Notes from Neighbors

New Yorkers are really getting tired of watching their local small businesses shutter, forced out by rising rents and demolitions for the construction of condos, hotels, and dorms. They want to do something. Some of us take to the blogosphere. Others get out the Scotch tape. Here are a few notes from neighbors that recently appeared.

1. When Bleecker Street's Mambo Sushi closed some months ago, people were upset, especially by the removal of the blue-green tiled "roof."


photo: NY Magazine

One person put a sign on the window--not to complain about the roof removal, but to make a desperate plea:

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't make this space into some useless tourist trap. PLEASE put something good here that people of the neighborhood can enjoy. We need more neighborhood spots. I know tourists bring in revenue but if the place is truly good, everybody will come. Thanks, your neighbor."


photo: Tommy Raiko

Reader Tommy Raiko sent in this photo of the sign and noted that it "crystallized so much of folks' attitudes about such things." Scribbled on the sign was a response: "Get over yourself. #1stworldproblems."

And then another: "It is going to be a Mexican rest." Of course, the way things are going in the Village these days, the place might just sit empty for a couple of years.


2. When 35 Cooper Square, with its deep and fascinating history, was demolished, people were not happy. Now there's a dormitory in its place, and people are not happy. Someone has posted a sign on the dorm.

It says: "The Federal-Style Row House at 35 Cooper Square was Razed for this Crappy Dorm."


photo by Beth Carey


3. The University Place deli was kicked out recently, after decades in business, so that yet more luxury condos can be built.

In response, someone taped a newspaper article to the door of the shuttered deli: "In NY City, debate over saving small shops amid chains' rise." Handwritten beneath the article, it reads: "WE MISS YOU!"