By Brian J. Pape, AIA, Architecture Editor The loss of the original NYC Penn Station caused citizens here to focus on the importance of our monumental buildings and special historic homes being lost. But the movement to preserve special places grew. Economic and population pressures continued to threaten our historic fabric, from Plymouth Rock to
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The Legendary Caffe Cino Designated a NYC Landmark
By Robert Heide In 2015 the Stonewall Inn was granted landmark status by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. On June 18th of this year, six historic sites important to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people movement were also designated historic landmarks. They are the LGBT Community Center on 13th Street, the former
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WestView Instagrams the Issues of the Day
By Karen Rempel Last month we reported that WestView News has begun a video interview series in which George Capsis speaks with prominent cognoscenti about newsworthy subjects. We discovered that George is a natural TV maven, delivering compelling stories and coaxing his subjects to tell all. This month, WestView is pleased to announce we continue
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Tenant Protection and Drastic Rent Drop Came Too Late for Cornelia Street Café
By Karen Rempel The New York State Senate Bill S6458, the “Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019,” came a few months too late to save the Cornelia Street Café. But at least the Café’s former landlord and its managing agent, the terrible duo Mark Scharfman and Mitchell Rothken, are hoist on their own
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A Celebration of Pride: WorldPride NYC 2019 in the Village
By Karen Rempel Marchers and spectators from around the world brought a rainbow of color and sparkle to New York City on June 30 to celebrate and support each other at the 2019 LGBTQIA+ Pride March. NYC Pride was the official host of WorldPride NYC 2019 and Stonewall 50. These events meant unprecedented millions of people
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A Race for the Cure: The Research Foundation to Cure AIDS
By Karen Rempel Dozens of Pride Parade spectators stopped by for a photo op at the Research Foundation to Cure Aids (RFTCA) display on Seventh Avenue, near the 9/11 Memorial Tiles display. All genders and no-genders were welcomed to wear the crown and carry the torch for the cure to AIDS. RFTCA President and Founder
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Whither the Village?
By Senior Minister at Judson Church The Village can’t be what it used to be any more. Been there, done that. It may be that the times have changed. Since 9-11, most people are more concerned about safety than we are about freedom. We even say good-bye with the words “Be Safe,” as though safe
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Use It or Lose It
By Maggie Berkvist So, dear readers, despite posters that started to appear around the neighborhood in May, and my Open Letter to Corey Johnson in our June issue, the fate/future of our vital 14A is still in jeopardy. On June 10th a Daily News story, headed Cars To Be Banned From Most of 14th Street In Manhattan
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Big Victory for All Tenants
By Arthur Z. Schwartz The plight of renters, both rent-regulated and non-regulated ones, has long been part of New York City lore—steep rent hikes, shoddy maintenance, fear of being blacklisted and evicted, and a general sense of powerlessness against a landlord who doesn’t care. The State Senate and Assembly’s landmark deal on New York’s rent
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Mermaid Parade Splashes Up Coney Island’s Surf Avenue
By Karen Rempel Summer began with a splash on Saturday, June 22 with Coney Island’s 37th annual Mermaid Parade. Mermaids, Neptunes, merkids, and merdogs paraded in sea-deep splendor to a crowd of over 840,000 people. The parade ended with Coney Island-born King Neptune, Arlo Guthrie, and Queen Mermaid, Nora Guthrie, together with the self-designated mayor
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A School for Creative Innovators
Our encounter with The New School began with an invitation to a reception at the residence of the University President, David Van Zandt. A bronchial illness prevented me from attending so I wrote out my questions which he graciously responded too. —George Capsis Q: What was President Van Zandt’s image of The New School when he first
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Parsons School of Design Runway Show Ornamented Fifth Avenue
By Karen Rempel | Fashion Editor As part of the New School’s graduation festivities at the end of May, the Parsons School of Design held the first-ever street runway show in Parsons history. The event on 5th Avenue and 13th Street featured more than 250 unique looks by Parsons fashion grads. It was a spell-binding
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Lenox Hill Hospital Plan Includes Park Avenue Condo
By Brian J Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Superstorm Sandy hit Manhattan hard in 2012, two days before Halloween. East River hospitals were crippled, transferring patients to other facilities. But transportation was hit too, so commuters mostly stayed home from their hospital jobs. My West Village home was at the edge of the flooding and without power,
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Stop Privatization of Pier 40, Says CB2
