The Villager, January 26, 2012

Savoring dance

by Camille, p. 23

Volume 81, Number 34 $1.00

West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Hudson Square, Little Italy, Chinatown and Lower East Side, Since 1933

January 26 - February 1, 2012

City Planning O.K.’s Rudin condo project for St. Vincent’s site

BY ALBERT AMATEAU The City Planning Commission on Monday unanimously approved Rudin Management’s plan for the residential redevelopment of the former St. Vincent’s Hospital campus.

The Jan. 23 vote, with Amanda Burden, commission chairperson, and 11 other commissioners attending, took less than 10 minutes.

It was the next-to-last step in the city’s uniform land use review procedure,

or ULURP, for a project that would create 450 new condominium apartments on the east side of Seventh Ave. and a 17,000-squarefoot park in the triangle on the west side of the avenue.

The City Council has the final word and must now vote within 60 days whether to approve the $800 million project.

The redevelopment plan includes converting four former hospital buildings to

Continued on page 2

Wanna buy Trump Soho hotel? Well, then, you’re hired!

Photo by Tequila Minsky

Construction workers wearing orange shirts held up signs backing the N.Y.U. 2031 project at Thursday’s full Board 2 meeting.

N.Y.U. calls out the troops in support of its mega-plan

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON In what opponents blasted as an “orchestrated” show of support for N.Y.U.’s 2031 large-scale development plan, union construction workers — along with university deans and even the women’s basketball team coach — testified on behalf of the ambitious development scheme at Community Board 2’s packed full board meeting last Thursday night.

And, in a first, a lone local resident spoke in favor of the plan. But the crowd mockingly accused him of being paid off.

Meanwhile, local residents among

the 300-person audience at P.S. 41 repeatedly told N.Y.U. and the construction workers to “Build it Downtown!”

— meaning the university should develop its new space nearby in the Financial District where Community Board 1 has an open invitation for N.Y.U. to come grow.

Several N.Y.U. faculty members also spoke against the plan, saying it would disrupt both their classrooms and their families’ lives.

Brad Hoylman, C.B. 2 chairperson, said 1,000 people had turned out at the board’s previous five hearings on the N.Y.U. “Core Proposal” this month.

He noted the board had “avoided a melee” after the first of these hearings, when the auditorium at the A.I.A. Center proved to be too small for the overcapacity crowd, and the meeting had to be quickly moved to Our Lady of Pompei Church’s basement.

Hoylman said, at this point, the board will send a formal letter to N.Y.U. regarding the plan, asking the university to respond to it in writing. Following that, there will be a second round of meetings on the 2031 plan by the C.B. 2 committees during February.

BY ALBERT AMATEAU A partner in the 46-story Trump Soho, the condo hotel that opened in April 2010 in the Hudson Square district over the objections of neighborhood preservation advocates, last week put the building on the auction block.

Alex Sapir, the partner of the Bayrock Group in building the hotel managed by Donald Trump’s family, said last week that the unsold condo units and the public

Continued on page 14

515 CANAL STREET • NYC 10 013 • COPYRIGHT © 2012 COMMUNITY M E D I A , L L C

areas of the hotel would be auctioned in March or April.

Sapir told the business press on Jan. 18 that the developers had received unsolicited offers from unnamed buyers.

“They were numbers that we would be very happy selling at,” Sapir told Bloomberg News and Crain’s New York Business.

Sapir said the auction of

Continued on page 2

LETTUCE ENTER THE DRAGON PAGE 13

EDITORIAL, LETTERS PAGE 16

2

January 26 - February 1, 2012

Trump Soho condo-hotel is put on the auction block Continued from page 1 what he called “a real trophy property” would be a test of the market for the hotel at Varick and Spring Sts. The Trump Soho offers condos for sale that may be occupied by the owners for no more than 120 days per year. For the rest of the time the units are rented as hotel rooms with the condo owners sharing the revenue with the management.

Of the 391 units, about 90 have been sold and 42 were currently listed for sale with prices ranging from $995,000 for a 425-square-foot studio to $8.74 million for a 2,331-square-foot two-bedroom suite.

“An asset like this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Sapir in his announcement of the auction.

But critics have long said the project is grossly oversized for the neighborhood and that the controversial condo/hotel structure was an attempt to evade zoning that allows hotels but prohibits new residential development.

Sean Sweeney, director of the Soho Alliance and one of the neighborhood critics of the project, said he thought the Trump Soho was in financial trouble.

“Trump and his shady partners have

Photo by J.B. Nicholas

At the opening of the Trump Soho in April 2010, from left, Eric, Don Jr., Donald and Ivanka Trump with developer Alex Sapir.

learned the hard way not to come to Soho with a dubious scheme that violates our

zoning and expect the community to roll over,” Sweeney said. “Two lawsuits com-

bined with our numerous complaints to the attorney general and the Securities Exchange Commission, as well as the 120-day restriction on residential occupancy were a major factor in securing this victory,” Sweeney said. “Trump behaved arrogantly and now his brand name is attached to a bankrupt property being sold at public auction to the highest bidder,” he added and concluded with, “Soho to Trump: You’re fired!”

The Soho Alliance filed legal objections to the building with the Board of Standards and Appeals claiming it was overbuilt.

Nevertheless, construction started in November 2006, although full city approval was not final until May 2007. Work was halted in December 2006 after workers discovered human bones that were eventually found to be from 19th-century burial vaults under the former Spring St. Presbyterian Church that stood on the site until 1966.

On Jan. 14, 2008, a scaffold collapsed during a concrete pour, killing one worker on the 42nd floor.

Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and a longtime critic of the Trump Soho, said, “This building has been a tragedy and a violation of zoning that should never have been built. It was wrong of the developer to build it and wrong of the city to approve it.”

Planning green-lights Rudin condos at hospital site Continued from page 1 residential use, a new 16-story apartment tower, a new 10-story apartment building on W. 12th St., and a new seven-story residence on W. 11th St. and five five-story townhouses also on W. 11th St. Although not included in the city’s ULURP review, the project also calls for converting St. Vincent’s O’Toole building on the west side of Seventh Ave. into a comprehensive community healthcare center with a 24-hour, free-standing emergency department. The O’Toole center will be run

by North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, which is investing $100 million in the project, with a $10 million contribution

by Rudin.

In their comments during the Monday vote, several commissioners urged Rudin to include an AIDS memorial in the triangle park. They also said the healthcare center was an important factor in their approval of the project, even though it was not part of the review.

Maria Del Toro, one of the commissioners, said she was sorry that St. Vincent’s, which pioneered in care for AIDS patients, closed but she acknowledged that a full-service hospital replacement was not possible.

Just prior to the vote, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio urged the commission to develop and integrate and AIDS memorial on the triangle site. De Blasio cited wide public support in the neighborhood and in

community-based organizations for an AIDS memorial in the open-space triangle.

Moreover, some commissioners urged Rudin to continue to work with the community to explore an affordable housing option, even though it is not part of the project.

Although the voting session was not open for public comment, opponents told reporters in the lobby of the Department of City Planning’s Reade St. headquarters that they expected the approval but would continue to fight the project as it goes to the City Council.

“It is deeply disappointing that the City Planning Commission rubber-stamped this plan and granted a well-connected developer privileges which were originally intended for a hospital,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

“We urge the City Council not to make this same mistake, and to protect our neighborhoods and our public facilities, and the special considerations given to them, from being exploited this way by private developers,” Berman added.

The project site lies within City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s district and consequently she will have the most influence on the way the Council votes, Berman noted.

Quinn, who will be term-limited out of her seat at the end of next year, is likely to run for mayor. Many expect Berman to run for her Council seat, but he’s never publicly said if he will run.

A member of Concerned Residents of the

West Village distributed a news release on Jan. 23 opposing the proposed rezoning that would increase the scale of residential development on the hospital site. Another issue for the West Village group, which includes several W. 12th St. residents, is the proposed demolition of the former hospital’s Reiss building on W. 12th St. and its replacement with a 12-story apartment house, instead of a residential conversion of the existing structure.

The group is also concerned about a proposed underground garage on the Reiss site and the plan to allow retail space in the planned Seventh Ave. tower, which is to wrap around W. 12th St. Community Board 2, in its ULURP advisory recommendations, submitted those concerns to the City Planning hearing in November but the issues were not addressed.

The West Village group also complains that the Rudin plan would unnecessarily change the character of W. 12 St. by increasing population density and vehicle traffic.

The proposed underground garage would be in addition to three already on W. 12th St. between Sixth and Seventh Aves. The group contends that the excavation and shoring for the garage would threaten surrounding buildings that date to the 1840s.

Also protesting the vote were longtime advocates for a new full-service hospital on the St. Vincent’s campus.

“We have 20,000 signatures on a petition for a new hospital,” said Evette Stark-Katz, who recalled spending a night in The Tombs

after her arrest last February during a demonstration at the shuttered hospital.

Timmy Lunceford, also locked up overnight on that occasion, joined advocates who insisted that the proposed O’Toole community health center was not an adequate substitution for a full-service hospital with a trauma Level 1 emergency room.

Yetta Kurland, a founder of the Coalition for a New Village Hospital, also vowed later to oppose the project as it moved to the City Council.

“The vital health concerns of over a million New Yorkers who live and work on Manhattan’s Lower West Side were not taken into account by this vote,” Kurland said. The coalition is planning a Jan. 31 town hall meeting with Occupy Wall Street Health Care, with a time and place to be announced later, Kurland said. The coalition also intends to demonstrate at City Hall at 9 a.m. Thurs., Feb. 9, for restoration of a fullservice hospital in the neighborhood.

Nevertheless, business groups, including the Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, hailed the vote.

“Because of the closing of St. Vincent’s Medical Center in 2010, over 30 small businesses have permanently shut their doors and local residents have been living without essential emergency medical services. But with the City Planning approval, we are one step closer to filling that void, bringing quality jobs, new customers and healthcare to our community,” said Tom Gray, G.V.C.C.C. executive director.

January 26 - February 1, 2012

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Photo by Clayton Patterson

Dana Beal, left, and Michael McKenna, the Yippie! Cafe’s manager, during Beal’s recent visit at 9 Bleecker St.

SCOOPY’S

NOTEBOOK PRISON BLUES: It looks like Yippie icon Dana Beal unfortuntaely will be spending another year in the slammer.

Last time we spoke to him he said it sounded like he was going to get out after serving almost a year for twice getting caught hauling pot cross-country in a van for what he said was purely medical use. “I thought I was off,� he told us, adding it’s not the first time his lawyer misread what was happening. “They know it was medical marijuana. They just don’t want to admit that it’s a vendetta,� Beal said speaking last week. He was in town briefly visiting his Yippie H.Q. at 9 Bleecker St., home of the Yippie! Cafe, and had to head back out to Wisconsin the next day, where his first trial is wrapping up. Eventually, he said, he’d either also go to Nebraska to stand trial, or hopefully just do that one by mail. The Wisconsin bust was Beal’s second, while he was on probation for the Nebraska one. “It’s hurting a lot of people,�

Beal said of his being unable to fulfill his prior duties as a self-described “angel� delivering curative cannabis to the sick. The legalization advocate said he wished he had letters of support by Desmond Tutu and Bono to get him out, but,

oh well... . Two months ago, Beal had open heart surgery after he had a heart attack as he was about to be moved to a bigger prison. Now that’s he’s recovered a bit, the court has told him he has to return for his sentencing. What’s really worrying him, though, is that both his dad and his mother’s dad died of strokes at age 65 — and he’s 65, and being in lockup won’t exactly help. Medical marijuana would, he noted, but of course he can’t get it in jail. Ironically, Beal said, by the time he is sprung, “I might come back to find that medical marijuana is legal in New York.�

CHUPI WATCH: So is Julian Schnabel repainting his Palazzo Chupi in Pompei Red, or what? The scaffolding is there, all the way to the top of the distinctive, retro Venetian W. 11th St. building. Westbeth photographer / artist Toni Dalton, who has a view of the place from her window, is keeping us posted. “They’re still plastering and scraping and doing the windows,� she reported. “I look every day. Believe me, I will let you know.�

GETTING STRAIGHT: Meanwhile, down in Hudson Square, Rip Hayman, the owner of the historic John Brown House that has the Ear Inn bar on its bottom floor, said it’s taking some effort adjusting to the place’s new look: After the recent renovation, all the formerly bowed floors, walls and ceilings are, well...straight! While sipping a pint at the place the other night, he smiled and quipped, “We’ll survive.�

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January 26 - February 1, 2012

POLICE BLOTTER Canal St. accident A heavy-duty truck going eastbound on Canal St. struck and injured a 71-year-old man at 2:14 p.m. Fri., Jan. 20, as he was crossing from north to south midblock on Canal St. near Mulberry St., police said.

The victim, who was unconscious when police arrived at the scene, was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. The truck driver, 47, remained at the scene and was not arrested. Police said this week that there was no criminality suspected but the incident was still under investigation.

Clinton St. burglary Seventh Precinct police are looking for a burglary suspect who entered an apartment at 43 Clinton St. between Rivington and Stanton Sts. through a fire escape window while the residents were out between 9:35 p.m. Fri., Jan. 13, and 3:40 the next morning. Police did not say what was stolen.

L train fatals A Garden City, L.I., man, 22, was wandering in the L train tunnel near 14th St. and Third Ave. around 8:30 a.m., Sat., Jan. 21, when an eastbound train struck him, police said. The victim, Brian J. O’Mara, was dead at the scene. Police are investigating but there appears to be no criminality.

Around 10:10 p.m. the same day, an unidentified man was killed when his head was pinned between an L train and the platform as the train was entering the Sixth Ave. station. The victim was apparently standing

on the track when he was hit.

Jewelry store snatch

jacket valued at $4,295 from a rack and fled without paying for it, police said.

A man carrying a red bag walked into the True Religion clothing boutique, at 132 Prince St. near Wooster St., around 12:35 p.m. Wed., Jan. 18, took 10 pairs of jeans with a total value of $3,190 from a shelf, stuffed them into the bag and walked out without paying, police said. A surveillance camera taped the theft but the suspect was not apprehended.

Police arrested Tevin Brisseau, 17, on Fri., Jan. 13, and charged him with stealing a gold neck chain from a jewelry store at 255 Canal St. near Lafayette St. 10 days earlier.

Brisseau fled from the Popular Jewelry Corp. with an accomplice. But on Jan. 11 he turned up at a jewelry shop at 243 Canal St. with two accomplices and tried to grab a chain from an employee’s hand, according to the compliant filed with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. The employee, however, held on to the chain and Brisseau was arrested the following day.

Police making a drug sale arrest around 4:05 a.m. Sat., Jan. 21, on Ninth Ave. at Gansevoort St. charged Eric Desbordes, 31, with swallowing the cocaine that he had just purchased from a dealer under surveillance.

Police charged him with tampering with evidence and bribery after he offered the arresting officer an unspecified sum to void the arrest.

‘Umm...just going home’

Struggles to keep bag

Willie Morgan, 22, told a Sixth Precinct police officer who found him in the driver’s seat of a car that wasn’t his in front of 73 Bedford St. around 3 a.m. Sat., Jan. 21, that he was stealing the car because he had no other way home and had no money for a cab.

Morgan assured the officer that no one else would have access to the stolen Audi. The suspect was charged with attempted auto theft, as well as possession of burglar tools after a paving block and two screwdrivers were found in the back seat of the car.

