A Salute to Union Square, pp. 13 - 20
Volume 2, Number 41 FREE
East and West Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Noho, Little Italy and Chinatown
May 3 - 9, 2012
‘Torah thief rabbi’ claim doesn’t have a prayer in court BY LESLEY SUSSMAN Testimony was concluded last week in a bitter threeyear court case in which a Brooklyn rabbi who was once convicted of stealing a Torah from an Upstate synagogue and trying to fence it, now claims to be a member and assistant rabbi of an East Village orthodox synagogue — which the synagogue’s rabbi and congregation members strongly deny.
Photo by Jefferson Siegel
Anarchy in the U.K. (L.E.S.!) Occupy Wall Street May Day anarchist protesters held a “Wildcat March” Tuesday afternoon on the Lower East Side. Without a permit, they gathered in Sara Roosevelt Park. When they tried to march out of the park, police commanders waded in, making at least four arrests, above. The black-clad anarchists ran south, then ran through traffic on Broadway and later regrouped at Washington Square Park. See Page 8 for more May Day photos.
Residential could save Pier 40, new study finds BY LINCOLN ANDERSON For those who don’t mind the sound of baseballs pinging off aluminum bats or the occasional home run shot plopping into their bubbling deck-top jacuzzis, Pier 40 could be the Lower West Side’s new residential hot spot. That is, if a study’s recommendations for possible uses for the decaying pier become a reality. A recently completed analysis of the 14.5-acre West Houston St. pier was presented last Friday to a task force focusing on improving the economic viability of the cash-strapped Hudson River Park. Various scenarios were presented, and housing is among
the ideas generating some of the most interest among task force members and reportedly also the Hudson River Park Trust, the state-city authority that is building and operating the 5-milelong park. The six-figure study was commissioned by three local youth sports organizations that heavily use Pier 40’s sports fields: Pier, Park and Playground Association (P3), Greenwich Village Little League and Downtown United Soccer Club. The initiative was started by HR & A Advisors, but after it was 80 percent done was handed off to Tishman/ Aecom to complete. This was done to
avoid conflict of interest because Major League Soccer, which wants to build a 25,000-seat stadium on Pier 40, has also retained HR & A as a consultant for its proposal. According to Arthur Schwartz, a leading member of the park task force, all the scenarios in the study would preserve at least 50 percent of the pier’s footprint as open space, as required under the Hudson River Park Act, the park’s 1998 governing legislation. However, he said, all the scenarios featuring housing have more square feet of open space than there is now
Rabbi Pesach Ackerman of the Anshe Mezeritz synagogue, 415 E. Sixth St., said the Brooklyn rabbi does not attend services there and has fabricated the story in an effort to wrangle control of the synagogue for personal financial gain. At the conclusion of a three-hour hearing on Wed., April 25, before State
Continued on page 7
Patz suspect was charming to adults, but girl feared him BY LINCOLN ANDERSON “I was scared of him,” she remembered. She recalled the man’s big German shepherd, and that the man had a bushy beard and mustache, and that he was “very dirty.” “He had long fingernails that were black — kids remember that,” she said. He also wore a multicolored Mexican blanket like a poncho. As a carefree youngster
Continued on page 4
515 C A N A L STREET • N YC 10013 • C OPYRIG H T © 2012 COMMU N ITY M ED IA , LLC
growing up in Soho, she’d play hopscotch and tag in the streets. But whenever she saw him coming, she’d run and hide. He’d try to kiss her but she was repulsed by his facial hair. He’d always try to give her some sort of present, usually children’s books he’d found, but she’d decline.
Continued on page 28
EDITORIAL, LETTERS PAGE 10
MIKEL GLASS PAGE 27
May 3 - 9, 2012
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A cent for the 99 percent At the Occupy Wall Street May Day demonstration at Union Square on Tuesday, a protester coined a new look.
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May 3 - 9, 2012
SCOOPY’S
NOTEBOOK TALKIN’ TECH: The Union Square Partnership will hold its annual meeting on Mon., May 7, at 5 p.m. at the W Hotel on Union Square East at 17th St., in the recently renovated Great Room. Venture capitalist Fred Wilson will be the guest speaker. He’s expected to talk about the tech industry in New York City, as well as global markets, according to Jennifer Falk, the Partnership’s executive director, but we’ll see! Light fare and cocktails will be served at the free event, which is open to the community.
Hemisphere. Ironworkers installed two, 26-foot steel interior columns atop the skyscraper Monday afternoon as Port Authority executives looked on. “Achieving the status of the region’s tallest building is an unparalleled milestone, but it is only a small part of the story,� said Bill Baroni, Port Authority deputy executive director. “This tower is about jobs, economic activity and providing a place of commerce and business. It will have unprecedented environmental, energy-efficient systems, be accessible to one of the most extensive transportation networks in the region, and be located in a growing, dynamic neighborhood.� Port Authority Chairperson David Samson noted that the achievement is one of many feats the authority has delivered in its 91-year history. “We could not have reached this milestone without the hard work and dedication of the many men and women who tirelessly work to rebuild this monumental site,� he said. “This project is much more than steel and concrete, it is a symbol of success for the nation.�
RECOVERING AND RISING: On Monday, One World Trade Center became the city’s tallest tower, surpassing the Empire State Building by 21 feet, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, owner of the W.T.C. site. To set the mark, the building’s superstructure rose to 1,271 feet above street level. Once the tower is completed next year, it will be 1,776 feet to the top of its antenna, making it the tallest building in the Western
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May 3 - 9, 2012
Community members react to Pier 40 housing concept Continued from page 1 on the pier. “They looked at seven different models for the pier that started with leaving it the way it is, and they worked through various combinations of uses,” Schwartz said. According to Schwartz, at least two of the combinations included residential housing. There was one that was basically The Related Companies’ “Vegas on the Hudson” proposal pitched for the pier a few years ago. That plan included Cirque du Soleil, performance venues and a multiplex cinema for the Tribeca Film Festival, and was strongly opposed by community members and the youth sports leagues. “There was one that was big-box,” Schwartz continued, referring to a supersize retail outlet. “There was one that was hotel/ retail. There was office and residential; office and hotel; and hotel and residential. They were mixing different amounts of square footage together and projecting the amount of revenue they could get from each. “The most lucrative in rent return was a combination of residential and hotel,” he said. This scenario would result in 70 percent of the pier’s footprint being open space, or as Schwartz put it, “lots of fields” for sports uses. It would also have the least traffic impact, in terms of cars and people
coming to the pier, according to Schwartz. In addition to the different options’ revenue-generating potential, the study also looked at traffic impacts on the West Side Highway, as well traffic crossing the bike path to get to the pier. The study was premised on the idea of no restrictions on ideas for Pier 40, so as to cast as wide a net as possible for uses. Things like housing and hotels currently aren’t allowed under the Hudson River Park Act. To permit them, the state Legislature would have to modify the park act. To do that anytime soon, the changes would have to be fasttracked and made by June, when this year’s Legislative session ends. On Monday, at a meeting of the Hudson River Park Advisory Council, Trust officials painted a dire picture of the park’s financial situation. Money is fast running out and the park’s piers are rapidly crumbling in the elements and need emergency maintenance, they said. Daniel Kurtz, the Trust’s C.F.O. and executive vice president of finance and real estate, told the advisory council that state and city funding for the park have plunged. In the middle of the last decade, the park would get as much $30 million annually — $15 million apiece from the state and city — for its capital-projects budget. But this March, the park only got $3 million from the state, which the city will likely match. While the Trust anticipates pulling in
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$16 million in revenue in 2013, Kurtz said, the park is expected to have $23 million in operating expenses that year, which will force it to dip increasingly into its reserve fund, which now stands at $31 million. “If it keeps going this way,” Kurtz warned, “the park will have a cumulative debt of $77 million over the next 10 years.” The Trust is already using its reserve fund for essential repairs, such as fixing a portion of Pier 40’s severely eroded roof. The West Houston St. pier hasn’t had any significant capital investment in the past 30 years, Kurtz said. The roof’s 14-foot concrete panels are being replaced in parts of the roof’s northeastern quadrant. But to fully repair the pier’s roof and corroded metal support pilings, more than $100 million is needed. “The death spiral of Pier 40, if you will,” he said, “is if you’ve 14-foot concrete panels falling from the roof into the second floor and first floor.” Noreen Doyle, the Trust’s vice president, added that Pier 54, at W. 13th St., is also ailing. About 70 percent of the pier recently had to be cordoned off because the wooden pilings underneath are in dangerous condition. This will force the relocation of this summer’s Heritage of Pride dance, as well as the Trust’s film series, she said. Pier 54 has been used for events that generate revenue for the Trust, but it can’t do that anymore in its current condition, Doyle noted. The Trust currently doesn’t have the money to fix Pier 54, she said. On Pier 40, Schwartz — who is also the park advisory council’s chairperson — noted that when MLS made its presentation to the task force a few weeks ago “they didn’t get a great, warm reception. … They haven’t come back to the Trust since then,” he said. The Trust is also looking into bonding, or borrowing, which it currently is prohibited from doing under the park act. “I think residential and the borrowing are the two hot potatoes in the mix,” Schwartz said. “The hotel might be as well, but it wouldn’t be as profit-making as the others.” Another issue is how tall residential and hotel development on the pier hypothetically could be. Bob Townley, another task force member also on the advisory council, said his understanding from the study presentation was that “Thirty-story towers or 15-story towers looks like the minimum. What we were looking at, I believe, was 600,000 square feet of residential.” Katy Bordonaro, an activist from the West Village Houses, noted that, for years, the Pier 40 Working Group — another community task force — has opposed residential housing on the pier. As for the MLS pitch, she said she was worried about a rumor going around that the soccer stadium would also have rock concerts. The Trust’s Doyle said she hadn’t anything from MLS since it made its presentation to the task force. Townley, for one, said residential might work.
“I’ve always thought, ‘Maybe,’ ” he said. “I live in Battery Park City, so I’ve never been against residential on the waterfront.” Wendi Paster, Assemblymember Richard Gottfried’s chief of staff, told the advisory council that Gottfried is “looking at all options” for Pier 40. “Many in this room might find that surprising,” she said, adding, “He is open to amendments in the legislation. Nothing is off the table. Considering the dire straits of the park — I hope people in this room have an open mind.” Paster said she’d like MLS to make a presentation to the advisory council. As for the droves of soccer fans descending on the pier, she said something could be done with “staggered arrival times,” such as by giving hot dog incentives, for example. Personally, she told a reporter, she likes the soccer plan, since “They would fix the pier,” plus soccer is so popular in New York now. But Schwartz said he saw “not a smidgen” of support for MLS by the youth leagues, the Trust or state legislators. Speaking in support of changing the park’s legislation, Tobi Bergman, president of P3, said while restrictions were put in the park act originally to limit commercialization of the waterfront, the park is now 70 percent built. “The fear of the waterfront being taken over commercially — I think we’re past that,” he said. By removing restrictions, when the Trust next time issues a request for proposals (R.F.P.) for Pier 40, it would yield more viable ideas, he said. “The last two times we had R.F.P.s, they were disastrous,” Bergman said. “The limitations that were put in to protect the park were such that you got these insidetrack-type, ‘silver bullet’ proposals — and the others were probably not realistic proposals. And we didn’t get anywhere and we wasted a lot of time. We’d probably be better off with an R.F.P. that attracted 10 proposals.” Schwartz added, “This approach is saying, ‘Let’s develop an approach that balances income and impact, that includes uses the community actually might want.’ This could come up with a scenario with most of the elements the community might want.” Responding to a task force member’s question about why Hudson River Park must be financially self-supporting, Paster said the park act’s co-creators, Gottfried and former state Senator Franz Leichter, didn’t favor that, but it was the only option. Changing that now is “pretty much a nonstarter,” Paster said, adding, “It’s been the case for new parks that have come on.” Extending the lease term for Pier 40 from 30 years to a longer period also would likely be necessary, since developers can’t get loans without a longer period, Schwartz and others added. Paster said all these potential changes to the park act are currently being considered by the legislators. “It is in the hopper — and it’s under discussion right now,” she said.
May 3 - 9, 2012
POLICE BLOTTER ‘Happy May Day’ Envelopes of apparently harmless white powder with threatening notes arrived in the mail on Mon., April 30, at seven Manhattan locations, including 100 Gold St. where Mayor Bloomberg’s mail is processed before it gets to City Hall, police said. Some of the notes, addressed to various banks, read, “This is a reminder that you are not in control. Just in case you needed some incentive to stop working — Happy May Day.” Police conjectured that the envelopes were part of the Occupy Wall Street May Day demonstration. But an O.W.S. press team member said he didn’t think anything like that had been planned for the demonstration.
Precinct inside job Police are investigating the theft of four 9-millimeter handguns, plus cash, jewelry, two bulletproof vests and an iPad, from lockers in the Ninth Precinct police station on E. Fifth St. The series of thefts, under investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau since first reported in February, include the latest one on April 21, according to a New York Post article. The lockers, on the station’s top floor, have ineffective combination locks. The lockers pop open when someone bangs on them and can be slammed shut, leaving no trace of forced entry, an informant told the Post. About 180 people work in the station at 351 E. Fifth St., including New York Police Department civilian employees.
Fell in street, killed A pedestrian trying to cross Sixth Ave. from west to east at Watts St. around 4:30 a.m. Sun., April 29, fell and was struck by a cab and killed. The driver remained at the scene and was not charged. The victim, Dan Fellegara, 29, of Baltimore, was declared dead on arrival at New York Downtown Hospital, police said.
