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The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933
May 15, 2014 • $1.00 Volume 83 • Number 50
P.S. 41 is pushing to grow slow zone’s size in West Village BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
P PHOTO BY SAM SPOKONY
Interfaith leaders prayed at the East Village’s Middle Collegiate Church on May 13 for the safe return of 276 Nigerian girls kidnapped last month. One young worshiper filmed the service on her phone, above. See Page 2 for more photos.
.S. 41 is spearheading an effort to expand the planned West Village slow zone, so that it will include the W. 11th St. public school, along with nearly 10 other schools and school- or senior-related programs. The city’s Department
BY HEATHER DUBIN
J
urors who convicted Occupy Wall Street activist Cecily McMillan aren’t the only voices calling for leniency in the sentencing of the 25-year-old New School graduate student, who is facing between two and seven years in prison for elbowing a police officer in the face at an O.W.S. protest on March 2012. Last week, nine of the 12 jury mem-
bers petitioned Judge Ronald Zweibel to “consider probation with community service” when McMillian is sentenced on Mon., May 19. This past Monday, on the steps of City Hall, a handful of city councilmembers followed suit. Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez, who was arrested while protesting with the Occupy movement — his charges were later dismissed — condemned the Police Department for
what he called its tendency to use “excessive force” at protests. He said the effort to keep McMillan incarcerated is an attempt by the powers that be to chill free speech. “Many of the arrests at Zuccotti Park were provoked by the police and unnecessary,” he said, adding that protesters often were charged afterward with assaulting a police officer.
SLOW ZONE, continued on p. 14
Oral history project collects 102 stories, and still wants more
Jurors, advocates, a few pols call for clemency for McMillan S BY GERARD FLYNN
of Transportation plans to implement the slow zone in 2015. According to D.O.T., “The slow zone program, in short, takes a well-defined, relatively compact area, and reduces its speed limit from 30 miles per hour [the standard throughout the city]
torytellers and interviewers in an ambitious oral history project came together last month at Jefferson Market Library to celebrate their effort to preserve the past. For five months, volunteers worked to record neighborhood tales from
people who have lived, worked or spent more than 20 years in the area for “Your Village, Your Story: A Greenwich Village Oral History Project.” Successfully archived, the stories are now accessible online. More than 100 people turned out for the April 25 event, which was moved STORIES, continued on p. 16
MCMILLAN, continued on p. 27
Arrest in E.V. senior’s brutal killing.....................page 4 A.G. on the attack against Airbnb..........................page 6 www.TheVillager.com
Kids, climbing, cards...............page 15