No studies have offered conclusive evidence that metal bats pose more of a danger than wooden ones.

A federal judge has cleared the way for the City Council's ban on metal bats in high school baseball. The prohibition, the first of kind in the country, can now take effect on Saturday.

According to the Associated Press, Judge John Koeltl, of U.S. District Court in Manhattan, wrote:

“The protection of the health and safety of high school-age students is entitled to great weight. While the record does not include clear empirical evidence showing that more serious injuries would occur without the ordinance, it is the city’s legislative assessment that the risk is too great.

Thank God the City Council is willing to tackle such weighty issues. It's not like there's 1.8 million New Yorkers without health insurance or an affordable housing crisis in this town. After the jump are great quotes, of a celebratory and congratulatory nature, from Councilmembers James Oddo and Lew Fidler.

You know why they did it? For the children. They did it for the children.

New York City Council Minority Leader James S. Oddo said:

"This effort always has been about the safety of our kids and eliminating an unnecessary and unreasonable risk from their baseball games. Parents, organizations, leagues of all ages, municipalities and state governments should take this Federal Court's ruling as a green light to return the game to its roots by enacting similar laws to prohibit the use of metal bats so that kids can enjoy a better, purer and safer brand of baseball. Somewhere, be it a random Iowa cornfield or the celestial Fenway Park in the sky, the soul of Ted Williams is smiling today."

Youth Services Committee Chair Lewis Fidler said:

"This is a victory for children. This is a victory for student athletes. This is a victory for concerned parents. The child whose life and health we have saved may never know it, but what we have done here may well have saved lives."

Fire marshals concluded that smoking sparked the blaze that killed two firefighters
Photo by Gotham24 via Flickr

Highlights from the mayor's afternoon press conference on the Deutsche Bank:

1) Smoking was the cause, according to fire marshals. FBI metallurgists are going to test the standpipe to see if they can determine what happened to its missing sections:

“Let’s begin with the fire itself. Fire Marshals have tentatively identified the cause of the fire as careless smoking by workers on the 17th floor. Regarding the standpipe, Fire Marshals have given sections of the standpipe from the basement that were on either side of the missing sections to the FBI for analysis by metallurgists at their lab in Quantico, Virginia. Results are not expected for one to two weeks.

2) The FDNY chiefs on the scene did the best the could with incomplete information. Plus, The fire burned downward as well as upward.

Based on what we currently know, it appears that the Chiefs in command at the scene acted appropriately, considering what they knew at the time. But it’s what they didn’t know that contributed to the enormous difficulties they encountered – specifically, a broken standpipe… a non-functioning sprinkler system… and decontamination efforts which exacerbated the fire and caused unacceptably hazardous conditions. The broken standpipe made it very difficult for firefighters to put water on the fire until they improvised and hoisted hose lines from the street, costing them valuable time. High rise fires almost always burn up, not down, as this one did. We suspect that the effects of the negative air pressure system, put in place as part of the containment operation, pulled the fire down several floors quickly, putting the base of operations on the 14th floor at great risk. And clearly, sealing stairwells gave firefighters few escape routesHigh rise fires almost always burn up, not down, as this one did. We suspect that the effects of the negative air pressure system, put in place as part of the containment operation, pulled the fire down several floors quickly, putting the base of operations on the 14th floor at great risk. And clearly, sealing stairwells gave firefighters few escape routes.

3) The FDNY chiefs on the scene didn't have complete information because other people in the department had neglected their jobs.

“And this leads us to the toughest questions that we need to answer. Why didn’t the FDNY know about all of the conditions in the building? Why were they going in blind for all intents and purposes? We have identified three main reasons for this – and they are simply not excusable. And for that, we will hold people accountable. First, Engine 10 had responsibility for inspecting the Deutsche Bank building, but stopped inspecting it in 2006. We have yet to determine why inspections abruptly stopped. Second, the Fire Department requires an inspection of the standpipe every 15 days when a building is being demolished. But that hadn’t happened a single time since demolition began in March.
“Third, and finally, despite the hazards concerning this building which have been well publicized and documented, senior fire officers decided against creating a unique fire plan for the building. This is even more disturbing when you take into account that a Battalion Chief had recommended doing so three separate times to a Division Commander, who has the rank of a Deputy Chief.

