The Paper of Record for East and West Villages, Lower East Side, Soho, Noho, Little Italy and Chinatown
October 2, 2014 • FREE Volume 4 • Number 23
Kushner must respect tenants’ rights, pols say BY ZACH WILLIAMS
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PHOTO BY ROBERTO J. MERCADO
ocal politicians, housing activists and tenants are urging landlord Jared Kushner to respect tenants’ rights through better communication and management of renovation work at 170-174 E. Second St. Ceiling collapses, unannounced utility stoppages, incessant pounding and construction-related dust
demonstrate Kushner’s lack of concern for tenants’ safety and quality of life, critics charge. City Councilmember Rosie Mendez and Borough President Gale Brewer joined the tenants and Cooper Square Committee earlier this month outside the buildings, saying that they would hold Kushner KUSHNER, continued on p. 11
Confessions of a reluctant climate-change marcher BY SARAH FERGUSON
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hat was the impact of the recent massive People’s Climate March? Was it, as 350.org founder and march instigator Bill McKibben claimed, “the most important day” in the history of the climate movement? I confess when I first heard about the march, it seemed
Standing across from the old P.S. 64 (the former CHARAS / El Bohio Cultural and Community Center) on E. Ninth St. Sunday, politicians and CHARAS’s Chino Garcia hailed the city’s decision to issue a stop-work order on a college dorm planned for the building. Clockwise from front row center, former Councilmember Margarita Lopez, Garcia, District Leader Anthony Feliciano, Councilmember Rosie Mendez, District Leader Carlina Rivera, state Senator Brad Hoylman, Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh and State Committeeman Michael Farrin.
like another big protest parade to nowhere through the canyons of N.Y.C. With slick subway ads pledging to unite “hipsters and bankers” and even a glossy promo video celebrating the organizers and their mission to “make history,” the march sounded more like Live Aid for the planet — with no central demands on world leaders or
Pols cheer victory on former CHARAS BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
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elebrating what they called a major win in their effort to reclaim the former old P.S. 64 for community use, politicians, advocates and community members rallied Sunday afternoon outside the historic East Village building. The city’s Department of Buildings issued a stopwork order for the project, at 605 E. Ninth St., between Avenues B and C, on Sept. 22.
CLIMATE, continued on p. 23
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
The radiant Rococo Rouge..........page 15 | May 14, 2014
The building’s owner, Gregg Singer, has signed contracts with The Cooper Union and Joffrey Ballet School to take a total of more than 200 beds on about two-thirds of the building’s floors. Councilmember Rosie Mendez, whose district includes the building, had written twice to D.O.B., charging that the project violated the “Dorm Rule,” but never heard back. A few weeks ago, Mendez — feeling both frustrated
and insulted — wrote one final letter to the agency. At the time, she told The Villager that if D.O.B. didn’t respond to her — or rejected her argument — she would promptly stage a community protest. But in a surprising turnaround, D.O.B. now sided with Mendez, and it became occasion, not for a protest, but a victory party. D.O.B. said the rescinding of the permits for the dorm was based on “failure to proCHARAS, continued on p. 4
Shaoul must shed E. 5th penthouse..............page 7 A cyclist sounds off on bike lanes................page 13 Ch-ch-changes at an E.V. school.....................page 20 www.EastVillagerNews.com
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