“I walked down Bowery, I turned right on Bond and I did not know where I was.” A lot of people can identify with this line from “The Lost Lounge,” a new show at Dixon Place from downtown feminist theater trailblazers, Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw. Earlier this week, I stopped by the theater to talk with them about their latest collaboration, the changing neighborhood and the good ol’ days on the Bowery.
Lois and Peggy founded the Wow Cafe, a women’s theater collective, in 1981, and the Split Britches Lesbian feminist theater company at about the same time. Starring in at least 20 plays, spanning more than two decades, they were once romantic partners. As Weaver told Time Out, “(today) we have other lovers, both of us, and have for about ten or 15 years. But we’re still very primary. We’re partners in work, and life partners, too.” They both live in the Copper Square apartments, and have always been active in neighborhood politics, especially the fight for affordable housing. Their current project is rooted in those battles – and memories of a changing city.
Attorney General Eric Holder visits the courthouse downtown where the upcoming 9/11 trial will take place – and he met with Police Chief Ray Kelly about security preps.
More on P.S. 94, the special needs school that could bear the brunt of Girls Prep's expansion plans.
A group show with work from ninety different artists (including Chris Bors – one of the artists we previously featured here while at the Educational Alliance "Artist Couples" show) opens tonight at Gallery Satori on Stanton Street. The type of work will vary, and includes painting, sculpture and
video. The gallery writes, "The show
investigates the web-like interrelationship between many of the artists
working in New York as well as a few artists working in London, Seoul,
Tel Aviv, and Sydney who have connections to the artists based in New
York." Reception at 164 Stanton St., 6p – 8p
There's another twist today in the battle over the Girls Prep Middle School. At issue- an agreement Girls Prep negotiated to move into P.S. 188's building on East Houston Street last year. Earlier this week, Girls Prep founder Miriam Raccah told us P.S. 188 always understood (and was supportive of) her school's intentions to add a middle school in the building.
This morning, former P.S. 188 Principal Barbara Slatin, who negotiated the deal, called Raccah's characterization of their conversations "grossly inaccurate." She said the Department of Education (DOE) approached her two years ago, saying it was necessary to move another school into her building (P.S. 188 was already sharing with P.S. 94, a special needs school). Slatin met with executives of the Girls Prep Charter School, and felt they could be good partners. But it was important to her that there weren't constant turf battles, so the two schools negotiated a space sharing deal that was "equitable and permanent." In other words, Slatin said, Girls Prep agreed not to ask for more space. P.S. 188 gave up 5 classrooms and some other facilities. In a public meeting, Slatin told me, Raccah promised P.S. 188 parents she would not try to take more classrooms.
Make sure to catch the Clothesline Benefit Art Sale at ABC No Rio tonight and tomorrow night from 7p – 10p. Various works on paper will be "strung up" with many surprising things "hanging on the line". Proceeds benefit the ABC No Rio Building Fund. Free admittance, all art $25 – $50.
The Department of Transportation announced last night it will not use Pier 42 (near Montgomery Street) as a “staging area” for commercial buses. The news came in a briefing by Luis Sanchez, the DOT’s Lower Manhattan Borough Commissioner, before a Community Board 3 committee. Neighborhood activists fighting to reclaim the pier for community recreational facilities were relieved. But there wasn’t much solace for residents increasingly frustrated with the onslaught of privately operated buses in Chinatown and on the Lower East Side. Sanchez said, in removing Pier 42 as an option, there’s no obvious place to move the buses during layovers. What’s more, he explained, federal laws covering interstate commerce limit the DOT’s ability to restrict the operators.
Tony Award-nominee Justin Bond (of the former cult cabaret fave, Kiki and Herb) and The Pixie Harlots open their "trans-voodoo-holiday extravaganza" Christmas Spells, tonight at the Abrons Arts Center. Inspired by Kate Bornstein’s story Dixie Belle, the story of the further adventures of Huckleberry Finn
finds Huck hard at work in a New Orleans bordello. The show runs through Saturday (for mature audiences). You can buy tickets here.
Monday night, Chinatown residents from two apartment complexes a short distance away from the Federal Courthouse where accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four co-conspirators will be tried, met with elected officials about their concerns. (watch video clips with highlights from the meeting at the end of this post) Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Councilmember Alan Gerson and Councilmember-elect Margaret Chin made brief remarks at a meeting organized by the Civic Center Residents Coalition.
There are two meetings happening this evening addressing issues important to a lot of people in the neighborhood.
