Oh, for sure! The Carmine Recreation Center will be renamed in memory of the late Tony Dapolito at a Parks Department ceremony on Mon., Sept. 27, at 11 a.m. The public is invited to join in remembering Dapolito, known as “the Mayor of Greenwich Village,” who was the city’s longest serving community board member.
Hard cell: East Villagers are donating their extra weekend cellphone minutes to call voters in swing states encouraging them to vote for John Kerry. Dubbed “Beat Bush Under the Trees,” the event will be held until the election every Sunday from 3 p.m.-7 p.m. in Tompkins Sq. Park, by the entrance to the lawn. “I called like 30 people in St. Louis,” said Jared Goldstein, who recently participated. “I got one lady who was on the fence but leaning toward Bush. Her main issues were health care, Medicare and Social Security. Field workers on the ground are going to reach out to her.” After 2000, when several states were decided by less than a few thousand votes, affecting even one vote is significant, Goldstein noted. Check www.democracyinthepark.org for more information.
The color of money: The Village Alliance business improvement recently distributed 40,000 copies of its eighth annual Discount Coupon Book to student dormitories, books stores and other campus venues in the Village area, as well as area employees, hotels and entertainment locations. The booklet was also promoted to delegates during the Republican National Convention. “Money is green — I don’t care what color state you’re from,” said Honi Klein, executive director of the Alliance, which covers the Eighth St./St. Mark’s Pl. area. The booklets are also available at the BID’s 8 E. Eighth St. office.
No swimming: The Great Hudson River Swim and Little Red Lighthouse Swim were cancelled last Saturday due to heavy rain in the morning. Morty Berger, an organizer of the events, said that according to the city Department of Environmental Protection, “1 in. of rain within 45 minutes and/or 2 in. within three hours overwhelms the sewer system, which forces untreated waters and materials to go directly into the river. That is why the subway flooded as well. It takes anywhere from 24 to 36 hours for the river to become swimmable again….” The Great Hudson River Swim had already been postponed once before because of rain.
Oh, baby: On Aug. 25, Mabel Julie Stafford was born to parents Cassie and Ted Stafford. Cassie is admissions coordinator for the Little Red Schoolhouse and Elisabeth Irwin High School. Cassie’s father is Reverend Gordon Dragt of Middle Collegiate Church.
Baruch bash: Last Sunday, Bernard Baruch Houses tenants celebrated the 50th anniversary of the opening of the sprawling Lower East Side public housing complex. Among attendees were local Assemblymember Steven Sanders, Assemblymember Andriano Espaillat from Washington Heights, Democratic District Leader Rosie Mendez and Ninfa Segarra, who recently resigned as director of the New York City Police Museum. According to a source, Segarra may have ambitions of running for City Council in District 2, to fill Margarita Lopez’s seat after Lopez is term-limited out at the end of 2005.
Missing piece returns: Not long after leaving New York City, seemingly for good after losing his apartment, and heading to Pennsylvania, Jim “Mosaic Man” Power and his faithful canine companion, Jessie Jane, returned to the East Village on Sept. 11. “I encountered some problems where I went,” he said. “It was pretty wild.” It’s a good thing he came back because on Nov. 18 he’ll be honored at the Museum of the City of New York, at 103rd St. and Fifth Ave., where he’ll receive a People’s Hall of Fame Award from City Lore for beautifying the East Village with his lamppost mosaics. Power broke the news to The Villager by cellphone as he was working atop a lamppost near Cooper Union, which he claims was the first thing Kerry noticed when he recently came to speak at the school. “I want to finish my trail,” Power said of his project to restore 67 lampposts he’s done and add 13 more. “People need us out here.” Despite reports to the contrary, Power added he didn’t mind the photos of him by Bob Arihood in The Villager a few months ago showing a hard-luck Power pretending to eat Alpo. “I had little kids coming up to me, saying ‘You’re the guy with the can!’ It was great,” he said. He said he hopes to find a room soon.
