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The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933
April 16, 2015 • $1.00 Volume 84 • Number 46
Alleged gas siphoning only further fuels turmoil at another E.V. building BY TINA BENITEZ-EVES
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128 2ND AVE., continued on p. 12
Marchers throng streets once again after damning video of S.C. shooting BY ZACH WILLIAMS
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ddressing racism takes time and patience but #BlackLivesMatter activists were eager to do something big on Tues., April 14, in their largest show of force in months. About 1,000 activists marched from Union Square
PHOTO BY RONALD ANDREW SCHVARZTMAN
early three weeks after the deadly explosion and fire at 121 Second Ave., which leveled three buildings and killed two men, tenants across the street from the site at 128 Second Ave. are still without heat and hot water.
On March 30, the city issued a full stop-work order for work in the building's basement — meaning the tenants may be left without heat and hot water for an extended period of time. One of these tenants is Stage Restaurant, a counter deli that has been on Sec-
down Broadway in a renewed push for more police accountability for their treatment of people of color. After reaching the City Hall area, they struggled against efforts by law enforcement to contain the protest, but activists ultimately succeeded in reaching the Brooklyn PROTESTS, continued on p. 7
PROGRESS REPORT
Patti Smith and guitarist Lenny Kaye rocked the East Village fire benefit at Theatre 80 St. Mark’s Sunday night. See Page 4.
Pols and coalition feel burned by pavilion restaurant reversal BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
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hey should have gotten it in writing. Then again, you can’t say they didn’t try. Last fall, both state Senator Liz Krueger and Assemblymember Richard Gottfried reported in their newsletters to constituents that, after discussions with de Blasio administration officials last April, it was decided that, for its second season, Chef Driven Market would have to operate on the blacktop
outside the Union Square pavilion. Yet, as The Villager reported last October, the local elected officials were starting to get worried that — after still not having seen any written agreement after more than six months — the administration might not make good on its word to boot the tony eatery from the historic structure. Now comes word that the seasonal concession, the Pavilion Market Cafe, will be returning for a second round
— not outside on the pavement, as purportedly promised, but right back inside the pavilion — as of Wed., April 15. Jennifer Falk, executive director of the Union Square Partnership business improvement district, hailed the news. “In its first year, the pavilion restaurant established itself as a wildly successful amenity within Union Square Park, and we can’t PAVILION, continued on p. 20
A special Villager supplement
Cops bag E.V. bodega bandit............................page 6 Four catastrophe cats still missing................page 8 The trials of Kasoundra Kasoundra...............page 11
Special section......................pages 13-19
www.TheVillager.com