Downtown Express, August 8, 2012

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 5

AUGUST 8-AUGUST 21, 2012

SGT. HOLCOMB CLEARED OF MAXIMUM SENTENCE IN CHEN CASE

Students in the Art Institute’s graphic design program paid back loans at a stronger pace, with 35 percent making a dent in their debt during the surveyed period, but lagging far behind 69 percent at competing School of Visual Arts.

“There’s a lot of anxiety,” said Joe Politz, a 23-year-old graphic design major at the Art Institute who is supposed to graduate this

BY ALINE REYNOLDS ergeant Adam Holcomb, the first of eight soldiers to be tried in connection with U.S. Army Private Danny Chen’s suicide, has been sentenced to 30 days in jail and $1,182 forfeiture of pay. The penalties, tied to two counts of maltreatment and one count of assault, were minimal compared to what Holcomb would have faced had he been convicted of negligent homicide and reckless endangerment — charges that could have resulted in dishonorable discharge from the Army and a 17-and-a-half-year jail term.

The verdict, determined by a court-martial panel based in the Fort Bragg, North Carolina military base, was the outcome of five days of testimony by several fellow soldiers, family and friends of Chen — in addition to a U.S. Air Force medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Chen’s remains.

Transcripts of the proceedings weren’t available by press time.

Chen, a 19-year-old from Chinatown, is believed to have fatally shot himself in a guard tower in Kandahar, Afghanistan last October.

Chen’s parents, Su Zhen and Yan Tao Chen — who reside on the Lower East Side — made the 10-and-a-half-hour trip by car from New York to Fort Bragg to attend the trials late last month.

The Chens weren’t available for comment on Holcomb’s sentence.

In a written, translated statement, the couple said, “We would like to thank everyone who has assisted us in this very difficult time. We still are grieving for the loss of our precious son, and we hope that justice will be done for his sake.”

The statement continued,

Continued on page 16

Continued on page 17

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Photo courtesy of Joe Woolhead

Workers inspecting a crane atop 1 World Trade Center on a recent Saturday. To view the latest rendering of New York City’s tallest tower, skip to page 18.

Art Institute grads face uncertain, debt-filled future THE NEW YORK WORLD

BY CURTIS SKINNER & SAM SPOKONY ome students at Tribeca’s Art Institute of New York will be facing more than the fast-paced pressure of creative industries once they graduate. Just one in five of the former students in the school’s fashion program,

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whose payments on government-sponsored student loans first came due during the 2006 and 2007 school years, subsequently paid down their loans during fall 2010 or the first nine months of 2011, newly released government data shows.

Art Institute fashion students left school with debt obligations equivalent to more than twice their annual discretionary income, as measured by the average earnings of the program’s graduates over two years.

5 1 5 CA N A L STREET • N YC 10013 • C OPYRIG H T © 2012 N YC COMMU NITY M ED IA , LLC

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August 8 - August 21, 2012

Seven more workers banned from W.T.C. site for drinking at lunch

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B Y SAM SPOKONY Seven construction workers were banned from the World Trade Center site on Fri., July 27 after they were caught drinking by detectives from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The workers had multiple alcoholic beverages during their lunch break at the Raccoon Lounge on Warren Street, where undercover members of the Port Authority’s Inspector General’s Office first spotted them, according to Port Authority spokesperson Steve Coleman.

The detectives then followed the workers back to the W.T.C. site as they attempted to reenter the construction area. After swiping their passes, the workers were apprehended by the pursuing detectives, who promptly confiscated the passes and permanently banned them from the site.

The group of seven included employees from three separate contractors and three separate W.T.C. projects, said Coleman.

Four, who are employed by Eaton Electric, were electrical workers assigned to the W.T.C. Transportation Hub. Two were concrete workers assigned to 1 W.T.C. and are employed by Collavino Construction. The last one, whose job was not identified, was assigned to 2 W.T.C. and is employed by Halmar International.

None of the three contractors responded to requests for comment.

Coleman added that the Port Authority only has the power to ban workers from the W.T.C. site, not fire them. It wasn’t clear by

press time whether the seven workers have been fired by their respective employers.

“As we have said before, there is no place at the World Trade Center for risky or irresponsible behavior of any kind,” said Dara McQuillan, a spokesperson for W.T.C. developer Silverstein Properties. “The rebuilding represents our best in many different ways – environmental efficiency, technology, quality – and this project must also be a model of worker safety.”

The incident follows a similar one that took place on July 18, when four steamfitters assigned to 3 W.T.C. were caught drinking in a bar during their lunch break — also by undercover Port Authority detectives.

Undercover investigations on the W.T.C. site have been taking place for years, though the latest crackdown on lunchtime drinking followed a quote published in a recent Downtown Express article that highlighted safety violations on the worksite.

In the July 11 article, construction worker Jay Kinsman — who was assigned to 1 W.T.C. at the time — told of rumors floating around the site after a fellow worker had fallen and injured himself.

“I heard that he’d had a few drinks during his lunch break,” Kinsman had said.

Perhaps as a result of the rumors, the Port Authority is also increasing the budget for its inspector general and hiring new investigators, Port Authority chief Pat Foye told the New York Post.

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August 8 - August 21, 2012

NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-9, 12-21 EDITORIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-11 YOUTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 HOUSE REPUBLICANS SAY G.S.A. DIDN’T HAVE APPROVAL FOR 1 W.T.C. LEASE Two Republican congressmen asserted last week that the U.S. General Services Administration (G.S.A.) acted without the proper approval when signing a lease for six floors of 1 World Trade Center.

California Representative Jeff Denham is claiming that the G.S.A. submitted an incomplete report to the government prior to signing the lease and subsequently failed to provide basic information about the lease. “In response to a letter sent by myself and [Florida Representative] John Mica requesting that G.S.A. explain on what basis it proceeded with signing the lease, we got an e-mail that failed to respond to the request,� said Denham. “It appears G.S.A. believes it can ignore 40 years of legal precedent and sign a lease binding the taxpayer to $350 million without authorization,� said Mica, who chairs the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

But G.S.A. spokesperson Mafara Hobson told the Downtown Express that the agency followed all the proper procedures in signing the lease and gave the Transportation Committee a fair chance to voice its concerns. “Although G.S.A. has the legal author-

ity to proceed with the 1 W.T.C. lease, we chose to send the lease to Congress in the spirit of cooperation and transparency,� said Hobson. “The Senate expeditiously reviewed the lease and expressed no concern. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee had ample opportunity to review and act, and it did not.�

The G.S.A. announced the lease-signing with the Durst Organization and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the co-owners of 1 W.T.C., on July 18. The deal gives the federal agency approximately 270,000 square feet of space on floors 50 to 55 of the tower, with an initial term of 20 years starting in 2015.

The Port Authority and Durst declined to comment.

MASSIVE NEW KEY FOOD ON VERGE OF OPENING The Financial District’s Key Food supermarket will be relocating from just down the road and opening up shop on the bottom three floors of Southbridge Towers this month.

Key Food’s 55 Fulton St. store, formerly at 77 Fulton St., is expected to open within the next week or two. In its new location, the supermarket will occupy approximately 30,000 square feet, spread over three floors. This is a huge size increase over the former space, which

ARTS

was approximately 3,500 square . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22-25, 27 feet.

The supermarket chain, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 which signed the lease for the Southbridge Towers space in spring 2011, is replacing a Burger King and a Foot Locker, according to Scott Bloom, president of Bloom Real Estate Group, which brokered the deal.

Bloom won the Real Estate Board of New York’s annual prize in June for “The Retail Deal Which Most Significantly Benefits the Manhattan Retail Market� for his role in facilitating the lease.

There are no community board meetings in August.

In a press release describing the reasons for awarding Bloom the prize, R.E.B.N.Y. noted that Key Food plans Of the Council’s 51 members, only Charles to operate its new supermarket on a 24/7 sched- Barron, who represents Brooklyn’s 42nd ule, thereby allowing local residents to shop District, voted against the expansion plan. when it’s most convenient for them.

The finalized N.Y.U. plan will add 1.9 million square feet of new academic buildings to CITY COUNCIL APPROVES N.Y.U. the university’s two South Village superblocks, SOUTH VILLAGE SUPERBLOCKS which lie between Houston and West 3rd Streets PLAN and LaGuardia Place and Mercer Street.

The New York City Council voted to approve The plan approved by the Council is approxthe New York University’s 2031 plan on July 25 imately 20 percent smaller in scope than the after outspoken opponents of the project were forced out of the Council Chambers.

Continued on page 20

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August 8 - August 21, 2012

TOE-CRUNCHING ARGUMENT A First Precinct police officer was busy writing a ticket for a car parked outside 147 Mercer Street on Sat., Aug 4 at around 6 p.m. when 28-year-old Julien Chabbott, the owner of the vehicle, approached him to talk. Although he was told to wait on the sidewalk until the officer finished the summons, Chabbott refused and kept asking, “Are you done?” while trying to grab the officer’s notebook. As if that weren’t enough, the disgruntled motorist proceeded to enter his vehicle, start it and pull away from the curb — but not before running over the officer’s left foot.

Chabbott was quickly stopped and arrested for assaulting a police officer.

SCOOTER THIEF A resident of Sullivan Street reported his motor scooter stolen on Sun., July 22, after it disappeared from the corner of Sixth Avenue and Broome Street. The owner was on vacation at the time when his house sitter called to say that his new 2012 Vespa was missing from its parking spot. No video cameras captured the grand larceny, and no suspects have been named.

OUTFIT THEFT A man was arrested for robbery outside the Old Navy store at 503 Broadway

shortly after 5 p.m. on Fri., Aug. 3. The unnamed perp, 32, had taken a pair of shoes, khaki pants, crew socks, a shirt and two pairs of boxers, totaling $98, and stuffed them into a bag that he attempted to stroll out with.

When confronted by an Old Navy employee, the man put up a fight, eventually injuring the thumb of a bystander.

The robber was apprehended by officers after leading them on a short chase down Broadway.

noticed that 11 steel pipes of various sizes were missing. He immediately reported the suspected theft to police, saying that it was the third time it had happened.

The employee also told the officers that whoever stole the pipes must have had plenty of time and a great deal of heavy machinery, as the missing load weighed around 500 pounds.

The pipes were not just hefty, but also pricey — the worker estimated their total value to be $15,000.

UNATTENDED PURSE WOES

BOYFRIEND SAVES THE DAY

On Sun., Aug. 5 at 1 a.m., a woman at Skippers Pierside Café (89 South Street) left her purse under a table while heading to the bar for a drink. Though the woman, 25, told police she left the bag unattended for only five minutes, it was gone when she returned with her liquor. The purse contained an iPhone 4, valued at $150, along with three credit cards, a debit card, her keys and $20 in cash. Information about the suspect wasn’t available, since the woman didn’t see anyone approach the table.

