Tighten up, now! p. 14
Volume 2, Number 35 FREE
East and West Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Noho, Little Italy and Chinatown
March 22 - 28, 2012
South Village is a must-save, says Preserve League BY ALBERT AMATEAU The Preservation League of New York State announced on Wednesday that the proposed South Village Historic District was added to the league’s “Seven to Save” list of the state’s most threatened historic resources. Jay DiLorenzo, league president, joined Andrew Berman, director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, in a Bleecker St. rally urg-
Photo by Milo Hess
Hue gotta believe spring is here! While green proliferated elsewhere Saturday, in Hudson River Park the scene was rainbow hued at a celebration of Rang Barse, or Holi, the traditional Indian spring festival of colors. Revelers threw pigmented powder and danced to Indian beats.
Tompkins rat rampage has been brought under control BY LINCOLN ANDERSON “Mission accomplished!” The surge against the rats of Tompkins Square Park has succeeded. Last July, this newspaper first reported that ravenous rodents were running wild in the famed East Village park. The article set off a wave of media coverage more frenzied than rats fighting over a half-eaten Ray’s chili-cheese hot dog. The late blogger Bob Arihood even coined a term, “Ratstravaganza,” to describe the hordes of TV news crews that descended on the park. After the embarrassing story went viral, the Parks Department threw everything it had at the romping rodents
— from mint-scented garbage bags to impenetrable trash cans. Also, Parks finally relented and started putting out rat poison again, feeling Tompkins’ red-tailed hawks were no longer at risk of dying from ingesting poisoned rats. The alarm over the park’s shocking rat infestation was first raised by the new parents group Tompkins Square Park and Playgrounds Parents Association, or TSP3A. The group was formed to combat the rats and also address other pressing park and playground issues, like maintenance. This Monday, the day before the official start of spring, Chad Marlow, founder of TSP3A, declared victory in
the anti-rat campaign — though, he acknowledged, it’s a war that never ends. People began seeing a noticeable decrease in the rats’ numbers around November, according to him. “I think, if you looked around the park before, it was like the pocked surface of the moon,” he said, referring to the ratholes that used to be everywhere. But the holes have been filled in and new ones aren’t appearing. “Hopefully, we’ll keep an eye on it,” he said, “but I think we’ve got our hands around it. Hopefully, the
ing the city Landmarks Preservation Commission to act on the two-thirds of the proposed district that was not designated two years ago. “The league believes that preservation of special and meaningful places is important for the South Village, the state and the nation,” DiLorenzo said. He added that inappropriate development has
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New business group calls for scaling down N.Y.U. plan BY ALBERT AMATEAU More than 30 Village businesses and property owners have signed onto a coalition that recognizes New York University’s right to expand but is calling for modifications of the proposed superblocks projects. Villagers for a Sustainable Neighborhood began organizing last month and is led by Judy Paul, C.E.O. of the Washington Square Hotel. The group hopes that N.Y.U. will
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515 C A N A L STREET • N YC 10013 • C OPYRIG H T © 2012 COMMU N ITY M ED IA , LLC
negotiate with businesses and elected officials to scale down its proposal to add 2.5 million square feet of development to its two superblocks between LaGuardia Place and Mercer St. from Houston to W. Third Sts. “We recognize that N.Y.U. is going to expand and acknowledge that the university is good for the neighborhood, but there are problems with the
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VALIANT VIGILER PAGE 13
EDITORIAL, LETTERS PAGE 18
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March 22 - 28, 2012
Photo by Jefferson Siegel
Marina Zurita McKinnon, 7, of Chelsea, was happy to see Miss Cooper back in the Alexander Berardi boutique window on Prince St. on Saturday.
Hoppy ending as Soho rabbit rustlers return boutique bunny BY JEFFERSON SIEGEL It was a hare-brained scheme from the get-go that no one found very bunny, er... funny. A rabbit that spent its days in the window of a Prince St. boutique was kidnaped on Wednesday night March 14 by two people wearing cowboy hats. The rabbit, Miss Cooper, was lifted while Alexander Berardi boutique co-owner Christopher Kulukundis was busy with a customer. The hat-donning duo had often stopped by to pet the rabbit, just as many other passersby and customers did. “ ‘Every time I’m in the area I’ve got to come in and see the bunny,’ ” Kulukundis said one of the thieves had told him. On this particular night, however, the man, later identified as Thomas Smith, 62, and his lady friend, Andrea Ruggieri, 45, hovered over the Holland Lop bunny for several minutes. After they left, Kulukundis was shocked to find Miss Cooper gone. The rabbit rustlers, reported to be homeless, apparently told a friend about the cute critter, who, in turn, convinced them to return it. Late Friday night Miss Cooper was brought to the First Police Precinct in a small fish tank filled with Froot Loops. Just after noon on Saturday, a detective called coowner Alexander Berardi to report that the bunnynapers had been busted. After taking the call, Berardi emerged from the boutique’s back room to replace a “missing” sign from the store’s window with a sign reading, “Miss Cooper The Bunny Of Soho Has Been Found.” One particularly happy neighborhood resident was investigative journalist Carl Bernstein, who blew open the Watergate scandal. He was relieved that “Bunnygate” had been solved.
“I’m never for the death penalty — but for kidnaping, the Lindbergh Law should be invoked,” he quipped. “Death penalty for kidnapping a rabbit! “I always make a point of walking by and waving at the rabbit,” Bernstein continued as his wife, Christine, stood nearby. “I’m glad it’s going to be a happy ending.” Midway through the afternoon, Kulukundis arrived at the store with Miss Cooper in a small carrier and took her to the back room. Soon after, Berardi appeared holding the increasingly famous furry mascot and gently placed her back in the store’s display window. Before long, curious and admiring faces pressed against the store window as people leaned in for a closer look at Miss Cooper, who by now had settled down in the synthetic grass and seemed to take all the attention in stride — or rather, in hop. On Sunday afternoon, Smith and Ruggieri were arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of petty larceny and stolen property. Smith’s defense lawyer, John Carney, teared up as he spoke to reporters in the building’s lobby. Smith, he said, was a lonely man and had formed a bond with the bunny. “He’s an animal lover, not a hater,” Carney said, adding that Smith “wanted something to love.” Speaking before the judge, Smith said he alone was responsible for the heist and asked that Ruggieri be shown leniency. The judge consented, releasing Ruggieri on her own recognizance but holding Smith on $500 bail. Miss Cooper, no doubt, will have quite the tail — umm...tale — for her progeny one day.
March 22 - 28, 2012
3
SCOOPY’S
NOTEBOOK WOULD HAVE HAD RAY’S VOTE: Before he recently decided to call off a run for Democratic state committee in what would have been a June primary race, Dodge Landesman was making the rounds, as he put it, “in the process of racking up endorsements.� And his first was Ray of Ray’s Candy Store on Avenue A. Asked if Ray a.k.a. Asghar Ghahraman had really given him his political endorsement, Landesman said, “Yes, he did indeed. I know him decently well. I’m somewhat of a night owl, so I often walk down to Ray’s to get an egg cream or a slushie. I usually show up around 2 or 3, so it’s always when he’s on duty. He actually encouraged me to run for office initially — after I filled him in on my past, running for City Council and whatnot — so the endorsement was almost automatic. I was planning on taking pictures with and putting quotes next to the important community leaders who agreed to endorse me. The first one I was prepping to announce was Ray. Obviously, his endorsement is moot at this juncture but I’ll make sure to save it for a rainy day!� N.Y.U. DOWNSIZES PLAN: Saying it has heard the community loud and clear, N.Y.U. has agreed to slash its plan in half! No — not the entire, dreaded N.Y.U. 2031 Plan, but its proposal to commercially rezone the bottom of Washington Square Village. The idea has met with opposition from Community Board 2 and W.S.V. residents, including Professor Mark Crispin Miller, a leader of the faculty resistance to N.Y.U.’s mega-plan. Alicia Hurley, the university’s vice president for government relations and community outreach, explained that N.Y.U. originally wanted to commercially rezone the complex’s bottom two floors, but scaled this back to just the ground floor after feeling the community pushback. She said the idea is that, “If in ‘X’ number of years, for instance, the Citibank or that retail shop on that retail strip on LaGuardia Place — do you move something like that in there?� It’s all about keeping options open, at this point, she said. Basically, she said, the university wants to make W.S.V.’s bottom “more transparent and open.� According to Hurley, the first two floors have a similar facade treatment, which is why N.Y.U. was at first focusing on recladding both of them. “The idea is not to go in and turn the entire bottom floors of Washington Square Village into retail,� Hurley explained. “The idea is to make them more transparent. Whether you put in things for the faculty and students — like sitting areas, lounge areas... or doctors’ offices... . We’re not looking to make it into MacDougal St. or Eighth St. with rows of storefronts. But there certainly could be tea shops, coffee shops.� It all still has to be figured out, she said. As for the uses currently on the development’s ground floor, including C.B. 2’s board office, doctors’ offices and a nursery school — which are permitted there under community-facility zoning — they would all be allowed to stay if the rezoning is approved, she assured. FIT TO PRINT: Community Board 2’s Tobi Bergman tells us that, when he was a kid growing up, his father proudly used to do the typesetting for publishing icon Barney Rosset. Rosset, who died a month ago, lived and worked in the Village and Soho. Bergman’s dad had a small Linotype shop in Chelsea. “My father did all Rosset’s typesetting until sometime in the mid-’60s — Beckett, Lawrence, Miller, Evergreen Review,� the local activist recalled. “In the ’50s it was fun because it all had to be secret. I remember having lunch with my father and Rosset at Peter McManus on 19th St., I think I was about 11. I can’t remember the topic, of course, but I remember being very proud to be part of a big secret. Maybe it was about ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover.’ I remember my father always talked about how difficult it was
COPIES & MORE SINCE 1982! Ray, left, gave his support to Dodge Landesman when the latter was mulling a run for Democratic state committeeman. Ray’s East Village store was just inside the district — but now is just outside of it under the controversial new redistricting.
to typeset Beckett and how exacting he was. But I never met Beckett.� EMBATTLED BID: The hearing for the proposed Broadway Soho Business Improvement District keeps being postponed, indefinitely, it seems. On Wednesday, we asked Kelly Magee, City Councilmember Margaret Chin’s spokesperson, when it’s going to be held. “We do not have a date for the hearing,� she said. “As soon as we do, I will make sure everyone knows about it.� Oh, they’ll know, all right! STREAMING KILLED THE VIDEO STAR: Lynn Pacifico is sad to report that her favorite local video shop, World of Video, on Greenwich Ave. near Perry St., has lost its lease. They have to be out by the end of next month and can’t find an affordable alternative space. “This is the last video shop in the neighborhood,� Pacifico lamented. “I am very upset as I always enjoyed the atmosphere when I went to get a movie as they are all knowledgeable and passionate about movies. The only option now is streaming, which is so much less fun, personal and interesting than going to World of Video. ... It’s another loss for the Village,� she said sadly. “The neighborhood is losing its soul. It is no longer a ‘village.’ It’s becoming the Upper East Side.� By Pacifico’s reckoning the only other “nearby� video store is Allan’s Alley, at 22nd St. and Ninth Ave. SUPER LOSS: The Lower East Side’s Michael Gottlieb writes to tell us that Franklin Fernandez, the longtime manager of Fine Fare Supermarket, on Grand St. near Jackson St., is leaving for a new position on Long Island. “Franklin provided customers with good service, warmth, friendliness and a great sense of humor,� Gottlieb said. “People would come into the store just to have a conversation with Franklin. We’ll miss him!� GRAND ST. CONSTRUCTION ZONE: Biking on Grand St. through Little Italy and Chinatown has been hellish the past year or so, and it’s not because of some nefarious plot to make the street a shambles to discourage cyclists. Most of the road surface is constantly covered with metal plates and clumps of asphalt. After seeing Con Ed workers toiling in even-larger-than-usual trenches and holes in the street beneath floodlights the other weekend, we finally decided to call the utility to find out what’s up. Sara Banda, a Con
Continued on page 7
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Preservationists Andrew Berman, left, and Jay DiLorenzo at a press conference in support of the South Village Historic District on Wednesday.
