THE A-LIST
THE BUZZ
EDITORIAL
Leadership lacking on congestion pricing
The road to a successful congestion pricing plan has been fraught with a series of speed bumps since Mayor Bloomberg introduced the ambitious proposal last year. A handful of holdovers in Chelsea and Downtown are still stalling on an idea whose benefits are far too great for it to languish in the limbo of city politicking.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
POLICE BLOTTER
TALKING POINT
Progress through a culture of consideration
By Keen Berger
From this Democratic district leader’s perspective, the past year was not great, but not horrible either. Many disasters were dodged or stalled. All is in process, nothing finished. The best part is schools. The crowding in all our local public schools has finally reached the attention of the wider community.
Mikhaela Reid
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Volume 2, Number 24 The Weekly Newspaper of Chelsea / March 14 - 20, 2008
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NEWS
Pedestrian-safety bill looks to crash-free future
By Chris Lombardi
Local pedestrian-safety advocates cheered on Wednesday as the City Council passed an important piece of legislation, especially given the high number of crashes reported in both Chelsea and Clinton last year.
In high winds, Trump project rains glass down on Soho
By Albert Amateau
Winds gusting nearly 50 miles per hour on Saturday night played hell with Manhattan construction projects, including the accident-prone Trump Soho hotel condominium and The Related Companies’ residential project on the site of the former Superior Ink factory on the West Village waterfront.
Zen and the art of self-defense celebrated in Chelsea
By Charlotte Cowles
Atsushi Ohashi looks like the last person in the world to kick anybody. At the beginning of a recent martial arts class inside Chelsea Studios on W. 26th St., the smiled sweetly and, in accented English, advised students to be open-minded, “like a newly born baby.”
 Gottfried, DHCR talk tenant rights in Chelsea
By Patrick Hedlund
New York’s Division of Housing and Community Renewal held an “Ask DHCR” informational session at Assemblymember Richard Gottfried’s W. 27th St. office in Chelsea last Friday for tenants to lodge queries about issues of rent stabilization and rent control.
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Chelsea Now photo by Jefferson Siegel
Students practicing the Japanese martial art of Shorinji Kempo engage in controlled combat during a recent sparring session at Chelsea Studios. The practice—which blends self-defense with meditation, massage and Zen philosophy—just celebrated its 25th anniversary in New York City after the first official branch opened in Chelsea in 1982. See story.
 Teacher turmoil, failing grades raise questions at Bayard Rustin
By Chris Lombardi
Nearly four months after most city schools received their final “report cards” from the Department of Education, Chelsea’s largest public school, Bayard Rustin High School, still awaits its own Progress Report—and the marks don’t appear to be a vast improvement over the school’s initial failing grade.
Sex sales see Scores stripped of liquor license
By Patrick Hedlund
The Scores West topless bar in Chelsea was stripped of its liquor license last week by the State Liquor Authority based on police reports of dancers selling sex inside the W. 28th St. club.
 Chelsea bike shop pedaling wares to West Side riders
By Charlotte Cowles
Sid’s Bikes on W. 19th St. in Chelsea is an airy, well-lit space with gleaming storefront windows and countertops so clean you could eat Powerbars off of them.
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ARTS
 Made by hand (and out to grab you!)
By Jeffrey Cyphers Wright
There is no big club in the art world today. No single, overriding movement prevails. Artists are like sled dogs pulling in lots of directions at once—and this is a good thing. It means there’s room for everyone to explore their own inner compass.
Koch On Film
By Ed Koch
“The Bank Job” (+) I thought this film, which received mixed reviews from other critics, was superbly done. It’s an old-fashioned, rollicking caper filled with good acting and first-rate dialogue, and its twists and turns will delight you.
“Paranoid Park” (-) If I could give this movie, directed by Gus Van Sant, a double minus, I would. And if I could punish the many critics who gave it a good review, I would put them in stocks next to the theaters showing this picture. All I can do, however, is warn you to stay away.
 Soul of the corporate world evades detection
By Leonard Quart
The celluloid combination of ambition and formal imagination doesn’t always succeed, but occasionally results in a provocative and stimulating film. That’s the case with this coolly cerebral new French film, “Heartbeat Detector,” directed by Nicolas Klotz and based on “La Question Humaine,” a novel by François Emmanuel.
Notes of a collaborator
By Lawrence Everett Forbes
Prodigious jazz singer/composer/conductor Bobby McFerrin kicked off the first of his seven spring concerts at Carnegie Hall on February 21 backed by bluegrass musicians. The ongoing “Perspectives” series displays his long-held enthusiasm for musical collaborations; reflecting his eclectic interests, the dynamic 10-time Grammy winner will perform with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s with soprano Dominique Labelle and baritone Nathan Gunn (4/6), violinist Yo-Yo Ma, (4/10), and jazz greats Chick Corea and Jack DeJohnette (4/23).
 Confronting disconnections
By Brian McCormick
In Aviva Geismar’s poignant new dance “Line of Descent,” she investigates the legacy of the Holocaust from a personal and sociological perspective.
Sex, lies and videotape
By Adrienne Urbanski
In a news-saturated world where YouTube and reality television have become our way of experiencing the lives of others, it’s fitting for a theatrical work to use video to bring us closer to the characters’ interiors.
 Sins and the city
By Jan Engoren
Following in the footsteps of European artists Willem de Kooning and Gaston Lachaise, Belgian-born painter Serge Strosberg has adopted New York as his second home. When opening his first U.S. studio, he settled on Soho because of the constant activity on Broadway.
Back in the pew again: Finding a church that fit
By Kate Walter
“I like being pastor of a church that is being disciplined for its positions,” Reverend Dr. Jacqueline Lewis recently announced from the pulpit of Middle Collegiate Church.
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