Just when we had Mary Jane on the mind (the other day, as we were leaving Tom and Jerry’s, someone handed us the business card you see here), The Villager has a buzz-worthy story about a pot activist who is offering free examinations of your ganja. The man, Kenny Toglia, says a lot of the weed on the street harbors a cancer-causing fungus, so he uses a $20 microscope, from Radio Shack, to perform inspections at University of the Streets every Thursday at 6 p.m. This isn’t the expert’s first encounter with publicity, either. Mr. Toglia “insists he’s not setting up another marijuana club like the one in 1999 — in the same location — that had 600 members and was raided by police,” the paper reports.

Stephen Rex Brown Mohammed Rahman, moments after being punched.

It was a hellacious start to the day for Mohammed Rahman, a Bangladeshi man who serves gyros, lamb over rice and the like from his cart at Astor Place.

At around 12:15 p.m. a shoeless woman flipped out at him, yelling that Mr. Rahman was “making me wait so long for my damn food.” She then tossed a handful of the cart’s water bottles behind her, nearly striking a man in a suit walking by the Chase Bank. “Whoa! Take it easy!” he said.

The woman, who looked to be in her early 20s, walked off toward St. Marks Place. But the trouble was only beginning.

Three other men, who were apparently with the woman, were still lingering around the food cart, berating Mr. Rahman. The vendor, who has been in the U.S. for two and a half years, stepped out of his cart to call the police. While he spoke on the phone, one of the men, wearing all black and carrying a backpack, clocked Mr. Rahman in the jaw. Read more…

Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong continue sorting through their archives of punk-era concert footage as it’s digitized for the Downtown Collection at N.Y.U.’s Fales Library.

All punk rockers were not alike. From blue-collar rockers to art school grads, the CBGBs crowd ran the New York gamut: diverse, passionate and extremely opinionated. But there was one thing everyone agreed on. Everybody loved Divine.

Born Harris Glenn Milstead, Divine was dubbed “Drag Queen of the Century” by People magazine after appearing in 10 films by John Waters. Here’s how much downtowners adored Divine: In April, 1978, The Neon Women, a play written by Tom Eyen, opened at Hurrah’s, a nightclub on West 62 Street. Starring Divine as Flash Storm, a retired stripper, it was loosely based on Gypsy Rose Lee’s detective novel, “The G String Murders.” Downtowners actually crossed 14th Street to see it, traveling uptown in droves. Read more…

The Creative Little Garden on East Sixth Street is back to looking for a new administrator, according to departing director Steve Rose. A volunteer who had agreed to take over the garden has taken his name out of the running. The Local previously reported that some garden members had volunteered to open and close its gates after an announcement that it might close without help, but Mr. Rose felt the need for a logistical coordinator could pose problems once he left in the fall.

Matthew Kraus On East Second Street.

Good morning, East Village.

Maribel Araujo, the Venezuelan restaurateur behind Caracas, has found inspiration in the Rockaways, where she has opened a new outpost on the boardwalk. “I don’t find the East Village and Williamsburg interesting anymore,” she tells The Daily News. “The people here are for real. They’re all characters.”

East Ninth Street jewelry shop Verameat just opened an outpost in Willamsburg (just like every other business, it seems), according to Racked.

EV Grieve has a thorough roundup of all the new developments and openings and closings on Avenue B. Read more…

Photos: Melvin Felix

“I can’t imagine anyone my age wanting to sit in a Pinkberry,” said Ilias Iliopoulos, 34, whose gelateria Fresco opened on Second Avenue yesterday, around the corner from the fro-yo chain’s St. Marks location.

Mr. Iliopoulos, who owned a chain-operated gelateria in Greece for five years, said his first independent venture is meant to be reminiscent of a Greek shack, or “paragka.”

“There’s nothing wrong with Pinkberry and 16 Handles,” he added, “but they cater to a younger demographic because they’re very colorful and very bright. I wanted to create an environment where you can actually get a gelato but you wouldn’t mind hanging out there as well.” Read more…

On Monday The Local heard a rumor that a sushi restaurant would take over the long-vacant storefront next-door to Whole Earth Bakery. That turned out to be partly true. Gary Auslander, the broker who handled the deal, said that a “very exclusive” 15-seat Japanese restaurant would be moving in. Like another newcomer, Bugs, it will indeed serve sushi, among other things. Mr. Auslander added that it won’t be competing with Sushi Lounge a few doors away, rather, it will be “more like Momofuku.” The owners of the restaurant, who will appear at this month’s Community Board 3 meeting, are bringing over a well-regarded chef from Japan, according to the broker.

Vanessa Yurkevich Sho Boo at Bugs.

