The Voice of the West Village WestView News VOLUME 16, NUMBER 9 SEPTEMBER 2020 $2.00 a very peaceful neighborhood.” The last murder recorded in the West Murder on Christopher Street Village was on New Year’s Eve, 2019 when Jonathan Berlin, 62, was fatally shot in the By Roger Paradiso & Anthony Paradiso chest at 110 Bedford Street. Police say Ber- lin may have been murdered during a drug Dashawn Bush, 36, was murdered on deal gone wrong. Christopher St. in the West Village at The West Village Patch has reported sev- around 4.20am on August 17th. His life- eral disturbing incidents in recent months. less body lay out on the sidewalk in front There was a stabbing of a 52-year-old vic- of the Hudson Bagel shop on Christopher tim recently at 222 West 14th Street. And Street when police came upon the scene. there have been several burglaries reported Bush was taken to the Lenox Health by the Patch recently in the West Village. Complex but later died from his injuries, Speaking to local shop owners who re- authorities shared. quested anonymity, we heard that they “I’m still shocked,” said Shamel Bush, thought the Village was not as safe as it was Dashawn’s brother. He told the Daily before the Pandemic and lock down. Many News on Saturday, “I'm still going in and out shop owners are closing their doors early at of crying. I can't believe it, it's just disbelief.” six o’clock because there is a lot of fighting Bush had recently been hired at Amazon. and drug usage by homeless people and drift- Some reports say he had been out with ers who roam the Village. Many have been THE LOCATION ON CHRISTOPHER STREET, just off of 7th Ave., where Dashawn Bush was a woman and a friend at the time of the murdered at approximately 4:20 am on August 17th. Photo by Bob Cooley. seen defecating and urinating on the streets. incident, authorities shared. WestView News will continue monitor- The assailant, thought to be a friend of Post), fled from the scene and is still being George Capsis, publisher of WestView ing this sudden crime surge in the West Bush’s according to his sister (New York sought after by police. News says: “I am in shock. This is normally Village. Goodnight Newsroom The office where the New York Daily News Produced Itself Has Permanently Closed After 101 years By Amanda Mikelberg to board the Daily News battleship. the reason. Coincidentally, the day my Daily News At the time of my tenure, the vigorous I’d been given a company thermos, when I mug surfaced in my parents’ Isaias-visited push to grow the New York Daily News started as an overnight web producer in the basement, was the day I learned that their brand online was succeeding at making a New York Daily News newsroom at 4 New flagship newsroom had sunk. On August name for itself with an internet audience, York Plaza in 2011, and it’s now an artifact 12, Tribune Publishing, the owners since with a strategy to dominate the Google from a lost world. 2017, announced that the News’ news- News algorithm. That effort aside, it was My interview for the position had taken room was permanently closed, and that its the newspaper’s reputation fortified since place at the newspaper’s headquarters on journalists would carry on remotely until 1919 that gave the News its potential to West 33rd Street; they were in the process further notice. The newsrooms of sev- scale; respectful of this, the digital initia- of moving from the congested midtown eral other Tribune titles, Orlando Sentinel, tive sought to preserve the traditions of the space into an open-concept office, furnished Pennsylvania’s Morning Call, and Mary- print institution for productive coexistence. for the frontlines of the era’s “digital first” land’s Capital Gazette and Carroll County Maintaining a physical infrastructure to initiative. The new downtown place, where Times, would also cease to exist. Yet, the support a heroic news operation was as I’d slung said coffee mug to stay alert until 4 Baltimore Sun office as well as theChicago much of a priority in the digital expansion am, was as big as a football field and about Tribune at the publishers’ headquarters re- as big monitors and the Polopoly web con- as competitive an arena. Around sundown, I main open, belying the suggestion that a tent management system. ORIGINAL RENDERING OF THE DAILY would land at the South Ferry subway sta- newsroom isn’t possible to have right now. The imposing infrastructures that housed NEWS BUILDING at 220 East 42nd St., tion, Water Street wind driving at my back, Pandemic is the excuse, but cost-cutting is continued on page 8 Hugh Ferriss, 1930. v Save WestView Cross Country 9/11 Concert A