The Villager, May 20, 2009

BY ALBERT AMATEAUAND LINCOLN ANDERSON

The chain-link fences came downwithout any fanfare and with minimalpublic notice around 6 a.m. Tuesday.But it did not take long for Villagersand visitors to find their way into thenew, redesigned northwest quadrant of Washington Square Park.By 10 a.m. the relocated fountainwas jetting water as it should andGeorge Vellonakis, the designer of thepark’s renovations, was on hand to seethat all was well. He declined to com-ment and referred all inquiries to theDepartment of Parks and Recreationpress office.Early-morning visitors had dividedopinions about the new design, whichprovoked a seemingly endless and bit-ter controversy for the past severalyears and survived a court attack bydissenters.“I liked it better the way it wasbefore,” said Ognjen Simic, who worksat New York University. “I don’t see theneed to change it.”“It looks great,” said Vigdis Burke,a Village neighbor for 15 years whocame with her daughter, Annika, 2½years old, and her son, Christian, notquite 1 year old. Annika found her wayto the water in the fountain and wether fingers and the bottom of her shoesbefore mom said, “No.” What did David Langdon, in thepark with his wife and three children,think of the new landscaping with awide central path leading to the plazaand the fountain? Langdon shrugged.“It’s pretty,” he said. “But they tookdown a lot of trees. The fountain seemsstrange here in the center. I don’t thinkit was worth closing the park for twoyears.”Robin Nagle, an anthropology pro-fessor at N.Y.U. and anthropologist-in-residence of the city’s Department of Sanitation, said, “It’s beautiful, but I’mconcerned about maintenance. Thatwill be the make or break of the park.”Nagle said she did not miss the sunken

BY PATRICK HEDLUND

A decade-long local effortto transform a derelict former West Side railway into a pub-lic park-in-the-sky will finallybe realized next month withthe debut of the High Line’sfirst section in Chelsea.“To me the most reward-ing thing is bringing some-body up there to show it tothem for the first time,” saidJoshua David, who conceivedof the idea with fellow park

The High Line park is steaming quickly toward grand debut

Fountain ﬂowing, ﬂowers blooming,restored square bursts back to life

Villager photo by Jefferson Siegel

On Tuesday afternoon a youngster waded in the renovated Washington Square Park fountain amid the spray of itsnew, more powerful water jets.

BY ALBERT AMATEAU

The Department of Edu-cation was negotiating withGreenwich House last weekfor space that could tempo-rarily relieve the overcrowd-ing that has resulted in awaiting list for kindergartenseats in Greenwich Village’stwo public elementaryschools in September.Council Speaker ChrisQuinn and an Educationofﬁcial spoke about theoption at the Thurs., May14, meeting of the District2 Community EducationCouncil, at which morethan 300 parents from theVillage, the Upper East Sideand Chelsea were hoping forgood news.Quinn also said shewelcomed New YorkUniversity’s offer last weekof space for four pre-kinder-garten classes in WashingtonSquare Village, but she saidthe space needed a lot of work and could not be readyfor children in September.“It’s been a whirlwindweek,” said Rebecca Daniels,president of the District 2C.E.C., who presided at theMay 14 meeting.The waiting list forincoming kindergartenersat P.S. 41 on W. 11th St.and P.S. 3 on Hudson St.stood at 79 at the end of last week, even after a taskforce of elected ofﬁcials andD.O.E. staff members hadbeen searching for weeksfor more classroom space.The task force looked every-where, from the McBurney

Pre-K kids might go to Barrow St.,not to Balducci’s

Continued on page 16

Continued on page 11Continued on page 30

EDITORIAL,LETTERS

PAGE 18

‘FRASIER’ CO-STARIN CLASSICCOMEDY

PAGE 24

Volume 78, Number 50

$1.00

West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Little Italy, Chinatown and Lower East Side,

Since 1933

May 20 - 26, 2009

Golden Girlsbeach party,p. 25

2

May 20 - 26, 2009

SIDEWALK ‘ROAD WARRIOR’:

“I want you to get thisright — because this is going to be all over Streetsblog,”

Sean Sweeney

said, as he explained to us on Sunday how hegot the whopping shiner under his left eye. The Soho activistsaid he was walking on Greene St. when a young cyclist camebarreling down the sidewalk toward him. At a point wherethe pavement narrowed, the two came face to face, with therider still racing at a rapid rate. Sweeney abruptly grabbedthe bike’s handlebars, to which the cyclist responded, “Areyou looking for trouble?” Sweeney answered, “Yeah!”though, he said, on second thought maybe he shouldn’t have.Before Sweeney knew it, the cyclist — whom he said was“clean cut, like a yuppie” — had sucker punched him in theface. Some bystanders — “young citizens, his age,” Sweeneynoted with some satisfaction — grabbed the bike rider andheld him. “They said, ‘What are you punching the old guyfor?’” a remark Sweeney said actually hurt more than thephysical blow. The cyclist protested that Sweeney “startedit,” but the activist retorted, “No, you were on the sidewalk.”In the end, since he was late for a Downtown IndependentDemocrats meeting, Sweeney decided not to call the policeor press charges, and they let the man go. It’s not Sweeney’sﬁrst run in with bikes. He’s been a vocal critic of the newGrand St. bike lane, which — along with his opposition to aproposed Prince St. pedestrian mall — led Streetsblog, notlong ago, to dub him NIMBY of the Year.