As development pressure grows, South Village at risk, group says Continued from page 1 threatened significant buildings in the unprotected area, pointing to the steel structure rising from the recently demolished 178 Bleecker St. at the site of the Wednesday rally. The league lists the state’s most endangered historic resources on the “Seven to Save” register, DiLorenzo said, adding, “It’s time to designate the South Village.” Berman said the proposed rezonings of Hudson Square, just west of the proposed South Village district, and New York University’s superblocks project, just east of the proposed district, make the designation especially crucial. “With the Hudson Square and N.Y.U. rezonings moving forward while the South Village is unprotected, development pressure will increase,” Berman said. Berman recalled that a year after the Preservation League put the Meatpacking District on its “Seven to Save” list in 2002, L.P.C. designated it as the Gansevoort Market Historic District. “We’re looking forward to the same thing happening for the 35-block area of the South Village,” Berman said. In 2010, L.P.C. added one-third of the proposed South Village district as an expansion of the original Greenwich
Village Historic District. “That was a first step but we can’t wait any longer for the second step. We need the designation now,” Berman said. An L.P.C. spokesperson said later that the commission has not yet set a timeline for a vote on whether to hear the proposals to further expand the Greenwich Village Historic District. Regarding development threats to proposed historic districts, the spokesperson said, “While alterations to buildings in a potential district are a cause for concern, our experience has shown that changes involving only one or a small number of buildings relative to the overall size of a large district do not diminish the integrity of the neighborhood as a whole or affect the district’s eligibility for designation.” The original Greenwich Village Historic District, designated in 1969 — then and now, the largest in the city — had 2,035 buildings and was extended by 45 buildings in 2006 and by 235 buildings in 2010 in the South Village. L.P.C. is currently considering designation of three district expansions in Crown Heights and Park Slope, in Brooklyn, one in Ridgewood, Queens, and four in Manhattan, three of them on the Upper West Side and another with 300 buildings in the East Village/Lower East Side.
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March 22 - 28, 2012
Photos by Tony Hoffman
Among politicians seeking the two clubs’ endorsement were Congressmember Jerrold Nadler, left, and Assemblymember Deborah Glick.
V.I.D., D.I.D. hear from, and support, incumbents BY TONY HOFFMANN Before a packed house of about 100 people, the Village Independent Democrats and the Downtown Independent Democrats held a joint candidates forum and endorsement meeting at Greenwich House on Thurs. evening March 15. Jonathan Geballe, president of V.I.D., and Jeanne Wilcke, president of D.I.D., welcomed the assemblage of club members, community activists, candidates and their representatives as they streamed in. Overlaying the forum was the concurrent redrawing of district lines and the ongoing furor in Albany over new districts for the upcoming November election. Some state legislators arrived blurry eyed after an all-night session in Albany. The state Senate session had ended in a Democratic walkout — a protest over much-derided new district lines drawn by the Republican Senate majority, and acceded to by Democratic Governor
Andrew Cuomo. State Senator Tom Duane expressed both disappointment with the governor’s position and resignation over the new district lines, which, Duane stated, will disenfranchise both minorities and Downstaters. Turning to Washington, D.C., Congressmember Jerrold Nadler lamented the changes that have occurred since the Republicans took over the House of Representatives. He quoted Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, a Republican, who said that the transportation bill that came out of the House was “the worst bill I have ever seen.” Nadler expressed confidence that the bill would be improved, but was doubtful it would be as good as it needs to be. The congressman proudly noted that before the Republicans took over the House, he was responsible for enacting a number of crucial bills. One of these required all incoming shipping containers to be scanned for nuclear materials,
and another ensured community members’ inclusion in the Zadroga Health and Compensations Act. In response to a question on whether he supports taking military action against Iran now, he said, no. He said he feels that sanctions and diplomacy should first be given a chance to work.
Tom Duane said the new district lines will disenfranchise both minorities and Downstaters. Assemblymember Deborah Glick, chairperson of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, said she was proud of the support she was able to give to higher education. Last year’s tuition hike at state colleges was tied to provisos of more aid to poor students and the requirement that the state maintain its level of funding and not syphon off the extra tuition money for other state needs. According to Glick, the state has kept to its agreement so far. Glick is also pleased by the role she played in getting the marriage equality act passed and the funding she secured to keep St. Vincent’s Hospital open while the search proceeded for a takeover partner. Unfortunately, according to Glick, without the support of the mayor, the New York State Department of Health and a viable partner hospital, St. Vincent’s was forced to close. Also addressing the forum were Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh, congressional candidate Erik Martin Dilan, U.S.
Senate candidate (independent) Scott Noren, Democratic State Committeewoman Rachel Lavine and State Committeeman Arthur Schwartz. In addition, there were speakers for U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Congressmembers Carolyn Maloney and Nydia Velazquez. Finally, candidates for Civil Court and Surrogate’s Court addressed the forum. At the forum’s conclusion, V.I.D. and D.I.D. members split up and moved into separate rooms to endorse candidates for the upcoming primary. V.I.D. and D.I.D. both endorsed President Obama, Senator Gillibrand, Representatives Nadler and Maloney, state Senator Duane, Assemblymember Glick, Democratic State Committeewoman Lavine, Civil Court candidates Melissa Crane and Verna Saunders, Civil Court candidate Debra Rose Samuels and Surrogate’s Court candidate Judge Rita Mella. Additionally, D.I.D., which encompasses areas not covered by V.I.D., endorsed Congressmember Velazquez, Assembly Speaker Silver, Assemblymember Kavanagh, Civil Court candidate Anil Singh — who is running for re-election since his 10-year term is up — and State Committeeman Schwartz. As for the lone incumbent that V.I.D. didn’t back for re-election — Schwartz — it was because he supported Cuomo for governor on the Working Families Party line two years ago. Voters who were swayed by Schwartz’s endorsement cost V.I.D. judicial delegates, which are based on votes on the Democratic line for governor. Asked last Thursday, if he would do it again in two years, Schwartz could not give a firm commitment that he wouldn’t. V.I.D. feels that elected Democratic Party officials should support Democrats.
March 22 - 28, 2012
SCOOPY’S
NOTEBOOK Continued from page 3 Ed spokesperson, explained, “Our presence there is related to the city’s water tunnel project. We have steam, gas and electric equipment in the area that requires interference work ahead of the tunnel project. We have been on site since March 2011, but are in the final stages of our work. The city will then come in after we finish.” Oh man — “the city will then come in” — how much longer will that take? That’s our question for next week. “Interference work,” by the way, according to Banda, means “relocating certain infrastructures, including but not limited to electrical conduits, steam pipes, gas pipes and/or vaults.” It also means “interfering” with bicycling and, we’re sure, local businesses, traffic and pedestrians’ ability just to cross the street. … On other bike-related news, the Manhattan Bridge’s bike lane has been switched from the bridge’s south side back to the north side now that repair work on that side has finished. Too bad, though, the view’s not as nice. CORRECTIONS: An article in last week’s issue on the new Minskoff office building
project at 51 Astor Place (site of the former Cooper Union Engineering Building), incorrectly stated that The Cooper Union’s new building at 41 Cooper Square opened in 2006. That was when ground was broken. The building actually opened in 2009. … Also, an article on the Cabrini nursing home’s decision to close by this summer should have stated that if Cabrini doesn’t receive a $7 million grant from the state Department of Health for the shutdown, but is able to sell its nursing home beds, Cabrini would still have to pay $4.5 million for the shutdown. Patricia Krasnausky, C.E.O. and president at Cabrini Eldercare, wrote to us, saying, “We would appreciate this being corrected so it is not assumed that our closing costs are $11 million.” … This isn’t really a correction, but an article in last week’s issue on Pete Gleason’s efforts to represent Anna Gristina, the “Hockey Mom Madam,” failed to mention that the reporter tried to contact the Tribeca attorney for comment several times but was unsuccessful. Usually Gleason’s voicemail was full, but the reporter once was able to leave a message, and a request for comment was also e-mailed to Gleason. He didn’t respond — though he did subsequently relate his whole life story to one of the dailies for a full-page profile!
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March 22 - 28, 2012
POLICE BLOTTER Chelsea murder arrest
Indicted for shooting cop
Two men suspected of murdering John Laubach, 57, in his W. 22nd St. apartment on March 2 were apprehended in Orlando, Florida, on Thurs., March 15, after New York Police Department detectives, alerted by a Crime Stoppers tip, tracked the suspects by their cell phone signals. Edwin Faulkner, 30, and Juan Carlos MartinezHerrera, 26, were extradited to New York where they were arraigned on Sunday on murder charges. The suspects, who had been living with Laubach in his apartment near Seventh Ave. on his invitation for a couple of weeks, bound and gagged the victim, tied him to his bed and strangled him, according to the complaint. They fled with his laptop computer, credit cards and jewelry, and hocked the jewelry at a pawnshop on Seventh Ave., where a clerk phoned police, according to reports. One of the suspects was caught on an A.T.M. surveillance tape trying to use Laubach’s stolen bank card and one suspect tried to use a stolen card at a Bronx diner two days after the murder, according to daily newspaper reports. Both suspects have records of previous arrests.
Luis Martinez, 25, a resident of the Baruch Houses on the Lower East Side, was indicted on Wed., March 14, on attempted murder charges for firing at two police officers at 1:40 a.m. Mon., Feb. 27, as they were patrolling on Columbia St. Martinez, who was arrested in his Baruch Houses apartment, fired several shots, one of which hit the magazine clip on the belt of Officer Thomas Richards. The magazine deflected the bullet away from the officer’s abdomen, the indictment says. During the exchange of gunfire, a police bullet hit Martinez in the buttock as he was fleeing.
Occupiers return Occupy Wall Street returned to Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan on Sat., March 17, when police arrested 73 demonstrators. A group of Occupiers came to Union Square Park on Mon., March 19, and one of them was arrested at 6:45 a.m. the following morning, police said. Police said the arrests in Zuccotti Park were mostly for misdemeanors. Police said park rules prohibit sleeping and/or raising tents in the park. The suspect arrested at Union Square Park, Daniel Jeffe, 33, was charged with reckless endangerment, criminal trespass and violation of park rules. City Councilmembers Ydanis Rodriguez, Jumaane Williams and George Martinez raised questions on Monday about rough treatment and the legality of Saturday’s arrests. But Mayor Bloomberg told reporters on Monday that violations would continue to result in arrests. A Florida man, identified in the Daily News as Rusty Braxton, who has never been to Zuccotti Park or attended an Occupy event, tweeted a message saying, “We wont make a difference if we don’t kill a cop or 2,” on Saturday. He later said the message did not refer to Zuccotti Park. “I’ve gotten death threats. It’s been taken out of context,” he told the Daily News.
Attempted rape indictment Michael Torres, 29, was indicted last week for attempted rape and sexual assault for attacking a woman in the J train subway station at Bowery and Delancey St. at 12:45 a.m. on Feb. 8. Torres grabbed the victim in a chokehold, pulled her off an escalator, threw her to the ground and dragged her to the end of the platform and onto the subway tracks, according to papers filed with the Manhattan district attorney. The suspect banged the victim’s head against the tracks and pulled her further into the tunnel, where he sexually assaulted her. A track worker was credited with saving the victim’s life when he raised the alarm and prompted the suspect to flee.
