East Villager, May 23, 2013 by Schneps Media

Chairmen of the boards, p. 6

Volume 3, Number 16 FREE

East and West Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Noho, Little Italy and Chinatown

May 23 - June 5, 2013

‘A special building’: Landmarks O.K.’s Bialystoker Home BY TERESE LOEB KREUZER The nine-story building that once housed the Bialystoker Center and Home for the Aged at 228 East Broadway will survive. On May 21, after around 15 minutes of discussion, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to approve it for designation as a New York City landmark. The Art Deco build-

Photo by Sam Spokony

On Monday, Cynthia Marcelino, 17, and Dalia Rodriguez, 18, put up signs to protest develop Serge Hoyda's actions on land used by the Children’s Magical Garden. Both are high school students who attend classes across the street from the garden, and Rodriguez is one of the garden's youth leaders.

Trouble in paradise as owner fences off part of kids’ garden By Sarah Ferguson Developer Serge Hoyda staged a surprise attack on the Children’s Magical Garden on Wed., May 15, when he dispatched a security detail and work crew to erect a chainlink fence to section off the portion of the garden he owns.

Hoyda and his partners in Norfolk Street Development LLC own one of the three small lots that make up the garden on the corner of Norfolk and Stanton Sts. The other two lots are owned by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

A crowd of gardeners and supporters — including many students from the Lower East Side Prep school across the street — gathered to protest as workers began digging big holes through their fresh plantings.

Continued on page 4

ing was erected during the Depression by immigrant Jews from Bialystok, Poland, who scraped together $40,000 (equivalent to around $600,000 today) to create a place where the elderly and ill could receive the care they needed. It opened with great fanfare on June 11, 1931. It closed on Nov. 1, 2011, beset with debts.

Continued on page 8

Eighth St. murder follows wave of anti-gay assaults BY ANDY HUMM The point-blank shooting murder of a gay man this past weekend has galvanized concern in the L.G.B.T. community about a spate of antigay attacks in Manhattan that number at least seven since May 5. Mark Carson, 32, a gay man out socializing with friends in the West Village, was shot in the face and

killed just after midnight on the morning of Sat., May 18, by a gunman shouting antigay slurs. Apprehended nearby shortly after the shooting, Elliot Morales, 33, has been charged by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance with murder in the second degree as a hate

Continued on page 16

May 23 - June 5, 2013

Cooper and Singer make strange bedfellows, critics cry By Sarah Ferguson On Wed., May 15, more than 150 people marched from the old P.S. 64 on E. 9th St. — former home of the CHARAS/El Bohio Cultural and Community Center — to The Cooper Union to demand that the university reverse its plan to lease up to 196 beds in the new dormitory that owner Gregg Singer wants to build there. Led by the Hungry March Band blowing Dixieland jazz, giant puppets and a substantial police escort, the boisterous crowd wound its way through the East Village, with some stopping to boo for a minute outside Cooper President Jamshed Bharucha’s residence on Stuyvesant St., before rallying outside Cooper Union’s Foundation Building. There they were greeted by Cooper students who have been occupying Bharucha’s office since May 8 to protest the board of trustees’ decision to break with a centuryold tradition and begin charging undergraduate tuition in 2014. “There is no room, and no desire, and no way we will live with a dorm in our backyard,” declared Councilmember Rosie Mendez, shouting to the crowd from a bullhorn. “Cooper Union needs to rescind whatever deal I believe it doesn’t have so Singer can give us back our building,” Mendez added. Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh was equally strident.

Photo by Jefferson Siegel

Speaking in front of the Foundation Building at the May 15 protest, Chino Garcia said the former CHARAS/El Bohio should be restored as a community center. Councilmember Rosie Mendez, left, held the bullhorn, while Laurie Mittelmann, codirector of the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MORUS), right, held a poster blasting developer Gregg Singer.

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“As a community, we have to at some point draw the line and say this is a battle we are not going to lose, and this is a fight we’re not going to quit,” Kavanagh said. Responding to claims by Cooper officials that they were unaware of the long controversy over the sale of CHARAS and Singer’s handling of the property, Kavanagh added: “If it was a mistake that they didn’t know what they were getting into, then they should back off and get out of this deal.” CHARAS co-founder Chino Garcia questioned whether Singer’s plans were really for a dorm at all. The lease Cooper signed gives it “right of first refusal” for 196 of the roughly 530 beds in the proposed dorm. “Let’s be clear. This is not a dorm,” Garcia told the crowd. “He wants to build a youth hostel. He’s been trying to do that for 13 years. “That’s a residential neighborhood and it shouldn’t be that. It should be a community center that serves the local community,” Garcia said. Saar Shemesh, a first-year art student, read a statement on behalf of the roughly 100 Cooper undergrads who have occupied Bharucha’s office over the last week. “As a community in the throes of financial uncertainty, we find it wholly unacceptable that Cooper Union’s administration failed to research the vital history of this space before pursuing a disgusting lease,” Shemesh said, adding, “From one landmarked institution to another, we call for this community treasure to be pro-

tected not endangered.” Shemesh also questioned whether many Cooper students would rent space at Singer’s dorm, where students would pay $1,550 to bunk with four to seven other students in the same suite. Cooper already has its own dorm, which houses nearly all of its roughly 200 freshmen, she noted, and it’s generally only freshmen who want to pay a premium to live in a dorm setting. “I don’t know anyone who pays more than $400 or $700 for shared space,” Shemesh said. “Most of my friends live in Brooklyn or way Uptown.” Garcia said that if Cooper really wanted more dorm space, it could add a few more floors on its modern new academic building on Cooper Square, or on the glittering office tower being completed on Astor Place on land leased long-term from Cooper Union, drawing jeers from the crowd. Former squatter Eric Rassi urged opponents of the dorm to dog the mayoral candidates and “make them take a position.” Filmmaker turned Internet entrepreneur Paul Garrin, who graduated from Cooper in 1982, noted that Mayor Bloomberg will be speaking at Cooper’s commencement on May 29. “We should ask him to write a check to Cooper to close its deficit, and a second check to Cooper to buy back CHARAS, so they can bring in their architects and engineers and artists to transform that building into a state-ofthe-art community center that is energy independent and ecologically sustainable,” Garrin said. While that may be unlikely, the need to build greater cooperation between Cooper and the East Village community was clear. “They should have talked to us to see how they could help this community with the architects and engineers that they have,” Garcia lamented. “There’s a lot of people in this neighborhood that need that type of help.” Mendez said said President Bharucha has agreed to meet with her and other elected officials and community members next week to hear the whole saga of CHARAS and its contested sale to Singer. “I think if he can get out of it, he will,” Mendez said of the dorm lease. But while Cooper put its neck out by being the first school to sign on with Singer, other schools are starting to follow. On Sun., May 12, the Wall Street Journal reported that the West Village’s Joffrey Ballet School had agreed to rent 120 beds at the proposed dorm, dubbed University House. “Ballet school officials say the dorm represents an opportunity to offer its students — some of whom are high-school age — much-needed housing options,” the Journal wrote. That means Singer has leasing commitments for more than half the dorm. And it makes Cooper’s position as a partner in the project that much more tenable.

May 23 - June 5, 2013

Scoopy’s

notebook DIETHER BACK WITH A BLAST — SLAMS WITKOFF, BATALI: Longtime Community Board 2 member Doris Diether finally returned home to Waverly Place last Thursday after rehabbing her broken hip and broken shoulder at VillageCare on W. Houston St. She got great care at VillageCare since, she said, “I had the two best aides — Jainisha and Whitney.” But the veteran activist, 84, said she was glad to go home since there just wasn’t enough for her to do at the rehab center. We called her Tuesday and she had just returned from a Board of Standards and Appeals hearing on Steve Witkoff’s residential project on Charles St. The project’s opponents drove her down to the hearing. The board allowed Diether to testify first, and she blasted the plan. “I’m against it,” she told us. “I said, they lied.” The developer, in order to get a zoning boost, was supposed to retain the building’s base — and build on top of this — but didn’t, Diether asserted. “They didn’t. It’s a vacant hole,” she told us. “No bonus!” she declared in a hoarse whisper due to an ongoing problem she’s been having with a paralyzed vocal cord, another health issue she’s been grappling with. But Scott Alper, principal with the Witkoff Group, said Diether doesn’t have it right. First of all, the project was never granted any bonuses, he stressed. Instead, he said, the building will be contextual. “It will be a 15-story building instead of a 30-story tower in the West Village — analogous to the Trump Soho — which could have been built there.” The B.S.A. will reportedly render its decision on the challenge on July 23. And the walls that were required to be left standing are still there, he assured. Diether is O.K. living at home but needs assistance going in and out of the building with her walker, navigating the front three steps. She’s been busy, doing some cleaning, opening six weeks worth of mail, “and my cats want attention,” she added. Friends are coming by to help feed the felines, because Diether can’t bend over to feed them due to her hip. Meanwhile, Diether, in another B.S.A. battle, is also continuing to bash Mario Batali’s Babbo restaurant across the street from her. She charges that the building’s top two floors — which Batali was using as offices — are supposed to be residential. Batali recently put a “For Rent” sign up on the floors, but Diether scoffed that it’s not a genuine effort and that, “He’s just doing that to get the B.S.A. off his case.” WITKOFF PROJECT FALL: Speaking of the Witkoff project, Jean-Louis Bourgeois, one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Charles St. luxury development, called us on Tuesday to report a construction accident at the site. He said he witnessed a slew of police cars and emergency vehicles responding to the scene. A police spokesperson later confirmed that a worker at the site, a male in his 50s, had fallen about 25 feet and suffered broken bones and been removed to Bellevue Hospital, and was “not likely to die.” Alper said he and Witkoff visited the man in the hospital on Wednesday, and that he has a broken leg but is doing O.K. “It was a freak accident,” said Alper. “It was his negligence. It was a misstep — he admitted that.” Told that Bourgeois is now saying the project is unsafe and should be shut down on safety grounds, Alper said, “That’s the furthest thing from the truth,” adding, “I wouldn’t be surprised that’s coming out of his mouth.” LIU RISES AS THE ‘ANTI-QUINN’: In a shocker, that has some folks scratching their heads, Comptroller John Liu recently won the endorsement for mayor from both the Village Independent Democrats club and the Coalition for a District Alternative. At V.I.D., a West Side club, there was a runoff between Liu and Council Speaker Christine Quinn. On the first ballot, Liu got 32 votes to Quinn’s 31, while Public Advocate Bill de Blasio got only 9 votes and former Comptroller Bill Thompson just 5. Quinn picked up no

votes in the runoff, with Liu going on to beat her, 41 to 31. Of course, the club voted before former Congressmember Anthony Weiner jumped into the race this week, and one can only speculate how much support the sexting scandal-scarred candidate would have garnered. Among borough president candidates, former Community Board 1 Chairperson Julie Menin romped, with 48 votes, while Councilmember Jessica Lappin, Gale Brewer and Robert Jackson netted 20, 6 and 2 votes, respectively. In their vote for public advocate, the V.I.D.’ers went for state Senator Dan Squadron, giving him 44 votes, to 27 for Councilmember Letitia James, 3 for

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Reshma Saujani and 1 for Cathy Guerriero. The leadership of the club, including District Leaders Jonathan Geballe and Keen Berger, were firmly behind Quinn. “What’s shocking to me is that de Blasio is not getting any traction,” said V.I.D. President Tony Hoffmann. “I cannot explain why Liu is getting traction as the ‘anti-Quinn.’ How much scandal can there be in a campaign before it touches a candidate? I don’t have an answer for that. Two low-level people being convicted of campaign fraud — but if it’s more it would be very difficult.” Many consider Liu the most progressive candidate in the field. Hoffman said the club was true to its name. “ ‘Independent’ is the big word in Village Independent Democrats,” he noted. “The leadership went with Quinn, but the membership went for Liu.” As for borough president, state Senator Brad Hoylman supported Lappin, while Assemblymember Deborah Glick backed Menin. “I think a lot of it was geographic,” Hoffman said of the B.P. vote. “Jessica is from the Upper East Side. Julie is more focused on the Downtown community that we consider ourselves a part of.” Meanwhile, over at CoDA on the East Side, Liu convincingly beat de Blasio in a runoff, 23 to 12. On the first ballot, Quinn received only 7 votes, and Thompson just 1. Again, voting for Weiner wasn’t an option because he hadn’t announced yet. CoDA backed James for advocate, with 31 votes, to 10 for Squadron. But they had no endorsement for borough president, with Brewer edging out Jackson in a runoff, 18 to 17, which didn’t reach CoDA’s required 60 percent margin for victory. In another stunner, CoDA did not endorse Councilmember Margaret Chin for re-election in the First District. In the first round of voting, Chin won

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May 23 - June 5, 2013

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Photo by Sam Spokony

Aresh Javadi, far right, and environmental attorney Joel Kupferman, second from right, spoke to a representative of developer Serge Hoyda, left, at the Children’s Magical Garden on Wed., May 15.

Kate Temple-West, one of the directors of the Children's Magical Garden watched in dismay as workers fenced off the land owned by Hoyda.

Trouble in paradise as owner fences part of garden Continued from page 1 “You don’t have to do this!” a young man shouted at the workers, begging them to stop. The fence effectively bifurcates the garden. Gardeners, who have been tilling the formerly abandoned lots for the last 30 years, had in recent weeks reached out to Hoyda’s reps and Councilmember Margaret Chin in hopes of orchestrating some kind of “land swap,” whereby the city might agree to give the developer a different lot to build on if he ceded his small lot to the gardeners. Chin’s office put representatives of the developer in touch with officials at H.P.D. to discuss the situation. Instead of coming to some agreement, the developer brought a chainlink fence. “It’s a total shock,” said garden president Kate Temple-West, who said she heard of the fence going up when she got a call from a neighbor at 9 a.m. A crowd of high school students from Lower East Side Prep, which overlooks the garden, gathered outside the garden to watch the police and workers tromp through the seedlings that they had sprouted in their classroom and planted just the day before. “They are killing our plants, our baby plants,” said Tamara Aulestiarte, 18, from Argentina. “Why are they doing this?” L.E.S. Prep is one of three schools that now use the garden as an outdoor classroom. Check thevillager.com for Sarah Ferguson’s in-depth update on the Children’s Magical Garden.