The FDNY has reassigned three officials and ordered more thorough inspections of all construction sites following the tragic department blunders that led to the deaths of two firefighters.

The announcement comes just hours before an afternoon press conference during which Mayor Bloomberg and top FDNY brass officials are expected to say that it was smoking—which was not allowed on the site—that sparked the tragic blaze at 130 Liberty Street, the contaminated former Deutsche Bank building that was being demolished.

The New York Post reported Monday that Deputy Chief Richard Fuerch, one of the FDNY officials being demoted, received a memo two years ago that presented a strategy for fighting a fire at 130 Liberty. The memo, according to the Post, recommended that three members of the FDNY investigate the situation before further action was taken. Instead, more than 100 firefighters rushed in to the building.

The full FDNY memo follows:

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta has ordered the following actions in connection with the fatal fire at the former Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty Street in Manhattan:

Pending the outcome of the investigation, the following fire officers are relieved of their commands and detailed to Headquarters: Deputy Chief Richard Fuerch, Commander, Division 1; Battalion Chief John McDonald, Commander, Battalion 1; Captain Peter Bosco, Engine Company 10

Deputy Chiefs in the Department*s nine Divisions have been directed to order surveillance by every fire unit in their respective administrative areas of all buildings under construction/demolition. The purpose of these inspections is to insure that all rules and regulations regarding fire protection and public safety are being adhered to.

Divisions are also ordered to review all existing pre-fire plans in their respective administrative areas, and to have units and Battalions canvass their areas for any potential structures that might require the creation of such plans.

Borough Commanders are ordered to oversee and coordinate all field fire inspection activities in their respective boroughs.

The Chief of Operations will conduct a review of the Department*s field inspection program with emphasis on insuring accountability at all levels and making recommendations to strengthen and improve the quality and frequency of inspections by field units.

Firefighter Joe Graffagnino, of Dyker Heights, would have turned 34 on Monday. Today, he was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery. Graffagnino and Firefighter Robert Beddia died fighting the blaze at the former Deutsche Bank building on Saturday. Top fire officials admitted yesterday that there was no plan for fighting a fire at the black-shrouded, toxic building that was demolished.

Cops and firefighters form an honor guard at the 5th Avenue entrance of Green-Wood cemetery as a fire truck carrying the remains of Joe Graffagnino makes the solemn journey from St. Ephrem's Church in Bay Ridge.

Things get quiet as the truck approaches.

The honor guard tries to keep their emotions in check as the the truck passes.

A coffin carrying Graffagnino's remains sits atop the fire truck.

This little guy watches with quiet curiosity.

Hundreds of firefighters, friends, and police follow the coffin in to Green-Wood as the 33-year-old firefighter is laid to rest.

Protesters were waiting for Ulises Ruiz, the governor of Oaxaca, to make an appearance, except he never did.
Photos by Sarah Ferguson

It felt a little like an Elvis sighting.

On Saturday, about 100 jeering demonstrators gathered outside the Mexican consulate in hopes of confronting the much-reviled governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz. If only they could find him.

Last summer, Ruiz was the object of the protests that transformed Oaxaca into an urban war zone after protesters barricaded streets and took over radio stations to try and force him from power. Many accuse Ruiz of launching a violent campaign to repress the uprising, resulting in the shooting deaths of more than 20 activists—including New York Indymedia journalist Brad Will.

Will was gunned down on October 27 as he filmed a clash between protesters and plainclothes police on the outskirts of Oaxaca City. Despite ample evidence—including Will’s own videotape—implicating local police and state officials in the shooting—Will’s killers remain free.

So when the Mexican media reported that Ruiz would be part of a delegation of Mexican governors visiting New York and several other cities to address immigration reform, activists began mobilizing.

