St. Paul Explains It All at Nov. 29 Forum

At Our Lady of Pompeii, they are accustomed to those who seek divine guidance. Thus, after a bewildering 2-hour meeting with representatives of public officials along with eight sacrificial lambs -- er, reps of the Jefferson Market Library on Tuesday November 29th, it was most fortunate to bump into Saint Paul. We asked for clarity -- and if he knew a fuel-efficient short-cut to Damascus.
• • Taking his time, St. Paul said: "When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became an adult I put away childish things." [He noted that there was a Xmas sale at Barnes & Noble, where they had one signed copy of his Letters to the Corinthians.]
• • Childish things! Does this have to do with the library pushing this "teen lounge" trend?
• • "Of course it does!" St. Paul observed. "And I know why these NYPL-ers favor young-adult-titles. It's plain to see these spokespeople shy away from books in the Adult Section. Pity."
• • Why are you so certain?
• • With a twinkle in his wise eyes, St. Paul remarked, "Did you hear that Richard Miller speak? Did you listen to Joanna Pestka? They believe in the Gospel of Harry Potter." After pausing for effect, St. Paul added, "Tell me this. What's the secret to Harry Potter's success?"
• • Licensing deals?
• • St. Paul's brow betrayed impatience. "Harry Potter is all about magical thinking. And that's how you can tell that Richard Miller and Joanna Pestka and Susan C.Y.A. Kent and the rest of their ilk are Potter-ites!"
• • Magical thinking rules the NYPL-ers? Explain this Potter-ite mania.
• • "I have to leave soon," said St. Paul, listening to Old Jeff. The clock's bell was tolling ten o'clock. "The Potter-ites are NOT to be confused with the Sit-or-Get-Off-the-Potters," he emphasized.
• • But what about the doctrine of magical thinking. . .?
• • "NYPL-ers are educated people," continued St. Paul. "Agreed?"
• • Since most librarians have a masters degree, yes, they are well-educated.
• • "When well-educated people fall under the spell of Potterism, it derails adult thinking," he explained with patience. "For example, I overheard a preservationist tell that librarian that they could apply for a grant to repair a landmark -- and I saw her astonishment. Now . . . reference books all around her, and she did not know that there are organizations that fund landmark preservation? See, that's child-like thinking."
• • Any other examples of Potterism at the NYPL?
• • St. Paul grinned. "If your roof leaked, would you get it fixed -- or think about how to repair an elevator? If you subscribe to magical thinking, you apply for $$ to fix the Otis and hope the leak stops by itself. Children reason that way. It's part of their innocence -- that life-is-a-teen-lounge-innocence you see in kiddies who sit on the lap of St. Nick. He's a babe-magnet, that Nicholas. . . ."
• • One more example, please. This is too fascinating.
• • St. Paul shrugged. "If your masonry were crumbling -- and that's the built-in-goodbye with limestone, pretty porous, if you ask me -- would you put up a sidewalk bridge and then apply for taxpayers' money to relocate a reference room? Or would you repair an exterior-interior leak so mold doesn't ruin all the books? They are victims of magical thinking. They remind me of those adults who used to read Women Who Date Too Much."
• • That Robin Norwood franchise: Women Who Love Too Much, wasn't it?
• • "Now you're talking my language," said St. Paul. "And the greatest of these is Love -- Charity. When adults love books, they protect them from leaks and crumbling masonry. That is the priority of an ADULT. But children don't reason with logic. That's what magical thinking is: the suspension of disbelief. Also called FAITH. But NOT in this case. Here you have Potterism at its most fatal -- in the hands of adults in charge of a public institution." He shook his head sadly. "Understand me now?"
• • Greenwich Villagers rescued Jefferson Market Court House. Now we've got the NYPL's Potter-ites ruining our landmark - - and every day NYC taxpayers are paying for a sidewalk bridge that never should have gone up, had the NYPL-ers taken care of our beloved building. What can we do?
• • St. Paul winced. "I had to deal with the Romans. Imagine what trouble they were. Susan C.Y.A. Kent is your albatross. Suggest a good book to her. St. Paul's Letters to the Romans and Galatians is a great favorite. Never been out-of-print."
• • Through a glass darkly, I see your book. It's in Jefferson Market Library -- being ruined by moisture coming in from the damaged masonry. Can't you help?
• • "I must leave," said St. Paul. "The Ephesians are having a trim-a-tree fete. They're expecting me."
• • Magical thinking. Librarians who believe in the Gospel of Harry Potter. Could this truly explain why the N.Y. Public Library's besotted leadership failed to maintain our landmark, let it deteriorate for umpteen years, and then installed scaffolding [in 2003] that is rotting the facade even more? E.C. Potter's lions would be getting their holiday wreaths next week on Fifth Avenue and here on Sixth Avenue magical thinking rules the rot.
What would St. Paul have written to the Philistines?
• • • • Also present on November 29th • • • •
• • Carol Greitzer, a City Councilmember from 1969 - 1991;
• • Carin Mirowitz, Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of Councilmember Christine Quinn
• • Kate Seely-Kirk, legislative aide to City Councilmember Christine Quinn;
• • Jon Prosnit, an aide to Senator Tom Duane;
• • Gregor Brender, an aide to Assemblymember Deborah Glick;
• • an aide to City Council Member Alan Gerson;
• • Shaan Khan, an aide to Manhattan Boro President-elect Scott Stringer;
• • Doris Diether, member, Community Board 2;
• • Richard Miller, NYLP's Senior Project Manager;
• • Joanna Pestka, NYPL's V.P. for Capital Planning & Construction [tel: 212-930-0614];
• • Frank Collerius, branch librarian, Jefferson Market Library;
• • five other staffmembers, NYPL;
• • 200-300 residents of Greenwich Village.

