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Celebs Offering Signed Photos, Special Prizes To Help Stop NYU Expansion
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Dec 4, 2013
Modified Dec 4, 2013
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Dec 4, 2013
Modified Dec 4, 2013
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It's been a while since we've heard about the controversial 6 million-square-foot NYU Expansion that's set to swallow what's left of Greenwich Village and turn it into one giant playpen for students administrators by 2031. But John Sexton or no John Sexton, the expansion will go on—unless a few heroic souls step in to save the day. Who, you ask? Celebrities, of course!
A handful of celebrities are offering up their goods and services as part of an anti-expansion auction, hosted by the NYU Faculty Against the Sexton Plan group online from December 9th to 18th. You can vie for a chance to take home an uncorrected galley from Art Spiegelman’s Maus or a original working score by Philip Glass, for instance. Go food shopping with Padma Lakshmi or play a round of one-on-one basketball with John Leguizamo. Susan Sarandon, taking a break from running the de Blasio transition, has donated a night out at ping pong club SPiN to the highest bidder, and Andre Balasz is offering a weekend for two at any of his hotels. (That's the one you want to win.)
Proceeds from the auction will benefit legal action aiming to halt the plan. "The only people that stand to benefit from a developer’s wrecking ball are the people that will line their wallets,”actor Matthew Modine, a longtime neighborhood resident, said in a statement. “These profiteers are, no doubt, not even residents of the Village. People that do not enjoy the historical character of Greenwich Village.” Modine donated a signed photograph of himself.
This isn't the first time celebrities have spoken out against the expansion, which critics say will cost the neighborhood a significant amount of public space and heavily burden the area with construction over the next two decades. Matthew Broderick, who grew up in the Village, testified against the plan at a City Council-sponsored small panel last year.
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NYU
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Rebecca Fishbein
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