Photo by Sam Spokony

Taiyo Kizawa, 3, who lives around the corner from the garden and comes there often with his mother, played while workers fenced off the land owned by Hoyda.

May 23 - June 5, 2013

Photos by Sam Spokony

Above, City Councilmember Margaret Chin visited the Children’s Magical Garden last Thursday — a day after developer Serge Hoyda fenced off his land — and spoke with garden member Dave Currence, who was holding his 4-month-old son, Wells. Below, Chin, accompanied by staff member Matt Viggiano, surveyed the garden and new banners the gardeners had put up on Hoyda’s fence. Hoyda’s workers later ripped down the banners.

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May 23 - June 5, 2013

A smashing idea: Breaking barriers through boards

Photos by Katherine Kostreva

Leif Becker demonstrated his board-smashing prowess, then invited Boys Club members to channel their own inner Bruce Lee.

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On Wed., May 8, at the Boys Club of New York, at E. 10th St. and Avenue A, martial artist Leif Becker smashed through dozens of wooden boards while more than 60 Boys Club members first watched in awe, and then kowabunga-chopped boards themselves to help them break through their own barriers. Becker, who holds two world record titles for fastest board-breaking, created the Breaking Barriers program to help young kids and teens overcome personal difficulties, including peer pressure, poverty, violence and illness. “Each board represents

a child’s voice and the opportunity to have it heard,” Becker explained. “These kids have more power than they know, so when they witness me breaking through boards, they understand that, just as easily, they too can overcome their own fears or personal setbacks. Their challenges, life missions and dreams are represented on that piece of wood. It’s a very powerful thing.” As a finale to his current national tour of youth organizations, Becker plans to break 100,000 boards in 24 hours, each one signed and representing a child’s personal barrier.

May 23 - June 5, 2013

D.O.T. backpedals, removes Renwick rack in Hudson Sq. By Lincoln Anderson The squeaky wheel gets the — bikeshare docking station removed. Residents of 49 Renwick St. in Hudson Square were relieved Tuesday to see workers wielding hand trucks dismantling and removing the new bikeshare station lining Renwick St. at Spring St. in front of their home. Bike-share critic Sean Sweeney, director of the Soho Alliance, alerted The Villager of the development by forwarding an e-mail in which the building’s residents happily shared the news among each other. “Mad Men” actor John Slattery was cc’d. Titus Leung, the president of the building’s co-op board, said they succeeded in getting the rack removed only because “we spoke out as a group.” Leung said he received a message from the Department of Transportation “commissioner” — apparently referring to Margaret Forgione, the agency’s borough commissioner — confirming that the racks were permanently removed, and also that that they would not be resited anywhere in the area. “I guess they decided that we really don’t need these many stations in our little neighborhood,” he said. “I don’t want to get into specifics,

Photo by Lincoln Anderson

The Citi Bike docking station on Renwick St. at Spring St. was removed Tuesday in response to residents’ complaints. All that was left were painted white lines and flexible bollards, which presumably will be removed sometime soon.

P ST ! S T U THE C

but let’s just say the decision to reverse location of the racks on our street was probably easy,” Leung told The Villager. “It’s a very narrow, one-way street, and there are a number of construction projects just beginning at the south end of the street. So these racks likely would’ve created a significant safety issue, in addition to all the practical issues it would’ve created. Somehow, I believe, these facts were not known — or were ignored — when our location was first identified.” That D.O.T. was willing to backpedal and remove the Renwick rack in response to residents’ concerns was encouraging, Leung said. “From my point of view,” he said, “at the very least, this does show that D.O.T. is ultimately being rational in its deployment of these racks.” Architect Stas Zakrzewski said the building’s courtyard sports a bike rack and that all the residents are avid cyclists, but that the bike-share station just had been sited in a bad spot, “on one of the most narrow streets possible.” “I really think the bike program is awesome,” he said. “I just think that parts of it didn’t seem to be thought-out in terms of where it was going.”

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May 23 - June 5, 2013

Landmarks Commission designates Bialystoker Home Continued from page 1 “It’s a special building and it has special character and more than meets our criteria and it tells so many stories,” said the commission’s chairperson, Robert Tierney, after hearing from the other commissioners, who also lauded the building. “The form of the building is so sculptural,” said Margery Perlmutter, a commission member. “It’s quite extraordinary in its architecture.” “I’m always astounded that this building could be constructed on the Lower East Side in 1929,” commissioner Michael Goldblum commented. “It’s just fantastic.” The motion to designate the Bialystoker Home as an official New York City landmark passed unanimously. As Tierney announced the vote, two members of the audience, Joyce Mendelsohn and Mitchell Grubler, applauded and grinned. Along with Linda Jones, they had founded the Friends of the Bialystoker Home to save the building. They had won. Praise and the quick, decisive vote to landmark the Art Deco building came at the end of a year and a half of struggle, during much of which, it seemed that the Bialystoker Home might be sold by its board of directors to a developer who

Photo by Terese Loeb Kreuzer

Mitchell Grubler and Joyce Mendelsohn applauded after the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to landmark the Bialystoker Home for the Aged at 228 East Broadway. With Linda Jones, they founded the Friends of the Bialystoker Home a year and a half ago to fight to save the building.

would raze the building in order to build luxury apartments. At the time it closed, the Bialystoker Home was roughly $14 million in debt for wages and pensions owed to its healthcare

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workers and for taxes. The board of directors claimed that a sale to the highest bidder would be the only way to repay that debt — and also said that landmarking would preclude such a sale. Grubler, Mendelsohn and Jones, all of whom have ties to the Lower East Side, were just acquaintances when they heard in August 2011 that the Bialystoker Home was about to close. Quickly, they became determined confederates. “We had our first official meeting [to try to save this building] at the end of September 2011,” Mendelsohn recalled. Shortly thereafter, they went to a strategy session with Simeon Bankoff, the executive director of the Historic Districts Council. “We really felt that this was a very long shot,” Mendelsohn said. “But we felt that we had to stand up for this cause, so we just kept going.” She and Grubler said they never felt discouraged, even though, according to Mendelsohn, “the whole campaign was a roller-coaster, so our adrenaline was always at a high level.” “There were plenty of adversities,” Grubler said. At a meeting of Community Board 3’s Preservation Subcommittee in December 2011, some people argued against landmarking. A representative of Local 1199, SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, spoke about the union’s concerns that its members get the wages and contributions to medical and pension funds that were due to them. Nevertheless, the subcommittee voted to support a resolution in favor of landmark designation. In April 2012, the Friends of the Bialystoker Home met with union representatives and “aired our case,” in Grubler’s words. The union said it would

remain neutral and not oppose landmarking. At a subsequent full C.B. 3 meeting that month, the community board passed a landmarking resolution with a vote of 20 in favor, 12 opposed and four abstentions. Three days later, Grubler and Mendelsohn met with City Councilmember Margaret Chin, who represents the Lower East Side. She said that she would support landmarking. “Margaret has said that the union [Local 1199] not being in opposition was the deciding factor in her coming out in favor of it,” Mendelsohn said. Now that the Landmarks Preservation Commission has approved landmarking for the Bialystoker Home, the City Planning Commission must weigh in, and then the designation goes to City Council. Mendelsohn said that City Planning invariably approves the L.P.C. decision and that, after that, “City Council usually votes according to the wishes of the councilmember of that district. Margaret has been a strong supporter.” City Planning has 60 days to consider the matter and the City Council has 120 days. However, according to Lisi de Bourbon, spokesperson for Landmarks, “Legally the building has been designated, so any work done to the building would require a permit.” Grubler, Mendelsohn and Jones will no longer have to stand vigil over the vacant building, as they did during the months of uncertainty, to make sure that it wasn’t damaged while it was in limbo. They have not yet been permitted to go inside, but are concerned about what they will find when they do. They know that there are historic plaques and that there may be important records in the basement. “The Bialystoker Landsmanshaften [mutual aid society] is very important to immigrant history, American history, New York City history,” Grubler said, “and any records of this organization deserve to be preserved in a publically accessible archive.” As for the building’s future, Grubler said, “In an ideal world, it would continue to serve the demographic that it has always served — people in need, seniors. Whether that is economically feasible, I cannot say.” Mendelsohn thought it might be suitable for affordable housing. “My grandparents moved to the Lower East Side when they came to the United States,” she said, summing up her feelings about the landmarking vote. “My parents were born there.” When the vote occurred, she said, “I was thinking about my grandparents, and I was thrilled that we were able to save another building that reflects the Jewish heritage of the Lower East Side, since the neighborhood is changing so rapidly. That’s so important that here we have a visible link.”

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May 23 - June 5, 2013

Police BLOTTER Nim-rods busted

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Police hauled in two men on the afternoon of May 20 after they were spotted trying to beat each other’s brains out on a West Village sidewalk. Dawud Stewart, 37, and Hama Amadou, 31, were apparently engaged in a heated argument near the corner of Washington and Christopher Sts., around 4:30 p.m., when they both picked up blunt objects and began mercilessly whacking each other, police said. After witnesses called to report the incident, officers arrived to find Stewart wielding a metal rod and Amadou waving a wooden broomstick. Stewart and his heavier weaponry got the better of the duel, as he left the fight with only a cut on his hand while Amadou was taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment of several cuts on his neck, police said. Though each man claimed he was the victim, both were slapped with assault charges.

Wild chase for mugger 130 Bleecker Street 212-358-9597

An opportunist crook thought he would have an easy time stealing from a senior citizen, but the tables were turned when the victim, his son and several bystanders chased the thug down. The victim, 70, told police he was walking past the corner of W. Ninth St. and Sixth Ave. with his son, 45, around 1:15 p.m. Sat., May 18, when the alleged thief — later identified as Eric Collier, 29 — ran up from behind and snatched his wallet out of his hand. And when the senior struggled to take his property back, Collier reportedly muscled him down, regained control of the billfold — containing a credit card, MetroCard and $60 cash — and fled on foot. The victim’s son ran after Collier and was able to corner him down the street, but the shifty thief feigned a punch and got away, police said. But the son continued the chase — now aided by three citizens who had witnessed the crime. After several more failed attempts to corner Collier, the posse of pursuers succeeded in stopping Collier, soon after which police arrived to arrest him, charging with robbery.

Bottle smasher acted out Police arrested Tal Grinbram, 21, early on Sun., May 19, after they say he smashed a beer bottle over another patron’s head during a bar fight. Grinbaum got into it with a 20-year-old man shortly after midnight, while they were both having drinks at the Actors Playhouse, at 100 Seventh Ave. South (an establishment that doubles as an indie theater), police said. The victim told officers that he was left with cuts on his head and chest after Grinbaum hit him with the glass bottle, but he didn’t require hospitalization. Grinbaum was apprehended about an hour later just down the block from the Playhouse, after police on patrol identified him by the description given by the victim. He was charged with assault.

Made in the shades, not Two women tried making off with $1,200 worth of merchandise stolen from two swanky Bleecker St. stores on May 14. An employee at Marc Jacobs called police around 7 p.m. to tell them that two women — later identified as Sonia Ufot Johnson, 35, and Fatou Fadiga, 20 — had just left the shop with a pair of $340 sunglasses without paying. The employee then followed the women on the street for several minutes, until cops arrived and quickly discovered the stolen shades. Upon searching Johnson and Fadiga, the officers also found pricey earrings and bracelets that had just been reported stolen from the nearby Alexis Bittar shop. Both women were charged with grand larceny.

‘Spirited’ away her cash Police are searching for three women who allegedly conned an elderly woman out of $2,000 on a Nolita sidewalk by claiming they could use psychic powers to cleanse her cash of “evil spirits.” The three suspects, all believed to be in their 40s, approached the victim, 72, near the corner of Prince and Elizabeth Sts. around 9 a.m. on Thurs., May 9, police said. One of the alleged scammers reportedly told the older woman her entire family would be haunted by the spirits if she didn’t “purify” her money. But when the unwitting woman took the suspects back to her Spring St. home and gave them $2,000 in a bag, the thieving trio kept it and gave her back a fake replacement bag, full of shredded newspapers, police said. The scammers covered their tracks by telling the senior not to open her newly “purified” bag for several days, in order to make sure all the spirits had left the cash. When the woman finally peered in her purse, she realized she’d been had, and reported the crime to police, who are still investigating.

6th Precinct A.T.M. safety tips Be aware of suspicious people outside and inside A.T.M. location; Don’t leave A.T.M. without completing your transaction, even if you need to switch machines; Block bystanders’ view while conducting your transaction. Use the mirrors positioned at the A.T.M. to see behind you; If you feel someone is looking over your shoulder, cancel the transaction and leave immediately; Only use A.T.M.s in well-lit, populated areas; Avoid A.T.M. locations that have unlocked doors or are open to the street; Put your money away and take your card and receipt before leaving the A.T.M.

