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The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933
December 28, 2017 • $1.00 Volume 87 • Number 52
Give them a break! Tax bill offers relief to small businesses BY REBECCA FIORE
O
n Dec. 22 Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into effect a law that will help nearly 3,000 Manhattan small businesses save an average of $13,000 in annual taxes. On Nov. 30, the mayor gathered at City Hall with the bill’s
two primary sponsors, City Councilmembers Dan Garodnick and Helen Rosenthal, and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer to celebrate the passage of Gardonick’s bill that reforms the Commercial Rent Tax. The C.R.T. was created in TAX continued on p. 4
Dana Beal, pot icon, is freed on bail after arrest in California BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
D
ana Beal — known as the “Grandfather of Marijuana” and the “Last of the Yippies” — has gotten burned again, caught trying to drive 22 pounds of pot out of Northern California. On Sat., Dec. 16, the longtime medical-marijuana advoj
cate was busted in Hayfork, California, 100 miles from the Oregon border, according to the Trinity County sheriff. A sheriff’s spokesperson said it was a traffic stop where a K9 unit “alerted to the odor of narcotics.” The vehicle was swerving, BEAL continued on p. 9
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
A ghost image lingered (briefly) after Donald Trump’s name was stripped off the awning of the newly rebranded The Dominick Hotel in Soho, at Spring and Varick Sts., last week. See Page 8.
True to roots, bar will close, not raise prices BY REBECCA FIORE
T
hree-dollar pints of beer, free popcorn, dartboards and disgusting bathrooms are some of the classic characteristics of a dive bar. But for patrons of the Grassroots Tavern, it was much more than just a basement bar, it was a home away from home. The East Village watering hole, which is closing on New Year’s Eve, had a strong 42-year run. Jim Stratton, who is now
Beefcake ’n’ roast beef .......... p. 11
nearly 80, opened the bar in 1975 based on the idea that the Grassroots Tavern, at 20 St. Marks’s Place, between Second and Third Aves., could be anyone’s living room. “You live in a neighborhood where all the apartments are small, and if you have a couple of friends over, you are overflowing,” he said. “But if you can go to a neighborhood bar that’s not much more expensive then buying a six-pack, you can get a conversation and
a neighborhood of people.” He recalled that, back in the day, the area used to be a lot more dangerous and grungy. Stratton thought that if he opened a bar, he could build a safe space for people. “I thought that the bar would be the kind of thing that could actually add something to a neighborhood that was a bit sketchy,” he said, “by providing the ability for someone to go out and feel like there’s protecGRASSROOTS continued on p. 6
Housing activists petition Cardinal Dolan ........ p. 10 How Council speaker can help businesses ...... p. 13 www.TheVillager.com