The Lorax remains absent, but Glick steps in as a voice of the community.

NYU has a plan – a big plan to establish an even greater presence in and around Washington Square Park. And while there is no Lorax in Greenwich Village to protect the parks, gardens, and playgrounds from these expansive construction plans, or NYU 2031 as it has come to be known, there is a woman fighting to keep the towering buildings from casting their gloomy shadows over Washington Square Park. She is Deborah Glick. And while she may not speak for the trees, she is doing her darndest to speak for the community.

In February Ms. Glick held a rally at Judson Memorial Church just off Washington Square Park. Residents of Greenwich Village, volunteers of the LaGuardia Corner Gardens, and members of the Community Action Alliance on NYU 2031 made up a restless crowd, one ready to take a stand. The outpouring of support was asked to write to their district delegates, letters with real emotions and real opinions instead rather than form ones. They were asked to ban together and fight for what they believe in, for the community they want to save. “We are a neighborhood. We are a community. We intend to stay that way. Future generations depend on each successive generation to fight. NYU is part of our community but we can’t let them barrel through with their Village swallowing plans. They need to respect the Village,” said a vehement Ms. Glick.

There were light-hearted laughs and a few soft cheers when Ms. Glick signed off, “Towers in parks. Yuck.” But facts are facts. Ms. Glick and her team are standing their ground, and standing strong, against the plan would bring even more construction to a neighborhood that has only recently begun seeing green in their park again. The NYU plan proposes the development of 2.5 million square feet of “new mixed-use space within the two superblocks including the creation of academic space, a dorm, a hotel and a new gymnasium.” There would be a total of four buildings on two blocks.

NYU Spokesman John Beckman insists that NYU 2031 is in everyone’s best interest and is not a change that the community should be worried about. They should be embracing the opportunities it will bring. “Strong universities are essential to the future of New York City, and growth is important to our academic excellence. [Our plan] seeks to balance NYU’s academic needs with the concerns of our neighboring community. Fully half of our growth over the next 20 years will be outside Greenwich Village. In addition to supporting NYU’s academic mission, this proposal will create thousands of jobs and increased economic opportunity for many New Yorkers and provide new open space for the community,” Mr. Beckman said.

But the people of the village aren’t stepping aside. The president of Friends of LaGuardia Place, Larry Goldberg, took his time at the rally to pull at the heartstrings of everyone in attendance, as if they weren’t already passionate about the resistance. “My family lives here in the Village. My daughter’s first word was ‘light,’ and now NYU is taking all the light with their big buildings,” Mr. Goldberg said.

Volunteers of the LaGuardia Corner Gardens share Mr. Goldberg’s sentiments. “The LaGuardia Gardens are over 30-years-old. The volunteers have put thousands and thousands of hours into it. We get visitors from all around the world. We grow organic vegetables, and give those vegetables and flowers to residents. We even have Monarch butterflies,” volunteer Barbara Cahn said.

And another volunteer, Jeffrey Rowland, added, “Volunteers have spent over $60,000 of their own money to support the gardens. They [NYU] want to do more construction. In as little as three years of not existing we [the gardens] won’t be there anymore. It will be a very big loss to this community.”

Time has passed since the rally and just as there has been support on Ms. Glick’s side, NYU has its own team raring to go.

On March 13^th there was a rally at City Hall held by local construction workers to try and gain the support of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer for NYU 2031. Even more support has come in the form of editorials written by Crain’s and the Daily News. The Daily News’ editorial went so far as to offer a rather direct opinion. “Too bad, in depressingly New York fashion, they’ve gotten kicked in the gut by knee-jerk anti-development opposition.” Former mayor Ed Koch, now a partner in Bryan Cave LLP., attorneys for NYU, recently affirmed his position on NYU’s side in the News as well.

“Now, Mayor Bloomberg hopes New York City will become a competitor to Silicon Valley and a center of applied sciences. He has made it one of his highest priorities. The students at NYU, he and many concerned New Yorkers hope, will become leaders in the sciences and engineering, devising the innovations that power a 21st century economy. That hope cannot be fulfilled in a vacuum. It requires, among other efforts, an expansion of NYU’s facilities, many of which are bursting at the seams,” Mr. Koch said.

Glick has stayed abreast of the situation and continues to do what she can to fight back against the mounting support NYU is gaining.

