They need a lesson in common sense.
New York University kids are whining that Washington Square Park has lost its charm now that the cops have evicted all the druggies and vagrants — even as one of their own was randomly attacked by a violent hobo this week near the green space.
“With the local unhoused community now almost entirely displaced, a once vibrant park is now characterized by an uncanny stillness,” reported the student paper, Washington Square Park News.
Students at the $60,000 a year school drew the message, “Where are our neighbors?” in chalk on the park’s walkways, fondly referring to the homeless junkies who’d become unwanted fixture of the park’s infamous northwest corner.
“I feel like a large community is gone,” first-year student Caspin Berklee, who regularly spent time feeding pigeons in the park, is quoted as lamenting in the article. “The park was a home for them.”
Another student went further, repeating an actual talking point from the Democratic Socialists of America.
“The criminalization of poverty is never the solution to anything,” said social work and public policy student Sara Karp. “It ruins the form of community that these people have built and puts them in riskier situations.”
Last month – after the feds busted a massive drug dealing ring – the NYPD flooded the embattled Greenwich Village landmark with nearly 70 additional cops in a 24/7 crackdown aimed at vanquishing junkies from the beleaguered space. Neighbors overwhelmingly cheered the cleanup.
The students’ lament comes as one of theirs was randomly attacked by a violent homeless man this week.
On Monday 20-year-old NYU student Amelia Lewis was walking to class, when a creepy stranger with a long history of sex crimes came up behind her, slapped her butt, yanked her hair and threw her to the ground.
“These people are disgusting, and they should not be able to be walking around the streets freely targeting girls,” Lewis said on X after the attack. “I should not be scared to walk to my 9:30am class.”
Her alleged attacker, James Rizzo, 45, has a lengthy rap sheet of crimes around the park. He was already back at it the next day, allegedly burglarizing four apartments in Washington Square Village in the early morning hours while residents were sleeping, cops said.
When police arrested him, they realized they had the same guy wanted in Monday’s attack. He was squatting in an empty penthouse in a university-owned building, according to the student paper.
NYU’s daily crime log is full of incidents around Washington Square Park – as many as 102 were reported by staff and students last month including stalking, harassment, fondling, robbery, larceny and extortion. There have been 14 rapes and 71 other sex crimes reported so far in 2025 in the Sixth Precinct according to NYPD data, up 9% from last year.
Still, in Washington Square Park Friday evening, NYU students interviewed by The Post shared their classmates’ opinions that the park took a “turn from homey to hostile.”
“The vibe was better before, I lowkey avoid the park now,” said sophomore Sharnova Nashra. “The same energy isn’t there. It’s just less welcoming. I didn’t hear people complaining about the presence of homeless or drug dealers.”
“I hate it,” complained another. “It feels devoid of the spirit of New York.”
Adult neighbors felt differently.
“Hostile is a drug ring that’s been operating in the park for the last four years, distributing millions of doses of fentanyl, heroin and crack” slammed Trevor Sumner, president of the Washington Square Association.
“Hostile is walking through the park and being harassed by mentally ill people who are violent at much greater rates. Hostile is women getting punched in the face, stabbings becoming regular, areas of the park that people are too afraid to walk in.
“Overwhelmingly, the residents of Washington Square Park and around see this as a much-needed improvement so that the park can be inclusive for everybody.”
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