NEWS
C.B. 2 race is knockdown, drag-out, bar political fight
By Lincoln Anderson
The race for chairperson for Community Board 2 has turned into a bitter battle between Soho and Hudson Sq. activists, on one side, and a faction of the board led by Bob Rinaolo, former chairperson of the board’s Business Committee, on the other, over whether the two Downtown neighborhoods have too many bars and restaurants.

L.G.B.T. youth are feeling left out in the cold by lack of funds
By Ronda Kaysen
When Rebecca Walton arrived in New York City from Milford, Conn., five years ago, she was 18 years old and transgendered and had no intentions of returning to the Connecticut suburb where she was raised as a he. Fleeing a rocky relationship with her stepfather, she had $60 in her pocket and nowhere to go.

Keeping hope alive for grad students

Reverend Jesse Jackson and City Councilmember Christine Quinn were united in support of graduate students’ unions at a rally last week at New York University. <more>

Inside
Where ‘The House of D’ once loomed, garden blooms
By Ed Gold
Built on the rubble of a prison, created by hundreds of hands young and old, financed by rich and poor from near and far, Jefferson Market Garden, a multicolored oasis at the center of Greenwich Village, is celebrating its 30th birthday with a flourish.

Mo’s will be a Sardi’s with a Lower East Side twist
By Lincoln Anderson
In his latest venture, Phil Hartman, founder of the annual HOWL! festival and the Federation of East Village Artists, plans to open a restaurant and performance space that will be something new and different yet, at the same time, familiar.

New group’s going L.O.C.O. on the Lower East Side
By Amanda Kludt
In an attempt to combat various problems on the Lower East Side, including the noisy construction of a 15-story apartment complex and an over-20-story hotel, a congested bar scene and disruptive film and television shoots, a group of local residents have come together to form the Ludlow Orchard Community Organization, or — in the acronym that sums up how they are being driven to distraction — L.O.C.O.

Neighbors want the movies, but not the bright lights
By Amanda Kludt
The much-anticipated opening of the IFC Center in the former Waverly Theater at 323 Sixth Ave. in early May could cause some problems for residents in the surrounding blocks. While community leaders say they are hopeful that the movie house will improve the area on Sixth Ave., they are worried about the lights on the facade and the use of the courtyard space behind the theater.

C.B. 1 members slam Fields over leader’s removal
By Ronda Kaysen
Borough President C. Virginia Fields’s 11th-hour decision to oust Madelyn Wils from Community Board 1 earlier this month raised more questions than it answered, leaving remaining board members wondering what motivated Fields to remove their longtime chairperson in the middle of her term.

Graduate students’ fight comes together at N.Y.U. rally
By Nancy Reardon
Graduate student assistant teachers at New York University demonstrated their support of unionized graduate employees around the city last week, an effort that culminated in a large rally on Thursday.

To preserve and protect: H.D.C. to honor Diether
By Albert Amateau
Doris Diether, a Village preservation advocate for 45 years and a zoning expert of citywide repute, will receive the Historic District Council’s Mickey Murphy Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Council’s annual event next month.

Opponents can’t get over fence, as plan is passed
By Lincoln Anderson
Critics of the Washington Sq. Park refurbishment plan wore green ribbons around their wrists and pointed their thumbs down to show their disapproval. They held up defiant banners and posters with slogans like “The Fountain Stays Put.” But their protests didn’t change Community Board 2’s resolution in favor of the renovation plan for the landmarked square, which passed the board by an overwhelming majority last Thursday night.