Gerardo Hernandez, 25, was charged with stealing a bag from a woman at Gansevoort and Greenwich Sts. at 6:52 a.m.

Wed., Jan. 18. The victim struggled with the suspect, who threw her to the ground and fled. Arrested a short time later, he was identified as the perpetrator and the bag was recovered, police said.

Soho shoplifters A man walked into Kirna Zabete, a clothing boutique at 96 Greene St. near Spring St., around 3 p.m. Fri., Jan. 20, took a mink

Meatpacking drug bust

Kiss & Fly bag grab Two female patrons of Kiss & Fly club, 409 W. 13th St., told police that two women bumped into them around 1 a.m. Sat., Jan. 21, and grabbed one of their bags. The victim hung on and the two suspects, Brianne LeBlanc, 22, and Chelsea Driscoll, 23, were arrested and

charged with larceny. The victim eventually retrieved her bag, but $70 was missing from it, police said.

Female glass attacks A woman, 24, told police she was with a friend in the second-floor lounge of Greenhouse, the club at 150 Varick St. at Vandam St., around 3 a.m. Wed., Jan. 18, when she got into an argument with a woman who bumped her and hit her in the face with a glass. The victim said she thought her assailant was a waitress at the club, but police said no suspect turned up in a canvass of the place.

A woman patron, 29, at the Brass Monkey, 55 Little W. 12th St., told police that another woman patron hit her in the head with a drinking glass around 12:40 a.m. Police charged the suspect, Evelyn Vanegas, 26, with assault.

Bags gone, gone...gone A woman who was trying on shoes at Nine West, 577 Broadway near Prince St., around 1 p.m. Tues., Jan. 17, put her bag down and discovered a half hour later that someone had stolen it. The bag contained her wallet, credit cards, cell phone and driver’s licenses, as well as a pair of Tiffany earrings valued at $200.

A Brooklyn woman, 22, who hung her bag on the back of her chair at Anchor Bar, 310 Spring St., around 8 a.m. Fri., Jan. 20, discovered it had been stolen when she went to pay her tab.

A woman patron of Manhattan Bistro, 129 Spring St. near Greene St., was with friends in the bar around 9:30 p.m. Thurs., Jan. 19, and discovered two hours later that her bag, which she had hung on the back of her chair, had been stolen.

Alber t Amateau

Chen family and advocates angry over reduced charges

BY ALINE REYNOLDS Community advocates and family members of Private Danny Chen are railing against the Army’s preliminary suggestion that Specialist Ryan Offutt’s manslaughter charge be dismissed.

The Article 32 military hearing of Offutt, one of eight American soldiers facing criminal charges in the East Village private’s Oct. 3 death in Afghanistan, concluded on Mon., Jan. 23 — coincidentally, the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year. The Army’s investigating officer recommended forwarding all of Offutt’s charges, which range from negligent homicide to reckless endangerment and dereliction of duty, to a court-martial, with one exception.

“In this case, the investigating officer recommends that the involuntary manslaughter charge be dropped,” said George Wright, an Army spokesperson.

The recommendation, however, does not

guarantee the dismissal of the charge, Wright noted.

“Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice,” he explained, “a superior command could still send the charge to trial, but could also follow the recommendation and dismiss the charge.” The multistep process, Wright noted, is designed to protect the rights of the accused.

This explanation was of little consolation to Chen’s family, friends and members of the New York Chapter of OCA (Organization for Chinese Americans), a leading advocate in the Chen case since military investigations of his death began in the fall.

“It is not enough,” said Banny Chen, the private’s cousin, on behalf of the soldier’s family. “Offutt and all the suspects should be tried on the maximum charges possible because of what they did to Danny.”

Elizabeth R. OuYang, president of OCA-

NY, said the community is “extremely” disappointed that Offutt might not be tried for manslaughter, and continues to urge the Army to prosecute the suspects to the greatest extent possible.

“There is a big difference between a three-year- and a 10-year-maximum prison sentence,” OuYang said. “We hope that all the charges will be recommended for the remaining seven suspects, including those who have been initially charged with involuntary manslaughter.”

OuYang and other advocates are also requesting that the Army televise the Afghanistan-based hearings for the remaining suspects, which begin on Mon., Feb. 6. Wright, however, said that’s unlikely.

“Our rules do permit closed-circuit video or audio transmission in very limited circumstances as determined by the judge,” he said. “But the Army typically doesn’t record or broadcast

Article 32 hearings or courts-martial.”

Councilmember Margaret Chin also expressed her dissatisfaction with the latest development. “This is only a recommendation regarding one charge against one soldier,” she said. “I am hopeful that this recommendation will be ignored, and that the charges in the other cases will be upheld.

“Investigators have confirmed that Private Chen was a victim of egregious maltreatment prior to his death,” Chin said. “If the Army has zero tolerance for bullying and hazing, as they claim to, then they need to prosecute these eight individuals to the fullest extent of the law.”

Asked for an update on the location of the soldiers’ possible trials, Wright said, “It’s something procedurally we’re not ready to discuss yet, because the Court-Martial Convening Authority has yet to rule on whether or not the trials will or will not take place.”

January 26 - February 1, 2012

5

Neighbors fear N.Y.U. project will be long, noisy, ‘crazy’

BY ALBERT AMATEAU Village residents declared last week that nothing New York University could do would induce the neighborhood to accept 19 years of construction for the redevelopment of the university’s two superblocks.

Not even N.Y.U.’s offer of storm windows, re-caulking and new or resealed air conditioning units for Washington Square Village and Silver Towers apartments, as well as for some buildings off the site, seemed to satisfy neighbors anxious about a long, noisy construction period.

University officials presented the twophase construction plan on Jan. 18 at the Community Board 2 Environment, Public Safety and Public Health Committee hearing on the N.Y.U. 2031 project.

The proposed redevelopment would add about 2.5 million square feet of new construction — 1.5 million square feet of that underground — to the superblocks, located between LaGuardia Place and Mercer St. and W. Houston and W. Third Sts. Audience members said the large-scale redevelopment project reminded them of the Bloomberg administration’s abandoned proposal seven years ago for a football stadium in Manhattan above the West Side Rail Yards.

“I keep thinking of Bloomberg’s crazy plan to put a stadium in the middle of Manhattan,” said Mary Johnson, a Washington Place resident. She called the

university’s technical presentation of the construction plans “laughable,” adding, “All the technical mumbo jumbo can’t disguise the insanity of this project.”

Terri Cude, a C.B.2 member, insisted that Minetta Creek, which meanders under-

‘All the technical mumbo jumbo can’t disguise the insanity of this project.’

Mary Johnson

ground across Greenwich Village, also crosses the north superblock and was not considered in the project’s environmental impact statement, or E.I.S. An N.Y.U. consultant’s reply that, “Minetta Brook is not anywhere near the construction site,” drew cries of protest from the audience.

John Waters, an N.Y.U. teacher who lives with his family in Silver Towers on the south superblock, said the long construction plan would threaten the future of two nursery schools, one in Silver Towers and the other in Washington Square Village in the north

superblock.

Loyan Beausoleil, director of University Plaza Nursery School in Silver Towers, told this newspaper later that she had spoken about the redevelopment with N.Y.U. executives who have been “very supportive.” But she was concerned that the loss for so many construction years of the Key Park playground in the north superblock would deprive many youngsters of play space during the years they most need it.

Beausoleil was also anxious about plans to relocate the existing dog run from Mercer St. to a new location further west on the south block. The new dog run is proposed to open prior to the new toddler playground just north of it.

“I love dogs, I have one myself, but I hope N.Y.U. would give children the priority over dogs,” Beausoleil said.

Phase 1 of the N.Y.U. 2031 project calls for a construction period from 2013 to 2021, first for building a temporary gym on the Mercer St. side of the north superblock between Bleecker and W. Third Sts. to open in 2014.

The first phase also calls for the demolition of the Coles Gym on the Mercer St. side of the south superblock between W. Houston and Bleecker Sts. after the temporary gym is finished. Construction would then begin on the so-called “Zipper Building” with a food market, a university-run hotel and faculty housing or student dorms, with completion

projected for 2018.

Also in Phase 1 is the construction of the so-called LaGuardia Place “Boomerang Building” in the north superblock between the north and south Washington Square

‘I love dogs, I have one myself, but I hope N.Y.U. would give children the priority over dogs.’

Loyan Beausoleil

Village buildings, with completion planned for 2021. Demolition of the temporary gym on the north block is planned for the end of 2021.

Phase 2, from 2022 to 2031, would begin with a new underground Washington Square Village parking garage on the north superblock with completion in the third quarter of 2023. Construction on the belowgrade area of the Mercer St. “Boomerang Building” on the north superblock between the Washington Square Village buildings is

Continued on page 6

6

January 26 - February 1, 2012

Neighbors fearing N.Y.U. project’s impact on them Continued from page 5 planned for 2023 to 2026, and the abovegrade Mercer St. construction is planned from 2026 to the end of 2028.

Also planned for Phase 2 is the demolition of the low-rise building on the southeast corner of LaGuardia Place and Bleecker St. on the south superblock where the Morton Williams food market is located.

The closing of gardens along LaGuardia Place during construction prompted audience members to shout, “No way!”

Neighbors who anticipated the relentless banging noise of pile driving were assured that there would be no such noise because steel columns would be placed in holes drilled into the earth.

The promise that construction would be done from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays provoked Susan Goren to predict that it would be violated “whenever there is work to be done in emergencies and

emergencies can mean almost anything.”

David Gruber, a member of the C.B. 2 N.Y.U. Working Group, told N.Y.U. presenters, “Some of your statements on the impact of construction are hard to accept.” He also recalled the claims of minimal traffic impact in the E.I.S. for the proposed West Side football stadium.

Gruber was also concerned about the proposed five-year construction period proposed for the Mercer St. building on the north superblock.

Jason Mansfield, chairperson of the C.B. 2 Environment Committee, said the board plans to hold other hearings on the N.Y.U. project in February before voting on a recommendation to be submitted to the Department of City Planning at the end of that month.

The final decision in the uniform land use review procedure, or ULURP, for the N.Y.U. plan will rest with the City Council after the City Planning Commission votes on the issue.

Board 2 chimes in against ban on buskers in Washington Square

BY ALBERT AMATEAU After being wowed by a brief piano interlude, Community Board 2 last week passed a resolution roundly condemning the Department of Parks’ recent policy of slapping summonses on musicians and other performers in Washington Square Park.

The resolution passed without opposition at the Thurs., Jan. 20, full board meeting where Colin Huggins, a.k.a. “The Crazy Piano Guy,” was one of the performers who spoke about the summonses they received in September and October while busking in the same park where the likes of Bob Dylan, Judy Collins and Joan Baez held forth 50 years ago.

“Play something,” shouted people in the Thursday audience at P.S. 41. Brad Hoylman, C.B. 2 chairperson, made the invitation official and Huggins sat at the auditorium piano and played some of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”

The audience gave him a standing ovation.

After a public outcry at a December speak-out hosted by C.B. 2, Parks officials told the community board members that the department was suspending and re-evaluating the Washington Square Park enforcement policy.

Parks had adopted strict rules last year to regulate the sale of art and other First Amendment-protected matter, saying the numbers of such vendors conflicted with public enjoyment in several Manhattan parks. The rules also prohibited performers within 5 feet of any bench and within 50 feet of a monument, in order to keep paths open and preserve views of park monuments, according to Parks.

In Washington Square Park, with bench-

File photo

Colin Huggins playing piano under the Washington Square Arch in September 2010.

lined paths and an array of monuments — including the arch, fountain and statues of Giuseppe Garibaldi and Lyman Holley — the rules appear to preclude performers.

The board resolution says that when the new rules were first presented to C.B. 2 there was no indication that they would target performers. Nevertheless, the board last year voted against the rules, saying they were unnecessary and overly restrictive.

The Jan. 19 resolution expressed the board’s “consternation” regarding the issuance of summonses to performers and asked dismissal of summonses already issued.

The board also wants a statement of the Parks Department’s future enforcement initiatives or other restrictions pertaining to performers or other expressive activities in parks in Community Board 2’s district (14th St. to Canal St. east of Fourth Ave./Bowery).

January 26 - February 1, 2012

C.B. 3 calls for reform of Police Department stop-and-frisk policy

BY LESLEY SUSSMAN Community Board 3 is asking the Police Department to take more steps to reform its controversial “Stop, Question and Frisk” program, and further requested that the U.S. Department of Justice launch an investigation into how the program is used in New York to determine whether racial profiling still remains a problem.

The New York Police Department’s stopand-frisk practices have over the years raised serious concerns about racial profiling, illegal stops and privacy rights. The department’s own report on its stop-and-frisk activity has confirmed that police are stopping hundreds of New Yorkers every year, and that the vast majority are black or Latino.

At its Tuesday full board meeting, C.B. 3 unanimously supported the resolution, which was previously approved by the board’s Transportation and Public Safety / Environment Committee.

The resolution was first brought before the committee by Borough President Scott Stringer, who has joined civil rights groups in criticizing the N.Y.P.D.’s escalating use of street stops, a policy police say is critical for keeping guns off the street.

Stringer has criticized the program for, in his words, “creating a wall of distrust between people of color and the police that makes it harder, not easier, to solve crimes.”

Stringer aide Alec Schierenbeck said it was “not guns police were finding when they stopped someone on the street, but, instead, small amounts of marijuana. We don’t need to enforce marijuana laws this way,” he said.

The C.B. 3 resolution noted that last year every one out of seven stop-and-friskrelated arrests in the city was for low-level marijuana possession, costing the city $75 million a year in police and court costs. The resolution also noted that 85 percent of the youths charged with such a crime were either black or Latino.

“They did not do jail time,” the resolution continued, “but their record compromised their chances of securing financial aid, accessing public housing, obtaining gainful employment and enlisting in the military.”

David Crane, chairperson of the Transportation and Public Safety / Environmental Committee, told the board that the Police Department had taken some steps to modify its stop-and-frisk policy, “but we need further reforms,” he said.

Crane said he supported the “call-in” approach, which he described as an excellent alternative to stop-and-frisk. It has been used successfully in cities like Los Angeles and Chicago where it has reduced violent crime by up to 60 percent.

“You call in potential bad actors in the community to let them know that they’re being watched and try to hook them up with educational or social service opportunities,” Crane explained.

Also in strong support of the measure was Carlina Rivera who said, “This has been

an issue — especially in our black and Latino community. I’m glad we’re supporting some kind of investigation. Hopefully, it will lead to some kind of reform.”

But not every board member was in complete agreement. David Adams, who voted no on the proposal, speaking later, said, “Small crimes often lead to big crimes, so maybe the police should be making these stops for small crimes. I just don’t know and that’s why I voted no.”

The C.B. 3 resolution also called for legislation to be passed that would make possession of small amounts of marijuana in “public view” a violation, rather than a misdemeanor.

In other board business, a measure was approved to ask the Parks Department to rename Sol Lain ball field, near P.S. 134, at East Broadway and Montgomery St., after Edward Garcia, a former gang member turned Vladeck Houses community activist.

Garcia, who died in September 2010, began his activist career in the early 1980s when he confronted drug dealers who were driving children from Sol Lain Playground’s blacktop.

A lifelong Lower East Sider, Garcia for more than 20 years was president of the Sol Lain League, which offered Saturday morning flag football, basketball and wiffle ball for local youth.