“Right now what is clear is that NYU has a full-scale public relations effort underway. They have op-eds in various newspapers and statements of support from the business community. They are creating the appearance to the larger city community that they are doing a good thing and this is important to the city. They say unless they can wildly expand their campus they won’t some how remain a major force and become less relevant, which is poppycock,” Ms. Glick said.

In the end, what the residents think is what is most important to Ms. Glick and what she will continue to fight for. After the speeches were over at the rally in February and the crowd began to dissipate, we took the opportunity of the dwindling cloud to ask one Alecia Baucom, a resident of Greenwich Village, what she thought of the university’s relationship with the surrounding community. With serious eyes and a resentful determination in her voice, Ms. Baucom somberly responded, “We want them [NYU] to turn into human beings.”

On Monday, March 26^th, Leonard Lopate will be hosting a panel on NYU on his radio program on WNYC at 1:00p.m. Protestors are urged to call in.

On Tuesday, March 27^th, The Municipal Arts Society is hosting a panel at 6:00p.m. at the Scholastic Auditorium at 557 Broadway

BIG♥NYC. (Ka-Man Tse/Times Square Alliance)

This week a beating red heart stands 10 feet tall over Times Square, carefully nestled inside midtown’s own throbbing center of activity. This new edition to the bustling strip of theaters, restaurants and street performers is a sculpture called “BIG♥NYC.” At first glance, it might look unusual. But that may very well be because it is unusual.

For the past four years, Times Square has been the host of an annual heart sculpture to commemorate Valentine’s Day. The Times Square Alliance selects an architect to design a “romantic public art installation.” This year the sculpture was created by the Danish architecture firm the Bjarke Ingels Group and cost $15,000, paid for by donations and grants. The sculpture will be up from February 6^th to February 29^th.

This is BIG’s first project in New York. “We like to use emerging architects and new and innovative technology,” Tim Tompkins, the president of the Times Square Alliance, told The Observer. The structure is made up of 400 transparent, LED-lit, acrylic tubes that form a cube around a suspended red heart. The clear tubes reflect the perpetually-flashing signs in Times Square for what comes across as a symbiotic relationship between art and environment.

The non-profit Alliance placed the sculpture inside Times Square to attract the attention of the lovers of NYC as a part of the month long promotion “Free Love in Times Square.” The campaign includes “steamy offers and romantic deals” for the couples of NYC and the chance to have a vow renewal upon the iconic red steps on Valentine’s Day, which viewers without a Valentine can watch online from the obscure comfort of their own home. Also, if people take their photo in front of the sculpture and then post it to Think Energy’s Facebook page during February, Think Energy will donate $1 to the Hope & Heroes Children’s Cancer Fund.

Daniel Kidd, the project leader from BIG, couldn’t be more excited about the sculpture. “Anything that captures the imagination is great,” Mr. Kidd said.

Touch me. (Ka-Man Tse/Times Square Alliance)

Mr. Tompkins said the Alliance chose to place the sculpture in Times Square because “it is the best platform in the world to highlight creativity and make sure everyone sees it.” And rest assured they have seen it. “After the Super Bowl, Times Square was flooded with people and many came together to touch the heart,” Mr. Kidd said.

There’s an intimacy to the interactive nature of the sculpture, encouraging expression through love languages like physical affection. Simple acts such as touching the heart make it glow brighter as the “energy” from passer-byers’ hands is transformed into more light. The more people who feel the sensor at one time, the faster the heart will beat, as if it were actually feeling the warmth of its suitor’s attention. Mr. Tompkins said people have responded to it in kind.

“[They] love it. [Many] people have taken their picture in front of it. It gets people’s attention. It increases digital interactive technology to enhance the romantic experience.”

Brian Brady and his wife, Tiffany, see the heart as a nice change of pace, an opportunity to appreciate more than the blur of a hurried step. "This city is so fast it is nice to see something in the center that can slow everyone down. When people see it they want to stop and touch it," Ms. Brady said.

Mr. Kidd agrees. He doesn’t limit its heart-like attributes to romantic love between one person and another, but expands it to include that between a city and its constituents. “It is metaphorically the pulsing heart of the city,” Mr. Kidd said. “The heart has been a symbol for love for centuries. This is about people willfully joining to act together. Families, couples, people who have just met, all interacting with each other”

“This is a love letter to the city.”

jmaas@observer.com