Fake police in L.E.S. Police are looking for two suspects who harassed a victim on the J train platform at Essex and Delancey Sts. on Feb. 4, then flashed badges, one of them claiming to be a police officer and the other saying he was an Immigration agent. The two imposters punched the victim and fled with his wallet, police said.
Meatpacking dealer Police arrested a suspect on the northeast corner of Ninth Ave. and W. 14th St. around 1 a.m. Sat., March 3, for offering cocaine for sale to passersby. The suspect produced a forged Florida ID with his photo and the name Mark Richards. He was charged with criminal possession of 21 plastic bags of cocaine weighing about 2 grams and 56 pills of hydromorphone hydrochloride, a morphine derivative known on the street as “Little Ds.”
Subway bag grab
Bag SOB story
A woman visiting from Los Angeles put her bag on a seat next to her on a southbound C train around noon Fri., March 9, and discovered a few minutes later at the Spring St. station that someone had made off with it.
A Queens woman, 19, was dancing with two or three strangers at SOB’s, 204 Varick St., with her bag on her shoulder around 1 a.m. Sat., March 10, when she discovered that the bag was open and her wallet with $8 in cash and her bank card was gone.
Soho thefts
Club problems
A thief snatched a stack of six jeans with a total value of $1,914 from a display at True Religion, 132 Prince St., at 11:23 a.m. Sat., March 17, and fled with them. Someone made off with three handbags from I-Ella, 401 Broadway at Walker St., around noon Fri., March 16, while the store was having a private showing. A woman shopping at the H & M department store at 515 Broadway around 8 p.m. Wed., March 14, put her bag with three golf clubs down on the floor for a minute while looking at various items and discovered a short time later that the bag and the clubs had been stolen. A patron of The Dutch, the restaurant at 131 Sullivan St., put his laptop bag at his feet around 5:45 p.m. Fri., March 9, and discovered 15 minutes later that it was gone. Alexis Bitar was arrested around 3:45 p.m. Sat., March 17, for stealing four pairs of earrings and a necklace with a total value of $1,295 from a shop at 465 Broome St.
Police arrested Andrea Garcia, 25, for felony assault for hitting a man in the face with a bottle at El Cantinero, 86 University Place, during the early hours of Sun., March 18. The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital for stitches to close multiple cuts to his head and face, police said. A thief made off with a patron’s bag from Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St., around 9:05 p.m. Fri., March 16. A patron of Le Souk, 510 LaGuardia Place, lost her bag with $500 cash, her paycheck and her iPhone around 4:45 a.m. Fri., March 9.
‘White Glove Bandit’ A man who has come to be known as the “White Glove Bandit” pulled off his third Village bank robbery in the past three months on Mon., March 12. Wearing white gloves and sunglasses, he walked into the Citibank branch at 555 LaGuardia Place around 9:30 a.m. March 12, waved a black revolver at a teller, demanded money and fled on foot with an unspecified amount of cash, headed south on LaGuardia Place toward Houston St. He held up the same Citibank branch on Feb. 14. On Thurs., Jan.26, he hit the HSBC at 769 Broadway at E. Ninth St. The suspect is described as a white man in his mid-to-late 30s, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, medium build with a disfigurement on the right side of his nose by his nostril. He wore black shoes and black trousers at each of the robberies. He also carries a black-red-and-gray backpack. Tips may be phoned to the F.B.I., 212-384-1000, which is offering a reward for information leading to the suspect’s arrest.
Village rough stuff Police arrested Ricardo Pla, 23, around 1:10 a.m. Sat., March 17, at the corner of Sixth Ave. and W. Eighth St. and charged him with felony assault for repeatedly punching a woman, 24, in the face and pushing a lit cigarette into her face and neck. Police arrested James Jones, 30, after a witness reported that he saw the suspect push a woman against a wall in front of 60 W. 14th St. around 12:36 a.m. Sat., March 17. The victim was the suspect’s former girlfriend and had a court order of protection against him.
Wild ride A police officer shouted a warning at 4:15 a.m. Sun., March 18, to a reckless driver who swerved around three cars, and sped down MacDougal St. The officer and a sergeant driving a patrol car gave chase and arrested the driver, Aaron Spencer, 23, in front of 123 MacDougal St. The suspect had a suspended driver’s license and was carrying two forged credit cards, police said.
Car break-in A man who parked his car on Hudson St. near Charlton St. around 2 a.m. Sat., March 10, returned to it at 8 a.m. and discovered that his laptop computer and several checkbooks had been stolen from a back seat, although there was no sign of forced entry.
Alber t Amateau
March 22 - 28, 2012
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Tompkins rat rampage has been brought under control Continued from page 1 time where rats would run over your foot is passed. Hopefully, the worst of it is well behind us.” The grounds outside the playground are now guarded with a protective ring of small rat traps that resemble black mini-boulders, as well as larger traps. Marlow said there were a number of steps that were taken, all of which combined together to beat back the rats. First, the park’s trash cans were changed to a type that has a domed lid with an opening that springs shut, sealing them off from the four-footed scavengers. Second, garbage collection in the park was made more reliable; garbage was never left out in bags. Also, TSP3A donated 5,000 Mint-X rodent-repellant trash bags to the department for use in the park. Mint-X gave Parks another 5,000. It turns out, rats hate mint. According to Mint-X’s Web site, “A rodent’s nasal cavity is comprised of 50% olfactory tissue compared to only 5% for humans. For this reason the mint scent is extremely irritating to rodents, yet appealing and refreshing to humans.” Mint also keeps rats out of gardens, the site notes. Parks cleared away low brush, underneath
which rats like to locate their burrows. In addition, Parks workers, wearing big boots, daily stomped down and caved in the rat burrows. Rat traps were put out, especially around the playground. Toward last summer’s end, in response to TSP3A’s pleas, Parks finally decided that it could start baiting the park again with rat poison. A big concern, apparently, had been the presence of not just hawks in the park, but newborn hawks, which is why the baiting had been suspended. Marlow said, “We were told around September that the baby red-tailed hawks were now big enough that they could withstand the poison.” There was also an education campaign as Parks put up signs that read, “Feed a Pigeon, Feed a Rat.” Finally, Parks reached out to the charity groups that distribute food in Tompkins, asking them to ensure they don’t leave any food around. TSP3A also gave these feeding groups Mint-X bags. Marlow said the East Villager’s coverage of last year’s rat rampage, which sparked the flood of media coverage, was critical to resolving the problem. “To be completely frank,” he said on Monday, “it was because of my group and your paper. If we didn’t get these stories all over the news, we wouldn’t have gotten all that attention. We got all the daily newspa-
Photos by Lincoln Anderson
Israel Roldan Rivera, 66, was waiting outside Tompkins Square Park for a “pantry bag” from the Bowery Mission feeding program on Tuesday. He said the park’s hawks are also helping control the rat population. As a youth, Rivera was dragooned into joining an Avenue D gang, the Sportsmen. He managed to get free of the gang, but at age 33 was shot in the back after a dispute with a storeowner, leaving him a paraplegic. Still, he has a sunny personality.
These mini-boulders outside the Tompkins Square Park main playground are, in fact, camouflaged rat traps.
pers, the local TV news stations and the local radio stations. We got the East Villager, first and foremost.” Last summer as the rat story exploded, East Village blog posters debated about whether rat control equals gentrification — some charged that only yuppies would support a rat-free park. “I think that’s an offensive position,” Marlow retorted. “I think all neighborhoods in this city should be free of vermin. I think
the issue should be how to keep affordable housing and get rid of the rats — not, ‘We need to keep the rats because they’re necessary to keep affordable housing.’ “They’re right conceptually, that if you have a neighborhood that’s blighted, that has rats and drug dealers, it’s not very expensive,” he conceded. “They’re saying, ‘If you want to continue living in your neighborhood, your kids have to play with the rats.’ “Our association has many members from the projects on Avenue D, who have lived here for 30, 40 years,” Marlow continued. “You want to tell those people that they’re yuppie gentrifiers because they’re advocating for getting rid of the rats?” Entering the main Tompkins playground on Tuesday morning with Gali, 4, his niece, Santiago Sanchez, 38, said the park’s pest situation is much better. “Oh yeah — major, major,” he said. “I would say, 60 percent improvement. They seem to be doing good with it.” Likewise, Max Smith, walking Shakur, his cinnamon red-nose pit bull, said the park’s rodent problem has been reduced. “Definitely, definitely,” he said. “It used to be crazy. It’s definitely mellowed. Totally.” Last summer, TSP3A had threatened to take action against Parks if the Tompkins
Continued on page 20
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Water taxis will be cruising into Christopher St. Who says it’s hard to get a taxi in the Far West Village? Well, not anymore — at least not a water taxi, that is. New York Water Taxi will be starting service at the Christopher St. Pier on Sat., March 31. Rates for a “hop-on/hop-off,” all-day pass are $26 for adults and $16 for children. Ferries will depart from Pier 45 (the Christopher St. Pier) every 45 minutes from 10:20 a.m. to 5:50 p.m. from April through October. “It’s a very robust service,” said Travis Noyes, N.Y.W.T.’s senior vice president of sales and marketing. “It will be daily service and year-round.” From November to March, there will be half as many stops at Christopher St., with the boats leaving every 90 minutes. Other stops include W. 44th St., Battery Park (9/11 Memorial), South St. Seaport and DUMBO (Fulton Ferry landing). Noyes said N.Y.W.T. expects the Christopher St. stop won’t be used by commuters but will be a “leisure stop — for people who want to take the ferry over to DUMBO for Grimaldi’s Pizzeria or to just get out on the water,” he said. “The majority of our users are locals — but they use it for leisure purposes rather than for commuting.” The water taxis are also popular with
New York Water Taxi offers great sightseeing from both indoor and rooftop seating.
tourists, he added. There’s a Sept. 11 Memorial package, but that has to be purchased at the W. 44th St. location. There’s also the “Bike and Roll” package, in which people can, for example,
bike to the Brooklyn Bridge, then take a water taxi to see the city and the Statue of Liberty from offshore. New York Water Taxi is a self-financing, profitable company, Noyes said. Tom
Fox, who founded the business, retired a year and a half ago. Its current president is Helena Durst. For more information, call 212-7421969 or go to nywatertaxi.com .
