The Times reports that N.Y.U. has agreed to scale back its proposed expansion on two blocks south of Washington Square Park by roughly 16 percent after negotiations with the Manhattan borough president, Scott M. Stringer. The original plan called for 2,275,000 square feet of construction; the revised one reduces that number by 370,000 square feet. According to The Times, a 14-story building planned for the southern block will now be seven stories. The two buildings on the northern block will be “slimmed and shortened,” and the Zipper building will be further set back from Mercer Street. The plan must still be approved by the City Planning Commission and the City Council.

If you’re looking for something to do this evening, here’s a last-minute option: two legends of the neighborhood, Lou Reed and Jonas Mekas, will appear with actor and martial artist Stephan Berwick during tonight’s short film program at Anthology Film Archives. They’ll be introducing Mr. Berwick’s 15-minute film “Final Weapon,” featuring Mr. Reed and his music, with a q&a session to follow. The program also features Bryan Felber’s “University of the Streets,” a martial arts short set in the East Village.

Want to sport Michelle Obama sneakers while sipping Barack-branded coffee? Here’s the place to go: Hip-Hop U.S.A, a Harlem-based company that puts on sneaker-art competitions, has opened a pop-up shop at 343 Lafayette Street, between Bleecker and Bond Streets. The Local stopped into the store’s opening to check out sneakers painted by graffiti artists in the style of their train murals from the 1970s and 80s. Seems subway artists are making a comeback.

Who are the men and women seeking to occupy Union Square Park? Yesterday we met Fathema Shadida and Tim “Chyno” Chin. Today, meet two more of your new neighbors. 

Jared Malsin

Name: Karin Hofmann
Age: 69
Originally from: Germany. Emigrated to the Bronx at age 12.
Current residence: East 12th Street
Current job: Retired
Ideology: “Definitely a Liberal, and I say it proudly.” Read more…

An interactive map allows users to submit Blueway ideas.

“The west side has the High Line, Hudson River Park, Chelsea Piers,” said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer at the first community-wide planning meeting for the East River Blueway. “Now it’s time for the East Side to have an iconic outdoor space.”

In its planning stages since September 2011, the Blueway aims to make the East River more accessible, with beautified walkways, from the Brooklyn Bridge to East 38th Street. Yesterday’s meeting brought together residents, politicians, and members of Community Board 6 as well as the project’s design team to share ideas regarding water access, biking routes, and improved water quality for swimming, kayaking and fishing.

Crossing the FDR is currently a major obstacle to accessing the river. According to Adam Lubinsky, Managing Principal of WXY Architecture + Urban Design, the East Side has only half the number of street crossings – including underpasses, overpasses and street level pathways – as the West Side. “How can we engage with a river that we’ve been separated from for so long?” asked Mr. Lubinsky. Read more…

Jared Malsin

Some 200 protesters gathered in Union Square yesterday evening to demand justice for Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager shot dead by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida in February.

City Council Member Letitia James, of Brooklyn, was among those who participated in the rally. Referring to the hooded sweatshirt worn by the 17-year-old the day he died, she told The Local, “Today, all of us are Trayvon Martin, and today this powerful article of clothing is going to be transformed into an instrument for change, and for justice for this young man.”

The hoodie has become a national symbol following the Feb. 26 shooting in Sanford, Fla., inspiring everything from hooded church services to a tribute song by “Hoodie Guthrie.” On March 21 activists including members of the Occupy movement staged a “Million Hoodie March” that stepped off from Union Square. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

Good morning, East Village.

As you can see above, 7-Eleven decals have been plastered on the window of the former JAS Mart on St. Marks Place.

In The Post, real estate developer Stephen B. Meister uses the BP station on Houston Street, which may soon be included in a historic district, as evidence that “most properties in historic districts have no architectural value.” He goes on: “Designating so many neighborhoods as historic districts has played a big role in driving up rents and constraining the housing supply.”

