Progress Repor t special section, pp.
13 - 24
Volume 1, Number 39 FREE
Cyclists riding in the protected bike lane on Second Ave. near Fifth St.
V.I.D. rolls out panel on bike
lanes to find common ground
BY JEFFERSON SIEGEL
John F. Kennedy once said, “Nothing
compares to the simple pleasure of
a bike ride.” What the 35th presi-
dent surely couldn’t foresee would be
cycling and bike lanes becoming New
York’s hot-button issue of the moment.
Miles of green-painted bike paths con-
tinue to sprout throughout the city,
as do complaints about their place-
ment and usage. So impassioned is the
debate that the Village Independent
Democrats chose to host a forum on
the topic, “Bikes, Bikers and Bike
Lanes,” last Thursday night.
Participants included Paul
Steely White, executive director of
Transportation Alternatives; Tony
Juliano, president and chairperson of the
Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of
Commerce; Alec Schierenbeck, a com-
munity liaison to Borough President
East and West Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Noho, Little Italy and Chinatown
Scott Stringer; and Nancy Gruskin,
founder of the Stuart C. Gruskin
Family Foundation.
Schierenbeck was the closest thing
to a city official in attendance. Nadine
Hoffmann, a V.I.D. executive com-
mittee member who acted as mod-
erator, said the city’s Department of
Transportation was invited to send an
official, but the agency declined, saying
that representatives of city agencies do
not speak at political events.
D.O.T. did send stacks of informa-
tion for attendees, including copies of
the “NYC Cycling Map” and the pam-
phlet “Bike Smart, The Official Guide
to Cycling in New York City.”
Moderator Hoffmann opened the
bike lane discussion with the simple
declarative, “We love them, we hate
them.”
Transportation Alternative’s White,
145 SIXTH AVENUE • NYC 10 013 • COPYRIGHT © 2011 COMMUNITY M E D I A , L L C
Rooftop ‘farm’ will
soon be sprouting
atop three schools
BY BETSY KIM
Plans for creating a school
garden in the sky are tak-
ing root in the East Village.
Teachers, administrators and
students from P.S. 64, the
Tompkins Square Middle
School and the Earth School
have come together under
one roof — a green roof
that they are proposing for
600 E. Sixth St. The rooftop
uniting all three schools will
be developed into a green
deck, with an edible organic
garden, called the 5th Street
Hospital effort is
Photo by J.B. Nicholas
still alive as two
appeals are filed
BY ALBERT AMATEAU
Opponents of the sale
of the former St. Vincent’s
Hospital property to Rudin
Management and North
Shore-Long Island Jewish
Health System are still fight-
wearing a tie emblazoned with a bike ing for a chance to restore a
wheel, jumped right in, telling the full-service, acute-care hos-
crowd, “It used to be that only cow- pital in Greenwich Village.
boys and renegades rode their bikes in Arthur Schwartz, who
New York City.” contested the sale in
Juliano spoke on behalf of the many Bankruptcy Court last week,
business owners dismayed with the filed a notice of appeal on
unexpected appearance of bike lanes Monday to overturn the
on their streets. April 10 approval of the
“We’re not opposed to bicycle lanes
— however, not the way they’ve been
implemented in this city,” he said.
Juliano charged that the lanes have
appeared without community input.
His members claim the bike paths
disrupt business patterns and store
deliveries. Juliano offered several sug-
gestions for controlling the growing
number of cyclists in the city, including
licensing of bikes, testing cyclists on
Continued on page 4
April 21 - 27, 2011
Farm Project.
Michael Arad, the archi-
tect who designed the proj-
ect, described his first expe-
rience of walking up to the
roof:
“It was kind of like this
hidden valley that you dis-
covered,” he said. “There
are no tall buildings and
you just had this enormous
dome of sky over you and
this fantastic view of the
Manhattan skyline. It was
Continued on page 12
sale by Judge Cecilia Morris.
Schwartz is playing a dual
role in the appeal, represent-
ing his own clients — the
tenants of the Robert Fulton
Houses in Chelsea — and
also representing a group led
by former Councilmember
Alan Gerson, who also con-
tested the sale in the hopes
of finding alternatives to the
Rudin-North Shore-L.I.J.
deal.
Another opponent of
the sale, Yetta Kurland, a
Continued on page 8
EDITORIAL,
LETTERS
PAGE 26
WORRIED ABOUT
WEIWEI
PAGE 28
2 April 21 - 27, 2011

Photos by Milo Hess

Interpretation of signs:
What are they telling us?
A sign on the fence at the schoolyard of P.S. 41 on Greenwich Ave. seemingly
warns people not to even think about whatever it was they were thinking of doing,
above. Meanwhile, on East Houston St. near the Bowery, a hatch cover might be
emphatically urging pedestrians to watch out for lurking dangers, right.

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SCOOPY’S
NOTEBOOK
VET TAKES G.V.C.C.C. HELM: The Greenwich Village-
Chelsea Chamber of Commerce has a new executive direc-
tor, Thomas Gray. Gray most recently served as director
of land use policy for Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. He
earned a bachelor’s of science degree in justice studies
from Kent State University. During his studies and after
graduation he served in the U.S. Coast Guard as a machin-
ery tech third class. He performed harbor security and
anti-terrorism duties abroad during Operation Enduring
Freedom (Afghanistan War) and Operation Iraqi Freedom
(Second Gulf War).
A BURNING ISSUE: The annual marijuana march
hasn’t been snuffed out. Bleecker St. activist Dana Beal
remains in jail in Wisconsin on pot charges, but what is
now being dubbed the Cannabis Peace March will still
occur on Sat., May 7. “Dana was the face behind the event
for 30-plus years,” said attorney Noah Potter. “The com-
mittee has sworn to pick up the pieces in supporting Dana.”
The weed walk now happens in 300 cities around the globe,
but the New York one is the original. Participants will call
for the release of nonviolent pot prisoners and will call
attention to New York City’s pot arrest policy. The march-
ers will assemble at noon at Washington Square. At 1 p.m.,
they’ll head down Broadway to Foley Square, where at 2
p.m., there will be music and speakers.
‘MOSAIC’ DILEMMA: After years of on-and-off home-
lessness, Jim Power, the “Mosaic Man,” was thrilled to
recently get a room in The Lee, the new supportive-hous-
ing building at Houston and Pitt Sts. run by Common
Ground. He moved in about two months ago. But what
once seemed like a dream come true is turning into a
Lower East Side version of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
Nest” for him, according to the street lamppost artist.
The details are a little sketchy, but Power said he recently
said just one little word, “jump” or “push” — as in jump
or push off the building — and was also falsely accused of
having a gun, and that this landed him in the Beth Israel
psych ward for eight days, where he was forced to take
medication. “They recommended this stuff, Depakote,
1,000 milligrams, it makes me sleepy all day,” he said.
“They say I’m manic, depressive, dispolar. What? I was
Wash. Sq. small dog run will be done soon
BY ALINE REYNOLDS

s


3AT
PMsWWWVILLAMOSCONICOM
A new-and-improved dog run for small dogs will be open
in Washington Square Park as soon as mid-May as part of
the Parks Department’s second phase of renovations to the
historic park.
The run will be for dogs of all breeds that weigh 25
pounds or less, such as Kona, Dave Lawrence’s 6-year-old
Shiba Inu, who he brings to the park daily.
“It’s been a long wait, but it will have been worth it,” said
Lawrence, who has maintained the park’s existing small dog
run since its creation in 2004.
The revamped small dog run will have new benches and a
drainage system to funnel rainwater to the sewer. It will also
have a water dispenser for dogs to drink from. One of the
park’s original trees is being planted in the center of the space.
Lawrence said the new run is “a thousand percent
improvement” from the old one, which will stay open until
the new run is completed.
“The run is constantly used all year-round, especially in
spring, summer and fall,” he said. “It’s going to be very nice.”
There will be one entrance to the run from inside the
April 21 - 27, 2011 3
doing fine before this.” The Vietnam veteran said he
doesn’t have a gun, but rather a belt buckle with a bullet
on it — “it’s a piece of artwork,” he stressed. He also
claims a security guard is roaming the halls at night bark-
ing like a dog, trying to get Power’s canine companion,
Jesse Jane, into trouble, by making it seem like she’s run-
ning loose in the building. When he called us the other
day, a noticeably slower-speaking Power said the drug
was also blurring his vision, which he really doesn’t need
on top of everything else he’s dealing with. But one of the
caseworkers at The Lee is telling him to take the medica-
tion. “They want me to think in a single mode — not the
way I usually do,” he complained. “There’s an impression
that they’re overmedicating.” At this point, he said, he’s
afraid to even look at any of the caseworkers for fear of
being whipped right back up to the psych unit. Reader
Billy Sternberg e-mailed us recently, saying he bumped
into Power on Avenue A and gave him a buck, and that
Power told him what was on his mind. “He says his san-
ity was questioned — that he said he threatened to jump BROADWAY
off of the roof, which, he says, he has no recollection
ever suggesting,” Sternberg wrote. Personally, Sternberg PANHANDLER
said, he thinks Power should stay on the meds.
a smarter way to enjoy soda
PIER GIRLS GONE WILD: David Poster, head of
the volunteer Christopher Street Patrol, said he and Turn water into seltzer
another Village resident, Diana Horton, and a group and soda in seconds!
of Guardian Angels were patrolling on the Christopher
St. Pier on March 18 when they witnessed a shocking
scene — girls fighting each other all over the place. It
was around 11:15 p.m. on a Friday, 70 degrees, the first
really warm night of the year, and it seems, well, pent-up
energy perhaps just exploded. The women were ages 17
to 24, and here and there around the pier, knots of them
were breaking into melees. Most troubling to Poster Like us on
65 East 8th St. (Off B’Way) 212-966-3434
was that “they were loving it — they were hitting each M o n - S a t 11 - 7 ● Thurs ‘til 8pm ● S u n 11 - 6
other in the face. There were like 150 kids out there. It w w w. b r o a d w a y p a n h a n d l e r. c o m
was like a bloodbath.” Up to a dozen women may have
been fighting at any one time, he said. The patrol and
the Angels — Shaggy, Phantom, J and Bambam — tried
to break fights up, but it was out of control. The Park
Enforcement Patrol officers were “overwhelmed” and
didn’t know what to do, Poster said, and apparently
called 911. Soon, four squad cars from the Sixth Precinct
rolled onto the pier and things settled down. A couple of
the women were taken away in ambulances, according to
Poster, but others just sat holding their bloody faces and
apparently refused treatment. The quality-of-life activist
said he just hopes this wasn’t a precursor to “a long, hot
summer” of problems on the pier.
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“I was happy to see that, for the safety of our dogs,” said
Lawrence. “One dog hit by a car is one too many.”
The new run, which will be larger than its predecessor, is
estimated to cost between $60,000 and $90,000.
The New York Council of Dog Owner Groups will be
funding maintenance of the facility from now on, according
to Lawrence, who has invested about $5,000 from his own
pocket for the run over the years.
Lawrence has raised close to $1,800 so far for the upkeep
of the new dog run.
“We’ll look at it, and see if it needs something improved
or fixed,” he said.
The larger dog run will be built during the third phase
of the park’s reconstruction, expected to begin in the fall,
according to a Parks spokesperson. The existing big dog run
will remain open while the new one is being created, the
spokesperson said. While the new big dog run will be open
24 hours, the small dog run will not, the spokesperson said,
adding this decision was based on what Parks was hearing
the community wanted.
4 April 21 - 27, 2011
V.I.D. club rolls out panel to discuss bike lanes
Continued from page 1
the rules of the road and requiring them to
have insurance.
Yet Juliano added that city cutbacks
resulting in fewer police mean that bike
laws and infractions can’t be properly
enforced, so the city should stop install-
ing any more lanes until enforcement can
catch up.
Schierenbeck brought copies of an
October 2010 report by Stringer’s Office,
“Respect the Lane, Clear the Path.” The
Stringer aide said the borough president
is “a big supporter of bikes,” though the
report found chronic noncompliance with
road rules by cyclists, as well as lack of
enforcement against cars and pedestrians
blocking bike lanes.
Specifically, the survey found cars
encroaching into and speeding in bike
lanes. Conversely, on Grand St. at the
Bowery, “salmoning,” or wrong-way bike
traffic in the lane, outpaced its correct
use.
The survey found the single greatest
problem plaguing bike lanes was pedes-
trian blockage. During almost a full day
of observation, more than 741 instances
of pedestrians blocking lanes in Midtown
were noted. An additional 275 occur-
rences of cars, taxis and even pedicabs
blocking the lanes were observed.
Photo by Jefferson Siegel
Moderator Nadine Hoffmann of V.I.D. held up a sign from the “5 to Ride” campaign
of the Stuart C. Gruskin Family Foundation so that audience members could see it.
Stringer’s report offered several recom- ing taxicab awareness of the hazards of
mendations for cycling safety, including “dooring,” and developing more protected
increased enforcement against cars that bike lanes.
drive in or obstruct bike lanes, increas- Panelist Gruskin lost her husband,
Stuart, two years ago when, on his way to
lunch, he stepped off a curb in Midtown
and was hit by a bicycle going the wrong
way. Stuart Gruskin suffered massive
brain injuries and died three days later.
“While our family suffered the ultimate
tragedy, I am not against cycling,” Nancy
Gruskin said to the hushed room.
Gruskin dealt with her loss by creating
the Stuart C. Gruskin Family Foundation
and its “5 To Ride” pledge. The initia-
tive calls on businesses using bicycles to
instruct cycling employees to put pedes-
trians first, stop at red lights, ride in the
right direction, stay off the sidewalk and
stay in one lane.
Forty-five businesses and restaurants,
as well as dozens of individuals, have
signed on to the pledge. Restaurants
receive a bright orange decal to post in
their window. As she talked about cycling
in the city, Gruskin repeated the word,
“responsible” several times, concluding
by stating that, “Everybody must follow
the rules.”
T.A.’s White pointed out that many
restaurant delivery cyclists are undocu-
mented and therefore ignore tickets. He
said compliance with bike laws could be
self-enforced if the business owners “feel
the pain” and are responsible for sum-
monses when one of their delivery cyclists
is ticketed.
District Leader Brad Hoylman asked
panelists if there should be laws requiring
cyclists to wear helmets.
White said he is against helmet laws
and bike licensing because it would sup-
press cycling. He explained that bike
licensing was ineffective when tried in
other cities and, in any case, bike crashes
and injuries have gone down in the past
five years.
Hearing that statistic, Juliano turned to
White and asked where he got that data.
“From the N.Y.P.D. and D.O.T.,” White
replied, adding that increased cycling has
resulted in safety in numbers. D.O.T.
statistics show the number of bicycle
commuters doubling to more than 17,000
since 2006. D.O.T.’s “Cycling Safety
Indicator” reflects a 75 percent decrease
in the average risk of serious injury to
commuter cyclists from 2000 to 2009.
Less than a month after state
Assemblymember Michael DenDekker
proposed laws mandating license plates
and insurance for commercial bikes, as
well as requiring license plates for per-
sonal bicycles, he withdrew the legisla-
tion following an outcry from the cycling
community. While some reports have said
the proposal is dead, DenDekker is con-
sidering reworking the legislation to make
it stronger.
Another bike licensing proposal is
being considered by City Councilmember
Eric Ulrich of Queens, who intends to
offer a bill requiring the licensing of adult
cyclists citywide. The legislation, expect-
ed to be introduced within a few months,
would not require cyclists to be insured.
As hands shot up for more questions,
Villager Robert Bradlow asked the pan-
elists what was being done to protect
cyclists from pedestrians. Bradlow told
the gathering that he got hit and required
22 stitches while riding in front of the
Chelsea Hotel. White opined that pedes-
trians as well as cyclists needed to be
educated on the use of bike lanes.
To that end, T.A. plans to dispatch a
dozen “bike ambassadors” throughout the
city this summer to hand out copies of the
organization’s “Biking Rules” pamphlet
and to answer cyclists’ questions about
responsible riding.
Another audience member wondered
if levying a surcharge on bike sales would
be a viable method to compensate victims
injured by cyclists. Juliano predicted there
would eventually be bike licenses, though,
he said, not throughout the state, but in
high-traffic locations, like Manhattan and
Brooklyn. White added that cyclists in
London are required to have insurance.
Holding up a blue bicycle helmet, Jim
Fouratt said he wore that headgear while
running for City Council in 2009. Fouratt
said he had been hit twice on his bike and
would rather ride on the sidewalk than
risk getting killed in traffic.
As the last commenter of the evening,
West Village resident Kathy Jacobsen
offered a calm assessment of the bike
lane flap.
“What we have to do is make room for
each other and learn to share the space,”
she said, sparking a round of applause.
V.I.D.’s next panel, “Getting Out The
Voter,” will be Wed., May 4, at 7 p.m. at
the L.G.B.T. Center, 208 W. 13th St.
 April 21 - 27, 2011 5

Police said Amrani admitted the robber- charged with following a victim walking in
ies to detectives. front of 125 Christopher St. near Hudson St.

