DOWNTOWN EXPRESS, JUNE 13, 2012

FEDS PROPOSE ADDING 50 TYPES OF CANCER TO 9/11 HEALTH BILL VOLUME 25, NUMBER 1

JUNE 13-26, 2012

B Y ALI NE REYNOLDS n a sweeping announcement made on Fri., June 8, the federal government proposed adding 50 forms of cancer to the list of treatable illnesses covered by the James L. Zadroga 9/11 Health & Compensation Act. Cancer of the colon, liver and thyroid as well as certain respiratory and blood forms of the disease, are among the host of cancers that are up for inclusion, according to a document the Zadroga Act’s administrator Dr. John Howard has released. Howard’s decision was largely influenced by the recommendations made by the Scientific/ Technical Advisory Committee (S.T.A.C.), a group of health experts and Downtown advocates that advised treatment of some 50 cancer types to be federally funded.

The proposal, if enacted, would provide nationally subsidized coverage to cancer-stricken Downtown residents, workers and students, in addition to first responders from outside the area who inhaled Ground Zero toxins during the clean-up effort.

Prior to this latest announcement, Howard had vetoed adding cancer to the Zadroga Act, citing insufficient medical evidence to do so in an initial review published last July.

Howard justified his determination in a June 8 letter addressed to U.S. Congressman Jerrold Nadler.

“We recognize the serious impact cancer has had on responders, survivors and their loved ones,” he wrote. “I accepted the S.T.A.C.’s

I

WATER RACE AROUND THE WORLD

Downtown Express photo by Terese Loeb Kreuzer

Sailboats from the Manhattan Sailing Club were joined in Battery Park City’s North Cove Marina on Sun., June 3 by several 68-foot ocean racing yachts as part of an around-the-world yacht race.

Dems speak out against “war on women”

Continued on page 13

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

BY S A M S P O K O N Y merica’s culture wars can often become so entangled in rhetoric that the basic issues are lost in a heap of politics.

But when it comes to women’s rights, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, representing

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New York’s eighth Congressional district, doesn’t hesitate to remind his constituents — or anyone else — exactly what he’s doing in the plainest terms.

“This is a war, and we’ve got to win it,” said Nadler, addressing a group convened by the Lower Manhattan Democrats (L.M.D.) club on Greenwich Street on Tues., May 29.

Nadler was referring to what he and many political allies have called the “war

on women,” which Democrats consider to include a wide array of recent attacks on equal rights legislation, abortion and contraceptive use by politicians across the aisle.

At the L.M.D. meeting, Nadler was joined

by Sonia Ossorio, president of the NYC branch of the National Organization for Women (N.O.W.). While both Nadler and Continued on page 17

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SEAPORT GUNFIRE Gunfire injured a 20-year-old victim at Pier 17 in the South Street Seaport around 2:17 a.m. Sun., June 10 during an argument between Long Island teens who arrived in a party bus and another group. The victim, Joel Ochoa, 20, of East New York, a member of the other group, was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition with a forearm wound from a .22 caliber hand gun. Kadijah Robinson, 17, was charged with possession of a gun, but she was not charged as the shooter, who apparently fled before police arrived.

SEAPORT BASH An argument in front of Pier 17 around 9 p.m. Thurs., June 7 turned violent when a suspect hauled off and hit his rival over the head with his aluminum cane. Robert Gutierrez, 25, was charged with assault.

‘NO FEE’ PARKING A man retrieved his car at a parking garage at 200 Chambers St. around 11 p.m. Tues., June 5, said, “I’m not paying,” and started to drive off. The attendant closed the gate, but two friends of the suspect knocked him down, then got in the car which ran over the attendant and drove off. The attendant sustained various non-life-threatening injuries.

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Police were called around 1:30 p.m. Mon., May 28 by law firm tenants at 325 Broadway, who saw a suspect peering into offices in the building. “I’m looking for my lawyer,” the suspect, Andre McKenzie, 19, told a responding officer. McKenzie was arrested a short time later when police caught him trying to enter the back door of another office.

SLASHER SENTENCE Edwin Santiago, 40, was sentenced to 21 years in prison on Fri., June 8 for slashing a woman in the Chambers St. subway station in Jan. 2003. Santiago was convicted in a 2004 trial for slashing Yael Leopold, then a college student, who needed 50 stitches in her face, scalp and left hand. However, the conviction was overturned because Santiago’s lawyers had been improperly barred from calling an

expert on eye-witness fallibility to the stand.

Santiago, who has been in jail since the slashing, was convicted again on April 2. The time he has spent in jail will count toward his sentence. Santiago insisted that he was innocent when he was sentenced last week.

BRIDGE STREET ROBBERY Two suspects who stepped out of a Silver Nissan around 1:30 a.m. Wed., May 30 in front of a bar at 25 Bridge St. accosted a passerby talking on his cell phone and demanded his phone and wallet. The victim did as they ordered, but they pushed him to the ground and one of them tried but failed to take off the victim’s boots, police said.

The suspects fled in their car.

FOOD FIGHT Jacques Sterlin, 66, was charged with assault Wed., June 6 for hitting a rival food peddler over the head with his cane around 12:30 p.m. during a dispute on Centre Street near the Municipal Building. The shouting match went on for a half-hour until Sterlin shouted, “I’m going to crack someone over the head,” and then did it, police said.

SUBWAY SLEEPER Transit police arrested Brun Castana, 34, around 4:30 a.m. Sun., June 3 for lifting an iPhone from a passenger sleeping on an E train at Chambers Street. The suspect also had possession of another cell phone, an iPod, a California driver’s license and a credit card, all believed to have been stolen.

DOUBLE FEATURE Sal Medina, operator of a newsstand on Delancey Street near Columbia Street, was surprised on the morning of Fri., June 8 when a white livery car stopped in front of the stand.

The driver got out and said that a pregnant woman from Queens was giving birth in the back seat. By the time the ambulance arrived, the first of twin girls had been born. The second baby made her debut later in Bellevue Hospital but before the mother got to the delivery room, according to a CBS News report.

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ONE AND FOUR WORLD TRADE CENTER SURVIVE SMALL BLAZE A small, fenced-in area on the eighth floor of Four W.T.C. caught fire the morning of Tues., June 12, but the blaze was swiftly stifled, according to a spokesperson for the Fire Department of New York (F.D.N.Y.).

The fire, which began inside a 100-square-foot construction enclosure, was called in at 11:19 a.m. Although 60 firefighters were on the scene within five minutes, the flame was small enough that many of them were released from the scene soon thereafter, the F.D.N.Y. spokesperson said.

There were no injuries, and officials said that there was no structural damage to the building. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The main body of the fire was knocked down extremely quickly,â&#x20AC;? said the spokesperson, adding that the blaze was completely controlled within 30 minutes.

Silverstein Properties, the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s developer, didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t provide comment by press time.

The Four W.T.C. blaze followed a similar event on Sat., June 2, in which wooden decking supporting the 89th floor of One W.T.C. caught fire shortly after dawn, according to an Associated Press report.

According to the news report, the F.D.N.Y. received the emergency call at 7:15 that morning and rushed to the construction site to help on-site workers extinguish the blaze. While the workers had put out most of the fire themselves, firefighters were still at the scene spraying the area an hour after they were called for help.

By about 9 a.m., the fire was completely out.

Patrick Foye, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s owner, subsequently released a

statement to the press saying that the incident was â&#x20AC;&#x153;very localizedâ&#x20AC;? and that there were no injuries or structural damage to the building.

Foye described the scene, saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;After discovering smoldering plywood on an upper floor, workers used hand-held fire extinguishers to control the situation, and the F.D.N.Y. responded to extinguish the condition.â&#x20AC;?

Nevertheless, as a result of the incident, the Port Authority along with the other relevant parties are conducting an â&#x20AC;&#x153;afteraction reviewâ&#x20AC;? to assess the response to the fire and make any necessary recommendations for improvement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Port Authority has standing weekly meetings with the F.D.N.Y. to provide updates on construction progress and site operations,â&#x20AC;? said Foye. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As [this incident] proved, these briefings are invaluable to ensuring the utmost coordination for all activities on site.â&#x20AC;?

NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-9, 12-25 EDITORIAL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10-11 YOUTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 ARTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27-29, 31 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

C. B. 1 A schedule of this weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s upcoming Community Board 1 committee meetings is below. Unless otherwise noted, all committee meetings are held at the board office, located at 49-51 Chambers St., room 709 at 6 p.m.

ON WED., JUNE 13: The Tribeca Committee will meet.

ON THURS., JUNE 14:

OBAMA VISITS WORLD TRADE CENTER

The Landmarks Committee will meet.

President Barack Obama is set to return to the W.T.C. site on Thurs., June 14 to check up on the construction progress, according to a White House official. It marks the presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first appearance at Ground Zero since last September, when he commemorated the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

In addition to being briefed on the work status of both the W.T.C. buildings and the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presence will serve as â&#x20AC;&#x153;a preview of the One W.T.C. topping-out ceremony,â&#x20AC;? said the White House official. A topping-out ceremony is a construction industry tradition symbolizing the near-completion of a buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s framework.

Continued on page 12

ON TUES., JUNE 19: The Seaport-Civic Center Committee will meet.

ON THURS., JUNE 21: The Youth and Education and Quality of Life Committees will meet.

ON MON., JUNE 25: The Housing Committee will meet.

ON TUES., JUNE 26: C.B. 1 will host its monthly board meeting at New York Law School (185 W. Broadway).

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Fighting to make Lower Manhattan the greatest place to live, work, and raise a family.

Downtown Express photo by Sam Spokony

Local shoe shiner Steven Harris said he has seen a bunch of stop-and-frisks occur on Broadway in Lower Manhattan.

Stop-and-frisks not prevalent in Downtown B Y SA M S P O K O NY s Mayor Michael Bloomberg and N.Y.P.D. Commissioner Ray Kelly continue to come under fire for police stop-and-frisk policies, some local residents allege not to notice the effects of that citywide tension in Downtown.

Some locals, however, have experienced the impact of stop-and-frisk firsthand or have at least witnessed an incident.

Just 5,100 of the 685,724 stop-and-frisk incidents in New York City last year took place below Canal Street, according to data compiled by the New York World (N.Y.W.), a news project based at the Columbia University School of Journalism.

Statistically this means that that area is, on average, underrepresented when compared to the rest of the city.

According to 2010 U.S. Census data, residents of Downtown neighborhoods made up just over one percent of the total population of New York City. Stop-and-frisk incidents that occurred in the area comprised only about 0.7 percent of the 2011 citywide total reported by the N.Y.P.D. That didn’t seem to come as a surprise to many people in Lower Manhattan.

“I never give it any thought,” said Arthur Askew, an employee at Studio 21 Jewelers on Cortlandt Street between Broadway and Church Street. “Yeah, there’s a big police presence around this area, but the stop-andfrisk stuff isn’t an issue down here.”

According to the N.Y.P.D.’s website, a stop-and-frisk typically takes place when an officer reasonably suspects that a person has committed, is committing or is about to commit a felony or misdemeanor crime.

Although the blocks immediately surrounding Askew’s store saw 145 stop-andfrisk incidents last year, according to the New York World data map, Askew said that the count alone was not enough to worry him.

Lower Manhattan’s most heavily concentrated stop-and-frisk area in 2011 was on Vesey Street, between Broadway and Church Street — the block immediately adjacent to

A

the World Trade Center P.A.T.H. Station.

According to the data map, 596 incidents took place there last year.

Another high-volume region was the stretch of South Street between Whitehall Street and Old Slip, where 322 incidents took place, the data map showed. But several people who work in that area, including a security guard outside the Staten Island Ferry terminal, said they had never seen a stop-and-frisk encounter take place there.

There were also several relative hotspots closer to Canal Street, including one where Brooklyn resident Tony Williams found himself being patted down several weeks ago.

Williams, 41, said he was visiting friends who work on Lispenard Street, between Broadway and Church Street, when he was stopped and frisked.

“I was just standing there when [the police officer] asked me what I was doing, and next thing you know, he’s telling me to get against the wall and turn around,” said Williams.

