“Superheroes” sightings:
As Scoopy first reported two weeks ago, a trio of crime-fighting (or something) “superheroes” allegedly have been patrolling the mean streets and dark back alleys of Greenwich Village, keeping the neighborhood safe for law-abiding citizens. Until recently, though, no one had actually seen these three, who are said to go by the street code names, Zero, Short Cut and Samaritan. Dave Poster, president of the volunteer Christopher St. Patrol, called us last Friday evening to tell us that one of his patrol members had just spotted them walking down Sixth Ave. at W. Third St. as she exited from an indie film at the IFC Center. “They had young voices, and they were all short,” Poster said the woman told him. “They were wearing masks that were black and white and costumes that were loose fitting, red and yellow. They were walking through — they weren’t in formation, just walking amongst the crowd.” Poster said when he and the patrol go out with the Guardian Angels, they walk in an orderly formation, going two-by-two along the sidewalk. “We haven’t seen these people patrolling on Christopher St.,” he noted. “I don’t know who they are. I don’t know why anyone wears a mask. We never wear masks. I don’t know if they’re patrolling or just fooling around with masks on.” We also received a report that there were sightings of the mysterious masked “avengers” (or whatever) during Gay Pride weekend.
Marquee moment:
Congrats to Noam Cohen for his star turn in the new documentary film “Page One: Inside The New York Times.” This fascinating flick looks at how the Gray Lady is struggling to survive, grappling with the Internet and incorporating new news sources like WikiLeaks — and at how blogs and online aggregators would be lost without the content of authoritative papers like the Times. We hear Cohen is signing autographs at the McBurney YMCA, where he’s a monster on the hoops court. The film also features media reporters David Carr and Brian Stelter.
Lab measurements:
The temporary BMW Guggenheim Lab, currently being constructed at E. First and Houston Sts. near Second Ave., will not be 5,000 square feet, as we reported last week, and which was previously reported elsewhere, but slightly less than half that size. Melissa Parsoff, a Guggenheim spokesperson, clarified, “The BMW Guggenheim Lab consists of three structures, the main lab, the cafe and temporary restrooms, totaling approximately 2,200 square feet.” The lab will be built two stories above the ground, with the area underneath it left open.
New L.E.S. leader:
In a political changing of the guard on the Lower East Side, Jessica Loeser is running for female Democratic district leader. Incumbent Ruth Bekritsky is retiring, we hear. An attorney, Jessica is married to Stuart Loeser, Mayor Bloomberg’s press secretary, and was formerly a top aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. She’s running with longtime male Democratic District Leader David Weinberger, and they face no opposition.
Corrections:
Our editorial in last week’s issue on the rent law’s renewal incorrectly stated that there had been a decrease in the percentage that landlords can charge tenants for major capital improvements, or M.C.I.’s. In fact, the decrease is in the percentage rent increase for individual apartment improvements, or I.A.I.’s — renovations typically done on vacant apartments to boost rents for new, incoming tenants. This error was partly due to the fact that the well-meaning political aide who was pitching it to us on our deadline kept calling them M.C.I.’s! … An article in last week’s issue on the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission expanding the boundaries of the proposed East Village Historic District stated that Community Board 3 was among the local groups that had advocated for this. However, C.B. 3 has not yet taken a formal position on the historic district. The board will do so at its upcoming Landmarks Subcommittee public hearing, on Thurs., July 7, at 6:30 p.m., at The Cooper Union, Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square (between E. Sixth and Seventh Sts.), at which there will be a presentation and vote on the East Village Historic District.
