The Society Set Begins Filling Sandbags

The venue was booked. They’d been able to get the Plaza Hotel this year. Charles Grodin, actor and newscaster, had agreed to perform as the Master of Ceremonies, and former NFL star Tiki Barber was planning on handling the award ceremony. It looked to be a banner year for the fourth annual Breakthrough Ball, which was hoping to raise more than a million and a half dollars to benefit the Children’s Cancer and Blood foundation.

Then Lehman Brothers announced it was filing for bankruptcy.

“That was a really stressful day,” remembers Jennifer Zaleski, the director of the Breakthrough Ball, echoing what many working on Wall Street felt at the same time. In an unfortunate coincidence, Lehman’s bankruptcy fell on the day of the Breakthrough Ball’s pre-gala auction, where the foundation was raffling off fine art, donated by ArtNet, in an effort to raise donations before the event.

“No one really knew what was happening,” she says. “People were afraid to bid.”

As a concerned organizer, Zaleski isn’t alone. Benefit season in the Big Apple typically begins in September, and many of the world’s preeminent charitable organizations hold events here, raising hundreds of millions for benevolent causes. But with the recent turmoil in the financial sector, charitable benefits are poised to have one of the worst years on record.

Benefits and galas in New York are typically a mainstay in socialites’ calendars. With price tags hovering around $1,000 for a ticket or $10,000 for a table, attendees usually float in the highest tax brackets, and financial services workers were often the first to snap up tickets.

This year is different. On October 16th New York City Comptroller William Thompson forecast 165,000 job losses in the next two years, with 35,000 of those specifically in the financial sector. This has meant that bankers are watching their spending. An evening hobnobbing in the ballroom at the Plaza, even to benefit sick kids, has suddenly become a discretionary expense.

“We’ve had to cut back this year,” says Zaleski. “The flowers and the auction items have been toned down.” Zaleski also says that she’s renegotiated the fee for a night in the Plaza’s ballroom. The famously posh hotel reduced its minimum guaranteed payment from $400,000 down to $300,000, after there were concerns that ticket sales weren’t moving as briskly as usual.

George Orfanakos, the Executive Director of the Children’s Tumor Foundation – which held its own annual gala on October 29th at Cipriani on Wall Street, says that his organization has noticed significant drops in giving across the board since markets began lurching downwards. As a result, the Children’s Tumor Foundation has revamped its fundraising strategy, including cutting back on flourishments at their gala.

During tight financial times a benefit must make these types cutback, Orfanakos told listeners at a recent presentation focused on maintaining charitable giving during the current financial typhoon. Every dollar saved on stage decoration, centerpieces, and giveaways is less money that must be raised for the cause, he said.

Even those still feeling secure have been slow to splurge for expensive table sponsorships or auction items, says Zaleski. There seems to be a contagious hesitancy as a result of the uncertainty in the economy. What’s more, friends may have lost in the markets, or even become unemployed. It may feel unseemly to bid high on dinners prepared by private chefs, or guitars that have been autographed by rock stars.

“People really don’t want to look flashy or showy this year,” she says.

In the end, the Breakthrough Ball did manage to meet its fundraising goal, including the proceeds from the earlier auction, raising one and a half million dollars in total. The night was a resounding success, according to Lonnie Soury, the director of public relations for the Children’s Cancer and Blood foundation. All 400 seats were sold. A live and silent auction was sponsored by Philips de Pury & Company, a reputable New York City auction house that typically deals in fine art, with the respected auctioneer Simon de Pury directing the bidding. Among the 83 luxury items auctioned off were five hours on a private jet, donated by Bombardier SkyJets, and diamond encrusted choker, donated by Di Modolo. Attendees included Art Garfunkel and hip-hop producer Swizz Beats, who recorded a song especially for the ball.

“It came off surprisingly well in a tough environment,” says Soury.

There were cutbacks, though. Auctioneers at Breakthrough Balls in years past would ask for direct service donations, money pledged for a specific purpose, such as purchasing new equipment for a hospital. Soury also says that the foundation wasn’t able to justify paying for extensive lighting arrays this year, in an effort to cut costs. Soury also arranged for the gift bags to be donated by haute couture designer Tory Burch, rather than purchasing an equivalent.

“We want as much money as possible to go to the kids,” says Soury. “We asked ourselves ‘how can we spend less money, where can we cut without losing the feeling?’”