POLICE BLOTTER Student sets fire

Seek sexual predator
Police are looking for a man who sexually
attacked two women at knifepoint in the eleva-
tors of their buildings on the Lower East Side.
The suspect, described as Hispanic, 17 to 25
years old, between 5 feet 8 inches and 5 feet
10 inches, with a dark complexion and heavy-
set, followed his victims into an elevator in
the LaGuardia Houses on Clinton St., forced
them out at knifepoint and attacked them in
stairwells, police said. The suspect attacked his
first victim, age 19, at 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 18. His
most recent victim, 17, fought off the attack at
10 p.m. Thurs., April 14.
Anyone with information should contact
Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or on-
line at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or by tex-
ting to 274637 (crimes) and entering TIP577.
Bank-rob spree
Police arrested John Amrani, 50, last
week for a series of robberies at bank
branches on the West Side.
On March 29, the suspect walked into
the Chase branch at 111 Eighth Ave. near
15th St. around 11 a.m., passed a note to
a teller saying, “This is a robbery, I have
a gun. Don’t be stupid. Do not press no
alarms. From the bottom, I need 50 and 100
first. Then close the draw. No dying pack.”
When the teller told him she had no 100’s,
he replied, “From the bottom. 50’s and
20’s.” She surrendered $6,850 and he fled,
according to the complaint filed with the
Manhattan district attorney.
Amrani returned to the same branch Sat.,
April 9, at 12:40 p.m. and passed a demand
note to another teller who said she couldn’t read
it. The suspect said, “Come on, come on, come
on,” but he pulled the note back and fled empty-
handed after she repeated that she couldn’t read
the note, according to the complaint.
At 1:25 p.m. the same day, Amrani switched
to the Chase branch at 233 Third Ave. at 19th
St., and passed a similar demand note to yet
another teller. When she put $75 in small bills
on her counter, the suspect knocked on her
window and gestured for her to hand him the
money. He fled with the $75.
On April 11 Amrani walked into the Valley
National Bank at 159 Eighth Ave. at 18th St.,
and passed a teller a note similar to the other
demands. When she gave him an unspecified
amount of money, he demanded, “Everything,
everything.” He fled with $2,321.
New York University’s Brittany Hall stu-
dents residence, at 55 E. 10th St., was evacu-
ated for a few hours Saturday night April 16
after a fire, set by a student, broke out at 9
p.m. on the eighth floor. The student, who was
said to appear suicidal, inflicted several lacera-
tions, which were not fatal, on himself. He was
taken to the hospital by an Emergency Medical
Service team, a Fire Department spokesperson
said. John Beckman, N.Y.U. spokesperson,
declined to identify the student and said the
room sustained minimal damage.
Standard blaze
An electrical fire in the basement of The
Standard hotel, which straddles the High
Line at Washington and W. 13th Sts., around
2:30 p.m. Sat., April 16, forced evacuation of
the building, according to a Fire Department
spokesperson. The fire was declared under
control an hour and a half later.
Beaten, robbed
Police arrested one of two suspects
around 8 p.m. Fri., April 15, beating him to
the ground and robbing him. A witness told
police that Marcus Wright, 26, took some-
thing out of the victim’s pants pocket as he
lay semiconscious on the sidewalk. Wright
was charged with robbery and felony assault.
The accomplice escaped.
Stab suspect at large
Police are still seeking a suspect want-
ed in the Sun., March 27, stabbing of a
victim on W. Fourth near Charles St. The
victim was taken to Bellevue in serious
condition with several stab wounds in his
torso, police said. The suspect, known as
Francisco, was described as between 20
and 23 years old, Hispanic, about 5 feet
tall, with black hair and an eagle tattoo
on his hand. Anyone with information
should phone Crime Stoppers, 800-577-
TIPS (8477) or report it online at www.
nypdcrimestoppers.com or by texting to
274637 (crimes) and entering TIP577.
Razor robber nicked
Police arrested Adrian Wynn, 42, for steal-
ing four packs of Gillette Fusion razor-blade
Continued on page 7

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6 April 21 - 27, 2011

Superblock decision registers; Dorm funds could be blocked

BY ALBERT AMATEAU
The State Historic Preservation Office
has declared that New York University’s
Washington Square Village superblock
is eligible for the Federal and State
Registers of Historic Places.
The two superblocks, between W. Third
and West Houston Sts. and LaGuardia
Place and Mercer St., are where N.Y.U.
will soon be seeking city approval of its
plan to add 2.4 million square feet of
development during the next 20 years.
But Andrew Berman, executive direc-
tor of the Greenwich Village Society
for Historic Preservation, said this week
that the state preservation office decision
could put a crimp in N.Y.U.’s financing
for the project.
N.Y.U. intends to seek New York State
Dormitory Authority funds to help defray
the cost of student housing develop-
ment on the south superblock. However,
Berman pointed out this week that state
and federal funds cannot be used for
demolition or construction on properties
eligible for the historic register unless
the state preservation office approves the
project.
“SHiPO generally seeks to preserve
historic and architecturally significant
features of eligible properties and encour-
ages applicants to seek alternatives,”
Berman said. “That’s just one more rea-
son, an economic reason, for N.Y.U. to
look for other locations, like the Financial
District, for its future development,”
Berman said.
On the south superblock, the I.M. Pei-
designed Silver Towers with its 30-foot-
tall “Sylvette” sculpture designed by
‘This is just one more
reason for N.Y.U. to look
for other locations.’
Andrew Berman
Picasso were designated a New York City
landmark two years ago. N.Y.U. last year
decided to scrap its plans for a 40-story
tower on the landmarked portion of the
block after Pei’s firm opposed the tower.
The university, however, received
Landmarks Preservation Commission
approval this year for landscape changes
to the designated portion of the southern
superblock. The university’s proposed new
buildings for the south superblock are not
in the landmarked area, but they must Photo by Jefferson Siegel
still undergo review and receive approval A view of Washington Square Village, showing its interior garden courtyard and the
from the City Planning Commission and complex’s northern slab-style building on W. Third St. between LaGuardia Place and
the City Council. Mercer St. A similar slab runs along Bleecker St.

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 April 21 - 27, 2011 7

MacDougal Sts. around 2:40 a.m. Wed., April a $3,350 camera from a store at 22 W. 22nd St.
13, but he refused to take the man, who held according to the District Attorney’s Office.
an open penknife in his hand, police said.

POLICE BLOTTER Enraged at the refusal, Timothy McGoldrick,

Continued from page 5
cartridges valued at $66 from the Rite Aid
at 495 Broadway near Broome St. on Friday
morning April 15. The suspect was charged
with robbery because he punched a security
guard and another employee who tried to
stop him from walking out of the store with-
out paying for the shaving products.
False ID
Police arrested Jun Ho-Young, 26, around
1:20 p.m. Fri., April 15, when he tried to
open an account at the Bank of America
branch at 224 W. Fourth St. with ID that
did not belong to him. Police said they could
not reach anyone whose name was in the ID.
Nevertheless, the suspect was charged with
possession of a forged document.
Soho shoplifters
Two men walked into the American
Apparel store at 121 Spring St. at 6 p.m.
Mon., April 11, and walked out with 18
men’s shirts with a total value of $1,068,
police said. At closing time, employees
discovered that 17 sweaters and 13 flannel
shirts had also been stolen that day.
Employees at Glory Chen boutique at
121 Greene St. told police that an unknown
suspect walked off without paying for four
handbags valued at $2,813 sometime before
4:30 pm. Thurs., April 14.
Wallet thief bagged
Police arrested Ian O’Leary, 23, around
1:05 a.m. Sat., April 16, in Three Sheets
Saloon, 134 W. Third St., after a bouncer
told them he saw the suspect take the wal-
lets out of two handbags that two women
patrons had hung on a coat hook. The sus-
pect was in possession of articles stolen from
the bags when he was arrested, police said.
Slashed tires
A cab driver stopped when a man hailed
him at the northwest corner of Bleecker and
49, slashed the cab’s left front tire and was
charged with criminal mischief.
The old stain scam
A visitor from Denmark told police that
she was in Soho on Sunday afternoon April
17 when a stranger told her she had a stain on
her jacket and led her to the outdoor cafe at
Antique Garage, 41 Mercer St. near Broome
St., to help her clean up. Before she knew it,
the stranger fled with her bag that she had just
put on a chair. She lost her Danish credit cards
and driver’s license, a camera, her hotel card
key and $150 in U.S. currency.
Really likes Leicas
Police arrested John White, 19, last week
and charged him with stealing a $28,000 Leica
camera from a shop at 41 W. 22nd St. near
Sixth Ave. White walked into the store at 3
p.m. on Mon., April 11, asked to see the camera
and asked the salesman several questions before
running out with it, police said. On March 2,
he pulled the same trick at a camera store on
Fifth Ave. at 31st St. and stole a Leica valued at
$6,000, according to a complaint filed with the
Manhattan district attorney. White began his
collection of Leicas on Dec. 1, 2010, by stealing
Teen targeter
Police arrested Devante Scott, 17, and
charged him with robbing seven teenage
male victims between the ages of 15 and 18
in Manhattan subways in the East Village,
Lower Manhattan and Harlem and on the
Upper West Side in the past eight weeks.
Scott confronted the victims with a knife or
a handgun before stealing their cell phones
and iPods, police said.
Tunnel crash
Five people were injured in a four-car
accident in the Holland Tunnel north tube
near the New Jersey side around 1 p.m. Sat.,
April 16. The victims were treated at the
Jersey City Medical Center. The north tube
was closed until 2:45 a.m.
Find missing boy
Alexander Vorlicky, 14, who was report-
ed missing from his home at 297 E. 10th St.
on April 10, was found and returned home
Wed., April 14, police said.
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8 April 21 - 27, 2011
ST. GEORGE UKRAINIAN
CATHOLIC CHURCH
30 East 7th Street · New York, NY, 10003
Easter 2011
APRIL 21 HOLY THURSDAY
6:00 am: Liturgy
9:00 am: Liturgy with Vespers
6:00 pm: Passion of our Lord
APRIL 22 GOOD FRIDAY
11:00 am: Holy Sepulcher Service
6:00 pm: Matins of Jerusalem
APRIL 23 HOLY SATURDAY
9:00 am: Liturgy with Vespers
11:30 am: Blessing of Easter Bread -
Baskets (throughout the day)
8:45 pm: Holy Sepulcher Services
9:00 pm: RESURRECTION MATINS
10:00am: SOLEMN DIVINE LITURGY
Hospital effort still alive
as two appeals are filed
Continued from page 1
founder of the Coalition for a New Village
Hospital, announced last week that the
coalition would rally in front of the shut-
tered hospital on Seventh Ave. at W. 12th
St. at 2 p.m. Sat., April 30, to reaffirm the
APRIL 24 EASTER SUNDAY demand for a new hospital with a Level 1
8:30 am: Liturgy trauma center on the site.
10:00 am: SOLEMN LITURGY Schwartz said that, in addition to the
Bankruptcy Court appeal, advocates are
12:00 noon: Liturgy
seeking other ways to get a full-service
hospital for Greenwich Village, or as close
APRIL 25 EASTER MONDAY to it as possible.
and “We’re trying to work behind the scenes
APRIL 26 EASTER TUESDAY with North Shore-L.I.J. and Rudin to see if
we can get something better that what they
6:00, 8:30 am: Liturgy have proposed,” Schwartz said. Under the
10:00 am: Solemn Liturgy sale approved in Bankruptcy Court, North
6:00 pm: Liturgy Shore-L.I.J. will spend $100 million, plus
a $10 million contribution from Rudin, to
convert the six-story O’Toole Building on
Ukrainian Festival the west side of Seventh Ave. into a com-
prehensive healthcare center with a 24/7
May 13, 14, 15 free-standing emergency department.
Schwartz said advocates were talking
to Rudin about finding other sources of
funds to improve the health center and
emergency department deal.
“I’m interested in not just being com-
bative but in working positively toward
community goals,” Schwartz said. “As a
longtime labor lawyer, I’m used to nego-
tiating both sides of an issue,” he said.
Schwartz has been the lawyer for the
Transport Workers Union in their con-
flicts with the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority over the years.
Gerson’s group, which includes Dudley
Gaffi n, an attorney, and Dr. Robert
Adelman, formerly of St. Vincent’s
Hospital, had claimed the privately negoti-
ated sale of the St. Vincent’s property did
not give adequate notice to allow others
to offer alternatives to the Rudin-North
Shore-L.I.J. deal.
But Gerson last week said there were
options other than the Bankruptcy Court
appeal to gain time to develop a better
hospital deal. One strategy, he said, would
be asking the state Department of Health
for help during the necessary approval
process for North Shore-L.I.J.’s plan for
the O’Toole Building. In addition, Gerson
said the group could also try to leverage a
better hospital deal by taking an active role
in the approval process for Rudin’s resi-
dential redevelopment of the St. Vincent’s
campus on the east side of Seventh Ave.
 April 21 - 27, 2011 9

Proud winner of 12 awards

in New York Press Association’s
2010 Better Newspaper Contest
Spot News Coverage Spot News Photos Best News
First Place First Place or Feature Series
Tequila Minsky
First Place
Tequila Minsky
Tequila Minsky, Julie Shapiro
and Lincoln Anderson
News Story Coverage of Elections /
Second Place Politics Picture Story
Lincoln Anderson
Second Place Third Place
Jason B. Nicholas
Spot News Photos
Second Place Art Photo Editorial Cartoon
Second Place Third Place
Jefferson Siegel
Jason B. Nicholas Ira Blutreich