• • • • Request info or comment • • • •
Carin Mirowitz - carin.mirowitz@council.nyc.ny.us and/ or
Christine Quinn via fax: 212-564-7347; or via postal mail: 224 West 30th Street [Suite 1206], New York, NY 10001.
Jefferson Market
Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Artwork: bestselling author St. Paul Enlightening St. Pete
New York Public Library
Jefferson Market.

NYPL Dithers Over Withers

Who would suspect that The N.Y. Public Library is allergic to landmark preservation? It's been documented, though.
• • Landmark-lookout Margot Gayle remembered an epiphanic moment at a Greenwich Village Christmas party in 1959, before New York City had established the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The Third Judicial District Court House, designed in 1874 by architect Frederick Clarke Withers, had left public service in 1958 and the city had slated the entire block for sale for private development. Muscling together several supporters (such as the Mayor, the Manhattan Boro President, the City Planning Chairman, author Jane Jacobs, and other influential individuals), Margot Gayle led the effort to rescue this delicious piece of 19th century gingerbread - - a fantasy of turrets, gales, gargoyles, stone carvings, and whimsy - - built of deep red Philadelphia brick and creamcheese-colored Ohio stone.
• • According to Margot Gayle, The New York Public Library "was EXTREMELY COOL" to the idea of occupying a converted building until Mayor Wagner threatened to withhold their capital funds [N.Y. Times, 3 April 1994]. What the library really wanted was the Sixth Avenue location, gingerbread-free and with a NEW monolithic milk-carton-type of structure rising upwards, as ordinary as a laundry-chute, and as charm-less as Susan C.Y.A. Kent.
• • Is it any wonder that the N.Y.P.L. has let the facade deteriorate so shamefully since they moved in? Even cockroaches show more respect for dear Old Jeff.

~()~()~()~()~()~()~()~()~()~()~()~()
Architect Frederick Clarke Withers [February 4, 1828 - January 7, 1901]
• • While the High Victorian Gothic Jefferson Market Courthouse, located in the Greenwich Village Historic District, is the best known of Frederick Clarke Withers' New York City works, he had many New York commissions. Among these are the commercial building at 448 Broome Street (in SoHo); the high altar and reredos in Trinity Church; the lich gate of the "Little Church Around the Corner" (Church of the Transfiguration); and the City Prison which replaced the original "Tombs." Withers, primarily considered an ecclesiastical architect, published the influential book Church Architecture in 1873.
- do not let your landmark be pockmarked * attend on Nov. 29 -
Jefferson Market
Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
PHOTO: Frederick C. Withers
New York Public Library
Jefferson Market.

NYPL Pinocchio Licks His Nose

The unofficial motto of the N.Y.P.L. is: "Read between the lies." According to Herb Scher, a library spokesman, he was only doing his job when he LIED to N.Y. Times reporter Steven Kurutz.
• • Consider this simple timeline:
• • 2003 scaffolding goes up after bits of loose masonry fall onto pedestrians walking by Jefferson Market library;
• • 2004 City Councilmember Christine Quinn gives library $645,000 for improvements;
• • 2005 City Councilmember Christine Quinn gives library $645,000 for improvements.
But ha-ha-ha-ing behind his hand as he spoke, Scher fibbed that $1.7 million of financing for the interior renovations was secured before the facade's problems developed. Invite this comedian to your next party because he's as hilarious as a whole vaudeville act. Have you seen him lick his nose as it grows? Too talented.

- excerpt: "The City" section • The N.Y. Times -
West Village: At Age 128, Looks Still Matter
By STEVEN KURUTZ
Published: 20 November 2005

Among Village residents, said Marilyn Dorato, secretary of the Greenwich Village Block Associations, there is a "visceral affection" for the building, a 128-year-old landmark. So when news came in 2003 that the New York Public Library would renovate the library's interior, and this year when $1.7 million in financing for the project was secured, it was perhaps inevitable that close scrutiny would follow.
• • The renovations themselves - better access for people with disabilities, more computers, moving the check-out desk to the first floor from the second floor - are hardly controversial. But residents have expressed concern over a center for teenagers that would take away space from adults who use the facility, and, more pressingly, the withering condition of the building's exterior. The New York Public Library erected scaffolding more than two years ago, when part of the red brickfacade began falling off, but no repairs have been made.
• • "Repairing the library's bricks and mortar should be a priority ratherthan initiating an unsolicited interior design," Ms. Dorato wrote last month in a letter to Paul LeClerc, president of the New York Public Library. "Unless the N.Y.P.L. can promise a future free from rain, snow and other inclement weather, it seems cavalier to institute interior alterations when the worsening exterior may impact them."
• • According to Herb Scher, a library spokesman, financing for the interior renovations was secured before the facade's problems developed. [Tee-hee! My gag reflex went into overdrive, Herb!] The library, he added, can proceed only with projects for which specific financing has been obtained.
• • As for the teenagers' center, Susan Kent, director of the branch libraries, said that once renovations were completed, there would actually be more space for adults.
• • Completed in 1877, Jefferson Market Library is one of the city's only remaining examples of High Victorian Gothic architecture, an ornate structure of pinnacles and gables, capped by a clock tower that looms over the low-rise buildings around it. After falling into severe disrepair by the 1950's, the building was saved from demolition by a group of village residents that included the poet E. E. Cummings.
• • According to Ms. Kent, the interior has not been renovated since the 1970's. This was after the building became a library in 1967. The exterior, she said, would most likely cost $2.5 million to $3 million to repair. Currently, there is no timeline for the repairs, but, Ms. Kent said, "Having that façade repaired and restored to its former glory is a high priority for us."
[Busy taking notes, Steven Kurutz did not see that clever Li'l Suzie had her fingers crossed behind her back.]
- excerpt: "The City" section • The N.Y. Times -
- - http://www.nytimes.com/ - -
- do not let your library be highjacked * please help spread the word -
Jefferson Market
Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Jefferson Market.