Sam Spokony

May 23 - June 5, 2013

Scoopy’s

notebook Continued from page 3 19 votes, to District Leader Jenifer Rajkumar’s 9, and 12 for “no endorsement.” On the second ballot, Chin still had 19 votes, Rajkumar suddenly had none, and “no endorsement” bumped up to 14. In short, Chin didn’t get enough to win the club’s nod. When she challenged then-incumbent Alan Gerson four years ago, CoDA was just about the only political club that endorsed Chin. Meanwhile, CoDA executive board member Chad Marlow accused Liu of packing the club with new members. But Ayo Harrington, CoDA co-president, told us that a quick check of the club’s membership list didn’t bear that out, with only one new member being a strong Liu supporter. Most of the recent sign-ups, she said, are actually “lapsed CoDA members, well-known names.” As for the club’s support for James, who is AfricanAmerican, for advocate, State Committeeman Michael Farrin said, “We like Daniel, but we like him as a senator — and we’re also interested in a diverse ticket reflecting a majority minority city. It’s good to have an elected official at the citywide level who’s representative of the city. Diversity was the tie-breaker between two very good candidates.” Farrin is a big Chin supporter personally, though conceded, “She wasn’t great on the N.Y.U. stuff — but she was great on Seward Park [SPURA].” As for borough president, Harrington said of Menin, “She’s likable. She seems smart. She’s a tough cookie.” But she added that club members spoke critically of Menin’s having “a 25,000-square-foot apartment and a multimillionaire real estate developer as a

husband.” Harrington admitted, however, she doesn’t really know if Menin’s place is actually that big. “The idea is people got the idea, you know — she’s privileged,” Harrington said. Plus, she added, versus Jackson and Brewer, Menin “just pales in comparison.” For his part, Farrin is a strong backer of Menin, who recently picked up impressive support in Northern Manhattan, as well. Will anybody be re-voting for mayor now that Weiner has entered the race, and how would he have done if he had been in the running before? V.I.D.’s Hoffmann said, “We have gone through our endorsement process. There will not be a revote. I have no idea how Liu would have fared if Weiner was in the race. Given that I didn’t predict that Liu would win in the first place, I will not venture a guess how Weiner would have affected the outcome.” VACATING THE VOICE: The talent purge / exodus at the Village Voice continues to snowball. Just after reading that Michael Musto and other top writers were getting canned, we bumped into reporter Nick Pinto Monday on Eighth St. at the rally against the surge in anti-gay hate crimes, including Mark Carson’s murder. It turns out Pinto is also bailing from the Voice. “Actually, I just gave notice earlier today,” he told us. P.S., We haven’t even seen The Voice distributed in its news boxes this week! ROCK THE MAYO! One doesn’t usually associate Whole Foods with rock ’n’ roll, but that was the explanation for the couple of slinky-looking, long-haired guys walking around Hudson Square in black jeans and no shirts on Wednesday afternoon. Turns out they were shooting a print ad at the old Don Hill’s club for a W.F. product, Fakin’ Bacon Mayonnaise. THE CASE OF ‘THE MYSTERIOUS BLOB’: It’s a favorite of legendary L.E.S. activist Frances Goldin, but Something Sweet, at 11th St. and First Ave., has been

going through a serious sour spell. The store was closed for five months in 2011, and then has been closed again since July 2012 after one of the owners had two strokes. A lot of the issues are connected with the landlord either making or not making repairs to the space, which caused tremendous disruption, we hear. The store owners are currently looking for a partner or someone to bring in to help the business, plus a lawyer to help them sort everything out. Although neighboring Veniero’s is more famous, Something Sweet definitely has its charms, and its fans, like Goldin. A favorite was “The Mysterious Blob,” a concoction with red velvet, a little cream cheese and a vanilla bean inside, for just $1.50. Others were the truffle button and the chocolate banana. And then there’s always Lilly, the window mannequin with a missing hand, the store’s mascot. ROUNDUP REVULSION: An East Village reader alerted us that he had received an alarmed report from a friend who walks his dog in East River Park that the Parks Department is spraying the park with Monsanto’s Roundup weed-killer. This will be putting pooches in grave danger, the dog owner fears. However, a Parks Department spokesperson tells us there’s no reason to get wound up about Roundup, and that the powerful plant killer is completely harmless. “Roundup has been used in parks for decades and is approved by OSHA and the city’s Health Department,” Phil Abramson said. “It is a post-emergent spray that combats weeds, and at East River Park, since Hurricane Sandy, mugwort has sprung up. The spray is inert, meaning that it targets weeds but does not affect soil, wildlife or people’s pets.” … Yeah, but it’s also made by Monsanto, which, as we learned from the movie “Food, Inc.” is strong-arming small farmers out of business left and right unless they agree to buy the multinational company’s grain seed, which doesn’t regerminate and needs to be purchased anew — from Monsanto — each year.

ACADEMY SOCCER OPEN TRYOUTS SEASON 2013-14

GIRLS U7-U11 U7-U8 ACADEMY BORN 8/1/05-7/31/07

U9-U11 ACADEMY BORN 8/1/02-7/31/05

SATURDAY, JUNE 1ST -2:00 - 3:30PM @ PIER 40 ROOFTOP FIELD SATURDAY, JUNE 8TH - 3:30 – 5:00PM @ PIER 40 COURT YARD WEST We are pleased to announce that as part of our commitment to ensuring that girls have extensive opportunities to play soccer, DUSC is launching the DUSC Girls Academy for girls aged 6 to 11. This is the first step in rebuilding our girls program equivalent to our boys program. In time, we will be adding other programs, including a Girls Travel program. The mission of our Academy programs is to develop committed and competitive players from U8-U11 in the technical, tactical, physical and psycho-social components of the game required to be a successful soccer player. Players are trained by professional, licensed youth coaches who understand the individual needs of the players at each phase in their development and create a positive learning environment that encourages players to experiment, play freely and creatively, and nurture a passion for the game. The main emphasis at this phase is not on wins or losses but developing technically proficient soccer players. To read more on our Academy, please go to: http://www.dusc.net/pages/index.php/academy/academy

Go to DUSC.NET for more information!

Downtown United Soccer Club (DUSC) is the most comprehensive youth soccer program in New York City, serving thousands of kids a year. DUSC is deeply committed to the interests of our kids as soccer players and young people as they grow and learn, ensuring that everyone regardless of gender, age, race, skill level or income has the opportunity to play and enjoy the game.

DUSC.NET info@dusc.net

May 23 - June 5, 2013

editorial

We will fight back Seven anti-gay attacks in 16 days. One a shocking closerange shooting of Mark Carson in the face, resulting in the 32-year-old man’s death. The West Village, the East Village, Madison Square Garden, Union Square and Soho. The city’s elected leadership laudably stepped up to condemn the hatred, support the victims and mourn Carson. Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly spoke unsparingly of their outrage at the murder. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, an out lesbian and a leading mayoral contender, was the driving force behind a May 20 march in remembrance of Carson that drew an estimated 1,500 participants. All four of her Democratic mayoral rivals also joined the gathering. The gay community in New York has enjoyed equal marriage rights for nearly two years. As Quinn’s strong position in the mayoral race attests, gays and lesbians are rapping on the doors of some of the highest political offices. And still the hatred continues. It’s always ugly, sometimes brutal, and on the most tragic occasions lethal. And the bigotry which helps fuel the hatred also continues. When gay marriage first headed for the floor of the Assembly in 2007, Assemblymember Dov Hikind said, “If we authorize gay marriage in the state of New York, those who want to live and love incestuously will be five steps closer to achieving their goals as well.” In April, Cardinal Timothy Dolan wrote that his parents welcomed anyone into his childhood home, so long as they remembered to “wash your hands.” A group of gay activists with dirty hands who attempted to enter St. Patrick’s Cathedral the following Sunday were met with determined N.Y.P.D. resistance. More to the point, while New York has come so far in terms of L.G.B.T. civil rights, this recent wave of shocking violence — culminating in Carson’s senseless murder — shows us that the threats to safety, and to just being able to live one’s life, remain. Some say the upsurge in violence is precisely because gays and lesbians are more high profile than ever now, that the L.G.B.T. community most notably is continuing to make great — long-overdue — strides on marriage equality. In other words, the fear is that there is a backlash against the advances of gays and lesbians. One speaker, a pastor, at Monday’s rally at Eighth St. and Sixth Ave. — the site of Carson’s murder — noted the significance of basketball player Jason Collins having recently publicly come out, finally cracking the macho bastion of pro sports. As he put it, to the crowd’s cheering approval, pro hoops players are “taking off Jordans and putting on pumps!” At the same time, Carson’s death also points to the ongoing need for gun control. It was sadly far too easy for an inebriated, bigoted and twisted coward — who served time in jail previously on assault charges — to shoot Carson to death, after having initiated things by insulting the victim and his friends verbally. Guns need to be kept out of the hands of highly dangerous, unbalanced individuals like this. We were glad to see a strong, reassuring police presence posted along Sixth Ave. at Eighth St. on Saturday after the shooting. Merchants on Eighth St. tell us the block is safe. Even so, alcohol, a gun and hate proved a volatile combination. We were inspired to see 1,500 people turn out for Monday’s anti-violence rally in the Village. “We will not be harassed! We will not be threatened!” one of the speakers exhorted the crowd. In shades of Stonewall, one man at the rally answered back with his own words, punctuating them by punching his fist repeatedly into the air, “We will fight back! We will fight back! We will fight back!” Backlash or not — we won’t let our society go backward. We will stand up to the hate. We will fight back. It’s up to all of us.

letters to the editor The artistic life vs. media hype To The Editor: Re “Francine Morin, 62, artist and longtime East Villager” (obituary, May 9): “Those of us who cherished our neighborhood for encouraging and embracing creative energy, should celebrate not just those who became ‘art stars,’ but also those who came here to experience the joy of trying.” This was a beautiful quote from Larry Gregory and it is said in the real spirit of the longtime East Village. The East Village creative energy — what people call the buzz — was built on people living an artistic life, not on socalled “art stars,” usually invented by the media. Penny Arcade

Chin is smart, fair and fun To The Editor: Re “Chin’s all in: Silver, Nydia back bid for a second term” (news article, May 9): Margaret Chin represents her whole district, which is proven by her actions. She is smart, fair and hardworking, plus she has a sense of humor and fun. I bet she will be re-elected by the majority who support her. Peggy Friedman

Rock on, Richie Havens To The Editor: Re “Woodstock icon Havens dies at 72” (April 25): Your recent coverage of Richie Havens leaves much to be desired! Your paper routinely gives tons of print space to bums, criminals, yippies, crusties and other ne’er-do-wells. Richie lived in the Village for 50 years! His widow, Nancy, is on Jane St. in the West Village! As a young man, Richie came to the Village from Brooklyn and read poetry in our cafes! He then turned toward folk singing and performed in small cafes, like the Why Not, Raffio’s and Four Winds.

EVAN FORSCH

He then want on to Cafe Wha? and then starred in shows at the Night Owl Cafe, where he was on the bill with the likes of the Lovin’ Spoonful, Tim Hardin, Fred Neil and Bob Gibson. Richie was a star long before he appeared at Woodstock in 1969. He was a credit to all of us Villagers! Joseph Marra

Like a cult — but on wheels To The Editor: Re “Bike-share in the Village: What would Jane Jacobs do?” (talking point, by Charles Komanoff, May 9): As co-founder of the cycling advocacy organization Transportation Alternatives, Charles Komanoff set the tone for the presumption of moral and logistical superiority with which this group operates. New York City has, on average, the nation’s longest commuting time and the fifth-worst traffic congestion, according to a recent USA Today report. A good part of the reason for all this is the misapplication of bike amenities, such as bike lanes and quiet plazas imported from Europe. New York City has much greater density with narrower streets. Logistics. Over the last 10 years, fueled by the $10 million funding of Mark Gorton, the LimeWire software developer and high-frequency hedge fund operator, and the appointment of Janette Sadik-Khan as commissioner of the Department of Transportation, Transportation Alternatives has managed to bamboozle the gullible and browbeat politicians. T.A. has assumed a cult-like status by pushing “going green” while supporting an outlaw bike population instead of a responsible bike culture. Neat trick. When it comes to bike-share, T.A. is rushing to push through everything it can under the free rein of Mayor Bloomberg. Adding an untested layer of bike riders and a squadron of docking stations to an already dangerous, out-ofcontrol traffic situation seems borderline, cult-like madness. Well, Charlie, it looks like the clamor is mounting and the lawsuits flying. The public isn’t drinking the Kool-Aid. Jack Brown Brown is founder, Coalition Against Rogue Riding (CARR)

Continued on page 21

WE NEWSP May 23 - June 5, 2013

Conceal and carry: And the lead poisoning is free! TALKING POINT By JERRY TALLMER Shannon Rose Eclectic Media Productions Tampa, Florida Dear Ms. Rose: I am in receipt of your May 17 e-mail headlined, “FREE AMMO FOR THE MONTH OF MAY.” It sort of stopped me in my tracks. Free ammo for me? Golly gee. Reading further, I learn that a gentleman named Tim Schmidt, president and founder of the United States Concealed Carry Association and its Concealed Carry periodical, is telling us that “right now ammunition is nearly impossible to find,” and “To combat that, the United States Concealed Carry Association is giving away 1,000 PHYSICAL rounds of ammunition every day for 31 days during the month of May.”

when he met his wife at Michigan Tech — his U.S.C.C.A. gave away 30 new guns to new subscribers. “I know without a doubt,” says Mr. Schmidt — why do these gun guys never have the slightest doubt? — “that what we are doing at the U.S.C.C.A. is helping communities across the nation become more safe.” With friends like that… . It is time to reread Hemingway’s “The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber.” Margo Macomber had no doubts either, when she grabbed a gun against a charging buffalo.

And blew her husband’s head apart by mistake. Myself, whenever the subject of guns comes up, I always think of Pop Taylor. He looked like Walter Brennan, if you can remember Walter Brennan — Bogart’s leathery sidekick in “To Have and Have Not.” Pop Taylor was a New England version of Walter Brennan. I can hear him now, the calm, dry rifle counselor, as I'm lying on my belly on the grass of the 50-foot target range at Camp Menatoma, Readfield, Maine, a .22 cradled in my arms. “Squeeze it, son,” Pop Taylor is saying. “You don’t pull the trigger, you squeeze it. If

you pull it, you’ll miss.” And then Pop Taylor says one more thing: “Never point a weapon at anything you don’t intend to kill.” The merry month of May. A maypole, my Eclectic friend, is a longstanding symbol of sex, of love. It is not a Bushmaster .223 or an AK-47. So, dear Ms. Shannon Rose, what are you and your Concealed Carry client offering us — love or death? I can’t wait till June and High Noon. Yours very truly, J.T.

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BY PAUL SCHINDLER

he 2004 federal budget proposed by the Bush administration on February 3 is drawing both praise and criticism from gay and AIDS groups. “Generally, we have a mixed reaction to it,” said Winnie Stachelberg, political director at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), even as some leading AIDS groups, including the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), were more critical. The proposal includes a $100 million increase for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), a $5 million dollar increase in the Housing Opportunities for People With AIDS

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Pete Seeger sent a postcard, above, to say he enjoyed the recent article by Sarah Ferguson on the New York City Community Garden Coalition’s candidates forum at The Cooper Union. The folk icon, 94, stole the show with his appearance — and a classic photo of him plucking his long-neck banjo, by Tequila Minsky, ran on the East Villager’s front page. The article also ran in The Villager. Underneath his signature on the card, Seeger drew a banjo.

