The Voice of the West Village WestView News VOLUME 14, NUMBER 1 JANUARY 2018 $1.00 We Need Our Own Andrew Carnegie thought of a permanent local concert hall remains enticing. Yes, our audience is very gray and, I think, that is not just because these concerts are free to seniors but because our audience mostly learns about the concerts from the pages of WestView. Doorman-guarded condo towers do not accept WestView; you either have to own a townhouse or live in a rent-regulated tenement to get WestView. Our younger staffers lecture me continu- ously on ‘social media’ and they are doing things to make us available online, which I don’t understand and am impatient to learn. But still, you must write words that have to be read whether it is on a computer CLOSED TO PRAYER, OPEN TO INSPIRATION: Again on Saturday, December 23rd, the shuttered St. Veronica Church was opened and screen or on paper. filled for a concert sponsored by WestView News in its efforts to create a permanent West Village concert hall free to seniors. Photo by © But back to the concerts! They cost Joel Gordon 2017 - All rights reserved. money—about $25,000 per concert—and By George Capsis Despite the rain, you came and again in There is no doubt now that superb clas- so far we have been asking friends to do- great numbers and filled all the seats in the sical music played by the very best musi- nate. However, we have pretty much run On December 23rd, WestView gave an- main sanctuary. Some had to again climb cians in this City is something a very large out of moderately wealthy friends so we other concert, our second at St. Veronica. into the balcony—a full house! number of us West Villagers want. The continued on page 5 Welcome to 2018 What Do You Want Corey to Do? By Arthur Z. Schwartz looking for plots everywhere. His worst apologists, first on Fox News and now in 2017 was a horrific year. Trump took of- Congress, characterize anyone to Trump’s fice on January 20th, and within 11 days, I left as worthy of investigation. Just before had a heart attack! (This is true, but I am the New Year, Trump denounced the FBI joking about the correlation.) He took of- as being in tatters, and mocked Deputy fice on that date and made sure the world Director McCabe (a career FBI man) as would never be the same again. “biased.” Representative Rooney of Flori- I don’t like writing about Trump. He da called for a “purge” of the FBI, which is dominates the news every day based on very scary language. And although Trump SUCCESS IS THE ONLY OPTION: Corey Johnson’s record of passed legislation and his some new, outrageous comment, or new hasn’t attacked Special Counsel Mueller successful battle against drug and alcohol addiction speaks to his intensity, single mind- untruth. But his ability to numb those of yet, his cohorts are calling for his resigna- edness of purpose, and why he won the Speaker’s seat. Photo by Maggie Berkvist. us with progressive or liberal instincts is tion, and a quick end to his expanding in- something we should consider carefully. vestigation into the shady people involved By George Capsis letting slide through his guiding fingers Back in 2016, I wrote that Trump’s ap- in the Trump Campaign. Who would have a City budget of $86 billion? He will be proach to politics reminded me about ever thought that I, as a card-carrying pro- What does it mean for the readers of the second-most powerful man in City what I had read on Hitler. He appeals to gressive, would be rooting for the FBI, and WestView that 35-year-old Corey John- government. xenophobia and racism. He denounces the a former FBI Director who was a lifelong son will, on January 4th, become the What do we really need here in the West press as “fake.” He and his supporters are continued on page 22 Speaker of the New York City Council, continued on page 3 Bird of the Year Playwright 14th Street Join Keith Michael, This month, Michael Read about the continu- WestView’s avian expert, Minichiello profiles play- ing saga concerning 14th as he presents the 2017 wright and longtime Village Street and the impending Bird of the Year Awards. resident Robert Heide. L Train tunnel closures. SEE PAGE 24. SEE PAGE 23. SEE PAGE 8. 