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Scoopy’s Notebook, Week of Nov. 26, 2015

SCOOPY
Photo by Scoopy Kelsey Falter on Nov. 14.
Photo by Scoopy
Kelsey Falter on Nov. 14.

Flower power: The memorial in Washington Square Park, above right, by local resident Kelsey Falter, looked a bit different on Sat., Nov. 14, the day after the Paris terrorist attacks. On that gusty afternoon, Falter and others, including little Tiera Mikles, 5, and her mom, Aurelia, from the Lower East Side, were busily putting roses into the mesh screen of the memorial, below which a sign read, “J’être humain,” meaning “We all are human.” Falter said she would later paint it red, white and blue, though she obviously has replaced the real flowers with paper ones. As for the concept of her artwork by the arch, Falter told us, “In many cities where they have an arch, they’ve erected it after a victory. In this case, I hope love — and then peace — win, for humanity’s sake.”

Photo by Tequila Minsky The finished memorial.
Photo by Tequila Minsky
The finished memorial.

Victory!….Umm…victory? Councilmember Margaret Chin announced that last month three of the contested city-owned “open-space strips” on the two N.Y.U. South Village superblocks were transferred from the Department of Transportation to the Parks Department. “This transfer is the culmination of years of hard work by green space advocates who have joined me in fighting for the permanent creation of additional parkland for generations to come,” Chin said in her monthly handout to Community Board 2. “These new park spaces will forever be places of enjoyment, reflection and peace for residents, visitors and students,” she said, calling it “a major victory for proponents of a greener Greenwich Village.” Umm…well, these might be enjoyed…but that will probably only be after the 20 years of nonstop construction as the university shoehorns four new buildings onto the two blocks, totaling nearly 2 million square feet of space. And, well, then, even after the construction, won’t those massive new buildings be throwing shadows onto these green spaces? And, hey, what about Judge Donna Mills’s ruling back in January 2014 that these parcels already were de facto “impliedly” parkland? …Wasn’t that the real victory, only to be overturned on appeal later by a higher court, a decision that was then upheld this past June by the state’s highest court? Who really won here anyway?

Eco-Brad: Congratulations to Brad Hoylman, who this month was honored to be named EPL / Environmental Advocates’ Legislator of the Year. “As a lawmaker and a concerned parent, I’m acutely aware that the decisions we make and fail to make now will have a direct impact on my daughter’s generation and beyond,” the state senator said. Hoylman in his position as ranking Democrat on the state Senate’s Environmental Conservation Committee, has worked hard to raise awareness about the dangers of climate change, and is pushing to immediately enact a state Climate Action Plan. He also is advocating to pass the Child Safe Products Act, and place a ban on personal-care products that contain plastic microbeads.

Market murmurs: It sounds like the Hudson Square / Soho area may soon be getting at least one, and maybe even two new supermarkets, something that is definitely needed in that area. We hear that Trinity Church is negotiating for a supermarket to lease the ground-floor space in the Trinity-owned building at 100 Sixth Ave., at the corner of Watts St., two blocks south of Spring St. Jason Pizer, president of Trinity Real Estate, revealed the news a couple of weeks ago at the annual meeting of the Hudson Square Connection, the area’s business improvement district. He wouldn’t give any further details but said he was optimistic a deal would be reached. The space was formerly occupied by NYC Elite Gymnastics for gymnastics classes for kids and adults, and stretches a full block from Sixth Ave. to Thompson St. Also, Janovic paints has begun moving into the ground-floor commercial space in the residential building at the site of the former Tunnel Garage, at Watts and Thompson Sts. One rumor flying around is that a Trader Joe’s might move into the paint purveyor’s previous space at the northeast corner of Spring St. and Sixth Ave.

Yippie E.R.: Two of our favorite Yippies, Aron Kay, “The Yippie Pie Man,” and former East Village activist / photojournalist John Penley, who is pretty much an honorary Yippie, have been battling serious health problems. Kay is fighting lymphoma and Penley came down with the shingles. Hang in there — keep on truckin’!

Bye, society: Karen Loew, who was the director of East Village and special projects for the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, recently departed the society. As for what’s next, she said, “Not sure yet, open to ideas!” Neither Loew, who formerly worked as a journalist, nor Andrew Berman, the executive director of G.V.S.H.P., had more to say.

TD-ious pace: Finally, TD Bank has fixed the broken glass in the front doors at the former Barnes & Noble space at Eighth St. and Sixth Ave. “Yes, after eight months of pushing, they finally fixed it,” William Kelley, executive director of the Village Alliance business improvement district, told us. But don’t take that as a sign that something will finally be done with the vacant space. “No real news — every time we ask when they will start, they say construction is imminent,” Kelley said. “Allegedly TD Bank takes forever to do things because their corporate offices are in Toronto. Who knows why that would add so much time, but that’s what we hear. They signed the lease in July 2014.”

Life on the street: Back in August, an editorial in The Villager, “The real face of homelessness; People need help,” talked about the plight of Diane Majett, who was then living on the street just south of Grand Central Terminal, by the Park Ave. Viaduct, with her cat, Buttercup. Well, it’s three months later. She’s still there. Part of the reason, to hear her tell it, is that she is an artist vendor — she knits garments for both people and cats — so has the right to be there. If police come by and tell her to “take a walk,” she promptly calls the Manhattan district attorney and informs them of the situation. We recently showed her our editorial about her and she burst into tears, “You crushed it out the park!” she said, happily (it was baseball playoff season), feeling the piece and the photo captured her. But it’s starting to get cold now. We see her out there diligently knitting — admittedly, we see plenty of other homeless people around there who aren’t knitting. Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced a program to create 15,000 new units for the homeless over the next 15 years, but it won’t start till next year. Sure, Majett can keep knitting more and more blankets, sweaters, hats and scarves for herself and Buttercup to make it through the winter, but there’s got to be a better way.