On Fri., Aug. 3 around 5:30 p.m., a woman and her boyfriend were with friends at Suspenders bar and restaurant (111 Broadway), when a strange, middle-aged man struck up a conversation with them. When briefly stepping outside, the woman realized that the stranger, later identified as 55-yearold John Puglise, had stolen her wallet.

Her boyfriend quickly ran out to check the 4 and 5 subway station down the block, and, sure enough, he found Puglise standing there with the wallet sticking out of his back pocket. Police arrested Puglise for grand larceny and found that he was too drunk to be interviewed that night.

PRICEY PIPES MISSING When an employee of Perfetto Construction showed up to his worksite at the corner of South Street and Old Slip on Thurs., Aug 2 around 2 p.m., he

‘CUTIE WITH AN IPHONE’

who allegedly snatched a $600 iPhone 4S from a young woman on Fri., Aug. 3 around 1 a.m. as she was walking up Fulton Street to her friend’s apartment. The 20-year-old woman told officers that two suspects — a tall black man and a short black woman — approached her and stopped her from walking past them. The man, she said, attempted to grab the phone but missed, and then called her a “cutie with an iPhone.” As he spoke the distracting line, his accomplice quickly grabbed the phone away, and the two suspects fled on foot.

CAN’T SAY NO TO THAT A young man was walking past the corner of Greenwich and Edgar Streets on Thurs., Aug. 2 at around 3:30 a.m., when a middle-aged man stopped to ask for a cigarette. Moments later, the stranger asked him for his wallet. When the unsuspecting victim said, “No,” the man pulled out a knife. The younger man willingly handed over the wallet — which he said contained credit and debit cards, a MetroCard and his driver’s license — and watched helplessly as the knife-wielder fled north on Greenwich Street.

The victim described the suspect to police as a white male around 50 years old and 5’11’’.

Police are on the hunt for two suspects

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August 8 - August 21, 2012

Downtown Express is sold to Information Technology executive 27 awards for excellence. Among the most memorable, big stories during his ownership of the papers, Sutter said, were “9/11; the recovery and rebuilding of Lower Manhattan after the attack; N.Y.U.’s expansion; the building out of Hudson River Park, and its trials and tribulations; the Pier 40 sagas; St. Vincent’s plan to build a new hospital tower and its ultimate bankruptcy and collapse; the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York State; the school overcrowding crisis; the dynamic expansion of influence and competence of our local community boards; real estate developments; the rezoning of the East Village and Lower East Side; new faces in politics — Margaret Chin and Daniel Squadron — and familiar faces, too — Christine Quinn, Tom Duane, Jerrold Nadler, Carolyn Maloney, Rosie Mendez, Sheldon Silver and Deborah Glick; the redevelopment of Washington Square and a dozen other parks...the list goes on and on.”

Sutter mentioned he was particularly proud of the work that the staff of the Downtown Express accomplished over a ten-year period covering the recovery and rebuilding of the World Trade Center and the rest of Lower Manhattan. The staff produced over 1,700 stories chronicling this most complex building project in the world.

Sutter has agreed to stay on at the newspapers as Publisher Emeritus, although he quipped that the title sounds “really old.” He will assist the new leadership in the transition.

Jennifer Goodstein took the reins as Community Media’s new publisher in late July.

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON The parent company of the Downtown Express has been sold to a business executive with experience in information technology and e-commerce.

“I was looking for something in New York that had quality and integrity behind it,” Jennifer Goodstein said of purchasing Community Media, LLC, effective July 31.

The award-winning newspaper chain — which includes The Villager, The East Villager/Lower East Sider, Gay City News and Chelsea Now — was owned for the past 13 years by John W. Sutter.

“John has maintained, over the years, a very strong reputation of having a place where people can find a trusted source of what’s happening,” Goodstein said. “I do feel that, looking at the condition of the papers –– I think the hard work is done.”

Goodstein was a key e-business executive at MetLife for ten years. Prior to that, she served as an I.T. director for instruction and curriculum at a Maryland school district.

Commenting that New York City is “anything but vanilla,” Goodstein said that the “diversity” of the neighborhoods and the issues Community Media’s newspapers cover is a compelling factor in her interest in assuming control of the properties.

Asked what he was most proud of during his tenure, Sutter, who is 62, said, “Working with a group of committed professionals who believe in community journalism. Covering the best neighborhoods in the entire world.

Trying to write fairly, forcefully and independently about events that have meaning in the

lives of our readers, week in and week out.”

Goodstein, 47, is married to Les Goodstein, who is a senior vice president at News America Inc. The couple lives in Manhattan and have a college-age son, Steven.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Enlightenment Press published the first issue of Battery News for the Battery Park City Authority on May 11, 1987. In 1990, the newspaper changed its name to the Downtown Express. Sutter purchased the Downtown Express and The Villager from Elizabeth and Tom Butson in 1999. He made the Downtown Express weekly in the decade after 9/11 because, as he said, “People in a disaster zone desperately need information.”

Sutter’s tenure at Community Media was a dynamic and active one, during which he substantially expanded the community newspaper franchise in Lower Manhattan. He launched three more papers: Gay City News in 2002; Chelsea Now in 2006; and the East Villager/Lower East Sider in 2010. All of these papers are thriving today.

Under Sutter, Community Media publications garnered their share of awards, with the papers regularly being acknowledged as among the top five newspaper groups in New York State. Over the past 12 years, Community Media has won more than 200 awards for excellence in the New York Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest across a wide range of categories, including The Villager’s three times winning the Stuart Dorman Award as the best community weekly in the state. This past year, the newspaper group was honored with

6

August 8 - August 21, 2012

Delay in center opening angers Asphalt Green members

BY TERESE LOEB KREUZER Fed up with the delayed opening of the Asphalt Green Battery Park City community center, two Lower Manhattan mothers decided to start an online petition demanding that the center’s developer, the Battery Park City Authority, “stop the unnecessary bureaucratic delays.”

To local residents’ dismay, the B.P.C.A. hasn’t yet announced a new opening date, originally set for November 2011.

The petition, addressed to B.P.C.A. President Gayle Horwitz, was posted online the afternoon of Fri., July 27. Within a week, it garnered 245 signatures.

Tribeca resident Erika Teresko, who launched the petition with B.P.C. resident Liz McCabe, said she hopes the B.P.C.A. will have an “open discussion” with the petitioners. “Everyone is sitting around with no information,” she said.

The B.P.C.A. has attributed the delays to a lack of proper permitting from the city. “If it’s a matter of permits, let’s get [New York State Speaker] Sheldon Silver’s office involved and get this done,” Teresko said. “But there are rumors swirling around that the Battery Park City Authority is in litigation with Asphalt Green and that they don’t want them to be the ones who are running this facility.”

The B.P.C.A. didn’t respond by press time to the Downtown Express’s request

for comment on the petition.

Teresko voiced her objection to the secrecy. “I just want to get this out in the open,” she said. “If there is litigation going on, what is the litigation about?

If there are issues with the city, let’s get some help to contact the city and get them out here to do the inspections.”

McCabe said she frequently walks past the site of the community center, at 212 North End Ave., and recently observed construction had stopped. “If you call B.P.C.A. and ask why, there are never any answers,” she said. “If there’s something legitimate, you say what it is.

When people don’t give answers, that’s when my suspicion goes up.”

McCabe attended the B.P.C.A.’s Board of Directors meeting on July 31 in the belief that Asphalt Green would be on the agenda, but it was not discussed in the public part of the session. The last hour of the meeting was in executive session for board members only. “If there is litigation involved,” she mused, “maybe it was discussed there.”

McCabe also attended Community Board 1’s July 31 full-board meeting to solicit help in finding out what’s happening with the center. She had not previously attended a community board meeting, but said that this would not be her last one. “I’m personally going to

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

Downtown Express photo by Terese Loeb Kreuzer

Work seems to have come to a halt at the Asphalt Green B.P.C. community center, even though a sign pointing to work permits dating back to 2010 is plastered on its future entrance.

keep after this until we get some kind of answer,” she promised.

People who have signed the petition mentioned a number of reasons for doing so. “My family joined and paid

which was signed by former B.P.C.A. chairman James Gill and president Jim Cavanaugh, is not to Gayle Horwitz’s liking — perhaps because of the revenue splits entailed — and that she is delib-

‘The community deserves an honest explanation for the delay in opening.’

— Bettina Teodoro

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

money well over a year ago,” commented Bettina Teodoro. “The community deserves an honest explanation for the delay in opening.”

Another petitioner who requested anonymity believes the delays in opening the new facility “are driven by behindthe-scenes, back-room local tactics, which are frustratingly not transparent to the community and are definitely not benefiting the community at all. The fact that the delays are driven by small, entrenched special interest groups or individuals wielding power is really ridiculous given the size and purpose of the project.”

The petitioner also commented that the B.P.C.A.’s contract with Asphalt Green,

erately delaying the community center’s opening in the hope that Asphalt Green will choose to sever the contract.

McCabe, who with her family had signed up last year for a charter membership, said she had also heard that rumor. “Why make the community suffer?” she asked.

“I don’t want my money back. I want the facility opened.”

Teresko and McCabe sent the petition to the B.P.C.A. on Mon., July 30. As of Tues., Aug. 7, they hadn’t received a reply.

“To not address the petition at all after receiving it, I think is irresponsible,” Teresko said. “I just feel that everyone’s passing the buck, and no one is really providing any answers.”

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August 8 - August 21, 2012

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Deutsche Bank fire spurs startling report B Y ALINE REYNOLDS Safety measures for certain Downtown buildings fall short of citywide standards for extinguishing a fire or tending to another such emergency.

That’s what a new government report has uncovered and what may account for the deaths of firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino in the 2007 blaze at the former Deutsche Bank building, at 130 Liberty St. The report, prepared jointly by the Fire Department of New York and the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, underscores the dangers posed by discrepancies between city and state fire codes in state-owned buildings Downtown and throughout the city.

Specifically, the report asks the city and state to create consistent rules about the presence and use of fire safety equipment such as standpipes and hose thread, and to ensure that hazardous materials and explosives are properly handled and reported. The Task Force on Building and Fire Safety, which issued the report, is also calling on the city and state to con-

ately prepare for emergency visits.

“I think there are significant recommendations in here that can move us closer to a unified system,” said Squadron.

“We want [the implementation] to be immediate.

“It’s of particular importance,” he continued, “so we can know that both the community and the first responders are not put at risk.”

Specifically, Squadron is requesting that the World Trade Center buildings abide by the strictest building rules. Asked about the matter, Port Authority spokesperson Steve Coleman said that the future W.T.C. buildings meet and, in certain cases, exceed applicable building codes, and that the Port Authority works closely with the F.D.N.Y. to attend to building and fire safety matters on the site. Coleman declined to answer whether the buildings also follow state building code.

Joe Graffanino, a lead advocate behind building safety following the death of his son in the 2007 Deutsche Bank fire, believes that the synthesis of the codes could indeed help save lives of emergency

‘It’ll make it easier for firefighters to put out a fire, knowing what they’re going into.’