Waiting for Ruiz.

“We have a murderer among us!” someone shouted outside the Mexican consulate in midtown on Saturday as protesters blanketed the cast-iron fence with placards and signs denouncing Ruiz as a killer.

A few tomatoes were lobbed at the upper floors. But aside from the security guards, the place seemed empty.
Then someone spotted the Mexican delegation dining up the block at Salute, an upscale Italian restaurant on the corner of Madison and 39th Street.

Could that guy with the black mustache and open-collar shirt sitting at a table of well-dressed Mexican officials really be Ruiz? The protesters peering through the restaurant’s plate glass windows weren’t sure. He looked thinner than the cartoon mug shots of Ruiz plastered all over Oaxaca and the Net, and he wasn’t wearing specs like Ruiz usually does.

But when a member of the wait staff told a reporter that Ruiz was there and wouldn’t be giving any comment to the press, that seemed confirmation enough.

"Ya cayo! Ya cayo! Ulises ya cayo!" the demonstrators chanted, echoing the familiar refrain of the protesters in Oaxaca. ("He has fallen, he has fallen. Ulises has already fallen!")

Activists papered the front windows with flyers denouncing Ruiz as a “terrorist” along with big placards demanding that he resign.

"Ruiz is the Pinochet of Oaxaca," said Victor Toro, a Chilean exile who braved the protest even though he's now facing deportation charges after 24 years in the U.S. "We feel he has no right to talk about immigration when his policies of violence and economic hardships have made it impossible for people to live in Oaxaca."

When the manager came out to rip down the signs, one of Will’s friends jammed his foot in the door, then bolted inside. He was quickly forced out by the wait staff and manager, who appeared ready to slug the interloper in the street. Moments later, the same activist ran up and toppled all the sidewalk tables.

The startled Mexican delegates retreated to the back of the restaurant, where they were held virtually hostage by the protesters for more than two hours, until police set up a gauntlet to escort them out of the restaurant.

“Asesinos!” [“Murderers!”], the crowd shrieked as the delegates scurried into several waiting cabs and SUVs. “You’ve got blood on your hands!”

Although one Mexican woman insisted she’d seen Ruiz, the press officer for the consulate told the Voice that Ruiz was not in the restaurant. In fact, he didn't come to New York at all.

Apparently, either the advance reports about the governors' tour were wrong, or Ruiz ducked out at the first sign of controversy. One Mexican daily reported that Ruiz went to Los Angeles on Thursday. But there’s no mention of him at subsequent stops in Chicago and Dallas, let alone New York. According to an account in Sunday’s La Jornada, the delegation in New York included the governors from three other states—Guanajuato, Colima, and Zacatecas—as well as “representatives” from Oaxaca. No Ruiz.

Some Mexican immigrants who were invited to meet with their governors were upset that the afternoon press conference and meeting at the consulate were canceled due to the ruckus at the restaurant. "We were going to talk to the governors about the exploitation of the immigrants here and we couldn't. It's not right. The people from the consulate were very upset," remarked one woman who asked not to be named.

Yet for Will’s friends and supporters, the opportunity to express their rage to Ruiz’s appointees and the other Mexican officials was worth it—even if Ruiz himself didn't show. “They need to know that Ruiz is a problem and he has to go,” said Chelsea Mozen.

Will’s friends aren’t the only ones looking to turn up the heat on Ruiz. On July 31, Amnesty International released a scathing report on Oaxaca’s human rights crisis that calls on Ruiz to address the use of “torture,” arbitrary arrests, and “excessive force” by both state and federal security forces to suppress the popular rebellion. The report also faults the Ruiz government for failing to hold anyone accountable for the deaths and the "unlawful killings" of at least 18 people, including Brad Will.

Beyond Ruiz, the report condemns federal authorities in Mexico for failing to open a new investigation into the murder of Will after state prosecutors botched the case by presenting bogus evidence purporting to show that protesters had shot Will at close range.

