On Feb 2, 2008, at 6:11 PM, Jesse Lemisch wrote:
> No, I can't imagine fighting for the Yankee Doodle. But I have
> participated
> in related struggles on the upper West Side of Manhattan, sometimes
> successfully, e.g. fighting to keep an excellent neighborhood
> pharmacy going
> against rent increases. But I keep telling my comrades in such
> struggles
> that we will fight this again and again, up and down Broadway,
> unless the
> struggle is politicized around seeking commercial rent control
> (which was
> even part of Ruth Messinger's program.)
>
> What's your solution to the chainification of the neighborhoods?
I dunno. I'm coming a little late to this, and like what WD and Joseph Catron said. I live in the middle of an increible strip of chain stores on Broadway in the 80s - there's a Victoria's Secret in our building, a Godiva and Coach just around the corner, a Talbot's and B&N down the street, and Duane Reade's and CVS's all over. It is ugly and soulless. On the other hand, B&N is a much better bookstore than the indie it put out of business - Shakespeare & Co, where the staff was unhelpful and often rude and the stock was a fraction of B&N's. DR & CVS are annoyingly ubiquitous, but the old local drug store had next to no stock and prices were high; the chains are much better. We've still got nice little cafes and restaurants too. I'll miss this neighborhood when we move to Brooklyn, whenever that'll be exactly.
Doug