[media-credit name=”Photo by Tequila Minsky” align=”alignleft” width=”300″]
[/media-credit]Sound and vision: The Lower East Side “Street.Life.Live” photo show opened at the 14th St. Y street-level gallery recently with some help from the hot Afrodelic rock band Timbila, featuring Nora Balaban, left, and Louisa Bradshaw. Balaban formerly ran the music store Tribal Soundz on E. Sixth St., which sold world music and instruments from around the world. Bradshaw, a Marilyn Monroe impersonator when she’s not in Afrodelic mode, performed “I Wanna Be Loved by You” last week for Jim Rado, at the “Hair” co-author’s 80th birthday party. Balaban and Bradshaw recently shot their new video, “Pocket the Chacha,” on location all over the East Village, including in Tompkins Square Park. Check it out at https://vimeo.com/34753075. As for the “Street.Life.Live” photo show, it runs through Feb. 29. The exhibit includes work by Rebecca Lepkoff, Silvianna Goldsmith, Marlis Momber, Anna Sawaryn and Shell Sheddy, who curated it. The images reflect the vitality of the Lower East Side from 1968 to today. Look for an upcoming article on it in our arts and entertainment section next week.
Soho BID still alive: It seems that the plan for a Broadway Soho Business Improvement District is hardly dead — not by a long shot. In fact, a City Council hearing on the embattled initiative will be held next month, though a date hasn’t been set yet. Since the proposed BID is in Councilmember Margaret Chin’s district, her position on the matter will be critical. Exactly a year ago, Chin wrote a talking point for this newspaper in which she stated, “I have said from the beginning that I will not support a Broadway Soho BID unless I see substantial support from residents in the proposed BID catchment area, including from Community Board 2.” Many Soho residents do oppose the BID, and C.B. 2 voted overwhelmingly against the initiative — and to this day remains on record against it. With that in mind, we asked Chin’s spokesperson, Kelly Magee, what exactly has changed from last year to now that would change Chin’s opinion on this hot-button issue. “The BID will have a hearing because it is a piece of legislation that has been introduced,” Magee said. “We have a preliminary time frame of March for that hearing. After the hearing the official objection period begins (30 days) for property owners in the catchment area to file their opposition with the City Clerk. If 51 percent of property owners or of assessed value file objections, the BID dies. I don’t think Margaret Chin ever said she would follow C.B. 2 on this,” Magee said. “Our op-ed in The Villager said that after the changes were made and the budget reduced, we supported the BID moving to a hearing. [The group] ‘No Soho BID’ also is aware there will be a hearing. They asked us not to hold a hearing last summer and we obliged. We haven’t sent out notice yet because we don’t have a date. One reason C.B. 2 rejected the plan was on basis of not enough community outreach (as I understand it), which is also why Margaret was not supportive at the City Planning Commission. The BID Steering Committee has since made changes to the plan and done better at reaching out to residents on Broadway. At this point, it is up to both sides to make their case at the hearing.”
