Whole Foods is a HOLE in the city - it is full of HUGE PRICES - people with a feeling of ENTITLEMENT - and NOTHING SPECIAL when it comes to selection or items for people with a budget. I used to feel FE was overpriced until I started to check out prices at WF and good lord, GRISTEDE'S! 20% HIGHER than FE! To all of you who are rich, congratulations. To the rest of us,we can no longer afford to buy groceries in NYC - including SHOPPING IN PERSON - the rest of you get it delivered to your front door and unloaded by your "housekeepers" ........URP! — Jean D. on Is the Food Emporium Closing?

Amen. I'd far rather trade off quality (and astronomical prices) for the kinder, gentler attitude of the staff and customers at Food Emporium. — G. Z. Louise on Is the Food Emporium Closing?

This is New York now. That's why I'm a New Yorker who moved to Philadelphia. And this is "High-Rent Blight." Check out this article about the West Villiage from a few months ago: http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/why-are-there-so-many-shuttered-storefronts-in-the-west-village — Gaby on Ghost Town

"Thank you Rudy Giuliani and the other one I can’t be bothered to type – it was fun til’ you deregulated everything. Enjoy your empty shops!" Fun to get your car broken into? To scurry home and not get caught outside after dark? To be too afraid to go to most parks alone as a woman? I don't like what's happening to NY real estate either, but let's not pretend that this was just laissez faire, instead of deliberate machination by various backdoors into government money. — Anon on Ghost Town

I actually have been to BM's apartment for a party (i went with a friend) and its really beautiful. But, i hear you....... — Georgia on In the News: Another Pistol-Packing Tourist Arrested at the 9/11 Memorial

the first pic in this gallery was my gym. I was the general manager of the NYSC in TriBeCa and was here when we closed its doors for the last time. It was such a sad day not for just us but the neighborhood. It was my first time working in TriBeCa and I loved it so much. The community there is awesome. I would love to go back and work there some times soon. Unfortunately the rent went up double and the company didn't want to pay it. — Mike Valentine on Ghost Town

I just keep wondering when I am walking through different neighborhoods were there is a lot of construction of apartment buildings is going on: who are these apartments for? Who can afford to live in NYC anymore unless you don't mind sharing with a lot of room mates, have a trust fund or work in finance? — Ilonka Van Der Putten on Ghost Town

DOWNTOWN DELI!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! BALUCHI'S!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! — Timothy S Sommer on Ghost Town

Personally, I really think the neighborhood needs more retail banks (in particular a TD bank) and a few more stores from the upper east side. Then and only then will the neighborhood transition be complete. — sanjay lamba on Ghost Town

I recall when FE was the "only game in town" and I have always been troubled by their high prices on many staple items. When you consider that IP has historically dominated the neighborhood and that the store continues to attract a mostly middle and lower middle class customer, many of whom are on fixed incomes, they just don't have a viable business strategy. The only items I buy there are their sales items. The place I really miss is Tribeca Deli. — Richard K on Is the Food Emporium Closing?

You will buy your Eggos (just as stale) at Hudson Market. Good luck! — D 2 on Is the Food Emporium Closing?

I've been bitching for years at how stupid this new economy is, nothing but unsustainable short term greed. Carnegie and Ford never operated like this. It was people that created these neighborhoods in the first place; anyone over forty will remember what a shit show SoHo was, until artists and punks transformed it into a social experiment that was felt globally. Now, it's a place for only the überrich and where cops arrest street artists and confiscate their works. The exact opposite of what NYC is about,... or what humanity should be about. — Johnny Thief on Ghost Town

I'm with Judy, and Tina, and the others who feel this loss. Profoundly, I have to say, I've been depressed since I first read this post yesterday. In addition to the Tide and the Windex (and Cheerios, come on, my kids wouldn't eat a pseudo-Cheerio if you paid them money, there's a reason Cheerios are Cheerios!), I want to chime in (or rant in) that it's just super convenient. I admit I don't really cook, I get that re: Whole Foods. But I'm a really busy person, my time and energy are precious, and frankly grocery shopping is a chore. Isn't it? I may be an outlier still feeling that way... But that means the fact that FE is small: primo. I walk in, I know where my staples are, I can be a master of efficiency cause there are no shiny objects that slow people down in the aisles, I'm out in 20 minutes or less with a full cart (could be cause it's less crowded for a reason, but hey, my gain!). George or someone else absolutely lovely -- they all are -- arrives at my door by rule within an hour but usually within 15 or 20 minutes, sometimes follows me home. And I don't have large paper bags to fold and find a place for or boxes to break down if I ordered, just those delightfully crappy plastic bags that practically fall off the food -- and y'know, it sounds so silly, but breaking down all those bags and boxes is work, it is, it means shopping doesn't end when you put your food away, you're never done! I think they changed it, but when Whole Foods kicked off they had a 4 hour delivery window. Who is home for 4 hours at a stretch, or knows they will be, or wants to be, and I've already spent an hour strolling Whole Foods! And with Fresh Direct (they've also shortened their window, but still) or the others (except Max Delivery, but the delivery itself is pricy), I have to decide when I'm gonna be home the day before. My life just doesn't work that way, and I don't want it to, waiting for groceries, thinking about them in advance... lordie. I'm just not good at that. Yeah, a little surly, who cares, it's groceries, and not if you smile at them. I'm done in less than an hour, I don't have to think about it for a week, and everything I buy from there is FINE. They're groceries, day-to-day stuff. I love Trader Joe's, much more than Whole Foods actually, but as a primary grocer? I dunno about getting my toilet paper from them either, I mean, I guess they have that. And wherever TJ's arrives, it's instantly a mob scene. And like Whole Foods, as soon as you walk in you're entering a corporate culture almost cult-like in its specificity. Sometimes you just wanna go to the grocery store, y'know? — Susan B on Is the Food Emporium Closing?

