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The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933
July 2, 2015 • $1.00 Volume 85 • Number 5
N.Y.U. expansion plan is O.K.’d by state high court BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
I
n a crushing blow for opponents of the N.Y.U. 2031 mega-development plan, on Tuesday morning the Court of Appeals — the state’s highest court — ruled that the university’s full project can proceed. The way is now cleared for N.Y.U. to shoehorn four new buildings — with a total of
nearly 2 million square feet — onto its two South Village superblocks, between Houston and W. Third Sts. and LaGuardia Place and Mercer St. The case centered on whether four open-space strips along Mercer St. and LaGuardia Place were “implied parkland” — as a lower-court judge had ruled N.Y.U. continued on p. 10
BY TINA BENITEZ-EVES
T
he rats crawl out through the cracks in the green board, and then out into the street. That’s how it’s been for years now, particularly during the hot summer months, in the area surrounding an empty lot on the corner of Avenue C and E. Sixth St. An economy-size car could
fit in the sinkhole that has sat open and unattended at 699 E. Sixth St., for more than 30 years. More than an eyesore for local residents and passersby, the 10-foot-by-12-foot crater has transformed into a cesspool of debris and vermin, the latter which have poured out onto the streets by the dozens when the sun goes down. The rats issuing HOLE continued on p. 9
PHOTO BY MILO HESS
Avenue C hellhole keeps giving that sinking feeling
Hats off — or on! — for Pride For photos of Sunday’s jubilant Pride March, see Pages 6 and 7.
Supremely Proud crowd revels in marriage ruling at Stonewall BY DUNCAN OSBORNE
H
undreds turned out for a rally last Friday evening at the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots, which marked the start of the modern L.G.B.T. rights movement, to celebrate the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. “If you’re not married and you hope to be so one day, you can go on a destination wedding to Alabama or anywhere you want,” said
Susan Sommer, national director of constitutional litigation at Lambda Legal, at the joyous get-together. The court ruled on June 26 on lawsuits brought by “14 same-sex couples and two men whose same-sex partners are deceased” from four states that had same-sex marriage bans. Lambda represented four of the couples. In a 5-to-4 decision, the court held that “same-sex couples may exercise the right to marry” and that “there is no lawful basis for
a State to refuse to recognize a lawful same-sex marriage performed in another State on the ground of its samesex character.” The opinion was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy and he was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. The composition of the court’s pro-marriage majority occasioned one of the rally’s funnier moments when MARRIAGE continued on p. 4
Looking Gouda for cheese shop move...........page 14 Skenazy X-amines X-Men’s impact...............page 17 L.E.S. tattoo museum is creating buzz.........page 24 L.G.B.T. geeks are on fire!...........page 22
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