Photographic Sports Action Photos

Excellence Headline Writing Honorable Mention
Third Place Honorable Mention Jason B. Nicholas
10 April 21 - 27, 2011
Strike two for lawsuit over Spring St. mega-garage
BY ALBERT AMATEAU
Hudson Sqaure and Tribeca opponents of the Department
of Sanitation garage proposed for the UPS property on Spring
St. lost a key battle last week when an Appellate Division panel
unanimously affirmed a lower court dismissal of their lawsuit to
block the project.
The five-judge panel said on Thurs., April 14, that the city
took the requisite hard look at the proposed 120-foot-tall garage
to serve three Sanitation districts. The project also includes a
salt shed to be built on Sanitation Department property on the
south side of Spring St. adjacent to the Holland Tunnel ventila-
tion tower.
The appellate panel also said the opponents had no stand-
ing to seek to overturn a 2005 court-approved agreement that
the city would remove Sanitation equipment from Gansevoort
Peninsula by 2013 to allow the peninsula to become part of
the Hudson River Park. The Spring St. project will eventually
accommodate a portion of the Sanitation equipment from the
8-acre peninsula on the Hudson River between Gansevoort and
Little W. 12th Sts.
The appellate panel also held that the opponents had exceeded
a four-month, statute-of-limitations period for filing the lawsuit
challenging the Gansevoort Peninsula agreement.
Michael Kramer, a consultant to the St. John’s Center — a
large, multi-block building on the project site’s northern border
and one of the opponents who sued to block the garage — called
the ruling disappointing. The plaintiffs have not yet decided
whether to take their case to the Court of Appeals in Albany, the
state’s highest court, Kramer said. Because the appellate decision
was unanimous, the plaintiffs need permission to appeal further
from both the Appellate Division and the Court of Appeals.
The city was gratified by last week’s decision, saying that the
garage-and-salt-shed project was an important part of the city-
wide Solid Waste Management Plan.
Saint John’s
Please join us for Lutheran
Holy Week and Easter Church
~ In the heart of the Village, 83 Christopher
with the Village in our hearts ~
Street
212.242.5737
www.stjohnschristopherstreet.org
Sunday, April 17th, Sunday of the Passion
11am Mass with Palms
6pm Jazz Mass with Palms
April 21st, Maundy Thursday
From 1pm - church open for prayer and reflection
7pm Mass with foot washing and stripping of the altar
8pm Supper in the Parish Hall
April 22nd, Good Friday
From 12 Noon - church open for prayer and reflection
7pm Good Friday service
Easter Sunday, April 25th
11am Mass of the Resurrection
6pm Festival Jazz Mass featuring Tom “Bones” Malone
“The court correctly found that the city fully complied
with all applicable environmental review procedures and
land-use statutes and requirements in the selection of this
site,” said Elizabeth I. Freedman, senior counsel of the
Appeals Division of the city Law Department, who con-
ducted the case for the city.
Preliminary preparation work has started on the nearly
2-acre site between Washington and West Sts from Spring
to Charlton Sts.
However, one court issue remains: an 11-foot-1-inch
overgrown strip of land on the border between the St. John’s
building and the Sanitation garage site is in dispute and an
April 26 hearing is scheduled. The strip is part of the UPS
property but has been maintained since 1976 by St. John’s,
which claims ownership under the legal doctrine of adverse
possession.
Kramer said the three-district garage, which is to accom-
modate garbage trucks for Sanitation District 5, covering
central Midtown, as well as Districts 1 and 2, covering Lower
Manhattan and Greenwich Village, the West Village and Soho,
respectively, is oversized and would have a major negative impact
on increasingly residential Hudson Square.
“There was no discussion about the high cost of this project
and the overpayment to UPS for the right to build on the site,”
said Kramer. The city has agreed to pay UPS $116 million for the
development rights, and the entire project is estimated to cost
about $500 million. Kramer also said that local elected officials
who voted to approve the project favored other neighborhoods
and had used the process to promote Hudson River Park with
Department of Sanitation dollars.
“The influx of trucks will further choke traffic on Washington
Photo by Albert Amateau
and West Sts. and negatively affect the quality of life for the
Preliminary preparation work for the garage is under- residents, business and property owners, who were never given a
way at Spring and Washington Sts. meaningful role in the decision-making process,” Kramer said.
Shrine Church of Saint Anthony of Padua
West Houston and Sullivan Streets, New York NY 10012
www.stanthonynyc.org / 212-777-2755
HOLY WEEK 2011 SCHEDULE
Palm Sunday, April 17
5:00 PM Saturday Anticipated Mass
Sunday Masses 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM
Palms will be distributed during these three Masses
Confessions Saturday from 4:00-5:00 PM
Holy Thursday, April 21
9:00 AM Morning Prayer
7:00 PM Liturgy of the Lord’s Supper
10:00 PM Closing of Adoration
Good Friday, April 22
9:00 AM Morning Prayer
3:00 PM Stations of the Cross
7:00 PM Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion
Holy Saturday, April 23
9:00 AM Morning Prayer
8:00 PM Solemn Easter Vigil
(No confessions scheduled for Holy Saturday)
Easter Sunday, April 24
9:00 AM Solemn Easter Mass
11:00 AM Solemn Easter Mass

Scaffolding on the top of the Jefferson Market Library resembles a tree house.
Checking out the full story
of 6th Ave. library closing
BY F. SEIDENBAUM
Jefferson Market Library closed for con-
struction on Mon., April 11, and will remain
completely closed until Mon., May 23. After
that, there will be two partial closings: The
adult reading room will stay closed from
May 23 until July 5; the basement reading
room will be closed from July 5 to Aug. 1.
The exterior leaks had to be fixed before
work on the interior could start, but con-
struction was delayed because of this win-
ter’s bad weather. Now work on interior
walls, ceilings, plaster and major restoration
can finally start. The closing is necessary
because many bookshelves will have to be
moved away from the walls so interior scaf-
folding can be erected. It would be unsafe
for the public to be there during this work,
and many library materials would not be
accessible.
Library manager Frank Collerius said
that he learned of the closing dates on April
5 and was doing his best to get the informa-
tion to the public on such short notice. The
library sent out press releases, including to
the media and to Council Speaker Christine
Quinn’s Office. There was a major prob-
lem, however: The library’s signs advising
the public were in relatively small print on
8½-inch-by-11-inch sheets of white paper
on only a few desks inside the library. They
were not at all eye-catching and many people
missed them.
Nor was there a sign on the entrance until
a Villager hand-wrote one and taped it up on
April 8, two days before the closing. On the
night of April 9, after the library was closed,
she saw a library employee putting up a new
sign on the door advising of the closing. This
reporter was told that another Villager had
been at the library on April 9, when she had
made an appointment to use the computer
April 21 - 27, 2011 11
St. Mark’s
Church in-the-Bowery
An Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New York
131 East 10th St. at 2nd Avenue
(212) 674-6377
Join us for Holy Week and Easter
Maundy Thursday
April 21, 2011, 7 PM
Good Friday Blues
April 22, 2011, 12 Noon – 3 PM
Photo by Milo Hess The Great Vigil of Easter
Saturday, April 23, 2011, 7 PM
The Feast of the Resurrection
Easter Sunday
April 24, 2011, 11AM – 1PM
Easter egg hunt following the service, meet in the church.
April 11; she had not been told the library
would be closing. www.stmarksbowery.org
Doubtless, many other library patrons,
including children and their tutors who use
the library regularly; classes which take field
trips there; seniors who seek a quiet haven to
read; and people who have no other access
to the Internet, will all have an unwelcome
surprise when they arrive to find their library
shuttered.
Collerius felt the May 23 date is definite
because, usually when there’s construction,
no specific end date is announced to the pub-
lic. Only after the construction firm assured
the library that this date was realistic and CELEBRATE HOLY WEEK AND BEYOND
attainable were press releases issued. After WITH MIDDLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH
seeing the extent of community involvement
a few years ago opposing closing the entire
library for an extended period, Collerius felt
Good Friday Concert at 7 PM
that the library has learned to evaluate the
impact on the community before making ‘The Little Match Girl Passion’
major plans. The subsequent partial closings composed by David Lang
will cause less inconvenience and was some-
thing the community requested. Directed by Jonathan Dudley
When this reporter mentioned how much
the community misses the clock, Collerius
said that they had wanted to keep the bell
Easter Sunday
tolling during construction, but it wasn’t Sunrise Celebration at 7AM
possible for insurance reasons because of
possible health dangers to the workers.
Easter Worship Celebration at 9AM & 11:15AM
Library staff will be temporarily rede- ‘O Mary, Don't You Weep!’
ployed to other branches, and Collerius said – Senior Minister, Rev. Jacqui Lewis
he hoped to gain some new perspective from
this experience.
Materials reserved for pickup at the Sunday, May 1st
Jefferson Market Library branch will be
rerouted for pickup at the Muhlenberg ‘Tweaking Capitalism With A Christian Twist’
Branch, at 209 W. 23rd St. near Seventh – Rev. James Forbes, guest preacher
Ave. Borrowed items can be returned at
any branch. The other Village neighborhood
branch is Hudson Park, at 66 Leroy St. on middlechurch.org Ɣ (212) 477-0666 Ɣ 50 East 7th Street NYC
Seventh Ave. South.
12 April 21 - 27, 2011
Students will ‘get back to the land’ on green roof
Continued from page 1
just this quiet, very beautiful, empty space,
just there and not being used in any way.”
Arad is also the architect who designed the
World Trade Center Memorial, “Reflecting
Absence.”
He became involved with the building
of the urban farm as a parent whose son
attended the Earth School.
That school’s mission statement empha-
sizes peaceful conflict resolution and pres-
ervation of the Earth’s resources. One of the
school founders, Abbe Futterman, said the
garden is a natural extension of the school’s
environmental focus. To teach her students
about health, nutrition and organic farm-
ing, Futterman started an organic container
garden in the blacktop space outside her
classroom, which is accessible through a
large window.
“I mean, it’s unorthodox to walk out of
a window. I’m surprised we got away with
this,” she said.
But outside, students grow a cornucopia
of fruits, vegetables and herbs, including
apples, figs, blueberries, strawberries, car-
rots, radishes, chard and broccoli, as well
as Chinese cucumbers, lettuce, onions, pota-
toes, tomatoes, peppers, basil, rosemary,
sage, thyme, stevia, mint, parsley, coriander,
oregano, fennel and lavender.
“The children learn about herbs and make
A rendering of the planned green deck in action.
recipes from different cultures using them
with our cooking teacher, such as pesto,
salsa and tabouleh,” Futterman explained.
Currently, the school’s cafeteria uses what
students grow from the container garden in
preparing lunches.
Image courtesy 5th Street Farm Project
Expanding the container garden onto
the roof offers additional benefits. At a
recent Greenwich Village Society for
Historic Preservation event held at Judson
Memorial Church, Amy Norquist, C.E.O.
of Greensulate, a certified green roofs com-
pany, explained the benefits of green roofs
and different options.
Living roofs restore biological habitats,
absorb and help manage storm water, clean
air, reduce noise, provide insulation, save
energy, reduce building heating and cooling
costs, improve aesthetics and allow for tax
abatements. Norquist said one square meter
of green roofing can absorb all the particu-
late-matter carbon dioxide emissions from
one car being driven 12,000 miles a year.
So-called extensive green roofs are less
expensive and are recommended for large
areas. Unlike grass, the high alpine green-
ery does not require frequent watering and
mowing. The vegetation is not meant to be
walked on, but it withstands wind, snow and
drought. The plants grow in an engineered,
lightweight, pebble, pumice-like medium,
which resists degradation.
Our Lady of Pompei
Rev. John C. Massari, C.S., Pastor
25 CARMINE & BLEECKER STS.,
GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY
212-989-6805
HOLY WEEK SERVICES 2011
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
Private Confessions: 4-6pm
Holy Thursday
7:00pm Mass of the Lord’s Last Supper
Adoration until 11:00pm
On the other hand, intensive green roofs
serve more as park space or gardens. They
require more than 6 inches of soil depth for
sustenance of plant life. Although functional
and aesthetic, they cost more and require
greater maintenance.
Hybrid green roofs include elements of
both the extensive and intensive models.
The worst-case scenario with green decks
would be with freezing temperatures cre-
ating ice dams, with the accumulation of
water and snow resulting in a roof’s collapse.
Norquist noted that with proper engineering,
irrigation and maintenance, and attention to
the roof membrane, roof leaks and collapses
can be prevented.
In the case of the three East Village schools’
joint project, the garden will not sit directly
on the roof, but on a deck. Steel columns that
will pop up through the roof will extend from
cement support columns that run through the
building down to its foundation. Steel beams
will lie across the “pop-up” roof columns,
above the roof level. A metal frame with deck-
ing material would rest on the steel beams.
Arad explained that the design’s technical term
is “dunnage,” and is often used when heavy
equipment, such as a large air conditioner, is
installed on a roof. One-foot-deep fiberglass
planters will rest on the deck along walkways,
all surrounded by steel fencing.
With green roofs, Norquist noted, the
most common drawbacks are costs and
maintenance.
The 5th Street Farm Project has received
city and state capital funds, with Borough
President Scott Stringer allocating $550,000
and state Senator Daniel Squadron provid-
ing $200,000.
Handel Architects, where Arad is a part-
ner, donated pro bono time and resources,
including designing the project. A nonprofit
corporation is being formed to raise addi-
tional funds that would also cover mainte-
nance.
Stantec Engineering is now the archi-
tectural firm of record. A contractor
will be selected for one of three plans: a
2,800-square-foot deck; a 1,400-square-foot
alternative; or a 1,400-square-foot deck with
pop-up columns built to extend the deck to
2,800 square feet in the future. The group
behind the project hopes construction will
begin this summer.
Good Friday
3pm Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion
7pm Solemn Stations of the Cross
with the participation of the Choir
Holy Saturday
Confessions: 9:00am to 12 Noon and 3-5pm
8pm Solemn Celebration of the Easter Vigil
Easter Sunday Mass
9am, 11am (Italian), 12:15pm, 1:30 (Brazilian),
3:00 (Filipino)
 April 21 - 27, 2011 13