Immigration Policy and an Obama Administration

As Americans go to the polls today to cast their votes for the next president of the United States much weighs on their minds. Global economic meltdown. Two wars turning to dangerous quagmires. Increasingly unaffordable health care.

Judging by the candidates on the stump and at the debates, one issue that's quietly receded into the background of the electoral landscape is immigration policy. Most Americans seem to agree that other issues trump immigration concerns right now. Even Hispanics, who in the past ranked immigration policy among their primary concerns, are more concerned with the economy and education this year, according to Mark Hugo Lopez of the Pew Hispanic Center.

Now, with an Obama victory and increased Democratic margins in the House and Senate projected by most pollsters, what new policies may be enacted to address the thorny issue of America's broken immigration policy?

Immigration is a peculiar issue for Americans. Liberals and Conservatives both assert that the United States is a land of immigrants. Only extremists suggest that the immigration should be staunched all together. But a series of polls conducted by Gallup between 2001 and 2007 revealed that a majority of whites, blacks, and Hispanics feel that immigration has harmed, or at least failed to help, the country’s economy, job market, and social values. Confusingly, the same polls found that majorities also agreed that immigration is broadly a good thing.

Barack Obama’s record seems to reflect the same ambivalence. The last time the Senate tried to pass comprehensive immigration reform was in early 2007. During the debate of that bill Obama supported a measure cutting back the number of guest worker visas allowed under the new legislation from 400,000 to 200,000, and another measure banning employers from hiring guest workers in areas with high unemployment. He also supported an amendment to the bill that would have added a five year sunset clause. The bill died in June that year.

However, Obama also says he supports an eventual path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already working in the United States. During the primaries he supported then-governor of New York Eliot Spitzer's attempt to grant drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants. He also introduced a bill in the Senate aimed at reducing the fees a visa applicant must pay.

If he is elected President Obama says he will reintroduce comprehensive immigration reform during the first year he is in office. According to his platform, Obama supports a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens. He supports a measure that would give priority to reunification of immigrant families.

This jibes with expert opinion on immigration policy direction. In a recent panel discussion at Barnard College titled "Obama and the Immigrant Vote" Political Science Professor Richard Pious said that immigration reform during an Obama administration would most likely focus on reuniting families split by inaccess to visas. His colleague Kimberly Johnson, fellow Barnard Political Science Professor, agreed, suggesting that the single further step a President Obama would take is targeted increases in visas for some skilled professions.

This is in contrast to what might have been under a McCain administration. Both Professors Johnson and Pious were of the opinion that John McCain, if handed the reins, would have introduced policy to allow in more immigrants across the board, particularly highly skilled immigrants. This attitude is born of McCain's strong belief in free trade, the panelists said.

Another difference between the candidates is the way they’ve addressed this issue on the campaign trail, according to Professor Lorraine Minnite, another panelist who spoke at Barnard.

“When Barack Obama meets with Latino voters he does talk some about his plans for immigration reform,” said Minnite. “McCain never does.”

For most American voters, concerns about immigration policy have been usurped by more pressing concerns. A poll on October 2, by YouGov for The Economist saw only 27 percent of respondents placing the issue among their top three concerns. The issue is one that quickly inflames American passions, though, and Obama, if he is the voters' choice today, will need to dance lightly through a minefield if he hopes to please on this issue.

Village Chess Shop Girds For Economic Storm

John Lennon bought from here in the 80s. His widow Yoko Ono still comes by to check for new stock. Woody Allen’s just finished shooting a scene here, and the manager knows David Lee Roth well enough to describe him as a “really sweet guy.”

This is the charmingly disarrayed Village Chess Shop, in Greenwich Village. It couldn’t be further from Wall Street, but the flagging economy now looms over the shop’s survival.

The Village Chess Shop in Greenwich Village has been a Thompson Street institution since it opened its doors in 1971. It was founded by George Frohlinde, and sold to nephew Larry Nash in 2001. On offer are many different sets, ranging from the plastic and vinyl variety (price: $15), to hand-carved Italian marble sets that cost over $10,000. The shop’s tight confines grudgingly allow for nine tables, topped with hand-carved boards, where players can fight it out for $2 an hour. Coffee is poured at a dollar a cup, and a chalkboard warns players that each profanity will cost them $3.

