Obituary
Ben Green, 73, C.B. 2 chair, activist
BY LINDA CRONIN-GROSS
“Death is the only pure, beautiful conclusion of a
great passion.”
— D. H. Lawrence
S
o wrote longtime Village resident and activist
Ben Green’s favorite author.
But Lawrence could have been talking about
Ben Green himself, who died Fri., May 17, in New York
City at age 73, after living his own life of great passion.
From early childhood in Nashville, Tennessee, Green
was always on the go, always doing things for others.
He was one of the most popular guys in his high school,
playing football until he wrecked his arm, captaining
the debate team and editing the yearbook.
At one point, he even considered going into the ministry
and he participated in missions to Mexico, building
orphanages and serving the needy during summers.
It was clear, even then, that making the world a better
place was simply in his DNA, and that he would be a
fi ghter for justice wherever he went.
In his early 20s, after graduating from Vanderbilt
University, Green decided that the place to be was
New York City, specifi cally Greenwich Village. At that
time, the Village was the beating heart of various rights
movements and of a generational push for progressive
change.
He found his forever home on Christopher St., where,
according to friends, he was a great neighbor and a caring
citizen. His apartment was often a gathering spot
for other tenants in his building, or for those who simply
wanted to know what was happening.
His sister Alicia recalls strolling with him through
the Village with many, many residents stopping Green
and greeting him. One lady even commented to her,
“I hope you do as much for your community as your
brother does for his!”
Ben Green had a special place in his heart for the arts
and for preserving and protecting his community, both
its people and its places. And that passion is refl ected
in his eclectic achievements as a professional and as an
activist over the last 50 years.
Ben Green.
Among his many accomplishments were being director
of community affairs for former Assemblymember
William Passannante; executive director of the Federation
to Preserve the Greenwich Village Waterfront and
Great Port; chairperson of Community Board 2 from
1994 to 1996; founder of the Christopher St. Block
Association; co-founder of the Christopher St. Patrol;
president of the board of directors of the Westbeth Center
for the Arts; director of public relations for the Museum
of the City of New York; public relations director
for Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater; director
of the SHARE Alternate AIDS Care Facility from
1987 to 1990; and a member of the advisory board for
the Hudson River Park Conservancy, the predecessor
to the current Hudson River Park Trust.
The Federation to Preserve the Greenwich Village
Waterfront and Great Port fought against the current
plan for Hudson River Park, instead favoring a very
open, undeveloped park without any commercial aspects.
Green also had the special honor of being entered
into the 1996 “Who’s Who in New York” for his work
as a tenant activist, gay rights advocate and historic
preservationist.
Forced to retire due to health issues, Green nonetheless
continued to be active and decided to devote more
time and energy to his life’s passion, writing a play
about his beloved D.H. Lawrence. His incredibly thorough
research took him all over the American Southwest
and extensively through Europe, including Russia.
He was even able to deliver a paper he wrote about the
author to the D.H. Lawrence Society in Italy.
He loved his family, and, although none of them lived
in New York City, they visited often. “Uncle Ben” was
always encouraging the interests of his nieces and nephews
— and, later, their children — and sent relevant
books, and shared museums and other cultural aspects
of his beloved city with them. Green’s sister found out,
a little too late, that one of the bonuses of visiting Uncle
Ben was — no rules, no curfews! He was concerned for
each and every one of them and they soaked it in.
He leaves behind his sister Alicia and her husband
John Maniatakis, of California; niece Michelle Kastner
and husband Chris, and their children Natalie and
Brendan Kastner, of Virginia; niece Stasha Clark and
children Megan and Donny; nephew George Maniatakis
and wife Deja, and children Raegan and Mila
Maniatakis, all in California, and many more extended
family in Shelbyville, Tennessee.
Green was not only adored by his family but by
friends and the community, and will be sorely missed.
“Ben had such strength in his soft-spoken and kind
demeanor,” one friend refl ected. “A true Southern gentleman.
Ben loved local politics, the theater, his neighbors
and most importantly, living in New York City.
And New York City loved him.”
A memorial for Green will be held in Tennessee at a
date and time to be determined.
Donations can be made in Ben Green’s name. Please
send to: N.Y.U. Langone, Development Department,
One Park Ave., fi fth fl oor, NY, NY 10016. Please note
on donation: “Honoring Benjamin Green, GU Oncology
Dr. Arjun Balar.”
People can also give online. Please remember to note
that the donation is to honor Ben Green, as shown
above: http://NYUlangone.org/give/funds/perlmuttercancer
center
Dist. 3 to be brighter, greener, less thirsty
BY GABE HERMAN
Lighting, water fountains and tree
care were the winners in the
most recent round of participatory
budgeting for the Village, Chelsea
and Hell’s Kitchen.
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson
announced the participatory-budgeting
winners for District 3 at his fi fth annual
West Side Summit on May 19.
The top vote-getter was a project
to improve lighting in park areas at
the Elliott-Chelsea Houses and Fulton
Houses, two New York City Housing
Authority developments in Chelsea.
The project, which garnered 2,017
votes, will cost $600,000.
Coming in second place was upgrading
water fountains for the district’s
public schools. A total of 35 new water
bottle-refi lling fountains will be
installed throughout the district. This
project received 1,993 votes, and will
cost $300,000.
In the third spot was a street treeprotection
package. It will provide a
tree guard, watering Treegator and informative
care tag for street trees district
wide planted since 2017. A total of
1,953 votes were cast for this tree package,
which will cost $200,000.
Voting in the district took place from
March 30 through April 7. There was
also early voting at an expo in Chelsea
on March 28. Each district that chooses
to do participatory budgeting, gets a
total of $1 million in capital funding for
local projects.
In all, 3,748 residents voted this year
in District 3. Each person was able to
vote for up to fi ve projects, and anyone
age 11 or older was eligible to vote.
District 3 covers much of the Lower
West Side, and includes Chelsea, the
West Village, Hell’s Kitchen and the
Garment District.
All 10 of Manhattan’s City Council
districts participated in this year’s participatory
budgeting process, with the
exception of Lower Manhattan’s District
1, which is represented by Councilmember
Margaret Chin.
This was the sixth consecutive year
that District 3 held participatory budgeting.
There were 12 project nominees
this year, addressing a range of issues,
from accessibility and park upgrades to
transit improvements.
At the March 28 “P.B.” expo, Speaker
Johnson toured all of the projects at
separate stations and told this paper
that people had done a great job in
coming up with all of them. He said he
was especially fond of two projects related
to accessibility, one for accessible
bathrooms at Park West High School
and another for an accessible entrance
at P.S. 51.
Those proposals were not winners,
but Johnson noted at the expo, “All the
projects here are very exciting.”
8 June 13, 2019 TVG Schneps Media
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