, and politically connected developer. The poor are the everyday users of Pier 40 who may see the Pier that they know and love transformed into a mega entertainment complex.

I am proud to be fighting on Robin Hood’s side in this battle.

#NYC

Comments (Archived):

  1. Jeffrey McManus

    Fred, how’d you get them to use the phrase “Gotham girl” in the first sentence of that story? Surely you have subliminal influence over the Times.

    1. fredwilson

      He must read this blog because I never talked to him 🙂

  2. MarkHarrison

    An a reader from England, I had real trouble relating to this post, then it struck me – The author gets his Robin Hood information from American Movies. Once I’d worked THAT out, I could understand the sentiment of the post :-)Apparently, Disney was worried about the “fighting foreign invaders” sentiment of the story, so edited it out… and turned it into a cartoon about a jolly band of friends fighting an evil noble. The Kevin Costner film, alas, took the same angle.

    1. fredwilson

      Yes, the americanized disneyfied sterilized versionExactly what related wants to do to the village!Fred

  3. Posing

    It’s depressing that Related wants to stop Greenwich Village residents from enjoying a short walk to Pier 40 from their multimillion dollar homes. We need Robin Hoods in this case- the poor spend so much time buying Starbucks, visiting Chase Bank, and checking out the Apple Store that they have little time to fight for themselves. Well done!

    1. fredwilson

      I bet if you spent time at pier 40 on the weekends and took the time to figure out who is using and what their socioeconomic position is, you’d be quite surprisedThe village is still a very diverse communitySure you have people with money. Me included. But we are not the majority. Most of the kids there this past sunday go to public schoolsFred

      1. Michael

        How much money do you really have??Anything less than $50 Million is pocket change.Michael

  4. Posing

    Unfortunately, I am unable to tell people’s socioeconomic status or schooling choices just by looking at them. Perhaps if I had “richdar” I’d be able to see the diversity in Greenwich Village. By the way, does “diversity” mean that there are not just investment bankers, but hedge fund bankers as well?

    1. fredwilson

      Its too bad you didn’t come to the pier last sunday. If you had, I don’t think you’d be seeing it this wayFred

  5. jackson

    And I’m proud of you.

  6. Guest

    Fred, in case you missed this: Telluride recently (won) a battle for stopping mega development (comparitively). http://www.valleyfloor.org/

  7. Christopher Herbert

    Fred, you’re just asking for it with the Robin Hood comparison!But you’re right, I’ve been down to that area, and it seems like the entire city comes out to enjoy the park. Definitely not just the mega-rich brownstone owners.Keep up the fight!Chris

  8. sandra

    yeah its interesting and all that but could be better.