Most of the players are regulars who have been coming to The Village Chess Shop for decades. “Master Dick” shows up mornings; in the afternoons, “Richard the Computer” ambles in. Sometimes new players appear, like four-year-old Zachary, who comes by once a week with his mother. The shop stays open late, sometimes until 1 am, brewing pot after pot of coffee, National Public Radio, gospel, or classical music playing in the background.

But in the past few years business has been dwindling, according to Andrew Nash, manager of the shop and brother to the owner Larry Nash. Competition from internet retailers has driven down sales, and the rise of videogames has stifled an interest in chess in the younger generations, he says.

The business has become increasingly dependent upon two things: strong holiday sales, and trade in high-end sets, according to Elias Greendorfer, a clerk who works nights and weekends.

“There are basically two types of customers who drive sales,” says Elias. “You’ve got your players from the park, who buy the 15 buck plastic set, and the super-rich banker type, who’s looking for a really nice set to give as a gift.”

This is bad news. New York City Comptroller William Thompson has just forecast 165,000 job losses in the next two years, with 35,000 cuts in the financial sector. Gloomier still is the National Retail Federation’s prediction that consumer spending during the holidays will increase only 2.2 percent – the smallest increase since 2002.

Still Larry, the owner, remains cautiously optimistic, saying that the shop hasn’t been put in check by the flagging economy.

“We absolutely need a strong holiday season,” he says. “But I don’t think we’re different from any small business down here.”

Larry is concerned that his landlord may choose to raise his lease rate in the next few years. By far the biggest expense the shop struggles with is its lease. Though he won’t reveal the rate he pays now, the average monthly lease in his neighborhood for retail space is between $13,000 and $18,000, according to CityFeet, the commercial real estate listing service partnered with The New York Times.

“As a small business down in the Village you’re always worried about making your rent,” says Larry. “Mostly I worry that if The Chess Shop did close down it’d be turned into another Starbucks or Bank of America.”

One thing that isn’t in doubt is the adoration the shop receives from patrons, both newcomer and regular alike.

Alphonso Sanders, a jazz musician in town from Itta Bena, Mississippi, had heard of the shop from a friend and made sure to stop by when he was in town for a recent performance. He’d picked up a chess board on a trip to China, and needed some stylish pieces to match. He left the shop with a grin and a new set of Drueke pieces for $60. Another first time buyer, Colin Campbell, an executive at Express, a clothing retailer, needed a maritime themed set to match the room he’d just added to his house in New Jersey. The Chess Shop had exactly what he was looking for, with ships’ captains now standing proudly, opposing kings of his coffee table. Well worth the $100 the pieces cost.

Employees and players comment on the unique niche the shop fills in the neighborhood. The shop gives people a meeting place.

“This is what cities need, places where people can get together, outside of bars and restaurants,” Andrew says.

Kevin Manriquez, 18, is a freshman at Hunter College who started coming to the shop regularly last year. He’s been taken under wing by some of the older players while he trains for an upcoming tournament. When asked what he’d do if the shop closed down, he says he’d likely stay home and play the game online, without the benefit of coaching by masters. He describes his other options: playing at one of the organized chess clubs in the city, which can cost upwards of $300, or playing in the park, against opponents who play for money while chain smoking cigarettes. Neither option appeals to Kevin.

Michael Bloom, a 50 year old man with salt and pepper hair, started coming to The Chess Shop over 25 years ago. He points out that the shop has helped to assimilate immigrants in a unique fashion.

“People who come over from other countries may not speak the language, but they speak chess,” he says. “So many places come and go, but The Chess Shop has survived,” says Bloom.

The talented chess player is able to turn weakness into strength, and see all sides of the attack. On that note, George, the shop’s now retired founder, who can be regularly seen casually besting unsuspecting newcomers, had his own opinion on the flagging economy, delivered with his characteristic smile.

“When people lose their jobs,” he said, “at least they have more time to focus on what’s important in life. Like chess.”

A Downtown High School's Hands-On Experience

Experience is its own reward, and one school administrator in Greenwich Village is out to prove that when students take what they’ve learned in the classroom and apply it in the real world, those lessons that stick for a lifetime.

“We all took chemistry in high school,” says Dr. David Liebmann, headmaster of the soon-to-open Greenwich Village High School. “What if instead of learning it in the classroom, you go down to the water treatment plant and analyze samples?”

The new school opens its doors next fall – it’s currently admitting its first class of freshmen – and the school plans to focus on a different kind of education, called experiential learning.