Dozens of Garcia’s friends and his sister, Marilu, turned out at the board meeting to make an emotional appeal for the designation. Also speaking for the motion was Reverend Marc Rivera, pastor of Primitive Christian Church, on E. Broadway, Garcia’s church.

“We want to recognize his leadership on the Lower East Side,” the reverend said.

On another matter, a debate erupted over adding new street lighting along Essex St. between East Houston and Canal Sts. The Lower East Side Business Improvement District says the new lights would better illuminate the area and help promote business.

The organization has secured more than $300,000 in capital grant funds for the brighter lights from B.P. Stringer’s Office.

A spokesperson for a group calling itself the Friends of Seward Park, however, said they wanted to preserve the Bishop’s Crook replica light fixtures which, according to the BID plan, would be relocated to narrower side streets along Norfolk, Suffolk, Stanton and Rivington Sts. Board member Linda Jones, however, said the streets by Seward Park High School were “dark and foreboding. We want new, modern lighting — not pseudo-historic lights,” she said.

Jones was, not surprisingly, supported

by Bob Zuckerman, the BID’s executive director, who is a public member of C.B. 3. The measure was approved along with a recommendation that the design of the new “WM”poles, which cast light on a wider area, prevent pigeons from perching on them over the sidewalk.

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January 26 - February 1, 2012

Storm surge ‘prophet’ warns

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BY TERESE LOEB KREUZER For the last three years, Robert Trentlyon, a public member of Community Board 4 and the former publisher of Downtown Express, has been a man with a mission. He has been preoccupied with the implications of sea level rise for New York City’s 520 miles of coastline and the possibility of a disastrous storm surge that could wreck large parts of the city and cost billions of dollars to clean up.

At the Jan. 5 meeting of Community Board 1’s Planning and Community Infrastructure Committee, he spoke about the city’s vulnerability, hoping the committee would join Community Boards 2 and 4 in framing a resolution asking the Army Corps of Engineers to study preventive measures against disaster. “We’re in a lot of trouble here,� Trentlyon told the committee. “As we know, the sea level is going to be going higher and the storms are going to get more severe.� He said the city’s present mitigation policy is to create a “soft edge� of marshes on the circumference in order to lessen flooding’s effects. “This makes a lot of sense if you’re living on Long Island,� Trentlyon said. “If you’re living in Manhattan, which is really hard edge, with giant buildings that go to the waterfront, what you really need are sea barriers.�

Trentlyon readily admits that he is not an expert on climate change, sea level rise or storm surge technology. But he consulted engineers and oceanographers who have studied these matters for years and who recommend storm surge barriers as the most effective means of defense. A storm surge barrier is essentially a wall with a gate that remains open unless needed to deflect a rush of water. “Storm surge barriers are not a new concept,� Trentlyon told the committee. He said that in the United States, a monster hurricane in 1938 that passed over Long Island on its way to New England, killing more than 700 people and leaving a swath of destruction, was the wakeup call. “In 1938 after the hurricane hit, three cities, New Bedford, Providence and Stamford, all built storm surge barriers,� Trentlyon said. “The problem is that by the time they built them, 30 years had passed. London has them. Rotterdam has them. Venice is building them.�

Trentlyon has long been interested in the waterfront, having been one of the early voices in Chelsea advocating for, first, creation of Chelsea Waterside Park and, then, Hudson River Park.

He said that two of the experts with whom he had talked — Douglas Hill and Malcolm J. Bowman — recommended two alternative placements for storm surge barriers to protect New York City. Hill is consulting engineer and an adjunct lecturer at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University; Bowman is Distinguished Service Professor of Oceanography at the School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences, State University of New York at Stony Brook.

One idea would be to have three barriers: at the Verrazano Narrows between Staten Island and Brooklyn; at Throgs Neck; and at Arthur Kill at the far end of Staten Island.

Another proposal would be to have a single storm surge barrier between Rockaway and Sandy Hook. “That’s a long distance,� Trentlyon said, “but most of the water level there is fairly shallow — about 20 feet. The Ambrose Channel — the main shipping channel — is in the middle of it.�

Either way, Trentlyon said that the estimated cost for the barriers would be around $10 billion, with half the money going to feasibility studies and design and half to construction.

Trentlyon’s presentation was initially met with skepticism. “What do we know already about the risk?� asked Jeff Galloway, chairperson of C.B. 1’s Planning Committee. “New Orleans, Rotterdam, Venice — all those places are under sea level already.

That was the problem with New Orleans.

Once you’ve breached the levees, you’re in a disaster zone. We’re not below sea level.

We’re above sea level, though people like me who live in Battery Park City are very close to sea level. But I see the $5 billion price tag in the study, which probably translates into $10 billion before it’s actually built.�

Trentlyon replied that if New York City experienced a Category 3 hurricane, the estimated loss would be $200 billion between property damage and loss of time going to work. “I would imagine a good chunk of that would be wind damage,� said Galloway. “Part of it would be wind damage,�

Trentlyon replied. “But if you have a 20-foothigh storm coming ashore, a lot of damage would be from water. Another study, which came out in August of 2011, was done by the Federal Transit Administration. They say a 20-foot storm surge would go into the subway system and, except where the subways were elevated, the entire system would be covered with at least 4 feet of water within 40 minutes. You’re talking about salt water coming in. That means that everything’s damaged. All the machinery would have to be taken apart and cleaned. The estimate by the Federal Transit Administration is that that would take three to four weeks, and some engineers say three to four months.�

Committee member Ro Sheffe wanted to know where Trentlyon got his data. “I was a meteorologist for the U.S. Navy,�

Sheffe said, “and I’m curious about the source for this climatology information. First of all, has there ever been a 20-foot storm surge here? There have been records kept in New York City for 148 years.� “I believe it was in 1821, the East River and the Hudson River rose up and they covered the entire island from Canal St. south,� said Trentlyon. “In 1893, a Category 1 hurricane destroyed Hog Island, a resort island off the Rockaways in southern Queens. The storm hit. The island disappeared. It never came back. In 1938, a hurricane hit here.

Continued on page 9

January 26 - February 1, 2012

9

of floods; Ark not needed, but safety barriers are, he says Continued from page 8 It was called the Long Island Express. It came up through Brooklyn and Queens and demolished a lot of the frame houses.”

While this conversation was proceeding, Galloway was reading the Federal Transit Administration study.

“It’s talking about an 8-foot storm surge,” Galloway said. “It says at that level, the subways would be flooded and they estimate $58 billion in damage from just the flooding of the subways alone from an 8-foot storm surge at the current sea level height. And if sea levels rise, it’s going to go up to $84 billion. So based on this study, a relatively modest storm surge could have catastrophic consequences.”

In the end, the committee passed a resolution asking the Army Corps of Engineers to “expeditiously conduct a study about the feasibility of installing storm surge barriers to protect New York City.” It also asked that elected officials at the city, state and federal levels support such a study.

The resolution went in front of C.B. 1’s full board meeting on Jan. 24.

“This is not a trivial thing to put in one of these storm surge barriers,” Galloway said at the meeting. “It’s quite expensive. All that we are asking is that the feasibility of them be studied.” In response to a comment from Community Board 1 Chairperson Julie

Photo by Terese Loeb Kreuzer

Bob Trentlyon, right, making a presentation to Community Board 1’s Planning and Community Infrastructure Committee earlier this month about sea level rise and storm surge threats and the need for storm surge barriers.

Menin about the “tough economic situation the city and state are in,” Galloway said that “feasibility includes financial feasibility.” He went on to say that, “What we really contemplate that the study would do would be not

only to study the cost of doing this but the cost of not doing this.”

Diane Lapson, a member of the Planning and Community Infrastructure Committee, reinforced this comment by describing the

hit the New York subway system alone would take if there were a storm surge.

The potential enormity of that scenario sunk in. With a show of hands, the resolution was unanimously ratified.

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January 26 - February 1, 2012

Mary Spink, affordable housing advocate, C.B. 3 member; OBITUARY

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON Mary Spink, who rose from a checkered past to become a member of Community Board 3 and a leading advocate for affordable housing, died in the early hours of Mon., Jan. 16. She was 65.

The cause of death was reportedly failure of her kidneys and liver.

About 200 people attended a memorial service for her on Sun., Jan. 22, in the Cooper Union’s Great Hall, at Seventh St. and Third Ave. According to Susan Stetzer, C.B. 3 district manager, Spink died at Beth Israel Hospital after having been rushed there from the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on E. Fifth St. after her blood pressure became very low. She had been ill since last spring, Stetzer said.

During her final weeks, Spink had stayed at the Cabrini facility, where her friends could visit her easily.

“It’s pretty emotional,” Stetzer said speaking last week. “She was a good friend of mine.”

Last June, Stetzer and Councilmember Rosie Mendez accompanied Spink by train up to Albany where Spink received the “Woman of Distinction Award” from state Senator Daniel Squadron. The trip was very difficult for Spink.

“It was her last big outing,” Stetzer said.

Although Spink received numerous awards over the years, this one, in particular, meant a lot to her, Stetzer and Mendez said.

“It really made her feel good,” Stetzer said.

Speaking over the phone last week, Mendez, at one point, was overcome.

“It’s a big loss for the city, and it’s a big loss for me personally,” she said, unable to hold back tears and soft sniffles.

“She was a good friend. I’ll miss her a lot.

No matter if you prepare — it’s a loss.”

Spink transcended difficult beginnings to rise to become executive director of the Lower East Side People’s Mutual Housing Association, which today owns and runs 32 low-income buildings in the East Village and Lower East Side, as well as managing eight low-income, tenant-owned, Housing Development Fund Corporation buildings. She was also an active member on boards of many local organizations, including the Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union — where she and Mendez first met — and the Lower Eastside Girls Club.

TOUGH START ON L.E.S. Leaving behind a past of abuse and reform school, Mary Spink came to the Lower East Side from the Albany region in her late teens.

The neighborhood then was teeming with drugs, and Spink soon got hooked.

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In the article, Spink said she first became a superintendent in the East Village — her entree to her eventual career — because she couldn’t afford to rent an apartment.

A COLORFUL RÉSUMÉ

Accepting one of her many honors given to her over the years, Mary Spink, beaming when she received a Sara Curry Award at the Little Missionary Day Nursery’s benefit at the Angel Orensanz Foundation in May 2008.

“She had so much resilience,” Mendez said. “She shared with others that she had a drug problem — she was a drug addict when there was a drug epidemic on the Lower East Side. And she shared with me that she knew she had to stop and get treatment.”

Spink was also on the board of the East Village Community Coalition.

Michael Rosen, a founding member of E.V.C.C.’s steering committee, said, “Mary Spink rose from the fire of whom she’d been. Purified, forged, branded, and yes, also haunted — to build a sacred life in a community where she insisted on giving far more than she would take. She lived simply, she lived with determination, and she gave.

“She left Troy, N.Y., as a very young woman and lived a life also involved with crime,” Rosen noted. “She was arrested and served time, she lost touch with her children during this period, and tried with extraordinary effort and to some extent did apparently reconnect with her children.

“She came from abuse,” Rosen said.

“She grew to love rather than hate or act the victim.”

Spink’s daughter died three or four years ago. Mendez and Herman Hewitt, chairperson of L.E.S.P.M.H.A., said they’re trying to track down Spink’s son, who lives in California and from whom she was estranged.

“She has assets,” Hewitt noted.

Hewitt said the M.H.A. is working out the details of Spink’s burial.

In a March 3, 2004, article by Jessica Mintz in The Villager about two of the M.H.A.’s new energy-efficient housing projects on E. Third St., Spink touched on her difficult past.

“I was poor in this neighborhood,” Spink said then. “I was on welfare in this neighborhood. I was a drug addict in this neighborhood. I turned my life around in this neighborhood. Everything that’s happened to the people [who live in L.E.S.P.M.H.A. housing] has happened to me.”

Throughout her life, Spink held a wide variety of jobs. Speaking at last Sunday’s memorial, Henry Gifford, a longtime friend and business partner, told of how he first met Spink when she was waitressing at Deli Stop restaurant, at Fifth St. and Second Ave., in the late 1970s. They went on to run a laundromat together at Seventh St. and Avenue A, then opened a small newsstand at Fourth St. and Avenue B. Working at the newsstand, she was able to get off methadone, which is even harder than quitting heroin.

“She was 17 years between heroin and methadone,” Gifford said, noting “very few people” are able to kick both after so long.

Next, they ran an East Village hardware store together.

Her résumé also included experience as a bricklayer, dancer and plumber.

MA BARKER-LIKE MOMENT Detailing a bit of Spink’s wild earlier years, Gifford clarified the story of how she once “shot a cop in the face.” As Gifford told it, Spink dealt heroin for 14 years. At one point, the East Village got too hot, and she decided to take a room in Northport, L.I., and do some drug dealing out there. While she was sleeping in her room one day, an acquaintance came in and robbed her stash.

When, shortly after, a man appeared at the house’s front door, Spink, determined not to be robbed again, promptly blasted him with a shotgun through the door’s side windowpane.

As she saw dozens of other “white men” come running in for backup, she realized she had mistakenly shot an officer. Spink served five years in jail at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.

Another speaker said Spink had, at one point, been a prostitute.

Donna Klimek, a close friend, said, despite her drug history in the neighborhood, after she cleaned up, Spink was determined not to leave.

“She stayed in the same place,” Klimek said, her voice cracking with emotion, “because she never wanted to leave the East Village.” Plus, she added, “She always felt she wanted to set an example,” showing people — especially young girls — how a person could turn her life around in a positive way.

Others told of how Spink’s newsstand had been like “a resource center,” from which she dispensed advice on housing issues or how to fill out Medicare forms — as well as babka.

Ed Cahill recalled how Spink went to bat for a group of Avenue B tenants who lost their homes after their landlord let their building deteriorate dangerously, forcing them out for

Continued on page 11

January 26 - February 1, 2012

11

Overcame her difficult past to become a community leader Continued from page 10 safety reasons; Spink led their legal fight, and years later the former tenants prevailed, receiving $25,000 settlements.

A SKILL FOR RUNNING HOUSING Hewitt, currently the first vice chairperson of C.B. 3, has been L.E.S.P.M.H.A.’s chairperson for all its 15 years. He said Spink was first hired to be the mutual housing association’s property manager. Within a few years, he elevated her to executive director.

“I met her when she was the superintendent of the building next to 195 E. Second St. [Spink’s eventual home and part of the M.H.A.],” Hewitt recalled. Soon after, Spink was appointed to the board of directors of the Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union, which was then under the same umbrella organization as the M.H.A. As for why he promoted her to the association’s director, Hewitt said, “We needed somebody that was grounded in the community, knew the community, knew the issues and was sympathetic to the kind of development that we were doing.”

At first, the M.H.A. was renovating vacant, city-owned buildings under what was then known as the “Cross-Subsidy Plan.” Empty, city-owned lots were sold, and the money from them funneled into the buildings’ redevelopment. Eventually, the M.H.A. also moved into constructing new buildings.

“She’s the person who spearheaded most of our [new] development,” Hewitt noted. “And she was a strong voice in putting forth the issues of the people who needed assistance, in terms of low-income development.”

NEVER BACKED DOWN To say Spink was forceful was an understatement.

“She was strong-willed,” Hewitt said. “And she tells you exactly what she thinks — without malice. If we did not have someone that strong-willed, our organization would not be in as strong a position as it is today. Dealing with the city and H.P.D. [the Department of Housing Preservation and Development], she had to be strong enough.”

