Judson Reflection

So I was very suprised by our trip to Judson. It was the first time I had gone in there, and while I found it to be beautiful I was shocked by the woman who spoke to us. She was so stuck in the 60's in her ways of thinking. She was completely non accepting of the gentrification happening in the park and as a result will quickly fall behind the times. I do understand that gentrification is not always a good thing, but when I asked her how do you get the druggies out without gentrification, her response was: Why get them out at all? They need somewhere to be! This shocked me beyond all other things I've heard or learned in the Washington Square class, and actual minister, a church official commending, not codeming drugs? She said that they will do it anyway so why not here? Well don't do it here because face it, it is gentrified, NYU has moved in and we don't want to see people get stabbed at 3am in the park like I did last year. I think that if they accepted the changes and learned to work with them they could have a much greater affect on WSP than their flat out denial of change.