Waterfront warrior: We’re sad to report that former Village leader Ben Green died this past Friday at age 73. The cause of death was cancer. He had also suffered a serious heart attack more than 10 years ago. Green was the head of the Federation to Preserve the Greenwich Village Waterfront and Great Port, a group that was among the most outspoken and organized in opposing the creation of the Hudson River Park in the wake of Westway’s defeat. Above all, the Federation — many would say, presciently — feared the commercialization of the Lower West Side waterfront. Green was also well known as the chief of staff to legendary, long-serving local Assemblymember Bill Passannante. He was also a former chairperson of Community Board 2. At one point, Green was a member of the board of directors of Westbeth Artists Housing. His longtime home was at Christopher and Hudson Sts., in the large red-brick building, just west of the Lucille Lortel Theatre. We plan to have a more complete obituary in next week’s issue.
‘Human’ candidate: Enigmatic Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang was in Washington Square Park on May 10, where he continued his “Humanist First Tour.” He drew a crowd of about 2,500. Relying on the Internet to spread his message, Yang’s three main platforms are a “universal basic income,” Medicare for All and “human-centered capitalism,” which includes keeping robots from taking our jobs. Free the weed — and free building: Veteran pot-legalization advocate Dana Beal tells us he has gotten the city to give him and his fellow Yippies a building — gratis — that they’ll use as a sort of museum to celebrate the “marijuana movement” and related issues and causes. Beal has really been bummed out in recent years after the Yippies lost 9 Bleecker St., their former H.Q. So, not surprisingly, this development has him on a (natural) high. His pal, Aton Edwards, an emergency-preparedness expert, told us the city gave them a book with info on 50 properties, and they’re looking them over. As for why, the city is willing to just give them a property, Beal said it’s all about boosting tourism.
