Named best weekly newspaper in New York State in 2001, 2004 and 2005 by New York Press Association PUBLISHER JENNIFER GOODSTEIN
EDITOR IN CHIEF LINCOLN ANDERSON
ARTS EDITOR
SCOTT STIFFLER
REPORTER
SAM SPOKONY
Slow down, you move too fast
CONTRIBUTORS IRA BLUTREICH TERESE LOEB KREUZER JEFFERSON SIEGEL JERRY TALLMER
ART / PRODUCTION DIRECTOR TROY MASTERS
SENIOR DESIGNER MICHAEL SHIREY
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS PHOTO COURTESY RIGHT OF WAY
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PUBLISHER EMERITUS JOHN W. SUTTER
Member of the New York Press Association
Member of the National Newspaper Association
The Villager (USPS 578930) ISSN 0042-6202 is published every week by NYC Community Media LLC, 515 Canal Street, Unit 1C, New York, N.Y. 10013 (212) 229-1890. Periodicals Postage paid at New York, N.Y. Annual subscription by mail in Manhattan and Brooklyn $29 ($35 elsewhere). Single copy price at office and newsstands is $1. The entire contents of newspaper, including advertising, are copyrighted and no part may be reproduced without the express permission of the publisher - © 2011 NYC Community Media LLC.
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March 20, 2014
Concerned the city might not follow through on its Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic fatalities — and that promised Slow Zones might not be implemented — the activist group Right of Way, on Sunday, put up 20-mile-per-hour signs in 11 neighborhoods around town. Above, they attached the signs to poles in the Hudson Square neighborhood. They don’t want the exact locations printed in hopes the signs will stay up longer. The West and East Villages are among neighborhoods slated to get Slow Zones, which feature street humps near schools, lower speed limits and other traffic-calming measures. Pedestrians and cyclists are much more likely to survive a car accident if the car is traveling 20 m.p.h. versus 30 m.p.h., the advocates say. Mayor de Blasio has asked the state to authorize the city’s lowering its speed limit from 30 m.p.h. to 25 m.p.h. Uptown Assemblymember Danny O’Donnell is sponsoring a bill to cap the speed limit at 20 m.p.h.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Biased report
What about us?
Don’t dog history!
New ULURP, now!
To The Editor: Re “Zipper reconsidered: N.Y.U. retools project it says it can still build” (news article, March 13): As for Professor Magder’s statement about N.Y.U. Faculty Against the Sexton Plan being comprised of only 400 faculty, let’s put that into perspective: The University Open Space Priorities Space Committee that he chaired had only 22 faculty members, and 19 were handpicked by administrators. And he, himself, was selected by the administration to chair the committee. Furthermore, two individuals on the committee were senior administration members. The survey conducted by the Faculty Senators Council in spring 2012, on the other hand, had 1,146 faculty participants, with 718 opposed to the N.Y.U. 2031 development plan.
To The Editor: Re “Zipper reconsidered: N.Y.U. retools project it says it can still build” (news article, March 13): The N.Y.U. working group has proposed the establishment of a “work-study center” away from the Zipper Building construction site for N.Y.U. faculty who currently live on the superblocks and “work at home and...have no other office options.” Wow, well, speaking as a current Washington Square Village resident, wouldn’t it be just dandy if all of us non-N.Y.U. faculty living in the superblocks area could also have a “work-study center” during this would-be, ill-conceived, toxic construction period?
To The Editor: Re “Rosie and the roses” (Scoopy’s Notebook, March 13): Judge Mills’s decision — and Rosie Mendez’s agreement with it — ruling out designation of the Mercer-Houston Dog Run as parkland because of its private/members-only policy, completely ignores the history of this open-space strip. Community Board 2 stipulated this restrictive policy, along with formal bylaws, a constitution, elected officers, dues and insurance as requirements for approval of the dog run’s occupancy of that portion of the Mercer St. strip. The run, which opened on Oct. 26, 1981, was New York City’s first official dog run. Its long-term and continued existence should remain a source of pride to our community.
To The Editor: Re “Zipper reconsidered: N.Y.U. retools project it says it can still build” (news article, March 13) and “Rosie and the roses” (Scoopy’s Notebook, March 13): It sounds like a really political faculty study group acceded to a soon-to-retire President Sexton. How many were promoted to higher ranks? Did they look at other solutions? One solution to the theater space crisis could be returning Skirball to N.Y.U. student use. (Or is it too lucrative to waste on students?) The “new project” diverges from the ULURP previously presented, making us even more wary since it looks oddly fishy to us. So, in anticipation, the study group says to put the entrances on Mercer St., far away from fac-
Marie Monaco
Milton Polsky, Ph.D., N.Y.U. ’73
Rosanne Levitt Levitt is a founding former member, Mercer-Houston Dog Run
LETTERS, continued on p. 12
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