I Don’t Think It’s April 1st Today . . .

There is open speculation that the City may be selling its iconic Municipal Building:

Speculation is heating up that the Municipal Building, the soaring limestone landmark that overlooks City Hall, could be among the government real estate assets to be sold off and converted to residential buildings as municipal employees prepare to move into a new, privately managed office building planned for ground zero.

The Municipal Building at One Centre St., the home of the Department of City Planning at 22 Reade St., and another large office building overlooking Foley Square at 2 Lafayette St. are among the assets whose sale is under consideration, according to a source familiar with the process.

In September, Mayor Bloomberg penned an agreement with developer Larry Silverstein to take 600,000 square feet in Tower 4 at the former World Trade Center site as early as 2013. Mr. Bloomberg said at the time that the city could sell off some real estate assets, which could be developed or converted into residential buildings. Mr. Silverstein has the right to cancel the deal between now and September 2008 if he finds a tenant that would pay more than the city’s offer of $56.50 a square foot a year in rent.

And When The Revolution Comes My Comrades And I Will Turn It Into The Biggest, Smelliest Dog Run In All Of Manhattan

For some reason the word “hordes” may come to mind. It’s not your imagination — they actually use that word:

This was not the first time in recent months that Ms. [Sallie] Scripter had noticed the wrought-iron gate [of Gramercy Park] ajar. In August, Ian Schrager reopened the Gramercy Park Hotel, equipped with Italian linen, art by Andy Warhol, and keys to the park. Ever since then, local residents, who also possess keys to the park, have occasionally remarked that the gate had been left open.

An open gate may not seem a terribly pressing issue, but keys to this kingdom are highly prized. The hotel keeps its six keys for guest use on giant silver rings, each about the diameter of a Frisbee and decorated with a showy gold tassel.

Arlene Harrison, a park trustee, says she thought that hotel guests occasionally left the gate open because it was too heavy to close, or simply because they didn’t realize that according to park rules, it must be closed and locked even when visitors are inside.

And anxiety about the open gate may have less to do with the presence of guests at the hotel, where prices start at $525 a night, than of other people. “The terrible threat,” Ms. Harrison said, “is that with the gate wide open, hordes of people may come in.”

All of which precipitated some of the most stringent procedures ever applied to a park:

According to Ellis O’Connor, the hotel’s general manager, park-bound guests will be escorted there by a hotel worker, then educated about the park’s history and rules, including its bans on alcohol, pets, and groups larger than six. The worker will open the gate, close it behind the guests, and give them a key to let themselves out.

Still, Ms. Harrison intends to keep close tabs on it. “I speak to the managers there once or twice daily,” she said. “And I talk to Ian Schrager at least twice a week.”

The Julian Tops Off . . . Before Night Falls

Julian Schnabel — part Donald Trump, part Robert Moses:

The artist and filmmaker’s new 11-story tower addition to his existing three-story building on W. 11th St. between Washington and West Sts. rises to 167 feet in height. But it never should have been allowed to be that tall, according to Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

At the beginning of the year, G.V.S.H.P. and neighbors protested that as the city was preparing to downzone the West Village — enforcing lower height caps on new construction — Schnabel’s workers were doing illegal construction after hours and on weekends to get the project vested — or sufficiently underway to gain approval before the deadline. Neighbors called 311 to complain about the alleged illegal work, but didn’t get a timely response, according to Berman. Ultimately, the Department of Buildings allowed Schnabel’s project to proceed.

“It’s horrible. It’s all of your worst nightmares come true,” said Berman of the new tower. “It’s really a monument to this guy’s ego. The city ruled it was vested even though dozens of neighbors, independent of each other, submitted signed affidavits [of illegal work]. You could name this the Department of Buildings Tower — because of their negligence, that thing was built,” Berman fumed.

The Next Generation Clamors For More Acoustic Guitar And Jazz; Yippies Here To Help; Standup Comedy, Too!

The Yippie Museum and Coffeehouse makes its raucuous debut:

They were a countercultural movement springing out of the Youth International Party (Y.I.P.), embracing many of the ’60s most colorful characters, including political activists Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin.

Now, The Yippie Museum and Coffeehouse at 9 Bleecker St. is set to celebrate that culture — perhaps even revive it for a new generation that’s fed up with politics and war.

Dana Beal, a self-described “second-wave” Yippie, part of a younger generation of Yippies who got involved after the movement’s beginnings, and the original owner and resident of 9 Bleecker St., announced plans for the museum, coffeehouse, gift shop and counterculture comedy club in February.

While the museum is not fully completed, the coffeehouse and venue were inaugurated this past weekend with the sounds of acoustic guitar and jazz.

“It was real,” said Steve Stollman, of the Steve Stollman Experience, who performed on Saturday. “It was quite nice, quite relaxed. I think the place is going to fly.”

How Dare It Openly Mock Those Broad, Unbroken And Ideal Sight Lines!

Everyone agrees that there is more than enough advertising in the city, some of which is actually illegal:

Patience and Fortitude, the lions that guard the New York Public Library, have beheld many things in their 95 years: numberless readers coming and going, great generals and brave troops passing by, legions of marchers celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and Pulaski Day, organized labor and gay liberation.

Now they behold two giant Scotch bottles.

In the sea of advertising that seems to have washed over construction scaffolding around New York City, the new six-story Chivas Regal billboard on 475 Fifth Avenue stands out because it dominates the landscape around the library’s colorful lawns, ample terraces and majestic staircase.

It is also illegal, the city says.

The Department of Buildings inspected the scaffolding this week and found six violations, three involving the sign, which faces Fifth Avenue and 41st Street.

(Wow, after yesterday’s howler, even more totally wacky, out-of-left-field David Dunlap prose!)

This, however, seems like a little bit of an overreaction:

The Institute of Classical Architecture is an educational organization dedicated to fostering the classical tradition, as epitomized by the library. Its office is two blocks from the library. And its president, Paul Gunther, said his blood boiled when he saw the Chivas sign.

“In open defiance of a law still without the teeth of enforcement,” he said in an e-mail message, “these glaring, scaffold-held billboards not only degrade this public — even sacred — space, but openly mock it, as if to announce, ‘Thanks for the broad, unbroken and ideal sight lines.'”

The best part: the violations only carry a $2,500 fine . . .