An East Villager special supplement • Pages 13 to 24

14 April 21 - 27, 2011
Making the dream of Hudson River Park a reality
PARKS
BY A.J. PIETRANTONE
At this time of year when everyone
is thinking about new beginnings, it is
even easier to cast yourself in a new light
when you think about the progress that has
brought you to where you are. That is exactly
what is going on with Friends of Hudson
River Park.
For many of us, it is hard to remember
a time when we didn’t have Hudson River
Park. And yet, when the park’s first section
opened in Greenwich Village in 2003 — it
was only eight springs ago. Overnight, it
seemed, a strip of decaying, crumbling riv-
erfront was turned into a green and blue
jewel.
Fast-forward to today, and now the
5-mile-long park is nearly 80 percent com-
plete. Last spring saw the opening of the
Chelsea section with 9 acres of lawn and
gardens, a skate park and a Hudson River-
species-themed carousel. One of two new
piers in Tribeca opened in the fall. And this
spring we will add sand volleyball and min-
iature golf to the activities you can enjoy in
the park, along with picnicking, basketball,
tennis, kayaking, sunbathing, rollerblading
and biking.
Uptown at 57th St., we will begin con-
struction on a new Pier 97 next month that
will provide additional recreational facilities
Photo by Tequila Minsky
Kids enjoying the new playground on Pier 25 in Tribeca on a recent weekend.
to the lush oasis in Clinton Cove.
Along a once-walled-off waterfront, 17
million visitors a year are enjoying land-
scapes, vistas, playgrounds and outdoor
spaces that were once unimaginable to New
York residents.
Friends of Hudson River Park has been
working tirelessly on behalf of the park
since its inception. Beginning in 1999,
Friends has been the park’s strongest activ-
ist in Albany and City Hall, helping to
secure more than a quarter of a billion dol-
lars in public funds to build the park. We
have served as the park’s principal advo-
cate, ensuring that all the land designated
for the park was used as it was intended,
hastening the removal of sanitation and
other municipal facilities, making sure that
helicopter tours stopped interfering with
the public’s enjoyment of the park, and
helping to build an engaged community of
park enthusiasts.
Today finds the Friends of Hudson River
Park embarking on a new era. Until now,
Friends functioned primarily as an advo-
cacy organization — focusing our efforts
on seeing that the park was built. With
the park largely finished, it’s time to start
focusing on what the park will need going
forward. The best approach that Friends
can now take is to shift emphasis and step
up our role as a fundraising partner for the
park, and our board of directors is whole-
heartedly behind this change.
Many people do not know that Hudson
River Park isn’t a city park, even though it
is the largest park to be built in Manhattan
in more than 150 years. It receives no
money from the city or the state for daily
operations and maintenance. Instead, its
income is generated from limited commer-
cial revenues from its tenants, such as the
Circle Line, Chelsea Piers and the parking
facility at Pier 40, at West Houston St.,
and private donations. While this revenue
is critical, it just isn’t quite enough to do
the job; and as the park gets bigger, there is
more of it to maintain. Additional funding
is not only required to complete the park,
but to ensure that it remains as beautiful,
safe and clean as the day it opened.
To start better addressing this need, we
recently launched our Stewardship Program,
which brings together generous Park con-
tributors from throughout the city to create
a larger resource pool to directly support
the park, its programs and upkeep. And
now we are making additional changes to
our organization with input from members
of the Hudson River Park Trust to enhance
our ability to tap into other private resources
that will enable us to do more for the park
that the community has come to love.
The park has already been proven to
boost neighborhoods all along its border. A
2008 study commissioned by Friends dem-
onstrated that the park was directly respon-
sible for a 20 percent increase in the value
of property in the adjacent three blocks,
and that property values rose as soon as
park construction became visible.
Based on this research, we’ve begun to
explore the creation of a Hudson River Park
neighborhood improvement district, which
could provide a steady source of financing
for a portion of park maintenance, while
also improving park access and beautify-
ing the surrounding street environment for
neighborhood residents and businesses —
improvements that would address expressed
community needs, but on which the Hudson
River Park Trust cannot spend its resources.
We’ve received valuable input from
elected officials and neighborhood organi-
zations, including Community Boards 1,
2 and 4, the Westbeth Artists Residents
Council, West Village Houses and a number
of block associations. And we’ll continue to
solicit input in the coming months.
Last month, Friends began wide distri-
bution of a Neighborhood Needs Survey
to give community members an expand-
ed voice in identifying priority needs in
Clinton, Chelsea, Greenwich Village and
Tribeca as we develop our proposal. One
comment to which we all can relate said,
“The park is the greatest thing to happen to
our neighborhood in the tenure of my living
here — 20 years.”
There is likely to be lively debate
about priorities and needs as we refine
the vision for the park’s future, but on
the most important point I think we
can all agree: Hudson River Park is an
extremely valuable community asset, and
its continued progress will have lasting
benefits for the city. We hope you will join
Friends in supporting it for years to come.
Pietrantone is executive director, Friends
of Hudson River Park

Our ULURP role will be critical
on big development projects
COMMUNITY
BOARD
BY JO HAMILTON
Community Board 2 continues to be
one of the busiest community boards in
New York City. Each year we are at or
near the top of the list for the most side-
walk cafe, liquor license, street fair and
landmark applications that need to be
reviewed. The board district is bounded
by 14th St., Canal St., Bowery/Fourth
Ave. and the Hudson River.
Our committees stay busy. In the
strong tradition of activism in our neigh-
borhoods, the board’s committees work
hard to advocate for such important
causes as new schools, more open space,
a crackdown on counterfeit vending and
pedestrian safety.
We can only win the
battles, and the war,
if the board and com-
munity work together
and stand together
to protect our historic
neighborhoods.
The coming year promises to be even
more challenging. We have three major
development projects coming before us
— “N.Y.U. Plan 2031,” the future of the
St. Vincent’s site and a proposed rezoning
of Hudson Square. Each of these will go
through the city process known as ULURP
(uniform land use review procedure), and
our board has a charter-mandated role to
conduct the initial review, and the respon-
sibility to assess these plans’ potential
impacts on our community.
In order to be an effective voice for
each constituency, we have been educat-
ing ourselves about the ULURP process.
Last week, we hosted a forum with lead-
ers from four other Manhattan commu-
nity boards; they shared their insights
and experiences, and what we heard was
sobering.
Community boards are often faced
with two distinct courses of action: We
can just say “no” and oppose a develop-
ment outright, or, we can try to negotiate
with a developer to try to seek conces-
sions that could benefit our district. Both
approaches have their risks and rewards.
It is certainly true that some projects
would be so destructive to the charac-
ter of a neighborhood that they should
never be the subject of any bargaining.
April 21 - 27, 2011 15
Best Value
ruction •
rt Inst
ss Facilities • Expe
World-Cla
Jo Hamilton.
The impact of the proposed West Side
Stadium a few years ago comes to mind.
But unless political support is lined up
early, the community board risks winning
a short-term battle at the community
level, but losing the war. Many of these
projects proceed despite a board’s con-
cerns and objections, and the community
loses its ability to help shape the outcome.
This is what happened with the Trump
Riverside South project a decade ago.
Constructive dialogue with a developer
can be appealing on the surface. The com-
NYC’s Best & Most Flexible
munity gains the opportunity to weigh in
on design, density and bulk and advocate
for amenities, such as parks, schools and
affordable housing. But the downside is
that the immediate neighborhood is bur-
dened with having to absorb changes that
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16 April 21 - 27, 2011

Busy BID agenda: Filling stores to fixing up subway

BUSINESS
BY WILLIAM KELLEY
As the new kid on the block, I want to
introduce myself and let you know about
some of the Village Alliance business
improvement district’s goals for the upcom-
ing year. I feel privileged to succeed Honi
Klein, whose many accomplishments during
the past two decades have literally reshaped
the Central Village for the better.
Since starting as the BID’s new executive
director a few weeks ago, I have spent much
of my time getting to know the hundreds
of business and property owners within
the 44-block Alliance business improvement
district (Eighth St./St. Mark’s Place and the
Sixth Ave., University Place and Broadway
commercial corridors), as well as having the
opportunity to meet with local residents. I
truly appreciate the warm reception, and am
thrilled with the variety of ideas, both big
and small, that this active community pro-
poses with heartfelt commitment to improv-
ing the neighborhood.
In listening to our neighbors, I have been
struck by the similarity of our objectives,
and by how much we have in common. As
citizens of a mixed-use community, we all
want safe, attractive streets, with a healthy
mix of people and a diverse retail base that
meets our needs. We want to be proud of
our neighborhood, and today we are fortu-
nate that the Village is one of the safest and
most beautiful locales in the city. But there
is still much that the Village Alliance can
do to ensure that we maintain and enhance
our area’s unique character and outstanding
quality of life.
First things first: To better serve the
district, one of the immediate goals for the
upcoming year will be to modernize our
office operations and add capacity. High
on the list of priorities will be to upgrade
our ability to monitor our sanitation and
security operations, promote our local busi-
nesses and communicate with our constitu-
ency. We have recently hired a Business and
Community Services Manager to adminis-
ter internal systems and core services, and
to solicit feedback from the business and
residential community. Later this spring we
will also hire a Director of Planning and
Economic Development to manage capi-
tal improvements, revitalization efforts and
business assistance programs.
Once staff and systems are in place, our
major focus will turn to economic develop-
ment efforts in the district. Although the
Central Village commercial core is generally
on solid ground, certain blocks have seen
vacancy and turnover rates rise precipitously
over the past few months. West Eighth St.
in particular will receive attention, and we
are already collecting statistics and survey
data to delineate core issues. Along with
community input, our action plan will incor-

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porate a series of revitalization tools for
businesses, property owners and the public
sector, and will range from streetscape,
sustainability and storefront improvements,
to retail attraction and marketing initiatives.
The W. Eighth St. revitalization action plan
is being undertaken along with our partners
at the Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber
of Commerce and No Longer Empty, which
orchestrates public art exhibitions in vacant
storefront spaces.
The Village Alliance will also engage
the public sector on two major capital
projects in the upcoming year. The first
is the city’s plan to renovate Astor Place
and Cooper Square, where additional plaza
Happy Easter From space, pavement treatments and landscap-
ing will transform the intersections into a
MANATUSS pedestrian-friendly public realm worthy of
a world-class neighborhood. Second, along
Hop Out of Bed & Hop On In with Community Board 2, the Alliance will
advance a detailed scope of work with the
Celebrate With Our M.T.A. for much-needed upgrades to the W.
Traditional Easter Brunch Fourth St. subway station.
After hearing from many of our local
merchants, our final goal for the upcoming
year will be to better connect to the com-
munity and increase promotional activities.
Although building community will take time,
our first steps will be to completely overhaul
our Web site to meet the needs of our local
market — the 100,000 residents, 60,000
students and 25,000 workers who stroll, dine
and shop along our streets. Finding the right
way to reach our target audience through a
creative combination of social media, events,
electronic and print marketing will be essen-
tial to giving our local businesses a boost.
With the closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital
and increasing competition from nearby
retail districts, it is imperative that our local
businesses receive the exposure necessary to
remain competitive and to maintain healthy
retail corridors.
We are both excited and challenged by
the year that lies ahead, and welcome every-
one to give us your thoughts and ideas on
how we can make the neighborhood a bet-
ter place to live, work and visit. Our door
is always open, so feel free to drop by our
storefront office anytime at 8 E. Eighth St.
to say hello. We’ll see you around the neigh-
borhood!
Kelley is executive director, Village
Alliance business improvement district
 April 21 - 27, 2011 17

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18 April 21 - 27, 2011
Clearing the record on Center for Comprehensive Care
HEALTH
BY MICHAEL J. DOWLING
Since North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System
unveiled its plans to return healthcare to Greenwich
Village with our Comprehensive Care Center, some have
made wild claims about what this center will or won’t be
in order to further their own causes or personal agendas.
Below is our effort to set the record straight and explain
in our own words why we feel this facility will provide
exactly what the community needs.
MYTH: It could take hours for a proper diagnosis at
the North Shore-L.I.J. emergency department.
FACT: That’s entirely untrue. The emergency depart-
ment will be staffed 24/7 by board-certified emergency
physicians, as well as 30 specially trained nurses and
other staff experienced in treating a wide range of symp-
toms and conditions. The E.D. will provide community
residents with unlimited access to specialists, leveraging
North Shore-L.I.J.’s vast network of physicians, who
will be able to provide additional clinical resources to
determine the best course of treatment. To ensure that
patients’ conditions are properly evaluated and that safe,
informed judgments are made before they are treated
and discharged, the facility will feature around-the-clock
observation through a clinical decision unit that provides
clinicians the ability to follow patients for an extended
period of time.
MYTH: Free-standing emergency departments can
actually drive up medical costs.
FACT: Actually, the opposite is true. North Shore-
L.I.J. is proposing a freestanding E.D. to offer residents
of the St. Vincent’s catchment area high-quality health-
care while reducing operating costs. Consistent with the
recommendations of the New York State Commission on
Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century (the Berger
Commission), the state is looking for a new hybrid model
of care that would meet community needs in the wake of
a hospital closure. Furthermore, New York State regula-
tions only allow the establishment of free-standing emer-
gency centers when communities have been impacted by
hospital closures.
MYTH: Ambulances won’t take patients to the emer-
gency department.
FACT: That’s an absurd scare tactic that is patently
false. New York City’s 911 system will absolutely send
ambulances to the Comprehensive Care Center and New
York Fire Department leaders have indicated the value
of having another E.D. to which they can direct ambu-
lances and reduce wait times. North Shore-L.I.J. is work-
ing with the New York State Department of Health and
the F.D.N.Y. E.M.S. to develop medical protocols based
on the capabilities of the E.D. that we are planning at
Seventh Ave. and W. 12th St.
While E.M.S. protocols dictate that patients experi-
encing a heart attack, stroke or a serious injury must be
taken to a specialty-appropriate emergency department or
trauma center, North Shore-L.I.J.’s proposed E.D. would
have the ability to care for patients who are brought to
the facility by a family member or friend trying to find
help. Under those circumstances, the patient would be
evaluated, stabilized and then transported to the closest
appropriate facility, utilizing a North Shore-L.I.J. ambu-
lance stationed at the E.D.
MYTH: Emergency medical technicians (E.M.T.’s) and
Michael J. Dowling, center.
paramedics will be forced to make decisions about what
type of treatment patients need before they see a doctor.
FACT: The city has a sophisticated 911 system, with
F.D.N.Y. E.M.T.’s and paramedics who are among the
best-trained emergency professionals in the world. In
addition to their training, most have many years of expe-
rience making rapid, life-and-death decisions regarding
patients in need of emergency care. It’s a disservice to
these professionals to suggest that they won’t know when
their patients require the services of a Level 1 trauma
center. What’s more, the emergency department proposed
by North Shore-L.I.J. would be able to treat more than 90
percent of the conditions seen at the former St. Vincent’s
emergency room.
MYTH: The emergency department is an unregulated
facility where patients without coverage can be turned
away.
FACT: False. The emergency department will be
licensed as a hospital emergency department as a division
of Lenox Hill Hospital, and will meet all the same regu-
latory standards as on-site hospital emergency depart-
ments. Our facility will accept all patients, regardless of
ability to pay, and provide subsidized care for uninsured
and underinsured patients.
MYTH: Patients who require hospitalization will auto-
matically be taken to Lenox Hill Hospital.
FACT: That’s simply not true. The emergency depart-
ment will provide rapid transport to an appropriate facil-
ity or to one of the patient’s choosing. An ambulance
will be stationed at the emergency department to provide
rapid transport of patients to a higher level of care when
required. In addition, North Shore-L.I.J. will develop
transfer relationships with Bellevue for major trauma,
New York Presbyterian and Staten Island University
Hospital for burn patients, and Beth Israel Medical
Center, New York Downtown Hospital and Roosevelt
Hospital for other services.
MYTH: The emergency care that North Shore-L.I.J.
can’t provide is the care that matters most.
FACT: Based on its experience running 14 other
hospital-based emergency departments across the New
York City metropolitan area, North Shore-L.I.J. expects
that its proposed emergency department would be able to
“treat and release” about 94 percent of patients. Again,
while patients in the most dire situations must be taken to
a trauma center or a specialty center, staff at the compre-
hensive care center would be able to evaluate, stabilize
and then transport them to the closest Level 1 trauma
facility or specialty center, utilizing a North Shore-L.I.J.
ambulance stationed at the E.D. Having those critical
resources available in a neighborhood facility will facili-
tate proper movement of patients along the continuum
of care.
MYTH: The emergency department will treat 40 per-
cent fewer patients annually in a community that has
doubled in size.
FACT: Actually, only about 23,200 residents living
in the service area defined by the Community Health
Assessment Steering Committee visited the St. Vincent’s
emergency department in 2009. Of those, 19,410 (about
84 percent) were treated and released. The remaining
3,800 were admitted to the hospital for a variety of
reasons. About half of those patients who were admit-
ted came to the St. Vincent’s E.D. by ambulance, mean-
ing F.D.N.Y. protocols would now result in them being
brought to appropriate area hospitals, such as Beth Israel
and/or Bellevue. North Shore-L.I.J. anticipates that its
proposed E.D. would eventually receive about 30,000
visits annually, which would fill a major gap for local resi-
dents who now have to travel out of their neighborhoods
to access emergency care and other critical healthcare
services.
MYTH: A new hospital can be built for a fraction of
the cost.
FACT: No. Unfortunately, the economic realities of
today’s shrinking healthcare landscape make it difficult,
if not impossible, to open and operate a new full-service
hospital anywhere in New York City. When St. John’s
Hospital in Queens closed two years ago, North Shore-
L.I.J. seriously explored the feasibility of building a new
hospital nearby, but learned that it would need to invest
about $2 million per bed to make the project a reality —
the equivalent of $800 million for a 400-bed hospital.
Since St. Vincent’s announced plans in January 2010
to close, other hospitals and health systems have had
plenty of time to formulate and present a plan to open an
acute-care hospital serving that area. But North Shore-
L.I.J. has been the only provider to step forward with
a concrete plan to resurrect healthcare services to this
community. The reasons are simple: the inability to secure
financing and the absence of a need for more hospital
beds in Lower Manhattan.
North Shore-L.I.J. has put forth an innovative solu-
tion that will address a critical aspect of the healthcare
dilemma facing residents of Lower Manhattan.
In regard to the Coalition for a New Village Hospital’s
claim that St. Vincent’s Coleman Building could serve
as a suitable site for a full-service hospital, the coalition
conveniently ignores the 2009 finding of the New York
City Landmarks Preservation Commission, which con-
cluded that St. Vincent’s Coleman and other buildings
were “outdated,” “physically inadequate” and “in need of
replacement.”
Dowling is president and C.E.O., North Shore-Long
Island Jewish Health System
 PROGRESS REPORT April 21 - 27, 2011 19

