By Barry Benepe Public space in New York City is largely contained in its 5,000 miles of streets. Many of the largest park lands lie far from where most people live and work. A few, like Washington Square and such West Village parks as Bleecker Playground and Abingdon and Jackson Squares, are visual and functional
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Facelift for Jackson Square and Jane Street Garden Fence
By Barry Benepe A recently rebuilt Jackson Square is about to be rebuilt once again to repair and reconfigure the individual landscape elements while retaining the basic design. It will continue to be bordered by its cast iron picket fence punctuated by three centered side entrances framed by granite gate posts. The granite set blocks
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Briefly Noted
Sylvia Ross-Epstein Sylvia Ross-Epstein, 82, resident of West 4th Street since 1968, passed away Friday, March 9, 2018. She was born August 25th, 1935, in Statesville, North Carolina to the late Clarence Ross and Sarah Johnston Ross. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Martin Epstein; sons, Jeffrey Ross
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Deal with St. Luke’s
Dear Editor, My, my, two full pages of an Open Letter ‘Advertorial’ from a reader, David D. Turner, March 2018 issue. Such a notable deviation from the usual content! Part of the diversity we desire? Being somewhat familiar with the controversy surrounding the development of the St. Luke in the Fields property, I read the
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St. Luke’s Deserves Outcry
Dear Editors: I’m writing regarding David D. Turner’s advertorial of February 27th. There’s been almost no other visible public outcry about what St. Luke’s has done in yielding their parking lot for a new residential tower. It was a betrayal of a community they’ve long served, both passively, by preserving green space and open space,
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WestView Matching Service
Dear George, Thank you for all you do for our community, for the newspaper, and for the concert series at St.Veronica’s. I love your idea about senior share housing. And I wonder too if something might begin before an actual housing situation is created. Many of our public high schools ask students to put in
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Lawsuit Filed to Stop L Train Shutdown
By Arthur Z. Schwartz Ever since discussion of the L Train Shutdown, scheduled for April 2019, began, people affected have felt run over by the Government, be it the MTA, which is in charge of the subway part, or the NYC Department of Transportation, which is in charge of the street configurations above-ground. We in
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Correction
Within the February 2018 issue of WestView (print edition only), a portion of text was mistakenly inserted into the article entitled “Donations Welcomed at the Church of the Village” (page 3). The following content did not belong in this piece: “A REQUEST TO KEEP THE PARK OPEN: James J. Walker Park, pictured above, has re-opened
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No Stopping This Train
By Stanley Wlodyka You’ve seen her. Just as you lift your hand to grab her attention and offer help, she swoops down like an Olympic weightlifter and picks up the stroller, baby and all. She turns around, impatiently blows at a strand of hair that’s fallen out of place, and looks right through you. “Come
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A Real Community
George, I wanted to write a quick thank you for your work in putting out WestView News. The people can have their Journal or their ‘Gray Lady,’ but I’ll take the stack of papers with the dark beige font. I particularly enjoy “Then & Now,” the pieces on local politics, and “In and Out.” I
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Congestion in New York City
The following letter was published in response to the Crain’s New York Business article “Traffic Congestion Costs Metro Economy $20 Billion a Year: Study,” dated January 18, 2018. The letter has been edited by WestView News. I enjoyed your article on congestion in New York City. What a crisis, but unfortunately, it is deliberately created.
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Update on Beth Israel Lawsuit
By Arthur Z. Schwartz In November 2017, a lawsuit entitled Progressive Action of Lower Manhattan, George Capsis, and Arthur Schwartz v. Howard Zucker, as Commissioner of the NYS Department of Health, and Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital was filed in New York State Supreme Court. The goal: to not only stop the shutdown of Beth
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14th Street Traffic Plan: It’s Not Being Handled Lawfully
By Arthur Z. Schwartz It is rare to see our community so united. And when it is united in opposition to a government project, you know something is wrong. Over the last month, as a West 12th Street resident, and as Democratic District Leader, I have attended a series of meetings held by over a
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Greenwich House Raises the Bar (Literally) with New Taste After-Party Cocktail Competition
By Joe Salas What do a bar on the 65th floor of Rockefeller Center, a Fashion Week hangout, and a restaurant deemed one of the 10 most romantic in the world have in common? They are all among the participants helping to raise money for the local, nonprofit social service organization Greenwich House at its
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Chelsea Market Changes Upstairs and Downstairs
By David Porat Chelsea Market, which has been rather constant over the last 20-plus years, is changing. About two weeks ago, it was announced that Google, a significant tenant in the building and landlord of 88 8th Avenue, known as the Port Authority Building, along with Pier 57 at the end of 15th Street (which
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14th Street Plans Stir Protest
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Greenwich Village and Chelsea block associations have begun organized action in February, forming the new 14th Street Coalition. They join with many other groups across Manhattan to prevent impending blows to the quality of life in their downtown areas and streets. Led by David Marcus, Gary Tomei, Judy Pesin,
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Google Gobbles Meat Market
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has reached an agreement to acquire Chelsea Market for $2.4 billion. Jamestown, the sellers, won approvals from the city to add almost 300,000 square feet on top of the property back in 2012. That would increase the number of office floors above the famous ground
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Maggie B’s Quick Clicks
A GREAT DAY FOR COREY, COREY JOHNSON THAT IS – when, on January 29th, he was sworn in as City Council Speaker by New York Senator Chuck Schumer at a festive Inauguration Ceremony in the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Morris W. and Fannie B. Haft Theater. And a very good time was had by all:
