Better get Michael Moore on the phone. City Room reports that a fight is on the horizon between the owners of the Strand Bookstore and its unionized workers, who are likely to reject a new contract that cuts back on benefits. The store’s general manager says that the offer reflects the realities of the ailing book industry, which affects independent stores in particular. The staff counters that a strike might be necessary down the road. “If that’s what we need to do to defend our rights in the long term, well, we’ll see when we cross that bridge,” an employee says.

Lauren Carol Smith The restaurant at 7 St. Marks Place will expand next door.

A worker renovating the below-ground space at 5 St. Marks Place, near Third Avenue, just told The Local that the Thai restaurant next door, Klong, will be moving in. An employee at JKNY Realty, which is listed as the owner in Department of Buildings records, confirmed the expansion. The space was previously occupied by Hottie, which closed in November.

Paper magazine has photos from the opening of “Giverny” at the Hole gallery. Among the attendees: R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, photographer Spencer Tunick, and designers ThreeasFour. The Local also spotted Clayton Patterson and “Blank City” director Celine Danhier. Gallerist NY overheard Jeffrey Deitch saying, “It brings together all these people who normally wouldn’t come together.”

Around 250 parents and friends of the Children’s Workshop School gathered on Friday evening for a benefit that featured a silent auction of art by local artists, as well as a performance by the pop singer Lisa Lisa (of Cult Jam fame). As turned out, the organizers of the “SchoolAPalooza” didn’t have to pull too many strings to get the woman behind the 1987 hit “Lost in Emotion” to make an appearance: the principal of the school, Maria Velez-Clarke, is her older sister. The Local was there with camera in hand to document the festivities — as well as footwear signed by none other than the Material Girl.
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Here’s the latest installment of “Police And Thieves,” The Local’s regular roundup of crime. What follows are the latest reports from March 12 to 18, sorted by the type of incident. Plus: Our map of all of crime since Jan. 15.

Trouble on the Trains

Vivienne Gucwa The Astor Place station.

• A thief chucked two sneakers at a man and robbed him on March 12. The 44-year-old victim told the police he was sitting on a bench on the northbound platform in the Astor Place station at around 6 a.m. when a man sat beside him and said, “I’m going to kill you if you don’t give me your money.” After getting what he asked for, the suspect reached into his jacket, pulled out the shoe and threw it at the victim, hitting him in the back. The victim alerted a booth clerk, and re-approached the suspect, who had moved up the platform, only to get a shoe hurled at him again.
• A guy asked a woman for directions in the Second Avenue subway station and then snatched her cellphone on March 17. The 23-year-old victim said that after she gave the suspect directions at around 9:50 p.m., he grabbed her iPhone 4S from her hand. She gave chase but lost the thief on the street.
• After drinking till closing time at Double Down Saloon on March 18, a 27-year-old from Wisconsin passed out on a subway platform. He woke up four hours later and was missing his cellphone as well as the iPhone that he used for browsing the internet. To add insult to injury, when he awoke and tried to report the crime to a booth clerk at the station she wouldn’t help him out. Read more…

Good morning, East Village. Enjoy the above video, recently uploaded to YouTube, of Jon Brown and Bill Pierce skating Tompkins Square Park.

The Times runs an editorial in favor of N.Y.U.’s expansion. It acknowledges concerns about the current plan and goes on to say, “But this important New York institution should be able to expand in its core area. It is one of the nation’s elite universities; it adds high-paying jobs and intellectual allure to the city and to the Village. It is just the sort of thing New Yorkers should encourage.”

On the very day that Bill Ayers told Occupy protesters at Union Square Park not to look to the media for validation, The Times publishes a piece noting that “with less visibility, the movement has received less attention from the news media, taking away a national platform.” Meanwhile City Room reports that a judge in Criminal Court in Manhattan is deciding whether Brookfield Properties overstepped its bounds when it teamed with the police to roust protesters out of Zuccotti Park.

With “Passing Stranger,” an audio tour of East Village poetry landmarks, set to debut at the Bowery Poetry Club later this month, The Times visits some of the stops on the tour with creator Pejk Malinovski, including Allen Ginsberg’s old place. Read more…

Former Weather Underground leaders Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn expressed support for Occupy Wall Street protesters during a visit to Union Square late yesterday afternoon. The sublime later gave way to the ridiculous as the park was shut down at midnight and protesters challenged the police to a rap battle.

