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Their Reward for Imagining What New York City Can Be
June 25, 2007; The New York Times
By SAM ROBERTS
Excerpt
Copyright 2007 The New York Times CompanyIn 1958, a promising but obscure writer for an architectural magazine applied to the Rockefeller Foundation for a research grant...The grant was approved, and ultimately grew to $18,000. The research helped produce Jane Jacobs's landmark book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Nearly a half-century later, the Rockefeller Foundation is inaugurating the Jane Jacobs Medals, accompanied by a $100,000 prize.
''We're experiencing in New York the kind of civic conversation Jane would have loved,'' said Judith Rodin, the Rockefeller Foundation's president.
Parks Commish's Dad Founds Greenmarket, Wins Award
June 26, 2007; New York Magazine; The Daily Intelligencer
Excerpt
What was Union Square like when the market first opened there in 1976?
Really bad. The drug dealers would tell the farmers that it wasn’t safe to come in there. And nobody was coming. It didn’t really take off till ’83 or ’84.How would you improve Union Square today?
I’d like to see the surfaces on the streets around it changed to a slow-speed material like cobblestones or interlocking Z-blocks so there’s a traffic calmness to the whole area. But as a strong green oasis, it gets better every year.
Copyright © 2007, New York Magazine Holdings LLC. All Rights Reserved.