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Whenever guns come up, I think of Pop Taylor and the target range at Camp Menatoma… . The merry, merry month of May. In the springtime, the only pretty ring time, When birds do sing, nay ding a ding ding, Sweet lovers love the spring… . All an ammo-seeker has to do is subscribe to the U.S.C.C.A. magazine — the kind you read, not the kind you shoot — and the free bullets are yours, though it’s not clear whether that means one round per new subscriber or 1,000 rounds. I wonder if sure-shot Dick Cheney has ever subscribed to your publication. Tim Schmidt, claimant of a degree in engineering from Michigan Tech University, describes himself as “a passionate defender of the 2nd Amendment” and donor of $10,000 “to lift the handgun law in Chicago in 2010.” Last month, April, an even prettier ring time —

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May 23 - June 5, 2013

Spectra pipeline radon fear starting to catch fire By Eileen Stukane Evidenced by the large turnout at the May 14 public forum “Lung Cancer and New York City Kitchens: Why Increased Radon in Natural Gas Could Be a Public Health Disaster,” local residents are growing increasingly concerned about seemingly high radon levels in the natural gas that the Spectra Energy pipeline will be bringing to New York City. The newly constructed pipeline enters Manhattan at Gansevoort Peninsula, near W. 14th St. The event, primarily sponsored by The Cooper Union Institute for Sustainable Design, with six other organizations related to either health or the environment, had backing from a strong cohort of 60 other community, environmental, health and political organizations as co-sponsors. About 350 people gathered in The Great Hall at Cooper Union to learn from a panel of five experts about radon: the tasteless, odorless, colorless gas, the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers, second leading cause among smokers, that may be arriving in our homes in unsafe levels to breathe. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates 21,000 U.S. lung cancer deaths a year are due to radon inhalation. Noting that sobering figure, the panelists — from the fields of environmental law and public and occupational health — explained just how the radon content will increase in the gas we are using to cook in our kitchens and heat our homes, and they alerted everyone to the fact that this could

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potentially be a major public health issue. The forum concluded on a note of hope, however, as Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal made a powerful announcement of her sponsorship of a bill “to amend the public health law in relation to the protection of public health from exposure to radon in natural gas.” But first everyone heard the facts. Jeff Zimmerman, an environmental lawyer with a degree in physics, has spent most of his career with the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and now represents various environmental and citizen groups. He explained how radon gas results from the radioactive decay of uranium, thorium and radium, minerals present in significant quantity in the Marcellus Shale. The Marcellus Shale stretches thousands of feet below ground, from West Virginia, through Pennsylvania, into a bit of Ohio, and along the west side of the Hudson River in New York. Hydraulic fracturing — hydrofracking —blasts open the underground rock by using an array of unspecified chemicals and tons of water and sand to release the gas from the shale’s uranium and radium-226. Gas from the disturbed minerals contains, as a side effect, radioactive radon. Radon is present in all natural gas, and Zimmerman, along with other panelists, decried the fact that there is little information, very few studies that have looked at radon levels in natural gas. The E.P.A. considers 4 picocuries per liter (pCi/l) as the safe level in homes. The

music

ThURsDAY, MAY 23, 1pm Concerts at One Ensemble ACJW Trinity Church MONDAY, MAY 27, 1pm Bach at One A weekly service of J.S. Bach’s cantatas. St. Paul’s Chapel

education

sUNDAY, MAY 26, 10am Discovery: Instruments of Grace An intergenerational class featuring Trinity’s Movement Choir, Sunday School for Children & Youth, and Choristers in a collaborative arts offering for all ages. 74 Trinity Pl, 2nd Fl, Parish Hall sUNDAY, MAY 26, 10am The Gospel, Times, Journal, and You A discussion group that reads the editorial pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the assigned gospel for the day. Led by the Rev. Mark Bozzuti-Jones. 74 Trinity Pl, 2nd Fl, Parlor

World Health Organization cites a lower 2.7 pCi/l as safe. Zimmerman explained that most of our New York City natural gas has come from the Gulf Coast, and studies from offshore Louisiana wells have shown that this gas starts at 5 pCi/l. Radioactive radon has a relatively short halflife of 3.8 days, after which its concentration drops in half. After another 3.8 days, that half divides in half, so it’s a fourth of the original, and so on. It dissipates quickly. Radon in the gas New Yorkers have been receiving from the Texas-Louisiana coast, takes six to eight days to travel through pipelines to get here, so radon is diluted and the levels we are breathing in are considered safe. However, natural gas hydrofracked from the Marcellus Shale, which Zimmerman explained is a “dark shale” — indicating high uranium and therefore high radon content — will be mixed into the natural gas travelling through the Spectra Energy pipeline from the Gulf Coast and other locations. The Marcellus Shale is already being hydrofracked in nearby Pennsylvania and in certain locations in Upstate New York, and more locations may be approved in the future. Gas from the close-tohome Marcellus Shale area travels an estimated 10 miles per hour and can be here to fire our gas stoves in less than a day, not the usual six to eight days, and certainly not enough time for radon’s radioactivity to reduce to safer levels. A recent U.S. Geological Survey tested

community

FRIDAY, MAY 24, 6pm Family Friday Yoga and Veggie Night Practice with your children in this familyfocused yoga class! As kids discover the foundations of yoga, adults can sweat away their stresses from the week. Charlotte’s Place TUesDAY, MAY 28 & JUNe 4, 1-3pm Open Hours Origami Learn origami with interfaith minister Lisa Bellan-Boyer. Origami stimulates creativity and spatial awareness in addition to being a gentle contemplative practice and stress reliever. Charlotte’s Place WeDNesDAY, MAY 29, 6pm Dancing with Marley Love to dance? Free your mind from the worries of the day! Come on out and let your body move to the sublime reggae beats of Bob Marley. Charlotte’s Place

The Rev. Dr. James H. Cooper, Rector The Rev. Canon Anne Mallonee, Vicar

Leah Reddy

an Episcopal parish in the city of New York

radon levels at 11 wellheads — chosen by the industry, according to Zimmerman — in the Marcellus Shale in Western Pennsylvania and found 37 pCi/l as the median radon reading. This is not anywhere even near the E.P.A.’s safe level of 4 pCi/l of radon in our homes. Another panel member, Elizabeth Glass Geltman of CUNY School of Public Health, also noted that based on reviews of natural gas from other parts of the country, which she did not see relating to more local natural gas, New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation and Department of Health have stated that they “do not believe that radon in Marcellus Shale gas poses a significant risk to residents in homes that utilize gas.” She remarked that, in “backwards thinking,” D.O.H. has stated that if New York State permits further hydrofracking of the Marcellus Shale, D.O.H. will assess radon levels through samplings, “in order to verify that they do not pose an unanticipated health risk to end-users of the gas.” Geltman added, “If you wait for that to happen, the infrastructure will be in place and the argument will be that we can’t change the infrastructure.” Dr. Sheila Bushkin-Bedient of Concerned Health Professionals of New York highlighted those who would be most vulnerable to radon inhalation: children, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems.

Continued on page 20

worship sUNDAY, 8am & 10am St. Paul’s Chapel · Holy Eucharist sUNDAY, 8pm St. Paul’s Chapel · Compline – Music & Prayers sUNDAY, 9am & 11:15am Trinity Church · Preaching, music, and Eucharist · Sunday school and child care available MONDAY – FRIDAY, 12:05pm Trinity Church · Holy Eucharist MONDAY – FRIDAY, 5:15pm All Saints’ Chapel, in Trinity Church Evening Prayer, Evensong (Thurs.) Watch online webcast

May 23 - June 5, 2013

For Taylor: The last great Downtown bohemian artist Whatever You say Whatever You do Whatever Happens Whatever Gets you through

— Bob Holman

By Bob Holman Stephen Paul Miller got up, told the story of how Taylor got his apartment — Taylor came to visit Stephen and stayed, so Stephen just found another apartment. Leticia Viloria, former bartender at the Bowery Poetry Club, discussed having Taylor’s Dewar’s (three ice cubes) waiting as he sat down at the corner of the bar to unprepare for his weekly show. Then she lit into an a cappella “Love Song” filled with graphic language that would have made a sailor blush, but a Taylor was rejoicing in uncensored sexual rush. Duv, the Club doorman, and Shawn “Symphonics” Randall freestyled a hip-hop eulogy to the man they often walked to his place on stage. And so it went on May 13 at the Spontaneous Gathering, a loving act of remembrance for the last great Downtown New York bohemian artist, the poet/actor/ painter Taylor Mead, held at what was described as “Bowery Poetry 2.0,” where Taylor performed a weekly show for more than nine years. He had died of a stroke, at age 88, on May 8. Robert Galinsky, who produced Taylor’s Web cast series on Josh Fried’s (in atten-

dance) wild Pseudo Network, holding his iPhone up to the microphone, played clips of “Taylor Mead’s Last Fifteen Minutes.” (The astonishingly refurbished shared space of Duane Park/Bowery Poetry Club has many many attributes, but a dongle to connect projector to MAC it has not.) Taylor’s rap begins: “If you’re watching this I’m long gone. I’m dead, and I don’t care. It’s my party and I’ll die if I want to.” And so went the night. Poems and confessions, uninhibited audience participation, some drinks, wit all around. Taylor’s bar bills were discussed. Zack Bahaj, son of Lucien of Lucien’s, the main key to Taylor’s survival during lean years, read a poem for the first time, Taylor’s “I Don’t Remember,” that goes, in its entirety, “F--it.” Clayton Patterson, Cary Abrams, Irving, Zero Boy, Fly, Robert the filmmaker, Dorothy Friedman August, Tom Savage, Terese Coe, Steve Dalchinsky, Mari Claire Sherba (who played opposite Taylor in the Obie-winning 1963 production of Frank O’Hara’s “The General Returns From One Place to Another”), Richie Rich (Theater for the New City), David Huberman, Puma Perl, Robert Heide and many others. Nikhil Melnuchuk and Adam Horowitz, the new co-Executive Directors of Bowery Poetry, were very much present, smoothly watching over Bowery’s transition as we all grappled with Taylor’s. Taylor, whose whole life was spontaneous improvised transition, on screen and off, now gets that Infinity he’d predicated would be his death date. The night truly orbited around the member of the family, the divine Priscilla Mead,

Photo by Clayton Patterson

Taylor Mead in front of his Ludlow St. building on the Lower East Side in 2010.

Photo by Toni Dalton

Taylor Mead at an art show at the Westbeth Gallery about three years ago.

who had come to New York a couple months ago to negotiate a deal with Taylor’s landlord and his escape from New York. For years, word was that Taylor couldn’t survive in the infested hellhole that was his apartment. Clayton Patterson’s articles in The Villager fired up the population, goaded the landlord. And then Taylor’s angel, Priscilla, his niece, appeared, manifesting all that seemed Heaven for Taylor: a house with a bed, a dog and cat he adored, radio that had opera and classical. He was planning a trip to New Orleans soon — gallerist Brad Boyd had offered him a loft, studio space and a show. He had a dentist appointment with our mutual dentist, Caroline Stern, on May 21, so we knew he’d be returning. From one place to another. The irony of course that he couldn’t survive heaven. Priscilla spun out the story

with grace, twinkles and “whatever”s, channeling Taylor himself. I’ve never seen family be so lucid, generous, in this kind of public setting, putting grief on the backburner so the community could have all of Taylor, as much as he’d let us, in the room. The room, so different than in Taylor’s tenure, so new to most people in the house (and the place was packed throughout, from 6 to 9 p.m., SRO), was energized and in love with our Taylor, the great artist who had “an anonymous celebrity,” as Cary Abrams declared. A last poem. From Taylor’s “A Simple Country Girl,” published by Otto Barz and Bowery Books: I Burned My Candle At Both Ends I shall not last the night But what a f------- life

May 23 - June 5, 2013

Eighth St. murder follows wave of anti-gay assaults Continued from page 1 crime, menacing in the second degree, and two weapons charges. Less than 24 hours after the killing, hundreds turned out for a vigil at the site of the murder at 60 W. Eighth St. just east of Sixth Ave. following a social media call from Adam Feldman, a writer for Time Out. On Mon., May 20, three days after the murder, elected officials and L.G.B.T. groups organized a march of more than 1,500 people from the L.G.B.T. Community Center on W. 13th St. to a rally at the same site. Just hours after that rally, Dan Contrarino, a club promoter, was attacked on Avenue D and E. Fourth St. by an assailant shouting “faggot,” NightLifeGay.com reported. Contrarino posted on Facebook, “GAY BASHED LAST NITE… back from small surgery…. CHEST XRAYS THIS AM…. suspect still at large… police n media waiting to interview me… U JUST WANNA CRY N MOVE ON…” At 5 a.m. on Tues., May 21, a gay couple, Steven Dixon, 42, and Michael Coleman, 41, were attacked in Soho by men shouting anti-gay epithets and repeatedly punching Dixon, causing lacerations, swelling and pain to his eye, the New York Post reported. Fabian Ortiz, 32 and Pedro Jimenez, 23, were arrested on charges of felonious assault as a hate crime. Unlike these two attacks and four others since May 5, where violence erupted quickly, seemingly out of nowhere, Morales is alleged to have been carrying on in an abusive and menacing manner for some time prior to the Carson shooting. According to police, after urinating outside the Annisa bar and eatery on Barrow St. at West Fourth St., he entered the establishment, spewing anti-gay slurs at the bartender, showing off a weapon, and threatening to kill him if he called 911. Morales and his friends then encountered Carson’s group outside a 99-cents pizza store on Sixth Ave. near W. Eighth St., and Morales allegedly targeted anti-gay invective at them as well, including, “Look at you faggots, you look like gay wrestlers.” Carson’s group moved on, but minutes later Morales — after his friends failed to dissuade him from another confrontation — allegedly came back at Carson’s group, saying to them, “You want to die tonight?” According to the district attorney’s complaint, Morales then asked Carson, “Are you with him?” and “Carson answered, ‘Yes,’ at which point the defendant shot Carson in the head with a silver pistol.” Carson was brought to Beth Israel Hospital and pronounced dead at 1:40 a.m. Morales was confronted at 12:05 a.m. by police officer Henry Huot who ordered him to stop, “at which point the defendant drew a gun and turned toward Officer Huot, but the gun fell to the ground.” It contained three live rounds. Morales was arrested.