An exterior rendering of North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System’s planned free-standing emergency department and comprehensive care center. North Shore-L.I.J.
would gut-rehab and adaptively reuse the existing, six-story, landmarked St. Vincent’s O’Toole Building at 12th St. and Seventh Ave.
20 April 21 - 27, 2011 PROGRESS REPORT

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University surpassing city’s sustainability goals
N.Y.U.
BY CHRISTOPHER JAMES
Sustainability has been a key initiative
at New York University, with widespread
support among students, faculty, staff and
administrators, and our efforts have been
very much in keeping with the sustainability
goals and aspirations of New York City, as
well.
Since 2006, when N.Y.U. established its
Sustainability Task Force and began work
on its Green Action Plan, the university has
made noteworthy strides in reducing carbon
emissions, cutting energy consumption, less-
ening waste, increasing recycling and sup-
porting grassroots sustainability ideas. The
efforts have been widely supported on cam-
pus, and sustainability concerns are increas-
ingly part of the campus culture. Over the
past year there have been some particularly
impressive milestones.
In January, N.Y.U. opened its state-of-
the-art cogeneration facility, the largest in
the city. The result of a 28-month, $125
million project, it reduces air pollutants by
68 percent and permits N.Y.U. to meet its
commitment to Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC
Climate Challenge — a 30 percent reduction
in greenhouse gas emissions — a full six
years ahead of schedule.
In January, N.Y.U.
opened its new cogen
facility, the city’s
largest.
Since 2006, N.Y.U.’s conservation
efforts have led to a 28 percent reduction
in energy use, equivalent to the electrical
requirement of 41,000 average New York
City homes.
N.Y.U. has also moved to single-bin
recycling for paper, metal, glass and other
recyclables. Other waste reduction efforts
include a new, broad-based “technoscrap”
pickup and composting in dining halls and
select student residences.
Under its Green Grants Program, in
the last three years, N.Y.U. has awarded
$300,000 to more than 50 separate student-,
faculty- and administrator-led projects.
In one of these projects, The Green Apple
Move-Out, in order to reduce end-of-year
waste, N.Y.U. has partnered with Goodwill
to provide easy access to bins where students
can donate gently used items. Last year, the
Green Apple Move-Out diverted more than
30 tons of items that otherwise would have
ended up as waste.
In addition, there is NYUnplugged, the
university’s annual energy-saving challenge
in which students compete to cut electric-
ity use in their residence halls. In fall 2010,
NYUnplugged led to a 7.3 percent reduction
April 21 - 27, 2011 21
in electrical usage in student residences, tainability efforts over the past few years the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher
eliminating about 100 metric tons of carbon
emissions.
have earned it widespread recognition and
honors.
Education.
N.Y.U. also received a “green rating”
N.Y.U. has also established the first, N.Y.U. earned a gold rating from the of 96/100 in the Princeton Review’s 2010
free, large-scale bike-sharing program in Sustainability Tracking Assessment Rating Guide to Green Colleges.
New York City. Launched last July, the System (STARS), the most comprehensive, In addition, N.Y.U. was recognized as one
program now has more than 500 registered transparent evaluation metric available to of 20 “Cool Schools” by the Sierra Club.
users who received training on safety and gauge universities’ progress toward sus- And N.Y.U. was ranked No. 1 on the
bike-riding skills. In addition, working with tainability. N.Y.U. is currently among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Top
the city, a number of new bike racks have top five rated U.S. schools, and is the high- 10 College and University List in 2007 and
been installed around N.Y.U.’s Washington est-rated in the Operational Performance 2008.
Square core to meet the growing number of category.
cyclists. N.Y.U. received the Campus Sustainability James is a member of N.Y.U.’s Office of
The extent and success of N.Y.U.’s sus- Leadership Award from the Association for Public Affairs

Take part in
the dialogue on
2011 national & local
issues that
shape our lives.

Thurs., May 5 | 8:30 am – 8 pm Fri., May 6 | 10 am – 4 pm
Weissman School of Arts and Sciences Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute
German-Speaking Jews in The 11th Annual Symposium—
New York City: Their Immigration What We Talk About When We Talk
and Lasting Presence About Communication
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Thurs., May 5 | 8 am – 5:15 pm Wed., May 25 | 8 am – 6 pm
Zicklin School of Business School of Public Affairs
The 10th Annual New York City Immigration
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22 April 21 - 27, 2011

Forging a strong coalition to block N.Y.U. sprawl

COMMUNITY
TERRI CUDE AND MARTIN TESSLER
For the Community Action Alliance
on N.Y.U. 2031 (CAAN or Community
Alliance), progress has come in the form of
uniting more than 30 community groups —
representing more than 10,000 families —
against a proposed, overwhelming incursion
into an already densely developed residential
area.
CAAN includes representatives from
individual buildings, community groups,
block associations, a historic preservation
society, an umbrella group of additional
block associations and multiple political
clubs. These groups have chosen to form
an alliance against the effects that New
York University doubling its rate of spatial
growth and adding 3 million square feet in
what N.Y.U. terms “their” neighborhood
will have on residents, merchants and visi-
tors throughout Greenwich Village and sur-
rounding area. The alliance maintains a Web
site at CAAN2031.org and a CAAN 2031
Facebook page.
More than 2 million square feet of
N.Y.U.’s proposed development is slated for
an area known as the “superblocks,” and
another million in yet-to-be determined loca-
tions somewhere in the Village. Clearly, years
of construction disruptions, new buildings in
an area already at or above allowable density,
loss of sunlight, air, trees and amenities, and
Kids enjoying blowing bubbles on the Mercer Playground’s climbing rocks. Created by the community group LMNOP, the play-
an influx of thousands of students, faculty,
ground is one of the spaces on the superblocks that community members help maintain.
support staff and more in this concentrated
area will irrevocably destroy the quality of N.Y.U.’s agreement to refrain from add- Playground, LaGuardia Park and Mercer- not undergo a zoning change.
life and the character of the area. ing new structures until 40 years after the Houston Dog Run. Appropriate zoning and sites for what
CAAN members note that N.Y.U. already last urban renewal element was completed Also, the privately owned, publicly acces- N.Y.U. seeks to build are available within
has turned too much of Greenwich Village (Coles Sports Center in 1981) must be sible open space — between the Washington walking distance or a quick two-stop sub-
into the university’s campus rather than the adhered to. Square Village buildings and between the way trip away. N.Y.U. is desired and vitally
historic neighborhood it should remain, and There are clear reasons for these three proposed “Space Mountain/boomerang” needed in these nearby locations, such as the
that better alternatives for N.Y.U. expan- positions. buildings — that N.Y.U. claims it will “give” Financial District, which has already invited
sion, such as the Financial District, must be First, N.Y.U. has an abysmal record of to the community is already privately owned, the university to build Downtown.
pursued instead. maintaining public open space. For an exam- publicly accessible open space, including Other concerns include the uses of the
Rather than stand against any N.Y.U. ple, visit the sunken and locked children’s what N.Y.U.’s own Web site calls “the proposed new structures. In just two super-
growth, CAAN has taken some specific posi- playground and dangerously broken reflect- exceedingly popular playground and garden blocks within a residential neighborhood,
tions: that the city-owned open parkland ing garden on Mercer St. between Houston area located in the interior courtyard.” N.Y.U. is proposing to add: a hotel, two
strips on the superblocks must be retained and Bleecker Sts. Conversely, the commu- Street-side, city-owned, open space is dormitories with a combined total of more
as street-side, public-owned open space; that nity has an excellent record of maintaining more accessible and desirable than privately than 1,200 student beds, conference space,
rezoning the area to allow greater density is public open space and amenities, such as owned, open space that is situated between faculty residences, new retail stores and
unacceptable and inappropriate; and that the LaGuardia Community Garden, Mercer and shadowed and hidden by existing and a replacement supermarket, departmental
new buildings. and faculty offices, a gymnasium and space
In addition, “tower-in-the-park” design for the public school that the university
provided for higher buildings in return for has been promising the area since at least

p y FAST, FREE
DELIVERY
more open space; building on that open 1960.

a p er (minimum $6.00) space defeats the intent of Le Corbusier’s The Community Action Alliance on

H ast Moped and car available. paradigm and I.M. Pei’s landmarked com- N.Y.U. 2031 stands united in the hope that
plex. our elected and appointed officials recognize
• Cocktails, Eat-in
E or Take-out.
And increasing the zoning to a higher
level as a response to already being at or
that Greenwich Village is already oversatu-
rated with N.Y.U. buildings, and that adding
s e 3 • Private parties & over allowable density defeats the intent of yet more campus elements threatens this
e 7
h in 19 catering available. the zoning code. world-famous area’s historic character. We
C ce • Corporate The zoning being requested in N.Y.U.’s appreciate that N.Y.U. seeks to increase its
e st sin accounts welcome 2031 Plan for the superblocks is geared for facilities and note that sites where N.Y.U.
i n
f in e 163 Bleecker St. (in the Village)
Midtown development and not designed for is welcome and needed are available very
a residential Village. close by in the Financial District, which
is tel: 777-1395/1439/3571
cu fax: 505-5125
The area east of Washington Square
Park does not need additional retail since
strongly supports N.Y.U.’s growth there, as
does CAAN.
Sun: noon to midnight, there are dozens of empty stores throughout
Mon. – Thurs. 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 a.m. the area, with a major retail thoroughfare Cude and Tessler are co-chairpersons,
Fri. – Sat 11:30 a.m. – 2:00 a.m. already on Broadway. This area should also Community Action Alliance on N.Y.U. 2031
 April 21 - 27, 2011 23

Mixing intellectual curiosity and civic engagement

THE NEW SCHOOL
BY DAVID E. VAN ZANDT
One of the greatest perks of being president of The New
School is witnessing its proud progressive legacy evolve
and adapt to new challenges. Because The New School has
played a prominent role in this neighborhood’s intellectual,
social and political history, getting to know its past is critical
to understanding its potential for the future.
A favorite illustration of this history comes from “Kafka
Was the Rage,” Anatole Broyard’s posthumous memoir
about Greenwich Village in the postwar years. For Broyard,
the kinetic energy and creativity of the Village found its
greatest expression near the elevators of our flagship build-
ing, 66 W. 12th St.:
“The people in the lobby of The New School were
excited, expectant, dressed to the teeth. They struck poses,
examined one another with approval. They had a blind date
with culture, and anything could happen. Young, attractive,
hip, they were the best Americans.”
While both the Village and the university have changed
considerably since 1946, that “blind date with culture” goes
on. Today, the majority of our students are full-time and
enrolled in degree programs. Yet we open our doors to adults
eager to engage with whatever is coming next, whether in
design, the social sciences and humanities, management and
administration, or the performing arts. Photo by Matthew Sussman/The New School
The New School remains committed to the vision of its
David E. Van Zandt became The New School’s president in January.
founders, who sought to bring socially relevant, intellectu-
ally challenging thinking to the community. In this spirit, double the space available for public programming. spaces to inform and optimize future designs.
we welcome our neighbors to hundreds of public programs Our founders’ vision of civic engagement continues as our The Parsons Pre-College Scholars Program supports
each year, virtually all of them free. Recent guests have students and faculty apply their passion to improve our city. New York City public school students’ participation in our
included Ira Glass of NPR’s “This American Life,” Academy Nevin Cohen, chairperson of our Environmental Studies on-campus, comprehensive college preparation program,
Award-winning actress Frances McDormand, and novel- program, is the lead researcher on the Five Borough Farm teaching them what they need to get into top art and design
ists Jonathan Franzen and Jhumpa Lahiri — all speaking to project, a massive study of regional agriculture that will ulti- schools — like Parsons The New School for Design — and
capacity neighborhood crowds in the last month. More than mately improve local producers’ capacity to grow food right opening their eyes to careers in the creative arts. The pro-
90 years after it was founded, The New School continues to here in New York City. gram culminates with an art and design project that benefits
offer something no other school does: an embodiment of the Driven by a team of professors and students, our Center the community, such as an ad campaign for a youth antigun
creative energy of the neighborhood — thoughtful, vibrant for New York City Affairs is one of New York’s leading voic- hotline or murals for the pediatric floor of a local hospital.
and focused on positive change. es for urban policy research. The Center produces an array of And even though our Pre-College Scholars come from some
If you stroll down our stretch of Fifth Avenue, you may free resources for all New Yorkers, including InsideSchools. of the most disadvantaged parts of the city, 94 percent of the
notice the university is growing. Enrollment has increased org, the leading public schools blog and database; Feet in program’s graduates go on to college each year.
46 percent during the last decade. We have added degree Two Worlds, an ethnic and immigrant media project; and Even as a relative newcomer, I know that The New
programs at the undergraduate and graduate level, includ- Child Welfare Watch, a quarterly publication featuring in- School is like no other institution in the world. This is a
ing a master’s in Environmental Policy and Sustainability depth investigative reporting, news and analysis on children place to celebrate academic freedom, limited only by the
Management, whose first class matriculates in September. and family services in New York and beyond. boundaries of human curiosity and our capacity to improve
At a place that has been bursting at the seams for years, Through the newly launched urban design program at on the world we inherited. For nearly a century, The New
the University Center, a LEED Gold-certified building, will Parsons, students are working with residents of the Lower School and Greenwich Village have stood together as havens
become a Fifth Avenue anchor for our campus. Opening in East Side to understand how they use their park space, and for open discourse and artistic expression. Here’s to another
the fall of 2013, the University Center, between 13th and how good design can improve it. Gathered through count- century of progress.
14th Sts., will feature classrooms, a library, a student resi- less conversations with local residents, the students’ findings
dence and a state-of-the-art auditorium that will effectively will be presented to the agencies in charge of these public Van Zandt is president, The New School

