THE WEST SIDE’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SERVING CHELSEA, HUDSON YARDS & HELL'S KITCHEN
USPS More Forthcoming, but Post Office’s Future Still Up in the Air BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC In an about-face, the United States Postal Service (USPS) sent a representative to Community Board 4’s full board meeting on Wed., Jan. 7, to explain aspects of the air rights sale of Old Chelsea Station. The community was dismayed to learn of the sale late last year, after fighting in 2013 to keep the post office at 217 W. 18th St. open. Elected officials had pushed for a longer public comment period, which lasted fifteen days after a Nov. 26 notice was posted in the lobby. They also made repeated request for a USPS presence at CB4 Land Use committee and full board meetings. It had seemed as if the USPS would not budge on either request. But in another twist, their representative said that he would give the public more time. “I have no problem extending that public comment period,” said Gregory C. Lackey, USPS’ realty asset manager for the Northeast. “The postal service is a part of your community and we want your comments. We will evaluate your comments. They will not be ignored.” The deadline for elected officials and CB4 to comment is Jan. 26. Continued on page 5
Parsons Dance touches down at The Joyce, Jan. 21–Feb. 1. The theater’s spring/summer season begins Feb. 10. See page 16 for information on the visiting artists, and news about the venue’s bid to solidify its presence in Chelsea.
Photo by Zach Williams
Hundreds gathered at Washington Square Park on Jan. 10 in solidarity with victims of the Paris massacre.
Grief, Solidarity and Resolve as French Expats Gather BY ZACH WILLIAMS Chelsea resident Lawrence Walmsley began the morning of January 7 perusing the news on his iPad, when he came across something that he could not initially believe: a mass shooting in Paris. In another part of the neighborhood, Ingrid Jean-Baptiste received a phone call informing her that two masked gunmen had just stormed the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. They were shocked by the coordinated nature of the attack, which left 12 people dead that day, they said. As incidents of violence and murder continued in the subsequent days, the underlying motivations behind the carnage emerged as the world learned that the alleged attackers were two French Muslims inspired by religious zealotry. In the pages of Charlie Hebdo, brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi did not see humor in cartoon lampoons of the Prophet Muhammad. They saw a target. Visual representations of the prophet are forbidden in
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Islam, but the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo did not care. Staff at the magazine have long delighted in printing caricatures of the powerful. A predecessor publication was banned by French authorities in 1970 for making fun of the death of Charles de Gaulle. A 2011 bomb outside the Charlie Hebdo office followed the publication of an issue guest-edited in jest by Muhammad with a cover reading: “100 lashes if you don’t die of laughter.” Their sometimes crude brand of humor had a niche following among French people, but did not appeal to others. On Jan. 7, the magazine’s style of free expression assumed a significance unimaginable the day before. “It [Charlie Hebdo] was provocative so I was not a big fan,” said Jean-Baptiste. “However I respected the work of the cartoonists. After all, they are artists and I appreciate everyone’s art whether I like it or not.”
Continued on page 3 VOLUME 07, ISSUE 04 | JANUARY 15 - 28, 2015