Experiential learning is based on the notion that students are more likely to retain what they learn if they practice it in the real world. It is a break from the more traditional classroom-only style of teaching.

After a solid grounding in the basics, some class time is traded in for onsite experimentation and education. Other examples Liebmann cites are going to Chinatown to practice Mandarin, or a trip down to the subway to see kinetic energy in action. As students observe a train pulling into a station they can see that a train’s brakes need to exert the same amount of energy (excluding contributions from gravity, air pressure, and friction, of course) to bring the cars to a stop as is needed to get it rolling again.

The idea has Greenwich Village High School parents excited. Aimee Bell, a mother of two who lives nearby and serves as one of the founding board members of the school, says that Liebmann’s plan to have teens focus on experiential education is exactly what the board was looking for when selecting its first headmaster. She also acknowledges that, this being a new private high school in New York City, Liebmann faces high expectations from parents who demand much for their money.

Bell remains confident, thinking often of the school’s motto: “Be Kind, Work Hard, Take Risks.” She says that Liebmann’s vision of incorporating “learning by doing” into the curriculum is an embodiment of that motto. In fact it was one of the key factors that drove the board of trustees to select him to head the school.

As for the potential pupil’s reaction, Christian Johnson, a freshman at the High School for Math, Science, and Engineering at City College on the Upper West Side, thinks the idea is a good one. Greenwich Village High School would allow Christian to apply, and is currently accepting applications from students all over New York City.

“It sounds pretty cool,” he says. “It’d be a lot more exciting.”

Christian does admit that his parents might need some convincing that the quality of education meets or exceeds what he’s getting at his current school.

Greenwich Village High School’s planned curriculum is a leap forward in high school curriculum planning says Thomas James, provost of Teachers College at Columbia University and an expert on experiential learning. But he agrees one challenge Liebmann will likely face is parents who grew up with the traditional model of book and classroom learning.

James says that other hardships educators often face when enacting an experiential model are ambivalent school boards who want to see test scores demonstrating the validity of the theory, and other administrators who also want confirmation before breaking with the norm. The cost may also be prohibitive, as experiential schools need to pay for transport, and, sometimes, additional insurance, as kids are regularly removed from school grounds.

In a country that places increasing emphasis on book learning and technology, though, he thinks some experiential learning is essential for producing well-rounded students. The learning that takes place outside school walls is often worth many hours of classroom work.

“This is something that’s missing in the learning of children,” says Dr. James.

In an article for the Spring ’08 issue of Independent School Magazine, in an article titled “Living It!,” Liebmann describes some of the experiential learning programs taking place around the country. In the article he goes on to cite research demonstrating that people learn better when actively engaging a subject, rather than passively absorbing it.

Liebmann also says that learning through experience is more likely to lead to lasting memories of high school, long after the specifics of the periodic table may have begun to fade. In his past experience as the director of programs at Shady Side Academy in Pennsylvania, Liebmann noticed that his former students were quicker to remember the service learning, which is the combination of classroom work and community service, and other experiential programs above even that school’s respected curriculum.

Liebmann says that the most common criticism of experiential education is that it is watered down. He says that the opposite is true, as experiential education requires even more of students, challenging them to have a solid understanding of material before going to connect it to the world outside school walls.

The headmaster does admit that this new technique of teaching will require a passionate and dedicated brand of teenager. This doesn’t concern him, in his experience the students tend to outperform expectations in this kind of environment.

“Give kids the responsibility and they will rise to it,” he says.

NYU Expands in Spite of Neighbors

A recently announced plan to demolish a building that houses a historic playhouse a block from Washington Square has turned neighbors against the largest land-owner in the Village and forced the university to alter its original plan. Still, critics of the plan remain unhappy.

The 167-year-old-year building, at 133-139 MacDougal Street, is owned by New York University’s law school. It’s on lease to the Steinhardt School of Education, which uses the playhouse within the building for student-run theater productions. NYU wants to tear down the building to create additional space for its expanding law school.

Andrew Berman, Executive Director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation, said the building is historically important and treasured by the neighborhood.

“The building was the beating heart of bohemia in New York,” he said.

The structure became historically significant in 1912, when it was picked as the site for the Greenwich Village chapter of the Liberal Club, set up to rival the uptown chapter, after applicant W.E.B Dubois had been rejected there because he was black. The Club became a meeting point for many culturally significant writers and artists, among them E.E. Cummings and Upton Sinclair.