PHOTO: 1877 Old Jeff family album

GVBA Forum Nov. 29 Invites Public & Media

PLEASE: PRINT THIS FLYER & POST IT
- do not let your library be highjacked * please help spread the word -
Jefferson Market
Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
New York Public Library
Jefferson Market.

NYPL: Teflon Takes a Holiday?

Here in Cynical City, the heart of the worm-loving apple, the checkbooks are checking out the who's-been-naughty and who's-been-nice list. Guess who's NOT donating $ to the N.Y.P.L. this year? We have a hunch, based on what little birdies have said.
•
* * It took "five years to complete the renovation of the Countee Cullen Branch," Lloyd Yearwood of Harlem told readers of The N.Y. Times [The City, "Letters" 30 October 2005]. Since Yearwood is Chairman, Countee Cullen Branch Library Support Group, he knows what he's talking about: "In 1980, ... this neighborhood overcame these problems by forming the Countee Cullen Branch Library Support Group. Under the leadership of Mary Redd, we went directly to the source of the problem, which lay at the doorstep of the local legislatures. We found out that the progress of such capital city improvement is buried under tons of unnecessary red tape. ..."
•
* * Likewise the extended shutdown of the 115th Street branch of the New York Public Library - - eloquently described by Harlem resident Walter Dean Myers ["Hope Is an Open Book," by Walter Dean Myers, Op-Ed, 16 October 2005] - - is another hint that this library user and his friends will probably donate elsewhere.
•
* * Elizabeth Simmonds of Harlem emphasized her agreement with Walter Dean Myers. Her description of this deplorable situation offered N.Y. Times readers an insider's view on years of dissatisfaction: "We in the 115th Branch Library Support Group have had meetings with, and written letters, and made telephone calls to, library officials to address the issues that Mr. Myers mentioned. Those issues include: the library being closed for more than three years, with very little renovation work completed up to this time (based on a walk-through of the site); a storefront temporary library that holds no more than 24 people and sometimes has no heat in winter, nor air-conditioning during 95-degree days -- and has occasionally had to close as a result. ... Our library services 13 schools whose students currently do not have immediate access to its collection!" [The City, "Letters" 30 October 2005]. Will Elizabeth Simmonds and her neighbors be sending checks to the N.Y.P.L. after this ordeal?
•
* * Horrified by these and similar tales about how N.Y.P.L. President Paul LeClerc has taken several NYC libraries hostage, walling off the imprisoned books and computers from the residents that each facility is supposed to serve, Greenwich Village residents have begun writing to him about Susan Kent and the shady dealings at the Jefferson Market branch [425 Sixth Avenue, NYC 10011] - - housed in a landmark that the N.Y.P.L. has allowed to deteriorate. And guess what action has been taken? LeClerc forwards each complaint about Susan Kent TO HER. In turn, Kent sends an identical non-answer to each letter-writer.
•
There are, however, other names to complain to -- and here they are.
Please contact them. Encourage library-lovers to do the same.
•
The New York Public Library, Office of Development (Room 73), Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, New York, New York, 10018
* * Fax number: 212-930-0983
•
Catherine Carver Dunn, Senior V.P. for External Affairs
Email:cdunn@nypl.org * T.:212-930-0611
•
Frances Q. Tschinkel, Director for Public Affairs and Memberships
Email:ftschinkel@nypl.org * T.:212-930-0778
•
Heather Lubov, V.P. for Development
Email:hlubov@nypl.org * T.:212-930-0692
•
Corporate Relations
Melissa Grundman, Director of Corporate Relations
Email:corppartners@nypl.org * T.:212-930-0765
•
Major Gifts and Planned Giving
Shelley Jane Grossberg, Director, Individual Giving
Email:sgrossberg@nypl.org * T.:212-930-0630
•
Carey Bartram Meltzer, Associate Manager, Major Gifts Coordinator, The President's Council - - Email:cmeltzer@nypl.org * T.:212-930-0886
•
John Bacon, Director, Planned Giving
Email:plannedgifts@nypl.org * T.:212-930-0568
- do not let your library be highjacked * please help spread the word -
Jefferson Market
Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
New York Public Library
Jefferson Market.

2 Forums Focus on Jefferson Market Library

November is filled with Jefferson Market Library happenings.

This week, for example, the commemorative plaque -- acknowledging those angels who restored the voice to "Old Jeff" -- will be mounted on the landmark at last. The Greenwich Village preservationists named on the plaque had wanted to wait until the scaffolding was off (but now this seems as likely as hoping Rip Van Winkle will awake in time for Thanksgiving).

