EDITORIAL
A convenient idea, an inconvenient spot
A cornerstone of New York University’s new Green Action Plan is the expansion and upgrading of its 30-year-old co-generation plant. Recently, N.Y.U. became one of the nation’s largest institutional purchasers of wind energy, and the co-generation project is in this same green vein.

Letters to the Editor

The Buzz

Police Blotter

Scene

Chelsea Now photo by Esther Martin
A lone seagull finds a moment of respite atop remnants of the old pier lying just beyond Chelsea Piers athletic center earlier this week.

NOTEBOOK
Greyhound 2007
By Andrei Codrescu
Welcome to the good old days. I haven’t taken Greyhound much since the storm, but the change is startling. Four prisoners in white T-shirts and rolled-up jeans went to the back, followed by several tattooed women of diverse ages and sizes, and two small children.

Chelsea is the driving force
By Robert Trentlyon
As someone who has been very active in Chelsea since 1958 and has lived in the neighborhood since 1965, I want to share my observations and, in particular, respond to the two Talking Points written by my friends Dennis Winslow and David Halle.

TALKING POINT
Let’s Correct G.T.S.’s LGBT Revisionist History
By Tim Gay
 Rev. K. Dennis Winslow’s Feb. 9 Talking Point alleged that he is correcting ”many misrepresentations” in my article on the relevance of General Theological Seminary. I’d like to set the record straight, as it were, on those LGBT issues.

HEALTH & FITNESS
The world of supplements
By Greg Rothman, M.S. P.T.
As a fitness professional and gym owner, I am bombarded by questions about supplements that aid in losing weight and building muscle.
Obituary
Gary Azon, 57, Downtown photojournalist, art critic
By Randi Hoffman
Photojournalist and art critic Gary Azon died in his sleep of a heart attack and complications of diabetes at his home in Brooklyn on Feb. 14 at the age of 57.
On the street

“I hear the n-word a million times a day, more than a million. People say it to me...it’s like saying, ‘What’s up, my dude?’ But what if they said, ‘What’s up ‘you terrorist’? I’ll say I’m not a terrorist. I hate it. People can’t stop saying the n-word. How are they going to stop calling us terrorists?”

— Alex (Ali) Muhammed, 22, chef at Gourmet Deli originally from Yemen

Reining in the granddaddy of racial slurs
By Randi Cecchine
On the final day of Black History Month, the New York City Council last Wednesday joined a growing movement in this country intent on discouraging use of the n-word, both the version ending with a racist “er” and the one tagged with an “a” and favored by hip-hop culture as an expression of empowerment.
Your Weekly Neighborhood Newspaper | Volume One, Issue 25, March 9 - March 15, 2007

Chelsea Now photo by Jefferson Siegel

Paul Cavazza of Create-a-Marker on West 38th Street, one of the many Garment District producers feeling the crunch of gentrification in the area

Garment District entrepreneurs fear proposed zoning changes
By Chris Lombardi
Last Thanksgiving, Paul Cavazza of Create-a-Marker worked round the clock because Santa Claus needed a new suit for the Macy’s parade.

N.Y.U. finding little cooperation on co-generation
By Lincoln Anderson
The key project in New York University’s Green Action Plan, or GAP — upgrading its co-generation plant — has some neighbors seeing red, at least those who feel they would be severely impacted by the construction. As a result, N.Y.U. now appears to be moving toward a new configuration for the project that it hopes will be more acceptable to the community.

Postal union joins Chelsea anti-war action
By Jefferson Siegel
Chuck Zlatkin is a man of his word. An organizer of Chelsea Neighbors United to End the War, Zlatkin has said on more than one occasion that “we’ll be out here every Tuesday night until the war is over and the troops are home.”

Wireless co.: We’re a latte cheaper than Starbucks
By Julie Shapiro
Enterprising New Yorkers who want to make some fast cash need look no farther than the nearest Starbucks.

S.L.A. refuses to settle score with Scores
By Albert Amateau
The State Liquor Authority on Wednesday gave a resounding “no” to a proposed settlement of its Feb. 21 order summarily revoking the liquor license of Scores, the West Chelsea adult entertainment club where six employees are facing prostitution charges.