Photos by Tequila Minsky

Soon after Mark Carson’s murder on Eighth St. just off Sixth Ave., a memorial sprung up at the corner in front of the former Barnes & Noble store. Below and opposite page, top, on Monday, 1,500 people marhed from the L.G.B.T. Center to Eighth St. in a rally against anti-gay violence.

In recounting the murder, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, “It’s clear that the victim here was killed only because and just because he was thought to be gay.” The Daily News reported that “the commissioner added that Carson in no way antagonized his killer.” Morales’s sister told The New York Times her brother, who was in prison for 10 years for robbery, had not been homophobic and “he doesn’t remember anything [about the murder]; he was under the influence, he was drinking.” The defendant “laughed in hideous glee as he confessed, a prosecutor told the judge” at Morales’s arraignment, according to the Daily News. Carson worked as a manager at the Ciao Bella gelato store in Grand Central Terminal and was “very good with people” and open about being gay, a colleague told the Times. He had once been a client at the Hetrick-Martin Institute for L.G.B.T. youth, on Astor Place, according to Thomas Krever, the agency’s executive director. Carson’s brother, Michael Bumpars, said Mark was a “courageous” and “beautiful” person, the Daily News reported. Carson had recently moved from Harlem to Brooklyn, according to the Times. His friend Kay Allen told the newspaper, “His spirit was too big for this city. He didn’t have a negative bone in his body.”

May 23 - June 5, 2013

Citi Bikes not ‘Fast and Furious,’ but slow, stable By Lincoln Anderson One of the frequently heard fears about the soon-to-launch Citi Bike program is that it will just mean thousands of more cyclists zooming around on the streets dangerously out of control. The Villager recently got a chance to test-ride one of the new bike-share cycles, and “zooming” wasn’t exactly the first word that sprang to mind. In fact, these bikes are pretty heavy — 45 pounds — and, well, definitely on the slow side. I was among a group of reporters who got to take the bikes for a spin at the Brooklyn Navy Yard last Friday. First, Dani Simons, director of marketing and external affairs for NYC Bike Share, the operator of Citi Bike, explained the basics about the bikes, and demonstrated how the docking system works. Clearly printed on the top of each bike’s handlebar stem, she noted, are the instructions — ones that many Downtowners say bicyclists disobey — “Yield to pedestrians”; “Stay off the sidewalk”; “Obey traffic lights”; “Ride with traffic.” “I call these the four cardinal rules of biking in New York City,” Simons noted. If you have purchased a $95 annual membership, you’ll receive a key — a small, blue, plastic stick — that you can insert into any docking station to release a bike. You’ll then be able to ride that bike for 45 minutes, after which you’ll have to park it at another dock, or face additional charges. You can wait a minute and then take another bike for another 45-minute spin, and so on, for as long as you like. So-called “casual members,” people who purchase a daily ($9.95) or weekly ($25) bikeshare pass, won’t get a key, but will swipe a credit card on a bike-share kiosk. They’ll receive a five-digit code that they’ll use to unlock a bike, which they can ride for a shorter period — 30 minutes — before re-docking it, and can then take additional 30-minute rides. People with yearly memberships can start riding May 27. The daily and weekly program will kick off June 2. If cyclists don’t return the bikes within the allotted time, charges kick in: $2.50 for the first half hour, $6.50 for the second half hour and $9 for each additional half hour. If you ride to a bike dock and all its slots are full, you can get a 15-minute extension. I assumed people would just use the extra time to wait for a slot to open up, but the energetic Simons said she’d use it to bike to another nearby station. Once the key or the code is put in, there’s a beep and a small green light displays on the dock, indicating the bike can be pulled out. A reporter for one of the city’s daily tabloids who recently test-rode one of the bikes moaned about how difficult it was to remove the bike from the dock, saying she literally had to get on her knees and yank it out with all her strength. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to pull out a Citi Bike. As Simons explained, the wrong way is to try to pull it out by the handlebars, which doesn’t work — the bike barely budges. The right way is simply to grab hold under the seat’s back with one hand and lift the bike up a couple of inches, which is quite easy to do — “and I don’t have biceps like Michelle Obama,” Simons quipped — and then

A reporter had plenty of room for her two bags in the front basket of her Citi Bike.

step backward. The bike slides out of the dock effortlessly. Next, check that the tires have air and that the brakes are working properly. If there’s a problem, put the bike back and take another. Then, adjust the seat to waist height, if it isn’t already, Simons said. Though the seat can be lowered all the way down for a very small person, Citi Bikes aren’t for kids. You must be 16 or older. Finally, it was time to take a spin around the Navy Yard. The bike glided along, coasting surprisingly well, if not particularly fast. The seat was wide and comfortable. The tires were fairly fat and cushy, making for smooth rolling. One of the charges made by 99 Bank St. residents in their lawsuit against the bike-share station in front of their building is that Citi Bike riders will use their sidewalk, since Bank St. is cobblestoned. But the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard has an uneven, patchwork surface — from cobblestones to old railroad tracks half-buried in asphalt pavement — and, from the feel of the ride, I was confident that my Citi Bike could roll over these rough surfaces without problem. On the other hand, my 10-speed bike with narrow tires that I had ridden over to the Navy Yard could never handle these conditions. Citi Bikes have three gears, with a twist-grip handlebar shifter. In first gear, in the flat Navy

Photos by Lincoln Anderson

Continued on page 28

Dani Simons, bike-share’s marketing director, held out the blue key that comes with a Citi Bike annual membership.

May 23 - June 5, 2013

Soho House has my support, but won’t get Acker Awards CLAYTON By Clayton Patterson I have finished my exploration of Soho House. It was interesting, and I’m glad that I took the opportunity to check them out. I see them fitting into this new Lower East Side. No different than the two new luxury hotels going up on Ludlow St. Of course, though — and using this small strip of Ludlow as an example — they are a part of the reason that the Pink Pony closed, Earth Matters closed, Dare Devil Tattoo moved, Max Fish is relocating and Taylor Meade’s apartment became such a valuable piece of property. If they Soho House does get a liquor license and open, I am sure that their street presence will not be noticeable because they are completely elitist. They do not mix with the street.

Soho House would provide the space and the emcees — possibly Susan Sarandon — do the RSVPs, and provide finger food, a DJ and 200 chairs. My prediction is that with this new form of Sohoization of our community, many of the noisy bars and eateries will be forced out. Those of us who have lived on the L.E.S. have witnessed the past: the East Village/Alphabet City gallery purge, then the eroding away of much of the local, small, independent and momand-pop businesses. The only difference between this period and the earlier period is that gentrification is happening at a highly accelerated rate. Gentrification is moving at such a high speed that bicycle racks are popping up all over the place like magic mushrooms after a spring rain. In my effort to check them out, I heard all the different pitches. I was told that the Soho House in the Meatpacking District got rid of all the suits to make room for more creative types. One of the offers that intrigued me was that they had a program in which an artist who could not afford the heavy, yearly membership fee, which varied between $1,200 for a limited-access membership to $2,400 for full access, could trade creative work for a membership. A membership gave one entry to all of the Soho House clubs worldwide. Sounded positive. Next, the new location on Ludlow St. would need workers. I know creative people who are looking for jobs. As I started to bring forward names of local artists for membership and jobs,

Photo by Clayton Patterson

Where Soho House is planned at 137-139 Ludlow St. could be a prime site for an aggressive developer, in the writer’s opinion.

I was told to put that idea on hold since it would be months before the Ludlow place was open. This confused me, since I thought if they liked what the creative person had to offer, then what difference did time make? And if Soho House liked the artwork, they already had one club in New York City where it could be exhibited. Not the case. They had offered me a membership in trade for some photos. I asked if I could use this trade to get in another artist if I decided not to join. No go. When I visited the Meatpacking Soho House, I saw very few minorities as guests or workers. Later, I talked to a couple of wellknown Downtown artists who traded art and became Soho House members. They only used the membership a couple of

times because the cost of food and drinks was so high they could not afford to go there. The limited-budget artists never met any of the so-called “right people” who could help them because there were no facilitators. Making introductions is an art form. A connector must be conscious of putting people together who would be able to mutually benefit from the introduction. Otherwise, being in this unaffordable club is not different than going to a high-end gallery opening or an evening at MoMA. All the major players are at these openings, but so what? However, I was willing to support it because something is going to be there no matter what. The 139 Ludlow St. building, which is in my area, is one of the few that has an architecturally interesting facade.

The building is only three-to-four stories high. Since it does not have landmark status and is a double-wide property, for most developers it would not make sense to keep the building as it is. For them, it would be more practical to tear this place down and build a 10-story luxury modern building. Imagine a 7-Eleven in the middle of the block. One way of showing support was to hold the Acker Awards at this new Soho House location. Alan Kaufman, in San Francisco, and I, created the bicoastal Acker Awards (www.ackerawards.com) to bring together in one place, and honor, a wide cross-section of creative types who had made a major contribution to the avant-garde. The Acker Awards would give them credibility in the Downtown creative community. Long story short, the 137-39 Ludlow location is an empty and barren, threestory space with some of the cement floor ripped up — similar to a parking garage with no pillars. Because it had been a printing company it smelled of oil. The date of the event was set for June 6. The plan was that Soho House would provide the space and the emcees — they mentioned several high-level names, like Susan Sarandon and some famous musicians — take care of the RSVP list by setting up an e-mail account and monitoring the list, get some finger food, nonalcoholic drinks, a DJ, 200 chairs. Fine. As the date was coming closer, the RSVP e-mail address was finally registered, but there was little else. No emcee, nothing. I was worried. I asked them about this and was scolded — “back off.” They were giving more than $10,000 worth of goods and services (the barren cement space and food) for free, they said. I stepped back and thought it was a joke. But it was no joke. Maybe to them I may look a little eccentric and old-school L.E.S., but that was worth $10,000? Please! Thankfully, the Angel Orensanz Cultural Foundation, on Norfolk St., stepped up to save the day, and will host the awards on June 6. My biggest disappointment was not the Soho House people. They behaved as expected. What bothered me was so very few locals attempted to test what was offered. People were just against them. When I wrote articles in favor of the place, nobody stepped forward as an individual. All I got was snide comments using pseudonyms. You have to stand up to be against. You have to know what you are against. Just to be against to be against is a pitiful position. I still support Soho House. They are the lesser of what could be so much worse. There is no reason for them not to be there. The place is not for me. But then, who cares? This is not all about me. It is going to be something. The world has changed. What is, is what is, and that is all there is. My world has changed. I cannot hate everyone. Life moves on and so do I.

May 23 - June 5, 2013

Bike-share sites could have been a win-win, but alas TALKING POINT BY David Gruber and Corey Johnson Let’s start with the obvious: We support the bike-share program. Our respective community boards wrote resolutions that said just that. There was outreach, but it was not done well and there wasn’t enough of it. Most residents did not know about the details of the program or maybe didn’t focus on the public meetings that took place more than a year ago. Many people went to the see the sample bike docks in wide-open areas, like Washington Square Park and Matthew Palmer Playground, and saw a four- or five-bike installation and likely left saying, “This seems O.K.” This lack of true understanding is both a discredit to the residents of New York City’s hundreds of neighborhoods as well as the New York City Department of Transportation itself. Folks were left completely unprepared for the size and bulk of the racks — 30, 40 or 50 in a solid wall. They were unimaginably placed with almost total disregard for any other city operational needs in many instances. The location of these large stations are already having detrimental and potentially dangerous consequences — such as blocking essential services for garbage collection, building entries and Access-A-Ride services. They create impossible situations for moving vans and delivery vehicles, creating dangerous turning radii by extending the dock corner-to-corner on narrow blocks. In one location docks

stations starting popping up on our blocks. Six months won’t remedy a poor placement decision — it will just make a bad situation six months worse. And here is the kicker. With a little juggling and tweaking all the docking stations (in the critical-mass numbers needed to have a successful program) could be placed in locations that actually make sense. Almost everyone at the very well-attended recent Community Board 2 forum said, “I support bike-share,” and then followed up by pleading for the city to work with them to achieve smarter, more nimble and appropriate locations. Not everybody is a NIMBYist. Some New Yorkers are just smart, concerned citizens who simply want their government to listen and really hear them — you know, it’s called participatory democracy.

