Volume One, Issue 29, April 06 - 12, 2007
The Buzz
DANCES WITH PRIDE: Just a month after Heritage of Pride officially moved Pridefest to Chelsea, guaranteeing that 150,000 revelers will flood Ninth Avenue on June 23, one of the groups cited by HOP as an ally, Dance Theatre Workshop/Chelsea Cultural Partnership, tried to push the envelope by planning a spin-off street fair on West 19th Street between Seventh and Eighth Aves. The street-fair-shy C.B. 4 recoiled, instead eliciting a promise from HOP director Brian O’Dell that the Workshop would be included in its lineup of Pridefest performances scheduled in front of the Joyce Theatre on June 23. Neither O’Dell nor DTW returned calls from Chelsea Now by press time.
LAW AND ORDER…BEGAN WITH CHELSEA: The family of the late Jerry Orbach, rebuffed last month by C.B. 5 in their quest to have a corner of 53rd Street and Eighth Avenue renamed in honor of the “quintessential New York actor”—who “stood toe-to-toe with Lotte Lenya” and starred in “The Fantasticks” and scores of films before landing his signature role in TV’s “Law and Order”—made progress this week with C.B. 4, though not without a fight. With Tony Orbach, who looks eerily like his father, sitting in the background, Chris Orbach, his brother, played the Chelsea card: “As a 38-year resident of Chelsea, I want to remind this board about my father’s roots in this part of our community as well,” said Chris, who was born into the Orbach townhouse at 232 W. 22nd St., where his dad lived for more than 10 years. “He really liked the old McBurney Y at 23rd Street. That was his neighborhood hangout.” Then, proving himself a true Chelsean, Chris went on to bemoan the changing times. When he grew up, he added, it was a different Chelsea—less safe, perhaps, but “far more multi-ethnic, far more interesting.” Now he lives on 17th Street and Eighth Avenue, and “all the clubs and hotels are the bane of my friggin’ existence…. It reminds me of Bleecker Street in the late 1980s, all the screaming and the mess, but with a lot more money.”
OH, WHEN THE GLITZ COMES MARCHING IN: At Wednesday’s C.B. 4 meeting, board members also pressed to exact as much “mitigation” as possible from the parade of luxury developments under construction on West 16th Street. One of the projects in its sites was the now-sold-out Caledonia condo complex at 450 West 16th Street, whose 80/20 affordable housing plan has already come under scrutiny by C.B. 4’s Affordable Housing Task Force for possible violations of the city’s Inclusionary Housing Program rules. The board, led by Lynn Kotler, co-chair of the Chelsea Preservation and Planning Committee, approved an Equinox Health Club in the complex on the condition that The Related Companies—the Calednonia developer—agree to provide discounts for the building’s low-income residents. The board, led by Corey Johnson, also added a stipulation to the Caledonia’s request for 110 extra accessory parking spaces, saying the Related Companies should make them available to the 80/20 residents at lower cost. “In committee, I’d asked Related about it, and their representatives had just said no,” said Johnson. Stay tuned...
TURN OFF THAT CAMERA PHONE NOW!: We’re not done with C.B. 4 yet. It appears that some members of the Quality of Life Committee, in particular co-chair J.D. Noland, were unsettled when the makers of a documentary on voting rights came to film a recent committee meeting focusing on voting machine security. Concerned that such recording might “inhibit the free flow of discussion,” Noland brought the issue to the Executive Committee, which then developed a policy for all recordings, whether visual or sound. The policy would prohibit any such recording that might “interfere with business” and would require those, say, filming to inform the meeting they were doing so, and to secure “all releases that may be required.” Board chair Lee Compton cautioned that “all our meetings must be public,” however, before the policy was approved on the condition that city lawyers review it on civil liberties grounds before the board votes. No word on whether it will apply to the press. Meantime, Chelsea Now reporters will continue fiddling with our Olympus digital recorders and scribbling away madly at C.B. 4 meetings.
Got something you think is Buzzworthy?
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