In 1918, space was carved out for the Provincetown Playhouse in a corner of the building. The Playhouse has a rich theatrical history, most notably as the home stage to Eugene O’Neill, the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright of, among others, Long Day’s Journey Into Night and The Iceman Cometh.

When the university announced its plans for the building on April 30th many local residents and theater enthusiasts from all over the city turned out to complain at community board hearings, and angry letters to the editor began to turn up in The Villager, a community paper. A group of concerned citizens signed and sent a letter to John Sexton, the university’s president.

Two weeks later, NYU announced that instead of demolishing the building it would preserve the theater inside while building a taller structure around and above it. John Beckman, Vice President for NYU’s all university media relations, did not return phone calls but in an e-mail said the university’s position was spelled out in a May press release. In it, university officials said they were altering the original plans to preserve the playhouse’s original four walls, ceiling, and stage. Some of the original seats, which date back to the 1920s, will also be saved.

Originally, NYU had planned to erect an eight story building on the lot. However, the plans were scaled back so that the building will now stand only slightly taller than the old four story building, with a recessed penthouse that won’t be visible from the street. The press release also points out that the university has voluntarily decided to build a smaller structure than allowed for by existing zoning laws.

By Berman’s accounting, only six percent of the original building will remain intact. Not enough, he said.

“NYU is now 0 for 1,” Berman said, regarding the school’s record since enacting NYU Plans 2031.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this, many complained. Only a year earlier, in March 2007, the school had unveiled its “NYU Plans 2031” diagram for expansion over the next 23 years. According to NYU’s expansion plans, the university is to favor renovation over demolition, and committed to soliciting community input before making any drastic changes to the neighborhood.

The expansion plan also calls for the school to locate some 3.5 million square feet of additional academic and residential space in Greenwich Village within the next 23 years, an ambitious goal in a neighborhood already known for its tight fit.

The university’s willingness to work with the community was hailed as a breakthrough by historical preservationists, including Berman. Now feelings have soured.

“My sense has been that NYU goes through the motions of responding to citizen concerns. They hold meetings, solicit input, and then do what they want,” said Livvie Mann, who lives and works in Greenwich Village.

The razing of the building at 133-139 MacDougal Street is the first major construction to be planned since the announcement and has dashed Berman’s hopes that the university would now mind its neighbors when making major construction decisions.

Neighbors say they have reasons to doubt NYU’s intentions. In 2001 the school grudgingly agreed to preserve the façade of the building at 85 W 3rd street, where Edgar Allen Poe had lived when he published “The Raven.” The school had planned to level the entire structure, but the plan was met with outrage. When construction finished residents discovered that the façade that NYU had promised to preserve was instead new construction fashioned to resemble Poe’s old house. Not a single brick had been preserved.

In many ways NYU’s growing pains resemble the troubles lately suffered by the city’s other great university, Columbia University. In its own search for greater space, Columbia has recently faced protests from Harlem residents over its planned expansion northward. Both universities exist in neighborhoods where residents are generally proud of the schools, but also tired of their expansionist policies.

“Inserting a monolithic institution into a multi-faceted, interesting, fragile, low-rise, historic, eccentric neighborhood can’t be done without destroying all the qualities that make it wonderful,” said Mann.

Gadfly Blogger Prods Parks Department

Speaking in a confident tone over a pint of Brooklyn Lager, Cathryn Swan explains why she started cataloging what she and others view as abuses of power perpetrated by the New York City Parks Department.

“If nobody writes about it one day you wake up in a different city,” she says.

With a rising star among the city’s bloggers, a growing readership, and now attention from reporters and academics, Swan is finding an outlet on the internet for a viewpoint that might otherwise be ignored.

Swan began writing at http://washingtonsquarepark.wordpress.com in late February after discovering that trees at her beloved Washington Square Park were being chewed up by the New York City Parks Department as part of a complete redesign of the space, a redesign which in her view was wholly unnecessary. And she wasn’t alone in that perception; many Greenwich Village residents agreed that the design of Washington Square Park was sound, with only minor repairs needed to bring the park up to snuff.

Some locals even sued to prevent construction from moving forward, alleging that the Parks Department hadn’t fully revealed the extent to which Washington Square Park’s topography would be altered. Though the suit initially succeeded, it was overturned on appeal.

