The Federation of Students and Nominally or Unemployed Artists, or if you prefer: the Generosity Foundation, recently handed out free money in Union Square. The catch? You just need to explain what creative endeavour the money will go towards. They explain, "We give small, unsecured grants in the form of $10-$60 for creative projects thought up on the spot by everyday people." This time around they had $1000 to hand out, after each member raised......

Harvest in the Square, Union Square's yearly food and wine fundraiser to benefit the Union Square Partnership's "ongoing beautification efforts" to the park, is self-described as "Great Food. Great Fun. Great Fundraiser. Everyone Leaves Feeling Great." That might not be the case tonight, though, when a mob of rabble rousers converge to jeer at VIPs as they arrive at the "pricey party tent." The protesters' beef, as you'll recall, is with the partnership's controversial attempt......

A 72-year-old woman and her 53-year-old son were found dead in their Union Square apartment on East 17th Street yesterday. They were both shot in the head and a .22-caliber revolver was recovered from the scene; WNBC reports that sources believe it may have been a murder-suicide. The Sun spoke to neighbors who say that Arlene Coffey, who supplied "antique clothing to [movie] studio wardrobe departments," had become ill in recent years. They say her......

This weekend marked the beginning of the 3rd annual NY Clown Theatre Festival at the Brick Theater in Williamsburg. Festivities began with clowns taking to the streets with a subway parade. Clowns such as Lord Oxford and Graspy McTakeItAll led a crowd of about 100 strong onto a rush hour L Train where they sang along as a marching band played standards such as "Come On Eileen" and "Groove is in the Heart." After marching......

A 30-year-old Australian woman was arrested in Union Square yesterday when she did not heed police officers' warnings that a planned water fight event had been canceled. Cassandra Wu, in town for her 30th birthday, was arrested after spraying the crowd (including the officers) with a water bottle. "This is crazy and this would never happen in Australia," Wu's sister said. The water fight, originally planned to celebrate the beginning of the three-week Street......

The charges have been dropped against four people arrested at last Saturday's massive "Costumed-Roving-Street-Party-Apocalyptic-Dance-Rock-Battle" flash mob in Williamsburg, the Brooklyn Paper reports. The event was intended to lure party people into a direct action 'take back the streets' protest, but Capt. Dennis Fulton, commanding officer of Greenpoint’s 94th Precinct, wasn't impressed: "They said they were protesting high rent — and I guess ‘the man’ — but really, they were just individuals in their twenties that......

Last night, Pandamonium--the self-described "Costumed- Roving- Street- Party- Apocalyptic- Dance- Rock- Battle" event took place. And it did cause quite a pandemonium! The group only announced its start location yesterday (via websites and Twitter)--Union Square at 8:30 p.m. After converging, some in white-and-black face paint and masks, the panda group headed to Williamsburg via the L at Union Square. But little did they know the police do not take kindly to pandas. Or at least......

Why did the police arrest the victim of a stabbing? Well, around 2 p.m., a couple got into a fight. The AP reports the man "punched the woman, who then plunged a pen into his shoulder" while on a subway or in the Union Square subway station. When police questioned him, he claimed another man had attacked him When cops figured out what happened--and found out the woman had an order of protection against the......

A week ago the Times reported on Jay Dines, an upstate farmer banished from the city’s Greenmarkets for selling meat he had not raised himself. Today the paper follows up with a look at these complicated Greenmarket rules that have many farmers chafing. Alfred Milanese, co-owner of Martin’s Pretzels, is in his 26th year at the Greenmarket. But he says other vendors resent him because he’s allowed to bypass the “producer-only” rule and sell pretzels......

It turns out that the sarcophagus-like conditions for the escalators at a Union Square subway entrance are not due to a lengthy MTA fix. The NY Times reveals that Zeckendorf Towers, the condominium where the escalators are located, is actually responsible for maintaining the moving stairs. While the building didn't say why the escalators were covered with drywall, management did say, "The condominium association has started the process to replace the escalators and looks forward......

Curbed has been following the saga of the out-of-service escalators at a Union Square subway station entrance and now the escalators are being encased in sheet rock, which is certainly much fancier than the plastic yellow fencing and sign that says "Unauthorized Personnel Not Allowed." In other subway entrance news, the MTA opened two new subway entrances at Columbus Circle--these only have stairs though.......

In a clever ploy to undermine the city’s controversial proposal to lease out the 78-year-old Union Square Pavilion as a year-round restaurant, a group of activists sent a fake press release Monday that claimed to be from the Union Square Partnership Business Improvement District (BID). The release announced the BID’s decision to drop its push for “privatization of the famous park after overwhelming feedback from citizens across New York City.” (NewsBlaze still has the release......

This morning, a person was hit by a train by a 4 train at the Union Square subway station around 8:30 a.m. The police investigation is ongoing (power is being shut off/needs to be shut off), and NYC Transit is running Brooklyn-bound 4 and 5 trains on the local tracks between Grand Central and Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall. Which means delays on the 4, 5, and 6 lines. Some 5 trains are also running on the......

Reverend Billy climbed to the roof of the Pavilion building in Union Square last night around 6:30 p.m. to hang a banner reading: Not For Sale. While he was up there, he gave the passersby a lesson on why the historic free speech structure cannot be turned into a private, upscale restaurant; reminding people that the first Labor Day in 1882 took place there, and that one "shouldn’t have to buy a $15 appetizer to......

Last night, the Reverend Al Sharpton participated in the monthly Critical Mass rally and bike ride. In his introduction of Sharpton, civil rights lawyer Wylie Stecklow noted Sharpton's relentless fight for civil rights and against unfair police practices. Stecklow also pointed out the Sharpton-led May 7 civil disobedience event was much more peaceful and was actually civil, compared to what many Critical Mass riders have experienced (the police didn't use orange fences to contain......

