Barbara managed 799, kept account books, collected rents, paid bills, lobbied at the Landmarks Commission to change the windows, and took on jobs like painting the fire escape.
She also served as secretary/treasurer to the West Village Committee. In the 1960’s Jane Jacobs had helped organize the Committee to fight the Robert Moses plan for highways to cut through the area. By the 1980’s the Committee (led by Rochelle Wall, Jim Shaw, and Bill Bowser) was involved in the fight against Westway, the highway that was planned to abut the area.
The West Village Committee opened a used bookstore to fund its preservation work. The store was located in donated space on West 11th Street, next door to the White Horse Tavern. I managed the little bookstore, stacking the books, arranging sections, and selling at affordable prices. Once or twice a year we held a street fair. Cartons of donated books were open to the browsing public in the middle of West 11th Street. It was a used book event where Waterways presses were also displayed and poets, like Richard Davidson and Barbara Holland, came to read in the street.
West Village Committee member Mel Cohen, a musician and special educator, joined Ten Penny Players when we were asked to bring our program to the new alternative high school on Rikers Island prison.
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