THE VILLAGER, APRIL 26, 2012

Progress Repor t, pp. 13 - 24

Volume 81, Number 47 $1.00

West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Hudson Square, Little Italy, Chinatown and Lower East Side, Since 1933

April 26 - May 2, 2012

Chinatown BID was overcharging, city now admits

BY ALINE REYNOLDS Though a billing snafu for the Chinatown Business Improvment District has been resolved, it has reawakened a long-standing debate over the neighborhood’s new BID and caused anxiety among some property owners about being overcharged by the organization in the future.

The BID’s interim board of directors voted in favor of retroactively charging property

owners the mandatory payments starting last October, when Mayor Bloomberg signed off on the BID’s formation. However, a group of property owners contended that the fees should only have started once state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli approved the entity at the end of January.

The property owners,

Continued on page 12

Photo by Q. Sakamaki

Digging for clues in Etan Patz case Some spurn SPURA Hoping to solve the mystery of 6-year-old Etan Patz’s disappearance from Soho 33 years ago while on his way to catch the school bus, the F.B.I. and police removed a concrete floor, dirt and drywall from a basement at 127B Prince St. near Wooster St. A cadaver dog recently got a “hit” on the basement, where a local handyman who knew Etan had a workshop. But after four days of dismantling and digging — along with screening the rubble for human remains, clothing and personal effects — the search was called off Monday with the report of “no obvious human remains.” Above, during the effort, an agent dumped dirt from the basement into a dumpster. The debris will be segregated at a landfill on Staten Island in case it needs to be re-examined later.

City Planning members grill N.Y.U. on superblocks plan

BY ALBERT AMATEAU City Planning Commission members on Wednesday questioned supporters and opponents about New York University’s application to add about 2 million square feet of new development to the university’s two superblocks south of Washington Square Park.

The previous Friday, local residents had joined community leaders and local politicians in a mass protest against the university plan. Starting at the MercerHouston Dog Run, they marched through the N.Y.U. superblocks, then rallied in Washington Square Park.

On Wednesday, critics outnumbered supporters of the N.Y.U. 2031 plan at

the packed hearing that filled the 300seat auditorium of the Museum of the American Indian in the U.S. Custom House on Bowling Green.

N.Y.U. 2031, Greenwich Village’s largest project ever, would radically transform the superblocks between LaGuardia Place and Mercer St., the south block from Houston to Bleecker Sts. and the north block from Bleecker to W. Third Sts., over the coming 19 years.

The hearing was the next-to-last stop in the city’s uniform land use review procedure, or ULURP, on the two-phase project, which was recently scaled back by an agreement with Borough President Scott Stringer.

The commission will vote on the project — with any additional modifications — by June 6, according to a commission spokesperson. The City Council, which has the final say, will hold one or more hearings before it votes in July or August.

N.Y.U. President John Sexton and Senior Vice President Lynne Brown, along with university architects and planners, testified at the start of the April 25 hearing. Martin Lipton, chairperson of the N.YU. board of trustees, spoke too.

Lee Bollinger, president of Columbia University, which is beginning its own

housing mix, reject 50% affordable idea

BY LESLEY SUSSMAN More than 200 people turned out on Wed., April 18, for the last in a series of Community Board 3 town hall meetings on the development of the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, or SPURA. Local residents crowded into Speyer Hall at University Settlement, 184 Eldridge St., to voice their concerns and opinions about the decades-

Continued on page 4

515 C A N A L STREET • N YC 10013 • C OPYRIG H T © 2012 COMMU N ITY M ED IA , LLC

delayed project.

The town hall was held

by C.B. 3’s Land Use, Zoning and Public and Private Housing Subcommittee. The full board will vote on the city’s SPURA master plan in a month from now, on May 22.

The SPURA site is the largest swath of undeveloped city-owned property in

Continued on page 7

EDITORIAL, LETTERS PAGE 10

THE SURREAL THING PAGE 31

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April 26 - May 2, 2012

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From left, outside The Bean on Second Ave., Matt Rosen, Jim Power and Jesse Jane.

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BY LILLY O’DONNELL For 25 years, Jim Power a.k.a. “The Mosaic Man” has been working on a “Mosaic Trail” through the East Village. Now that trail has led him into the digital age, with Mosaic Man merch for sale on Twitter at Etsy# and, more recently, Café Press# .

Power’s mosaic light poles are emblematic of the artists colony that the East Village once was, and provide markers for historic locations and events. And his mosaic storefront signs lend businesses like Crif Dogs and The Bean an air of authenticity.

Until recently, funding for the Mosaic Trail came from those store signs, at about $1,500 a pop, and occasional donations of money and materials.

“I was never starving,” he said. “But every day I was struggling just to get by and feed my dog.”

Power got nonprofit status through Bowery Arts and Science# so that donations would be tax deductible, hoping that would encourage more. But last year, he said, he got less than $500 in donations, which is not even enough to pay for one light pole on the trail when materials and labor hours are included.

The Mosaic Man Etsy store opened on Feb. 26, selling belt buckles featuring Power’s signature mosaic work at $100 to 200 each.

In the first 48 hours, the store brought in $1,500, according to Matt Rosen, who has been managing Power’s online presence.

After the initial boom, spending slowed, with just slightly more than $2,500 sold in the last

six weeks, but, Rosen feels the sales potential is there.

Then, on March 28, they launched the Mosaic Man collection on Café Press, bringing in $336 so far. Power and Rosen are hopeful the Café Press items — T-shirts, mugs, even thongs — will take off, because unlike the belt buckles, which take hours to make and ship, once images are uploaded to Café Press, the site takes care of the rest, leaving Power free to continue his work on the Mosaic Trail and Rosen free to live his life.

Rosen has worked before to help propel the older generation of East Village fixtures into the digital age. He runs the Twitter account for Ray’s Candy Store#, a beloved institution. The online presence has helped Ray’s business immensely. Rosen saw an opportunity to do the same for Power.

“I couldn’t do it without him,” said Power.

“I’m illiterate in many ways.”

“People knew Jim,” Rosen said. “But there was no way to find him other than to run into him on the street.”

Now that Power is on Twitter, Rosen said, it will be easier to mobilize his audience and supporters. And, now that he’s on Etsy and Café Press, they’ll be able to get something tangible in return for their contributions.

The Café Press collection has only two images available now, but more are planned.

“I wanna see this s--- on everything,” Power said. “Every iPad, every tire, every fridge, every diaper. If it’s printable, I want it on it.”

April 26 - May 2, 2012

SCOOPY’S

NOTEBOOK SMOKIN’ REPORT: Giving us the inside dope on the New York City edition of the Worldwide Marijuana March on May 5, Paul DeRienzo says, “It’s been interesting� trying to get the event squared away with the police. The event will originate, naturally, at “high noon� at Washington Square Park and march to Union Square for a rally with music and speakers until 6 p.m., DeRienzo reports. “The cops having been jerking the organizers on the route, but I think it’ll be either up University Place or Sixth Ave.,� he said. Occupy Wall Street is involved with the cannabis confab this year, in part, because the Yippie Cafe at 9 Bleecker St. — the New York marijuana march’s traditional H.Q. — “has become a major activist hangout,� according to DeRienzo. “They had a favorable decision in Housing Court and 9 Bleecker will probably not have to face any potential adverse real estate situations for at least a couple of years,� he said of the perennially embattled building. “The cops did express some concern about O.W.S. participation at this year’s rally,� he noted. “But a commander then admitted both the pot parade and O.W.S. are ‘largely nonviolent’ during a meeting I sat in at last month.�

Photo by Jefferson Siegel

The “Yippie Pie Man,� Aron Kay, and his daughter, Rachel Kay-Platoni, at the Yippie Cafe.

VEGAN OUT: Speaking of the Yippie Cafe, we briefly popped in there a couple of weeks ago for the 30th birthday party of Aron Kay’s daughter, Rachel Kay-Platoni. Like her dad, the “Yippie Pie Man,� food for Rachel is connected to a cause — but in this case it’s not pieing “Repukelicans� in the face, but championing veganism. Anyway, so it was a fun party and we were enjoying the bands. Then, after we’d been hanging out there a little while, it suddenly struck us: 9 Bleecker St. no longer smelled like cat funk! Somehow this seemed incredibly significant to us at the time, though maybe it was just the generic “flavored vodka.� As a glam band was blaring a cover of “I Love Rock and Roll,� Robert Gill the bartender/ soundman, filled us in. “It took a month of constant scrubbing and mopping to get rid of the cat scent — but it worked,� he said. There used to be 10 fairly feral cats, but they “gave away a lot,� he said, adding a few of the critters are still upstairs.

When concerned cat lover Dottie Wilson reads this we’re sure she will laugh/shout with joy/relief since she likes to use slashes in her writing because she is brimming with double the normal amount of emotion/passion! Seriously, though, the Yippie Cafe is really a nice, cozy venue for a party now. ‘SIGNED, “EPSTEIN’S MOTHER�: As we noted three weeks ago, Soho activist Sean Sweeney publicly bristled at not being reappointed to Community Board 2 by Councilmember Margaret Chin. What’s really irking him, though, is her justification — that his attendance at board meetings was allegedly lacking. Sweeney is denying it, and said Bob Gormley, the board’s district manager, can vouch that his attendance has been around 75 percent, which is considered pretty good.

But Chin’s office maintains that during a six-month period from July to December of last year, Sweeney’s attendance rate for 25 possible meetings was 52 percent -— the worst among C.B. 2. members. “His attendance was better than that,�

Gormley maintained. However, Chin was using data supplied

by Borough President Scott Stringer’s Office. The data examined Sweeney’s attendance for full board meetings, as well as meetings of C.B. 2’s Landmarks Committee — which he chairs — its Land Use and Business Development Committee and its Executive Committee. Basically, Sweeney was marked “excused� from a bunch of meetings and “absent� once. But the issue seems to be whether the excusals should, in fact, technically be counted as absences. Apparently, Chin — a former teacher — goes strictly by the book on this: C.B. 2’s stated bylaws say absences from board meetings may only be granted for illness, deaths in the family or military service. (If you’re starting to feel like “excusing� yourself from this item, we can understand.) Anyway, Sweeney readily admits he was on vacation in July, which affected his attendance. “I stand by my record — 20 years,� he said, referring to his board tenure. “Let’s go back 20 years and not by a narrow, six-month time frame. Do you want me to lie and say I’m sick? I didn’t take a vacation from 1998 until 2010 — my mother was sick. Am I not entitled after 12 years of taking care of a sick mother to take two or three vacations a year? I think ‘good cause’ is when

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April 26 - May 2, 2012

Commissioners grill N.Y.U. on its superblocks plan Continued from page 1 long-term expansion in Manhattanville north of 125th St., also spoke in favor of the N.Y.U. project.

On the other side of the issue was Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. Six other G.V.S.H.P. staff members and friends presented studies to bolster the society’s call on City Planning to reject the plan in its entirety.

One G.V.S.H.P. study based on Department of Buildings records of the past four years indicates that N.Y.U. has reduced the number of Washington Square Village apartments on the north superblock by 170. The reduction is the result of enlarging the complex’s existing apartments, said Berman. He questioned how the university could justify developing more faculty housing while reducing it in existing buildings.

State Senator Tom Duane also testified on the project, saying it was too big and calling on the commission to deny the application.

The proposed 17 percent reduction in the size of the project and the agreement not to build a temporary gym on the north superblock were “nice but modest concessions,” Duane said. “Despite these concessions, I have grave concerns about the impact on the neighborhood,” he said.

“I urge the university to continue working

Photo by Tequila Minsky

A young protester at Friday’s mass march and rally against the N.Y.U. 2031 plan.

with its neighbors, Community Board 2 and elected officials to develop an alternative that would more successfully integrate with the

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neighborhood,” Duane added.

Brad Hoylman, chairperson of Community Board 2, which submitted its opposition to the project in March, told the commission on Wednesday that the bulk and density of the project “would forever alter the character of this special neighborhood.” He estimated that the project would bring 10,000 more people into the neighborhood, along with subjecting residents to two decades of construction.

Remarks by some commissioners indicated that more changes in the project are possible.

“I believe that more review could result in revisions that would make the application more acceptable to neighbors,” said Angela Battaglia, a Brooklyn resident who has been a City Planning commissioner since 1996.

Commissioners asked Sexton for details about future need for student dorms, faculty housing and academic space.

Amanda Burden, chairperson of the commission, called on Sexton to justify the need for a hotel in the proposed “Zipper Building” on the Mercer St. side of the south superblock.

The proposed hotel development would be open to the public, but it would mostly be booked in advance to accommodate visitors to N.Y.U. at moderate rates.

“We do have hotels in proximity to our core, but we only have expensive hotels,” Sexton said, drawing derisive hoots from critics in the audience.

Sexton also said the university would maintain offices in the superblocks to make sure that as the buildings are completed over the years they comply with plans as approved in the review of the project.

He said that faculty housing is needed in the superblocks to attract staff and reduce the ratio off faculty to students to compete with other universities.

Burden, however, wanted to know why the faculty housing had to be in the superblocks.

“Why can’t they be anyplace else?” she asked.

Sexton noted the university’s recently announced plans to renovate a former M.T.A. building in Downtown Brooklyn for a new Urban Science Center across from the N.Y.U.

Polytechnic Institute.

“We’ve already located more than a quarter of our future space needs outside of the core,” said Sexton.

The university’s student population, now about 45,000, is expected to be about 60,000, including all schools of the university, by 2031. The need for more dorms is only partly driven by increased student population. The university wants to reduce the amount of dorm space in leased buildings, Sexton explained.

Commissioners also wondered about the impact of the project on the Key Park on the Mercer St. side of the north superblock and on the Bleecker LaGuardia Corner Gardens on LaGuardia Place.

Brian Cook, director of the borough president’s land-use department, told the commission that Stringer conditionally approved the project if it reduced the total area by 370,000 square feet.

The reduction, agreed to on April 11 by N.Y.U., eliminates 185,000 square feet of underground space that would have been developed beneath the north superblock between the two Washington Square Village buildings.

Another 85,000 square feet would come from reducing the bulk of the proposed Mercer and LaGuardia “Boomerang Buildings,” planned for between the two Washington Square Village buildings. Additionally, the larger Mercer “Boomerang” would be no taller than 162 feet, the height of Washington Square Village.

The agreement also covered the proposed commercial rezoning of 26 buildings north of the two superblocks from W. Fourth to near W. Eighth St. between Washington Square East/University Place and the east side of Mercer St. Despite the protests of residents living in what have become known as “the loft blocks,” N.Y.U. intends to provide more opportunities for ground-floor commercial space.

The Stringer agreement, however, commits N.Y.U. to refusing to rent to new eating and drinking establishments that would derive 80 percent of the projected revenue from the sale of alcoholic beverages.

Supreme Court passes on suit to overturn rent-stabilization law The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a constitutional challenge to New York City’s rent-stabilization law, which affects nearly 1 million apartments. About half of the city’s rental units have some form of rent protection.

The appeal was filed by James and Jeanne Harmon, who own and live in an Upper West Side brownstone. Some of their tenants have rent protections, which the Harmons accuse is a “taking of property.”

The suit was previously rejected at two lower federal courts.

In a statement, Council Speaker Christine Quinn said, “I’m pleased that the Supreme Court has refused to hear the case challenging the city’s rent-stabilization program.

The court’s decision is consistent with longstanding precedent that affirms the city and state’s authority to enact these laws, which are an integral part of the city’s effort to provide affordable housing to New Yorkers. Now, the city’s rent-regulation system can proceed unfettered, as we continue to ensure affordable housing is available to New Yorkers.”

April 26 - May 2, 2012

SCOOPY’S

NOTEBOOK Continued from page 3 you’re 2,500 miles away — I was in Arizona, I wasn’t sitting home watching the Mets.” Brad Hoylman, C.B. 2 chairperson, said the board doesn’t “micromanage” how committee chairpersons handle attendance. “It defies logic to say Sean Sweeney is a no-show member,” Hoylman told us. “He’s one of the most vocal and active members on the community board.

Nobody from Councilmember Chin’s office contacted me about this.” Hoylman said if Chin’s office has issues with a board member’s attendance or C.B. 2’s attendance policy, he’d be very happy to discuss it with them. Sweeney says his attendance has nothing to do with Chin’s not reappointing him. (He’s still on the board since he was “picked up” by Borough President Stringer, who reappointed him after Chin passed on him.) “Attendance is a red herring,” Sweeney charged. “Ask her if my opposition to the Soho BID — which I think she supports, but she won’t say — was the reason.” However, Kelly Magee, Chin’s spokesperson, said, “The councilmember stands by the criteria she uses in making her recommen-

dations [for board appointments] to the borough president. It is the responsibility of community board members to attend full board and committee meetings so that there is the necessary quorum to pass resolutions.” For his part, Sweeney said Chin ought to attend more C.B. 2 meetings herself — like her predecessor Kathryn Freed (who Sweeney coincidentally used to date) used to do. Magee replied that Chin has plenty on her own plate with attending Council meetings, noting, “As a member of the City Council, it is Margaret’s responsibility to attend the monthly hearings of the seven committees she sits on, as well as the meetings of three caucuses and two stated Council meetings every month. The councilmember has one of the strongest attendance records in the City Council.” In fact, Chin attends nearly 99 percent of her Council meetings, according to Magee. No wonder she’s such a stickler for attendance! “The councilmember’s staff is present at every community board full board and many of the committee meetings,” the spokesperson added. “The councilmember attends community board meetings when there is a major issue at hand, such as the N.Y.U. town hall, but we also respect the role and independence of the community board.”

For the record, Magee said, no hearing date has been set for the contentious Broadway Soho Business Improvement District proposal.

That’s one hearing we’re sure everyone will attend. Class dismissed!

Photo by Jefferson Siegel

Nicholas Gruber in Manhattan Criminal Court late Tuesday night.

Something came between him and his Calvins, the police say

BY JEFFERSON SIEGEL Nicholas Gruber, the former boyfriend of fashion designer Calvin Klein, was arrested at his Greenwich St. apartment early Tuesday morning.

Gruber, 22, a former model, was holding a party in his penthouse apartment when he began fighting with his friend, Calvin Swint, 20.

Just after 4 a.m., Gruber is accused of grabbing Swint’s genitals. The two then went into the building hallway, where Gruber punched Swint in the face.

Once police arrived, Gruber flailed his arms while trying to resist being handcuffed, then appeared to be stuff-

ing something down his pants. Once police restrained him, they found a baggie containing what they believed was cocaine.

Gruber, wearing only a white T-shirt and sporting a cut under his left eye, appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court late Tuesday night. He was charged with assault, resisting arrest and drug possession and was given bail. Gruber declined to speak with reporters as he rushed out of the courthouse.

