JANUARY 23, 2014 THE VILLAGER

The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933

January 23, 2014 • $1.00 Volume 83 • Number 34

‘Mayor of Chinatown,’ Paul Lee, dies at 63; An outspoken leader

BY JOSH ROGERS

P PHOTO BY BÉATRICE DE GÉA

Mike Martin fashioning a piece of a Remington rifle into a mattock, a farming tool, at Middle Collegiate Church on Sunday.

A disarming M.L.K. Day service

BY HEATHER DUBIN

I

t was a birthday present fit for a King,” said Reverend Jacqueline J. Lewis, senior minister at Middle Collegiate Church in the East Village.

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a worship service was held at the church on Sunday, followed by the transformation of a gun into a gardening tool, plus a teach-in.

Speaking this week, Lewis — who

goes by Jacqui — explained where the idea came from to do a demonstration of making a Remington rifle into a mattock, a farming implement with a twopronged rake at the end.

Last year for Martin Luther King Day, the church partnered with Auburn Theological Seminary, the Groundswell Movement and Pico, a Jesuit organization, for a national Anti-gun-violence Sabbath. There was shock and an upwelling of concern after several highprofile shootings in 2012, including in

Aurora, Colorado, where 12 people were killed at a movie theater; in Newtown, Connecticut, where 27 — including 20 children and seven adults — were killed at Sandy Hook elementary school; and in Sanford, Florida, where Trayvon Martin, 17, was shot by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman.

“This year for King Day, we wanted to keep that movement going,” Lewis said.

KING DAY, continued on p. 21

Co-op dogged by pet-eviction flap.....................page 4 House of pain; Man had sick torture video.......page 5 Tallmer’s early ghostwriting stint....................page 10 www.TheVillager.com

aul J.Q. Lee, a Chinatown small business owner and activist who seemed to revel in uphill fights against the establishment, died Jan. 18 at age 63.

Lee suffered a heart attack in the subway on the way to work Jan. 15, and

died three days later at Beth Israel Hospital, said Keith Leung, who thought of Lee as a second father figure.

Lee and his family owned the 32 Mott Street General Store for more than a century before he had to close the business in 2003, citing the loss of PAUL LEE, continued on p. 6

Photographer goes from punks to pugs for a dog run’s aid

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

A

s the resident photographer for Punk magazine, Roberta Bayley captured iconic images of and hung out with the likes of the Sex Pistols, Blondie, The Clash, the New York Dolls and the Ramones.

Bayley still hangs with a really cool guy named

Sidney, but, well, he’s not a punk — he’s a pug.

And, yes, if you ask her, he definitely rocks!

You’ll often find Bayley and Sid at the Washington Square Park dog run, where they mingle with the run’s other “rock stars,” like pugs named Biggie Smalls (actually, there are several Biggies), CALENDAR, continued on p. 11

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Safe streets: Say it and spray it The group Right of Way held a “7 Over 70” ride Sunday to call attention to traffic danger, specifically, to senior pedestrians. The bicycle activists pedaled 30-plus miles to seven sites around the city where individuals more than 70 years old were killed by automobiles, at each tragic spot spray-painting a stencil with the victim’s name. Two of the fatalities were in the Downtown area. Stuyvesant Town resident Stella Huang, 88, was killed Nov. 27 around 5 p.m. by a Con Ed truck turning left from Avenue C onto E. 16th St. Meipui Chow Leon, 73, an East Village resident, was fatally struck on Aug. 23 by a van while crossing E. Houston St. in the crosswalk from Clinton St. to Avenue B. Sunday’s action occurred during a particularly bloody weekend in New York City. “While we were gathering supplies for this ride, five people were killed in traffic,” said Michael Mintz, a Right of Way organizer. Two pedestrians died in Queens and one on the Upper West Side, a cyclist was killed by a bus in Harlem, and a Manhattan driver died in Midtown.

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Bowl” and “Super Saturday Night” raise bad memories of The Related Companies’ dreaded “Vegas on the Hudson” proposal for Pier 40 a few years back. We did hear of the Pier 40 party about a month ago at C.B. 2’s full board meeting; the mention was brief, and it was noted that the Hudson River Park Trust will get $1 million for it.

SUPER PIER PARTY: Pier 40, at W. Houston St. in the Hudson River Park, is set to be the scene of what is being hyped as THE — yes, THE —party of Super Bowl weekend.

The DirecTV “Super Saturday Night” event, on Sat., Feb. 1, to be held, we hear, under a big tent on the massive pier — apparently to be called “The DirecTV Super Fan Stadium” — will be headlined by Jay-Z and Katy Perry. The invitationonly extravaganza will be hosted by Mark Cuban’s AXS TV and Giants quarterback Eli Manning. Though the Saturday night event is a private event (tickets are not available for purchase), the public is invited to attend the DirecTV Celebrity Beach Bowl at Pier 40 earlier in the day. We quote from the press release: “Each year the Beach Bowl attracts thousands of spectators [emphasis our own] to see Hollywood’s biggest stars compete against former NFL greats in a wild flag football game where anything can happen.” Celebrities and athletes scheduled to take part in the game include model and TV host Chrissy Teigen, Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder of “The Vampire Diaries,” Jaime Alexander of “Thor: The Dark World” — a slew of other TV actors whose names we don’t know because we don’t watch enough TV — comedians Tom Arnold, Tracy Morgan and Artie Lange, celebrity chef Guy Fieri, NFL Hall of Famers Joe Montana, Deion Sanders and Warren Moon, and former pros LaDainian Tomlinson, Tony Gonzalez and Amani Toomer. We asked around for more information, but all we got was the press release sent to us. Probably people are a little scared that there might be a last-minute surprise “blitz” or “prevent defense” by local NIMBY’s for whom the “Celebrity Beach

GERSON VS. CHIN — AGAIN? So far, it doesn’t sound like Councilmember Margaret Chin is exactly embracing Judge Donna Mills’s recent ruling in favor of the community lawsuit against New York University’s 2031 development plan, in which Mills said the city broke the law by allowing the university to use several public parkland strips for its project. Chin’s two statements to us, so far, seem to be carefully crafted so as not to criticize N.Y.U.’s overall project, while agreeing in a very general way that the park strips, or at least three out of four of them, should be protected — but not necessarily right now! On the other hand, new Councilmember Corey Johnson, in a statement to The Villager, hailed the judge’s decision, and further said it now casts the entire N.Y.U. 2031 plan into doubt. And new Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer told us the judge’s decision “has the potential to change the project significantly,” and that she’ll be monitoring developments closely. Meanwhile, Chin’s predecessor in the First District Council seat, Alan Gerson, who lives on N.Y.U.’s southern South Village superblock, in 505 LaGuardia Place — the block where N.Y.U. still hopes to construct two new buildings — didn’t hesitate to give his opinion when asked. “I would say they should all be parks,” Gerson said of the open-space strips. “This is the legally correct decision, and it’s an environmentally important decision, and it has an impact beyond these two superblocks.

The judge is saying: If it looks like a park, smells like a park, is used like a park, feels like a park — it should be subject to the specific requirement that you need state approval to take it away from being a park.”

BIKE BROUHAHA PART II? Community Board 2 will be holding its hotly anticipated bike summit next Mon., Jan. 27, at Grace Church School, 86 Fourth Ave., at E. 11th St., Tuttle Hall. The meeting is described on C.B. 2’s Web site as “a public forum to hear concerns from the C.B. 2 community regarding bicycle safety, traffic rules and related enforcement issues.” It’s hard to believe that this meeting could ever top the one at C.B. 2 last year in terms of sheer outrage after the new Citi Bike docking stations were first installed — but, hey, who knows?

One thing we did want to know: Has David Gruber, chairperson of C.B. 2, every ridden a Citi Bike? We know he feels the bike station on Carmine St. near his house is an inappropriate spot, but still… . “Yes, I have, it was fine,” he told us. “I was a little nervous. It was late at night. I was on the bike path and the cars were a little close to the bike path. It was raining and I was wearing a very expensive suit.” Now, that’s dedication — maybe not exactly the best time to ride a Citi Bike — but, still…dedication. In case, Gruber or anyone else wanted to push the Citi Envelope even further, the bike-share system

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TALLMER MENDING…WRITING: Legendary scribe Jerry Tallmer is still rehabbing at the DeWitt facility on the Upper East Side after breaking his hip back in October. Super theater P.R. man Jonathan Slaff has been visiting him and helping him out. Most notably, he recently brought Tallmer his laptop, which immediately lifted his spirits, Slaff told us.

However, he fears Tallmer may have suffered a mini-stroke a few weeks ago. Yet, when we spoke to Jerry on the phone recently he sounded better. J.T., who recently turned 93, is also working on his memoir and has sent us part of it. It’s heavy on his interviews and reviews in the theater world of the past half-century or so, and also includes some writings about his early days as a young journalist. Check out his column about Billy Rose in this week’s issue on Page 10. A beautiful reminiscence as only Tallmer can write ’em. We’ll be running more of his pieces in weeks to come, including memories of his early days at the Village Voice. Meanwhile, his wife, Frances, is worried that Tallmer’s insurance coverage is running out and that he’ll be booted out of DeWitt. She’d like to take him back home, but recently badly hurt her toe and doesn’t feel she can take care of him well enough, let alone herself.

R.I.P., AKKAS ALI: At last week’s Community Board 3 Transportation Committee meeting, Chad Marlow reported the sad news that Akkas Ali, the East Village florist who was critically injured by a drag racer who was driving high, recently died. “When you’re in that kind of condition, the treatment has to be pretty invasive,” Marlow said. “I heard it might have been from his trache tube.” Marlow had led a crowfunding effort that raised thousands of dollars for the stricken man’s family.

Meanwhile, at East Village Farm grocery on Second Ave., where Ali worked for years, store manager Manan Shah was angry that Ali’s killer was out on the streets. “I read in the Daily News that he’s out on bail,” he told us, taking a break from stocking a shelf. “And that after this he did one more drunk driving and threatened some guy. I mean, why will they not suspend his license? How come they will still rent cars to him? … How many more Alis need to die?” Shah said he visited Ali, who was in his 60s, when he was in a rehab facility in New Jersey, but his co-worker couldn’t speak or move, though “had recognition” through his eyes and understood what people were saying.

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3

Co-op dogged by charges it won’t allow service pets

BY HEATHER DUBIN

T

he federal government is suing a housing co-op on the Lower East Side on behalf of three residents who are not allowed to keep their emotional support dogs.

The original lawsuit, which was filed against East River Housing Corp., in December 2013, claimed the housing cooperative, located at 573 Grand St., violated the Fair Housing Act, and discriminated against a tenant, Stephanie Aaron, by refusing to accommodate her psychiatric disability.

Aaron has chronic depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, and found that the stray dog she took in helped to alleviate her mental health symptoms, the suit states.

Under the Fair Housing Act, which is enforced by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, housing providers cannot discriminate against a person based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or disability.

The co-op has a no-pet clause, and prohibits animals without prior written consent.

Last Friday, the lawsuit was amended to include two additional tenants of the co-op, Amy Eisenberg and Steven Gilbert, who also want to have dogs in the building, and both suffer from mental disorders.

According to the initial lawsuit, Aaron brought home the stray dog, a pit bull, and named her Rosie, in August 2012. Aaron had recently taken a decline. She was feeling “physically ill, unable to socialize and overwhelmed by her circumstances.” But within a few days of taking in Rosie, she noted an improvement in her health.

Aaron attributed her quick turnaround to her new canine companion, and decided to keep her.

About a month later, East River Housing Corp. demanded Aaron remove Rosie by early October 2012. The corporation alleged she had violated a “substantial obligation of [her] tenancy” by having the dog in her apartment.

Aaron then began experiencing more mental health symptoms, and she returned

4

January 23, 2014

to the co-op with a note from her psychiatrist, dated Sept. 19, 2012, that requested Rosie remain in the apartment as a “service dog and emotional support animal.”

The co-op did not respond, and instead issued a notice for Aaron, a resident since 2003, to vacate her apartment by November 2012.

Following a second letter from Aaron’s psychiatrist, the co-op denied the request, on the grounds that the word “disabled” was not used in the letter. Eviction proceedings continued with a court date scheduled for late November. A third request from the psychiatrist was made, stating Aaron “is entitled to a reasonable accommodation to facilitate her dealing with the limitations of her dis-

Within a few days of taking in a stray pit bull, the tenant noted an improvement in her own health. abling conditions.”

That December, Aaron began seeing a clinical psychologist. That same month, she also filed a complaint with HUD, which found there was cause to believe the co-op had violated the Fair Housing Act, leading to the current federal lawsuit. The eviction issue has been placed on hold until the case’s completion.

The other two residents who are now part of the lawsuit, Eisenberg and Gilbert, are also claiming discrimination and violation of the Fair Housing Act, based on their mental disabilities.

Each of them has filed a separate complaint with HUD, which found reasonable cause that the co-op was in violation for each case.

Eisenberg has lived in the building since 1998, and suffers from P.T.S.D., with symp-

toms that manifest as depression, anxiety, panic attacks and insomnia. The lawsuit details that Eisenberg brought home Ruby, reportedly a cockapoo — a cocker spaniel/ poodle mix — in February 2012, and that Ruby is a trained and registered service dog.

Ruby’s presence has helped reduce Eisenberg’s P.T.S.D. symptoms, the suit maintains.

The dog also fetches medication for Eisenberg if she is unable to do so.

The co-op requested Eisenberg remove Ruby from her apartment, and gave her 10 days to so in April 2012. She refused, and the co-op moved forward with eviction proceedings against her.

Eisenberg submitted a note from her internist to the co-op that stated she has a “disability.” Ruby enhances Eisenberg’s life, the doctor wrote, adding, “The presence of the dog is necessary for [Eisenberg’s] emotional health.” The co-op disagreed with the letter, and the eviction case went to Housing Court, where it was adjourned several times.

The third plaintiff, Gilbert, has lived at East River Houses since 2004, and has chronic psychiatric conditions with limited social interaction abilities. In November 2011, Gilbert had a friend stay with him at his apartment who brought along her dog, Olive Oil. While the dog was in his home, Gilbert experienced relief from his mental disabilities.