— Joe Graffanino

duct joint inspections of the state-owned buildings and review their permitting and leasing statuses.

As it stands, the city’s fire code is generally stricter than the state’s, though city buildings are exempt from certain standards such as the state’s Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code.

The differences in safety rules could allow future and existing buildings along the Lower West Side waterfront, which are state-owned, to be exempt from certain government building standards, according to data provided by the task force.

Though the task force has advised that the recommended changes happen within the next year, N.Y.S. Senator Daniel Squadron, who sponsored legislation to set up the task force, is urging the state and city agencies to close the gap between state and city safety codes right away.

Most notably, he said, the state must promptly share information about the layout of state-owned buildings with the F.D.N.Y. so that firefighters can appropri-

workers. The fire was thought to be caused by a severed standpipe in the building and the lack of proper inspections of the building prior to the fire.

“They’re looking to create New York City codes within New York State buildings for the first responders,” said Graffanino.

“I think it’s a step in the right direction.”

Addressing the F.D.N.Y.’s need for floor plans of the buildings, he said, “It’ll make it easier for firefighters to put out a fire, knowing what they’re going into.”

Al Hagan, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, which represents superior officers at the F.D.N.Y., said that the city’s building code should equal or exceed all statewide regulations, since, “We have a highly packed city with unique problems.”

“The state-owned buildings are a little cheaper,” said Hagan, “and they probably can go up a little quicker, but in the end if you put everyone in that building at a greater level of danger, [are the savings] worth it?”

9

August 8 - August 21, 2012

A business sprouts from kids’ cooking classes

Photo courtesy of Ghazalle Badiozamani

The Creative Kitchen’s Cricket Azima talks to kids about healthy eating habits in cooking classes specifically designed for youths.

BY JANEL BLADOW One of those “what am I going to do with my life” moments that sparks an “ah-ha” vision propelled Cricket Azima along her unique career path. Her combined love of kids and good, healthy food led the chef to start her own home-based business, “The Creative Kitchen,” in Tribeca.

“I was at a crossroads in my career and trying to find out what I wanted to spend energy on,” she told the Downtown Express.

“I could teach kindergarten. Or become a chef. The idea is a meeting of the two.”

The Creative Kitchen is an educationbased series of hands-on cooking classes for kids. Her classes, workshops, seminars, events and birthday parties, for teenagers and children as young as two years old, are all about food. Most of them involve traditional learning — reading, writing and arithmetic — but also end with a scrumptious meal. The classes make up a summer series held at various locations around the city, including City Treehouse, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan and Whole Foods Market in the East Village.

This summer (and coming this fall), the series “Cook With Me,” targeting toddlers and their caregivers, took place at J&R Jr. on Ann Street. Kids joined Azima in creating new recipes that focused on themes, colors, numbers and shapes familiar to little ones. In addition to eating their projects, the kids got to craft art made out of food.

While the younger kids learn shapes and colors, older ones learn about nutrition and the science of food. For example, in the Playtime Pasta Party sessions, Azima talks about how water boils to cook the pasta. Motor skills also get a workout — stirring pasta, adding a pinch of salt, tearing herbs. The kids also learn how to follow directions and improve their reading skills by following recipes.

“They learn measurements and fractions,” explained Azima. “If a recipe calls for a cup of beans, I’ll present them with a half-cup measuring cup. We’ll talk about how two half-cups equal one whole cup.”

But that isn’t all they learn. Azima occasionally delves into social sciences, music, history and geography. The youths also have a social experience by working as teams.

“They are rewarded naturally with a fun meal they make themselves at the end.”

The Creative Kitchen is also a cosponsor of the Kids Food Festival, held last year in Bryant Park The free event — the largest of its kind in New York City — is meant to help fight childhood obesity and underscore the importance of balanced food choices through fun activities and tasty samples. According to Azima, it was such a hit that it is going to be an annual affair: The second yearly festival takes place on Nov. 3 and 4.

One event highlight is the scavenger hunt, in which kids collect stamps representing various foods. When they’ve filled their “plates” with balanced meals, they get to turn them in for goodie bags.

“Parents are happy because their children are learning what makes a balanced meal, and the kids have fun learning,” said Azima.

The Creative Kitchen grew out of her New York University master’s thesis, “Children’s Cooking Classes: An Alternative Method to Enhance Learning.” While writing it, Azima came to the realization that children better retain cooking lessons when they use all of the senses and have fun.

The licensed chef also graduated from Peter Kump’s New York Culinary School (known as The Institute of Culinary Education). She has worked with a variety of magazines and TV shows and has even

produced food events for major organizations such as the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. “I learned so much more about the activ-

ity of cooking — taking what we call traditional disciplines and making them more exciting,” she said of her own educational experience. “I was never great at math or science myself. But I got into it with cooking. This is a natural way to connect with a young audience.”

Her biggest challenge, she said, is trying to get the entire family on board. “I have to remind some parents that they are the role models here,” said Azima. “If they come to me and say their kid is a picky eater and then go, ‘Ew that’s a tomato,’ I have to stop and say, ‘Yum,’ and find a way make it exciting.”

With the classes, she added, picky eaters get to see what goes into their food.

“Often if they help cut up a carrot or tear up herbs, have fun and are connected to the dish, then they are more ready to eat it,” she said.

The program also builds self-esteem and independence, explained Azima, since kids get to choose what goes into their bodies.

But most importantly, even the littlest ones are getting hands-on experience.

“They are proud of what they made,” she said. “For them, it’s like an art project, and they like to show it off. It gives them a sense of accomplishment and pride in what they’ve created.”

For more information, visit www.thecreativekitchen.com.

10

August 8 - August 21, 2012

Editorial PUBLISHER

Jennifer Goodstein PUBLISHER EMERITUS

John W. Sutter ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Aline Reynolds ARTS EDITOR

Scott Stiffler REPORTER

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

John Sutter says goodbye I SOLD MY NEWSPAPERS LAST WEEK.

I found someone who believes in community journalism — its challenges and opportunities — who is willing to buy into the business of producing high-quality, original, local news reporting. The new owner is Jennifer Goodstein, and you will be hearing directly from her in coming weeks.

It’s been a great 13-year run, but it’s time for me to step down and explore some other interests. It was surely the best job that I ever had.

What extraordinary communities to write for!

No shortage of debate, dissension, volatility, creativity. Overflowing with big and small stories, colorful characters and sharp local opinion.

I relished the mission, which was to try to write honestly, independently, fairly and forcefully, about events that have meaning in the lives of individuals and families in our neighborhoods.

I have lots of thanks to pass around. First I thank my family for putting up with more than 2,000 deadlines. They have watched me leave vacations early, or be on the computer during evening time together, or scream for them to quiet

down as I tried to concentrate on finishing up a late-night editorial. They supported me, or at least tolerated me, throughout this entire journey. I love them dearly and owe them everything.

And what a staff at Community Media! If they were in this for the money they would be elsewhere. They believe in the mission and work their hearts out to produce comprehensive and fair local news, week in and week out.

And to our loyal readers, where would we be without you? We were always proud to boast that you were at the top of any scale of political and cultural sophistication, and that you knew good writing. We did our best to provide you every week with local news that you can trust, both in print and online.

I have agreed to stay on as Publisher Emeritus.

I want to do everything I can to ensure a smooth transition to the new leadership and the success of these newspapers and Web sites. I believe that our communities are enriched when there is a vital local press where stories are covered fairly, where issues can be vetted in some depth and where the paper has a strong editorial voice.

I will no longer be leading that editorial voice.

I actually look forward to being a reader, and perhaps not even having an opinion on an issue. I would love to be able to say, “It’s six of one, half a dozen of the other,” an approach I never permitted in an editorial.

But you can bet I will get worked up by certain stories. After all, I too live in the community, shop here, breathe the air, hear the jackhammering, ride my bike, send my kids to school, visit art galleries, etc. My life is Downtown, embedded in local, deeply local, patterns and rituals.

And I look forward, maybe more than ever, to reading my hometown papers in the big city.

– John W. Sutter

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Letters to the Editor THE WHITEHALL STREET FOOD CART To the Editor: For a number of years, I patronized a halal food stand located on Whitehall Street, just a few steps away from the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. I would enjoy not only the food but the friendly banter of the nighttime vendor, a cheerful young man who lives close to my own residence on the northern tip of Staten Island.

But as of last Saturday, I will have to satisfy my food cravings elsewhere.

My wife and I were on our way home and decided to make a stop at the stand, where we always bought chicken gyros. We noticed a bald man shouting in Arabic to the vendor inside the cart. The vendor, who I have casually known for quite some time, did not talk back to the man, and when I asked who the person was, he ashamedly said it was his boss — the owner of the cart.

Said owner, who seems to be in his late 40s, made no attempt to stop his shouting in our presence. He gave me a dirty look after I asked about the screaming, which prompted me to remark that he wasn’t being a very good businessman by behaving like that in front of paying customers.

Next thing I know, the owner came from around the stand and started shouting expletives at me

because he was offended by what I had said. I raised my hand to ask him to quiet down, but my words were to no avail. He screamed, “Don’t touch me,” and continued to spout offending words in a machine gun-like manner.

As people started to intervene to break up a potential fistfight, I turned around and headed for the hotdog stand inside the terminal, enduring shouts of “mother*** er” as I walked away.

As a 12-year resident of New York, I have had my share of grumpy waiters and ticked-off restaurant workers, but I have never had so much verbal abuse hurled at me because of a simple remark. No matter what that individual was going through on a personal level, nothing gives him the right to verbally assault a customer like he did that evening.

Someone told me that he might have been stressed out due to the day-long fast that Muslims follow during Ramadan. However, that is no excuse. I am really respectful of other peoples’ religions, but being observant does not give you the right to misbehave in public.

I believe this incident would be grounds to have his street vendor’s license revoked until he learns that you need to have simple manners in order to run a business that deals with people.

THUMBS DOWN FOR N.Y.U. WELL WISHES FOR NYC COMMUNITY MEDIA EXPANSION PLAN To The Editor: Re “N.Y.U. 2031 plan wins key vote by Council committee” (news article, July 25): Fifty percent is a compromise; eighty percent is a giveaway. Council Member Margaret Chin needs to do better than that. And if doing the right thing is so easy, why didn’t Council Member Rosie Mendez do it?

Somehow, Council Member Charles Barron managed to do the easy, right thing.

And what is the right thing for a city council member to do? According to the New York City Charter, the “Powers of the council” include the ability to adopt laws “for the order, protection and government of persons and property; for the preservation of the public health, comfort, peace and prosperity of the city and its inhabitants…”

Approving a 20-year construction project in the middle of the superblocks does not protect or preserve public health, peace or its inhabitants.