Additionally, two November meetings will focus on Jefferson Market Library's interior and the much-neglected facade which the N.Y.P.L. has failed to maintain:
a.) 6:30 pm Thursday November 17, 2005:
Community Board 2:
November 17th's meeting will include a discussion on Jefferson Market Library and a library representative will speak [and/or address the community with disdain and derision, according to established tradition]
Where: NYU's Vanderbilt Hall at 40 Washington Square South [between MacDougal and Sullivan Streets];

b.) 7:00 pm Tuesday November 29, 2005:
with City Councilmember Christine Quinn and Marilyn Dorato, GVBA
Where: Our Lady of Pompeii [25 Carmine Street at Bleecker St.] --
Room: Father Demo Hall - in the Senior Center
- - the media and the public are invited - -

- - please help spread the word - -
Jefferson Market
Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Jefferson Market.

Jefferson Market: Repeat Offenders

In 1930 Texas Guinan was asked by the New York Journal [a daily newspaper] to do some freelance reporting. Her first assignment: cover the Mae West trial at Jefferson Market Court House on Sixth Avenue.
Actress Mae West had been charged with writing many of the skits in the homosexual-themed play "Pleasure Man" that New York's police and prosecutors declared were too shocking for the stage.

In her popular syndicated column "Texas Guinan Says" [The New York Daily News, 12 April 1929], Texas had playfully mentioned her friend: "Mae's a good girl at heart -- but she's got a bad heart." Of course, Texas Guinan was also a repeat offender [repeat "attender"], frequently on trial in the very same Greenwich Village court house.
Texas Guinan died on 5 November 1933.
Mae West died on 22 November 1980.
Source:http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
Source:http://texasguinan.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Texas Guinan
Jefferson Market
Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Jefferson Market.

PHOTO: April 1930 Mae West with Texas Guinan - - doing an interview for the newspapers during a recess at the "Pleasure Man" trial, Jefferson Market Court

130-year-old Face Needs a Kiss

Here's a great 130th birthday idea!
Get that ugly scaffolding off our favorite facade!
Use that $$ windfall you received, thanks to the generous City Council, N.Y.P.L., and do the right thing for once.

_ _ _ From the Jefferson Market Branch Records, 1967-1996
* * Historical note * *
The Jefferson Market Branch of The New York Public Library, located in Greenwich Village, opened in 1967.
The library occupies a New York City landmark building designed by architects Frederick Clark Withers and Calvert Vaux and was constructed during the years 1875-1876. It served as a courthouse from 1876-1945 and housed various city agencies from 1946-1958.
_ _ _ Community members, led by Margot Gayle and Philip Wittenberg, rallied to save the building from demolition. In 1961 Mayor Robert F. Wagner announced that it would be preserved and converted into a public library. The redesign was by architect Giorgio Cavaglieri. [Photo: Stained glass window inside Jefferson Market.]
- - excerpt from http://digilib.nypl.org/ - -
Jefferson Market
Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Jefferson Market.

Don't Get Mad, Get M.A.S.!

Almost half-a-century ago, a brave soul named Margot Gayle was trying to preserve the only 19th century building still remaining on the triangular site of the Jefferson Market judicial complex on Sixth Avenue, designed in the 1870s by Frederick Withers. New York City had put this antique on the auction block (and a buyer might wish to demolish it).

In order to protect this architectural gem, Margot's group of preservationists approached The New York Public Library. Since Greenwich Village, a neighborhood of writers, had only a pocket-size library on Hudson Street, the Sixth Avenue location was ideal for another branch. The library folks were joyful. But they, too, wanted to tear down the existing Venetian Gothic structure and have a modern facility. Their books, they reasoned, deserved brand new bricks and other built-in conveniences.

The preservationists reached out to M.A.S. for help.
The Municipal Art Society created an effective public awareness campaign about Jefferson Market’s history through lectures, walking tours, and other efforts. The organizers decided to target both the general public and city officials, feeling that there was a certain amount of apathy in the latter. Among the ideas that had been examined [way back in those days before the Landmarks Preservation Commission existed], explained Kent Barwick, was the potential for historic preservation and regulation of features of buildings.
In 1961, M.A.S. issued a press release: we rescued Jefferson Market Court. Victory!

The Municipal Art Society of New York is located in midtown Manhattan in the Urban Center at the landmarked Villard Houses. The Urban Center houses the offices of the Society, the Architectural League, and New Yorkers for Parks, as well as Urban Center Books, New York City's leading bookstore for architecture and related arts.
You can visit or write these diligent preservationists:
The Municipal Art Society
Kent Barwick, President
457 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10022
T.:212-935-3960 * Fax:212-753-1816 * Email:info@mas.org
Jasper Goldman, Advocacy Associate: jgoldman@mas.org
Jefferson Market
Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Jefferson Market.

Jefferson Market, Jumble & Jo Cain

When Jo Cain died on September 7, 2003, the hideous scaffold was already in place, its barbed wire trim stretching across the face of Jefferson Market Library not unlike the thorny hedge blocking Sleeping Beauty's castle, cursed by the Evil Fairy.
During the 1930s, as part of a WPA project, artist Joseph Lambert Cain [1904-2003] did a 23-inch-high oil painting of Jefferson Market, partially obscured by the elevated train on Sixth Avenue. The New Orleans native had been enrolled at the Hans Hofmann School of Art [52 West 8th Street] then.