March 22 - 28, 2012
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Elizabeth Hubbard, 76, dancer and beloved gardener OBITUARIES BY K WEBSTER Elizabeth Hubbard, a dancer, teacher and member of the M’finda Kalunga Garden, died on March 13 at her Lower East Side home. She was 76. Elizabeth Ann Thompson was born in Harlem. She taught dance at Dance Theater of Harlem and was the dance mistress at Ballet Hispanico. She joined the corps de ballet at Radio City Music Hall — a pioneer woman of color in a predominantly white dance corps. She later shared her passion for dance as a teacher of young ballerinas at the Marie Wildey School of Dance in East Orange, N.J. Elizabeth co-founded the Roosevelt Park Community Coalition, a volunteer organization that was created during the Lower East Side’s tumultuous 1980s. The coalition’s work helped make Sara
Roosevelt Park safe for the neighborhood to use. She later became the co-chairperson of M’Finda Kalunga Garden — which is located in S.D.R. Park — leading the group’s work in the community until the late ’90s. Elizabeth was honored as part of the M’Finda Kalunga Garden’s Juneteenth celebration for her years of service to the community. At the event, she gave a moving reading of a Maya Angelou poem. She always preferred to be in the background. As garden members were searching through photos, they had to hunt to find one where she wasn’t off to the side. In so many of the photos, she would be found, silently, lovingly (but fiercely) supporting someone’s efforts — her smile large. In one photo Elizabeth beams while a Marte Valle schoolgirl tells about her school’s mosaic sculptures in the garden. In another, she is deftly helping a frightened boy learn how to pet
Christine Barattini, 98, active in church and on immigration BY ALBERT AMATEAU Christine Barattini, a Village resident since she was brought to America as a baby in her mother’s arms, died Fri., March 9, at 98. A resident of Sixth Ave. near Bleecker St. for more than 70 years, she was the center of a circle of family, friends and neighbors, said her daughter, Geraldine Silver. Born July 5, 1913, to Giuseppe and Rosalia Esposito in Sorrento, Italy, she was five months old when she came to the U.S. with her mother, a brother, Louis, and an uncle. Her father had emigrated to the Village some months before. “She told us about presenting Mayor Jimmy Walker’s wife with flowers at a school assembly around 1926,” her daughter said. Christine Esposito gradated from P.S. 38, then a Village school, in June 1926 and went to Washington Irving High School. As teenagers, Christine and Paul Barattini met while they were taking Italian classes at the Scuola Serale (Evening School) of the Children’s AID Society on Sullivan St. She was 15 and he was 18 when they began keeping company. She graduated from Washington Irving in 1930 and married Paul Barattini at Our Lady of Pompei Church in 1936. Their daughter Geraldine was born in 1942. Paul, who had become a civil engineer after graduating from the University of Alabama, designed concrete structures during World War II, only to learn years later that the project was part of the Manhattan Project that developed the atom bomb. Christine and Paul, who died in October 2002, were married for 66 years. An active member of Our Lady of Pompei Church, she was also a volunteer since the mid1950s with the American Committee on Italian
Christine Barattini.
Immigration (A.C.I.M.), a group founded by the Scalabrian Order and based at Our Lady of Pompei to advocate for Italian immigrants. After her father, Giuseppe, died in 1955, Christine brought her mother to live with her and cared for her until her mother died in 1980. “We often joked that her mother lived under her roof longer than she lived under her mother’s roof,” her daughter said. Christine lived with her daughter Geraldine and her son-in-law Saul Silver from September 2010 until her death. “It was a great honor for me to have been so close to my mom and to learn from her,” her daughter said. Perazzo Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. The funeral was on Tues., March 13, at Our Lady of Pompei Church.
her beloved dog, Roo. Her fellow gardeners relied on her for good judgment, unshakable integrity, generosity and grit. If someone ever had a difficult decision to make, Elizabeth’s offhand but razor sharp intellect would keep him or her on the right path. She was funny, discreet, frank and sensitive. She was genuine and genuinely kind. As one gardener put it, “She asked you how you were — then waited for the answer.” She brought an elegance to everything she did. As one gardener said, “Many of us wish we could have seen her dance — we would have loved to see how she worked that beautiful fire and grit into moving that tiny, graceful frame.” She leaves her devoted husband, Joe Hubbard. Their lifelong love affair began upon their first meeting. Garden members will honor her at a memorial in the spring, in the garden.
Elizabeth Hubbard.
It takes a Villager and an East Villager Your local news source
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March 22 - 28, 2012
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A tough guy who outran his demons (and helps cats, too) CLAYTON BY CLAYTON PATTERSON I recently finished reading a book called “The Mammoth Book of Tough Guys,� by Robin Barratt. In Barratt’s world the tough guy is a man whose livelihood is connected to his fighting ability, his knowledge of fighting techniques and the respect he has earned using his physical abilities. His tough guys are bouncers, bare-knuckle fighters, boxers, bodyguards, mercenaries, martial artists, crime bosses and so on. In the end, though, for me, tough has more to do with character, overcoming life’s adversities and conquering personal fears, and less to do with physical size and fighting skills. And on the street there is often an equalizer. In the past, when drug dealers controlled the Lower East Side streets, when crime was rampant, there was always an element of danger close to the surface ready to explode. The streets, 24 hours per day, were embedded with just about every kind of criminal type covered in the law journals. Each street and drug spot had its own crew of enforcers. And the enforcer could be of smaller stature, like a Charles Manson or a Sammy “The Bull� Gravano or a Larry Davis. I have seen two justover-5-feet-tall dealers chasing, then shooting, a much larger person. You had no bodyguard; you had your own wits about you. The people I think of as tough are the ones who were really tested in life, yet transcended the challenges and made some kind of a contribution to whatever part of society they belong to. One such person is Jerry Pagane: born premature, small, deaf, no ears, on Christmas Eve, and then abandoned on a church doorstep on Christmas Day. Yes, a hard start: foster homes, bullies, misunderstood, small but had to have the heart of a lion; then in junior high gets adopted by a professional family who wanted a troubled child, and Jerry was it. It took time, but Jerry found love, excelled in art, moved to New York City to be an artist. When I first met Anne Hanavan she was about as deep into the dark side of the heroin world as a person could be and barely stay alive, never mind getting clean. And she survived, got clean and is doing great, and to me, that makes her a tough guy. Then there is the group of tough guys — the firemen — who are always fighting something bigger than themselves and always something dangerous. Like when we had the fire next to our place in the M.T.A. substation at 163 Essex St. The substation’s subbasement contains a number of Con Ed generators. The electrical fire was hard to put out and a black, toxic smoke bellowed out of the place for hours. It turns out the Con Ed generators were from 1938, which probably meant they had carcinogenic P.C.B.s in them. Yet the firemen stayed there all day fighting the fire. Immediately after the fire, neighbors complained of nose irritations and breathing problems. People speculated it was connected to the
Photo by Clayton Patterson
Frank Schiro with a Shelter Cat Doll.
black smoke. Since it was an electrical fire, and the firefighters used foam as a retardant, foam was spread all over our side of Essex St. Dickie, one of our dogs, got a stomach rash from stepping in some foam. Our place stank of acrid smoke. Elsa and I decided we’d stay in our place, but we had to secure our pets somewhere else. It was on this day I got to meet another tough individual. Francis A. Schiro and Darlene Margeta, his partner, had a work loft around the corner and they took in our two dogs. And it was then that I started to get a deeper understanding of who Frank is and what makes Darlene and Frank so special. I think we met Darlene walking her dog in the neighborhood. And we had a street hello. I always felt she was a very good person. Later came Frank, a jovial, hello how you doing kind of guy. O.K., now you have my dogs, what up? They are artists/craftspeople with a company called Dream Pillow. They survive by making lavender-filled sachets and custom pillows with images related to black history, themes from India and peaceful-looking dogs and cats. A real homegrown N.Y.C. industry. And, I find out, Frank also runs track — a recognized runner with an inspirational story like one of those guys you read about in a Reader’s Digest book. In 1970, after high school, Frank had 21 athletic scholarships for track hanging out of his back pocket. He was the king of the world and he wanted adventure and a fast ride to the adventure — the faster, the better. He was attracted to the Lower East Side, which in the 1970s was an adventurous place to live; a place with action, energy and choices. Unfortunately, one of his choices led to a life of drug addiction. He was hooked on heroin. Mainlining. A true dead end in terms of running track. Contrary to the popular conception of dope addicts, some of the most standup people I
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March 22 - 28, 2012
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‘Soft demo’ going on at former St. Vincent’s site BY LINCOLN ANDERSON The day after Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced sweeping concessions on the Rudin plan at the St. Vincent’s site, work was going on at the former hospital to ready it for residential conversion — while, nearby, a solitary protester continued to make a stand for saving St. Vincent’s. Last Thursday, three Mack “Loadmaster” trucks were parked in the openings in a large blue construction fence that now shrouds the bottom of the former hospital’s western side. Their hydraulic compactors grinding loudly, the trucks were being loaded with the innards of the former healthcare facility. Wearing a hard hat and safety vest, a supervisor standing outside the site said right now they’re doing interior demolition — “soft demo,” he called it — as well as asbestos abatement. All of that will take about six months, he said. Within a year from now, he said, the three former hospital buildings not included in the Rudin plan will have been demolished. Then, there will be two years of construction as the remaining buildings are residentially converted and new construction is done where buildings were razed. Meanwhile, down the block, on the corner of 11th St. and Seventh Ave., Douglas Esposit stood with his Save St. Vincent’s sign hanging around his neck on a bungee cord. St. Vincent’s handed out these signs more than two years ago as the hospital was fighting for its life. Esposit had his laminated so it doesn’t deteriorate. “Is there something I can sign up for?” asked Bob Lonigro, a neighborhood resident, as he was rushing by. “It’s a shame,” he said. However, Esposit didn’t have any petition to sign or any forms to fill out to join a group. He just keeps his vigil outside St. Vincent’s towering Coleman building, which is one of the parts of the former hospital slated for destruction. “I’m in the oxygen supply business,” Esposit said. At one point, he answered his cell phone and said, “Free therapy,” but declined to elaborate on what that meant. He lives on W. 85th St. and said that if he had to go to a hospital it would be St. Luke’s on the Upper West Side. Still, he said, the issue of St. Vincent’s closure is about saving healthcare for all New Yorkers. “It doesn’t matter, the location,” he said. He recalled a friend, Steve, an Englishman who was 22, who died of AIDS at St. Vincent’s. “Is there any hope?” a woman anxiously asked Esposit. She said she lived down the block and that the hospital had twice treated her young daughter after bad spills. “Why are they allowed to start the interior demolition if it wasn’t approved
Photos by Lincoln Anderson
Garbage trucks were being filled with interior demolition debris at the former St. Vincent’s last week.
to a full-service hospital. As for Esposit, trying to bring attention to the St. Vincent’s issue, he used
to show up with his sign on Fifth Ave. during the shooting of the “Early Show” on CBS. Another time, he stood outside the NBC set as Al Roker was doing his segment. Esposit frequently could be found outside the former St. Vincent’s. He said he noticed actor Matthew Broderick walking by once, and said to him, “Pray for us.” “He said, ‘I will,’ ” Esposit recalled. Asked if he’ll continue to hold his sidewalk vigil with his sign, he indicated he might. “The weather’s getting nice...,” he said with a smile. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Rudin Management said the interior demolition work at the vacant hospital is legal. “All of our interior work has been approved and permits have been given by all necessary agencies, including the Department of Buildings, the Fire Department and the Department of Environmental Protection,” he said. The spokesperson didn’t confirm the benchmarks given by the on-site supervisor, noting, “We are still developing our construction timeline.” According to a City Council spokesperson, the full Council will hold the final vote on the Rudin ULURP application for the project at next week’s stated meeting on Wed., March 28.
OPEN THINKING | ON A NEW SCHOOL OF THOUGHT No. 5 IN A SERIES
CAN PHYSICAL EDUCATION BE A CATALYST IN THE CLASSROOM? By Jennifer Inniss Athletics and Physical Education Director, Avenues When many of us were in school, physical education was simply “gym.” Leading educators today see it as so much more — because there is much to be gained when a dialog is established between teachers in physical education and those in academics. Students who lack confidence in the classroom can often gain that confidence by becoming leaders in a physical education program.