F.D.R. Drive crash A motorcycle-car crash on the F.D.R. Drive at Gouverneur Slip at 10 a.m. Tues., April 24, injured the biker, who was taken to Bellevue Hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries, police said.
Bribery and wreckage Jesse Louis, 31, was stopped for reckless driving at Sixth Ave. and Watts St. around 4:35 a.m. Sun., April 22, got out of his car in the middle of the street and tried to flee arresting officers, according to a complaint filed with the Manhattan district attorney. The suspect fought
with officers when they put him in the patrol car, tore off a side-view mirror and broke the turn-signal handle on the patrol car’s steering column. He later offered officers $10,000 to let him go without charges.
D.W.I. cop crash Sergio Carillo, 31, an off-duty police officer, was arrested at 4:30 a.m. Sun., April 29, for drunk driving after he was involved in a crash on Second Ave and E. 11th St., police said. Carillo, a member of the N.Y.P.D. since 2005, was suspended from his assignment at the Seventh Precinct on the Lower East Side.
Didn’t get far Police arrested Philip Rice, 25, in the foyer of 81 Chrystie St. on Wed., April 25, and charged him with stealing a TV set from a fifthfloor room of the World Hotel, at 101 Bowery between Hester and Grand Sts., around the corner from the Chrystie St. location. He was standing next to the stolen TV when he was arrested, according to the complaint.
Who knocked the ‘Nok’? Corice Arman, the widow of the late Tribeca sculptor Arman, filed a civil suit for $300,0090 in Manhattan on April 23 charging that a photographer for Art + Auction magazine dropped and smashed her terra cotta Nigerian “Nok” figurine, estimated to date from 618 B.C. The accident happened in May last year when the magazine was working on a photo spread of the sculptor’s collection, according to an article in the New York Post. The president of Art + Auction, Ben Hartley, told the Post that the company was not liable for the loss and that the photographer had said that no one was near the figurine when it fell.
Jewelry grab A thief who entered Lunessa, the jewelers at 100 Thompson St., sometime between 10:55 a.m. and 7:45 p.m. Sat., April 28, made off with a bracelet and four rings with a total value of $4,995, police said.
Wrenching incident Police were called about a fight on the northeast corner of Grove St. and Seventh Ave. South shortly after midnight on Wed., April 25, and found a man with a cut over his eye who accused a longtime adversary of hitting him with a monkey wrench. Police arrested Eduardo Pabon, 24, who refused to be
handcuffed and fled after punching one of the officers. The officers caught him, subdued him with pepper spray and charged him assault.
Subway snatcher Police arrested Evans Whittaker, 23, as he was fleeing from the Canal St. subway station at 7:20 a.m. Wed., April 25, after snatching an iPad from the hand of a woman passenger on a southbound No. 1 train. The arresting officers happened to be in the next car, heard the victim yell, and caught the suspect just outside the station.
Fake check Police arrested Morgan Tashawna, 17, at the MPD diner, 73 Gansevoort St., around 7:22 p.m. Mon., April 23, and charged her with larceny and using a false instrument for using a fake $100 traveler’s check.
Sticky situation Hunter Schipman, 21, was charged with criminal mischief at 1:28 p.m. Thurs., April 26, for sticking yellow handbills with red lettering proclaiming “Unity May Day” on mailboxes, street signs and phone booths around the Cable Building, at 611 Broadway at Houston St.
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Forged passport A Bank of America teller at 36 E. 14th St. called police when a woman, Addisi Adenusi, 24, tried to use a forged United Kingdom passport as ID to cash a check.
Bad customer A waitress at Mojo Coffee, 128 Charles St., told police that she put her handbag with her wallet with $100 in cash on the counter while she was bussing a location around 12:45 p.m. Thurs., April 19, when a customer picked it up, stuffed it into his pants and left. The theft was taped on a surveillance camera, and police arrested Alexander Oppenheimer, 51, six days later.
They took Religiously Six men between the ages of 25 and 30 walked into the True Religion boutique at 132 Prince St. around 7:15 p.m. Fri., April 27, and stuffed 32 pairs of jeans, four denim jackets and nine pairs of shorts, with a total value of $10,851, into shopping bags and walked out without paying for them.
Alber t Amateau
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May 3 - 9, 2012
Cooper students, alumni tout ways to avoid tuition BY ALBERT AMATEAU Friends of Cooper Union — a coalition of students and alumni — gathered in the historic Great Hall on Astor Place last week to protest the elite school’s decision to break with its 110-year-old tradition of free tuition for all students. A few hours before the Thurs., April 26, forum, Cooper Union students joined an Occupy Wall Street demonstration that attracted 300 people to Peter Cooper Park to protest the staggering national student loan debt. Two days before the forum, the school’s president, Jamshed Bharucha, announced that Cooper Union would begin charging tuition to graduate students entering in September 2013. The tuition decision applied only to entering graduate students, but the school’s board of trustees made no other commitment about undergraduates beyond saying that students entering the schools of Engineering, Architecture, Art and Humanities and Social Sciences by 2017 would not be charged tuition. Last fall, Bharucha, who became president in July, said Cooper Union had to trim more than $20 million from its annual operating deficits by 2018. Among the proposed changes at Cooper Union is a master’s degree graduate program to start as early as next year combining the school’s specialties in engineering and art. Founded in 1859 by the industrialist and inventor Peter Cooper to provide free education for working-class youth, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art has not charged tuition for any degree program since 1902. Henry Chapman, a graduate student and an organizer of Friends of Cooper Union, said the “summit meeting” on April 26 attracted 300 students, alumni and teachers dedicated to preserving free tuition at the school. “Over the last several months we’ve worked on a document showing a financial way forward for Copper Union with ideas protecting and advancing the mission of the college,” Chapman said. A panel of 15 alumni, faculty and students led the April 26 meeting, which was based on a 30-page report, “The Way Forward,” on financial and policy issues at Cooper Union. Among the suggestions was deferring administrative salaries, including part of Bharucha’s annual salary estimated at $700,000. Bharucha had previously announced that he would donate 5 percent of his salary to the Cooper Union annual operating fund. Nevertheless, the report suggested that the three highest-paid administrative offices defer a third of their salaries until 2018 when the rent from the ground lease under the Chrysler Building — a significant part of the school’s endowment — is due to increase from $7 million to $32.5 million. The Chrysler ground lease is due to rise even higher in subsequent years. The report also suggested that a $2 million reduction in expenses and an addition of $1 million in revenue should be an immediate
Photos by Ellen Moynihan
Because their ladder was too short, police had to get a cherry picker to remove Jesse Kreuzer, a Cooper Union graduate student, from atop the Peter Cooper monument on the afternoon of Thurs., April 26. Kreuzer was protesting Cooper Union’s announced intention to charge tuition for graduate students. It took them an hour and a half to get him down.
goal to preserve free tuition. Cooper Union should also give up its lease of space it does not own in 30 Cooper Square, saving $710,231 per year, the report says. Another recommendation is that space in school-owned buildings should be found for the office of the treasurer as well as development, admissions and records, student services, alumni outreach and financial aid offices.
Adriana Farmiga, an alumna of the School of Art and programming director at La MaMa Gallery, suggested that a gala auction showcasing the work of Cooper alumni, faculty and staff could raise significant funds. Farmiga and several other alumni have been working on the idea for the past few months. “We are aware we will not solve all Cooper’s financial problems with this auction but it’s a great start and the right first step,” she said. Since 2001 Cooper Union has provided the president with housing at the school’s Stuyvesant Fish House, at 21 Stuyvesant St. “There are benefits to providing a presidential residence so close to Cooper Union, particularly for fundraising purposes. However, there may be equally compelling reasons for the president to consider abdicating the property,” the report says. A return to the past was another alternative. The first floor of the Foundation Building, which had shopping arcades until the turn of the 20th century, currently has 1,500 square feet of library space. It could return to revenue-producing commercial use if another space for the library were located, the report noted. Members of the panel said that it was time Cooper Union also thought of “growing down” into the neighborhood where it is located and into the local schools.
Partnering with St. Mark’s Bookshop, located in a school-owned building, could keep the imperiled bookshop afloat, the report said. Cooper Union, with a premier School of Art, should also offer classes in city schools that are lacking funds for an arts curriculum. Students recently organized the Cooper Union Volunteer Tutoring Initiative to tutor local students in the arts and sciences. The report says the school should work to establish links with other organizations to promote the effort. Cooper Union has stopped its contributions to the Outreach and the Saturday Programs in the School of Art. “Cooper Union saves a tiny fraction of its budget by eliminating its annual donations to the programs, but in doing so it sacrifices a truly meaningful link between The Cooper Union, the city of New York and Peter Cooper’s original vision,” the report says. Alan Lundgard, the junior at Cooper Union who issued a hoax news release on April 16 that the school would lease its newly completed Engineering Building to New York University, attended the April 26 forum. But he was unable to speak because he had irritated his throat by shouting at the demonstration a few hours earlier. However, a fellow student read his statement to great acclaim.
May 3 - 9, 2012
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‘Torah thief rabbi’ lawsuit doesn’t have a prayer Continued from page 1 Supreme Court Justice Ira Gammerman, the judge indicated that, in his preliminary opinion, he saw no solid evidence that Rabbi Bernard Welz was a regular attendee of the East Village synagogue, or that he had made the required contributions to qualify him a member. The judge told Welz’s attorney, Meyer Silber, that he was ready to render a verdict right then, but allowed Silber to take 30 days to provide any additional proof that might change his mind. Gammerman said he would make his final decision on June 4. Welz was not available for comment, but his attorney said after the 10 a.m. hearing that he was disappointed by it. “I respectfully disagree with the judge,” Silber said. “He precluded significant evidence that would have proven our case. We will now explore other options.” Charles Knapp, the synagogue’s pro bono attorney who took over the case last year after the previous lawyer withdrew, said that the opposing side had “failed miserably to make their case.” Knapp said of Welz’s attorney, “He offered no positive paper trail to prove his client’s claim that he was a member of the synagogue or the acting assistant rabbi. He was unable to testify that he worshiped at the synagogue on anything remotely approaching a regular
basis. I think that’s why the judge found at this point that Silber had established neither element required by the statute.” Rabbi Ackerman, 83, who has served as the synagogue’s rabbi since 1969, said afterward that, while he was pleased with the way things went in court on Wednesday, “I won’t feel relieved until a final verdict is made.” He added that he was saddened by the Brooklyn rabbi’s action, which cost his financially strapped synagogue thousands of dollars in court fees. “I can’t believe a rabbi can be such a liar,” he said. “I’ve only seen him in my synagogue on rare occasions. It was a terrible experience to have to go through all this, and a costly one.” Congregation members said they, too, had never seen Welz in the synagogue. Stuart Lipsky, a retired disabled schoolteacher, said, “I’ve been coming regularly to this synagogue for the last 10 years and I’ve never once seen this guy. He just wants to worm his way into membership so he can get a piece of the action for any future development that might take place here.” Ido Nissi, a synagogue board member, said what drove Welz to sue was a 2008 plan to renovate the synagogue. “He and many other people mistakenly thought that the synagogue was being sold,” Nissi said. “That’s why he really falsely claimed not only to be a member but also the assistant rabbi, so he could get hold of some of the money that he thought would be com-
ing in from the sale.” Welz, however, in a written affidavit he submitted in 2010, said he had other motivations for filing the lawsuit. “I have reasons to believe that the finances and property of the Meseritz congregation are not being properly maintained,” he wrote, “and for that reason I seek the court’s intervention.” When he was 22, Welz was arrested and convicted for stealing and trying to fence a Torah that was taken from the Woodridge Synagogue in South Fallsburg, N.Y. “Concerning the allegation that I was involved in a stolen Torah more than 15 years ago,” Welz wrote in his affidavit, “that was the outcome of youthful indiscretion in which I allowed a stolen Torah to be left in my home in an immature rationalization.” On May 5, 1993, Welz and a co-defendant, Aaron Glucksman, pleaded guilty to being in possession of the stolen Torah. The two men were sentenced to community service — Welz received 30 hours of community service — and had to repay any financial loss suffered by the synagogue. The court showed the pair leniency since neither had a criminal record. Anshe Meseritz board member Robert Rand told this newspaper that Welz “started out stealing Torahs and now he’s trying to steal a synagogue. He’s a pathological liar who has a history of doing this before with other synagogues in the neighborhood,” Rand charged. “He’s nothing short of a predator.”
At the hearing, while under questioning from Gammerman, Welz admitted that over the years he has only occasionally appeared at the synagogue — mainly during the Jewish High Holidays. Welz, who gave his address as 116 Avenue I, Brooklyn, claimed in court papers to have been the Anshe Mezeritz assistant rabbi since 1995 when he first started coming to the synagogue. Welz is also the subject of a best-selling book, “Terrorist Cop,” written by Orthodox Jewish N.Y.P.D. Detective Mordecai Dzikansky. Dzikansky was a member of a special Torah Theft Task Force that was formed after a spate of Torah thefts in New York State. Dzikansky wrote of his and his partner’s 1993 arrest of Welz and Glucksman that, “We received a phone call from a Judaica dealer in Brooklyn who told us that some youngsters from Sullivan County in Upstate New York had phoned him to say they wanted to sell a Torah.” The detective recalled that he and his partner hid themselves in a small closet in the dealer’s study and arrested the two men on the spot as they were trying to fence the Torah. “As we secreted ourselves in that tiny closet, the deal went down,” the detective wrote. “Suddenly we emerged from the closet, pounced on the two religious youngsters, and arrested them. We recovered the stolen Torah on the spot.”