Supreme Court Justice Abraham Clott issued an order of protection forbidding Gruber to have contact with Swint.

Gruber must return to court on Aug. 9.

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Income mix, historic market are issues at town hall Continued from page 1 Manhattan south of 96th St. The roughly 1.65-million-square-foot area consists of nine parcels of land adjacent to the Williamsburg Bridge. The site is bordered by Delancey St. on the north, Grand St. on the south, Essex St. on the west and Clinton St. on the east.

The project’s goal is to create a thriving, financially viable, mixed-use, mixedincome development. The intention is for there to be affordable and market-rate housing units, retail and other commercial uses, and neighborhood amenities. The project sites would be knitted into thee larger, vibrant Lower East Side neighborhood.

Last week’s town hall meeting officially marked the start of the city’s uniform land use review procedure (ULURP), a process in which any application affecting city land use must be publicly reviewed. There are mandated time frames within which the application review must take place.

Once Board 3 formally votes on the proposal, the plan will then move to the Manhattan Borough President’s Office for review. After that, the City Planning Commission may make further recommendations and possible changes. Then the plan goes before the City Council and mayor for final approval. The Council is expected to discuss the plan sometime in September.

‘I used to pay $200 a month in rent, and now it’s more than $900.’

Lo Me Eng

The town hall meeting followed an earlier 5 p.m. “Technical Question-and-Answer Session” in which staff from the city’s Economic Development Corporation and Department of Housing Preservation and Development were on hand to answer any questions the public had about the ULURP application process or the accompanying Environmental Impact Study (E.I.S.).

The standing-room only town hall meeting was emotionally charged. Many residents toted placards in Chinese, English and Spanish, urging the rejection of the city’s plan to include luxury housing in the area.

Instead, they demanded that more lowincome affordable housing be made available on the site.

Currently, the city’s SPURA plan calls for a mix of 50 percent market-value apartments and 50 percent affordable housing units to be developed, a formula that has won general support at C.B. 3.

At the meeting, however, dozens of angry local residents strode to a microphone to give city planners seated in the audience an earful. They spoke out sharply against the

File photo

Vendors at the Essex Street Market want clarity on what the city intends to do with them.

city’s proposal to impose a 60-year limit for affordable housing on the site and demanded that the administration guarantee permanent affordability, a position that has strong C.B. 3 support.

Representatives of grassroots organizations, including the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and Lower East Side and the National Association Against Sweatshops, also objected to any big-box stores, such as Walmart, being allowed to operate in commercial spaces planned for the site, saying it was imperative to support small businesses.

(C.B. 3 has called for some limits on big-box stores).

Bob Zuckerman, executive director of the Lower East Side Business Improvement District and a C.B. 3 public member, described Walmart as a “predator.” The national chain, he said, would gobble up many small stores and put them out of business.

His concern was seconded by Jesse Kramer, owner of the Brooklyn Taco Company, a store located inside the Essex Street Market.

“Big-box retailers is not what we need,” Kramer stated. “We need more options like the Essex Street Market to help small businesses to grow.”

Zuckerman also called for some of the commercial office space slated for the SPURA site to be used to attract “people in creative fields, like graphics and technology.”

Many local residents also called for the construction of a public school in the new development, saying that Lower East Side public schools are overcrowded. Other residents said the city must provide relocation assistance to Essex Street Market merchants if they are forced to move as part of the area’s development. Both of these positions have strong backing by C.B. 3.

Other speakers asked the city to guarantee that employees in retail stores located on the SPURA site be paid a minimum of $10 an hour with benefits, or $11.50 an hour with no benefits, and that local residents be given first priority for any construction or other jobs involved with the development project.

David McWater, chairperson of C.B. 3’s Land Use Committee, told the meeting that his committee is asking the city to allow the community board to be involved in choosing retailers for the site. Regarding the issue of permanent affordable housing, he said, “It is the only way to go — a must do.”

McWater added that his committee was also “taking a strong stand” to make certain that if Essex Street Market’s vendors are relocated, that the city pay relocation costs.

In an interview after the two-anda-half-hour meeting had ended, C.B. 3 Chairperson Dominic Pisciotta said, despite the outcry for 100 percent affordable housing at SPURA, he was satisfied with the guidelines the board passed, calling for 50 percent affordable housing and 50 percent market-rate housing. He added, however, that he and C.B. 3 are in strong support of permanent affordable housing there rather than housing that could become market rate within 60 years, as currently proposed by the city.

“Tonight you heard a number of people saying that the 50 percent guidelines we passed is acceptable and realistic,” Pisciotta said. “The community has been fighting for decades over this issue, and last January we settled on the 50 percent formula. That’s where the board is on that issue.”

Earlier, during the meeting, Pisciotta told the audience that he was pleased with many aspects of the current ULURP application.

“What we see in the ULURP that we’re considering tonight is the fruition of a lot of hard work that we put into this,” he said.

This sentiment was echoed by McWater.

“We started this process almost four years ago and the guidelines we developed are the best thing for most people in the city,” McWater said.

“We don’t think the plan is perfect,” he added, “but we’re ending 45 years of vacant lots along Delancy St. We will also be bringing in $50 million annually in jobs for this community.

“For the last 45 years there’s been too much focus on the things we disagreed on,” McWater said. “Now we’re discussing what we agree on. People are now working together to come up with guidelines.”

In one of the evening’s more emotional moments, Lo Me Eng, an elderly Chinese woman, testified about her struggle to keep up with the escalating cost of living. Eng said through an interpreter that she has lived in Chinatown more than 30 years. She begged city officials at the meeting to help lowincome people.

“I used to pay $200 a month in rent, and now it’s more than $900,” she said. “Even with my husband and my own Social Security benefits, we can’t afford this rent. You must help low-income people like myself who are being pushed out of the neighborhood. You must create low-income apartments in the empty spots we’re talking about today.”

Reverend Neil Connolly, pastor of St. Mary’s Church, at 440 Grand St., also implored city planners at the meeting to make more housing available to help the neighborhood poor.

“Please help those who are hurting the most,” the reverend said. “Please help senior citizens and the poor by providing more lowand moderate-income rental apartments.”

Speaking on behalf of the Essex Street Market vendors, Anne Saxelby, owner of Saxelby Cheesemongers, 120 Essex St., said the merchants want some clear answers.

“We want to know what the Economic Development Corporation’s intentions are,” she said. “We want them to stop their wishywashy talk.”

Saxelby said, if she and other vendors are forced to move, rents in the new location should be comparable with what they’re paying now.

“We also want to make sure we can get the same size space,” she said. “If these things don’t happen, then the Essex Street Market won’t be the same as it is today.”

Although Councilmembers Margaret Chin and Rosie Mendez were unable to attend the meeting, a spokesperson read a joint statement from them regarding the ULURP process. The politicians urged the community to keep making its positions known.

“We understand that concerns have been raised over the plan thus far,” their statement said, “and it is imperative that you continue to vocalize and advocate for the needs of your community. As the ULURP process moves forward, your voices will be our guide.”

8

April 26 - May 2, 2012

POLICE BLOTTER she pushed it away and told him not to touch her. He then grabbed her handbag and fled.

Gloved and dangerous

E. Sixth St. coke raid

Police and the F.B.I. arrested a suspect they identified as the “White Glove Bandit” bank robber in Tompkins Square Park on Wed., April 18. Michael McManus, 41, was arrested without incident and charged with robbing several banks at gunpoint, the most recent on the day before his arrest.

McManus earned his moniker because he wore white gloves during most of his holdups.

On Tues., April 17, McManus held up a teller at the HSBC branch on Broadway at E. Ninth St., police said. McManus is charged with holding up the same bank branch on Jan. 26. On Feb. 14 and March 12 he robbed the Citibank branch on LaGuardia Place, according to law enforcement officials.

McManus has a record of burglaries, robberies and larcenies dating back to 1992, including two prior bank robberies, according to officials. He was turned over to the F.B.I. and will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District in Manhattan.

Manhattan South detectives arrested three suspects around 8 p.m. Sun., April 15, in a warrant raid on an apartment at 641 E. 13th St. where they found a large ziplock bag of cocaine, a scale with cocaine residue, numerous ziplock baggies and a 9-millimeter handgun. Andrew Hudson, 20, Jose Perez, 21, and Demetrius Blas, 17, were each charged with multiple counts of possession of drugs, drug paraphernalia and weapons possession. The three defendants, who have a record of previous criminal convictions, were engaged in packaging the coke for sale, according the complaint filed with the Manhattan District Attorney.

Push-in robber/groper A suspect followed a Greenwich Village woman and pushed his way into her Waverly Place apartment around 4 a.m. Sat., April 21, according to police.

He put his hand on the victim’s crotch but

NEWLY CONSTRUCTED APARTMENTS FOR RENT 101 Avenue D Apartments is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for 39 affordable housing rental apartments now under construction at 101 Avenue D in the Lower East Side section of Manhattan. This building is being constructed through the New Housing Opportunities Program (New HOP) of the New York City Housing Development Corporation and the Inclusionary Housing Program of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The size, rent and targeted income distribution for the 39 apartments are as follows.

# Apts.

Available

* ** ***

Apartment Size

Household Size *

Monthly Rent **

Total Annual Income Range *** Minimum - Maximum

2

Studios

1

$461

$17,760 - $23,240

1

1 Bedroom

1 2

$493

$18,892 - $23,240 $18,892 - $26,560

4

Studios

1

$596

$22,389 - $29,050

9

1 Bedroom

1 2

$637

$23,829 - $29,050 $23,829 - $33,200

8

Studios

1

$1,448

$51,600 - $101,675

15

1 Bedroom

1- 2

$1,818

$64,320 - $116,200

Subject to occupancy criteria Includes gas for cooking Income guidelines subject to change

Qualified Applicants will be required to meet income guidelines and additional selection criteria.

Application may be requested by Email 101avenueD@cmpconsultants.com , or mail a self-addressed envelope to: 101 Avenue D Apartments c/o: CMP Consultants, Inc., PO Box 1180, Valley Stream, NY 11582. Completed applications must be returned by regular mail only (no priority, certified, registered, express or overnight mail will be accepted) to a post office box number that will be listed with the application, and must be postmarked by June 19, 2012. Applications postmarked after June 19, 2012 will be set aside for possible future consideration. Applications will be selected by lottery; applicants who submit more than one application will be disqualified. Disqualified applications will not be accepted. A general preference will be given to New York City residents. Current and eligible residents of Manhattan Community Board 3 will receive preference for 50% of the units. Eligible households that include persons with mobility impairments will receive preference for 5% of the units; eligible persons that include persons with visual and/or hearing impairments will receive preference for 2% of the units; and eligible City of New York Municipal Employees will receive a 5% preference.

Goon from Ipanema An employee of Ipanema, the bar at 252 W. 14th St., chased a suspect who had stolen a woman’s bag and the coat of a male patron around 1:20 a.m. Sat., April 21. The suspect, Juan-Manuel CanoNieto, 33, was apprehended just outside the place and charged with larceny.

Easy, then queasy, rider Hudson River rescue Firefighters in the Marine 1 unit pulled a man from the Hudson River about 500 yards off Pier 54 at W. 14th St. on Tuesday afternoon April 17. Firefighter Robert Hogan jumped into the water to pull the victim, 23, into the rescue craft.

A man parked his motorcycle on the southeast corner of Greenwich and Spring Sts. at 9:30 a.m. Thurs., April 19, went to work in the area and returned at 5:45 p.m. to find the bike, valued at $5,000, gone.

A wheel bummer Supervisor victimized A Sephora supervisor paid a visit to the branch at 555 Broadway, between Spring and Prince Sts., at 8:45 p.m. Wed., April 14, put his computer bag on a counter where he usually did, and returned 10 minutes later to find it hand been stolen.

A woman, 35, chained her bicycle to a “No Parking” signpost on the northeast corner of West Broadway and Spring St. around 2:30 p.m. Sun., April 15, and returned a half hour later to find it had been stolen.

Soho cell snatch Transit troublemakers Police responding to a report of a drunk and disorderly man at the PATH station at Sixth Ave. and 14th St. arrested Do Lee, 39, at 7:10 p.m. Thurs., April 19, and charged him with criminal mischief for breaking a turnstile and tossing it onto the tracks.

Police arrested Elijah Aviando, 40, in the subway station at 14th St. and Sixth Ave. around 8:15 Tues., April 17, and charged him with assault and menacing for pushing a man toward the tracks.

Jewelry thief A thief was able to steal a platinum diamond ring valued at $3,000 and a 14-carat white gold jewelry mount valued at $1,200 from a display case at Atelier Minyon, 155 Spring St., around 3 p.m.

Fri., April 13.

No Broker’s Fee. No Application Fee. MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG, Mayor The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development MATHEW M. WAMBUA, Commissioner MARC JAHR, President – NYCHDC www.nyc.gov/housing

tence of seven and a half years, plus five years of supervised probation, on Tues., April 17, for four gunpoint robberies last year in Greenwich Village and the East Village. He held up Charles Gourmet, 140 Charles St., at 1 a.m. Oct. 3 and 10 days later held up Cho’s Grocery, 37 Bedford St., around 5 a.m. Working his way east on Oct. 20, Cappelli robbed Le Basket, 683 Broadway at W. Third St., at gunpoint, and on Oct. 24 he stuck up Angelina Café, 36 Avenue A between Second and Third Sts.

Gun ’n’ gourmet Jed Cappelli, 34, received a prison sen-

A Briarwood, N.Y., woman was walking on Spring and Wooster Sts. around 10:40 p.m. Wed., April 18, while talking on her cell phone when a stranger cornered her, snatched her phone and fled with it north on Wooster St.

They did the bump A woman learned that a charge of $1,800 was made on her credit card at Bloomingdale’s without her knowledge around 5:45 p.m. Sun., April 22, and told police she remembered being bumped earlier by a man and a woman while she was in the Apple store at 72 Greene St.

Phone filcher Kevin Gel, 41, was apprehended around 6:20 p.m. Tues., April 17, at Mercer and E. Eighth Sts. for stealing two phones from a display at the Verizon store, police said.

Alber t Amateau

April 26 - May 2, 2012

9

Small businesses weigh options under healthcare law

BY ALBERT AMATEAU The Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce last week took a long look at the momentous changes in healthcare insurance that are looming as the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act begins to take effect.

At an April 19 small business healthcare forum, held at Google’s New York office, on Ninth Ave. at 15th St., G.V.C.C.C. brought together small business advocates, insurance and health system executives and consultants to anticipate the ins and outs of the legislation than has become known as “Obamacare.”

The changes in healthcare management coming online in the next two years are enormous, said Howard Gold, of North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, moderator of the panel.

“The massive and dramatic changes are an attempt to control the unsustainable costs and the enormous disparity in access to health coverage,” Gold said.

Healthcare costs are rising about 8 percent per year, according to Kabuchi Banfield, an executive with Aetna Small Group, which covers insurance options for small businesses.

The legislation is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, with a focus on the constitutionality of the individual mandate provision, which requires all individuals, with some exceptions, to buy health insurance for themselves and their families.

Apart from whatever the court decides on the individual mandate issue, the greater part of the 2,200-page legislation is not likely to be overturned, according to Michael J. DeFelice, a financial planning consultant on the panel.

“But would we be able to afford it if not everybody buys into the pool?” Gold asked doubtfully.

Most of ‘Obamacare’ is unlikely to be overturned, said Michael J. DeFelice, a financial planning consultant.

Panelists outlined the health insurance options under the new law to help small business owners cover their employees.

Federal and state tax credits, subsidies for low-income families and health-benefit exchanges are among the options that panelists discussed at the G.V.C.C.C. forum last week.

Exchanges, which analyze the complex insurance options and perform all the

administrative tasks for a small business, will become widely available in the next two years.

“We simplify choice without taking away choice,” said Mark Kessler, an executive with HealthPass New York, an independent nonprofit exchange. Exchanges try to find the best options among a variety of plans for each business, determine who among the employees are eligible for what level of benefits and do all the administrative work, Kessler said.

Ben Geyerhahn, special projects director of Small Business Majority, said that under the federal Affordable Care Act, public exchanges would probably be established state by state and operate along with private exchanges.

Small businesses will be able to receive significant tax credits, and low-income employees would be eligible for subsidies through the various exchanges, Geyerhahn said.

The major change in the coming years will be a shift from payment for specific procedures to payment for wellness and prevention on a prepaid annual basis, Gold said.

“If you pay doctors for procedures, they’ll do procedures,” said Gold. “If you pay for health outcomes, you might catch conditions like diabetes early and prevent more serious complications later.”

The new legislation is intended to control redundant procedures and help prevent

patients getting care they don’t need or the wrong kind of care.

Panelists also questioned whether people who fall through the cracks in the new health insurance system would continue to use emergency rooms as a primary-care resource.

Gold noted that emergency room care for uninsured patients contributed to the “meltdown” of St. Vincent’s Hospital, which closed in 2010 in Greenwich Village.

“Forty hospitals closed in New York City in the past 10 years and 10 more will probably close,” he added.

North Shore-L.I.J. Health System, where Gold is a senior vice president, includes Lenox Hill Hospital on the Upper East Side. The health system is also developing the Comprehensive Care Center and standalone emergency department being developed in the O’Toole Pavilion of the former St. Vincent’s Hospital.

“The Chamber is focused on helping the small business community remain on top of the changes to healthcare options as the Affordable Care Act takes effect,” said Tom Gray, executive director of G.V.C.C.C. “Because the legislation is so complex, it is far too easy for small business owners to miss out on opportunities that the reforms create to help their businesses,” Gray said.

“We’re happy to bridge the gap by drawing on partners from every corner of the industry to help our community.”

10

April 26 - May 2, 2012

EDITORIAL

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The kids of summer

So now we’re compromising?

Last Saturday saw more than 2,000 kids, coaches and parents march from City Hall to the ball fields in Battery Park City in the early morning hours. The occasion was a celebration of the 2012 Downtown Little League season.

The event marked more than the beginning of D.L.L. baseball games; it signaled the spirit of rebirth that has come to define Lower Manhattan post 9/11.

Since 1993 D.L.L. has expanded to more than 1,300 kids playing baseball and softball. This in itself is a testament to how far the Lower Manhattan community has come in terms of redefining itself as a neighborhood.

From the Tri-Battery Pops performing on the upper deck to the speeches delivered by local politicians like state Senator Daniel Squadron, the day marked not only the opening of the D.L.L. summer season but the resilience and resurgence of Lower Manhattan.

“Take me out to the ballgame,” might as well have been changed to “take me out to Lower Manhattan.”

The fields alone are a remarkable achievement.

The artificial turf, never in need of a tarp, funnels rainwater into a system that turns the runoff into nourishing water for Battery Park City’s gardens and parks. The entire complex is a testament to the buzzword of the last few years: sustainability.

