Editorial
Governor Pataki’s Downtown legacy
The lower part of Manhattan, like most of New York City, is heavily Democratic. Despite the last 12 years that have seen two Republican mayors, this is not a particularly fertile ground for most Republicans to hope to pick up votes.

Talking Point
Greenway deathtrap: More accidents will happen
By Charles Komanoff
Another week, another dead cyclist. On the evening of Dec. 1, 27-year-old Eugenio Cidron left a party at Chelsea Piers, steered his silver BMW onto the no-cars-allowed Hudson River greenway and drove south for a mile — a mile! — until he smashed head on into 22-year-old Eric Ng just north of Houston St., killing him instantly.

A letter to the president about two little words
By Daniel Meltzer
Dear President Bush:
Please understand that I write you the following, as you attempt to stimulate diplomacy directed toward ending the chaos and carnage in Iraq. Please understand that I write as a concerned citizen with the highest respect for your office.

Letters to the editor

Scene

The Buzz

Surreality

In Briefs
Obituary

Muriel Castanis, 80, sculptor with a unique method
By Albert Amateau
Muriel Castanis, a lifelong resident of the Village and a sculptor, one of whose works is embedded in the walls of the Flatbush Ave.-Brooklyn College subway station, died Nov. 22 at the age of 80.
Your Weekly Neighborhood Newspaper | Volume One, Issue 12, December 15 - 21, 2006

Chelsea Now photo by Jefferson Siegel

Cutting the ribbon for Hudson River Park’s Chelsea North section, from left, Council Speaker Chris Quinn; Mayor Bloomberg; Trip Dorkey, Hudson River Park Trust board of directors chairperson; Governor Pataki; and Borough President Scott Stringer.

Big wheel keep on turning, proud George keep on beach yearning
By Lincoln Anderson
Amid unseasonably balmy weather and with a towering waterwheel spinning lazily next to them, Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg joined other officials and community members Monday in cutting the ribbon on the Hudson River Park’s latest addition, the new Chelsea North section.

Grave situation for Trump as bones found at site
By Lincoln Anderson
The discovery of human remains at the site of the planned Trump Soho condo-hotel at Spring and Varick Sts. led the Department of Buildings on Tuesday to issue a stop-work order for the project.

Love and rage at memorial for cyclist slain on path
By Jefferson Siegel
Eric Ng, the 22-year-old cyclist killed by a drunken driver on Dec. 1 on the Hudson River Park bike path, was remembered by family and friends in a day of memorials last Saturday.

Built-up complaints come pouring out

NEWS

Northern exposure: High Line faces threat
By Lawrence Lerner
If you thought preserving the High Line was a fait accompli, think again.
Last Thursday night, more than 150 people packed into Chelsea Market’s Community Room to hear an hour-long overview of the public planning process that will decide the fate of the elevated railway’s northern end, between 11th and 12th Aves. from 30th to 33rd Sts., where it loops around the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Western Rail Yards.

Board 4 hopes Spirit gives up the ghost
By Lawrence Lerner
It appears West Chelsea nightlife has taken another shot to the chin.
At a full board meeting last Wednesday night at Roosevelt Hospital, Community Board 4 recommended that the State Liquor Authority not approve a transfer of ownership for Spirit, the embattled West Chelsea nightclub at 530 W. 27th St. that was shuttered twice for alcohol and drug violations last spring and summer.

Opponents pile on the Union Square pavillion plan
By Jefferson Siegel
Politicians and activists opposed to the plan for a restaurant concession in the Union Square pavillion gathered in the park last Sunday to denounce plans to convert the historic structure and renewed their calls for renovation of the park’s north end.

Arts & Entertainment

Ryan Weideman’s mobile studio
By Tonia Steed
Ryan Weideman studied photography at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now the California College of the Arts), but he didn’t stay: “the visual capital of the world” was calling.

ART

Moving on up — to the east side
By David Kennerley
With over 330 galleries and counting, West Chelsea has become the nexus of the contemporary art market in New York, if not the world. The Soho giants and the Williamsburg hipsters have already relocated or established outposts there, and now the esteemed Whitney is planning a satellite museum at the entrance to the High Line.
FILM

Koch On Film
“Stranger than Fiction” (-) The strangest part of this movie for me was seeing Will Ferrell play a dramatic role rather than a comedic one.  He does a good job with a non-absorbing script.
“Apocalypto” (-) I am happy to report that Mel Gibson’s movie on pre-Columbian Indian civilization is a clinker. 

THEATER

Stephen Spinella springs into new role
By Scott Harrah
Veteran stage star Stephen Spinella is no stranger to controversial theater. The busy actor — a native of Naples, Italy, who grew up in Arizona before coming to New York to pursue acting — won two

Two men...one resounding, loving ‘Big Voice’
By Jerry Tallmer
This is a love story. It is sort of a continuation or an expansion of an Off-Broadway show, “The Last Session,” which nine years ago tore the guts out of almost everybody who came to it.

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Courtesy ACA Galleries
The People’s Painter Bronx-born Ralph Fasanella (1914 –1997), a machinist with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, actually took up painting as a relaxing exercise for his arthritic hands. The self-taught artist went on to create large-scale paintings of union meetings, urban life, and men and women at work in a detailed, slightly surreal style that ultimately won him recognition and fame as a folk artist. A retrospective of his work, titled “Artist of the People,” is on view through February 3 at ACA Galleries, 529 W. 20th Street, 5th Floor, 212-206-8080, acagalleries.com.

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