PACINO DOES ‘MERCHANT,’ p. 17 Volume 80, Number 26 $1.00 West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Hudson Square, Little Italy, Chinatown and Lower East Side, Since 1933 November 25 - December 1, 2010 Tea Party’s brew doesn’t go down well Downtown BY LINCOLN ANDERSON coasted to re-election, with It was the week after Deborah Glick getting 87 the election and a longtime percent of the vote, Richard reader of this newspaper, Gottfried garnering 82 per- a lifetime Village resident, cent and Brian Kavanagh, called to say she was won- 84 percent. dering why the paper hadn’t Sheldon Silver, the pow- reported the results of the erful Assembly speaker, won local Downtown races. Sure, re-election uncontested. she said, probably all the In the state Senate, Tom same people won, just like Duane took 85 percent of usual, as they’ve been doing ballots cast, while freshman for years — but still... senator Daniel Squadron She was right. There was voted back into offi ce weren’t any surprises — with 86 percent. and there weren’t any com- Incumbent Democrats petitive races, either. Local dominated in local congres- Democrats faced little- sional races, as well. Veteran known, token Republican Congressmember Carolyn challengers, and, in each Maloney — after fend- case, solidly whupped them. Photo by The Anonymous Photographer Local assemblymembers Continued on page 4 Street art from the underground NYCHA’s repair The Underbelly Project, a hidden collection of street art in an abandoned Brooklyn subway station, has recently been getting publicity — and at least 20 people sneaking in to see it have been arrested. See Page 15 for more photos. system is broken, After Pei protests N.Y.U. plan, tenants charge BY ALINE REYNOLDS ence is yet to be seen. Lower Manhattan, the Nadya Martoral, who has world’s fi nancial capital lived for two decades in the supermarket site is new focus where tremendous fortunes Alfred E. Smith Houses, near are made and lost, is also the entrance to the Brooklyn BY ALBERT AMATEAU be broader and shorter, 17 to 20 sto- change. the site of 30 public hous- Bridge on the Lower East After New York University ries, about 200 feet tall; but it would This week, Alicia Hurley, N.Y.U. ing developments where Side, is unemployed and announced last week that it was with- have roughly the same total 250,000 vice president for government affairs low-income tenants live in takes care of her 11 children drawing its Landmarks Preservation square feet of space proposed for the and community engagement, said the shoddy and unhealthy condi- on her own. Commission application to build a abandoned project, which is the same university will fi le a uniform land use tions. These residents look to As if that were not hard 40-story fourth tower on the super- square footage of each of the three review procedure, or ULURP, applica- the New York City Housing enough, she has a host of block site of three I.M. Pei-designed existing buildings. tion next year for development on both Authority for much-needed unfi xed appliances in her residential towers, Village neighbors Nevertheless, neighborhood and the south Silver Towers superblock repairs to their decaying apartment, some of which and preservation advocates were wait- preservation-advocacy opponents where the Pei buildings are located, as apartments. jeopardize her family’s health ing for the other shoe to drop. vowed last week to fi ght the alterna- well as the north Washington Square But NYCHA, short on and darken their mood. What comes next is the N.Y.U. tive. The Greenwich Village Society Village superblock. funds and, some say, inef- Floor tiles are cracked, win- as-of-right alternative to build on the for Historic Preservation and the “The ULURP will also cover the fective, cannot seem to keep dows are broken, and the northwest corner of the superblock on Community Action Alliance on NYU block east of Washington Square Park up with the escalating work plaster from her kitchen and the Morton Williams supermarket site 2031 are holding a town hall meet- between Waverly Place and Washington orders. NYCHA promises it bathroom ceilings is falling — which is not protected by landmark ing at 6:30 p.m. Wed., Dec. 1, in the Place, not for a change in F.A.R. [fl oor is devising a master plan off. designation. basement hall of Our Lady of Pompei area ratio] but for retail uses,” Hurley to improve the repairs sys- Martoral has made sev- Because the supermarket site has Church, at Carmine and Bleecker Sts., tem, but whether the new a larger footprint, the building