The New York Magazine of December 13th reports that there is extensive opposition to the plan developed by NYU to turn Greenwich Village into a densely packed skyscraper system. Writes Gabriel Sherman, “The person who has created this unfortunate situation is John Sexton, NYU’s president since 2001. Sexton is congenitally high-handed, as if anywhere in the Village and the sky above it is within the bounds of his fiefdom. . . Like the lion’s share of New York disputes, the argument between Sexton and his critics boils down to high-priced real estate. NYU’s master plan, called NYU 2031, proposes to add 6 million square feet of new space across the city in the next eighteen years. [In Greenwich Village] NYU is aiming to add four new buildings totalling some 2 million square feet.
“. . . So last week, celebrities and their comrades in the anti-Sexton group NYU Faculty Against the Sexton Plan opened an online silent auction with more than 150 lots. . . . Soon, State Supreme Court judge Donna Mills is expected to rule in a lawsuit brought by opponents seeking to block the 2031 plan.” NYU faculty has delivered no-confidence votes against Sexton’s presidency, and Sexton plans to step down in 2016.
