Villager photo by Ramin Talaie

Let freedom rise
Officials symbolically marked the start of the Freedom Tower’s construction, as a 20-ton cornerstone was dedicated to the people who were killed Sept. 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center site July 4. The tower, which will rise 1,776 feet in honor of the United States of America’s birth year, will be the first building to rise from the site and is expected to be completed in 2008. Above, from left, W.T.C. developer Larry Silverstein, Gov. George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey hailed the start of construction.

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Horror not forgotten on W. 10th
By Lincoln Anderson
It’s been a long time since November 1987, when little Lisa Steinberg was beaten to death by her adoptive father Joel Steinberg in a crime that was too sick and inhuman to even imagine. Yet the memories of the coked-up child killer; his lover, Hedda Nussbaum, whose battered face became the symbol of his insane savagery; and Lisa remain painfully vivid on the block where they lived — W. 10th St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves. in the heart of the Village.

Rabbi, cab driver, N.Y.U. student are new on boards
By Erica Stein
Since April, 10 new members have been appointed to Community Boards 2 and 3.

Noho legal corps strikes big blow for habeas corpus
By Jerry Tallmer
George Bush, meet King John.
Donald Rumsfeld, here’s a map of Runnymede. It’s not far from Guantanamo.
John Ashcroft, shake hands with habeas corpus.

The back story behind book fest
By David H. Ellis
Despite the Parks Department’s intention to approve a permit that would allow the New York Is Book Country festival to use Washington Sq. Park, opponents of the event continue to hurl criticisms at festival organizers, claiming the organizers circumvented the concerns of Village residents and members of Community Board 2.

Large art installation is planned for a pier in Hudson River Park
By Elizabeth O’Brien
Next spring, Pier 54 could become the site of a “nomadic museum” and a traveling photography exhibition celebrating humankind’s relationship with animals.

Kavanagh says he’s running to fill Lopez’s Council seat
By Lincoln Anderson
Brian Kavanagh is putting out the word that he plans to run for City Council in the district now represented by Margarita Lopez. Lopez must give up the District 2 seat — which includes the East Village, Lower East Side, Gramercy and Murray Hill — after 2005 due to term limits.

Developers to submit detailed plans for Pier 57
By Albert Amateau
The Hudson River Park Trust’s request for proposals that were issued to four development teams for the redevelopment of Pier 57 are due next week.

Parade tension eases, as Falun Gong group is allowed to march
By David H. Ellis
Anticipating another year of exclusion from the Independence Day parade in Chinatown, members of the spiritual group Falun Gong received a last-minute reprieve to march in the festivities on Saturday.

Mayor, Gerson offer plans to preserve Mitchell-Lama
By Albert Amateau
Mitchell-Lama tenants threatened with walloping rent increases because their landlords are leaving the affordable housing program got a potential lifeline at the end of last month when Mayor Bloomberg initiated a plan to encourage landlords to stay in Mitchell-Lama for another 15 years or more.

Village clinic has prescription for safe summer fun
By Judith Stiles
As summer fun is peaking, so are the splinters in the toes, the puffy bee stings, the lobster-like sunburns, even total-body poison ivy, sabotaging vacation for children of all ages.
Muslim chaplain saw prison bars from both sides
BY Heather Harlan
Marking his first pubic appearance since claims of espionage against him were dropped, Army Captain James Yee thanked members of the Asian American community for their support at a benefit dinner in his honor held in Chinatown.

Blame it on the sun: He can’t stop painting outdoors
By Tien-Shun Lee
For Lower East Side street artist Tom Matt, sunny days mean work.

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Wrestling in the restroom
By Jerry Tallmer
It was panic time for the five young women of a theater collective called the Wreckio Ensemble.
Here they were, last summer, putting together a play out of their own improvisations about the effects of September 11, 2001, on the media — a play for which they’d booked and were committed to a performance space — when they lost their rehearsal space and were unable to proceed with the play “Desperate cases call for desperate measures,” says Tamera Cone.

Capitalist leviathans on the celluloid couch
By Steve Erickson
Hollywood typically refrains from producing overtly political films for a simple reason—in order to make money, a project needs to appeal to the widest possible selection of viewers.

Charm trumps brains
By Gary M. Kramer
The likeable Israeli film “Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi” features an adorable title character (Oshri Cohen) who himself wants desperately to be liked. In the opening scene, he asks his girlfriend Tehila (Rotem Nissmo) “Do you love me?” only to be rebuffed by her response, which is to freeze things between them.

Koch On Film
By Ed Koch
“Fahrenheit 9/11” (-) “Fahrenheit 9/11” is well done, but while purporting to be a documentary, it is replete with fabrications. Newsday reported some of Moore’s misstatements as follows: “At the start of ‘Fahrenheit 9/11,’ filmmaker Michael Moore shows a clip of CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin saying that if ballots had been recounted in Florida after the 2000 presidential vote, ‘under every scenario Gore won the election.’ “Facing Windows” (+) A neighbor urged me to see this Italian film which I thought was good but not as great as he suggested.
Compelling one-woman show
By Jerry Tallmer
“ . . . we must never forget that we are all a nation of immigrants . . . “
— John Fitzgerald Kennedy
There are 14 of them, or 15 including the host of this evening’s Poetry Slam, a Pakistani American of great good will named Mohammed Ali — each and every one of the 15 speaking English flavored with a different tongue.

Manhattan Ensemble mounts ‘The Greeks’
By Davida Singer
When Kaipo Schwab, artistic director of The Imua! Theatre Company, was looking around for a unique 10th anniversary piece, he came up with “The Greeks,” which premiered in London in 1979, and hasn’t ever before been performed in its entirety in New York.

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