Dear Mr. Benson: I am writing in response to your e-mail dated July 26, 2017 regarding handbills posted in the vicinity of the West Village, Manhattan. On August 8th and August 10th various members of the Department of Sanitation’s Enforcement Division inspected the area outlined in your complaint and sighted a total of eighteen handbills
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Reflecting on NYCHA
I recently watched a show called “History of China” and it ended with images of how China is doing today. The show included a shot of several beaming Chinese people who said that they pay no rent and that food is free. That is the ultimate form of socialism that Dr. Lenora Fulani would like
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The Alumni of Caffe Cino
Every year on April 2nd, a group of people known as the ‘Cino Alumni’ gather at the Cornelia Street Café. The original Caffe Cino—the birthplace of ‘Off-Off-Broadway’—was located at 31 Cornelia Street from 1958 to 1968 (it later became Po Restaurant, which also recently closed). The Cino Alumni gather to commemorate the passing of founder
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Arthur Z. Schwartz Re-Elected as District Leader
With petitioning completed on July 13th, only one candidate filed for Male Democratic District Leader for Greenwich Village: Arthur Z. Schwartz, longtime WestView contributor, civil rights lawyer, and anti-establishment Democratic Party activist. Schwartz was first elected in 1995, and also served on the New York State Democratic Committee from 2006 to 2013. — WestView News
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Remembering Kevin Charles Berger
Kevin Charles Berger, of Needham, Massachusetts, passed away on July 8, 2017. He was a resident of the West Village for over 35 years. His love for the neighborhood and the City could be witnessed in the enthusiasm he showed when guiding visiting friends and family through the City streets. Kevin had a passion for
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Bernal-Gonzalez Landlord Backs Off Threat to Evict
Humberto Bernal-Gonzalez, who has lived in his 88 Horatio Street apartment since 1959, was threatened with eviction by his landlord back in April. District Leader Arthur Z. Schwartz jumped in to defend him and showed the landlord that the allegations against the 87-year-old tenant were baseless. As of July 1, 2017, the landlord confirmed that
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Ruth Berk Turns 94!
On August 20th, Ruth Berk, who has lived at 95 Christopher Street since 1959, will turn 94. Ruth was recently released from a stay at Riverside Nursing Home, where she recovered from a fall. Her daughter, Jessica, is planning a party for the occasion at a local restaurant. With the help of District Leader Arthur
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Reflecting on Gardens and Housing
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
