To conclude our week-long look at the impacts of N.Y.U.’s expansion plans, The Local examines the concerns surrounding loss of light under the proposed development.

How will the new buildings proposed on the two superblocks south of Washington Square Park affect sunlight in the area?

There’s no getting around it, the new buildings mean less light. The LaGuardia and Mercer buildings planned for the north block will cast shadows on the two Washington Square Village buildings. More controversially, the proposed Bleecker building on the south block will cast a shadow that likely means an end to the LaGuardia Corner Gardens, located in front of the Morton Williams supermarket on a strip of property that belongs to the Transportation Department. The university notes that the alignment of the LaGuardia and Mercer buildings would make the block resemble the dimensions of the city’s grid pattern – “not an unusual New York City condition,” per William Haas, the university’s director of planning. Read more…

Jared Malsin

A dozen Occupy Wall Street demonstrators staged a “bed-in,” inspired by John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1969 anti-war protests of the same name, at Washington Square Park this morning. The group brandished flowers and took turns lounging on a mattress while inviting passersby to join them in bed. (Just in case anyone is feeling really lonely this Valentine’s Day.)

“Imagine every mattress in New York City – or maybe, who knows, the planet, since the Internet allows us to have this dialogue – every mattress, indoors or outdoors, becoming a stage for free speech and public expression and even human expression,” said Alexandre Carvalho, 28, an activist with a group called Revolutionary Games.

Mr. Carvalho added, “Because it’s boring to be political all the time. Maybe you can just be in bed with your friends and just talking about what it means to be living a happy life.”

As expected, hundreds of students from NYU and the New School showed up at Washington Square Park Wednesday afternoon, before marching down Lafayette Street to join the Occupy Wall Street protesters. “A lot of the problems that Occupy Wall Street is addressing have a particular impact on students,” said co-organizer of NYU Student Walk Out, Christy Thornton, 32. After hooking up with what she said were 60 community groups and what the Times reported were several labor unions at Foley Square, several thousand marched on to Zuccotti Park, per the AP. In the course of the evening, about 28 arrests were made, according to NY1 (update: City Room hears that 23 were arrested), and protesters reported police using pepper-spray and batons to keep the crowd at bay. (Gothamist has video of one such incident.) As you can see from Liv Buli’s report above, the Local was at Washington Square Park to see the start of it all.

Update | 11:15 a.m. Our reporter Yoo Eun Lee was also on the scene and captured the raw footage below. Read more…