They want a lesson in frequent sense.
New York College children are whining that Washington Sq. Park has misplaced its attraction now that the cops have evicted all of the druggies and vagrants — at the same time as certainly one of their very own was randomly attacked by a violent hobo this week close to the inexperienced house.
“With the native unhoused neighborhood now virtually solely displaced, a as soon as vibrant park is now characterised by an uncanny stillness,” reported the scholar paper, Washington Sq. Park Information.
College students on the $60,000 a yr college drew the message, “The place are our neighbors?” in chalk on the park’s walkways, fondly referring to the homeless junkies who’d turn out to be undesirable fixture of the park’s notorious northwest nook.
“I really feel like a big neighborhood is gone,” first-year scholar Caspin Berklee, who repeatedly frolicked feeding pigeons within the park, is quoted as lamenting within the article. “The park was a house for them.”
One other scholar went additional, repeating an precise speaking level from the Democratic Socialists of America.
“The criminalization of poverty isn’t the answer to something,” stated social work and public coverage scholar Sara Karp. “It ruins the type of neighborhood that these individuals have constructed and places them in riskier conditions.”
Final month – after the feds busted an enormous drug dealing ring – the NYPD flooded the embattled Greenwich Village landmark with practically 70 further cops in a 24/7 crackdown aimed toward vanquishing junkies from the beleaguered house. Neighbors overwhelmingly cheered the cleanup.
The scholars’ lament comes as certainly one of theirs was randomly attacked by a violent homeless man this week.
On Monday 20-year-old NYU scholar Amelia Lewis was strolling to class, when a creepy stranger with a protracted historical past of intercourse crimes got here up behind her, slapped her butt, yanked her hair and threw her to the bottom.
“These individuals are disgusting, they usually shouldn’t be in a position to be strolling across the streets freely concentrating on women,” Lewis stated on X after the assault. “I shouldn’t be scared to stroll to my 9:30am class.”
Her alleged attacker, James Rizzo, 45, has a prolonged rap sheet of crimes across the park. He was already again at it the subsequent day, allegedly burglarizing 4 residences in Washington Sq. Village within the early morning hours whereas residents had been sleeping, cops stated.
When police arrested him, they realized that they had the identical man wished in Monday’s assault. He was squatting in an empty penthouse in a university-owned constructing, in keeping with the scholar paper.
NYU’s day by day crime log is filled with incidents round Washington Sq. Park – as many as 102 had been reported by workers and college students final month together with stalking, harassment, fondling, theft, larceny and extortion. There have been 14 rapes and 71 different intercourse crimes reported to date in 2025 within the Sixth Precinct in keeping with NYPD knowledge, up 9% from final yr.
Nonetheless, in Washington Sq. Park Friday night, NYU college students interviewed by The Publish shared their classmates’ opinions that the park took a “flip from homey to hostile.”
“The vibe was higher earlier than, I lowkey keep away from the park now,” stated sophomore Sharnova Nashra. “The identical vitality isn’t there. It’s simply much less welcoming. I didn’t hear individuals complaining concerning the presence of homeless or drug sellers.”
“I hate it,” complained one other. “It feels devoid of the spirit of New York.”
Grownup neighbors felt in another way.
“Hostile is a drug ring that’s been working within the park for the final 4 years, distributing hundreds of thousands of doses of fentanyl, heroin and crack” slammed Trevor Sumner, president of the Washington Sq. Affiliation.
“Hostile is strolling by means of the park and being harassed by mentally unwell people who find themselves violent at a lot better charges. Hostile is girls getting punched within the face, stabbings turning into common, areas of the park that individuals are too afraid to stroll in.
“Overwhelmingly, the residents of Washington Sq. Park and round see this as a much-needed enchancment in order that the park will be inclusive for everyone.”