Two years after St. Vincent’s closed, Douglas Esposit continued to hold a sidewalk vigil for the former hospital last Thursday.
yet?” she asked. She was skeptical of the 24-hour, freestanding E.R. slated to open in 2014 across the street in the hospital’s former O’Toole building. Costing $110 million, the E.R. and healthcare center will be run by North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System. “I think it’s BS,” the woman said. “Can they deal with heart attacks?” According to North Shore-L.I.J., the facility, in fact, would be able to stabilize someone having a heart attack, but the person would then have to be transported
Find out more about Jennifer Inniss’ thoughts on the role of physical education at www.avenues.org/inniss. You’ll find articles, videos, interviews and details on parent information events hosted by the leadership team of Avenues: The World School. Avenues is opening this fall in Chelsea. It will be the first of 20 campuses in major cities, educating children ages three to 18 with a global perspective.
WWW.AVENUES.ORG
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For corset designer, ties to neighborhood run deep BY BOB KRASNER By his own admission, clothing designer Garo Sparo doesn’t leave the East Village for weeks at a time. He and his partner live a block away from his studio. They have a cat, two whippets and a Maltese named Monty, who comes to work with Sparo on the block where he’s had his headquarters for the last 10 years. Sparo considers his staff his friends. His customers are a revolving door of inspiration. In fact, the whole neighborhood is inspirational. “This is one of the last real neighborhoods,” he said. “I try to do a 360-degree spin every day and take in everything. This is the only place that I want to live in New York.” He finds that the customers who visit his appointment-only atelier, at 367 E. 10th St., spur his creativity almost immediately. One of his most frequent customers is the transgendered darling Amanda Lepore, who was the first person to ever buy anything from Sparo, back when he was “a kid.” “She is our favorite — a ray of sunshine,” Garo said. The designer, recently the focus of the Sundance Channel’s reality series “Unleashed by Garo,” shines a bit himself. He’s a guy who believes that “it takes less energy to be nice than to be mean,” and has a refreshing attitude toward the fashion industry. He’s had investors and collections and retail stores. But the politics and “pay to play” attitude of the business turned him off and landed the 38-year-old designer in a place that suits him well. He began sketching ideas when he was 6 years old with a slightly different name in Bay Shore, Long Island. He designed his first dress at 16. A brief detour saw him studying meteorology in college. But after a year, he switched to textile design and started putting on fash-
ion shows in local clubs in Greensboro, North Carolina. Now, in the words of devoted client Tanya Gagné of The Wau Wau Sisters, Sparo “creates a decadent, gorgeous and playful world that we can all look, and be, fabulous in.” And he doesn’t just want to make skinny models look fantastic.
‘Grace Jones. I would kill to design for her.’ Garo Sparo
“What I find appalling is that 8 is considered a plus size,” he stated. “We embrace every size — everyone should look fabulous.” And one will find all sorts of things to look wonderful in. Sparo frequently creates day- and eveningwear for style icon Daphne Guinness. He fashions risqué costumes for many of the city’s burlesque performers, such as Angie Pontani and The World Famous *BOB*. He makes everything from corsets to formalwear to bridal gowns, with prices ranging from $250 (ready-made corset) to $30,000 (a custom wedding dress worn at a Vatican City ceremony). Sparo admits to an obsession with corsetry, because he likes to manipulate people’s forms, but in a way that embraces and empowers the wearer. When a client comes in to discuss a custom-made design, Sparo begins to find out who that person is, chatting in the warm environment of the showroom and becoming a bit of a therapist along the way. He begins sketching almost immediately, Photos by Bob Krasner
Garo Sparo, with apprentice Kindall Almond, sporting one of Sparo’s corset designs, along with Sparo’s Maltese, Monty.
Sparo laces up Almond’s corset while Michael Gwaltney, a member of the atelier, applies makeup for the photo shoot with the East Villager.
starting a process that has resulted in fabrications that have been worn by Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Chaka Khan and half the drag queens in New York, among others. Of the early days of working with the drag queens, Sparo noted, “It was like boot camp. If you can make a drag queen happy, you can make anyone happy.” Part of the approach toward satisfaction is a particularly non-diva attitude that results in a collaboration between the artist and client. Sparo claims never to have designed anything that was rejected by a client, and he loves to see people “beaming” when they wear his clothes. Currently in progress in the back room — “where all the action is,” he noted — are the costumes for the Metropolitan Opera’s “The Tempest.” His studio, which employs between 10 to 15 workers, is
“bringing to life” the designs of Kym Barrett, a prospect that may actually entice us to go to the opera. Sparo is very happy with his current clientele, many of whom come from all over the country. But when pressed, he will admit to hoping for one person in particular to visit him at his location off Avenue B. “Grace Jones,” he said. “I’ve loved her since I was a kid. She is an inspiration to everyone who wants to push the envelope. I would kill to design for her.” When Sparo does actually leave the community, he heads for his house in the Catskills, his “Shangri-La,” as he puts it, where he goes to unwind after weeks of working “insane hours.” But there’s no question that he’ll be back. “What the East Village is about is doing your own thing,” he said. “And here I am, doing what I always dreamt of.”
March 22 - 28, 2012
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Photos by Shell Sheddy
Protesters starting to get occupied with Union Sq. As Occupy Wall Street is reactivating with spring’s arrival, on Monday protesters reached a consensus to form a “New Occupation” at Union Square. Some camped out in sleeping bags, but there were no tents, which are not allowed. More than 100 people had settled into the park’s south portion, where they set up banners. The hallmarks of the original encampment also made the move, with a smaller version of the free soup kitchen, a library of books spread out on the steps and a circle of people doing exercises. A sign reading “Class War Camp” hung from a table. Just after midnight Wednesday, police moved in to evict the hundreds who had gathered, making at least one arrest. By Wednesday afternoon, several dozen demonstrators had regrouped, though with no banners. Late Wednesday morning, Park Enforcement Patrol officers asked people to move from near the statue. There were several arrests. Just after lunchtime, an uneasy calm settled over the dozens of O.W.S. participants remaining, who were enjoying the mild weather. On Saturday, hundreds had gathered at Zuccotti Park, O.W.S.’s original stomping ground. Seventy-three arrests were made after police ordered the protesters — who were marking the movement’s six-month anniversary — to disperse.
Jefferson Siegel
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March 22 - 28, 2012
Photo by Bob Krasner
‘I found this week’s East Villager article on the Tompkins Square Park rats fascinating — and very exciting! It made me want to run right over to the park. And the Soho rabbit story also definitely caught my eye. Occupy, corsets... Oh yeah, and I can really relate to Scoopy. Love that cat, man.’ Neo
March 22 - 28, 2012
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March 22 - 28, 2012
EDITORIAL The Rudin deal Flexing her power and showing her considerable negotiating skills, last week, Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced a wide-ranging series of concessions by Rudin Management on its condo project at the former St. Vincent’s Hospital site. Also part of the announcement — and a huge victory for the community — Quinn reported that the city would be buying 75 Morton St. from the state for use as a school. Acquiring 75 Morton St. was one of the community’s top priorities over the past five years. Rudin won’t have any connection to the purchase of this seven-story building — which will cost about $40 million. This way, there will never be any question that it will be a school and only a school. There will be no rooftop condo additions. The greatest needs right now, which this building will potentially fill, are for middle school and early-education space. Quinn told us this week that her goal was to try to fulfill as many of the community’s long list of “wants and asks” as she could — 75 Morton St. being one of the biggest. Basically, she said, the city could buy the building, so it made sense for the city do so, which, in turn freed up Rudin to contribute financially to the community in other ways. The agreement shows why Rudin has the reputation it does in New York as a community-minded developer. Rudin’s concessions include a reduction of apartments in its project from 450 to 350. This will mean less people, so less impact on the neighborhood. Since the complex will now have fewer residents, the developer will only create 95 underground parking spaces, down from 152. Again, less impact. Also, the former hospital’s Reiss building, previously slated for demolition, will be preserved and reused. This will mean less disruption on 12th St., less shredding of the neighborhood’s historic fabric. In the end, six out of nine of the hospital’s buildings will remain. In fact, preserving and reusing Reiss is more expensive than demolishing it and building anew — costing Rudin an extra $15 million, according to the developer. Furthermore, Rudin has agreed to turn over the triangle park at Greenwich and Seventh Aves., once it has finished constructing it, to the city. This means the park will never become a development site and will always be properly maintained. Rudin will spend $10 million to construct the park. Also under the agreement, an AIDS memorial of 1,600 square feet, or one-tenth of the triangle, will be built in the park where the former hospital’s soon-tobe-removed oxygen tanks are located. We’re told the memorial’s design will be reviewed by Community Board 2 three times — in April, May and June. This means there will be a new transparency that the AIDS memorial process lacked before. Because this park will be city property, the memorial will further be reviewed by the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Parks Department. Rudin has also agreed to contribute $1 million toward arts programs and projects at P.S. 41, P.S. 3 and the new school to be created in the Foundling Building at 16th St. and Sixth Ave. Our schools are always struggling to fund arts, so this is a welcome contribution. (In an earlier agreement, the Rudins acted as a financial “backstop,” guaranteeing the purchase of the space for a school at the Foundling Hospital building.) Rudin, additionally, will give $1 million to MFY Legal Services to help fund its efforts preserving rent-regulated housing in the neighborhood. This could pay for a staffer and services devoted to the Village area for the next 10 years. It would have been preferable if the project included affordable units, but this money will help tenants stay in their homes. Last but not least, in a deal that was, of course,
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Victory on 75 Morton St. To The Editor: Re “Quinn wins school and more; Saves Reiss in Rudin deal” (news article, March 15): It is a great victory and was a long-fought battle to obtain 75 Morton St. as a public school. Thanks to Assemblymember Deborah Glick, whose idea it first was, to Community Board 2, especially Brad Hoylman and Keen Berger, along with parent activists Irene Kaufman and Ann Kjelberg, for continuing the battle for so many years, and to Speaker Quinn, for finally getting it done. Leonie Haimson
Editorial was tremendous! To The Editor: Re “Stop Chelsea Market plan” (editorial, March 8): This editorial deserves a Pulitzer Prize. It comprehensively and clearly explains an issue of great importance — not just for those of us who live in Chelsea — but for the city’s business community. Most important, it points to a good solution and names those who can make it happen.