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May 3 - 9, 2012
© Gene Secunda Photos by Jefferson Siegel
Community Board No. 2, Manhattan, and New York University’s Office of Government and Community Affairs present
Dealing with Downtown Bridge Traffic Are Tolls the Answer? A panel discussion, with Q&A to follow, featuring: Paul Steely White Executive Director, Transportation Alternatives Kate Slevin Executive Director, Tri-State Transportation Campaign Hope Cohen Director, New York Program, Regional Plan Association Charles Komanoff Transportation Analyst
Thursday, May 10, 2012 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm NYU’s Casa Italiana 24 West 12th Street, New York, NY 10011 This event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP to NYU’s Office of Government and Community Affairs: community.affairs@nyu.edu | 212-998-2400
Something for everyone People can say what they will about Occupy Wall Street, but one thing’s for certain, it’s incredibly inclusive. During a May Day march down Broadway through Greenwich Village, black-clad anarchists — part of the infamous Black Bloc — called for torching the temples of commerce. Meanwhile, in the same march, one protester felt that fighting for a fair share for the 99 percent was his personal cross to bear.
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EDITORIAL Pier 40: New ideas The results of a new study for potential uses for Pier 40 were recently released, and are jumpstarting a vigorous discussion about the future of this critical, yet badly deteriorated, structure in the Hudson River Park. The study was largely done by HR & Advisors and finished up by Tishman/Aecom. It looked at seven different development scenarios, from doing nothing, to The Related Companies’ “Vegas on the Hudson,” to combinations of residential, hotel and office use. The study found that a mix of residential use — 600 rental units — and a modest-sized, 150-room hotel would be the best scenario in terms of raising revenue for the park while limiting “impact,” as in trips by people and cars to the pier. The East Villager has knowledge of the study, and one possible massing option shows three, 15-story towers on the pier’s north side. The pier’s current, two-story “donut” shed encompasses 770,000 square feet of space; the residential option, with a hotel, would include 925,000 square feet total of enclosed space, including 600,000 square feet of residential. Meanwhile, there would be 510,000 square feet of open space for playing fields — an impressive 80 percent of the pier’s footprint. The Hudson River Park Trust has been sounding the alarm about the perilous state of Pier 40. In a worst-case scenario, sections of the Houston St. pier’s roof could start collapsing in the next few years, and the 14.5-acre pier could be shut down. In addition, recently 70 percent of Pier 54 has been put off-limits due to deteriorated pilings. Meanwhile, the Trust, due to a lack of state and city funding, is being forced to spend from its reserve fund, and will soon be running at a deficit. In short, the Trust needs a use on Pier 40 that will generate at least $10 million in annual revenue for the park, in addition to a developer who will commit to fixing the pier’s roof and pilings, at a total cost of $100 million. The main issue is that when the Hudson River Park Act was written in 1998, the fear was that the waterfront park would be commercially developed and overwhelmed. So, the act includes restrictions against things like residential housing, hotels and office uses. Similarly, the Trust isn’t allowed to borrow money, so bonding isn’t permitted. And the lease term for Pier 40 — 30 years — isn’t long enough to make a project there financially feasible for a developer. And yet, Hudson River Park is supposed to be financially self-sustaining. Pier 40 — along with Chelsea Piers and other “commercial nodes” — is intended to be, in part, a revenue-generating pier. Ironically, the commercial uses the legislation does allow — such as big-box retail and entertainment — are ones the community is adamantly against. The result has been two past R.F.P.s (“requests for proposals” from developers) that have failed. The Trust is now saying the Hudson River Park model clearly is “broken,” and that the park act must be changed — and a push is on to make the necessary modifications before the current legislative sessions ends in June. Assemblymember Richard Gottfried is keeping an open mind, given the park’s financial plight. But Assemblymember Deborah Glick is taking a more cautious and skeptical approach. Glick says that under the park act, a public hearing, with 30 days’ notice, must be held, followed by 30 more days for public input. Glick tells us she fears the Trust is trying to “stampede and frighten everyone” into accepting residential use. Clearly, the hoped-for changes — longer lease, more allowable uses, bonding authority — won’t happen unless Glick is assured it’s the right thing to do. Again, residential would create the most revenue, least impact and most field space. It’s time that everyone keep an open mind about this process.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Actually, we’re neutral on 2031 To The Editor: Re “Always follow the money” (letter, by Sean Sweeney, April 19); and “N.Y.U. plan is critical for city’s nonprofit sector” (talking point, by Sat Bhattacharya, Arthur Makar, Dr. Cynthia Maurer, Muzzy Rosenblatt, David Garza and Michael Zisser, April 5): While New York University has been a good friend to Visiting Neighbors for many years (and not just because they want our support for N.Y.U. 2031), we remain neutral on the subject of N.Y.U. 2031. For the past 40 years, our focus has been on helping the seniors of our community. Most of the seniors we serve are over the age of 85 and have no family or friends to turn to as they face the challenges of aging. Most live on limited, fixed incomes and cannot afford to pay privately for care. Our professional staff recruits, trains and provides ongoing support to dedicated volunteers who keep seniors connected, able to remain independent and safe at home. We work to promote a positive image of aging, to advocate on behalf of seniors, and to encourage volunteerism. We have always been apolitical, and will remain so, but we hope that dialogue remains open and that a modification of N.Y.U. 2031 can be developed that everyone can live with. Cynthia Maurer, Ph.D. Maurer is executive director, Visiting Neighbors, Inc.
Where are N.Y.U.’s ethics? To The Editor: Re “N.Y.U. freshmen need a campus — on Governors Island” (talking point, by Deborah Glick, April 19): I like Assemblymember Glick’s approach to help N.Y.U. develop educational programs for future generations. I find it terribly disappointing that a major New York City university of “higher education” would not explore expanding into other New York City neighborhoods where it is wanted and needed. Why does Greenwich Village need more gym and commercial facilities that are not necessarily needed for N.Y.U.’s educational programs or Greenwich Village residents? Meanwhile, our local hospital is closed, and our local food market is scheduled to be demolished for a vaguely defined purpose of another skyscraper that will destroy our community garden at Bleecker St. and LaGuardia Place. And local public bus service is discontinued while more cars, stu-
dents and tourists overwhelm the neighborhood on crowded streets and sidewalks. Wouldn’t the N.Y.U. Law School and business school be better situated in the Financial District where the graduates could have convenient access to our courts and financial facilities? And think of the park facilities available along the Hudson River, where the students of those schools can run off their excess energy. Wouldn’t the undergraduate divisions, and perhaps the N.Y.U. school of education, be more useful in the Bronx, Brooklyn or Queens, where there is more space to accommodate growing student enrollments and a greater need for their educational services? There are so many things that could be done to make New York City more livable, and N.Y.U. doesn’t seem to contribute much to this endeavor with its new plan to expand dramatically only in the heart of Greenwich Village. I have great concern that N.Y.U. doesn’t seem to have a strong ethics review committee for university programs and practices. Now I’m wondering, does N.Y.U. have an urban ecology and planning school or department? Hubert J. Steed
Give me an ‘S’!... To The Editor:
Support us in saving our beloved Sasaki Garden-W.S.V. A vibrant Open Green Space for the public who can sit down and/or walk though, enjoying
S
ights and sounds of melodious birds, fragrant flowers, gorgeous trees…
A
nd peace and tranquility for W.S.V. residents, Village neighbors and City visitors.
K
udos to Hideo Sasaki for designing this unique awardwinning garden in perfect harmony with its surroundings,
I
nsatiably aesthetic, environmentally sound, a treasure that must be preserved for all time… Dr. Milton E. Polsky Polsky is founder/member, Save the Sasaki Garden, Washingon Square Village Committee
IRA BLUTREICH
Gingrich presents the G.O.P. with a wonderful gift!
Continued on page 12
May 3 - 9, 2012
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N.Y.U. proposal getting better — but not good enough N.Y.U.’s proposal also includes a significant expansion of commercial space. As small businesses that have spent years — and in some cases decades — making the Village our home,
TALKING POINT BY JUDY PAUL AND NOAM DWORMAN Several weeks ago, thanks to the hard work of Borough President Stringer, New York University announced that it had made improvements to its proposed development in the Village, for the first time since the community began calling for changes. While the reductions in density, preservation of some of the open space, and proposed changes to the construction timetable are real benefits for the community, portions of the proposal remain significantly out of scale. The almost 70 local businesses, neighborhood groups and Greenwich Village residents that have formed Villagers for a Sustainable Neighborhood want to see N.Y.U. succeed. We are proud to be part of a neighborhood that includes the university. But we also want to make sure that the proposal respects the existing scale of Greenwich Village — which is one of the elements that makes our neighborhood so appealing to N.Y.U. students. While N.Y.U. did reduce the density of the proposal, it mostly reduced underground space. Its current proposal still towers above the neighborhood. There is no reason why the Houston St. portion of the “Zipper Building” should be more than 162 feet tall. And the remaining portions of the “Zipper Building” and the Mercer Building should be lowered to match the height of the buildings on the east side of Mercer St.
We want to make sure the proposal respects Greenwich Village’s existing scale — which is part of what makes our neighborhood so appealing to N.Y.U. students. we are concerned that this will only exacerbate the problems that we face in succeeding here in Greenwich Village.
And as residents of Greenwich Village, we are concerned that N.Y.U. still refuses to do enough to ensure adequate open space. N.Y.U. has described 4 acres of redesigned open space as one of the premier benefits of its plan. Unfortunately, the redesigns do not meet the needs of the community. We need more quality open space, not just redesigned open space. Villagers for a Sustainable Neighborhood understands the importance of this proposal for N.Y.U. We want N.Y.U. to remain competitive and we appreciate the university’s contributions to the economic, civic and educational fabric of our city. However, it is equally critical for N.Y.U. to understand that it is a part of a shared community with Greenwich Village residents and businesses. We look forward to working with our elected officials and N.Y.U. to come to a compromise that is in the best interests of all those involved. Paul is owner and C.E.O., the Washington Square Hotel; Dworman is owner, the Comedy Cellar.
AIDS housing provider wins $1.1 million grant The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Tues., May 1, officially presented a $1.1 million grant to Bailey-Holt House, the residence for people with AIDS at 180 Christopher St., for its Project FIRST program. With representatives for Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Congressmembers Jerold Nadler and Charlie Rangel in attendance, Vincent Hom, HUD regional director, presented the cer-
emonial check to Regina Quattrochi, Bailey-Holt Houses’s chief executive. Project FIRST, which assists formerly incarcerated people with AIDS, is the only program in New York State to receive the grant and one of only 28 nationally. The grant allows BaileyHolt House to continue providing rent support and transitional housing to 27 households, and providing support services to help the individuals to greater independence.
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Friday morning, Washington Square Park’s petanque court, just north of the small-dog run, was seeing some action. Before the park’s renovation, the spot had long courts with low walls, but now it’s a just a smooth-surfaced area separate from the grass lawn.
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May 3 - 9, 2012 Advertorial
Poverty Today in the U.S. And What it Means By Emma DeVito Poverty in the United States continues to be an intractable problem, more so today than at any time in recent memory. While progress was made in reducing poverty, particularly over the second half of the last century, the aftermath and continuing influence of the Great Recession has spiked the numbers of the poor, particularly the poorest of the poor. Poverty is more widespread today than we’ve seen in decades. Those living in extreme poverty – at half of the federal poverty line – are at historically high levels, as measured by the Census Bureau since 1975. The Census Bureau last year reported twice on the level of poverty – once using its traditional measures, which showed the U.S. poverty rate at more than 15 per cent, and a second time using newer, alternative measures, which showed a poverty rate of 13.4 percent. The numbers of those living in extreme poverty, now accounting for 10 percent of the nation’s poor, according to a recent Brookings Institution study, grew by more than a third over the last decade, erasing most of the big gains that we made in the 1990s during an era of economic resurgence. It’s noteworthy that here in New York City (in the Census Metropolitan Area that also includes parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania), the numbers of those living in extreme poverty declined significantly over the last decade. While we have more than 370,000 persons living in extreme poverty, that’s 108,000 fewer than in 2000. But that’s only a glimmer of good news. The City’s “concentrated poverty rate” (those living in extreme poverty neighborhoods) probably exceeds 20 per cent, double the national rate, according to the Brookings report. And let’s be clear, the Census data shows that the number of those identified as poor exceeds 2.3 million persons. The Census Bureau’s alternative measures from last year show that the numbers of older adults facing poverty is increasing, attributable, some speculate, to the high medical cost they face. The striking thing here when one looks at all the recent data is just how widespread poverty is today. An Indiana University report, released in January, looked at Census data and determined that since the start of the Great Recession, the numbers of those living below the poverty line surged by some 27 percent, adding 10 million people. The Census Bureau’s “alternative measures” report, cuts that number in half, by adding in the contributions made by programs such as food stamps, housing assistance and tax credits, the impact of which aren’t considered in the traditional poverty measurement. What does this all mean? No matter how you measure it, poverty is growing throughout much of the country. The real problem, however, is that we’re losing our wherewithal to do something about it. At the federal level, we face huge deficits. The states, including our own New York, have been hard hit by declining revenues. Unfortunately, the most visible target, if not the biggest, that budget cutters have zeroed in on are the safety net programs, even though such programs had nothing to do with the financial pressures and deficits now faced by government at all levels. States, including New York, have already made cuts to safety net programs. At the federal level, cutting the $1.6 trillion-plus deficit is likely to bring further cuts to the safety net. These programs are spending at levels we currently can’t afford. “Can’t afford” because, for various reasons, elected officials are unwilling to propose and pass tax increases. A lot of attention has focused on Representative Paul Ryan’s budget plan. Ryan, who chairs the House Budget Committee, has put forth a wide-ranging redesign of safety net programs and their financing. Those who advocate on behalf of the needs of the poor, have been united in their opposition to Representative Ryan’s plan. The Catholic church has been extremely vocal. In letter to Congress, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said, “A just framework for future budgets cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor persons.” Last week, 90 professors at Georgetown University, a Jesuit school, called Ryan’s plan one that “decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few.” Community-based organizations, which rely on government revenues from safety net programs, provide care and services for many marginalized, hard-to-serve, vulnerable populations. Those are the populations now caught in the growing numbers of those living in poverty and facing rising need, while, at the same time, there is declining financial support for the programs that help them. (Ms. DeVito is president and chief executive officer of not-for-profit VillageCare, which serves some 12,000 persons annually in community-based and residential care programs for older adults and those living with HIV/AIDS.)
