NYU’s Daily Student Newspaper
washington square news Vol. 39, No. 44
Village looks to add street seating to local cafes By Hanqing Chen
On Eighth Street, just a short walk west of campus, a block of storefronts sees just a thin trickle of customers each day. In an effort to bolster business in the once-buzzing commercial hub between Fifth and Sixth avenues, the Greenwich Village Business Alliance proposed adding a string of sidewalk seating to preexisting businesses in the area. If the proposal is accepted by the community board, retailers could set up a single row of tables with two chairs each. William Kelley, director of the alliance, said the area was hit hard by both the economic recession and competing local businesses. “The economy has been slow for area retailers since the economic recession first hit in 2008,” he said. “Our retailers, in particular, face stiff competition from the SoHo, Meatpacking and
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TueSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011
Students and faculty square off in OWS debate By Kristine Itliong The controversy over the Occupy Wall Street movement came to the Silver Center’s Jurow Hall last night in the form of a debate hosted by the College of Arts and Science Student Council. The debate included Gallatin professor George Shulman, CAS politics professor Anna Harvey, CAS social and cultural analysis professor Cristina Beltrán and College Republicans president and Stern senior Andrea Catsimatidis. CAS senator and junior John Boyd moderated the event along with CAS senior and Student Council member Susan Kuruvilla. The panelists discussed several aspects of the OWS movement, including its merit and progress in politics, media and history. “There’s policy only if there’s pressure,” Shulman said, opening the debate. “There’s pressure only if there’s power. There’s power only if there’s association. There’s association only if there’s action.” The debate initially focused on the criticisms OWS has received over its ability to translate its
BAD Burger brings comfort food to the East Village By Erin Kim Whether your pick is mashed potatoes, pancakes or macaroni and cheese, the newly opened BAD Burger can satisfy your comfort food cravings 24 hours a day. Beginning in Williamsburg about a year ago, BAD (Breakfast All Day) Burger recently opened its new location in the East Village at 171 Ave. A (between 10th and 11th streets). With smooth and shiny table tops, black-and-white checkered floors, red accents and dimmed lights, BAD Burger has a modern ambience that tells you this place is more upscale than your typical diner. But that’s not all that sets this restaurant apart. “We specialize in catering to vegans and vegetarians,” opera-
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tions manager Alan Wilk said. BAD Burger aims to make typical American dishes — like sloppy joes, macaroni and cheese and nachos — vegetarian- and vegan-friendly. BAD allows vegetarians, vegans and their meateating counterparts to sit at the same table and order from the exact same menu happily and harmoniously. From salads and hot dogs to burgers and shakes of all flavors (apricot ginger, blueberry white chocolate chunk and mango basil to name a few), BAD offers myriad eating options to satisfy any kind of eater. Whether you decide on the Godfather or Police Escort Burger, trusty mac and cheese or a chimichanga, each dish will surely bring a smile to
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NYU professors and students discussed the evolution of OWS in the Silver Center last night. demands into policy and the limits of conventional politics and representative democracy make this process difficult. Harvey agreed with the criti-
cisms and said OWS protesters needed to focus their attention on making substantial change. However, Shulman and Beltrán said the media does not
portray all of the movement’s goals and accomplishments. “The 1 percent and the 99 per-
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Trey Songz here to stay with new album By Charles Mahoney
In early 2009, pop singer Chris Brown was arrested for domestic abuse after an altercation with his then-girlfriend Rihanna. The event was horrific but also left a significant gap in the heart of pop music. If Chris Brown wasn’t going to make pop R&B hits like “Forever” and “Kiss Kiss,” who would? But within a month of Brown’s arrest, another highpitched, boyish singer named Jeremih went to No. 4 with “Birthday Sex.” A few months later, Jason Derülo and Taio Cruz took the top of the charts with “Whatcha Say” and “Break Your Heart,” respectively. Trey Songz’s “Bottoms Up” went to No. 6. Brown’s absence had created a vacuum, and every R&B singer with a falsetto voice was
running to fill it. But now Brown is back, and he’s playing hardball. Jeremih’s last album “All About You” bricked, pushing out only 18,000 copies in its first week. Derülo’s “Future History” sold 13,000. Taio Cruz’s last two singles have gone nowhere, the latest only charting at No. 48 in Belgium. These are careerkilling numbers, and the future looks even bleaker. All of this makes Trey Songz’s newest EP, “Inevitable,” a pretty big deal. It could secure his place as the one survivor of the post-Brown bubble — or it could scare away any record company with a taste for money. This shouldn’t happen, though. While “Inevitable” is little more then a statement of purpose, it exudes promise. More serious, more focused
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and more experimental than his competitors, Songz may just make it out of here alive. He can thank his friendship with Drake. It’s easy to forget in the babbled nonsense of “Bottoms Up,” but some of the tracks for Drake’s “So Far Gone” mixtape were actually written for Songz. Appropriately, the
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