The grass fields were an inspiration to many, but couldn’t hold up under the pressure of intense urban use.

Also worth praising is the dedication of people like Bill Martino, president of D.L.L., and Mark Costello, a longtime ambassador of the league and a promoter of the need for more ball fields in Downtown. The community owes its thanks to all who have devoted time to ensuring the children in Lower Manhattan have a league unto themselves and an outlet to express their talents, skills and ambition.

And with last Saturday as a backdrop, the neighborhood is once again forced to stare down budget cuts that could ultimately decrease the vitality of organizations like D.L.L. True, a Little League is not considered an after-school program in the city budget, but these programs do provide youth with characterbuilding components that might allow the development of the next Carmelo Anthony or Alex Rodriguez. That is what is ultimately at stake in this debate.

The parents that paraded from City Hall to the Battery Park City ball fields last weekend were there not only to celebrate the new baseball season, but also to let officials know that their kids’ health, concerns and well-being need to be fought for, and protected.

The same concerns and sentiments can be found among the parents and kids of other local youth sports leagues, from Greenwich Village Little League and Downtown United Soccer Club to the Felix Millan Little League, Peter Stuyvesant Little League and the Greenwich Village Girls’ Basketball League.

This is what communities are all about: examining the present, learning from the past and adjusting for the future.

To The Editor: Re “N.Y.U. scales back its superblocks plan 17 percent” (news article, April 12): I think that it’s fair to say that there’s a great deal of dissatisfaction with the Stringer compromise among large numbers in the community. As you are well aware, Community Board 2 just last month unanimously passed a resolution rejecting the entire 2031 plan, and even accepting the N.Y.U. 17 percent estimate of the cuts in the superblocks, the worst features of the plan still remain.

Insofar as we on Washington Place are concerned, the compromise on N.Y.U.’s proposed zoning change to create a commercial overlay on the misnamed “loft blocks” can only be characterized as pathetic. The borough president’s sole concession to overwhelming negative sentiment in the affected area was to recommend that N.Y.U. not include in the rezoned streets any eating and drinking establishments “where 80% [sic!] of their projected revenue is derived from alcoholic beverages.” I cite the example of the proposed commercial overlay because it is a portion of the plan that tends to be overlooked in the understandable focus on the threatened destructive transformation of the superblocks.

Seeing the photo accompanying The Villager’s news article on the Stringer compromise, many of us were surprised and puzzled by the appearance of members of Community Board 2 and the co-chairpersons of Community Action Alliance on N.Y.U. 2031 (CAAN) next to the borough president and the president of N.Y.U. as the B.P. announced his recommendations. It seemed inexplicable and was deeply troubling that Board 2 members who had one month earlier voted to reject the entire 2031 proposal seemed to be supporting a compromise that was completely inadequate and fatally flawed. As to the CAAN co-chairpersons, they represented an organization that, to my knowledge, had never endorsed the principle of compromise. We understandably interpreted the appearance of these representatives as some form of endorsement of the compromise.

However, when questioned about their appearance in the photo, some community leaders explained that they had been called the previous evening by the B.P.’s office, briefed about the contents of the compromise, and invited to attend a press conference the next day, ostensibly to receive copies of Stringer’s report. They state that they had no knowledge that they would be standing with the B.P. and the N.Y.U. president at the conference. They also said that their presence should not be taken as support for the Stringer compromise.

EVAN FORSCH

The incident raised questions in the minds of some CAAN members regarding our position as an organization on compromise in general and, specifically, on the Stringer compromise. A letter was circulated among CAAN members asking support for a request to CAAN’s co-chairpersons to call a meeting as soon as possible to explore these issues and decide our position. We are awaiting the response of the cochairpersons to this request.

Howard Negrin Negrin is president, Washington Place Block Association, and a member, Community Action Alliance on N.Y.U. 2031 (CAAN)

Haven’t endorsed N.Y.U. plan To The Editor: Re “N.Y.U. scales back its superblocks plan 17 percent” (news article, April 12): Just to be clear, the Community Action Alliance on N.Y.U. 2031 co-chairpersons were not at the conference to endorse any final solution or compromise, nor have we done so. We were there to receive the borough president’s full recommendations, to acknowledge the B.P.’s role over the past five years — starting with the Community Task Force on N.Y.U. Development — and to see the details of N.Y.U.’s concessions thus far.

In addition, we wanted to clearly signal to Councilmember Chin that we are a united community and that she’ll need to take brave and significant steps to protect Greenwich Village from the overbearing N.Y.U. 2031 core expansion plan. As the borough president said at the conference, “This is a first step and we still have much work to do.”

Terri Cude Cude is co-chairperson, Community Action Alliance on N.Y.U. 2031 (CAAN)

Who actually wants this?

To The Editor: Re “N.Y.U. scales back its superblocks plan 17 percent” (news article, April 12): Not enough! They’re playing the “placate” game, where if

Continued on page 25

April 26 - May 2, 2012

11

The reading doctor, Ruggles, is in at the library NOTEBOOK

BY MICHELE HERMAN The dog got a job offer. As well he should. Unlike many human employees, he never holds a grudge and rarely whines. His patience is nearly infinite. He has been known to wait on the sidewalk for half an hour while his owner conducts neighborhood business.

It was Rebecca, the children’s librarian at the Jefferson Market Library, who saw Ruggles’s potential. My Dachshund and I have long been fans of the children’s room and its friendly staff, though I have few excuses to go now that my kids get their reading needs met elsewhere. Last year Rebecca told me she was planning to start a program in which kids read aloud to dogs, and was there any chance Ruggles (always a perfect gentleman at the library) might be interested? We’re in, I said.

The idea, developed in 1999 by the R.E.A.D. program in Utah, is that kids struggling with their reading are more apt to relax and improve with a friendly and nonjudgmental dog curled up beside them. Now there are programs all around the country, run by a variety of organizations. Several recent university studies bear out the theory: Kids who read to dogs over a period of weeks show more gains in reading skill than the dogless control group, whose members — just as telling — tend to stop showing up.

I signed us up for a training course last summer at the Good Dog Foundation. (There are two main pet-therapy organizations in town — Good Dog and Delta — and, like canines, they are territorial, each one staking out its own hospitals, nursing homes, schools and other venues.)

We passed the six-class course, aimed mostly at ensuring both members of each team are well behaved and don’t startle easily. Now I proudly carry our badge and his jaunty Good Dog scarf with me everywhere.

Our library visits take place monthly in the Willa Cather Room off the children’s room, presided over by a large photo of Cather in a middy blouse and necktie, smiling at us as if she’s tickled. I can’t think of a better patron saint of Village readers.

On our first visit, Ruggles is a little restless. I acclimate myself to my surroundings — the Victorian carving, the pattern in the rug that always reminds me of pink baby carrots — from a central location using just my eyes, but he can’t settle down until he’s done a thorough sniffing tour.

The librarian sends in a new reader every 20 minutes.

We sit on the floor, surrounded by a big assortment of picture books featuring animals that she’s set out. First I get a bespectacled little home-schooled girl with long curly hair, who picks out a book about Carl the Rottweiler. I hide my disappointment — I’ve always found the Carl books, with their watercolor illustrations, too earnest and plodding. But this isn’t about me; I’m just the handler.

This is about the novelty and magic of reading to a dog.

She launches with great enthusiasm into the story of Carl’s mild little adventure involving a family of ducks.

Some of the words, like “says,” are hard for her. My job, as I understand it, is to monitor Ruggles. But being a mom and a teacher from way back, I gently talk her through some reading rules, like the special pirate sound you get when an “a” comes up against an “r.”

She’s a quick study. Ruggles curls up beside her and sighs. (Another thing to recommend dogs: Their sighs signify contentment and not exasperation.) When Rebecca pokes her head in with a five-minute warning, the girl tells me she really wants to finish.

“This is the first book I’ve ever read,” she says proudly.

I’m speechless — I had no idea.

Later that session I get a wiggly boy who picks out the classic “Are You My Mother?” which has everything that Carl lacks: pathos, life and death suspense, wit (baby bird to earth mover: “You are not my mother, you are a snort.”). This boy has a funny habit of actually saying “period” at the end of sentences. I decide not to say a word, since it’s not impeding his enjoyment or comprehension.

Photo by Leonard Lyon

‘This is the first book I’ve ever read,’ the girl says proudly. I’m speechless — I had no idea.

My biggest challenge is a tiny, adorable boy, a repeat visitor, who is dying to have Ruggles lick his hand.

Ruggles is not in a licking mood. Finally I have the boy cup some water in his hand, and voila, Ruggles laps it up.

Before the library program was up and running, Ruggles and I made a couple of visits to YAI, the day program on W. 13th St. for developmentally disabled adults.

I chose it because it’s nearby, but I went reluctantly, afraid it might be depressing. I’ve seen the people from YAI for years, a small, slow-moving conga line in the vicinity of W. 13th St., some of its members drooling, some muttering, others letting their hands freely roam the air.

But the director welcomes us into the sunny common room on the second floor, smelling of baking brownies and packed with excited people because it’s Thursday and the dogs are coming. Because these people are free of certain mores that govern and constrain the rest of us — sucking in stomach muscles, keeping legs together when sitting, arranging breasts carefully inside the brassiere — this is not the best crowd for laps for Ruggles to perch on.

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He makes kids read! Ruggles, a co-founder of the “Ruggles Reading Method.”

Still I work my way around the room offering Ruggles while the four or five other therapy teams do likewise.

When I get a yes, as I do from most of the crowd, I place him across whatever surface is available and situate myself so he can see me. He’s antsy only when the lap is antsy.

One small round man says loudly and gleefully to a pretty staff member, “Give me some sugar, baby,” and she calmly reminds him to use appropriate language. A young woman with the eagerness and braids of a little girl keeps taking my hand as if I were her mom. One man with a strong borough accent plies me with thoughtful questions: Is he a Dachshund, he wants to know, surprising me by pronouncing the word the European way: Dahshoond. Why do you never see people walking cats on the street? They don’t like leashes, I say. Why can’t they walk without a leash? I realize I have no idea.

The staff members are busy elsewhere when I come upon a gray-haired man sitting alone in the rear muttering “turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie” over and over, nodding his head and chopping the air with each word. Because I don’t know not to, I offer Ruggles, and he accepts him. He continues to mutter his Thanksgiving list, but instead of chopping the air with each word, he pats Ruggles’s wiry coat. It’s only on our next visit, when one of the staff members gives me a sharp look and cautions me to keep my distance from him, that I realize that Ruggles has excelled at his job, and I’m the lucky handler who got to witness a small miracle.

PUBLISHER EMERITUS Elizabeth Butson

ART / PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Troy Masters

CIRCULATION SALES MNGR.

SR. V.P. OF SALES AND MARKETING Francesco Regini

SR. GRAPHIC DESIGNER Vince Joy

CONTRIBUTORS

RETAIL ADVERTISING MANAGER Colin Gregory

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Christina Entcheva PHOTOGRAPHERS

Patricia Fieldsteel

Tequila Minsky

Bonnie Rosenstock

Jefferson Siegel

Jefferson Siegel

Clayton Patterson

Jerry Tallmer

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Allison Greaker Julius Harrison Alex Morris Julio Tumbaco

Marvin Rock Ira Blutreich Doris Diether

12

April 26 - May 2, 2012

Chinatown BID starts by overcharging property owners Continued from page 1 backed by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, claimed the charging of fees prior to February was illegal and threatened to file a lawsuit against the city to contest the charges.

“As we have noted to the city, the BID did not exist at that point, and the BID has not yet contracted with any entity to perform its services,” said Bethany Li, a staff attorney at AALDEF. “We will work with small property and business owners in Chinatown to monitor the BID to ensure that it does not run afoul of the law again.”

Andrew Schwartz, first deputy commissioner of the Department of Small Business Services, which oversees the BID payments, said the start of the assessment fees has varied from BID to BID since there isn’t a firm policy in the city regulations.

“In light of the confusion, we basically said, ‘Let’s just go with Feb. 1 as the start date,’ ” Schwartz said. “We didn’t want people to think they were going to be penalized or foreclosed, so we reached a quick and reasonable accommodation.”

All Chinatown property owners that had retroactively paid the fees beginning last fall will be credited for four months’ worth of payment up until February and, from now on, billing for future BIDs will begin upon the state comptroller’s approval, according to

Small Business Services.

By this July 1, Chinatown property owners will be responsible for paying five months’ worth of fiscal year 2012-13 assessment fees, between February and June. Fees for fiscal year 2013-14, meanwhile, must be paid in accordance with the property owners’ regular real estate tax bill schedule, which varies among property owners, according to S.B.S. Last week, property owners in the BID’s catchment area received letters both in English and Chinese explaining the changes.

Meanwhile, Wellington Chen, executive director of the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation, which spearheaded the BID’s creation, said the delay in collecting fees is depriving Chinatown of vital resources. The L.D.C. has wholly financed some $300,000 worth of sanitation, holiday lighting and other BID-like services since last July, he said, and the BID’s interim board of directors has passed a motion requesting that the L.D.C. be reimbursed.

“We’ve been saving every nickel and dime, but that cannot last,” Chen said. “Regardless of when the BID clock starts, the fact is, services are being rendered.”

David Louie, chairman of the BID’s interim board, said he believes the BID is “morally obligated” to reimburse the L.D.C., particularly since funds that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation previously provided to the Partnership have dried up.

“They did all this cleaning without even knowing where this money was going to come from,” Louie said.

Property owners such as Jan Lee, however, deem the charges premature and arbitrary and say they have lost all potential trust in the BID’s actions moving forward.

Lee and others who were suspicious of the October start date of the assessment fees refused to pay when they received the bill in late February.

“I don’t understand how this could have happened — it’s very disappointing,” Lee said.

“The BID board was advised to say, ‘Someone has put money into cleaning that started last July, and someone should be reimbursed for that. Let’s use tax money guaranteed from the Department of Finance.’ It’s completely contrary to what the BID law says.”

Dean Fong, who will have to pay the BID an $800 annual tax assessment for his two commercial condominium units at 210 Canal St., also found the charges to be unlawful.

“It was very negligent on the part of the BID board who, we were told by elected officials, would be very careful and have great oversight into making sure that monies assessed to property owners would be proper,” Fong said.

Fong said he feels far from relieved by the city’s reversal of its initial decision.

“I knew they had to, or they would face a lawsuit, which would be so embarrassing for them,” he said.

Councilmember Margaret Chin denied the allegations by Fong and others, saying she reached out to S.B.S. for clarification as soon as she got wind of the objection to the fees.

“Property owners have raised their concerns with the Department of Small Business Services, and their concerns are being addressed,” Chin said. “Like other elected officials, including the mayor, I have a mandated seat on the BID board. As a board member, I will continue to represent the needs of small business owners and residents while supporting the BID in their efforts to improve the Chinatown community.”

Regardless of when the fees take effect, local property owner John Casalinuovo resents having to pay more than $2,000 annually toward the BID, particularly since city services such as trash pickups have recently been on the decline, he said.

“This is one of the most underhanded things the city has done in a long time,” Casalinuovo said of the BID. “I have no confidence in this, no matter what they would have done.”

But other property owners see value in the BID. Philip Lam, who owns a residential and office building at 38 Market St., said he would have been more than willing to fund the services starting last fall. His tax assesment for the BID amounts to $1,500 per year.

“I always support them, because they do the job,” Lam said. “Somebody has to pay these workers.”

James Tsang, whose real estate company, Prosperity Enterprises, owns 185 Canal St., said the L.D.C. deserves to be reimbursed.

“They continue to do the work and clean Chinatown. I think they deserve to get more support,” Tsang said. “Without financing, how can they hire people to do cleaning or anything else?”

Photo by Lincoln Anderson

No state, no war — and less work !

Although the vacant, derelict three-story building at 43 MacDougal St., at the corner of King St. in the Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District, has long been an eyesore, it can serve as a good message board. A corner of the building’s fence is currently festooned with posters for May Day, Tues., May 1, when Occupy Wall Street and anarchist groups are calling for a general strike and “shutdown” of the city. Among other things, the anarchists are calling for “the need to eliminate work as far as seems possible.” A “pop-up occupation” is planned in Bryant Park from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., followed by a march to Union Square at 4 p.m. and then to Wall St. at 5:30 p.m.

April 26 - May 2, 2012

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April 26 - May 2, 2012

Lessons from the front in the ‘Year of the ULURP’ COMMUNITY BOARD

BY BRAD HOYLMAN “ULURP,� which stands for uniform land use review procedure, is one of those bureaucratic acronyms known to junkies of local government. Over the last year or so, however, it’s received much wider cachet in Greenwich Village as our community has reviewed two major development proposals. This year, 2012, has been called “The Year of the ULURP� for good reason. We’ve been in full-on land use review mode since the St. Vincent’s Hospital redevelopment project came to conclusion in March and the public began its review of the N.Y.U. campus expansion project late last year.

There’s much more work to be done on the New York University proposal, which Community Board 2 rejected unanimously. (The City Planning hearing on the university’s proposal was this Wednesday.)

Our third major ULURP, the Hudson Square rezoning, waits in the wings for consideration later this spring or early summer.

But it’s worth taking stock on the St. Vincent’s deal and N.Y.U. and the lessons learned from the months of public review we’ve undertaken. Here are my top three: Trust the locals: Pressure exists on community boards to take a high-mind-

Our influence comes from our ability to sway elected and city officials who have veto power over land use actions. ed approach on development issues and ignore the testimony of local neighbors in deference to a greater good, like “jobs� or “economic development.� We should

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be suspect of this approach. First, the greater-good arguments are often speculative. Job projections for a project, which developers can point to as justification to ignore the objections of neighbors, are notoriously shaky. They are based on contingencies like market forces and often are short-term predictions, particularly for construction jobs.

Second, when it comes to the potential impact of a development, who knows better than the people who live next door? We take this point seriously on C.B. 2. Because the community board itself did not have representation from the neighbors who would have been most directly impacted by the proposed new St. Vincent’s Hospital, we appointed five public members to the St. Vincent’s Omnibus Committee to make sure their viewpoints were heard. On N.Y.U., we’re lucky to have members of the community board from the Central Village area who’ve helped lead the board on this issue. I believe the input of these members has been crucial to the community board’s position on both St. Vincent’s and N.Y.U. Thank God for church basements: A good community meeting is about 50 percent planning and logistics. Sometimes we’ve learned this the hard way. At one of our early meetings on St. Vincent’s, 150 people showed up for a room that could fit only 75. We only had one working microphone, too. The standing-room-only crowd added to the tension of this difficult issue — at one point the meeting threatened to break down into chaos and the police were called.