As the New York City garment industry proverb goes: Measure 10 times, then cut just once. Evaluation and greater community engagement must occur each step along the way. We welcome this innovative program to the streets of New York, but D.O.T. must listen to affected communities, give residents a voice in shaping the implementation, and not worry about an artificial legacy timetable. We are told the bike-share program has been designed to be easily moved and adjusted, so let’s do just that. Let’s work together to ensure that this program is integrated into our neighborhoods appropriately. Only then will it become right-sized and a win-win for New York City. Gruber is chairperson, Community Board 2; Johnson is chairperson, Community Board 4

63rd Annual Feast Day and Street Procession in honor of

Saint Anthony of Padua Thursday, June 13, 2013

Shrine Church of St. Anthony of Padua West Houston and Sullivan Streets New York NY 10012 Phone 212-777-2755 www.stanthonynyc.org

With a little tweaking all the bike stations could be placed in locations that make sense. were put in a designated spot held by another city agency for an outdoor arts program. The stations have been placed on small, historic Village streets that don’t even allow car parking, or on very intense commercials streets, where bikes must be extracted from the docks directly into heavy traffic. We can go on ad nauseam except we are getting nauseous. The Department of Transportation has trumpeted the reaction in London, saying that residents will “hate you for six months and then they will love the program.” Maybe that’s true, maybe not. Perhaps in London they were more sensitive and flexible in their dock-station placements from the start. That statement is very insulting to local residents and neighborhoods. It says, ignore the criticism because it is simply NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard). We don’t know how well they positioned the bike racks in London or Paris or Amsterdam or Montreal, but those cities have seemingly integrated their respective bike-share programs into the fabric of each city. Additionally, many of these cities have a real “stop for red lights and pedestrians” culture, and we would wager that the vast majority of cyclists in these cities obey traffic rules, which still isn’t the norm in New York. D.O.T. is saying, let the stations be in place for six months and then let’s evaluate the effects. While a few of the docks have been removed, there has been, for the most part, a refusal to respond to many legitimate complaints voiced by community leaders, elected officials and everyday New Yorkers. It feels like the program has been driven to be implemented — good, bad or dangerous — since the

Thursday, June 13 Feastday of Saint Anthony of Padua

Mass Schedule: 9 AM (English) 11 AM (English) 2 PM (Italian) 4 PM (French) 6:00 PM (English) Solemn Mass followed by Street Procession

ITALIAN FOOD FESTIVAL

Saturday, June 8 Sunday, June 9 Thursday, June 13 ALL DAY

St. Anthony’s Bread and Oil will be available in the vestibule of the church each day of the Novena beginning June 5. Religious articles and refreshments in the Church Hall on June 8,9, and 13

NOVENA IN HONOR OF ST. ANTHONY-‐ JUNE 5-‐13

May 23 - June 5, 2013

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Junior Division: K-3RD GRADE

Continued from page 14 Jill Greenberg of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, and Heather Carlucci-Rodriguez, representing Chefs For The Marcellus, both emphasized the added risk to restaurant workers, as well as maintenance workers who service utilities, buildings, subways and schools. The evening’s highlight, however, came at the end when Assemblymember Rosenthal announced her sponsorship of a new bill to create a monitoring process for checking radon levels in natural gas at the city gates. Specifically, the bill requires the Bureau of Environmental Radiation Protection, which is under the State Department of Health, along with consultation with D.E.C. and the Public Service Commission, to create a compliance assurance system to monitor levels of radon and its progeny at each city gate location in real time, as well as periodic inspection. Stipulations about acceptable radon levels, procedures to follow should these levels not be reached, and the grounds for civil action by individuals, are all included in the bill. In the Assembly, the bill is Public Health Law A 6863, and is co-sponsored with state Senator Diane Savino, who presented it in the Senate as Public Health Law S 4921. These bill numbers are important because if the bill is to be signed into law,

celebrating

New Yorkers who support it, must e-mail, snail mail, text or call their representatives, in both the Assembly and state Senate and cite support of the bill numbers. For Assembly representatives’ contact information, visit assembly.state.ny.us/mem/ . For state Senators’ contact information, visit : www.nysenate.gov/senators . Rosenthal emphasized that before the Assembly’s session ends in six weeks, the bill needs as much support as possible to show Governor Cuomo and Mayor Bloomberg that public energy is behind it. “They need to be inundated,” she said. She recalled 2001, when after 9/11, E.P.A. Director Christine Todd Whitman obstructed the truth and told Lower Manhattan residents the air was safe to breathe. Rosenthal believes that the government should be there to protect its citizens, and this bill is legislation for just such protection. City Councilmember Gale Brewer was not at the forum, but she is working with attorneys on a local level, to see what jurisdiction the city has to require radon testing. Her goal is to propose a resolution through the City Council. David Braun, co-founder of the antifracking group United For Action, was seated next to Rosenthal at the forum. He summed up the event and the risk at stake. “It’s up to us,” he said, “to raise our voices and say, ‘We are not your lab rats in a radon gas experiment.’ ”

NOW: K-8TH GRADE

FUN ! years

Senior Division: 4TH-8TH GRADE

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May 23 - June 5, 2013

letters to the editor Continued from page 12

— just lots of people who are excited about new ways to get around the city. My wife and I have been very excited from the beginning to start using Citi Bike!

We’re not Paris, or even Brussels

Ben Kintisch

To The Editor: Re “Anger over bike sites in high gear at C.B. 2 forum” (news article, May 9): The bike-share program and those barricades of bike stations were thrust on the city without the benefit of a smaller-scale trial run to see if the program was actually viable. Communities’ considerations and objections were completely disregarded as these things sprung up overnight like alien spaceships in some sci-fi movie, turning us into something New York City is not. As with Bloomberg’s bike lanes that cause traffic congestion and are rarely used by bicyclists, this is another brainstorm that will turn into a disaster. Every day, I see cyclists coming toward me from the wrong direction, not heeding the traffic laws, not stopping for lights, barely missing pedestrians as they whiz by. And I’ve yet to see one get a ticket for not obeying the law. But I never see automobiles going against the traffic or not stopping for lights. Lest I be branded as anti-bicycle, I have a good friend who cycles everywhere, obeys the rules and has never had an accident. And she actually uses the bike lanes. There are, unfortunately, few of her ilk. This is not Paris, it’s not Brussels or some other European city where cyclists seem to have a long history of blending into the pace of the city. Until then, why foist an untested program on us? Does every idea that Mayor Bloomberg has need to be implemented full-blown? His term is almost over, but it would be nice for our elected officials to remember the job is called “mayor,” not “dictator.” The general reaction to these bike stations has been negative for a good reason.

My daughter, the biker (not doctor)

Jay Matlick

To The Editor: Re “Anger over bike sites in high gear at C.B. 2 forum” (news article, May 9): While it is true that my daughter (who learned to ride a bike in Greenwich Village) now lives in London and bikeshares to work, she is not, as stated in The Villager, a doctor. She would like New Yorkers to know, however, that it would be very rare in London to see a cyclist riding on the sidewalk, and rare to see anyone going the wrong way on a one-way street. And she also noted that most riders stop for red lights. With the expected increase in bike use here, it would be nice to think that the mayor, the Police Department and the Department of Transportation are thinking creatively about ensuring better compliance with the law and better enforcement. Carol Greitzer

E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to lincoln@thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 515 Canal St., Suite 1C, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. The Villager does not publish anonymous letters.

SOUND OFF Write a letter to the editor

Now I’m really confused! To The Editor: Re “ ‘Clarified’ park rules for artists, buskers still called unclear” (news article, May 9): Washington Square is loved and visited by people from near and far. It is a center of culture and activity. Why do we need “clarified” rules to limit the locations of the performers who give the square its charm? Instead of limiting them, let us enjoy and appreciate their talents. George Jochnowitz

Let’s get this rolling! To The Editor: Re “Anger over bike sites in high gear at C.B. 2 forum” (news article, May 9): I am a kindergarten teacher. I bike to work. I bike with my family. I am one of the 5,000 people who signed up for bike-share in the first day and a half. There is no conspiracy

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May 23 - June 5, 2013

Forget the couture, ‘Just Chaos’ puts focus on punks By Bob Krasner “Forget about the Met show — this is where it’s at,” Monte A. Melnick, former tour manager of the Ramones, firmly stated. He was speaking of the May 9 opening of “Just Chaos,” a photo show by some of the major documentarians of punk rock at Marc Jacobs’s hip literary emporium, Bookmarc, at 400 Bleecker St., at W. 11th St. Conceived and curated by noted photographer Roberta Bayley, the modest exhibit is meant to be an addendum to the Metropolitan Museum’s “PUNK — Chaos to Couture” show, which concentrates on the influence of punk on fashion, and in which photos of New York rockers are not a priority. Bayley, who photographed the first Ramones album cover, put together a group of 13 artists, including herself, whose love of the music led them to document a brand-new scene that seemingly had little commercial potential. David Godlis, who just goes by Godlis, was one who found himself at the epicenter, C.B.G.B., “just to hear good music.” After a few weeks, he realized that he wanted to record, in the available-light style of Brassai, the scene on the street outside the legendary dive that gave birth to punk. After three years and a whole lot of film, he produced a body of work and became friends with many of the others who were covering the scene. Most of the participants in the show turned out to celebrate alongside some of their subjects, including Richard Hell and Deborah Harry. “It’s like a high school reunion,” said Godlis. The energy of the attendees was palpable

as East Village scene makers such as filmmaker Amos Poe, music industry legend Danny Fields (also a photographer in the show) and The Dictators’ Handsome Dick Manitoba rounded out an upbeat and colorful crowd that was dressed mostly in black. The mélange of photogs, fans, celebs and gawkers spilled out of the store, onto the sidewalk and into the street, leading to a warning from the local mounted police. The store has taken the opportunity to stock its shelves with a wide variety of books on the subject, including attendee John Holmstrom’s new book, “Best of Punk Magazine,” Bryan Ray Turcotte’s “Punk Is Dead” and Richard Hell’s new autobiography, as well as rare ephemera and out-ofprint titles, such as “Making Tracks — The Rise of Blondie.” As much fun as it is to look back, however, nostalgia — as one might expect from the survivors of the punk aesthetic — is not at the top of the list. Not many wished to return to the New York of the late 1970s, although photographer Marcia Resnick said that she missed “the audacity, the immediacy and the conversation” of the times. Bayley, however, doesn’t harbor any desire to go back. “I don’t long for those times,” she said. “I’m 63 and I have no desire to be poor.” Leee Black Childers, a photographer who became manager for the Heartbreakers and later, Iggy Pop, is content to sit at his computer listening to Ethel Waters. Does he miss anything about the punk years? Well, maybe a few things, he said: “Being young, getting high and getting laid.”

Photos by Bob Krasner

Singer Deborah Harry and photographer Roberta Bayley at the opening of “Just Chaos” at Bookmarc earlier this month. Bayley was wearing a T-shirt with her vintage image of Harry.

Bob Gruen, left, and Godlis, who documented the punk scene with their photography, caught up at the opening. The image on the “Just Chaos” show poster/invite, behind them, was a shot by Godlis.

Amos Poe, director/producer of “The Blank Generation,” about the early days of punk, got ready to split.

May 23 - June 5, 2013

EASTvillagerarts&entertainment Downtown heats up with the diversity of jazz and indie Avant-garde, acoustic, other sounds make the coming months rock and swing BY SAM SPOKONY Whenever the seasons change, it’s like I’m seeing everything for the first time… again. Yes, maybe I could chalk that up to some rapid diminishment of long-term memory — a possible result of all those things I may or may not have done during high school and college — but I’d rather try to see something a little more uplifting there. Maybe it’s nice to have that feeling of a little rebirth of the consciousness every few months. It can remind us of the importance of spontaneous discovery and rediscovery. Anyway, we’re here to talk about music. Yes! This year, spring and summer (along with those long-awaited rays, warm breezes, etc.) bring great improvisers and musical performers to that wonderful portion of Manhattan below 14th Street, with something for everyone and, I would think, someone for everything. The question is, “What do you want to explore? And what sounds do you feel like revisiting? It’s moments like these when I think, you know, maybe it’s not so bad to live amid the perpetual drone of city life and all its politicized, corporatized mayhem — because even when the absurdity seems too much to bear, when you just can’t seem to find any semblance of understanding, you can just head Downtown and find all the right vibes. And you know you’re in the right place…again.

Photo courtesy of the artist

Challenge your perceptions of sound and design at the Music and Architecture Series, curated by Aruán Ortiz, at Drom.

JAZZ

I’d like to begin with an exciting Thursday night series that began in April at Drom (85 Avenue A, btw. Fifth & Sixth Sts.), and which includes one show every month through August. It’s the intriguingly titled “Music and Architecture Series,” curated by the equally intriguing Cuban-born pianist Aruán Ortiz — who has already done enough solid work composing and performing with his own quartet to make this a must-see for all our experimentally inclined listeners. According to Revive Music, the forward-thinking jazz collective that’s sponsoring the series, these concerts “intend to narrate different concepts and ritualism behind ancient architectures, deconstructing their forms, shapes and textures.” Sounds good enough for me. Each gig has its own distinct subtitle — so check out “Reflections as a Reality” on June 20, “A Piece Within a Piece” on July 18, and “The Alchemist and His Sacred Family” on August 29. All concerts start at 9:45pm. Tickets cost $10 in advance, and $15 at the door. To purchase,

Photo courtesy of the artist

Feast on the swinging wisdom of Joe Lovano, who will lead his nonet at the Village Vanguard from May 28 to June 2.

visit dromnyc.com. Few cats indeed have been able to match saxophonist Joe Lovano’s ability to channel the roots of swing and bop while also help-

ing to drive the free-thinking expression of 21st-century performance. Dig Mr. Lovano at the Village Vanguard (178 Seventh Ave. South, just below W. 11th St.), where he’ll

be joined by his nonet from May 28 to June 2. This incarnation of the nonet will comprise almost exactly the same personnel (including baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan and pianist James Weidman) as those featured his brilliant 2006 album “Streams of Expression,” and, happily, Lovano and company will be rehashing tunes from that record throughout their sixnight stand. You’ll have a choice between two sets each night, at 8:30 and 10:30pm, and tickets cost $25. To purchase, visit villagevanguard.com. For those of you who’d rather take your avant-garde jazz with a healthy spoonful of soulfully foot-stomping church music, I would of course recommend clarinetist/saxophonist Don Byron and his New Gospel Quintet. The group’s first album, “Love, Peace and Soul,” which came out a little over a year ago, was rightly praised for its depth of exploration into the gospel idiom, along with Byron’s typically vibrant playing. Catch the quintet at 92YTribeca (200 Hudson St., just below Canal St.) on Wed., June 12, where they’ll be the featured act for a live presentation of WBGO 88.3 FM’s award-winning radio show, “The Checkout.” The show, which also includes opening act The Bridge Trio, begins at 8pm, and tickets cost $12. To purchase, visit 92y.org/tribeca. On an unfortunate side note, this will be one of the final events staged at the 92Y’s Tribeca location, as it’ll be closing later in June. From that point on, all 92Y events will take place at the organization’s Upper East Side headquarters, at 1395 Lexington Ave. Aside from the fact that I’ve always found him to be a generally insightful guy, saxophonist/flutist Ras Moshe represents an important element of the New York music scene — that which, in essence, refuses to compromise, remaining true to a very spiritually introspective core of freely improvised music. The ghosts of people like Albert Ayler and Pharoah Sanders truly do live on, and you’ll usually find them floating through the air at Ras Moshe gig (the sound of which, while certainly not for squares, can send us on some of our most incredibly powerful aural journeys). Moshe plays at the Downtown Music Gallery (13 Monroe St., btw. Catherine & Market Sts.) at 6pm on July 7, alongside vocalist Kyoko Kitamura, guitarist Anders Nilsson and bassist Shayna Dulberger. And there’s no cost to enter!