Chin, Quinn, Mendez and the whole City Council Land Use Committee — except for Council Member Barron — are very disappointing and have acted against their entrusted social responsibilities as elected representatives of the people.

To the Editor: Re “Downtown Express is sold to information technology executive” (news article, Aug. 1 web issue): Thanks to John Sutter for his years of successfully publishing these vital community papers. Best wishes to Jennifer Goodstein as she steers NYC Community Media for the next generation — so quintessentially “New York”!

Ernest Barteldes

A. S. Evans

Corey Johnson

Kimberly Donahue

“THANKS, JOHN SUTTER!” To the Editor: Re “Downtown Express is sold to information technology executive” (news article, Aug. 1 web issue): John Sutter has done a stellar job leading a phenomenal team of journalists who so thoroughly, fairly and brilliantly have covered our neighborhoods.

You will be missed, John — but you leave behind a talented, award-winning team.

Good luck in pursuing new adventures, and we will see you in the neighborhood.

11

August 8 - August 21, 2012

Talking Point

Better together in diversity B Y D R. J A M E S H . C O O P E R

CAN LIBERAL CHRISTIANITY BE SAVED?

So asked New York Times columnist Ross Douthat in a recent opinion piece, written on the heels of the Episcopal Church’s decision to allow same-sex marriage blessings.

He went on to pin the decline in Episcopal Church attendance since the 1960s to a period of liberal flourishing and influence in the church. Traditionally, the downward membership trend is ascribed to the growing dominance of secular culture and the reluctance among Episcopalians to actively court new members into the church.

In Douthat’s version, the verdict would appear to be that the Christian left, with its wishy-washy interpretation of church teaching, became flexible on theology, thereby diluting the faith and pandering to secular causes. So it’s no wonder the church is losing members and relevancy. I have no doubt that most people would consider Trinity Wall Street a liberal Christian parish, and so I read Douthat’s piece with great interest.

In contrast to Douthat’s prognosis, more people are attending Trinity’s Sunday service now than in previous years. I would hold that the experience of faith and the level of engagement of those in attendance are also moving in the right direction. Many — residents and

workers in the Downtown neighborhood — see Trinity as liberal due to our support of Occupy Wall Street. Some of our neighbors thought that Trinity pandered too much to the activists, while others thought we ought to have supported them more by allowing them to use our property for an open encampment.

We disagree with the latter.

We support O.W.S.’s goal of addressing economic and social injustices and advocating for real change — this is what our ministries and grant-making addresses. Our hospitality to the activists includes use of our community and meeting rooms, facilities, feeding programs and pastoral care — which continues to this day, even as the protesters demonstrate right outside our church doors.

There was a part of me that read Douthat’s column and simply thought, wow, that is a very bleak and pessimistic portrait of life in the church, and one that seems to disregard the possibility that membership numbers may not be the driving force around church life and policy-making.

I don’t have much use for the word “liberal” or its opposite. Inside the church, such categorizations create divisions between people and limit expectations. Better is a parish that understands together that people will be different, that we are better together in diversity than apart in homogeneity. Better is the parish

holding that glorious tension together, asking people to learn from one another over time.

We are working to build that church together, day by day, in Lower Manhattan.

How can Trinity be a vital and relevant force for good in Downtown, New York City and the world? This is the question those involved in parish life wake up every day asking. The answer usually involves how well we are welcoming all who come and issuing the invitation to those who have not come.

The answer depends on our commitment to diversity in all forms.

Importantly, we do not welcome people with a dogmatic test or based on where they fall on the political spectrum. We do not need to know where you are from, who your parents are or what you earn — or whether and which gender you intend to wed.

Some make an assumption about Trinity that, since it is located on Wall Street, our congregants must be made up of rich bankers.

That is like saying a seaside church only welcomes fishermen.

Trinity’s congregation is actually one of the city’s most diverse, and as such it is a tremendous asset to Lower Manhattan. Some parishioners are wealthy, while others live out of shopping bags, and most are somewhere in between. We are people of all races, employed and unemployed, conservative and liberal.

UP TO

I have seen how this commitment to diversity creates a community of faith that welcomes everyone, adapts to change and creates opportunities to meet the needs of the world outside its doors. It’s happening in churches across the country, too: There is a craving to embark in substantial ways upon both faith and works in the company of people who are different from you.

Churches and institutions that accept the challenge of true diversity as a core value come to learn that diversity leads to radical inclusion. This will ultimately lead to meaningful reforms that truly serve society.

The Episcopal Church is, over time, taking the steps and ratifying policy decisions necessary to include and welcome every person. This is not pandering to political causes, as Douthat suggests, but rather responding to a call for a more open and just church. This approach unequivocally contrasts with its historical reputation as the “church of the elite” — a spiritually unchallenging extension of the country club.

What should Downtown residents know about Trinity Church? Simple: you are invited. We welcome everyone. A visit one Sunday morning might be more convincing than my words.

Reverend Cooper has served as rector of Trinity Wall Street Episcopal Church, at 89 Broadway, since 2004.

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August 8 - August 21, 2012

Discovering more ‘tombs’ beneath a Downtown park B Y SAM SPOKONY The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation got an unexpected history lesson this year while completing construction on a new park in the Civic Center.

While digging up part of the park last fall, Parks Department workers stumbled upon a strange series of stone walls buried beneath the site. “They immediately stopped working in the area and called me,” according to Amanda Sutphin, director of archaeology at the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (L.P.C.). “It was definitely the right thing to do.”

Collect Pond Park, on Leonard Street between Centre and Lafayette Streets, is scheduled to open in late September, according to the Parks Department. The one-acre space will boast an open plaza with benches and tables, decorative pavements and a water spray fountain.

The design will also feature a small, shallow pool to commemorate the site of Collect Pond, a popular 18th-century attraction that was approximately 60 feet deep. In the early 19th century, when the park became polluted, the city filled it in.

The approximately $5 million project, which has been five years in the making, is being financed by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (L.M.D.C.).

At Sutphin’s request, the Parks Department hired an independent archaeologist to investigate the underground stone more thoroughly. The discovery was surprising: The foundation of a former section of The Tombs, a famous city prison, had been sitting intact underneath the ground for over a century.

Out of three walls found beneath the park, two are “undoubtedly the remnants of the foundation and perimeter wall of the second Tombs building constructed in 1902,” states a historical report completed in January by A.K.R.F., an environmental consulting firm hired to analyze the discovery.

In other words, The Tombs — originally named the New

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Archeologists have discovered remnants of a prison underneath the future site of Collect Pond Park, which will open this fall on Leonard Street.

York City Halls of Justice and House of Detention — had four incarnations, the first of which was built soon after Collect Pond was filled, the A.K.R.F. report explained.

The prison was initially constructed in 1838 as a response to rising crime rates in the city, following the filling of the pond

between 1810 and sometime in the 1820s. But it didn’t take very long for the structure to begin sinking into the soft, swampy ground, creating awful living conditions for its 300 prisoners.

An 1846 New York Herald article quoted in the A.K.R.F. report described the perpetual dreariness brought on by the oft-overflowing cells. “[The prisoners are] here entombed to fester and offend,” the article stated, “until the moral atmosphere of the entire vicinage is impregnated with their odious exhalations, and the very soil seems to send forth in foul luxuriance the noxious shoots of crime and hardy guilt.”

In 1902, after decades of planning, the prison was demolished and replaced. The second Tombs was built on a deeper foundation and at a higher grade than the first one in order to avoid structural instability and sinking, according to the report.

Although another replacement Tombs was built on the nearby White Street 40 years later — now called the Manhattan Detention Complex — the 1902 building’s foundation turned out to be deep and stable enough to survive underground.

For preservation experts, the next step after identifying the prison walls was to decide how to protect them during the development of Collect Pond Park. While the job seems to have been a balancing act, it apparently went smoothly.

“We identified a new route for the park’s underground utility lines so that they wouldn’t impact the foundation,” explained Dan Keefe, a spokesperson for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, which advised on the project alongside A.K.R.F. and the L.P.C. “The lines were changed to our satisfaction, and there haven’t had to be any consultations since then.”

Per approval of the L.M.D.C. and state officials, the layout of the park’s storm drainage system was changed to minimize below-grade interferences with the prison walls, according to George Bloomer, a design supervisor for the Parks Department.

But the resting place of the second Tombs is going to remain hidden to many New Yorkers who will relax amid the greenery of Collect Pond Park come September. Since plans for the park had already been in place for years, the design will not include the stones of the prison, and it will not make mention of any of their paths through history; only the former Collect Pond will be highlighted and remembered for years to come.

“They will remain buried,” Bloomer said of the foundation walls.

Sutphin said that, although the work to preserve the prison remnants is complete, the L.P.C. will remain involved in monitoring that portion of the site. In addition to its written report, A.K.R.F. compiled detailed maps and drawings of the buried foundation that will give preservation experts a better sense of how to handle future foundation issues, she said.

“But I think it would’ve been such a great idea to incorporate the foundation in the design of the park,” Sutphin added wistfully, “so that people could at least have seen where the building once stood.”

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August 8 - August 21, 2012

13

B Y TERESE LOEB KREUZER

NEW CHAIRMAN TAKES HELM AT B.P.C.A.: The Battery Park City Authority’s Board of Directors has elected Dennis Mehiel as the B.P.C.A.’s new chairman. Mehiel, chairman and chief executive officer of the Four M Corporation — one of the largest corrugated packaging producers in North America — had been nominated to serve on the B.P.C.A.

by New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but it was up to the Authority’s board to actually place him in the chairman’s seat.

One of the items on the agenda at Mehiel’s first meeting as chairman was the confirmation of New York law firm Kramer Levin to serve as legal counsel to the B.P.C.A. on waterfront zoning and land use issues pertaining to the Pier A Plaza. The Authority is renovating the landmark pier and plaza, situated at the southern end of Battery Park City.

“Kramer Levin will aid in shepherding the Pier A Plaza Project from design to completion, including through the approval processes to the Department of City Planning and Public Design Commission,” said Matthew Monahan, a spokesperson for the Authority.

Paul D. Selver, co-chair of Kramer Levin’s Land Use Department, is the senior partner on the project. Among his current projects are the redevelopment of Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport and the reconfiguration of retail space at the World Financial Center.

SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM EXHIBITS URBAN FABRIC: New York City’s fabled garment district, once known simply as “Seventh Avenue,” is recalled in an exhibit that just opened at the Skyscraper Museum.

Downtown Express photos by Terese Loeb Kreuzer

A wedding party posing for photos in Battery Park City’s South Cove. Getting married in B.P.C. requires permits from the Battery Park City Authority.

The exhibit, “Urban Fabric,” includes architectural drawings, advertisements, fashion drawings and period clothing from the decades when the garment district dressed America.

Starting in 1919 and continuing into the 1960s, three-quarters of the clothing worn by American women and children was designed and made in 135 skyscraper factories that lined the streets between 35th and 41st Streets and Sixth and Ninth Avenues. As the exhibit’s photographs and film footage show, the sidewalks of the garment district were jammed.