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Boards talk about big projects
BY ALBERT AMATEAU
With two mega-projects in the offing
— New York University’s superblocks and
Rudin’s St. Vincent’s Hospital redevelop-
ment — Village-area residents came to a
Community Board 2 forum last week to
learn how other Manhattan community
boards handled major projects Uptown.
Board members from Chelsea/Clinton,
the Upper West Side, West Harlem and
Central Harlem offered the April 13 forum
advice about how they dealt with develop-
ers, city officials and their own constitu-
ents.
Those voices of experience counseled
that just saying “No” was not a good policy
because it could prevent the community
from getting the best of a bad situation.
“Community boards tend to be all or
nothing,” said Mel Wymore, chairperson
of Community Board 7, which covers the
Upper West Side from 59th to 110th Sts.
“That’s a mistake because then you’ll have
less of a say when the project is approved
anyway,” he said.
Community Board 7 has recently been
through a uniform land use review proce-
dure (ULURP) for Extell’s Riverside South
project, a proposed residential/commer-
cial redevelopment on the Hudson River
between 65th and 59th Sts.
“Take the time to find meaningful alter-
natives and have a real say on the project,”
Wymore added. “If you must say ‘No’ break
it down into its constituent parts so you
know what you’re dealing with. And create
your own terms when you draft your core
statement about the project.”
Ethel Sheffer, a longtime C.B. 7 member,
recalled that because of her service on the
board she studied planning and became a
professional planner.
“You have to become citizen experts,
and you have to get professional technical
help, especially with huge projects,” said
Sheffer.
Developers have the great advantage,
especially if they are the ones who initiate
the review.
“Extell never came in with less than 12
lawyers or architects,” Sheffer recalled.
“We didn’t always write everything down,
especially during the last negotiating ses-
sions when we were tired, so we made some
mistakes,” she added.
Pat Jones of Community Board 9,
which covers Morningside Heights and
West Harlem, recalled the 2007 rezon-
ing from 125th to 135th Sts. between
Broadway and the Hudson River in the
Special Manhattanville Mixed-Use District
to accommodate Columbia University’s
expansion plan.
Board 9’s community-based 197a land-
use plan for 35 blocks of its district had
been submitted to the Department of City
Planning for years before Columbia filed its
own 197c rezoning plan for the 17-block
Special Manhattanville District in 2005,
Jones recalled.
“Amanda Burden [City Planning com-
missioner] told us to get together with
Columbia to resolve our differences,” Jones
April 21 - 27, 2011 25
Shop The
said. “We had eight pages of differences and
they were essentially the same a year later.”
Except for minor modifications and com-
East Village
munity benefits, which City Planning rec-
ommended, the Columbia plan was passed.
“We were not opposed to Columbia’s
expansion per se, but Columbia was arro-
gant about our concern about the potential
displacement of residents and businesses,”
said Jones.
Stanley Gleaton, chairperson of
Community Board 10, which covers
Central Harlem, recalled the rezoning
of the neighborhood between 110th and
155th Sts. from St. Nicholas Ave. to Fifth
Ave.
“One of our main issues was that we
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Board 10, however, failed to get a prefer-
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Jo Hamilton, chairperson of C.B. 2,
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26 April 21 - 27, 2011
EDITORIAL
9/11 Memorial impact
We are only a few months away from the 10th anni-
versary of the terrorist attacks that changed how we
live and how we look at the world. At the granular level
of our neighborhood, we now have to closely examine
and forecast how we will deal with new dynamics, such
as traffic, tour bus parking and, in general, coping with
the influx of tourists and residents alike that will be
flocking to the W.T.C. site in the coming months and
the coming years.
We applaud the city’s Department of Transportation
for finally including community members in its work-
ing group that had been meeting monthly, and now
— thanks to the pressure applied by our community
representatives — meeting weekly to consider all of the
above and how our neighborhood will be affected.
We commend the Community Board 1 W.T.C.
Redevelopment Committee for unanimously passing a
resolution to promote mass transit. Our transit system
is more than capable of accommodating the visitors
expected to pour into Lower Manhattan. This solution
needs to be heavily promoted throughout the hospi-
tality industry, particularly in this early phase when
the Vehicle Security Center is not operative. Within
the mass transit system, planning needs to get a step
on all of the issues dealing with moving more people
Downtown from the various transportation hubs.
We also commend Community Board 3’s
Transportation Committee for passing a resolution
supporting a metered parking scenario, advanced by
D.O.T., that could play a major role in policing the
tour buses and identifying appropriate parking areas
for them. We would like to see what areas are proposed
for these metered spaces and how many buses they
can handle. The Police Department has said it plans to
enforce the metered parking, but we wonder to what
extent that is truly possible. Anyone can park in front
of a metered parking space, turn on his or her hazard
lights and when a police officer approaches, simply
move on to another space or street without incurring a
fine. These compliance problems need to be resolved.
Of utmost importance in terms of making sure
things go smoothly in the face of the inevitable influx
of people and buses is the need for the public and pri-
vate sectors to work together. D.O.T., the M.T.A. and
other agencies should be coordinating with cultural
institutions and with the tourism industry to create
maps to assist those who will be traveling from all over
the world to come see this memorial that has been 10
years in the making. Social media should be utilized,
advertisements should play a role, and the tourism
and hospitality industries need to become part of the
dialogue and solutions.
These issues will affect all of us living and working
Downtown, and the millions who visit. The countdown
is getting louder.
SOUND OFF!
Write a letter
to The Editor
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
School has not shrunk
To The Editor:
Re “School doings” (Scoopy’s Notebook, April 14):
As one important part of its rezoning plan for Hudson
Square, Trinity has proposed to build, at its cost, a K-to-5
public school containing 420 seats in a new development at
Duarte Square. In response to a question from a reporter for
The Villager, I erroneously estimated that the physical size of
the school would be approximately 100,000 square feet. The
fact is, I had not concentrated on the exact physical size of
the space because we were always focused on how many
students we could serve — which has consistently been 420
kids, enough to accommodate all the grade-school age chil-
dren generated by the proposed rezoning and then some.
The capacity of the Duarte Square school has not shrunk.
The physical size of the school has not shrunk. The only
thing that has shrunk was my own original faulty estimate
of the physical size.
Carl Weisbrod
N.Y.U. must be stopped
To The Editor:
Re “And what happens in 20 years, after ‘N.Y.U. 2031’?”
(talking point, by Andrew Berman, April 7):
I find Andrew Berman’s argument against New York
University’s imperial 2031 plan to “eat away at the Village and
take over more and more of it, each year” utterly persuasive.
N.Y.U. has other plausible options — namely, to expand in
areas that welcome it, and where its growth would be less
destructive of the fabric of neighborhood life. And no matter
how much vast new ugliness it adds now (if it gets its way), this
university’s ravenous appetite for more of the Village will never
be satisfied. N.Y.U. must be stopped, or it will devour us all.
Stephen Gross
Being choked by violet
To The Editor:
Re “And what happens in 20 years, after ‘N.Y.U. 2031’?”
(talking point, by Andrew Berman, April 7):
The area south of Washington Square Park is being
choked by N.Y.U. We all wish the university well, but its
IRA BLUTREICH
It’s a miracle — politicians are trying to shrink the pork!
building program overwhelms the neighborhood. It isn’t only
the proposed buildings, which are very large, but the taking
of open, public space, as well as the increased density and
traffic. This will further burden those who live in the area.
N.Y.U. needs to grow sensibly and in areas that can
absorb it.
Janice Pargh
Lucy would have loved it
To The Editor:
Re “Lucy Cecere, 87, senior advocate, heart of the
Village” (obituary, March 24):
I want to thank you very much for the March 24 article
that you wrote about my mother, Lucy Cecere. It was a very
touching depiction of her life and her contributions to the
community that she served. I knew she would have liked the
article very much. Thanks for this keepsake, along with the
many other articles you wrote about her over the years.
My mother was a big fan of your paper, and I am, too.
Francine Cecere
More police are needed
To The Editor:
Re “Housing Authority is promising to improve security;
But residents say cameras and more needed A.S.A.P.” (news
article, April 14):
I think cameras are good but the question is who will be
watching them? Also will there be any response if an act
of crime is to occur? Rather than go to the tape, we need
more police in the area, since crime has been going up in the
Lower East Side, to protect our children and parents.
Eric Nagy
Nagy is a member, Fathers 4 Justice
E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to
news@thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to The
Villager, Letters to the Editor, 145 Sixth Ave., ground floor,
NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirma-
tion purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters
for space, grammar, clarity and libel. The Villager does not
publish anonymous letters.
 April 21 - 27, 2011 27

We’re facing an even bigger problem than fracking

TALKING POINT
BY JENNIFER DAVIS
Re “Keep attacking fracking” (letter, by Catherine Feliz,
March 17):
I agree wholeheartedly that the process of hydraulic fractur-
ing (“fracking”) to release natural gas is toxic and should be
halted immediately. However, the Meatpacking District and our
beloved West Village face a much more ominous and direct
threat from the gas companies.
Spectra Energy, operating through its subsidiaries as Texas
Eastern Transmission, LP and Algonquin Gas Transmission,
LLC, is currently pushing for approval of a proposed 30-to-42-
inch, high-pressure gas pipeline, which will run through the
cities of Linden, Bayonne and Jersey City in New Jersey and
Staten Island, and enter Manhattan at Gansevoort St. and the
West Side Highway. This is steps away from the High Line, The
Standard, Chelsea Market, the Chelsea Piers and a host of other
tourist destinations, not to mention the heavily trafficked West
Side Highway.

This gas pipeline would be similar

to the one in the deadly San Bruno
explosion that killed eight people
last year.
As a resident of the West Village, I am extremely concerned
by the lack of knowledge of most of my neighbors about this
proposed pipeline. You can find more information at http://bit.
ly/gQxczz or “Sane Energy Project” on Facebook.
This proposed pipeline would be the same size and have
the same pressure rating as the pipeline that was responsible
for the deadline Pacific Gas & Electric explosion in San Bruno,
California, on Sept. 9, 2010. The San Bruno pipeline was run-
ning at partial pressure when it exploded, killing eight, injuring
more than 20, and igniting a blaze that destroyed 38 homes and
damaged 120 more. The suburban neighborhood of San Bruno
is much less densely populated than New York City, and a similar
explosion here would have far more devastating results.
Besides the very real risk of explosion, gas pipelines leak
toxins and are targets for terrorism. Compressors and metering
stations for the pipeline release poisons into the atmosphere. The
danger from leaks and explosions is now amplified for residents
and visitors, since there is no longer an emergency hospital facil-
ity on the Lower West Side of Manhattan.
Additionally, the need for natural gas in Manhattan is being
overstated, and conservation methods underutilized. The city
is in the midst of converting boilers, buses and power plants to
natural gas, at the same time that it is recognizing how dangerous
A map, provided by the writer, with the blast radius of the proposed gas pipeline at both partial and full pressure.
gas drilling is for the air and for New York City’s water supply.
The West Village and the Meatpacking District are treasures
of this city. People come from all parts of the world to enjoy our
peaceful historic streets, active nightlife and beautifully preserved
architecture. This neighborhood was saved from the wrecking
ball once. Should it now be threatened for corporate interest?
Folk issue was blowin’ in the wind
FLASHBACK
Fifty years ago, the April 20, 1961, issue of The Villager
reported on the outcry against a ban on folk singing in Washington
Square Park. The Washington Square Association said many of
its members were supporting Parks Commissioner Morris in his
efforts “to keep Washington Square Park an area of pleasant relax-
ation and recreation for the residents of the neighborhood.”
Meanwhile, the pro-folk-singer “Right to Sing” commit-
tee had boycotted the park the previous Sunday, and also
held a protest rally at Judson Memorial Church. They filed
a petition in State Supreme Court asking the commissioner
show cause for his ban on the singers. Ten people had been
arrested “during the original disturbance in the park a week
ago” and were scheduled to be heard in “Arrest Court.”
The 10-year-old Local Planning Board No. 2 (the precur-
Instead of complicity in endangering its citizens and destroy-
ing the environment, New York City should take its place as a
true world leader, stepping away from fossil fuel and toward a
future of renewable energy. The technology is out there. It’s a
shame our leaders don’t have the vision to see it or the courage to
embrace it. It is up to all of us to help them open their eyes.
sor to Community Board 2) would devote its April 20 meet-
ing at the Hudson Park Branch Library “to a hearing of both
sides of the case, after which the board will probably decide
on a stand one way or the other.”
Greenwich Village Post No. 18 of the American Legion adopt-
ed a resolution supporting the Police and Parks departments “in
their endeavors to clean up Washington Square Park.”
Save the Village wrote Morris saying that “diversified
recreational activities in the park” are the best and that,
therefore, folk music “should not be absolutely prohibited.”
Also supporting the singers were Americans for Democratic
Action, Greenwich Village chapter, which urged the com-
missioner “to reconsider his decision.” The Parent Teachers
Association of P.S. 41, wrote in a letter, “The key to our park is
people. The folk singers are young and peaceable.”
Lincoln Anderson

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limited to publication of the advertisement in any subsequent
issue. Vera Musa Colin Gregory Clayton Patterson Jerry Tallmer
28 April 21 - 27, 2011
From NO!art to now Ai Weiwei, the struggle goes on
CLAYTON’S PAGE
BY CLAYTON PATTERSON
EDITED BY MONICA USZEROWICZ
In dealing with the problem of the so-called Boris
Lurie Art Foundation — which, through the use of trick-
ery and the misuse of trademark laws, is attempting to
steal the NO!art movement’s name and distort its history
against the wishes of one of its original owners, Boris
Lurie — the typical solution would be to address the
matter in court.
I am somewhat familiar with the courts because, since
1988, I have been involved in numerous court cases.
Over the years, I have sometimes defended myself in
court, and also been defended by many well-known radi-
cal lawyers — Lynne Stewart, Alton Maddox, William
Kunstler, Ron Kuby, Stanley Cohen, David Rankin —
and had the good fortune to get represented by a couple
of brilliant Legal Aid lawyers, including Sarah Jones,
granddaughter of a U.S. president.
Another group critical to my defense were photogra-
phers sympathetic to the anti-gentrification struggle. I
have had the privilege of having my arrests and public
statements documented by some of the best photogra-
phers and video-makers connected to the anti-corporate
and big money takeover in New York City: John Penley,
Q. Sakamaki, Elsa Rensaa and Ai Weiwei.
In the NO!art attack I was not yet ready for a lawyer.
But a unique, intelligent tactic was presented to me in
the form of a letter from the German NO!artists Detlev
Hjuler and Mama Baer. They had already consulted a
lawyer and developed a letter defending the history of
the use of the NO!art name.
The Boris Lurie Art Foundation is made up of four
partners with plenty of money and access to power. None
is an artist or has any standing with or connection to the
NO!art movement. Their only motivation is to carpetbag
Boris Lurie’s $80 million estate.
I reached out to Alan Kaufman in San Francisco, who
has a substantial list of literary work he’s published,
including one of my articles in a book. Then there was
Alan Moore, with whom I’ve worked on a few publishing
projects. (I recently gave him some support material for
the defense of a squat in Hamburg.) Another person I
contacted was Leonid Penchevsky, a former leader of the
radical Russian/American art movement with the ironic,
tongue-in-cheek name Art Party Pravda.
I contacted Ami Goldman in Tel Aviv, a filmmaker I
introduced to the books of Boris, which then inspired
him to make the movie “NO!art Man.” PEN, of which
I am a member, the international writers’ organization
formed to defend free expression, was on my e-mail list.
Photo by Clayton Patterson
Ai Weiwei circa late 1980’s.
Then I included Ai Weiwei in Beijing, China.
From a conservative point of view, this e-mail group
could be seen as a radical list of warriors for a better
democratic society. But it is my last connection that has
caused me some serious consternation: Ai Weiwei.
Recently, I reconnected with Ai Weiwei. I knew Ai
Weiwei from the Lower East Side anti-gentrification
struggles in the late 1980’s and early ’90’s. He was living
on the L.E.S. and photographed the ’88 police riot, as
well as the homeless crises. Soon after, he moved back
to China. In 2011 he was having a one-man show at the
Victoria Albert Museum in London and I had been asked
to contribute some of my anti-gentrification videos.
Since I had dropped out of the mainstream art world in
the early 1980’s, I had no idea that he had become such
an internationally recognized artist. Weiwei, a philoso-
pher, artist and architect, collaborated on such projects
as the Bird’s Nest stadium for the Beijing Olympics.
He wanted me to send him a copy of the movie
“Captured.” “Captured” was directed by Ben Solomon
Economy Best Vision and Hearing INC.
EYES EXAMINED
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and Dan Levin and edited by Jenner Furst and produced
by Blowback Productions. It’s a movie about the building
of the Clayton archive that Elsa and I created. So far, the
movie has been subtitled in French and German, and I
was now hoping for the Chinese version. Weiwei said he
could add Chinese subtitles.
What worries me is that the movie, if watched by
a member of a far-right-wing government, could be
misunderstood as anti-authoritarian. There are parts of
my being arrested, detained and fighting court battles,
segments of obvious police misconduct, homeless crises
and the exposure of New York City underground creative
activities. There is even a photo by Weiwei published
in The New York Times. The photo was of me in court
holding up my hands with “DUMP KOCH,” our mayor
at the time, written on the palms of my hands in heavy
black felt maker.
What scares me is that, not long after I included
Weiwei in Beijing on my e-mail tree, my connection to
him became more sporadic.
Then on my way to Vienna to work at the Wildstyle
and Tattoo Messe, to screen “Captured” and to show
photographs, as I was wandering the Hudson News book-
store, screaming off the first page of the Financial Times
was a photo of Weiwei. He had been on his way to Hong
Kong. At the Beijing airport he was detained, arrested,
then disappeared. The Chinese authorities confiscated
all of his computers, digital archives and other ephemera
related to his work. Obviously, it was not “Captured”
that caused his arrest, but its inclusion with other works
challenging the Communist one-party system, and my
including him in group e-mails with all the people on my
list — these would not have helped him.
My fear is “Captured” and the e-mails questioning
the theft of the NO!art name by eminent members of
democratic society could seem quite revolutionary to
the close-minded, anti-democratic, anti-free speech,
anti-individual thinking in the Chinese government.
Challenges of the privileged social elite may be viewed
as a threat to their system.
A part of “Captured” touches on one of my more
public arrests, a hunger strike, and the massive amount
of coverage this led to in the news. I was able to win
my freedom, as well as to maintain the rights to my
creative property. My 3-hour-33-minute videotape came
to be known as the “Tompkins Square Park Police Riot
Tape.”
I am asking people to follow Weiwei’s imprison-
ment and to write letters to the Chinese Consulate on
his behalf. And I am hoping to get some wider support
for our struggle against the attempted theft of the intel-
lectual property and copy-written material connected to
NO!art.
$10 off
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EYE GLASSES
HEARING AIDS
 April 21 - 27, 2011 29