Continued on page 24

May 23 - June 5, 2013

Smooth sounds and dance grooves Continued from page 23

INDIE

The Thermals are a real throwback for me, if you’ll allow a 23-year-old to use that expression. Their haphazardly titled 2004 album “Fuckin A” was an integral part of my high school playlist. Now, a decade later, the postpunk trio is still going strong. Just last month, they released “Desperate Ground,” an album which is a selfdescribed “brash and irresponsible ode to human violence.” You’ll probably hear plenty of those new tunes, full of punchy beats and urgent lyrics, during their back-to-back dates at the Bowery Ballroom (6 Delancey St., btw. Bowery & Chrystie St.) on May 28 and 29. Both shows, which also feature Screaming Females as the opening act, start at 9pm. Tickets cost $16 in advance and $18 at the door. To purchase, visit boweryballroom.com. Some bands these days need all the production technology money can buy in order to sound bigger and more affecting — but the duo of Death From Above 1979 have made a career out of turning bass, drums and a well-place synth into a colossal wall of sound. Whether you want to call them alt-rock, noise rock, electro-dance-punk or whatever else comes to mind, Jesse Keeler and Sebastien Grainger probably represent the best thing to come out of Canada since ice hockey. When this band broke up in 2006, I remember being heartbroken — not least of all because I’d just that week bought a super sweet band teeshirt — but when they decided to reunite a couple of years ago, all was quickly forgiven. Check them out at Irving Plaza (17 Irving Pl., at E. 15th St.) on Fri., June 7, at 11pm. Tickets cost $32. To purchase, visitvenue.irvingplaza.com. I always like to include a little something for those acoustic singer/songwriter fans out there. With that in mind, I’ll introduce you to Maya Isacowitz, whose voice is very much the equal to her radiant beauty — which is to say that they both rank quite highly in my (rather self-professedly) esteemed opinion. Ms. Isacowitz first made a name for herself while performing throughout Israel, the country in which she was raised, and is now rightfully spreading her sphere of influence overseas, with sensitive guitar work, wonderfully penned tunes

Photo courtesy of the artist

Turn up the distortion with The Thermals at Bowery Ballroom on May 28 and 29.

Photo courtesy 92nd Street Y

June 12: Catch Don Byron and his New Gospel Quartet, at 92YTribeca.

and a very balanced, low-key vibe. You can catch her at SubCulture (45 Bleecker St., btw. Mott & Mulberry Sts.) on Wed., June 26. The show starts at 7:30pm, and tickets cost $12. To purchase, visitsubculturenewyork.com. Now, if you’re looking for a real throwback — and this one actually goes way back, far beyond that happy accident that was my birth — I would suggest donning your best rude boy

Photo courtesy of the artist

Enjoy the warm tones of singer/songwriter Maya Isacowitz at SubCulture on June 26.

outfit and heading down to see those living legends of ska and rocksteady, those inimitable Brits, The Specials. Yes, it’s been a while, and the current lineup certainly doesn’t include all of the group’s original personnel. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth giving a nod to one of the hippest socio-politically minded bands to ever hit the stage. The performance I’ll now direct your attention to represents a particularly special chance to see these guys live, because

it’ll be an outdoor gig at Pier 26 in Hudson River Park (located off of West St., btw. Hubert & N. Moore Sts.). The Wed., July 17 show starts at 6pm, and tickets cost $35 in advance and $40 on the day of the show. To purchase, visit bowerypresents.com. Happy listening, and enjoy the weather! If you have any suggestions or hidden secrets about sweet shows on and under the Downtown radar, drop me a line at samspokony@gmail.com.

May 23 - June 5, 2013

Six-Day Planet ‘Connections’ kicks off summer theater fest season THEATER PLANET CONNECTiONS THEATRE FESTIVITY

May 29-June 3 At the Robert Moss Theatre (440 Lafayette St., near Astor Place) And the Gene Frankel Theatre (24 Bond St., corner of Lafayette St.) For tickets ($18), call 866-811-4111 or visit planetconnections.org Photo by Ashley Marinaccio

BY MARTIN DENTON (of nytheatre.com and indietheaternow.com) New York City’s busy summer theater festival season kicks off on May 29 with Planet Connections, a four-week celebration of independent theater and social consciousness that is now in its fifth year. Its official moniker is “Planet Connections Theatre Festivity” — and that last word is just one thing that sets this event apart from the many other theatrical marathons that dot (dominate!) our landscape here in the Big Apple from June through August. So what’s different about Planet Connections? This: the fact that all of the shows presented, in addition to being interesting new works spanning many genres and styles of the indie theater landscape, also champion specific causes. Each show is a benefactor for a nonprofit organization

Photo courtesy of Articulate Theatre Company

Breani Michele, in Girl Be Heard’s production of “9mm.”

Articulate Theatre Company launches, with Jenny Connell Davis’ “Dragon.”

— and these entities will be represented in talkbacks, promotions, information sessions and fundraising throughout the Festivity. Among the recipients of Planet Connections shows’ largesse this year are my own (The New York Theatre Experience, Inc.) along with many others — ranging from The LIT Fund to The Ali Forney Center to The Blue Green Alliance to the ASCPA. You should definitely check out the information about these charitable groups on Planet Connections’ website (planetconections.org). But of course, artistically, the Festivity is well worth your time! I’ve been a regular attendee at all the previous editions, and I’ve met some truly exceptional playwrights, directors, actors and other theater artists along the way. Works by a diverse and talented roster of playwrights, ranging from Yvette Heyliger and Duncan Pflaster to Jason

S. Grossman and Kimberly Pau have been seen at Planet Connections, and many of the best scripts from past years are assembled at Indie Theater Now (indietheaternow.com/ Collection/Index/planet-connections). This year’s Festivity runs from May 29 through June 23 at two East Village venues — the Robert Moss Theater and the Gene Frankel Theater. This is a fun, vibrant neighborhood with many shops, bars and restaurants where you can fill the time before, after and inbetween the shows you catch at the festival. There are 30 mainstage productions in Planet Connections 2013, along with a variety of special events and readings (including a special gala event on June 16th featuring readings of short plays by Neil LaBute, John Patrick Shanley and Winter Miller, at the Signature Center at Pershing Square). Because this is a relatively compact event, in terms of geography and size (but not in

terms of timeframe), it is very possible for an audience member to see virtually everything the Festivity has to offer. Here are a few of the works in this year’s Festivity that I know enough about to comment on, based on experience with the artists and companies involved. Don’t limit yourself to what I talk about here, though. Check out the variety and range of work and find subjects, styles and worthy causes that appeal to your sensibility. “9mm America” — This devised theater piece from Girl Be Heard, about violence in America, was created by 10 young women of high-school age. Director Ashley Marinaccio, a passionate and dedicated activist/artist, is a Planet Connections veteran. Expect thoughtprovoking, raw, documentary-style theater. “Artaud…mon momo” — Roi “Bubi” Escudero is a one-of-a-kind artist, with a deep knowledge of the avant-garde, a limitless imagination and a penchant for never repeating herself. This is her second look at the ethos of “Theater of Cruelty” inventor Antonin Artaud. There won’t be anything in the festival remotely like it. “Dragon” — Articulate Theatre Company is launching with this new play by Jenny Connell Davis that looks to blend realism and mythology within the framework of a timeless love story. Director and company founder Cat Parker has been responsible for some excellent productions over the years, including the NYC premiere of “Sister Cities” back in 2007. “Fix Number Six” — If nytheatre.com’s annual Person of the Year recognition means anything to you, then this is a show to see. This new play by Jerry Polner is about a travel agent who longs to be a spy. It’s directed by Michael Criscuolo, and its cast includes Arthur Aulisi and Alyssa Simon. All three of these luminaries have been People of the Year, which means that we think they’re top-notch artists. “Straight Faced Lies” — This is the fourth year in a row that Mark Jason Williams will have a new script in Planet Connections

Continued on page 26

May 23 - June 5, 2013

Fifth year of ‘Festivity’ set to connect with audiences Continued from page 25 (each of the other three was nominated for a playwriting award, with 2011’s “The Other Day” winning that honor). Mark is a smart, sensitive, courageous writer — and I expect this new piece, set at a family Thanksgiving dinner, to be one of this year’s highlights. “Subject 62” — Rhode Island-based Lenny Schwartz is another four-time Festivity contributor. His latest play, which he calls his most personal, follows last year’s somewhat sensational “Accidental Incest,” 2011’s “Fidelity” and 2010’s “The Six Month Cure.” Expect an earnest treatment of a serious topic — how the onset of illness affects one family’s life. “The Greatest Pirate Story (N)ever Told!” — On a lighter note we find this new musical by Christopher Leidenfrost, whose contributions to Planet Connections over the years include his award-winning starring roles as Whizzer in last year’s revival of “Falsettos” and appearing in drag in the gay marriage drama “The Declaration.” This new show ought to be just as it sounds — a fun, musical romp with plenty of audience interaction. “What Do You Mean” — This entry from Ego Actus marks my first time seeing a play written by Bruce A. Kraemer. He is usually a designer and producer, so I’m excited to see him stretch in this meta tale of a person who is writing a play for a festival but doesn’t know what to write about.

Photo by Samir Abady Photography

Moira Stone and Mateo Moreno, in Jerry Polner’s “Fix Number Six.”

155 1st Avenue at East 10th St. Reservations/Info 254-1109

Tickets available online at www.theaterforthenewcity.net www.facebook.com/theaterforthenewcity

The Fabulous 18th Annual

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His longtime partner, Joan Kane, directs. As I said, these represent just a sampling of what’s on offer at the Festivity. Browse their websites, check out previews and reviews on nytheatre.com and elsewhere and keep your eyes and ears open as you shuttle between the festival venues for audi-

ence buzz. Planet Connections is a fun event that’s much less intense than FringeNYC, yet still packed with entertainment value. I’m hoping to do one or more talkbacks and am looking forward to taking in as much as I can during the festival’s four weeks. Enjoy!

LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS Friday, Saturday, Sunday, May 24, 25, 26

Theater • Music • Dance • Film • Poetry • Puppetry • Youth Program • Visual Arts

Perfor mances Ever y Night 6pm-1am

Outdoors on E. 10th St. Saturday 12pm - 6pm w/Performances & Vendors Youth Program Sat 2 - 5pm Film Sat 12pm - 12am Poetry Sun 4pm - 7:30pm

Scheduled to Appear:

SPEAKERS: Joe Franklin, Council Member Rosie Mendez, Judith Malina PERFORMANCES BY: Tammy Grimes, Reno, Phoebe Legere. George Bartenieff, Epstein & Hassan, John Jiler, Katherine Adamenko, Stan Baker, Louisa Bradshaw, Susana Cook, Lindsay Davis, J. Lois Diamond, Michael Domitrovich, Dixie Lee Estes, Evan, Tjasa Ferme, Ines Ferre, Benno Haenel, Clare Helene, Inma Heredia, Bobbie Horowitz, Baba Israel, Ariana Johns, Evan Laurence, Mike Lesser, Ed Malin, Fran McGee Jessie "Hula Hoops" McGee, MD, Lissa Moira, Stephan Morrow, Vernita N'Cognita, Aidan O'Shea, Karen Oberlin, Valery Oisteanu, Anne Pasquale, Mike Perrie, Poez, Elizabeth Ruf, Therese Schorn, Robert Schwimmer, Margo Lee Sherman, Alice Shields, Connie Flagtwat, John Taylor Thomas, Mary Tierney, Richard Weber, Lei Zhou MUSIC: David Amram, KT Sullivan, Judy Gorman, Lucas Papaelias (LPFunk), Bill Zeffiro, Gingger Shankar, David Ippolito, Maquina Mono, Arthur Abrams, Burning City Orchestra, Judeth DeMott, Peter Dizozza, Downtown Music Productions, Ben Harburg & Friends, David Jacobsen, Kitsch, Dawoud Kringle, Melange, Susan Mitchell, Marissa Mulder, Open To The Hound, Lorcan Otway, Danielle Erin Rhodes, Norman Savitt, Silvercloud Singers & Drummers, Ellen Steier, Jacob Merrik Storms, Alison Tartalia, Michael Vazquez, David Vernon, Richard West DANCE: Rod Rodgers Dance Co., e-Dance, Kinding Sindaw, The Love Show, Kitty Lunn, Amy Marshall Dance Co., Alessandra Belloni, Andre Brown, Constellation Moving Co., Desert Sin, Maya DeSilva, Raqsuncommon, House of Ducatti, Human Kinetics, Kaoru Ikeda, Infinity Dance Theater, John J. Zullo Dance, Juana Cala Flamenco, Kalpulli Atlachinolli, Laura Shapiro, Suspended Cirque, Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, Vangeline Theater, VonDuvois Dance Collective, Ashley Liang THEATER GROUPS: G.O.L.E.S., Cooper Square, New York Theatre Workshop, The Living Theatre, La Mama E.T.C., Yangtze Theater Co., Rev. Billy & The Church of Earthallujah, Cobu, Accidental Rep, Alternative Theater of Manhattan, Arts Without Walls, Beautiful Soup, BK Culture Jammers, Bond Street Theatre, Caps Lock Theater, The Cell, Chinese Theatre Works, Coatlique Theater Co., Dixon Place, Downtown Urban Theater Festival, Ego Actus, The Experimentals, Le Squeezebox Cabaret, Less Than Rent, Lesser America, Loretta Auditorium, NY Lyric Circus, Project Girl, Prophecy Productions, The Slipper Room, Take Wing and Soar, Teatro La Tea, The Troupe Theatre, Time Banks NYC, Wise Guise, Yara Arts WRITERS: Eduardo Machado, Lyle Kessler, Barbara Kahn, Bina Sharif, Lissa Moira, Matt Morillo, Tom Attea, Seymour Barab, Liza Birkenmeier, Sara Cooper, Walter Corwin, Tom Diriwachter, Chris Force, Anthony Laura, Eugenia Macer-Story, Sabura Rashid, Ramiro Sandoval, Oliver Thrun, Trav S.D., Peter Welch, David Willinger

FREE!!!

Photo by Marcus Yi

A gay couple must decide between love or liberty, in Marcus Yi’s “The Procedure.”