In November 1932, proprietors of the Jumble Shop - - Winifred J. Tucker and Frances E. Russell - - were planning an art show. Pictures were being selected by a committee, they had told the N.Y. Times, composed of Guy Pene du Bois [of West 9th Street], H.E. Schnackenberg, and Reginald Marsh.
_ _ _ "The Jumble Shop, at 28 West Eighth Street, has for some tme concerned itself with more than just the serving of food. It serves art as well, in a series of informal exhibitions which are open to the public all day" [wrote the N.Y. Times, 21 December 1932, along with a full list of the participants including Jo Cain].
_ _ _ Welcome to the winter of our discontent in Greenwich Village: West 8th Street, as attractive as a leper's colony, and Jefferson Market, a jumble of barbed wire over a jungle-gym of rotting wooden scaffolding. Arrrgghhh!
Jefferson Market
Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Jefferson Market.

Vox Populi vs NYPL: The Villager

The Villager [Volume 75, Number 24 * November 02-08, 2005] printed comments from Greenwich Villagers regarding the shroud [scaffolding] that's been surrounding a beloved landmark on Sixth Avenue and West 9th Street since 2003 and the New York Public Library's appalling indifference to the facade's deterioration or repair. Here's an excerpt from the "Letters to the Editor" page:

Maybe library should leave

To The Editor:
* * The Jefferson Market Library is the signature building in Greenwich Village. Its preservation and adaptive reuse was the catalyst for the creation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. While we appreciate that the New York Public Library houses a branch here, it is the structure that occupies a unique place in our affections.
* * Several years ago, a problem with the exterior masonry developed and unsightly scaffolding was erected. Residents naively supposed that the N.Y.P.L. would locate funding for repairs expeditiously. We were mistaken. The “shroud” of scaffolding stands and the building continues to deteriorate. Repairing the library’s “bricks and mortar” should be a priority rather than initiating an unsolicited interior redesign. Unless the N.Y.P.L. can promise a future free from rain, snow and other inclement weather, it seems cavalier to institute interior alterations when the worsening exterior may negatively impact them. . . .

Marilyn Dorato
Dorato is secretary and presiding officer of the Greenwich Village Block Associations
- - visit www.TheVillager.com to read the entire letter - -
Jefferson Market
Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
New York Public Library
Jefferson Market.

Old Jeff: As I Lay Dying

"Deliberately! That gang at the N.Y. Public Library knew what they were doing -- and they did it that way deliberately," the blonde was telling her companions as they went their way along Sixth Avenue, toting goodies destined for the Village Info Senior Center on West 13th Street.

"What infuriates me," the redhead added, "was that the scaffolding was already up in 2003 when those library-sneaks were scheming: applying for another $645,000 grant from Capital Funds to re-configure the interior. And not one word in the library's application requested funding to restore the exterior. This library is hoarding millions of dollars in government grants and they're overlooking the fact that they are supposed to be the caretakers of a landmark. No, this is wrong, when the library doesn't give one thought to restoring the facade! Is the facade supposed to repair itself?"

The brunette was brief: "Every time I go to Jefferson Market Library, I am tempted to put up some signs." She spread her hands for emphasis. "Come in and read between the LIES."
-----Jefferson_Market_Library:_Love_It_or_Leave_It-----
Instead of reading between the lies, please be an informed and persuasive advocate for your branch library and landmark.
Express your thoughts about Jefferson Market Library.
PLA is a division of the American Library Association [at 50 E. Huron, Chicago, IL 60611].
ALA’s toll-free tel.: 1-800-545-2433; fax:312-280-5029; e-mail: pla@ala.org
-----Jefferson_Market_Library:_Love_It_or_Leave_It-----


Ah, listen my children, and you shall hear a midnight tale of those we revere.
Once upon a time, there was a timepiece -- a noble four-dialed clock -- set high above the pavement in Jefferson Market Court in Greenwich Village. Fourscore and more it had offered accurate time-keeping to the neighborhood. In 1892, for instance, it had chimed the hour as the Mayor and hundreds of dignitaries and citizens were en route to Washington Square Park for the unveiling of a new triumphal marble arch designed by the architect Stanford White. This monument replaced a temporary portal raised to commemorate the centenary (1889) of George Washington’s inauguration as President.

A good clock it was and for eight decades [and then some] it had paced Village children to school. Old Jeff had urged steps to quicken towards the trolley or the train. Old Jeff had reminded those on trial inside the courtrooms that lunch break was nigh. Then, like many an octogenarian, Old Jeff slowed and (at last) stopped in 1957.

Silence aroused a public outcry, led by Mrs. Margot Gayle [of 44 West 9th Street] and Mr. Harold Birn [of 51 Fifth Avenue]. They had organized The Neighbors to Get the Jefferson Market Courthouse Clock Started. This energetic group petitioned Percy Gale, Jr., head of the city's Department of Real Estate, to get Old Jeff going -- ticking and tocking in time for the New Year: 1958.
[These efforts were reported in newspapers November-December 1957.]
To be continued . . . .
Jefferson Market
Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Jefferson Market.

Illustration: Mary Teichman 1991

Each November We Remember

"All you need to make a movie," the filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard once said, "is a girl and a gun."
* * * Texas Guinan [1884-1933] appeared in several silent films as the gun-slinger.
* * * Mae West [1893-1980] appeared in films as the gun-moll.
* * * During the 1920s, both wound up in Jefferson Market Court.

* * * Both rated a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. [Mae's star is at 1560 Vine Street.]
* * * Eventually, both died in the West during November.
* * * While on the road, Texas Guinan contracted amoebic dysentery in Vancouver, British Columbia and died there on November 5, 1933 at age 49, exactly one month before Prohibition was repealed. She is interred in the Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York.
* * * Mae West was 87 years old when she suffered a stroke. She died in Los Angeles, California on November 22, 1980. She is entombed in the Cypress Hills Cemetery [833 Jamaica Avenue], Brooklyn, New York.