HERE COMES THE JUDGE:

Downtown IndependentDemocrats’ fundraiser last Sunday, at D.I.D. PresidentSweeney’s Soho loft (which is where he was telling usabout his black eye), drew quite a crowd, with the likes of Congressmembers

Jerrold Nadler

and

Carolyn Maloney

,Council Speaker

Christine Quinn

and state Senator

DanielSquadron

, among others. Civil Court Judge

Kathryn Freed

was there — and pointed out she had every right to be. Rulesbar judges from attending such political events — but not if they are candidates running for ofﬁce, and Freed told us shehas her eye on state Supreme Court. But she said, thoughit’s possible she might be on the ballot this year, there are abunch of candidates already approved by the judicial screen-ing panel who were “ahead” of her in line, so to speak, soshe might have to run next year. Supreme Court would mean$10,000 more a year, plus “more interesting cases,” Freedsaid. She stated she won’t run for her old First District CityCouncil seat again because, as she put it, “I can’t afford it,”noting she’s still paying off the mortgage on her Grand St.Co-ops apartment.

GET INTA DODGE:

Also at the D.I.D. fundraiser, welearned a bit more about

Dodge Landesman

and his ground-breaking campaign (he’s only 18) for City Council. A junior atYork High School who lives on E. 21st St. in Gramercy, he’s run-ning against incumbent

Rosie Mendez

in the Second District.A former special-education student who overcame difﬁcultieswith “sequencing,” such as reading the correct time on a clockface, Landesman previously attended the Gateway School onSecond Ave. near 14th St. We did not know that

Gil Horowitz

,who is a psychologist when not a Washington Square-areaactivist, was Landesman’s pro bono “life coach.” Horowitz saidthe biggest thing he has tried to impart to the young wannabepol so far is: “Think Big. Think Win.” Landesman said Mendezhas been good on public-housing and L.G.B.T. issues, but thathe would be more active on education. Speaking of education,Horowitz said he’s advising Landesman that, if elected, heshould go to school locally and attend Baruch College whilein ofﬁce. Continuing a sartorial style set by one of his primarycampaign predecessors,

Jay Wilson

, Landesman favors bothsaddle shoes and natty, vintage-style suits. ... Oh, by the way,Dodge’s dad,

Rocco Landesman

, was just tapped by President

Obama

to be chairperson of the National Endowment for theArts, though still needs to be conﬁrmed.

ONE MORE D.I.D.:

Horowitz noted he’s also helping out

Pete Gleason

— who unlike Freed, is running for the FirstCouncil District seat — as Gleason’s campaign “behavioral

I

N

THE

HEART

OF

G

REENWICH

V

ILLAGE

— Recommended by Gourmet Magazine, Zagat, Crain’s NY, Playbill & The Villager —

“Gold Medal Chef of the Year”. — Chefs de Cuisine Association



69 MacDougal St.

(Bet. Bleeker & Houston St.)





Steaks - Lobsters - Seafood

146 Tenth Ave. at 19th St. 212-627-3030

Seating everyday noon to midnightPrivate parties for 10 to 400 - Reservations Suggested

“Old-fashioned in every way”,this Chelsea “trip back in time” purveys “hearty” Americanain a “Waterford-and-wood- buring-fireplace” setting; add in“accommodating” staffers who“pour a great Guinness” and the“whole is definitely equal tomore than the sum of its parts.”- ZAGAT 2008

OCEANFRONT AMAGANSETT, NY

Nestled in the dunes of Napeague and just steps to the AtlanticOcean, The Ocean Vista Resort offers the ideal location for theperfect Hamptons vacation, weekend getaway or family reunion.

Newly renovated rooms | Great location | KitchenettesOversized heated indoor pool and sauna | Tennis | Private ocean beachMidweek & Weekend Specials also available

OPENING WEEKEND SPECIAL

5/15/09 thru 5/21/09$80. per night

(also available during week of 5/26 thru 5/28/09)

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND SPECIAL

$150. - $210. per night,and enjoy 1 night free when staying 3 nights

* not to be combined with any other offer or coupon

800-272-2956 631-267-3448www.oceanvistaresort.com

PEP REAL ESTATE

Soho, Noho, Greenwich Village,Nolita, Tribeca, and Hudson Sq.

Member: REBNY, GVCC, and SOHOPRTSP

John & Ronald Pasquale

www.peprealestate.com212-925-3280