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A hoard of outraged residents and members of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation gathered to protest the construction of a new building yesterday, chanting "Save the South Village! Save the South Village!"
The city recently decided to allow construction of an eight-story building on 178 Bleecker St.
"We're worried that, at this rate, so much of the neighborhood that we want to preserve will be lost by the time landmarking ever takes effect, if it ever does," said Andrew Berman, executive director of the GVSHP.
Long-time South Village resident Lucy Cesere was upset over the city's decision.
"We're getting sick and tired of this," she said. "Every day it's another problem. People want to get into our neighborhood."
Andrea Coyle, director of outreach for the Lower East Side History Project, said the new building would be out of place in the South Village. Every time a building is torn down in the Village, some of the neighborhood's history disappears, she added.
"You have to have some development, and I have nothing against whole modern buildings in the right context — Midtown," Coyle said.
CAS senior Dana Schulz, an intern at GVSHP, said the residents' anger goes beyond the destruction of the neighborhood's character.
"A lot of them have been living there for a long time," Schulz said. "They have a really strong sense of community, and this is kind of destroying that."
The Landmark Preservation Commission is considering making one-third of the South Village a landmark, which the GVSHP fully supports.