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Update on Caregiver Support Program
The Elderly Support Group is a self-help group which provides support, resources, and an opportunity to connect with other caregivers of the elderly. We are now pleased to provide additional contact information for caregivers who wish to join the Elderly Support Group. The group meets at Lenox Health Greenwich Village (Northwell), located at 30 7th
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Treasures Abound on West Village Streets
By Gordon T. Hughes, Jr. The other morning, I was having coffee at my favorite morning haunt, Cafe Panino Mucho Giusto, when one of the regulars commented to me, unsolicitedly, “You know, you can furnish your entire apartment from STUFF off the streets of the West Village. Never pick up anything with cloth however. Bed
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I’ll Tell You What’s Wrong With Your Paper
Mr. Capsis, I respectfully submit the letter below for your “Correspondence, Commentary, and Corrections” section. In “Do We Really Need Newspapers?” from the February 2018 issue of WestView News, George Capsis deplores how “people are simply not looking at a newspaper any longer, and certainly not a community paper.” According to Mr. Capsis, the iPhone
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Dr. Davis, We Need Frankness Not PR
By George Capsis I had an “Oh, wow!” moment when I read in the February 5th Villager article that Mount Sinai is “…‘leaning toward’ building an extra four floors atop its [newly proposed] mini-hospital…” This building would wrap around the shabby gray New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai at 14th Street and
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Readers’ Clicks
WestView contributor Caroline Benveniste recently captured this playful image in front of An’s Tae Kwon Do school at 162 7th Avenue South (near Perry Street): Continue sending us your clicks and captions to westviewarticles@gmail.com and include your name if you are seeking community fame. (When emailing your photos, please include ‘Readers’ Clicks’ in the subject
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Acclaim from Sarah Jessica Parker
Actress and West Village resident Sarah Jessica Parker provided the comments below following the February 10th concert at St. Veronica, which she attended. The content has been edited by WestView News. It’s funny that George thinks he needs an introduction, only because I feel like everyone in this community knows him. I think he’s sort
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Modern Middle Eastern Dining in the West Village
By Caroline Benveniste As I planned our January visit to Tel Aviv, I confess that I mostly focused on food. I had a long list of places to try, gleaned from articles and friends’ and relatives’ recommendations. There were also a few places that I’d heard about because the chefs had either opened or were
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In and Out
This month, the big real estate news was that Google, in its quest to obtain more office space, was not only buying the Chelsea Market building but also increasing its footprint at Pier 57 at 15th Street. Originally, Anthony Bourdain had been planning a huge international “street food” market at the pier, but those plans
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New Fence for the Jane Street Garden
By Barry Benepe A new cast iron picket fence, similar to the one now surrounding Abingdon Square Park, will be erected around the Jane Street Garden before the end of the year. The entrance to the garden will be relocated from Jane Street to 8th Avenue to conform to New York City Parks & Recreation
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Abingdon Square Food Paradise: A Sequel
By Barry Benepe In the January 2018 issue of WestView, I described some of the farmers that came into the city from the surrounding region to set up their products at thte Abingdon Square Greenmarket on Saturdays. An additional farmer, with an outstanding array of farm-made cow cheeses, is Consider Bardwell, founded in 1864 in
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Verizon Outage
Dear George: I assume you’re aware of the outage caused by a contractor’s cutting of an exchange cable at 17th Street and 7th Avenue. This has left much of the West Village which uses a copper-wire landline without Verizon telephone service since January 29th. That includes Greenwich House on Barrow Street, which is home to
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The Song that Changes Lives
By Helene Abrams and David Giller Something very special happened to the children of P.S. 55 in the Bronx: A song wove a room full of children into a reverberating hymn of confidence, and a movement for building children’s self-esteem was born. It all began with “I’m A Person,” a simple and inspiring song with
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Maggie B’s Quick Clicks
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…When winter comes, spring can’t be far behind!
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Invisible People of the West Village
By Joel Gordon Each day, as I travel to my studio across town, I walk past the ‘invisible people’ that don’t exist. I watch passersby who don’t make eye contact; it’s much easier to ignore the homeless existence. However, these people didn’t intend to become homeless or plan to live on the street; each has
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Theater Company Ars Nova Finds New Home in Greenwich Village
By Joe Salas Following a year-long search, Ars Nova has been selected by Greenwich House as its new partner and operator of the historic, 199-seat Greenwich House Theater located on the ground floor of Greenwich House’s 27 Barrow Street building. In addition to operating and filling the beloved venue with new work by its emerging
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The Far West Village: A Valentine
By Catherine Revland I have an indelible memory of a map in my sixth grade geography book in which dots indicated the size of population centers in the United States. The entire midsection of the country was sparsely dotted, like pepper on a child’s egg, and my home state had hardly any dots at all.
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Readers’ Clicks
WestView reader Donna Kitch recently captured the whimsy of this ice-cold season: Continue sending us your clicks and captions to westviewarticles@gmail.com and include your name if you are seeking community fame. (When emailing your photos, please include ‘Readers’ Clicks’ in the subject line.)
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Jim Fouratt’s – Have You Heard?
February 2018 2018 is a critical year for electoral politics in our country and in our state. I want to talk to you about what can be done to change how politics are being played out in Washington, DC, the state, and the city. I will ask you, the reader, the same questions I have