By Bruce Trigg, MD A new generation of Robert Moses-style power brokers plan to privatize the last major public space in Lower Manhattan—if we let them. That’s right, they will push for last minute legislation in Albany to amend the Hudson River Park Act to permit the building of 700,000 square feet of commercial office
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100 Years of Non-Solitude and Creativity
by J. Taylor Basker Friends, family and fellow creatives celebrated Edith Stephen’s 100th year birthday in Westbeth Artists Housing in Greenwich Village with two parties: one private, for family and close friends in her studio; and the other for the public in the Westbeth Community Room, for fans and neighbors, that included a puppet show
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The Future of Our Fields
By Lara S. Mullarkey The sun broke through on the morning of Saturday, April 6 just in time to shine on Greenwich Village Little League’s Opening Day. Hundreds of families flooded Pier 40, along with a roster of local politicians including Deborah Glick, Brad Hoylman, Corey Johnson, Brian Kavanagh, Scott Stringer, and Madelyn Wils (president
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They Came for the Rally and Stayed for the Wake
By Cynthia Chaffee and Mary Ann Miller On a rainy, chilly, first full day of spring, a surprising number of people showed up at the White Horse Tavern on Hudson and 11th Streets—the reason? The sale of the building to the notorious landlord Steve Croman. The White Horse Tavern opened in 1880 and has been
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The New School: First Century
By George Capsis On the first sunny Saturday in April we sat down for sandwiches on a bench in front of the Café Panino Mucho Gusto (favored by the older crowd as a place to just sit and talk). A passing stranger looked down at me and asked, “WestView?” I responded, “Yes,” followed by his “Like your paper.” “Are
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City Council Takes Legal Action Against Two Bridges Proposal
By Brian J. Pape, AIA In the Two Bridges area of the Lower East Side, a collection of five new residential towers are planned to include over 3,000 apartments, with retail stores at the base of each project, with 700 affordable units in the mix. However, in December 2018, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Manhattan
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Congestion Pricing & Access-a-Ride: Tech Breakthroughs
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Have you adjusted to the “Sharing Economy” yet? In NYC, the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) is supposed to control the ride-hail world, but what has happened? Well, this has been a year, or decade, of turmoil in the ride-hail/ride-share world. The TLC oversaw 143,674 for-hire vehicles in 2015,
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Why I Am Supporting Bernie—Again
By Arthur Z. Schwartz On a cold Saturday, the first weekend in March, I trekked out to Brooklyn College to attend Bernie Sanders’ announcement that he was running for President in 2020. I had been Bernie’s NY State Counsel in 2016 and had attended the Democratic Convention as a Sanders’ pledged delegate, but I wondered
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Do Not Legalize Sex Work!
By Carol Yost Two op eds about the current state of affairs in the field of sex work appeared recently, a week apart, in the Daily News. The one published March 1, 2019, by Melanie Thompson, a sex trafficking survivor, was given the title “Hell no to legal prostitution.” On March 8, 2019, the op
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Rage, Rage Against Croman
By Cynthia Chaffee and Mary Ann Miller Whenever a New York restaurant closes, look under the nearest rock and you’ll usually find Steve Croman, the notorious landlord who just spent several months in jail—not at Rikers where he was supposed to go, but at the Manhattan correctional center, a.k.a. “The Tombs.” Add to the mix Eytan
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Death By Architecture
By Ananth Sampathkumar Partner NDNY Architecture + Design New York is going through an architectural renaissance right now. The most famous architects from around the world are designing bespoke buildings and infrastructure for the city. The new designs range from museums to skyscrapers and even waterfront piers. The West Village has benefited from the signature
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Eviction by Property Tax
DEATH AND TAXES—A cry of pain from George Capsis Neither can be avoided but one can offer considerable and protracted pain. So when I received a very well written plea for help from a neighbor who was facing an impossible-to- pay jump in real estate taxes to almost $51,000, I sent an e-mail to Chief
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A Sad Farewell to Beloved Cornelia Street Café
by Karen Rempel On January 1, 2019, hundreds of patrons and performers from every decade of the Cornelia Street Café’s 41 years of creative explosion gathered for a final burst of celebration and communion. Many took the stage on the final evening, including the luminary award-winning recording artist Suzanne Vega. She sang “Tom’s Diner,” which
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L Train—14th Street Project Update and Aftermath
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP After months of valiant and sustained efforts to save their neighborhoods from an ill-advised MTA/DOT scheme for an L Train shutdown planned to start April 2019, local citizens persuaded Governor Cuomo to seek a 3rd opinion from engineers. Engineers recommended alternate plans, which do not require full shut-downs. Since
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Elizabeth Street Gardens: A Classic Double-Cross?
