At Tuesday night’s meeting of the Ninth Precinct Community Council several residents raised concerns about the nomadic punks spending much of their day in Abe Lebewohl Park in front of St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery. Now, The Villager reports that several people observed one of the drifters spray painting obscene messages on a statue and in the portico of the church. The graffiti has since been removed and no permanent damage reported. Still, Winnie Varghese, the church’s rector, is ready for the punks to head elsewhere. “They’ve kind of crossed the line,” she tells the paper. “They’re kind of different from old drunk people. There’s just an aggression to these people that’s different.”
ABE LEBEWOHL PARK
Klezmer on the Corner
By MELVIN FELIXIf our look back at the Jewish Rialto made you long for the days of Yiddish music on Second Avenue, rest assured that on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. Metropolitan Klezmer will play a free concert at Abe Lebewohl Park, in front of St. Mark’s Church (right across from the Yiddish Walk of Fame at East 10th Street and Second Avenue). Consider the hour-long rain-or-shine event, co-sponsored by Third Street Music School Settlement, a tribute to the city’s booming Jewish population: The Times reported Monday that it has grown to nearly 1.1 million after decades of decline.