However, the co-op requested Gilbert remove Olive Oil from his apartment and gave him 10 days to do so at the end of November.

He did not, and the co-op then initiated eviction proceedings against him. A letter was sent to the co-op from Gilbert’s psychiatrist, who stated, “The presence of this animal is necessary for [Gilbert’s] mental health.”

The co-op did not respond to the letter,

and a hearing was scheduled in Housing Court for February 2012. In advance of the hearing, Gilbert decided to remove Olive Oil from his apartment.

In mid-February, Gilbert filed a complaint with HUD, which then referred it to the New York State Division of Human Rights. The coop discontinued the eviction proceeding, but sought attorney fees for the Housing Court case, unless Gilbert dropped the matter at the Division of Human Rights.

However, D.H.R. found cause that Gilbert’s rights had been violated, and a hearing was scheduled. Yet, Gilbert’s doctor, who had written a letter on his behalf, withdrew as his psychiatrist, and Gilbert let the complaint go.

In January 2013, Gilbert submitted a request to the co-op for an emotional-support dog due to his disability, along with notes from two doctors and a psychotherapist.

Shortly after that, the co-op recommenced its effort to recover attorney fees from the Housing Court case. The court found in favor of the co-op and awarded it $30,087.29 in legal fees.

Gilbert’s second request for a dog was met with a denial, which included notification that the co-op had “incurred approximately $100,000 in legal fees” involving Housing Court and the D.H.R. case, which, the co-op charged, could be construed as “additional rent.”

The lawsuit for all three plaintiffs, which is now pending, seeks relief from violation of the Fair Housing Act, monetary damages, and a civil penalty against East River Housing Corp.

The co-op’s management declined comment, and cited their current policy that prohibits them from talking about an ongoing lawsuit. A representative from the U.S. Attorney’s Office also declined to comment on the case.

Chairperson change for Chin

BY SAM SPOKONY

D

ays after starting her second term, Councilmember Margaret Chin on Jan. 22 was appointed chairperson of the City Council’s Committee on Aging.

On the same day, the Council’s Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Committee — which was established in 2002, to help revitalize the area following the 9/11 attacks, and which Chin had chaired ever since taking office in 2010 — was officially dissolved.

That committee was, in effect, replaced by the new Recovery and Resiliency Committee, which has been established in order to deal with post-Sandy efforts and planning to mitigate future natural disasters.

Chin was not appointed chairperson of that new committee, though she will serve as one of its members. Instead, the Recovery and Resiliency Committee will be led by firstterm Councilmember Mark Treyger, who

represents a part of Brooklyn — including Coney Island and Bensonhurst — that was particularly hard hit by Hurricane Sandy.

In a statement, Chin, who is 59, said she’s looking forward to her new role on the Aging Committee.

“I am both humbled and proud to serve on committees that will make solid, meaningful change in the day-to-day in the lives of New Yorkers,” Chin said. “We as a unified City Council have a historic opportunity to make a positive difference, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to create and advocate for policies that will continue to push our city toward a progressive future. I am especially honored to serve as chairperson of the Committee on Aging, and I am committed to ensuring that our seniors have the resources, support and dignity they deserve. We must build a city where all of us can age in place, without the worry that we will be displaced by increasing rent or cuts to essential services. Now, let’s get to work.”

TheVillager.com

Feds: Ex-Stuy librarian was schooling himself on torture

BY SAM SPOKONY

B

efore his arrest last April, a Greenwich Village man accused of planning to rape and kill women and children owned a disturbing video that depicts two men brutally torturing two women, officials said.

Now federal prosecutors hope to use descriptions of that video as evidence against him at trial.

The so-called “Pain 35” video was recovered by investigators when Robert Christopher Asch, 62, a former Stuyvesant High School librarian, was arrested inside his apartment in the Saint Germain, at Greenwich Ave. and W. 10th St. The video, which had been stashed in Asch’s home, shows the two nearly naked women being tortured with heinous items, including nipple clamps, a leg spreader, a riding crop, rope, handcuffs and needles, according to federal prosecutors. Officials have also said that experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation believe that the women in the video are not actors, and that they are actually be-

ing painfully tortured.

Asch is accused of conspiring with Richard Meltz, 65, to kidnap, rape and murder multiple people — including the wife, sister-in-law, children and stepdaughter of an alleged co-conspirator, Michael Van Hise.

Meltz has already pleaded guilty to two counts of engaging in a conspiracy to commit kidnapping — the same charges Asch faces — but Asch’s trial is currently scheduled to begin Jan. 27.

In a Jan. 8 letter to the federal judge handling the case, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said prosecutors do not actually aim to play the “Pain 35” video in front of the jury, but are instead seeking the judge’s permission to provide a description of the video.

In doing so, the prosecutors hope to show that Asch used the video as a “howto guide” for restraining and inflicting pain on his victims, and to show that he was not simply fantasizing about the plans.

“The ‘Pain 35’ video has substantial value in proving that Asch was intent on kidnapping the victims...and was not simply roleplaying,” Bharara’s letter

University Center’s opening Act II

PHOTO BY MARTIN SECK

The New School is opening the bottom half — the academic portion — of its new University Center this week. The top half of the building, on Fifth Ave. between 13th and 14th Sts., is a student residence and opened in August. The building’s bottom part includes an auditorium, plus a library on two floors. There is also 11,000 square feet of ground-floor corner retail space. The University Center replaces a white-brick, three-story New School building originally built as a Mays department store in the 1930s. Jennifer Falk, executive director of the Union Square Partnership business improvement district, said, “We are really excited about that building opening up because it has really transformed that corner of the district.” Falk said a good fit for the retail space would be a home-furnishings store, definitely not anything food-related, since the New School wouldn’t want the tenant to compete with the University Center’s cafeteria.

She said the Partnership didn’t receive any complaints connected to the students’ moving-in day.

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with his own letter to the federal judge, hoping to stop prosecutors from describing the video because he claimed its “shocking and disturbing” nature would unfairly influence the jury.

“Such evidence can deeply prejudice a jury against a defendant, for reasons having nothing to do with that defendant’s guilt or innocence,” Waller wrote.

It’s also now known that Asch possessed a video and images of child pornography when he was arrested, and that he is a member of the North American Man/Boy Love Association, a.k.a. NAMBLA. But prosecutors have said they don’t plan to address those facts during the trial — that is, unless Asch testifies and they are brought up as part of his testimony.

Prosecutors have also said that they don’t plan to mention that Asch had been arrested in 2009 and charged with inappropriately touching male students during his time at Stuyvesant High School.

Those charges were later dropped.

Asch was arrested last April after federal agents found out about his alleged plans while they were investigating the infamous “cannibal cop,” Gilberto Vale.

Federal prosecutors say Robert Christopher Asch had a disturbing and explicit video called “Pain 35” in his W. 10th St. apartment when he was arrested last year.

states, although he also wrote that the video’s contents will “undoubtedly be shocking and disturbing to the members of the jury.”

Asch’s lawyer, Brian Waller, responded

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Paul Lee, the ‘Mayor of Chinatown,’ dies at age 63 PAUL LEE, continued from p. 1

6

January 23, 2014

PHOTO BY CORKY LEE

traffic from the New York Police Department’s security closure of Park Row after 9/11.

He became one of the leading voices in the neighborhood to reopen the thoroughfare, which passes under Police Headquarters and links Chinatown to the rest of Lower Manhattan.

Lee was also an actor with more than a dozen film credits, including small roles in “Big”(Executive No. 4) with Tom Hanks and the 1985 movie “Year of the Dragon” (Jackie Wong’s son), which was set in Chinatown, Lee’s home for most of his life.

Geoff Lee, a childhood friend who is unrelated, said Paul was known in the film industry as the “go-to man in Chinatown,” and helped get jobs for him and others in the neighborhood, particularly for “Year of the Dragon,” which was actually shot in North Carolina with a realistic set of New York’s Chinatown.

Photographer Corky Lee, also unrelated, remembers Paul brokering a meeting for him with “Dragon” director Michael Cimino to look at Lee’s photos of Chinatown.

Corky Lee said Paul knew when to interject during the meeting, and even though Cimino didn’t end up buying any photos, Paul was able to get work for many others on the film.

“He was the Chinese-American Al Sharpton,” Corky Lee added. “He’d say things that needed to be said that no one else would say.”

In 2004 when the city suggested moving Chinatown’s Chatham Square plaza without a plan to save its memorials to Chinese veterans, Paul Lee told Downtown Express, The Villager’s sister paper, “You’re in for a firefight. I’ll get on the barricades with [veterans groups]. As a community member, I’m not going to let my people be disrespected.”

Lee, a gregarious man who was quick with a joke, was always a staunch defender against any slights to the Chinese community. But he also had an independent streak a mile wide, never worrying about his popularity.

At least three times, he passed on supporting Chinese candidates for Lower Manhattan’s City Council seat.

“I even gave him an out and said, ‘I don’t want to give you a problem with your community,’ but he stuck with me and stayed till the very end,’” said John Fratta, who received Lee’s endorsement for his unsuccessful Council campaigns in 1991 and 2001.

Fratta said, “Paul loved Chinatown, but he also felt it was important to build relationships between all of the neighborhoods of Lower Manhattan.”

Last year, Lee endorsed Jenifer Rajkumar in her unsuccessful effort to unseat

A 38-year-old Paul Lee in his Mott St. store in 1988.

City Councilmember Margaret Chin.

“I get a lot of hostility because I’m not supporting Margaret,” he said after Rajkumar’s announcement last year.

He said he thought Rajkumar, if elected, would fight harder to reopen Park Row to general traffic.

He confided that he expected Chin to win the neighborhood convincingly, but he just wanted to help her opponent “get a piece of it.”

He was often frank about his chances in seemingly quixotic battles.

When he and neighbors convinced a judge to order the N.Y.P.D. to reopen a pub-

on the street closures, but in 2003 he expressed support for Mayor Bloomberg’s effort to replace party primaries with nonpartisan elections. The position also put him on the side of a community activist he often opposed, Margaret Chin, but at odds with almost all other local Democratic leaders.

“Nothing else has worked for Chinatown,” Lee said about the ballot referendum, which was later defeated overwhelmingly. “I don’t think we’re getting 10 percent of the attention we should.”

Leung, a surrogate son of Lee’s, said he was always inspired by the older man’s fights against tough odds. Leung’s father got him the job at Lee’s store at age 14 to help avoid the neighborhood’s gangs.

Now 30 and an advertising artist, Leung said Lee helped out many neighborhood kids like him.

Lee’s college roommate, Jonathan Atkin, said he took many professional headshots of Chinatown teens who got acting work through Lee. Atkin, who met Lee at Lake Forest College in Illinois, where Lee headed the Asian Students Alliance, said he was always amazed by the variety of Lee’s efforts — helping run the family business with lots of side efforts, all the while staying active in politics and helping out neighborhood kids.

In the ’80s, Lee promoted visits to the U.S. of table tennis and women’s basketball teams from China.

Atkin, said he went to J.F.K. Airport one time to photograph a Chinese team’s arrival and was stopped by the N.Y.P.D., but the Chinese security detail quickly smoothed things over by saying, “He’s with Paul Lee.” Lee also arranged bus tours to Atlantic City, and Atkin remembered anther incident when a white casino official spoke to

‘He was the ChineseAmerican Al Sharpton.

He’d say things that needed to be said that no one else would say.’

Corky Lee lic park it had taken over for parking, James Madison Plaza, Lee said he was “shocked.”

“I had all these plans, but none of them were predicated on us winning,” he said.

“I was saying, If we lose, we can do plan B or C or D.” Geoff Lee, his childhood friend, said, “Lots of times Paul fought the fight because no one else was doing it.”

Lee was also not afraid to acknowledge agreement with his opponents. He had epic battles with the Bloomberg administration

Lee in pigeon English. Lee made his roots clear in a profanity-laced response.

“How dare you use this racist language with a person who’s a full-blooded American and New Yorker,” was the essence of Lee’s reply, said Atkin.

Paul Lee, a middle child, was born in Chinatown, where he lived all of his life, to Peter and Mildred Lee on March 19, 1950.

“He learned to play handball on the walls of the Tombs,” Atkin said, referring to the city jail’s nickname.

The “J.Q.” initials abbreviate his Chinese name, and he adopted them as an adult to distinguish himself from other Paul Lees.

He graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1966, before heading off to Lake Forest to earn a degree in history in 1972. He then went to work at the family business.

Lee’s grandfather Lee Lok opened the 32 Mott St. store, Quong Yuen Shing & Company, in 1891. The shop imported goods from China, reselling some to stores in other U.S. cities, including Boston and Philadelphia, Lee said in a 2004 interview.

At the time, immigration laws prohibited Chinese women from entering the U.S., so the store also served as a social center for bachelors.

In the ’70s and ’80s, Paul ran the store with his father, Peter Lee, before taking over in the mid-’80s. Paul eventually changed the name to 32 Mott Street General Store, and sold Asian giftware.

Behind in rent, he closed in 2003, but he still lived on the same block. When Lee watched the store reopen the next year under a new owner he said, “It’s very, very painful. To lose the store — that was my family’s business for 113 years. It’s very shameful, very painful.”

Four years later, in 2008, his wife of 29 years, Janny Lee, died of cancer, a loss that friends say he took particularly hard.

Lee, who had no children, is survived by his older sister, Patricia Farley, and his younger brother, Warren Lee. There will be a wake Thurs., Jan. 23, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., and a service at 6 p.m. at True Light Lutheran Church, 195 Worth St. The church will also hold a funeral Fri., Jan. 24, at 9 a.m. Friends and family request donations be made to the church.

Lee worked his final years at the New York City Housing Authority, where he was a borough coordinator.

Through his setbacks, he often persevered with passion and humor.

He was the first speaker at a 2003 meeting with city officials that neighbors thought was a public hearing to get input on a possible unwanted traffic change.

However, they learned hours later that the change had already been approved.

Perhaps sensing that there was no chance to stop the plan, Lee had simple advice to the speakers who would follow him: “Be loud.”