“She was really tough and she was passionate and she was dedicated,” said Stetzer. “When you talk about Mary, you have to say she was a no-bullshit person — the neighborhood was her life.”

Mendez said, “She could best be described as a person with a sharp tongue, a big heart and an incredible love for the Lower East Side.”

Within the past 10 years, L.E.S.P.M.H.A. moved into developing “green” buildings. As Spink told The Villager in the March 3, 2004, article, the savings on cooling and heating costs would help keep the buildings affordable.

“Most of the last buildings we did — on Third St. and Second St. — were all energy efficient,” Hewitt noted. “And on Second St., the roof was done so that it can become a green roof; we haven’t moved forward on it yet.”

Mendez added that Spink, as a board member of the Girls Club, worked hard to make the dream of their new clubhouse, now under construction at Seventh St. and Avenue D, a reality.

“It’s coming,” Mendez said, “and Mary was a part of that.”

After having served on the community board as a public member, Spink was appointed a full member three years ago.

‘AN INCREDIBLE MEMBER’ In a statement, Dominic Pisciotta, the East Village / Lower East Side board’s chairperson, said, “Community

In October 2004, Mary Spink’s Lower East Side People’s Mutual Housing Association rented commercial space in one of its buildings on Avenue C to a new mini-branch of the Lower East People’s Federal Credit Union and an adjacent new Sweet Things bakery for the Lower Eastside Girls Club. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, from left, Lynn Pentecost, L.E.S. Girls Club executive director; then-District Leader Rosie Mendez; then-City Councilmember Margarita Lopez; Spink; and Veronica Ballass, the credit union’s manager.

Board 3 is very saddened to have lost an incredible board member. Mary Spink brought decades of community involvement and experience when she joined the board as a full member in April 2010.

“Prior to being appointed as a board member, Mary was instrumental, as an appointed public member of the Land Use, Zoning and Housing Committee, in its work on the successful East Village / Lower East Side rezoning.

Her work and passion to develop sustainable and affordable housing on the Lower East Side was parlayed into a leadership role in the historic 2011 agreement on the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, a matter she long felt passionate about.”

Similarly, Stetzer said, Spink’s contributions on the SPURA process were key, and that this included her persuasive negotiating ability as much as anything else.

“Her expertise was invaluable — her balance and her perspective,” Stetzer said. “She was excellent at bringing people together. She would spend hours talking to people.

With Mary, there were no boundaries with people.”

State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, in a statement, said, “Mary Spink was a vocal and passionate leader in our community, and I join so many of my neighbors on the Lower East Side in mourning her passing. She worked tirelessly on behalf of our community, creating affordable housing, empowering young people through her work with the Lower Eastside Girls Club and, of course, devoting her time and her talents to serve on Community Board 3. Mary was truly one of the Lower East Side’s bright lights and her strong dedication to our neighborhood will be sorely missed.”

‘RARE AND UNIQUE’ State Senator Squadron said, “I am lucky to have known Mary, and our community is lucky to have had her. Stories and commitment to the community like hers are rare and a unique inspiration. She will be sorely missed.”

Councilmember Mendez said, “She was one of our unsung heroes. In decades to come — or even now — people won’t know who she is. But there’s going to be 20-some buildings in this community — in Margaret Chin’s and my districts — that are for low-income families to live.”

One way to tell L.E.S.P.M.H.A. buildings is that their entrances and fire escapes are painted a distinctive, bright blue color. Spink always “shopped locally,” buying the blue paint at Brickman & Sons Hardware store on First Ave., Mendez noted.

“To me, that’s become ‘The People’s Color,’” Mendez said.

Asked if she might sponsor an honorary street conaming for her friend and colleague, the councilmember said that would ultimately be up to the community to decide.

However, she added, “I think a real fitting tribute would be to have a Mary Spink Building somewhere that is affordable housing.”

EXUDED AUTHORITY Squadron spoke about Spink’s “moral authority,” adding, “That moral authority is something we all need.”

On the subject of authority, former C.B. 3 Chairperson David McWater said he nicknamed Spink “The Hammer.”

“At some point, The Hammer would come down and straighten everybody out,” he said. Sharing a favorite anecdote, he said, a few years ago, C.B. 3 members were debating about the Christodora House’s controversial application to turn an unused community-facility swimming pool into new residential units.

McWater said, “Mary listened and listened, and then she said, ‘You know, I sold guns to the Black Panthers in that building in 1971 and the pool didn’t work then.’... After that,” McWater said, “everyone agreed that the pool didn’t work.”

12

January 26 - February 1, 2012

Stringer asks for traffic control in Soho, but bridge issue lingers

BY TERENCE CONFINO On Monday afternoon a small crowd assembled on a corner of Mercer and Broome Sts. to watch Borough President Scott Stringer share a podium with Sean Sweeney of the Soho Alliance.

The news conference was meant to call on the city’s Department of Transportation to address the long-running congestion problems plaguing Downtown Manhattan.

According to Sweeney, the Soho Alliance’s director, this fight has been going on 25 years, and is filled with the kind of political backstabbing that only hurts the community.

Stringer’s response comes on the heels of a number of complaints regarding westbound traffic toward the Holland Tunnel, including vehicles blocking intersections accompanied by floods of horn honking.

“This neighborhood, which is so vibrant and so exciting, is also being victimized by a traffic situation that is now out of control,” Stringer said. “We need to have traffic mitigation in this neighborhood and we need it now.”

He described a typical day during rush hour, and even during weekends, when the tunnel becomes so backed up that cars wind up blocking intersections, “creating noise pollution and dangerous situations for blocks and blocks at a time.”

When traffic congestion occurs and cars “block the box,” they basically slow down an entire community, Stringer said.

He called for the implementation of a three-point plan. First, he is asking for installation of additional cameras to aid enforcement of “Don’t Block the Box.” In addition, he wants improved signage to raise awareness of the “Don’t Block the Box” regulation.

Finally, he’s demanding the immediate repair of deteriorating crosswalks along Mercer St. that endanger pedestrians.

“If you have more cameras, you’re able to give more tickets and you’re able to make it clear to people that blocking the box is not an acceptable way to travel around Manhattan,” Stringer said in defense of installing more cameras in the city.

With regard to improved signage, he called on D.O.T. to put up a new set of markers around the community instructing drivers that it’s not O.K. to block intersections and break traffic laws.

“When you hurt one community, you hurt all communities,” Stringer stated.

Finally, the B.P. explained the need to mitigate the deteriorating condition of the community’s streets. He briefly mentioned the crosswalks at Mercer and Greene Sts. by way of example.

Stringer is no stranger to the ongoing problem of congestion.

In 2006, his office released a survey that documented more than 3,000 blocking-thebox violations at 10 different Manhattan locations, all occurring during a nine-hour period. Not one driver received a ticket for these infractions.

Later, in 2008, in recognition of the ongoing problem, state legislation was passed upgrading blocking the box from a moving violation to a traffic violation and fines for such an infraction were raised from $50 to $115.

But at Monday’s conference it wasn’t just the seasoned politician who connected with the small assembly. When Stringer handed over the podium to Sweeney, the crowd got a more sobering version of the story.

“I just don’t understand how the D.O.T. thinks,” Sweeney began. “They remove the lane of traffic on Broadway without telling us and now we have congestion on Broadway. Then when we ask them to stripe the crosswalks and they won’t do that,” Sweeney said heatedly.

He also recalled D.O.T.’s proposal to put a pedestrian mall on Prince St. a few years ago, which he had strongly opposed.

Sweeney said the Soho Alliance told D.O.T. to take its pedestrianization plans to Times Square and the tourists rather than intrude on Downtown residents’ lives.

Meanwhile, Sweeney continued, “They won’t give us a sign to warn the drivers not to block the box and they won’t fix the very crosswalks that people have to walk on.” He mentioned a pedestrian who had even broken her shoulder blade at the intersection on Mercer St. while trying to cross the street.

Speaking later, Sweeney said the cause of Soho’s congestion dates to 1986 when former Governor Mario Cuomo reversed the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge’s toll. This was done at Staten Islanders’ request, the logic being it would decrease car pollution and backups at the Staten Island toll plazas.

“Within a week traffic tripled on Broome St.,” Sweeney said.

Nowadays, commuters would rather wait it out in gridlock and use the free Holland Tunnel than pay the nearly $15 toll to cross the bridge.

“As a result, the Port Authority is losing money and it hurts everybody,” Sweeney said.

When asked whether the congestion was indeed rooted in the Verrazano toll reversal, Josh Getlin, Stringer’s communications director, replied: “We don’t have a specific answer as to what’s causing backup. The point of the press conference was to urge an immediate exploration of all possible factors creating this problem and then take appropriate action.”

Sweeney noted that when U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer was elected in 1998, he said one of the first things he’d tackle was the Verrazano toll situation. Within two weeks, Schumer allegedly reneged, according to Sweeney. And when Sweeney later approached Congressmember Jerrold Nadler, he wouldn’t give a straight answer, either, according to the longtime Soho activist.

“We’ve been getting the runaround for 25 years,” Sweeney said. “If we can’t solve the problem, then what can we do to mitigate it?”

January 26 - February 1, 2012

13

Photos by Milo Hess

Enter the Dragon: Chinatown launches lunar festival With lettuce-chomping lions, clapping cymbals, a controlled detonation of firecrackers in Sara Roosevelt Park and noisemaking, confetti-spewing poppers galore, Chinatown was a riot of sights and sounds Monday for the celebration of the Lunar New Year. This is the Year of the Dragon.

14

January 26 - February 1, 2012

N.Y.U. marshals troops; Residents say, ‘Not here!’

Continued from page 1 Then, on Mon., Feb. 20, the board’s N.Y.U. Working Group, co-chaired by David Gruber and Terri Cude, will take all the resolutions from the various committees and use them to draft a comprehensive “omnibus resolution” on the N.Y.U. plan.

On Thurs., Feb. 23, the full community board will vote on this resolution — which is sure to be a lengthy one — which will then be sent to the City Planning Commission as the board’s advisory recommendations as part of the ULURP (uniform land-use review procedure) for the proposed plan.

It’s the same procedure that C.B. 2 followed in its ULURP review of Rudin Management’s residential redevelopment scheme for the former St. Vincent’s Hospital site — which was approved on Monday by the Planning Commission.

The board didn’t pass any resolutions on the N.Y.U. plan at last Thursday night’s meeting, since it’s only midway through its 60-day ULURP review for the university’s application.

N.Y.U. is asking the city to lift development and openspace restrictions on its two superblocks south of Washington Square so that it can add 2.5 million square feet of space, with 1.5 million of that aboveground and 1 million underground.

In total, four new buildings would be added on the superblocks, located between Houston and W. Third Sts., including a new dorm, a replacement gym and an N.Y.U hotel on the southern block, plus two academic “Boomerang Buildings” in the Washington Square Village courtyard on the northern block.

In addition, N.Y.U. will provide space for the city’s School Construction Authority to build a new public school at the southeast corner of Bleecker St. and LaGuardia Place.

Initially, N.Y.U. had thought it would be constructing the “core and shell” for this public school, but now is only providing the land for free. In an e-mail, Alicia Hurley, the university’s vice president for government affairs and community engagement, explained that, at first, the university thought it might be putting the school in the planned, mixed-use “Zipper Building,” to be developed on the Coles Gym site on Mercer St., or possibly one of the new “Boomerang Buildings” in Washington Square Village, in either of which case it would have built the public school’s basic structure. But the situation changed, Hurley said, after N.Y.U. scrapped plans for adding a fourth slender tower (not well suited for a public school) within the landmarked Silver Towers complex and decided instead to build on the adjacent Morton Williams supermarket site, which is better configured for a public school; the revised proposal now calls for an S.C.A.-built public school in this planned building’s base, topped by an N.Y.U. dorm.

One of the building trades officials at last Thursday’s full board hearing noted that N.Y.U. is an “economic driver” for the city, generating $2.5 billion for the economy and providing 25,000 jobs. The 2031 plan, he added, would provide 2,400 construction jobs over the next 20 years. Hard hats in the audience, who were all wearing orange T-shirts, cheered and held up “Build It!” and “Build Now!” signs.

However, Steve Ashkinazy, a C.B. 2 member, said if N.Y.U. instead built in the Financial District it would still mean the same number of new construction jobs — only not in the Village. Local residents in the audience cheered their approval.

Dennis Lee, of Local 79 of the masons and carpenters union, said New York needs the educational power of N.Y.U. to keep pace with global competition.

“I think our thoughts really do have to go back to our kids,” said Lee, a hulking figure who looked like he could play for the football Giants. “This is a worldwide economy, and we’re getting left behind.”

Jennifer Falk, executive director of the Union Square Partnership business improvement district, similarly said

Photo by Tequila Minsky

Mary Brabeck, dean of N.Y.U.’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, said the 2031 plan would centralize Steinhardt’s scattered faculty offices.

that the area’s large institutions, N.Y.U., The New School and Beth Israel Hospital, “are all major economic drivers.

The economic impact that N.Y.U. has had... . They shop in our shops, they use our services. I strongly urge everyone in the room to work to make this plan happen for the benefit of the entire city of New York.”

As she spoke, an opponent called out, “Downtown!” and someone else chided her, “Shame on you!”

Scott Dwyer, the lone Village resident — not counting N.Y.U.-affiliated employees — to testify in favor of the scheme, said, “The current superblocks are monolithic failures, and the city and N.Y.U. are to blame.” He said the superblocks’ main feature is “private, walled-off gardens.”

“How much did they pay you?” audience members called out derisively. No residents had spoken in favor of the plan at C.B. 2’s five previous N.Y.U. meetings in January.

Mary Brabeck, dean of N.Y.U.’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, said the new construction would allow Steinhardt to centralize its faculty, now scattered over four different spaces, in one location.

Mary Schmidt Campbell, dean of N.Y.U.’s Tisch School of the Arts, said, “Greenwich Village is one of the world’s great artistic centers. For the past 50 years, the Tisch School has been a part of that.” She added that there would be a new performing arts center at Houston and Mercer Sts. “That’s the hotel!” one anti called out incredulously.

Indeed, N.Y.U. has not mentioned an arts center being part of the planned “Zipper Building” up to this point.

Calling the 2031 plan “elegant,” Janice Quinn, the N.Y.U. women’s basketball team coach, stated, “I say this as a neighbor, and not as an employee... . I think it’s time for us [N.Y.U.] to improve.”

Also testifying in support of N.Y.U. were representatives of social-service organizations, including the Bowery Residents’ Committee and University Settlement House.

“N.Y.U. has been a really excellent partner in helping those in need,” said the University Settlement representative. She said the Lower East Side settlement house supports N.Y.U.’s “ability to grow and remain a resource.”

The pro-N.Y.U. speakers were weighted toward the first half of the meeting. Hoylman said one person had signed

them all up — which is allowable. About midway through the meeting, some N.Y.U. officials, including Hurley and Senior Vice President Lynne Brown, and the construction workers left. The plan’s opponents angrily said they felt “disrespected” by the N.Y.U. officials for not staying to hear all the criticisms of the plan. However, John Beckman, the university’s spokesperson, did stay for most of the full 2½ hours of public testimony. He later noted that Hurley had already attended five meetings on N.Y.U. that month — plus, no resolution on N.Y.U. was being voted on that night.

