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BY ALBERT AMATEAU
Kids on stilts and balloons galoremade it look like a circus last Thursdayin front of 75 Morton St. But thecrowd of about 200 Greenwich Village,Chelsea and Tribeca neighbors andelected officials were seriously renew-ing demands for middle-school spacein the state-owned building.The rally, following a similar one lastyear, demanded that the city and statemake space available in the MortonSt. property for a middle school torelieve the overcrowding in the schoolbuilding on Hudson and Grove Sts.that Greenwich Village Middle Schoolshares with P.S. 3.Parents and officials were quick topoint out that longer-term solutionsare needed to solve overcrowding andexcessive class size throughout theVillage, Chelsea and Tribeca.“We were able to find space in theVillage for the new kindergarten andpre-K classes, but we need to find anew space for the Clinton Academyfor Writers and Artists so that P.S. 11can have the whole building on W.21st St.,” said City Council SpeakerChristine Quinn.“We want smaller class size,” saidMargaret Chin, the Democratic nom-inee for the City Council District 1seat, which covers the South Village,
BY MARY REINHOLZ
Embodying geezer powerat full throttle, veteran con-sumer advocate and corpo-rate critic Ralph Nader cameto Union Square last week,advocating for a single-payer healthcare system inAmerica and simultaneouslypromoting his first novel,surprisingly called “Only theSuper-Rich Can Save Us!”at Barnes & Noble on E.17th St.
Nader’s novel idea: Only the filthy rich can save us now
New school year — renewedcall for Morton middle school
Photo by William Alatriste, NYC Council
Serenity Warner of P.S. 3, looking at camera, along with other students signed a giant-sized postcard to GovernorDavid Paterson, telling him that 75 Morton St. should be a school.
BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
A new ad hoc committeeon Pier 40 has been formedat the Hudson River ParkTrust to come up with ideasto renovate and redevelopthe critical but crumbling14-acre pier.Two prior request-for-proposals, or R.F.P., pro-cesses that sought develop-ers to fix up and programthe Lower West Side pierhave sunk like stones.The most pressing con-cern about the two-storyPier 40, at W. Houston St.,is its roof, which needs $20million in repairs. Also call-ing for an overhaul are thepier’s rusting support piles.The 5-mile-long HudsonRiver Park is supposed to befinancially self-supporting,and Pier 40 is a big partof that equation: Parking— currently Pier 40’s maincommercial use — bringsin about $7.5 million gross($5.5 million net) in rentfor the Trust, or about 40percent of the park’s annualoperating budget. Parkingon the pier is staunchlydefended by a strong localconstituency of car owners. With improvements,the parking could probablybring in several million dol-lars more in annual revenue.However, as the pier’s roof deteriorates, sections of theparking are being progres-sively closed off, not onlyputting the pier at risk, butreducing the pier’s revenue.In order for the pier tobe renovated, significantly
Looking at Pier 40 with a fresh eye, group seeks uses
Continued on page 4
145 SIXTH AVENUE • NYC 10013 • COPYRIGHT © 2009 COMMUNITY MEDIA, LLC
Continued on page 13 Continued on page 16
EDITORIAL,LETTERS
PAGE 14
KOCH ON ‘COCO’
PAGE 23
Volume 79, Number 17
$1.00
West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Little Italy, Chinatown and Lower East Side,
Since 1933
September 30 - October 6, 2009
Yes they can!(survive), p. 12
2
September 30 - October 6, 2009
PARK DOINGS:
Teddy Roosevelt IV
recently steppeddown as a board of directors member of the Hudson RiverPark Trust, citing his busy schedule, we were told by Trustsources. T.R. IV was a gubernatorial appointee to the13-member board; Governor
David Paterson
has not yetannounced a replacement. … Meanwhile, the Friends of Hudson River Park, the park’s leading advocacy group,has named
Susanna Aaron
to its board of directors. Aaronis married to
Gary Ginsberg
, a top member of the Pier40 Partnership and the executive vice president of globalmarketing and corporate affairs at
Rupert Murdoch
’s NewsCorporation. Aaron and Ginsberg are parents to
Sam
and
Alec
and are involved at the Village Community School.Aaron was a TV producer and has won Emmys. NewYork magazine chose her as one of the “Most BeautifulNew Yorkers” in 2005. The Pier 40 Partnership — a high-powered group of local parents whose children play in youthsports leagues on the W. Houston St. pier — is dedicatedto preserving Pier 40 as a low-impact, community-orientedspace with sports uses. Announcing the news in an e-mailblast, the partnership’s
Rich Caccappolo
said, “Our friendand neighbor Susanna Aaron won election to the board of the Friends of Hudson River Park earlier this week! Expectgreat contributions from her!”
