0
15465
10500
9
The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933
January 1, 2015 • $1.00 Volume 84 • Number 31
Franz Leichter, co-author of Hudson River Park Act, to resign from Trust board BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
F
LEICHTER, continued on p. 23
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
ormer state Senator Franz Leichter is stepping down from the board of directors of the Hudson River Park Trust. Leichter announced his intention in a Dec. 23 letter to the Trust’s chairperson, Diana Taylor, and his fellow board of director members. He noted that he had informed Madelyn Wils, the Trust’s president, a week earlier. Leichter, 84, co-wrote the 4-mile-long waterfront park’s founding legislation. He said he had initially planned to resign at the end of this year, but wanted to be present at the Trust board’s meeting on Feb. 11 when they will take up the matter of Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg’s proposed Pier55 project, and will then resign after that meeting. “I have been involved in working with the staff to assure that this pier will be accessible to the public and an integral part of our
magnificent park and want to participate when this issue is taken up,” Leichter wrote. “I take great pride in the Hudson River Park as the architect, with Assemblyman Dick Gottfried, of the passage of the Park Act in 1998,” he added. “I have served as a board member since then in working with an exceptionally dedicated staff and you my colleagues on the board to realize turning a deteriorated waterfront into what is becoming a world-class park. I have been fortunate to travel to many of the world’s great harbors and have not seen anything that is its equal,” he said of Hudson River Park. “I know we have some ways to go to finish the park and put it on solid financial footing,” Leichter went on. “I would have been ready to continue to serve. However, Gale Brewer the current borough president, has made it difficult for me to
Ride ’em, Doris! Friends of Doris Diether, the legendary C.B. 2 “zoning maven,” recently celebrated her — again! See Page 11.
Feds probe Silver over law firm money, Grand St. taxes BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
S
heldon Silver, the powerful, longtime leader of the New York State Assembly, is the focus of a federal investigation, The New York Times reported in its lead article on Page One on Tuesday. According to the Times, prosecutors from the office of Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, are investigating “substantial payments” made to Silver by a
small firm that specializes in seeking tax reductions for commercial and residential properties in New York City. Prosecutors from Bharara’s office, along with F.B.I. agents, have allegedly found that Goldberg & Iryami, P.C. — a two-person firm — has paid Silver the sums roughly over a decade, but that he did not list this income on his annual financial disclosure forms, as required. The payments were not made to Silver as campaign contributions, but as outside
income as part of his private law practice. In addition to being the Assembly speaker, Silver is a personal-injury lawyer with the firm of Weitz and Luxenberg. The U.S. attorney and F.B.I. reportedly are now trying to determine exactly what work Silver did in order to receive the payments. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the investigation — and would SILVER, continued on p. 12
A sea of blue at officer’s funeral...................page 6 Reflections on Christmas dinner...................page 9 The state(s) of pot legalization......................page 10 Guardians rock galaxy................page 17
www.TheVillager.com