Not playing around: As The Villager was going to press, Scoopy almost got his headset knocked off upon hearing that attorney Arthur Schwartz, Village Democratic district leader, on behalf of the West Village Community Alliance for Parks and Playgrounds Inc., on Monday served the Hudson River Park Trust with papers for a lawsuit on Pier 40. The suit reportedly charges that by not selecting a developer for Pier 40 in June, the Trust is in violation of the Hudson River Park Act as amended in 2002. The lawsuit sounds much like the one Friends of Hudson River Park was set to file against the Trust, but decided to drop in October, on the alleged promise that the Trust would promptly move ahead with restarting the search for a developer for Pier 40. A founder of the Friends, Schwartz apparently felt the Trust wasn’t moving fast enough. The playground group filing the suit is another organization that Schwartz set up a few years ago…. In other Pier 40 news, asked if the commercial tenants on the pier are really going to vacate by Jan. 1, as they are supposed to under the Park Act, Chris Martin, the Trust’s spokesperson, said: “All tenants that are engaging in activities that constitute nonconforming uses under the Hudson River Park Act have received notices from the Trust informing them to vacate Pier 40 by Jan. 1, 2004.”
Omigod! The Washington Sq. News reports that the famous Olsen twins, yes, Mary-Kate and Ashley themselves, will be attending the Gallatin School for Individualized Study in fall 2004. Individualized? Does this mean, the twins are…gulp…going their separate ways?
Woof? We happened to come across Gray Wolf a week ago near Union Sq., sitting on the sidewalk on a blanket with a Foster’s bucket for change in front of him. He said he was hiding out from a guy in Tompkins Sq. Park who’d just got out of jail who claimed he owed him $300. Villager readers might recall Gray Wolf as the homeless man who claimed he got rabies from his dog, Hoodini, which would have made the dog the first in the city in 60 years with the deadly virus. Gray Wolf showed his Beth Israel wrist bracelet and a form showing he’d gotten rabies shots on Dec. 16, and said he was relieved the series of painful shots would end Dec. 30. He said his dog had bitten him on the hands and that he’d also “mouth-fed” his dog, mixing saliva with the allegedly infected pooch — who had been foaming at the mouth, before being put down. Gray Wolf said a doctor had taken a drop of his blood and, in front of him, had swirled it around in a solution in a beaker and said it tested positive. However, an inquiry to Beth Israel was directed to Dr. Patricia Carey, medical director of the emergency department of St. Luke’s Roosevelt, a fellow Continuum Health Partners hospital, who said Gray Wolf’s story didn’t ring true, since blood testing isn’t done for rabies, a neurological disease. A Continuum spokesperson said rabies shots are often given as a precaution when someone is bitten. The city’s Health Department confirmed there have been about three rabid raccoons and skunks in the past year, but no rabid dogs.
For the birds: Contrary to billing, there wasn’t much discussion of protest plans for the August Republican National Convention at the Yippie Holiday Party, hosted by Dana Beal of Bleecker St., at the Knitting Factory last week. Why, there was nary a narc to be seen. As usual, Beal mainly touted the allegedly miracle addiction-curing drug, Ibogaine. There was one interesting fellow whom The Villager bumped into, however, who said he used to demonstrate with Abbie Hoffman in the 1960s. He said Hoffman once gave him $20 to buy doves to release at a Grand Central Station protest, but that doves were too expensive and all he could buy were three bags of pigeons — who then flew around the train station for three weeks afterwards carpet-bombing commuters.
Big Lebowski: Normally a 195 bowler, David Jaffe, The Villager’s office manager, did the ultimate on Monday night — bowling a perfect 300 game, a strike in all 12 frames, in his East Meadow, L.I., league. “I was throwing a good ball. They were all going down,” Jaffe recounted. “But then, I got very nervous in the 10th frame.” Nervous? Call him Ice Man. He’s getting his finger measured for a 300 ring the league will give him.
