The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933
March 23, 2017 • $1.00 Volume 87 • Number 12
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All in all, it’s another brick in the wall . . . vs. Don deportations BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
‘T
hey talk about building a wall,” said Melissa MarkViverito, the New York City Council speaker. “We’re going to build a wall of resistance — and create a safe space for everyone.” If one sentence summed up a recent forum held by the Ur-
ban Justice Center on the idea of “sanctuary cities” — and how New York is taking actions to increasingly bolster itself as one — that was it. The event, hosted by U.J.C.’s Young Professionals Board, was held at the Rector St. office of the progressive nonprofit on the evening of Mon., March 13, SANCTUARY continued on p. 6
Better bathrooms, bishop’s poles, more in ‘people’s budget’ BY SEAN EGAN
O
n Tues., March 23, City Council District 3 residents milled about an “expo,” taking in facts and snacks and observing the handiwork of their neighbors. No, it wasn’t a crafts show, but a presentation of projects that people can vote on in
what’s known as participatory budgeting. The venue was the new P.S. 340, the Sixth Avenue Elementary School, on W. 17th St. The evening event was a prelude to the official voting period for participatory budgeting, informally known as “P.B.” BUDGET continued on p. 4
PHOTO BY MILO HESS
A rose looking at the world through green-colored glasses at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade last Friday.
Blaz shores up Pier 40 but chops Eliz. Garden BY DENNIS LYNCH
A
t a town hall meeting in Chelsea last week, Mayor de Blasio heartened local youth-sports league parents when he said the city is ready to help redevelop Pier 40 to ensure its playing fields are preserved — albeit, while pointedly stressing that Governor Cuomo has to start doing his fair share for Hudson River Park.
On the other hand, the mayor dealt a crushing blow to Elizabeth St. Garden activists when he said he simply disagrees that the entire beloved Little Italy garden should be saved by shifting an affordable housing project planned there to another site. It was a tough call, though, he admitted, dubbing it “the ultimate Solomonic decision” — evoking King Solomon’s threat to cleave a child in two with a
sword to settle two women’s argument over who really was its mother. The mayor answered dozens of questions from New Yorkers during a City Council District 3 town hall meeting that lasted around three hours at the New York City Lab School last Wednesday. Councilmember Corey Johnson, who represents the disMAYOR continued on p. 8
Activists blast Canada Goose stock sale............p. 2 Ex-C.B. 3 Chair McWater puts up his dukes.....p. 23 Landmarks gave us this?.......p. 13
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