0
15465
10500
9
The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933
September 24, 2015 • $1.00 Volume 85 • Number 17
Politicians put on push for Obama to hurry up on Stonewall park BY ANDY HUMM
T
STONEWALL continued on p. 4
No hope for a visit by pope in East Village, but a few score tickets BY MARY REINHOLZ
P
ope Francis, known for his devotion to the poor and marginalized, could find plenty of people fitting that description in the rapidly gentrifying East Village — if, that is, his motorcade had been scheduled to pass by
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
he political, community and activist stars are aligned to make the area outside the Stonewall bar, scene of the 1969 rebellion that sparked the modern L.G.B.T. movement, a national park run by the National Park Service.
In a rare display of unity, New York leaders from Congress, Albany and City Hall stood with L.G.B.T. activists and West Village community leaders to call on President Obama to use his power under the Antiquities Act to designate Christopher Park across the street from the bar
places like the shuttered Church of the Nativity, at 44 Second Ave., when he arrives in New York City Thurs., Sept. 24, for a whirlwind visit to Manhattan. There, a couple of homeless men in their 30s huddled against the church door on a recent Sunday mornPOPE continued on p. 8
Barry Benepe, 87, stopped to smell the roses in the Jefferson Market Garden before the garden’s 40th anniversary celebration earlier this month, at which the Greenmarkets founder and his son, Adrian, were honored. See Page 15.
A hard row to hoe: Garden or housing at Little Italy lot? BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
A
n estimated more than 200 supporters of the Elizabeth St. Garden packed a hearing last week to protest against funds being allocated to help build affordable housing at the Little Italy location. Notably joining them was Assemblymember Deborah Glick. Far fewer, about 50 people — many of them seniors from Chinatown — came to advocate for the housing. City Councilmember Marga-
ret Chin, the project’s main sponsor, spoke in favor of the project, and then sat up in the front of the main hearing room for the duration. The pro-garden group was so large that the crowd filled two overflow rooms, plus a balcony outside the 13thfloor hearing room. The venue was Borough of Manhattan Community College’s Fiterman Hall, just north of the World Trade Center. There an advisory committee for the Lower Manhattan Devel-
opment Corporation heard testimony in support of applications for federal funding for what it called local “potential projects.” These ranged from restoring the historic Seward Park fountain, to tearing down the pier shed at Pier 42 on the Lower East Side to create an open park there, to keeping the 9/11 Tribute in Light beaming skyward for the next few years. But only the contentious GARDEN continued on p. 6
Purple haze of Adam memorial info..............page 2 Bernie Goetz — animal E.M.T.?.......................page 9 Yo! Brooklyn Fare in the house!........................page 10 Is he really?... Jackson’s back!....page 19
www.TheVillager.com