TheVillager.com

POLICE BLOTTER

An image, provided by police, of the suspect in a gunpoint robbery of a Starbucks.

Starbucks armed robbery

Veggie victim

A tricky thief duped a young man into thinking he was a police officer before making off with his cash, police said.

The suspect reportedly walked into Maoz Vegetarian restaurant, at 59 E. Eighth St., around 8:15 p.m., and approached the victim, 19, who was eating with a friend.

He told the unwitting man that he was a undercover cop, demanded to see his wallet and identification, and then got him to hand over the wad of cash from his wallet, police said.

The suspect reportedly returned some of the cash, but took the rest and fled on foot, before the victim could understand what was going on.

Hummer D.W.I.

Police arrested Fernando Ortiz, 50,

Not-so-sneaky shoplifter

Kevin Bell, 49, was arrested on Jan. 19 after he allegedly tried to steal a pair of sneakers from a chain store not far from Union Square.

A store employee told cops that Bell walked into Urban Outfitters, near the corner of W. 13th St. and Sixth Ave., around 7 p.m., and then attempted to shoplift the $100 New Balance shoes. But he was quickly stopped by a store security guard, who detained him until police arrived.

Bell was charged with petty larceny.

PHOTO BY Q. SAKAMAKI

Police are searching for a man who robbed a Starbucks near Union Square at gunpoint on Thurs., Jan. 16.

The suspect, pictured above, reportedly walked into the coffeeshop, near the corner of E. 15th St. and Third Ave., around 9:30 p.m. and immediately displayed the firearm, police said. He then demanded money from two employees — a woman, 21, and a man, 22 — after which he forced them to lie down on the floor and tied up their hands with zip ties.

The unknown perpetrator then snatched around $3,000 in cash from the register and fled the scene, police said. The victimized employees were not injured.

early on Sun., Jan. 12, after he was caught driving drunk at a police checkpoint.

Ortiz rolled into the checkpoint, at the corner of Washington and W. Houston Sts., around 12:30 a.m. in his 2008 Hummer H3. It was clear that he’d been drinking because of the strong smell of alcohol on his breath and his glassy, bloodshot eyes, police said.

After giving him a breathalyzer test, cops found that Ortiz’s blood-alcohol level was .138 percent — well above the legal limit of .08 percent. He was charged with D.W.I.

Snowy service for tragic boy: During Tuesday evening’s frigid snowstorm, members of the Harlem Youth Marines carried the coffin of Myls Dobson during his funeral at Harlem’s First Corinthian Church. In a story that shocked the city, the 4-year-old’s badly beaten and burned body was found in the bathroom of a Hell’s Kitchen apartment earlier this month. A girlfriend of the boy’s father has been charged with first-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful imprisonment. The girlfriend is also reportedly being investigated on suspicion of murder and faces additional charges.

Urine trouble now!

Police arrested Daniel Montes, 32, on Jan. 19 after he was caught carrying an illegal knife in the Meatpacking District.

Officers initially stopped Montes around 3 a.m. because they had spotted him urinating on a sidewalk near the corner of W. 14th St. and 10th Ave. Once they began searching him, Montes reportedly admitted to having the gravity knife stashed in his jacket pocket, and cops soon found that he was also carrying a small bag of alleged marijuana.

In addition to the violation for public urination, Montes was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of marijuana.

Sam Spokony

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January 23, 2014

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Named best weekly newspaper in New York State in 2001, 2004 and 2005

by New York Press Association PUBLISHER JENNIFER GOODSTEIN

EDITOR IN CHIEF LINCOLN ANDERSON

ARTS EDITOR

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REPORTERS

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PUBLISHER EMERITUS JOHN W. SUTTER

Member of the New York Press Association

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8

January 23, 2014

Here’s looking at you, kid(s)!

Congratulations to Jennifer Falk, executive director of the Union Square Partnership, and her husband, Anthony Corrao, who recently welcomed the birth of twins, a son, Asher Natan, and a daughter, Eliana Bayla, on Oct. 3. They weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce and 6 pounds, 15 ounces, respectively.

Falk just returned to the helm of the business improvement district after maternity leave. She told The Villager she’s looking forward to bringing her kids to Union Square this summer to play in the park’s playground, which the Partnership helped design and build. “It’s good to be back in the square!” she said. Corrao is a financial adviser and professor of business management at St. Joseph’s College in Brooklyn.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Talk about ironic!

Hope Chin’s reading

To The Editor: Am I the only one struck by the ironic juxtaposition of the Page One headline “Judge says city broke law when it OK’d N.Y.U. plan” (news article, Jan. 9) with a large photograph right beside it of Margaret Chin (a.k.a. “The Developers’ Friend,” and one of the main reasons the plan was approved by the City Council in the first place) grinning as she was sworn in for a second term?

As for the accompanying article on Chin (“Among powerful friends, Chin enters her second term”), the “powerful friends” listed in the piece didn’t include anyone from the construction industry — but I have no doubt they were in the background, high-fiving each other for getting their champion reelected.

To The Editor: Re “N.Y.U. now says it will appeal judge’s superblocks ruling” (news article, Jan. 16): Thanks to The Villager and its editor for providing a forum for

Downtown residents. One can only hope that Margaret Chin and her staff and advisers will be reading The Villager’s coverage of her positions and statements.

Minerva Durham

Chin has it in for us To The Editor: Re “N.Y.U. now says it will appeal judge’s superblocks ruling” (news article, Jan. 16): LETTERS, continued on p. 20

IRA BLUTREICH

Lisa Ramaci

Are our little kids “political footballs” for the governor and mayor?

TheVillager.com

Healing and stretching out to embrace the future NOTEBOOK

BY KATE WALTER

T

TheVillager.com

substituted for the poles in the gym. I bought a big can of beans for rolling out my elbow.

Soon I realized I was sleeping through the night! That felt like a miracle. I reported it to Dr. Dave.

“That’s great,” he said, as he tested my arm. “You’re much better and have more range of motion.”

“It still hurts when I first wake up but not as much,” I said. “I’m not even taking Advil anymore.”

I was a convert. I went to the gym area and aced my routine. I chatted with other clients, who told me Fusion was a great place. I ran into a neighbor, a painter, whose stroke affected her hands. Many clients had scars from surgery.

I felt grateful I had a relatively minor problem.

As I started to feel better, I decided to resume yoga with my favorite teacher, Karuna Jo, who recently returned from India. I told her about my elbow and she urged me to take it easy.

“No pain, no pain,” she said.

I was happy to be at Integral Yoga but I felt a little creaky and took it slowly. I did all the poses except the shoulder stand, which I modified. The second time back, I felt stronger and more confident. I arrived early and was doing warm-ups when Karuna Jo said, “Oh Kate, I have something for you.”

She went to her bag and retrieved a delicate necklace made of tiny seeds that had a fragrant smell.

The sleep deprivation was affecting my teaching. The pain was keeping me from yoga.

Once my classes finished at the end of May, I threw myself into rehabilitation.

I found a place in my building’s courtyard to wrap the elastic strap. The two tiny walls on the side of my entranceway

“I brought these back from India for my regular students. It was dipped in the Ganges.”

“Wow. Thank you,” I said, giving her a hug. “This must be blessed with good energy.”

I slipped the necklace into a pocket in my yoga bag. At home, I draped the beads over a picture in my ancestors’ corner, where I have photos of my grandparents.

It seemed too precious to wear. I saw it as a talisman signaling my recovery.

That night, I put on a music collection, “Let’s Get Down With the Philly Sound,” and started dancing to the O’Jays singing, “I Love Music.” It was released in 1975, the year I escaped my conservative Catholic family in New Jersey and moved to the Village to be a journalist and a dyke. I had not danced in weeks.

Now I was back in the groove.

I skittered across the floor with a foot pattern I picked up in African dance class and threw in some arm moves from disco and rock. I thrust my right arm straight into the air in a waving movement as I sang, “Music is the healing voice of the world.” I could not have done that a few weeks ago.

The next day, I reported my arm thrust and agility to my trainer.

“That’s awesome,” she said.

In two months, I’d gone from resistance to a devotee of physical therapy.

Dr. Dave agreed I could wind down in July. I felt a little sad to be leaving my healers, but I realized that I’d unconsciously changed my sleeping posture. I no longer curled into a ball to shield an absent partner. Now I spread out, open and expansive, taking care of myself.

PHOTO BY BOB KRASNER

he trouble started last winter when I woke up in the middle of the night with excruciating pain in my right elbow, which bent over my chest as I slept. I had to use my left hand to straighten out my arm. I took an Advil but had trouble falling back asleep.

After my lover of 26 years left me, I still conked out bunched into a ball. It was a habit developed so I would not disturb my ex, who was a bad sleeper.

As I lay awake, waiting for the antiinflammatory to kick in, I realized it was better to be looking for the right partner than getting old with the wrong one.

My theory was that I injured myself from propping my elbows on my computer table and cupping my chin in my hands like “The Thinker” as I compulsively read from the screen. Or was this the beginning of the end? I’m 64, in good health, until now. An alternative medicine fan, I saw my holistic chiropractor, who said I had tendinitis and needed physical therapy. I dreaded adding more appointments to my busy work schedule.

But the sleep deprivation affected my teaching and the pain kept me from my yoga practice. I could barely do the cobra pose. I missed the classes that I loved and felt depressed. Instead of my nightly ritual of dancing around my apartment, I sat at the table drinking wine. I was sidelined from what moved my spirit and helped me recover from the difficult breakup: yoga and dance.

So I gave in and saw an orthopedic surgeon. The doctor spent five minutes with me, read my X-rays, said I had tendinitis in my right elbow and an inflamed muscle and prescribed medication. I hated taking prescriptions, but hoped this drug would spare me from gym visits. I took the pills for less than a week.

It eased the pain but I was too drowsy to teach “Critical Thinking” to my students at the community college.

I called back the surgeon’s office and insisted upon a referral to physical therapy, as I looked for a place nearby that took my insurance. I went online, read the comments on Yelp, raving about Fusion, in the Meatpacking District, a 10-minute walk from my building in the Far West Village.

I was pleased by the kind aura of Dr. Dave, a handsome young Asian American, a Columbia graduate with a compact build. After doing my intake, he manipulated my arm to test my range of motion. It hurt when he pulled it straight.

I lay on the table as he poked and prodded my sore spots. He said I had scar tissue around my elbow that needed to be

dissolved.

We set goals — to stop the aching that woke me up and to resume my yoga classes. In the gym area, a physical trainer showed me strengthening exercises. Never a gym person, I hated being surrounded by scary machines.

I was busy wrapping up my classes for the spring semester and resented running to this place twice a week. I saw Dr. Dave for 20 minutes and worked out with the trainer for 40 minutes. Then I got my elbow iced.

I confess I did not do the exercises at home and had trouble figuring out how to adapt them to my loft. But I did start to feel a little better.

SCENE

‘Let’s do lanch!’

The “lanch” at B & H restaurant is really out of this world — and you sure can’t beat the price. You can fit a lanch in anytime. They’re available all day at the classic dairy and vegetarian restaurant on Second Ave. near St. Mark’s Place. Seriously, this place’s classic fare will put you in heaven.

January 23, 2014

9

Pitching horseshoes and column ideas with Billy Rose NOTEBOOK

BY JERRY TALLMER

T

here was a period in my confused youth when I was kept alive as a ghostwriter for Billy Rose. Well, not a ghostwriter exactly, but an idea man, one of a handful supplying material for 50-something-year-old Billy’s weekly “Pitching Horseshoes” column in Hearst’s now-long-defunct Daily Mirror.

What you’d do is rack your brains, come up with an idea for a column, sit down and write a draft of that column, take the thing by hand to Rose’s quarters atop a theater (also now long gone) on Sixth Avenue at 58th Street, and wait to hear if Billy, in his rooftop office, liked it or rejected it. If he liked it, you’d be handed $100 on the spot by an assistant; if not, $25 consolation cash.

If he did like it, he would doctor it up a little, with

showbizzy expressions, and call it rewriting.

(In truth, he did — sometimes — actually rewrite what you’d submitted.)

One day I was told Billy had so much liked that week’s offering that I should wait; he wanted to see me, meet me. (The piece had been about a do-gooding, 60-yearold, all-purpose, civic peacekeeper in Greenwich Village.

It did not include the gentleman’s offhand remark that “the only thing I can’t stand is these black-and-whites” — black guys going with white girls.)

Presently, I was ushered in to where producer-impresario-songwriter, showman, much-married, much-divorced (Fanny Brice, Eleanor Holm, etc.) Billy Rose himself, all five feet, six inches of him, was ensconced behind a huge, kidney-shaped desk.

On the walls there was one, at least of what to my eye, were actual but inferior works of Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, Monet, Manet, Paul Klee, George Grosz and so on and so forth.

“Sit down,” Billy Rose said. “I used to write every column myself, first to last. But I finally used myself up.

That’s why I need guys like you.”

And he proceeded to tell me the story of his remarkable life (1899-1966), beginning with winning the Gregg Shorthand world championship as a kid, followed by apprenticeship under Bernard Baruch and on and on — until he spotted me looking at those paintings, so he veered into letting me know about the time he had visited the art world’s chief honcho, Bernard Berenson, at that deity’s Villa Tatti, in Florence, Italy.

There were all sorts of other famous people there that day, and masterpieces everywhere — “but then,” said Billy Rose, pitching a horseshoe straight at me, “then the great Bernard Berenson took me by the elbow, led us out into the garden, and said to me: ‘Now, Mr. Rose, tell me about those amazing long-legged American chorus girls.’ ” As Billy got to his feet behind that enormous desk he said, with warmth: “We’ve got to talk some more. A lot more. A lot. My people will let you know.”

I never again heard word one from the pitcher of horseshoes.

Bid to name MacDougal St. block for founder of BID’s

BY SAM SPOKONY

T

he family of the late Norman Buchbinder — a real estate visionary and founder of two local business improvement districts — has begun an effort to name a Village street after him.

Buchbinder, who died in 2007 at the age of 84, was revered by many area residents, merchants and city officials through his work as principal of the real estate management company Buchbinder & Warren, which, to this day, is still based out of its longtime headquarters at 1 Union Square West.