During November, stop in Jefferson Market Library and check out Texas Guinan: Queen of the Night Clubs by Louise Berliner and Becoming Mae West by Emily Wortis Leider.
PHOTO: September 1930 -- Mae West and Texas Guinan take a recess in the judge's chambers during Mae's "Pleasure Man" obscenity trial at Jefferson Market Court.
Source: http://texasguinan.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Texas Guinan
http://maewest.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Mae West
Jefferson Market
Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Jefferson Market.

Another Facade: Village Alliance

Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and see the FACADE.
Yes, indeed, here's another one that's full-of-hot-air.
Funded by real-estate-gazzillionaire Norman Buchbinder, the BID [Business Improvement District] has a mission statement gassy with promises of "landmark preservation" and "protection" for historic eye-candy. Meanwhile, despite the city's real estate boom and despite the juicy fees that the BID charges its members, West Eighth Street is steadily on the skids: a slum corridor of tacky storefronts and half-a-century of neglect, a street so ugly that even dog-walkers avoid it. Many of West 8th's landlords have had no choice but to lower rents. Unfortunately, this "8th Wonder" is the yellow-brick-road that leads pedestrians to Jefferson Market Library [425 Sixth Avenue], a unique landmark no better for its proximity to this misalliance. Tsk!
* * Does this 19th century Venetian Gothic beauty [under scaffolding since 2004 but not under repair] look protected or preserved?


MISSION: The Village Alliance was signed into law as a Business Improvement District (BID) in September of 1993, by the Mayor of New York City, to include within its boundaries 8th Street from Sixth Avenue to Second Avenue and Saint Marks Place; Astor Place and Sixth Avenue from West 4th Street to 8th Street.
AREA: Within the district boundaries are two special designations: The Greenwich Village Historic District and The Special Limited Commercial District, a zone created to protect the historic nature of the commercial area which along 8th Street and Sixth Avenue is located in a variety of brownstone-type buildings representing a number of architectural styles of a bygone era.
EXPERTISE: Among the programs we provide to our constituents are supplemental public safety and sanitation services, graffiti removal, economic development and community revitalization, facade improvement, marketing and promotion, streetscape enhancements, and tourist information and tours. ...
The Village Alliance
8 East 8th Street
New York, NY 10003
T.:212-777-2173; Fax:212-505-0639; E-mail:bid@villagealliance.org
Jefferson Market
Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Jefferson Market.

Brother Bloomberg: Can You Spare a Dime?

Election Day 2005 -- and Greenwich Villagers are paying attention.

--------MISUSE_of_PUBLIC_FUND$---------------------------
Hon. Michael Bloomberg
Mayor, City of New York
City Hall
New York, New York 10007
Re: Jefferson Market Library –
Improper Use of Public Funds
Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

On behalf of several Greenwich Village Block Associations I am writing because we are concerned about the possible misuse of millions of dollars worth of taxpayers' money.
* * $2.8-million approved: At the October 18, 2005 meeting of Community Board 2 Institutions Committee, New York Public Library presenters stated that some $2.8-million had been approved by the City Council for an unpopular and unsolicited plan to renovate the library interior. Although NYPL neglected to inform the community, other than CB 2, of their intentions, fortunately, we were able to raise enough awareness so that a standing-room-only group of concerned, angry taxpayers attended. A vote by a show of hands was requested; 95% voted against the proposals.
* * $300,000 only is necessary: The NYPL presenters estimated that $300,000 of the $2.8-million covered what they deemed NECESSARY renovations.
* * Question: why would the City Council approve funding well beyond what the NYPL stated were necessary renovations ($2.8-million minus $300,000)? Recently, many of us were asked to write public officials begging for monies to alleviate cuts in library hours and staffing.
* * beloved landmark: Everyone knows that the Jefferson Market Library is an architectural treasure. It is a key destination for Greenwich Village’s tourists, thus an important contributor to one of New York’s major economic bases. Most significantly, Jefferson Market is both an icon and a landmark. We were told that although the Parks Department installed scaffolding several years ago to protect against falling (architectural) debris, NYPL “regretted there was no money for exterior maintenance.”
* * an injustice: Many residents in our Election Districts [10003, 10011, 10012, 10014] agree that it is a grave injustice when the facade of a highly visible 19th century landmark is deteriorating -- why -- because The New York Public Library has shamefully decided to NEGLECT the exterior for 30 years.
* * Mr. Mayor, please: We request the support of your office in securing funding, preferably permanent funding, to preserve and protect our beloved building.

Sincerely,
E. Mary Shannon [New York, NY 10014]
* * * Cc: Councilwoman Christine Quinn
T.:212-788-6979; fax:212-227-1236; T.:212-564-7757
* * * Cc: Councilman Alan J. Gerson
T.:212-788-7722; fax:212-788-7727
* * * Cc: Senator Thomas K. Duane
T.:212-268-1049; fax:212-564-1003
* * * Cc: Congressman Jerrold Nadler
T.:212-367-7350; fax:212-367-7356
Jefferson Market
Source:http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Jefferson Market.

Artist Glenn O. Coleman painted the Jefferson Market Jail and the glass-enclosed Hudson & Manhattan Tube Entrance on West 10th Street and Greenwich Avenue. His painting was published on the back cover of The Masses, December 1914 issue.