A similar situation threatened the first N.Y.U. public meeting earlier this year. More than 300 people showed up

for a meeting at the AIA Center for Architecture, which can only hold about half that many people. AIA refused to admit the overflow crowd, who were rightly incensed and began chanting and banging on the windows. Thanks to the quick work of the C.B. 2 staff, we were able to decide right on the spot to move the entire meeting to a nearby church basement, and this important first meeting went on without a hitch. Since then, church basements have been the default venue for our big public meetings.

Share the wealth of work: In theory, big land use review projects like the St. Vincent’s redevelopment, N.Y.U. and Hudson Square rezoning could be handled in one public hearing, in one month before our Land Use Committee.

But these big, complicated applications demand much more scrutiny and discussion from the public than just one meeting. For the St. Vincent’s and N.Y.U. proposals, our community board took a page from Community Board 4’s work on the Hudson Yards rezoning and broke down the responsibilities among all of the board’s committees with expertise on a project’s impacts, including zoning, environment and public health, social services and education, traffic and transportation, and parks and open space. We’ve also taken maximum advantage of the 60 days the community board is afforded during the ULURP process and held two months of public hearings, instead of the typical one month. The result is more than 10 times the amount of work the community board might be expected to undertake, but it’s worth it. I think we’ve ended up with a more comprehensive, deliberative process and stronger resolutions that more accurately reflect the community’s wishes.

Community boards are advisory bodies. Nothing a board passes is the final say on a given issue, so our influence comes from our ability to sway elected and city officials who have veto power over land use actions. It’s therefore paramount that we adhere to a legitimate public process that is transparent, fair and gives the public the maximum opportunity to participate. Using these three lessons, we’ve strengthened our public review process during the “Year of the ULURP� as well as the community’s voice on these huge projects that will have a profound impact on neighborhoods.

Hoylman is chairperson, Community Board 2, which covers the area between 14th and Canal Sts., from Bowery/Fourth Ave. to the Hudson River

Occupy yourself: Read The Villager and East Villager!

April 26 - May 2, 2012

File photo by Jefferson Siegel

Keen Berger at a candlelight memorial service mourning the start of the Washington Square Park renovation a few years ago.

Focus, and then don’t ever quit DISTRICT LEADER

BY KEEN BERGER At least a dozen issues grab my attention – the need for a hospital, the horror of fracking, the perversion of the 1 percent, and much more.

As I walk down the street, I yell at pedestrians throwing trash, at cyclists on the sidewalk, at drivers in the crosswalk. I don’t like being angry, discouraged, or scattered, yet that comes easy and often. I know better: District leaders are unpaid volunteers, I teach and I write — I have no time to fix everything.

Each of us must focus. I have chosen three issues — schools, Election Days and immigration — and I try to notice the good while fighting the bad.

First, on schools, underfunded and overcrowded: We need more classrooms, especially since we lost Children’s Aid and Greenwich Village Middle School last year. Here is a major victory: In March 2012, five years after our first public outcry, the city agreed to buy 75 Morton St. from the state. More work is needed for speedy renovation of that six-story building and to make sure we get a public school — not charter, not private, not a Gifted and Talented. All our children are gifted, and they all need room to learn, but at least we are on our way.

Second, on elections: We have four new poll-site coordinators, each much better than before. I despair at the waste and inefficiency of the Board of Elections. Why four expensive Election Days in 2012 — what are the legislators thinking? But local poll sites are better

staffed and voting is less time-consuming than 10 years ago. At least that is what I see — tell me if I am wrong.

Finally, on immigration: It is hard to see the good here — unfair deportations continue and irrational fears are stoked by people who know better. But two local immigrants I know (Jean Montrevil and Ravi Ragbar) have temporary reprieves, a selfless immigrant lawyer (Josh BenDavid) continues to defend the most vulnerable, and the Indonesians who took sanctuary in a New Jersey church last month have not been dislodged. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) no longer has free rein at Rikers.

That’s four bright spots in the swirling gloom.

Particularly for immigration, we need to win some elections before we’ll get systemic change. Carmona needs to become our U.S. senator from Arizona, for instance. A strong Senate will not only improve immigration but will improve everything — women’s rights, gay rights, healthcare and more.

Here at home, Gillibrand is my hero; she needs a big win in November.

But lest I scatter, I will stick to my three issues, confident that thousands of Villagers have their own three. I can support, if not lead, on many issues.

Beyond the need to focus, 75 Morton taught me again how political victories are won.

Persistence succeeds; never quit.

Berger is Democratic district leader for the 66th Assembly District, Part A

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April 26 - May 2, 2012

City moving quickly to rezone, slowly to landmark PRESERVATION

BY ANDREW BERMAN As the old saying goes, when it rains it pours. Our neighborhoods have either just finished, are in the middle of, or are about to embark upon no less than four rezonings.

Rezonings change the rules regarding what can or can’t be built in an area and how big it can be. Community-initiated rezonings are often geared toward reinforcing neighborhood character and limiting the size, height and type of new development. Developer-initiated rezonings are often geared toward increasing the amount and scale of what can be built, sometimes allowing previously prohibited development to take place.

All four of these rezonings have been initiated by developers or N.Y.U., one of the city’s largest private institutions and, for all intents and purposes, a developer, too. Collectively these rezonings have the potential to add millions of square feet of new development to our neighborhoods, and dramatically transform their character.

Earlier this year Rudin Management’s rezoning of the former St. Vincent’s Hospital’s east campus was approved by the City Council, City Planning Commission and borough president. The rezoning lifted previous restrictions on uses for the site and increased the size and scale of allowable residential development. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and many others objected to the proposed rezoning; we felt strongly that privileges given to a hospital in 1979 to allow extra-large development on the site should not then be granted to a private condo developer. City officials disagreed, granting Rudin the upzoning it requested.

In early April the application by Jamestown Properties to rezone Chelsea Market in order to allow the construction of a large office tower above the complex’s 10th Ave. end and a hotel structure above the Ninth Ave. end was filed, starting the seven-month public review and approval process. There has been significant public outcry against the plan, which would forever alter the look of this historic complex, add traffic to the neighborhood, cast a shadow over the High Line and loom over the adjacent Gansevoort Market Historic District, and further tip the balance of this neighborhood toward commercialization. G.V.S.H.P. strongly opposes the rezoning, which is under review by Community Board 4, to be followed by the borough president, City Planning Commission and City Council.

Trinity Realty is expected to file its application to rezone about 20 blocks in Hudson Square in May. Here, community groups including G.V.S.H.P. had long sought a rezoning, but instead of allowing a community-initiated rezoning to move ahead, the city has let Trinity, which owns about 40 percent of the land in the area, to file the application. Unlike in some other cases, a rezoning is clearly needed here: The current zoning allows buildings 450 feet tall or more — such as the Trump Soho — and encourages hotel development and towers set back behind street-deadening plazas. As for Trump Soho, we believe other aspects of the zoning that the city refused to enforce should have blocked this project.

However, Trinity’s draft rezoning proposal doesn’t necessarily address all community concerns. Trinity’s plan would still allow buildings up to 320 feet, and in one case 430 feet in height, much higher than almost any building in the neighborhood except the Trump Soho. Plus, the rezoning would clearly increase development activity in the area and thus increase development pressure on the adjacent remaining sections of the proposed South Village Historic District, which the city has refused to landmark.

G.V.S.H.P. and local community groups held a community forum on the plan and found that there was strong support for lowering the proposed height and bulk of new develop-

Photos by Tequila Minsky

At last Friday’s rally at Washington Square Park against the N.Y.U. superblocks plan.

ment and for insisting that this developer-requested rezoning not move ahead unless the community-requested landmark designation of the adjacent South Village is also considered.

We have urged city officials to take these steps.

Another proposed rezoning with the potential to endanger the adjacent proposed South Village Historic District (and a whole lot more) is N.Y.U.’s plan for eight city blocks south and east of Washington Square. The university would not only impose commercial zoning on a residentially zoned area, but lift open-space preservation requirements now in the zoning, which would allow the university to add more than 2

million square feet of space where it is currently prohibited.

Additionally, N.Y.U. wants the city to give it public land now used as park space and to overturn urban renewal deed restrictions limiting development. Everything about N.Y.U.’s plan flies in the face of the terms under which the university was given acres of public land in the 1950s and ’60s that it now wishes to build upon, as well as long-standing neighborhood zoning protections.

As disturbing as these changes would be in principle, their practical effect would be devastating. Huge new buildings would permanently encase open space in shadow. The N.Y.U. presence — not just in the immediate vicinity but for blocks around — would continue to grow over the years, with N.Y.U. becoming an ever-more overwhelming presence in the neighborhood. The design of two modernist housing complexes, Washington Square Village and Silver Towers, both eligible for the State and National Registers of Historic Places and one landmarked, would be destroyed.

Borough President Stringer voted to approve the N.Y.U. plan with minor modifications. The City Planning Commission and the City Council, however, will have final say on the plan.

Though the city designated the first third of G.V.S.H.P.’s proposed South Village Historic District in 2010, it has demurred on the remaining two-thirds, prompting the Preservation League of New York State to join G.V.S.H.P. in calling the neighborhood one of our state’s most endangered historic resources, and urging the city to act to protect it. And the city has moved slowly to expand landmark protections in the East Village, allowing numerous historic houses to be demolished or otherwise compromised while new historic districts are being considered.

This year will clearly set the stage for changes that will affect what our neighborhoods look and feel like for generations to come.

Andrew Berman speaking on the bullhorn at Friday’s rally against the N.Y.U. 2031 plan.

Berman is executive director, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

April 26 - May 2, 2012

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April 26 - May 2, 2012

Stepping it up and embracing change with new center THE NEW SCHOOL

BY TIM MARSHALL Since The New School’s founding nearly a century ago, we have embraced values that have long made Greenwich Village a haven for artists and free thinkers. From the university’s beginnings as a site of publicly engaged higher learning, The New School has stood for open discourse, creative expression and positive social action.

The New School has also always embraced change — and over the past decade, we have done just that, transforming into a major degree-granting university. Our University Center, now rising on the corner of 14th St. and Fifth Ave, reflects this evolution.

With facilities including fully networked classrooms, libraries, student residences, social spaces and venues for exhibitions and public programs, the Photo by Matthew Sussman University Center will Tim Marshall. provide crucial, interdisciplinary space for New School students to learn, live and interact.

Because The New School chose to build on land that we own and have already occupied for more than half a century, the University Center will enable us to create the space we need without expanding our footprint in the neighborhood.

To that point, our presence in Greenwich Village has been central to the planning and design of the University Center. Reflecting a historical dedication to our community, the building will be a resource not only to the university, but to our neighborhood and our city.

Specifically, the University Center will serve as a state-of-the-art venue for public programming and events. Since our founding nearly a century ago, The New School has established itself as New York City’s premier presenter of public programming. The completion of the University Center’s 800-seat auditorium marks a new chapter in this legacy. This fully convertible space can be used as a lecture hall, a theater, a fashion runway and more. The size and flexibility of the new auditorium will significantly expand our public offerings — and our contribution to the neighborhood’s cultural life.

The University Center will also be a hands-on teaching tool. Certain opera-

tional and sustainability features of the building are expressly designed to serve as teaching tools. As the building goes up and after it is completed, students will be able to use the structure itself as a design and sustainability laboratory, gaining a real-world education about the interaction between a building and its community.

The building will also be a new architectural touchstone for the Village.

Designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill’s award-winning Roger Duffy, the University Center has already been lauded by The New York Times’s Nicolai Ouroussoff as “a celebration of the cosmopolitan city.”

The University Center will also serve as a citywide pacesetter for sustainability. With energy-saving white roofs, gray water and black water treatment technology, and responsibly sourced materials and much more, the University Center will bear the proud distinction of being one of New York’s greenest skyscrapers with a projected LEED sustainability rating of gold.

The University Center will be not just a focal point for The New School, but a neighborhood hub for learning, performance and the exchange of ideas. The University Center will open in fall 2013 — we look forward to welcoming you.

Marshall is provost, The New School

Design renderings courtesy SOM

As both a community resource and a teaching tool for sustainable architecture, the University Center, at Fifth Ave. and 14th St., will become an anchor for the campus.

One of the most distinctive features of The New School’s University Center, shown here from 13th St., is a glass-enclosed staircase that creates a vertical commons running throughout the academic space.

April 26 - May 2, 2012

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April 26 - May 2, 2012

In tight budget times, green spaces are flourishing C.B. 2 PARKS

BY RICH CACCAPPOLO Ours is a park-starved district. We rank second to last in the city in terms of green space per 1,000 residents. But in the last year, even in this time of significant budget constraints, the quality of the few open areas we do possess has been dramatically upgraded, which has improved the quality of life of our residents.

Looking to the months ahead, there are even more great park developments to come.

Thanks to the diligent, long-applied efforts of the Parks Department and the Community Board 2 Parks, Recreation

and Open Space Committee, chaired by Tobi Bergman, and the support of our local elected officials, new spaces have been developed and existing parks have been updated.

The largest and most obvious project has been the revitalization of Washington Square Park, one of the city’s best-known and most beloved spaces — and our backyard. In early March the majority of the western side of the park, including the “Chess Plaza,” was officially reopened.

Reviews have been extremely positive; it was worth the wait.

A few blocks away, on the site of what was a downtrodden McDonald’s Playland, a great new playground at Minetta Park was recently opened. Featuring a unique design, clever new features and no hamburglars, it has been widely praised and extremely popular from the day the gates swung open.

Not to be outdone, the standard-bearer of neighborhood play spaces, Bleecker St. Playground, has been given a well-

Photo by Tequila Minsky

A young environmentalist in Washington Square Park at Friday’s mass march and rally against the N.Y.U. 2031 mega-development plan.

Photo by Milo Hess

Recently seen hooping it up in Washington Square Park.

deserved facelift. In fact, the whole block, including the Bleecker Seating Area and the walkway between it and the playground, called Jane Jacobs Way, the trees and the sidewalks, have all been repaired, replaced and refreshed.

Further west and a couple of blocks north, past the gem that is Abingdon Square, residents have been enjoying another recently completed, long inprocess project — the redesigned and reopened Seravalli Playground.

Back across town, the updates to Petrossino Square have been completed.

Look for some exciting artwork displays there this summer.

Looking to the months ahead, there are even more great park developments to come. Work has begun on the new Adrienne’s Garden children’s playground on LaGuardia Place, and efforts are underway to improve DeSalvio Playground in Nolita. Budgets and designs for the renovation of J.J. Walker Playground have been approved and work was set to begin, but the Parks Department graciously delayed

it so the 2012 Greenwich Village Little League season could proceed. Work will begin in September.

Washington Square Park Phase 3 is underway, the scope of which includes the large dog run, the Mounds and a brand-new comfort station. Parks has also agreed to renovate Father Fagan Square, the section of open space on the east side of Sixth Ave. stretching south from Prince St. Finally, and most dramatically, work will begin on transitioning the St. Vincent’s triangle from a closed, private, locked area into a public open space, with great features, including an AIDS Memorial.

So, much has been done and there is much more to come as we work to make our part of the city not just more beautiful, with a consistently increasing quality of life, but even better neighborhoods within a vibrant urban community.

Caccappolo is vice chairperson of the Community Board 2 Parks, Recreation and Open Space Committee

April 26 - May 2, 2012

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Still, the fight CAANtinues! Yes, we CAAN win this thing ACTIVISM

BY TERRI CUDE AND MARTIN TESSLER When NYU first presented its 2031 expansion plan, we knew this would be a fight — a fight that can only be won with a strong and united front to stop the destruction of Greenwich Village. Many of us joined the Community Task Force on N.Y.U. Development that Borough President Stringer organized in 2006. Four years of meetings culminated in a March 2010 report strongly opposing N.Y.U.’s 2031 Plan.

Shortly following the task force report and the suspension of its meetings, the Community Action Alliance on N.Y.U. 2031 (CAAN 2031) was formed as an umbrella organization then comprising 30 — now 35 — neighborhood groups willing to work together to prevent the Village from being turned into N.Y.U.’s private campus.

CAAN has always focused on three major points: We stand against any blanket rezoning; we oppose city-owned land being acquired or used by N.Y.U. for its own purposes; we are against overturning existing deed restrictions on development prior to their expiration.

However, N.Y.U. seeks to do all three of

these. N.Y.U. has claimed that its plan does not require upzoning, but that’s exactly what the university applied for. N.Y.U. claims it is only building on its own land, but the proposed location of the “Zipper Building” is on city-owned open space — and other public spaces may be used for construction equipment staging or as access plazas. And N.Y.U.’s application seeks removal of current deed restrictions on the land.

N.Y.U. says only a few intransigent people are fighting the plan. But thousands of residents throughout the Village, Soho, Noho and beyond continue to express outrage at the attempt to ruin a stable residential neighborhood, showing up 500-plus at a time at rallies like the one CAAN co-sponsored on Fri., April 20, with Assemblymember Deborah Glick, state Senator Thomas Duane, Community Board 2, G.V.S.H.P., N.Y.U. Faculty Against the Sexton Plan and several other groups.

As N.Y.U.’s application began the citymandated uniform land use review procedure (ULURP) process, CAAN helped win the support of Community Board 2, which has been stalwart in its opposition to the plan and wrote a strong resolution of denial.

As the process moved to its next step, we continued our advocacy with a letter to Borough President Scott Stringer restating CAAN’s key principles against N.Y.U. 2031.

Just as it appeared that N.Y.U. was on the

ropes, a torrent of support came from N.Y.U.’s allies in citywide media, a representative of the university’s law firm who also happens to be a former New York City mayor, an organization that features N.Y.U. on its board of directors, and even the current mayor.

On April 11 we were invited, along with several members of C.B. 2, including its chairperson, as well as the head of the Friends of LaGuardia Place, to attend the press conference where the borough president announced that N.Y.U. had agreed to some modifications to the proposal. We were there to obtain the details in the B.P.’s 24-page recommendation report and to get information on the scope of N.Y.U.’s concessions. After reviewing the documents, it is clear: Our community has so much more work to do!

We must make sure that City Planning receives testimony that will help its commissioners see the ill-conceived nature of N.Y.U. 2031, and Councilmember Chin and her colleagues in the Council must be reminded that N.Y.U.’s egregious land grab in the heart of Greenwich Village, despite being reduced by some 17 percent, according to The Villager, is utterly unacceptable.

New and important voices are joining with local residents, showing clearly that our opposition is not reactionary NIMBY or self-serving but broad-based and concerned for all aspects of our community. These new perspectives include a growing faculty group, N.Y.U. FASP, and another group of

local merchants who realize that many small businesses will be harmed or put out of business by the changes to Greenwich Village that N.Y.U. 2031 will bring.

CAAN’s goal from this point forward is exactly the same as before — stopping N.Y.U. 2031. There are legal and environmental strategies being pursued with CAAN’s support, and we work daily to convey our community’s deep concerns about this stilloverbearing and burdensome assault on our historic residential neighborhood.