He co-founded the Union Square Partnership, the city’s first business improvement district, which dates back nearly four decades and covers Union Square and 14th St. between First and Sixth Aves. Buchbinder later founded the Village Alliance BID, which mainly covers Eighth St. between Cooper Square and Sixth Ave., sparking a great deal of small business growth within that stretch of the neighborhood.

The street-naming application is being led by Buchbinder’s daughter Lori, who is now a principal of Buchbinder & Warren, and his son-in-law Bill Abramson, who also works for the company and is married to his other daughter, Susan. Lori Buchbinder and Abramson made their initial presentation to Community Board 2’s Transportation Committee on Jan. 9, and they are seeking to co-name MacDougal St. between W. Eighth St. and Washington Square North, “Norman Buchbinder Way.” “He loved the Village, and he really threw all of himself into making into making these streets better,” Lori

Buchbinder told the committee. “He was a true visionary, and he recognized how important it was to create strong partnerships and collaborate with tenants, and with city government.”

And at this point, they’ve already gotten around 50 people to sign a petition in support of the request, including elite developer Francis Greenburger, C.E.O. of Time Equities, and Walter Melvin, a renowned architect who has been active Downtown, as well as numerous Eighth St. residents and business owners.

“To me, Norman is a hero,” said Arnie Segarra, a longtime W. Eighth St. resident and once an aide to former Mayor David Dinkins, who spoke at the C.B. 2 meeting and said that he met Buchbinder when he first moved to the Village in 1967. “He was ahead of his time in terms of diversity, in terms of the people he employed and the people he rented to. So when I think of Norman, I don’t think of a landlord — I think of a friend to folks in the neighborhood, someone who always cared very deeply about the health of the community.”

The C.B. 2 committee passed a resolution supporting the street-naming request, and the application will now have to be approved by the full board, which meets Thurs., Jan. 23. The request would eventually have to be approved by the City Council.

www.reddenfuneralhome.net

10

January 23, 2014

TheVillager.com

Photographer goes from punks to pugs for dog run aid CALENDAR, continued from p. 1

Subee, Dexter, Maud, Louie — and don’t forget Peanut.

To help the nonprofit dog run’s cause, Bayley has allowed her famed photo from the Ramones’ 1976 debut album to be used for the cover of the run’s 2014 calendar.

However, the image has been “reimagined,” with the addition of the heads of some ruff rockers — Buddy Ramone, Kaysar Ramone, Ajax Ramone and Jackie Kennedy Ramone.

The 12-inch-by-12-inch calendar’s cover is autographed by the photographer and suitable for framing.

Dog owners could buy a month in the calendar for $600, or just pay for their dog’s photo to appear in it. Bayley herself bought a month, which features not four, but 12, pug-rockin’ Ramones.

“Some of the pug owners paid $100 or more, some paid much less,” Bayley said. “I just reserved the September page, and then I collected money from people according to what they could afford.

Some pug owners do extra work for the run, so this was their reward. Louie Ramone is on there because he’s 19 years old (the oldest pug I know), and the only black pug I could find who wanted to be on the calendar. His owners are musician John Kruth and painter Marilyn Cvitanic. I tried to include all the pugs I know. I got 15 to commit.”

June sports a Brussels Griffon page — “The Griffon Bunch” — à la the “Brady Bunch” in their boxes during the TV show’s opening credits.

Scattered throughout the calendar are dates sporting individual dogs’ photos, marking their birthdays or other significant dates. For example, June 3 sports the reminder “Molly Eisner Shafer Human Parents’ Anniversary,” plus a smiling photo of Molly. September 21 is marked, “Puppy Mill Awareness Day.” Also doody noted — umm, make that, duly noted — is the all-important “National Scoop Up Poop Week,” which coincidentally commences on Palm Sunday — definitely, a time to be considerate of others.

“Spay Day USA” is Feb. 26, according to the must-have date marker.

A longtime East Villager, Bayley lives on St. Mark’s Place — “Right near Japadog,” she noted.

As for the Ramones album cover photo, Bayley said there are a lot of stories about where it was shot, but the actual location was E. Second St. between the Bowery and Second Ave., in what is today Albert’s Garden.

“It was a playground at the time,” she recalled. “I shot three rolls of film.”

Because the calendar is for a nonprofit, they don’t need the band’s permission to use the image.

“I’d always wanted to do something with the Ramones picture,” she said. “This is a small print run, so hopefully we won’t be sued.”

As for the Ramones themselves, she re-

flected, “They were a weird bunch of guys, but I loved them as a band.”

She noted that Johnny Ramone may well be giving the finger in the classic photo, which she didn’t even realize back then.

“It would be in keeping with his persona,” she admitted.

Just 500 calendars were printed, and only about 100 remain. The proceeds will go toward buying essential supplies, like baggies for picking up dog poop and trash bags.

The effort has been a howling success, and is near the target goal of $15,000.

As for Sidney, Bayley’s buddy, he’s 12½ and she loves him.

“Getting him was the best thing I ever did,” the legendary lenswoman said. “It’s transformative. It gets me out of the house

Gabba gabba huh? A pugged-out version of the “Ramones” album cover — featuring dog heads and furry chests and stomachs — is the cover of the Washington Square dog run’s 2014 calendar.

© GODLIS

TheVillager.com

every morning. My social circle is larger because of the dog run.”

Among Sid and his fellow canine all-stars at the run, there are some human celebrities, too.

Alec Baldwin came once but someone videotaped him secretly and posted the clip.

“It’s all over the Internet,” Bayley said.

“I’d be angry, too. … He’s never come back.

“We had Aaron Neville. He had a little dog, Apache. Parker Posey is a regular. We used to have Mary Louise Parker, but she got rid of her dog.”

The late James Gandolfini was a regular, too, but would always have his dog off-leash on the way to the run and so got slapped with a few summonses.

Not only is the calendar fun to look at, it was a lot of fun to make, as well. For instance, a careful perusal of Bayley’s September page will reveal a French bulldog wearing sunglasses in the back row among the pack of Ramone pugs.

“That was my little joke,” she said, “to make it like he snuck into the photo pretending to be a pug.”

The Washington Square dog run “Keeping Tracks 2014” calendar ($20) is available online at http://wspdogrun.org/ shop/2014-calendar. Or buy it at the following stores: Trash & Vaudeville, 4 St. Mark’s Place; Cadillac’s Castle, 333 E. Ninth St.; Whiskers, 235 E. Ninth St.; Manitoba’s bar, 99 Avenue B; Pet Bar, 132 Thompson St.; Dog Wash, 177 MacDougal St.; Pup Culture, 521 Broome St.; Beasty Feast, 630 Hudson St.; Wagwear, 48 E. 11th St.; and Canine Styles, 59 Greenwich Ave.

PHOTO BY ROBERTA BAYLEY

‘Some pug owners do extra work for the run, so this was their reward.’

Roberta Bayley at home with Sidney, her pug, and Preston, her African gray parrot, in front of her original “Ramones” album photo.

January 23, 2014

11

Silver nets $2.5 million for Gulick Park renovation

BY SAM SPOKONY

C

let’s do something together All events are free, unless noted.

212.602.0800

trinitywallstreet.org

TRINITY CHURCH Broadway at Wall Street 74 TRINITY PLACE is located in the office building behind Trinity Church

ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL Broadway and Fulton Street CHARLOTTE’S PLACE 107 Greenwich Street

education

FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 6pm Family Friday Yoga and Veggie Night Practice with your children in this familyfocused yoga class!

Charlotte’s Place TUESDAY, JANUARY 28 & FEBRUARY 4, 6pm Mark’s Gospel Uncovered Bible Study Dig deeper into this Gospel’s essence through a close examination of Mark’s writing style. Bring your Bibles.

All translations are welcome!

74 Trinity Pl, 3rd Fl, Library WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29 & FEBRUARY 5, 5:15pm Trinity Yogis Explore the spiritual realm of body movement and form through the practice and art of yoga.

74 Trinity Pl, 20th Fl

12

January 23, 2014

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 5-7pm Knitting & Crochet Fellowship All knitters and crocheters and those who wish to learn are encouraged to attend.

74 Trinity Pl, 3rd Fl, Library

SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 10am Sunday School Parent Bible Study A monthly, informal Bible study for parents of Trinity Sunday School.

74 Trinity Pl, 3rd Fl

Pier 54 has been a main event pier for the Trust, but part of it has been shut down due to deterioration of the wooden piles underneath. The Trust plans to widen the pier to make it more event-friendly. The D.O.T. funds are earmarked specifically for walkways, bikeways and other parkrelated transportation uses.

worship SUNDAY, 8am & 10am St. Paul’s Chapel · Holy Eucharist 8pm · Compline by Candlelight SUNDAY, 9am & 11:15am Trinity Church · Preaching, music, and Eucharist · Sunday school and child care available MONDAY—FRIDAY, 12:05pm Trinity Church · Holy Eucharist MONDAY—FRIDAY, 5:15pm All Saints’ Chapel, in Trinity Church Evening Prayer Watch online webcast

MONDAY, JANUARY 27 & FEBRUARY 3, 1pm The Broad Way A weekly, informal Bible study focusing on the Gospels. Led by the Rev. Deacon Robert Zito. Bring your lunch.

74 Trinity Pl, 2nd Fl, Parlor

Leah Reddy

an Episcopal parish in the city of New York

In related news, the Hudson River Park Trust was also a beneficiary of this same D.O.T. grant. The Trust received nearly $2.4 million that will go directly toward improving the area around West and W. 13th Sts. — where Pier 54 is located — according to D.O.T.’s Jan. 15 announcement.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 26 & FEBRUARY 2, 10am Discovery: Revelation - Prophecies that Provoke Jan. 26: Sergey Trostyanskiy: “Prophecy and Heresy: The Eastern Orthodox View on Revelation” Feb. 2: The Rev. Dr. James Cooper: “The Battle of Good and Evil” 74 Trinity Pl, 2nd Fl, Parish Hall

btwn Rector & Carlisle Streets The Rev. Dr. James H. Cooper, Rector The Rev. Canon Anne Mallonee, Vicar

HUDSON RIVER PARK FUNDS

community

at TRINITY WALL STREET

All Are Welcome

his important leadership and perseverance in o b taining funding for the restoration of this park,” said David Bolotsky, a Friends member, as part of Silver’s Jan. 16 announcement.

“Located in the shadow of the Wi l l i a m s b u r g Bridge, Gulick Park provides an oasis and gathering place for neighbors on both sides of A conceptual rendering showing some of the improvements planned the bridge and for Luther Gulick Park, in addition to those covered by the recent from all walks state grant. of life.”

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COURTESY FRIENDS OF GULICK PARK

apping years of community effort — and perhaps coming full circle in his own life — Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has helped secure $2.5 million in funding to revitalize the Lower East Side park where he once shot hoops as a kid.

Luther Gulick Park, just south of Delancey St. between Columbia St. and Bialystoker Place, received the money as part of a larger grant distributed by the state’s Department of Transportation to support similar enhancement projects throughout the state. As he has previously in other situations, Silver had heartily advocated for the park to be one of the 63 statewide sites chosen for the new funding.

Planned improvements to Gulick Park — which have been conceived by local residents in association with the city’s Parks Department — include the construction of new sidewalks, lighting, bicycle parking, greenery and landscaping.

D.O.T.’s $67 million funding push was announced by Governor Cuomo on Jan. 15, and Silver put out his own statement the next day.

“I am thrilled that we are able to make these vital improvements to Gulick Park, a treasured part of our Lower East Side community,” Silver said. “In a neighbor-

hood that has long suffered from a lack of open space, Gulick Park serves an enormous need for our children and all of our residents on both sides of Delancey St.” In addition to the overall dearth of parkland on the L.E.S., many residents have been particularly fervent in their efforts to get new funding for Gulick Park because it has been largely neglected for many years.

“I remember playing basketball there as a boy, back when it was called Sheriff St. Park,” Silver continued in his statement. “It makes me so proud to be able to create a vibrant new park there today.”

The Friends of Gulick Park, a community-based group, has advocated for the space on behalf of residents for the past four years, and was the local organization that actually filed the application for the new $2.5 million, alongside the Parks Department.

In addition to the aforementioned enhancements, the Friends also hope to revitalize the park with new and improved play and picnic areas. According to the organization, the new state funding nearly doubles the total cash available for the work, and only around $500,000 now needs to be raised in order to fully fund all of the planned construction.

“On behalf of the Friends of Gulick Park and our Lower East Side community, I want to thank Speaker Silver for

Finding their voice, at The Inspired Word open mic ‘Poppa Mike’ Geffner gives stage time to hopes and dreams

BY MICHAEL LYDON

T

TheVillager.com

PHOTO BY MICHAEL LYDON

o open mic or not to open mic?

That’s a question that rookie (and even veteran) performers often ponder.

The pros: a chance to grab five priceless minutes of stage time, if you’re gigless Tuesday night. The cons: riding two subways to a half-empty bar, waiting for an eternity for those few minutes, then trekking home — well aware that you haven’t earned a penny for your efforts.

Never again, you vow: “You want me to play, sing or tell jokes in your blanketyblank dive? You blankety-blank better pay me!”

Then another gig-less Tuesday rolls around, you’ve got a new song or routine you’re dying to try out, and you think, “Hmm, Jerry Seinfeld openmiked at the Comic Strip, Lady Gaga open-miked at the Bitter End.” So you swallow your pride, trek the trek, sign up and make one more bid for the big time.

Many open mic venues have come and gone over the years — Folk City and Catch a Rising Star are among the best remembered — but open miking will never die. Why? Because, as George Burns said, “Performers need a place to be bad.” You can study at school and rehearse in your living room — but you’ve got to get up on stage and bomb, and keep getting up there and bombing, until the blessed night somebody says, “Hey, you’re good!” and you go home on a cloud.

In the past few years Mike Geffner ’s The Inspired Word series (inspiredwordnyc.com), held at a variety of Village and Midtown clubs, has been a hopeful new presence on the city’s open mic scene. Geffner, a buff and chunky former Village Voice sports columnist,

Pop-folk musicians Orlando and Elia, at Bareburger.

began presenting poets at a vegan restaurant in Forest Hills in 2009. The first night a snowstorm blanketed the city, and only a dozen or so people showed up. Soon, the restaurant went out of business.