"See No Evil" at Landmarks Preservation

Does this landmark looked well-preserved?
Or is an injustice being committed at a former courthouse?


Landmarks_Preservation_Commission_Chairman_Robert_B._Tierney said:
The work of the Landmarks Preservation Commission has never been more vital. Historic preservation plays an integral role in the City’s economy and quality of life for visitors and residents alike. In all five boroughs, unique architectural and historical properties serve as invaluable reminders of New York City’s nearly 400 years of urban growth. . . . The Commission takes great pride in preserving the character of our neighborhoods and buildings, in the belief that landmarks anchor community renewal and pride and touch all New Yorkers.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission
Municipal Building:
1 Centre Street [9th floor], New York, NY 10007
Public Information Officer
T.:212-669-7817
.
* * * MISSION: The Landmarks Preservation Commission was established by the Landmarks Law in 1965 in order to: Safeguard the city's historic, aesthetic, cultural heritage. ... blah-blah-blah . . . Help stabilize and improve property values in historic districts. blah-blah-blah ... Encourage civic pride in the beauty + accomplishments of the past. blah-blah-blah ... Protect and enhance the city's attractions for tourists. blah-blah-blah ... Strengthen the city's economy. blah-blah-blah ... Promote the use of landmarks for the education, pleasure, and welfare of the people of New York City. blah-blah-blah . . . .
Source: http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Jefferson Market
Photo: JUSTICE IS WITHIN
[exterior tableau, Jefferson Market Court]
Jefferson Market.

GVSHP: Dogged or Dodging the Issue?

Businessman Andrew Carnegie lived by the belief that any man who dies rich will die disgraced. By the time Carnegie died in 1919, his Carnegie Corp. had sponsored more than 2,800 libraries worldwide. Did this generosity expiate his sins?

While you contemplate that, feast your eyes on the Jefferson Market judicial complex in its heyday, before two-thirds of it was demolished and the remaining third was landmarked and turned into a branch of the New York Public Library.

Silence_from_Greenwich_Village_Society_for_Historic_Preservation
Curiously, the ever-ready bloodhounds at The.Greenwich.Village.Society.for.Historic.Preservation, the sharp-toothed creatures who dogged the steps of Vanity Fair photographer Annie Leibowitz, when renovations of her West Village townhouse caused the collapse of a neighbor's home, those "preservationists" - - who embrace media ink and seek photo opportunities - - have been oddly silent about the water-logged scaffolding eating away at this 19th century Venetian Gothic landmark since 2003. Village residents are wondering about this artful dodging. Cui bono?
Andrew Berman, where is your integrity?
GVSHP_T.:212-475-9585; fax:212-475-9582; email: gvshp@gvshp.org
This photo was taken before 1928.
[N.B.: NO scaffolding! The N.Y. Public Library had not moved in yet & ruined the facade!]
Source: http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Jefferson Market
Jefferson Market.

Jefferson Market Library Agonistes

Caveat lector! According to the feisty Greenwich Village Block Association: The mink gloves are off!
Here's the latest from Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/

- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -
Greenwich Village's "Joan of Arc" Tells Library Lionheart:
Love It or Leave It!
Greenwich Village Block Association Challenges the New York Public Library's Scheme to Waste $2-Million of Taxpayers' $$$ to Ravage a Beloved Landmark on Sixth Avenue

New York, NY: The Greenwich Village Block Association came out swinging, as neighborhood residents sent "fighting words" to N.Y. Public Library President Paul LeClerc over the library's ill-conceived plans to squander $2-million to re-do the INTERIOR of the Jefferson Market branch, a landmark that was built in the 19th century as a courthouse.

Designed by Frederick Withers as part of the Jefferson Market judicial complex in the mid-1800s - - a triangular site that once held a jail, a police precinct, a firetower, and a marketplace in addition to the court - - this architectural triumph won the distinction as "one of the ten most beautiful buildings in America."

Vacated as a courthouse in the 1950s, and faced with the wrecker's ball [which had already demolished the jail and market-stalls], this beloved building was saved by a group of Greenwich Village activists and designated a national landmark. Though the interior was reconfigured as a neighborhood branch library and put into use, the exterior facade has not been maintained by the N.Y. Public Library.

Marilyn Dorato, GVBA President
"The Jefferson Market Library is the signature building in Greenwich Village. Its preservation and adaptive reuse was the catalyst for the creation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. While we appreciate that the New York Public Library (NYPL) houses a branch here, it is the structure that occupies a unique place in our affections," explained Marilyn Dorato, GVBA President in a letter to LeClerc.

Cynthia Crane Story, cabaret legend & landmarks savior, Chair Mulry angle/ West 11th St. Block Association
According to Cynthia Crane Story, a cabaret queen and lifelong Village resident, who continues her work to preserve and honor this architectural treasure - - and who applauds Margot Gayle who led the drive to rescue the building in 1959 - - it was several years ago that a problem with the exterior masonry developed and unsightly scaffolding had been erected. Residents naively supposed that the NYPL would locate funding for repairs expeditiously. But we were mistaken. The “shroud” of scaffolding stands and the building continues to deteriorate! Repairing the library’s “bricks and mortar” should be a priority - - rather than initiating an unsolicited interior redesign.

Carol Greitzer, former City Councilmember
Former City Councilmember Carol Greitzer was aghast when, at a recent meeting attended by more than 250 local residents, NYPL representatives coolly informed attendees that it intended to forge ahead and may close the library for extended periods. Reporters also noted that, at an October committee meeting, both NYPL representatives and CB2 members treated residents’ concerns with disdain and derision.