candlelight concert in Contribute to our crowdfund- Traveling via motorcycle from ing campaign to keep delivery California to New York, Bob memoriam of 9/11 live from of the print edition alive! Kroll documents his observa- St. Johns in the Village. tions along the way. September 11 at 5 pm. SEE PAGE 36 SEE PAGE 11 SEE PAGE 33 FOR DETAILS WestViewu Newssic • and m St. John’s in the Village Present A CandlelightSt. John’s Concert in in Memoriam of 9/11 the Village and WestView News Present SeptemberStrathmere Ensemble 11, 5in apm InLive honor Streamed of all thoseMemorial we lost Day on September 11, 2001, please join us Allfor theBach following Concert program: Brandenburg Concerto #5 Samuel Barber, Beethoven, Mondayand Gabriel May 25,Fauré 4 pm Enjoy thisPerformers live streamed concert on yourThe computer, Strathmere tablet orEnsemble smart phone at www.youtube.com/stjvnyShiz’ka Barbee Monk Gordon King Artists: Robert Wolinsky, Harpsichord WeTBA, will Flute be broadcasting from St. John’s in the Village. Mitsuru Tsubota. Violin Eriko YouSato, can Violin join us on any device — phone, Louise Schulman,tablet, Viola computer, tv. Daire Fitzgerald, Cello Jack IfKulowitsch, you’re struggling Double due Bass to the coronavirus Billsituation, Zito, Lute take advantage of our “Pay What You Can” offer. If you’re able to pay more, to help someoneTickets else pay less, $20 please do! TICKETFree / toCONTRIBUTION Seniors and Children, LEVELS $5 — butI Just registration Need to Smileis essential Right Now $10 –To Fan buy ofa ticket Strathmere or to register, Ensemble $20 – Supportercontact [email protected]. of Strathmere Ensemble $50 – Patron of Strathmere Ensemble ST. JOHN’S IN THE VILLAGE at the Tickets/info:corner of West bit.ly/9-11memoriam 11th and Waverly Place 2 WestView News September 2020 www.westviewnews.org WestView WestViews Published by WestView, Inc. by and for the residents of the Correspondence, Commentary, Corrections West Village. WestView News cars from idling for more than three min- I once did. Many Thanks for an interesting Publisher Fighting the Good Fight! utes at a time by continuously running the newspaper. Executive Editor engine of their Smart police car so its air George Capsis Dear George, —Martin So when your guy approached me about an conditioner can keep them cool while they To the Editor: Managing Editor and Art Director peruse their phones. I’ve enjoyed the articles on the Hagia Sophia. Kim Plosia ad in your paper for my new gallery, I was a little reluctant. I hate to spend $ unless it is Inside the precinct's new lot, and parked I used to have a big picture book on Advertising Manager and Designer on the sidewalks, are the private cars of of- this building, part of a series on beautiful Stephanie Phelan on beer, or donating to progressive political candidates. ficers and various NYPD vehicles, most buildings—put out by either Time-Life or Traffic Manager of which are decorated with three words: Liza Whiting But when I realized I had gone to PS 41 Newsweek. One of the things I noticed in with your son Doric, I said why not support "Courtesy," "Professionalism," "Respect." the interior photos, and I see it in the West- Photo Editor a local business (and a newspaper at that!). The irony of this situation surely must be View photo, too, is that those huge circular Darielle Smolian The ad looked great, and a few copies of the lost on the 6th Precinct, which has em- placards in Arabic with Muslim messages Photographers July edition were out and available to guests at ployed uncourteous, unprofessional, and violate the gorgeous lines of the architec- Maggie Berkvist disrespectful actions toward its West Vil- ture. A real mosque would never have that, Chris Manis, Bob Cooley my gallery, Art of Our Century, on 14th St. Then, to my surprise, three separate visi- lage neighbors in its quest for easy parking. and there’s much great Muslim architec- Associate Editors It came as no surprise when the cops' ture too, of course. Justin Matthews, Anne Olshansky tors to the gallery commented to me about the paper they had picked up on my table. union, the PBA, recently endorsed for As I recall from my reading, someone Comptroller "This is pretty good," was the consensus. re-election as president a racist, ignorant, who wasn’t even Muslim put up those Jolanta Meckauskaite All then lamented the end of the Village sociopath. What is surprising, however, is placards. They were left there when the Architecture Editor and the total bastardization of that our local politicians have not raised building became a museum. They should Brian Pape Voice, The Villager by its new owner.