While he echoed the oft-sounded sentiment that the stop-and-frisk issue is not as much of a problem in Lower Manhattan as in other areas of the city — such as parts of Brooklyn and the Bronx — Williams mentioned a fundamental factor that puts people at risk no matter where they are.

“I’m black, so why would I be shocked about getting stopped and frisked? It didn’t surprise me,” said Williams.

Steven Harris, 52, who has run a shoe shine stand since 1977 on Broadway, between Pine Street and Cedar Street, said that he recently saw a young black man get patted down on his block for no apparent reason.

Harris, a resident of Red Hook, Brooklyn, acknowledged that he sees many more stopand-frisks in his home neighborhood than in Lower Manhattan, but added, “it’s happened plenty of times here on Broadway, and it’s almost always been somebody who’s black.”

Indeed, 87 percent of all stop-and-frisk incidents in the city last year were directed at African Americans or Latinos.

The N.Y.P.D. did not return a request for comment.

Assemblyman Shelly Silver If you need assistance, please contact my office at (212) 312-1420 or email silver@assembly.state.ny.us.

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June 13 - 26, 2012

Digging big in Battery Park

BY T E RE SE LO E B K R E U Z E R oston had its big dig a few years back; this summer, Battery Park is having one of its own.

Almost a third of the 25-acre park will be a construction site for the next 18 months: In July, fences will go up around the town green, where Fritz Koenig’s sphere sculpture now resides. Sections of the park’s seven-acre woodland will also be cordoned off in preparation for a new bikeway that will connect State Street on the east side with Battery Place on the north and west sides. The Sea Glass carou-

B

sel near the park’s southern edge is already under construction.

At the same time, the park will be buzzing with other activity, according to Warrie Price, president of the Battery Conservancy, a nonprofit she founded in 1994 to improve and rebuild one of New York City’s oldest and most historic public spaces.

“We have 10,000 to 15,000 people a day who use the park,” she said, “so it will always be open to the public.”

In addition to those who linger in the park, thousands of people walk through

the park every day on their way to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty or the Staten Island and Governors Island ferries. Price estimates that Battery Park gets six million visitors a year.

As for the various projects in the park, the carousel, Price said, is at the top of the Conservancy’s list: it’s already halfway done and will open next spring.

The merry-go-round, equipped with panels that transition in color from clear to cobalt blue, is meant to simulate a trip under the sea.

Price said that the 30 large Fiberglas fish

on which carousel patrons will ride will be “marching down from Canada” starting next fall. The figures were designed by the George Tsypin Opera Factory and are being manufactured in Montreal by Show Canada, who has produced equipment for clients such as the Olympics and Cirque du Soleil.

Already open and “flourishing beyond our expectations,” in Price’s words, the Battery Urban Farm on the east side of Battery Park saw a 100 percent increase Continued on page 15

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June 13 - 26, 2012

Welcome to the City’s Oldest —And Newest—Hotel District

Downtown Express photo by Zach Williams

Seaport Jewelry owner Jon Valentino, who is shown here assisting a customer, is retiring in July.

After nearly three decades, beloved Seaport Jewelry owner retires

BY Z A CH W IL L IA MS hey say that good things come in small packages.

But unlike the diamonds they sell, the owners of Seaport Jewelry, at 50 Fulton St., could not last forever. After a 28-year run, longtime co-owner Jon Valentino, 67, is selling off his mom-andpop shop and retiring next month.

To many local residents, Valentino’s retirement marks the end of an era in which the business was a cherished neighborhood hub.

While the new owners will continue to keep the shop open, the most faithful customers are saddened by the departure of Valentino, a man they say possesses a signature neighborhood-friendly approach to his business.

Jokes, chatter and the sale of designer jewelry mix within the small confines of the shop, where locals have congregated for years on Friday afternoons for small get-togethers. The store’s down-to-earth atmosphere has made it more than just a jewelry shop to many people, according to professional magician Steve Thiel, a regular customer for the last 10 years.

“They treat the customers like friends,” said Thiel. “I think that essentially says it all. They have patience.”

T

Thiel compared the store to a “small town.”

“I come here to socialize, discuss current events or the family — things like that,” he said. “It’s a warm feeling.”

A New York City native, Vietnam War army veteran and family man, Valentino has been the constant within the business, which he has run with three partners. But it was not until later in life before jewelry became a career for Valentino.

Valentino first opened the jewelry shop with a friend in 1984 while holding down a job as a repairman for a local telephone company, a profession he worked in for two decades. A handshake with a wholesaler named Beddow Tek secured $20,000 in inventory to facilitate the opening of the store, he said.

In 1990, he abandoned his day job to run the shop full-time.

Between then and now, Valentino went from a jewelry novice to a reliable expert for local residents. A knack for working with his hands helped him master the daily duties of a neighborhood jeweler, he said.

An acquired ability to repair watches, modify jewelry and express his knowledge of gems are just one of the many reasons Continued on page 20

When I visited the gorgeous new Conrad New Yor k a few weeks ago, I was reminded that though I have lived downtown for 30 years, I have only stayed in a Lower Manhattan hotel one night.

It was November 1995, our loft had just been painted, and by 10 PM in those days before low VOC and other green inventions, we could no longer bear the off-gassing paint.

F o r t u n a t e l y, t h e M i l l e n i u m H o t e l across the street had a room available, and we hunkered down for the night in sweet- smelling st yle. The f umes had dissipated by morning, and it was back to unpacking, rehanging and making our own bed.

We were lucky to find accommodation at that late hour, because back then there were few hotels in Lower Manhattan. How times have changed! Today, there are three times as many hotels and 80 percent more rooms than there were just 10 years ago, with lodging options for both business and leisure travelers seeking modest rooms or luxury suites.

In fact, there haven’t been so many choices since the early 19th century. That’s no typo: The Lower Manhattan hospitality business is more than 200 years old!

Hotels first opened here in the 1790s, as ships off the Atlantic and boats down the Hudson brought goods of every kind into Lower Manhattan, attracting buyers and sellers and bankers and middlemen, who streamed into town for business as well as pleasure. There were just too many visitors for the traditional boarding houses and taverns to handle, so in 1794 the fivestor y, 137-room City Hotel went up on Broadway near Trinity Church.

It was New York City’s first Europeanstyle hotel, with unheard of amenities like dining and dancing salons, an extensive wine cellar, street-level shops, a bar and coffeehouse. Others soon followed, and, by 1818, there were eight hotels in Lower Manhattan, a number that would not be surpassed for 188 years.

S o m e of t h e s e h ote l s we r e wo r l d famous. The 300 -room Park Hotel, built in 18 3 6 by John Jac ob A stor on Broadway across from Cit y Hall Par k a n d l at e r r e n a m e d t h e A s t o r H o u s e, was for a time considered the most prestigious hotel in the country. It was the only place where famed Senator and

orator Daniel Webster would stay in New York City (a three-room suite was kept in reser ve for him). And, it was where A braham Linc oln holed up in 18 6 0 to w r ite and rew r ite his f am ous C o oper Union address, which catapulted him to the presidency.

The Park was also the last major hotel to be built in Lower Manhattan for the next 145 years. Not until the 825 -room Vista Hotel opened in 1981—as part of the transformative construction of the first World Trade Center—would Lower Manhattan see another one.

W h i l e f i ve m o r e h ot e l s o p e n e d i n the 1990s, the re-emergence of Lower Manhattan as a fashionable hotel district did not begin until the first decade of the 21st century.

Now there are 18 hotels with 4,092 r o o m s i n t h e o n e s q u a r e m i l e b e l ow Chambers Street, with five more scheduled to open by the end of 2014 and another 10 planned for construction.

Hotels are good for business. They are good for restaurants, for merchants, for museums and other attractions.

They make Lower Manhattan a tourism destination, not just one stop on the tour.

And, for those of us who live in Lower Manhattan, they are good for extra guests, family, colleagues and the occasional slumber party or special event. Not to mention paint jobs.

Liz Berger is President of the Downtown Alliance.

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June 13 - 26, 2012

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June 13 - 26, 2012

Editorial PUBLISHER & EDITOR

John W. Sutter

The cost of treating 9/11 cancers

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Aline Reynolds ARTS EDITOR

Scott Stiffler REPORTERS

Albert Amateau Lincoln Anderson EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS

Bonnie Rosenstock Sam Spokony SR. V.P. OF SALES & MARKETING

Francesco Regini RETAIL AD MANAGER

Colin Gregory ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Allison Greaker Julius Harrison Gary Lacinski Alex Morris Julio Tumbaco BUSINESS MANAGER / CONTROLLER

Vera Musa ART / PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

Troy Masters

WE REJOICED ALONGSIDE 9/11 HEROES

and advocates when, on June 8, the federal government proposed to subsidize the treatment and compensation of first responders and others who developed cancer from exposure to Ground Zero toxins.

Dr. John Howard’s forthcoming decision to add 50 forms of cancer to the James L. Zadroga 9/11 Health & Compensation Act is a historic one. It goes without saying that the government’s proposal to add multiple forms of cancer to the bill is the right move, since we as a nation bear the moral obligation to tend to all those who were injured as a result of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

We encourage Howard to solidify his determination about including cancer in the bill as soon as possible, while taking into account the feedback generated by the proposal’s 30-day public comment period, which began on June 13.

We are pleased to hear that, once Howard’s ruling passes, the Victim Compensation Fund (V.C.F.) — the compensation portion of the Zadroga Act — will be open to cancer-stricken 9/11 survivors seeking financial reimbursement for loss of income and other monetary setbacks caused by their illnesses. This enables not only the 9/11 cancer patients themselves to

apply for compensation; it also makes immediate family members of the patients eligible for subsidies through death claims.

However, we are concerned, as many are, that the devil might be in the details when it comes to carrying out this new cancer provision. We wonder about the logistics of adding cancer to the law, particularly with respect to its timing and implementation. It is unclear exactly how long it will take for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (N.I.O.S.H.) to add the regulation to the Federal Register, the institute’s official listing of rules. Even more nebulous is the amount of time it will take for the World Trade Center Centers of Excellence to begin treating cancerstricken patients once the provision is adopted into law.

We are equally anxious about the funding of treatment for not only cancer patients but for all others who are currently receiving care under the law, which is currently capped at $4.3 billion. The greater number of people who obtain medical care and compensation, the fewer benefits each of them might receive, since the amount of funding for the programs remains the same.

We therefore urge Congress to consider voting for supplemental funding to the law

before it comes up for reauthorization in 2016, so as to ensure that 9/11 patients’ treatment and reimbursement isn’t compromised due to financial constraints.

Additional funding, however, won’t negate the troubling reality that the bill is set to expire in four years. This is particularly worrisome to oncologists and other physicians who anticipate a long latency period of certain forms of cancer and other 9/11-related illnesses.

Another point of consideration is the standards that doctors will use to determine whether or not a specific type of cancer is tied to a patient’s exposure at Ground Zero.

Guidelines about this should be clearly delineated in the 9/11 health bill, so that the rules are consistent across the health clinics and there is as little confusion as possible among physicians.

In short, Howard’s decision marks a momentous turning point in the complex aftermath of 9/11, and we must make sure that it goes smoothly so that all of the first responders, Downtown community members and their families are properly taken care of. These affected individuals and their family members deserve nothing less than the best possible health and compensation available, without delay. We owe it to them.

SENIOR DESIGNER

Christina Entcheva GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Michael Shirey

Letters to the Editor

CONTRIBUTORS

Helaina N. Hovitz Terese Loeb Kreuzer Jerry Tallmer PHOTOGRAPHERS

Milo Hess Jefferson Siegel Terese Loeb Kreuzer PUBLISHED BY

COMMUNITY MEDIA, LLC 515 CANAL ST., UNIT 1C, NY, NY 10013 PHONE: (212) 229-1890 FAX: (212) 229-2790 WWW.DOWNTOWNEXPRESS.COM NEWS@DOWNTOWNEXPRESS.COM Downtown Express is published every two weeks in print and every week on the web by Community Media LLC, 515 Canal St., Unit 1C, New York, N.Y. 10013 (212) 229-1890. The entire contents of the newspaper, including advertising, are copyrighted and no part may be reproduced without the express permission of the publisher - © 2012 Community Media LLC. PUBLISHER’S LIABILITY FOR ERROR The Publisher shall not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for other errors or omissions in connection with an advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue.