Men pushed rolling carts — transporting millions of dollars of merchandise between designers, manufacturers and showrooms. Pattern-makers, cutters and sewing machine operators worked in spacious lofts, protected by fireproofing laws spawned by the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist

Factory fire of 1911 that claimed 146 lives, mostly immigrant women. (At lunchtime, a hundred thousand people spilled into the streets.)

The garment industry was created almost entirely by European Jewish immigrants, according to the exhibit’s curator, Andrew S. Dolkart, director of historic preservation at Columbia University’s School of Architecture. “The owners of the businesses were Eastern European Jewish immigrants, and they hired Jewish architects,” he explained. “They leased space to Jewishowned garment firms that hired largely Jewish workers.”

In the 1960s, many of the garment businesses moved out of New York City to other parts of the country in search of lower wages and less unionization. Eventually, clothing manufacturing moved overseas, but the sturdy, well-lit buildings that housed the original garment district are still there. They now mostly house architects’ offices and law, technology and media firms. Some of them still are home to clothing designers and showrooms.

The exhibit will be at the Skyscraper Museum (39 Battery Pl.) through January 2013. For more information, visit the gallery’s website.

WEDDINGS GALORE:

“Urban Fabric,” an exhibit about New York City’s garment district, is at the Skyscraper Museum (39 Battery Pl.).

South Cove sure is sweet on summer weekends. Hardly a weekend goes by without a bridal party. Some people even hold their weddings in Battery Park City. “My surmise is wedding parties, or their photographers, know what we all know: that the South Cove is a beautiful place,” said Matthew Monahan, a Battery Park City Authority spokesman.

Whether for pictures taken by a professional photographer or for the ceremony itself, couples are supposed to obtain permits from the Battery Park City Authority.

Permits must be obtained 30 business days in advance of an event and cost $250 for wedding pictures and $400 for the ceremony.

Professional photographers are supposed to

carry $1 million worth of liability insurance.

But not everyone bothers with these rules. “We have a permit process [that] some are appropriately using,” according to Monahan. “Perhaps others are unaware, but they still go for their photos.”

Battery Park City and South Cove,in particular, are certifiably beautiful, but they aren’t private. Anyone can gawk — and lots of people do. Moreover, there are regulations. The appearance of the parks and gardens must be preserved. No decorations are allowed. That means no ribbons, no balloons, no bows, no candles. Structures aren’t permitted, either. The use of altars and kneelers is verboten. Forget about rice, bubbles, birdseed or confetti. And no tents, tables, chairs “or similar items” may be brought into the parks.

But none of these rules seem to keep wedding parties away, much to the chagrin of some of the people who live near South Cove.

“An unintended consequence of the photography is the improper parking or standing of vehicles associated with the wedding party along the curb or cul-de-sac that has an effect on the area,” said Monahan.

South Cove wedding watchers have seen their share of Rolls Royces and stretch limos in the cul-de-sac. They take up space, of course, but they are undoubtedly quieter than jalopies decked out with ribbons and tin cans, emblazoned with “Just Married.” However, fortunately for onlookers’ peace and quiet, the Battery Park City wedding crowd seems to prefer something a little more decorous.

For information on Battery Park City permits, required for professional filming, videotaping and photography, volleyball games, weddings and birthday parties attended by more than 20 people, visit the B.P.C.A. website, www.batteryparkcity.org.

To comment on Battery Park City Beat or to suggest article ideas, email Terese Loeb Kreuzer at TereseLoeb10@gmail.com.

14

August 8 - August 21, 2012

A stately farewell to a veteran reporter

Downtown Express photos by Tequila Minsky

The retirement of Al Amateau, a print journalist for 55 years, hardly went unnoticed. State and city politicians — including Assembly Member Richard Gottfried (upper right), Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer (upper left) and Downtown’s Council Member Margaret Chin — swung by SoHo’s P.J. Charlton Restaurant on Thurs., Aug. 2 to honor him with proclamations and wish him well. Former Villager and Downtown Express owner Elizabeth Butson (left) and former Downtown Express editor Josh Rogers (right) also stopped by to toast Amateau.

15

August 8 - August 21, 2012

A lifelong newsman looks back as he turns 80 REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

BY ALBERT AMATEAU When did it start? Age 3 going on 4, stomping through a half-empty house, shouting, “Where’s my printing set?” Gave explicit instructions to mother and father not to forget it in the move from Kings Highway, Brooklyn to Utopia Parkway, Queens. Don’t remember finding it.

Copy boy, World Telegram & Sun (125 Barclay St., 1952?). Made friends with fellow copy boy a few years older who lived on Avenue A, Allen Ginsberg. He carried around a library book about the Mayans and said he was going to Yucatan to see the ruins, then hang out with friends in San Francisco.

Ginsberg tells me about visiting Ezra Pound at St. Elizabeth’s asylum in Washington, D.C. Shows me a typescript of his own poems with a short blurb by William Carlos Williams. I show him a poem I had written with some not-very-good rhymes. His critique: “Forget that tired crap.”

Copy boy on New York Post (75 West St., 1956?), working midnight-to-8 a.m. shift: July 25, 1956, city room frantic. Andrea Doria bound for New York collides off Nantucket with outbound Swedish-American liner Stockholm. “[Post publisher] Dorothy Schiff’s grandson and ex-daughter-in-law, [fi lm actress] Ruth Roman are aboard. Look for them. Take a copy boy with you,” says night city editor to man on rewrite desk, who takes me.

We do not find Ruth Roman. She lands the next day, rescued by the Ile de France.

Her son, Richard Hall, 3, arrives July 27 aboard the Stockholm, which came in under her own power.

Andrea Doria capsized and sank, 1,660 rescued, about 50 were lost, including five or six Stockholm crew.

Receive free press ticket to “Waiting for Godot,” first Broadway production, with Burt Lahr and E.G. Marshall. Still remember that bleak, funny, compelling performance.

Lafayette, Louisiana. Daily Advertiser, 1956, first job as a staff reporter. South Louisiana, many country people speak Cajun French. Politics divided between Long and Anti-Long. (Earl Long, Last of the Red Hot Poppas and Huey’s brother, is governor.) Beat includes City Hall, police, fire. Later, I’m editor of real estate and oil-exploration pages, knowing nothing about either.

“You ever smoke marijuana?” asks Police Chief Carlo P. Listi, who invites me in, introduces me to a couple of narcotics agents from Houston. Funny smell in the police station. Gives me a skinny cigarette and lights me up.

“You got to hold it in a little bit,” instructs a very relaxed agent.

“How do you like it?” asks Listi.

I shrug, “O.K.” Agent looks at me with pity, says, “Don’t know how to smoke weed, eh?”

Lafayette was second stop on their “Beware the Weed” tour, with 90 miles still to go before New Orleans.

Yet another day, publisher calls me upstairs about lawsuit for a million dollars filed by white plaintiff against Daily Advertiser naming me for “impugning his honor as a Southern gentleman” in a police item about a brawl over “a colored girl.” Suit soon dismissed.

Beat includes weekly Rotary Club lunch where Tennessee Governor Frank Clement appears — one of several stops he makes across the South in 1957 — to justify calling state National Guard to quell riot following integration of Clinton, Tenn., Central High School. File story at Western Union office to AP regional desk.

June 25, 1957, Hurricane Audrey makes landfall with 140 mile-per-hour wind and 15-foot storm surge in Vermillion Parish, just south of Lafayette. Next morning, editor sends me with Speed Graphic camera to fly over the area in three-seat, single-engine plane. When pilot banks, I point camera out of window and shoot. Surprised at good photos of devastation. First estimate: 200 deaths. Editor makes me lowball it down to 40. Deaths eventually total 400 in Vermillion and Cameron parishes.

Syracuse Post Standard’s North Country bureaus in Ogdensburg and Watertown, 1959, record cold and snow.

St. Lawrence River ice stops ferry service between Ogdensburg, N.Y., and Prescott, Ontario. State editor assigns me to inquire about possibility of cars crossing the river on tops of St. Lawrence Seaway dams.

Seaway Authority chief Robert Moses does not return phone call.

Ogdensburg Bureau includes state court in Canton, N.Y. Cover “deer-jacking” cases against defendants hunting at night and shining flashlights in deers’ eyes.

Watertown Bureau: John Foster Dulles, U.S. secretary of state, January 1953 to April 1959, dies in May 1959.

State editor assigns me the obituary because Dulles grew up in Watertown and used to sail from nearby Henderson Harbor Yacht Club on the east end of Lake Ontario. Obituary made Post Standard front page, all editions.

Assigned to cover Queen Elizabeth II during 1959 visit to Kingston, Ont. Took photos with Speed Graphic. Not very good.

Knowing nothing about millinery, hired

by Millinery Research in 1961 as editor of 12-to-16-page trade weekly with office in center of budget millinery district, West 39th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Interview Alex Rose, head of Hat, Cap, Millinery Workers’ Union and influential co-founder of Liberal Party. He scolds me for not wearing a hat.

Included occasional items on Emile Griffith, up-and-coming welterweight boxer with day job in stock room of a Sixth Avenue millinery house. Items get longer

as Griffith’s boxing star ascended. Covered fight in St. Nicholas Arena (West 66th Street at Columbus Avenue, now ABC television studio), where an unpopular decision gives Griffith the win, provoking peeved fans to fling folding chairs down from the balcony.

“This is a millinery paper, not a sports sheet,” says the publisher, putting an end to boxing stories.

One day a week at the printer, Peña Press, West 28th or 29th Street under the High Line. In addition to Millinery Research, they print Taxi Weekly; La Farandula, weekly Spanish entertainment magazine; and Al Islah, Arabic-language weekly paper written, typeset and published by Dr. Charise, a priest of the Maronite Rite of the Catholic Church, with an Arabic-speaking Lebanese congregation.

Peña Press, on the second floor, had an Arabic linotype machine on which the good doctor composed his articles and set them in type at the same time.

A Hungarian-language paper also published there, but I never met anyone connected with it. Downstairs, Japanese weekly Hokkaido Shimbun published. Shimbun printers set type by hand and would occasionally came up to Peña Press, use a piece of equipment, then run back downstairs. It was an incredible establishment.

Fairchild publications, Women’s Wear Daily, other daily and weekly trade papers, 1962-65, covering state and federal courts from courthouse pressrooms. state Supreme Court had two pressrooms because of bitter feud between Daily News and Post reporters. Plaintiffs, defendants, lawyers and judges who wanted ink would occasionally drop in.

Actor Zero Mostel walks in with a cane, talks about his personal-injury case. Roy Cohn, with several law partners, also comes in. So does Prince Felix Yusupov, said to be leader of aristocratic gang that in December 1916 assassinated Rasputin, monk with powerful influence over the Tsar’s family.

