Villager photo by Jefferson Siegel

Easy rider: No cars!
Perhaps feeling the Olympic spirit, a cyclist rode with an American flag flying on his bike as he passed Astor Place on Lafayette St. during the inaugural Manhattan car-free “Summer Streets. More.

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Rhetoric on rezoning ramps up as public review continues
By Lincoln Anderson, Albert Amateau and Laurie Mittelmann
The East Village/Lower East Side rezoning hearing taking place today Wed., Aug. 13, began at 9 a.m., an hour earlier than the usual City Planning Commission hearing, and is taking place in the Tishman Auditorium of New York University’s Law School at 40 Washington Square South.

Hundreds rally for a new Morton St. middle school
By Albert Amateau
Nearly 300 West Side education activists rallied in front the state-owned building at 75 Morton St. last week and cheered as elected officials and community board members demanded that the seven-story building become a local middle school.

Bloomberg endorses Squadron in primary race against Connor
By Josh Rogers
Mayor Mike Bloomberg, in a scheduled stop-and-chat outside City Hall on Tuesday, endorsed Daniel Squadron for state Senate in the Sept. 9 Democratic primary.

News
Cyclist slam renews calls for special prosecutor
By Laurie Mittelmann
Advocates are using video of an officer tackling a bicyclist in Times Square to renew their call for a special prosecutor focused on police misconduct. And they say the state’s new governor seems more likely than any of his predecessors to listen to them.

Senate piles it on, O.K.’s Gansevoort transfer site
By Albert Amateau
The other shoe dropped last week when the state Senate voted on Aug. 8 to amend the Hudson River Park Act to allow a Department of Sanitation marine transfer station to be built on Gansevoort Peninsula.

HOWL! makes a break, hasn’t got the FEVA anymore
By Lincoln Anderson
This year’s HOWL!! Festival will feature New Orleans-style musical marches, “green” giveaways, comic-book and punk panels and eclectic events at the Bowery Poetry Club — but no FEVA.

Saturday morning car-free streets are off and rolling
By Jefferson Siegel
The fumes and noise of motor vehicles were replaced by a peacefully meandering mass of strollers and cyclists last weekend as the city kicked off the first of three car-free “Summer Streets” Saturdays in August.

New C.B. 3 chairperson has focused on land use
By Albert Amateau
Domenic Pisciotta, the new chairperson of Community Board 3, has been involved in the hot land use issues of the district since 2005, when he was first appointed to the board.

Bloomberg endorses Squadron in primary race against Connor
By Josh Rogers
Mayor Mike Bloomberg, in a scheduled stop-and-chat outside City Hall on Tuesday, endorsed Daniel Squadron for state Senate in the Sept. 9 Democratic primary.

‘I am Maloney, hear me roar’; Rep. pens a new book
Carolyn Maloney signed her new book at the LGBT Community Center on W. 13th St. last week. “Rumors of our Progress have been Greatly Exaggerated: Why Women’s Lives Aren’t Getting Any Easier — And How We Can Make Real Progress for Ourselves and Our Daughters” argues that it’s “a myth” that women have achieved equal status with men in American society.

Bubbling Venus
By Jerry Tallmer
Zelda Fitzgerald, along with her husband F. Scott, stirred things up from time to time by bathing in the fountain in front of the Plaza.  She may or may not have been a vestal virgin, but Scott thought she was.

‘[title of show]’ perfectly tailored for New Yorkers
By Scott Harrah
This clever, original musical comedy was first produced more than two years ago off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in the East Village and won an Obie.

Tribute to a star
By Jennifer O’Reilly
“Welcome Home, Marian Anderson” is a story of a powerful woman who pushed against society’s prejudices, braved circumstances which put her reputation and life in danger, and blazed a path for African American women to work and thrive in a time when the very idea of equality was revolutionary.