Former Councilmember Carol Greitzer recalled how 50 years ago the community had fought N.Y.U.’s effort to obtain the two superblocks, which were part of a federal Title I urban renewal area. The original developer wanted to get out of the deal, and so the property should have gone to a bidding process — but the city wanted the university to get the blocks, Greitzer said. To appease the community, the university agreed to give one of the new Silver Towers — 504 LaGuardia Place — as a residential building for Villagers. In addition, the university promised to create an N.Y.U.-run, experimental public school on the present Coles Gym site, yet this was never built, Greitzer said.

“This is infill infamy, and we can’t let this happen again!”

Greitzer declared as the crowd cheered.

Beth Gottlieb, president of the Mercer-Houston Dog Run, said, “The buildings and scale of this project do not belong in the Village. We do not want to be homogenized, overbuilt or Gap-ified.” Warning politicians who will vote on the plan as part of ULURP, Gottlieb said, “To Councilmember Chin, Borough President Stringer and all our elected officials who say you represent us — do it! If not, you’ll hear from us on Election Day.” Matt Viggiano, Councilmember Chin’s land-use planning director, said he knows people are eager to know Chin’s position on N.Y.U. 2031. The superblocks are in her district, and her stance presumably would have a major influence on the Council’s vote on the ULURP. “It’s a little early for us,” he said of Chin revealing her full position on the project. “Over the next few months, the councilmember will continue to meet with residents and the community board. We have serious concerns about the size and impact of the 2031 plan.”

Nina Hernandez, an N.Y.U. alumna who lives on Mercer St. across from the “Zipper Building” site, said, “I know we need the jobs. But we need our community, we need our light, we need our air. I don’t want to live in a canyon.”

Mary Johnson, a former C.B. 2 member who lives east of Washington Square Park, said recent N.Y.U. projects, like its co-generation plan upgrade, turned the neighborhood into a nonstop construction zone.

“N.Y.U. has been renovating buildings, putting things on top of roofs, digging holes, connecting the co-gen to every area — it ain’t fun,” she said. “Eighteen to 19 years of that would be hell.”

Also, she said, the residents of the so-called “loft blocks” east of the park don’t want N.Y.U.’s proposed rezoning to add commercial uses in this area.

“We have plenty of shops on Eighth St. and Broadway,” she said.

Fearing the construction’s fallout and its impact on air quality, Laurence Maslon, a professor at the Tisch School, said, “What happens in my classroom when I have to take my 6-year-old to the doctor because he has a lung infection?

Faculty housing is a covenant between a university and its faculty,” said Maslon, who lives on the superblocks. He said if a project of this magnitude were proposed at a small liberal-arts college like Wesleyan or Oberlin, the faculty would revolt.

Gary Anderson, a Steinhardt professor, referred to Villagers’ past battles to beat back the neighborhooddestroying plans of Robert Moses.

“They know they’re on the wrong side of history,” he said of N.Y.U.

January 26 - February 1, 2012

15

Occupy demands reversal of the Citizens United ruling

BY JEFFERSON SIEGEL Occupy Wall Street took to the streets of Downtown again last Friday night, this time to “Occupy the Courts.”

The event, staged simultaneously in more than 100 cities across the country, was to mark the second anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

That decision, considered one of the court’s most controversial, overturned laws that restricted limits on corporate financing of political campaigns. It allowed corporate contributions to be considered the same as those from individuals, prompting one man in Friday’s march to carry a sign reading, “Not a Person.”

Crowds gathered at Zuccotti Park, formerly the home base of the Occupy movement, before they marched up Broadway to Foley Square chanting, “Money is not free speech.”

As in other cities, the crowd had planned to mass in front of a federal courthouse, this one at Pearl St. However, unlike in the other cities, New York’s Occupiers were denied a permit to gather there. A lastminute lawsuit demanding a permit was also struck down, so participants gathered in Foley Square across from the federal and state court buildings.

Three Brooklyn city councilmembers joined other speakers in denouncing the Supreme Court ruling.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Christopher Hedges, speaking against the rise of corporate power in government, looked across the shivering crowd in the bitter cold and declared, referring to the Occupy movement’s influence on politics, “If they think they got whacked this fall, wait till this spring.”

Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig said politicians “should act and vote as citizens, thinking about the common good.”

Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping sang their new song, “Declaration of the Occupation.”

When hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons took the stage, there were some boos and chants of “Sweatshop labor!”

Simmons, a frequent visitor to the Occupy encampment, pressed on with a brief speech in support of the movement.

Earlier Friday, Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez appeared in a Manhattan court along with dozens of Occupy participants who were arrested on the night of the eviction from Zuccotti Park last November.

“I was falsely accused,” Rodriguez said after his appearance before a judge. Rodriguez was charged with resisting arrest and obstruction of governmental administration. Rodriguez’s lawyer filed a motion to dismiss, claiming police didn’t explain why they closed the street.

Rodriguez was not offered an A.C.D. (Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal) and told the judge he plans to take his case to trial.

“I’m surprised at how the N.Y.P.D. mishandled the situation,” Rodriguez said. “I believe in the Occupy movement. I support this movement. I went to Zuccotti only with the intention to be an observer.

“I think they violated the First Amendment,” he said of the police. “I hope to see justice and we’ll take this case all the way.”

In the early days of the Occupy phenomenon, 800 people were arrested in marches near Union Square and

Photos by Jefferson Siegel

Above, O.W.S. marchers leaving Zuccotti Park, heading north on Broadway toward Foley Square. Below, Russell Simmons addressing the crowd.

across the Brooklyn Bridge. Lawyers for the arrestees hoped to make a point by bringing all the cases to trial.

Over several days of trials in the past few months, however, many of those arrested have opted for A.C.D’s.

In other Occupy news, lawyers on Friday dropped a lawsuit against the city that challenged the movement’s eviction from Zuccotti Park last November. The lawsuit was reportedly withdrawn because the barricades surrounding Zuccotti since the eviction were recently removed.

However, attorney Alan Levine cautioned the city, telling DNAinfo, “If Occupy Wall Street attempts to put up tents again and they’re denied the right to put them up, we will meet to consider whether or not another lawsuit ought to be brought.”

16

January 26 - February 1, 2012

EDITORIAL

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A museum is reborn

Respect zoning agreements

This week’s reopening of the Seaport Museum is cause for celebration. The maritime museum, which for years was struggling to stay afloat with dwindling patronage and sparse exhibits, was seemingly on the verge of closing altogether until a deal was struck between the museum and the city last September. That deal would never have happened without the grassroots effort that took shape over the last year to make sure the museum did not go the way of the Titanic.

In the months prior to the deal, the museum was forced to lay off the majority of its staff and shutter its galleries. But even that did not deter people from doing everything they could to try and save this institution.

Local elected officials, Community Board 1 and the dedicated people behind the group Save Our Seaport, are all to thank for their continued advocacy to make sure this Lower Manhattan treasure was not lost.

At the same time, Mayor Mike Bloomberg recognized the institution’s importance not only as a tourist attraction, but also as a crucial thread in the fabric of this city’s history. Once called New Amsterdam due to the Dutch immigrants that settled the area, the South Street Seaport, as it is now known, is one of the remaining neighborhoods in Manhattan that cannot escape its historical significance. Even as the neighborhood changes, it remains the same. For every fancy clothing store that replaced a nautical-themed thrift shop and every fancy restaurant that replaced a fish stall or a dive bar, there is a cobblestone that is no different than it was a century ago.

In short, the Seaport Museum is a Downtown resource that now remains visible and accessible for everyone so that New York City’s past can continue to inform its future.

With all that being said, there is news of the Howard Hughes Corporation’s impending plans to redevelop certain parts of the Seaport. We encourage them to bring this plan to the community as quickly as possible, and to work with the community and local stakeholders to ensure the plan respects the community’s wishes.

These wishes include not just saving the character and past of a neighborhood, but also preserving structures like the Tin Building and the New Market building, both of which are considered landmarks in our eyes and in the eyes of those who cherish the history of the Seaport.

Indeed, Community Board 1 has adopted two resolutions directing the city Landmarks Preservation Commission to extend the historic district boundaries so that these buildings are protected. Another property to be considered is the north side of Pier 17, which once was Pier 18, and is not landmarked.

Therefore, it remains vulnerable to development even though it’s on the National Register of Historic Places.

Howard Hughes Corporation should be prepared for a spirited debate on such issues, which carry deep historical significance, as well as continuity of use over four centuries.

Whatever plans they have, they should take some inspiration from the fanfare that will accompany the reopening of the Seaport Museum this week, which will revolve around the acknowledgement of the importance of the past.

To The Editor: Many proposed rezonings seek to overturn prior community zoning agreements. These requests are done in the name of progress but not all things termed progress are improvements. This is particularly true for the impact on people who live in our neighborhoods and communities. Whether it’s the West Chelsea Special District or New York University’s superblocks, New Yorkers should be able to count on prior agreements as binding. Our successful mixed-use neighborhood cannot continue to be discarded for commercial interest.

Deborah J. Glick Glick is the assemblymember for the 66th District

Time to stop the Shaouls Re “E. 10th St. block is landmarked, but rooftop addition is slipped in” (news article, Jan. 19): Thank you Villager and Mr. Confino for caring to report on this issue.

If anyone wishes to stop the likes of a young Ben Shaoul and his management team from running amok in your neighborhood, please join together in this, your community. No need to be victims. This gutting and building atop on E. 10th St. here is one of multiple wrongs — one that’s just visible.

Historic districting is wonderful for people like this management group, now raising their property value, and all costs are just passed on to tenants. Ben may be a nice guy who is still very unaware of the personal and physical consequences his destruction entails, and which mostly will continue to go on inside any protected exteriors. He states the American way is making as much profit as possible.

We posit there is still perhaps the higher calling many of us have served a life for, an additional American way, a sense of caring, a connected community. I suggest that is a word we can help him better understand. Who knows? Certainly, the great power of the East Village was, and can hopefully remain to be a bit longer, the ethnic, religious, cultural and socioeconomic diversity alive here.

As a direct result of Shaoul’s short tenure, and others like him, we’ve already coldly lost too many East Village citizens in these multiple and rapid takeovers, which specialize in turning our rent-subsidized buildings for the working class into top market-rate dwellings.

We need to follow the money and influence here. What

was the Department of Buildings’ rush on this one, when it knew the Landmarks Preservation Commission was seriously considering this? Why? You well know this real estate group has a long trail of shoddy, unsafe work, unscrupulous dealings and poor or no communication with tenants.

And so this group, which needs to be checked — Magnum, Fortune East, PVE, Meadow Partners and whatever multiple local names they give themselves — has been raking it in with pushing “market rate” as far as it will go.

Anthony Donovan

Bimbo was one of a kind To The Editor: Re “Te amo, Bimbo: Two Boots tribute to an L.E.S. legend” (news article, Jan. 19): I worked with Bimbo Rivas as musical director for his “El Piraguero” and “The Winos.” He took the No. 4 train to Croes Ave. where I went to meet him to put music to some of his plays’ lines and poems. As soon as he came off the train, we hugged and Bimbo looked around, took a deep breath and said, “Nothing like country air! I love the country!”

Mind you, we were in the Bronx!

Jose “Quico” Segarra

N.Y.U. a threat to East Village, too To The Editor: Preventing New York University from building on its own campus may be a solution for Greenwich Village but leaves the East Village N.Y.U.’s nearest option to build. Although the 2008 E.V. / L.E.S. rezoning prevents huge-scale development here, there are several large lots that may now become attractive to N.Y.U. Off the top of my head, these include the vacant former Loews theater on Avenue A, the former Charles Theater on Avenue B, Mary Help of Christians Church on Avenue A, the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on Avenue B and the old CHARAS / El Bohio, near Avenue B. And then there are the community gardens when their leases come due.

The weakness of NIMBY activism is shortsightedness.

Setting a cat at every mouse hole is the least effective solution. Word has it that Community Board 1, in the Financial

Continued on page 27

IRA BLUTREICH

Well, at least developer Trump likes N.Y.U.’s mega-plan.

January 26 - February 1, 2012

17

N.Y.U. promised an elementary school — back in 1960!

TALKING POINT

BY CAROL GREITZER Villagers should feel absolutely no reticence in asserting their opposition to New York University’s monstrous, grandiose 2031 plan. In view of the past shady actions of the old Board of Estimate, the community has a strong moral claim to demanding that current city officials take steps to right these wrongs — or at the very least, stop the former policy of opposing the public good.

We cannot allow this infill infamy to take place. The obvious solution is for Community Board 2 to support the Community Board 1 proposal that N.Y.U. expand into Lower Manhattan — a move that would benefit both communities.

I wrote the following talking point, “Greitzer’s View on Gym: Is N.Y.U. Playing Fair?” which ran in The Villager’s April 17, 1975, issue. At that time, C.B. 2 was about to deliberate on the issue of “the proposed N.Y.U. sports complex,” i.e. the future Coles gym. ***** Currently the chief remaining controversy over the Washington Square Southeast Title I project involves the southeasternmost part — at Mercer and Houston Sts. — where N.Y.U. proposes to build a gymnasium.

Originally, N.Y.U. controlled only the northernmost section, where the library now stands. But in 1960 Tishman-Wolfe, developer of Washington Square Village, decided it wanted out, and negotiated for N.Y.U. to take over not only that project, but also the undeveloped three square blocks to the south.

When the deal became public, the community exploded. Among those speaking out against the N.Y.U. takeover were the local congressman, assemblyman and presidents of both the Greenwich Village Association and the Village Independent Democrats. The congressman was John Lindsay; the assemblyman, Bill Passannante; the president of G.V.A., Tony Dapolito, and the president of V.I.D. — the writer of this history.

Several people pointed out that under the Title I Slum Clearance Law, when a sponsor defaulted, the site was to revert back to the city for subsequent public bidding as happened with the Amsterdam Houses uptown.

Carol Greitzer, who was then a city councilmember, in the 1970s, flanked by Tony Dapolito, then either Community Board 2 chairperson or C.B. 2 Parks Committee chairperson, or possibly both simultaneously, left, and Edgar Tafel, the architect of the First Presbyterian Church House, at 12th St. and Fifth Ave. They are standing in Washington Square Park, probably at a concert, Greitzer guesses.

But the city seemed eager to expedite the N.Y.U. purchase. At this point, the university’s own building efforts were confined to razing a fine 17-story apartment building, despite the serious housing shortage. It would be a decade before the library would be built on that site. (N.Y.U. also demolished some nearby tennis courts that had been used by its own people and Villagers. The university apparently was not so concerned about recreational needs in those days!)

Because Washington Square Village apartments were renting for far more than the middle-income levels the community had been led to expect, Villagers demanded true moderate-priced housing for the vacant southern parcel. Still determined to accommodate N.Y.U., the city realized it had to make some concessions.

A compromise solution involved housing for N.Y.U. staff plus a middle-income cooperative for the public. In addition, N.Y.U. was to create an experimental elementary school open to Village youngsters. Still wantMember of the New York Press Association

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ing more housing, the community felt this was the best it could get. Put in historical context, this was 1960 and the Village was less sophisticated about how to fight City Hall.

Within a few years, N.Y.U. began making noises about replacing the school with some sort of athletic facility and a plan was revealed recently. When confronted with the theory that they could not revise the provisions of the 9/15/60 Board of Estimate resolution which called for the experimental school, N.Y.U. cited a Board of Estimate resolution of 12/20/62 and an agreement entered into between the city and the university on 1/15/63 as authorization for substituting a gymnasium.

But this 1962 resolution continues to allude to the experimental school. The mayor was authorized to execute an agreement in accordance with the substance of the resolution, providing the agreement was “approved as to form” by the Corporation Counsel.

