THE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF LOWER MANHATTAN


Downtown Express Cover photo by Jefferson Siegel Bikers don’t walk a 1/2 mile in pedestrian’s shoes By Julie Shapiro It was an unusual sight for the pedestrian walkway along West St.: A man in business clothes and a helmet with sweat pouring down his face ran alongside his bike. He gripped the handlebars as he ran, and every few steps he hopped a foot onto one pedal, coasting for several yards. Young apprentices open two-day café in the Seaport By Sisi Wei “Our first three buttons are done!” yelled one of the students. Builder gives a lot, but some neighbors still sore By Lincoln Anderson Though just a fraction of the size of the 111-block rezoning of the East Village and Lower East Side, approval of which is expected this November, the recent rezoning of two half-blocks in the southwest Village raised nearly as much concern and angst. In the end, though, it resulted in a pledge to create something not seen in the West Village in years: new affordable housing. A C.B. 2 report opens ideas for public open spaces By Albert Amateau Community Board 2, which includes Greenwich Village, Soho, Noho, Little Italy and Hudson Square, has the second-lowest amount of open space of Manhattan’s 12 community board districts. Board backs Hudson Sq. BID The proposed Hudson Square Business Improvement District cleared the first hurdle in the approval process late last month when Community Board 2 voted unanimously to give the BID the go-ahead.	NEWS Silver feels the heat of a race; says congestion pricing could pass By Josh Rogers and Julie Shapiro Instead of spending his summer negotiating with fellow power brokers in air-conditioned rooms, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said he’s knocking on doors in sweltering 94-degree apartment hallways. W. Chelsea considered as Stringer eyes Sanitation 'fair share' By Josh Rogers Borough President Scott Stringer told Downtown Express Thursday that he has asked the city to consider moving a proposed Sanitation garage to Chelsea in order to avoid dumping too many garbage trucks in Hudson Square. Seaport puts school study money where its mouth is By Julie Shapiro The planners of the “New Seaport” are getting serious about a school. Car-free Saturdays begin this weekend For the next three Saturdays, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., the city will bar cars on a route stretching from Central Park to the Brooklyn Bridge, opening it to pedestrians, bikers and other non-motor vehicle activities. Downtown comes out against crime Tuesday night By Sisi Wei Residents and officers of the First Precinct ate cookies and drank tea together at Zuccotti Park on Liberty and Church Sts. for the National Night Out’s 25th anniversary event on Tues., Aug. 5. The First Precinct Who are these guys challenging Shelly? By Julie Shapiro Perhaps Sheldon Silver’s critics are making up for lost time. State seizes six buses during inspections Monday In an effort to enforce safety standards in New York’s growing industry of private intercity buses, state officials Monday stopped 26 buses, mostly in Chinatown, handing out 117 tickets and taking six off of the road completely. 2 workers killed Around 12:45 a.m. on Tuesday Aug. 5, two window washers died after a self-propelled cherry picker tipped over at the World Financial Center at the corner of West and Vesey Sts., according to police. Authority looks for Pier A partition plan By Julie Shapiro The historic walls that carve up Pier A’s second floor are the latest challenge the Battery Park City Authority faces in redeveloping the 122-year-old pier.
ARTS DOWNTOWN Tribute to a star By Jennifer O’Reilly “Welcome Home, Marian Anderson” is a story of a powerful woman who pushed against society’s prejudices, braved circumstances which put her reputation and life in danger, and blazed a path for African American women to work and thrive in a time when the very idea of equality was revolutionary. Falling through the ice By Steven Snyder For writer and director Courtney Hunt, being awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival last January came as both a blessing and something of a short-lived curse. Twenty years to ‘Life’ By Will McKinley “Did you find him to be annoying, arrogant and pompous?” a female audience member asked her male companion, following a recent performance of James Braly’s “Life in a Marital Institution” at the SoHo Playhouse.	A family comedy (well, sort of) By Scott Harrah Many consider this ultra-dark tragicomedy by prolific avant-garde playwright Christopher Durang to be among his finest works, and for good reason. Elevated cinema By Leonard Quart Now in its third season, Movie Nights On The Elevated Acre takes place every Tuesday in August, starting at sundown between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.

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