Save Our Supermarket launches online petition to keep Morton Williams store on NYU superblock

BY THE VILLAGE SUN | The Save Our Supermarket group, which is running a petition campaign to stop Morton Williams’ market from being moved to Greenwich Village, is taking its fight online.

As reported by The Village Sun, SOS Friday had already collected more than 5,000 printed petition signatures. On Saturday, that number would have reached 6,100.

In addition, on Thursday, the group launched an online petition at change.orgwhich, Saturday afternoon, had collected 43 signatures.

The supermarket has been identified as a possible site for an adapted public school, which – according to a previous statement by the School Construction Authority – would be a stand-alone project, ie without a market.

The online petition calls for the centrally located 24-hour supermarket to remain open on the “superblock” owned by New York University. The extra-wide block – bounded by Bleecker, Mercer and Houston streets and LaGuardia Place – was created by demapping Wooster and Greene streets more than 60 years ago.

The petition also raises concerns that building a school on the site would destroy the adjacent LaGuardia Corner Gardens.

“We support the creation of a new public school in our community to serve students with special learning needs, but remain confident that the City can create a school without dislocation from supermarkets,” the online petition reads.

“We also ask the City to ensure the continuity without dislocation of the vital, adjoining and award-winning LaGuardia Corner community gardens, at a time when we recognize the critical nature of these green spaces.

“We further call on New York University, which has benefited from the zoning changes, to honor the commitment made by NYU during this rezoning process to ensure the continuity of the supermarket on the Superblock. We ask NYU to do this by facilitating the location of the supermarket or school on its grounds, which would best serve faculty and university students, as well as the needs of our diverse community.