Failure only made Geffner more eager to succeed. After months scouting for new stages, he lined up two nights a month at (Le) Poisson Rouge on Bleecker Street, site of the old Village Gate.

At first he only booked featured performers. But when he added six open mic slots, they filled up instantly. He expanded to twelve, then fifteen open slots — and he still had no trouble filling his bill.

In 2011, Geffner moved the Inspired Word to the Nexus Lounge on First Ave. near Houston, then to MacDougal Street’s old folk club, the Gaslight.

Now, The Inspired Word’s home base is a pleasant upstairs room at the Bareburger restaurant (Second Ave. at Fifth St.), every Monday and Tuesday. Open mikers sign up at 6pm, the show starts at 6:30 and runs until about 10 ($10 admission, including for performers).

From the best open mike regulars, Geffner picks five for a featured performers’ night on the third Thursday of every month.

At one of those Monday shows, singer and keyboard player Sylvana Joyce, MC for the night, kicked things off with a song, “Just Hold On,” that she dedicated to the open mikers waiting in the audience: “So you want to make your break?

Well, you just gotta hold on, hold on.”

“I love Sylvana,” said Geffner, watching from the back of the room. “She was my first musician. She came in one

snowy night to a poetry show and asked if she could play a song. I said sure, and she got a standing ovation. Now she has her own band, The Moment, and she’s starting to take off in the alt rock circuit.”

Next up, five middle school girls from the Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights, accompanied by their English teacher and a mother or two. They read original poems espousing peace on earth and kindness to animals in clear, strong voices, and the crowd cheered them to the rafters. The girls went offstage blushing and giggling but proud of their accomplishment. “They’ve been preparing for this for weeks,” said one mother. “I can see how much my daughter has grown with the experience.”

INSPIRED, continued on p.14

January 23, 2014

13

At The Inspired Word, mic time open to all

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL LYDON

Inspired Word founder Mike Geffner and poet Melissa McGuire.

INSPIRED, continued from p. 13

The girls stayed to see the next act, poet Verandah Maureen Shepard, who recited her poem “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall” that slams the commercial standards of female beauty that can make women insecure about their looks: …some corporations are completely driven on selfloathing and low self-esteem.

Maybe it means we pay people to convince us that we’re ugly…

“I had to do that piece after seeing those young girls,” Verandah said as she came off. “I’d hate them to start worrying if they were pretty enough, when they’re so lovely being themselves.”

The teacher and mothers ushered the little girls out before the next act, luckily perhaps, because after asking, “Are we all adults here now?” and getting a resounding yes from the crowd, the next performer, “Miss Represent,” a shorthaired young woman with a mock innocent grin, launched into a raunchy song with the sing-along refrain, “I’m a dirty princess, bitch, bitch! I’m a dirty princess, bitch, bitch!”

I’ve been an eager open miker for years and did two songs that night in the middle of the lineup. The sevenminute slot, as usual, flew by, but the crowd seemed to like my mellow love ballads. So I hit my last big note, bowed

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January 23, 2014

and grinned through the cheers, then sat down again, sweating but happy. From then on the parade of acts went by, becoming something of a blur as 8:30, then 9:30, came and went.

Guitarist Orlando and vocalist Elia charmed the audience with their mellow pop-folk. Eric Lee, a skinny kid with a lively face and mischievous eyes, sang, mugged and snapped a long black whip to pre-recorded hip-hop tracks. His outfit: a black top hat, white shirt, black bow tie, a bright red tail coat and high-heeled lace-up boots. A short, nerdy comedian got laughs mocking his own small stature: “Well, at least I can tell myself I have the potential to be tall.” A lumpy teenager played an ethereal version of Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature” on guitar, and the whole crowd hummed along with him. “I met my hubby in a bar in Las Vegas,” cracked a comedienne. “He thought I was a whore, but hell no — I just like to drink a lot.”

One young musician, who called himself Vlad, wore 60s-hippie clothes — rainbow-striped pants, purple shirt, and furry vest — and asked the audience who he looked like. “Sonny Bono,” a dozen voices shouted in unison. “Far out,” he said, then he played screaming Led Zeppelin guitar solos, all the while looking approvingly at his reflection in the room’s big windows. He got deafening applause as he went off flashing the V-sign and shouting, “Love and peace, peace and love.”

Blonde singer-songwriter Valerie Reaper finished her two songs on the dot of 10 o’clock. “Anybody else?”

Singer Eric Lee cracks the whip — and some jokes.

asked Sylvana. No, nodded Geffner.

“Okay,” said Sylvana, “it’s been a great night, thanks, everybody, for coming out!” That got a rousing final round of applause. The dozen performers who had stuck it out to the end gathered for a gleeful mass selfie then melted away into the night.

“I love Mike’s open mic,” said Valerie as she packed up her guitar. “At other open mic clubs, you feel nobody knows you, nobody cares. But Mike always has an encouraging word. He puts our photos and videos up in Facebook. Here we’re

family. We hang out together, support and learn from each other. It’s beautiful.”

“I never dreamed I’d end up presenting young performers,” Geffner said as he and his assistant Marvin Mendlinger straightened up the room’s chairs and tables. “But look, I’m a New York kid myself, Far Rockaway high school, Queens College. My father wanted me to be a lawyer, but I wanted to be a writer like Hemingway. So I understand these kids’ hopes and dreams. Where’s it all headed? Who knows, but when they call me Poppa Mike, I know I love that.”

THE INSPIRED WORD VENUES

Bareburger (85 Second Ave., at Fifth St.) |Every Mon. & Tues, 6-10:30pm: Organic Open Mic (poets, comedians, singers/musicians, storytellers).

Every third Thurs. of the month, 7-11pm: All-Star Showcase. Every last Thurs. of the month, 6:30-10:30pm: Slam Master Jam Poetry Slam (21+).

The Gallery at (Le) Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker St., btw. Sullivan &Thompson Sts.) | Every third Fri. of the month, 7-9:30pm: Titillating Tongues: NYC Erotica in Poetry & Prose (open mic, 21+). Every fourth Friday of the month, 7-9:30pm: The LOL! Comedy Slam ($50 prize for best set, 21+).

Funkadelic Studios (209 W. 40th St., at Seventh Ave., 5th floor) | First two Fridays of the month, 6:30-11pm: The Open Mic Joint (poets, comedians, singers/musicians, storytellers). 18 + unless accompanied by an adult.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Tammany Hall (152 Orchard St., btw. Stanton & Rivington Sts.) The Cafe at Broadway, 310-318 W. 53rd Street (btw. Eighth & Ninth Aves.)

One and One’s Nexus Lounge (76 E. First St., corner of First Ave.)

FOR MORE INFO, VISIT inspiredwordnyc.com

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From a Lower East Side basement to the big time Eddie Cantor mugged and crooned his way through multiple mediums

BY TRAV S.D travsd.wordpress.com

T

Doctor: On what side are you Jewish?

Cantor: On the East Side.

(From the sketch “Insurance”) He was born Israel Iskowitz, the son of Jewish Belarussian immigrants, on Jan. 31, 1892. Orphaned at age two and raised by his grandmother in New York’s Lower East Side, Cantor endured poor circumstances. He wore rags, had little to eat and lived in a shabby basement. When his grandmother enrolled him at school as Israel Kantrowitz (her last name), the school thoughtfully took the liberty of shortening it to Kanter. At age 13, he changed his first name to Eddie to impress a girl.

Like nearly all children in the Lower East Side at that time, Cantor stole and hung out with street gangs. He was funny from early childhood, making people around him laugh on the streets (as Richard Pryor would later do) to keep tougher guys from terrorizing him. He was bitten early by the show business bug, although

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hough all but forgotten by contemporary audiences, there was no bigger star than Eddie Cantor in his heyday. He conquered more media than even Bob Hope, Will Rogers or Jack Benny: vaudeville, Broadway revues and book musicals, films, radio, TV and — because he was much a singer as he was a comedian — record albums. He was the first openly Jewish male entertainer to mainstream (his characters were always Jewish or “Russian” — a euphemism). The first entertainer of either gender to do it was Fanny Brice.

Cantor was definitely a creature of his times — very strange by today’s standards.

Known as “Banjo Eyes” on account of his huge, rolling orbs, he was equally a singer and a comedian. He sang and recorded several crazy, nonsensical songs that were the very soul of the 1920s, such as “If You Knew Susie,” “Yes, We Have No Bananas,” “Yes, Sir, That’s My Baby,” “Ma! He’s Making Eyes at Me” and the title song from his Broadway show and film “Whoopee!” (which Sinatra later covered). On the word whoopee, Cantor would roll his eyes and grin Groucho-style…although who’s to say Groucho didn’t roll his eyes Cantorstyle?

he could seldom afford to see an actual show. Cantor once stole a girl’s life savings of $12 so he could see a production of “Billy the Kid.” Teaming up with his friend Dan Lipsky, he did comedy and sang, performing weddings and bar mitzvahs at Henry Hall, which was next door to his house.

He left home briefly at 15 in order to shack up with a 19-year-old consort, but he was forced to go home with his tail between his legs after stealing the woman’s tickets to "45 Minutes to Broadway,” starring Fay Templeton.

In 1908, Cantor took the plunge into professionalism by performing at Miner’s Bowery Theatre amateur night. He was so poor he had to borrow a friend’s pants in order to go on. Despite a rough crowd, Cantor won the amateur contest and took home $12 ($10 prize money, $2 in thrown coins). Later that year, he got a job in a touring burlesque show with producer Frank B. Carr called “Indian Maidens” but was stranded with the show in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania (an old story in vaudeville).

In 1909, he became a singer at Carrie Walsh’s Saloon, Coney Island. The pianist was 16-year-old Jimmy Durante. They made a sort of loose team, learning every popular song from the past 20 years in order to fulfill audience requests. When they didn’t know a song, they would make one up around the title, and if the requester seemed displeased, say “What, there are two songs by that name?”

Cantor diligently saved his money from this work and invested in a new suit and business cards, so he could make the rounds with agents. Worn down by Cantor’s persistence, small time agent Joe Wood finally sent him out to Gain’s Manhattan Theatre just to be rid of him.

The theatre was famous for sending acts packing. Shockingly, Cantor did so well he ended up being retained by the theatre.

The impressed Wood started sending him to upstate theatres.

Cantor was working for the third-rate People’s Vaudeville Company when its owner Joe Schenck (later to become a movie mogul) told him if he came with some new material, he would be held over. Cantor solved the problem by doing the same act for several weeks in different ethnic personae: Hebrew, German, Blackface. The Blackface was a real revelation, as Cantor’s large round eyes read really well through the makeup.

Cantor made the big time in 1911 when he was hired by the juggling team of Bedi-

Cantor, in his radio days.

ni and Arthur to join them at Hammerstein’s Victoria. At first, Cantor was little more than a glorified assistant, never on stage, just fetching things for Bedini. After he passed this test for a few weeks, he was given a walk-on part in the show. His job was simply to walk across the stage and hand a plate to Bedini. Yet somehow Cantor managed to get a laugh even at this, walking on with an “attitude.” Bedini, the boss of the act, gradually expanded his part with spoken lines, bits of

business and even juggling. Essentially Cantor and Arthur were Bedini’s stooges, blackface servants who supported the master juggler who was the star of the act.

As usual, Cantor gave 110 percent and gradually upstaged Bedini. During this period, Cantor developed a character that would have revolutionized blackface, had blackface survived. His character deviated EDDIE CANTOR, continued on p.16

Theater for the New City • 155 1st Avenue at E. 10th St. Reservations & Info (212) 254-1109 For more info, please visit www.theaterforthenewcity.net

PARKER & DIZZY’S FABULOUS JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE RAINBOW

Book & Direction by PETER ZACHARI Music & Lyrics by DAMON MAIDA & PETER ZACHARI

Thursday-Sunday, January 23 - 26

Thu-Sat 8pm, Sun 3pm All Seats $15/Students & Seniors $12/tdf

EAST TOWARDS HOME Written by BILLY YALOWITZ Directed by DAVID SCHECHTER

Thursday - Sunday, Jan 23 - Feb 2 Thu-Sat at 8pm, Sat & Sun at 3pm All Seats $15/tdf

ISLAND GIRLS

Written by BARBARA KAHN & NOELLE LUSANE Directed by BARBARA KAHN & ROBERT GONZALES, JR

Thursday - Sunday, January 23 - 26 Thu-Sat 8pm, Sun 3pm All Seats $12/tdf

COLOR

Written by GENE RUFFINI Directed by ELIZABETH RUF

Thursday - Sunday, Jan 23 - Feb 2 Thu-Sat at 8pm, Sun at 3pm All Seats $15/Students & Seniors $10/tdf

TNC’s Programs are funded in part by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts

January 23, 2014

15

Cantor could do it all EDDIE CANTOR, continued from p. 15

ESTABLISHED SINCE 1880

Famous Dylan Thomas Watering Hole

White horse Tavern 567 Hudson St. NYC * 243-9260

16

January 23, 2014

WARNER BROS.

from all stereotypes. He was a sort of sissified, bookish character who wore glasses (Groucho Marx called the character “a nance”) and would say mincing things like “He means to do me bodily harm!” By defying stereotype, this was a step in the direction of realism — but of course, total realism came thereafter when black parts became exclusively played by real blacks.

Largely through Cantor’s efforts, Bedini and Arthur (Cantor remained unbilled) gradually moved up the bill to better and better spots. After seven months with the team, Cantor got a chance to sing with the act in Louisville when the manager needed them to pad for time. He sang Irving Berlin’s “Ragtime Violin” and scored a huge hit — not just for his singing ability, but for his hyperactive onstage movements, which included handclaps and a sort of crazy-legged dance. Cantor would move this way on stage throughout his singing career.

In 1912, he got an offer to perform with the Kid Cabaret. He purposely got himself fired from Bedini’s act so he could take it. Also in the cast of the Kid Cabaret was a young George Jessel, with whom Cantor became lifetime friends. In the act, Cantor played Jefferson, a blackface butler. They worked the Orpheum Circuit in 1913, where Cantor first met Will Rogers, another lifelong friend. Rogers took to Cantor and mentored him, even recommending him to his agent, the powerful Max Hart, who began to represent him.

