St. Vincent’s Hospital offi cials and employees and Village community leaders joined elected officials at a mas- sive forum last Thursday vowing to do whatever it takes to keep St. Vincent’s open as a full-service hospital.

More than 500 people filled the base- ment of Our Lady of Pompei Church, at Bleecker and Carmine Sts., in a demonstration organized by hospital workers union Local 1199. They called on the State Department of Health to reject a proposal by Continuum Partners to take over the financially troubled hospital, close its acute-care, surgical and high-level emergency ser- vice and run St. Vincent’s as an outpa-

“We’re not just a community, we’re a family,” said Henry Amoroso, presi- dent and C.E.O. of St. Vincent’s, who reminded the forum that the 160-year- old institution also provides medical care to 40 homeless shelters through- out the city. “We ask with humility for the privilege to continue to serve you,” Amoroso said.

St. Vincent’s began a discussion at the end of last year with Continuum, operator for the past eight years of Beth Israel, Roosevelt and St. Luke’s hospitals, for proposals in the face of St. Vincent’s $700 million debt and the hospital’s loss of $5 million to $10 million per month. But the Continuum

“Continuum proposed this as a con- cept, but the board is doing everything it can to see that St. Vincent’s remains an acute-care hospital in the Village,” Sister Jane Iannnucelli, of the Sisters of Charity and a member of St. Vincent’s board of directors, told The Villager at the beginning of the forum. The Sisters of Charity founded the hospital in 1849.

On Sat., Jan. 30, the hospital’s board of directors announced that it hired Grant Thornton LLP, a corporate advisory and restructuring service, to

Community Board 3 said it would tackle the contentious issue of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed service cuts to several East Side bus routes that may drasti- cally impact thousands of bus riders who regularly use the M15 City Hall branch line, the M9, M8 and M22 buses. Some subway service may also be affected.

The board’s district man- ager, Susan Stetzer, said the severe reductions are

scheduled for discussion at C.B. 3’s Transportation and Public Safety/Environment Committee meeting Wed., Feb. 10, 6:30 p.m., at University Settlement, 184 Eldridge St.

The alarm was sounded at C.B. 3’s full board meet- ing Tues., Jan. 26, by David Kupferberg, a member of the Committee for Better Transit — a 41-year-old, independent, transit advo- cacy organization comprised

Just one day after thou- sands of demonstrators massed in Washington, D.C., to voice their opposition to Roe v Wade — the U.S. Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal 37 years ago — four Roman Catholic anti-abortion

advocates stood in twos a block apart on Bleecker St., displaying crucifixes and oval pictures of the Virgin Mary pinned to their clothing.

the traditional reproductive years. Bundled up against the biting cold, they eyed a steady stream of young females who walked briskly toward the Margaret Sanger Center clinic, housed in a brick building on the cor- ner of Mott and Bleecker Sts. It’s one of three clin- ics in New York operated by Planned Parenthood of New York City that together terminated some 17,000

Abortion clinic is
facing protest spike;
Why, no one knows

STUDENTS’
MOVING
PROTEST

is circulating regarding the undeveloped “strips” along New York University’s two South Village superblocks. Making the rounds at Community Board 2’s full board meeting last month, it calls for “all the gardens, parks and open spaces” along Mercer St. and LaGuardia Place between Houston and W. Third Sts. to be transferred from the Department of Transportation to the Parks Department. The strips, left over from a street-widening project decades ago, are currently shown as “roadbed” on city maps. “Designating the strips as parkland will conform to their current actual use as public green space and ensure their preservation and proper maintenance,” the petition declares. Somehow, we think N.Y.U., which doesn’t want to restrict its development options, won’t be keen to sign. We asked new CouncilmemberM a r g a r e t

her thoughts. “As far as I know, looking at the space, it’s park space, it’s green space,” she said. Noting she’s still getting briefed on many local matters, she said she recently met with the superblock-area residents and also has a meeting scheduled with N.Y.U.

recommended to deny the application of the Blue Knights Enforcement Motorcycle Club for their annual “Garlic Run” from New Jersey to Little Italy. The police-affiliated event, with its thousands of motorcycles, causes a lot of noise, not to mention pollution and traffic, the board said. The final straw, though, was that last year the Blue

Knights failed to donate half the event’s proceeds to help two sick children in the C.B. 2 area, as they had agreed to, or even give the funds to a children’s hospital. The board further determined that the Blue Knights “have no ‘indigenous’ relationship to any specific street or the community for which their event is proposed.” It remains to be seen if the city will back the board’s advisory rec- ommendation and deny a permit for the June 16 event. Will the administration really say no to all those New Jersey cops and the Little Italy Merchants Association? Also at the board meeting, Williamson Henderson, pres- ident of Stonewall Veterans Association, declared it’s not over as far as S.V.A.’s application for its own street fair, which C.B. 2 also recently recommended to deny.

she spoke to Rita Lee, the board’s former district manager, last week, following her hip replacement surgery. Lee is with her daughter in New Hampshire while she recuperates, and is recovering very well, Johnson said. Lee sends everybody Happy New Year wishes. Lee was featured in a Villager “Flashback” from 1980 a few weeks ago.

right near the scene of her horrifi c accident in early November. Chaikin, 78 — an actress and resident of Westbeth artists housing in the West Village — was riding her electric scooter in a supposedly protected bike lane when she was partially run over by a Parks Department garbage-packer truck on Eighth Ave. at Bleecker St. “They are trying to get her to relearn how to swallow,” a Westbeth neighbor told us. “It's a tedious road. [Her sister]Miriam is exhausted.”