CAAN does not fight N.Y.U. the educational institution, just NYU the developer that wants to change long-standing zoning protections to enable the university to gobble up Greenwich Village. There are many other options for N.Y.U.’s growth: Not only have leaders in the Financial District invited N.Y.U. to build there, but Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz has recently extended a similar invitation. Considering all the middle and high school students that go that far — and farther — for their education, it’s hard to believe that a few subway stops are too far for university students!

At this pivotal moment it is essential that we stand together. We cannot let N.Y.U. divide the community. We are united.

The fight CAANtinues!

Cude and Tessler are co-chairpersons, Community Action Alliance on N.Y.U. 2031 (CAAN 2031)

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April 26 - May 2, 2012

Getting around town and our big challenge, Jamestown COMMUNITY BOARD

BY COREY JOHNSON Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen are changing.

As the residential populations in our communities continue to grow, a host of city and state agencies, alongside the private sector, are addressing the logistical concerns of getting New Yorkers around town. There will be so many new options that everyone will be able to choose from: The new Bike-Share program, faster Select Bus Service, the extension of the No. 7 subway line, and the newly reconfigured Penn Station as the Moynihan project enters its preliminary construction phase.

As early as this July, New York City BikeShare will install thousands of public-use bicycles at 600 automated docking stations throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. BikeShare bikes can be picked up and returned at any station, making it a quick and simple transit choice. Local residents, commuters and tourists will be able to become BikeShare members for a day, week, month or year. An annual membership with the program will cost less than a monthly MetroCard, and members will have unlimited access to bikes for trips under 45 minutes. Bikes are equipped with state-of-the-art locking devices

and safety features, such as always-on lights, bells and GPS tracking systems. Mobile apps will give real-time information to users about station locations and availability.

Six hundred thousand people use Penn Station each day and the number is rising. This has created perpetual congestion.

During the recent appointment of Patrick Foye to lead the Port Authority, Governor Cuomo also announced that Foye would take over control of the Moynihan Station project. The Moynihan plan will improve subway and commuter trains’ access by converting the Farley Post Office into the Penn Station transportation hub. In December 2011, the engineering, design and planning firm AECOM was selected to take on the construction work for Phase 1 of Moynihan Station. According to the Regional Planning Association, Phase 1 of the Moynihan project should cost $267 million and take at least five or six years to complete. Phase 1 should alleviate the dangerous amount of pedestrian sidewalk traffic around Penn Station by creating new exits, wider pedestrian concourses and sorely needed, A.D.A.-required elevators. These safety improvements will also

Corey Johnson.

help reduce overall commuting time and increase safety.

In addition to extending Penn Station service, the new Select Bus Service on 34th St., often referred to as “rubber-tired light rail,” uses a variety of techniques and technologies that will improve the quality and performance of transit much more quickly at a much lower cost. The new S.B.S. vehicles will have distinctive branding and will be low-floor, articulated buses, with an extra third door to allow people to get on and off faster. Bus service has always been vitally important to senior citizens and people with limited mobility. The new bus lanes will allow buses to travel faster because of fewer traffic lights, off-board fare collection with all-door boarding, and real-time arrival information, available by cell phone or over the Internet.

As an example of even further change, Jamestown, the owner of the Chelsea Market, has seen its Chelsea Market Expansion Proposal certified by the Department of City Planning. The proposal is to include the Chelsea Market block in the Special West Chelsea District, which allows an increase in the potential permitted floor area ratio (F.A.R.) from 5.0 to 7.5. The proposal also requires a contribution to the High Line Improvement Fund and the providing of High Line amenities. However, it would retain the M1-5 zoning on the Chelsea Market block.

If this plan is allowed, then Jamestown will be able to erect 240,000 square feet of office space in a new structure along 10th Ave. and 90,000 square feet of hotel space in a new structure above Ninth Ave./W. 16th St. In 2005 Community Board 4 was coapplicant to the Special West Chelsea rezoning. We understand this rezoning and its purpose to provide opportunities for new residential and commercial development and to facilitate the reuse of the High Line as a unique public open space. However, this proposal creates a series of serious issues we must deal with.

First, there is the issue of the Ninth Ave. hotel that is included in the project.

This part of the Board 4 neighborhood is saturated with hotels, traffic and noise. For example, the total number of hotel rooms

near Chelsea Market is 1,104.

Second, the proposed 10th Ave. building’s height and bulk would cast shadows on the High Line and restrict views, and are inconsistent with nearby building heights in Board 4.

Third, the 10th Ave. building’s facade — a modern design intended to “float” over the Chelsea Market building — is incompatible with the existing Chelsea Market and surrounding buildings, such as the Nabisco complex and the Merchants Refrigeration Company Warehouse.

Fourth, the existing Chelsea Market building has no protection for its historical importance.

Fifth, this project would create a precedent for the area south and west of Chelsea Market, leaving it subject to inappropriate development (height, bulk, hotel use) in the future, along with the neighboring sites (85 and 99 10th Ave.).

Sixth, were this proposal approved, it would add pressure for greater gentrification and, thus, rising housing costs.

Seventh, there would be even greater demand on existing parks and the need for more open space.

Finally, were this plan approved, there is the risk of the possible loss of food resources vital to the neighborhood and to Manhattan on Chelsea Market’s ground floor.

As we continue to review this proposal, we will need to try and find ways to mitigate these concerns. We have a public hearing scheduled for Wed., May 2, at 6 p.m. at Roosevelt Hospital, 1000 10th Ave. We will look at the possibility of prohibiting hotel use on the Chelsea Market block; reducing the height and bulk of the 10th Ave. building; making the project’s facade contextual with nearby buildings; designating existing Chelsea Market buildings as New York City landmarks; and expanding the Special West Chelsea District, which provides height, bulk and use controls.

We will look at the zoning text and see how we can get a contribution to an affordable housing fund. We will also look at the possibility of the developer providing publicly accessible space on roof of the 10th Ave. building or contributing to a Chelsea parks fund. And we will work to add a food-related use requirement for ground-floor space.

Clearly, we have our work cut out for us, and we will do our best and work our hardest to see this work done well and to benefit the community.

Heraclitus said it best: “Change is the only constant.” C.B. 4 continues to serve as an advocate for residents and businesses before city agencies and private entities. We hope that you will send us your feedback on how we incorporate the public into the ongoing process. Feel free to send me your concerns at cojo63@aol.com . I look forward to hearing from you.

Johnson is chairperson, Community Board 4, which covers Manhattan between 14th and 59th Sts., west of Eighth Ave. north of 26th St., and west of Sixth Ave. south of 26th St.

April 26 - May 2, 2012

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At GMHC, striving to achieve an AIDS-free generation HEALTH DR. MARJORIE HILL GMHC has had a year of great success and transformation. As the AIDS epidemic entered its 30th year, we have made great strides in our mission of combating H.I.V. and uplifting the lives of all affected. H.I.V. and AIDS are no longer a death sentence, but a management condition, though much more remains to be done.

We share President Obama’s vision of an AIDS-free generation, but in order to achieve this worthy goal, we must greatly increase testing and understanding of how H.I.V. spreads, and ensure that people who test positive are immediately linked to treatment.

As the first organization in the fight against H.I.V./AIDS, we commemorate our 30th year in a new and improved space at 446 W. 33rd St. Having been located in Chelsea since our founding, we operated for 14 years at 119 W. 24th St., after a decade on W. 20th St. and periods on 20th and 22nd Sts. Our new offices provide us with the room to expand our services, a long-term lease to buffer the agency against rent increases, a bright new kitchen and dining room where we both continue our Meals Program and host com-

munity events. We also have the expanded Keith Haring Food Pantry Program, where we help ensure that people with H.I.V./AIDS do not go hungry.

In addition, we opened the GMHC Center for H.I.V. Prevention at 229 W. 29th St., where we provide H.I.V. testing, prevention education and a youth leadership development program.

GMHC has sparked great discussion this past year as we continue to lead the fight to revise the National Institute of Health policy banning blood donations from gay men. Our reports document how egregious this policy remains and has changed the dialogue around the issue. We know that testing would prevent disease from being transmitted, and this outdated policy stigmatizes gay men and deprives those needing blood transfusions of a potential source of lifesaving blood.

Recently, we hosted the Road to AIDS 2012 town hall meeting which brought discussion directly to the New York City H.I.V./AIDS community about the National H.I.V./AIDS Strategy and International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., in July. We are on the cusp of being able to achieve an AIDS-free

Dr. Marjorie Hill.

generation and we must work together to ensure that our government helps to make this goal possible, even in this age of budget cuts and fiscal restraint. We owe it to future generations to fight this fight, and to everyone affected by the epidemic.

As GMHC enters its third decade, we recognize three leaders who have greatly assisted our work to end the epidemic. First, we honor Tim Sweeney — truly an icon of the L.G.B.T. and H.I.V./AIDS movements — who served

as GMHC’s fifth executive director during challenging times for the organization, made a huge impact and helped build our movement into the force for social justice that it is today.

Second, we celebrate Duane Reade, a New York City institution that has done so much to help raise funds as the first-ever “presenting sponsor” for the AIDS Walk, money which directly supports our H.I.V./ AIDS programs.

Finally, we recognize the Rudin family, which was one of the first family foundations to invest in our mission, and were integrally involved with GMHC from our early days.

On Sun., May 20, we will bring together more than 40,000 people in Central Park for our annual AIDS Walk New York, raising awareness, sparking discussion and ensuring that our transformative work with thousands of people affected by H.I.V./AIDS will continue. It is not too late to register to walk or join a team.

I urge Villagers and all Downtowners to come and visit our new offices. Please visit our Web site — gmhc.org — for upcoming community forums and related events.

Together we will make strides to uplift all affected by H.I.V. and AIDS. For more information on AIDS Walk New York visit aidswalk.net .

Hill is C.E.O., GMHC

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April 26 - May 2, 2012

Service and sustainability: Supporting the community N.Y.U.

BY CHRISTOPHER JAMES New York University aims increasingly to be a university “in and of the city.” And during the last year, a wide range of positive, real-world changes brought to New York by the university’s community service initiatives have garnered local, national and even global acclaim for the university’s power to, as Hubbard put it, “make a difference in the world.”

This year alone has seen more than 15,000 students engage in community service work across the five boroughs, investing their skills, energy and time — every New Yorker’s most valuable commodity — into enhancing and supporting the communities that comprise the Big Apple. Thousands of New Yorkers benefit from university-led programs, such as Jumpstart, America Reads/America Counts and N.Y.U.’s mobile health and dental vans.

Countless others benefit from the multitude of local nonprofit organizations aided by N.Y.U. Civic Team student volunteers and, often, supported by contributions from the university’s Community Fund.

In March, N.Y.U. was named with Distinction to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, an award recognizing schools that “reflect the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities.” The honor roll is intended to “celebrate the transformative power and volunteer spirit that exists within the higher education community,” and it is precisely this ideal that is being carried forward by the school’s Offices of Civic Engagement and Student Activities. In the words of Associate Director of Student Activities Adam Ebnit, “The lessons learned, skills acquired and the community built through participating in service initiatives support students in their personal and educational pursuits while providing a meaningful contribution to their communities.”

Photo by Christopher James

Jumpstart N.Y.U. is part of a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring every American child enters school prepared to succeed. Jumpstart N.Y.U. brings university students together with Lower East Side preschoolers for a full school year of mentoring and tutoring.

Service and stewardship are deeply rooted in the campus consciousness, but not every one of the school’s for-the-greatergood initiative manifests as community labor. In recent years many of N.Y.U.’s most far-reaching and vibrant achievements have come, both directly and indirectly, from the school’s Office of Sustainability.

Recently, the school’s Office of Sustainability announced its latest “Green Grant” recipients, selecting winners from dozens of innovative project ideas submitted by members of the campus community and designed to help the university reduce environmental impacts, engage with the community, and advance applied research and educational goals.

This spring’s eight projects focus on waste and energy reduction, renewable energy and sustainable food systems, and community engagement and outreach.

Some, such as kinetic sculptures and cooking demonstrations designed as educational outreach tools, will be highly interactive.

Others are less visible, but hold the potential to be even more far-reaching and relevant to our lives in and around the city — such as a new composting collection program that could keep innumerable tons of waste off of garbage trucks and out of landfills, and a student food co-op that will bring campus business to local farmers, reduce the environmental costs of long-haul food shipping, and cut down on food waste in dining halls.

“Green Grants demonstrate that N.Y.U. students, faculty and staff are committed to continually improving N.Y.U.’s approach to food consumption, purchasing and disposal, alongside a spate of non-food-related initiatives that maturely address some of the sustainability challenges facing N.Y.U.’s urban campus,” said David Seaward, N.Y.U. Green Grants coordinator. “The G.G. committee chose projects that potentially have civic engagement and positive sustainable outcomes not just for N.Y.U., but for the greater New York City community as well.”

Like many of this year’s Green Grant projects, sustainability’s achievements are often hiding in plain sight. That is as true of small-scale initiatives, like replacing standard light bulbs with compact fluorescents, as it is with the big milestones, like the high-efficiency co-generation power plant, a facility that produces 13.4 megawatts of electricity and is responsible for helping to reduce N.Y.U.’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 30 percent since 2007 — and which lives beneath a public plaza on Mercer St. This spring, N.Y.U.’s Kimmel Center offers an excellent opportunity to learn more about the campus’s strides forward in sustainability. An exhibition showcasing five years of sustainability programs and initiatives is currently on display in 13 of the building’s large street-level windows, at La Guardia Place and W. Third St. until May 18. Each 3-D window display contains graphics and images designed to engage and educate the viewer about N.Y.U.’s central sustainability themes, including green building projects, sustainable landscaping, the N.Y.U. Bike-Share, and the Co-Gen plant.

“The exhibit not only demonstrates the sustainability successes that have taken place on campus, but also recognizes the challenges ahead that can only be faced with the help of the larger N.Y.U. community,” said Pam Jean Tinnen, curator of collections and exhibitions at the Kimmel Galleries.

For its contributions to sustainability issues, the university was recently made a finalist in the Second Nature 2012 Climate Leadership Awards, a national competition among colleges and universities to earn the title of Most Innovative Climate Leader.

Not only this Climate Leadership Award nomination, but all of N.Y.U.’s accomplishments in sustainability and community service capture the university’s interwoven goals of giving back and building for the future — a calling that has defined what N.Y.U. has achieved in the last year, and has set the tone for how it will greet the years to come.

James is a member, New York University Office of Public Affairs

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April 26 - May 2, 2012

25

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Continued from page 10 they cut something humongous down a little bit, the politicos will say how wonderful it is that N.Y.U. listened to the community and scaled back. What a bunch of crap. It’s still too many buildings and people crammed in. Move it to the Financial District or Brooklyn. Who actually wants this?

Susan Kramer

ers, nurses, sanitation workers and teachers. We want these vital workers close by their places of work.

Some landlords may now feel entitled to massive profits, but they never questioned their tenants’ rents when no one else would rent in their buildings.

The U.S. economy is roiling from the results of the wealthy’s legalized theft of the public’s money and the destruction of the economy for all but the very, very rich. People are being foreclosed upon as we speak. Do you really think removing more affordable housing stock is going to help with this housing epidemic — or help in any economic recovery?

Don’t pass on soccer idea

K Webster

To The Editor: Re “Solving Pier 40” (editorial, April 19): The brutal and quietly relentless lobbying tactics of development should preclude any mention of high-end housing or hotel on this pier. Tax-free bonding would be a travesty; and find me a developer right now who would accept a straightlease IDA and pay reasonable — or any — payments in lieu of taxes, knowing full well they can steal a hospital if they really want to. Pier 40 would end up a backyard to the development, much like the Standard Hotel and the High Line, at the very least. They simply do not care about this community, all the while preparing to cry “jobs.”

And who sells the bonds? A city agency or a connected, no-bid friend who gets a windfall? Most likely some enterprise that has shown criminal negligence in recent memory.

Why do we need this politically and economically expensive middle step — a years-and-dollars-consuming middleman — when we have a full-fledged economic partner unbelievably consistent with present pier use ready to go, and already publicly committed to addressing our park and athletic needs? Why not sit the entire community down with Major League Soccer now and let us have a discussion directly with them while our elected officials — who generally do a great job but have been failing on the big-ticket items — wait for yet another study to be completed.

Let’s get moving in the meantime and find out if the community and MLS can find common cause. There is absolutely no reason we should sit back and be told we have to wait.

How about The Villager sets it up? And do it at the pier, right out there on the field. No politicians, no board appointees, just the neighborhoods and MLS. Pretty sure we can get a permit for three or four hours some night. Let’s talk.

Spokesperson stumper

Patrick Shields

The case for rent regulation To The Editor: Re “Will conservative Supreme Court remove rent regs?” (news article, April 5): To those critics who contend that “millionaires” are living in apartments protected by rent regulations, here is my response: Rent protections enable housing for elders, the working poor — and increasingly what is left of the “middle class” — young adults, artists, newer service workers and longtime community activists, often in communities targeted by race, class, ethnicity or religion.

Rent protections stabilize communities, keep politicians honest — due to rent-regulated residents’ long memories — generate and support small businesses, and ensure a community that is an interesting quilt of perspectives and strengths.

Manhattan, like the other boroughs, is filled with community members who want to live in the neighborhoods we helped create.

And we need more housing, not less, that is affordable to workers who are just starting out in careers as police, firefight-

To The Editor: Re “Event space is a ‘Javits Center’: Soho neighbors” (news article, April 19): The article states: “But Ryan Fitzgibbon, D.O.B.’s press secretary, said that, contrary to residents’ accounts, the department hasn’t received any complaints about the space.

‘They may be up in arms, but we haven’t heard a word about it,’ she said.”

Really? The Department of Buildings press secretary should do some more research before giving out ridiculously false information to reporters.

This e-mail below is the first of at least a dozen complaints from Community Board 2 to D.O.B.’s community affairs coordinators, Donald Ranshte and Leah Donaldson, over the past 21 months, requesting inspections regarding 82Mercer for operating illegally without the proper certificate of occupancy: Sent: Friday, July 22, 2011 1:20 PM To: Donald Ranshte Cc: Leah Donaldson; Mora@cb2manhattan.org Subject: Request for Inspection: 82-84 Mercer Street Donald/Leah: Would it be possible to have a DOB inspector visit 82-84 Mercer Street tomorrow. This building is having a trade show (Major League Soccer Annual Conference) and, according to the application they submitted to SAPO [the Mayor’s Street Activity Permits Office], they expect 2000 people to attend.

