Volume 75, Number 46
April 04 - 11, 2006
Editorial/ Op-Ed
Stringer’s phase one gets an A 1
In recent years, community board appointments — in Manhattan, at least — were rarely made on time. The process would drag for a month past the April 1 deadline, if not longer. On top of that, vacancies on local boards often went unfilled the rest of the year — sometimes seemingly left open intentionally in order to affect board dynamics and elections.
Reporter’s Notebook
A night at The Falls; the protest, and party, go on
By Lincoln Anderson
It was a Friday night in the neighborhood some realtor a few years ago dubbed Nolita, and for the fourth week in a row, a group of protesters — though fewer in number than the first week — were picketing outside The Falls on Lafayette St., demanding it be shut down.
 Letters to the editor
Scoopy's Notebook
 Editorial Cartoon
By Ira Blutreich
Police blotter
Scene
News In Brief
Life’s still a cabaret at nightclubs
C.B. 2 Parks Committee O.K.’s N.Y.U. graduation in the square
Sunday in the park
Schiro wins 400 meters in Boston
Obituary
John Dikun, 81, worked on the El, hung at Vazac
John Dikun, a retired Transit Authority employee and lifelong East Village resident who over the past five decades had become a beloved figure to old-timers and newcomers in the neighborhood, died March 30 at the age of 81.
World
The circus life
Last November, East Village photographer Q. Sakamaki was in Mumbai, India, where he documented children circus performers.
Youth/Sports
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"Serving West and East Village, Chelsea, SoHo, NoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown and the Lower East Side"
 Villager photo by Gary He
Reverend Richard Carbo talking to members of Guardian Angel Church in Chelsea last Sunday after the service, as he handed out stuffed toys to children who attended church. During the service, Carbo urged congregants to write Cardinal Egan about keeping open the parish, which is slated for downgrading to a mission.
Wave of church, school closings saddens parishioners and parents
By Albert Amateau
It’s common wisdom that when a loved one dies it’s a deep shock even when the death is long expected. Such was the shock for many Catholic parishioners and parish school parents last week when the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York made the formal declaration of plans to close or merge 31 parishes and 14 schools in the seven counties in its jurisdiction.
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Inside
In a first, Stringer fills board slots by April 1st
By Lincoln Anderson
New Borough President Scott Stringer kept his promise that all 12 Manhattan community boards would each have their full complement of 50 members by April 1. Over the weekend, Stringer released the names of new community board appointees, and on Monday he held a press conference to formally announce the appointments and to tout phase one of his community board reform initiative as a success.
Fire leaves E. Sixth St. homesteaders homeless
By Sarah Ferguson
Residents of a former squat building in the East Village near Avenue C were forced out of their homes last Thursday after a three-alarm fire ripped though their five-story tenement, which they were renovating to become a low-income co-op.
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 Drummer beats anthrax, but cleanup has him reeling
By Bonnie Rosenstock
Last Wednesday evening — a week after being released from a Pennsylvania hospital where he had been recovering for more than a month after collapsing from anthrax while on tour — Greenwich Village African dancer and drum maker Vado Diomande held a press conference at the Unitarian Church of All Souls on Lexington Ave. and 80th St.
N.Y.U. bans Danish cartoons’ display at campus talk
By Chad Smith
Plans for a presentation at New York University about a Danish newspaper’s decision to publish cartoons considered blasphemous veered off course last Wednesday night, when university administrators prohibited students from displaying the cartoons at the heart of the debate. The decision touched off a dispute at the university about the limits of free speech.
A new approach to the art of energizing schools
By Lawrence Lerner
It’s 3 o’clock on a balmy Wednesday afternoon in late March, and most New York City high school students will rush out of their building after the last bell of the day, high on life and delirious with spring fever. But the 120 teens crammed into the library at New Design High School on the Lower East Side are giddy for another reason. In a few moments, a gaggle of celebrity artists led by actress Rosie Perez will file into the room and take their seats before the assembly.