“The clearest avenue of investigation—that is to locate the weapons used by [police] officials identified in photographs and to carry out thorough ballistics cross-checks with the bullets recovered in the autopsy—was never pursued effectively, as only two official revolvers in the police station were checked, even though photo evidence indicated that at least one official was using a semi-automatic rifle."

Ruiz has dismissed the report as “one-sided” and accused Amnesty officials of being “advisors” to APPO (the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca), the coalition of labor, student and indigenous groups that banded together to demand his resignation.

On August 7, Amnesty’s Secretary General Irene Khan met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon to urge him to intervene: "Given the palpable failure of the state government to properly investigate abuses, ending impunity in Oaxaca would be a clear demonstration to Mexican society and to the international community that the government of President Felipe Calderón is committed to protecting, ensuring and fulfilling human rights," Khan said.

Similarly, last month, Illinois Senator and Majority Whip Dick Durbin wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanding that she pressure the Mexican government to investigate the murder of Will (who grew up on Chicago’s North Shore) and several others killed in Oaxaca the same day.

“I understand that murder is a state crime in Mexico. However, since sufficient action has not been taken on the state level, I urge you to press the Mexican federal government to swiftly complete a thorough investigation of the killing of Bradley Will and the Oaxaca protestors,” Durbin wrote.

Several Congress members have also urged Rice to seek justice in Will’s case—among them New York reps Carolyn Maloney and Jose Serrano of the South Bronx, who noted that Will had been active with community groups in his district.

In a May 14 letter to Rice, Serrano wrote:

“The murder of Mr. Will raises a larger issue about the role of the Mexican government in aggressively pursuing a cessation of murder, beatings, and torture carried out by police and paramilitary groups in Oaxaca, Guadalajara, San Salvador, and Atenco. Some of my newest constituents hail from these regions and have fled their former homes in the face of escalating violence and intimidation by these groups. I am hopeful that you will urge President Calderon to fully investigate and pursue all allegations of such abuses.”

State Department officials have expressed “concerns” over Will’s death and say they are following the investigations by both state and federal authorities in Mexico.

But with federal prosecutors in Mexico still relying on the state’s evidence—or lack thereof—rather than opening up a whole new investigation into Will’s shooting, his case appears to have hit a dead end.

Brad Will remembered.

A friend passed along this item regarding the double suicide of Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake:

"I'm sure you've been reading about the suicide couple—the chick killed herself at St. Mark's, the dude walked into the waves at Far Rockaway. Pieces in The LA Times, LA Weekly, NY Observer, etc., etc.

"Always praised as intelligent, brilliant— a little unstable, yeah— but otherwise an artistic 'it' couple. But they'll get no love from LES fixture Clayton Patterson, quoted in The Villager"

Clayton Patterson, who owns an Essex St. gallery, said that art-world big wheels like Blake and Duncan relocating to the East Village shows how much the neighborhood has changed.

“It was shocking to me that people who were so career oriented came to the Lower East Side,” he said.“People always tried to escape the Lower East Side — Madonna, Ginsberg, they all made it elsewhere. The Lower East Side has always been about struggle. It’s now a careerist neighborhood.”

Ouch.

A New York Times reporter used an encounter with the Voice's Michael Musto to ask the famed columnist to weigh in on the controversy surrounding the word 'bitch.' As reported in Runnin' Scared last week, the City Council is considering a symbolic ban on the b-word, just months after passing a similar measure that symbolically banned the n-word.

From the Times:

"Half my conversation would be gone,” said Michael Musto, the Village Voice columnist, whom a reporter encountered on his bicycle on Sunday night on the corner of Seventh Avenue South and Christopher Street. Mr. Musto, widely known for his coverage of celebrity gossip, dismissed the idea as absurd.

“On the downtown club scene,” [Musto] said, munching on an apple, the two terms are often used as terms of endearment. “We divest any negative implication from the word and toss it around with love."