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Continued from page 10
Green with outrage
We have AIDS memorial To The Editor: Re “Board 2 begins its design review of AIDS memorial” (news article, April 26): I would like to remind readers of the East Villager and the AIDS Memorial Park coalition that since Nov. 30, 2008, there has been “a significant memorial integrated into a truly public park.” The AIDS Memorial, New York’s first permanent memorial to AIDS, was dedicated by state, local and religious representatives on the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, at Pier 49 in the Hudson River Park near Bank St. The memorial attracts hundreds of people daily who walk or run by the site, or sit on or near the black granite bench in the landscaped knoll, or walk on the river bridge overlooking the decayed pilings from a once-thriving pier: a poignant metaphor for the lives lost to AIDS. The stone monument, etched with the contemplative quote, “I can sail without wind, I can row without oars, but I cannot part from my friend without tears,” and the pilings in the river, bring emotional meaning to those whose lives were affected by the disease, those who live with H.I.V., and those who have cared for people with H.I.V./AIDS. Andy Marber Marber was a member, Monument Committee
the
AIDS
To The Editor: Re “Signed, ‘Epstein’s Mother,’ ” (Scoopy’s Notebook, April 26): So let me get this straight. Margaret Chin’s office says that she cannot make Community Board 2 meetings because she’s so busy attending City Council meetings (as Kathryn Freed had done), maybe even 12 per month! Unlike the members of the community board, who are not paid at all, city councilmembers like Chin are paid just under $10,000 per month as base pay (plus thousands in perks), which would come to $1,000 per meeting. I could see why that would not be enough for Margaret Chin to deign show her face at Community Board 2 meetings or the Washington Square Park Task Force meetings. After all, she’s too busy chasing down consumers buying fake Chanel bags on Canal St. and supporting the Soho BID, which Sean Sweeney opposed (like everyone else). Mitchel Cohen Cohen is a member, Brooklyn Greens/ Green Party
E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to lincoln@thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to the East Villager, Letters to the Editor, 515 Canal St., Suite 1C, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The East Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. The East Villager does not publish anonymous letters.
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May 3 - 9, 2012
High tech and capital connect in ‘Digital District’ BY HILARY POTKEWITZ Tech firms have been mushrooming around Union Square for more than a year, but don’t call it Silicon Alley. It upsets the natives. “It’s a terrible term,” said Fred Wilson, head of the venture capital firm Union Square Ventures and a pioneer who brought his company to the neighborhood in 2003. He bristles at the idea that New York’s tech scene wants to imitate Silicon Valley. “It’s a wannabe term, and I’ve been trying my hardest to get it removed from the vernacular,” he added. Jennifer Falk, executive director of the Union Square Partnership, is trying to coin the term “Digital District” to describe the city’s burgeoning tech community, with her square at its center. At the same time, the neighborhood’s name already has a strong cachet. “Union Square doesn’t need another name,” she said. “We’re very proud to be a brand unto itself.” Regardless of what it’s called, the area has become a tech magnet. Over the past year and a half, 19 technology companies have moved to the neighborhood, occupying 213,000 square feet of office space and bringing with them 910 jobs. And businesses usually only move out for one reason — because they’ve outgrown their current digs. But there are a variety of reasons for a company to move in. The newcomers most often cite the abundance of hip bars and restaurants, a critical mass of other tech companies, and Union Square’s transportation hub. Some say that Apple Inc. validated the neighborhood in 2011 when it moved its mobile advertising business iAd into offices near Union Square in 2011, taking up 10,000 square feet on Fifth Ave. between 15th and 16th Sts. Around that same time Yelp Inc., the business-networking and ratings site, was getting fed up with its Flatiron cubicle. The San Francisco-based company started with a two-person outpost here in 2008, and decided to expand it into Yelp’s East Coast headquarters. After scouting offices all over Manhattan, the company moved into the same building as Apple iAd last October, occupying 3,000 square feet. It now has 80 employees. “Our business is all about connecting people with local businesses. So having an eclectic and diverse business neighborhood, with lots of bars and restaurants, really fits in with our culture,” said Chantelle Karl, Yelp’s communications manager. Karl added that the team had gotten accustomed to having outdoor space — its old offices were near Madison Square Park — so Union Square Park was also a big draw. Some companies had the good fortune
of being conceived in the area and had no desire to wander. That was the case with JIBE Inc., a new social-media-based job search engine that took space on W. 17th St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves. “When it came time to get new offices, a lot of start-ups had taken root in this area and that vibe was important,” said Suzanne Flynn Speece, a vice president at the company.
‘You can’t walk into a restaurant, bar or even the park without bumping into others from the industry, and that creates a very collaborative environment.’ Amish Jani
JIBE Inc.’s new building is just a few blocks away from where it was born at Dogpatch Labs, a collaborative workspace and de facto start-up incubator on
Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures.
12th St. between University Place and Broadway. And the big money is also moving in. Venture capital firm FirstMark Capital is relocating next month from its Midtown offices to a 10,000-square-foot space on Fifth Ave. at 15th Street — in the same building as Yelp, Net-a-Porter, Apple iAd and educational technology firm Knewton, which happens to be one of FirstMark’s
ventures. “We wanted to be down where most of our portfolio companies are located,” said Managing Director Amish Jani, explaining that he and his partners like to visit their companies on a weekly, or at least biweekly, basis. The one complaint some tech firms have is that the old buildings in the area, while quaint and charming, often lack the internal infrastructure to support stateof-the-art network communications, adding to renovation costs. But as they say, everything’s a tradeoff. Of course, industry leaders point out that Union Square isn’t the only growing tech hub in the city. Chelsea, Soho, Flatiron and the Meatpacking District in Manhattan, and DUMBO, Bushwick and Greenpoint in Brooklyn are also start-up enclaves. Brooklyn’s Gowanus and Red Hook are considered the next frontier. Underneath it all, however, there’s still a rivalry with the West Coast, and the Union Square digerati feel they have Silicon Valley beat. “You can’t walk into a restaurant, bar or even the park without bumping into others from the industry, and that creates a very collaborative environment,” Jani said. “You’re never going to pull over and chat with someone while you’re stopped in traffic in Palo Alto.”
Photo courtesy the Union Square Partnership
A place to talk shop? It’s made in the shade Union Square is a natural place to network and talk tech. The Union Square Partnership, working with city agencies, helps add to the park’s allure with seating, tables and shade umbrellas, as seen on the park’s west side, above.
May 3 - 9, 2012
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An education hotbed is being cultivated and growing BY HILARY POTKEWITZ Three major school projects are underway in the Union Square area. Starting with the youngsters, a new middle-to-high school is slated for a site on 15th St. between Union Square West and Fifth Ave. An existing building is being demolished to make way for the new home for the Clinton School for Writers and Artists. At the high school level, the Academy for Software Engineering — the new tech public school backed by local venture capitalist Fred Wilson — will be moving into the old Washington Irving High School campus this fall with its first class of ninth graders. The school is one of Mayor Bloomberg’s pet projects, which he’s been promoting widely as part of his PlaNYC initiative to foster an environment of technological innovation. And far as the digerati are concerned, it’s a program that’s long overdue. “Every single one of the tech companies that our firm has invested in struggles to find enough talented software engineers,” said Wilson, founder of the investment firm Union Square Ventures. “There are kids, both boys and girls, who desperately want to write software, to make things on their computers for others to use, who don’t have the training available to them,” he said. Union Square has become one of the city’s fastest growing digital hubs, with 19 tech companies moving into the area over the past year and a half alone, including Apple’s mobile advertising arm iAd, online fashion retailer Net-a-Porter, local businessreview site Yelp, and online education platform Knewton. AFSE Principal Seung Yu said the school will leverage its proximity to these start-ups and establish internships and job-shadowing programs. The nearby companies are eager to do the same. “There’s a real need for specific training in this field, and a key part of what companies want is internships and on-the-job experience,” said Jennifer Falk, executive director of the Union Square Partnership. “I recently spoke to one company with about 50 job openings that had to start their own internship program for new employees because they couldn’t find people with the right experience.” AFSE is open to any student who expresses interest, so its curriculum will offer multiple pathways after graduation. “As the school leader, I believe college is a great opportunity, and we would love to push for students to major in computer science,” Yu said. But he recognizes that some students will want to enter the workforce immediately in fields such as information technology or computer hardware. “Some jobs require different skill sets, and our goal is for students to be savvy and skilled enough to get a job right out of high school,” he added. And for students of college age, The New School is in the midst of a huge construction project for a new campus education center
Photo by Tequila Minsky
At last month’s press conference announcing the new Academy for Software Engineering, second from left, Seung Yu, AFSE’s principal, along with, from left, Scott Schwaiteberg, an AFSE co-founder and advisory board member; Yvonne Williams, a program analyst at AFSE; and N.Y.U. computer science professor Evan Korth, a co-founder of AFSE and chairperson of its advisory board.
on 14th St. and Fifth Ave. The seven-story, 375,000-square-foot University Center will include fully wired classrooms, a 600-bed dormitory and an 800-seat auditorium. “It was important for us to be able to build facilities right here, in the heart of creative New York, artistic New York and labor New York — not off in the margins of the boroughs,” said Peter Taback, a university spokesperson. The new building is designed to be energy-efficient, LEED certified, and is serving as a laboratory for the university’s sustainable design programs. In that vein, The New School has integrated itself into the various green movements in the area. Last month, the school partnered with the Union Square Greenmarket to offer free classes in a tent they set up at the market. Grad students and faculty held classes in urban farming, rooftop gardening and small farm co-operatives. “Union Square has become the locus for the sustainable city that we all hope to build,” Taback said. The main challenges for schools in the area, particularly the universities, is that the neighborhood is expensive, making it difficult for students to find affordable housing. It’s also tightly packed, so there isn’t a lot of room to build dorms to alleviate the shortage — which is problematic. Nevertheless, despite some obstacles, the area’s education boom shows no signs of abating. “Students are a major economic driver in our neighborhood,” Falk said.
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May 3 - 9, 2012
Photo courtesy Union Square Partnership
Color their world with fun and games for the summer Kids enjoyed dancing under a rainbow-colored tarp as part of the free Summer in the Square programming by the Union Square Partnership. In addition to children’s activities in the early afternoon, the programming also includes morning yoga and cardio for all ages and abilities. Summer in the Square events are held every Thursday from mid-June through mid-August in the south plaza.
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*Annual Percentage Yields (APYs) quoted are accurate as of 4/25/2012 and are subject to change at any time without notice. A minimum deposit of $500 is required to open a USAVE CD and must be maintained to earn the advertised APYs. $100,000 is the maximum deposit for the promotional CD. Penalties may be imposed for early withdrawal. Fees may reduce earnings. After maturity, if you choose to roll over your CD, you will earn the base rate of interest in effect at that time. All accounts are subject to our normal approval process and must be funded with new monies. Offer good only for personal customers. †To be eligible for the iPod bonus, you must open a Free Personal Checking account by 6/29/2012, and direct deposit and online banking must be established within 60 days after the account is opened. You will be required to come into the branch to pick up your iPod bonus. Your iPod will be available for pickup 45 days after we have confirmed that direct deposit has been established. There is no minimum balance needed to open this account, but an initial deposit is required. There is no requirement to maintain a minimum balance in order to earn the bonus. The value of the bonus may be reported to the IRS; consult your tax advisor. If your checking account is not in good standing, you may not receive the benefit of the bonus. The checking account must remain open and your direct deposit must remain active for a minimum of 6 months or the value of the iPod (plus applicable tax and shipping charges) may be billed to you or debited from the account at closing. All accounts are subject to our normal account opening process. Bonus is only applicable to new personal checking accounts opened with new monies. Limit one bonus offer/premium per account type per customer within a one-year period. This offer is not available in combination with any other offer. We reserve the right to make bonus substitutions of comparable value and assume no liability for any defects in, or direct or consequential damages relating to or arising from, the bonus item. The warranty is the sole responsibility of the manufacturer. Offer Code: 0112. Terms and conditions subject to change. Offer may be withdrawn without notice. Accounts are subject to account-related fees, including non-sufficient funds or overdraft fees. © 2012 Amalgamated Bank. All rights reserved.