The prince was suing a writer for questioning his role in the Rasputin assassination. Dr. Charise, my friend from Peña Press, comes in one day to talk about a church dispute that

found its way to state Supreme Court.

Assigned to federal court, where pressroom radio is always tuned to all-news station and perpetual poker game, always has three to six reporters, lawyers, clerks.

Nov. 22, 1963, 1:30 p.m. I leave pressroom to have lunch with a friend on Henry Street.

“The president was just shot,” he says.

We listen to the radio for a while before I go back to federal court. Poker players groan as radio confirms Kennedy death, but game goes on.

Spring 1983, on staff of Chelsea Clinton News and The Westsider after a few years of other ventures. Weeklies published by Robert S. Trentlyon, strong supporter of a Hudson River Park after New York State drops Westway landfill project.

“Go interview this guy in Chelsea who claims to be writing the longest diary in the world,” says editor Tom Lyles. Name of diarist, Edward Robb Ellis, sounds familiar. He tells me he worked on World Telegram and Sun. “Ed Ellis! I used to be your copy boy 30 years ago.”

Ellis was star feature writer on the Telegram. Born in Illinois, he worked on Chicago, New Orleans and other papers but loves New York. Began writing his diary in 1927 as a teenager and wants it to be in the same class as Samuel Pepys’ 17th-century London diary and 19th-century diary of New York Mayor Philip Hone. He worked hard on everything he wrote: “Easy write, hard read.

Hard write, easy read,” was his motto.

Afflicted with emphysema and overweight, Ed lived in a third-floor walkup and died 1998.

Since 1997, on staff of The Villager, Downtown Express. World Trade Center towers, 15 blocks away, attacked and fall Sept. 11, 2001. John Sutter and Lincoln Anderson get down close, file great copy; The Villager publishes two days late.

After countless obits, stories about St. Vincent’s Hospital, New York University, find myself in July 2012 two weeks from 80th birthday. How did that happen?

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Students of the Art Institute of New York City, on Beach Street in Tribeca, are struggling to pay back school loans.

New report spotlights New Yorkers’ student debt struggles Continued from page 1

December. “I have six months to start paying my loans back [after graduation], and then I’ll have a sum to pay each month until they’re done.”

Politz stated that, although he receives some government financial aid, he expects to graduate with over $50,000 worth of debt.

And with four months left until graduation, he still hasn’t secured a full-time job.

“I’m wondering how it’s going to get paid if I don’t manage to get a decent job,” he said.

Total tuition for the Art Institute’s twoyear associate degree fashion and filmmaking programs cost nearly $59,000. The school is located at 11 Beach St., between Varick Street and Ericsson Place.

The Art Institute was one of 34 out of a total of 88 New York City professional schools rated by the U.S. Department of Education to have fallen short on at least two of three measures gauging excessive student-loan burdens, according to the data.

Career-training programs with track records of leaving students struggling to pay back government loans are supposed to fall under special scrutiny by the agency.

Under rules scheduled to take effect in 2015, trade schools that fail to meet all three standards would have to disclose the risks to prospective students. If the numbers don’t improve, the schools will subsequently be barred from accepting federal student loan dollars.

A June 30 ruling by Judge Rudolph Contreras from the U.S. District Court has now thrown the new rules into doubt. In deciding a lawsuit filed against the U.S. Department of Education by a trade association for for-profit career schools, the judge vacated the federal regulations as “arbitrary and capricious.” Specifically, Judge Contreras singled out the Department’s expectation that at least 35 percent of a program’s students will begin to repay their loans within a couple of years as “not based upon any facts at all.”

According to the federal Department of Education, the fight is far from over.

While the rules remain in limbo, the new federal statistics paint a sober picture of the debt burdens students carry as they enter a tough job market. Overall, New York City’s career-training programs had better average loan repayment rates, at 42 percent, than the

national average of 38.

The Art Institute e-mailed a statement pointing to the federal court decision that struck down the Obama administration’s regulations gauging trade school students’ debt burdens. “The United States District Court... vacated the repayment rate measure, the debtto-income measures and other related portions of the gainful employment rule.” It also noted that the federal Department of Education already requires schools to disclose how many students get placed into jobs. The Art Institute’s Web site claims an average employment rate for its graduates of 85 percent.

But 24-year-old Brian Diapol, an interior design major planning to graduate from the Art Institute this December, expects to be unable to gain employment in his field upon leaving school.

“Someone with a two-year degree in interior design just can’t get jobs as easily as someone with a bachelor’s degree,” he said.

“And as a young person going into the field, I don’t have the qualifications that a lot of other people have.”

Diapol added that, although he plans to seek a bachelor’s degree in architecture in the future, he has resolved to take a temporary job teaching sports to children. All of the income from that job will go toward his student loans, which total about $59,000 — the full cost of his degree.

Twenty-year-old Shakiyla Thompson, a fashion marketing and merchandising major who plans to graduate in 2014, said she felt somewhat misled by the Art Institute’s optimism about her future job prospects.

“I knew nothing about the risks before I started,” she said. “[The school] made it seem like everything was perfect, and that everything would work out. But now, I wonder if getting the associate degree will even have been worth it, once I have to look for a job.”

While Thompson estimates that her debt from loans will only amount to about $10,000, she is extremely worried about her ability to pay them off, since the rest of her tuition has been paid out-of-pocket.

“I was actually considering going back to school after this to get a bachelor’s degree, but I don’t think I’d even be able to afford it,” she said.

The New York World is an investigative news outlet published by Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

August 8 - August 21, 2012

17

Danny Chen advocates call for expulsion of convicted Army sergeant Continued from page 1

“Until all of the trials are over, we do not wish to say anything more, and we ask that our privacy be respected.”

Liz OuYang, president of the Organization of Chinese Americans’ New York Chapter (OCA-NY), the primary advocate in the Chen case, was distraught by the panel’s verdict — particularly since it exempts Holcomb from being discharged from the Army.

“To allow Sergeant Adam Holcomb to remain in the military [will make] AsianAmerican parents feel very hesitant to allow their children in the army,” said OuYang, adding, “We were hoping he would get the maximum prison time of two years [for the maltreatment and assault counts].”

New York City Council Member Margaret Chin, representing Lower Manhattan, was also outraged by the verdict and is requesting that Lieutenant General Daniel Allyn, chief of the Fort Bragg corps, still consider Holcomb’s expulsion. She and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn have written to the lieutenant asking that Holcomb be removed from the Army “to honor the service of Private Chen, to appropriately condemn the treatment of Private Chen and to ensure those who serve in the military that they should expect to treat and be treated with respect and dignity.”

Citing military regulations, Chin said Holcomb could still be expelled from the army by way of separation proceedings independent of the court-martial.

“You can see a pattern of abuse that was taking place that really affected Danny tremendously,” said Chin. “He was being called all kinds of names, and [the panel] didn’t think those names were racial slurs.”

“To allow Holcomb to remain in the armed forces,” she continued, “is to condone his racist and abusive behavior.”

According to Chin, one soldier testified that, when a soldier witnesses a fellow

soldier getting “smoked” — an Army term signifying strenuous, punishment-induced exercise — he or she isn’t supposed to get involved. Some soldiers testified saying Chen was being “smoked” for no reason at all, the council member noted.

Other soldiers from Chen’s unit testified that Chen was timid and wasn’t physically suited for a war zone.

Chin argued that if Chen, indeed, wasn’t physically prepared for combat in Afghanistan, the Army should have never assigned him to that unit. “From the testimony, it really doesn’t make sense why he was sent there. But it doesn’t justify the superior officers who are in charge of Danny to treat him like that and to drive him to the point where he didn’t see any way out.”

Chen wasn’t the only soldier who was maltreated by Holcomb: Army Private Marcus Merritt told the panel that he also contemplated suicide after being verbally abused by the sergeant, according to reports.

Merritt said that he was mockingly called “niglet,” among other racial slurs, and that Holcomb threatened to send him home in a body bag.

One witness alleged that Chen expressed thoughts of suicide in the days prior to his death, and that his parents spoke of disowning him when he informed them of his deployment to Afghanistan, according to news reports by the New York Times and Reuters.

Chen’s father, refuting the latter claim, told the panel he was fully supportive of his son entering the Army.

The father was quoted in the Times article as saying, “I never disowned my son because, when we Chinese raise our children, it’s they who will take care of us when we grow old.

So he was like a pearl in my palm.”

Asked for comment on Holcomb’s sentence, Army spokesperson George Wright said, “I know there’s a great desire for justice. We share that. In our justice system, there are provisions for review and appeal.”

Danny Chen’s mother and father, Su Zhen and Yan Tao Chen, drove down to North Carolina to testify at the first trial in connection with their son’s suicide.

Photos courtesy of the U.S. Army

U.S. Army Sergeant Adam Holcomb was found guilty late last month of maltreatment and assault against 19-year-old Chinatown native Danny Chen.

The Court-Martial Convening Authority typically takes three months to review the panel’s decision, after which Holcomb has the right to appeal before the Army Court of Criminal Appeals, according to military law.

Seven other soldiers from Chen’s unit — whose domestic base is Fort Wainwright, Alaska — also face charges in connection with Chen’s death and will be tried in the coming months.

According to the Army, Specialist Ryan Offutt’s court-martial will take place Aug. 13-15, followed by Staff Sergeant Blaine Dugas’s trial on Aug. 16-17 and Specialist Thomas Curtis’s trial on Aug. 27-29. The court-martial for Staff Sergeant Andrew Van Bockel and First Lieutenant Daniel Schwartz are scheduled for October, and the trial dates for Sergeants Jeffrey Hurst and Travis Carden are pending.

18

August 8 - August 21, 2012

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 9 & 16, 5:15pm Summer Evensong When Evening Prayer is sung it is called Evensong, the service that closes the day. During the summer Trinity offers a simplified version of Evensong, sung by the congregation.

All Saints’ Chapel, Trinity Church THURSDAY, AUGUST 9 & 16, 5:45pm Summer Discussion Group Following Evensong, study the history and meaning of hymns, including the hymns for the following Sunday and the favorite hymns of those who are present.

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 12 & 19, 10am Community Bible Study A weekly, summer Bible study open to all.

74 Trinity Pl, 2nd Fl, Parlor SUNDAY, AUGUST 12 & 19, 10am The Gospel, Times, Journal, and You A discussion group that reads the editorial pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the assigned Gospel for the day. Led by the Rev. Mark Bozzuti-Jones.

74 Trinity Pl, 3rd Fl, Parish Library EVERY TUESDAY & THURSDAY, 12:45PM Brown Bag Lunch Ministry Trinity’s Brown Bag Lunch Ministry is open to anyone that needs a lunch or you can volunteer to distribute lunches.

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Continued from page 3

original plan, which was revised by N.Y.U. after outcry from local residents and an opposing vote by Community Board 2.

Around 75 residents showed up to the Council Chambers on July 25 to protest the plan, but they were removed by security after Council Speaker Christine Quinn warned them about making too much noise.