But what about 'ho?' The article gave short-shrift to the other word that Councilwoman Darlene Mealy of Brooklyn seeks to ban. Is 'ho' more offensive than 'bitch?' Does it have less camp value?

We'll ask Musto if we see him in the halls. In the meantime, discuss, bi-, um, beautiful people.

Graffiti may be wrong in the eyes of the City, but Rare Art's "Boricua Posse"— the track in the background—is oh so right for everyone.

Mayor Bloomberg inked legislation on Thursday that once again seeks to keep markers, spray paint, and other so-called graffiti tools out of the hands of people under the age of 21.

Last year, a federal judge struck down parts of an earlier version of the law—which sought to toughen existing laws applying to those younger than 18—saying the ban unfairly singled out young people. Last year, Runnin' Scared wrote about the lawsuit brought by seven high school and college students with help from publicity-seeking designer Marc Ecko.

Not to be outdone, publicity-seeking Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. went back to the drawing board and fashioned a new bill.

This time around, it seems, the city is trying to incorporate enough exceptions into the law so that the courts won't find it overly narrow if it's challenged again. The new language in the law provides exceptions for people under 21 who are carrying so-called graffiti instruments because: A) they need them for school, B) have written permission from an employer, or C) are writing graffiti with the permission of a property owner.

Will the law pass legal challenges this time? Will there be another challenge?

The new language:

c-2. [When a] This section shall not apply to any person [is found to] possessing an aerosol spray paint can, broad tipped indelible marker or etching acid while in or on the property of another [or in any public building or upon any public facility] in violation of subdivision c-1 of this section, [it is an affirmative defense that] where:
(1) the owner, operator or other person having control of the property, building or facility consented in writing to the [presence] use or possession of the aerosol spray paint can, broad tipped indelible marker or etching acid; or
(2) such person uses or possesses the aerosol spray paint can, broad tipped indelible marker or etching acid under the supervision of the owner or person in control of such property; or
([2]3) such person is [traveling to or from] at his or her place of employment [,where it] and the aerosol spray paint can, broad tipped indelible marker or etching acid was, [or] will be or is being used during the course of such employment and used only with written permission from, or under the supervision of his or her employer or such employer's agent; or
(4) such person is at an educational facility and uses or will use the aerosol spray paint can, broad tipped indelible marker or etching acid at the educational facility, where he or she is enrolled, and is participating in a class at the educational facility that requires the use or possession of such items; or
(5) such person is on the property of another and uses or will use the aerosol spray paint can, broad tipped indelible marker or etching acid in or on the property of another if such use or possession is necessary to participate in a government-sponsored function or in other circumstances where a government agency gives its consent to such use or possession.

Read the law in its entirety here.

The mayor's office provided a summary of the congestion pricing legislation this afternnon. For one thing, it calls for the creation of a 17-member NYC Traffic Mitigation Commission that will review the mayor's and other plans. Whatever plans the commission comes up with will have to equal the 6.3 percent reduction in traffic that was proposed in the mayor's initial plan.

According to streetsblog, the 17 members of the commission will be appointed as follows:

3 appointees -- Mayor
3 appointees -- Governor
3 appointees -- City Council
3 appointees -- State Senate majority leader
3 appointees -- State Assembly speaker
1 appointees -- Senate minority leader
1 appointees -- Assembly minority leader

The summary says that the deal will expire if the federal Department of Transportation and the city do not come up with $250 million to fund it by year's end.

The full summary follows:

SUMMARY OF CONGESTION PRICING LEGISLATION

NYC is authorized to present and implement a detailed congestion pricing plan to address traffic congestion within a zone of severe traffic congestion in Manhattan. Such plan shall include (a) the geographic area to be covered; (b) the proposed dollar amount of any congestion pricing fee; (c) the technology to be used to implement such pricing plan; and (d) the number and scope of exemptions granted from such fee requirements. The Mayor shall submit the traffic mitigation plan by August 1, 2007.

NYC may not impose or collect any fee for traveling into or within designated zone unless the implementation plan has been approved by the State Legislature by March 31, 2008 and signed into law by the Governor, pursuant to a request from the Mayor that the State Legislature consider such plan where such request has been approved by the City Council.

