The Greening of the West Village: THE GREEN PIER
March 2010
PIER 40 THIS SPRING? The Hudson River Park Advisory Board is holding a meeting at Village Community School on March 22 to follow up on the community’s interest to establish the first indoor/outdoor year-round Green Market in New York.
MTA Ends M8 As It Discloses Waste And Fraud
By George Capsis
Faithful readers of WestView might recall that a year ago we reported on a request to the then MTA President Howard H. Roberts Jr. by State Assemble women Deborah Glick to extend the route of 8th street cross town bus, the M8, just five short blocks so that it would end and begin [...]
Pier 40 – There Is A Way
By Arthur Schwartz
Many may wonder why the Hudson River Park Trust has spent so much time on Pier 40 soliciting bids from enterprising capitalists, looking to do public good and make a buck at the same time. Why, many may ask, doesn’t the Trust just develop the Pier itself?
The answer lies, in part, in [...]
Looking for Work in All the Wrong Places
By Gay Bryant
It was clear by early 2008 that it was over: My lovely magazine career done, not with a bang, but a whimper, and at a late age I’m having to reinvent myself. No shame here, better people than I are in the same situation. But, with two kids in college and nary [...]
Long Overdue Far West Village Rezoning Gets Green Light
While City Continues to Stall on Hudson Square Rezoning
By Andrew Berman
In late November came some welcome and long-overdue news – the city finally agreed to rezone six blocks in the Far West Village with outdated zoning which encourages oversized commercial or ‘community facility’ development (hotels or dorms, for instance). The Greenwich Village Society [...]
VILLAGE POLITICS: An Interview with Jo Hamilton, CB#2 chair
By Aubrey Lees
Community Board #2 Chair, Jo Hamilton, has often been described as a force of nature with respect to her ability to resolve complicated community issues.
Elected as Chair in June, 2009, Hamilton already had a proven track record of community involvement, both as the Chair of Jane Street Association and as Co-Chair, with Florent [...]
Jury Verdict Unhorses Bruno
By Henry J. Stern
The news from Albany is important. At best, it is a harbinger of the collapse of the regime of greed. At worst, it will make the plotters more careful in their schemes and scare off some of them. It is likely to have an intermediate effect, which will be [...]
Darren Knows
By Darren Sukenik
Q. I really like an apartment in a West Village co-op but the lobby is shabby. How does this affect the resale value?
A. It does indeed affect resale value, but not in the way you would think. When a building’s lobby is shabby, the only way to go is up. There is clear [...]
Peer Review or “Cycle of Submission”?
By Suzan Mazur
“Grants are awarded by your colleagues who sit in Research Councils and Foundations. Most of us, in any establishment, tend to be conservative and to follow what is called the paradigm. This creates a cycle of submission. . . . The disregard for science’s ethical principles is widespread.” – Antonio Lima-de-Faria, Professor of [...]
Science from Away: Firestone versus Ford
by Mark M. Green
Cool a rubber band in the freezer—it stretches more easily. Warming a rubber band makes it more difficult to stretch. That’s what scientists call counterintuitive. Here’s another surprise: place a thick rubber band against your upper lip, stretch it suddenly and feel the heat on this sensitive part of your face.
Rubber [...]
New Year’s Resolutions
By Dr. Jeffrey Low, M.D.
It’s that time of the year that many of us make New Year’s resolutions promising major changes in the way that we live. The most common behaviors that patients want to change include eating habits, excess alcohol, smoking, drug addiction and dysfunctional relationships. The added stressors of uncertain times [...]
The Truth About Rudolph
By James Lincoln Collier
One hesitates to besmirch an icon, especially one beloved of children, but the story is bound to come out anyway. Now that Christmas is over, it is time to tell the truth about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. More Americans know his tale than know the story [...]
T Salon—a tea house in the Chelsea Market
Just the thing for “a more humble mind set”.
By Barbara Chacour
WestView interviewed the energetic Miriam Novalle, founder and president, in the beautiful tea salon/shop that she opened near the west entrance of the Chelsea Market three years ago. Her sister, a designer, helped her create the space from sustainable materials such as bamboo, and [...]
Li-Lac Chocolates: Fiercely Guarding the Legacy
By Barbara Chacour
Among iconic Greenwich Village businesses, Li-Lac Chocolates has to rank near the top: in terms of longevity — it was founded in 1923 on Christopher Street by an immigrant of Greek origin who had learned the craft in France; in terms of quality — there have been no changes to [...]
Natural Ways to Stay Healthy This Winter
Good Advice from Integral Yoga Natural Foods General Manager and Nutritionist Manu Dawson
By Jo Sgammato
When the temperature drops, the chances of getting sick go up. Stale, toxic and poorly circulating air (due to closed windows) and the lack of sunshine contribute to the incidence of cold and flu. But in winter, we may also forget [...]
Ahead of Her Time: A West Village Icon
By Armanda Squadrilli
A couple of years ago, I was working on an apartment sale, when a beautiful, elegant woman blew into my office, sat down in front of me, and declared enthusiastically: “Armanda! Sono Vivian!”
It took a few moments to realize that Vivian was the daughter of Elsie Cardia, the former owner of The Beatrice [...]
A Broader Vision for Pier 40: Part Two
By Robert W. Smith and Bill Hine
The need is to use appropriate funding sources to get Pier 40 repairs under way, without years of delay for another Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). Or even consider changing state and city laws to make Pier 40 more commercial.
Here is an example included in the [...]
Westbeth at a Generational Divide / Part II
By Eileen Stukane
Its 40th anniversary is in 2010 but Westbeth was historic even before it became pioneering artists’ housing. Until the mid-60s it was home to Western Electric/Bell Telephone Laboratories and scientific breakthroughs: the microphone, sound motion pictures, television, color TV, the transistor, lasers, and more. When Bell Labs relocated to New Jersey, the hulking [...]
The F-Bomb that is Facebook
By Scott Langer
It’s the six-year anniversary of Facebook in February, let’s celebrate by posting inappropriate pictures of ourselves and losing our jobs! Not “in this economy” to be up with the parlance of our times, but we must discuss.
Self-awareness has a way of excusing every little slip-up. “I don’t mind her vanity because she knows [...]
Tales From A Greenwich Village Girlhood
Jewish in My Mind
JEWISH was Kathe Kollewitz lithographs of thin women and hungry babies in your living room; Pete Seeger records on your hi-fi: If I had a Hammer, This Land is Your Land, There Once Was a Union Maid (who never was afraid, of goons and ginks and company [...]
Then & Now
SOME THINGS DO REMAIN THE SAME.
By MAGGIE BERKVIST
And developers moved pretty fast back then, too.
On October 14, 1928, the New York Times reported,
“Sheridan Square’s Old Landmarks Doomed for Tall Apartment House: Four Little Residences on Grove Street Corner Will Be Razed This Week.” The article went on to say, “…The old houses are [...]
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