Onstage at ‘The Cage,’ p. 15
Volume 82, Number 4 $1.00
West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Hudson Square, Little Italy, Chinatown and Lower East Side, Since 1933
June 28 - July 5, 2012
Chinatown woman is elected to lead Community Board 3 By Lesley Sussman Gigi Li, who has served as second vice chairperson of Community Board 3 for the past two years, was elected Tuesday night June 26, as the East Village/Lower East Side board’s new chairperson. She replaces Dominick Pisciotta Berg, who chaired C.B. 3 for the past four years and did not seek re-election. Li, a Chinatown resident, was the only nominee for the post and became the first
community board chairperson of Chinese descent in all of New York City. Li previously co-chaired C.B. 3’s Chinatown Working Group Immigration and Social Services Subcommittee. She works as the co-director of the Neighborhood Family Services Coalition, a nonprofit organization serving youth, children and families in the Chinatown area. Continued on page 6
Mansion features elevator, wrestling and actual family Photo by Bob Krasner
Coming through with flying colors
Governor Andrew Cuomo, who delivered on same-sex marriage last year, received a hero’s welcome at the Pride March on Sunday. See Pages 16 and 17 for more Pride photos.
Gruber takes reins at C.B. 2 By Lincoln Anderson Until three weeks ago, it looked like Brad Hoylman was a shoo-in for re-election as Community Board 2 chairperson. But then everything changed when Tom Duane announced he wouldn’t seek reelection to the state Senate. The L.G.B.T. political icon was quick to give the nod to Hoylman as his successor, and Duane recently formally endorsed Hoylman to take over his seat. As a result, David Gruber, who wasn’t planning to challenge Hoylman’s re-election bid, became the favorite to win C.B.
2’s leadership. Gruber won an uncontested election at last Thursday’s full board meeting, by a vote of 35 to 0. Gruber had first mulled a run for board chairperson a year ago, but Hoylman — after having taken a two-year hiatus from the board’s leadership — was also running again, and it would have been tough to beat him. At the time, Gruber said he was also busy with business matters, and so decided to put the idea on hold. Tobi Bergman and Bo Riccobono — two other board members whose names
had been mentioned as potential chairperson candidates — ultimately decided not to throw their hats in the ring for last week’s election. Gruber is president of both the Carmine Block Association and Friends of Father Demo Square, and is a broker for retail space. Board chairperson often can be a launching pad to elected office. But Gruber said he has no ambition to use it that way.
By Lincoln Anderson It’s true. They really are living there. And it really is a single-family mansion. The Villager recently took a guided tour of 47 E. Third St., courtesy of Alistair and Catherine Economakis, the couple who gut-renovated the five-story building after emptying it of rental tenants. The tenement-transforming overhaul took two and a half years. It was preceded by a landlord-tenant battle that started 10 years ago. During the bitter battle over the Economakises’ efforts to
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515 c a n a l street • NYC 10013 • Copyrig h t © 2012 Commu n ity M ed ia , LLC
clear the property, a frequently heard comment was that the couple and their growing family would never live there, that the owners would merely “flip” the building and sell it for a colossal sum, or rent it out for a high figure. “It’s a scam,” people said. Last month, word came from neighbors that the Economakises had apparently wrapped up the renovation and were spotted moving into the building. Yet, many remained skep-
Continued on page 10
editorial, letters page 18
WATER WOMAN page 31