Vanessa Yurkevich

Sho Boo grew up in Osaka, Japan, a daughter of Korean immigrants. When she was young her mother opened a small ramen shop in their hometown and that’s when she took an interest in cooking. “I would help her out at the shop,” she said, “and I learned from her. “

In Japan, sushi chefs were rarely women. So when Ms. Boo came to the United States 11 years ago she was surprised to find opportunity: for 10 years she worked as a sushi chef, training at Sushi Yasuda in Midtown and Jewel Bako in the East Village. Today she’ll return to her love of cooking, as she opens a shop of her own called Bugs on East 12th Street.

“Bugs tend to gather, especially around a bright light and this restaurant is the bright light that everyone would gather around,” said Ms. Boo. Read more…

It’s a lament almost as common in the neighborhood as complaints about bar noise — property taxes are way too high. Just two days ago, the owner of Mama’s Food Shop said that his property taxes had nearly quadrupled since he took over the business around 2007. Now, District Attorney Cyrus Vance is urging reform of the assessment system for the taxes, which a grand jury found is rife with abuse. “Some unscrupulous individuals and entities routinely try to cheat the City out of this valuable revenue stream by filing false information with City agencies,” he said in a press release. In one case cited by the grand jury, “60 percent of property owners surveyed who derived income from signs posted on their property failed to report that income to the Tax Commission when they sought to reduce their taxes,” the statement noted.

Stephen Rex Brown The suspect in a long string of robberies.

The police are on the hunt for a suspect in a string of at least 16 robberies, half of which were in the East Village.

In all the cases, which take place near the East River, the perpetrator either flashed a knife or gun, or simulated one. He then attempted to take his victims’ property — common items include cellphones and wallets — and usually succeeded. None of the victims were hurt.

In the first four incidents in early May the suspect robbed victims in elevators in Campos Plaza and the Lillian Wald Houses, the police said. Only in the last incident on May 15 did he actually flash a weapon — a knife — before grabbing the victims Sony PSP, cash and a watch. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Yesterday at Cooper Square.

Good morning, East Village.

An executive with a background in digital technology has purchased a bundle of downtown papers that includes The Villager, the paper announced yesterday. Jennifer Goodstein, a former exec at MetLife, bought Community Media LLC, which also includes Gay City News, Downtown Express, the East Villager and Chelsea Now for an undisclosed amount. Ms. Goodsetin told The Post she has no plans to shut down any of the papers. The papers were previously owned by John Sutter, who bought them in 1999. “[I’m] delighted to have found someone like Jennifer Goodstein who understands and believes in the community newspaper space and has the digital skills, ideas and ambitions for the newspapers and their websites,” Mr. Sutter said in a statement to Crain’s. Ms. Goodstein’s husband is News Corp. Senior Vice President Les Goodstein, who runs the Community Newspaper Group. (This reporter landed his first job at The Brooklyn Paper, which is part of C.N.G.)

A jury recommended that the sergeant facing charges related to the suicide of Private Danny Chin serve 30 days behind bars. Supporters of Mr. Chin told The Times the sentence was too lenient.

P.S. 63 William McKinley was the first stop for the “Recyclarium,” a mobile lab meant to teach students the importance of recycling. Schoolbook reports that the school received the honor because it “has reduced its trash by 85 percent in two months by composting food waste.” Read more…

Photos: Jason Trobman

There was a swimming pool in Union Square today, but unlike the zip line that popped up some weeks ago, nobody got to use it.

The pool party was created for It’s So Miami, a campaign by the Greater Miami Convention and Tourism Bureau.

Spectators weren’t allowed in the water or on the chaises, and had to settle for tossing beach balls while free trips were given away. (Areas reserved for hunky models? That is so Miami!) Bouncing to club tunes and sipping coconut water, the models, at least, looked like they were having a blast, as did Karina Smirnoff from “Dancing with the Stars.”

Louis Aguirre, a Florida news reporter serving as master of ceremonies, touted Miami as the “sixth borough,” Hey, it’s not as crazy as it sounds.

Edna Ishayik 265-267 Bowery.

A beer hall bound for 265-276 Bowery has become involved in a dust-up that could hurt its chances of snagging a liquor license.

Last Wednesday, Vanessa Solomon was working in her loft apartment on the second floor of the building between Stanton and Houston Streets when a cloud of brown dust came up from the storefront space where the Paulaner Brauhaus plans to open. Her floors, bed, clothes, and papers were covered in dust, she said. She and her live-in partner, Timothy Davis, spent the rest of the day scrambling to find a clean place for their five school-aged children to sleep that night.

“It looked like Pompeii,” Mr. Davis told The Local.

It was only the latest disruption for Ms. Solomon, who, after 17 years in the loft, had already started looking for a new home in Brooklyn. A week before the dust plume struck, her landlord, Craig Murray, called to tell her that her month-to-month lease would end on Sept. 1 due to construction. “The same day,” said Mr. Davis, “demolition started downstairs without any notice to us and without any precautions although Tony Morali, the architect, had promised repeatedly that he would first put in a dust barrier and soundproofing.”

