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The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933
January 25, 2018 • $1.00 Volume 88 • Number 4
City empties embattled Bowery building, saying it was ready to collapse BY LESLEY SUSSMAN
T
he fate of nearly 100 Chinatown tenants who were forced by the city, in frigid temperatures, to vacate 83-85 Bowery on Jan. 18 was one of the main concerns expressed by public speakers and Community Board 3 members at the full board’s first meeting
of 2018 this past Tuesday. The sudden evacuation came in response to a vacate order issued by the Department of Buildings after a judge-ordered inspection of the building, located between Hester and Canal Sts., found unstable stairways in the place BOWERY continued on p. 10
Brewer talks on charter revision, saving stores, congestion pricing, more BY PAUL SCHINDLER
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n 1989, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that New York City’s powerful Board of Estimate, which gave each borough equal say despite enormous population disparities, violated the Constitution’s one-person-one-vote principle, voters approved the
most sweeping charter revision since the city became unified in 1898. Now, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer — joined by Public Advocate Letitia James — is calling on the City Council to convene a new charter revision commission to BREWER continued on p. 15
PHOTO BY Q. SAKAMAKI
At the Women’s March, many erupted in anger as they passed the Trump International Hotel and Tower. “Our rights are not up for grabs,” the woman’s sign read.
PINK POWER 200K march against Trump BY EILEEN STUK ANE
T
he pink “pussyhats” showed up on thousands of heads again as the second Women’s March on New York City brought an estimated 200,000 people out to protest against Donald Trump. They stretched along Central Park West up to W. 75th St., then marched across Central Park South and down Sixth Ave. to 43rd St. “I love the fact that I can-
She nourished Loisaida ......... p. 16
not see the end of this,” said Whoopi Goldberg, speaking from the platform stage at W. 61st St. Last year’s Women’s March, originally planned for Washington, D.C., inspired sameday Women’s Marches across the globe, an organic uprising of millions who were stunned by the 2016 election that made Trump America’s president. Worldwide this year, 280 Women’s Marches filled the streets simultaneously.
The mood of that first march was reactionary — an outlet was needed to oppose the misogyny that threatened women’s reproductive rights, and equal rights in general. Resistance was needed to protect freedom of the press, an expected assault on the environment and a feared crackdown on minority populations and immigrants. This time was different. Reaction has become action, MARCH continued on p. 6
‘Bodega bandits’ strike twice in Village .............p. 3 City Winery on a mission to Puerto Rico.......... ..p. 9 www.TheVillager.com