Sam Levin

Mayor Mike Bloomberg, with dozens of officials around him, announcing new NYU partnership.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg, surrounded by around 30 officials -- electeds, reps from his administration, university partners, and more -- announced yesterday that New York City would be partnering with New York University to create an applied sciences center in downtown Brooklyn.

It was such an important, exciting, win-win-win announcement that 14 people had to speak about it (y'know, it's good for New York City, it's good for Brooklyn, it's good for engineers and innovators, it's good for people looking for jobs. Everyone wins).

The ridiculousness of so many folks wanting in on the press conference was not totally lost on the mayor.

"You can always tell whether something's important by how many people want to participate in the announcement," the mayor said, as a host of local pols, university people, and other somehow relevant leaders tried to organize themselves behind Bloomberg for the start of the press conference. "My vague recollection is when we wanted to ban smoking in public places, I stood there..."

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via NYU 2031

As the 2013 mayoral elections near, the expected candidates are looking to build platforms through the work in their current jobs. For Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn -- who will likely go up against each other in the race to replace Mayor Mike Bloomberg -- the controversial expansion of New York University in the Village is one opportunity to influence a development issue that will impact the city for decades and beyond.

But Quinn's not quite ready to talk about it yet.

This week, Scott Stringer, standing beside NYU President John Sexton, announced his support of a scaled-back version of NYU's two-decade expansion in Greenwich Village, pushing the project one step forward in the lengthy review process mandated by the city.

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via NYU 2031

No one's going to get exactly what they want. But that's the essence of compromise!

This was part of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's message today when he officially announced his support for a scaled-back version of the controversial 20-year expansion plan for New York University.

This latest news is part of an ongoing urban development saga where not-in-my-backyard advocates have clashed dramatically with a powerful university that hopes to grow in the Village, its homebase neighborhood. Elected officials like Stringer have been caught in the middle of the fight, forced to navigate competing interests of preservation, development, and education. For the borough president, who is expected to run for mayor in 2013, taking a stance on NYU is more than an opportunity to influence a project that could fundamentally change the Village -- it's also a chance to start building a platform for his bid to replace Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

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In an editorial published in today's paper, the New York Times throws its weight behind NYU's controversial expansion plan, saying that the project's opponents have "mostly overreacted." Although the paper does honor some criticisms of the plan, their ultimate point is broad. "N.Y.U., along with other great educational institutions in New York, like Columbia, needs to expand," the Times wrote. "It's good for the entire city, and it's inevitable." Runnin' Scared reached out to Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, which has fought against the plan. Berman said that the editorial "ignores some of the basic facts."

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Sam Levin

Mike Bloomberg at press conference this morning.

Reporters repeatedly grilled Mayor Mike Bloomberg this morning about recent reports of the New York Police Department's surveillance of Muslim student groups at campuses throughout the Northeast.

Bloomberg shot back at them that the NYPD policies are there to protect freedoms such as the free press. Take that, reporters!

"You are not going to survive. You will not be able to be a journalist and write what you want to say if the people who want to take away your freedoms are allowed to succeed," Bloomberg said after one reporter pressed him on the matter.

This latest controversy escalated with reports from the Associated Press that the police department has regularly monitored websites run by Muslim student groups at 16 colleges, including Columbia and New York University.

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Violet and Bobby in happier times.

Yesterday, it looked as though Violet the NYU hawk mother and star of the Bobst library hawk cam was doing OK apart from her cheating husband. She had been captured and was receiving treatment for her injured leg. Now, City Room reports that Violet has died. She was thought to be around five years old.

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Last we heard about Violet the NYU hawk mommy, she was in trouble. Her leg was seriously injured and it looked like she wouldn't survive. Luckily, as City Room reports, Violet has been captured and is receiving treatment for her necrotic foot. Violet is described as being in "good spirits."

Little does she know that Bobby, her mate, was seen in Washington Square Park with a different mature female a day after Violet's capture.

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One of James Franco's MFA professors at NYU had to give the actor a D after he missed 12 "Directing the Actor II" classes in one semester. The professor, José Angel Santana, now says that the school fired him over the D and he's suing NYU in Manhattan Supreme Court. He's also taken his story to (where else!) the Post.

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nyu4ows.tumblr.com

Occupy Wall Street is now official enough to enter the halls of higher education. Next semester, NYU's department of Social and Cultural Analysis will offer a course called "Cultures and Economies: Why Occupy Wall Street?"

The course description:

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Unfortunate news for followers of the plucky hawk family that had a miracle baby named Pip at NYU's Bobst Library last spring: Violet, the mother, is having serious problems with her leg. The leg has a band around it and has been bothering her since before the Hawk Cam days, and City Room reports that it is now in seriously bad condition. Watch the video from wildlife photographer Lincoln Karim:

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