First, Community Board 3's transportation committee will be briefed by city officials on proposals to deal with the proliferation of charter & tour buses throughout Chinatown and the Lower East Side. According to CB3's agenda, there will be a presentation of the "Lower Manhattan Street Management Bus Layover
Options Study Final Report – consider(ing) alternative parking
solutions for buses serving Lower Manhattan, including possible use of
Pier 42." Located at the end of Montgomery Street, Pier 42 is supposed to one day become an "urban beach and boat launch." However, city officials have said there's no money to rehabilitate the pier now.
Co-producer and performer Jessica Delfino has written to let us know about the One Year Anniversary Holiday Bash for Skits 'N' Tits happening tonight at the Bowery Poetry Club at 10pm. She included a special note to the ladies, because this month's comedy/burlesque/music event is sponsored by Kong Magazine with free gift bags, and writes, "LADIES — you are going to want to get there early to get your amazing gift bag, trust us!"
Just posted on real estate firm Massey Knakal's blog: the sale of 112 Stanton Street, a commercial loft building. According to the posting, the building (between Essex and Ludlow) sold for $2,400,000. It's a 6-story building with 10-thousand square feet:
There are very few loft buildings on the LES and this was the last remaining building subject to the New York Loft Board. There
is a store on the ground floor and six units above. Four of the units
are floor-thru while the other two are half-floors. There are three IMD
(Interim Multiple Dwelling) tenants remaining in the building and three
vacant commercial spaces. The ground floor retail space is also vacant
and has great 14’ ceiling heights. Additionally, the basement use is
solely for the ground floor tenant.
A source tells the Daily News a federal grand jury has begun hearing "evidence against alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four of his Al Qaeda henchmen."The story says it could take several weeks for the panel to hand down an indictment. Their trials will, of course, be held at the Federal Courthouse on Pearl Street. Incidentally, the NYPD declined to show up for a community meeting in Chinatown earlier this week about security concerns surrounding the trial. According to Councilmember Alan Gerson, the NYPD has said "official planning" has not begun since the suspects have not been indicted yet. We'll post a video report from that meeting later this morning.
Earlier today, we reported the Girls Prep is advocating a plan to expand its middle school that would force out P.S. 94, a special needs school. Girls Prep, P.S. 94 and P.S. 188 all share a building on Houston Street, near FDR Drive. A few minutes ago, Jessica Santos, P.S. 94's PTA president told me she's unhappy about the prospect the school might have to relocate, in part because the children are all autistic – and would not respond well to a sudden change in routine. Santos is talking with parents tonight, and planning an organizational meeting at the school tomorrow afternoon.
The Department of Education is considering three plans to accommodate Girls Prep's desire to grow. This morning, the school's founder, Miriam Raccah, told us proposal #1, requiring P.S. 94 to move out of the district, was the only one of the three that seemed viable.
Girls Prep is, apparently, not the only school, picking the plan. The P.S. 20 parents' newsletter declares (in all caps), "WE WANT PROPOSAL NUMBER 1!" It's a somewhat surprising stance since P.S. 20 is part of a coalition working in a coalition with District 1's Community Education Council to formulate an alternative plan acceptable to all of the neighborhood schools.
Have you ever spent hours thinking about what you should have said during an argument or abrupt encounter? Ever think about what you wish you had said to a loved one before they died? How about what you would say to a loved one, if you were about to die? You can write it down and read what others would say, at The Musuem at Eldridge, where Illegal Art's most recent project, The Last Word, is currently "on site" through Thursday. The Lo-Downattended the reception over the weekend and I couldn't resist the urge to write down some of my own "last words". We spoke with collaborators Otis Kriegel and Michael McDevitt about their latest piece:
The operators of the Girls Prep Charter School are stepping up their campaign for expansion on the Lower East Side, while opponents, including the District 1 Community Education Council (CEC), line up to oppose any plan impacting other schools in the neighborhood.
With the Department of Education’s deadline for public comments on three proposed plans just two days away, Girls Prep CEO Miriam Raccah has sent an email to supporters and the CEC, saying the school has a strong desire to stay in its current location, a building it shares with P.S. 188, the Island School. If the DOE agrees, a third school, P.S. 94 (serving disabled students) would need to move out of District 1, and a new program serving kids with special needs would be created at the Shuang Wen school. Meanwhile, CEC President Lisa Donlan is working with parents from the affected schools to pressure the DOE to deny the Girls Prep request, or to find space for the middle school in some other district.