Upon turning 21, he left Edwards. He performed as a single for a few months, visiting London in 1914 to play “Charlot’s Revue” while on his honeymoon. The trip was cut short by the outbreak of World War I, however. Back in New York, he teamed up with Al Lee, Ed Wynn’s former straight-man, in an act called “Master and Man.” Lee sang ballads, which Cantor interrupted with nutty remarks.

The act stayed together until 1916, when Cantor was hired by Earl Carrol to play the part of the chauffeur in a show called “Canary Cottage.” In rehearsals, Cantor upstaged the star Trixie Friganza, who threatened to walk if he was allowed to keep it up. Silent comedy star Raymond Griffith, who happened to be in attendance, advised Cantor to lay off until performance and then pull all his stunts.

Which he did, to great appreciation from the audience. With such laughs, the producers were forced to back Cantor.

Cantor’s “Kid Millions” was one of his most successful screen efforts.

The next step was Ziegfeld’s Midnight Frolics, his rooftop after-hours follow up to the Follies. Cantor was given a one-night trial, and his appearance was a triumph. He constantly did crazy, spontaneous things (like asking the likes of William Randolph Hearst to hold their hands high over their heads for a magic trick and then ignoring them for twenty minutes while they suffered). He gave an entirely different performance each night, a necessity at the Frolics, for the audience was the same each night, mostly composed of New York’s “400 ” (high society’s old money millionaires).

Cantor was a very New York sort of character, impu-

dent and familiar. His style in delivering a song was kinetic and eye-catching. He even had a signature exit — a little hankie he waved at the audience. In 1917, he was moved up to the Follies where he got to perform with Bert Williams, Fanny Brice, W.C. Fields and Will Rogers. In these early days, Cantor, in his eagerness to please, overdid everything, overplaying, mugging, etc. His newfound friends in the cast counseled to cool it down a little, and he went over even better.

Cantor went on to star in numerous musicals, such as “Make it Snappy” (1922), “Kid Boots” (1923) and “Whoopee!” (1928). His first film “Kid Boots” (1926) was a silent version of his earlier musical. His second silent, “Special Delivery” (1927), was a flop. With and without blackface, he was one of the biggest stars of early talkies. Films like “Whoopee!,” “Palmy Days,” “The Kid from Spain,” “Kid Millions,” etc. were big hits and remain as peculiar artifacts of a bygone era. The films are very much akin to the early Marx Bros. pictures — extremely unpredictable, almost surreal, semi-musicals.

Cantor became one of radio’s first big stars. Starting with “The Chase and Sanborne Hour,” he dominated the form from 1931-54. He was also big on TV from 195055, primarily for his show “The Colgate Comedy Hour,” which was successful for its first two years — but then a heart attack robbed Cantor of all of his strength and vitality and greatly reduced the energy of his performance.

The television Cantor was very different from the one of the films. Heavier, huskier, he was no longer the skinny “nance” of the 20s and 30s, but a grandfather whose appeal lay primarily in nostalgia. His last recording date was in 1957. Much of his final years were given to causes.

Cantor founded the March of Dimes, for example. He had been a founding member of Actor’s Equity, AFTRA and the Screen Actors Guild, and was a big supporter of Israel upon its founding.

Eddie Cantor passed away in 1964, far, far away from the Lower East Side basement he’d shared with his grandmother.

Trav S.D. has been producing the American Vaudeville Theatre since 1995, and periodically trots it out in new incarnations. Stay in the loop at travsd.wordpress.com, and also catch up with him at Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, et al. His books include “No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous” and “Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and its Legacies from Nickelodeons to YouTube.”

Will it rain on Denver or will it be a mile high for Seattle?

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Generating ‘black theater’ for today’s generation The Fire This Time Festival burns brighter than Broadway’s ‘Sun’

BY SCOTT STIFFLER

PHOTO BY LIA CHANG

It’s quite possible that 59-year-old actor Denzel Washington spent this past Monday night contemplating his role as 30-something Walter Lee Younger, in preparation for yet another revival of “A Raisin in the Sun.” That precise scenario didn’t come up during the launch event for The Fire This Time Festival — but its multitude of ironies were certainly on the radar of early career African and African-American playwrights who spent their Monday night exploring the possibilities of 21st-century “black theater.”

“People got very passionate about the fact that we’re recycling the old stories as if it’s a representation of where we are now,” says festival founder Kelley Nicole Girod, of what happened when the panel discussion turned to Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play about a black family moving into an all-white neighborhood.

Girod herself regards the upcoming Broadway run as “absurd. It might be different,” she allows, “if they were at least doing it with actors that fit the age type. That’s not to say that Hansberry’s expression of her time isn’t relevant. Our history will always be relevant. But it’s about time that people give an accurate portrayal of the black community as it is now. We’re not all Walter Lee.

I don’t see him, or that family, as a representation of what I am experiencing.”

Raised in the suburbs of Baton Rouge, Girod was “a bit of a punk” whose love of Depeche Mode made her realize, upon arrival at Columbia, that she “didn’t have what I feel most people would think of as an ‘authentic black experience.’ ” Acutely aware of slavery, civil rights and Jim Crow — but not compelled to write about it — the hungry, post-college Girod found that she “couldn’t be marketed as a ‘black writer.’ And that, really, was the jumping off point for our festival. When we all got together, we recognized that our writing was a response to our own experiences.”

Five years later, The Fire This Time Festival is once again back at the East Village’s Kraine Theater for a series of staged readings, a full-length work, a collection of 10-minute plays and an open mic night.

The subject matter ranges from a doctor’s Senate run (Judy Tate’s “Disunion”) to an adaptation of “Wuthering Heights” (Jonathan Payne’s “The Weatherin'”) to the culture shock of a former Ugandan child soldier adopted by a suburban Chicago family (Camille Darby’s “Lord’s Resistance”).

In years past, the festival has frankly explored gay sexuality and other aspects of contemporary life — while remaining equally committed to presenting work anchored in sci-fi and Greek mythology, and having little or nothing to do with race. The result, Girod notes, is a more “accurate cataloging” of the black experience than what’s currently being bankrolled by Broadway producers. It also inspired a phrase that serves as the festival’s only strict philosophical guideline: “Any play written by a black person is a black expression, even if

The cast of “Lord’s Resistance” — Camille Darby’s play about a former Ugandan child soldier who finds familiar conflict, after he’s adopted by a suburban Chicago family.

it’s about two white people in love.”

The Fire This Time’s first-ever presentation of a full-length play, “Lord’s Resistance,” is performed Wed.-Fri., 8pm, through Jan. 31.

The 10-Minute Play Festival takes place at 8pm on Jan. 25-27 and Feb. 1-3. Staged readings of full-length plays written by Tracey Conyer Lee, Danielle Davenport, Eric Lockley, Cynthia Robinson, Nathan Yungerberg, Dennis A. Allen II and J. Holtham take place at 6pm on Jan. 23, 24

and 29-31. At 6pm on Tues., Jan. 28, the public is invited to participate in an Open Mic Night (hosted by Dominique Morrisseau).

All events take place at The Kraine Theater (85 E. Fourth St., btw. Second Ave. & Bowery). For tickets ($15), call 212-868-4444 or visit horsetrade.info. Admission to the staged readings is Pay-What-You-Will. For more festival info, visit firethistimefestival.com.

Jazz-tinged pop, funked-out rock and a few divine basslines Tribeca singer/songwriter’s latest marked by sheer eclecticism

BY SAM SPOKONY

TheVillager.com

COURTESY OF SHORE FIRE MEDIA

Halfway through the title track to his new album, “Hereafter,” Sean Sullivan imagines himself in the afterlife, taking a scat solo in the presence of God. “Is that OK Lord?” Sullivan asks of the biblical creator, who is apparently playing bass in a band led by Moses, which also features Jesus on saxophone. Well, God seems to dig the solo, while of course reminding the vocalist that “music is the answer and love is gonna set you free!”

Aside from the existential implications of picturing this situation — God isn’t even playing a melody instrument? — it

strong-yet-nimble vocal presence.

At every turn, “Hereafter” is marked by the sheer eclecticism that the Southern-born, Tribecabased singer/songwriter brings to the table in all aspects of his performance. Including the downhome-bluesy title track, the record features eight originals that move back and forth between the chilled out, ethereal vibes of “Don’t Get Me Started” and the backbeat stomp of “Ready,” as Sullivan’s jazz influences come through in his fluid phrasing, tonal precision and ability to push a big, swinging band forward with every line.

The album also shows off Sullivan’s strength as a thoroughly passionate interpreter of tunes, and, among its four covers, highlights include a beautifully embellished ballad version

certainly illustrates the kind of free spirit and engaging sense of humor that Sullivan brings to all of his work, alongside his

of Bob Marley’s “Waiting in Vain,” and a similarly rich and contemplative take on Stevie Wonder’s “Until You Come Back To Me.” Overall, the album is a joyful romp that is by no means short on serious talent — and it’s clear that the singer is having just as much fun as his listeners. It’s all made even better by inventive solos and interplay by the 10 piece band backing Sullivan, as well as the efforts of renowned jazz producer Matt Pierson, whose experience has helped to shape the record’s full, balanced tone.

“Hereafter,” which was released on Jan. 21, is available online. To purchase a copy, visit seansongs.com. Listeners should also check out the site this week to find out when the singer will be playing his CD release show, which will likely be take place within his home neighborhood of Tribeca.

January 23, 2014

17

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that license #1275944 has been applied by the undersigned to sell wine at retail in a restaurant under the alcoholic beverage control law at 167 Avenue A, New York, NY 10009 for on-premises consumption. 167 AA REST. CORP. d/b/a ETHOS MEZE Vil: 01/23 - 01/30/2014 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a license, number 1275280 for liquor has been applied for by the undersigned to sell liquor at retail under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 16 East 46th St., New York, NY 10017 for on premises consumption.

East 46 Restaurant LLC d/b/a Tenpenny Bar Restaurant Vil: 01/23 - 01/30/2014 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that an on-premise license, #TBA has been applied for

by Rivington F & B LLC d/b/a Rivington F & B to sell beer, wine and liquor at retail in an on premises establishment with one additional bar. For on premises consumption under the ABC law at 155 Rivington Street New York NY 10002.

Vil: 01/23 - 01/30/2014 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Hotel Liquor license, #TBA has been applied for by 237 West 54th Owner LLC & Hersha Hospitality Management LP as MGR & RJJ Restaurant LLC as MGR d/b/a Hilton Garden Inn New York Central Park South to sell beer, wine and liquor at retail in a Hotel. For on premises consumption under the ABC law at 237 West 54th St. New York NY 10001.

Vil: 01/23 - 01/30/2014 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that an on-premise license, #TBA has been applied for by Jell Holdings LLC d/b/a The Gander to sell beer, wine and liquor at retail in an on premises establishment with one additional bar. For on premises consumption under the ABC law at 15 West 18th Street New York NY 10011.

Vil: 01/23 - 01/30/2014 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that an on-premise license, #TBA has been applied for by 9 East First Street LLC to sell beer, wine and liquor at retail in an on premises establishment. For on premises consumption under the ABC law at 9 East 1st Street aka 11 East 1st Street New York NY 10003.

Vil: 01/23 - 01/30/2014

NOTICE OF PUBLICATION To: RONGJIAO LI. SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NEW YORK. Index No.: 314065/2013. Date Summons filed: 12/03/2013. ------------------------------------------------------------------X. Plaintiff designates NY County as the place of trial The basis of venue is: CPLR 509. XINPENG LI- Plaintiff, -againstSUMMONS WITH NOTICE. RONGJIAO LI, Defendant.

Plaintiff resides at: 84-35 56 Ave, 2nd Fl, Elmhurst, NY 11373. -------------------------------------------------------------------X. ACTION FOR A DIVORCE. To the above named Defendant: YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to serve a notice of appearance on the Plaintiff’s Attorney within twenty (20) days after the service of this summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within thirty (30) days after the service is complete if this summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York); and in case of your failure to appear, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the notice set forth below. Date: 11/25/2013.

Thomas Sun, Esq. Attorney for Plaintiff, 139 Centre Street, Suite 616, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 212-966-2116.

NOTICE: The nature of this action is to dissolve the marriage between the parties, on the grounds: DRL § 170 subd. (2) – the abandonment of the Plaintiff by the Defendant for a period of more than one year. The relief sought is a judgment of absolute divorce in favor of the Plaintiff dissolving the marriage between the parties in this action. The nature of any ancillary or additional relief demanded is: NOTICE OF AUTOMATIC ORDERS. Pursuant to Domestic Relations Law Section 236 Part B, Sec. 2, the parties are bound by certain automatic orders which shall remain in full force and effect during the pendency of the action. For further details you should contact the clerk of the matrimonial part, Supreme Court, 60 Centre St., New York, NY 10007 Tel (646) 386-3010.

DRL 255 NOTICE. Please be advised that once the Judgment of Divorce is signed in this action, both parties must be aware that he or she will no longer be covered by the other party’s health insurance plan and that each party shall be responsible for his or her own health insurance coverage, and may be entitled to purchase health insurance on his or her own through a COBRA option, if available.

Vil: 01/23 - 02/06/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF SHEEPSHEAD DEBT LLC Art. of Org. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 9/18/13. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to Bluestone Group, 225 Broadway, 32nd Fl., NY, NY 10007. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Vil: 01/23 - 02/27/2014

NOTICE OF QUAL. OF 33/34 WEST OWNER LLC Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 11/12/13. Office loc.: NY County. LLC org. in DE 11/8/13. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to NRAI, 111 Eighth Ave., NY, NY 10011, the Reg. Agt. upon whom proc. may be served.

DE off. addr.: 160 Greentree Dr., Ste. 101, Dover, DE 19904.

Cert. of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purp.: any lawful activities.

