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
CHRIS ORTIZ ANDREW GOOS
SENIOR VP OF ADVERTISING / MARKETING FRANCESCO REGINI
RETAIL AD MANAGER COLIN GREGORY
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES ALLISON GREAKER MIKE O’BRIEN ANDREW REGIER REBECCA ROSENTHAL JULIO TUMBACO
CIRCULATIONS SALES MNGR. MARVIN ROCK
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.
PUBLISHER’S LIABILITY FOR ERROR
The Publisher shall not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for others errors or omissions in connection with an advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue. Published by NYC Community Media, LLC 515 Canal Street, Unit 1C, NY, NY 10013 Phone: (212) 229-1890 • Fax: (212) 229-2790 On-line: www.thevillager.com E-mail: news@thevillager.com © 2012 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 S.L.A. is listening To The Editor: Re “Lower East Side: A livable neighborhood in progress” (Progress Report, March 6): Over the past year the LES Dwellers have made numerous appearances before the State Liquor Authority. We are so fortunate now to have a considerate and open-minded commissioner heading the S.L.A., one who takes the community’s interest to heart. Our S.L.A. commissioner has made numerous statements indicating that he is well aware of the problems in Hell Square. Hopefully, this message is now getting through to the liquorlicense applicants’ attorneys who have been in attendance at these hearings. When the attorneys start honestly advising their liquor-license clients that this neighborhood is done — no more licenses, don’t waste your time
and money — then our neighborhood will be safe again. And many thanks to Michael at the Meatball Shop, at 84 Stanton St., for his efforts to put together a community-friendly restaurants group in the Hell Square area. Please support his business and his efforts to be one of the many good neighborhood businesses that we are lucky to have in the community. David Troutman
Bronx bummer To The Editor: Re “N.Y.U. cries foul” (letter, by Philip Lentz, Feb. 27): Apparently, Mr. Lentz was not an N.Y.U. employee when N.Y.U. owned the Bronx campus. Indeed, Mr. Leguizamo is quite correct that the university had a large Bronx campus. But, like so many mistakes the N.Y.U. admin-
istration makes, with the sale of its Bronx campus in 1973, N.Y.U. lost, along with academic buildings and dormitories, its athletic facilities and fields. N.Y.U. said it needed the site on Mercer St. to build Coles gym as a replacement, to attract students and maintain financial viability. Current N.Y.U. public affairs employees seem to have little grasp of the university’s 20th-century history. It’s also odd that N.Y.U. does not recognize it needs to go back to the drawing board. Its 2031 ULURP plan has changed significantly with Judge Mills’s decision, and the new N.Y.U. committee report released recently that now asks for housing for 500 students and 100 faculty families, plus 80 classrooms — all of which will add thousands of people daily traversing the area and requiring multiple city services. Certainly, a new environmental
impact study should be required. We call upon Mayor de Blasio to rescind the city’s appeal of Judge Mills’s decision on N.Y.U. 2031 and require N.Y.U. to submit a new ULURP that takes into account land use and requires a major impact study. Sylvia Rackow Rackow is a member, Committee to Preserve Our Neighborhood
I just don’t get it To The Editor: Re “HealthPlex E.R. opening June at St. Vincent’s site” (news article, March 6): All this language about emergency care, comprehensive care, “vast” capabilities, still means we don’t have a hospital. There’s an LETTERS, continued on p. 10
EastVillagerNews.com