Dear Editors: In writing about and photographing the gardens at the Church of St. Luke in the Fields and Jane Street, Justin Matthews touches on two gardens where I have worked as a volunteer with great joy and love for over 40 years. (See his article “Parks and Gardens of the West Village” in the
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The Jane Jacobs School?
Dear Mr. Capsis: It was very nice to speak with you. We are excited about the new school at 75 Morton Street, and understand from the principal, Jacqui Getz, that it may not be named The Jane Jacobs School. No reason was given. The decision was not 100% confirmed but it didn’t sound hopeful. Do
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Correction
The caption for Tom Lamia’s “Notes and Perspectives from Away” column within the June issue is incorrect. The photo is of the bridge and bridge house in South Bristol, Maine, not the Town Hall.
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Honoring Village Artists Lost to AIDS
The Last Address Tribute Walk is an annual event that honors artists who lived with HIV and/or were lost to AIDS-related complications. The walk took place on June 3rd, after Ira Sachs’ nine-minute film Last Address (2010) was screened at the IFC Center at 3:00 p.m. that day. After emotional comments by the filmmaker, the
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Mount Sinai Continuing to Axe Medical Services
On June 11, 2017 at 7:00 a.m., the Mount Sinai/Beth Israel Medical Center closed its Center for Labor and Birth (L&B), and they did not have New York State’s permission to do so. To avoid having ambulances bring women in labor to the hospital, the hospital’s administrative staff must call the Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
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Commemorating Playwright H. M. “Harry” Koutoukas on Christopher Street
On Sunday, June 4th, a ceremony was held for the dedication of a bronze plaque celebrating the life of H. M. “Harry” Koutoukas at St. John’s Lutheran Church on Christopher Street. St. John’s Pastor Mark Erson blessed the plaque, which is now affixed to a tree well between 85 and 87 Christopher Street. Harry was
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Come See Vincent Livelli: The Greenwich Village Raconteur
Join us for a special presentation by the storyteller of eras past, Vincent Livelli, on July 8th at 2:00 pm at The Jefferson Market Library, in the Willa Cather Community Room. Livelli’s unique lecture will be accompanied by a rare digital presentation provided by Henry Medina Jr., a private researcher who has interviewed and filmed
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Follow-up on Ellis Nassour’s “Villager Heaps Scorn on Verizon”
This is the author’s update to the article published in the May 2017 issue of WestView News. On May 24th, I was informed that the date we were told service would be restored (May 22nd) wasn’t met, and that service won’t be restored until late May or early June. I thank WestView News Publisher Mr.
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Missing Caffe Cino Plaque on Cornelia Street
Pó Restaurant, at 31 Cornelia Street (near Bleecker Street) for 24 years, closed suddenly, and the bronze Caffe Cino plaque that was on the outside wall of the venue has disappeared. (Read more about Pó Restaurant’s closing on page 16.) The owners have sent an email stating that they know nothing about it. Caffe Cino
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Bike Sharing Programs Highlight Need to Realign Transportation Priorities
On April 6, 2017, the New York Post reported that at least five bike sharing companies (competitors to Citi Bike) are attempting to distribute their bikes on City streets without docking stations. This had City officials up in arms and led Transportation Alternatives (a non-profit focused on improving the City’s transportation priorities) to urge the
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Update on “How I Went to Cuba on My Own”
In my February 2017 article in WestView News, I wrote that I was more on my own than I had expected when my friend Anne lost her passport in the Miami airport and could not board the flight to Cuba. Since then, she got a new passport and just returned from Havana (on her own)
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Shall We End WestView?