would to explore the implications of the Continued on page 11 approach will make a differ- Continued on page 6 145 SIXTH AVENUE • NYC 10013 • COPYRIGHT © 2010 COMMUNITY MEDIA, LLC 2 November 25 - December 1, 2010 %ODFN)ULGD\ EHJLQVRQ :HGQHVGD\ DW 6MM 6MM *SVZLV\[ (U`4HJ 3H*PL9\NNLK :WLJPHS RUOHVV .)4VIPSL P4HJ 6MM /HYK+YP]L 2QO\ (U`4HJ 2QO\ DIWHUGLVFRXQW RUPRUH HUKTVYL¯ (]VPK[OL)SHJR-YPKH`Y\ZO 5V][O¶5V][O Photos by J.B. Nicholas JSVZLKMVY;OHURZNP]PUN Leaving some art behind Members of the Free Art Society installed paintings and did performance art along E. Second St. between Avenues A and B in the early hours of Nov. 8, in an effort & to brighten residents’ Monday morning. The project is part of the artists collective’s 1< ongoing effort “to reclaim public space for the people.” RP 7 HF UY 6 VH N H W ' 5 : 7YPJLZNVVK5V]LTILY[O[OYV\NO[O^OPSLZ\WWSPLZSHZ[ November 25 - December 1, 2010 3 BROADWAY PANHANDLER written in red.) More to the point, how could a tagger have Has a Gift for Cooking created such huge, 20-foot-high, bubble letters? we won- SCOOPY’S dered. Billy Leroy, he of the antiques-and-props tent next 4.5 Qt Rnd door, explained, “That’s a legal tag. It’s a tribute to Dash $164.98 Snow. They used a fi re-extinguisher technique. One of Barry Sugg. Rt. $280 30-50% OFF* NOTEBOOK McGee’s pals did it. The new mural starts tomorrow. The artist’s name is Kenny Scharf. He is from L.A. but has been Enameled Cast Iron 5.5 Qt Rnd MCNALLY PULLS OUT: In September, we reported that a New Yorker since 1980.” Ah yes, Billy knows all. Made in France $184.98 Sugg. Rt. $315 superstar restaurateur Keith McNally was retooling his plans for Come in for a new eatery at Greenwich Ave. and W. 10th St. after neighbors SOMETHING TO SCRIE’M ABOUT: There’s more SALE prices on 7.25 Qt Rnd objected to having a Pulino’s Cafe at the location. At the time, good news for Ray of Ray’s Candy Store on Avenue A. He’s other shapes & sizes $214.98 we were hearing McNally had agreed instead to make the place got his Ansul system, he’s got his lease renewal, he got his, Sugg. Rt. $370 — the fi re-gutted, former Village Paper Party Store — a more well, a B+++ on his Sanitary Inspection Grade, though he’s *Mfg sugg. retail, in-store only, while supplies last thru 12/31/10 upscale (read “sophisticated and subdued”) Balthazar Cafe, a obsessed with getting an A. (Hey, two out of three ain’t Support Your Local Family Owned Shops spinoff of his popular Soho bistro on Spring St., rather than an bad.) Now, he’s also fi nally got his SCRIE, or Senior Citizen This Holiday Season offshoot of his new Pulino’s Bar & Pizzeria (read “younger and Rent Increase Exemption, which means his apartment rent 65 East 8th St.(off B’way) • 212-966-3434 noisier”) on the Bowery. But now there’s not going to be any Mon-Sat 11-7 • Thurs ’til 8pm• Sun 11-6 offshoot, spinoff or anything else there by McNally. “McNally Continued on page 25 has withdrawn the application and is no longer considering that location,” Richard Stewart, vice chairperson of Community Board 2’s S.L.A. Licensing Committee, tells us. “But I can tell Happy you that Carlos Suarez of Bobo restaurant [at 181 W. 10th St.] Thanksgiving! has taken the lease and has just fi nalized an agreement with the neighborhood association, and C.B. 2 has approved his applica- tion for a beer-and-wine license.” Suarez actually initially had the inside track on the one-story building, and even sweetened the pot by saying he’d have a rooftop garden for use by students from nearby P.S. 41 — but he was then bumped by McNally. As for why McNally withdrew, Stewart said, “He claimed there was too much community opposition, though stipulations [on the restaurant’s operation] had been agreed on by the neighbor- Serving the West Village for 15 years hood association.” Proprietor Eve Crenovich invites you for SORRY, ED: In other eatery news, we hear some action is Breakfast, Lunch, Exciting Dinners “brewing” at the former Joe Jr. burger joint location at Sixth Weekend Brunch and Catering Ave. and W. 12th St., specifi cally, that a Brazilian coffee- and-sandwich shop will be opening there shortly on Dec. 1. Don’t forget our famous Cupcakes! We have this information from a well-placed source, but it’s hard to confi rm, she said, because the place’s windows are covered with newspaper. The main question is will the new shop be able to survive the late Ed Gold’s curse — his wish that his former beloved “headquarters” remain empty for eternity, to spite the landlord for prohibitively raising Joe Jr.’s rent? Only time will tell.