A NYC Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission shall undertake a review and study of the issues related to the implementation of the plan submitted by NYC. It may also review and study other plans to reduce traffic congestion and other related health and safety issues. The Commission shall have 17 members comprised of appointees by State and City officials.

The Commission shall conduct hearings, take testimony and review information and proposals regarding traffic congestion. It shall issue to the Governor, State Legislature, the Mayor and City Council recommendations with respect to the details of implementing the plan submitted by the Mayor and other such proposals. These recommendations shall constitute “the implementation plan”. The implementation plan must provide at least the same level of traffic mitigation, as measured by the 6.3% reduction in average vehicle miles traveled, as proposed in the traffic mitigation plan submitted to US DOT on June 22, 2007.

The Commission shall approve by a majority vote its implementation plan and submit such plan to the Governor, State Legislature, the Mayor and City Council by January 31, 2008. The State Legislature shall consider such implementation plan by March 31, 2008.

By October 1, 2007, the MTA shall submit comments on the Mayor’s plan as well as (a) a description of the additional capital needs required for implementation; (b) proposed utilization of any potential revenue derived from such plan for such capital needs; and (c) the impact of such revenue upon the authority’s capital and operating budgets.

By March 31, 2008 (an 18-month acceleration), the MTA shall submit a capital program for the period covering July 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008.

This legislation will expire on June 30, 2012. It shall also expire if US DOT does not commit at least $250 million in funding prior to October 1, 2007, except that the expiration and repeal shall not occur if the US DOT commits at least $200 million prior to October 1, 2007 and NYC commits prior to December 31, 2007 an amount equal to the difference between $250 million and the amount committed by US DOT.

No condos for Coney? Photo by Sidney Lo

Developers Thor Equities dropped a bombshell yesterday afternoon, sending out a terse two-paragraph e-mail declaring that it had "completely eliminated the residential component of its proposed plan" and will instead offer "a plan that is compatible with the City's strategic plan." In other words, no condos for Coney.

The odd timing of the announcement—did Thor principal Joe Sitt have a Father's Day epiphany?—was partially explained last night, when the Monday Times put live on its website, and included an article by Charles Bagli reporting that Sitt had caved on his condo demand last Friday. ("Rolled over" is how Sitt put it to Bagli.) But Bagli also reports that the new "compatible" plan is not so compatible at all in the city's eyes:

"He came in last week and presented a plan that had essentially the same density, but dressed it up with hotels and time shares," [city Economic Development Corporation president Robert] Lieber said on Friday. "The building heights still exceed the 271-foot Parachute Jump," a Coney Island landmark. "And he's looking for a huge subsidy from the city. North of $100 million."

If Sitt was hoping to cut a deal with the city by swapping condos for time shares, in other words, he looks to be barking up the wrong tree— especially when you consider that Lieber is the highest-ranking official yet to have dissed Thor's plans, and in some of the city's strongest language to date.

For Coney Kremlinologists, meanwhile, the juiciest item in Bagli's story might be the rendering of Thor's newest plans, which look to include a multiplex movie theater on the current Astroland site and a pair of 20-plus-story hotels along Stillwell Avenue. (Or perhaps in the middle of Stillwell Avenue— the artist appears to have failed perspective drawing.) Of course, the illustration also portrays a Coney Island of the future that's missing the Steeplechase Pier, the landmarked Wonder Wheel, and Keyspan Park, so perhaps it's best not to take this latest of Thor's ever-changing plans too literally.

In the print Voice, Kristopher Monroe writes about the Whitest Kids U Know, a Brooklyn-based sketch-comedy crew who've managed to parlay a Sunday-night Pianos residency into a Fuse TV show. Monroe writes:

The five-member Brooklyn-based troupe is one of the funniest—and increasingly successful—ensembles performing on the New York sketch-comedy scene. They play to enthusiastic crowds on Sundays at the Lower East Side club Pianos, they won the Jury Prize for Best Comedy Troupe at last year's Aspen Comedy Festival, and they've landed a Tuesday-night Fuse network TV show (aired at 11 p.m., when impressionable minds are sleeping). Not bad for a group of guys still in their mid-twenties who sing children's songs about how to replace your daddy by taking naked Polaroids of yourself and leaving them in his sock drawer.