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Neighbors of the Elizabeth Street Garden (ESG), in the NOHO and Special Little Italy District (SLID), have expressed their concern that years of promises and being ignored have brought about a fiasco of controversy. CB2 joined in recapping the disingenuous way the city has mistreated this district at its
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Mayor de Blasio Waves His Baton Over New York City
By J. Taylor Basker At Symphony Space, punctuated by cadences of applause, our Mayor revealed his new orchestration of the citizens of NYC. In his sixth State of the City speech, Bill de Blasio promised New Yorkers a better life. NYC should be a model for the rest of the country that is descending into
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Can Words Repair a Broken City?
By George Capsis Attorney Arthur Schwartz sent me an e-mail offering an interview with Jumaane Williams who is running, along with 22 others, for the post of Public Advocate. With election day fast approaching (Tuesday February 26th), I ask Arthur “does he have a chance,” and Arthur replied back “sure, he is number one.” Public Advocate is a
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What You Need to Know About Emergency Rooms and Urgent Care Facilities
By Joy Pape Many people have some confusion about the difference between an emergency room and an urgent care facility. Even I, a health care provider, wanted to clear up some confusion. So once again, I reached out to Dr. Warren Licht, Vice President of Ambulatory Operations for the Western Region of Northwell Health and
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The Nicest Jewel Thief Drops In…
By George Capsis Carol Yost sent an article from the Post about an international jewel thief who lived, until he was arrested on October 24th, in a “$10 million dollar townhouse on West 4th Street.” Wait—West 4th is just up the corner from 69 Charles; so I e-mail our photographer, Joel, to take a picture
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Paving the West Village: A Historical Primer
By Tom Lamia Something odd is happening in the West Village and other long-neglected areas of our city. New life is coming into throwback street paving and its importance to economic development. After decades of neglect for the old technologies, urban street paving is becoming a hot topic among politicians and urban planners. Historic New
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Somebody Just Shot My Neighbor!
By George Capsis I got a call from one of my readers who has now become a friend, to say a murder had just taken place on Bedford Street and I had met the man who had been murdered. I had been sitting out last summer at a small table near the kitchen of a
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Gourmet Garage Dies as Rent Hits One Million
By George Capsis A couple of people called me to say Gourmet Garage was closing—wow! Sure, I, who grew up in the Depression, found the prices larcenous, but the breads were good and if you didn’t want to travel up to Trader Joe’s—that was about it… And bang—when you read this they will be closed.
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Doctors and Diagnosis—Short an Operating Room
By Siggy Raible What follows is one reader’s very accurate portrait of a typical emergency situation. What seems to be left out in talking about the logistics of getting a patient from 13th Street to Lenox Hill is the pain and anxiety of the patient. I know because I had an identical experience. I had
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Jerusalem: No Winners
TAGS: POLITICS, NEWS, OPINION By J. Taylor Basker I have lived and worked in the Middle East since 2007, teaching at an American university in Amman, Jordan. I’ve made frequent trips across the River Jordan to visit Jerusalem, relatives in Israel and friends in Palestine. The first time I entered Israel I was shocked to
