Two True Villagers on Why the Village Still Matters

By Roger Paradiso

My friends Reverend Billy and James Drougas got game. I asked these true villagers about the past, present and future of the Village.

Reverend Billy

You can see and hear Reverend Billy most every Sunday when he preaches at the Quaker House. He is joined by his Stop Shopping Choir which performs the best church music in the Village. The Quaker House is located at 15 Rutherford Place in the East Village area. Here’s what Reverend Billy has to say.

“I believe in having neighbors. Mayor-elect Zohran was all about neighbors and neighborhoods. When I ran for mayor in 2009 it was all about neighborhoods. Knocking on doors. Not sending emails and texts. It’s a time of radical change. And I think the East Village will be ready to deal with that change. In particular Washington Square Park, Tomkins Square Park, and Union Square Park. These are outdoor theaters where the police can’t control us.

“There is NYU, a wealthy university, and the big conservative rich people who want to control these parks especially Washington Square Park, but they can’t.

“I predict huge radical changes. Radical changes about the earth, about people who are in jeopardy with what they are paid and with their health care… People chased around by illegal cops, by fake cops with masks.

“I see a big uprising. Greenwich Village will lead this uprising. There’s ICE everywhere around the world. There are Trumps all around the world. And rich people around the world. And they think they own us. I think Greenwich Village will rise again.

“The magic is in the air. The strongmen, computers, and AI and over blown miliary will be blown away by brilliant, eccentric, wonderful Villagers.”

James Drougas

Jim Drougas owned Unoppressive Non-Imperialist Bargain Books on Carmine Street. He was displaced after COVID and closed the classic store because of the rent. Here’s what Jim had to say.

“The first quarter of the 21st century has been daunting at times — 9/11, Trump, COVID, Trump again. Now, the Village is re-thriving, almost too good to be true in pockets of neo-gentrifying itself all the more. Unaffordable for many, and yet still a fine playground for all of us.

“My part as a bookseller is ready to re-emerge imminently in the form of a lovely, tall book mobile with 65 linear feet of sturdy bookshelves. Everything fit in just right with synchronistic precision. The inventory of titles is as fine as ever. I am excited to roll it out to the public.

“Magnetic signage with life-sized Sgt. Pepper album cover styled images of favorite authors will cover the outside and inside. Unoppressive Non-Imperialist banners will unfurl on all four sides. I am also invited to set up a new pop-up bookselling station in another restaurant in 2026. Unoppressive rides again.

“It is exciting and perhaps heralds a new moment together with all optimism of a new mayor who is acknowledged effusively by even the more cynical figures as the new youthful spirit of support, manifesting the power of AOC/Bernie/tens of thousands of tremendous groundswells that are borne out of sheer joy and untrammeled optimism. Even the most skeptical among us cannot dismiss the sheer joy and spunkiness of it all.

“The resolve is sweeping us up in huge measure. It comes with the joy of watching Trump fawn over Zohran hilariously or the sight of the brave woman in the polka dot dress holding both middle fingers up to the giant military ICE vehicle on Canal Street in an astonishing defiant posture a few weeks ago. NYC safety is increasingly more about safety against ICE than about crime as such.

“The Village and the city are always going in cycles on a pendulum of Dark Nights of the Soul and brilliant creative impulses of emergent, powerful, young and old voices of important, meaningful dynamics. It is impossible to give up hope despite all the setbacks.”

Happy New Year to all the Villagers around the world!