Vil: 01/23 - 02/27/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF POST CAPITAL GENERAL PARTNER III LP Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/3/13. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 805 3rd Ave., 8th Fl., NY, NY 10022. LP formed in DE on 10/9/13. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LP:The CorporationTrust Co., 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Name/addr. of genl. ptr. available from NY Sec. of State. Cert. of LP filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 12/19 - 01/23/2014 NOTICE OF QUAL. OF 574 FIFTH AVENUE LESSEE LLC Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 11/20/13. Office loc.: NY County. LLC org. in DE 11/20/13. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to NRAI, 160 Greentree Dr., #101, Dover, DE 19904, the princ. office addr. of LLC. Cert. of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purp.: any lawful activities.

Vil: 01/23 - 02/27/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF WALKER & DUNLOP COMMERCIAL PROPERTY FUNDING, LLC Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/07/13. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/05/13. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, Attn: Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543, regd. agent upon whom and at which process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/23 - 02/27/2014

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF RED AWNING LLC Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/10/14. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/14/13. Princ. office of LLC: 246 W. 44th St., NY, NY 10036. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543.

DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, New Castle Cnty., DE 19808. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/23 - 02/27/2014 BRIGHT BEGINNINGS NYC LLC a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on 9/16/13. Office location: NewYork County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Joseph Ben Moshe, 111 Fulton St., Unit 701, NY, NY 10038. General Purpose.

Vil: 01/23 - 02/27/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF TPMN INVESTORS VI LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/10/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Phillips Nizer LLP, 666 Fifth Ave., NY, NY 10103.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/23 - 02/27/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF PVS DESIGN LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/13/14. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Phillips Nizer LLP, 666 Fifth Ave., NY, NY 10103.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/23 - 02/27/2014 TRIGABO MARKETING LLC a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on 11/15/13. Office location: New York County.

SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to The LLC, 116 W. 23rd St., NY, NY 10011. General Purpose.

Vil: 01/23 - 02/27/2014

PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, PURSUANT TO LAW, that the NYC Dept. of Consumer Affairs will hold a Public Hearing on Wednesday, January 29, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. at 66 John Street, 11th floor, on a petition for 567 HUDSON STREET, INC to continue to maintain, and operate an unenclosed sidewalk café at 567 Hudson Street in the Borough of Manhattan for a term of two years. REQUEST FOR COPIES OFTHE PROPOSED REVOCABLE CONSENT AGREEMENT MAY BE ADDRESSEDTO: DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, ATTN: FOIL OFFICER, 42 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NY 10004.

Vil: 01/16 - 01/23/2014

18

January 23, 2014

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF SKILLEDUP LLC Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 11/6/13.

Office location: NY County.

Princ. bus. addr.: 205 E. 63rd St., #12D, NY, NY 10065. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o United States Corporation Agents, Inc., 7014 13th Ave., Ste. 202, Brooklyn, NY 11228, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 01/23 - 02/27/2014 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a restaurant wine license, #1275523 has been applied for by 32 Bunga Inc. d/b/a JongRo BBQ to sell beer and wine at retail in an on premises establishment.

For on premises consumption under the ABC law at 22 W 32nd St., 2nd Floor New York NY 10001.

Vil: 01/16 - 01/23/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF BR PRIVATE EQUITY 2014 LLC Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/08/14. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/24/13.

Princ. office of LLC: 630 Fifth Ave., Ste. 2100, NY, NY 10111.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of the State of DE, Office of the Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/16 - 02/20/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 15 CHRISTOPHER STREET LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 12/23/2013. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. The address to which SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC is to: 15 CHRISTOPHER STREET LLC, c/o JoAnne McShane, 15 Christopher Street, NewYork, New York 10014. Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity.

Vil: 01/16 - 02/20/2014

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF JOANNA’S CONSULTING, LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 12/16/2013 Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. The address to which SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC is to: JoAnna’s Consulting, LLC, 270 First Avenue, Apt.6E, New York, NY 10009. Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity.

Vil: 01/16 - 02/20/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF BOP 450 WEST 33 II LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/24/13. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 250 Vesey St., 15th Fl., New York, NY 10281. LLC formed in DE on 12/19/13.

NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o Corporation Service Company, 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 01/16 - 02/20/2014 S2UARED PRODUCTIONS LLC a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on 12/23/13. Office location: New York County.

SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to Staci Sarkin, 415 W. 24th St., Ste. 1K, NY, NY 10011. General Purpose.

Vil: 01/16 - 02/20/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 203 EAST 71 ST LLC AMENDED TO MMH CAPITAL LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/18/13. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 180 E. 64th St., NewYork, NY 10065.

Purpose: any lawful purpose.

Vil: 01/16 - 02/20/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF CERBERUS INSTITUTIONAL ASSOCIATES CT, L.L.C. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/17/13. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 875 3rd Ave., NY, NY 10022. LLC formed in DE on 7/2/13. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation, 111 8th Ave., 13th Fl., NY, NY 10011. DE addr. of LLC: The Corporation Trust Co., 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/16 - 02/20/2014

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF TPH ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FUND MANAGEMENT, LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 4/18/13. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 1111 Bagby, Houston, TX 77002. LLC formed in DE on 8/1/11. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: CT Corporation, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/16 - 02/20/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF ABBOTT CAPITAL SELECT BUYOUTS PARTNERS III, L.P. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/20/13.

Office location: NY County.

Princ. bus. addr.: 1290 Ave. of the Americas, 9th Fl., NY, NY 10104. LP formed in DE on 7/17/13. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LP: c/o The Corporation Trust Company, 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Name/addr. of genl. ptr. available from NY Sec. of State. Cert. of LP filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 01/16 - 02/20/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF ABBOTT SELECT BUYOUTS FUND III, L.P. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/20/13.

Office location: NY County.

Princ. bus. addr.: 1290 Ave. of the Americas, 9th Fl., NY, NY 10104. LP formed in DE on 7/17/13. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LP: c/o The Corporation Trust Company, 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Name/addr. of genl. ptr. available from NY Sec. of State. Cert. of LP filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 01/16 - 02/20/2014

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF CERBERUS CDP PARTNERS, L.P. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 7/16/13. Name amended to Cerberus CDP IC Partners, L.P. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 875 3rd Ave., NY, NY 10022. LP formed in Cayman Islands (CI) on 7/8/13.

NY Sec. of State designated agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation, 111 8th Ave., 13th Fl., NY, NY 10011.

CI addr. of LP: Intertrust Corporate Services (Cayman) Ltd., 190 Elgin Ave., George Town, Grand Cayman KY19005, CI. Name/addr. of genl. ptr. available from NY Sec. of State. Cert. of LP filed with Asst. Registrar of Exempted LPs, Ministry of Finance, Govt. Administration Bldg., 133 Elgin Ave., George Town, Grand Cayman KY1-1001, CI. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/16 - 02/20/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF TPH ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FUND PLUS, LP Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 5/14/13. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 1111 Bagby, Houston, TX 77002. LP formed in DE on 8/1/11. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to the DE addr. of the LP: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Regd. agent upon whom process may be served: CT Corp, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011. Name/addr. of genl. ptr. available from NY Sec. of State. Cert. of LP filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/16 - 02/20/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF AMB CONCEPT, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/23/13. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Aneta M. Bocian, 1735 York Avenue, Apt. 22G, New York, NY 10128. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/09 - 02/13/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 530 PARK RESIDENTIAL HOLDINGS II LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/10/13. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o RFR Holding LLC, 390 Park Avenue, 3rd Fl., New York, NY 10022. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/09 - 02/13/2014

PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, PURSUANT TO LAW, that the NYC Dept. of Consumer Affairs will hold a Public Hearing on Wednesday, February 12, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. at 66 John Street, 11th floor, on a petition for PGT REST. CORP. to continue to maintain, and operate an unenclosed sidewalk café at 304 Bowery in the Borough of Manhattan for a term of two years.

REQUEST FOR COPIES OFTHE PROPOSED REVOCABLE CONSENT AGREEMENT MAY BE ADDRESSEDTO: DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, ATTN: FOIL OFFICER, 42 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NY 10004.

Vil: 01/23 - 01/30/2014

TheVillager.com

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF BROAD STREET PLAZA, LLC Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/24/13. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/14/13. Princ. office of LLC: 232 Madison Ave., Ste. 204, NY, NY 10016.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to c/o Princeton International Properties at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: 1521 Concord Pike, #301, Wilmington, DE 19803. Arts. of Org. filed with DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/09 - 02/13/2014 THE TRANSPORTER CHAUFFEUR LLC a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on 10/23/2013. Office location: New York County.

SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to The LLC, 130 Lenox Ave., Apt. 705, NY, NY 10026. General Purpose.

Vil: 01/09 - 02/13/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF CAMMACK HEALTH LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/21/13. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 2 Rector Street, 23rd Floor, New York, NY 10006, Attn: President.

Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/09 - 02/13/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF BLISS INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/19/13. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Richard Sutliff, 500 5th Ave., Ste. 300, New York, NY 10110. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/09 - 02/13/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF DDC RTB, LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/17/13. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 1 Howard St., Burlington, VT 05401. LLC formed in DE on 1/20/09. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, P.O. Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 01/09 - 02/13/14

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF FREEDOM III INVESTMENTS I, LP Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/18/13. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus.addr.: 1185 Ave. of the Americas, 30th Fl., NY, NY 10036. LP formed in DE on 10/10/13. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LP: Incorporating Services, Ltd., 3500 S. DupontHwy., Dover, DE 19901. Name/addr. of genl. ptr. available from NY Sec. of State. Cert. of LP filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 01/09 - 02/13/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF EVENTILATION, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Sec’y of State (SSNY) on 11/1/13.

Office loc.: NY County.

SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served and shall mail copy of any process against LLC to: 15 W. 139th St. #15L, NY, NY 10037. Purpose: Any lawful activities.

Vil: 01/09 - 02/13/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF GSNMF SUBCDE 12 LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/19/13. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 200 West St., NY, NY 10282. LLC formed in DE on 7/25/13. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: CT Corporation, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011. DE addr. of LLC: The Corporation Trust Co., 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 01/09 - 02/13/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF AMERICAN BLUE COLLAR, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/04/13. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, c/o RG Apparel Group Corp., 1400 Broadway, 31st Fl., NY, NY 10018. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/02 - 02/06/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF UES WINDSOR RESTAURANT, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/17/13. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207, regd. agent upon whom and at which process may be served. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/02 - 02/06/2014

NOT. OF FRMN OF ACTIVITY EQUITIES LLC Art. of Org. f w/ Secy of STA of NY (SSNY) 11/14/13. OFC LCTN: NY Cty. SSNY is DA upon whom PROC AGA it may be served. SSNY shall mail a CY: Activity Equities LLC - 1500 Broadway 22nd Fl, NY, NY 10036. The Prin. bus. add. :1500 Broadway 22nd Fl, NY, NY 10036. PUR: any lawful act or ACTY. Vil: 01/09 - 02/13/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF YASHIMA USA LLC Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/19/13. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Tennessee (TN) on 01/09/12.

Princ. office of LLC: 69 Tiemann Pl. #25, NY, NY 10027.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to c/o Ai Hayatsu at the princ. office of the LLC. TN addr. of LLC: 14203 Crowne Brook Circle, Franklin, TN 37067.

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State, 312 Eighth Ave. North, 6th Fl., William R. Snodgrass Tower, Nashville, TN 37243. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/02 - 02/06/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 530 PARK RESIDENTIAL MANAGER LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/4/13. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o RFR Holding, LLC, 390 Park Avenue, 3rd Fl., New York, NY 10022. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 12/19 - 01/23/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF DW EMPLOYEE FUND, LLC Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/16/13. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/13/13.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of DE, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/02 - 02/06/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF SKMTDOT, LLC AMENDED TO SKMTDOC, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/12/12. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., New York, NY 10011, the registered agent upon whom process may be served. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/02 - 02/06/2014

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF KEHE DISTRIBUTORS, LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State: 11/25/13. NYS fict. name: Kehe Distributors of Delaware, LLC. Office loc.: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 12740 Gran Bay Pkwy W #2200, Jacksonville, FL 32258. LLC formed in DE: 1/29/10. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 01/02 - 02/06/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF VALECHA ENTERPRISE, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/02/13. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207, regd. agent upon whom and at which process may be served. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 12/26 - 01/30/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF ASSUREDPARTNERS OF MISSOURI, LLC Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/20/13. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Missouri (MO) on 08/26/13.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. MO addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 221 Bolivar St., Jefferson City, MO 65101.

Arts. of Org. filed with MO Secy. of State, 600 W. Main St., Jefferson City, MO 65101.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Vil: 12/26 - 01/30/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 495 QUINCY LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/22/13. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 38 E. 29th St., 5th Fl., NewYork, NY 10016. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 01/09 - 02/13/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF COURTNEYGRAF. COM LLC Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 10/30/2013 Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. The address to which SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC is to: COURTNEYGRAF.COM LLC, 353 LEXINGTON AVENUE #600, NEW YORK, NY 10016. Purpose:To engage in any lawful act or activity.

Vil: 12/26 - 01/30/2014

PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, PURSUANT TO LAW, that the NYC Dept. of Consumer Affairs will hold a Public Hearing on Wednesday, February 26, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. at 66 John Street, 11th floor, on a petition for MORAN’S RESTAURANT to continue to maintain, and operate an unenclosed sidewalk café at 146 10th AVENUE in the Borough of Manhattan for a term of two years. REQUEST FOR COPIES OFTHE PROPOSED REVOCABLE CONSENT AGREEMENT MAY BE ADDRESSEDTO: DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, ATTN: FOIL OFFICER, 42 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NY 10004.

Vil: 01/23 - 01/30/2014

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NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 737 PARK UNIT 1C LLC Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/12/13.

Office location: NY County.

Princ. bus. addr.: c/o 737 Park Unit 1C LLC, 737 Park Ave., NY, NY 10021. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 12/26 - 01/30/2014

NOTICE OF QUAL. OF TOTEM POINT (GP), LLC Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 5/31/13. Office loc.: NY County. LLC org. in DE 5/29/13. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to Att: Darren Dinneen, 900 Third Ave., Ste. 200, NY, NY 10022. DE off. addr.: CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purp.: any lawful activities.

