Garodnick addressed these issues, among several others, in a letter he wrote to CWCapital, the “special servicer” responsible for maintaining the property.

He explains the patience he once had “has now reached its end, as thousands of residents have been without basic services for almost three months—with no explanation from CWCapital about the timeframe for their restoration, or any commitment to give further abatements for a diminution of necessary services.” Such necessary services currently not working include intercoms, laundry machines and a complete elevator service.

“Residents living in buildings with diminished service should be entitled to pay less rent,” Garodnick said in the letter. No word on a response yet from CWCapital.

South Village Reacts to Hudson Square Rezoning
Last week, the City Planning Commission sent the application for the proposed Hudson Square rezoning to the City Council in hopes of getting a majority vote of approval for enactment. While some City Council members see the proposed rezoning as an opportunity to expand on residential development in Hudson Square, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is hoping to use this opportunity to push for the historic designation of the South Village.

In a letter written to Speaker Christine Quinn, the GVSHP, along with various community groups, asked her to reject the proposed rezoning unless the adjacent proposed South Village Historic District is designated a landmark by the city.

“We hope that you will use your considerable leverage to get the City to act,” the letter reads. “But if the City refuses to landmark the South Village, we urge you not to approve the Hudson Square rezoning, given the profound impact it would have in accelerating the destruction of this fragile, historic area.”

This would not be the first time landmark designation concessions have been implemented. This was the case with both the West Chelsea Historic District with the West Chelsea rezoning and the Prospect Heights Historic District with the Atlantic Yards rezoning. Deemed landmark-eligible four years ago by New York state, the South Village has been waiting ever since for designation.

“The fate of the South Village is now in Speaker Quinn’s hands,” said executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Andrew Berman. “She will determine if this beloved, endangered New York neighborhood receives the protections it needs, or if its ongoing destruction will be accelerated by an enormous rezoning on its doorstep.”

Bike Safety for All
The Department of Transportation, SaferHood and Delivery.com have teamed up for a joint safety initiative designed to increase bicycle safety in the city.

Most recently, DOT and Delivery.com joined forces to provide 1,500 commercial cyclists with free bike lights, bells, and retro-reflective vests. Delivery cyclists from all over the city can attend one of the multi-language commercial bicyclist forums to receive the safety equipment.

These forums, which have been held from Brooklyn to the Upper East Side, are designed to educate, equip and answer questions about bicycle safety laws. Other bicycle safety efforts include NYPD enforcement and inspector visits to businesses that use delivery cyclists. These inspectors serve to both inform and oversee the legal regulations such businesses are required to follow.

DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said of the new efforts, “Safety is everyone’s business, so it’s significant when the private sector steps up to the plate to make changes in the public interest.”
“In a city where food, groceries and wine can be at your doorstep in moments, we empower the neighborhood economy by equipping our merchant partners with the right tools for making safe and speedy deliveries,” said Jed Kleckner, CEO of Delivery.com.

These efforts have already seen some positive results, fostering high hopes for the revised administrative procedures regarding bicycle safety that will be enforced this coming April.

Compiled by Jessica Mastronardi

The performance begins at 6 p.m. There is no charge, though ESNA requests that attendees bring an unwrapped toy, game or book to be donated to a needy child in Ambulatory Pediatrics of New York Presbyterian Hospital / Weill Cornell Medical Center on East 68th Street.

FIVE YEARS PROBATION FOR MADAM GRISTINA
“Upper East side madam” Anna Gristina spent roughly 45 minutes in custody on Tuesday, Nov. 27, after accepting a plea bargain that sentenced her to time served in state Supreme Court. In exchange for the sentence, the 45-year-old tabloid sensation pleaded guilty in September to running an elaborate brothel out of an East 78th Street apartment, a scandal that led to charges against her back in February.

Gristina served four months on Rikers Island this year before her bail was lowered in June. Her family has claimed that she was forced to wear a diaper in an unsanitary cell there. Had Gristina gone to trial and been convicted, she could have been sentenced to seven years in prison. Now, she faces five years of probation.

Gristina was born in Scotland and is not a United States citizen, so she is at risk of deportation.

GARODNICK SEEKS DELAY FOR POST-SANDY EVICTIONS
City Council Member Dan Garodnick and a group of legal and tenant advocacy groups submitted a letter to the New York City Civil Court last week requesting an extended moratorium on housing evictions through the end of the year.

A moratorium was first issued shortly after Hurricane Sandy to help those New Yorkers who suffered losses catch up on expenses and secure benefits without losing their homes. The ban was lifted on Monday, Nov. 26, but thousands of New Yorkers remained displaced by the storm and lingered in the city’s already-crowded shelters. Garodnick and the advocacy groups—which included MFY Legal Services, Legal Services NYC and Three-Quarter House Tenant Organizing Project, among 16 others—agreed that many residents need more time to return their lives to normal.

“We were in the midst of a serious housing crisis in this city even before the hurricane hit,” Garodnick said in a press conference on Thursday, Nov. 29. “Our city shelters are full, even without the thousands of those displaced because of the storm. Let’s give people just a little more time to get on their feet. To resume evictions when we know many families will have nowhere to go is callous and irresponsible.”

Kevin Cremin, director of Litigation for Disability and Aging Rights at MFY Legal Services, told Our Town, “Some people have lost work and are unemployed because of Hurricane Sandy. They might be eligible for unemployment compensation or FEMA benefits, but those benefits might not have come in yet, so they just need some more time.”

Cremin noted that the Civil Court customarily issues a weeklong holiday moratorium on evictions at the end of December. Garodnick mentioned that the moratorium would also help save the city money by reducing sheltering costs.