Speaking to a small group huddled on the west side of the square, the husband and wife duo praised the Occupy movement’s use of direct action. Ms. Dohrn said, “Agitation lights up the truth, and what Occupy has done by agitating in its nonviolent, beautiful, imaginative way, is to teach by shifting the frame, by re-imagining what’s possible. And what’s possible is that capitalism cannot solve our problems.”

Ms. Dohrn, a professor at the Northwestern University School of Law specializing in juvenile justice and human rights, urged the movement to remain independent. “You’re going to be beset, not only by the police forces and the military forces here, but by a lot of forces that want Occupy: Democratic Party, electoral forces, sectarian organizations,” she said. “But your brilliance was your independence.” Read more…

Union Square has a knack for drawing the talented, the bored, and the show-offs to its broad open spaces. For that reason I gravitate to this part of the city on a daily basis in order to capture some of its magic and to add some of my own. Now Occupy Wall Street protesters have bitten off quite a chunk of the south side of Union Square, and in response, police officers hover around the perimeter of the park, poised to stop anything unruly or obstructive. Despite surveillance, artists, street performers and park-goers don’t seem to shy away from self expression. Rush hour is a great time to take photos not only because the park is flooded with characters, but also because it’s then that the sun is likely to create interesting highlights and shadows on faces.
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To conclude our week-long look at the impacts of N.Y.U.’s expansion plans, The Local examines the concerns surrounding loss of light under the proposed development.

How will the new buildings proposed on the two superblocks south of Washington Square Park affect sunlight in the area?

There’s no getting around it, the new buildings mean less light. The LaGuardia and Mercer buildings planned for the north block will cast shadows on the two Washington Square Village buildings. More controversially, the proposed Bleecker building on the south block will cast a shadow that likely means an end to the LaGuardia Corner Gardens, located in front of the Morton Williams supermarket on a strip of property that belongs to the Transportation Department. The university notes that the alignment of the LaGuardia and Mercer buildings would make the block resemble the dimensions of the city’s grid pattern – “not an unusual New York City condition,” per William Haas, the university’s director of planning. Read more…

Photos: Tim Schreier

It’s The Hole’s most ambitious installation yet: With funding from an unlikely patron – Playboy – the Bowery gallery has transformed into a fecund, fragrant landscape complete with a bridge and lily pond in the back corner. The indoor recreation of Monet’s garden in Giverny was partly inspired by performance artist and longtime East Villager, Kembra Pfahler, best known as the lead singer of the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black.

At a preview of the exhibit earlier today, Ms. Pfahler, looking vaguely occult in black eye makeup and a hood, sprinkled potpourri over a cluster of flowers that had been transplanted from Long Island. “I’ll learn to water them,” she promised, “because I do not know a thing about plants. Being in this garden last night was the first time I’ve been around plants like this.”

Not exactly true: in August 2011, Ms. Pfahler traveled to Giverny, France, to be photographed by E.V. Day in Monet’s famous garden estate, where the photographer best known for exploding couture was enjoying a residency. Read more…

A new site dedicated to the Occupy Wall Street movement aims to be a sounding board for protests around the world, and its launch party is next week at Arrow Bar on Avenue A. According to a write-up on Facebook, Occupy.com will “use media as a call for social, economic, environmental and political justice. We seek to inspire resistance, engagement and the creation of the new world we imagine.” The architects of the site add that they are “morally accountable to the movement as a whole.”

Ukrainians are known to celebrate Christmas a bit late, so why not nod to Easter early? Tomorrow the Ukrainian Museum concludes its month-long exhibit of pysanka (lavishly decorated eggs) with a colorful demonstration. From 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., artists will use dyes and beeswax to adorn raw eggs, to the accompaniment of a 14-minute documentary about the art of batik. The Local attended a recent workshop and got tips from one such artist, Alexandra Lebed. Warning to those who get hungry easily: Ukrainian Easter food was served. 

Lauren Carol Smith

Good morning, East Village.

Sources close to Scott Stringer tell The Times that the Borough President is frustrated with the N.Y.U. expansion plan, which “will overwhelm the existing community.”

