I'm going to address some points that Corktown made here. However, before I do, I would like to state that I am a member of the West Village Association Board of Directors and I am active in issues relating to crime in the Villages.

I agree with the statement that West Village and Indian Village are socioeconoically different. I do not know of apartments for rent for under $500/month, but there could be. Anything I'm familiar with that is a quality place to live and has vacancies [[most of the nicer buildings do not anymore) are $700 and up starting with studios and 1 bedrooms. We have a very eclectic mix of housing stock in West Village. Some large houses of comparable quality to Indian Village [[though not quite as big). Normal frame and brick 2 story houses, turn of the century "swanky" townhouses [[called Terraces back in the day), apartment buildings, 2 family and multi family dwellings and smaller older wood frame houses from the late 1800's. As such, housing options and people's economic status is all over the map.

Due to the time when West Village was developed and the uncommoness of cars during that time, driveways and garages are the exception, and street parking is the norm. We have had issues with car thefts, break in's and car dumpings for many, many years and while it comes and goes, it's still an active issue. To be honest, I've only heard of 2 break in's, one to an occupied house and one to an empty carriage house, in the last 3 months. There could be more, but these are all that has been reported to our crime tracking people. I would not agree that property crime, aside from car issues, is totally rampant.

I have seen West Village become stronger and stronger with the same younger people mentioned above moving not just into Indian Village, but West Village as well. We have a renewed retail/restaurant area on Agnes, one starting on Kercheval, including an organic market. I think the future for West Village is very bright and I really hope we can someday do something about the car issues. I think that is the main thing going against us.