May 3 - 9, 2012
Wall-to-wall protest place Union Square is renowned as a site for protest and free speech, a tradition Occupy Wall Street protesters are doing their best to uphold. Late Sunday afternoon, a “banner drop” on Union Square West — accompanied by cheers from occupiers in the park below — urged people to join the planned May Day “General Strike” on Tuesday. The banner drop was accompanied by a “leaflet bombing,” with hundreds of small fliers fluttering down in the air from the top of the building; on one side, the fliers announced the strike, and on the other they gave details for a “Wildcat March” to be held at Second Ave. and Houston St. on May Day. Hristo, 18, a Hunter College student and member of the O.W.S. Library Working Group, explained the Wildcat would be “rowdier” and wouldn’t have a permit. “We know people don’t like it — but time is money,” he said of the anti-capitalist strategy to “shut down” the city. Photo by Lincoln Anderson
A happening area for hotels and new residential projects BY LINCOLN ANDERSON Getting a room at the W Union Square is about as hard as snagging a seat on a bench in crowded Union Square Park at lunchtime. But there should be some more room at the inns soon in the booming area thanks to a pair of new hotels coming online. The Gem Hotel, at 52 W. 13th St., between Fifth and Sixth Aves., is slated to open this year with 100 rooms. And an 11-story Hyatt, with 160 rooms, will also be opening its doors this year at 132 Fourth Ave., at E. 13th St. “It really is a clear indicator that the Union Square market is a strong one, and that hotels see this as an area for development for additional rooms, and we’re happy to accommodate the need,” said Jennifer Falk, executive director of the Union Square Partnership Business Improvement District. The W remains the neighborhood’s flagship hotel, she noted, adding that the luxe lodging, at 17th St. and Park Ave. South, is completing a full, top-to-bottom renovation. The BID’s eastern area is also seeing new residential development. In October, developer Charles Blaichman paid Milstein
Properties $33 million for the long-vacant lot at 13th St. between Third and Second Aves., which runs through to 14th St., where it has a narrow opening. The property was formerly home to the Jefferson Theater. The deal also included two neighboring vacant lots. According to Falk, it will be developed with 86,400 square feet of residential space as 82 apartments and 5,200 square feet of retail space to be divided between eight commercial tenants. BKFK architects is designing the project, which will sport studios to three-bedrooms. “This is really exciting news for that end of the district,” Falk said. There’s also the new residential tower at 123 Third Ave., at the southeast corner of 14th St. and Third Ave., which Falk said she understands is “at capacity” in terms of apartment vacancies. And at that same intersection’s southwest corner, Falk also is personally a fan of the new 5 Napkin Burger restaurant, calling it “a spectacular new eatery,” definitely an upgrade over the former “uninspired healthand-beauty-aid store” it replaced. “It was not an attractive retail corner,” she said.
Thank You For Making This Our Best Year Yet! Union Square’s Renaissance is over three decades in the making and supported by a network of organizations committed to its success. With millions of visitors each year, the Union Square Partnership works with our community and government partners to ensure the district remains clean and inviting, and continues to deliver results in core service areas of sanitation, public safety, marketing, economic development and park beautification. We thank you for your exceptional contributions. We could not have accomplished so much without you and we are committed to making the coming year an even better one for all.
Join the Conversation facebook.com/unionsqpartnership @UnionSquareNY flickr.com/groups/unionsquareny unionsquareblog.org unionsquarenyc.org
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Park to professionals: It all comes together here BY JENNIFER FALK I have walked Union Square Park every week of the last five years and I am amazed at how spectacular it looks, and how dramatically it — and the entire neighborhood — has changed. The park bristles with activity from end to end with record numbers of people enjoying the thriving Greenmarket, the refurbished north pavilion, the increased number of seating areas with their bright royal-blue umbrellas and sparkling green bistro tables and chairs and the lush new landscaping and blooming trees. Because we believe a clean park is a clear indication that a neighborhood is thriving, our Clean Team scours the district seven days a week, removing graffiti, painting street furniture, cleaning and maintaining the park’s restrooms and plazas and power-washing high-trafficked areas in and around the park. Not only is the park more beautiful and safe than ever, it is the epicenter of a thriving, bustling neighborhood that is a go-to destination for community residents, tourists, leading-edge tech companies and diners enjoying restaurants that appeal to every palate and price range. The park and businesses around it have increased pedestrian traffic to more than 150,000 people daily — and more than 200,000 on Saturdays. Recent M.T.A. statistics show ridership at the Union Square14th St. station skyrocketed an incredible 40
percent to 34.9 million people between 2000 and 2011. On weekdays, Union Square is the city’s fourth-busiest subway destination; on weekends, it’s the second-busiest. Over the last year, 19 companies, accounting for roughly 213,000 square feet of office space and 900 jobs, have made Union Square home. Four of the city’s top 10 largest venture capital firms are located in the area and a fifth — FirstMark Capital — is leaving Midtown for Union Square this summer. With nearly 70,000 residents, more than 142,000 employees, and 40,000 students from N.Y.U. and The New School alone, Union Square is one of the most vibrant 24/7, mixed-use neighborhoods in New York City. It wasn’t always so. When I joined the
Jennifer Falk.
Over the last year, 19 companies have made Union Square home. Union Square Partnership as executive director on Jan. 3, 2007, I quickly realized there was much work to be done to make it a top neighborhood in the city — and we all got right to work, planning, soliciting commu-
RARE. RICH. RENOWNED.
nity input and then rolling up our sleeves to do the job. Whenever I talk to people about the Union Square district, I always stress the organization’s five great achievements over the years. The first was the completion of the North End Project, the final phase of our park renovation. A collaboration with the city Parks Department, the project included creation of a 15,000-square-foot playground, hailed as one of the city’s best, finishing the plaza with new utilities for Greenmarket farmers, planting new trees, installing new light poles, renovating the pavilion to accommodate seasonal concessions and opening new public restrooms. The second great achievement was the neighborhood’s overall resurgence. Union Square is fast becoming home to pioneering tech companies and venture capital firms, including, but by no means limited to, Apple iAd, Net-a-Porter, Mr. Youth, eMu-
sic, Yelp, Freewheel Media, First Round Capital, IA Ventures and Canaan Partners. The neighborhood boasts the city’s lowest retail vacancy rate and is among the lowest in office vacancies. More than 40 new retailers and eateries have opened in and around Union Square over the past year. Next, we’ve expanded and upgraded activities in the park. This includes cardio, yoga and body sculpting classes and a performance series. We also will launch a 10-week “Dancing in the Square� program in mid-June, featuring everything from Zumba to salsa to hip-hop. The Parks Department and the Department of Transportation partnered with us to expand seating at the park’s north and west sides, and D.O.T. helped create public plazas with colorful umbrellas and tables and chairs. Last but not least, we’ve improved our financial picture, which includes raising the Partnership’s budget 40 percent in the last five years and putting the organization on stable footing. Since we don’t believe in resting on our laurels, we are busy with new plans for the future: working with the pavilion’s concessionaire to build out the kitchen for a new seasonal restaurant that will open in spring 2013, planning new community activities, and launching a capital program to erect better and more user-friendly signage in the park. Success like this doesn’t just happen. We owe it all to our talented staff, our dynamic board of directors, including our co-chairpersons, Lynne Brown of N.Y.U. and Carole Stein of Con Edison, and former cochairperson, restaurateur Danny Meyer. It has been an incredible first five years, and I’m looking forward to what we can accomplish together in the year to come. Falk is executive director, the Union Square Partnership
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May 3 - 9, 2012
S.T.E.P. Summer Teen Employment Program c/o Immigrant Social Services 137 Henry Street New York, New York 10002 The Lower East Side Prevention Coalition is seeking private sector employers to provide summer employment opportunities between July 5th and August 18th for young people ages 16 through 21. The estimated financial commitment is approximately $1500 per job. This project, Summer Teen Employment Program (STEP), strives to place at least 50 students in jobs. The Lower East Side Prevention Coalition is a consortium of agencies including Immigrant Social Services, the Two Bridges Neighborhood Council, HamiltonMadison House, the Office of the Manhattan District Attorney, NYS Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services, The Department of Education and the Chinatown Manpower Project. The mission of the Lower East Side Prevention Coalition is to promote positive youth development and to address factors that expose youth to alcohol, drug use, gang influence, violence and gambling.
Photo by Milo Hess
A sense of security In addition to providing services that supplement garbage pickups by the city’s Department of Sanitation, the Union Square Partnership BID also has its own team of security officers. This Occupy Wall Street demonstrator is not one of them.
t Help employ students for 6 weeks from July 5th to August 18th (Minimum wage for at least 20 hours/week) t +PC DBOEJEBUFT BSF QSFTDSFFOFE UP NBUDI KPC SFRVJSFNFOUT t +PC DBOEJEBUFT DPNF SFDPNNFOEFE CZ UFBDIFST PS DPNNVOJUZ MFBEFST t &NQMPZFST NBLF UIF GJOBM EFDJTJPO PO XIP UIFZ IJSF We urge you to consider participating as an employer in STEP to make a difference in shaping the future of our younger generation. For further information contact: Michael Tsang 212-566-2729 or michael@twobridges.org
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May 3 - 9, 2012
Photos by Jefferson Siegel, left, and Milo Hess
La lucha continua: A place to fight for workers’ rights Demonstrators added some spice to the May Day protest in Union Square on Tuesday with a Che papier-mâché head costume, left, and a luchador mask.
Budget cuts would devastate after-school programs TALKING POINT BY MARGARET S. CHIN This is what our city stands to lose this year: 25,000 after-school seats; nearly 16,000 childcare slots; 159 of 251 shelter beds for runaway and homeless youth and drop-in and street outreach services; 20 fire companies; 40 library branches; 2,750 teaching positions; senior services, including transportation, elderabuse services, and case management; adult literacy; and nearly $50 million in funds for cultural groups. To put this in context, if the Bloomberg administration fails to restore $22.1 million in cuts to after-school programs, nearly half of all out-of-school-time programs (O.S.T.) citywide will be forced to close their doors. In Council Distict 1, this number is closer to 70 percent. Out of the 10 city-subsidized after-school programs operating south of Houston St., seven will not be in operation in fall 2012, if these cuts go through. This means students at Public Schools 2, 20, 124, 142, 137, P.S./I.S. 140 and at M345 will all lose their after-school programs. Budget after budget, the Bloomberg administration cuts funding to programs that primarily serve low-income, working families and
minority neighborhoods in order to balance the books. When this is not enough, further reductions in agency spending — so-called Programs to Eliminate the Gap, or PEGs — are leveled, like the 7 percent reduction handed down in November 2011. These cuts are debilitating for programs like after-school, daycare and community boards. This year, our city is faced with a budget gap of more than $3 billion. The national economic forecast remains sluggish due to the ongoing European debt crisis and the resulting impact on Wall St. profits. New York City’s economy has stalled and city tax revenues will show little growth through 2016. There are some bright spots, such as a record-setting 50.5 million visitors in 2011 and a stable real estate market. The bottom line, however, is that the city continues to spend more money than it makes. The administration must begin to implement progressive revenue reform. This year, the mayor plans to balance the budget through continued cuts to essential services and one-shot deals, such as the sale of taxi medallions and surplus funds. These fast-cash injections will do little to reduce the projected $3 billion deficit in FY 2014, $3.5 billion deficit in FY 2015, and $3.4 billion deficit in FY 2016.
The mayor’s plan to further reduce social services and city agency budgets in order to make up this year’s shortfall is inconsistent with the opinions of New Yorkers, who tend to think the city should balance the budget while protecting services like education, police, fire and the social safety net. In order to pay for these services, 96.8 percent of New Yorkers say the city should ask for a little more from the wealthy, for example, by eliminating preferential tax treatment, according to a survey conducted by the City Council’s Progressive Caucus. Survey respondents showed overwhelming support for closing a loophole in business taxes, known as the “carried interest exemption,” for partners at private-equity companies and hedge funds so they are taxed like regular business income. This revenue option would raise roughly $200 million for the city. Respondents also called for an end to subsidies to four major banks, which failed to create 19,000 jobs out of a promised 33,000 in exchange for a collective subsidy of $783 million. This measure would reap $100 million in revenue. Further increasing personal income tax for high-income residents could raise $448 million for New York City in 2013. This option would increase marginal tax rates by
one-tenth and would only affect 6.2 percent of New Yorkers, all of whom earn over $200,000 annually. A six-cent tax on single-use disposable plastic bags could raise $99 million annually. Not only do these plastic bags — such as the kind used in drug stores and supermarkets — make up the largest share of plastic in the city’s waste stream, last year the city spent $7.2 million to export and landfill these bags. This tax, prevalent in Europe and Asia, would require state approval. If the city charged rent to charter schools that share facilities with public schools, it would raise $53 million annually. About 100 schools are currently co-located in buildings owned by the Department of Education. This would equalize capital costs for charter schools and eliminate an incentive to co-location. By implementing progressive revenue options, the city could actually expand programs like daycare and after-school and make them universal for all our children. It’s time we stop employing stopgap measures to close the budget gap and get serious about implementing reforms that benefit our city now and in the future. Chin is city councilmember for the 1st District
Union Square Community Coalition
Annual Meeting - May 22, 2012 - 6:00PM
To advertise in
ALL ARE INVITED Seafarers & International House,
123 East 15th Street, 2nd Floor, New York. (Corner of Irving Place).
Historian, author, and preservationist will speak about Union Square Park and surrounding NYC parks. Plus two other presenters and refreshments. Union Square Community Coalition (USCC) P.O. Box 71, Cooper Station, New York, NY 10276 www.unionsquarecommunitycoalition.org • mail@unionsquarecommunitycoalition.org
please call (646) 452-2496
May 3 - 9, 2012
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Photos by Clayton Patterson
Shinji Horizakura, the Japanese tebori master, at work on another “canvas.”