tiny tables and a wonderfully dedicated customer base, we raised over $700! I have already sent our donation to water.org.” A U.S.-based nonprofit organization, the group is helping to rebuild Haiti’s water and sewer infra- structure to modern standards. Sanz’s parents,R o c i o and

the Daily News reported that the Mercer/Houston Dog Run has donated $2,500, from its members’ dues, to Haiti relief; members of the private run — on the afore- mentioned Mercer St. “strip” (see Scoopy item No. 1) — asked that the funds be earmarked for the city’s canine- assisted urban search-and-rescue teams. ... We also got a message from someone at P.S. 3 on Hudson St. who said the school had raised funds for Haiti through a terrific dance benefit — but for some reason, she got cold feet, then said maybe she shouldn’t be doing this and hung up. Anyway, great job by everyone!

walking along E. Houston St. by Avenue B last week when we couldn’t help notice thatC h i c o’s graffiti mural for the Power of Peace Youth Anti-Violence Coalition had been covered over. The wall was now painted lime green and there were the outlines of two cool-looking dudes sketched in. We called Lyn Pentecost, execu- tive director of the Lower Eastside Girls Club, which had commissioned the Power of Peace mural, and she explained. It turns out Chico, who is back in town from Tampa for some more commission work, is painting over the P.O.P. mural with a new one for a local band, Loisaida. He’ll then paint a new one for the Girls Club just to the west, covering over another of his murals, for the local band Aventura. Basically, it’s not what we thought — that someone might have dared diss Chico by painting over his work — but just some mural switching by the artist himself. Also, Chico will be painting a mural of the woman who owned the liquor store that the wall belongs to, which has sported so many of his memorial murals over the years; she died a few months ago. The new Girls Club mural will promote their existing bakery and also a new cafe the girls will be running in a well- known local venue. Pentecost didn’t want to make the cafe details public just yet, because they’re very excited about it, and want to launch it with a bang. In other Girls Club matters, Pentecost said they’ll be breaking

“Old-fashioned in every way”,
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purveys “hearty” Americana
in a “Waterford-and-wood-
buring-fireplace” setting; add in
“accommodating” staffers who
“pour a great Guinness” and the
“whole is definitely equal to
more than the sum of its parts.”

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Defying the oddsmakers, the benefi t for Jim Power, the East Village’s “Mosaic Man,” is still on for Tues., Feb. 16, at Theatre 80, at 80 St. Mark’s Place, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

So said Power himself the other weekend as he was touch- ing up one of his tile-encrusted street lampposts at Second Ave. and St. Mark’s Place, part of his “Mosaic Trail” of cur- rently more than 60 lampposts. For years now, his consuming goal has been to renovate his existing lampposts, and bring their number up to 80 to complete the quirky urban art trail.

“I got approval for 80 light poles. The theme is ‘Around the Village in 80 light poles,’” Power explained. But he added, “To be honest, I don’t know if it will be done.”

The money raised at the benefit will hopefully help him fi nish the trail, but he said the event’s real claim is “to bring the community together.”

Featuring a large American fl ag made of broken tile piec- es on its west side and storied names like “Minsky Brothers Burlesque” on its east, the St. Mark’s pole was a combination 9/11 commemorative/Yiddish theater homage.

As Power worked, his ever-present canine sidekick, Jesse Jane, who was wearing an industrial-strength dog coat, tried to sleep on a small blanket on the sidewalk, shivering a bit. At one point, Power got a friend, Rachelle Pashkin, he was chatting with, to get a bag of inexpensive but delicious lamb lungs for Jesse Jane from the Ukrainian butcher across the street, which quickly perked up the “Mosaic” pooch.

Patting the fl ag on the pole, Power stated everything he does is to exacting standards, noting he’s from a line of builders. It’s his 26th year doing his street mosaics in the East Village.

He said he was stressed out because he still had not fi nished the plaques for the four honorees who will receive awards — including Ray Alvarez of Ray’s Candy Store on Avenue A, blogger Bob Arihood of Neither More Nor Less, a Police Offi cer

Also, Power — who has struggled with chronic homeless- ness over the years — had just recently left Kelly House, up on 127th St., supportive housing run by Common Ground, where he had landed a room. He had a problem with another resident over the neighbor’s late-night music; there was a confrontation and Power’s “glasses went fl ying,” he recalled of the tense situation.

whereabouts of which he asked not to be publicized — and is continuing his work there. Some of his cracked-tile-encrusted coffee tables are selling for $2,000. But he said a requirement to get an operation to fi x his badly ailing hip is permanent housing. He still hopes to get an apartment through Common Ground in a project the group is building on E. Houston St.

“They’re punk — but they’re not like Leftover Crack; they’re more like ‘Unsmoked Joints,’” Power said of the Bowery Boys. “Purple Pam will sing with them.”

Eden Brower, of the traditional blues group Eden & John’s East River String Band, told The Villager they’ll also be able to perform, since they’re not leaving for their tour until three days after Power’s event.

With music, movies — one including the “Mosaic Man” — the awards honoring community members for their sheer “endurance,” Power said, “It’s going to be a serious event. … Maybe we’ll get Conan O’Brien,” he quipped.

Actually, Jay Wilson, a former City Council candidate, will emcee, and his band Blonde Boy Wilson and the Chosen Frozen will perform.

“Jim Power needs to keep working on his life’s work,” Wilson said. “Challenges such as hip surgery and the lack of a stable residence make it hard for Jim to realize his tre- mendous and compelling ambitions. Jim Power is a genius, and — as Keith Richards said about the late Billy Preston — ‘comes with all the baggage of genius.’ We can expect an incredible show that represents the East Village in all of its effulgent glory. The Mosaic Man, like Ray and and the recently removed toy tower on Avenue B, is a defining force of our endangered Arts Community.”

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