 Trying to save bit that’s left at end of the Tunnel
By Alex Schmidt
Although their efforts to save the historic Tunnel Garage in Soho have failed, preservationists are now focusing on keeping the terracotta medallion that sits high atop the front corner of the garage from being destroyed.
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Critical Mass doesn’t beware ride of March; only 4 arrests
By Jefferson Siegel
Last Friday’s Critical Mass had a spring in its pedal as cyclists gathered in Union Square for the monthly bicycle ride on a mild evening. Gone were the bulky coats, hoods and much of the tension, replaced by an almost triumphant spirit following February’s ruling by a state court that denied the city’s request for an injunction to halt the rides if they don’t have a permit. Despite four arrests and 37 tickets issued for various traffic infractions throughout the night, cyclists were generally upbeat.
 How a cupcake and ‘Sex and City’ remade Bleecker St.
By Christos Gavalas
In its artistic heyday, Bleecker St. was home to smoke-filled cafes packed with cultural heroes of a contemplative bent. It stood for Greenwich Village, the Beats, Dylan, rebellion. Out-of-towners who visit New York still hope to soak up a little of that countercultural spirit.
Architects and students collaborate on mall project
By Bonnie Rosenstock
The Hester Street Collaborative, in conjunction with the United Neighborhoods to Revitalize Allen and Pike, is seeking nominations of people and places to be included in the co-naming of Allen St. as Avenue of the Immigrants. Students at M.S. 131 — the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Middle School — who are participating in H.S.C.’s Ground Up Program, are designing a “Sign and Path” installation for the Allen St. medians between Grand and Broome Sts. in collaboration with local community groups.
 Kids graffiti Astor cube and get collared by police
By Alex Schmidt and Lincoln Anderson
Last Saturday at 6:30 p.m. a group of young people in their teens and early 20s covered the Astor Pl. cube, officially titled “Alamo,” with colorful graffiti, much of it chalk. According to Detective Theresa Farello, a police spokesperson, Parks Enforcement Patrol officers saw what was happening, called police and police responded, making seven arrests.
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 A new Jesus Christ superstar is born
By Michael Clive
It’s not exactly what you’d call typecasting. Rick Carrier, who plays Pontius Pilate in the Chelsea Community Church production “Walk the Via Dolorosa,” is a man of deeply held principles and buoyant optimism — someone who would find a way to make lemonade when life doesn’t even give lemons. His dynamism exceeds that of most people one-third his age, which I won’t divulge, but do the math: at age 18 he was in the first wave of American GI’s to hit the beach on D-Day.
 Turning real-life events into plausible wackiness
By Jerry Tlallmer
The Mrs. Los Angeles contestant in the “Mrs. California 1955” finals is rehearsing for the event (worth 65 points) called My Proudest Moment. The three other finalists — Mrs. Modesto, Mrs. San Bernardino, Mrs. San Francisco — will cite their own Proudests: motherhood; an outdoor night biblically interpreting the Big Dipper to a bunch of Cub Scouts; the day a husband was promoted to vice president.
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 Beauty without borders
By Judith Stiles
Hairdos and makeup help define a woman’s persona, but at a beauty school in Kabul after the fall of the Taliban, each stroke of red lipstick and each snip of the scissors boldly punctuated a newfound freedom for women in Afghanistan.
Koch on Film
By Ed Koch
L’Enfant (+) Unlike the average, big-budget Hollywood films that I have seen recently, this simple story, probably made on a shoestring, far outclasses those made with fortunes. If you miss this sensational movie, which is playing at the Quad Cinema in Manhattan, you will be sorry.
“Inside Man” (+) This hyped Spike Lee film is passable, but it had far better possibilities than those he created, and the talented cast is in part wasted.
Catching up with Nolita artist David Greg Harth
By Rachel Fershleiser
Artist David Greg Harth is best known for making money. Specifically, the dollar bills he’s stamped with statements like I AM NOT TERRORIZED and I AM NOT AFRAID.
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Letters to the editor
