Tracing the Path of Jane Jacobs’ Greenwich Village Battles

We will follow the route of Jane’s involvement in 3 battles against Robert Moses: The road through Washington Square Park, SoHo which the Lower Manhattan Expressway would have wiped out with Little Italy and Chinatown, and then West Village Houses where Moses wanted to demolish 14 square blocks for an Urban Renewal Plan.

Time: 2:00pm-4:30pm

Date: Sunday May 20, 2012

Event Start: Meet under the Washington Square Arch.

Host: Roberta Brandes Gratz, Author of Battle For Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, and Center for the Living City Board Member

Registration: No need to sign up, just show up at the posted meeting location.

Accessibility: This event is welcoming and accessible to wheelchairs, bicycles, seniors, children, and pets.

In 1934, 18 year old Jane Jacobs arrived in NYC from Scranton to pursue a writing career. While exploring her new environs, she found herself at Christopher Street Station, and immediately began her love affair with Greenwich Village. Our tour will include the history of the area, woven with stories and relevant sights of Jane’s epic battles with city bureaucracy and the powerful Robert Moses to preserve her beloved Village. Walkers will visit Hudson Street, where she lived for 20 years, observing its daily ‘intricate sidewalk ballet’ that was the inspiration for her acclaimed first book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, as well as see several other historic sites that would not exist today if it were not for her successful grassroots activism.

Time: 11:00am-1:00pm

Date: Saturday May 5, 2012

Event Start/End: 7th Ave. South & Christopher St., in front of Village Cigars

Host: Joan Schecter

Registration: No need to sign up, just show up at the posted meeting location.

Accessibility: Partially Accessible – curbs, uneven terrain, busy sidewalks