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The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933
September 22, 2016 • $1.00 Volume 86 • Number 38
Sink or spin? Report says St. John’s project could lose housing BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
T
he majority owner of the St. John’s Center is rethinking the idea of building a mostly residential project there because the housing market is starting to weaken — so says an article in Crain’s New York Business this past Friday. However, local leaders
were quick to cast doubt on the report. They thought it was likely an effort to spin things favorably for the developers as the project wends its way through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP, review process. Nevertheless, the new ULURP continued on p. 12
Artists fear brush-off, loss of protections in Soho zoning study BY ALEX ELLEFSON
T
he city’s plan to study Soho’s special zoning regulations has alarmed some residents, who see a looming threat to a longstanding provision ensuring that the neighborhood is inhabited by artists. “Artists are at risk of being
removed by greedy landlords who want their apartments,” said Sean Sweeney, director of the Soho Alliance. “We fear this could lead to the wholesale eviction of the artists and pioneers who made this neighborhood one of the most successful in the world.” Soho wasn’t always a trendy SohO continued on p. 5
Photo by Tequila Minsky
Chelsea photographer Jane Schreibman, who aler ted police to an unexploded bomb on W. 27th St. on Saturday night, got a handshake of gratitude from a local denizen. She said she was spurred to act by the slogan, “If you see something, say something.” A sked if she was a hero, she said, “I’m not a hero, I’m a New Yorker. Anyone would have done this.” For more on the Chelsea bombing, see Pages 6 and 7.
Lenin has left the building! There goes neighborhood By Lincoln Anderson
A A 9/11 tour de force ��������������� p. 19
nother statue of Lenin was toppled earlier this week. Well…not exactly toppled. It was lowered down gently by crane, then carted away on a flatbed truck. There were no elated shouts of “Freedom! Freedom at last!” Several people did wonder aloud, though, what a statue of “Lennon” was doing on E. Houston St.
instead of being up at The Dakota, where the famous Beatle was shot. The iconic artwork’s removal does mark a revolution of sorts, though. No, not of the end of communism — but perhaps of the victory of gentrification in the East Village. The Vladimir Lenin statue had stood on the roof of Red Square since being installed there in 1994. The 130-unit apartment building had
opened for occupancy three years earlier, and was seen as an early beachhead of gentrification in the then-still-gritty neighborhood. Last month, the New York Post reported that the building, at 250 E. Houston St., was in contract to be sold for $100 million. According to a 1997 New York Times article, the statue of the renowned red leadStatue continued on p. 10
BBQ gay basher gets burned: 9 years in jail ������p. 4 Astor comes alive! at festival for new plazas �� p. 16 www.TheVillager.com