The residents of the block are furious because of a trade show that ended yesterday and our office has received a slew of complaints. Apparently, the building has no C of O, nor any permit for this type of activity. We believe this type of use (12a – trade exhibition less than 2500) is not a conforming use. Other complaints have mentioned attendees using the freight elevator, various fire hazards, overcrowding, and misuse of parking permits. I recognize that not all of these allegations fall under DOB’s jurisdiction, but if there is a violation of the Zoning Resolution, we need your help. I know it’s short notice, but SAPO just informed us of this event.

Please let me know. Thanks.

I redacted the e-mail address of the person at C.B.2 who sent the message, out of privacy considerations.

Despite repeated direct requests by a fellow city agency,

D.O.B. has consistently refused to do an inspection to determine whether 82Mercer is violating the city’s Zoning Resolution with its nonconforming use.

Sean Sweeney

‘Soho Javits’-BID connection To The Editor: Re “Event space is a ‘Javits Center’: Soho neighbors” (news article, April 19): The article refers to “Vincent Fung, an 82Mercer partner.”

Everyone should be aware that Mr. Fung is a member of the Soho Business Improvement District Steering Committee, as seen on the Web site for that group: http:// www.sohobid.org/bid-planning-team/ .

Many of those backing the BID continue to prove that they have little-to-no consideration for the neighborhood or the community, beyond what will line their pockets.

All the more reason to oppose the B.S. BID plan.

Pete Davies

Church’s wide appeal To The Editor: Re “Vilnius faithful praying for church’s resurrection” (news article, April 19): Our Lady of Vilnius did not “share” the church with a Portuguese parish. Although the parish was founded by a Lithuanian priest for Lithuanian immigrants, something about it appealed to people of all ethnicities. The Portuguese families that surrounded the church were very much part of one small but diverse parish.

I remember sitting at a table of Portuguese neighbors at the last feast of Our Lady before the church was locked.

They had placed their Fatima statue at the head of the table.

They shared their homemade liqueur and good spirits and I felt like one of the family.

Carmine De Sapio’s family were active parishioners and generous donors.

When the church was threatened with closure, The Villager was the first newspaper to announce that the home of “Pretzels” and “Provolone” was in danger. The parish was an emblem of working-class New York in all its glory, begun by a longshoreman priest and ending with a fireman priest.

Continued on page 26

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April 26 - May 2, 2012

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Continued from page 25 Lithuanian parishioner Dalia Bulgaris hailed it as “a parish of oddballs.”

Although the church’s Lithuanian angle has been most visible and media friendly, its appeal goes way beyond that into the mystic.

Christina Nakraseive

Glick clicks with column To The Editor: Re “N.Y.U. freshmen need a campus — on Governors Island” (talking point, by Deborah Glick, April 19): This is the kind of creative problem solving that all our elected officials and administrators should be engaging in.

A.S. Evans

Counterpoints for Glick To The Editor: Re “N.Y.U. freshmen need a campus — on Governors Island” (talking point, by Deborah Glick, April 1): So as an assemblymember you’re going to talk to the mayor about opening up the Governors Island space to N.Y.U.? Also, just to be clear, Governors Island is not right in the middle of New York City.

I fully understand the need to preserve historic communities in New York City. But as a native New Yorker, I wouldn’t have wanted the city to preserve the historic drug and tawdry aspects of Times Square, Washington Square Park, 14th St. and other areas in the city that I would never have walked in past 9 p.m. at night!

Farah Hamilton

Steamed over wasteful A/C To The Editor: On April 16, the first very warm day of an early summer, as I walked up Fifth Ave. to buy my lunch, every other store I passed, on both sides of the street, had their doors wide open and their air conditioning blasting onto the sidewalks.

Several years ago, when Clyde Haberman of The New York Times made a case against stores that keep their front doors wide open with air conditioning blasting out onto the sidewalks, I was delighted.

In 2008, New York City passed a law to fine these businesses for this wasteful practice.

It was only in 2010 that fines began to be imposed on stores that make a practice of this, but those fines, miniscule and rarely given, of $200 (for a second offense, $400) have not deterred merchants from repeatedly ignoring the law. The legislation states that any busi-

ness larger than 4,000 square feet or part of a chain with five or more stores in the city must keep doors closed when using an air-conditioning system. To describe this law as weak and ineffective is an understatement.

Since this law was passed, I have filed numerous complaints about stores on lower Fifth Ave., where I work, that are blasting their air conditioning onto the sidewalks, but to no avail. You can go to www.nyc.gov and search “Store door open while air conditioner running” to make a formal complaint. But the city and its law enforcement officers are, I suppose, too busy stopping and frisking young black American boys, giving tickets to bicyclists or to people who smoke in the parks, to bother issuing tickets to these offenders.

This practice is so offensive, given the waste of precious energy resources and the undue pressure it puts on our energy suppliers, like Con Edison, who struggle each summer to keep the electricity on for everyone living in the five boroughs. Not to mention the shortage of oil and gas that has led this country into wars in the Middle East, wars that not only take the lives of our soldiers but those of so many innocent people who most likely never experienced the luxuries of air conditioning; wars that deplete the finances of this nation to the point where public-assistance programs, education, infrastructure and job creation are suffering immensely. And now there are the proposals to hydro-fracture our delicate lands for natural gas to supplement our shortages.

How arrogant and selfish these stores are to pump this cold air in your face as you walk by them, beckoning potential buyers to “Come in, enjoy the cool air, spend money.”

Last summer, when walking down Fifth Ave. with a friend who was visiting from France, she remarked at how “wasteful” Americans are. When I asked what she meant, she said that our misuse of energy, like air conditioning and heating, was disgraceful. I was sorry to have to agree with her.

So I would like to propose the following: Every time you pass a store with its doors open and the air conditioning running — close the door. I do this now as a matter of routine and it helps. Several times a store security guard has tried to stop me and I inform him or her of the law. They usually back off. A couple of them have agreed with me about how wasteful it is.

But, more often than not, the next time I pass this store, the doors are open again. I don’t let this deter me. I just keep closing their door(s).

If all concerned citizens take up this practice, it could have a tremendous effect. I propose that you do. And for heaven’s sake, don’t shop at these stores!

Dee Vitale Henle

E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to lincoln@thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 515 Canal St., Suite 1C, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. The Villager does not publish anonymous letters.

April 26 - May 2, 2012

27

VILLAGER ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT They made the final cut

CUT

Worthy flicks to see before the Tribeca Film Fest closes

BY SCOTT STIFFLER Don’t you hate it when scruffy, selfabsorbed, seemingly unemployed creative types rage against society for not supporting the arts? Don’t you just want to hit them…really hard…repeatedly?

If so, a void has been filled by this overbearing yet engaging love letter to the merits of “pure cinema” over the piffle of multiplex diversions.

In a world where suit and tie drones rush to work without giving any thought whatsoever to the soul-nourishing output of John Ford, Akira Kurosawa and Buster Keaton, Japanese filmmaker Shuji keeps their flame alive by holding public screenings on the rooftop of his apartment — when not busy working on his own money pit masterpieces.

Forcibly extracted from one of those picturesque screenings, Shuji soon finds himself in the office of some very bad Yakuza (organized crime) men. There, he’s handed his brother’s head on a platter — actually, in a tastefully wrapped box.

Life in the big city may be cheap, but making art isn’t. So he’s given a bill for his late brother’s outstanding loan of 12,540,000 yen. Wracked by guilt (that money went to pay for his films) and given a deadline (pay up in two weeks or else), Shuji comes to an arrangement whereby he can clear his debt — and maybe his guilty conscience.

BY BONNIE ROSENSTOCK Ah, the southern Spanish city of Seville. This beautiful and captivating land of magnificent Moorish monuments is also the soul-searing heartland of flamenco cante and baile, and home to nightlife that doesn’t get going until way after midnight. You will find none of this in “Unit 7.”

Several years before and up to the opening of the 1992 Seville World Expo, which is to give the city prestige and an important economic boost, the four cops in the autonomous unit have been given free rein — unofficially and by any means necessary, it seems — to rid the city of rampant drug trafficking (Barcelona hosted the Olympics that year).

The two main characters are the apt-named Angel, the baby-faced rookie who aspires to make detective but can’t pass the grueling physical because of his diabetes — and Rafael, a world-weary cop with a penchant for brutal, but successful, tactics in his takedowns.

During the course of the years, the two will reverse roles, as Angel transforms into a loose cannon and Rafael searches for a modicum of peace in his cheerless life.

The fast-paced, taut police drama — not

Feature Narrative Directed by Amir Naderi Screenplay by Amir Naderi, Abou Farman, Shinji Aoyama & Yuichi Tazawa In Japanese with English subtitles Runtime: 120 Minutes Thurs. 4/26, 6:3pm and Fri. 4/27, 10pm at Clearview Cinemas Chelsea

Photo courtesy of CUT LLC 2011

Shuji (Hidetoshi Nishijima) gets creative, the hard way.

Those weights and that boxing equipment littering the gangster’s hangout? They aren’t cutting it as way for enforcers to sharpen their skills — so Shuji hires himself out as a human punching bag.

Apparently he’s too proud to take out a bank loan…or maybe he’s just too big of a credit risk in the eyes of the mainstream culture he loves to rail against (in the street, or on his rooftop, often with the help of a megaphone). No matter. Our

hero is determined to meet his obligation the hard way — by serving as the main attraction in a one-sided fight club, which meets in the very room where his brother was murdered.

There’s a fine line between acts of moral fortitude and showy martyrdom. Bruised and bloody, Shuji becomes a rather extreme symbol for the noble sacrifices artists must make in order to create.

As the beatings increase in intensity, the

young man with a flair for the dramatic recuperates at night by projecting classic films across his battered (and surprisingly buff!) naked chest and torso. These beautifully rendered scenes have more to say about the healing power of cinema than all of Shuji’s poser rants combined.

Is that this film’s fatal flaw, or its most clever conceit? Hard to say. One thing’s for sure: The final reel will either inspire you to seek out the works of celluloid masters or reinforce the notion that film scholarship is an insular world best left to pasty, selfsatisfied screening room nerds. Either way, as Shuji can tell you, it sure beats a kick in the head (or a punch to the gut).

Moody and cerebral — yet bloody and violent — “Cut” doesn’t quite, well, cut it when it comes to broad appeal. But if you don’t mind being preached to about the virtues of art as a gateway to truth, you’ll probably exit the theater as a member of the choir.

your formulaic Hollywood cop-buddy flick —

UNIT 7

Feature Narrative Directed by Alberto Rodriguez Screenplay by Rafael Cobos & Alberto Rodriguez In Spanish with English subtitles Runtime: 92 Minutes

takes us on a vertiginous ride through the underbelly of Seville. Except for the thrilling rooftop chases, where the centuries-old domes, cupolas and pediments are unavoidable in the frames, this earthy shoot-’em-up (with a low body count) travels through the broken alleyways and trash-strewn plazas and streets with crumbling building facades.

Even the mighty Guadalquivir, which runs through the city, is used for nefarious purposes — the junkies and small-time dealers are made to strip and jump into the river until they agree

Photo by Julio Vergne

Taking crime for a one-way ride: The dirty cops of “Unit 7.”

to change their wanton ways or become snitches. “Each junkie is a snitch,” says one of the cops…but sometimes, even junkies strike back.

Co-writer and director Alberto Rodriguez knows how to provide ambience and mold offbeat anti-heroes — the cops, and yes, the

sympathetic madam, who is enmeshed in their downward spiral into corruption. Seville has always been a city of shadows. This movie brings them into the light.

Continued on page 28

28

April 26 - May 2, 2012

DOWNEAST Feature Documentary Directed by David Redmon & Ashley Sabin Runtime: 76 Minutes Sat. 4/28, 9:45pm at Clearview Cinemas Chelsea

Continued from page 27

BY RANIA RICHARDSON At a time when manufacturing jobs are moving out of the U.S. or disappearing altogether, the entrepreneur who attempts to open a local plant is a hero. In “Downeast,” a new documentary by David Redmon and Ashley Sabin (“Mardi Gras: Made in China,” “Kamp Katrina”), that hero is Antonio Bussone — an Italian immigrant who envisions a former Maine sardine cannery reconfigured as a lobster processing plant.

In 2010 the last sardine was packed in the U.S., in that very space. Now the work is done across the border in Canada or overseas. By rehiring the workers who were laid off from the cannery, Bussone brings hope to the small coastal town of Gouldsboro, Maine, where many of the elderly citizens can’t afford to retire.

In hairnets, white coats and rubber boots, senior workers stand all day at factory tables picking meat out of lobster claws and knuck-

TRIBECA

FILM FESTIVAL THROUGH SUNDAY, APRIL 29 To order tickets, visit tribecafilm.com or call 646-502-5296

Photo by Meghan Brosnan

Out with the sardines, in with the lobster: “Downeast” chronicles the transition from cannery to processing plant.

les quickly and efficiently, with the expertise that comes from 30 or more years in the seafood industry. Bussone sees his orders increase and customers report that the lobster is “the best they’ve ever had.” But it’s not all smooth sailing. Bussone has a rival by the name of Dana Rice, a competing lobster-

SINGLE TICKETS: Evening & Weekend screenings (after 6pm, Mon.-Fri. and Sat./Sun. prior to 11pm) are $16.

Matinee & Late Night screenings (prior to 6pm, Mon.-Fri. or after 11pm daily) are $8.

Tribeca Talks are $25.

VENUES:

1 Clearview Cinemas Chelsea (CCC), 260 W. 23rd St. (btw. 7th & 8th Aves.).

2 AMC Loews Village 7 (AV7), 66 Third Ave. (at 11th St.).

3 SVA Theater (SVA), 333 W. 23rd St.

man and a selectman in the town.

Rice opposes a federal grant that will keep the plant operational, despite a unanimous vote in favor, by the community. With a New England accent out of an old Pepperidge Farm commercial, Rice holds his ground against the critical relief fund.

(btw. 8th & 9th Aves.).

4 BMCC Tribeca PAC (BMCC), 199 Chambers St. (btw. Greenwich & West Sts.).

5 Tribeca Cinemas (TC), 54 Varick St. (at Laight St.).

6 Apple Store, SoHo, 103 Prince St. (at Greene St.).

7 Chanel Art Awards Gallery at NYAA, 111 Franklin St. 8 Barnes & Noble Union Square, 33 E. 17th St. 9 Tribeca Film Center (TFC), 375 Greenwich St. (2nd floor, btw. N. Moore & Franklin Sts.).

10 Tribeca Drive-In, at the World Financial Center Plaza, West St. (btw. Vesey & Liberty Sts.).

11 Apple Store, 401 West 14th St. (at 9th Ave.).

12 Hudson River Park’s Pier 40, 353 West St. (Houston at West Side Highway).

13 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St. (btw.

Canal & Vestry Sts.).

TICKET PACKAGES: (sold online and by phone only)

DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE for students, seniors and select Downtown Manhattan residents (ticket outlet locations only). Service charges and fulfillment fees may apply.

Who will win the battle? Bussone sees business as a form of self-expression, and takes the clash personally. No doubt that Rice has similar feelings. In the last decade, millions of U.S. manufacturers have shuttered, and without a lifeline in the form of financing, this will be one of them.

CHELSEA TICKET PACKAGE is $75 for six general screening tickets to films showing at SVA Theater and Clearview Cinemas Chelsea (two per screening).

DOCUMENTARY FILM FAN PACKAGE is $75 for six general screening tickets (two per screening).

MATINEE FILMS TICKET PACKAGE is $39 for six matinee screening tickets (two per screening).

LATE NIGHT/MATINEE SINGLE TICKET PACKAGE is $39 for six single late night or matinee screening tickets (one per screening).

EVENING/WEEKEND SINGLE TICKET PACKAGE is $75 for six single evening or weekend screening tickets (one per screening).

RUSH TICKETS: Screenings and panels that have no more advance tickets available will be listed as Rush Tickets. Rush ticket lines will form approximately 45 minutes prior to scheduled event times at the venue. Admission will begin approximately 15 minutes before program start time based on availability. Rush tickets are priced as noted above, except at the BMCC Tribeca PAC Theater, where all Rush tickets will be $8 and Tribeca Talks will be $15. No discounts apply and admission is not guaranteed.

Continued on page 29

April 26 - May 2, 2012

ALL IN

Continued from page 28

BY RANIA RICHARDSON The intimate relationship dramas of Argentine director Daniel Burman (“Family Law,” “Lost Embrace”) go straight to the heart.

He focuses on family, friends and Jewish heritage without following predictable storylines.

“All In” revolves around the quotidian life of Uriel, a poker player and divorced father of two. To what extent can he impact his fate? The Spanish-language title of the film, “La Suerte en Tus Manos,” directly translates as “Luck is in Your Hands.”

Uriel is first seen in a doctor’s office, while having a consultation for a vasectomy. This conversation allows him to muse on his life, and to consider the effect the operation would have on his identity as a parent. He reconnects with an old flame, Gloria — but their awkward past intrudes on their present relationship. To appear more attractive to her, he pretends to be a music promoter, not the owner of his father’s finance company. Extending the deception, he jumps through hoops to associate himself

BABYGIRL Feature Narrative Written & Directed by Macdara Vallely In English & Spanish with English subtitles Runtime: 77 Minutes Fri. 4/27, 9:00pm at Clearview Cinemas Chelsea. Also available through April 29 at the Tribeca Online Film Festival (visit tribecafilm.com).

BY ALINE REYNOLDS In his slice of everyday Bronx life, Irish filmmaker Macdara Vallely cleverly turns a mundane plot into a dramatic, heartfelt story.

Lena grapples with the challenges of navigating life as a Bronx teenager while watching her troubled mother, Lucy, get physically and emotionally involved with a succession of men.

Neither melodramatic nor farcical, the film strikes a near-perfect balance between seriousness and humor — beginning from the first frame, as the credits roll against a backdrop of

29

Feature Narrative Directed by Daniel Burman Screenplay by Daniel Burman & Sergio Dubcovsky In Spanish with English subtitles Runtime: 107 Minutes Thurs. 4/26, 9:30pm & Fri. 4/27, 9:30pm at Clearview Cinemas Chelsea Photo courtesy of the filmmakers and Tribeca Film Festival

Love in an elevator? Gloria (Valeria Bertuccelli) and Uriel (Jorge Drexler) are “All In.”

with a concert to reunite La Trova Rosarina, a real-life group of musicians who were popular in Argentina in the 1980s. Through a contact he meets at a casino, he uses the “international rabbi connection” to complete the ruse.

With its playbook of rules, poker becomes

neatly synchronized urban sketches.

Engaging right through its poignant ending, when Lena’s bond with Lucy is put to the test and their vulnerabilities are brashly exposed, “Babygirl” draws its strength from the mother and daughter’s underlying devotion to each other — despite their flaws and conflicting agendas.