2 WestView News January 2018 www.westviewnews.org WestView WestViews Published by WestView, Inc. by and for the residents of the West Village. Correspondence, Commentary, Corrections Publisher Thank You, WestView heady stuff for this new immigrant! Against the Executive Editor My chum at the next desk was a feisty George Capsis Destruction of Dear George, Irish-American redhead from Queens (I’ll West Village Houses Managing Editor I am so sorry to learn of the death of your call her Daisy, since eventually she followed Andreea Ioana Pantor cousin John. It looks like pioneers run in my lead downtown to become a lifelong Dear Editors: Associate Editor Andrew Buemi your family. Villager), who caught the eye of a rather As long-term residents of the West Village What you have done for the West Vil- dashing art director. They became an item, Houses, we are appalled at how the Board Advertising Manager & Designer Stephanie Phelan lage through WestView deserves touting and it all seemed very sophisticated and is trying to destroy this low-rise communi- too. Each month, I am startled by photos glamorous—until he knocked her up, and ty, which was championed by Jane Jacobs. Photo Editor of wildlife (wacky-looking, puffy, long- it wasn’t. The good news for Daisy was that They want to tear our buildings down and Darielle Smolian beaked birds), Mia (the ‘unquestioning her seducer could afford to pay for an ex- turn us into luxury housing. The commu- Traffic Manager love’ dog), as well as the color-tinted or pensive Park Avenue abortion. nity needs to rise up to stop this. Liza Whiting expertly crafted black-and-white ads For the rest of us, however, it was a rude —Alice Moore & Allen Reiner Photographers placed by local shops and businesses. They awakening to the facts of life back then— Maggie Berkvist register a shout-out to familiar customers before The Pill, before Planned Parent- © Joel Gordon and a warm welcome to new ones. (It gets hood, before Roe v. Wade, when abortions Victimized by the Comptroller tiring to hear about empty storefronts on were still illegal, and when for a single Jolanta Meckauskaite Bleecker Street and Christopher Street.) girl to get pregnant was a disaster, often a Sixth Precinct Thankfully, when I open WestView, I tragedy. Which is why, at this moment in Dear Editors: Architecture Editor Brian Pape feel drenched in my neighborhood, my time, when women are stepping forward Now I’ve seen it all. After being falsely ar- community, and its plethora of offerings. to protest past abuses, I felt the need to rested, threatened, cursed, and spat upon, I Film, Media and Music Editor WestView performs a balancing act—dis- remind us all, in this very tricky backward was finally ‘EDP’d’ to Bellevue. This is par- Jim Fouratt seminating a combination of ads and com- trending era, to take nothing for granted ticularly interesting because, as a diehard Food Editor prehensive, time-sensitive ‘keeper’ articles. and to protect the progress already fought community activist, I’m frequently told by David Porat Many in the creative arts soak up this pa- for and won. cops that the crazy, homeless folks cannot Distribution Manager per like a Guinness at the White Horse * Note: Even since writing that last sen- be moved without their permission. Ex- Timothy Jambeck Tavern or a Shirley Temple at Wild. In tence, a story broke in the New York Times, plain how that doesn’t scream, “Please help my estimation, WestView is not only the on December 23rd, of an attempt to pre- me?” Clearly, the Sixth Precinct has lost its Regular Contributors ‘Voice of the West Village’ but also the vent a young immigrant from having a per- mind! Barry Benepe, Caroline Benveniste, Charles Caruso, Jim Fouratt, eyes, ears, and heart. Hats off! fectly legal abortion. Some of you may be familiar with my John Gilman, Mark. M. Green, Robert —Roberta Curley —Maggie Berkvist mom being removed from our rent-con- Heide, Thomas Lamia, Keith Michael, trolled apartment at gunpoint. She was Michael D. Minichiello, Clive Morrick, Brian J. Pape, Joy Pape, David Porat, Recalling the then forced into a nursing home by Adult Alec Pruchnicki, Christina Raccuia, Good/Bad Old Days A Transcontinental Protective Services. Why hasn’t the City Catherine Revland, Joseph Salas, taken similar action against those who Martica Sawin, Donna Schaper, Arthur Legacy Z. Schwartz, Gary Tomei, Joseph Turco, Dear Editors: clearly can’t take proper care of them- Esq., Robert Widmann Reading the beautiful, young Catherine Dear Editors: selves? Oh that’s right, they don’t have Revland’s creepy experience with the re- John Capsis’ obituary, which was pub- wealthy landlords who “work” with the We endeavor to publish all letters received, pulsive Gene P. was another reminder of lished in the December 2017 issue of police and the Housing Court. According including those with which we disagree. those good/bad old days of ‘dirty old men’ WestView, provided a reminder of a life to our District Leader (and Ruth Berk’s The opinions put forth by contributors and show biz ‘casting couches’ of which well lived, the way John served his com- guardian angel), Arthur Z.