Oh, let's see...because they want to be part of a stable economy? A neigborhood of human beings? A part of a fabric that serves everyone? Landlord's and developers are the lowest of the low imho, and why NYC is, unless you like living in a sanitised bleach bottle filled with banks and transient hipsters - dead. Thank you Rudy Giuliani and the other one I can't be bothered to type - it was fun til' you deregulated everything. Enjoy your empty shops! — Martin B on Ghost Town

This awful situation is happening even in Midwood, Brooklyn. — Ellen Levitt on Ghost Town

Hi John, You might not know this, but a friend and I, both architects, were residents of the top floor at 145 West Broadway from the winter of 1969 until June 1970, which we rented from the owners of the Odeon cafeteria. We took the paint studio, sanded the floors, changed the walls and made a beautiful loft space, which we sold the fittings for to a television producer. We loved the space, which must have been just above you, and did a great job creating it. I subsequently lived in Europe for almost 30 years and now live in Hudson, NY. I visit the city and always stop across the street of 145 to have coffee. And, by the way, it is on the SouthEast corner of West Broadway and Thomas Street. I hope we can meet up one day soon, Best, Tad Mann www.atmann.net and atmann@atmann.net — AT Mann on A Tribeca Pioneer’s Tale

Range= tangent — ty on In the News: A “Jersey Shore” Star Bought on Jay Street

Just to complete that thought and going out on a range , the infamous Mike 'the Situation' from the MTV show was indicted recently for tax fraud, no? — ty on In the News: A “Jersey Shore” Star Bought on Jay Street

One needs to call 311 and then DEP about the sewer issue. 1. Call 311 or complain online. Keep a record of EVERY complaint date and service request number issued by 311. No city agency will move without them, even if you complain to the agency directly. 2. If no action is taken, then contact DEP directly. Try Bureau of Public Affairs first, then Bureau of Water and Sewer Operations. You MUST cite every 311 complaint date and service request number. (Otherwise the response will be, "Well, no one ever complained" and they'll do nothing.) With the right information and process, DEP will be very responsive, even if you are not Taylor Swift. :) http://a856-gbol.nyc.gov/gbolwebsite/24.html — James on Seen & Heard: Time-Lapse Video of the Dancer Mural

First off, that's for the video of JR's dancer mural. Love it! Re: file complaints with 311. I've had the same experience when filing complaints with them. The close the complaint and say the problem will be addressed in 30 days. Then the 30 days goes by and the problem isn't fixed. So you call 311 again and the make you start the process from scratch. It's a vicious circle until 1) you file a complaint against the agency responsible for fixing the problem and maybe they'll call you back and discuss fixing the problem, 2) you call the agency yourself directly and try to get them to fix the problem, or 3) someone REALLY famous calls the agency and then the problem gets fixed quickly. Maybe some famous is reading your blog entry and will call up DEP to do something? Taylor? Beyonce? — KP on Seen & Heard: Time-Lapse Video of the Dancer Mural

Thanks for posting the Governing link, Erik. I found it fascinating, and depressing, that it focused on Tribeca. I don't know if they coined the term "hypergentrification", but it is a good one. http://www.governing.com/columns/assessments/gov-gentrification-local-business-extinction.html — Anna on Ghost Town

So PS234 is in fidi. Ooooookay — jammy sod on In the News: A “Jersey Shore” Star Bought on Jay Street

Sorry, but I meant greedy "LANDLORDS" and not merchants. :-) — Luis Vazquez (FiDi Fan Page) on Ghost Town

The saddest street I have seen of greedy merchants is 8th Avenue in Chelsea between 14th and 23rd Streets. A formerly vibrant retail strip now a pale shadow of its former self as many storefronts sit empty with the sex shops sticking out even more than before. Few of the old restaurants and shops that made this strip fun in the past are still around. My old neighborhood is truly no more, but I've found a new one to love. — Luis Vazquez (FiDi Fan Page) on Ghost Town

Recently moved to the neighborhood from Gramercy and can't get over how dead it is here, all I see are SUVs, Nannies, and Delivery Men. — JT on Ghost Town