NY Press & Virgin Vines invite you to High Society at High Chai.
On November 16, 2005 from 6pm-9pm, High Chai, a new restaurant/bar in the East Village,
will be sampling both complimentary exotic teas and Virgin Vines Wine for the public.
Hors D’oeuvres will be provided by High Chai.
Virgin Vines will be showcasing their new line of Chardonnay and Shiraz at this event.
To attend, please email marketing@nypress.com with your full name and the name of any guest that will be attending.(21+)

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is now claiming he asked Assemblyman Vito Lopez to step down following accusations against him of sexual harassment in the workplace. These claims follow evidence in recent weeks Silver agreed to pay $100,000 to settle workplace harassment claims made against Lopez. Silver also stripped Lopez of his Assembly chairmanship, reports Gothamist. 

As criticism was leveled against Silver, he responded he had originally asked Lopez to resign, but the 71-year-old Lopez was not happy to hear it. Silver told the New York Times he no longer believed Lopez would be able to fulfill his duties, but seemed to avoid the subject of the allegations altogether.

“He won’t be a committee chair anymore,” Silver told the Times, “and his ability will be impaired significantly as a legislator.” Silver, reportedly, was not able to convince Lopez to step down.

Lopez also formerly paid $32,000 to the two staffers making accusations against him, reports Gothamist. Other female staffers have also come forward, many anonymously, to report inappropriate advances made by Lopez against them.

Photo Courtesy of Alissa Fleck

By Alissa Fleck

When the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) first discovered that developer Stephan Boivin intended to raze the 1824 federal style house formerly belonging to Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, the group focused primarily on the house’s architectural merit. Boivin’s development group, Nordica, hoped to transform the house into apartments and retail space.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) responded to community advocates in favor of the building’s preservation by saying the house does not qualify as a landmark because it does not retain enough of its original material, though its general area in the neighborhood is still under consideration.

After this obstacle and further research, the GVSHP began to focus instead on the house’s rich history and ties to the LGBTQ community. As the group explained, the City has never before declared something a landmark based on the history of the gay and lesbian movement.

At a press conference outside the Spring Street house today, elected officials and community advocates came together to speak to this colorful history. Senator Tom Duane, the second openly gay member of the New York State legislature, appeared at the conference to make a statement, and Council Speaker Christine Quinn sent a letter in support.

Steve Ashkinazy, Stonewall Democratic Club executive committee member, said early leaders of the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) formerly resided in the South Village home. The GAA group was the blueprint for the LGBT movement, he explained.

“Now they want to turn it into a mall,” said Ashkinazy. “The City says it does not retain enough of its original character…it’s clearly older than its surroundings. It’s visually and architecturally a standout with a story to tell.”

“The world has changed here and New York needs this landmark,” he added.

GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman said, of former residents with ties to the gay rights movement: “People who lived here touched others’ lives.”

He added, as an openly gay man who has worked under Senator Duane and is well-versed in the region and the struggles of civil rights groups, even “for [him], this house was a lesson.”

Laurence Frommer, a licensed NYC tour guide, said he, and others, have been reaching out to queer historians, hoping to bring the matter to national attention. While the midday turnout was a relatively small spattering, Frommer said he had been hoping for “a cast of thousands.”

“As somebody interested in chronicling and presenting LGBT history, this is important,” said Frommer. “It should be landmarked. There should be a plaque.”

“There’s so much in the City we don’t know about,” said Frommer. “How did it get lost?”

As for the civil rights angle, Frommer said he believes the City is trying presently to make up for a lack of African American historical representation, but they should be focusing on LGBTQ history also, and every other group as well. He said the City usually preserves landmarks based on architectural merit and less so cultural matters or history, but culture should be “considered a lot more.”

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

Hundreds of deadly drivers go free every year in New York City because NYPD protocol limits investigations into crashes which do not appear life-threatening. While no violent incident ever has its upswing, it seems reality star Stephanie Pratt’s boyfriend Julien Chabbott ran over the foot of just the right person to be forced to pay for his crime.