“Why don’t people support the paper with an ad?” “Why don’t they send us a lousy 12 bucks for a subscription?” You are reading my darker thoughts which, against Managing Editor Andreea’s “Don’t do that, George” caution, I offered in a house ad last month. In that ad, I asked the question: Shall we end
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Savvy Shopper’s Feedback
Buying coffee at McNulty’s, I was surprised to see a handwritten sign reading “Colombian coffee $90/lb.” I asked if anyone was buying it and was told, “Yes, it works out to about $3.00 per cup.” The coffee plants come to Colombia from Ethiopia. —Barbara Chacour
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Briefly Noted: Correction
We received an email from Murray’s Cheese owner Rob Kaufelt thanking us for our “Murray’s Cheese…” article in the March issue, but pointing out that, in fact, the Cheese Bar was included in the sale of Murray’s to Kroger. —Caroline Benveniste
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Briefly Noted: Facility Charge Fleeces Patients
Last week, I received a bill for $15 from Mount Sinai/Beth Israel. I called United Healthcare (UHC), my insurer, to find out what this extra charge was for. I was on the line as the UHC representative called the doctor’s office. They told her to call Beth Israel’s billing department; we were then passed on
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Briefly Noted: Court Date Set for Save Gansevoort Lawsuit
Readers of WestView News are by now aware that the neighborhood group, Save Gansevoort, has been working for more than a year to challenge a developer’s plans to drastically alter the south side of Gansevoort Street between Washington and Greenwich Streets. This is part of the Gansevoort Market Historic District designated by the Landmarks Preservation
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Salvador Dali & Andy Warhol
On February 19th at 7:00pm, the public is invited to a new book launch, Salvador Dali & Andy Warhol, by Torsten Otte, at Howl!, the art gallery/performance space at 6 East lst Street (West Villagers can walk east on Bleecker to the Bowery and dogleg across to lst Street). A panel led by the
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Foot Care at Your Doorstep
After 40 years of private practice in Greenwich Village, I have decided to focus on seeing patients in their homes. For the past 30 years, I have been providing home visits, as well as treating patients at my office. Due to an aging and ever-busy population, I see a growing need in New York City
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Rent Hike Closes Da Silvano, Let’s Save Caffe Vivaldi
On December 20th, the West Village lost another institution to the greed of area building owners. Da Silvano, one of the best Italian restaurants in the City, which sat just below 6th Avenue and Bleecker Street for 41 years, closed. Da Silvano was one of the first restaurants in New York to popularize Northern Italian
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Killer Construction Firm Says “No” to Sentence Following Death
On April 6, 2015, Carlos Moncayo, an undocumented Ecuadorian immigrant, was buried alive when a 14-foot trench collapsed at the construction site on 9th Avenue, where the restaurant Pastis once stood. His employer, Harco Construction, was found guilty of manslaughter and reckless endangerment by Manhattan Judge Kirke Bartley this past July. The Judge based his
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Waste Transfer Station Coming to West 13th St. Soon?
On December 24th, the New York Times Metro section featured an article about neighborhood outrage at an NYC Department of Sanitation Waste Transfer Station located on the water in East Williamsburg. Complaints about a never-ending rumble of trucks, smells, and rats have led to a campaign to close the Transfer Station. Hidden in the article
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Audience Stampedes at Union Square Theatre
Fear of terrorism has us all quite skittish but, on December 18th, this fear became more palpable at the Regal Union Square Cinema. During a showing of La La Land, a man started talking loudly on his cell phone. After the audience shushed him, the man said “Yeah, yeah, yeah, fucking shut up,” stood up
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Judge Extends Injunction Preventing Sale of Village Townhouse
On November 18th, Manhattan Surrogate Nora S. Anderson extended an injunction preventing the sale of 69 Horatio Street, the home of Tom Doyle and Bill Cornwell for 55 years. Doyle and Cornwell never formally married, and after Cornwell’s death in 2014, his will—which gave the house to Doyle—was found deficient because it only had one
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Villagers Take Action Amid Trump Ascendance
On Sunday, November 20th, following a call from City Council Member Corey Johnson, over 500 Village and Chelsea residents descended on The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center (The Center) on West 13th Street to express their concerns about the impending Donald Trump Presidency and to set out actions that people can take to
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Preserve the Village Historic District
Preserve the Village Historic District (PVHD) was the organization formed in 2007 by three attorneys—Phil Schaeffer, Tom Molner, and Gary Tomei—to act as the legal arm of the community group opposing the conversion of St. Vincent’s Hospital to luxury condos. The group, along with the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, marshaled members of the
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The Dead Hand of Bureaucracy
Our contributing psychotherapist, Christina Raccuia, just returned from Denmark and wrote this angry denunciation of the Danish healthcare system. This is a system, which I, and others, have praised as the standard by which all other systems should be measured. I was distressed to read about the medical neglect of her mother and concluded that
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The Passing of Patricia Doherty, RN
Patricia Doherty, RN, Director of the Department of Nursing for Community Medicine, passed away peacefully on August 24, 2016. (Community Medicine was originally part of St. Vincent’s Hospital and focused on treating the less fortunate.) Pat was diagnosed with lung cancer in April of 2016. At the time, she was living with her daughter, Kathleen,
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75 Morton School Opening Delayed for One Year
Since 2007, the West Village community has demanded and planned for a new middle school. The middle school, located at 75 Morton Street (between Hudson and Greenwich), even got a number, M.S. 297; its first class of sixth graders was set to enter the school in September of 2017. However, on October 25, 2016, the
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Close 14th Street to Cars? Absurd.