ELECTORAL FUNNY BUSINESS:
Previously, wereported that
Roberto Caballero
was pulled off the bal-lot in the primary election for East Village Democraticdistrict leader after it was revealed he falsely claimed tolive in the district — which is a felony. Subsequently, wewere informed by
Rosie Mendez
’s campaign that Caballeroalso voted in the district where he falsely claimed to live— which is yet another felony. For Caballero’s sake, it’s just lucky the election is over, so he can stop racking upfelonies. ... Meanwhile, Mendez, who was re-elected to theCity Council, also trounced
Mildred Martinez
in the racefor female district leader, by a margin of about 80 percentto 20 percent.
‘MASS EVICTION’ TOUR:
A local tenant activist keptinsisting to us that the Economakises had moved out of theirbuilding at 47 E. Third St., so we decided to check it outfor ourselves. One thing led to another,
Alistair Economakis
invited us to come over and take a look, and last Fridayevening we got a tour of the building — or what’s left of it. Following the departure of the remaining tenants at theend of August, the Economakises immediately started majorrenovations to turn the five-story building into a private,11,600-square-foot mansion. It was the end of a five-yearfight under which the owners moved to evict the tenants sothey could take the whole 15-unit building for their personaluse; in the end, after their legal case crumbled, the holdouttenants in nine apartments took buyouts. Except for theareas that the family is still using, the place has been com-pletely gutted in the past month — with just the floors, thestairs and the building’s brick shell remaining. The old roof is still on, but will be replaced soon. With peppy enthusi-asm,
Catherine Economakis
led the tour, first showing usher “dream kitchen” she had installed on the second floor,complete with a fully stocked stainless steel refrigerator,adjacent to their combination living room/dining room.Moving into the freshly gutted areas — where nothing at allis left of the former apartments — Catherine showed wherethey will blast through a wall to create a new doorway sothat she won’t have to make the “50-yard dash,” as she putit, between the kitchen and the new dining room proper —that is, once they build the dining room in the rear of the
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BY ROSLYN KRAMER
Everyone on Jane St. west of WashingtonSt. remembers the idyllic, genteel hotel thenew management promised two years ago:Chic tourists sleeping off hectic days insmall, charming, inexpensive rooms; dur-ing waking hours immersing themselves inthe background music, eclectic menu andcocktails (eggs over easy, cosmopolitans)and cushy vintage sofas, transforming thehuge ground-floor space, grandly dubbedthe Ballroom, into the comfy dimensions of a living room.“We very much see it as a large livingroom,” said Sean MacPherson, a co-ownerof the hotel and apparently the most adept atcommunity relations among his co-owners.“I’ve never had a business where I’ve hadcomplaints and didn’t address it.” And incase anyone should doubt the lanky, floppy-haired hotelier, he asked the assembled JaneStreeters, “Watch what I do. I’ve done thisfor 30 years; you have to be responsive toyour neighbors.” While MacPherson didn’t win over the50 or so Jane St. residents assembled thatmid-May night in the lobby of 130 Jane St.,criticism was restrained.But that was then. At a more recent meet-ing, called to institute an organized responseto what neighbors describe as the mayhememanating from the hotel, a representativeof the hotel owners denied that late-nightclubgoers puffed cigarettes in the Ballroom.The response was laughter.“That was the thing that completelyundermined their credibility,” said SteveMaslow, a resident of 111 Jane St., whichalong with 99 and130 Jane St., has formeda new organization — Jane St. NeighborsUnited — to respond to the quality of lifeproblems emanating from the retooled JaneHotel. (And if any doubt remained aboutthe smoking, one current hotel tenant hadphotographed clubgoers puffing away in theearly-morning bar scene.)But most moving to Maslow was a boywho asked that the noise be stopped becausehe can’t sleep, and because of this was unableto concentrate at school. Nor were residentsimpressed by the orange-jacketed trafficmovers: “It looks like we’re being invaded,”an ungrateful Jane St. resident noted.Background music wafting through a liv-ing room-like atmosphere was “anything but,”recalled Rachael Chernoff. “Blasting music,people dancing on tables, packs of people onthe street at 4 a.m.,” she continued, enumerat-ing the disruptions that have turned residents’lives upside down. “The disrespect for theirneighbors and the deceptive way they gottheir liquor license — saying it was going tobe a living room with just background music— that’s how they presented it,” Chernoff said. “Anyone who lives on the block and hasyoung kids as I do, gets constant noise, and aconstant stream of cabs that makes crossingthe street dangerous.”For people living in the front part of 130Jane St., even double-paned windows won’tblock out the noise. A narrow street thatturns along the West Side Highway and con-nects to Horatio St. a block north, the blockpresents other traffic hazards if fire trucksor ambulances are trying to get through theunending stream of taxis.