NYPD Officer Felix Recio is planning to sue Chabbott for $10 million for running over his foot with his Ferrari earlier this August, the NY Post reports. That’s about 38.5 times what Chabbott’s snazzy wheels are reportedly worth.

The incident went down outside the Mercer Hotel in Soho, when Recio was attempting to stick Chabbott with a parking ticket. Chabbott refused the ticket, jumped into the vehicle and allegedly drove over the officer’s foot, according to the Post.

Recio told the paper while injuries he sustained were relatively minor, he believes Chabbott “deliberately drove towards [him] with an intent to hurt [him].” Recio’s lawyer is going for first-degree assault with a deadly weapon charges, reports the Post. The officer, who said he was “just trying to do [his] job” at the time of the assault, has been unable to go back to work.

Chabbott’s attorney, on the other hand, was shocked by the rumor of a $10 million lawsuit. He told the paper: “the officer in question appears to have suffered no injury whatsoever.”

—Alissa Fleck

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

By Alissa Fleck

Pussy Riot supporters worldwide will be disappointed to hear this morning’s news. Just before 8 a.m. EST, David M. Herszenhorn, the New York Times reporter based in Moscow, reported members of Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot were given a guilty verdict on charges of hooliganism for an impromptu anti-Putin concert put on in Cathedral of Christ the Savior in February. They have been in prison, awaiting charges, ever since then.

Pussy Riot, a group which formed in only 2011, regularly stages similar, politically-charged performances in Moscow. The group consists of at least 10 members, who take measures to remain anonymous, including wearing balaclavas along with their brightly-colored dresses and tights. The Times reports Pussy Riot is “far more political than musical” as “[they] have never released a song or an album.”

Barely a fraction of the people in line outside the Ace Hotel in mid-Manhattan last night, a line which wound all the way around the block, made it inside the hotel’s dark basement bar for the protest in solidarity with the group. Similar protests took place worldwide, including outside the courtroom where the women were to be tried. Herszenhorn reported many of these protesters were also arrested.

People of all ages came together in the hotel basement, some wearing balaclavas and “Free Pussy Riot” t-shirts, many more wearing bright, flashy dresses, to join in the protest.

Artists and writers, including Eileen Myles, Chloe Sevigny and K8 Hardy, took to the stage to conduct dramatic readings of correspondences by incarcerated members of Pussy Riot, song lyrics (such as those to “Putin Pissed Himself”), court transcripts and letters from celebrities in support, like Yoko Ono.

The women’s statements were laced with philosophy and political commentary, as well as humor. “We made a prayer in the church with the wrong intonation,” they said, of their 40 second performance, and: “We are not messiahs…but who knows.”

The group also mocked charges against them, including that they “intentionally bought clothes for the occasion,” explaining the dresses, tights and balaclavas were, in fact, their customary garb.

Photo Courtesy of Alissa Fleck

Channing Powell and Ana Veselic said the New York Pussy Riot protest was the first event they had attended in support of the group, and found the turnout interesting. They knew nothing of the group until they stumbled upon the recent controversy in the Times.

“Then I went and read about it in Jezebel,” said Veselic, “I knew they’d have something about it.” The interest grew from there.

“I think we compare them to Western chicks and identify with them, because of their clothes and stuff,” said Veselic. “And we think in America, it would be better. But would it be?”

Powell said she had listened to the group’s music, and while she couldn’t understand it, it had “an interesting aesthetic.”

“They’re obviously intelligent and incredibly eloquent,” she added.

They also made predictions about the trial’s outcome. Veselic thought the women would be released. “I think they’re going down, sadly,” said Powell. “There would be too much embarrassment in releasing them, Putin has an ego.”

As of this morning, the women are still waiting to be sentenced.

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

You may recall the early June fiasco when several Chinatown bus services were shut down by the government, which cited serious public safety hazards on those carriers.