Duane’s ‘invasion of the pod person’ continues on the ’Net

Restaurants snub Hotel Gansevoort over its billboard
By Julie Shapiro
Guests of the Hotel Gansevoort are running out of places to eat. If they ask the hotel for reservations at casual French restaurant Florent, the hotel will tell them it’s not possible.

NEWS

Flatiron residents decry neighborhood nightlife
By Albert Amateau
A standing-room-only crowd of Flatiron District residents told state and city officials last Thursday about their long siege of noise, filth and violence from bars and clubs concentrated on a few blocks between Fifth and Sixth Aves.

Chelsea group rallies for pedestrian safety at City Hall
By Lindsay Beyerstein
A pedestrian safety rally organized by the Chelsea-based non-profit group Transportation Alternatives drew more than 100 people to the steps of City Hall in the freezing cold on Sunday, including families whose loved ones had been killed by cars. The demonstrators called on Mayor Bloomberg to target the city’s deadliest intersections for safety improvements.

Stubborn HIV rates in 35+ gays surprise advocates
By Duncan Osborne
New HIV testing data showing higher new infection rates among older New Yorkers and declines among all groups except gay and bisexual men surprised some AIDS groups.

Don’t Trump Soho, condo-hotel protesters beg city
By Lincoln Anderson
Chanting “Trump’s gotta go!” 150 hearty Soho and Hudson Square residents braved the cold and wind last Sunday to raise their voices against against Donald Trump’s Soho Condo-Hotel.

Pridefest to make historic move to Chelsea
By Chris Lombardi
It became official Wednesday night: Pridefest is coming to Chelsea.

Speed-dating is alive and well in Chelsea
By Marsha Lebedev Bernstein
By 12:25 a.m. Tuesday, Tiffany Black still didn’t have all the men she needed. Three more single men would even things out. It was still early though—there were 18 hours to go—and many people often signed up last minute, especially men in their mid-30s and older.

And it’s the truck by a nose!
Arts & Entertainment

Group-show.com goes brick and mortar
By Tonia Steed
The March 15 opening for Group Show, an exhibition of twenty exciting emerging artists in color contemporary photography, was a year in the making, and the high point of a bold experiment in using the Web to showcase traditional media.

On the ‘Nights’ shift
By Will McKinley
It’s 9:30 p.m. on a chilly winter Wednesday and a long line of expectant audience members files into the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, the improv mecca located in the bowels of a Chelsea supermarket. Inside, five of New York City’s top improvisers prepare to take the stage for the first anniversary installment of “The Nights of Our Lives,” UCB’s monthly storytelling show.

Crafting art out of tradition
By Kaija Helmetag
Sabrina Gschwandtner fits none of the stereotypes that one associates with a New York artist who keeps a studio in Chelsea. Seated on a recent afternoon at a large table in her white-walled space on West 26 Street, she flipped through a spray-painted copy of the limited edition craft magazine that she publishes and chatted about conceptual art and knitting without a hint of pretension.

Crystal death
By Gary M. Kramer
“Rock Bottom” is a stunning and important documentary about the impact of crystal meth addiction on a handful of gay men in New York City. Filmmaker Jay Corcoran spent two years — from March 2004 to February 2006 — chronicling the lives of crystal meth users and, in many cases, their recovery.

Koch on Film
“Zodiac” (-)
Although this docudrama is interesting and at times gripping, and the performances are excellent, in its totality it is disappointing. 

Chvala channels his inner Fred Astaire at Harkness
 By Elizabeth Zimmer
Minneapolis rhythm artist Joe Chvala stormed Hell’s Kitchen last week with what amounted to a chamber ensemble. Three people — Chvala himself, his longtime dance colleague Karla Grotting, and resident composer Peter O’Gorman — essayed percussion-based works of enormous variety, from subtle to flat-out funny.

Jean-Pierre Roy’s slam dunk
By Shane McAdams
When I was a kid I was a big fan of a robotically consistent point guard named John Stockton. He played basketball like I thought it should be played: with a straight face, short shorts, and, most of all, an unwavering resolve to win each contest at all costs.

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Courtesy of the artist and Ethan Cohen Fine Arts.
Triple X White Box presents an exhibition that explores the beginning and formative years of Japanese painter Naoto Nakagawa. Above: “Echo I,” 1970.

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