Juda Engelmayer, a public relations executive, has been spending a lot of his unbillable hours defending the real estate neologism LoHo (“Lower Houston Street”). Meanwhile, a self-proclaimed “Wikiminimalist” who goes by the moniker Mosmof is trying to get the entry on LoHo erased from Wikipedia.
Watch the sparks fly on the proposed deletion page.
At first, The Real Estate thought Mr. Engelmayer worked for LoHo Realty, which has pushed to get the term (representing the “new” Lower East Side) widely accepted, but he said he is volunteering his time.
“I live there, raise my family there, own a bialy bakery, served on one of the co-op boards for 13 years, and have advocated for the neighborhood all my adult life,” he e-mailed.
Mr. Engelmayer suspects his adversary works for the Lower East Side Business Improvement District. Dara Lehon, deputy director for the BID, told The Real Estate that she did not perpetrate nor authorize any linguistic warfare, and sees no threat to the identity of the neighborhood or her BID’s brand by the new name. “We have been working hard doing other things, to be honest.”
– Matthew Schuerman