Expertly played by Yainis Ynoa, Lena is captivating throughout. She is unflaggingly protective of her mother — exposing the questionable behavior of her mother’s latest boy toy, Victor, and showing spunk as she pushes away potential boyfriends for herself. Her soft side manifests when she reciprocates Victor’s affection and lets her guard down with her crush, Xavier — making Lena at once credible and relatable. Lucy’s character is also intriguing, but she is more predictable and stereotypical.

Vallely’s infusion of subtleties keeps you continuously in suspense or otherwise entertained — as when Lena, carrying a knife, approaches the front door of her mother’s apartment to let Victor in, and when she, Victor and Lucy are frantically calling one another to divulge secrets and vent.

Although peppered with witty dialogue that invigorates its often predictable scenes, the film lacks essential bits of context. We never

a laboratory for Uriel’s life. Without risk there is no reward, and fear of failure has no place at the card table.

In his big screen acting debut, musician Jorge Drexler makes a charismatic Uriel. (He won an Oscar in 2004 for a song he com-

posed for “The Motorcycle Diaries”.) Valeria Bertuccelli, a well-known South American actress, is fine as Gloria — but her odd, heavy eyebrows are a distraction. Playing Gloria’s mother, Norma Aleandro, grande dame of Argentine theater and cinema, is a wise and elegant presence as an author on a book tour, who counsels her daughter.

Photo by Ryan Muir

Lena (Yainis Ynoa) navigates the Bronx — and young adulthood.

find out about Lena’s absent father, or how Lucy makes enough of a living to keep food on the table for her two children. We’re also left to speculate about whether Lena, who works at a grocery store, dropped out of school. These details would have given viewers a broader understanding of the characters, their lifestyle and the motivation for their

choices.

These flaws, as notable as they are, can’t detract from the gritty, powerful world that Vallely has created — in which the flaws of a mother and daughter are no match for the strength of their enduring bond.

Continued on page 30

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30

April 26 - May 2, 2012

Continued from page 29

JOURNEY TO PLANET X Feature Documentary Directed by Myles Kane & Josh Koury Runtime: 78 Minutes Sat. 4/28, 1pm at AMC Loews Village

BY TRAV S.D. One layer removed from the science fiction vehicle suggested by its title, this documentary is actually about the earnest effort of two amateur Floridian filmmakers to bring their grandiose sci-fi vision to the big screen on the proverbial shoestring.

Scientists by day (one is a geologist, the other a civil engineer), they spend every weekend wrangling friends, relatives and a few professionals onto their improvised green screen studio in a family garage and putting them at the wheel of imaginary spaceships (while wearing street clothes and spray painted bicycle helmets). That the result resembles nothing so much as an Atari era video game doesn’t discourage them in the slightest.

The guys who made “Journey to Planet X,” Myles Kane and Josh Koury (co-founders of the Brooklyn Underground Film Festival) have the beginnings of something amazing here — but I feel like that they stopped shooting in the middle of the story.

There’s a potentially more interesting film here than the one they’ve given us, which has more than a little in common with “American Movie,” “It Came from Kuchar” and the copiously documented “Raiders: The Adaptation.”

The real story is not the “crazy visionaries make a laughably bad movie but really love what they’re doing” motif.

It’s the tense relationship between the two partners, who seem to represent two poles. Eric is the pure visionary, the founder, who makes his films for the love of it and no other reason. He doesn’t seem to care if two people see them or two million. Troy, on the other hand, is ambitious, driven and insistent upon improvements. In time, he becomes downright arrogant. Though Eric started the whole project and is its main underwriter, Troy names and trademarks their production company (the unpronounceable “Ginnungagap FilmWerks”), licenses merchandise, and submits the film to festivals — essentially hijacking Eric’s hobby in a bid to become a Grade Z Spielberg.

We leave the duo as they are riding high on their first film festival acceptance. One strongly suspects, however, that the duo is heading for either a fall or a split — and neither one is going to be pretty.

Photos courtesy of the filmmakers and Tribeca Film Festival

Eric Swain crafts an epic journey, on a shoestring budget.

Right to Left: Eric Swain, Sheena Blake and Troy Bernier try their best to craft a masterpiece.

April 26 - May 2, 2012

31

Just Do Art!

BY SCOTT STIFFLER

MUSIC: GABRIEL RIOS Mark it in pen on your calendar: You’ve got three upcoming chances to see, and hear, singer/songwriter Gabriel Rios. The San Juan native and recent NYC transplant — whose Puerto Rican rhythms were churned through computers and samplers during a stint in Belgium — continues his residency at Rockwood Music Hall with a stripped-down collection of songs featuring piano, percussion and guitar made to serve surreal tales of “growing older and of the end of the world as we know it.” The kid’s got talent, folks.

See him now before the line is too long.

At 9pm on Fri. April 27 & May 4. At 8pm on Fri. May 11. On Stage #1, at Rockwood Music Hall (196 Allen St., btw. Houston & Stanton Sts.). No cover, one-drink minimum (per set). For more info, visit rockwoodmusichall.com and gabrielrios.be.

Photo by Jakob Preuss Photo by Delfine Bafort

The surreal thing: Gabriel Rios touches down at Rockwood Music Hall.

At a Donetsk Shahtar soccer match, Sasha and Istanbul (the shirtless guy and the dude to his left) stand out in the crowd. See “The Other Chelsea.”

KINOFEST NYC PRESENTS: “THE OTHER CHELSEA” Since 2009, Kinofest NYC’s annual series of film screenings has brought independent cinema from Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries to the East Village. This year’s fourday fest is being produced in conjunction with The Ukrainian Museum, as part of its “Film in Perspective” program. That venue hosts the kickoff, with short films and a postscreening conversation with the filmmakers.

Anthology Film Archives hosts a screening of “The Other Chelsea” — a documentary in which German-born filmmaker Jakob Preuss examines soccer and politics in Ukraine.

“Kinofest NYC” happens Thurs. May 3 through Sun. May 6. “The Other Chelsea” screens on Fri. May 4, 7:30pm, at Anthology (32 Second Ave., btw. 1st & 3rd Sts.). The Ukrainian Museum is located at 222 E. Sixth St. (btw. 2nd & 3rd Aves.). For info on the festival, visit kinofestnyc.com. Also visit ukranianmuseum.org and anthologyfilmarchives. org.

LECTURE: DUNCAN PHYFE, AMERICA’S MOST FAMOUS CABINETMAKER You can look, you can listen, but please don’t touch. Those are the reasonable ground rules at Carswell Berlin’s upcoming lecture — at which he’ll impart more than one thing you probably didn’t know about cabinetmaker Duncan Phyfe. Berlin, a private antiques dealer (and expert in early 19 century American furniture), brings his expertise to a fitting venue. Frozen in time, the Merchant House Museum is NYC’s only family home preserved intact from the mid-19th century.

Among the Tredwell family’s possessions: a set of 12 Duncan Phyfe side chairs, circa 1835, purchased when the family moved to East Fourth Street.

Wed. May 2, 6:30pm, at Merchant’s House Museum (29 E. Fourth St., btw. Lafayette & Bowery). Tickets are $12 (free for MHM members). Reservations are recommended.

To order, call 212-777-1089 or visit merchantshouse.org/events. Regular Museum hours: 12-5pm (closed Tues. & Wed.).

Photo by Whitney Browne

Left to right: Human beatboxes Kid Lucky, Rabbi D, J King and Grey Matter.

Photo courtesy of Merchant’s House Museum

Look, but don’t sit: One of the twelve Duncan Phyfe chairs on view at Merchant’s House Museum.

AMERICAN HUMAN BEATBOX FESTIVAL Eat your heart out, jazz. Curated by world-renowned beatbox artist Kid Lucky (search him on YouTube and be sufficiently amazed), this second annual installment of La MaMa Theater’s American Human Beatbox Festival pays tribute to the American-born vocal style and technique of beatboxing (an enduring offshoot from the 1970s-era NYC hip-hop scene that long ago established itself as a global creative and social movement). Featured events include May 4’s 10pm “Unified Beats” — in which Dres Tha Beatnik, Yakko440, Kid Lucky, Lethal FX, YanCarlos Sanchez, Akim Funk Buddah, Amit and MC Beats improvise beatbox masterpieces.

Thurs. May 3 through Sun. May 6, at La MaMa (74A E. 4th St., btw. Bowery & 2nd Ave.). All events, except the Hip Hop Subway Series, are $10. The festival’s “Hip Hop Subway Series” is a traveling performance starting at Bryant Park and ending up at La MaMa. To reserve a spot, send an email to beatboxerentmedia@gmail.com. To order tickets to the festival, and for more info, visit lamama.org or call 212-475-7710.

Photo courtesy of Dany Mitzman

Seldom heard works of the masters, by a seldom seen master: See “Voices of Ascension.”

VOICES OF ASENCSION PRESENTS ORGANIST LUIGI FERDINANDO TAGLIAVINI As presented by the professional choral ensemble Voices of Ascension. organist Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini’s first U.S. concert in 25 years will feature Italian Baroque works, Bach and seldom-heard pieces by Bossi and Respighi — as played on master builder Pascal Quoirin’s Manton Memorial Organ.

Thurs. May 3, 8pm, at The Church of the Ascension (Fifth Ave. at 10th St.).

For tickets ($35, $25, $10), call 212358-7060 or visit voicesofascension.org.

This concert is the third in a series of four organ recitals this season on the new Quoirin organ at Ascension. Free student tickets are available at the door the night of every organ recital to students with valid student IDs.

32

April 26 - May 2, 2012

PUBL IC NOTICE S NOTICE OF FORMATION OF IZUMI DESIGN, LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 12/28/11.

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SSNY des. as agt. of LLC, upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to the LLC, 4 Lexington Avenue, Apt. 4N, New York, NY 10010. Purpose: All lawful purposes.

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Vil: 03/22 - 04/26/2012 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF ATGC MACRO ONSHORE FUND LP. App. for Auth. filed Secy. of State of NY (SSNY): 12/30/11.

Off. loc.: NY Cty. LP formed in DE: 12/7/11. SSNY designated as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 600 Madison Ave., 24th Fl., NY, NY 10022.

DE address of LP: c/o Stellar Corporate Services LLC, 3500 S. DuPont Hwy., Dover, DE 19901. Name/address of each genl. ptr. available from SSNY. Cert. of LP filed with DE Secy. of State, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 03/22 - 04/26/2012

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 61ST & 2ND DEVELOPMENT LLC. Art. of Org. filed with NY Dept of State on 3/1/12.

Location: NY County. Sec’y of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave, NY, NY 10011. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 03/22 - 04/26/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF DASHVERSE, LLC, Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 11/17/11. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 236 E. 33rd St., Apt. 1D, NY, NY 10016. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Vil: 03/29 – 05/03/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF GGP BM SE LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/13/12. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: Glacier Global Partners LLC, 801 Second Ave., NY, NY 10017. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 03/29 - 05/03/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF GGP BM MM LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/13/12. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: Glacier Global Partners LLC, 801 Second Ave., NY, NY 10017. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 03/29 - 05/03/2012

NOTICE OF QUAL. OF SYCAMORE LANE PARTNERS, LLC, Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 7/6/11. Office loc.: NY County. LLC org. in DE 6/15/11. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to 445 Park Ave, 5th Fl., NY, NY 10022. DE off. addr.: CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purp.: any lawful activities.

Vil: 03/29 - 05/03/2012 NOTICE OF QUAL. OF ESG DOMESTIC OPPORTUNITY FUND LP, Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 1/27/11. Office loc.: NY County. LP org. in DE 1/24/11.

SSNY desig. as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to Att: J. Kevin Kenny, 101 Park Ave., 48th Fl., NY, NY 10178. DE off. addr.: CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of LP on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Name/addr. of each gen. ptr. avail. at SSNY. Purp.: any lawful activities.

Vil: 03/29 - 05/03/2012 NOTICE OF QUAL. OF ACADEMY INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LLC, Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 8/19/11. Office loc.: NY County. LLC org. in DE 9/1/10. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to 529 5th Ave., 8th Fl., NY, NY 10017. DE off. addr.: CSC 2711 Centerville Rd., Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purp.: any lawful activities.

Vil: 03/29 - 05/03/2012

NOTICE OF QUAL. OF ACADEMY INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT GP LLC, Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 8/19/11. Office loc.: NY County. LLC org. in DE 6/9/11. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to 529 5th Ave., 8th Fl., NY, NY 10017. DE off. addr.: CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purp.: any lawful activities.

Vil: 03/29 - 05/03/2012 NOTICE OF QUAL. OF FLATIRON PARTNERS, LLC, Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 7/7/11. Office loc.: NY County. LLC org. in DE 7/6/11.

SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to Att: Brett Crawford, 15 E. 26th St., Apt. 11C, NY, NY 10010.

DE off. addr.: CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purp.: any lawful activities.

Vil: 03/29 - 05/03/2012 TITLES OF NEW YORK, LLC, A FOREIGN LLC, filed with the SSNY on 2/10/12 using the fictitious name NATIONAL ABSTRACT AND SETTLEMENT SERVICES, LLC. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Douglas A. Lobel P.C., 28 W. 44th St., Ste. 1205, NY, NY 10036.

General Purposes.

Vil: 03/29 - 05/03/2012 APP FOR AUTH FOR TAG ACCESS PARTNERS, LLC App for Auth filed with SSNY 02/07/2012 LLC Registered in Delaware on 12/20/2011 Off. Loc.: NY Co. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY to mail copy of process to THE LLC, 350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5310, New York, NY 10118. Purpose: Any lawful act or activity.

Vil: 03/29 - 05/03/2012 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF BLACKSTONE TACTICAL OPPORTUNITIES ADVISORS L.L.C. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 2/7/12. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 345 Park Ave., NY, NY 10154. LLC formed in DE on 11/28/11. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: c/o The Corporation Trust Co., 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 03/29 - 05/03/2012

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF BLACKSTONE TACTICAL OPPORTUNITIES ASSOCIATES L.L.C. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 2/7/12. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 345 Park Ave., NY, NY 10154. LLC formed in DE on 11/30/11. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: c/o The Corporation Trust Co., 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 03/29 - 05/03/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF PARK IMPERIAL 69A OWNERS LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 2/14/12.

Office location: NY County.

Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Robert Lewin, Resnick and Newman, 580 White Plains Rd., Ste. 435, Tarrytown, NY 10591. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 03/29 - 05/03/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION, RAAD, LLC. Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 03/08/2012. Office location: New York. SSNY designated for service of process. SSNY shall mail copies of any process served against the LLC to c/o: THE LLC, 92-94 Vandam Street 3rd Floor, New York NY 10013 . Purpose: any lawful purpose or activity.

Vill:04/05 - 05/10/2012 \NOTICE OF FORMATION OF SIBERKONSTRUKT, LLC. Art. of Org. filed w/Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/23/12. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent for service of process.

SSNY shall mail process to: 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207 . Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vill:04/05 - 05/10/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF THE LAW OFFICE OF LANCE FLETCHER, PLLC. Arts of Org filed with the Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/15/12. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against PLLC to principal business address: 225 Broadway, Ste 2700, NY, NY 10007. Purpose: any lawful act.

Vill:04/05 - 05/10/2012

RGN INSTRUMENTS AND COLLECTIBLES, LLC, a domestic LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 2/29/12. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 1700 Broadway, 39th fl., NY, NY 10019. General Purposes.

Vil: 04/05 - 05/10/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF SAFETY BUILDING SECURITY SERVICES LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/16/11. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of any process against LLC to principal business address: 5 W. 37th St, #803, NY, NY 10018. Purpose: any lawful act.1827547 Vil: 04/05 - 05/10/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 58 MOTT STREET LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/22/12. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 58 Mott St., NY, NY 10013.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 04/05 - 05/10/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 120 FEE LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/20/12. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 120 Fifth Ave., NY, NY 10011.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to c/o Holland & Knight LLP, Attn: M. James Spitzer, Jr., Esq., 31 W. 52nd St., NY, NY 10019. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 04/05 - 05/10/2012 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF TRIAN PARTNERS STRATEGIC COINVESTMENT FUND-A, L.P. App. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/23/12. Off. loc.: NY County.

LP formed in Delaware (DE) on 1/12/12. SSNY designated as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 280 Park Ave., 41st Fl., NY, NY 10017. DE address of LP: Corporation Service Company, 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Name/address of each genl. ptr. available from SSNY. Cert. of LP filed with DE Secy. of State, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 04/05 - 05/10/2012

PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to law, that the NYC Dept. of Consumer Affairs will hold a Public Hearing on Wednesday, May 9th, 2012, at 2:00 p.m. at 66 John Street, 11th floor, on a petition from Lupe’s East L.A. Kitchen, Inc. to continue to, maintain, and operate an unenclosed sidewalk café at 110 Sixth Avenue in the Borough of Manhattan, for a term of two years. Request for copies of the proposed revocable consent agreement may be addressed to: Dept. of Consumer Affairs, Attention: Foil Officer, 42 Broadway, New York, NY 10004.

Vil 04/26–05/03/2012

April 26 - May 2, 2012

33

PUBL IC NOTICE S NOTICE OF FORMATION OF KFIT SOLUTIONS LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/28/12. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Daniel Krasner, 135 W. 122nd St., #3, NY, NY 10027. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 04/05 - 05/10/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF CLOUD CONNECT, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 3/16/11. Off. loc.: NY County.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: Chamberlain & Steward Associates, Ltd., 400 Park Ave., NY, NY 10022, Attn: Norman Volk, President. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 04/05 - 05/10/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF CLOUD CONNECT II, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/17/12. Off. loc.: NY County.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: Chamberlain & Steward Associates, Ltd., 400 Park Ave., NY, NY 10022, Attn: Norman Volk, President. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 04/05 - 05/10/2012 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF ACCELERATOR FUND GP, LLC. App. for Auth. filed Secy. of State of NY (SSNY): 1/10/12.

Off. loc.: NY County. LLC formed in DE: 1/6/12. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 1370 Ave. of the Americas, 28th Fl., NY, NY 10019. DE address of LLC: Stellar Corporate Services LLC, 3500 S. DuPont Hwy., Dover, DE 19901. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 04/05 - 05/10/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF JMD INDUSTRIES LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 1/13/12. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Jennifer Despirito, 15 Pinewood Shores, Sherman, CT 06784. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 04/05 - 05/10/2012

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 114 SEAMAN AVENUE LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 1/27/12.

Office location: NY County.

Sec. of State designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to the principal business addr.: 114 Seaman Ave., NY, NY 11034. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 04/05 - 05/10/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF MERMELSTEIN ALPHA, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/23/12. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, c/o Uri Mermelstein, 160 W. 66th St., Ste. 36J, NY, NY 10023. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vill:04/12 - 05/17/2012 BEVILACQUA HELFANT VENTURES, LLC, a domestic LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 3/12/12. Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Alan L. Sklover, Sklover & Donath, LLC, 10 Rockefeller Plaza, NY, NY 10020. General Purposes.