Streetfilms had five camera operators covering yesterday’s suspenseful rush hour race between a cyclist, driver and MTA commuter, and they’ve quickly edited together a video of the competition, which takes a bit of inspiration from Mike Figgis’s split-screen movie Time Code, sometimes showing the contestants battling it out simultaneously. And Streetsblog also points us to today’s New York Sun, which is reporting on a sudden bike shortage at shops around town. Some bike shop owners......

The 7th Annual “Great NYC Commuter Race” went down this morning, with three commuters racing to see who could get from Fort Greene to Union Square during rush hour in the least amount of time. Social worker Jamie Favaro traveled by bicycle; April Green, who works at an art foundation, took a foolish bus/subway combo; and photographer Emmanuel Fuentebella made irresponsible carbon footprints with his car. And like the story of John Henry, the......

What is it about Union Square that brings out the belligerence in people? (Anyone who’s tried to get through the Greenmarket in a hurry can probably answer that.) If it’s not thugs fighting with guns and knives, it’s hipsters fighting with pillows, activists fighting to stop a restaurant, and now this: organized combat in the spirit of Fight Club. Blogger And I Am Not Lying has a breathlessly detailed account of last week’s smackdown. After......

"The Big" is stylish both day and night! With all the buzz (and zzzz) over Sex and the City's silver screen debut, it was inevitable that a New York establishment (conveniently located by Union Square's Regal Cinema theaters) would take advantage with an oversized novelty drink. This coming Tuesday, the Blue Water Grill will be offering up "a specialty cocktail for cosmopolitan lovers on a girls’ night out." Scooch up to your table and......

A State Supreme Court judge has issued a “preliminary injunction” prohibiting the city from turning the 78-year-old Pavilion in Union Square park into a restaurant. Last week the court ruled that the $21 million overhaul to the north end of the park could proceed while a lawsuit brought by community groups moves forward, but temporary stalled work on the Pavilion. Opponents object to what they see as the privatization of park space and insist the......

UPDATE: NY1's first report yesterday on the Union Square Pavilion lawsuit has been corrected. It turns out that, contrary to the initial news, the injunction stopping work on the park’s 78-year-old Pavilion is still in effect. While parts of the planned renovation to the north end of the park can now proceed, including construction of the expanded playground, the judge has also temporarily stopped the city from cutting down any trees while a lawsuit brought......

A state judge has issued a temporary restraining order to stop the city’s $21 million overhaul of the north end of Union Square Park, which would install a new restaurant in the historic Pavilion, redesign two playgrounds and repave asphalt where the Greenmarket had been operating. A coalition of community groups and parks advocates who brought the lawsuit say the city needs to get approval from the state legislature before privatizing part of the park,......

Last night's Silent Rave in Union Square seemed to draw a fair number of people. The concept was to have everyone congregate and dance to their own music played over personal headphones. Judging from the pictures, it looks like the event was a success. The event's official FaceBook page has another 600+ photos and counting. Video of the event is available here.......

The countdown is on, and even the pickiest of neighbors can't complain of noise at this evening's public rave. An "exchange student who only moved here from London a few months ago!" is behind the outdoor public and SILENT rave (yes, of course there's a Facebook page dedicated to it).The basic premise is thousands of people turn up in a public place, plug in their own iPods, listen to their own music and dance and......

The pillow fight just started 30 minutes ago, and the pictures are already coming in. Part of World Pillow Fight Day, this is the third consecutive year the feathers have flown around Union Square. Were you there? Don't forget to tag your pillow fight pics with "Gothamist" at Flickr. UPDATE: Some locals aren't too happy with the feathers blanketing Union Square -- National Geographic has a Green Guide to pillows, which may explain why. For......

Photo via fotopm's flickr. There may be some snow showers this Saturday, but don't let that get in your way of good old New York City pillow fight! That's right, it's that special time of year again when strangers pummel each other with pillows, leaving feathers to fly all over Union Square. We're told "there are over 10,000 people confirmed on Facebook! Last year there were only 1715 on Facebook and probably about 2,000......

The holy Shake Shack in Madison Square Park, adored for its succulent burgers, righteous shakes and hellish lines, will soon expand into multiple locations. Owner Danny Meyer has signed a lease for a branch at 366 Columbus Avenue (at 77th Street), the former home of New Orleans import Jacques-Imo's. The new location will be entirely indoors, enabling delicate Upper Wide Siders to do their time on line out of the elements. And two Shake Shack......

Andy Warhol once said, “My favorite smell is the first smell of spring in New York," and now someone has stepped in to capitalize on the scent (good thing he didn't say summer in New York). Along with the Gap now using Warhol's "hot dead celeb" status to sell khakis; Laurice Rahmé, creator of Bond No. 9, launches her latest neighborhood fragrance (in collaboration with The Warhol Foundation) this month: Andy Warhol Union Square. The......

If there is no such thing as bad publicity, then we suppose yesterday's Cash Tomato promotion was a resounding success - if a melee as people tried to grab money works for you. The event, which involved giving away $29 to individuals in honor of Leap Year - wait, make that $29 attached to tomatoes, resulted in a Union Square riot with one person hospitalized and police and paramedics on the scene. From the......

Photograph of Running of the Brides participants by Mark Lennihan/AP Early this morning brides-to-be lined 14th Street in hopes of finding their dream dress at a discount price. The annual wedding dress sale at Filene's Basement, dubbed The Running of the Brides, included around 2500 gowns (of which reportedly zero are left). And every lady wants to find the designer dress with an off-the-rack pricetag, which can be akin to finding a needle in......