The actual agreement, however, made what

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seemed to be a substantive change by stating “such land use may include appurtenant recreational, educational (including but not limited to a private elementary school), social and service facilities.” [A “private school” meant a free-tuition, neighborhood, experimental school operated by N.Y.U.] Such a substantive change was really not legal, and it would be interesting to discover how the language crept into the January 1963 agreement signed by Deputy Mayor Edward F. Cavanagh. Was this phrase some clever maneuvering by N.Y.U., or perhaps a plot to circumvent a public hearing? We may never know.

We do know that this 1963 agreement was not revealed to the public till a few months ago and was never the subject of a public hearing. From both a legal and moral standpoint, since the community had been party to the original agreement, the community would clearly have to be consulted as to any subsequent change. Nor has N.Y.U. any right to act unilaterally in determining the future of this property, for back in 1960 the community would have taken legal action against the N.Y.U. takeover had the city not sweetened the pot with the school.

Without this essential ingredient the community would not have withdrawn its opposition to the N.Y.U. deal.

I want to make it clear that no one today wants an elementary school. But when N.Y.U. decided it no longer wanted to build a school, they were legally in default and the matter should have been brought up once again for public bidding. In fact, they were doubly in default because they were supposed to have completed the building within three years. However, as was shown before, the city was reluctant to declare a default on this project.

Because of zoning considerations which transferred additional bulk to the adjacent residential buildings, only a low-rise structure is now possible on this site, thus limiting the choices available. It may be that a recreational facility is now an appropriate solution, but if it is to be built at all, it must be done with the full consultation of the community, and it must be a shared facility.

We all sympathize with the needs of N.Y.U. students for recreational facilities, but the residents of Greenwich Village also have serious recreational needs. We hope that a solution can be found that will be satisfactory to all.

ART / PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Troy Masters ART DIRECTOR Mark Hasselberger

CIRCULATION SALES MNGR. Marvin Rock CONTRIBUTORS Ira Blutreich

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Vince Joy

Doris Diether

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Patricia Fieldsteel

Tequila Minsky

Bonnie Rosenstock

Jefferson Siegel

Jefferson Siegel

Clayton Patterson

Jerry Tallmer

18

January 26 - February 1, 2012

Finding Ira Cohen: On the trail of a mystic art icon CLAYTON

BY CLAYTON PATTERSON In the mid-1980s I discovered a very active and vital Lower East Side independent underground film scene. In 1985, Leslie Lowe and Jack Waters, both filmmakers, produced a screening series called “Naked Eye Cinema” that concentrated on showing these far-out filmmakers.

“Naked Eye Cinema”’s home base was ABC No Rio. I started to document some of the artists connected to this loose collective of filmmakers. One of the people I admired and whose creativity I was attracted to was Kembra Pfahler.

It was Kembra who got me fascinated and inspired to try to meet and document this eccentric, mysterious, poet/filmmaker/ photographer by the name of Ira Cohen. I was particularly intrigued with her description of how original and psychedelic his Mylar photographs were. However, it turns out he was living uptown, nobody knew exactly where, and the trail went cold.

On a Sunday night in 1986, I was at the Limelight nightclub, photographing the guests waiting to get on the “Fabulous Pop Tarts” cable TV show. (See Taylor Mead http://www.thevillager.com/?p=1546.) The guests were more underground than mainstream, but always interesting. Every once in a while a truly extraordinary person would

Photo by Clayton Patterson

From left, Larry “Ratso” Sloman, Ira Cohen, Spider Webb and Fly at the “Spider Webb 9:11” show opening at Clayton Gallery and Outlaw Art Museum, at 161 Essex St.

show up. On this one particular night, I was completely blindsided, awestruck, by the look and the physical presence of this lady. There was nothing ordinary about this woman. Her thick, shoulder-length, brushed-

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out hair was a brilliant red-orange color. Her stunning, bright-greenish eyes were made to appear even brighter and more seductive by a wide ring of black makeup, which completely circled her eyes. Her fashion seemed to be based on building up layers of loose-fitting, vivid, multicolored fabrics. Her fingers were adorned with thick chunky gold rings, each holding an oversized preciouslooking stone. Then, as if this wasn’t enough, the showstopper was the tattoos on her face.

Remember, this was 1986.

Nelson Sullivan, the person I worked the club with, introduced me to the wonderful world of the consumer-available handheld video camera. I knew I had to videotape this woman, Vali Myers. She was the second video I made. I was spellbound listening to her history.

Once a year, Vali would pack up her latest collection of highly detailed ink drawings, leave the seclusion of her valley near Positano, Italy, and come to the Chelsea Hotel to sell her art. The proceeds would give her the money to survive for another year. She is one of my favorite artists.

Vali made reference to Ira Cohen. Ira Cohen was one of her first friends she made in N.Y.C. Ira introduced Vali to Joshua Reynolds of the R.J. Reynolds tobacco company. He bought a drawing of hers. Ira and Vali crisscrossed each other’s life multiple times. Vali was connected to Chris Stein from Blondie. I met Chris Stein through documenting Necromancer Patrick Geoffrois. Chris had some Ira Cohen photographs on his wall and mentioned he was a friend of Vali.

Irving Rosenthal introduced Ira to L.E.S. underground film legend Jack Smith (1932 - 1989). Jack, was a radical, creative, gay, visionary who carved his own unique path.

And like almost everyone connected to Ira, he was a one-of-a-kind original. It seems that Jack Smith mesmerized Ira.

Finally, I met the great Ira Cohen. On Aug., 22, 1989, I made my first Ira Cohen video. Over the years, I have a number of videotapes and photographs of Ira. Linda Twigg is another very intriguing downtown woman who looped through different parts of the various Downtown scenes. Linda ran a gambling supply business, which included manufacturing madeto-order clay poker chips for casinos. Linda was an established and serious Downtown pot dealer. Linda rented a room in the Chelsea Hotel which she used as a gambling den. Linda was small, a little over 5 feet tall, but she was the wrong person to cross or to try and rip off.

Linda was a generous soul and she took care of her friends. Herbert Huncke, (1915 - 1996) the Beat writer stayed in her Chelsea room. In the Downtown underground scene Linda was a central figure, a high-energy vortex, and she generously helped out many struggling artists.

In 1990 when Paragon House press released “Guilty of Everything: The Autobiography of Herbert Huncke,” Linda celebrated the occasion by throwing a booksigning party at the Chelsea Hotel. Ira Cohen was there, along with a dozen other luminaries from the writing world.

Another friend, Abel Zug, was editing a history book called “Orgies of the Hemp Eater Cuisine, Slang, Literature & Ritual of Cannabis Culture” (Autonomedia, 2004). Because Ira, using the pseudonym Panama Rose, self-published “The Hashish Cookbook” (1966), I felt he would be a good fit in the book. Ira is in the book. I’m credited as editorial and creative adviser.

Ira Cohen was a guest at my gallery for at least two different shows. I also met him a number of times at the Chelsea Hotel.

I love and admire Judith Malina and Hanon Reznikov and our paths crossed numerous times, and almost all of those times included Ira Cohen. Lionel Ziprin and I started to show the 20-hour video “Book of Logic - Lionel Ziprin” at Anthology Film Archives — a video shot and produced by Clayton Patterson, read by Lionel Ziprin and Clayton Patterson, in 10 2-hour readings. First night, full house. But by night three, the seats emptied down to Clayton Patterson, Lionel Ziprin, Debra Freeman and Ira Cohen. Ira and I traded — an Ira photo for a Clayton Skull Cap. The N.Y.C. period Ira was active and created in was a time when individuality counted, and original outside-the-box thinkers, creators and visionaries were respected. Rent was cheap. The cost of living was affordable.

But then art got turned into a commodity, a product that was loved for the profit a “smart” collector or artist could make buying and selling the merchandise. The dealer became more important than the artist. Hype created money, which trumped the intrinsic value of a work of art.

A memorial event for Ira Cohen (1935 2011), poet, filmmaker, photographer, will be held Sun., Feb. 5, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., at The Living Theatre, 21 Clinton St.

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VILLAGER ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Back to The Piano Store John Clancy revisits not so long lost era of LES theater THEATER THE PIANO STORE PLAYS Saturday, January 28 at 10pm Sunday, January 29 at 5pm At the Barrow Street Theater 27 Barrow St., at 7th Avenue, South of Christopher St. For tickets ($15), call 212-868-4444 or visit smarttix.com

BY MARTIN DENTON Indie theater cognoscenti in New York City will all be heading to the Barrow Street Theater on January 28 and 29 (and so will I, and so should you). Why? Because on those two evenings, “The Piano Store Plays” will be performed by Nancy Walsh, Kevin Pariseau, and their author, John Clancy. It’s the first time that Clancy has appeared on stage in New York in a decade, and the first time these seminal early works have been seen anywhere in more than two decades.

If you’ve never seen John Clancy on stage — or if, like probably the majority of NYC indie theater artists/mavens, you’ve seen him on stage only in the capacity of master of ceremonies/executive or artistic director/rabble-rouser/activist — then you won’t want to miss this rare chance to see him exercise one of his oh-so-many theatrical muscles.

Clancy is probably best known as one of the founders of the New York International Fringe Festival (with Elena K. Holy, Aaron Beall and Jonathan Harris; until 2001, he was its artistic director).

Theater-makers in their 20s and 30s regard him as one of indie theater’s elder statesmen (though he’s not yet 50), as co-founder and executive director of the League of Independent Theater and as a teacher and advisor who has offered counsel and support to countless emerging companies and artists.

But Clancy is also, first and foremost, an artist himself — a Renaissance man of theater, in fact. His directing credits include THE seminal indie show “Americana Absurdum” (Brian Parks’s manic but clear-eyed comic view of life in America near the end of the millennium), as well as works by C.J. Hopkins such as “Horse Country” and “screwmachine/ eyecandy.”

Working with a corps of excellent actors that has included Nancy Walsh,

Photo by Dixie Sheridan

Back in the day: John Clancy, with FringeNYC co-founder Elena K. Holy.

David Calvitto, Paul Urcioli, Matt Oberg and many others, Clancy created a style of fast-fast-fast relentless and razor-sharp brutal satire that’s as distinctive as it is piercingly effective.

The first John Clancy play I ever saw was “Horse Country,” at the 1999 New York International Fringe Festival.

I caught a 10pm performance at the old Present Company Theatorium, after a full day of Fringe-going (it was my sixth show of the day). Though I was pretty tired, his galvanizing production of Hopkins’ sly, brilliant script woke me right up. Clancy’s work demands attention, the way that, say, Yul Brynner did as the King of Siam.

“Horse Country” made me a fan not only of the Clancy style but more importantly of his aesthetic — theater that doesn’t so much jolt or shock the audience as slap them silly (and silly is very deliberately chosen in this context); theater that not only makes you think but may well prompt you to some overt and/ or subversive action.

Perhaps no John Clancy work exemplifies this idea more than his solo show,

“Notice of Default and Opportunity to Cure” — which he performed for a few weeks in March, 2000. The show was inspired by a legal document (whose title was the same as this play’s) sent by the Present Company’s landlord regarding some owed funds. Clancy shaped his own reaction to this notice, and his deeper and larger thoughts about the nature of money and art and the uncomfortable ways the two are made to intersect in contemporary society, into an unforgettable show. Director Margarett Perry recently said on Facebook about this piece, “Still one of my favorite nights in the theatre! When he burned that $20 bill after going through the finances I was beside myself.” (I should note here that “Notice of Default,” along with several other of Clancy’s plays, is published on Indie Theater Now, a new website that I created and curate that’s devoted to contemporary American drama.)

“Notice of Default” showed me two aspects of Clancy’s talent I had not heretofore witnessed — his charismatic acting ability, and his incisive, insightful

playwriting style. Since then, he has had significant success as a playwright with “Fatboy,” which reworks Jarry’s “Ubu the King” as a grotesque latter-day Punchand-Judy show, and with “The Event” — a solo piece that explores the very nature of performance itself, in a manner that might best be described as part postmodern deconstruction and part “Our Town.” He is also the author of an amazing and scary comedy called “Captain Overlord’s Folly, or The Fool’s Revenge,” in which a group of anarchic rogue clowns hijack a traditional theater performance, which was commissioned at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2007 but has thus far not had an American production.

And now we have Clancy heading back on the boards in a triptych of his earliest plays. I got this wonderful scenesetting email from Nancy Walsh, John’s frequent collaborator, business partner and wife: “Remember the old Piano Store back when it was an illegal speakeasy?

Before there was a Present Company or

Continued on page 20

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January 26 - February 1, 2012

Clancy revisits lost LES era Continued from page 19 a New York Fringe? Back when we were performing at midnight on the Lower East Side when the Lower East Side was the Lower East Side?”

“The Piano Store Plays,” coming to Barrow Street Theater on January 28 and 29, takes us back to that time and place — with John and Nancy reprising roles they performed 20 years ago in that (in)famous old storefront space, joined

by Broadway veteran Kevin Pariseau (“Legally Blonde,” “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change”). The evening will be comprised of “Anyone” (described as “a love story on stage”); “Falling Out,” in which a marriage ends on stage; and

“Solo for Spoon and Birdcage” (a metatheatrical ballet of ineptitude with singing and loud noises).

Clancy writes, “These three plays were first performed on the Lower East

done with Present Company and Clancy Productions ever since. Back then, Nancy was working Off-Broadway and doing some soap opera work. I was writing crazy shit that no one wanted to produce

Though I was pretty tired, his galvanizing production of Hopkins’ sly, brilliant script woke me right up. Clancy’s work demands attention.

Side in the early 90s, what was then the epicenter of the independent theater world. In a weird way, they are blueprints for all of the work we’ve

and auditioning for roles I didn’t want in shows that sucked and getting a few callbacks but no gigs. Nancy recognized the larger implications and said, ‘Let’s

do it ourselves. Let’s just put up these shows. Why not?’ So here’s the stuff we put on. The reason that we’re doing them here and now for you is because Martin and Rochelle Denton asked us for anything that John ever wrote to publish on IndieTheaterNow.com and Nancy said ‘What about the Piano Store Plays. They were pretty good.’ ” I’m excited that we’ll have “The Piano Store Plays” online to share with everyone once this all-too-brief run concludes. In the meantime, I’m excited that John is back on stage in the work that “Started It All,” as they say.

Martin Denton is editor of nytheatre. com. His newest project is indietheaternow.com — the new digital theater library for the 21st century.

You know, for kids!

Two good excuses for a family-friendly excursion COMPILED BY SCOTT STIFFLER

Photo courtesy of the Piccolini Trio

Don’t stop clowning around.

THE PICCOLINI TRIO: CIRCUS IN A TRUNK Just for the record, we have it on good authority that performers booked for shows at the Canal Park Playhouse almost always show up. But that’s not the case when The Piccolini Trio sits down to enjoy a performance from a circus that never arrives. Fortunately, clowns always travel

with an antique trunk full of all the props, costumes and surprises necessary for putting on a show of their own.