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MAKE PIER 40 SELF-SUSTAINING To the Editor, Re “Residential could save Pier 40, new study finds” (Downtown Express article, May 16): As a board member of Friends of Hudson River Park (F.O.H.R.P.), a member of Community Board 1 and a parent with two small children who use the park daily, I wish to encourage all users of Hudson River Park (H.R.P.) to act now on a very real threat to this crown jewel of Downtown and, specifically, to Pier 40.

If immediate action is not taken by the New York State legislature to open up the Hudson River Park Act to review, we cannot even begin to take the necessary steps to save our neighborhood’s Central Park. We need to generate revenues to repair Pier 40, which, despite suggestions

to the contrary from some quarters, is structurally unsound and desperately requires costly repairs to its infrastructure in order to avoid closure in the near future. Pier 40 is a vital resource for Downtown Manhattan, and the tens of thousands of people who utilize it would suffer if it closed. Likewise, H.R.P. as a whole faces an enormous shortfall both in its operating budget and capital budget, and modifying the Act is the only real solution in this age of government austerity.

(Friends of Hudson River Park, of course, will still seek support from public sources, but the park cannot use those funds for its operations).

Opening up the Act will enable the community to thoughtfully consider all the options available to make the park selfsustaining, which was the original intent of the Act.

Specifically, some of these options are: • Broadening commercial uses allowed on commercial piers, such as Pier 40 and 76, to allow for more options and better proposals for H.R.P. and the community; • Allowing H.R.P. to bond its revenues (something all state authorities and municipal governments have the ability to do); • Allowing commercial lease terms to be co-terminus with H.R.P.T. master leases; • Removing the N.Y.P.D.’s tow pound from Pier 76 and replacing it with a revenue-producing use.

Please contact your elected officials, including state Assembly Member Deborah Glick, in whose district Pier 40 lies, and tell them to take immediate action before the legislature finishes its session on Thurs., June 21.

The future of your park

depends on it!

Peter Braus, member of Friends of Hudson River Park board of directors

THANK YOU, JULIE MENIN! To the Editor, Re “After seven packed years, Julie Menin to step down from chair of C.B. 1” (Downtown Express article, May 30): This article reminded me of the Park51 episode of 2010. Julie must have called me every other day during that flare-up, and I could tell she was running shuttle diplomacy between local and national political and religious leaders.

Her ability to listen and her desire to find common ground — all the while being true to her leadership vision of equality and justice — was a gift to our community. In addition to

the high points mentioned in your article, let’s not forget her daily advocacy for more seats for Downtown public schools and the single-handed victory she had in securing the site for P.S. 276 in Battery Park City.

Should Julie follow through on her interest in becoming Manhattan Borough President, we should only be so lucky.

Rabbi Darren Levine

E-mail letters, not longer than 300 words in length, to aline@downtownexpress. com or fax to 212-2292790 or mail to Downtown Express, Letters to the Editor, 515 Canal St., Suite 1C, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. Downtown Express reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel.

Downtown Express does not publish anonymous letters.

11

June 13 - 26, 2012

Steve Fiterman After about two-and-a-half years of work, construction of the exterior of the Borough of Manhattan Community College’s new Fiterman Hall is nearly complete. The building suffered irreparable damage when on Sept. 11, 2011, Seven World Trade Center collapsed onto it.

In a recent interview with the Downtown Express,, Steve Fiterman,, son off Miles and Shirley Fiterman, the building’s benefactors, addressed ed the former Fiterman Hall’s history and his parents’ donation of it to B.M.C.C. He also discussed scussed the new Fiterman Hall, a classroom om building and student center scheduled ed to open to students in the fall.

The building’s lding’s façade should be completed by the month’s end.

have a personal connection to B.M.C.C.?

No. One of the things my father did was invest in real estate, and New York was an area he felt was a good place to do some of that. He bought the building from Columbia University in the late 1970s. I don’t know what changed his direction from doing something for-profit to doing something for nonprofit, but he and my mother made the decision that, rather than lease it to the school, it would probably be best to give it to the school — and that’s what they did. They were very interested in helping people help themselves, and education is one of the ways [people do that]. ] All I am is the keeper pe of the legacy! eg y!

Did your parents go to public colleges themselves?

Yes, they both went to the University of Minnesota.

Can you shed some light on the history of Fiterman Hall?

It was once owned by England. In the 1700s, King George II gave the chunk of land to the

BY AL A L IN INE R RE E YNO L DS DS So is Fiterman Hall named after your dad, Miles Fiterman?

After ter my mother and father, yes. My parents gifted the he building to City University sity of New York, for B.M.C.C. C.

City of New York for the pursuit of education and the founding of King’s College, which ended up being renamed Columbia University. Columbia then held the property for hundreds of years.

Who occupied the building when your father bought it?

JP Morgan was a single-use tenant in the building — the bank had its operation in there. Then in 1993, JP Morgan sold the business to another bank, which also decided to move across the river to New Jersey. At the time, New Jersey was making a huge play to win away and influence Manhattan corporations. That left my dad, the real estate invesT tor, with wit an empty building that he decided to give to B.M.C.C. Where were you on 9/11, and how did Wh your parents react to the collapse of Fiterman p Hall?

I was wa with my father in his home in Florida — he was suffering [the effects of] a stroke at the time. We sat there and watched it in horror like everybody else. My father was extremely extrem stoic through the day watching this.

He made ma one comment: He looked at me and said, ‘They will rebuild that building. s Don’t worry.’

Did your father have a say in the design of the new building?

No. They didn’t start drawing plans of the new Fiterman Hall until after my father’s passing in 2004.

How w did that come about? Does your family

Trinity Wall Street WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 7-9pm Faith House Living Rooms Presented by Faith House Manhattan, with Dr. Balbinder Bhogal, Chair in Sikh Studies at Hoftra University.

Followed by music.

Charlotte’s Place FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 6-7:30pm Family Friday Pizza and Movie Night This month’s movie is Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille.

Charlotte’s Place SUNDAY, JUNE 17 & 24, 10am Community Bible Study A weekly, summer Bible study open to all.

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Let’s do something together

SUNDAY, JUNE 17 & 24, 1pm Book study: Gathering at God’s Table Discuss Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s new book, Gathering at God’s Table.

74 Trinity Pl, 3rd Fl, Library THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2-6pm Open Labyrinth Walk Open to all for walking, prayer, meditation.

St. Paul’s Chapel

River To River Festival SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 7:30pm Manado State University Choir St. Paul’s Chapel MONDAY, JUNE 25, 7:30pm NOVUS NY with The Washington Chorus, The Brooklyn Youth Chorus Academy, and soloists Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts 3 Spruce St Trinity is a proud sponsor of the Downtown Little League.

All Are Welcome All events are free, unless noted.

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Have you seen the inside of the new Fiterman Hall during the construction period?

Yes, I was given a tour of the interior a few weeks ago. It’s an amazing facility — it’s probably the most technologically advanced classroom building in America. The way they planned it, there are two entrances: one which aligns with the main campus on Chambers Street and another that looks onto the World Trade Center site [from] across the street from the National Sept. 11 Museum, the footprint of the original towers. So you’ve got a public access point for people who aren’t registered students and also an access point for the students when you walk in on the main level. You’ve also got this huge atrium and several elevators and escalators.

What are the views like of the World Trade Center?

They’re sensational. When you get up on the upper level, you can see Battery Park and the tip of Manhattan. Back in the 1970s, when they built the original W.T.C. site, you had to vacate a portion of Greenwich Street, since it didn’t go through the W.T.C. site. Now with the new W.T.C. site, they decided…that Greenwich needed to go back through. By doing that, they created an open space between W.T.C. 1 and 2.

Fiterman Hall is the benefactor for most of that, in that you can see all the way down to the Hudson River. They’ve taken advantage of that with the design by using all that glass. It’s just going to be a magnificent place to go to school!

trinitywallstreet.org

worship SUNDAY, 8am and 10am St. Paul’s Chapel Holy Eucharist SUNDAY, 9am and 11:15am Trinity Church Preaching, music, and Eucharist 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

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

Leah Reddy

On The Spot

To find out why there’s scaffolding around the Trinity Church spire, visit: trinitywallstreet.org/preservation.

ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL Broadway and Fulton Street CHARLOTTE’S PLACE 107 Greenwich St, btwn Rector & Carlisle The Rev. Dr. James H. Cooper, Rector The Rev. Canon Anne Mallonee, Vicar

an Episcopal parish in the city of New York

12

June 13 - 26, 2012

Continued from page 3

Obama is also expected to sign a structural beam as it is being installed at the site, according to the Daily News.

Service to and from the World Trade Center PATH station is subject to suspension between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Thurs., June 14, according to the Port Authority.

DANCE NEW VICTORIOUSLY LEASE

AMSTERDAM RENEWS ITS

On Fri., June 1, Dance New Amsterdam (D.N.A.), a local dance education and performance center, recently announced it will be staying put in the Sun Building, after all.

The lease agreement follows three years of ongoing negotiations between D.N.A.’s executive and artistic director Catherine Peila and the space’s landlord, real estate and management company Fram Realty. Had a settlement not been reached, D.N.A., Downtown’s first post9/11 nonprofit, faced eviction and closure, since it couldn’t have afforded the monthly rent that would have escalated to $90,000 per month in the year 2020.

D.N.A.’s new lease reduces its monthly rent payments considerably and saves the company upwards of $4 million over the next several years, according to Peila, who described the process as “exciting” and “fulfilling” and held a

press conference in its 130-seat theater on Fri., June 1 to relay the good news.

Peila was hired in 2008 to restructure the organization, which at the time was in deep financial trouble, according to D.N.A. The nonprofit is responsible for maintaining its two-floor space at 280 Broadway, including bathrooms, floors, heat and theater equipment for an estimated 32,000 artists, educators and audience members who use it annually.

“We are now better positioned to further stabilize, implement educational programs and support artists’ creative process from studioto-stage and beyond,” said Peila, adding that D.N.A. would “continue to fight to stay alive and thrive in Lower Manhattan.”

NYS Senator Daniel Squadron, who helped facilitate the discussions between D.N.A. and Fram Realty, applauded the agreement, saying it proves that“it’s possible to find paths forward for community-based cultural organizations and the invaluable work they do.”

STATE SENATE PASSES INTERCITY BUS PERMIT LAW, FEDS SHUT DOWN 26 BUS COMPANIES The New York State Senate passed legislation to create the first-ever permit system for intercity buses on Tues., June 12, according to an announcement made by State Senator Daniel Squadron.

The law, which gives the city the power to regulate the bus industry and designate pick-

up and drop-off locations, was introduced by Squadron and State Assembly Member Sheldon Silver in April.

The city-authorized permits are meant to “help end Chinatown’s ‘wild west’ atmosphere, while allowing the city and state to identify problems before they become tragedies,” said Squadron.

The legislation requires the city to consult with local community boards and allows for a 45-day comment period prior to issuing permits for pick-up and drop-off locations.

Under the law, the city could also oblige bus companies to provide information about their buses, the number of passengers they are carrying and where they are parked when the vehicles aren’t in use.

The state law’s passage came on the heels of an announcement by the U.S. Department of Transportation on Thurs., May 31 that it had shut down 26 intercity bus operators deemed to be imminent hazards to public safety — marking the largest single safety crackdown in the D.O.T.’s history.

According to data provided by the federal D.O.T., the 26 bus operators were subsidiaries of three primary companies, two of which were based in New York City.

Apex Bus, Inc. and I-95 Coach Inc., both based in New York, were shut down along with their ten and six subsidiary operators, respectively. The third company, New Century Travel, Inc., was based in Philadelphia and controlled ten bus operators.

Safety investigators from the D.O.T.’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (F.M.C.S.A.) found that all of the carriers held multiple safety violations, including hiring driv-

ers without valid driver’s licenses and failing to conduct alcohol and drug tests of the drivers.

CUOMO NOMINATES LONGTIME ALLY TO CHAIR B.P.C.A. NYS Governor Andrew Cuomo will nominate former lieutenant governor candidate Dennis Mehiel to become the Battery Park City Authority’s next chairman, according to the New York Daily News.