May 23 - June 5, 2013

Just Do Art! BY SCOTT STIFFLER

THE 17th ANNUAL LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS

Founded 18 years ago by Theater for the New City’s prolific, indefatigable Crystal Field, the Lower East Side Festival of the Arts — like TNC’s annual Halloween bash and its upcoming summer street theater — just keeps going and going (and growing). Organized in collaboration with local civic, cultural and business leaders, this three-day indoor/outdoor festival offers performances from over 100 arts organizations, local and international celebrities, independent artists, poets, playwrights, dancers, comedians, musicians, puppeteers, filmmakers and other utterly unique creative types who call the Lower East Side home. This year's lineup includes Academy Award-winning actor F. Murray Abraham, solo performer and comedian Reno, TV and radio host Joe Franklin, aerial performance group Suspended Cirque, dance groups Desert Sin and The Rod Rodgers Dance Company — plus new work from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz. Cultural institutions such as New York Theatre Workshop, La MaMa, Bond Street Theater, Beautiful Soup Theatre Collective, The Living Theatre and TNC will present work, and there will be plenty of creative output by kids, as well as performers with disabilities. The area’s distinct ethnic populations will also be represented — including the Latin American, African American, Chinese, Indian, Irish, Italian, Jewish, Native American, Polish and Ukrainian communities. “Art for Eco Justice: Ecology and Economy” will be the theme. FREE. In and around Theater for the New City (155 1st Ave., btw. E. 9th & 10th Sts.) throughout Memorial Day weekend: Fri., May 24, 6pm-1am; Sat., May 25, noon-1am (noon5pm: Cultural Fair, outside on E. 10th St., btw. 1st & 2nd Aves., and from 2pm-5pm, performances for kids and by kids, inside Theater for the New City) and Sun., May 27, 6pm-1am. For info and a full performance schedule, call 212-254-1109 or visit theaterforthenewcity.net.

WHAT I’M FAILING TO LEARN

Back when old school was still in session, we used to call it “high concept” — but these days, the ensemble of young artists who’ve collaborated on “What I’m Failing to Learn” characterize their work as “a mashup of theatri-

Photo courtesy of the artist

The compositions of Schuyler Iona Press anchor the mashup musical “What I’m Failing to Learn.”

cal drama/live concert/multimedia video.” No matter what name you give it, there’s plenty going on here. Anchored by the folk, rock, punk and Latin-infused compositions of 14-year-old Schuyler Iona Press (the youngest artist ever to play the singer/songwriter sessions at the Bitter End), this journey through the unpredictable streets of NYC also gives audiences a glimpse into the interior world of a modern adolescent. Played close to the bone by Schuyler, that main character’s constant questioning of her world and status as “an outsider longing to be on the inside” is used to confront the “positives and negatives of growing up unsheltered from certain truths of our human world.” Sound familiar? Her quest may sound a lot like your teen years — but chances are, you didn’t have the benefit of a live band, percussive modern Irish dancers and video. That’s the advantage of searching for self, mashup-style. Through June 15. Wed. at 7pm, Sat. at 3pm. At the 13th Street Rep (50 W. 13th St., btw. 5th & 6th Aves.). For tickets ($18-$30), call 866811-4111 or visit 13thstreetrep.org. Also visit whatimfailingtolearn.com.

HOWL! FESTIVAL 10TH ANNIVERSARY EXTRAVAGANZA

He saw the best minds of his generation — but even at the pinnacle of his meditative clarity, it’s not likely that “Howl” author Allen Ginsberg managed to conjure up a vision of the future in which a festival named for him would be celebrating its tenth anniversary (with no signs of shrinking or slowing down). The 2013 edition of the Howl Festival promises to “continue the Ginsberg tradition with more poetry, theatrical madness and activities for parents and kids than ever before!” After the three-day Tompkins Square Park festival, HOWL! extends its reach throughout June — in the form of the HOWL! Arts Project (a month-long program of poetry, theater, performance art, music, dance, puppetry and children’s performance to support HOWL! Emergency Life Project — which provides assistance, and a health fund, for the East Village and Lower East Side arts community). First things first, though. The May 31-June 2 offerings include an opening celebration featuring the work of contemporary poets (and the traditional reading of “Howl”). At the weekend-long “Art Around the Park” event, festivalgoers will connect with more than 140 artists as they turn a giant blank canvas encircling the exterior of Tompkins Square Park into an explosion of color and creativity. The Kids Carnival offers games, fairway attractions and art activities for “toddler taggers and pint-sized Picassos” — while those of more advanced years will heed the siren call of Riki Colon’s Men In Skirts “And Still I Rise” (featuring an international cast of singers, dancers and drag performers). Elsewhere, “The Beautification Station” is a marathon reading by the Poetry Project, and “Low Life 7: Bowery Bombshells” features generations of local contemporary and alternative performers — including butoh performance ensemble Vangeline Theater, Velocity Chyaldd, The Rachel Klein Theater and The Duelling Bankheads. FREE, Fri., May 31 through Sun., June 2 (4:30-7pm on Fri., 11am-7pm on Sat./Sun.). At Tompkins Square Park (enter through southwest entrance, Ave. A & 7th St.). Visit howlfestival.com for a full schedule of events.

Photo courtesy of the artists

Dance band Maquina Mono (“The Monkey Machine”) will open the Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, at 6pm on Fri., May 24.

Photo by Roe Carroll

At the HOWL! Festival’s 2012 opening celebration, a Greek chorus of voices read their own work, followed by the signature reading of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl.”

May 23 - June 5, 2013

‘The Slow, Comfy and Stable’; How Citi Bike rolls Continued from page 17 Yard, I found my feet spinning cartoonishly fast — I actually imagined the kooky bongos from when Fred Flintstone starts running — plus the bike didn’t really move very much. I ruled out ever using first gear again, except possibly for going up Mount Everest. Third gear I honestly found a bit hard to pedal in; I don’t know if this was because I had just earlier zipped over the Manhattan Bridge to get to the Navy Yard — maybe blowing out my legs a bit? — but third gear felt “heavy,” and again, the bike didn’t really go very fast. It was tricky to get into second gear with the twist shifter, requiring a very delicate touch. But once I did, I found second was still slightly too easy for me. I was pedaling a little too fast, and wanted a bit more resistance; meanwhile the bike was not making incredible forward progress. I felt, well...frustrated. Another gear between second and third — a 2½ — was where I wanted to be. As I continued to pedal around, however, the greater realization dawned on me — in a bit of a letdown — that this bike, no matter what gear it was in, simply would never go any faster. I returned to the docking station, where Simons demonstrated how to park it. Grabbing the bicycle by both handlebars, she lined up a small metal triangular prow on its front with the dock, and — explaining, “Use a little force” — pushed it firmly into the slot. A green light displayed, showing the bike had locked into place. Carlos Rivera, a Citi Bike mechanic, said the cycles are built to handle city conditions. “Great bikes, durable,” he said. “It’s New York City — they’ve got to be tough.” As he slowly rode off on one of the Citi Bikes — they were disassembling this Navy Yard bike station, in preparation for deploying all the bikes to the street — I noticed he was “standing” on the pedals, as in not sitting in the seat. This is what cyclists do when climbing a hill, when it’s tough to pedal. I later realized: Rivera must have been in third gear. So maybe it’s not only me who thinks Citi Bike’s third gear is a bit hard to pedal. I later asked Simons about the bike’s gears, wondering if maybe mine had been off. “These are the standard gear settings,” she replied. Oh well, even if my gears did need a tuneup, probably the answer is simple: The bikes are configured to keep anyone from being able to ride fast — which should make many readers of The Villager extremely happy. Anaïs Digonnet, a reporter with a French Web TV station who also took a Citi Bike for a spin last week, said these ones are actually lighter than the bike-share cycles they had in Lyon a few years ago. She said it’s fine if the bikes are slow. “Anyway, in New York you don’t want to ride too crazy,” she said. “The streets are really not made for bicycle.” On the other hand, her native town is quite bike friendly, she said, noting, “In Lyon we have special areas for the bikes. There is a line. If the driver crosses it, there is a fine, like 90 euros.”

Photos by Lincoln Anderson

Dani Simons demonstrated the right way to pull a bike-share cycle out of the dock — lift it with one hand by the back of the seat and just step backward, and it comes out easily. Don’t try pulling it out by the handlebars — it won’t budge.

Digonnet said she would ride a Citi Bike in New York, but only on a street with a bike lane — never on a normal street amid busy traffic. As for the bikes’ lack of speed, Simons said they are really meant for short trips, and so speed isn’t the goal. “The typical bike-share user is someone who wants to get somewhere and have a bit more control on their way,” she said. “It’s not the bus or subway, and it’s a lot cheaper than a cab.” Bike-share is also convenient, Simons added, for someone such as herself who might not want to have her bike with her all day, for example, if she’s going out after work, or if rain is forecast later in the day. As for myself, I was a little underwhelmed by Citi Bike. I don’t exactly need to be in “The Fast & Furious 6” (even if Vin Diesel did grow up in Westbeth), but these wheels were a bit too slow. In the meantime, I think I’ll stick with my 10-speed 1980s road bike. Again, many Villager readers will be relieved at least to hear that these bike-share cycles won’t be careening around out of control — not at high speeds, anyway. And who knows? Since these new blue cruisers are safe and slow, maybe some of the Citi Bike critics might even want to try riding one themselves sometime.

Each Citi Bike has these four basic rules of the road displayed clearly on the top of its handlebar stem.

May 23 - June 5, 2013

Golden years health guidelines By Heather Dubin Senior citizens received sound advice on how to “Take Charge of Your Health” at the second annual free community health forum co-sponsored by the New York University Office of Civic Engagement and VillageCare on May 14. Moderated by Dr. Max Gomez, an Emmy award-winning CBS television medical reporter, the event — held at the N.Y.U. Global Center for Academic and Spiritual Life, on Washington Square South — was attended by about 100 people. Audience members listened to five experts discuss personal healthcare issues, and learned preparation tactics for future health challenges. With a clear view of the Freedom Tower, and catered dinner, the seniors were advised to take control of their health, from navigating doctor’s visits to securing end-of-life care. Emma DeVito, president of VillageCare, spoke of the organization’s origins in the 1970s as a community nursing home and its growth into a multifaceted healthcare provider. Today, VillageCare includes facilities for people living with H.I.V. and AIDS, plus a new rehabilitation center on W. Houston St. “When we closed the nursing home, we wanted to serve individuals, and 13,000 were served at home last year,” DeVito noted. Alicia Hurley, the university’s vice president of government affairs and community engagement, said, “N.Y.U. has a long history and tradition of community service, particularly in the health arena.” Elizabeth Butson, former publisher of The Villager, the event’s media sponsor, expressed the importance of having a voice in the changing landscape of healthcare. “Planning ahead is necessary to avoid becoming a statistic,” she said. While Gomez infused his speech with humor, he was anything but lighthearted when dispensing guidance. “I’m not just a moderator,” he said. “I was a caregiver for my dad, who passed away a year ago of Alzheimer’s. I know from firsthand experience how important this information is.” Dr. Tara Cortes, executive director of the N.Y.U. College of Nursing / Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, was the first expert. “Age is relative, but you have to keep yourself healthy,” she said. Cortes urged seniors to have a relationship with their primary healthcare provider, whether a physician, nurse or physician’s assistant. According to Cortes, only 16 percent of Americans take advantage of Medicare wellness visits; and the first visit (no co-pay) is a question-only exam about cognitive issues, eyesight, screenings and general well-being. She suggested seniors who take 20 to 30 pills a day bring the bottles to their next doctor’s visit. Primary care is for medication review, resources and track-

ing immunizations. Write questions down before your visit. On the legal front, attorney Sharon Cooper, a partner at Gardner, Weiss and Rosenblum LLP, recommended a healthcare proxy, someone to communicate your healthcare wishes if you cannot, and a living will, a written directive of these same wishes, honored by law. These documents dictate whether tube feeding, a ventilator or cardiopulmonary resuscitation are administered, if one has a terminal condition or is in a vegetative state. Find a trusted family member or friend for a healthcare proxy. “It helps if they have the same idea you do on end-of-life care, and you can name people in succession,” said Cooper. Since multiple copies are allowed, keep one at home in a marked file, give one to your doctor, and bring one in for surgery. “These are important decisions to have with people when you are healthy,” Cooper said. Forms are available online, and you don’t need an attorney. Dr. Marcia Wade, VillageCare medical director for managed long-term care, said long-term care fills in the gaps between regular insurance and nursing home insurance. “People do not leave their home because they do not want to be put in a nursing home,” she said. But after a fall, or not taking medicines, they end up in one. With a personal care attendant or a health-coordinated package, people can have better managed long-term care, allowing them to remain at home. “By transporting social workers to them, and primary care help at home, people can stay safely there as long as possible,” Wade said. Wade advocated the shingles vaccine, which reduces shingles by 50 percent, pneumonia vaccine and Prevnar vaccine. Kimberly Williams, Citigold relationship manager, said to go over retirement assets, income, expenditures and mortgages with your banker. Also, seniors should use online banking for reoccurring payments so they won’t forget. The final speaker, Dr. Jonathan Whiteson, director of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation at N.Y.U. Langone Medical Center, Rusk Rehabilitation, is a physiatrist, who looks at the whole person and how the body functions. Traumatic brain injury and fractures are possible consequences of a fall, and at least a third of people over age 65 will fall every year. Just from a hip fracture, Whiteson said, 25 percent will die in six months, and 25 percent will need lifelong nursing care. To prevent falls, Whiteson said, any kind of movement is important. It can be T’ai Chi or yoga, and even walking in your apartment or building hallways improves cardio. Audience members asked questions of the experts, plus reps of the 10 healthrelated businesses present. In closing, Gomez concluded, “Old age is not for sissies.”

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May 23 - June 5, 2013

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May 23 - June 5, 2013

Photos by Don Loggins

Hats off — make that on! — to 40 years at Liz Christy Members of the Liz Christy Garden, at Bowery and East Houston St., celebrated the 40th anniversary of the city’s first community garden. There was the famous hat party, with this year’s winner sporting a chapeau in the shape of a watering can. There were free hot dogs and nonalcoholic drinks, and a band played. Founded by legendary greenthumb Liz Christy, today the lush swath of foliage across from more recent arrival Whole Foods Market is home to an eight-story-tall Metasequoia, or dawn redwood, the biggest example of the tree in the city. Dawn redwoods were once thought to be extinct, but a former Liz Christy gardener, today only recalled as “the soldier,” brought back a seeding from a remote area of China where a stand of the stately trees was discovered.

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May 23 - June 5, 2013

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