EASTVILLAGERARTS&ENTERTAINMENT
Early reviews, final verdicts: Troll, trip, twink
Two out of three ain’t bad
TROLLHUNTER
Written & Directed by André Ovredal.
103 minutes.
In Norwegian, with English subtitles.

Tues., Apr. 26, 11:30pm at AMC Loews

Village 7 (66 Third Ave. at 11th St.).
Thurs., Apr. 28, 9pm & Sat., Apr. 30,
11:59pm at Clearview Cinemas Chelsea
(260 W. 23rd St., btw. 7th & 8th Aves).
For tickets ($16 evenings/weekends;
$8 matinees), purchase at the Box Office
or call 646-502-5296 or visit www.tribe-
cafilm.com.

REVIEW BY BONNIE ROSENSTOCK

The final credits of “Trollhunter”
announce, “No trolls were harmed during
the making of this movie.” By the end of
this fanciful mockumentary, I was ready
to believe in their existence. Norwegians,
with troll folklore part of their DNA,
were in on the joke from the beginning.
For those on this side of the pond, whose
only experience with the critters involves
the garden-variety lawn statues and elec-
tric socket-haired big-eyed rubber baby
gnomes (both scary in their own right),
the movie is fun as adventure — with a
bit of stalking and slaying combined with
lovely landscape.
The story begins with reports of strange
goings on in the mountains and forests of
Norway. A trio of local students from
Volda College decide to investigate for
their school project. With serious doubts
that a bear did the damage (as the Wildlife
Board claims), they doggedly pursue a
poacher named Hans. In their first foray
into the woods, they find a massive, lum-
bering three-headed “Tosserlad” — which
Hans turns into stone with the flash of
a bright light. Other troll facts: They
explode in sunlight due to their lack of
Vitamin D and have the ability to smell
the blood of practicing Christians.
From then on, it’s Road Trip of Trolling
for Trolls (many kinds) — with Hans,
now revealed as the head of Norway’s TSS
(Troll Security Service), and the three
eager students recording the entire gory
venture. Hans, who has an impressive scar
running down his left cheek, is a Norwegian
in the finest Western cowboy anti-hero tra-
dition. He is an outsider and loner — a man
of few words and swift action who plays
country and western music in his RV. He is
burnt out and fed up with all the duplicity
and bureaucracy (filling out an extensive
“Slayed Troll Form,” for example), which
is why he is ready to tell all.
While the opening scene is shaky, à la
“The Blair Witch Project,” the movie quick-
ly transforms into smooth, professional
Three students earn college credit the hard (and deadly) way, in “Trollhunter.”
handheld camerawork, as seen through
the lens of the ill-fated Kalle (remember
that Christian thing?). With this engag-
ing tongue-in-cheek tale, Ovredal, one
of Norway’s most successful directors of
commercials, is making his feature film
debut. He wisely cast three well-known
Norwegian comedians — Jespersen, Hans
Morten Hansen (as Finn, the govern-
ment’s director of the TSS) and Robert
Stoltenberg (as a doltish Polish thief who
delivers Russian bears to the crime scenes)
— and three relative newcomers, who all
expertly improvise the entire film with
deadpan seriousness and droll (troll?)
humor. The gigantic, repulsive trolls, play-
ing themselves, were convincingly con-
structed digitally.
As the trollhunter says, “Fairy tales
don’t always match reality.” Oh, my.
THE TRIP
Directed by Michael Winterbottom.
100 minutes.
Not rated.
Screening: Thurs., April 21, 6pm at
Clearview Cinemas Chelsea. Sat., April
23, 12pm, at AMC Loews Village-7. Tues.,
April 26, 6pm and Sat., April 30, 1:30pm
at Clearview Cinemas Chelsea.
For tickets ($16 evenings/weekends;
$8 matinees), purchase at the Box Office
or call 646-502-5296 or visit www.tribe-
cafilm.com.
REVIEW BY RANIA RICHARDSON
Michael Winterbottom’s uproarious
British highbrow comedy “The Trip” follows
comics Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon on
a culinary tour of northern England. Elite
dining and literary references inform the
humor in the six-episode British television
series that has been edited into a feature
film. The two men play semi-fictionalized
versions of themselves in a continuation
of their performances in Winterbottom’s
“Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story”
(2005) — where they joked, bickered and
jockeyed for superiority.
In “The Trip,” Coogan plays a pomp-
ous movie actor who accepts a newspaper
assignment to review a few fancy restau-
rants that serve (sometimes bizarre) cut-
ting-edge cuisine. His hope is to impress
Photo courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival
his American girlfriend with a paid vaca-
tion dining in the beautiful English coun-
tryside. When she dumps him, he recruits
his friend, Rob Brydon (a happily mar-
ried television personality), to journey
from one Bed and Breakfast to the next,
critiquing the gourmet eateries along the
way. The two embark on a midlife male
bonding road trip, like “Sideways” on
English Lit. They eat, drink, discuss mov-
ies, music, Lord Byron and his ilk — but
their mission is to outdo each other with
over-the-top impressions of Michael Caine,
Woody Allen, Michael Sheen and many
others. Along the way, each man defends
his lifestyle — Coogan as a self-involved
womanizer with lofty career aspirations,
and Brydon as a warm-hearted and stable
family man.
I have to admit that because I’m not
familiar with Coogan and Brydon’s televi-
sion work, and because “The Trip” is an
English production, I probably missed
some of the country-specific humor and
references. But it didn’t matter. I was
doubled over laughing the entire time.
Continued on page 30
30 April 21 - 27, 2011
Troll, trip, twink
Continued from page 29
MY LAST ROUND
87 minutes.
Screenwriter and Director: Julio Jorquera.
In Spanish, with English subtitles.
Sun., Apr. 24, 5:30pm & Tues., Apr. 26,
10:30pm, at Clearview Cinemas Chelsea
(260 W. 23rd St., btw. 7th & 8th Aves). Fri.,
Apr. 29, 6pm, at AMC Loews Village 7 (66
Third Ave. at 11th St.).
For tickets ($16 evenings/weekends; $8
matinees), purchase at the Box Office or call
646-502-5296 or visit www.tribecafilm.com.
REVIEW BY SCOTT STIFFLER
As even the most casual observer will tell
you, there’s nothing remotely sexy, or sexual,
or homosexy, about boxing. Two muscular,
sweaty brutes wailing on each other while
a man in a white shirt and a bow tie peri-
odically separates them when the holding
becomes too prolonged and intense? No, sir,
admirers of the male form will find nothing
to lick their lips over within the state-sanc-
tioned confines of a boxing ring.
Too much polite restraint regarding the
sexy gay elephant in the room is what makes
the competent but tepid queer boxing flick
“My Last Round” such a letdown. It’s like
the shock and hurt you experience when
you’ve shelled out half your paycheck for
dining, dancing, popcorn and a movie only
to be rebuffed by a complete and total lack
of delivery on certain implied promises. It’s
not fair.
Although there’s some skin on display,
very few are likely to get all hot — but many
will be bothered — by the sheer magnitude
of lost potential and roads not taken (nar-
ratively speaking). What should have been a
queer “Rocky” worth cheering for turns out
to be a polite stab at merging the classic nar-
rative of a boxer in search of one last victory
with an equally classic tale of forbidden love
that triumphs over adversity.
So move over, Ang “Brokeback Mountain”
Lee. There’s a new director whose melodra-
matic tale of doomed gay romance and
homophobic violence and peace achieved
only on the other side of the grave is set
American Watercolor Society
exhibition
144th Annual International Exhibition
47 Fifth Ave at 12th St. New York, NY 10003
Daily 1–5pm, Tuesday 1–8pm, Monday closed
www.americanwatercolorsociety.org
to take America by storm — or at the very
least, persistent rainfall.
Steeped in decay and seemingly cursed by
an endless stretch of overcast days and stormy
nights, director Julio Jorquera’s Chile is an
ugly/beautiful world where everything from
the sputtering cars to the peeling wallpaper to
the scuffed-up mirrors are on their last legs.
Add to that list two very damaged people.
Middle-aged Octavio is a closeted boxing
champ who has the admiration of those in
his small town. Young, sad-eyed and recently
unemployed dishwasher Hugo throws some
subtle flirtations Octavio’s way — but when the
pudgy pugilist acts on them while the two take
a wizz during a rainswept camping trip, Hugo
rebuffs the advances he seemingly invited.
Eventually, the two get together and take
the bus to the capital city of Santiago — with
Octavio working as a barber and (literally)
directionless Hugo finding employment driv-
ing the delivery truck for a pet shop. It’s not
long before Octavio succumbs to the siren
call of the boxing ring once more. Also hap-
pening in short order is Hugo’s naïve flirta-
tions with a clueless girl at work who thinks
Photo courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival the clumsy kiss he pulled back from on
Two Brits go for an extended taste test, in “The Trip.”
Lookout Point means they’re going steady.
Newsflash, Jenny: That double bed he shares
with Octavio in their cramped apartment?
It’s not just a space-saving strategy.
Well, if you can’t see where this one is
going, you’ll probably think those seizures
Octavio hides from all concerned are just
going to level off. Savvy queer moviegoers
will soon tire of the predictable plot and thor-
oughly unempowering narrative arc. That’s too
bad; because there are things to admire here,
mostly found in the moody cinematography
and the economy of scale employed by both
lead actors. Nothing except perceived betrayal
seems to justify reactions that surpass the
raising of eyebrows. But that stoicism in the
face of an increasingly hopeless love story has
an odd cumulative effect. As the film lurches
towards its utterly predictable ending, the feel-
ings you’re hooked on come too little, too late
— but they nevertheless catch you on the chin
like a cruel and unexpected upper cut. Spoiler
Alert, boxing fans: Ring scenes are few and far
between and bereft of any erotic appeal. The
Photo by Gabriela Larrain first truly great queer boxer’s love story has
Hot cakes: Hector Morales (left) Roberto Farias can’t quite go the distance, in the yet to be made — at least on film. Swishy
tepid homo boxing flick “My Last Round.” Spielbergs, are you listening?
155 1st Avenue at East 10th Street
Reservations/Info 212-254-1109 Online at w ww.theaterforthenewcity.net
AWAKE IN A ONLY LOVE Czechoslovak-
American Marionette
WORLD THAT WILL DO Theater in
ENCOURAGES Written by MR. M
SLEEP WALT STEPP Written & Directed by
Written & Directed by Directed by
April 5–May 1, 2011 RAYMOND J. BARRY LISSA MOIRA
Thursday - Sunday,
VIT HOREJS
Thursday - Sunday, Thursday - Sunday,
April 21 - May 1
Salmagundi Club
April 21 - 24 April 21 - May 1
Thu-Sat at 8pm,
Thu-Sat at 8pm, Sun 3pm
Thu-Sat 8pm, Sun 3pm (No perf. Sun. April 24) Sun at 3pm
All Seats $10/tdf All Seats $12/tdf All Seats $10/tdf
 April 21 - 27, 2011 31

Rockwell, Rhodes and ‘Construction’