Ancient skills, high-flying thrills CLAYTON BY CLAYTON PATTERSON The economy in Austria seems to be doing well. The Wildstyle and Tattoo Messe in Salzburg, like Vienna, had capacity crowds and people were spending money. Salzburg is a beautiful city whose most famous son is the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and is also recognized as setting where the von Trapp family saga played out in “The Sound of Music” Broadway production and American movie. My booth partner, fellow New York photographer and world traveler Steve Bonge, before the opening of the Saturday did some sightseeing. Steve has an extraordinary collection of photos of various cemeteries around the globe. He came back with an incredible photo of Mozart’s mother’s grave. A part of my job for Wildstyle is finding inspiring talent to enhance the show’s quality and public interest. Jochen Auser, the show’s originator and owner, is pleased that I was able to get Shinji Horizakura, the wellrespected artist of tebori, the traditional Japanese tattoo method. Since Wildstyle cross-pollinates so many different cultures, the event attracts the whole cross-section of society. Tom and Domino Blue — creators, directors and winners of many prestigious awards
for original material connected to the stage — produced a visual masterpiece for Wildstyle, using a styled-out drum corps, whose beats arrangements were breathtaking. The corps played precision beats accompanied with directed lights and sounds. The acrobats the Blues brought brought and the accompany-
Domino’s original score, her singing, the drums, the background film, coalesce to beautiful effect behind Scotland’s Pain Freak. ing music was all a visual and sonic adventure I had never been on before. Domino’s original score, her singing, the drums, the background film, coalesce to beautiful effect behind Scotland’s Pain Freak. Jochen Auser once again pulled the rabbit out of the hat and created an amazing show. Everything about and around the show worked, and nothing could have been better. It was as perfect as perfect can ever be in a nonperfect world.
An aerialist hoops it up at Wildstyle.
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May 3 - 9, 2012
Photos by Milo Hess
Wings, love and lace at the O.W.S. May Day protest At Union Square on Tuesday, clockwise from above left: An O.W.S. supporter geared up with, not a gasmask, but a lace mask; two occupiers took a break to cuddle for justice; Lower East Side activists Joyce Ravitz, left, and Frances Goldin were on the scene; a stilt walker spread her wings for the 99 percent.
May 3 - 9, 2012
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EASTVILLAGERARTS&ENTERTAINMENT Sure beats a dance around the Maypole Downtown theater, during the ‘lusty month,’ dumbfounds and dazzles BY TRAV S.D. No, no, I’m not dancing around the MayPole, I just got my arm tangled in this tether ball…so don’t mind me. While I stay here and try to extricate myself, please, you kids, run along and see some Downtown theatre. Here, I’ll even hand you my list of handpicked favorites! Fans of Theater for the New City (TNC) will be glad to hear about “155 First Avenue (The Epic Adventures of the Theater for the New Synzgy).” TNC is celebrating its 25th year at its present First Avenue location, and in commemoration they are presenting this thinly fictionalized fable the story of its address past, present and future. When I say past, I mean way past. The characters include Peter Stuyvesant (whose farm this block used to be on), Walt Whitman, Yiddish actress Molly Picon and a pushcart peddler from the building’s first incarnation as a retail market. The show was written by Toby Armour (author of the award-winning “Fanon’s People”) and directed by George Ferencz, whose many notable productions include a recent revival of “Tooth of Crime” with Ray Wise at La MaMa, and the world premiere of Jean-Claude van Itallie’s “Fear Itself” at TNC. Ferencz also directed the first production presented at TNC at its current space. What goes around comes around! “155 First Avenue” runs May 3-20. For information and tickets, go to theaterforthenewcity.net. Also opening on May 3 is “Desperately Seeking the Exit,” Peter Michael Marino’s solo show that recounts various misadventures in London, including the rise and fall of his West End musical version of “Desperately Seeking Susan,” featuring the music of Blondie. Gee, that musical doesn’t sound so bad. I’d almost rather see it than his solo show, but apparently it cost $4 million to produce. Something tells me the current show made it to the stage for less. It’s directed by the great John Clancy, co-founder of the New York International Fringe Festival, and is slated to be presented in Edinburgh this summer. “Desperately Seeking the Exit” is playing at Triple Crown Underground May 3-18. More info at seekingtheexit.com. From May 5-24, the sprightly singer Carole J. Bufford, backed by the incomparable vintage jazz band Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, will be belting out the old school in a show she calls “Speak Easy.” On the set list, a roster of classics associated with the likes of Sophie Tucker, Al Jolson, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Helen Kane, etc, etc. This engagement is happening at Chelsea’s tasteful Metropolitan Room (metropolitanroom.com). In contradistinction to taste, I remember “Saved by the Bell” (when I remember it at all)
Photo by Mark Brutsche
In a scene from “White Like Me: A Honky Dory Puppet Show,” Paul Zaloom and his ventriloquist figure Butch Manly wrangle over race and ethnic identity in an epic battle of the wits…and half-wits.
as one of the least funny un-television shows I ever wasted five minutes watching. Naturally, that’s just the sort of fodder that screams out for a parodistical (new word) musical treatment by Bob and Tobly McSmith, the team that previously gave us “JonBenet Ramsey: Murder Mystery Theatre.” Called “Bayside! The UnMusical!,” the current show is a revival of an original 2005 production — and from what I can glean online, they treat the subject matter with an appropriate amount of contempt and disrespect. For example, the character of Screech is played by a female stand-up comedian named Rachel Witz who seems to be crossing her eyes in every publicity shot. Just the sort of thing that makes theatre so superior to television! “Bayside! The UnMusical!” is playing at the Kraine Theater, May 9-19. Learn more at baysidetheunmusical.com. If that doesn’t sound like a big enough atrocity for you, you might consider “Jack’s Back!” — the latest musical comedy about “Jack the Ripper,” being presented by T. Schreiber Studio at the Gloria Maddox Theater. In this revisionist take (come to think of it, they’re all revisionist since no one really knows what happened), the Ripper is foiled by a cock-
ney sausage stuffer named Herbert Wingate. Songs by Tom Herman are promised to be a mix of “Broadway, operetta and vaudeville,” which will be mighty nice if it’s true! Previews start May 9, with a scheduled May 12-June 24 run. Tickets and info at tschreiber.org. May 18-22, you’d have to be an ass to miss the first annual ASSdance Film Festival, the ambitious new underground arts event produced by ASS Studios, the demented brainchild of the legendary Rev. Jen and her boyfriend/collaborator Courtney Fathom Sell. It’s all to celebrate the May 22 release of their first DVD, which includes such ASS classics as “Killer Unicorn” (which Miller calls “a gay revenge fantasy starring people far too old to play teenagers”) and “Elf Workout!” (author/ artist/performer is also, in case you didn’t know, a very well known Elf). Aside from their own movies, there’ll also be films and performances by Janeane Garofalo, Christian Finnegan and Faceboy. Events to take place at various locations, including Bowery Poetry Club and Pushcart Coffee. Visit bowerypoetry. com, revjen.com and assstudios.tumblr.com. May 24 through June 10, at La MaMa, the fabulousness continues in “Jukebox Jackie: Snatches of Jackie Curtis,” starring Justin
Vivian Bond, Bridget Everett, Cole Escola and Steel Burkhardt — in a show conceived and directed by Scott Wittman. Curtis was the gender-ambiguous Warhol Factory-ite immortalized by Lou Reed in “Walk on the Wild Side” as the one who “thought she was James Dean for a day.” Many credit her/him as one of the progenitors of Glam, so they’ve picked a fitting cast to make this tribute. We’re also promised special guests at certain performances, including Penny Arcade, Jayne County, Cherry Vanilla and Agosto Machado. For more info, lamama.org. And last but hardly least, seminal puppeteering performance artist Paul Zaloom is back with a new solo show at Dixon Place, May 25-June 2. Called “White Like Me: A Honky Dory Puppet Show,” the piece, we’re informed, “employs the drawing room medium of toy theater to tell the story of the archetypical ‘white man’ and his universe. White-Man leaves his planet Caucazoid, travels through space, ‘civilizes’ the earth (populated with aliens), becomes a philanthropist and savior, and finally, freaks out about his approaching minority status.” I just love happy endings! More information at dixonplace.org. See you next month!
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May 3 - 9, 2012
Speaking of The Talking Band
Challenge, invention, collaboration locks in freshness THE PERIPHERALS Written and composed by Ellen Maddow Directed by Ken Rus Schmoll May 3-19 Thurs., Fri. at 7:30pm; Sat. at 7:30pm & 9:30pm At Dixon Place 161A Chrystie St., btw. Delancey and Rivington Sts. For info and tickets ($25), visit 212-352-3101 or dixonplace.org
BY MARTIN DENTON Here’s how The Talking Band describes their next show, in one sentence: “Sluice and Suzy Q — well past their youth — perform a subterranean pop music concert accompanied by backup singers and a rock band: The Peripherals.” Dixon Place’s welcoming underground theatre will be the site of this subterranean show, which is also called “The Peripherals” and opens there on May 3. Hot, Obie-winning director Ken Rus Schmoll will be at its helm, and the cast members include Talking Band co-founders Ellen Maddow and Paul Zimet along with an amazingly gifted young woman named Kamala Sankaram (who I saw earlier this year in a steampunk opera that she wrote called “Miranda”). Take my advice: if you are a fan of challenging, inventive theatre, put this on your calendar right now. Challenge and invention, you see, are the hallmarks of The Talking Band’s work. Its three co-founders, Maddow, Zimet and Tina Shepard, are polymaths with passion for theatre and its possibilities and a rich, deep curiosity about the world and its possibilities. All three are actors — you can count on at least one and maybe two or all three of them appearing in any Talking Band show. Shepard and Zimet are also directors (and teachers); Zimet and Maddow are also playwrights (quick plug: some
Photo by Darien Bates
The Talking Band thinks outside the box.
of their recent works are available on Indie Theater Now, the online digital library that I founded and curate). And Maddow is also a composer, creating and performing music for the Talking Band shows, none of which can be described as a “musical” in the conventional sense of the term, but all of which are very, very musical indeed. So these three remarkable artists are the core of The Talking Band; lots of theatre companies endowed with that kind of depth of intellect and artistry stop there, creating work for, by, and of themselves. But here’s The Talking Band’s difference: these three collaborators are always in search of new collaborators. What makes their work fresh and distinctive is that they constantly seek stimulation in the form of young and/or different partners to create with. They mine the best and brightest of the indie theater world; and they look beyond its borders, to whatever disciplines and ideas currently fascinate them. The result is theater that engages with its world in a truly active way. This work is never meta for its own sake, never self-absorbed or reflexive. The Talking Band is always focused outward, and eager to pull its audience in. I met the Talking Band, and fell instantly in love with their aesthetic and their work, when I saw Zimet’s play “Imminence” in 2008. In this remarkable piece, written in collaboration with experimental American composer Peter Gordon, the troupe explored the nature of time and human beings’ tiny place within it. I wrote in my review that it “…reminded me of ‘Our Town’ — except it feels less like watching it and more like living in it.” This was followed by “Flip Side” — written by Maddow, which looks at the modern urban world by contrasting two complementary worlds, one where the pace is too busy and too fast, and another where everyone is stymied by loss and missed opportunity. This play had a unique development process in that it started with the creation of its set by designer Anna Kiraly, and then, inspired by this composition, Maddow and composer “Blue” Gene Tyranny created the play and score. Then came “Radnevsky’s Real Magic,” created by Zimet with
magician Peter Samelson, which uses the tools of the magician — deflection and misdirection — to tell a story about magic and how it relates to other disparate disciplines, from acting to politics…and “New Islands Archipelago,” again by Zimet, set on a netherworldly cruise and featuring performances by actors like Todd d’Amour and Bianca Leigh…and “Panic! Euphoria! Blackout!,” a wild vaudevillian look at the free market, written by Maddow. In between came their most celebrated recent artistic partnership, with performance artist/cabaret star Taylor Mac. I was sitting right behind Taylor at the Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa the night he saw his first Talking Band show, so I can honestly say I was there at the moment this particular collaboration was born. Taylor recruited all three of the Talking Band co-founders to be part of his magnum opus “The Lily’s Revenge,” with Shepard and Maddow acting in the piece and Zimet directing the first of its five acts. This led to “The Walk Across America for Mother Earth,” written by Taylor Mac, directed by Zimet, and produced at La MaMa in 2011 by The Talking Band. And if the Band’s foray into the world of burlesque, via Mac and his collaborators Julie Atlas Muz and James “Tigger!” Ferguson, among others, surprised anyone, then their most recent production — a revival of Sidney Goldfarb’s “Hot Lunch Apostles” (first performed in the early 1980s) — reminded us that The Talking Band is no stranger to that branch of show business. Really, the only thing you can expect for sure when you show up at a Talking Band event is that something really interesting is about to happen to you; it’s impossible, for me anyway, to leave one of these shows unchanged. The Talking Band take their mission statement (“Illuminating the extraordinary dimensions of ordinary life”) very seriously. They shine a lot of light on what’s fundamental in our lives, and that’s why I would never dream of missing one of their shows. Martin Denton is Editor/Producer of nytheatre.com. Check out their latest project, at indietheaternow.com.