Now, Greyhound, cited by many Chinatown bus riders as overly pricy and un-flexible with regard to drop-off points, is looking to corner that market. Spokespeople for Greyhound clarified the company has not yet decided where to locate the bus stops, and must first go through the approval process with Community Board 3, reported DNA Info. The City has the right to designate such stops, and a bill currently pending would make it even easier for officials to track bus carrier business.

Catching a bus out of the city is going to get a whole lot pricier for many riders.

—Alissa Fleck 

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

There are some Maserati-loving thieves on the loose in the City, and they’ve gotten totally bold.

(by Alissa Fleck)

This week alone, two Maseratis have been filched from their respective owners, Gothamist reports. One case involved a recent Florida transplant to the City, who was driving his ritzy ride around Times Square at 5 a.m., when two thieves pulled just about the oldest trick in the book.

The man briefly exited his vehicle, keys still in the ignition, when the men approached asking if they could pose for a photo inside, reports the news blog. After he gave his consent, the men got inside and went nuts, fleeing in the swanky station wagon.

Then, last night in Jamaica, Queens, an off-duty corrections officer left a deli only to find himself in a holdup over…you guessed it—his Maserati. The officer handed over the keys to his $130,000 vehicle, and the thieves made off into the night.

The officer alerted cops to the situation, which resulted in a high-speed chase, ultimately ending in the thieves crashing the Maserati. They ditched the ride in an alley, according to Gothamist, and fled on foot, said witnesses. Gothamist reports, and we agree, it’s something straight out of Director Nicolas Refn’s blockbuster hit, Drive, minus Ryan Gosling.

Photo Courtesy of Raymond Normandeau/Normandeau Newswire

Raymond Normandeau, press secretary of the Queensbridge Houses Tenants Council in Queens, was tired of the conditions in the Queensbridge housing project where he has lived since 1973, and decided it was time to engage in a little community activism.

While he may no longer be a member of the Astoria ambulance corps (or small time film actor) as he was in the eighties, Normandeau, who is legally blind, always has several projects on his plate—primarily non-threatening but direct ways of getting the authorities to pay attention to tenants’ plights.

And it’s not the violence at Queensbridge with which Normandeau is most concerned, violence which rappers like Jay-Z—who grew up in Queensbridge—have memorialized in their music.

“I lived here through the crack epidemic,” said Normandeau, “when we heard gunshots once a week.” He added he’s grown accustomed to life in the Queens borough project, as, surely, “even people in Afghanistan grow accustomed.” And, Normandeau points out, security has been better since so many chain hotels have cropped up in the area, some “just a gunshot away.”

“Maybe a tourist got robbed or something,” said Normandeau, of the increased security. “I go online to see their [hotel] room prices.” Many prices are in the $129-$200 range.

No, it’s the day-to-day quality of life with which Normandeau takes issue. One major problem confronting Queensbridge tenants, according to him, is the amount of dog feces which accumulates around the housing project (inside and out). It may sound like a joke—even I had a good laugh when the ever-eloquent Normandeau described the situation—but then I saw the pictures. Frankly, they were beyond disturbing.

Unfortunately it seems the only way to get anything done, is to “raise a stink” (my words). It has to be the right kind of stink though, explains Normandeau, it must come about through the graceful “pressuring and embarrassment” of local officials. He’s already tried, with little success, to get the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)’s attention on Twitter, where he actively follows their feed and peppers them with questions about when various repairs will come through.

Photo Courtesy of Raymond Normandeau/Normandeau Newswire

That’s why Normandeau started the “Queensbridge Landscaping Magazine” (more of a magazine cover, but that’s just a technicality), and in conjunction with the endeavor, Normandeau also organized a contest.

“I asked people to send in photos,” said Normandeau. “The freshest pile, the strangest-looking pile, a pile that had been stepped in a lot.” And piles, he accrued. Thirty-nine of them to be exact, which is how many photos are featured on Normandeau’s website, devoted to the contest (click strictly at your own risk).

