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INTRO: People come to Greenwich Village to visit theaters, independent bookstores and quirky boutiques. They also come to attend New York University. The university has gone on a building spree over the last two decades and long-time residents say it's taking over the neighborhood. So, they've proposed their own plan for NYU. Elsa Heidorn reports.
SOUND UNDER, people talking
Narr: It's two o'clock on a Monday afternoon at New York University.
SOUND UP AND UNDER, man laughing
Narr: The sidewalks and cafes here are full of students. Some say -- too many students. In the last twenty years, NYU has built eight dormitories and four other buildings near its main campus. That includes a gym and a student center. The university announced the latest addition in November - a 26-story dormitory that would be the tallest building in the neighborhood. For Andrew Berman, it was too much. He doesn't want any more NYU building projects in his backyard.
ANDREW BERMAN: It's no longer our backyard. It's our backyard, it's our front yard, it's inside our house, it's on our roof. It's not about who can we live with, it's will we really be taken over by this institution.
Narr: Berman runs the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. He says he understands why NYU has grown. But, he says, as NYU expands, the eclectic mix of people and stores he remembers from the 80's vanishes.
ANDREW BERMAN: There's no denying that there's a certain cache and desirability to the village. // But it's a limited space. Not everything can be in the village and not all of NYU clearly can be in the village anymore.
Narr: Berman came up with a plan for NYU. Move part of the school somewhere else. A satellite campus could spur development in, say, downtown Brooklyn or Long Island City -- communities that might want new buildings and a big prestigious university. Berman knows he can't force NYU to build a new campus in another borough, but he hopes he can get the city to make the idea really attractive. Tax incentives and land deals might do it. His proposal has gotten the support of eight community groups and a few politicians. Community Board Two, which covers most of NYU, has endorsed it. And Community Board Three, which covers the eastern border of the university, has given it preliminary approval. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and City Councilmember Rosie Mendez say they back the plan, too. NYU is polite about idea.
ALICIA HURLEY: You know, certainly we'll keep it in the back of our heads as we're doing our own planning.
Narr: Alicia Hurley is a spokeswoman for New York University. She says NYU is willing to try out the plan - but on a smaller scale and only where it makes sense. For example, the university's Institute for Fine Arts already sits on Museum Mile. But NYU has a fundamental problem with Berman's idea. It's the opposite of what the school has been trying to do for the last 20 years - create a campus for its students.
ALICIA HURLEY: How do you create a sense of community, an intellectual community for them, so they're not just landing in the middle of New York City.
Narr: But Berman says, they are in the middle of New York City, not on a campus. He says he'd fight against anything that threatened to take over the neighborhood.
ANDREW BERMAN: If it was a hospital or shoe stores or even flower shops you wouldn't want your whole neighborhood to be that one thing. And that's the problem. It's moving us in a direction of homogeneity that is really not about what this neighborhood has always been.
Narr: Berman says he hopes Mayor Michael Bloomberg will support his plan. Next week, Community Board Three will give a final vote on the proposal. Elsa Heidorn, Columbia Radio News.