The Real Deal links to a subscription-only Crain’s item reporting that as retail rezoning gains traction on the Upper West Side, community boards in the East Village and Upper East Side are considering restricting storefronts against nightlife use as well. Read more…

Jared Malsin Fathema Shadida in Union Square Park

Since members of the Occupy Wall Street movement launched their attempted occupation of Union Square three weeks ago, the protesters have engaged in a nightly tug-o-war with police. The occupiers have responded to the nightly closure of Union Square Park and arrests with rap battles, sleep-ins and dangling donuts on strings.

But who are the men and women seeking to occupy the square? In hopes of learning more about our new neighbors (some of them old neighbors, actually), The Local spoke with 10 core activists, all of whom have spent at least one night sleeping on the edge of Union Square, and all of whom are dedicating their days to the new protest camp. Here are the vitals on two of them, with more to come every day this week.

Name: Fathema Shadida
Age: 57
Originally from: Sahara, Egypt
Current residence: Brooklyn
Job before joining occupy: New York City Parks Enforcement Patrol Officer Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Firefighters on East Ninth Street.

Stephen Rex Brown 425 East Ninth Street.

A pair of fires on the decks of two buildings on East Ninth Street were put out by firefighters today at around 1:15 p.m.

Deputy Chief James Daly said the initial fire at 425 East Ninth Street started in a planter, leading him to suspect that a discarded cigarette was the culprit. Embers from the fire blew over to a deck a 417 East Ninth Street, starting another small blaze. Within 15 minutes both fires were under control, the deputy chief said.

The Lo-Down reports that The Living Theatre is struggling financially, and that its founder Judith Malina was recently threatened with eviction from her apartment above the art space. The theater, founded in 1947, opened in its current location on Clinton Street five years ago. Since then, its 20-year commercial lease has been in a “constant state of re-negotiation,” according to the Lo-Down. Ms. Malina says that a professional business manager is needed to pull the theater back from the brink.

Melvin Felix

A group of over 30 people gathered Saturday afternoon at Le Petit Versailles community garden to celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of gay activist Harry Hay.

Mr. Hay, who died of lung cancer in 2002, was one of the first advocates of the concept of gay rights in the 1950s. He co-founded the Mattachine Society only to be expelled due to his Communist beliefs; later, he and others created the Radical Faeries, a spiritual society of gay men with sanctuaries around the world.

Peter Sturman, who joined the group shortly after coming out in his early twenties, said the faeries almost spoiled him to the realities of the outside world. “We go into a separate space and we get to suspend the rules of society,” he said. Read more…

Scott Lynch

The Times pens a piece about Giuseppi Logan’s comeback in which the jazzman reveals the reason he disappeared for decades. “My wife had me put in a mental institution,” he tells John Leland. “She said I was an addict.” On her East Village blog, Suzannah B. Troy addresses a commenter who said the profile should’ve delved deeper into Mr. Logan’s troubled past: “I believe he had more than 10 kids and one child had died. His 1st wife did not want him to play and compose music but have a mainstream job. His 2nd wife believed in his music but she left him when he went to jail.” Ms. Troy also posts footage of Giuseppi’s reunion with his son Jaee as well as other clips.

Now that Mr. Logan’s Kickstarter campaign is funded (and then some!), Jeremiah’s Vanishing points to another one: Karen Gehres has been filming at Astor Place Hairstylists for a year and wants to turn the footage into a documentary. “With so many NYC Institutions dropping like flies, due to skyrocketing rent, one barber shop remains,” goes the Kickstarter pitch. “Since 1939, Astor Barber has been cutting hair with pizzaz and is still one of NYC’s most loved institutions. Get your hair cut from cradle to grave…literally!”

