The Paper of Record for East and West Villages, Lower East Side, Soho, Noho, Little Italy and Chinatown
July 24, 2014 • FREE Volume 4 • Number 18
E.V. slow zone, with 20 m.p.h. limit, is fast approaching BY SERGEI KLEBNIKOV
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ammy Hagar sang, “I can’t drive 55!” Well, now if the rocker ever drives through the East Village, he won’t even be allowed to drive 30. Under a new “slow zone” initiative, the neighborhood’s speed limit is set to be
shaved down to 20 miles per hour — 10 miles per hour below the city speed limit. Construction for the new Tompkins Square / Alphabet City Slow Zone, approved by the Department of Transportation last October, started this month, and is set to be completed by next SLOW ZONE, continued on p. 4
BY CLARISSA-JAN LIM
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eyson and Plasm roam the streets, their sole belongings in backpacks hiked up on their shoulders. They occasionally stop by “bum feeds” or dig through dumpsters for food. They clandestinely drink alco-
hol from brown bags on the street or in parks with fellow “crust punks,” at times in the company of a dog or two. The “crusties” are unmistakable with their patched, black outfits and general unkemptness. Especially in warm weather, they’re a common sight in the Village, CRUSTIES, continued on p. 14
PHOTO BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
From troubled homes to Village’s sidewalks: Crusty life on the street
David Baez, 22, who had a bicycle accident, was the first patient at the Lenox Hill HealthPlex last Thursday morning. A doctor checked Baez’s condition after he received a CAT scan.
Bike accidents to bedbugs, HealthPlex is there to help BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
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avid Baez woke up under a staircase in front of the Search & Destroy punk shop on St. Mark’s Place last Thursday morning. The left side of his head was a mess of bloody scrapes. “I had all this crap on my face,” he said. “I don’t remember what happened.” He got on his lime-green track bike — which he somehow had had the presence of mind to lock up nearby be-
fore winding up under the stairs — and pedaled over to the new Lenox Hill HealthPlex freestanding emergency department, at W. 12th St. and Seventh Ave. He was in luck. It was the E.D.’s opening day. “I knew this place was here,” he said. “But I didn’t know if it was open yet.” He knew the HealthPlex would be opening sometime soon, since he works right around the corner as a dispatcher at Juice Press, on Greenwich Ave. (which, he
proudly noted, is even better than Liquiteria, “way more raw, way more organic”). Baez, 22, spoke Thursday around 1 p.m. as he was lying on a bed in one of the HealthPlex’s 26 private rooms for patients. In fact, he was the West Village’s new healthcare facility’s very first patient. The place had opened its doors at 10 a.m, but it took a little while before patients started arriving — and when HEALTHPLEX, continued on p. 20
Menchaca takin’ care of bin’ness.....................page 2 Cash grants mean more composting..............page 6 R.I.P., Florence Otway of Theatre 80.................page 9 ‘Rice Bomber’ redeemed.............page 19 | May 14, 2014
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