9/11 tiles going gallery, p. 14
Volume 82, Number 12 $1.00
West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Hudson Square, Little Italy, Chinatown and Lower East Side, Since 1933
August 23 - 29, 2012
W.S.V. residents sue N.Y.U. to save garden, playground BY LINCOLN ANDERSON Arguing that the threatened Sasaki Garden and the Key Park playground are “required” parts of their residential experience in Washington Square Village, the complex’s rent-stabilized tenants have filed a lawsuit to block New York University’s development plans on their superblock. The suit was filed in State Supreme Court last Friday. The plaintiffs are
WSV Green Neighbors, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, along with four residents of the complex, Bertha Chase, Judy Kelly Magida, Timothy Healy and Anna Lervold. They have retained attorney Lawrence B. Goldberg, who also lives in the complex. Goldberg is a former member of Community Board 2 and is
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Hoylman offers more It’s a bird, it’s a plane… it’s Super Tic and Tac! specifics, takes more flak at Senate debate Photo by Bob Krasner
Acrobats Tic and Tac wowed the crowd in Washington Square Park over the weekend with their high-flying stunts. In between doing their incredible feats, the twins keep the energy going with comedic patter.
Unified Village, Asian-Latino districts hot topics at hearing BY LINCOLN ANDERSON Advocates turned out to testify about the shape of City Council districts covering Greenwich Village, Chinatown and the Lower East Side at the New York City Districting Commission’s first public hearing last Thursday. Greenwich Village political activists called for “unifying the Village district,” which is now shared by three Council districts — Districts 1, 2 and 3. Meanwhile, an ongoing, 20-year debate continued to flare over whether to merge Chinatown and the Lower East Side to create a “minority district,” or to keep the current district
lines basically intact. The hearing was held at New York Law School, 185 West Broadway, in front of the 15 appointed members of the Districting Commission. The commission is starting the process, which happens every 10 years, to ensure that the city’s 51 Council districts contain equal numbers of voters — around 160,000 each — and that “protected minorities” are given the chance to elect candidates of their choice. Among those speaking in favor of a unified Village district was former City Councilmember Carol Greitzer, who represented the Village, Chelsea and part of Midtown from 1969 to ’91.
She was joined by Frieda Bradlow, a longtime political activist and a member of Village Independent Democrats club, who said she felt redistricting had been used to punish the Village for its organized resistance in the 1950s and ’60s to despised urban renewal projects. Noting she had lived in the CharltonKing-Vandam Historic District since 1958, Bradlow said, “What I can tell you is that in those days the Village was described as going from Canal St. to 14th St. from the Hudson River to the Bowery — that makes a logical district. “A decision was made that we were
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE There were moments at the Aug. 20 debate among the three candidates for the state Senate seat currently held by Tom Duane when it looked like a debate might break out. “I don’t fill shoes,” said Tom Greco, the straight owner of the Ritz Bar and Lounge, a popular Hell’s Kitchen gay bar. “I wear my own.” Moments before, Brad Hoylman, the presumptive front-runner in the race, told a crowd of roughly 100 that
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had gathered at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, on W. 13th St., that “A lot of people tell me that Tom Duane is a hard act to follow.” For the past 14 years, Duane, who is openly gay, has represented the district that runs from W. 72nd St. to the West Village and from river to river in its Lower Manhattan portion. He is a legendary liberal Democrat.
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EDITORIAL, LETTERS PAGE 12
OFF-THE-WALL ART PAGE 17