Doris Diether, Community Board 2 member
Community Board 2 member Doris Diether emphasized that the controversial “teen center” is unnecessary in whatever form and whatever size the NYPL intends to make it.

Elaine Abse, former school guidance counsellor
Elaine Abse, a retired school guidance counsellor, has written to public officials and pointed out that there is no need to segregate teenagers or to isolate the general population from them. A “teen ghetto” in the library is a frivolous use of public space - - as well as a waste of $2-million of tax-payers' money.

The GVBA and an army of volunteers have agreed on this: While the NYPL is the current guardian of our cherished Venetian Gothic building, the structure belongs to us. Specific elements of the renovation scheme may be worth consideration, but the NYPL must consult with the community in a transparent, respectful manner.
Will the lionhearted library leadership lie down or roar? A public forum is scheduled to take place in Greenwich Village after Thanksgiving.

* * The Greenwich Village Block Association [GVBA] is a community wide coalition of organizations dedicated to preserving and improving the quality of life for residents of this historic neighborhood. Visit www.gvba.org
Media.Contact:Tel.:212-243-4334 -
Artist Stuart Davis painted Jefferson Market Court in the 1920s
[N.B.: NO scaffolding! The N.Y. Public Library had not moved in yet & ruined the facade!]
Source: http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Jefferson Market
Jefferson Market.

GVBA as Joan of Arc: Love It or Leave It!

The Greenwich Village Block Association's Position Statement on The New York Public Library's Plans to Renovate the INTERIOR of the Jefferson Market Library

Attn: Dr. Paul LeClerc, CEO, N.Y.P.L.:

* * * The Greenwich Village Block Associations [GVBA] is a community wide coalition of organizations dedicated to preserving and improving the quality of life for residents of our historic neighborhood. The Jefferson Market Library is the signature building in Greenwich Village. Its preservation and adaptive reuse was the catalyst for the creation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. While we appreciate that the New York Public Library (NYPL) houses a branch here, it is the structure that occupies a unique place in our affections.


* * * Several years ago a problem with the exterior masonry developed and unsightly scaffolding was erected. Residents naively supposed that the NYPL would locate funding for repairs expeditiously. We were mistaken. The “shroud” of scaffolding stands and the building continues to deteriorate. Repairing the library’s “bricks and mortar” should be a priority rather than initiating an unsolicited interior redesign. Unless the NYPL can promise a future free from rain, snow, and other inclement weather, it seems cavalier to institute interior alterations when the worsening exterior may negatively impact them. At a recent meeting attended by more than 250 residents, NYPL representatives coolly informed attendees that it intended to forge ahead and may close the library for extended periods.

* * * Sometime ago, a group of Villagers met in a “planning for needs” session to assist the NYPL to serve us. Greenwich Village has more “history per square foot” than any other neighborhood in the United States; we are a tourist mecca for visitors from all over the globe. At the “planning for needs” session participants suggested that the library expand its reference section and include ephemera and memorabilia documenting our storied past. The Jefferson Market Library should reflect the community surrounding it so that researchers can explore our history, when possible, from primary sources.

* * *

The controversial “teen center” is unnecessary in whatever form and whatever size the NYPL intends to make it.

It is unclear as to how the NYPL would create an area to meet the varying needs of a divergent group of young people [ages 12-18]. In the river valleys of Western Pennsylvania, Andrew Carnegie once built libraries as expiation for his sins. Including auditoriums, swimming pools, and gymnasiums, they were welcome in mill towns that had few cultural resources. Because the NYPL is located in one of the world’s great cities, it has no such mission. A child growing up in New York City has numerous prospects for diversion and cultural improvement. A New York City teenager is typically able to converse and interact comfortably with adults. There is no need to segregate them or to isolate the general population from them; a “teen ghetto” in the library is a frivolous use of public space [and a waste of $2-million worth of tax-payers' $$$]. On the contrary, in the “general needs” session, participants wanted to encourage interaction between adults and teenagers. Villagers are educated, informed, talented and skilled. We suggested that the NYPL create a database of residents available to tutor/ mentor students.

* * * The NYPL appears to be suffering from severe misapprehensions about Greenwich Village. While the NYPL is the current guardian of our cherished Venetian Gothic building, the structure belongs to us. Specific elements of the renovation scheme may be worth consideration, but the NYPL must consult with the community in a transparent, respectful manner. Villagers will not countenance squandering public funds for an unendorsed project and will not embrace what may be passing fashion. Unfortunately, it appears that Community Board 2 may not be up to the task of leading the discussion. Reportedly, at a recent committee meeting, both NYPL representatives and CB2 members treated residents’ concerns with disdain and derision.

* * * If the NYPL determines that it can no longer efficiently use the Jefferson Market building without altering its interior in a manner consistent with the community’s wishes and needs, and if it cannot guarantee maintenance of its “bricks and mortar”, Villagers must regretfully consider other uses for the building. If the NYPL intends to serve the residents of Greenwich Village, it must understand and respect us. And if it cannot serve the residents of Greenwich Village, it should begin the task of examining itself.
Thank you.
— from the President & Board of Directors,
The Greenwich Village Block Associations
— November 1, 2005
Illustration: thanks to Jersey City artist Richard La Rovere [T.:201-659-0662]
Source: http://jeffersonmarketcourthouseny.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Jefferson Market
New York Public Library
Jefferson Market.