Vill:04/12 - 05/17/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF DAN BONGO HOLDINGS, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 3/5/12. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 200 Varick St., Ste 502, NY, NY 10014. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Vill:04/12 - 05/17/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF PHILANTHROPY ADVISORY GROUP NY, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/02/12. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 645 West End Ave., Unit 4C, NY, NY 10025. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vill:04/12 - 05/17/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF CORDELAY 143, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 3/20/12. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 3 Hook Harbor Road, Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716, Attn: Daniel Coates. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vill:04/12 - 05/17/2012

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF JTF MULTIOPPORTUNITY FUND II, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/28/12. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 03/19/12. Princ. office of LLC: 14 Wall St., NY, NY 10005. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o John Thomas Financial, Inc., 14 Wall St., 23rd Fl., NY, NY 10005. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of DE, Div. of Corps., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vill:04/12 - 05/17/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF TLM MADISON LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/26/12. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: c/o Morrison Cohen LLP, 909 Third Ave., 27th Fl., NY, NY 10022. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Morrison Cohen LLP, 909 Third Ave., NY, NY 10022. The regd. agent of the company upon whom and at which process against the company can be served is Evan I. Maron, c/o Morrison Cohen LLP, 909 Third Ave., NY, NY 10022. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vill:04/12 - 05/17/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF FIREHOUSE 59 LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 3/15/12. Off. loc.: NY County.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Rockaway Waterfront Alliance, Inc., 720 Greenwich St., #3F, NY, NY 10014. Purpose: any and all lawful act or activity under New York State statutes.

Vill:04/12 - 05/17/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF EAGLE HARVEST, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 2/23/12.

Office location: NY County.

Sec. of State designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to the principal business addr.: 200 E. 65th St., Apt. 35-E, NY, NY 10065. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vill:04/12 - 05/17/2012

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF L&L 380 MADISON DEVELOPER LLC. App. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 3/13/12. Off. loc.: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 2/28/12. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o L&L Holding Company, LLC, 142 W. 57th St., NY, NY 10019, Attn: Robert Lapidus. DE address of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Company, 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vill:04/12 - 05/17/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF SOYBEAN PARKING LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of N.Y. (SSNY) on 3/12/12. Office location: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Little Man Parking, LLC, 307 Seventh Avenue, Suite 407, NY, NY 10001. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vill:04/12 - 05/17/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF SKYBEAM REALTY LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of N.Y. (SSNY) on 3/28/2012. Office location: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Warshaw Burstein Cohen Schlesinger & Kuh, LLP, Attn: Hugh M. Heller, Esq., 555 Fifth Avenue, 11th Fl., NY, NY 10017. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vill:04/12 - 05/17/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF YT CAPITAL, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 1/23/12.

Office location: NY County.

Princ. bus. addr.: 39 Deer Park Rd., Great Neck, NY 11024.

Sec. of State designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: 6309 Kennedy Blvd., North Bergen, NJ 07047. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vill:04/12 - 05/17/2012 NAME OF LLC: VENCER LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State: 1/24/12. Office loc.: NY Co. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o Business Filings Inc., 187 Wolf Rd., Ste. 101, Albany, NY 12205, regd. agt. upon whom process may be served. Purpose: any lawful act.

Vill:04/12 - 05/17/2012

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF R&B REALTY GROUP – NEW YORK OPERATIONS, LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 03/27/2012. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. The address to which SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC is to: R&B Realty Group – New York Operations, LLC, 10 East 40th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity.

Vill:04/12 - 05/17/2012 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that an on-premise license, #TBA has been applied for

by The Fuzzy Wuzzy LLC d/b/a Cafe Dancer to sell beer, wine and liquor at retail in an on premises establishment.

For on premises consumption under the ABC law at 96 Orchard Street New York NY 10002.

Vil: 04/19 - 04/26/2012 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that an on-premise license, #TBA has been applied for

by Rustic LES Inc. d/b/a Rustic LES to sell beer and wine at retail in an on premises establishment. For on premises consumption under the ABC law at 124 Ridge Street New York NY 10002.

Vil: 04/19 - 04/26/2012 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that an on premises license, #1262225 has been applied for by Mukeunji II Inc. to sell beer, wine and liquor at retail in an on premises establishment. For on premises consumption under the ABC law at 34 36 32nd Street New York NY 10001.

Vil: 04/19 - 04/26/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF GILBERT ALBERT LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 08/10/2011. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. The address to which SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC is to: US Corporation Agents, Inc. 7014, 13th Ave, Suite 202, Brklyn, NY, NY 11228. Principal business address: Fl 20, 45 Rockefeller Plaza, NY 10111.

Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity.

Vil: 04/19 - 05/24/2012

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF BOWERY GP, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/05/12. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/12/12. Princ. office of LLC: 1325 Ave. of the Americas, Ste. 2807, NY, NY 10019. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Attn: Vladimir Jelisavcic at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, New Castle Cty., DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with The Secy. of State of DE, Dept. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 04/19 - 05/24/2012 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF MINDRIDE LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/28/12. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/02/11.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. The DE addr. of LLC, and the regd. agent of the company upon whom and at which process against the company can be served is CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Arts. of Org. filed with State of DE Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., PO Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 04/19 - 05/24/2012 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF ACS ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/23/12. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 06/17/87. NYS fictitious name: ACS ENTERPRISE SERVICES, LLC. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Arts. of Org. filed with Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 04/19 - 05/24/2012 BENT WALDE-JENSEN LLC Art. Of Org. Filed Sec. Of State of NY 03/09/2012. Off Loc.:New York Co. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY to mail copy of process to THE LLC C/O Caroline Walde-Jensen, 229 Front Street, PHN, New York, NY 10038. Purpose: Any lawful act or activity.

Vil: 04/19 - 05/24/2012

HML CAPITAL PARTNERS LLC, A DOMESTIC LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 02/14/2012. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: 1120 Ave of the Americas 4th Fl, NY, NY 10036. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

Vil: 04/19 - 05/24/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF MF DOWNING STREET 26 LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of N.Y. (SSNY) on 9/28/11. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o RFR Holding, LLC, 390 Park Ave., 3rd Fl., NY, NY 10022. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 04/19 - 05/24/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF ALTA WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 3/30/12. Off. loc.: NY County.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: c/o United Corporate Services, Inc., 10 Bank St., Ste. 560, White Plains, NY 10606.

Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vill:04/19 - 05/24/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF BISCUITS & BATH MIDTOWN EAST, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 3/28/12. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Biscuits & Bath Companies, LLC, 41 W. 13th St., NY, NY 10011, Attn: CEO. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vill:04/19 - 05/24/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF BYEE REALTY LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 3/28/12. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Chester Yee, 115 E. 9th St., Apt. 8F, NY, NY 10003. Purpose: to engage in any lawful act or activity.

Vill:04/19 - 05/24/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF SPR BROADWAY PROPERTIES, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 3/26/12. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Brandwine Management Services, 880 Third Ave., 3rd Fl., NY, NY 10022. Purpose: any lawful purpose.

Vill:04/19 - 05/24/2012

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF DGSM MANAGEMENT, LLC. App. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 3/30/12. Off. loc.: NY Cty. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 3/28/12. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Gary D. Friedman, Esq., Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman LLP, 7 Times Square, NY, NY 10036.

DE address of LLC: United Corporate Services, Inc., 874 Walker Road, Ste. C, Dover, DE 19904. Arts. of Org. filed with DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vill:04/19 - 05/24/2012 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF VALENCE LIFE SCIENCES GP II, LLC. App. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 3/22/12. Off. loc.: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 2/29/12. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Eric W. Roberts, 500 Park Ave., 9th Fl., NY, NY 10022. DE address of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Arts. of Org. filed with DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.

Vill:04/19 - 05/24/2012 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF CARLYLE GMS FINANCE ADMINISTRATION L.L.C. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 3/27/12. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 1001 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Ste. 220 South, Washington, DC 20004. LLC formed in DE on 2/6/12. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, Loockerman & Federal Sts., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vill:04/19 - 05/24/2012

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to law, that the NYC Dept. of Consumer Affairs will hold a Public Hearing on Wednesday, May 9th, 2012, at 2:00 p.m. at 66 John Street, 11th floor, on a petition from Legendary Night Spots Inc. to continue to, maintain, and operate an unenclosed sidewalk café at 61 Christopher Street in the Borough of Manhattan, for a term of two years. Request for copies of the proposed revocable consent agreement may be addressed to: Dept. of Consumer Affairs, Attention: Foil Officer, 42 Broadway, New York, NY 10004.

Vil 04/26–05/03/2012

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to law, that the NYC Dept. of Consumer Affairs will hold a Public Hearing on Wednesday May 9th , 2012, at 2:00 p.m. at 66 John Street, 11th floor, on a petition from MSD Enterprises, Inc. to continue, to maintain and operate an unenclosed sidewalk café at 118 Second Avenue in the Borough of Manhattan, for a term of two years. Request for copies of the proposed revocable consent agreement may be addressed to: Dept. of Consumer Affairs, Attention: Foil Officer, 42 Broadway, New York, NY 10004.

Vil 04/19–04/26/2012

April 26 - May 2, 2012

34

CLASSIFIEDS

www.thevillager.com

sea Chelnow

downtown

www.chelseanow.com

®

express www.downtownexpress.com

DEADLINE WEDNESDAY 5:00 PM MAIL 515 CANAL STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10013 TEL 646-452-2485 FAX 212-229-2790 VACATION RENTAL French Riviera, Charming Townhouse. Location: le Bar sur Loup (10 Kms Grasse, 25 Kms Nice), France.

Breathtaking views, 2 BM, 2 Baths, LR, DR, EIK. $1250/wk. Turn key furnished.

Photos at www.vrbo.com/268911.

(941) 363-0925 Nr Montpellier France 2BR apt on river in medieval village 700/wk July Aug 600/wk June Sept photos FlipKey fk#347337 For details call 917/535-7486

I AM LOOKING TO BUY

FINANCIAL

DENTIST

WRITING HELP

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

Brooklyn condo wanted 2 bedroom/2 bath, high ceiling, Downtown Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo, Park Slope.

EMPLOYMENT

ECOM Atlantic, Inc. Position in New York, NY. Submit resume to Diana Campbell c/o ECOM Atlantic, Inc., 13760 Noel Rd., Suite 500, Dallas, TX 75240. In your submission, please reference the applicable job code. International Logistics Specialist - Perform operations analysis of all logistics regarding sale and purchase contracts relating to variables such as deliveries, trucking, warehousing, sampling approvals/rejections, weighing, payables and receivables (Job Code 1730.1); requires Bachelor’s in Business Administration and 5 yrs progressive exp. For full job descriptions, job openings, and job locations go to http:// www.ecomtrading.com/en/about-ecom/ global-office.html. EOE.

PETS Pet Nanny. Reasonable, responsibleloves animals. 646-692-9586

HOME IMPROVEMENT Wall Women Painting & Plastering Over 25 yrs experience. Located in Chelsea area. Excellent References.

Free estimate Call 212-675-0631

COMPUTER SERVICES PERSONAL COMPUTER SERVICES Reliable!

Repairs, upgrades, installations, troubleshooting, instruction, custom-built PCs and consulting.

Older PCs serviced. 212-242-7221

REAL ESTATE Awesome 9 unit motel with acreage.

Produces 6 figure income Nr Hudson, Catamont & Capake Lake.Ideal for Entrepreneur to escape NYC. Call Pruett Enterprises 518-477-8339 or 518-428-0334

Email details/photos to mykonos55@yahoo.com PROFESSIONAL OFFICE FOR SALE CHELSEA – FSBO – Prof. Medical/Dental Condo. $1.5M, 1600sf, ideal small group practice also Pod/Chirop.

NO BROKERS. Email: Robert.0923@hotmail.com

PUBL IC NOTICE S NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF CARLYLE GMS INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT L.L.C. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 3/27/12. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 1001 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Ste. 220 South, Washington, DC 20004. LLC formed in DE on 2/8/12. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served.

DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801.

Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, Loockerman & Federal Sts., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vill:04/19 - 05/24/2012 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that an on premises license, #TBA has been applied for by Gokarina Inc. d/b/a Plan B to sell beer, wine and liquor at retail in an on premises establishment. For on premises consumption under the ABC law at 244 Mulberry Street New York NY 10012.

Vil: 04/26 - 05/03/2012 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a license, #TBA has been applied for by Soseb LLC d/b/a Cocotte to sell beer and wine at retail in an on premises establishment. For on premises consumption under the ABC law at 110 Thompson Street New York NY 10012.

Vil: 04/26 - 05/03/2012

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that license #1262073 has been applied for by the undersigned to sell alcoholic beverages at retail in a restaurant under the alcoholic beverage control law at 254 10th Ave., New York, NY 10001 for on-premises consumption. Pinyin Kitchen, Inc. d/b/a Chop Shop Vil: 04/26 - 05/03/2012 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a license, serial number 1262420 for Restaurant Wine has been applied for by 171 JAW INC, (DBA: Jebon Noodle and Slider) to sell beer and wine at retail in a restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 171 3rd Ave., New York, NY 10003 for on premises consumption.

Vil: 04/26 - 05/03/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 16 WEST 12 HOLDINGS, LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 1/26/12. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to Att: Robert L. Lawrence, Esq., c/o Kane Kessler, 1350 Ave of the Americas, 26th Fl., NY, NY 10019.

Purpose: any lawful activities.

Vil: 04/26 - 05/31/2012

Write Right!

Essays, Master’s thesis, doctoral dissertations, manuscripts of any and all sorts, in private sessions with editor, widely published fiction writer, newspaper feature writer, and college English teacher for twenty years with Ph.D. 646-234-3224 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LAW OFFICES OF MARVIN B. MITZNER, LLC.

CAROLINE WALDE-JENS-

Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/21/11. Office loc: NY Cty. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail process to: 505 E. 79TH ST, NY, NY 10075. Principal business addr: 405 LEXINGTON AVE, 26TH FL, NY, NY 10174. Purpose: any lawful acts.

Vil: 04/26 - 05/31/2012

Of Org. Filed Sec. Of State of

EN NY LLC ART

NY 04/04/2012. Off Loc.:New York Co. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY to mail copy of process to THE LLC C/O Caroline Walde-Jensen, 229 Front Street, PHN, New York, NY 10038. Purpose: Any lawful act

H & L CUSTOM TAILORS, LLC a domestic LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 2/2/12.

Office location: New York County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Hareram Sadwani, 14 E. 60th St., Ste. 610, NY, NY 10022. General Purposes.

Vil: 04/26 - 05/31/2012 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF YOUNG-AH KIM LLC. Art. of Org. filed w/Secy. of State of New York (SSNY) on 04/10/2012. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent for service of process.

SSNY shall mail process to: 75 West St. #15N, NY, NY 10006.

Purpose: Any Lawful Activity.

Vil: 04/26 - 05/31/2012

or activity.

Vil: 04/26 - 05/31/2012

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF OTW HOLDINGS LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 4/11/12. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Gary S. Friedman, Esq., Kaufman Friedman Plotnicki & Grun, LLP, 300 East 42nd St., 8th Fl, NY, NY 10017, also the registered agent. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Vil: 04/26 - 05/31/2012

Soho manufacturing space Ground Floor aprox 1,550 sqft $120k per Anum. Call 212-226-3100

PERSONAL ASSISTANT Second Pair of Hands.

Anything you don’t have time to do I can do as well as you. 646-692-9586 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF HERMELIN FUNDING, LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 06/14/11.

Office location: NY County.

SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. The address to which SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC is to: The LLC, 188 East 64th St. PH1, New York, NY 10065. Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity.

Vil: 04/26 - 05/31/2012 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF SEASTONE ADVISORS, L.L.C. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/06/12.

Office location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 03/27/12. Princ. office of LLC: 650 Madison Ave., 23rd Fl., NY, NY 10022. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808.

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State, DE Dept. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., P.O. Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 04/26 - 05/31/2012

NAME OF FOR. LLC: BLACK WALNUT CAPITAL LLC. App. for Auth. filed NY Dept. of State: 1/26/2012. Jurisd. and date of org.: DE 1/11/12. Cty off. loc.: New York Cty. Sec. of State designated as agent of foreign LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

The Sec. of State shall mail copy of process to: 1221 Ave. of the Americas, 20th Fl., Ste. 2057, NY, NY 10020. Addr. of foreign LLC in DE is: The Corporation Trust Company, 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Auth. officer in DE where Cert. of Form. filed: DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity Vil: 04/26 - 05/31/2012 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF SECONDMARKET MANAGEMENT, LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 2/22/12. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 2/13/12. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: SecondMarket Management, LLC, 26 Broadway, 12th Fl., NY, NY 10004, principal business address. DE address of LLC: c/o The Corporation Trust Co., 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801.

Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vill:04/26 - 05/31/2012

April 26 - May 2, 2012

35

Photos by Lincoln Anderson

Canal St. collision sends cab swerving out of control

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON In a frightening incident that could have easily resulted in tragedy, a cab driver lost control of his vehicle at Canal and Greenwich Sts. around 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The S.U.V.-style cab was making a left from Canal onto Greenwich when it was struck in the right wheel by a blue BMW eastbound on Canal. The impact somehow caused the cabbie to lose control of the taxi, and he went swerving at high speed down Greenwich St., smashing into a concrete planter with a huge boom — the impact pushing the heavy planter about 10 feet, stranding in the middle of the sidewalk (photo below) — then colliding with several more cars or objects, again with thunderous bangs.

The taxi plowed into the rear of a black S.U.V. parked on Watts St. behind the new

Zinc Building — sending the black car lurching forward about 20 feet — the taxi finally coming to rest on the curb by a new tree.

Asked what happened, as he sat waiting in his driver’s seat with the air bag partially inflated, the hack — who seemed reluctant to speak, apparently not very fluent in English — indicated with a shrug down toward where his foot was that the hit on his car somehow disabled his breaks or jammed his gas pedal. He seemed O.K., but appeared to have a sore leg.

Similarly, his fare, sitting nearby on a building ledge (above right), had one pant leg rolled up and was rubbing his shin, but seemed all right. E.M.S. arrived within about 10 to 15 minutes.

Witness Richard Harris said, “She hit his wheel — maybe the wheel twisted. Thank

God no one was crossing the street.” Another witness said the cab’s axle looked a bit bent.

The Beemer was relatively unscathed.

“I think the bumper is kind of grinding against the tire — but I think it’s O.K.,” said Vivian Hung, the car’s driver. She said she

had been driving with a child — a friend’s young son — in the car, taking him back to Chinatown. They were both uninjured. She said she had had the light. Asked what her job was, she said, with some irony, “I work for a — transportation company!”

36

April 26 - May 2, 2012