Multitude of vignettes collect like pebbles in a stream
THEATER: UNDER
CONSTRUCTION
BY JERRY TALLMER
It seems to me that I spent the second half of
my life realizing that Life Itself is, on the whole,
nothing more nor less than a big buzzing con-
fusing collage, a thing of rags and patches.
Certainly the remarkable playwright
(Playmaker? Playassembler?) Charles L. Mee
thinks so. And in tandem with his frequent and
no less gifted artistic sidekick, SITI Company
director Anne Bogart, he has now pushed
the collage perception three dozen or so baby
giant steps further, all within the customary 90
minutes.
The show is called “Under Construction,”
indicating flux.
Flux. At one moment you may be finding
yourself, for instance, in the back seat of a taxi
headed for 437 River Street along the Jersey
waterfront. At the next, you’re witnessing the
first date of a prototypical boy and girl in
smalltown America. At yet another moment,
a hooker is discussing the rules of her game:
“It’s definitely a hell of a hard fucking job…I
compare it a lot to being a nurse.”
Photo by Michael Brosilow
And so on and so on. Vignettes. Pastiches.
Pieces in a multifarious jigsaw puzzle. Pebbles L to R: Akiko Aizawa, Ellen Lauren and Makela Spielman.
in the stream. Post-its in a paste-up. You get
the idea. says playwright Mee, “that we’re now living in
“Under Construction” is itself a by-product, a world of collage.”
a spinoff, in sparks struck in Mee’s head by the Weren’t we always, Mr. Mee?
works of two very disparate artists. “Yes, but we didn’t know it.”
The first was Norman Rockwell (1894- The hundred or so scenes, or fragments,
1978) — who for more than 40 years idealized or elements of the collage that is “Under
American hometown lives and virtues with his Construction” (with and without quotation
widely loved, unstoppable Saturday Evening marks) are arbitrarily numbered by him for
Post covers and patriotic World War II posters. “a non-linear narrative” that is not frozen in
The second was California “installation” art- sequence, so that they can be juggled around by
ist James Rhoades (a short-lived 1965-2006), the ten actors and/or director Bogart.
whose mode of expression was, well, picking Rockwell’s America — what used to be
up and installing — in museums and elsewhere called “Middle America” — was middle-aged,
around the world — whatever he could carry middle-class, Midwestern and largely white.
away from the streets. Well, Mee was born on September 15, 1938,
If you want to put the contrast between in Barrington, Illinois, pop. (then) 5230. His
these two genres as, roughly, the 50 years before engineer father worked up to chief of operations
and after 1950, Mee won’t object. for Commonwealth Edison. Barrington was as
Wherever big, tall, strapping Mee goes, two small-town, middle-class, Midwestern and white
long canes go with him. There’s a line about as you could get. No engineering for Mee. He
that, too, about people trying not to stare at the was shot straight from Cambridge to New York
disabled, somewhere in “Under Construction.” and Greenwich Village, at age 22, in 1960.
“I write what I love,” says Mee — for His half-German, half-Japanese wife, Michi
instance, the bittersweet sorrows of Vienna Barrall, is an actress turned playwright whose
under the looming shadow of Adolf Hitler, or, “Rescue Me” was a big hit last year at the now
3,000 miles away, those mysteriously evocative dearly departed Ohio Theatre.
little boxes of Joseph Cornell’s, each a tiny 3-D Mee is, in a sense, a rebel even against
collage in itself. himself, He can accept applause, in the theater
“When I like something,” he says, “I figure or in print, “but it’s when the pans come in”
maybe there are two or three other people out that he feels reassured. “Then I know I haven’t
there who like it too. That are my whole work- played it safe.”
ing principle,” he throws in, straight-faced.
To Mee, as to another me — the one you’re Written by Charles L. Mee; directed by Anne
reading — everything connects to everything Bogart. April 21-May 7, 7:30pm, at Dance Theater
else. Just now, today, for instance, there is a Workshop (219 W. 19th St.). For tickets ($35; $25
string running all the way from the northeastern for students), call 212-924-0077. Visit siti.org. Pre-
coast of Japan to Indian Point, NY, a bare 25 show talks with Charles L. Mee & Anne Bogart, at
miles above New York City. “Which is to say,” 6:30pm on April 25, 26, 27 & May 2.
32 April 21 - 27, 2011

For Aussie author, second act victories are sweet

Breakthrough bio chronicles the best of women’s boxing
BOOKS
THE SWEETEST THING: A BOXER’S MEMOIR
By Mischa Merz
Release date: April 30, 2011
$18.95
pp 288
Visit sevenstories.com, mischamerz.com and
mischamerz.wordpress.com.

So hot off the press that the ink is barely dry, Aussie
artist/journalist (and Australian national women’s boxing
champion) Mischa Merz’s odyssey through the scuffed look-
ing glass of America’s best boxing gyms is already one for
the history books.
Written as a humble, keenly observed and utterly obses-
sive chronicle of women’s boxing (from the post-“Million
Dollar Baby” boom to the present), “The Sweetest Thing:
A Boxer’s Memoir” wryly time stamps this unique moment
when the sport is poised to make its debut in the 2012
Olympics.
So determined is Merz to tell that story, she often jet-
tisons her own formidable late in life redemption tale to the
back burner — in favor of standing in awe when witnessing

Photo courtesy of the author

Caught in a trance: Mischa Merz, in closed eyes and sweet reflection mode.

(often during sparring sessions) the skill and determination
of others. The result is an autobiography full of people,
places and experiences that crackle and spark with the ring
of truth.
Of the contemporary pioneers who will never see Olympic
gold hanging from their necks, Merz fires off a preemptive
challenge to 2012’s first female boxing champion: “These
amazing women should never be forgotten or allowed to slip
under history’s rug as the sport gathers pace and grows. I feel
honored to have met them, to have been in the presence of
their courage and their commitment.”
Referencing her own career trajectory, Merz nails the
personal greed and universal glory that could very well rep-
resent the distilled essence of anyone’s path to self-discovery:
“Maybe that’s what I like most about the culture of this
particular sport. It is all about me, baby, that’s for sure. But
no one does it alone.”
As for what that “it” is: Merz rose to the top of the
Australian boxing ladder, then found herself at age 45
deciding to give it one last go in the USA. Much of the
attention she lavishes on female boxers comes from her time
spent observing, participating, learning and building on her
already impressive skills. The best of the best (and some of
the rest) in boxing gyms in California, Georgia, Florida and
NYC left indelible marks, impressions, scrapes and scars.
Makes you want to meet her, right? Well, you already
missed the April 12 book launch at Brooklyn’s famed
Gleason’s Gym (gleasonsgym.net). But she’ll be back —
to fight on the last night of their Women’s Boxing Clinic
(April 28-30). Merz will also be appearing at Bluestockings
Bookstore (172 Allen St., NYC) at 7pm on Wednesday, April
27. For info on that free event, visit bluestockings.com.

This is place is always hoppin’!

Find it in the archives
H www.THEVILLAGER.com
AE
PA
P ST
YE

R
WE DELIVER COMPLETE DINNERS
CALL:677-3820/475-9828
106 West Houston Street 677-3820 475-9828
 April 21 - 27, 2011 33

Just Do Art!
COMPILED BY SCOTT STIFFLER

EDWARD II
The WOW Café Theatre presents this
visionary all-female version of playwright
Christopher Marlowe’s equally unconven-
tional “Edward II” — a historical fictional
account of King Edward II’s fall from grace
(caused in no small part by his failure
to court popular support by butching it
up and otherwise playing down his sexual
preferences). Masks, interpretive dance and
heightened theatricality are used to take you
on a journey of power, privilege and forbid-
den desires. Your journey to into Edward II’s
heart of darkness will help others provide
a light at the end of the tunnel for queer
and homeless youth. The proceeds will ben-
efit Chelsea Now’s favorite cause: The Ali
Forney Center(see page 19 for more info on
AFC). Visit aliforneycenter.org, Edward-ii.
tumblr.com and wowcafe.org. April 21-23
and April 28-30, at 8pm. At WOW Café
Theatre (59-61 E. 4th St.). Tickets ($20)
available at the door ($15 pre-sale online at
fabnyc.orb). Student and senior discounts
available at the door.

ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES 2011

FILM PRESERVATION HONORS
& 40TH ANNIVERSARY BENEFIT
CONCERT
Check out the name of that event…
what a mouthful! But do what Anthology
Film Archives does for 40 years, and
we’ll gladly publish the name of your
event in caps and bold print. Proceeds
from this benefit will support Anthology’s
operations, film preservation work and
capital improvements. If you admire the
Anthologies mission (preserve, study and
exhibition film and video, with a par-
ticular focus on independent, experimental
and avant-garde cinema), then you’ll also
have a soft spot for the night’s honor-
ees. Performances, music and tributes
will cast a deserving (although, we sup-
pose, not harsh) klieg light on filmmaker
Albert Maysles; Vlada Petric (founding
director of the Harvard Film Archive);
film scholar Tony Pipolo; Technicolor; and
the Library of Congress (for creating the
National Film Registry). Featured perform-
ers and speakers include Harmony Korine,
Marina Abramovic, Richard Barone and
Transgendered Jesus.
April 27, at City Winery (155 Varick
St.). Proving you should never be late for
an event, even in NYC, Anthology says the
schedule will be as follows: Doors open
at 7pm. Performances start at 7:30pm. At
8pm,the Presentation of Honors begins.
At 8:45pm the Auction of custom-made
“Anthology Film Archives” wines and
DVD sales of the Maysles film “The Gates”
happens. At 9pm, performances continue.
For tickets ($40 general admission; table
seats with light dinner & wine, $200), visit
citywinery.com.
CHIP DUCKETT’S 1984 COMES TO
AN END
Adjust your thin tie and roll up the
Anthology Film Archives founder Jonas Mekas, circa 1984.
Photo by Max Ruby
Modern day “1984 Boy” Ryan must
have been a mere pup back then.
sleeves on your shiny Members Only jacket.
Then do some fuzzy math. Then, and
only then, will you begin to fully appreci-
ate the fact that 18 years ago (in 1993,
long after its namesake decade had come
and thankfully gone), the first wave of
“me decade” nostalgia popularized a club
event that’s been happening ever since.
Lasting almost twice as long as the decade
that inspired it, the 1980s-themed night-
club party “1984” is coming to an end.
Tireless party promoter, HIV/AIDS activist,
publicist, celebrity booster and visionary
schmoozer Chip Duckett — who’s been
Photo courtesy of Anthology Film Archives
the party’s host and DJ from day one —
recently reflected, “It’s stunning to realize
that people can now legally drink who
were three years old when we started this
party.” Some drink to remember…some
drink to forget. The penultimate install-
ment, on Fri., April 22, will be a throwback
to 1984’s “Madonnathon” — that annual
tribute to the material girl. The final, fabu-
lous curtain closes on Fri., April 29. Doors
open at 10pm both nights. At The Pyramid
Club (101 Avenue A). $8 cover charge. For
more info, visit SpinCycleNYC.com.
EXHIBITION: NEW YORK’S CIVIL
WAR SOLDIERS
Here’s one of those rare “only in New
York” opportunities to learn about one aspect
of American history while visiting a place
where the past comes alive (because here,
it never really died). Lovingly curated and
staffed with excessively knowledgeable and
attentive volunteers, the Merchant’s House
Museum is New York City’s only family home
preserved intact — inside and out — from the
mid-19th century. Their current exhibit, in
partnership with The Burns Archive, opened
earlier this month. Fitting, since April marks
150 years since the start of the American
Civil War (1861-1865). Revisit that period Photo courtesy of The Burns Archive
through of photographs of wounded New So uncivil: Merchant’s House Museum’s
York soldiers — taken by army surgeon and current exhibit shines a light on the hor-
native New Yorker Dr. Reed B. Bontecou. rors of war.
Over 100 images are captioned with quota-
tions from Walt Whitman’s 1882 memoir, lar admission to the museum. At the
“Specimen Days” — in which he recounts Merchant’s House Museum (29 E. Fourth
his own horrifying experience as a volunteer St., btw. Lafayette & Bowery). The MHM
nurse. Also featured: historic photographs of is open Thurs. through Mon., 12pm to
New York regiments, including the legendary 5pm (admission is $10, $5 seniors & stu-
7th Regiment National Guard. dents). Call 212-777-1089 or visit www.
Through August 1. Free, with regu- merchantshouse.org.
34 April 21 - 27, 2011

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Lamb turns Wildcat, goes from L.E.S. to Final Four
SPORTS
BY EDDIE RIVERA
One year ago Doron Lamb made the
decision to head to Kentucky for the next
phase of his basketball journey. There was
no doubt in Doron’s mind that Kentucky
was where he wanted to be.
His journey started out on the Lower
East Side, where he grew up and still has
family; and it included stops in Greenwich
Village, where he attended both Our Lady of
Pompeii School and St. Joseph’s School.
I had another great opportunity to
hang out with Doron and his family at
the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on
March 25 and 27, when Kentucky played
in the N.C.A.A. Tournament East semifinals
and finals.
Before the March 25 contest against Ohio
State, Doron was very focused and ready for
the game. He took a few minutes to share
some of this experience with me.
When asked about his transition from
high school to college, Doron replied, “It
was very smooth coming from Oak Hill
Academy [in Virginia], which was a great
stepping stone leading to this phase. It
prepared me well from the smallest task to
the greatest task; it helped me to be well-
rounded.”
About the rabid basketball culture in the
Bluegrass State, he said, “In Kentucky some
people call us the Big Blue Nation — ‘Go
Cats’ or ‘Go Blue’ — whatever way it comes
out, we are all one big basketball family, we
bleed blue.
“I have made many great relationships
with classmates and teammates that will last
forever,” he added. “All of my teammates
are great guys. However, the one and only
Terrence Jones brings out the giggles in me,
always keeping it positive.”
The season started Nov. 12 against East
Tennessee State University at home, with
three highly recruited freshmen — including
Doron — who needed to grow up fast.
Doron also developed a special rela-
tionship with Kentucky super-fan Mr. Bob
Wiggins. Bob has attended Kentucky home
and away games for the last 19 years, and, at
last count, had attended 603 games.
Asked about his relationship with Doron,
Bob replied, “When Doron hits a 3-pointer,
he looks at me and puts up three fingers over
his eyes, and I’ll do the same.”
Doron went on to score 20 points in his
college debut, shooting 7 for 10 from the
field against East Tennessee State University,
including 3-for-5 shooting on 3-point-
ers, 3 assists and 5 rebounds. Doron set a
Kentucky freshman record with 32 points
against Winthrop on Dec. 22.
The Wildcats’ Southeastern Conference
record was 10-6 this season, and their regu-
lar season record was 27-8. Beating Florida
to win the S.E.C. Tournament, not only did
they find their identity, but they started to
feel a sense of destiny. The team started to
peak heading into the N.C.A.A. Tournament.
But when Kentucky got a fourth seed, Coach
Calipari was not happy.
April 21 - 27, 2011 35
The Cats had a tough bracket. The hard-
est game in more ways than one was against
Princeton, when Darius Miller led Kentucky to
victory, 59-57. Next, they beat West Virginia
and then, Ohio State. The media now had
Kentucky winning it all. Next came North
Carolina, which had beaten the Wildcats
75-73 early in the season. But Big Blue was a
different team now, and won 76-69.
After the games in New Jersey, Big Blue
Nation was back on track.
“We are on our way to Houston for the
Final Four,” Doron told me then. “We are
totally excited about this once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to represent the University of
Kentucky. This is the biggest game of my
career, and it won’t be the last. Our families
and fans are cheering right along with us.
For many, it can be overwhelming, but I
think when you are able to identify the mag-
nitude of it all and just have fun with it, we’ll
continue to win.”
Doron was named
N.C.A.A. Sixth Man of the
Year and a member of the
S.E.C. All-Freshman Team.
Photos by Eddie Rivera
However, eventual tournament champs
Uconn edged Kentucky in the semifinals, Doron Lamb celebrating Kentucky’s victory in the N.C.A.A. East regional finals,
56-55. above, and on the court during the tournament, below.
“But the teamwork was there,” Doron
said after the loss.
Doron had 13 points in 27 minutes, and
was 3-of-5 from 3-point land.
“The game itself will always be an experi-
ence that will make me a better person in all
aspects of life, because at the end of it, if you
gave it your all on the court, that’s only the
beginning in your life’s ‘full court,’ ” he said.
“I want to thank my parents for always keep-
ing me grounded and honest,” he added.
Doron’s honors for this amazing season
included being named N.C.A.A. Sixth Man
of the Year and S.E.C. Sixth Man of the
year and also a member of the S.E.C. All-
Freshman Team.
This week, Doron’s dad, Calvin, con-
firmed to me that Doron is returning to
Kentucky for his sophomore year.
Although some wrongly refer to him as a
Queens product, Doron was born and raised
on the Lower East Side. From age 5 to 16, he
lived in the Vladeck Houses on the L.E.S. He
attended St. Joseph’s School in Greenwich
Village from first through fourth grades, then
transferred to nearby Our Lady of Pompeii
School. His grandfather, his aunt and his
uncle still live on the Lower East Side.
As for why these other articles always
keep saying that Doron was raised in Queens,
I really don’t have an answer for them. My
daughter went to school with Doron. If you
are in the ’hood ask anyone and you will get
the true. This article will be the voice for the
community.
36 April 21 - 27, 2011

In a Good Place.

TrinityNYC.com