In order to repair damage to the Manhattan-Brooklyn subway tunnel, the NYC Transit Authority plans to shut down the L Train between Manhattan and Brooklyn for 18 months, beginning around January of 2019. Fifty thousand people take the L Train every day from Brooklyn to Manhattan and back. However, the Transit Authority still has not
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Lawsuit Filed to Save Gansevoort Street
On October 7th, a lawsuit was filed by Save Gansevoort, a local group of Meatpacking District residents who have fought for years to preserve the historic character of the Gansevoort Street area. The focus of the lawsuit is a decision by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to permit the construction of two tall, out-of-scale commercial-residential
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LGBT Memorial Planned for Hudson River Park
On October 21st, Governor Cuomo announced an allocation of $800,000 for an LGBT Memorial in Hudson River Park to “pay tribute to New Yorkers who have fought for equal rights”. He continued by saying that, “New York has a storied history of being [at] the forefront of the fight for equal rights and it is
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Diller Island Park Passes Final Court Hurdle
For a year, foes of the 2.7-acre island/park being built at West 16th Street, largely with money from entertainment mogul Barry Diller, have tried to block the project in court. For a brief period in August, the New York State Appellate Division issued a stay against the commencement of construction. That stay was lifted later
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Love Will Conquer Greed
WestView readers have been following the story of Tom Doyle, who lived for 55 years at 69 Horatio Street with his husband, Bill Cornwell. Bill died, at age 88, in 2014 and, unfortunately, left a will that wasn’t properly witnessed. In swooped rarely heard-from nieces and nephews, eager to grab a share of the $7
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More on Mulry Square—Tiles for America
On the afternoon of Saturday, August 27, 2011, Hurricane Irene was about to land in Manhattan. Dusty Berke, then a resident of Charles Street, began a frantic effort to rescue the nearly 3,000 “9/11” ceramic tiles hanging on the chain link fence surrounding the MTA maintenance yard in MulrySquare at the corner of Greenwich
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VID Addresses Election and Local Healthcare
The Village Independent Democrats had their monthly meeting on September 8th at St. John’s Church on Christopher Street. Club President Nadine Hoffman and District Leader Keen Berger reported on a variety of political issues. Tony Hoffman and Erik Coler gave reports on election actions related to the presidential election and local democratic primaries. Alison Greenberg
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Lolo’s Birthday
Lolo Chocon’s 21st birthday is fast approaching! Come celebrate this special occasion for Hellen’s cockatoo (pictured) on Saturday, October 15th at 3:00pm. All are welcome to enjoy local musicians and entertainers at Lolo’s birthday bash! We’ll be meeting, weather permitting, on “Bird Street” in Washington Square Park, where Rasheed’s jazz group plays. —Photo and text
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Gay Villager Fights to Inherit Home
There are still some frontiers to cross for gay and lesbian New Yorkers. WestView ran a story back in May 2016 about Tom Doyle, a 57-year resident of Horatio Street whose life partner, Bill Cornwell, had passed away in 2014 without leaving a technically-proper will. Bill’s nieces and nephews had swooped in and claimed to
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Bernard Pollock Passes
Bernard Pollock, actor/stage manager, died on September 14th 2016, aged 96 years, after a long illness. Bernie spent his life in the theatre, starting as a child actor in his hometown of Philadelphia, on The Horn & Hardart Children’s Hour radio show. When he moved to New York City, he attended the American Academy of
