X-treme pastrami, p. 16
Volume 83, Number 1 $1.00
West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Hudson Square, Little Italy, Chinatown and Lower East Side, Since 1933
June 6 - 12, 2013
‘Wild man of Soho’ is causing mayhem, fearful locals warn BY HEATHER DUBIN Residents and merchants from around Spring St. in Soho and Nolita turned out in force at last week’s Fifth Precinct Community Council meeting to voice concern about Richard Pearson, a mentally ill man who, they say, has verbally and physically assaulted pedestrians and retailers alike. Pearson is currently in jail after being arrested for throw-
Here’s looking at you, art
Garden hero — or partier amid the plants? Or both? lay clustered in small clumps lining the paths’ edges. But, despite the tranquil natural scene, not all was well in the garden, at E. 13th St. between Avenues A and B, and the chill was not just a factor of air temperature. Along with the falling petals, the cherry blossoms and members’
CATS For MAYOR
Continued on page 8
Photo by Bob Krasner
Jeffrey Jameson contemplated the progress of his work at the HOWL! Festival’s annual Art Around The Park. For more photos, see Page 17.
BY LINCOLN ANDERSON It was still unseasonably brisk on the first Sunday in May, as the members of Dias Y Flores Garden gathered around a picnic table in the place’s rear. Whitepetaled seedlets drifted down from a tree, and on the East Village garden’s floor, freshly fallen pink cherry blossoms
ing a brick at a person’s head two weeks ago, for which he was charged with assault in the second degree, a felony. About 50 people, including representatives for state Senator Daniel Squadron and Assemblymember Deborah Glick, were there to address the issue of Pearson, and appealed to police to keep him off the streets.
own vibrant planted plots, there was also an arbitrator, Roland Chouloute, deputy director of GreenThumb, the agency that oversees the community gardens. A few days earlier, Jeff Wright, one of the Dias Y Flores gardeners, had had his mem-
Continued on page 18
fields gives Kurland ‘very good’ chance vs. surging Johnson BY GERARD FLYNN When Yetta Kurland, 43, a civil rights attorney, ran for the City Council’s Third District in 2009 she was up against a political powerhouse, the incumbent Christine Quinn, who has held the so-called “gay seat” since 1999. Quinn’s win was no doubt helped along by key support from powerful unions and local politicians like then-state Senator Tom Duane, her men-
tor and former boss, calling it a “slam dunk.” But Kurland put up a surprisingly strong challenge for the mostly West Side district, which spans the length of Hells Kitchen and extends through Chelsea and the Village down to Canal St. The second time around, the “Yetta Kurland Live!” radio show host faces another Duane favorite, Corey
Continued on page 9
JOHN CATSIMATIDIS FOR MAYOR A New Yorker for all New Yorkers
cats2013.com Paid for by Catsimatidis 2013
5 15 C A N A L STREET • N YC 10 013 • C OPYRIG HT © 2013 N YC COMMU NITY M ED IA , LLC