“We’re dealing with issues of noise andmayhem,” stated Barry Mallin, attorney forthe residents. “Horns, traffic, inebriation,graffiti, a certain amount of vandalism.”Required licenses are nonexistent, or can’tbe found, according to Mallin, including anall-important cabaret license — allowingdancing in the Ballroom — which has yet tomaterialize.“We haven’t been able to come up witha cabaret license,” said Mallin, and not forwant of searching. But the hotel does haveliquor licenses for nonexistent bars.“Someone who has a liquor license shouldhave a certificate of occupancy and be readyfor business,” Mallin pointed out. Withoutthat basic requirement, a license should bepulled, he said.Exactly when and how the hotel ownersgot their liquor licenses mystifies Villagers,including people who should know, like thehead of a tenants association across the streetfrom the hotel and the head of the commu-nity board, who both only heard that liquorlicenses existed long after MacPherson andCo. had bought the waterfront hotel. In short,there is a consensus that the entertainment inthe Ballroom is flatly illegal, and as for thattasty light food menu so much a part of theBallroom’s living-room aura, that too has yetto materialize.MacPherson’s partners in the Jane Hotelare Eric Goode, Richard Born and Ira Drukier.MacPherson, along with various combina-tions of these partners and others, also has anownership stake in the Maritime Hotel, theBowery Hotel and the Waverly Inn, as well asother properties in Los Angeles. Tenants —the very few who are left — pay roughly $700to $1,000-plus a month; although old-timers— if any are still around — may pay less. Thenumber of rent-stabilized tenants, as opposedto $99-a-night transients, who still live in thehotel is not known, at least among tenants;people tend to suddenly disappear.Many tenants have been evicted, in somecases reportedly after management has refusedto accept rent. Voluntary departure may berewarded with a less-than-skimpy buyoutoffer, but maybe not. How many tenants areleft is unclear, although a handful — five orsix — are fighting management’s attempts toevict them and are making charges of harass-ment.Just as the tenants’ situation seemed to beimproving, another crisis loomed: The unap-pointed tenant organizer suddenly decidedto take a buyout for an unknown amount;but first, without notifying fellow tenants,and reportedly claiming to be their electedleader, she canceled ongoing hearings of the tenants’ case. And then she disappearedalong with papers documenting the tenants’case. But the handful of still-active tenantsregrouped and have staggered on, virtuallylawyerless, learning as they go. As for theirtreatment by the hotel management, theproblems the remaining tenants currentlyface are cleaner than the rats, mice, bedbugsand perilous chemicals they endured in thepast, but still impediments to decent livingstandards exist.One mystery is how the new owners man-aged to get a certificate of non-harassment,necessary to upgrade a single-room occupan-cy (S.R.O.) building to a commercial hotel,despite tenants having submitted 15 affidavitsprotesting their treatment and conditions inthe hotel.In contrast to growing protest againsthotel policies, MacPherson still has ferventsupport in some quarters. Sylvia Iglesias, alongtime hotel resident, lauds her treatmentby the hotel’s management. Furthermore,she feels strongly that MacPherson is bring-ing the landmarked structure “back to itsformer glory.” She is “offended” by peopleattacking him, especially, she said, because“the authorities gave him a certificate of non-harassment” when he bought the hotel. Sheregards tenant criticism of him as “a kindof character assassination — a movement todestroy an honorable man.”But that doesn’t explain why the hotelrecently refused David Drumgold’s rentchecks for eight weeks, then threatened thathe would have to pay the entire rent bill atone time or be evicted.Drumgold’s reply: a portfolio documentingtenants’ complaints illustrated with photos of cigarette-smoking clubgoers and crowds of revelers pressing to enter the club.Some of the clubgoers apparently getquite disoriented. When 60 Jane St. resi-dents gathered in the sleek lobby of 99Jane St., they had an unexpected visitor,apparently an escapee from the Ballroom’sperpetual happy hour.“Where’s the party?” the inebriated club-ber asked.Salvatore Rasa, longtime president of theboard of managers at 99 Jane St., was notamused. He is painfully aware of club vio-lence in neighborhoods like Chelsea and theMeat Market.“With a club so out of control, are we just waiting for something to happen beforesomething is done?” he wondered. “We hadno trouble with the S.R.O. tenants, nor havethey caused a drop in property values,” hestated. “But now that we have a club out of control we’re getting questions.”
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Jane ‘living room’ is a living hell, neighbors say
‘We’re dealing withissues of noise andmayhem. Horns, traffic,inebriation… .’
Barry Mallin,neighbors’ attorney
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