The article states, “The building was recently purchased by the Magnum Realty Group after the property’s previous, undisclosed owner decided last year to sell at a price that the rehab center’s current operator — the Cabrini Eldercare Consortium — could not meet.” Undisclosed owner, indeed. None more greedy, lifeless, cruel a person could possibly exist. This so-called human being hides in a cowardly anonymity typically employed by old Nazi soldiers guilty of war crimes. But this is the kind of company sociopath real estate developers like Ben Shaoul keep. Throwing the Greatest Generation out onto the streets is a crime. How I wish Tom Hanks would hold a press conference demanding the members of the “Band of Brothers” be treated like the national heroes they are. How I wish George Clooney would say, “You’re throwing Rosie the Riveter out on the street over my dead body.” These senior citizens no doubt remember the 1937 Great Flint Michigan Sit Down Strike. I wish the residents would do just that: Stay put, refuse to leave. What do they have to lose? No one wants to see 90-year-old grandmothers and grandfathers being forcibly removed by police. What a media circus that would be. The entire nation would rally around them. Shawn Chittle
Hilda Regier
Sorry, but it’s all on YouTube
Spot-on on Jamestown plan
To The Editor: Re “Alumni prez defends Bharucha” (letter, by Peter Cafiero, March 8): Peter Cafiero states that I “incorrectly attributed a mixed bag of assertions to Dr. Bharucha” in my Feb. 23 talking point about The Cooper Union (“Save The Cooper Union without losing its identity”). But my talking point included a reference to my YouTube video “The New Colossus,” which highlights — multiple times on screen as a framing device — the letter to the Cooper Union community, which I cited, that Dr. Bharucha wrote explaining his “reinvention strategy.” Cafiero — or Bharucha — may regret that Dr. Bharucha ever wrote the letter, but it is Bharucha who has chosen to title the task force Web site “Cooper Union Reinvention,” and who has violated the announced hiring freeze for positions essential to the “reinvention strategy.” Is this “subversive,” part of a “grand conspiracy”? No, I
To The Editor: Re “Stop Chelsea Market plan” (editorial, March 8): Absolutely, spot-on, excellent! I hope both Amanda Burden and Speaker Quinn are reading this. They have a chance here to stand up, change course and do something truly outstanding and right for Chelsea and the city that would long be remembered. Nick Fritsch
It’s time to make a stand To The Editor: Re “Cabrini home will close by summer, its operators say” (news article, March 15):
worked out well in advance of last week’s announcement, Rudin gave the O’Toole building and land — free of charge — to North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System for conversion into a 24/7, free-standing emergency department and comprehensive healthcare center. While 14 hospitals have closed in New York City neighborhoods in the last two years, Greenwich Village will be the only one to have some semblance of healthcare restored. Let’s be clear, we’d all like to see a full-service hospital restored. But something is better than nothing. And hopefully, once the North Shore-L.I.J. facility is in place, it can eventually be upgraded to a small hospital. One thing we do know — this facility will be well used, and will be an important asset to the community. Rudin estimates the cost of O’Toole and its land at $30 million. Plus, the developer is kicking in $10 million toward the E.R.’s development. So, that’s a $40 million commitment by Rudin to our community’s healthcare. Add in all the other concessions and contributions and Rudin has donated roughly $67 million to the community through this process.
Continued on page 20
While Quinn grabbed the headlines last week, a great deal of hard work by others preceded this, and has to be acknowledged. Last October, Board 2 put together a very thorough resolution on the Rudin plan, providing a road map of exactly those “asks and wants” that the developer had to fulfill before winning the community’s approval — from helping purchase 75 Morton St. to transferring the triangle park to city ownership. Next, C.B. 2 handed off the review to Borough President Scott Stringer, who stated that Rudin not only should transfer the park’s ownership, but that any air rights above the triangle should be permanently extinguished, so that the site is never at risk of being built on. In short, there are many to thank for last week’s agreement. Yes, tragically, we lost our hospital. But this development project, with these agreements hashed out thanks to the hard work of C.B. 2, Stringer, Quinn and Rudin, is really a model of how a proposal can be made better and more responsive to the pressing needs of its community. It isn’t perfect — but, in the end, our local leaders and Rudin have come through for the community in a big way.
March 22 - 28, 2012
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For a sustainable neighborhood, modify N.Y.U. plan TALKING POINT BY JUDY PAUL AND RANI MAROM Try this experiment: Take all of the office space in the Empire State Building — 2.4 million square feet — and cram it into two square blocks on either side of Bleecker St. What happens to our neighborhood? Unfortunately, the 2.4 million square feet of construction is not a thought exercise but a real development, an expansion of New York University, coming to the blocks bounded by Houston and W. Third Sts., and LaGuardia Place and Mercer St. And what happens to the neighborhood will not be pretty. N.Y.U. provides many benefits to our neighborhood and the city. As a prestigious and competitive university, it needs to grow. But we’re not Midtown, and we don’t want to be. Greenwich Village is a human-scale neighborhood, and one of the most genuine and vibrant historic districts in the nation. N.Y.U. must work with our elected officials to downsize its proposal to work for all of us who live and work here. N.Y.U. plans new towers up to 26 stories tall — far higher than anything else in the Village — which would overwhelm their 19th-century fringes and cast shadows up to Washington Square Park. The plan would add 49,000 to 94,000 square feet of new commercial space, even though the area has vacancies now. It would also reconfigure 4 acres of open space, adversely affecting the Mercer-Houston Dog Run, the LaGuardia Corner Gardens and the Key Playground. It’s confounding that N.Y.U., which markets its Greenwich Village location to prospective students, would bigfoot its own home. Both of us own small businesses in this neighborhood. We’ve been here a long time and we care deeply about our community. That’s why we are joining with other small businesses and neighborhood groups to form Villagers for a Sustainable Neighborhood. We want our elected officials to ensure that the university amends its proposal to both meet the needs of N.Y.U. and protect the essence of the place that has nurtured and benefited the university. First, the plan must be scaled back, in both height and density. The proposal must also be redesigned to increase the amount and quality of the open space it offers, especially since the Village has one of the lowest percentages of open space of any neighborhood in Manhattan. N.Y.U. must ensure that the open space is accessible to the public rather than walled off by fortress-style buildings. It’s critical, too, that the university help offset the burden it would inflict on the local infrastructure. The current plan would add 1,500 to 2,000 new residents and bring at least 10,000 people into the neighborhood
every day. Our already-crowded sidewalks and narrow streets would be sorely tried even by a scaled-down plan. The W. Fourth St. and Broadway-Lafayette subway stations would also be adversely impacted. The university
It’s confounding that N.Y.U. would bigfoot its own home.
should be called upon to improve the stations and to honor its commitment to providing a much-needed new
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public school for the neighborhood. The application is now before the Manhattan borough president. It will then go back to the Department of City Planning and ultimately the City Council. Our elected officials, especially Borough President Scott Stringer and Councilwoman Margaret Chin, need to work with N.Y.U. to modify the proposal so that it doesn’t overwhelm our neighborhood. We don’t want to kill N.Y.U.’s expansion. We simply want a plan that respects our Village. Our neighborhood is known and loved around the world for a reason, and with responsible planning it will remain that way for generations to come.
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Rebecca Lepkoff, the legendary Lower East Side photographer, posed for our photographer, Tequila Minsky, at a mutual friend’s house in December. “I saw her wearing that velvety holiday outfit,” Minsky recalled. “I saw the couch, and I asked her if I could take a portrait. It started as a traditional sitting-on-thecouch-type portrait, and evolved into this odalisque shot. Given she’s 96, I think it’s really fun!” An exhibit of Lepkoff’s photos from the 1930s and ’40s, “Life on the Lower East Side,” is on view through April’s end at the Tenement Museum, 103 Orchard St.
PUBLISHER & EDITOR John W. Sutter ASSOCIATE EDITOR Lincoln Anderson ARTS EDITOR Scott Stiffler REPORTERS Albert Amateau Aline Reynolds BUSINESS MANAGER/ CONTROLLER Vera Musa
PUBLISHER EMERITUS Elizabeth Butson
ART / PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Troy Masters
CIRCULATION SALES MNGR.
SR. V.P. OF SALES AND MARKETING Francesco Regini
SR. GRAPHIC DESIGNER Vince Joy
CONTRIBUTORS
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Colin Gregory Allison Greaker Julius Harrison Bryan Kinney Alex Morris Julio Tumbaco
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Christina Entcheva PHOTOGRAPHERS
Patricia Fieldsteel
Tequila Minsky
Bonnie Rosenstock
Jefferson Siegel
Jefferson Siegel
Clayton Patterson
Jerry Tallmer
Marvin Rock Ira Blutreich Doris Diether
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March 22 - 28, 2012
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Continued from page 18 wrote that Bharucha’s “reinvention strategy” jibes exactly with the new president’s educational policy speeches prior to coming to New York City. Who exactly is Bharucha conspiring with? Himself? My only assertion is that the board of trustees are violating their duty of obedience to the mission of the college by hiring a new president who would use The Cooper Union as a living experiment for his educational policies in violation of multiple aspects of Cooper’s mission and identity. That’s not a subversive conspiracy; it is a mistake that is easily corrected. Or, to use the words of my satirical YouTube video, the hiring was a “colossal blunder.” Barry Drogin Drogin is publisher, The Alumni Pioneer, and a Cooper Union alumnus, Class of ’83 (electrical engineering)
Squatters didn’t cause this To The Editor: Re “Reflections of an old freak in the new East Village” (talking point, by Bill Weinberg, March 8): Culture never dies, never is erased, is just transformed and forced to relocate into more suitable terrain to live to fight another day. To suggest — even ironically — that “squatters were the vanguard” of gentrification is ludicrous, given that those who were truly drawn to it were certainly not the bankers and real estate profiteers. Sure, people gravitate to life, fun and truth as sure as a bee to honey. But who can blame them? The sad part is that more folks didn’t heed the call — the fatalists, the sorry politicians, stuffy leftists and all those who thought it was impossible. We did what we had to do, what was called for. Suggesting we brought on the yuppies is like saying we shouldn’t cure an illness ’cause we’re gonna die anyway!
It’s still true: Gentrification is genocide! Homelessness under Bloomberg has increased, and at this very moment there are way more vacant spaces than there are homeless! Culture never dies. Need a home? Take one! Squat the world! Frank Morales
much exercise and dieting to do that. Then I watched him get off a First Ave. bus from my window and realized it took him far too long to walk the half a block to where I live, even at his pace. He had stopped into the corner pizzeria. Aron is a food junkie and needs ibogaine. Or maybe acid would help him with this self-destructive behavior. Acid could take him out of his body so he could see himself from afar and where he is heading.
Yippie Pie Man is in peril
A.J. Weberman
To The Editor: Re “Feeling drained” (Scoopy’s Notebook, March 15): Aron is suffering from morbid obesity which is going to eventually lead to his demise. He got out of the fat farm at 300 pounds, then started overeating again and gained 50 pounds. When he got out he was asked if he was going to start gaining weight again and he answered that he had gone through too
E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to lincoln@thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to the East Villager, Letters to the Editor, 515 Canal St., Suite 1C, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The East Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. The East Villager does not publish anonymous letters.
IRA BLUTREICH
Police Commissioner Kelly stands up to the heat on stop and frisk.
Tompkins rat rampage has been brought under control Continued from page 9 rat infestation wasn’t addressed. But Marlow said Parks has
really done a great job responding to the problem. “The Parks Department — a lot of people get on their case,” he said. “But they have been amazing with us, once we had a chance to open up a dialogue with them. They
take a lot pride in their parks.” On Tuesday, Philip Abramson, a Parks spokesperson, said, “We have been utilizing an Integrated Pest Management approach at Tompkins Square Park which has proved to be successful. We have reduced the number of rat burrows from 120 to 38 as of today. We are continuing to take action to reduce them even further. We will continue working to help alleviate the rat conditions at this park, and encourage New Yorkers to help out by not littering.” On Tuesday, a Bowery Mission member was overseeing a group of young volunteers from Tennessee who were helping distribute food to a long line of waiting people. Asked if his program has been better about not leaving out food after they leave, the man, who didn’t give his name, said, “The truck comes at the end of the day. We throw everything in the truck. The food don’t be laying around.” Last summer, rats were brazenly crisscrossing the park’s paths at all hours in plain sight. It was impossible not to see rats wherever one looked. During daytime visits to the park this past Saturday and Tuesday, a reporter did not observe any rats.
