Senior center saved! In a Scoopy exclusive, State Senator Brad Hoylman on Tuesday told us the great news that Greenwich House, following months of negotiations, has signed a new three-year lease that will allow the Caring Community Senior Center to continue operating in the basement of Our Lady of Pompeii Church, at Bleecker and Carmine Sts. The lease includes newly negotiated costs for rent, utilities and cleaning. It also allows the basement to be split in half with dividers, so that the church can use the space for additional purposes as it wishes. “The arrangement, finalized on Monday, allows seniors to remain in their current location while ensuring the church is financially solvent,” Hoylman told us, adding, “Councilmember Margaret Chin was instrumental in securing additional funding in the city budget through the Department for the Aging.” Hoylman organized a rally on the church’s steps last November and spearheaded a letter with fellow pols — Congressmmember Jerry Nadler, Borough President Gale Brewer, state Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblymember Deborah Glick and Councilmembers Corey Johnson and Chin — to Cardinal Timothy Dolan seeking help from the archdiocese. “The archdiocese intervened at our request and helped finalize the deal, for which I’m very grateful,” Hoylman told us this week. “It’s a win-win for the community and the church — and especially our seniors in the community. I hope Lucy Cecere is looking down on us with pride!” Cecere, a senior advocate who died at 87 in 2011, was known as “the heart of the Village.” She was a co-founder of the Caring Community more than 40 years ago.
Etan Patz retrial: Last Monday, a date to start picking jury members was set for the Etan Patz case retrial, in which Pedro Hernandez will once again stand accused of killing the 6-year-old Soho boy more than 30 years ago. Jury selection is set to start in about six-and-a-half months from now, on Mon., Feb. 22. The lead attorney for Hernandez’s defense will again be Harvey Fishbein. Joel Seidemann will be the lead for the Manhattan district attorney. The lead prosecutor in the previous trial, which ended in May in a hung jury, Joan Illuzzi, is now running for district attorney on Staten Island, and so had to resign from the Manhattan D.A.’s Office.
Hero of the week: Longtime Ray fan Evan Saez, 21, was standing in line at the Avenue A late-night Belgian fries mecca Sunday evening, when he decided he had to spring into action. Ray, who is recovering from double heart-valve replacement surgery, is already back behind the counter on his overnight shift. “I got a new heart,” Ray told us. “I went back to work two weeks after the operation. I can’t afford any help. I’m taking a lot of pills.” Seeing the line start to grow and Ray hustling back and forth from the kitchen, Saez — who had been waiting to get an egg cream — quickly jumped behind the counter and started taking customers’ orders. He’s been voluntarily helping Ray out on Friday and Saturday nights, trying to help keep the store open 24 hours on those peak days. “I’ve known Ray since I was a teenager,” Saez told us. “My family’s from the Lower East Side. I don’t charge him anything. I’m really concerned about keeping the store running. He’s 82, he needs the help.” Saez said money is not an issue for him and he can afford to volunteer since he has a job as a computer security engineer.
N.Y.U. strips setback: It sounds like this may only be a temporary setback for the N.Y.U. 2031 expansion plan, but last week the city’s Public Design Commission said plans for two public open spaces involved in the project must be modified prior to the university commencing construction on its South Village superblocks. The two spaces include LaGuardia Park and the “open-space strip” along the south side of Bleecker St. between the Morton Williams supermarket and the back of Coles gym. After the decision, Terri Cude, co-chairperson of Community Action Alliance on N.Y.U. 2031, happily tweeted out that the commission had “sent N.Y.U. back to the drawing board” on the two strips. “Thanks to all who came out and testified — I was so proud to be among you!” Cude tweeted. Unruffled, John Beckman, the university’s spokesperson, said, “N.Y.U. looks forward to advancing the designs of the Bleecker St. and LaGuardia open spaces, which have been and are being developed under the guidance and direction of the Parks Department and the Department of Transportation with input from the local community. And we look forward to appearing again before the Public Design Commission and presenting updated designs for approval.” Beckman emphasized that “the project to improve the open spaces along Bleecker St. and La Guardia Place” is being led by Parks and D.O.T. — the latter which is the current owner of the spaces — with input by local community stakeholders. “N.Y.U. is not directing the design,” he said. “N.Y.U.’s role, under the Core Plan agreement approved by the City Council in 2012, is to pay for the improvements, including the design process being led by city agencies. This process has been underway for over two years.”
Book-bucks buddies wanted: The St. Mark’s Bookshop, now at its fourth location, at 136 E. Third St. near Avenue A, is having a cash-flow crisis, according to co-owner Terry McCoy. The lack of money to spend on stock, in turn, means less books and magazines to sell — adding to the cash-flow problem, he explained. “It’s kind of a vicious circle,” McCoy said. McCoy and his partner, Bob Contant, sent out an e-mail last week looking for investors for their store, which they have run for 38 years, as first reported by DNAinfo.com. In 1977, they opened their first store at 13 St. Mark’s Place. After 10 years there, they moved to 12 St. Mark’s Place. For 21 years, it was at 31 Third Ave., but they left after their landlord, The Cooper Union, hiked up their rent. They have been at their current spot for more than a year. Over the years, the independent bookstore garnered a reputation for its cultural and critical-theory selections. “That’s certainly something that we have fallen down on,” McCoy allowed. In other words, the cash-strapped store is having to make some tough choices now on how it stocks its shelves. Last November Contant told Villager reporter Dusica Sue Malesevic, “We’re struggling again because…we’ve moved without being properly capitalized. We’ve had to borrow money. It makes it difficult to do what we would like to do, which is develop a lot more inventory in the store.” Business has been slow, McCoy said, which he blamed on the lack of inventory. “A lot of people make a special trip to come here,” he said. “I feel like if we had the books for them, I think that it wouldn’t take long for the word to get out that we were back in shape again.” People have shown their love for the bookshop, donating money, time and services. Their current store was designed by Clouds Architecture Office, which did the work pro bono. McCoy said there are no plans to close the store and that the call for investors was to avoid that happening. He said there was a lot of interest from potential investors, but that details need to be nailed down, and emphasized this is all in the preliminary stage. “We feel that it’s a viable store if we’re able to provide the customers with the inventory,” McCoy said.
