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The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933
August 25, 2016 • $1.00 Volume 86 • Number 34
Rodent combatants nest at Rat Academy BY SEAN EGAN
I
n New York, rats are often inconsiderate neighbors (or tenants) whose bad habits and uncleanliness can cause health risks and other quality of life issues. For many, hardly a day goes by where one doesn’t see a rat on the streets, in the subway, or even at home. That’s why on Tues., Aug. 17, the office of City Councilmember Corey Johnson (representing Council District
3), along with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene presented its second “Rat Academy” at the L.G.B.T. Community Center (208 W. 13th St., btw. Greenwich & Seventh Aves.). The program educated the community on ways to prevent and eliminate the troublesome rodents from their homes, businesses, and public spaces. Academy continued on p. 6
Brewer gives thumbs down on St. John’s project; Says it ‘isn’t good enough’ BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
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ale Brewer, the Manhattan Borough president, has split sharply with Community Board 2 over the massive St. John’s Partners project. While C.B. 2, at the end of June, recommended approval of the three-block-long development plan at Houston and West
Sts., Brewer on Monday announced that the project “isn’t good enough.” The “Beep” recommended a flat-out denial of the developers’ land-use and air rights-transfer applications to build on the Lower West Side site, which would involve buying and using $100 million worth of air rights from Hudson River Park. ST. John’s continued on p. 9
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Photo by Tequila Minsky
Protestors slammed Mayor Bill de Blasio for allowing a political donor to level five East Village apar tment buildings.
Villagers protest loss of affordable housing to de Blasio ‘ally’ BY ALEX ELLEFSON
P
reservationists and community advocates lambasted Mayor Bill de Blasio Monday for allowing a developer to demolish affordable housing in five historic East Village buildings to make way for a chic hotel. Dozens of protestors rallied outside the property — waving signs that read “save our neighborhood” and “housing, not hotels” — to call attention to the
mayor’s cozy relationship with the developer who plans to level the row of pre-war buildings at 112-120 E. 11th St. “These buildings are being demolished to make way for [the mayor’s] friend, his contributor, his ally’s hotel development,” said Andrew Berman, executive director for the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (G.V.S.H.P.). Protestors cited revelations in the New York Post that David Lichtenstein, C.E.O. and found-
er of the Lightstone Group, contributed $50,000 to a key state senate race at the request of a top de Blasio fundraiser. The Lightstone Group, which snapped up the property in April, is partnering with with Marriott International to bring one of the company’s millennialbranded Moxy Hotels to the East Village block. Demonstrators, some accusing the mayor of “graft” and “corruption,” said tenants had 11th street continued on p. 3
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