Mehiel will take the seat that was vacated by former city comptroller William Thompson, who resigned the B.P.C.A. chair position last month to prepare for his upcoming mayoral bid.

Last year, Cuomo appointed Mehiel — who originally made his name and fortune as the founder of a corrugated shipping container company — to serve on the board of the Empire State Development Corp.

Since 2009, Mehiel has contributed $92,000 to Cuomo’s political campaigns, according to the Daily News. His wife, Karen, has also donated $44,862.

RIVER TO RIVER FESTIVAL BRINGS MUSIC AND ART DOWNTOWN The River to River Festival, which features free music and arts programming throughout Lower Manhattan, will enter its 2012 season with a run from Sun., June 17 through Sun., July 15. The festival has events scheduled seven days a week, and includes both live performances and commissioned work from major artists.

This year’s festival kicks off with the 25th anniversary of “Bang On a Can” Marathon, Continued on page 23

Help the Library fight a proposed $43 million budget cut.

Preserve services for millions of people like Jacques, who returned to school with help from NYPL. AT RISK: Technology help, after-school programs, language and literacy classes, job-search assistance, and more.

PROTECT YOUR ROOTS

SUPPORT YOUR BRANCHES

VISIT NYPL.ORG/SPEAKOUT TO READ JACQUES’ STORY AND SIGN A LETTER.

13

June 13 - 26, 2012

Cancer addition presents obstacles Continued from page 1

approaches in determining that certain types of cancer should be added to the list.”

But the proposal comes with one particularly worrisome drawback: the inclusion of cancer could potentially lead to less care and compensation benefits for each individual patient and applicant.

“That theoretically could be an issue,” said Dr. Jacqueline Moline, head of the Queens W.T.C. Clinical Center of Excellence and former director of the Mount Sinai Medical Center’s W.T.C. Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program. “Hopefully, we won’t have too many people developing cancers.”

This possibility has 9/11 victims such as first responder Keith LeBow fretting about their futures.

LeBow, 49, suffers from gastroesophageal reflux disease (G.E.R.D.), asthma and several other illnesses he attributes to his time at Ground Zero, where he worked for the first 100 hours following the Sept. 11 attacks. The former iron worker’s ailments forced him into early retirement in 2008.

“I’m very worried,” he said of the potential limitations of his medical treatment. “Even though this is a victory, it still came at a price.”

The logistical problem of restricted funds has existed since the bill’s passage in late 2010, LeBow noted.

“It’s just now about figuring out [how] it’ll not only satisfy everybody’s needs but make sure everybody is well taken care of,” he said.

Lainie Kitt, who works at the New York City Housing Authority at 90 Church St., relied on her private health insurance to receive treatment for breast cancer, which she was diagnosed with in 2005.

At the time, Kitt’s doctors were unsure as to whether or not the illness was tied to her months-long exposure to the W.T.C. dust and debris that accumulated in her office.

“At this point, I question it a lot,” she said, “now that they’re finally identifying that cancers are related to being down there.”

Kitt, who has received care at the NYU Cancer Institute over the years, said that, moving forward, she would consider consulting one of the W.T.C. Centers of Excellence for the mammograms that she gets twice a year.

“I’d absolutely get myself checked out by them,” she said, “because I think it’s imperative, given that I was down here and I did have a diagnosis of cancer.”

Amit Friedlander, a 2002 graduate of Stuyvesant High School who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2006, said that, while he was pleased to hear about N.I.O.S.H.’s cancer proposal, the onset of the disease for some people could occur years after the Zadroga Act sunsets, in 2016.

Friedlander, whose cancer is now in remission, used his private health insurance for chemotherapy and other necessary treatment.

“It’s not the most comprehensive solution, given that the fund shuts down in a few years,” he said of the cancer proposal, “but it sounds good compared to what was there before, which is basically nothing.”

Moline affirmed that cancers such as lung cancer and mesothelioma have latency periods of at least 15 years. In some cases, she said, cer-

tain forms of the disease could take far longer to develop inside the body.

“I’ve seen patients after 70 years of their exposure develop mesothelioma,” said Moline.

“I think people are at a quandary again — we’ve got coverage now, but we don’t expect most of these people to develop cancers now.”

Other cancers such as colon cancer, however, are preventable altogether with the appropriate screening, the physician noted.

Moline said she’s prepared to walk the halls of Congress again in a few years in order to lobby for the bill’s extension, so that 9/11 victims can continue to receive federally subsidized care.

“We’re going to do what we did many times before,” she said, “which is to make them realize that our responsibility does not end at the end of the five-year period of the Zadroga Act. These folks are too important to us as a nation, and it should be our responsibility to care for them.”

Once cancer is officially added to the list of illnesses covered by the Zadroga Act, Friedlander and all other cancer-stricken 9/11 survivors may apply for compensation through the Victim Compensation Fund (V.C.F.), according to V.C.F. Special Master Sheila Birnbaum.

“We’ve always said that if N.I.O.S.H. adds new illnesses to their list of World Trade Center illnesses, we’d add them for compensation,” she explained.

Once N.I.O.S.H. issues the cancer regulation and sets the criteria, “If they make all the other eligibility requirements, they’ll be able to apply,” she added.

But Birnbaum acknowledged that allowing those with cancer to apply for V.C.F. money will automatically limit the sums ultimately granted to each claimant — especially since, due to the disease’s severity, the cancer cases would likely demand more compensation, she noted.

“There’s no question that the amounts people receive would be reduced,” said Birnbaum.

“Nobody at this point can tell you [by] how much — it’ll all depend on the numbers of people that apply and the kinds of awards they’ll get.”

Nadler along with U.S. Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Peter King, the bill’s sponsors in the House of Representatives, said they were “thrilled” by the cancer proposal.

“It further strengthens our legislation…and helps pave the way for expanding the scope of available medical care and compensation for those sickened by the toxins at Ground Zero,” the electeds said in a statement. “As we have all seen with our own eyes again and again, cancer incidence among responders and survivors is a tragic fact, and we must continue to do everything we can to provide the help that those who are sick need and deserve.”

Howard, however, cautioned that his announcement is “a proposal only” and is subject to a 30-day comment period that began on Wed., June 13. “Once public comments are received,” he wrote, “I will address them as appropriate before issuing a final ruling.” It wasn’t immediate clear what the time frame is for Howard’s final determination.

Visit www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/wtc/stac/ cancer.html to view the N.I.O.S.H. cancer proposal. Comments on the proposal are due by Fri., July 13. To submit comment, mail to N.I.O.S.H.’s Docket Office (Robert A. Taft Laboratories, MS-C34, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45226) or fax it to 513-533-8285.

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14

June 13 - 26, 2012

B Y TERESE LOEB KREUZER

NO SUMMER CAMP AT A S P H A LT G R E E N BATTERY PARK CITY: There will be no summer day camp at Asphalt Green Battery Park City this summer. According to Christina Klapper, a spokesperson for Asphalt Green, “The Battery Park City Authority determined Downtown Express photos by Terese Loeb Kreuzer late last week that it is not feasible Poet, teacher and translator Galway Kinnell reading Walt Whitman’s “Crossing to open the facility and run Brooklyn Ferry” on June 12 at the Fulton Ferry Landing near the Brooklyn camp before securing all of the Bridge. necessary safety and occupancy certifications and permits.”

Bob Townley, executive direc- ers seemed like pilgrims revisitKlapper said that around 60 tor of Manhattan Youth at 120 ing a temple that has inspired so campers had been enrolled in Warren St., said he had received many poems of admiration and Asphalt Green B.P.C.’s summer 10 calls on Fri., June 8, from par- reverie. camp. She said that Asphalt Green ents seeking alternative summer Under the first arch of the is arranging for complimentary, arrangements for their children. bridge, poets Tracy K. Smith, counselor-staffed bus service for Manhattan Youth’s Downtown Sharon Olds and Thomas Lux campers to attend day camp at Day Camps take children grades read aloud poems of homage to Asphalt Green’s uptown campus kindergarten through eight. New York City. Then it was on on East 90th Street. Families that Townley said that he was adding to the Fulton Ferry Landing in don’t choose that option, she said, staff and readjusting schedules to Brooklyn, where poet, teacher are eligible for a full refund. accommodate additional enroll- and translator Galway Kinnell On May 31, B.P.C.A. pres- ment and could also refer families read Walt Whitman’s “Crossing ident Gayle Horwitz said that to other camps.

Brooklyn Ferry,” as he has for the Asphalt Green facility would Downtown Day Camps run the last 17 years. The Poets open in “a couple of weeks.” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with House honored Kinnell with the However, Klapper said that as of an optional two additional hours Elizabeth Kray Award, presented Mon., June 11, the B.P.C.A. had daily. The cost for the full six- every two years to a poet whose not told Asphalt Green when the week season (June 29-Aug. 10) work and life embody Kray’s facility would open. is $3,695. For more information, advocacy for poetry as a presence The parents of children enrolled visit www.manhattanyouth.org or in everyday life. Kray and poet Stanley Kunitz founded Poets in the camp were informed by call (212) 766-1104.

House in 1987. phone on Fri., June 8 that the day The evening ended with dinPOETS HOUSE’S camp had been cancelled.

Matthew Monahan, a spokes- A N N U A L B R O O K LY N ner at Bubby’s Brooklyn. Actor person for the B.P.C.A., issued a BRIDGE WALK: Around 200 Bill Murray, a great admirer of statement that said, “After care- people led by volunteers carrying Poets House, showed up as he ful thought and consideration, we blue-and-white pennants labeled has done in previous years, to determined that Asphalt Green “Poets House” walked across the read a few poems — this year by Battery Park City Summer Camp Brooklyn Bridge, from Manhattan Wallace Stevens — and to tell a to Brooklyn, on Mon., June 11, few jokes. is, unfortunately, not feasible.”

To celebrate its 25th anniverMonahan added, “While we marking the 17th year of the hoped this would not be the case, Poets House’s annual fundraising sary this past year, Poets House we wanted families to be aware event. Ascending the gradually staged a series of 36 lectures of the situation in order to make sloping walkway that leads to the by prominent poets and teachers bridge’s Gothic arches, the walk- running through the history of alternate plans.”

On Sat., June 9, Oaxaca, selling tacos, tortillas and beverages, opened a kiosk on the World Financial Center plaza overlooking North Cove Marina.

poetry from “Gilgamesh” to the Beats.

Two years ago, Poets House relocated from its quarters in SoHo to a two-story facility at 10 River Terrace in B.P.C. The main reading room, equipped with comfortable chairs and a view of the Hudson River, attracts scholars, writers and readers in search of a peaceful oasis of companionable silence. Poets House executive director Lee Briccetti said that the 50,000-volume poetry library and exhibition space received a total of 50,000 visitors last year.

OAXACA OPENS ON WORLD FINANCIAL CENTER PLAZA: On Sat., June 9, Oaxaca, a new, modestly priced dining option, opened on the W.F.C. Plaza overlooking North Cove Marina. The eatery, which serves tacos, tortillas, soft drinks and beer, is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. It is owned by Merchants Hospitality, which also owns Quality Burger on the plaza. Ed’s Lobster Bar is the third food vendor. The kiosks will stay open through mid-October.

“BANG ON A CAN” MARATHON: For aficionados of contemporary music, the Bang on a Can marathon in the Winter Garden of the World Financial Center is a highlight of the area’s summer music programming. This year, the marathon will take place on Sun., June 17 — Father’s Day — starting at noon and ending at midnight. Bang on a Can’s first marathon concert of innovative music was held in a SoHo art gallery 25 years ago. It has since become an international force in the music world, with its programmers commissioning new compositions, performances and recordings.

This year’s marathon will include music by Bang on a Can’s founders, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon and David Lang. Also in

Iris ensata ‘Activity’ blooming in the southern garden of Wagner Park. This flower is native to Japan and parts of China and Russia.

the program are performances by the Bang on a Can All-Stars playing what advance publicity describes as “the near impossible works of Conlon Nancarrow; music by David Longstreth of Dirty Projectors and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth; Steve Reich’s piece, “Six Pianos”; experimental pioneer Alvin Lucier performing his iconic ‘I am sitting in a room’; Pauline Oliveros’ Deep Listening Band transforming the Winter Garden into a mindblowing underground cistern; and Michael Harrison’s new sonic exploration for cellist extraordinaire Maya Beiser, [accompanied by] a film by Bill Morrison.”