Opponents were quoted in The Villager as shouting “Democracy is dead!” and “Shame on Quinn!” as they were escorted out of the Chambers.

Also, on July 31, N.Y.U. reached a land lease agreement with the co-operative that owns the building at 505 LaGuardia Place, one of the three residential towers on the South Village superblocks owned by the university. Under the deal, the term of the co-op’s current land lease will be extended indefinitely so long as the building remains part of the Mitchell-Lama affordable housing program, according to The Villager.

M.T.A. SEEKS MANAGER FOR NEW FULTON CENTER The Metropolitan Transit Authority (M.T.A.) is now seeking proposals from developers and retail operators for a long-term master lease at the new Fulton Center.

The center’s master lessee will be charged with handling leasing and operations of the entire Fulton Center complex, which will contain approximately 65,000 square feet of retail space. It will also include more than 50 multimedia display screens that will generate revenue through commercial content, according to a July 31 M.T.A. news release.

The $1.4 billion Fulton Center, which is slated for completion in June 2014, will link 11 subway lines, the PATH and the World Trade Center.

In addition to the Fulton Center transit station, the complex includes the Fulton Building, on the corner of Broadway and Fulton Street; the Corbin Building, on the corner of Broadway and John Street; the Dey Street entrance, on the corner of Broadway and Dey Street; and the underground Dey Street Concourse, which will connect the Fulton and Corbin buildings to the transit hub.

“This out-of-the-box approach to managing our property will optimize rents coming to the M.T.A. while ensuring the highest standards of daily maintenance are kept for our customers,” said M.T.A. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joseph J. Lhota.

The M.T.A. expects to have all multimedia display screens and at least a majority of retail stores open for business once the Fulton Center is completed, according to the agency’s release.

Some sections of Fulton Center are already open, including the renovated 23 Fulton St. Station, the southern entrances of the new 45 Fulton St. Station and a new entrance at 135 William St.

CONSTRUCTION AT 3 W.T.C. PROCEEDS, DESPITE LACK OF TENANTS 3 World Trade Center continues to rise in the sky as developer Larry Silverstein continues the time-sensitive search for office tenants for the building.

But if Silverstein doesn’t find a tenant by

the end of 2013, when the tower is supposed to reach the eighth floor, then the project would be temporarily halted, according to Silverstein Properties spokesperson Bud Perrone.

Perrone stressed that work at the site has not been stalled: Construction of the tower’s steel perimeter and concrete core has reached the eighth floor, and the building’s steel perimeter will reach the seventh floor in the fall — after which there will be another year’s worth of work on the interior.

Silverstein is 100 percent committed to building the 72-story tower as quickly as possible, according to the spokesperson. “If, during this period, Silverstein Properties is able to secure a pre-lease for 400,000 square feet, then construction will continue uninterrupted to the top,” he explained. “Working with our leasing agent, C.B.R.E., we are marketing the tower widely and remain optimistic that we can meet our pre-leasing targets over the year, which would assure that construction continues without interruption.”

NYC POLICE MUSEUM TO HOST FIRST SUMMER CAMP The New York City Police Museum will hold its first children’s summer camp in Lower Manhattan during the last two weeks of August.

The museum is offering two five-day camp sessions from Aug. 20 to 24 and Aug. 27 to 31, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. The sessions, which are offered for children ages five to 10, will be held in the multi-purpose space of the museum, located at 100 Old Slip.

The camp will offer a mix of police-themed activities, engineering, science, art and history, according to Elana Hart, the museum’s manager of education who is directing the camp. In addition to learning about chemistry experiments used by crime investigators, children will be exposed to challenging, inquirybased projects such as building roller coasters and crafting rubber band-powered cars.

For more information about The New York City Police Museum and the camp, visit www.nycpm.org.

BROAD AND STONE INTERSECTION TO RECEIVE NEW TRAFFIC LIGHT A new traffic light will be installed at the intersection of Broad and Stone Streets this fall as a result of a recent safety study performed by the New York City Department of Transportation (D.O.T.).

The installation was first announced in a July 20 letter from D.O.T. Lower Manhattan Borough Commissioner Luis Sanchez to New York State Senator Daniel Squadron, who had advocated for the new signal.

“As our community grows, our streets must change with it,” said Squadron.

“Thank you to D.O.T. for working with us toward safer streets and a safer neighborhood.”

The city completed its study of Broad and Stone Streets in June. The intersection met the D.O.T.’s criteria for the new traffic light based on high pedestrian volume, which during peak hours saw more than 1,000 people crossing the street, according to agency spokesperson Nicole Garcia.

Weather permitting, the traffic light is expected to be installed by the end of October, she said.

August 8 - August 21, 2012

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 in different rooms in the home. Finally, students are guided on a tour of the museum’s first floor. Tours (for groups o f 2 0 o r m o r e ) a r e o f f e r e d Tu e s . - F r i . a t 1 0 : 3 0 a m , 11:30am & 12:30pm. Tickets are $3 for children and $5 for adults — 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 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 firethemed 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.

B O O K S O F W O N D E R N e w Yo r k C i t y ’s o l d e s t a n d largest independent children’s bookstore hosts Storytime every Fri. at 4pm and at noon on Sun. in their Children’s Room — or, for those who would rather write their own stories, join New York Times bestselling author Cathy Altman Nocquet for the “Writing Outside the Lines Creative Writing Workshop” for kids ages 8-14. Tues., Aug. 14 at 5-6:30pm. Free! RSVP requested. On Sat., Aug. 18, young readers and foodies are invited to “The Art and Life of Julia Child,” a celebration of culinary genius with two new picture books. Jessie Hartland will present her illustrated biography “Bon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child” — a combination of heartwarming stories and charming illustrations. Author Susanna Reich will also be reading her book about Julia Child — which is written from the perspective of her cat! “Minette’s Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and Her Cat” tells the story of Julia’s kitty companion Minette as her owner is learning to create classic French dishes.

Both authors will be available to sign copies of their books afterward. At 18 W. 18th St. (btw. Fifth & Sixth Aves.). Store hours are Mon.-Sat., 11am-7pm and Sun., 11am-6pm. For more info, call 212-989-3270 or visit booksofwonder.com.

CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF THE ARTS Explore painting, collage and sculpture through self-guided art projects at this museum dedicated to inspiring the artist within. Open art stations are ongoing throughout the afternoon, giving children the opportunity t o e x p e r i m e n t w i t h m a t e r i a l s s u c h a s p a i n t , c l a y, fabric, paper and found objects. CMA’s new exhibit, “Art Forms: 75 Years of Arts Education,” displays children’s artwork from the collections of celebrated arts educators Leon Bibel, Henry Schaefer-Simmern and Sona Kludjian. The works, dating from the 1930s and 1960s, are juxtaposed with contemporary creations by NYC public school students. “Art Forms” runs through Sept. 30. Throughout the summer, Governors Island joins CMA to present the Free Art Island Outpost — where kids ages 1-12 can participate in a variety of activities (everything from craft stations to sound design). Every Sat. & Sun., through Sept. 16, from 11am-3pm (at buildings 11 & 14 in Nolan Park, on Governors Island). CMA is located at 103 Charlton St., (btw. Hudson & Greenwich Sts.). Museum hours

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are Mon. & Wed., 12-5pm; Thurs.-Fri., 12-6pm; Sat.Sun., 10am-6pm. Admission: $10; free for seniors and infants (up to 12 months). Pay as you wish on Thurs., 4-6pm. For group tours, call 212-274-0986, ext. 31.

Call 212-274-0986 or visit cmany.org for more info.

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” take place every Sat. at 11am. Filled with poetry books, old-fashioned 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.

THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE MUSEUM During regular museum hours (Mon.-Sat., 10am-5pm and Sun., 12-5pm), visit the Junior Officers Discovery Zone, designed for ages 3-10. It is divided into four areas (Police Academy, Park and Precinct, Emergency Services Unit and a Multi-Purpose Area). Each has 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 where 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 two).

THE SCHOLASTIC STORE Every Saturday at 3pm, Scholastic’s in-store activities are designed to get kids reading, thinking, talking, creating and moving.

On Aug. 14, the project will be “Star Wars Folded Fliers and Paper Airplanes,” complete with trial runs and contests to see which models are out of this world.

On Aug. 18, the “Princess Paper Purses and Tiaras” workshop will feature origami accessories and Disney princess décor along with tales of royal knights and ladies. Also, at 11am every Tues., Wed. and Thurs., the Scholastic Storyteller brings tales to life at Daily Storytime. At 557 Broadway (btw. Prince and Spring Sts.). Store hours are Mon.-Sat., 10am-7pm and Sun., 11am-6pm. For info, call 212-343-6166 or visit scholastic.com/sohostore.

A M E R I C A N TA P D A N C E F O U N D AT I O N J u m p , j i v e a n d m a k e s o m e n o i s e a t t h e A m e r i c a n Ta p D a n c e C e n t e r ( 1 5 4 C h r i s t o p h e r S t . , # 2 B , b t w.

G r e e n w i c h & W a s h i n g t o n S t s . ) . AT D F i s n o w offering a summer “tap camp” for children ages 5-8 on Aug. 13-17. For children ages 8-13 with three or more years of experience, there will be a tap camp Aug. 20-24. Visit atdf.org/summertapcamps for more info. For those who have never taken a tap class before, adults and youth ages three and up are invited to free, introduct o r y t a p c l a s s e s t h r o u g h o u t S e p t e m b e r. M o n . , Sept. 10 & 17 at 4pm; Thurs., Sept. 6 & 13 at 4pm; Sat., Sept 15 & Sun., Sept. 16 at 11am. RSVP at 646-230-9564. For more info, visit atdf.org.

T H E S K YS CRAPER MUS EUM 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 Aug. 11, “So Sew Tall,” an event presented in conjunction with the museum’s exhibit “Urban Fabric,” lets children design factories to manufacture their own product. On Aug. 25, enjoy a reading of the children’s book “Sky Boys” (about the construction of the Empire State Building).

Following that, kids will construct a

C R E AT U R E S O F L I G H T D e s c e n d i n t o t h e d e p t h s of the ocean and explore the caves of New Zealand — without ever leaving Manhattan. Just visit the American Museum of Natural History’s exhibit on bioluminescence (organisms that produce light through chemical reactions). Kids will eagerly soak up this interactive 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. & Central Park West). Open daily, 10am–5:45pm. Admission is $25,

skyscraper skeleton with toothpicks and gumdrops. On Sept. 8, “Living and Working in the City” encourages thought about the many uses of skyscrapers around the world and then asks participants to design their own mixed-use tower. All workshops take place from 10:30-11:45am, at The Skyscraper Museum (39 Battery Place).

Registration required. Call 212-9456324 or email 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 212945-6324, visit skyscraper.org or email education@skyscraper.org.

