The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933
April 27, 2017 • $1.00 Volume 87 • Number 17
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Debate over ‘data’ as rent board is chilly toward repeat freeze BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
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here might not be a rent rollback — much less another rent freeze — coming up later this year for tenants living in New York City’s more than 1 million rent-regulated apartments. Tuesday evening, at The Cooper Union’s Great Hall on E. Seventh St., despite the pres-
ence of 150 tenants — both individuals and members of tenant coalitions — from around the city chanting, “Roll-back!” the Rent Guidelines Board, in its preliminary vote, approved increases of 1 percent to 3 percent for one-year lease renewals and 2 percent to 4 percent for two-year leases renewals RENT continued on p. 8
Lynne Stewart lionized as ‘people’s attorney’ at Midtown memorial BY MARY REINHOLZ
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memorial celebrating the life of far-left icon Lynne Stewart drew about 300 people — some of them prominent radicals — to St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Midtown last Saturday afternoon. They heaped praise on the disbarred Downtown
“people’s lawyer,” who had done serious jail time for aiding terrorism. They eulogized her as a zealous advocate who fought ferociously for justice on behalf of the poor and unpopular — and had taken a bum rap along the way. “What was she there [in
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
Students from LREI (Little Red School House) dug the Ear th Day spirit during a visit last Friday to LaGuardia Corner Gardens. They enjoyed checking out a piece of real honeycomb from the Bleecker St. garden’s beehive, above. Because their parents had not signed releases, the kids’ faces couldn’t be photographed — but one can imagine their expressions of intent curiosity.
Seeds of discord? Garden sprouts a sue-ready group
STEWART continued on p. 10
BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
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aying the Friends of Elizabeth Steet Garden “weren’t being aggressive enough” in their efforts to save the threatened Little Italy / Soho green oasis, gallery owner Allan Reiver and three others, including his son, Joseph, recently formed their own nonprofit group and have taken control of the space. The new group, Elizabeth
Street Garden, Inc., plans to sue the city to stop an affordable housing project slated for most of the half-acre garden site. Its board members say the Friends were unwilling to join their lawsuit. In an interview with The Villager this week, Allan Reiver said they are looking at numerous legal angles. “We’re pursuing litigation,” he said. “I’ve retained counsel; they’re doing their research,
speaking to all the local businesses that will be affected if the garden is destroyed. Many of the business owners said they would not have moved here if the garden was not here. “Prior to the garden, the block was primarily industrial. There was a large-scale bakery, La Rosa, on the block. Frankie DeCarlo, owner of Peasant — one of the top restaurants in GARDEN continued on p. 6
Anti-fascists to picket St. Mark’s event..............p. 2 Verrazano two-way toll coming down pike?.......p. 4 Mano a mano: Fox vs. ‘Novo’.. p. 13
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