Most controversial with Greenwich Village residents has been the plan to move and shrink the central fountain, which has acted as a natural place for citizens to gather for generations. The Parks Department is shifting the fountain 23 feet to the East, so that it aligns with the Arch, and allowing a renaming of that focal point – after the Tisch family, who has donated more than $2 million to the City to fund the redesign.

Another common complaint among Greenwich residents is shabby treatment by a monolithic, opaque government agency that has refused to listen to people who live near this iconic park. Phone calls and emails to the New York City Parks Department were not returned in advance of this article.

Swan had these concerns, and more. After attempts to have her questions answered were ignored by Parks Department officials and the issue dropped from the agenda of Manhattan’s Community Board Two, the body charged with hearing citizen’s concerns about the park, she decided to begin cataloging her complaints on the internet. A publicist by trade, she understood the value of a sustained PR campaign and with her trusty Macbook and a broadband connection, she had the tools to get started.

Things began slowly, with a few lines alleging mistreatment. Swan quickly became comfortable with writing in a blog-style format. Now, according to Alexa, a traffic ranking site, Swan’s blog has increased readership by 56 percent over the last three months. Though her site still ranks outside of the most 100,000 viewed sites on the internet, her regular updates and thoroughly researched postings are steadily growing an audience.

She’s even begun to garner notice from the traditional media, using her blog as a lightning rod to attract attention to a controversy now seen by many as a foregone conclusion, not least the Parks Department. She’s been contacted by a half dozen reporters and asked to comment on the redesign of Washington Square Park. On Friday, September 12th she spoke at Conflux, a convention dedicated to the creative exploration of urban public space. Her speech, well received by a crowd of fifty to sixty artists and activists, was titled “Washington Square Park: New York City’s Intervention on a Perfect Public Space.”

Swan is an example of a frustrated citizen who felt she had no place left to turn. Her site describes her reasons for blogging: “the system is broken. It’s corrupted and the process - if you can call it that - isn’t transparent or accessible. So what do you do?”

If you’re Cathryn Swan you lay out a website, and you lay out the evidence. From there, people will take notice.

Swan does have concerns outside of Washington Square Park, especially with the administration that has allowed the Parks Department to railroad through a redesign without talking to citizens, she says. If current Mayor Michael Bloomberg finds a way around term limit legislation that would be it for Swan.

“I would have to leave New York City if that happened,” she quips, but with an unwavering dedication to preservation of public space, and a poison pen (or laptop) to point the way, the City would be the worse if she followed through with the threat.

Greenwich Village Book Vendors Suffer Unlikely Competition

When exiting the subway at the West 4th Street stop in Greenwich Village people are immediately struck by rows and rows of used books, spread across four tables. These tables, operated by two friendly competitors, have been perused by residents, commuters and tourists for decades. Thanks to increased competition from portable electronics and a tightening economy, though, business lately has taken a turn for the worst.

“Two dollars, two dollars,” proclaims the first proprietor, who calls himself Ron John, trying to tempt a young, well dressed couple thumbing through the books on his table. He explains that although his sales are still good, he has seen a steady decline over this year’s spring and summer seasons. He believes that people will always need something to read, but he’s noticed that less people are stopping to check his selections. And because he’s been in the same location for nearly 20 years, he has experience from which to judge.

His affable rival is located just five yards down the block. Supreme, as he calls himself, is frank when he assesses the falloff in sales that he’s recently experienced. Sure economic downturn plays a part, but changes in the neighborhood are also to blame.

“The yuppies just don’t want used books,” he says. “They’re only looking to buy something that’s brand new.”

He may have a point. Greenwich Village was once famously home to a bohemian community of artists, musicians and students who sought the neighborhood out as much for the funky attitude as for the cheap rent. But this hip enclave was soon discovered by the real estate developers and the upwardly mobile. Today the Village has retained much of the gritty feel that made it a favorite of creative types without much to spend, but those cheap rents have long since dried up.

Both men also mention the rise of an unlikely competitor: the laptop computer. Not long ago commuters headed for the subway were among the best customers at the tables. Now, says Supreme, his dog-eared selections are no match for the contents of a Macbook.

All of this has meant a slow decline in the sales from the tables. Because both men are homeless and supported solely by what they are able to make selling remaindered reading materials, they’re feeling a pronounced pinch.

Neither man intends to give up selling books. When asked if this decline in business might force him to consider a new line of work after the 30 years that he’s been on the same spot, Supreme laughs. “Readers are going to read man. That’s never going away.”