The marathon is free of charge.

SWEDISH MIDSUMMER F E S T I V A L : Transplanted from Swedish festivals celebrating the longest days of the year and the Feast of John the Baptist, B.P.C.’s Swedish Midsummer Festival has become an eagerly awaited occasion for dancing, eating, listening to music and making beautiful floral wreaths. This year, the festival takes place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Fri., June 22, in Wagner Park. As always, there will be a maypole — a tradition in Sweden that probably dates from the 16th century. Barnklubben Elsa Rix #1, a Swedish-American children’s club, and Swedish Folkdancers of New York will teach traditional folk dances from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Accompanying music will be provided by Paul Dahlin and musicians from the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis.

The festival is co-sponsored by the Consulate General of Sweden, New York and the B.P.C. Parks Conservancy.

BATTERY PARK CITY IN BLOOM: Among the many handsome flowers adorning Wagner Park, an iris in shades of pale and dark purple highlighted with a splash of bright yellow stands out.

Iris ensata ‘Activity,’ commonly called “Japanese iris,” is native to Japan, northern China and eastern Russia. Hybrids of this stunning flower have been cultivated in Japan for more than 500 years.

It wasn’t until 1869 that the Iris ensata was introduced to the U.S. The Japanese iris had become a fixture in American estate gardens by the beginning of the 20th century. The Great Depression and World War II put an end to this flower’s popularity in the U.S. until relatively recently, when American hybridizers reintroduced it to the marketplace.

To comment on Battery Park City Beat or to suggest article ideas, email Terese Loeb Kreuzer directly at TereseLoeb@mac.com.

15

June 13 - 26, 2012

Building a life in the Seaport with bricks and grapes

BY J A N E L B L A D O W nyone who has ventured along South Street between the Paris Café at Peck Slip and Pier 17 at the head of Fulton Street knows that this twoblock strip has long been dirty, desolate, disgusting and at times dangerous. Even when the Fulton Fish Market was still in business, most tourists and neighbors avoided the area.

Three years before the fish market moved out, Marco Pasanella saw potential in this world of fish, odors and trash, and wanted in. He bought a building at 115 South St. and began renovating the top floors into a living/work space, where he would continue his successful career as a high-end designer of hotels and housewares.

When the fish monger who had inhabited the space for decades moved out, Pasanella began jackhammering the building’s concrete ground floor and looking for a more compatible tenant.

When shady characters who wanted to open nightclubs, after-hour bars or restaurants were the only ones interested in the space, Pasanella, who had zero experience in the wine retail business, decided to take the plunge and open a store of his own that he called “Pasanella & Son, Vintners.”

By that time, he was hooked on the

A

Downtown Express photo by Janel Bladow

Marco Pasanella, owner of the wine shop, Pasanella & Son, Vintners, has his own label of wine called “Pasanella & Figlio,” which means son in Italian.

neighborhood.

“I hadn’t been to the Seaport since a fourth-grade field trip,” said Pasanella, while seated in the brick-walled backroom

overlooking a pocket garden of his enoteca (the Italian word for wine shop).

“But when I came down here and saw the area, I was taken,” he recalled. “It

just draws you. It was right by the water, has the Brooklyn Bridge, has all this stuff going on, and some of these old buildings just looked like diamonds in the rough.”

It didn’t seem to take a genius to see that the neighborhood had something special going for it, Pasanella added.

“I wasn’t so crazy about the smell but really loved the culture of the fish market and the characters,” he said. “That whole ‘Gangs of New York’ — the guys with the hooks over their shoulders and the big rubber boots, forklifts and the skids at night and the yelling. I felt sometimes as if I was on the set of a movie about New York.

“This was a New York I had never experienced, and I grew up here!” said Pasanella, who grew up on the Upper East Side and summered in Italy.

He and his wife’s South Street Seaport escapade was filled with characters, discoveries and mishaps. The day they brought their baby son Luca home from the hospital, one local tried to hustle Pasanella for $5 to park the car until another fish guy waved him off. “When he said I was one of them,” he said, “I knew I arrived.”

So when an agent approached him to write book about his experiences, Continued on page 22

Battery Park gets a makeover Continued from page 6

in enrollment this spring, with 1,500 students currently using it.

“Downtown residents have been signing up for our summer seedlings program,” she said, “which is like a mini-day camp for a child and an [accompanying] caregiver to plant and work on the farm.”

The gardeners, who attend Downtown schools and otherwise live in Lower Manhattan, are planting and harvesting radishes, lettuce and many other vegetables. Two of the schools — the Spruce Street School and P.S. 3 — have been supplying their school cafeterias with produce from the farm.

The one-acre farm was originally conceived as a temporary installation, but public demand is compelling the Conservancy to keep the program going. “The farm is returning and is staying as long as the Battery Conservancy is able to fund it,” said Price.

The Conservancy received a one-time, $50,000 grant from the Agnes Gund Foundation this year to help defray the costs of the farm’s upkeep, which costs $150,000 a year for labor and materials.

Price said she conceived of the Conservancy as a force that could bring innovative design to Battery Park. Two

Downtown Express photo by Terese Loeb Kreuzer

Warrie Price, president of the Battery Conservancy, in the 25-acre Battery Park, which is undergoing substantial renovations.

projects on her current list fit right in with that mission: an outdoor chair competition and the Frank Gehry playground.

The chair project entails making 300 portable seats available by 2014, when the three-acre Battery Green opens.

Computer chips will be embedded in the base of the chairs so that Conservancy staff may track them down individually within a five-mile radius of the park in the event of attempted theft. Price said the money to manufacture the seats will

come from private gifts.

The submission period for designs starts on July 31 and closes at the end of October. A jury consisting of designers, a museum curator and a design writer will pick the top 50 designs and select five finalists, whose work will go into prototype design next January. The winner will receive a $25,000 prize.

The Battery Conservancy’s other major design project is the Frank Gehry playground at the southern end of the park.

Price said that the Conservancy is evaluating Gehry’s latest design to make sure that it complies with building codes and stays within a reasonable budget.

After that, she said, the design will undergo public review and eventually require approval from the city Department of Parks and Recreation and Public Design Commission.

“From there, we create construction drawings and put it out to bid,” said Price — a process that should take a year-anda-half.

Price would not discuss the details of the playground’s design except to note that it would have slides. “We know that Teardrop Park [in Battery Park City] is so loved,” she mused. “Our park will have 14-foot and 15-foot slides, but our slides will be six feet wide, so the whole family can go down at once!”

16

June 13 - 26, 2012

17

June 13 - 26, 2012

Rep. Nadler offers insight into culture war Continued from page 1

Ossorio were delivering talks to an audience much smaller than what they’re perhaps generally accustomed to — around 40 people were present — each acknowledged a palpable sense of urgency regarding the far right’s latest, at times religionfed, efforts.

“In my lifetime, I have never experienced such a vehement and sustained backlash against women, and what we’re seeing is just shocking,” said Ossorio.

“Who would ever think we would see a bill passed that says it’s legal to let a woman die in the emergency room before giving her a life-saving abortion?”

That particular bill, known as the Protect Life Act, which prohibits women from buying health insurance plans that cover abortion under Obamacare, was passed by the House of Representatives last October. While the bill’s success in a Democrat-controlled Senate is highly doubtful, it has epitomized the lengths House Republicans will go to try to roll back pre-existing abortion laws while they’re in the majority.

Nadler, who has held a House seat since 1992 and whose current district includes parts of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, noted at the L.M.D. meeting that the representational disadvantage he faces in the House has had a massive impact on the Democrats’ ability to promote progressive legislation for women throughout all levels of government. He also pointedly stressed, as many others have, the growing importance of the upcoming presidential race and its potential effect on the nation’s highest court.

“If there’s one more Supreme Court appointment by a Republican president,” said Nadler, “none of the legislation protecting abortion rights will survive.”

He added, “If Obama is reelected and we have a Democratic majority in the House and Senate, we can actually make some progress. If not, the new administration could very well end up doing something like de-funding Planned Parenthood.”

Nadler also informed the L.M.D. group of the newest Republican-led “obstacle” he would seek to overcome in a debate the next morning. It involved the socalled Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (P.R.E.N.D.A.), a bill that would make it a felony for health clinics to perform or assist in any way in an abortion based on the baby’s sex.

In his remarks to the House on May 30, Nadler characterized the Republicans’ attempt to pass the bill as “election year politics at its absolute worst.” He went on to slam it for being “facially unconstitutional” in light of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, in that the restrictions the proposed law places on doctors would essentially bar a woman from having an abortion altogether once she learns the baby’s sex.

P.R.E.N.D.A., which was introduced by Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), has since failed

Downtown Express photo by Sam Spokony

Congressman Jerrold Nadler and Sonia Ossorio, president of the New York branch of N.O.W., speaking at a May 29 event put on by the Lower Manhattan Democrats club.

when Republicans attempted to accelerate the passage of the bill in a “suspension of the rules” vote, in which a two-thirds majority is required rather than a simple majority (51 percent). The vote, which ran almost squarely along party lines, saw support from only 20 out of 190 House Democrats, none of whom are from New York.

Legislators have the option to bring the bill up for a vote again.

Nadler believes that the “war on women” — marked by bills like P.R.E.N.D.A. as well as setbacks such as his own failed attempt to increase funding for grants under the Violence Against Women Act — is fundamentally due to the fact that Americans are still adjusting to relatively recent societal changes that favor women’s rights.

“Women’s equality is still a radical notion,” he told the L.M.D. audience in response to a question from a member of the club. “The invention of contraception was the first fundamental change in the human condition since the invention of agriculture, and we’re still very much in a period of transition.

“Since people don’t live for 800 years, our job now is to make the changes happen as rapidly as possible so that the generations to come can enjoy these rights,” added Nadler, prompting an outburst of applause.

One of the reasons L.M.D. decided to hold the May 29 event was to show support for besieged women in other parts of the nation — many of whom do not yet enjoy the same legislative rights as New Yorkers do, according to L.M.D. President Robin Forst.

“We’re fortunate thus far that we don’t confront these issues as much here, but I think this is really about a national battleground,” said Forst. “Maybe people will be motivated to work on behalf of women’s rights in those states where they’re really being compromised.”

Another important and more practical

aspect of the fight for women’s rights, especially as the presidential election approaches, will be its portrayal in the national media to audiences of all political persuasions. Ossario, who worked as a journalist before devoting her efforts to

the N.O.W., went so far as to admit that she believes an outspoken male champion like Nadler is to some degree more valuable than a female voice.

“It gives it more seriousness, more gravitas, because it can be easier to dismiss a woman and say, ‘Oh, it’s just about women,’” she said before addressing the L.M.D. crowd.

Meanwhile, Nadler is working to reintroduce the Equal Rights Amendment and toward passing House bills such as the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which would require employers to provide accommodations for pregnant employees.

The Equal Rights Amendment, which first failed in 1982, states simply that people can’t be denied equal rights on account of their gender.

Rita Henley Jensen, the founder and editor of Women’s eNews, a national online publication based in Lower Manhattan, told the Downtown Express that Nadler’s legacy in that regard has to some degree already been cemented.

“Women who are actively fighting for their rights often have nowhere else to go but to the Democrats at election time,” said Jensen. “I think some Democrats have become complacent when it comes to assuming they have female support.”

“But Jerry Nadler,” she added, “is certainly not one of them.”

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Pier 40 housing idea is in eye of the storm B Y L I N CO L N A ND E R S O N ore than 250 people packed St. Paul’s Chapel near City Hall on Thurs., May 31 to hear Hudson River Park Trust president Madelyn Wils present a recent study’s finding that market-rate residential housing on Pier 40 could offer the best hope for saving both the cash-starved park and the crumbling pier within it. Housing would raise the most revenue for the park while offering the least traffic impact, according to the study, which was formerly reported by the Downtown Express.

However, to allow residential use, the Hudson River Park Act would need to be modified by the state Legislature, whose current session ends on Thurs., June 21.