Combining contemporary as well as classic European clowning, the Piccolinis (Joshua Shack, John Stork and Joy Powers) also draw from the collective experience of having performed with the likes of Circus Smirkus, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey and the Moscow State Circus. The result is a repertoire of routines that use music, acrobatics, physical comedy, juggling and pantomime in unique and unexpected ways. Their show, “Circus in a Trunk,” is part of Canal Park Playhouse’s Classic Brunch Matinee series — at which audience members can enjoy a selection of items from The Waffle Iron Café (open from 10am-6:30pm on Saturdays and Sundays, for ticket holders only). Among the Café’s repertoire: Hot-off-the-waffle-iron spinach, mushroom, smoked chicken sausage frittatas; French toast and traditional Belgian waffles. Greek yogurt, granola and fresh fruit provide a nice alternative to those making good on their New Year’s resolution to live on slightly less grease and sugar. Appropriate for all ages. Through Sun., Jan. 29; Sat. and Sun., at 2pm and 4pm. At Canal Park Playhouse (508 Canal St., btw. Greenwich and West Sts.). General admission is $20, with a pre or post-show pre-fixe brunch available for an additional $8 in advance or $10 at the door.

For reservations or more info, call 866-811-4111 or visit canalparkplayhouse.com. For info on the artists, visit piccolinitrio.com.

Photo by Geoffrey Berliner

Joyful noise, circa 2011: children sampling their ecofriendly instruments.

THE MUSEUM AT ELDRIDGE STREET: WINTERGREEN FESTIVAL The Museum at Eldridge Street third annual “WinterGreen Festival” celebrates Tu B’Shvat (the Jewish New Year of Trees) on all three levels of their landmark, the 1887 Eldridge Street Synagogue. Among the eco-friendly cultural happenings: planting and composting activities, artmaking, an instrument design workshop and a concert featuring Rhythm for Recyclables. At the traditional Tu B’Shvat seder, sample nuts, grains and other holiday foods (courtesy of Russ & Daughters and The Sweet Life). Then, take the “Green Tour” and learn about sustainable practices used in the synagogue’s restoration.

Sun., Jan. 29 1-4pm. At The Museum at Eldridge Street (12 Eldridge St., btw. Canal & Division Sts.). Free with Museum admission (admission is $10 adults; $8 students/ seniors: $6 children under 18).

January 26 - February 1, 2012

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Photos by Eric Harvey Brown

Fluffer’s ‘Miss Twin Peaks Contest’ tweaks Lynch

BY SCOTT STIFFLER First the Year of the Dragon, now this: January provides us with two more reasons to celebrate, what with it being the birth month of impenetrable filmmaker David Lynch and irrepressible burlesque gal about town Franny Fluffer.

Back in those seemingly innocent (but in fact, deeply troubled) halcyon days of 2011, Fluffer and friends debuted “The Pink Room” — a monthly reinterpretation of works from the files of filmmaker, artist and musician David Lynch (director of big screen efforts including “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive” — and co-producer of the landmark

TV show “Twin Peaks”). Equal parts tribute and satire, The Pink Room dipped into a specific cinematic weapon from the Lynch arsenal and forced it through its own strange, burlesque-infused prism. The result: a standing room only oddity that has earned a cult following that daddy David would be proud of.

This month, they’re staging “The Miss Twin Peaks Contest” — a nod to the beauty pageant that marked the beginning of a swift and lasting season 2 downward spiral. But why dwell on such disappointments, when you can schmooze with all your favorite characters? Rub elbows, and other body parts, with

The Log Lady, Nadine Hurley and more. Specialty cocktails will be served all night and “Peaks” will play on the screens in the front lounge (and yes, we’re told, there will be donuts).

Schaffer the Darklord (as Special Agent Gordon Cole) hosts. Performances by Amelia Bareparts, Gemini Rising, Foxy Vermouth, Francine, Iris Explosion, Satanica, Victoria Privates & Doctor Flux PhD. Sat., Jan. 28, at 11pm. At The Parkside Lounge (317 E. Houston St., at Attorney St.). For advance tickets ($15), visit brownpapertickets.com. At the door, $20; 21+, 2-drink minimum. Visit frannyfluffer.com and parksidelounge.net.

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January 26 - February 1, 2012

Photo by Darien Bates

Preston Martin and Black-Eyed Susan, in “Stopped Bridge of Dreams.”

Around the world in bed ‘Stopped Bridge’ books you on a flight that might not be real

BY SCOTT STIFFLER Like the uncertain fate of a traveler on standby, the takeaway from John Jesurun’s first production at La MaMa in a decade varies largely according to what they’ve got to offer on the particular night you decide to show up. Best, then, not to be tethered to the notion that somebody’s out to get you just because you came expecting a direct flight and ended up in a holding pattern.

Based loosely on Japanese writer Saikaku Ihara’s “floating world” tales, “Stopped Bridge of Dreams” features a revolving nightly series of playlets whose characters are caught between the past and the present, life and death, earth and sky and freedom and servitude. The only thing they seem to have in common is a stubborn refusal to achieve bliss by accepting their fate.

“We’re made up. We’re only pictures on a scroll. We’re not even born yet,” complains son Yoshi (Preston Martin) to his maybe mother Mrs. X (Black-Eyed Susan). Depending upon who you believe, and what time period it is, mom either owns a 17th century Japanese teahouse built for pleasure or an anonymous, haunted jetliner that serves as a whorehouse and way for the CIA to jettison enemies of the state into the ocean. To further complicate the narrative, Mrs. X might be dead (or maybe it’s Yoshi who’s the ghost).

“Stopped Bridge” is thoroughly obsessed with matters of destiny, obligation, identity and regret — but thankfully free of the angst and empathy a lesser playwright would ask us to feel for the damaged searchers who negotiate terms of profit and surrender as the plane circles the globe providing kicks and kinks for those who can afford it.

Morally ambiguous storytelling’s not enough for Jesurun, though. Told through text, video, music and a live internet feed, “Bridge” lets the audience eavesdrop on affairs of the heart, flesh and soul through multimedia done the right way.

When son confronts mother on the stage, the scene also plays out in real time on video screens. Dangling from above, they offer all manner of artfully framed long shots and close-ups.

The result is sort of like watching members of your family have an argument in the living room while a compelling soap opera on TV also demands your attention.

Through February 5, Wed.-Sat., at 7:30pm; Sun., at 2:30pm. At La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre (66 E. 4 St, btw. Bowery & 2nd Ave.).) For tickets ($25; $20 for students/seniors), call 212-475-7710 or at lamama.org. Visit stoppedbridgeofdreams.com.

January 26 - February 1, 2012

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Bring on the funk, groove and thunder Essential dates for your dance card

BY SCOTT STIFFLER

THUNDERBIRD AMERICAN INDIAN DANCERS In 1963, a small group of like-minded Native American men and women from the Mohawk, Hopi, Winnebago and San Blas tribes came together to form what would become the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers. They were all “first generation” — meaning their parents had been born on reservations. Founded as a way to keep the songs, dances, music and traditions of their predecessors alive, their annual Dance Concert and Pow Wow at Theater for the New City has become a tradition of its own (this is their 37th year at TNC).

Nearly two dozen members from over ten tribes will be on hand — with storytelling by the Coatlique Theatre (from the Chichimec tribe), a Hoop Dance by Marie McKinney (Cherokee), a Caribou Dance (from the Inuit people of Alaska), a Buffalo Dance (from the Hopi people), a Grass Dance and Jingle Dress Dance (from the Northern Plains people), a Stomp Dance (from the Southeastern tribes) and a Shawl Dance (from the Oklahoma tribes). The audience is invited to join in the Round Dance (a friendship dance) at the end of the program. The origin, meaning and significance of each performance will be explained through introductions by Thunderbird Dancers director and emcee, Louis Mofsie (Hopi/Winnebago). The matinees, which are shorter in length (90 minutes), have been designed for younger audiences. After the performance, the cast will be available to meet, greet and have their photos taken.

Fri., Jan. 27 through Sun. Feb. 5. Fri. at 8pm; Sat. at 3pm & 8pm; Sun. at 3pm. $10 general admission to all evening shows (running time, 2 hours). At matinees, children under 12 accompanied by a ticketbearing adult are admitted for $1. Native

Photo by Eve Jegou

Photo by Lee Wexler/Images for Innovation

L to R: Carlos Ponce/Eagle Feather (Mayan) and Alan Browne/Shooting Star (Delaware/Dutch).

Storyteller Elvira Colorado (Chichimec).

American craft items will be displayed in the TNC lobby. All box office proceeds go to the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers Scholarship Fund. For tickets and info, call 212-254-1109 or visit theaterforthenewcity. net. Access blog entries and video clips at thunderbirdamericanindiandancers.wordpress.com.

PROPHETS OF FUNK

CAMILLE A. BROWN & DANCERS Queens native Camille A. Brown brings her troupe back to The Joyce for the first time since 2010. Blending modern dance techniques with elements of West African dance and hip-hop, the program by Camille A. Brown & Dancers (three performances only) will include “Been There, Done That.”

Commissioned by Jacob’s Pillow in 2010, the character-driven piece eavesdrops on the lives of a dancing duo fro the 1950s. Set to the music of Ray Charles and Brandon McCune, 2007’s “The Groove to Nobody’s Business” imagines the meeting of two strangers (guest artists Christopher Huggins and Matthew Rushing) on the subway. “The Evolution of a Secured Feminine” (from 2007) features Brown in a performance whose taunt gestures and fast footwork celebrate the “limitless gift of being a woman.”

Also scheduled are excerpts from “Mr. TOL E. RAncE” (a work in development) and a new solo performed by Carmen de Lavallade.

Fri., Jan. 27 at 8pm; Sat., Jan. 28 at 2pm; Sun., Jan. 29 at 7:30pm. At The Joyce Theater (175 Eighth Ave., at 19th St.).

Tickets are $10-$39; call 212-242-0800, in purchase at the Box Office (Mon.-Fri., 12-6pm), or at Joyce.org. Visit camilleabrown.org.

DAVID DORFMAN DANCE:

Photo by Matt Karas

Been there, done that: Juel D. Lane and Camille A. Brown as a 1950s dancing duo.

Since its founding in 1985, David Dorfman Dance’s community projects have been presented over 30 times in 18 states and two foreign countries. “Out of Season” and “Familiar Movements” invite athletes and family members to rehearse and perform with the company. “No Roles Barred” challenges groups ranging from corporate executives and “at-risk” youths to college administrators, doctors and carpenters to contemplate identity and social constructs.

This performance at The Joyce (their first since 2005) continues the company’s long tradition of asking big questions while shaking their groove things. Set to the music of kindred spirits Sly and The Family Stone, “Prophets of Funk” has its cast of eight exploring the power of dance to help everyday people draw strength from (and find joy in) the muck and the mess — the “funk” — of everyday life.

Wed., Jan. 25 at 7:30pm; Thurs., Jan. 26 and Sat., Jan. 28 at 8pm; Sun., Jan. 29 at 2pm. At The Joyce Theater (175 Eighth

Photo by Christopher Duggan

Deep thought: David Dorfman Dance’s “Prophets of Funk” asks some big questions.

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January 26 - February 1, 2012

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Vil 12/22 –01/26/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF GREEN DRAKE LEASING, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 11/30/11.

Office location: NY County.

Princ. bus. addr.: 414 E. 75th St., 2nd Fl., NY, NY 10021.

Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., 13th Fl., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil 12/22 –01/26/2012

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF TREVI RETAIL MANAGEMENT COMPANY LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/5/11. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 10/12/11.

NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to the principal business addr.: c/o Rockie Gajwani, 730 Fifth Ave., 3rd Fl., NY, NY 10019, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: The Corporation Trust Co., 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil 12/22 –01/26/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 290 WEST VE LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/14/11. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o VE Equities LLC, 12 Mercer St., 3rd Fl., NY, NY 10013. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil 12/29 –02/02/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LUTWIN & LUTWIN, LLP. Arts of Org filed with the Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/4/11. Office loc: NY Cty. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail a copy of any process to the principal business address: 401 Broadway, Suite 1703, New York, NY 10013. Purpose: any lawful acts.

Vil 12/29 –02/02/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY. NAME: KATZ 36170 22ND STREET LLC. Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 11/14/11. Office location: New York County.

SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to the LLC, c/o Marans, Weisz & Newman, LLC, 29 Broadway, Suite 2400, New York, New York 10006. Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

Vil 12/29 –02/02/2012 T.G. BROGAN VENTURES, LLC, A DOMESTIC LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/7/11. Office location: New York County.

SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 32 Cornelia St., Apt. 24, NY, NY 10014. General Purposes.

Vil 12/29 –02/02/2012

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF CS YORK TOTAL RETURN FUND LP. App. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 3/8/11. Off. loc.: NY Co. LP formed in Delaware (DE) on 3/4/11. SSNY designated as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Credit Suisse (Cayman) Management Limited, 11 Madison Ave., NY, NY 10010.

DE address of LP: National Corporate Research, Ltd., 615 S. DuPont Hwy., Dover, DE 19901. Name/address of each genl. ptr. available from SSNY. Cert. of LP filed with DE Secy. of State, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil 12/29 –02/02/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 60-62 LISPENARD LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/5/11. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 6 E. 79th St., NY, NY 10021. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil 12/29 –02/02/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF EH 1601/1637 LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/5/11. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 260 Madison Ave., NY, NY 10016. Registered agent upon whom process may be served: United Corporate Services, Inc., 10 Bank St., Ste. 560, White Plains, NY 10606. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil 12/29 –02/02/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF HANAC PULASKI PARTICIPANT, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/30/11. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 49 W. 45th St., 4th Fl., NY, NY 10036. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil 12/29 –02/02/2012 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF PARK & COAST III, LLC. App. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/6/11. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/18/11. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Corporation Service Company (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207.

DE address of LLC: CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19801. Arts. of Org. filed with DE Secy. of State, Loockerman & Federal Sts., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil 12/29 –02/02/2012

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF BECAAN LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 11/2/11. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 6/10/11. NY Sec. of State designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: 1950 S. Ocean Park Blvd., Palm Beach, FL 33480.

DE addr. of LLC: c/o Vanguard Corporate Services, Ltd., 3500 S. Dupont Hwy., Dover, DE 19901. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil 12/29 –02/02/2012 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF J. LINDEBERG USA RETAIL, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/14/11. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in California (CA) on 8/21/09. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 54 Greene St., #2B, NY, NY 10013, also the principal office address. Arts of Org. filed with the CA Secretary of State, 1500 11th St., 3rd Fl., Sacramento, CA 95814. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Vil 01/05 –02/09/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF MARIKA LABANSAT LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/22/11. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 55 W. 11th St. #6C, NY, NY 10011. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil 01/05 –02/09/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF COMMUNIKIDS NY SLP & OT, PLLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/21/11. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of PLLC: 164 W. 79th St., Unit 1C, NY, NY 10024. SSNY designated as agent of PLLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Rachel L. FischKaplan at the princ. office of the PLLC. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil 01/05 –02/09/2012 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF BELSIZE PARK ASSOCIATES LLC. App. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/6/11. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/28/11.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: 290 West End Ave., Apt. 15C, NY, NY 10023. DE address of LLC: c/o Corporation Trust Company, 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Arts. of Org. filed with DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil 01/05 –02/09/2012

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF PRIME GROUP ADVISOR, L.P. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/7/11. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 50 California St., Ste. 3240, San Francisco, CA 94111. LP formed in DE on 11/16/11. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011. DE addr. of LP: c/o The Corporation Trust Co., 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Name/addr. of genl. ptr. available from NY Sec. of State. Cert. of LP filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil 01/05 –02/09/2012 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF PHARUS SECURITIES MANAGEMENT COMPANY, LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/14/11. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 2/28/11.

NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to the principal business addr.: 551 5th Ave., 11th Fl., NY, NY 10176, Attn: Kenneth M. Harrell. DE addr. of LLC: 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil 01/05 –02/09/2012 M GROUP WORLD LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 12/9/11.

Office in NY Co. SSNY design. Agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process The LLC 241 W. 37th St. Ste. 1200 New York, NY 10018 Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Section 206 Vil 01/12 –02/16/2012 ADEPT PHYSICAL THERAPY REHABILITATION PLLC, A PROF. LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 09/29/2011. Office location: New York County.

SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 5 Harvard Street, Floral Park, NY 11001. Purpose: To Practice The Profession Of Physcial Therapy.

Vil 01/12 –02/16/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 59 WEST 12TH 9H REALTY LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/8/11. Office location: NY Co. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 86 West 12th St., Ste. 5E, NY, NY 10011. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Vil 01/12 –02/16/2012

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF WILLOW STONE REALTY, LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (“SSNY”) on 12/20/11. Office location: NY county. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail a copy of any process to: 2 West 46th Street, NY NY 10036. Purpose: any lawful act.

Vil 01/12 –02/16/2012 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF ACC SC MANAGEMENT LLC. App. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/14/11. Off. loc.: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/13/04. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, registered agent upon whom process may be served. DE address of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Arts. of Org. filed with DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil 01/12 –02/16/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF ALVA 47 PARKING LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/15/11. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Icon Parking Systems, 211 E. 38th St., NY, NY 10016. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil 01/12 –02/16/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF THE ALICANTE GROUP LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/8/11. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Rosen Livingston & Cholst LLP, 275 Madison Ave., Ste. 500, NY, NY 10016.

Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil 01/12 –02/16/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF WM GROUP SERVICES, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/23/11. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 380 Seventh Avenue, Ste. 552, NY, NY 10121. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil 01/12 –02/16/2012

January 26 - February 1, 2012

25

PUBLIC NOTICES NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF SHORE ROAD - LONG BEACH LP. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/14/11. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 1114 Ave. of the Americas, 39th Fl., NY, NY 10036. LP formed in DE on 12/7/11. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LP: c/o The Corporation Trust Co., 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Name/addr. of genl. ptr. available from NY Sec. of State. Cert. of LP filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: real estate investments and finance.

Vil: 1/12 - 2/16/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF DESERT TECHNOLOGIES LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 10/25/11.

Office location: NY County.

Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Nour Mousa, 250 E. 40th St., NY, NY 10016, principal business address.

Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 1/12 - 2/16/2012 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a license, #TBA has been applied for by 6 Saint Marks Inc. to sell beer and wine at retail in a restaurant. For on premises consumption under the ABC law at 6 St. Marks Place, Floor 2, 3, 4 New York NY 10003.

Vil: 1/19 - 01/26/2012 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a license, #TBA has been applied for by Pennsylvania 6 NYC LLC d/b/a Pennsylvania 6 to sell beer, wine and liquor at retail in an on premises establishment. For on premises consumption under the ABC law at 31 Penn Plaza aka 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001.

Vil: 1/19 - 01/26/2012

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF JARDIN DE LAS CATALINAS LIMITED PARTNERSHIP. App. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/30/11. Off. loc.: NY County. LP formed in Delaware (DE) on 5/16/06. SSNY designated as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, registered agent upon whom process may be served. DE address of LP: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801.

Name/address of each genl. ptr. available from SSNY. Cert. of LP filed with DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 1/19 - 2/23/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LILLIANA PRODUCTIONS LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/30/11. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Marc Chamlin, Esq., Loeb & Loeb LLP, 345 Park Ave., NY, NY 10154. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 1/19 - 2/23/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 525 WEST 52 JV LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 5/2/11. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Gerry M. Ritterman, Ritterman Capital Inc., 525 W. 52nd St., NY, NY 10019. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 1/19 - 2/23/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 525 WEST 52 PROPERTY OWNER LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 5/18/11. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Gerry M. Ritterman, Ritterman Capital Inc., 525 W. 52nd St., NY, NY 10019. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 1/19 - 2/23/2012

TSOUMPAS 333 GROUP LLC, a domestic LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/9/11. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Pinzino & Pinzino, 160 Plandome Rd., Manhasset, NY 11030-2326. General Purposes.

Vil: 1/19 - 2/23/2012

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 525 WEST 52 OWNER II LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/16/11. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Jerry M. Ritterman, Ritterman Capital Inc., 525 W. 52nd St., NY, NY 10019. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 1/19 - 2/23/2012

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF DE HERMIT, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/04/12. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 1/19 - 2/23/2012

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF CROWNBLUEPOINT LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/27/11. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Crown Acquisitions, Inc., 362 Fifth Ave., Ste. 1201, NY, NY 10001. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vill: 1/19- 2/23/2012

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a license, #TBA has been applied for by Acitrezza LLC d/b/a Agata & Valentina to sell beer and wine at retail in an on premises establishment. For on premises consumption under the ABC law at 64-68 University Place New York NY 10003.

Vil: 01/26 - 02/02/2012 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a license, no. 1256827 has been applied for by Silo East Inc to sell beer, wine and liquor at retail under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, at a Restaurant located at 953 2nd Ave., New York, NY 10022 for on-premises consumption.

Vil: 01/26 - 02/02/2012 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a license, #TBA has been applied for by 102 Avenue C, LLC d/b/a Edi & The Wolf to sell beer, wine and liquor at retail in an on premises establishment. For on premises consumption under the ABC law at 102 Avenue C a/k/a 230 East 7th Street New York NY 10009.

Vil: 01/26 - 02/02/2012 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a license, #TBA has been applied for by The China Bull Noodle Shop LLC d/b/a Yunnan Kitchen to sell beer and wine at retail in an on premises establishment.

For on premises consumption under the ABC law at 79 Clinton Street New York NY 10002.

Vil: 01/26 - 02/02/2012 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that license #1256251 has been applied for by the undersigned to sell alcoholic beverages at retail in a restaurant under the alcoholic beverage control law at 309 West 50th St., NY, NY 10019 for on-premises consumption. Don Antonio Restaurant LLC Vil: 01/26 - 02/02/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF GNT GROUP LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (“SSNY”) on 9/14/11. Office location: NY county. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail a copy of any process to: 154 Grand Street, NY NY 10013.

Purpose: any lawful act.

Vil: 01/26 - 03/01/2012 453 W. 152ND, LLC, A DOMESTIC LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/12/2005. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: C/O Peter Siegel , 933 8th Ave, NY, NY 10019. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

Vil: 01/26 - 03/01/2012 465 W. 152ND, LLC, A DOMESTIC LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/12/2005. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: C/O Peter Siegel, 933 8th Ave, NY, NY 10019. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

Vil: 01/26 - 03/01/2012

2035 BELMONT, LLC, a domestic LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/23/2004. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: C/O Shapiro and Croland LLP, Attn: Craig Spector, 411 Hackensack Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

Vil: 01/26 - 03/01/2012 SFT REALTY LLC, A DOMESTIC LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/16/11. Office location: New York County.

SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 41 Carmine St., NY, NY 10014. General Purposes. Latest date to dissolve 11/30/2061 Vil: 01/26 - 03/01/2012 LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY Notice of Formation of Limited Liability Company (LLC) Name: SABON 434 6TH AVE, LLC Articles of Organization filed by the Department of State of New York on: 01/03/2012 Office location: County of New York.

Purpose: any and all lawful activities. Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to:38 Greene Street, Suite 5A New York, NY 10013 Vil: 01/26 - 03/01/2012 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF Q LINK WIRELESS LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State (SSNY) on 12/6/11.

Office Location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware on 8/25/11. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Q LINK WIRELESS LLC, 499 Sheridan Street, Suite 300, Dania Beach, Florida 33004. Dissolution Date: N/A. Purpose of LLC: To Provide Telecommunication Services.

Vil: 01/26 - 03/01/2012 NOTICE OF REGISTRATION OF NEWFOUND RESEARCH LLC Application for Authority filed with Secretary of State of NewYork (SSNY) on 1/6/2012 Office location: NY County.

SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. The address to which SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC is to: c/o Corporate Filings of New York, 425 Boylston Street, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02116. Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity.

Vil: 01/26 - 03/01/2012 LOTUS VENDING LLC, A DOMESTIC LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/14/2011. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 99 Warren St, Apt 11H, NY, NY 10007. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

Vil: 01/26 - 03/01/2012

FOREIGN LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY Notice of Formation of Foreign Limited Liability Company (LLC) Name: SYNERGISTIC MARKETING, LLC. Application for Authority filed by the Department of State of New York on: 12/02/2011 Jurisdiction: Delaware Organized on: 12/23/2010 Office location: County of New York Purpose: any and all lawful activities. Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: Randolph V. Aversano c/o Synergistic Marketing, LLC 192 Lexington Avenue, Room 1202 New York, NY 10016. Address of office required to be maintained in Delaware 203 NE Front Street, Suite 101 Milford, Kent County, DE 19963 Authorized officer on its jurisdiction is: Secretary of State of the State of Delaware Division of Corporations John G. Townsend Bldg. 410 Federal Street, Suite 4 Dover, DE 19901 Vil: 01/26 - 03/01/2012

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF NYC MICROENDODONTICS PLLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/08/11. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of any process to principal business address:225 E 64th St, Suite 1, NY, NY 10065. Purpose: any lawful act.1823279 Vil: 01/26 - 03/01/2012

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF MERITAGE FUND LLC. App. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 1/4/12. Off. loc.: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 1/2/12. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against

mail process to: c/o Pier 5, NOTICE OF FORMATION OF MARIA SECCIA LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 1/5/12. Off. loc.: NY County.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman, LLP, 90 Merrick Ave., 9th Fl., East Meadow, NY 11554, Attn: Fred Skolnik.

Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/26 - 03/01/2012

www.

it may be served. SSNY shall

THEVILLAGER

The Embarcadero, Ste. 101, San Francisco, CA 94111,

.com

Attn: General Counsel. DE address of LLC: c/o United Corporate Services, Inc., 874 Walker Road, Ste. C, Dover, DE 19904. Arts. of Org. filed with DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/26 - 03/01/2012

PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to the law, that the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs will hold a Public Hearing on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 2:00p.m. at 66 John Street, 11th floor, on a petition from Cavallacci, Fabrizio, to maintain and operate an unenclosed sidewalk cafe at 119 MacDougal Street in the Borough of Manhattan for a term of two years. Requests for copies of the proposed revocable consent agreement may be addressed to: Department of Consumer Affairs, Attn: FOIL Officer, 42 Broadway, New York, NY 10004 Vil 01/26–1/26/2012

PROBATE CITATION

File No. 2010-3456 SURROGATE’S COURT – NEW YORK COUNTY CITATION THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK By the Grace of God Free and Independent, TO: the heirs at law, next of kin and distributees of JOSEPHINE DEFRANCESCO, deceased, if living, and if any of them be dead to their heirs at law, next of kin, distributees, legatees, executors, administrators, assignees and successors in interest whose names are unknown and cannot be ascertained after due diligence.

Public Administrator of the County of New York. Attorney General of the State of New York. A petition having been duly filed by Robert Parinelli, who is domiciled at 8 Steeple Chase Court, Somerset, New Jersey 08873. YOU ARE HEREBY CITED TO SHOW CAUSE before the Surrogate’s Court, New York County, at 31 Chambers Street, New York, on March 9th, 2012 at 9:30 a.m. in room 510 why a decree should not be made in the estate of JOSEPHINE DEFRANCESCO lately domiciled at 57 Kenmare Street, New York, New York admitting to probate a Will dated March 21, 2000, a copy of which is attached, as the Will of JOSEPHINE DEFRANCESCO deceased, relating to real and personal property, and directing that Letters Testamentary issue to: ROBERT PARINELLI Letters of Trusteeship issue to: ROBERT PARINELLI f/b/o ROBERT PETER RIZZO. Dated Attested and Sealed, January 11th, 2012. (Seal) HON. Kristin Booth Glen, Surrogate Diana Sanabria, Chief Clerk Benjamin Hering, Esq., Attorney for Petitioner (212) 683-3020. Telephone Number 347 Fifth Avenue, Suite 900, New York, New York 10016. Address of Attorney [NOTE:This Citation is served upon you are required by law.You are not required to appear. If you fail to appear it will be assumed you do not object to the relief requested. You have a right to have an attorney appear for you.]

Vil 01/19-02/09/2012

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January 26 - February 1, 2012

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Continued from page 16 District, would welcome N.Y.U., but until someone brokers a deal with N.Y.U. to build in the Financial District, N.Y.U. remains a threat to the East Village. East Village leadership should focus on the long-term solution in the Financial District, unless the East Village has changed so much demographically and commercially that Community Board 3 also welcomes N.Y.U. Rob Hollander

We’ll fight them all the way To The Editor: Re “N.Y.U. takes heat on school and open space at hearings” (news article, Jan. 19): N.Y.U. should be ashamed of itself.

The “public elementary school,” which is now a kindergarten-to-eighth grade school, would certainly cause traffic congestion on Bleecker St., as well as endangering the children by its location on such a busy street. And the university’s obfuscation about many issues of importance to the community being presented by N.Y.U.’s team of nonresident hired help made its plan much less palpable to our close-knit Village community. N.Y.U. seeks to take over our public open spaces on Mercer St. and on Laguardia Place for the next 19 years while they construct a new city on two blocks of the Village. The N.Y.U. 2031 plan is a realtor / construction company nightmare that seeks to destroy the historic, landmarked nature of the Village. We shall fight them all the way.

Sylvia Rackow

It’s more than handbags To The Editor: Re “Authorities are still unable to bag army of knockoff vendors” (news article, Jan. 19): It is common knowledge that many bootleg items are sold on city sidewalks with what seems like near impunity. This includes bootleg fine art.

That is why it is most irksome that only some merchandise, such as handbags, is being considered for enforcement action.

The illegal copying and selling of fine art is an even bigger part of the illegal vending

industry and it is causing serious harm to the entire ecology of art. It is as if an ongoing oil spill is polluting the public art scene in New York City, only no one is trying to stop it or clean it up.

Literally, thousands of sidewalk displays selling illegally copied artwork clog our city streets every day. What is even worse is that these illegal stands displace the very few actual fine artists who have a sanctioned First Amendment right to display their artwork in public. It is as if a pirate fleet has displaced legal U.S. fishermen by force but the authorities do nothing.

Until Ms. Chin and others in a position of authority see the entire illegal vending situation as the problem (including bootleg artwork) and finally enforce the laws on the books now, the phenomenon of illegal vending will continue to grow and the damage to artists and our neighborhoods will only get worse.

Lawrence White

Crossing times too short To The Editor: Re “Girl is killed crossing Delancey St. (news article, Jan. 19): Why do we have to wait for a 12-yearold girl to get killed before anyone recognizes that the time for crossing Delancey St. allowed by traffic lights is woefully too short and dangerous?

Oh, I get it. It’s just “collateral damage.” It’s the minor price we pay in order to promote motorists, driving cars, motorized traffic.

And it’s not just that one intersection at Delancey and Clinton Sts. Many other intersections along Delancey St., Houston St., Allen St. and others are very dangerous, too.

Crossing time is only one issue. What about motorists who drive recklessly fast and seemingly act like they wouldn’t mind mowing down the vulnerable pedestrian?

Michael Gottlieb

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, 515 Canal St., Suite 1C, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. The Villager does not publish anonymous letters.

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January 26 - February 1, 2012