March 22 - 28, 2012
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EASTVILLAGERARTS&ENTERTAINMENT Downtown, and all around, Tom Murrin will be missed COMPILED SCOTT STIFFLER He was funny, sharp, prolific, unique and kind. He inspired others to create, innovate, provoke and entertain. He was loved, and he’ll be missed. What more can you possibly say about a human being who’s no longer with us? Best to just expand on those laurels, and hope that the details provide some glimpse into what makes the loss of Thomas Lee Murrin (1939-2012) so deeply felt by his family and the Downtown arts community. Surrounded by his wife Patricia and friends, the performance artist and writer known as Tom Murrin (aka the Alien Comic, aka Jack Bump) died on March 12, of complications from cancer. He was 73. What a life. In 2008, Tom was honored by Performance Space 122 at their annual Spring Gala. He received a plaque with the following quote: “For wildly imaginative groundbreaking performance work that never hesitated to serve the creative impulse, the desire to entertain, and the belief that new forms of theatre were possible. For invaluable contributions to Performance Space 122 and the entire downtown performing community that, through a history of selfless generosity, helped make New York a place where continuing generations of artists can imagine and invent. Performance Space 122 is proud to honor Tom Murrin aka Alien Comic.” To learn more about his achievements, visit Murrin’s website: thealiencomic.com. To help preserve his work, donations can be made payable to Alien Comic Fund and sent to: Alien Comic Fund, c/o PS122, 67 West Street, Suite 315, Brooklyn, NY 11222. Tom Murrin performing on the streets, in India in the 1970s.
FAMILY, FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES REMEMBER TOM Patsy Jedynak (Tom’s sister) Hearts hold memories, and I have many good ones. I am one and a half years younger than Tom, and I am his only sibling. His show career began in grammar school with his magic act, when he was paid to perform at kid’s birthdays, friend’s parties, school and country club events. I was his trusting assistant and helped him rehearse. He’d say, “Take a card, take a card, any card,” during his never-ending practices. He was a perfectionist, and made me take an oath of secrecy to never reveal his methods. I assisted Tom when he appeared on “Beat the Clock” (a TV show in the ’50s and ’60s). Young Tom supplemented his income by appearing on Jeopardy and other daytime quiz shows. Once, Tom was on “The Gong Show” with two friends and they were gonged as soon as they started because Tom was mooning the audience with a plastic butt. As a kid, Tom loved our family vacations on Balboa Island. He never missed a family
gathering, every summer up to 2009. Over the years I have loved getting Tom’s notes, letters and show bills in the mail. More recently, we emailed or talked on the phone almost daily. The day before I left for New York, I received a letter from Tom. I haven’t been
see my first Alien Comic Show. I remember Tom wearing layers of costumes from which he undressed while telling fantastical tales of where he had been that very day — including running socio-political commentary on the news of the day and laying out what seemed like hundreds of homemade and found props
Neither ego nor competitiveness ever seemed to come into play when he wrote about those who worked in similar fashions to his. It seemed he saw that part of his long and eclectic career as an opportunity to help other artists rather than rip them apart, as so many writers tend to do.
able to open it, because I know it’s the last — and I am not ready to let him go. Nicky Paraiso (director of programming, The Club at La MaMa) In the mid-1980s, I met Tom Murrin when my friend and mentor Bill Hart took me to
which he used and promptly discarded. At one or another of these Alien Comic Shows, I remember Tom laying out the three rules of performance art, which were, 1) get a gig, 2) send out your flyers and postcards to get the news out about your upcoming performance
Photo courtesy of the Tom Murrin Archive
and 3) show-up for the performance! I remember Tom taking his Alien Comic show to all the Downtown performance venues which proliferated in those days, many of which are gone now: the original Pyramid Club, 8BC, Limbo Lounge, Chandelier, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut (now Niagara Bar), PS122, Dixon Place and, of course, La MaMa — his first performance home in New York. The Alien Comic was even an opening act for James Brown at Irving Plaza! Later, I remember Tom’s legendary Full Moon Shows, which were evening-length extravaganzas (performed in homage to Lunamacaruna, the Goddess of the Full Moon), presented mostly at PS122 and La MaMa, which gathered together Tom’s extraordinary circle of artist colleagues and friends, including Lucy Sexton and Annie Iobst/Dancenoise, Jo Andres, Mimi Goese, Iris Rose, Salley May, Mike Iveson, Hapi Phace and a whole host of Full Moon Crew performers, choreographers and visual artists. Tom also brought “Butt Crack Bingo”
Continued on page 23
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March 22 - 28, 2012
Photo courtesy of SVA/BBC Photo courtesy of the filmmakers and Rebecca Lepkoff
Rebecca Lepkoff’s “Lower East Side, 1947.”
Support Your Local Cinema! BY SCOTT STIFFLER
ORDINARY MIRACLES: THE PHOTO LEAGUE’S NEW YORK Director Nina Rosenblum’s documentary film pays tribute to an influential group of artists and socially progressive truth-seekers working in the medium of still photography. From 1936-1951, The Photo League functioned as the center of the documentary movement in American photography. Young and idealistic, League members took their cameras into the streets to capture images meant to expose social problems and achieve social justice. For that, they were branded as
Communists and blacklisted — forcing the League to disband. Decades later, in addition to several of its members, the work survives — providing a panoramic view of New York City during the thirties and forties (the El train, May Day rallies in Union Square, cutting contests at the Savoy Ballroom, automats and Lower East Side street life). Among those documenting the LES: the filmmaker’s father, Walter Rosenblum, and Rebecca Lepkoff — whose work is included in “The Radical Camera,” a Photo League exhibit on view through March 25, at the Jewish Museum (her own exhibit, “Life on
“Selling the Sixties: How Madison Avenue Invented a Decade” screens as part of the SVA/BBC Design Film Festival.
the Lower East Side,” can be seen at the Tenement Museum, through April). Lepkoff, along with several other Photo League members and Miriam Grossman Cohen (wife of League founder Sid Grossman) will attend the screening of “Ordinary Miracles,” and participate in a Q&A. Thurs., March 29, 8pm. At IFC Center (323 Sixth Ave., at W. Third St.). For info, 212-924-7771. Visit daedalus.tv, thephotoleaguefilm.com and ifccenter.com, tenement. org and thejewishmuseum.org.
THE SVA/BBC DESIGN FILM FESTIVAL Concentrating on design, advertising and book-related films, this film festival (presented by the School of Visual Arts and the
BBC) gives Yanks the unique opportunity to see groundbreaking BBC films that have never been screened in the America. Fans of “Mad Men” will want to catch “Selling the Sixties: How Madison Avenue Dreamed the Decade” — which tells the real-life stories of the ad men, and women, behind the fictional TV series. Gay Talese and advertising legend George Lois (famous for his Esquire covers, Xerox ads, work with Andy Warhol and Muhammad Ali and his reinvention of MTV) are among those providing a window on consumerism, 1960s-style. Lois will take your questions after the screening. Sat., March 24, 1-9pm, at the SVA Theatre (333 W. 23rd St., btw. 8th & 9th Aves.). $15 pass includes entry to all screenings. For a full schedule, visit sva.edu.
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March 22 - 28, 2012
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Alien Comic’s brilliance, kindness recalled by colleagues, kin Continued from page 21 and “Dick Play” (written by Tom’s notorious alter-ego and “evil twin” Jack Bump) to The Club at La MaMa. Tom is uniquely beloved in New York’s Downtown arts community. He would always encourage up-and-coming younger artists and cheer on the more established artists from the sidelines. We miss Tom, as we continue to miss those of Tom’s generation who are also no longer with us: Jim Neu, Bill Rice, Stuart Sherman, and also one of his best friends, theater director Bill Hart, as well as many others. I am immensely saddened by Tom’s passing, and salute his gallant, generous, irrepressibly anarchic spirit. Trav S.D. (Chelsea Now, The Villager, Downtown Express theater columnist) Tom blazed many a trail upon which I and a thousand others have subsequently trodden and taken for granted. In the mid’90s, in addition to all his performance and theatre work, he began writing for Paper magazine. This was the capacity in which I knew him best and encountered him most. That he could simultaneously hang on to his identity as a performance artist AND be an arts journalist at the same time was inspirational to me. Over the years he was very generous to me and my various theatrical exploits. I spoke to him most recently a little over two years ago, when he interviewed me about my show “Willy Nilly.” He was a mighty nice guy, and like I said, a trailblazer. There is something about his passing that reminds me of the desolate feeling I get when I walk around St. Marks Place, or the area around Ludlow and
Photo by Joseph O. Holmes
Bowery Poetry Club, 2008: A workshop performance of “The Talking Show: The Magical Ridiculous Journey of Alien Comic.”
Orchard Streets nowadays. It’s a feeling you don’t experience until you hit a certain age, that feeling of, “There was once something ELSE here….” The staff of Paper magazine For over 20 years, Tom was committed to covering the way Off-Broadway world of Downtown performance art for Paper, a world in which he was very much at home, being a much-loved, award-winning writer and performer, himself. Off-stage he was just about the nicest person any of us had ever met. It made our day when Tom would stop by the office and gush about a new theatrical discovery or regale us with an anecdote of his Hollywood upbringing — like the time he accompanied Ava Gardner to the premiere of John Huston’s “The Bible,” along with Mr. and Mrs. John Steinbeck. He will be remembered for creating crazy, amazing and downright jaw-dropping characters like Alien Comic and the evil Jack Bump, but mostly we’ll remember him as a beloved member of our zany Paper family.
Photo by Liz Liguori
From a 2010 performance of “The Talking Show,” at PS122.
Francis Hall (aka Faceboy, of Bowery Poetry Club’s “Faceboyz Folliez”) Tom Murrin is one of the most inspiring and giving artists I have ever known. Though we are so deeply saddened by the loss of his physical presence, there is truth and beauty in writing, “Tom Murrin is...” for the myriad ways he inspires and all that he has given will always be with us. However, some past tense usage must
be applied here. Tom exemplified the risktaking performance artist. I first had the pleasure of meeting him in the mid-1990s, at Robert Prichard’s performance lab/theater, Surf Reality. Venturing into what was then some of the sketchiest neighborhoods, he created and performed sketches even more daring than the journey through the streets one took to see them. As a print journalist, we had Tom to chronicle the scene in Paper magazine. It is rare and extraordinarily giving for an artist to promote others whose work is similar in genre to their own. He was one the first columnists to cover my stage work as well as that of my BFF Rev. Jen. He did this for so many of the unknowns and marginally
known writers, risk takers and rabble-rousers. In time, we became friends. Neither ego nor competitiveness ever seemed to come into play when he wrote about those who worked in similar fashions to his. It seemed he saw that part of his long and eclectic career as an opportunity to help other artists rather than rip them apart, as so many writers tend to do. Thinking now of the times I visited him, and knowing that I no longer can, I’m crying. Yet in those tears, joy glistens in knowing how lucky I am to have had his friendship.
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Remembering the unforgettable Tom Murrin Continued from page 23 Michael C. Haenel (Tom’s nephew and godson) Grateful for Uncle Tommy...I admired Tommy’s magical talents, quick wit, masterful storytelling ability and his willingness to live life as an artist. Tommy lived life filled with love, humility, grace and peace. God bless Uncle Tommy. Vallejo Gantner (artistic director of PS122) While making his own work at PS122, for decades, Tom opened doors and created space for others to move freely in, building a community of artists around him who simply wouldn’t be the same without him. Tom Murrin reminds us that what we do is important. He made PS122 wackier, stronger, smarter — more importantly perhaps is the fact that he continues to make the world wackier, stronger and smarter.
Photo by Jim Moore
“Full Beaver Moon Show,” performed in honor of Ellen Stewart (in 2011, at La MaMa E.T.C.).