At the meeting’s outset, Arthur Schwartz, head of the task force that has been studying how to improve the park’s finances, explained the pessimistic picture. The park is only 70 percent finished, and needs more than $200 million to complete the job — not counting Pier 40, at West Houston Street, which is expected to be redeveloped by a private group that would pay rent to the park; and Pier 57, at West 17th Street, which will also be privately redeveloped but lacks Pier 40’s revenue-generating potential, since it’s smaller.

Schwartz argued that the park’s capital needs are outstripping the park’s revenues.

M

Downtown Express photo by Tequila Minsky

A few hundred people attended Hudson River Park Trust’s May 31 meeting at St. Paul’s Chapel.

“The biggest problem [is] at Pier 40, where $9 million is going into repairs this

year just to keep the roof from collapsing,” he said. “It’s in a general climate where government funding for parks has fallen off.”

Hudson River Park is intended to be financially self-sustaining, at least in terms of its operations and maintenance. The current parking at Pier 40 has been the park’s main economic engine. Meanwhile, the 14.5-acre pier is also home to a sprawling courtyard ball field heavily used by youth sports leagues as well as teams from Stuyvesant High School and other schools.

Over the next 10 years, the park is expected to bring in $200 million in revenue but has expenses of $280 million, translating into a deficit of at least $80 million. Pier 40 alone needs about $100 million in repairs.

Among other necessary fixes, the pier has badly corroded metal pilings that need to be encapsulated in concrete.

Echoing others who spoke at the meeting, Wils said a proposed “park improvement district” extending a few blocks inland, which would assess a small tax on nearby property owners. The entity would serve to raise revenue for Hudson River Park, given the five-mile-long park’s impact on property values, she said.

“The park has brought people over to the West Side,” she said. “All that development of property down the West Side is now the ‘Gold Coast’ — 94 new buildings, it’s quite extraordinary.”

A PowerPoint presentation of the study’s scenarios was given, including some massing studies that showed generally how residential buildings could be situated on Pier 40 while preserving the sports fields.

Assembly Member Deborah Glick, who also spoke at the meeting, said she appreciated the Trust letting the public in on the process and showing the massing studies.

However, she stressed, it was never the park act’s intention for the Trust to have to finance the park’s construction.

Furthermore, with climate change and rising sea levels, luxury rental apartments on Pier 40 would be “putting the city and state on the hook for lawsuits for half-done developments damaged in a storm,” she said to cheers from the audience.

Assembly Member Richard Gottfried, the second speaker, said that when he was crafting the park’s legislation in the mid1990s, the hope was that the park would get $400 million for its construction. But while the park has gotten about $350 million in government funding so far, it now needs another $200 million to finish the job. The main fear before was that the park would be “a five-mile wall of buildings like Co-op City in the Bronx,” he said. But the park that has emerged has been “extraordinarily successful,” and the benches, trees and pathways that are there now block any future development of buildings, he assured.

Gottfried zeroed in on Pier 40 and Pier 76 — the latter currently used as the Police Department tow pound at W. 36th St. — calling them the park’s “two big ugly monsters.” Both piers block people’s views to the water, he noted.

“A parking garage and a tow pound — I don’t think either one of these belongs in Hudson River Park,” he said, to some hisses from the crowd.

If the park act were modified, Gottfried said, there would still be a planning process, including a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (U.L.U.R.P.), which would allow communities to have input on decisions affecting the park’s future, “so that things Continued on page 21

June 13 - 26, 2012

19

20

June 13 - 26, 2012

Legendary Seaport jeweler retires Continued from page 7

that customers trust him with their valuables, said Alex Cardinali, who has been a regular at the store for 10 years.

The location of the shop quickly appealed to an unexpected clientele, according to Valentino. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It seemed like it had a lot of potential for tourismâ&#x20AC;Śand thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not what transpired,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was basically local people, working people â&#x20AC;&#x201D; people who came to know us.â&#x20AC;?

Tek joined the shop after Valentinoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first partner retired in 1991. His death in 1997 left Valentino determined to keep the business going in honor of his friend, according to Tekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife, Germain Tek, who recalls getting a phone call from Valentino when her husband passed away. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He gave me two days to relax, to cry, to mourn and he said, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s over now, come in and start working in the store now. You are my partner,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? recalled Tek. Valentino explained how the business has changed alongside the neighborhood. In contrast to the 1980s when

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The need to stay open through the weekend in order to accommodate more customers factored into Valentinoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision to retire this year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I based my business originally on Monday through Friday, because it was a business area,â&#x20AC;? he elaborated. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now, we have to be here either Saturday or Sunday, which I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to beâ&#x20AC;ŚFive days a week is enough.â&#x20AC;?

Valentino plans to keep himself busy during retirement by traveling with his family and pursuing other hobbies such as restoring his two classic cars. He is also contemplating a cross-country road trip with his sons and grandchildren.

Cardinali, meanwhile, is hopeful he hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seen the last of his friend Valentino. The shop owner, he said, will be difficult to replace. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to be hard for me to find another place to go and people to trust, especially in this business,â&#x20AC;? said Cardinali. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sure we are still going to be friends.â&#x20AC;?

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Pier finances don’t add up Continued from page 18

the community values could replace those two monsters.”

The city recently announced it was giving $260 million to spruce up Governors Island, while the East River esplanade is getting $30 million, noted Community Board 2 chair Brad Hoylman.

“We as West Siders have to ask, ‘Where is the money for our park?’” he asked, drawing cheers. “We’re talking about maintenance — but let’s finish the park,” he said. “Before we open up the park act…city and state government must be made aware that the West Side of Manhattan deserves a park that is completed.”

Similarly, Corey Johnson, chair of C.B. 4, said, “The city and state need to step up and complete the funding of the park.

Governors Island is used five months a year.

Hudson River Park is used 365 days a year.”

However, he added, “Let’s look at opening up the act in a smart way that doesn’t hurt the park.”

John Doswell, who founded Friends of Hudson River Park as the park’s main advocacy group, said of the grim financial picture, “This was not manufactured…It will become a crisis, and we need to decide what to do.

The park is only financially supported by

20 percent of itself, Doswell noted, since 80 percent of the park is free and open to the public.

“It doesn’t get paid for magically,” he said.

Tobi Bergman, president of P3, a commercial youth sports group at Pier 40, noted community opposition sunk two past Requests for Proposals for Pier 40. He said the permissible uses must be expanded beyond big-box stores or “Las Vegas on the Hudson”-type extravaganzas.

“We rejected retail the first time around.

We rejected entertainment the second time around. We rejected everything that’s legal,” Bergman said. “We have to open up the act to get more ideas.”

Downtown United Soccer Club’s home field is Pier 40, chimed in Andrew Scruton, who said that different options to renovate the pier are needed.

“We support the Trust seeking options [and] searching for solutions,” he said.

No legislative changes, particularly ones concerning Pier 40, will get passed if Glick opposes them. Some proposed changes to the park act are less contentious, such as the Trust’s proposal to shift its southern border to Chambers Street in order to avoid having to finance the maintenance of an inland park strip along the bike path south of there.

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In addition, the Trust wants to obtain any future commercial revenue from Pier 76, which is in Gottfried’s district — whereas the park act currently says the city would get this money.

Reached in Albany during a break in session on June 5, Glick said, “the spirit of the law” of the park act requires a more formal public hearing with 30 days’ notice before major changes affecting the park. Some of the Trust’s proposed changes are “minor” and might not require a hearing, she said, but major changes

would need more public input.

Asked if the Trust’s desire to get bonding authority, for example, was minor, she replied, “No, no, no — that is a major change — as are terms,” referring to extending the permitted lease terms for Pier 40 and other “commercial nodes” in the park beyond the current 30 years.

As for whether allowing residential use was a major change, Glick said, “Of course,” before saying she had to get off the phone and head back into session.

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Pasanella jumped right in and recently penned â&#x20AC;&#x153;Uncorked: My Journey Through the Crazy World of Wine,â&#x20AC;? and got it published through Random House.

Pasanella said the adventure of buying a building and opening a retail store was more daunting in retrospect. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At first, we were just caught up in the, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Wow, this is a great building, it will make a great place to live, a great place to work.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Then you get in deeper.â&#x20AC;?

He conceived the wine shop idea a few years later, once the fish guys left, he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We had a big mortgage and we always drank a fair share of wine, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when I noticed there wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really a good wine shop within a mile of here.â&#x20AC;?

Now six years later, there are several of them in the area.

Pasanella compared the experience of opening the building to being in a Kafka play. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You are sucked into something you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really understand or know the reasons for, [and you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know], the way out, either,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The most terrifying part was thinking, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Oh my god, I could be spinning around in

this vortex forever.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; What Pasanella enjoys most about his job is interacting with the local community. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I love when people come in and say [things like], â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve lived on John Street five years and never knew about this place,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I love when they discover this backroom, discover the selection, discover our own label wines â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which we did to have something really nice for around $10 a bottle,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Pasanellaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s professional journey in starting a business and authoring a book wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t planned out, he noted, and was full of misadventures that entailed one mistake after another. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Somehow, I managed to get to a place where Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m much happier and living a more fulfilling life â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not that I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a good life as a designer,â&#x20AC;? he said.

One of the most surprising things Pasanella failed to recognize until he wrote his book, he said, is that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not about the wine but about the neighborhood and the people who live there. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With several hundred people stopping by and saying hi,â&#x20AC;? he said, smiling, â&#x20AC;&#x153;thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a level of satisfaction thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s much more â&#x20AC;&#x201D; I know it sounds hokey from a New Yorkerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perspective â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of the best things about the store.â&#x20AC;?

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June 13 - 26, 2012

Continued from page 12

which will take place on Sun., June 17 from noon to midnight at the World Financial Center Winter Garden. Other performance highlights will include the Phillip Glass Ensemble, the Trisha Brown Dance Company, George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic and movies from Tribeca Film.

For more information and events listings, visit www.rivertorivernyc.com.

9/11 MEMORIAL LAUNCHES ONLINE RECOVERY TIMELINE The National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum has launched a web-based interactive timeline of the rescue, recovery and rebuilding efforts that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The Ground Zero Recovery Timeline â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which spans from Sept. 12, 2001 to May 30, 2002 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; creates a multimedia landscape using images, oral histories and video, chronicling the relief work performed at the W.T.C. site.

Recovery operations formally ended on May 30, 2002, marked by a ceremony in which the iconic â&#x20AC;&#x153;last columnâ&#x20AC;? was removed from the site.

The initiative is a sequel to the 9/11 Memorialâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original timeline, which highlights the events of the day of the attacks.

The Museum is also developing a Recovery and Relief Workers Registry and Scroll of Honor, which will be a permanent installa-

tion near the â&#x20AC;&#x153;last columnâ&#x20AC;? in the future 9/11 Memorial Museum.

The timeline can be viewed at http://timeline.national911memorial.org.

D.O.T. RESPONDS TO NOISE COMPLAINTS OVER BROOKLYN BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION In an effort to reduce construction noise coming from the Brooklyn Bridge, the city Department of Transportation (D.O.T.) has shifted its work schedule to curtail weeknight hours and implemented new noise mitigation measures, according to a letter from D.O.T. Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.

The letter, dated May 8, was sent to NYS Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who had written to Sadik-Khan several times on behalf of Lower Manhattan residents who were disturbed by the construction work. In Silverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most recent letter to the D.O.T., dated March 22, he wrote that previous measures taken to reduce noise proved to be insufficient.

Silver also called on the D.O.T. to stop issuing variances that authorize noisy work outside the permitted hours of Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

In response, Sadik-Khan wrote that the Departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new sound modifications include the installation of mufflers and sound curtains as well as the relocation of recycling equipment

ss F

World-Cla

Continued on page 24

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June 13 - 26, 2012

Continued from page 23

to areas that are farther away from residential buildings. The D.O.T. will also be replacing equipment such as jackhammers, saws and rivet busters, which are known to generate the most noise.

Sadik-Khan also wrote that the bridge’s construction team would expand work hours on weekend days in order to cut down on weeknight work and advance as quickly as possible in the area closest to Southbridge Towers, whose residents Silver mentioned specifically in his correspondence.

John Ost, a member of the Southbridge Towers Board of Directors, acknowledged that noise coming from the bridge has “decreased to some extent” but is still noticeable. He also felt that the construction crew may not be using its weekend time effectively, regardless of what Sadik-Khan wrote to Silver.

