No more buildings! Not even for them!

Youthful anarchy is all the rage these days what with the white faced Heath Ledger mystifying millions in movie houses with his posthumous incarnation of amorality, and the Times writing about Malwebolence and such. So much so that it is crowding out good old fashioned tie-died protesting. You know, the kind made famous in the late 60’s and which looks like it may become the next shuffleboard now that its original practitioners are beginning to age into assisted living communities. 

So what’s an aging protester to do to stay relevant when the kids are acting more amoral in their white faced Joker makeup then you did in your anti-draft (oops, I mean anti-war) bare feet?

You have to go after whoever you can, and I’m sure Jane Jacobs would agree that even though it’s the New School that needs the space, no one, I mean no one should be allowed to build a new building in New York, nope, not ever again.

Make no mistake, both the Jerry Garcia crowd and the new bomb throwing anarchists hold the moral low ground in their protesting efforts. At is core, (in modern America), protests are about a petulant minority trying to impose its will on an established majority. Can’t get action via democracy? Well then lets have a march (“Remember how much fun those sit-ins were, dear?” “You bet honey. Jill, did I ever tell you that I met you mommy a the Earth day rally…” “Yes, Dad, like a thousand times, its so boring, and every time you tell it Mom wears flowers in her hair for a week afterwords. I’m so humiliated when she picked me up at school in the SUV…”)

Yes, the stretch for regaining youthful relevance was never so strained than when it is the bastion of revolt itself that is under attack. What must governance meeting be like at the New School when they have to deal with “concerned citizens” protesting at their door? How the worm turns. 

The only thing more hilarious than contemplating the idea of a “capital campaign” at the decidedly non-capitalist New School is this chuckle about the “we don’t know what we are protesting, but we gona get out and stop them anyway…just because…” approach of self appointed community guys with nothing else to do with their time.

According to Chelsea Now:

The New School still has not published any new designs, and, according to the Board of Standards and Appeals, has not filed the necessary zoning papers. As a result, the building’s opponents have become increasingly confused. <snip> “Everybody’s opposed to it,” said [Renée] Fishman. <snip> “There are efforts in place to fight it,” said Fishman, “but it’s really hard to fight something that you don’t know what it is.”

And that pretty much says it all. Better to block a historic Greenwich Village institution’s plans, sight unseen than support work that will mean more jobs, income and prestige to our City.

Peace, man…

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