Vil: 12/19 - 01/23/2014

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF ABBOTT CAPITAL PRIVATE EQUITY INVESTORS 2014, L.P. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/10/13.

Office location: NY County.

Princ. bus. addr.: 1290 Ave. of the Americas, 9th Fl., NY, NY 10104. LP formed in DE on 12/9/13. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LP: c/o The Corporation Trust Company, 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Name/addr. of genl. ptr. available from NY Sec. of State. Cert. of LP filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 12/26 - 01/30/2014

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF 530 PARK RESIDENTIAL HOLDINGS LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/4/13. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o RFR Holding, LLC, 390 Park Avenue, 3rd Fl., New York, NY 10022. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 12/19 - 01/23/2014

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF BOP MW RESIDENTIAL LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/16/13. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 250 Vesey St., 15th Fl., New York, NY 10281. LLC formed in DE on 12/10/13.

NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o Corporation Service Company, 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 12/19 - 01/23/2014

NOTICE OF QUAL. OF TOTEM POINT PARTNERS, LP Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 5/31/13. Office loc.: NY County. LP org. in DE 5/29/13. SSNY desig. as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to Att: Darren Dinneen, 900 Third Ave., Ste. 200, NY, NY 10022. DE off. addr.: CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of LP on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Name/addr. of each gen. ptr. avail. at SSNY. Purp.: any lawful activities.

Vil: 12/19 - 01/23/2014

NOTICE OF QUAL. OF SOMA SPECIALTY MANAGEMENT LLC Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 9/17/13. Office loc.: NY County. LLC org. in DE 7/19/13. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to Att: Gen. Counsel, 390 Park Ave., 15th Fl., NY, NY 10022. DE off. addr.: CTC, 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purp.: any lawful activities.

Vil: 12/19 - 01/23/2014 NOTICE OF QUAL. OF WATCHTOWER LEASING LLC Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 10/1/13. Office loc.: NY County. LLC org. in DE 9/12/13. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to 666 Fifth Ave., 15th Fl., NY, NY 10103.

DE off. addr.: 160 Greentree Dr., Ste. 101, Dover, DE 19904.

Cert. of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purp.: any lawful activities.

Vil: 12/19 - 01/23/2014 NOTICE OF FORMATION OF SHE + LO, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/11/13. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Kane Kessler, P.C., 1350 Avenue of the Americas, 26th Fl., New York, NY 10019, Attn: Darren S. Berger, Esq. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 12/19 - 01/23/2014

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF HERITAGE HOME GROUP LLC Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 11/21/13. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 1 N. Brentwood Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63105.

LLC formed in DE on 9/30/13.

NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 12/19 - 01/23/2014 NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF POST CAPITAL EQUITY PARTNERS III LP Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 12/3/13. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 805 3rd Ave., 8th Fl., NY, NY 10022. LP formed in DE on 10/9/13. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon whom process may be served. DE addr. of LP:The CorporationTrust Co., 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Name/addr. of genl. ptr. available from NY Sec. of State. Cert. of LP filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: all lawful purposes.

Vil: 12/19 - 01/23/2014

MONTY FOUR EAST 86TH STREET ASSOCIATES LLC Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/22/13. Office location: NY Co. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/15/13 SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to 90 State ST Ste 700 Office 40 Albany, NY 12207. DE address of LLC: 16192 Coastal Hwy Lewes, DE 19958. Arts. Of Org. filed with DE Secy. of State, PO Box 898 Dover, DE 19903.

Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 12/19 - 01/23/2014

January 23, 2014

19

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Continued from p. 8

The following statement in the article is incorrect: “The Time Landscape is the long, fenced-in plot south of the LaGuardia Corner Gardens, and is intended to represent Manhattan’s pre-Colonial foliage in its natural state. However, N.Y.U. has never expressed any interest in using the Time Landscape for its development plans.”

New York University’s early plans showed retail stores in the Time Landscape section of LaGuardia Place and around the corner behind 505 LaGuardia Place. We objected to those plans.

Mrs. Chin’s support of N.Y.U.’s 2031 plans was a betrayal of our trust. She continually told us that she would “never” allow N.Y.U. to take our public lands. She lied to us.

And now, her continued defense of N.Y.U.’s 2031 plan — despite Community Board 2’s rejection of the plan and the continued opposition of neighborhood residents and N.Y.U. Faculty Against the Sexton Plan — illustrates her lack of interest in what our community needs. She represents N.Y.U. and not her constituents.

We appreciate Councilman Johnson's and Borough President Brewer’s support.

The next step will be to sue to have the superblocks’ zoning change reversed.

Sylvia Rackow Rackow is chairperson, The Committee to Preserve Our Neighborhood

Pavilion food for thought To The Editor: Re “Pavilion bistro lawsuit is back on the front burner” (news article, Jan. 16): I would like to clarify something said in your article about the lawsuit involving the Union Square pavilion. The June court hearing was not before the Court of Appeals but before the Appellate Court, which meets in a beautiful building across from Madison Square Park.

The Jan. 14 hearing before the Court of Appeals was in Albany, and I did not attend that one. Accordingly, all the comments about judges attributed to me relate to the Appellate judges — not to those members of the Court of Appeals.

Let me also take this occasion to remind readers of some of the background of the case. The structure in question was actually labeled the “Children’s Pavilion” on some early-20th-century maps and was used for recreation purposes in more recent years, despite the fact that the

20

January 23, 2014

Parks Department allowed the building to deteriorate.

Unlike a similar structure in Columbus Park in Lower Manhattan, which has become a lively community center for people of all ages, the Parks Department seemed to want the Union Square pavilion to become a storage room.

Nevertheless, there are Village mothers who remember forming a playgroup and using the pavilion for kids’ activities.

Today it would be a perfect adjunct to the adjacent playground — a sheltered recreation facility that could serve adults, as well.

The pavilion, of course, also played an important historical role in providing — literally — the platform for famous speakers, and for being the site of the first Labor Day Parade in 1882. That’s why it’s a National Historical Landmark, and that’s why we are fighting this alienation of our all-too-scarce parkland.

going there since she was a child living on MacDougal St.,) Andrew would have had the courtesy to at least whisper his intentions in our ears.

To just close his business without any forewarning is not only inconsiderate, impolite and rude, but it is infuriating.

I’m not the only angry former customer.

And no one I’ve spoken with wishes to go to CVS for their medications, including me and my husband.

So Andrew, I hope you got a big, fat payment from CVS for your betrayal of loyal customers. I do hope you gave the lovely people who worked for you — Harvey and Catalina, especially — more notice than you gave your customers.

Carol Greitzer

To The Editor: Re “Some horse sense from the L.E.S. on carriage horses” (talking point, by Clayton Patterson, Jan. 16): What a remarkable upbringing Clayton Patterson had. I loved the description of all those horses, and how his father worked out a deal for alternate years and foals with the First Nation reservation.

He’s right that horses are often workhorses, not just animals for pleasure riding.

What he’s wrong about is the fact that today’s New York City carriage horses have to deal with trucks, buses, taxis (which cross from one side of the street to another to get a fare, and that’s another story), baby carriages and strollers, skateboarders, bicycles, motorcycles, pedestrians, fire engines, ambulances and police cars. Decades ago, it was a much easier time for carriage horses than it is today.

Were the horses housed in the park, never taken out of the park, and well cared for, that would be a different story.

The idea of using old Model T and other replica electric cars is a hoot, and if they’re energy efficient, what a great example is that? It’s going to be a huge success, and the former horse carriage drivers can be the new car drivers. New homes for the horses are already in the works.

Yes, it was a wonderful thing to take a carriage horse ride in Central Park, but no longer. Too many accidents have happened recently. It’s an idea whose time has passed.

Pharmacy switcheroo To The Editor: When I returned from my holiday on Jan. 4, I called Avignone to refill some prescriptions only to learn, via voice mail over the phone, that the pharmacy was “closed for business” and that I should contact the chain store pharmacy CVS, where my prescriptions had been transferred!

This came as a shock to me, as it did many others in my building and neighborhood in the West Village. I later learned from the owner of the store where Avignone pharmacy was located that the sale of the pharmacy business (its clients’ prescriptions) to CVS was not announced until a week before it closed.

The pharmacy owner, Andrew, must have signed some sort of confidentiality agreement with CVS, so longtime clients, like myself and my husband, were not forewarned. I assume it was done this way in order for CVS to obtain all the records of Avignone's customers in the hopes that we would not go elsewhere and find another (smaller, more personal) pharmacy to fill our prescriptions.

I have since talked with many former customers of Avignone pharmacy, several of them while waiting in line along with them at CVS, and we are deeply upset and feel betrayed by Andrew.

You would think that after years of handling people's prescriptions (one woman I spoke with, now in her 80s, had been

Dee Vitale Henle

Neigh, sir, you’re wrong

Lee Bartell

Downsizing disaster To The Editor: Re “New funding could cut burden on Section 8 residents” (news article, Jan. 16): Downsizing is un-American. What other recipients of a federal subsidy besides Section 8 vouchers have to vacate their homes in order to close the proposed budget gap?

What gives the Department of Housing Preservation and Development the right to decide not to honor the terms of a voucher that they issued and distributed for many years?

Who will be responsible for the financial loss of household furnishing and goods that have to be discarded because they will not fit into a zero-bedroom apartment?

Who will pay for the purchase of new appropriate-size furniture for a zero-bedroom apartment?

Who will come in twice daily to open and close a sofa bed for a downsized elderly tenant?

Who will pay for the cost of moving?

H.P.D. said moving assistance could be provided by other agencies. Who will pay for those agencies? If those agencies have a surplus of funds, why not put it toward keeping elderly people in their apartments that they have occupied for more than 35 years?

Who has done a financial analysis that shows that downsizing tenants — including paying for their loss of household furnishings, and the cost of new, appropriate-size furnishings and the cost of moving — will offset the proposed $37 million proposed Section 8 budget shortfall for this year?

Who has done a financial analysis on how H.P.D. will handle the estimated $40 million proposed Section 8 budget shortfall for next year?

These points are just the “tip of the iceberg” regarding a terribly conceived plan. Seniors who lived in harm’s way during Hurricane Sandy were moved to the safety of eldercare homes; a study cited in USA Today showed that the death rate increased 158 percent in the first 90 days after this relocation.

We need a moratorium on downsizing until H.P.D. shows what this plan will actually accomplish, not in theory, but in actuality.

Rita Popper Popper is co-chairperson HAAD (Housing Alliance Against Downsizing) E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to news@thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 515 Canal St., Suite 1C, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. The Villager does not publish anonymous letters.

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A present fit for a King: A gun into a plowshare KING DAY, continued from p. 1

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PHOTO BY BÉATRICE DE GÉA

The organizers of this year’s event, Auburn Theological Seminary, the New York City Gray Panthers and Intersections International, located Mike Martin, the founder of RAWtools and a blacksmith’s apprentice, who turns guns into farming tools.

Martin, a Mennonite and former youth minister, took three hours to convert the Remington rifle, which was the same model weapon King was killed with, into the mattock.

Lewis said of the gun, “It could knock down a rhinoceros from where [the shooter of] King was standing, with 2,370 pounds of firepower coming out of the rifle.”

The Remington was donated by a community member, and Martin removed the firing pin and all the bullet-receiver parts before it was brought to the church.

About 420 people attended the worship service, and 100 stayed for the teach-in, which addressed five key issues currently confronting the nation: gun violence, poverty, education disparities, a need for comprehensive healthcare and incarceration rates.

“All of these disproportionately affect people of color,” Lewis noted.

These topics will continue in discussions at teach-ins at the church every third Sunday from February through May. “We’re tired of the gun violence. We’re celebrating his birthday because of gun violence,” Lewis said. “We need to turn the tools for violence into the tools for life.”

Reverend Tricia Sheffield, an associate minister at the church, was part of the event’s planning team, and was pleased with the outcome on Sunday.

There were lectures, music and artistic readings of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. During the teach-in, small groups broke down large topics, focusing on specific issues.

“It was a wonderful time of sharing,” Sheffield said. “When you talk about these oppressions, sometimes people can get lost and feel down. And in the end, people felt very hopeful about the actions we can take, and especially with the new administration in City Hall.”

Chad Tanaka Pack, another associate minister at the church, was sitting up close to the action when Martin worked on the Remington.

“I was quite blown away by both the symbolism and the significance of having the gun destroyed in our worship space,” he said.

When the sermon was over, Martin and Derrick Gregory, a member of The Simple Way, a partner organization, brought the gun up to the pulpit.

“They had an electric saw with them and it emitted a huge stream of sparks,” Pack said. “Metal against metal, it was a shower of golden sparks filling in the sanctuary. It was so powerful to see that, I was actually moved to tears in that moment.

“I think people connected with the transformational quality,” Pack added. “We’re not only trying to transform our society, but ourselves as well.”

In a telephone interview, Martin, 31, who lives in Colorado Springs, revealed his inspiration for altering weapons into pragmatic

The finished mattock, made from the gun barrel of a Remington rifle.

farming tools.

“I’d done some work with landscaping and family business, and focused on landscape recycling,” he said. “And I’ve been always drawn to the passages of Micah and Isaiah about turning swords into plowshares.”

After the shootings in Newtown and Aurora, Martin was encouraged by friends to get going on his innovative concept. He has been creating tools out of donated weapons since last February, and has converted a dozen so far. In the future, he wants to work with police departments to fashion confiscated weapons into garden-tool kits.

“One of the plans is to track each tool from the gun it was made from and vice versa,” Martin said. “You can look it up on a Web site, see what tools are made from it, who bought it, how they’re using it and check how many pounds of food they’re growing with it.”

His larger national vision is to establish a network where people can turn over their guns legally with the knowledge they would eventually become garden or hand tools.

“It would certainly take a lot of development to do that, but it’s a long-term goal,” he said.

Martin returned home to Colorado with pieces of the former Remington rifle, which can be made into a few more tools.

“There will be more stories attached to that farming tool,” Sheffield said.

The mattock from Sunday will be given to Mayor Bill de Blasio as a gift. He was unable to attend the event.

“We are still hoping to get him to Middle Collegiate Church to receive it,” Lewis said.

“But in the end, we will take it to his office if he can’t get here.”

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