“I walk around on Saturday or Sunday, and there’s nothing really going on,” said Ost. “They just seem to be slow, when they could be doing more weekend work to quicken the pace of everything.”

L.M.C.C.C. MOVES OFFICES, R E H I R E S E N V I R O N M E N TA L ENGINEER The Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center has officially moved to the

eighth floor of the Port Authority’s Downtown offices at 115 Broadway.

The move, which occurred late last month, involves the switch of L.M.C.C.C.’s three remaining full-time employees from its original offices at 1 Liberty Plaza, across from the W.T.C. “I guess you’d say it’s a comfortable space — it takes a little bit of getting used to for me, personally,” said the agency’s external relations director Robin Forst.

Meanwhile, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s executive director Pat Foye announced the search for a new environmental engineer for the L.M.C.C.C. at a recent State Senate appearance. The position was previously held by Thomas Kunkel, who was laid off along with three other full-time employees last spring.

“We’re engaged in that search now, and we will keep you posted on that,” said Foye, adding, “I think that the L.M.C.C.C., over the decade, has provided significant value to the local community, to the Port Authority, to elected officials — and I think it’s positioned to continue doing that.”

Responding to the good news, Squadron said, “While there’s still much to do to mitigate the impact of construction on Lower Manhattan’s residents and businesses, the Port Authority’s decision to rehire an L.M.C.C.C. environmental engineer is a step in the right direction.”

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June 13 - 26, 2012

THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE MUSEUM At Summer Camp (for Kindergarten-5th grade), kids will participate in fun police-themed activities, art projects and field trips. The camp is Mon.-Fri., 9:30am-4pm. Downtown Express readers can register before June 17 for the weeks of August 20 and 27, for the discounted price of $250 (regular price, $300). Visit nycpm.org/ education/camp for more info. During regular museum hours (Mon.-Sat., 10am-5pm and Sun., 12-5pm), visit the Junior Officers Discovery Zone, designed for ages 3-10. It’s divided into four areas (Police Academy, Park and Precinct, Emergency Services Unit and a MultiPurpose Area), each with interactive play experiences for children to understand the role of police officers in our community. For older children, there’s a crime scene observation activity, a physical challenge similar to those at the Police Academy and a model Emergency Services Unit vehicle that children can climb in, use the steering wheel and lights, hear radio calls with police codes and see some of the actual equipment carried

by The Emergency Services Unit. At 100 Old Slip (btw.

Front and South Sts.). For info, call 212-480-3100 or visit nycpm.org. Admission: $8 ($5 for students, seniors and children; free for children under 2).

SARAZAD AND THE MONSTER-KING This re-imagining of Scheherazade and 1001 Arabian Nights, written by E. J. C. Calvert and directed by Justin Lauro, introduces 9-yearold Sarazad — who escapes bullying at school by retreating

into Storyland. There, she meets the grouchy Monster-King and wins his friendship by telling him fantastic stories.

When Sarazad returns to school, her experiences with the Monster-King (and her newfound confidence) help her triumph over adversity. Sat., June 23-Sun., July 15, on Sat. and Sun. at 1 & 4pm. At Canal Park Playhouse (508 Canal St., btw. Greenwich and West Sts.). For tickets ($18) or more info, call 866-811-4111 or visit canalparkplayhouse.com.

CREATURES OF LIGHT Descend into the depths of the ocean and explore the caves of New Zealand — without ever leaving Manhattan. Just visit the American Museum of Natural History’s new exhibit on bioluminescence (organisms that produce light through chemical reactions). Interactive and family-friendly, kids will eagerly soak up this twilight world where huge models of everything from fireflies to alien-like fish illuminate the dark. Through Jan. 6, 2013 at the American Museum of Natural History (79th St. and Central Park West). Open daily, 10am–5:45pm. Admission is $25, $14.50 for children, $19 for students/seniors.

Tickets can be purchased at the museum or at amnh.org.

For more information, call 212-769-5100.

THE SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM The Skyscraper Museum’s “Saturday Family Program” series features workshops designed to introduce children and their families to the principles of architecture and engineering — through hands-on activities. On June 23, children six and up will model and design green buildings in the “Sustainable Skyscrapers”

Junior & Teen Sailing Camps These week-long programs inspire kids and develop self-confidence.

Each week includes lots of fresh air, sunshine and healthy activity.

Ages 8 to 18 Tuition ranges from $390 to $690 per week Full details & color pictures at www.sailmanhattan.com or call Manhattan Sailing School At 212-786-0400.

POTTED POTTER: THE UNAUTHORIZED HARRY EXPERIENCE — A PARODY BY DAN AND JEFF Former BBC hosts Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner create comedic magic as they attempt to “pot” or condense all seven Harry Potter books into a 70-minute, family-friendly show.

An Olivier award nominee for Best Entertainment and Family Show, this chaotic musical tribute directed by workshop. The Skyscraper Museum will partner with Sony Pictures on June 30 in anticipation of “The Amazing SpiderMan” for “High-Rise Headlines” to teach kids about historic newspaper buildings and help produce an illustrated newspaper with Spider-Man-themed headlines. On July 14, “Trash Factory” will talk about how architects recycle old warehouses into new buildings. On July 28, kids ages 8-12 are invited to learn about the science behind the structures in “Skyscraper Physics,” complete with demonstrations from the educators at the museum. During “So Sew Tall,” on August 12, children will design factories to manufacture their own product, like those in the Garment District, in conjunction with the museum’s exhibit “Urban Fabric.” All workshops take place from 10:3011:45am, at The Skyscraper Museum (39 Battery Place). Registration required. Call 212-945-6324 or e-mail education@ skyscraper.org. Admission: $5 per child, free for members.

Museum hours: Wed.-Sun., 12-6pm. Museum admission: $5, $2.50 for students/seniors. For info, call 212-945-6324, visit skyscraper.org or email education@skyscraper.org.

EXPECT THE IMPOSSIBLE For one weekend only, Mark Nizer comes to Canal Park Playhouse armed with robots, flying lasers and outrageous juggling tricks. Audience members will be issued 3D glasses for this crazy combination of live performance and cutting-edge technology.

June 15-17. Fri. at 7pm; Sat. at 1pm, 4pm & 7pm; and Sun. at 1pm & 4pm. At Canal Park Playhouse (508 Canal St., btw. Greenwich and West Sts.). For tickets ($20), call 866-811-4111 or visit canalparkplayhouse.com.

POETS HOUSE The Poets House Children’s Room gives children and their parents a gateway to enter the world of rhyme — through readings, group activities and interactive performances. For children ages 1-3, the Children’s Room offers “Tiny Poets Time” readings on Thursdays at 10am; for those ages 4-10, “Weekly Poetry Readings” on Saturdays at 11am. Filled with poetry books, oldfashioned typewriters and a card catalogue packed with poetic objects to trigger inspiration, the Children’s Room is open Thurs.-Sat., 11am-5pm. Free admission. At 10 River Terrace. Call 212-431-7920 or visit poetshouse.org.

NEW YORK CITY FIRE MUSEUM Kids will learn about fire prevention and safety through group tours, led by former NYC firefighters. The program — which lasts approximately 75 minutes — includes classroom training and a simulated event in a mock apartment, where a firefighter shows how fires can start

Richard Hurst has charmed audiences of all ages on London’s West End and is now making its New York debut.

Through August 12, Tues., 7pm; Wed., 2 & 7pm; Thurs., 7pm; Fri., 8pm; Sat., 2, 5 & 8pm; and Sun., 2 & 5pm. At the Little Shubert Theatre (422 W. 42nd St., btw.

9th & 10th Aves). For tickets ($40-$100) call 212-239-6200 or visit telecharge. com. For more info: pottedpotter.com or facebook.com/pottedpotter. in different rooms in the home. Finally, students are guided on a tour of the museum’s first floor. Tours (for groups of 20 or more) are offered Tues.-Fri. at 10:30am, 11:30am & 12:30pm.

Tickets are $3 for children and $5 per adult — but for every 10 kids, admission is free for one adult. The museum offers a $700 Junior Firefighter Birthday Party package, for children 3-6 years old. The birthday child and 15 of their guests will be treated to story time, show and tell, a coloring activity, a scavenger hunt and the opportunity to speak to a real firefighter (the museum provides a fire-themed birthday cake, juice boxes and other favors and decorations). The NYC Fire Museum is located at 278 Spring St. (btw. Varick and Hudson). For info call 212-691-1303 or visit nycfiremuseum.org.

HOUSE OF GHOSTLY HAUNTS Cardone The Magician’s spook show will continue to electrify audiences as Canal Park Playhouse once again extends its run, now through July 31. The vaudeville-style act features razor swallowing and spirit conjuring — and ends in 10 minutes of complete darkness. Appropriate for ages 7 and up. Tuesdays, 7pm, at Canal Park Playhouse (508 Canal St., btw. Greenwich & West Sts.). For tickets ($20), call 866-811-4111 or visit canalparkplayhouse.com.

CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF THE ARTS Every summer, CMA partners with Governors Island for their Free Art Island Outpost where kids ages 1-12 can do a variety of projects from craft stations to sound design. Every Sat. & Sun., from 11am-3pm at buildings 11 & 14 in Nolan Park.

Explore painting, collage and sculpture through self-guided arts projects at this museum dedicated to inspiring the artist within. Open art stations are ongoing throughout the afternoon — giving children the opportunity to experiment with materials such as paint, clay, fabric, paper and found objects. Regular museum hours: Mon. and Wed., 12-5pm; Thurs.-Fri., 12-6pm; Sat.-Sun., 10am-6pm. Admission: $10; free for seniors and infants (0-12 months). Pay as you wish on Thurs., 4-6pm. At 103 Charlton St. (btw.

Hudson and Greenwich Sts.). Call 212-274-0986 or visit cmany.org. For group tours, call 212-274-0986, ext. 31.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE YOUR EVENT LISTED IN THE DOWNTOWN EXPRESS? Please provide the date, time, location, price and a description of the event. Send to scott@ chelseanow.com or mail to 515 Canal St., Unit 1C, New York City, NY 10013. Requests must be received at least three weeks before the event. For more info, call 646-452-2497.

June 13 - 26, 2012

Recalling sexual politics on the piers

On abandoned, decaying structures, the revolution was photographed ART THE PIERS: ART AND SEX ALONG THE NEW YORK WATERFRONT

Through July 7 At the Leslie/Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art 26 Wooster St., btw. Canal & Grand Sts. Tues.-Sat., noon-6pm Closing reception: July 6, 6-8pm Visit leslielohman.org

F

BY M I CHA E L L U O N G O or young New Yorkers knowing only a sanitized, seemingly well-ordered, affluent Manhattan, the overtly sexual gay life on the Hudson River piers in Lower

Manhattan in the 1970s seems like another world. All the more reason the period needs to be catalogued and remembered.

“The Piers: Art and Sex along the New York Waterfront,” an exhibition at the Leslie/ Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, does exactly that. The exhibit, co-curated

by Jonathan Weinberg and Darren Jones, opened in April and has been extended through July 7.

“The Piers” presents more than 70 works, largely photographs, but also film and even recovered pieces of artwork that adorned concrete on the Lower Hudson piers.

Gay life had a modicum of visibility in New York in the 1950s and 1960s, but after the Stonewall Riots of 1969, gay expression exploded. Attached to Greenwich Village, the piers, a crumbling, largely abandoned vestige of New York’s days as a shipping powerhouse, became one of the major social and political centers of the gay movement.

Leslie/Lohman board president Jonathan David Katz — the director of the Visual

Studies doctoral program at SUNY, Buffalo and the co-curator of the recent “Hide/ Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum — said for young people coming of age now, it is especially important to see “The Piers” to understand how different things were and how gay sexuality is now often overlooked.

Katz explained, “I think that we, especially given the political movement of late — marriage, military, et al. — are in danger of remaking our history in our current image.

But ours once was one of profound dissidence, often sexual dissidence, to a degree that seems almost unimaginable today.”