One of the funniest ensembles performing on the New York sketch-comedy scene? That's what the man wrote.

Indiana Jones at a Rock and Roll Memorabilia Auction: You probably could've written this sketch just as easily, but chances are you didn't.

Triumph of the Ill: The weird thing about this rapping-Hitler sketch is that if the actual Hitler returned from the dead and tried to rap, he'd be at least as good as this guy. "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" taken to its logical conclusion.

Movie ideas: Tom Breihan says he would probably watch all these movies.

Slow Jerk: On the etiquette of the pretend-to-be-jerking-off gesture. Helpful!

Photo by William Alatriste, taken for the City Council

Taking a break from the trash wars of the West Village, Council Speaker Christine Quinn turned up at back-to-back rallies in the East Village last Thursday to save the embattled P.S. 64 (a.k.a. Charas/El Bohio)—where an appeals court just backed a plan to put up a 19-story dorm—and the half-gutted St. Brigid’s Church on Avenue B, whose fate is now being decided by the same appeals court.

Quinn ended up tag-teaming with fellow Irish-American Matt Dillon, who's been an avid supporter of the 159-year old Famine Church ever since friends told him of the Archdiocese's intent to demolish it last year.

“This church is part of our history,” said Dillon, who said he first fell in love with St. Brigid’s when he filmed it for a scene in his movie, City of Ghosts. “It’s the third oldest church in the city. It was built by Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine, by shipbuilders who were the first longshoremen in the city.”

“It's unbelievable to me that the Catholic Church would even consider destroying it,” Dillon told the Voice, adding, “If the city keeps going the way it's going with all this new development, it's going to end up looking like Toronto.”

Dillon said he was also glad to lend his support to the imperiled P.S. 64, located just a block away from St. Brigid’s. Thanks to the bulwark of scaffolding encasing the old school, the rally for P.S. 64 was held in front the neighboring Christodora House—a swank condo building that became a hated symbol of East Village gentrification in the 1980s, but has since become a headquarters for the campaign to save P.S. 64 from dorm-ification.

Quinn gamely climbed up on a chair in her two-inch heels to address the diverse crowd.

“Whether Charas or St. Brigid's or a long other history of things, this neighborhood has a proven record that when it stands together, the Lower East Side almost always wins,” she told its supporters.

But that word “almost” was hard to ignore, given the breakneck pace of redevelopment on the L.E.S. these days. And though Quinn pledged “the full resources of City Council" —going so far as to offer to file an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit by former parishioners seeking to block St. Brigid’s demolition—that offer felt a bit thin considering that the case was to be heard by the Appellate Division the next day.

Although the Committee to Save St. Brigid’s has received some high-powered backing from the law firm Holland & Knight, which is now representing the former parishioners pro-bono, this is the same court that rejected their last lawsuit to save the church. And the courts have declined to intervene in numerous other church closures. (A State Supreme Court judge ruled Thursday that the Archdiocese has the right to shutter Our Lady of Vilnius, a Lithuanian parish on Broome Street.)

The Appellate Division is expected to rule on St. Brigid's at the end of June.

Officials at the Archdiocese maintain that St. Brigid's must come down because its rear wall is in danger of collapse. They deny persistent rumors that the property, which borders Tompkins Square Park, is being cleared for condos, insisting instead that the land will be used for "some church purpose.” They've declined to specify what that purpose might be.

Dillon had plenty of suggestions as he gazed up St. Brigid's canary-yellow façade glowing in the last rays of the sun. “I think they should save it and turn it into a museum to celebrate the history of Catholics coming to New York, starting with the Irish who built St. Brigid