June 9, 2016 • $1.00 Volume 86 • Number 23
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The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933
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What was he drinking? Cuomo bill could allow bars to be near schools BY COLIN MIXSON
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ocal lawmakers are demanding Governor Cuomo give the city’s community boards a chance to air their grievances over bills he announced to amend laws controlling the sale and distribution of alcohol. Downtowners claim the proposed laws — mostly based on
the counsel of handpicked insiders — hold serious consequences for New Yorkers, whom the state gave scant opportunity to weigh in on the proposed measures. “I’ve long supported a key role for community boards in the liquor application process,” state Senator Daniel Squadron said. “It doesn’t make sense that community boards weren’t given a ALCOHOL continued on p. 10
Newell gets D.I.D.’s nod; Rajkumar rages against ‘clubhouse gang’ politics BY COLIN MIXSON
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reaking the deadlock that has gripped the Downtown Independent Democrats over who its candidate for the 65th Assembly District will be in the September primary election, last Wednesday evening, D.I.D. finally made a definitive choice, endorsing Paul Newell.
In their June 1 vote, the club went for Newell over Jenifer Rajkumar by about 2-to-1. Both are district leaders and D.I.D. members. Newell previously ran in an Assembly primary when he challenged former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in 2008. He also was recently endorsed by two D.I.D. continued on p. 8
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
And on that note! ... A jazz trumpet player tooted his own horn in Washington Square Park.
Betraying its mandate, L.P.C. hikes Gansevoort St. heights BY YANNIC RACK The massively unpopular redevelopment of an entire block of Gansevoort St. can move ahead, after the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission this week voted to approve a modified plan to remake the historic row of market-style buildings in the Meatpacking District. Preservationists and local residents — who have fought the plan, dubbed “Gansevoort Row,” since it first came to light last August — blasted the landmarks agency for backtracking on its own standards and allowing the developers to, in some cases, more than triple the height of the existing streetscape.
“We got skunked,” said Keith Anderson, who lives around the corner from the site on Horatio St. and attended L.P.C.’s public meeting on Tuesday morning. “I think they completely disregarded the guidelines they had set,” said Elaine Young, another critic of the plan, who cofounded the ad-hoc opposition group Save Gansevoort. Young and her fellow residents took particular issue with the fact that the L.P.C. commissioners themselves had asked the architects at their last hearing in February to scale down the proposed buildings. And although the developers did so, the plan’s opponents say the changes were not drastic enough by far. The commission had previ-
ously rejected the design, by BKSK Architects, because it was too “fussy” and some of the buildings were too tall. “It’s like this: Keep your word,” Young said after the meeting, holding up a sign stating the same idea. “But they didn’t.” The highly unpopular proposal, by Aurora Capital Associates and William Gottlieb Real Estate, aims to demolish some of the low-slung former Meat Market buildings on the south side of Gansevoort St. between Ninth Ave. and Washington St. and replace them with new buildings up to 81 feet high. Other existing buildings would be restored and topped with GANSEVOORT continued on p. 6
‘Soho Wild Man’ sentenced to 14 years............p. 12 Spaces: At home with actor Charles Busch.....p. 14 Ali: Sting like an Avenue B.....p. 22
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