Robert Prichard (co-founder, Surf Reality) Damn. This hurts. Tom Murrin was not only a great performing artist, he was also our champion. He was our friend. Tom personified everything that’s cool about Downtown theater. I cannot recall him without thinking about his infectious energy, his generosity, his incredible wit and his unqualified love for the Downtown scene. Every interaction I ever had with Tom was leavened with his kindness, his generosity and his compassion. As a performer, he was fearless and crazy ingenious. Back when Surf Reality shared the building with a brothel and a crack deli, there was Tom performing his
one-man show on our small stage — conjuring aliens, evil twins, elemental energies and on point satire of the culture at large. It was like watching a force of nature. He acted like our little hole in the wall performance loft was the center of the creative universe and the most important place to be in the world, and inevitably the magic he wrought would kick in and then his audiences would believe it too. Up until now, he always left us laughing. I hope he forgives me for being sad about this one final exit. Ellie Covan (founder and artistic director of Dixon Place) I had several dreams about him in the days before his passing. Nothing bizarre or mysterious. Just hanging out with him. Anything I say isn’t adequate. He was part of what made Dixon Place, Dixon Place. He was the first performance artist to appear at DP (on East 1st Street) in 1986. He performed his groundbreaking work often, at all of our spaces. Every artist has their own unique process, and Tommy’s was, well, funny. Before his show, he meticulously set up all the props and costumes. If you interrupted him, if you said anything, or even walked near his things, he would fly into a rage. At first, it startled me, and then I just thought he was an asshole. But after getting to know him, I totally looked forward to his arriving at the theater (and of course I made sure nothing disturbed him). I feel so honored to have worked with him — he made a difference in so many lives, both as an artist and as an exceptionally kind and generous person. His last performance was at DP, making me at once very happy, very sad and very proud. His spirit is deeply imbedded in my heart and my living room.
Filmmaker recalls the dreamy magic of bygone New York Anthology retrospective reveals small but significant body of work BY SCOTT STIFFLER Have a conversation with filmmaker Sara Driver about New York cinema and city life in and around the 1980s and you’ll soon notice her habitual, perhaps subconscious, use of the word “magic.” Whether referencing the Bowery circa 1994 or NYU’s film school when punk was in full bloom or the nature of her next project, Driver invokes that word the way you and I use conjunctions — out of necessity, in order to string urgent thoughts into effectively structured sentences. It’s appropriate, then, that Driver’s current retrospective at Anthology Film Archives owes its very existence to an unexpected event that unspooled with karmic elegance… maybe even a touch of magic (or, at the very least, serendipity). Missing for years, and feared lost to the ages, Driver’s “You Are Not I” (her 1981 debut as a director) turned up in Tangiers in 2008 — in the form of a 16mm print found
FILM SLEEPWALKING: THE FILMS OF SARA DRIVER March 23 through April 1 At Anthology Film Archives 32 Second Ave., at 2nd St. Tickets: $9 general, $7 for students, seniors and children (12 & under); $6 for AFA members For screening dates and times: anthologyfilmarchives.org
Photo by Jim Jarmusch
Sara Driver, on a kinder, gentler Bowery.
among the belongings of the late writer Paul Bowles. The 48-minute chronicle of a schizophrenic mental hospital escapee who wonders the rural New Jersey landscape was based on a short story by Bowles — who, in death, gave new life to Driver’s limited but distinguished body of work. “The discovery
Continued on page 25
Driver and actress Suzanne Fletcher will be present at select screenings. Also part of the retrospective: “Sara Driver Selects” — a series of works that influenced her, or are favorites (including “Cat People” and “Topper”) Anthology’s retrospective coincides with a DVD box set release of Driver’s digitally restored films (available on DVD/ VOD through Films We Like and New Video)
March 22 - 28, 2012
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Driver, on taking ‘one step out of reality into a little bit of magic’ Continued from page 24 of ‘You Are Not I’ jump-started the preservation efforts,” says Driver. Also screening at Anthology, in prime condition, will be the features “Sleepwalk” (1986) and “When Pigs Fly” (1993), along with “The Bowery — Spring” (a 1994 video short, it was part of a French national TV series called “Postcards From New York”). In addition to these films, Driver produced 1980’s “Permanent Vacation” and 1984’s “Stranger Than Paradise.” Both films were directed by Jim Jarmusch (a kindred spirit of Driver’s minimalist style, he shot and co-wrote “You Are Not I”). During the long “Paradise” production process, Driver used her own day job experiences and visions of city street life to form the basis of what would become her first feature-length film. Featuring a cast including Ann Magnuson and Steve Buscemi, “Sleepwalk” concerns a copy shop worker who unleashes all manner of curses and self-fulfilling prophecies when she mutters aloud the text of the ancient scroll she’s been hired to translate. A mystery without resolution, and a dream from which her main character literally never awakes, “Sleepwalk” is more concerned with memorable images of almond-strewn floors, machinery acting on its own volition and near-deserted streets than it is with the chases and crises which could have easily sprung forth from the narrative. From 1982 to 1984, when “Stranger Than Paradise” was put on hiatus due to lack of funds, Driver worked at Todd’s Copy Shop, on Mott Street (alongside Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon). “It was a perfect job,” Driver recalls. “I remember the flashes from the Xerox machine would put me in a kind of trance. And I kept a journal of things I would see on the street. I used to see very odd interactions between people or overhear something, and I wrote all these things down.” Perhaps, she admits, it’s nostalgia casting a forgiving patina over memories of the past…but Driver maintains that city life at the time was, “just one step out of reality, into a little bit of magic. New York really did have magic then, because it was such an empty city. It was very cheap to live here. You could have a job in a Xerox store and pay your rent and have your food. People didn’t want to be here…and the people who were, really wanted to be here.” Shot in Chinatown and on the Bowery, Driver recalls the production process of “Sleepwalk” as one of camaraderie that stands in stark contrast to Gotham’s hellish reputation at the time. Living Downtown may have had its risks, but it wasn’t without civility (at least for the locals). Recalling a friend who lived on Avenue A “when it was rough and war-torn,” Driver notes, “Somebody mugged him on the way home, then saw that he lived on Avenue A. They ran back and gave him his money back.”
Photo by Sara Driver
Painter Billy Dock (from “The Bowery — Spring”).
After the modestly catered meals were over during filming scenes for “Sleepwalk” on the Bowery, Driver recalls, “We would have food left over and we’d put a table outside for the guys. They’d line up very politely for the food. There was a kind of genteelness back then. I actually felt a lot safer [in the neighborhood] than I do now. Now, there’s an aggression on the street that I don’t remember feeling. Maybe it’s the financial difference between the rich and the poor…because at the time, we were all the same. Maybe it was a false feeling, but I really felt people were watching each other’s back. Recently, I gave some guy on the street some money, and he said ‘Why are you so kind?’ Maybe we’ve become less compassionate as human beings, because there’s so many of us.” Driver’s current project — already written and awaiting adequate financing — hopes to ignite that spark of kindness and concern in the next generation. “I’ve noticed there’s been a lack of films for children and a lack of magic in our world for adults,” says Driver. “So I started thinking of metamorphosis folk tales, animal to human, human to animal. I wanted to do an anthology, ‘Tales from the Hanging Head.’ I found all these stories, and adapted them so the magic will feel very present.” “Hanging Head” is now ready for production — with contributions from a group
Photo by Sara Driver
Luc Sante, on a Bowery rooftop.
of, as she describes them, “Imagination Gangsters” (directors Alfonso Cuaron, Emir Kusturica, Michel Gondry and Marjane Satropi are on board). Driver’s only edict, thus far: no effects with computers, even though they’re capable of rendering visuals no 1980s director could dream of. “Everything has to be done with
light and shadow, or in camera, in a very tangible, handmade way,” she insists. Hopefully, that limitation will challenge her fellow Gangsters to conjure images that have a ring of reality, and truth, that can’t be created with ones and zeroes. “If you don’t have imagination,” Driver reasons, “you don’t progress.”
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March 22 - 28, 2012
A tough guy who outran his demons (and helps cats, too) Continued from page 12 have met have been junkies. And I am sure Frank was one of those guys. He did not have the edge to be a heroin dealer — that he told me. Eventually, he was able to work his way out of addiction without any permanent, disabling scars. In fact, a diary of his misery was included in a chapter in the 1998 book “Heroin,” by Humberto Fernandez. One common trait junkies possess is their sense of regimen. Frank wanted to get back into track. He got started. Socially, it was a little difficult for him in the beginning — with his long hair, tattoos, a very direct personality — because in track, most of the older runners were mostly professional money people, like doctors, dentists and so on, those who had the luxury of belonging to a track club. Frank was determined and soon the sneers turned into cheers. Frank became a player. As Frank told me in his own words: “I have been part of relay teams that established three world indoor records (age groups 40 - 49 and 50 - 59) at the Armory. Myself and two other men started our team, Sprint Force America, about 13 years ago. The team has had some of the greatest Masters (over age 40) track runners in the world and has set numerous world records. I myself have won national titles at 400 meters and in the 4 x 400 meter relay and the 4 x 800 meter relay. At one point, I held five world records; now, I hold three. At age 55 in the Empire State Games a few years ago, I set two state records — 25 flat in the 200 meters and 56 flat in the 400 meters. I have been dealing with some injuries the past few years but remain fit and plan my return
to active competition carefully. I love track and field because it a sport where one is 100 percent reliant on themselves: If I don’t do the hard work needed, nobody can help me. It’s a very personal quest...it has purity for me. I also train many people, not just track runners, but everyday people who want to get the gift of fitness into their lives. Fitness is a gift we give to ourselves.” I love Frank. He is so direct. Frank has overcome, he is a survivor and has completely turned his life around. His positive outlook on life and his dedication to track has rewarded him not only with trophies but with self-esteem and love of humanity. Frank and Darlene are also active in helping City Critters, which is run by a dedicated woman named Holly Staver. This 17-year-old group has saved many, many animals from a life of suffering and/or death. Darlene met Holly several years ago when Darlene needed help rescuing some cats in our neighborhood. Darlene and Frank have been in business about 20 years, and last year Darlene developed what she calls “Shelter Cat Dolls,” handmade dolls filled with a high-quality lavender. They are made of various fabrics and each one is unique. Darlene wanted to help Holly and City Critters out, and starting last year, donated $3 for every Shelter Cat Doll sold. Last year, Darlene and Frank donated more than $2,700 to City Critters. “We feel very strongly about helping all animals in need,” Frank said. Yes, my idea of a tough guy is different from Robin Barratt’s. Frank is one of my examples of a tough guy — a man who has overcome the odds and made a serious contribution to his community and to society.
New business coalition calls for scaling down N.Y.U. plan Continued from page 1 expansion that need to be addressed,” said Paul, whose family has run the Washington Square Hotel at the northwest corner of Washington Square Park for 40 years. “We hope we can find a commonsense solution that expands opportunities for local businesses, creates quality open space and adds infrastructure improvements that ensure that our neighborhood is not overwhelmed,” Paul said. The coalition believes that the positions of Community Board 2, the Municipal Art Society and the New York Metro Chapter of the American Planning Association could provide a road map for a solution. Reducing the density and height of the proposed new buildings, decreasing the proposed underground space for academic uses and protecting and improving usable public space in the superblocks would made the N.Y.U, project
more in keeping with the historic character of the Village, a coalition statement says. Villagers for a Sustainable Neighborhood is also suggesting that improving the subway stations at W. Fourth St. and at Broadway/ Lafayette St. and paying the cost of a new public school would make the project respond more to the needs of the Village. Barry Chatlawi, owner of Fashion Shoppe Express at 42 W. Eighth St. and a member of the coalition, said the university’s proposal to add several thousand feet of retail space to the “loft blocks” from W. Fourth St. to W. Eighth St. is unnecessary. “We already have enough vacant commercial space in the neighborhood,” Chatlawi said. Dan Barber, owner of Blue Hill restaurant at 75 Washington Place, acknowledged that N.Y.U. is an important part of the community. “But I’m afraid their proposal without adjustments will be damaging to the Village,” Barber said.
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