“Mosaic Man”’s latest move: The East Village’s “Mosaic Man,” Jim Power, has been a whirlwind of activity in Astor Place over the last few weeks. After posting signs all over the neighborhood urging people to support his quest of saving seven of his colorful lampposts from removal by the Department of Transportation this fall, he started preemptively taking one of them down himself at the corner of Astor Place and Third Ave. However, in an about-face, in a blatant challenge to D.O.T. and its $16 million redesign for the area, he has now reversed his strategy and plans to tile his remaining three poles on Astor Place in the weeks before the construction reaches them. D.O.T., after urging from the Village Alliance business improvement district, has previously pledged to store and reincorporate Power’s poles — which it admitted are “historic artifacts” — into the redesigned streetscape. But the “Mosaic Man” seemed unimpressed this Wednesday, and continue to express his fierce opposition to the redesign plans. According to him, the city’s plan will ruin and congest Astor Place with the removal of the short street just south of “The Alamo” (a.k.a. “The Cube”) sculpture, as well as expansion of pedestrian islands and adding of new plaza areas. “They got $16 million for this now, and yet this entire neighborhood, every single street and every single sidewalk, is botched,” he declared of the scheme. “None of it makes sense, What are the benefits of this new design? It privatizes this whole area around ‘The Cube’ in a bottleneck situation. This is the entranceway to our f—— neighborhood!”
Peace, love and fundraising:“We got to get ourselves back to the gaaaarden!” C.S.N.Y. and Joni Mitchell sang in the ’60s. Now you can help a local garden raise some green to keep putting on free events, and also enjoy singing some classic tunes from the hippie era. The 6th & B Garden Events Committee is hosting a fundraiser in the garden, at Sixth St. and Avenue B, on Sat., Aug. 23, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Come by and enjoy some food, tie-dye a T-shirt, buy a raffle ticket and listen to music featuring X-Tine and The City Timbres. Lyrics sheets will be provided for a ’60s sing-along from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