May 3 - 9, 2012
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Damage done by the game
‘Headstrong’ calculates the human cost of NFL heroics HEADSTRONG Written by Patrick Link Directed by William Carden Through May 13 At the Ensemble Studio Theatre 549 West 52nd St., btw. 10th & 11th Aves. Wed.-Mon. at 7pm; matinees, Sat. at 2pm & Sun. at 5pm For tickets ($30, $20 for students/seniors), visit ovationtix.com or call 866-811-4111 For more info: ensemblestudiotheatre.org
BY JERRY TALLMER The black guy, a hard-bitten Super Bowl champion of years ago, says: “You don’t climb Mount Everest because it’s safe. You don’t drive NASCAR to be safe. Even, what’s it called, the fucking luge in the Olympics. You think that’s safe? It’s all danger. That’s what makes it sport. As opposed to a game by Parker Brothers or Fisher Price.” The white guy says: “I understand what sport is.” The black guy says: “So danger is a must. Action is a must, or we won’t have heroes no more.” Yes, they are a black guy and a white guy — a Dartmouth white guy, no less — but they aren’t arguing color. They’re arguing Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, otherwise known as CTE or brain damage, the kind you get when you’re smashed in the head or throat or face several thousand times in an extended National Football League career. The black guy is old lion Duncan Troy, in his 60s, former all-star, all-pro Philadelphia Eagles linebacker for fourteen seasons and father-in-law of Ronnie Green, a flashy young NFL running back, whose headaches, confusion and dementia have climaxed in early retirement, followed by suicide in a lonesome
Photo by Gerry Goodstein
Nedra McClyde and Ron Canada aren’t playing games.
Cincinnati hotel room. The white guy, in his 30s, is Nick Merritt, who has come down to Philadelphia from Cambridge, Mass., to try to get permission for his mentor, tart, Nigerian-born neuropathologist and researcher Dr. Moses Odame, to clinically examine the messed-up brain of the late Ronnie Green. The remaining person in this play — for we are talking here about a new play niftily titled “Headstrong” — is Duncan Troy’s no-nonsense daughter, Sylvia Troy Green, whose permission for the brain probing must be granted even though she and the late Ronnie Green were no longer living as husband and wife. She says, “No. Take it from there.…” About 30 seconds into 27-year-old Patrick Link’s “Headstrong,” you’re slapped wide awake by the following exchange about a quarterback named Marino: NICK MERRITT: The numbers don’t lie. DUNCAN TROY: You want a number? Zero. That’s how many [Super Bowl victory] rings that guy has…
NICK: Have you met him? DUNCAN: Met him? I’ve sacked him. I’m still laughing over that one. And the rest of the play is just as crisp and clean as that. Which doesn’t mean decisive. Because “Headstrong” is purely and simply a play indecision. — the play’s, the playwright’s, and this critic’s own personal ambivalence about the “game” of professional football. Hate it, love it, can’t stop watching it. All accentuated nowadays — pro and con — by the great “Bountygate” scandal that has so far festered only in the locker room of the New Orleans Saints 2009 Super Bowl winners, who have allegedly had large sums of illegal hard cash dangled before them for driving opposition star players out of the game and into the hospital (or morgue?) with smashes to the heads, faces, eyes, limbs and other body parts. The stink grew so apparent — with former Saints defense coordinator Gregg Williams caught on audiotape urging just such violence on his troops — that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been forced to step in and impose suspensions: one year for Saints head coach Sean Payton, eight games for general manager Mickey Loomis, six games for assistant head coach Joe Vitt, indefinite suspension for exSaint and prime offender Williams. Patrick Link hasn’t written a play about that except indirectly — what medically happens to the victims of the assaults urged by people like Williams (who can be heard on that audiotape encouraging attacks on the throat of San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith). “To me,” says playwright and football fan Link, “what’s scary is I don’t think it’s only the Saints who are guilty.” The divide between Duncan Troy and Nick Merritt in “Headstrong” is the divide within Patrick Link himself. He and his father and brother all grew up on football. “I can’t imagine Thanksgiving without the TV on for the game,” he says. No, he doesn’t have a team at the moment — he and his wife Olivia live in Hell’s Kitchen — “but I want to like the Jets.” When I told him I’d once interviewed Joe Namath, the week of Super Bowl III, his jaw dropped in awe. Though young Mr. Link’s father was born in
Broken Bow, Nebraska, “population too small to bother to count,” and Patrick himself was born in Jacksonville, Florida on October 30, 1984, the community where our playwright grew up was Amherst, Massachusetts, with pop working for MassMutual. It was at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, that Link started writing plays, one of which, “Does the Body Good” — you know, like milk — made it into the New York Fringe Festival of 2007. The past four years he’s come under the sheltering wings of Off-Broadway’s Ensemble Studio Theatre. The genesis of “Headstrong” lies as much as anywhere in the real-life tragedy of Michael Lewis (“Iron Mike”) Webster (1952-2002), the great Hall of Fame lineman of the Pittsburgh Steelers who played with intimidating bare arms no matter the frozen weather and who died of a heart attack at age 50, says Link, while “sort of wandering around in confusion and dementia, living in his truck” — and in railway stations — “and having attempted suicide two or three times.” Like Ronnie Green in “Headstrong.” Green is gone before the play ever opens, but we see and feel him through the eyes of Duncan Troy (actor Ron Canada), Sylvia Green (Nedra McClyde), Nick Merritt (Alexander Gemignani) and Moses Odame (Tim Cain). A number of other onetime NFL players have died the same way as Mike Webster, and now of course, we have Peyton Manning battling a variety of symptoms. So: back to square one. Knowing what we do about the murderousness of professional football, are we for it or against it? (The last college football game that this writer ever attended, years ago, Columbia vs. Dartmouth at Baker Field, seemed like nothing so much as two bunches of fat boys pushing one another around in the rain and mud.) “I dunno,” says Link. “Maybe there’s more to life than just staying alive. Do your best” — in football as in anything — “maybe there’s value in that.” And the New Orleans Saints syndrome. What’s to be done about that? “I dunno,” says Link. “I dunno.” Nor do I. Fifteen yard penalty. First down.
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May 3 - 9, 2012
Just Do Art!
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THE CHALK CIRCLE Yangtze Repertory Theatre of America’s multilingual adaptation of Li QianFu’s thirteenth-century Zaju verse story recounts a celebrated court case presided over by the wise and fair-minded Judge Bao of the Song Dynasty — who ferrets out the deception of a jealous wife who accuses her husband’s concubine of murder. Hong Kong’s Denver Chiu, a leader in the revived art of men playing female roles in Cantonese Opera, stars as the heroine in this production characteristic of Yuan Dynasty plays (think tragic narrative, soaring arias, slapstick, mime and acrobatics). Chen ShaoMai, a Cantonese Opera actress since 1957 specializing in the Warrior Heroine part, transcribed ancient lyrics into colloquial Cantonese for the production. In English, Mandarin and Cantonese with Chinese and English supertitles. May 3-20, Wed.-Sat. at 8pm, Sun. at 3pm. At Theater for the New City’s Cino Theater (155 First Ave., at E. 10th St.). Tickets: $25; students/seniors and groups of 10 and above: $20 (Wed., “Pay What You Can.�). To order, call 212-8684444. Visit yangtze-rep-theatre.org. FACEBOYZ FOLLIEZ Like the phases of the moon, a friend in need or seasonal depression, Faceboyz Folliez has settled into a dependable pattern — but by no means, a rut. Once a month, the Folliez ensemble (led by your amiable host Faceboy) draws on their eclec-
Photo courtesy of Yangtze Repertory Theatre of America
Denver Chin, as the heroine, in Yangtze Rep’s “The Chalk Circle.�
tic talents and collective experiences to take the Parisian pleasures of the 1800’s to the diverse denizens of the Downtown scene. This month’s installment, “Full Moon Madness,� stars St. Rev. Jen Miller, Velocity Chyaldd, Stormy Leather, Amanda Whip and Paaije Flash — with short films from ASS Studios (directed by Courtney Fathom Sell). Also along for the wild, curvy ride: guest writer Daniel Indalecio Guzman, musical guest Ben Lerman and burlesque guest Scooter Pie. Sun. May 6, 10pm to midnight, at Bowery Poetry Club (308 Bowery, btw. Bleecker & Houston Sts.). $10 cover. For info, call 212614-0505 or visit bowerypoetry.com and faceboyzfolliez.com.
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Quick, who’s who? Paaije Flash, Amanda Whip, Stormy Leather, Velocity Chyaldd, Faceboy and Rev. Jen prep for this month’s “Folliez.�
May 3 - 9, 2012
All’s ‘FAIR’
Peel back the curtain, for a partial glimpse of Glass MIKEL GLASS: FAIR Through May 12 At (Art) Amalgamated 317 Tenth Ave., ground floor (btw. 28th & 29th Sts.) Gallery hours: Tues.-Sat., 10am-6pm For info, call 212-334-0403 or visit artamalgamated.com Also visit mikelglass.com
BY SCOTT STIFFLER Promoted as a marked departure from his previous work, this installation by heretofore conceptual realist painter and sculptor Mikel Glass — his debut show with (Art) Amalgamated — is not just an intriguing window into what lurks beneath the artist’s crowded and contemplative skull. That would be enough, for one show at least. Good to see, then, that “Mikel Glass: FAIR” is also a clever tweak of what goes on at art fairs. Inspiring comparisons to Norman Rockwell, Tim Burton and Marshall McLuhan — but ultimately claiming aesthetic and intellectual territory of its own — “FAIR” divides the narrow train car space of (Art) Amalgamated into two halves (or, perhaps, cerebral hemispheres). If you’re the type who likes to read the final chapter before you’ve even glanced at the book jacket, make the back room your initial destination. That’s where you’ll find an “active, manned broadcast studio disguised as an artist’s studio.” At first glance, it seems as if you’re being invited to pull back the curtain for a quick and easy glimpse of the wizard’s true nature. His name, Glass, may imply transparency — but the back room’s two notable self-portraits (one hanging on the wall, one seemingly discarded on the floor) only muddy one’s efforts to figure out what makes this guy tick. Although it provides no answers, the desk — crowded with all manner of doll heads, trophies, glowing wires and TV set tubes that evoke neurons poised to fire — conveys the artist’s thought process with a worn but elegant sense of nostalgia. In the front room (separated from the back one by a glass and steel wall, but fused to it by ceiling tubes), six large-screen monitors simultaneously broadcast a constant feed of videos — a mix of dreamy, distant images as well as streamed content from the art fair scene of local galleries (among them, Sidney Janis Gallery, Knoedler Gallery and Stable Gallery).
Images courtesy of the artist
A jumble of wires, timeworn connecting devices and rusted industrial components fuse the six monitors — instantly transforming the contemporary commentary into a relic of the past. “You don’t know if it’s art or not,” says one bemused fellow of the art fair sites he’s just taken in. Hard to say if that’s the point being made by Glass or his video monitor proxy…but I must say, I liked their earnest sense of wonder.
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May 3 - 9, 2012
Artist couple recall Patz suspect as fringe character Continued from page 1 “I didn’t want his dirty books from the garbage anyway,” she said. As for why the man was so interested in her, she said, “I looked like a boy when I was 3. I had a short haircut.” According to the woman, the man would get close to young local children through their parents. “He was very charming with adults,” she said. “He was very personable. They would talk with him for hours.” And there’s one more thing she’ll never forget about him — his strange dark eyes. “Something with his eyes — he had these gleaming eyes. It was something shiny — it was like he was always laughing at you.” Now in her mid-30s and still living in New York, the woman requested that her name not be printed out of concern for her safety. The man, Jose Ramos, may get out of jail in November in Pennsylvania, where he’s been serving time on child-molestation charges. Ramos, now 68, has long been the number one suspect in the disappearance of Etan Patz, 6, from Soho 33 years ago.
BASEMENT RE-EXAMINED In a story that made international headlines, hoping to solve the mystery of the little blond boy’s disappearance, two weeks ago the F.B.I.
Photo by Q. Sakamaki
During the meticulous search of the 127B Prince St. basement two weeks ago for the remains of Etan Patz, an F.B.I. agent dumped rubble and dirt from the excavation into a dumpster on Prince St. The debris is being segregated at a Staten Island landfill in case it needs to be re-examined later on.
and the New York Police Department dismantled an 800-square-foot basement at Prince and Wooster Sts. According to F.B.I. spokesperson Mike
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Flannelly, speaking at the time, there was “probable cause” for re-examining the space. Also, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr., two years ago, had vowed to put renewed effort into the investigation. The basement had been checked in 1979 shortly after Etan vanished, but police had balked at tearing up its concrete floor then — newly poured after the young boy went missing — because the handyman who used the space said they’d have to pay him to replace it. Since then, forensic and police technology have greatly improved. For example, according to Paul Browne, the N.Y.P.D.’s chief spokesperson, while bloodhounds existed back then, cadaver dogs did not. After a cadaver dog got a “hit” in the 127B Prince St. basement several weeks ago, authorities obtained a warrant to search the site for human remains, clothing and personal effects. The erstwhile handyman, Othniel Miller, now 76, became a “person of interest” in the case. Yet the meticulous basement search ended after four days, having turned up “no obvious human remains.” The location was just a block from Etan’s home — where his parents still live — and a block from West Broadway, where he was going to catch the school bus on the first day he was allowed to walk to the bus stop alone. According to reports, Etan sometimes helped Miller with his work, and Miller had “paid” him a dollar for this the night before he vanished.