After dust began coming up from the first floor, Paulaner project representatives sent a cleaning service. But that was nothing compared to the carpet of brown powder that rose up July 25.

According to Rudolf Tauscher, an operator of the beer hall, that incident occurred during pre-construction safety checks, after ceiling panels were removed to reveal an “unsafe condition”: cracked wooden planks and beams. “We were trying to establish what needed to be corrected when dust went upward and when a hostile tenant informed the DOB,” he said. Read more…

Sarah Darville Water main construction at Cooper Square.

The steel beams of 51 Astor Place now loom over the entrance to the 6 train. High school students will soon be attending class at Cooper Square. And city contractors are still tearing up asphalt to repair a vital water main.

Here’s a roundup of the latest news on four projects that will transform the gateway to the neighborhood.

Courtesy of Sciame Construction Corp A rendering of 51 Astor.

51 Astor Place

In May, Commercial Observer reported that Hult International Business School was negotiating to take the second floor at the black-glass tower being built at the corner of St. Marks Place and Fourth Avenue. But William Lyman, Vice President of Global Development at the school says it is no longer pursuing the space. That deal would have satisfied a requirement that the building host at least one educational institution. Who will occupy the rest of the space remains a mystery. Microsoft and IBM have previously been rumored to be interested in moving in. Read more…

Time for the latest installment of What’s That You’re Playing?, where we ask a clerk at one of the neighborhood’s record stores to tell us what’s spinning. This week: Cory Feierman of Academy Records.

Melvin Felix 505 LaGuardia

New York University has reached an agreement with the co-op board at 505 LaGuardia that will prevent dramatic rent hikes at the building. The new agreement extends the current lease in perpetuity, as long as the building remains part of the Mitchell-Lama affordable housing program.

The building’s previous lease was due to expire in 2014 after standing for 50 years. Terms of the new lease became a sticking point in the negotiations surrounding the university’s expansion, even though the building itself would not be affected. Politicians including Borough President Scott Stringer, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, and State Senator Thomas Duane had repeatedly called for the university to come to an agreement with 505 LaGuardia that would avoid rent hikes at the 30-story towers designed by James Freed and I.M. Pei.

Today, N.Y.U. described the agreement, the specific terms of which were not released, as a reflection of the university’s commitment to affordable housing. Read more…

Courtesy Jessica Pilot Jessica Pilot (left) and Heather Holliday in
Tompkins Square Park

I think it was 1990. I was eating pierogies with my father at K&K Restaurant, which is now Neptune, on First Avenue near 12th Street; sitting at the table next to us was Allen Ginsberg. I didn’t know who he was at the time (I was nine) and he passed away shortly after, but it would become my earliest memory of growing up downtown. The East Village has a reputation around the world for being at the center of what’s cool and I was there, living it.

After our Polish breakfasts, my father and I would walk over to Tompkins Square Park, just a few blocks away. The park was dirty and crime-ridden, but in the East Village your neighbors looked after you. One of them told me not to touch the “spike” lying right there by the tire swing in the park’s makeshift playground. I never did try heroin, but years later I did magic mushrooms in the park and none of the crusty punks living there with their mangly pitbulls batted an eye.

My first job was as a cashier at Commodities Natural Market on First Avenue, near 10th Street. I was terrible. I got fired because I had a tip jar and a penchant for giving out discounts to friends, good-looking men and the aged. At 16, I already wanted to make a lot of money, so a tip jar seemed like a good start (oh, and it worked). One of the customers who got my 10 percent discount was John Joseph, frontman of the Cro-Mags. He was a hardcore vegan even before he “sold out” and wised up and got a book deal years later with “Meat is for Pussies.” I still see him shopping there. Read more…

Suzanne Rozdeba Sidewalk Cafe

Good morning, East Village.

The shockwaves from the closure of Mama’s Food Shop continue on The Local’s Facebook page, where the majority of commenters expressed dismay that another longtime business had bit the dust. “The East Village continues to go upscale. I bet some overpriced ‘new American’ restaurant will open up in its place…or else a ‘speakeasy’ that charges $15 a cocktail. I don’t mind change….but when EVERYTHING changes, it’s too much!” wrote Elise Herbruger.

The Lo-Down reports that a building owned by Benjamin Shaoul was slapped with a partial stop work order yesterday after ripping out a staircase and not providing a tenant on the fourth floor with “an unobstructed exit.” In April the same tenant in the East 12th Street building was left stranded on her floor after the staircase was completely demolished.

PcvstBee spotted a Craigslist ad seeking job applicants for the new Burlington Coat Factory in Union Square. Read more…