Normandeau then took his “Landscaping Magazine” covers, complete with graphic visuals, and began distributing them at community meetings, where local politicians and government officials would convene. This seemed to be exactly the sort of whimsical embarrassment Normandeau describes, the very kick-in-the-pants humiliated officials needed to clean up Queensbridge a bit.

It doesn’t stop at the fecal matter though. Normandeau knows better than anyone it’s not easy navigating a rundown project when you’re technically blind. Obstacles on sidewalks, lights that stay burned out for years…it’s a blind man’s Ironman. That’s why Normandeau released the “Blind Navigating” cover for his “Queensbridge Landscaping Magazine.”

“Blind Tenants Navigate Booby Traps,” the cover headline reads. He handed this one out at meetings too.

Photo Courtesy of Raymond Normandeau/Normandeau Newswire

Normandeau describes the positive aftermath: “‘Blind Navigating’ got [the] sidewalk fixed within days after I handed it out. [The] sidewalk had been like that for over one year.”

Tenants may “feel that NYCHA treats [them] as unwanted,” as Normandeau points out, but as one man, he has finally found a way to be heard through his acts of vigilanteism.

Normandeau also operates the Queensbridge website, which takes, among other things, event submissions: “Having an Event? Community meeting? Open house for Apartment sublet? Art show? Performance? Gun fight?”

The website leaves no wrong untouched, also decrying NYPD and NYCHA’s laissez-faire policies: “Smoking knapsack at a sensitive location? Take photos, run to safety. The NYPD may not be interested, but we are!”

Queensbridge Houses website (courtesy of Normandeau)

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

By Alissa Fleck

By now everyone in the City has heard about the shooting by the NYPD of a knife-wielding man in Times Square this weekend. After the incident, officers did what they could to control the flow of information, reported Gothamist, including seizing onlookers’ phones and cameras. Despite their best efforts, tons of witnesses were on the street capturing the chaos, and video footage which did make it to the internet shows throngs of police officers pursuing the man, who is practically dancing down the street.

Was the NYPD’s reaction—the fatal shooting—overly extreme in taking down the deranged man?

The family of Darius Kennedy, the knife-carrying victim, says the police used excessive force when they shot him. The Daily News reports Kennedy’s aunt said 12 bullets should not have been used to subdue him, perhaps just one as a warning. NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly called the shooting “justified and appropriate,” and Mayor Bloomberg backed up Kelly’s assessment. Officers had already pepper-sprayed Kennedy, who had ten prior arrests on his record, six times to no avail. The NY Post reports none of the 20 cops in pursuit of the man had tasers in their possession.

Police Reporter Leonard Levitt called the shooting “Totally justified.”

“If any bystander or even a cop was wounded because the cops held back, there’d be hell to pay,” said Levitt. “Only question: how come they didnt use a taser?”

NYPD Spokesman Paul Browne said: “Only patrol sergeants and Emergency Service Unit cops are routinely armed with tasers.”

The Daily News reports the NYPD fatally shot eight people last year, and only uses deadly force “sparingly” according to police officials.

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

One 9-year-old Bronx boy is sure to be traumatized for awhile following an incident last Wednesday. NBC reports a man, who appeared to be about 50, pushed the young boy into a wall after following him into his apartment and then robbed him, before making off on a bicycle. The boy, Jacky Saunders, had made a brief errand to a nearby bodega to buy soap for his aunt, and had about $19 in cash in his hand. The robbery took place in the Fordham section of the Bronx, and the perpetrator is still on the loose.

The NY Post is calling this just the latest in a string of crimes, targeting children, a so-called “kiddie crime wave.” Saunders is at least the fourth victim of a crime involving an adult robbing a child, since early July, reports the Post. A 2-year-old and 3-year-old, respectively, were recently robbed around the City of jewelry they were wearing.

—Alissa Fleck