STILL THE MAIN SUSPECT Yet Jose Ramos, not Othniel Miller — depending on which tabloid newspaper you were reading two weeks ago, and on which day — remains the primary suspect in Etan’s disappearance. Ramos, who dated the young boy’s babysitter, was a street character who
hung around Soho in the late 1970s and early ’80s. Back then, Ira Blutreich, the East Villager’s editorial cartoonist, and his wife, Iris, had a storefront studio on Sullivan St. between Prince and Houston Sts. across from St. Anthony’s Church. Iris made and sold marionettes there and Ira was doing graphic-design work for guides to the city that he was putting out. Ramos would sometimes drop by to chat with them while they worked. Iris also frequently threw dinner parties, either in the studio or out front on the sidewalk, where she’d set up a table. She’d invite a lot of people, Ramos sometimes among them. It was kind of “a hippie vibe,” Ira recalled of the scene. It was apparently a place where a person like Ramos could fit in. “I knew him as Mike Ramos,” Ira said. “He said he had been an art director in the past and he had a knowledge of printing process. I remember talking to him about art a lot.” Blutreich said he’d be working on a Mylar cutout for a print and Ramos would give him advice on how to improve it — “whether I should have it cut off or bleed off.” “He was smart, very smart. He was very charming,” the cartoonist said. “I just remember someone who came in and was interesting.”
Etan Patz.
Ira said, another time, he bumped into Ramos selling books at a table outside the Jefferson Market Library on Sixth Ave. At night, Ramos “would roam around and collect things,” the cartoonist said. “He had a gray hat with pins, and would pull it off and try to give a pin to the kids,” he remembered. “It was like a beret with a visor.”
UPSET AT PEDOPHILE STORY Ira recalled once when Ramos came to their studio in March 1982, upset after the New York Post ran a small news brief about his being exonerated of charges that he tried to lure some kids in the Bronx into a drainpipe he was living in. The previous Post article about the alleged incident had been a full two-page spread in the front of the newspaper, but the follow-up item on the charges being dropped was buried in the back of the paper.
Continued on page 29
May 3 - 9, 2012
amid Soho artists scene Continued from page 28 “He thought it was unfair,” Ira said. Another curious thing about Ramos that stuck in Ira’s mind is that he said he had built an A-frame house on a small parcel of property not claimed by anyone down in Tribeca by F. Illi Ponte restaurant. Ramos claimed to have checked city records for the plot and said no one owned it. “He was actually living with someone,” Ira recalled. “He was very proud of the house and the way it looked. He kept saying there was a restaurant there that served longshoremen. He said they dumped their garbage on his property.” Ira tried to tell the police about Ramos’s A-frame house, but they weren’t interested. He was only interviewed for the case once by the police, who specifically questioned him about a man who sold balloons in Washington Square Park. “At the time, he was engaged to be married,” Ira said. “He was an artist and he did the balloons on the side.” The cartoonist was friendly with the balloon man because Blutreich would take his two young children to the park and talk to him.
‘HE WAS WELL-SPOKEN’ Ira’s wife, Iris, said Ramos used to come into her studio at night when she was working and converse with her. He told her about living in “an abandoned pipe” in Van Cortlandt Park, as well as about living by the Ponte restaurant. “He said he had the pipe lit up with car batteries,” she said. “He said he had kids in there, but didn’t say anything about doing anything with them. “He used to have an attaché case — the first time. He said he used to be in advertising. He said his family didn’t talk to him. He was wellspoken, he carried himself well.” The Blutreichs’ Italian neighbors kept an eye on the store — and on Ramos. “The people on Sullivan St. used to watch him,” she recalled. “They didn’t like him.” “All sorts of people walked into my studio,” she said. “I just assumed he had fallen off the wagon. He didn’t smell bad, like a subway person. His hands were really dirty. He smelled like a dog smell — like he must have slept with his dog.” Despite Ramos’s saying he had squatted “unclaimed land,” Iris believes the Department of Sanitation knocked down his A-frame house. She also remembers Ramos’s girlfriend at the time, who was about 20, while he was 30 to 35. “She was a young girl and there was something she was very angry about with him,” Iris said, recalling one sighting. “She was young with fair skin.” Ira said he never knew the handyman, Othniel Miller, and that his wife just recalled seeming him on the street.
A MAJOR MEDIA EVENT Stanley and Julie Patz, Etan’s parents,
declined to speak to the press two weeks ago during the basement excavation. On the operation’s first day, someone from their building taped a skateboard deck over the intercom to stop reporters from buzzing. The next day, the Patzes taped a notice by the intercom, addressed to “the hardworking and patient media people,” saying they had “No comment.” This Monday, when a reporter called, Stanley Patz replied, “We’re not doing media interviews.” The basement investigation was a major media event. Longtime Soho denizens and tourists alike came to gawk. By the second day, with the help of a Con Ed jackhammer crew, the joint F.B.I./N.Y.P.D. team was systematically tearing up the floor and removing the rubble and dirt bucket-brigade style. Joe McNamara, a designer who moved into the neighborhood in 1982, said, “I still remember the picture of that kid with the blond hair and the gap tooth.” Recalling Soho circa 1979, he said, “It was much less commercial. It would have been the type of place where people could be lurking around.” Not all in the crowd of onlookers, though, recalled Etan’s “Missing” photo on the sides of milk cartons. On the excavation’s first day, Debbie Leiker, 34, in town from Atlanta, asked what was going on. Queried if she knew the story of Etan Patz’s disappearance, she said, “No — but we’re going to go Google it. I’ve never seen anything like this before. This is like what we see on TV, like ‘CSI.’ ”
PATZES KEPT PRESSURE ON Sean Sweeney, director of the Soho Alliance, said the fact the investigation is still ongoing is a credit to Stan Patz’s tenacity. Sweeney said Patz, a few years ago, joined Sweeney’s political club, Downtown Independent Democrats, to urge Vance and the other D.A. hopefuls to pledge to keep up the search. “He put a lot of pressure on the candidates to investigate this case,” Sweeney said. The Soho activist noted that Etan Patz’s disappearance and the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh’s baby were “the two most famous kidnappings of the 20th century.” At the time of Etan’s disappearance, Ramos was living in an apartment at 234 E. Fourth St. He subsequently admitted taking a boy there the day that Etan vanished. In 2000, police checked the building’s boiler for evidence of human remains, but found nothing. In 2001, the Patzes had Etan legally declared dead. In 2004, they won a civil case against Ramos in which he was declared responsible for Etan’s death.
‘I HOPE HE DIDN’T DO IT’ Ira said he and Iris never saw anything in Ramos that would have led them to believe he was a pedophile or a killer. Asked this week if he thought Ramos was behind Etan’s disappearance, Ira said, “I hope he didn’t do it. I personally liked him. My daughter — because he was arrested in Pennsylvania — she always thought he was guilty. She was scared of him when she was a kid.”
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NOTICE OF INTENT TO REQUEST RELEASE OF FUNDS; NOTICE OF FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT AND NEGATIVE DECLARATION ABC NO RIO PROJECT May 3, 2012 Name of Responsible Entity and Recipient: Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, Telephone Number: (212) 962-2300, Contact: Angela Rossi. These notices satisfy two separate procedural requirements for activities to be undertaken by LMDC. Notice of Intent to Request Release of Funds LMDC, a subsidiary of Empire State Development (a political subdivision and public benefit corporation of the State of New York), proposes to provide funding to ABC No Rio to support its proposed construction of new facilities (the “Project”) as part of LMDC’s Community and Cultural Enhancement Program. On or about May 21, 2012, LMDC will submit a request to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for release of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds under Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to support the Project. The Project would provide improved public cultural, community and educational facilities through demolition of an existing 4,680 square foot arts space at 156 Rivington Street and the construction of a new, 7,600 square foot community arts center on the same site. The new building would house a photo darkroom, screen-printing facility, small press library, technology resources, expanded space for art, music, performance, educational and community activities, as well as meeting and office space for ABC No Rio and other organizations. Approximately $275,000 of CDBG funds from HUD would support the Project. Notice of Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI Notice) and Negative Declaration LMDC is responsible, pursuant to federal statute 42 U.S.C. ß 5304(g) as recipient of CDBG funds, for conducting environmental review of projects receiving HUD funds in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 24 CFR Part 58, the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) and related laws. LMDC caused the preparation of an Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Project and, based on the EA, has determined that the Project would not, either individually or cumulatively, have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment or a significant adverse environmental impact under NEPA or SEQRA. The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) was the lead agency for review of the Project pursuant to SEQRA and City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) and classified the Project as an Unlisted action. HPD issued a Negative Declaration under SEQRA and CEQR on February 10, 2012. LMDC will therefore not prepare an environmental impact statement for the Project. Release of Funds LMDC certifies to HUD that David Emil, in his capacity as President of LMDC, consents to accept the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts if an action is brought to enforce responsibilities in relation to the environmental review process and that these responsibilities have been satisfied. HUD’s approval of the certification satisfies its responsibilities under NEPA and related laws and authorities, and allows LMDC to use CDBG program funds. Objections to Release of Funds HUD will accept objections to its release of funds and LMDC’s certification for a period of fifteen days following the anticipated submission date or its actual receipt of the request (whichever is later) only if they are on one of the following bases: (a) the certification was not executed by the Certifying Officer of the Responsible Entity; (b) LMDC has omitted a step or failed to make a decision or finding required by HUD regulations at 24 CFR Part 58; (c) the grant recipient has committed funds or incurred costs not authorized by 24 CFR Part 58 before approval of a release of funds by HUD; or (d) another Federal agency acting pursuant to 40 CFR Part 1504 has submitted a written finding that the project is unsatisfactory from the standpoint of environmental quality. Objections must be prepared and submitted in accordance with the required procedures (24 CFR Part 58) and shall be addressed to HUD at Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, 26 Federal Plaza - Room 3541, New York, NY 10278-0068. Potential objectors should contact HUD to verify the actual last day of the objection period. Comments Written comments on the FONSI notice, the Negative Declaration or the notice of request for release of funds may be submitted to LMDC and must be received by LMDC by 5:00PM on Friday, May 18, 2012 or they will not be considered. LMDC will consider all comments received by this date prior to authorizing the submission of its request for release of funds to HUD. Comments should be directed to Angela Rossi, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Attention: ABC No Rio Project; One Liberty Plaza; New York, NY 10006; Telephone: (212) 962-2300; Fax: (212) 962-2431. Further Information Additional project information is contained in the Environmental Review Record (ERR) on file at the office of LMDC. Requests for information about the Project can be directed to the same address listed above. Project information will be available at the office of LMDC during regular business hours. David Emil President LOWER MANHATTAN DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
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Photos by Tequila Minsky
At The Players Club for the issue of the Jose Ferrer stamp, from left, Frances Sternhagen, Christopher Lloyd and Ferrer’s widow, Stella Magee. Inset, the new Jose Ferrer “Distinguished Americans” stamp.
Famed actor Ferrer is going postal with a new stamp St. Brigid School BY ALBERT AMATEAU Theater and screen luminaries joined New York politicos at The Players Club on Gramercy Park last week for the U.S. Postal Service’s issue of a stamp honoring the actor Jose Ferrer. It was a fitting stage for the April 28 launch of the newest “Forever” stamp in the U.S.P.S., Distinguished Americans series. The Puerto Rico-born actor, winner of both a Tony and an Oscar for his stage and screen role as Cyrano de Bergerac, was a member of The Players for 56 years and the club’s president from 1983 until 1991, the year before his death. Hal Prince, himself winner of 11 Tony Awards as producer and director, recalled that he was 18 and a junior at the University of Pennsylvania when he saw Ferrer playing Cyrano in Philadelphia. “I was awed,” said Prince, recalling that he found the courage to introduce himself to Ferrer at the stage door and told him that he aspired to become a theater director. Adam Clayton Powell IV, former assemblymember representing East Harlem spoke about being raised in Santurce, P.R., in a house owned by the Ferrer family. Frances Sternhagen, a 1973 Tony award winner and featured player in many film and television roles, recalled her friendship with Ferrer and his widow, Stella Magee. Josie de Guzman, a native of Puerto Rico and twice a Tony Award nominee, recalled being directed by Ferrer in a 1979 musical and remaining a friend of the Ferrer family and Magee. Christopher Lloyd, known for his character roles in the film “Back to the Future”
and the television series “Taxi,” remembered Ferrer as director, mentor and friend. Former Mayor David Dinkins was among the standing-room-only crowd in The Players, along with Theodore Chapin, chairman of the American Theater Wing board of directors and a Broadway producer. Sidney Poitier sent a message in tribute, and so did Congressmember Jose Serrano and Mayor Bloomberg. John Martello, an actor and executive director of The Players, recalled Ferrer’s favorite joke on himself — going onstage one night as Cyrano without the character’s famous long nose, “and nobody noticed the difference.” Jose Ferrer’s son, Rafael, by his former wife, Rosemary Cluny, said Jose’s father would have appreciated the stamp ceremony. “My grandfather, Rafael Ferrer, had a stamp collection that he started in 1899 and it’s still in the family,” said Rafael. Luis Balzac, representing Governor Luis Fortuno of Puerto Rico, hailed Ferrer as a product of two cultures, Anglo and Hispanic, and a symbol of the New World. Jose Ferrer moved to New York with his family at age 6 and passed the admission test to enter Princeton University at the age of 15. He was considered too young to attend and so spent a year in a Swiss boarding school. He entered Princeton the next year as a member of the class of 1933 and joined the Triangle Club, the university theater club. Triangle Club members came to ceremony last week and sang, “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” a song popular when Ferrer was at Princeton.
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