Submitted by Benjamin Hemric, Sep 10, 2007 19:52

Although I've walked around the Fordham's Manhattan campus quite a bit, I've never actually walked into it -- it is indeed unwelcoming to outsiders -- so I'm not sure how practical this idea is. But it would seem that the superblock that was created in the late 1950s could be broken up relatively "easily" as the "building" that blocks the way appears to be only a one-story garage with a "plaza" on top -- with a "grand" stairway leading down from the building's rooftop "plaza" to 62nd St. If this "thing" could be be removed and the new buildings placed within the original blocks, this would go a great way towards making it easier for pedestrians to go through the campus and thus integrate the campus into the rest of the Upper West Side.

On the other hand, the community's idea of pushing the buildings into the middle of the block would seem to actually reinforce the mistake that was made in the original design of the campus and thus make this low-rise "Chinese Wall" impediment to east-west pedestrian traffic virtually permanent and for all time.

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