He’s the key(s): The Our Lady of Pompeii Senior Center celebrated a twofer last week, marking the one-year anniversary of its hard-fought lease renewal for Our Lady of Pompeii Church’s basement, plus the 70th birthday of the legendary, one-and-only Arrow Keyboard Man — yes, Novac Noury. Noury noted the party was really to honor how he saved the senior center. Of course, state Senator Brad Hoylman and other local politicians did play…oh… a wee bit of a role, too. But Sandy Gabin, the center’s director, said, yes, Noury was instrumental — and, no, she’s not just saying that because he plays a mean organ. Really, it was his social-media chops. “We were on Facebook from Florida to Canada,” she said. “He did save us. He was on YouTube. He got everyone singing.” The center has two more years left on its lease, plus they just got the place painted. “I think we’d just like everyone to know we’re alive and thriving,” Gabin said. “We’re meeting our quota. A lot of people are coming in. We now have Karaoke Keyboard on Thursdays,” led by — guess who? — former disco icon Noury. For an “encore,” Noury told us he is planning to use his easement rights to create a “rainbow” spanning from his former Little W. 12th St. building, which was demolished by the city a few years back, to the High Line. We’re looking forward to that one, for sure! His building used to have a concrete platform extending to the old elevated rail tracks — hence, the easement.
Sleep now in the fiyah (with a permit)? Former East Village rabble-rousing activist John Penley is planning to protest in Cleveland at the Republican National Convention. He and his fellow Donald Trump bashers are hoping to be entertained by a supergroup, Prophets of Rage, formed by guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine, the Post’s Page Six reports. Rage’s lead singer Zack de la Rocha has been replaced by old-school rappers B-Real of Cypress Hill and Chuck D of Public Enemy. Penley is trying to get a park permit to allow the protesters to camp out for four days. The erstwhile Alphabet City East Villager was arrested at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2012 for crossing a police line, but was found not guilty. “We’re trying to do it the right way, getting permits. We don’t want violence,” Penley told Page Six. He added that the bigger protests this year will surely be in Philadelphia at the Democratic National Convention. “So many people are coming to Philadelphia, they’re going to shut the city down,” Penley told the gossip column. “Only the radicals are going to Cleveland. The liberals are going to Philadelphia.”
Trumpets — not Trump! Trumpet man Wynton Marsalis blew into P.S. 41 this past Sunday for a jazz concert. He is a parent at the Greenwich Village School.
He’s not waffling: The Christopher St. Patrol’s president likes waffles — at least when they are in the Hudson River Park. David Poster, the head of the local volunteer anti-crime group, said the seasonal cafe that operated at the foot of the Christopher St. Pier during recent summers had a calming influence on that section of the waterfront park, which is a favorite stomping ground of L.G.B.T. youth. The previous operator has been replaced by Wafels & Dinges and Coffeed, and Poster expects it to have the same effect on the pier. Unfortunately, many of the L.G.B.T. kids might not be able to afford gourmet waffles, even without dinges (their tasty toppings).
Triangulation: There’s a little more to the story — well, probably a lot more — to the naming imbroglio over the St. Vincent’s Triangle, which the city’s Parks Department recently officially dubbed the NYC AIDS Memorial Park at St. Vincent’s Triangle. That mouthful of a moniker may well have set the world record for longest park name. Basically, there apparently was a strong sentiment amid the leadership of the Community Board 2 Parks Committee that the little park should be named after the former St. Vincent’s Hospital, which stood across from the site for more than 160 years. In fact, both Rich Caccappolo and Susanna Aaron, the committee’s respective chairperson and vice chairperson, told us, in so many words, that — like many local community activists — they thought the park’s name should be something along the lines of St. Vincent’s Hospital Park — and that the AIDS Memorial, well, would simply be contained within the park. Yet the committee never got the chance to weigh in. Caccappolo said he put the issue on his committee’s agenda, but as soon as he posted it on the online C.B. 2 calendar, he was bombarded by e-mail letters from people advocating that it be called AIDS Memorial Park. “Within five minutes after we posted it, I got 100 letters,” he said. “They were all form letters. … Tobi told me to pull it down.” He was referring to Tobi Bergman, C.B. 2 chairperson. As The Villager recently reported, three local politicians — Corey Johnson, Brad Hoylman and Gale Brewer — in March, wrote to Mayor Bill de Blasio and Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver, emphatically urging that the park be named only for the AIDS memorial, which will occupy one-tenth of the park’s space. The mayor definitely was “part of the conversation” on the park’s naming, we are told by a source very close to the process. Asked if the political pressure had anything to do with his decision to toss the naming hot potato, Bergman skirted the question a bit. “C.B. 2 played a helpful role during the long and passionate consideration of the AIDS memorial and the park design,” he said. “I also think the chosen name is interesting in the way it embraces two different views that are both sincere and compatible, and I see no harm if some people call it AIDS Memorial Park and others St. Vincent’s Triangle. The compromise is a good one, and all’s well that ends well.” Bergman added, with a grin, that he still thinks “Triangle Square” would be a catchy name, too. Meanwhile, Caccappolo said, “I think the interesting point is that the naming decision has gone all the way to the mayor. I think it’s always the Parks commissioner’s decision, but because there were strong opinions on either side, it was elevated to the mayor. I think it went to the mayor before the commissioner made a decision. I think the mayor’s office made the decision. I don’t think Parks made it.” Actually, we think he’s right. When we first heard from a rep for one of the three pols who wrote the letter to the mayor and Silver, lobbying them to name the park after the AIDS memorial, the aide initially told us that the mayor would make the decision. Later, though, this same rep said the decision would be up to the Parks chief. Meanwhile, Trevor Stewart of the Protect the Village Historic District, noted — for what it’s worth — that the park is, in fact, currently listed on Google Maps as “St. Vincent’s Triangle Park.” O.K., Google Maps — prepare for a flurry of letters!
Affordable housing! The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development is now accepting applications for 29 new affordable housing units in Hudson Square, at 70 Charlton St. There are seven studios, with a rent of $833 a month, for one person, with an annual income requirement of from $29,898 to $38,100. Two one-bedrooms will rent for $895, with income requirements for one person ranging from $32,058 to $38,100, and for two people from $32,058 to $43,500. Twenty two-bedrooms will rent for $1,082, with income requirements for two people pegged at from $38,503 to $43,500, for three people from $38,503 to $48,960 and for four people from $38,503 to $54,360. (Rent includes gas for cooking and heat.) Applications will be selected for review through a lottery process. If applicants appear to qualify, they will then be called in for an interview to continue the process of determining eligibility. The affordable units are being constructed through the city’s Inclusionary Housing Program and the 421-a Tax Incentive Program. (The developer apparently got in before 421-a expired.) There is a preference for residents of Community Board 2, who will get 50 percent of the low-rent apartments. Tobi Bergman, C.B. 2 chairperson, said, “These new affordable housing units are a great opportunity for certain C.B. 2 residents.” People may apply online through NYC Housing Connect at www.nyc.gov/housingconnect, or can request an application by mail by writing to 70 Charlton, c/o Breaking Ground, P.O. Box 3620937, NY, NY 10129.