He added, “There was a kind of fusion in the 1970s, almost as a political movement to refute heteronormative standards. And my God, what a thing to combine sex — and great sex — with a form of political activism, and that is what the piers were. There was very much a point that the piers were appended to New York proper. That we

27

would not be forced off to a place that could not be glimpsed. We built a city that was a utopia on our terms.”

Even straight liberals at the time understood the movement’s deeply expressive sexuality. Among them was Shelley Seccombe, the lone female photographer in the exhibit.

She said she had moved to Westbeth, an artists’ housing and studio complex on Bethune Street in the Far West Village, “in 1970 and began seriously exploring the waterfront soon after that.” Still a dangerous area at the time, she often brought her husband, especially when entering the piers’ abandoned shipping office buildings. These locations were where gay men had sex, addicts did hits and crime on occasion confronted visitors.

“I always try to be gender-neutral when it comes to photography, but I guess it was an advantage to be female in certain circumstances,” Seccombe said.

The piers’ blend of art and sexuality is what some exhibit photographers remember most. “I was looking for sex, and sometimes I was looking for pictures,” Stanley Stellar recalled. “Sometimes I found both on the same afternoon, and sometimes I found one or the other.”

Continued on page 31

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June 13 - 26, 2012

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BANG ON A CAN MARATHON OPENS THE RIVER TO RIVER FESTIVAL Is every summertime arts event below Canal part of River to River? No…it just seems that way. The sprawling annual festival takes place in over 25 indoor and outdoor locations — and every daytime, evening and weekend event (music, dance, theater, visual art, film) is free. In a fitting nod to the epic nature of The River to River Festival, Bang on a Can returns for their seventh year of opening the festival with a marathon 12-hour concert.

Currently celebrating their own quartercentury milestone, “Bang” has grown from a one-day marathon Mother’s Day concert (in Soho, circa 1987) to a multi-faceted performing arts organization with a roster of year-round international activities. The lunch to late night River to River event will be, they assure us, “an incomparable 12-hour super-mix of boundary-busting music from around the corner and around the globe, featuring rare performances by some of the most innovative pioneering musicians of our time side-by-side with some of today’s newest exciting young artists.”

So far, announced selections include the “near impossible works” of the late Americanexile Conlon Nancarrow, the “jarring music” of Hague-based composer Akiko Ushijima and a recreation of experimental sound pioneer

Photo by Stephanie Berger

Sun Ra Arkestra at the 2011 Bang on a Can Marathon.

Alvin Lucier’s 1969 electronica masterpiece (“I am sitting in a room”).

The marathon’s featured performers (sure to be more entertaining live than what you can currently access on YouTube) include the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Pauline Oliveros and the Deep Listening Band, Dither, Grand Band, The Guidonian Hand, Heavy Hands, Newspeak, NYU Contemporary Music Ensemble with Jonathan Haas, Talujon, TwoSense, Ashley Bathgate, Maya Beiser, Vicky Chow, Kris Davis, Vijay Iyer, Kaki King, Michael Lowenstern, Alvin Lucier, Todd Reynolds and…MORE. Sun., June 17, noon-midnight, at the World Financial Center Winter Garden (220 Vesey St., btw. West St. & North End Ave.).

Admission is free. For more info, call 718852-7755 or visit bangonacan.org. Also visit rivertorivernyc.com.

Continued on page 29

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June 13 - 26, 2012

Just Do Art! Continued from page 28

NEW YORK CLASSICAL THEATRE’S ‘TWELFTH NIGHT’ Currently being performed in Central Park (through June 24), New York Classical Theatre’s production of “Twelfth Night” takes its show on the road — all the way down to Battery Park — beginning on June 26. Selected performances of this roving play will be preceded by the company’s popular family-friendly workshops. Led by cast members, the workshops use games and exercises to help audiences better understand the play’s comedic but complicated plot.

Shakespeare’s lively journey of mistaken identities, misguided lovers and joyous celebration recasts the play’s setting to New York City, circa 1900. “The turn of the twentieth century was a magical time of excitement and possibility here in New York City, and that perfectly parallels this story of self-reinvention and new beginnings,” said NYCT founder and artistic director Stephen Burdman. “This is my 25th year as a director, and I wanted to present this play, which includes some of Shakespeare’s greatest poetry, as a ‘love letter’ to the city that has provided me such a rewarding artistic home.”

Free performances run June 26-July 22, 7pm — and family workshops are July 7, 8, 21 & 22 at 5pm. At Battery Park (meet in front of Castle Clinton). For more info, call 212-252-4531 or visit newyorkclassical.org/whats-playing.

THE PORTLAND CELLO PROJECT: A BENEFIT CONCERT FOR HOUSING WORKS Some celebrated masters of music’s most moody, contemplative instrument are combining forces to raise funds for one of NYC’s most worthy causes. Housing Works provides housing, healthcare, job training and advocacy for New Yorkers living with HIV/ AIDS. Their Downtown Bookstore Cafe regularly hosts a variety of imaginative and entertaining special events — and on June 25, it’s the site of a benefit concert from The Portland Cello Project. The indie orchestra with a cult following is known for its unpredictable and unconventional playlist.

You’re as likely to see an improvised version of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” as you are a centuries-old classical selection.

Mon., June 25, 8pm (doors open 7:30pm), at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe (126 Crosby St., btw. Houston & Prince Sts.). Tickets ($15; guarantees admission but not seating) are on sale now at housingworks.org/events.

For more info, call 212-334-3324. All ticket sales benefit the Housing Works mission of fighting to end AIDS and homelessness.

READING: “LOVE, CHRISTOPHER STREET: REFLECTIONS OF NEW YORK CITY” Edited by Thomas Keith with an introduction by Christopher Bram, the 26 native New Yorkers, American transplants and international writers who contributed to “Love, Christopher Street” represent four decades of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender life that transpired on that famous street and through-

Photo by Miranda Arden

Shakespeare in the great outdoors: New York Classical Theatre’s “Twelfth Night” roams Central (then Battery) Park.

Book jacket designed by Victor Mingovits

On June 27, see authors read from “Love, Christopher Street.”

On Wed., June 27, from 6:30-9pm at the LGBT Community Center (208 W. 13th St.).

Admission is $10. Author readings from Mark Ameen, Christopher Bram, Martin Hyatt, Fay Jacobs, Michele Karlsberg, Rev. Irene Monroe, Charles Rice-Gonzalez, Bob Smith & Judy Gold and Charlie Vázquez. For more info, visit “Love, Christopher Street” on Facebook or email lovechristopherstreet@gmail.com.

Photo by J. Quigley

For the benefit of Housing Works: The Portland Cello Project.

Photo courtesy of WFPF

Writer, producer and director Jessie Maple’s film “Will” is preserved by the Women’s Film Preservation Fund (which is being honored at Anthology Film Archive’s June 25 benefit).

out the five boroughs.

At an upcoming event sponsored by Out Professionals, several authors will read from their original essays. Among them: “Dismembering Stonewall” — the Rev. Irene Monroe’s eyewitness account of that hot night in 1969 when police raided the Stonewall Inn and drag queens fought back. Bob Smith’s “Silence = Death: The Education of a Comedian” recalls life as an out stand-up comedian in the 1980s.

You’ll have to pick up the book if you want to hear “An Old Queen’s Tale” — Penny Arcade’s saga of how, as a runaway, she was taken off the street by gay men who introduced her to Warhol’s Factory. Also among the authors featured in the book, but not at the readings: Martin Hyatt (“My Last Big Addiction”), Justine Saracen (“The Opera Singer’s Pants, and How I Got In Them”) and Charles RiceGonzález (“A 1986 Bronx Story”).

ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES 2012 FILM PRESERVATION HONORS & BENEFIT With Tribeca Cinemas, 92YTribeca, Film Forum, Angelika Film Center, Quad Cinema and the IFC Center all within walking distance of each other, Downtown has an embarrassment of cinematic riches. But for sheer volume, scholarship and scope, nobody does it better than Anthology Film Archives. During four decades spent preserving, presenting and promoting independent, non-commercial and avant-garde cinema, Anthology has amassed over 20,000 films and 5,000 videos. Each year, they preserve an average of 25 films, while hosting nearly 1,000 public programs.

All of that comes at a price, though…and that’s where you come into the picture. Their Annual Film Preservation Honors and Benefit celebrates those who’ve made important contributions to film heritage — and the proceeds help support Anthology’s preservation and public screening programs. This year’s honorees: The Women’s Film Preservation Fund, film restoration lab Cinetech and Richard Pena (who earlier this year retired as Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Director of the New York Film Festival).

A raffle (you don’t need to be present to win) will reward winners with prizes such as a private screening at Anthology, a visit to the set of “Boardwalk Empire” and VIP tickets to “The Colbert Report.”

Mon., June 25, 7-10pm, at The Standard (High Line Room + Terrace; 848 Washington St. at W. 13th St.). For tickets ($175), visit anthologyfilmarchives.org/support/2012honors or call 212-505-5181, x10. Raffle tickets are $25 each; $100 for five.

30

June 13 - 26, 2012

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31

June 13 - 26, 2012

Art and sex on the Waterfront Continued from page 27

Among his favorite images is what he titled “Cyclops” — a “kind of monster monumental” celebrating an intensely sexual man he met and photographed there.

“I have a lot of affection for that image because he was one of a kind — a freak and someone I never saw again after that,” Stellar said, explaining the man cruised major gay gathering spots “attracting gay men by traveling around and showing his package. And that was his calling card of life, and that was a sort of way of doing things back then.”

The day they met, Stellar said, “I was looking for pictures and for sex, and I found both in him. This is a metaphor for my work at that time and maybe still. How hot can I make these pictures and get away with it, and not make them into the pornographic.”

Other photographers on exhibit include Leonard Fink, Frank Hallam, Lee Snider, and Rich Wandel. The exhibit also includes seminal works of the New York avant-garde, such as Vito Acconci’s “Untitled Project for Pier 17,” Gordon Matta-Clark’s “Day’s End” and David Wojnarowicz’s series “Arthur Rimbaud in New York.” The piers themselves were a canvas for art, becoming an extension of the East Village art scene, especially Pier 34, taken over by Wojnarowicz and Mike Bidlo in 1983.

By that point, however, the AIDS epidemic and political transformation had begun to impact the scene, along with urban gentrification and the demolition of many of the pier structures.

For Stellar, when he views images in the exhibit, he said, “What came up for me is my youth and my friends. I was young, and I had all my friends whom I no longer have anymore because they are all dead. It was a different kind of family. They had all the same physical, cultural experiences of what it meant to be gay back then, but they are not here anymore.”

Co-curator Darren Jones grew up in Scotland and did not see the piers until 1996, long after their heyday. He explained the exhibition “will appeal to people of all backgrounds with an interest in New York’s recent past. It functions as a social retrospective on the various uses of a now legendary place and time in Manhattan’s history. Gay men used the piers as a meeting place, an urban playground, if you will, to meet friends, sunbathe and relax, as well as to pursue the excitement of sexual encounters. Artists utilized the vast spaces of the pier buildings to make some of the most influential and experimental contemporary art of the 20th century.

Many went on to make their names as major players in the art world.”

Jones added that he learned a lot in working on the project, explaining, “Talking to the artists and photographers who were there, who saw this world come and go, and to hear their stories was one of the most moving experiences imaginable. Above all, I had a powerful sense of how fortunate I am to be able to live my life as I do today, in large part due to the progress made by earlier generations of gay men.”

Katz said that what made the piers unique

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Images courtesy of the artist

Frank Hallam’s “Sunners, Pier 5 (Exterior from Interior),” 1978, archival digital print from slide, 18.5 x 12.5 in.

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in relation to 1970s bathhouses and discos was that the piers were free, public spaces.

“That very openness was the key,” he said, adding, “You didn’t have to claim anything to walk into them,” including self-identification as gay. “This was a free space, and let’s not lose sight of that. The piers were democratizing,” for the poor, the young and those new to New York who had not yet found their way.

New York today has far fewer such spaces.

Katz said gay New Yorkers should see the exhibit because “the arrogance of the present is that it remakes the past in its own image, and the piers bespeak a very different image and a very different politics from our current one. And while I am very much in favor of the choice for people, for example, to get married, I don’t want our sexual dissidence to get, as we used to say, ‘straightened up.’ ”

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June 13 - 26, 2012

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