Villager photo by Milo Hess Beats air conditioning During last week’s heat wave, a young man immersed himself in the Washington Square Park fountain, a refreshing way to cool off that also did not drain any energy from the overstressed power grid.		NEWS Christopher gets cops and outreach for gay youth By Albert Amateau City Council Speaker Christine Quinn this week announced a city-funded pilot program to solve the conflicts between lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth who hang out on the Christopher St. Pier and West Village residents and merchants. Neighbors in discord with 13th St. music club By Janet Kwon Opus NY has not yet produced a single note of music, but its critics are already firing a volley of scathing reviews. A new East Village music venue, Opus NY is still in its construction phase, with a tentative opening date in mid-September, at 531 E. 13th St.
Hetero outpost in Chelsea will fall to the wrecking ball By Lincoln Anderson Phil Alotta pulled down the heavy metal gate outside his restaurant Chelsea Grill last Sunday afternoon. Then he and his wife, Carolyn, attached several heavy padlocks to secure it. They would only close up one more time. An auction of the place’s contents was scheduled for Monday, after which Chelsea Grill’s 15 years at the location would come to an end.

INSIDE
Trust gets ready to float another R.F.P. for Pier 40
By Lincoln Anderson
Following its aborted process to redevelop Pier 40 three years ago, the Hudson River Park Trust is currently circulating a draft request for proposals for the 14-acre pier, soliciting feedback from Community Board 2 members and the Hudson River Park Trust Advisory Council.

The picture changes as street artists retract letter
By David Spett
Four of the five members of the Soho International Artists’ Cooperative Union have retracted a letter to the City Council requesting original-artist-only zones in Manhattan restricted to First Amendment vendors.

N.Y.U. lashes out at preservationist over dorm flap
By Lincoln Anderson
After coming under criticism last week for filing plans for its new E. 12th St. dorm without first notifying the community or elected officials, as well as for not incorporating neighbors’ input into the design, New York University is firing back. In the crosshairs of the university’s spin counteroffensive is Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

Not easy stopping old P.S. 64 owner from chopping
By Lincoln Anderson
There were yet more puzzling developments at the old P.S. 64 during the past week.
Last Thursday, Daniel Reardon, a representative of the National Architectural Trust preservation organization, wrote City Councilmember Rosie Mendez, saying he’d received a call from old P.S. 64 owner Gregg Singer’s attorney.

City will appeal Wash. Sq. lawsuit in November
By Albert Amateau
The city last Tuesday won the Appellate Division’s permission to appeal Justice Emily Jane Goodman’s decision that the Department of Parks and Recreation must take its plans for the redesign of the Washington Square Park fountain and fountain plaza back to Community Board 2 and to the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Patrol that ‘puts out the water’ may be dissolved
By David Spett
Firefighting is in Eric Schultz’s blood.
Schultz, 51, who lives in Southampton, N.Y., became a Village fire patrolman in 1992, following in the footsteps of his great-grandfather, also a fire patrolman, and his great-great-grandfather, a New York City volunteer firefighter before the Civil War.

Dispute over candidate’s primary home knocks him off primary ballot
By David Spett
Ken Diamondstone, who is running against incumbent Martin Connor for State Senate in the 25th District, may lose his spot on the September primary ballot if he doesn’t win an appeal in state Supreme Court this week.

City may uproot planters to defuse bomb threat, reports Soho leader
By David Spett
The president of Soho’s Crosby St. Block Association said he was told that all city sidewalk planters are being removed because they pose a bomb threat.

George advised to clean Chinatown guck, own makeup
By David Spett
George O’Dowd, better known as singer Boy George, was recently sentenced to five days of community service in Sanitation District 3 for falsely reporting a burglary in his Little Italy loft on Oct. 7, 2005. Police responding to the scene also found 14 bags of cocaine.

Seminary critics slam unholy alliance with developer
By Albert Amateau
After a three-hour meeting last week, General Theological Seminary and its Chelsea neighbors were still far apart on the size of a Ninth Ave. mixed residential-academic complex that the seminary plans in partnership with the Brodsky Organization.

School neighbors want to go yard
By David Spett
Community Board 2 unanimously passed a resolution on July 20 encouraging the opening of the main yard at P.S. 41, also called the Greenwich Village School, on 11th St. between Sixth and Seventh Aves.

Arts & Entertainment

N.Y. Fringe Fest celebrates 10 years
Brian Parks is being humble. During a recent rehearsal of his “two separate but related plays” that he paired together and titled “Americana Absurdum,” the playwright refuses to make any grand claim that his show launched the New York International Fringe Festival.

Dear Mr. Lonelyhearts
By Marin Resnick
Ron Geraci, a writer, editor, and Thompson Street resident, understands men’s dating woes. The 36-year-old relationship expert began a dating column in Men’s Health in 2000, has worked for the online dating website Match.com, and has edited the New York Times’ “Modern Love” column. Recently, he wrote “The Bachelor Chronicles” (Kensington Books), a memoir that has drawn comparisons to Carrie Bradshaw of “Sex and the City” fame.

Koch On Film
By Ed Koc
Miami Vice” (+) My favorite television cop shows were “Hill Street Blues,” “NYPD Blue,” and the failed series, “Cop Rock,” all created by Steven Bochco. I didn’t watch the “Miami Vice” series, but I interfaced with the show when I was mayor.
13 Tzameti (+) My eyes did not leave the screen from the opening scene to the end of this film. “13 Tzameti” is a superb movie experience.

‘A Stone Carver,’ chiseled to perfection
By Jerry Tallmer
Opening night went just fine, says William Mastrosimone, except, of course, for “that one little thing that always goes wrong.” Right at the beginning of the play, when Raff and his girlfriend Janice come to talk with Raff’s irascible, shotgun-wielding father, the young woman, once the door is unbarred, is to bring forth from her purse a bottle of wine as a sort of peace offering.