Runnin’ Scared reports that local artist Legacy Russell is photographing East Village and Lower East Side residents in locations that are meaningful to them, and then hanging the poster-size prints in locations of their choosing. Read more…

Hillary McHone

On March 23, a malevolent, intoxicated hobgoblin named Ryan Beauchamp viciously attacked Joshua Basin – a poet, music lover, levelheaded friend and son – and hurled him onto the tracks of the Bedford Avenue subway station, where he was pinned and killed by a train. At least, that’s the way it was portrayed in the media and discussed in the comment sections: Joshua Basin was the helpless bystander and a victim who’d been murdered in cold blood before a gallery of straphangers.

I was one of those horrified witnesses. For two weeks, I held off on publicly speaking about what I saw because I didn’t want to undermine a potential homicide case. But with a murder charge no longer in play, I can now step forward to say that the incident did not occur as it was said to have. Ryan Beauchamp was no “Subway Slayer.” Read more…

Jared Malsin

City Room reports that the police have arrested two men who plastered subway seats with stickers reading “Priority seating for the 1 percent.” Jeffrey Brewer and Aaron Minter, who took NY1 stickering on Wednesday, were apprehended the next day near Union Square and charged with criminal mischief, making graffiti and possession of graffiti instruments. Meanwhile, The Local spotted this bit of graffiti on Avenue A between Sixth and Seventh Streets – presumably a reference to Occupy Wall Street’s planned May Day demonstrations. A bit much?

Stephen Rex Brown Ichiraku Ramen at 141 First Avenue.

The ramen joint that replaced Setagaya on First Avenue between St. Marks Place and East Ninth Street has closed after only 18 months. “Business was bad,” said owner Daniel Song, who confirmed that the restaurant shut down this week.

This certainly doesn’t augur a ramen shortage in the neighborhood, however. Rai Rai Ken, Ippudo, and Kuboya (to name a few) are just a few blocks away. Ramen aficionados may recall that the arrival of Setagaya (now on St. Marks Place) at this First Avenue location in 2007 was hyped as a showdown between the Japanese chain’s “authentic” cooking versus the more experimental noodle dishes served a few storefronts away at Momofuku Noodle Bar.

Stephen Rex Brown

Three men robbed a jewelry store on the Bowery yesterday but only made it to Bond Street before being arrested. The heist went down at 11:30 a.m. at Raineri Jewelers near Hester Street when the three thieves — one of them armed — barged in and looted several displays, a police spokeswoman said. They fled in a waiting Jaguar but abandoned the ride at Bond Street and Broadway. They were found hiding in Great Jones Alley near Lafayette Street. The police arrested two 23-year-old men from Queens and a 26-year-old from Brooklyn. A fourth suspect is still at large. The Daily News has a photo of one of the suspects.

The Occupy Wall Street protesters that get the boot on a near-nightly basis from Union Square unveiled a new tactic early this morning: sleep-ins on the sidewalk. City Room reports that the Occupiers cited a ruling by a federal judge in 2000 that allowed people to stage sleep-ins on sidewalks as a form of organized protest. The group of more than two dozen laid out sleeping bags, blankets and cardboard in front of a Citibank and Bank of America in 40-degree weather.

Ray Lemoine Benny Guerra (far right) with students.

On a recent afternoon, a 39-year-old man in army pants and a sweatshirt was skating the small ramps at the East Side Community High School’s playground. About three weeks ago, Benny Guerra, a native of Flushing, Queens, was hired to teach skateboaring at one of two East Village schools that offer skating – once the pastime of rebels and outcasts – as a proper elective.

Mr. Guerra, a painter with a degree from the School of Visual Arts, had been hoping to teach art, not ollieing. “Skating wasn’t even on my resume,” he told The Local in his new office, a shipping container plopped next to a basketball court that was filled with skate gear. But three weeks ago, he got a call from Billy Rohan, a skateboarding activist who ran the school’s skate park for five years with assistant principal Tom Mullen (Mr. Rohan now works full-time in advertising). “When Billy heard I was certified to teach,” said Mr. Guerra, “he said, ‘Get down here.’ It’s part-time for now but next year hopefully should be more.” Read more…