Impeach! hundreds in Foley Sq. cry
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
Several hundred protestors gathered
in Lower Manhattan’s Foley
Square Saturday afternoon as part
of a national day of action to call for
an impeachment inquiry of President
Trump. More than 100 cities nationwide
held similar demonstrations.
The rally was organized by a coalition
including Empire State Indivisible, Need
to Impeach, Indivisible Nation BD, Black
Lives Matter Greater New York, CREDO
Mobile, By the People, The New York
Immigrant Coalition and more. Among
politicians speaking at the rally was Congressmember
Carolyn Maloney, whose
district includes the East Village, part of
the Lower East Side, a bit of the Village,
Midtown and the Upper East Side.
“After carefully reviewing evidence
laid out in the Mueller Report, after attending
numerous hearings, after listening
to the concerns of my constituents
and after a good deal of soul searching,
I have come to the conclusion that it is
necessary to open a formal impeachment
inquiry concerning the president of the
United States,” Maloney said early on
during the rally. The sign-waving anti-
Trump demonstrators erupted in cheers.
The congressmember added that
Protesters at last Saturday’s anti-Trump impeachment rally in Foley
Square.
what pushed her to publicly call for an
impeachment inquiry was President
Trump’s recent admission to ABC’s
George Stephanopoulos that he would
accept negative information on a political
opponent during his 2020 re-election
campaign.
“If somebody called from a country,
PHOTO BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
Norway, ‘We have information on your
opponent,’ I think I’d want to hear it,”
Trump declared during the interview.
Former Congressmember Elizabeth
Holtzman added there were “other
grounds for impeachment” for Trump.
Among some of those others mentioned
were the continued separation
of immigrant children from parents at
the nation’s southern border, sexist remarks
made during his 2016 presidential
campaign, a lack of basic knowledge of
the Constitution and abuse of executive
privilege.
During the rally a small group of
pro-Trump counterdemonstrators were
present, but held their position, as well
as members of the Revolutionary Communist
Party (Revcom). One Revcom
member, Davis Parker, speaking through
a handheld loudspeaker, interrupted a
speech to say that it not just President
Trump that is corrupt, but the entire
American political system.
“People think they are woke in this
society but the reality is they are sleepwalking
through a nightmare,” Parker
proclaimed.
“Trump needed to be impeached
yesterday,” said protester Monique Ann
Gaylor. “I cannot understand why Pelosi
is not moving.”
Hotlzman served on the House Judiciary
Committee during Nixon’s impeachment
inquiry.
“Some say, let’s not start an impeachment
inquiry because it divides the country,”
she said. “It united us as Americans
because what we said was that more
important than anything is the rule of
law.”
Pathway pitched to legalize Soho/Noho nonartists
BY GABE HERMAN
At a June 13 meeting for the Envision
Soho Noho process, preliminary
recommendations were
presented for issues in the area, based
on the process of community input that
included four public workshops from
February to May.
Some top issues included protecting
artists and the artistic tradition of Soho
while offi cially allowing nonartist residency;
reducing regulation hurdles for
small businesses; and improving quality
of-life issues, such as street and sidewalk
congestion, and improving garbage
pickups.
Manhattan Borough President Gale
Brewer gave brief opening remarks in
the auditorium of the Scholastic Building
at 130 Mercer St.
Brewer said she hoped to see feedback
incorporated into the fi nal planning.
“This is not the end of the process, it’s
just the beginning,” she assured. Brewer
said there will be many more meetings,
including extending into the fall with
Community Board 2 committee meetings.
Consultant Jonathan Martin, from
BFJ Planning and the Pratt Institute, outlined
the preliminary recommendations.
They were separated into three big categories:
“improve quality of life,” “ensure
neighborhood vitality” and “promote
economic vitality.” The full slide show
can be found on the envisionsohonoho.
nyc Web site.
Regarding improving quality of life,
easing congestion was mentioned, along
with better coordinating commercial
deliveries and adding open spaces and
greenery. (Before the meeting, members
of Friends of Elizabeth St. Garden
passed out fl iers urging that the Soho/
Little Italy-area garden be saved and that
a senior housing project slated for it be
relocated to an empty city-owned lot at
Hudson and Clarkson Sts.)
The presentation also included maintaining
artists residences through the
existing Joint Living-Working Quarters
for Artists, or J.L.W.Q.A., zoning. At the
same time, there was a recommendation
for creating a pathway for nonartists to
become legal residents, possibly including
amnesty for current nonartists in
the area until new live-work regulations
could be explored.
Other goals outlined included affordable
housing for artists and maintaining
the area’s character by keeping new
buildings consistent with older buildings’
height, scale and density.
The notion of designating Soho an
arts and cultural district was raised. Also
stressed was the idea of encouraging and
nurturing spaces for artists and smaller
cultural businesses, possibly through tax
incentives or other fi nancial support.
Martin acknowledged that some of
the presentation’s goals were general
ideas that needed more fl eshing out before
they could ultimately be enacted.
But he echoed Brewer that it was an ongoing
process, adding that people could
submit feedback about the presentation
on the process’s Web site until June 20,
and after that date by e-mailing SoHo-
NoHo@planning.nyc.
A report will be released and posted
online this summer. Martin said it would
include a recommendation to collect
more accurate data about how many
verifi ed artists are actually currently
neighborhood residents.
Beyond that report, there will be opportunity
for further community engagement
at a C.B. 2 Land Use Committee
meeting in October.
During the meeting’s public feedback
portion, a local woman stressed that
no exceptions should be allowed to the
10,000-square-foot cap on retail stores,
though the presentation left open that
possibility.
“This is a way to destroy the area,”
she declared of larger retail, drawing applause
from the crowd.
Another resident said he appreciated
the work that went into the presentation,
but that people are concerned that New
York University is intent on expanding
in the area. He cited a report by an
N.Y.U. researcher outlining ways to create
more classrooms and N.Y.U. housing
in the area. In March, an N.Y.U. spokesman
denied this was the university’s offi
cial position, and Martin echoed this,
to groans from the audience.
Another woman asked how local politicians
could be trusted in this process,
when the Elizabeth St. Garden is at risk
of being destroyed and N.Y.U. was allowed
to build a new tower on Mercer
St. between Houston and Bleecker St.,
which is currently under construction.
“N.Y.U. has bought this city and this
neighborhood,” she said.
A man who said he has lived in the
community since 1977 complained that
noise issues were not addressed in the
presentation. He said there has been an
explosion of foot traffi c, leading to more
food trucks, which have noisy, dieselspewing
generators and are parked illegally.
He said that London has banned
food trucks with diesel exhaust.
Another resident asked what would
happen with existing large retail stores
that exceed the district’s 10,000 squarefoot
limit, and if they would simply be
grandfathered in.
“I’d prefer them forced down to the
10,000 limit,” he said, “because they offer
nothing culturally.”
6 June 20, 2019 TVG Schneps Media
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