An Associated Press item at SFGate details protests in front of the Village Voice headquarters yesterday. A group that included Norman Mailer’s son again accused the publication of promoting underage sex trafficking.

A Kickstarter project is underway to raise $17,500 to open a Giant Donuts NYC somewhere in the East Village, which would sell miniature, not giant, donuts. Bowery Boogie got the tip. Read more…

Courtesy Kaelen Haworth

The East Village is “such a great mix of high, low, trendy, traditional, gritty, sophisticated,” muses designer Kaelen Haworth. The Toronto native and Parsons graduate has been designing her eponymous brand of polished womenswear since 2010, and finds a good deal of inspiration in the neighborhood. “There are millions of vintage shops in the area that are an interesting resource for designers,” she says. “I was late for work this morning but still debating running to the vintage shop at Second and Second to try on an awesome furry thing in the window.” And she digs her adopted home for more than just fashion: The designer recently clued us in to some “dangerous” cocktails and dog-friendly coffee spots where you might find her sipping with her French bulldog, Lola.

Favorite coffee spot
I like The Bean. They’re dog-friendly, which is cool because I have a dog and geek out over other dogs. Also I think the best coffee in my hood is from the Juicy Lucy stand on the corner of First and First.  It’s amazing and the staff is so nice. I don’t have to order anymore — they know I need coffee and lots of it before small talk. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

A Japanese restaurant with three locations in Long Island will open in the space that was home to Lan, a neighborhood favorite for a little over a decade. When The Local stopped into Kotobuki at 56 Third Avenue earlier today, the owner politely declined to speak about the restaurant or let us take photos, since he is still staffing up, but said he hoped to quietly open next Thursday.

According to a Website advertising outposts in Babylon, Roslyn, and the original location in Hauppauge, the mini-chain was established in 1987, with an aim to “relentlessly revolutionize the facets of Japanese fare to craft extraordinary delights to satisfy even the most discerning of palates.” Read more…

As Village residents await Borough President Scott Stringer’s recommendation early next month regarding N.Y.U.’s expansion plans, The Local is taking a look at the impacts of the project. Today, we’re examining the concerns surrounding the replacement of a dog run under the proposed development. Yesterday, we looked at the impact the proposal would have on three playgrounds in Greenwich Village. Check back for our coverage of concerns surrounding loss of light and the LaGuardia Community Garden.

So what does the future hold for the dog run at the corner of Houston and Mercer Streets should N.Y.U.’s expansion be approved?

N.Y.U. The proposed dog run.

The dogs and their roughly 300 owners at the Mercer-Houston Dog Run will have to be relocated to make way for the Zipper building, which will be 26 stories at its highest point. The building would extend almost the entire length of the south block along Mercer Street between Houston and Bleecker Streets. In addition to housing, academic, retail space and a hotel, the new structure would also hold the replacement for the Morton Williams Supermarket at the northwest corner of the south block. The university says the replacement grocery store would be fully operational before Morton Williams is demolished in 2018. Read more…

The Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation has announced that it’s now accepting nominations for its annual Village Awards, which, on June 7, will once again honor “those people, places, and organizations which make a significant contribution to the quality of life in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo.” Honorees have traditionally trended west, but past winners include the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church, Porto Rico Importing Co., St. Mark’s Bookshop, the Amato Opera, CBGB, and the Merchant’s House Museum. Who would you add to the list?

Michelle Rick

Community Board 3 continues to debate whether it should soften its hardline stance against new beer-and-wine licenses in nightlife-saturated areas. Last night, a task-force meeting pitted residents who don’t want to see C.B. 3 bow to late-night noisemakers against a landlord who said he has been financially stymied by the board’s current policy.

In response to evidence that the State Liquor Authority routinely approves beer-and-wine applications even when C.B. 3 recommends disapproval, the board may start supporting the soft stuff in resolution areas that are currently verboten, so long as the applicant agrees to operate primarily in the daytime and close at midnight or earlier. The new stipulations, the board hopes, will both curtail noise and attract more diverse – and especially daytime – businesses.

Residents who live on streets like St. Marks Place and the avenues of Alphabet City, which devolve into something resembling a carnival on weekend nights, showed up at C.B. 3’s offices on East Fourth Street to voice their concerns about the potential policy shift. Read more…