$14.50 for children, $19 for students/seniors. Tickets can be purchased at the museum or at amnh.org. For more info, call 212-769-5100.

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.

22

August 8 - August 21, 2012

FringeNYC: likely propects and sure things The deeper you dig, the more treasure you’ll find

BY MARTIN DENTON Okay, so the New York International Fringe Festival (August 10-26) is upon us — and if you’re one of the 75,000 or so people who plan to take in the city’s most mammoth theater event, you’re probably starting to get itchy. What shows should I see? Which of the 187 offerings is this year’s sleeper hit? Who’s getting the most interesting buzz?

Fret not: I am here to help. I’ve been covering FringeNYC ever since it started back in 1997. The website I founded and edit (nytheatre.com) has been the only media outlet to review every single show in every festival since 2002. We’re doing it again this year, and we’ve asked the artists participating in FringeNYC to tell us about themselves and their shows — so please check out our extensive FringeNYC Previews section, which will be online throughout the festival.

And if you’re interested in hearing one reasonably well-informed guy’s opinion about what looks exciting this year, read on.

SOME SURE(-ISH) THINGS Most of the shows in FringeNYC are brand new, but some have had earlier incarnations. “Quest for the West: Adventures on the Oregon Trail!” was seen at FRIGID New York in 2011 and subsequently at the Capital Fringe and Kentucky Repertory Theatre; this interactive musical comedy from No.11 Productions takes a light-hearted look at the pioneers who ventured west in the early 19th century against amazing odds to settle the American Northwest.

Annie Worden’s solo show “Misadventures in the Art of Movie Making,” seen for one night only at United Solo last year, is an extremely funny piece about indie filmmaking at its most off-kilter and eccentric.

Another one-woman play, D'yan Forest’s “I Married a Nun,” also played the FRIGID festival; nytheatre.com’s Ed Malin said the autobiographical comedy from the life-embracing 78-year-old (the oldest FringeNYC participant, we hear) was like “a cabaret evening with Betty White.”

“Finding Elizabeth Taylor” has had a few engagements in NYC. I didn’t see it, but I met its star/author, who really is named Elizabeth Taylor and who conjures quite uncannily the more famous woman of the same name; I’m feeling very high on her solo, in which she explores why her parents gave her that name. I’m also expecting good things from “We Crazy, Right?” — Jeff Seabaugh’s autobiographical account of his life as gay dad to three diverse children, which was featured in an earlier show that I loved (“How to Make an American Family”).

Two plays that I’ve read but not yet seen are getting NYC debut productions in the festival: “American Midget” by Jonathan Yukich, which is a timely, powerful satire on contemporary American values, and “Ticket to Eternity” by Matthew Ethan Davis, whose delightful premise is that a successful young actor wants to pursue the job he really loves — as a waiter.

NEW WORKS BY OLD FAVORITES And when I say “old,” I really mean FringeNYC veterans — folks who have done the festival before, know their way around the theater and whose work I always look forward to. Maggie Cino, who has been part of FringeNYC since it began, is presenting her first full-length play as a writer, “Decompression,” with a cast headed by the always expert Michael Criscuolo; Cino is a writer of astonishing versatility and imagination, and I can’t wait to see this.

Pamela Sabaugh’s solo play “Immaculate Degeneration” chronicles some of her own experiences as a person whose disability (she’s legally blind) is invisible to most people. She’s a splendid writer and actor (and her show’s director, Fred Backus, is a FringeNYC veteran himself, having acted in several shows over the years). Expect this to be entertaining and insightful.

Depending on your personal taste, you’ll want to sample works by these outstanding playwrights whose work has graced previous FringeNYCs: Alex DeFazio, author of “Alice & The Bunny Hole” and Mariah MacCarthy, who wrote “Magic Trick,” are both young, adventurous authors who tend to explore issues of sexuality and gender in works that are often surreal and nontraditional. Amy E. Witting’s “FALLING” and Nat Cassidy’s “Songs of Love: A Theatrical Mixtape” tackle love and relationships in very distinctive styles. Gary Morgenstein, meanwhile, takes on contemporary American politics in his new satirical play “Right on Target.” And the excellent actor Matthew Trumbull offers an autobiographical story about his father — specifically his final request to have his body donated to science — in “The Zebra Shirt of Lonely Children.”

Finally, let me mention “The Apocalypse of John,” a play from The Serious Theatre Collective that played Uptown briefly earlier this year. It’s about an ordinary guy charged with saving the world from all manner of menaces, and the actor who plays that ordinary guy is Michael Mraz. You may have seen him in indie shows all around NYC lately (he’s pretty prolific), or you may recognize him as one of nytheatre.com’s reviewers; he’s seen dozens of FringeNYC shows for us over the years, and he definitely knows the territory!

Photo by Gary Weingarten

That “other” Elizabeth Taylor stars in “Finding Elizabeth Taylor.”

THESE SOUND INTERESTING Of course, you don’t want to limit your FringeNYC experience to artists and works you know. I mean, the whole point of FringeNYC is venturing out of your comfort zone, taking in theater that you wouldn’t get a chance to sample or may not have ever heard of. Dozens of artists who have done preview Q&A articles on nytheatre.com have really whetted my appetite to see their work.

For example, Terry Joan Baum and Carolyn Myers, who are bringing “A Coupla Crackpot Crones” from San Francisco to NYC this month, come across as a pair of very smart, very insightful and very funny ladies and I’d be more than willing to spend 90 minutes in their company.

The author of “Chain Reaction,” Jonathan Alexandratos, seems like a very witty guy from my interactions with him. His play is a comedy/drama about the building of the atomic bomb. I’m getting a good vibe about “WOULD,” by David Marx, about a teenager serving a life sentence in prison who invents an alternate life via correspondence with a pen pal — and Emma Dean and Jake Diefenbach have made me intrigued to see “An End to Dreaming” — the show they’re bringing to FringeNYC from Brisbane, Australia, that they describe

“as a modern-day Hansel and Gretel tale.”

Plus: Did you realize that Lee Meriwether (who was Miss America and then co-starred with Buddy Ebsen on “Barnaby Jones” years ago) is starring in a FringeNYC show this year? (“The Women of Spoon River: Their Voices from the Hill”). Or that D’Jamin Bartlett, who introduced “The Miller’s Son” in the original Broadway production of “A Little Night Music,” is doing the festival thing with her new musical “MisSpelled”? Or that scholar/author John Feffer, whose day job is being the co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C., is bringing his show “The Pundit” to FringeNYC? You know, the deeper you dig into this year’s festival program, the more exciting it gets. I’ve only just scratched the surface in this article. I encourage you to keep your ears, eyes and hearts open as you stroll through the East and West Villages over the next few weeks in search of theater that will enlighten, enlarge and entertain you. If you do, you’re sure to find just what you’re looking for!

Check nytheatre.com for reviews and previews, updated daily throughout the New York International Fringe Festival.

Also visit fringenyc.org.

23

August 8 - August 21, 2012

More than a mere keeper of the flame Hallie Foote takes her dad's legacy, makes it contemporary THEATER

HARRISON, TX: THREE PLAYS

BY HORTON FOOTE

Directed by Pam MacKinnon Presented by Hallie Foote & Jayne Houdyshell Through September 15 At Primary Stages (59 E. 59th St., btw.

Park & Madison Aves.)

For tickets ($70), call 212-279-4200 or visit primarystages.org

BY JERRY TALLMER Some people get up in the morning and go to Wall Street. Or to their job in a department store. Or a supermarket. Or a newspaper office. Or to fly an airplane.

Horton Foote gets up in the morning and writes plays.

But what plays!

The above is what I once wrote about the pro of pros — who had learned his craft writing short and tight for good people like Fred Coe (in television of the 1950s).

One of those small screen one-act plays — and I think I caught it with my own two eyes and ears — was “The Midnight Caller,” about a pathetic alcoholic in his 30s who pierces the Texas night with his cries to the lovely girl who once loved him but, out of exhaustion, does so no more.

It was first staged in the 1950s, as a matter of fact, at The Neighborhood Playhouse — the esteemed acting school on East 54th Street — in a production directed by the equally esteemed Sanford Meisner (with an unknown named Robert Duvall as the pitiable drunk).

“My mother and father saw that production,” says Hallie Foote, actress daughter of Lillian and Horton Foote, “and that's how Robert Duvall got into ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’” — the movie that won Horton Foote an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

“My father always loved the one-act form,” says Hallie — for its discipline, compression, synthesis, vivacity — “and I always loved ‘The Midnight Caller.’ ” Hallie Foote and her husband Devon Abner are, along with actress Jayne Houdyshell, the prime movers of “Harrison, TX” — the triple bill of short, biting one-act plays by Horton Foote, at Primary Stages through September 15.

The three plays are “Blind Date,” a farce of sorts about the most disagree-

Evan Jonigkeit and Hallie Foote.

able young woman you ever came across in your life; “The Midnight Caller,” which replaces farce with pathos; and “The One-Armed Man,” a slow but sure little shocker that seems all the more terrifying in the light of recent events in Aurora, Colorado.

All three plays are set in Harrison, Texas (the pseudonym for Horton Foote's real-life hometown of Wharton, Texas), in the oil and cotton territory of the lonesome worked-out lands around Houston and Galveston and the Gulf.

The director of all three is Pam MacKinnon, who is having a busy season, with “Harrison, TX” coming immediately on the heels of “Clybourne Park.”

“Blind Date” is set in a boarding house for unmarried ladies — a sort of Horton

Photo © 2012 James Leynse

Foote specialty. Hallie Foote is one of those ladies. The plum role of super-bored young Sarah Nancy — who hates everything, including music and dance and men who just want to take her to the movies — goes to Andrea Lynn Green. Abner is one of Sarah Nancy's unfortunate wouldbe suitors.

“So,” says Ms. Foote, “one of these

plays is very funny, and one is very dark” — “The One-Armed Man,” set in the cotton mill that has destroyed a workman's arm — “and one (‘Midnight Caller’) is… how to put it?…sad but lyrical.”

She lets it dangle there, then adds, “I never know how to describe that play.”

She stops, thinks, thinks some more…lets it go. So would her father, if he were here.

The three principals in the current “Midnight Caller” are Jenny Dare Paulin as the emotionally exhausted Helen, Alexander Cendese as the pitiable lush who calls and calls her name in the night and Jeremy Bobb as the fellow who catches her on the rebound. Hallie plays the worried landlady.

Cendese and Bobb are the soft-soaping boss and the enraged, physically wrecked employee who confront one another in “The One-Armed Man.” Well, the insulted and injured mill worker confronts. The glad-handing mill owner tries to fluff him off.

Hallie Foote lost her mother 20 years ago and her father 40 months ago. The Foote children — Horton Jr., Hallie and playwright Daisy — are children no longer, but they do not forget their heritage.

When she met Casey Childs, founder and executive producer of Primary Stages, Hallie told her “that I had the desire to do some of the plays of my father and a play called ‘Him’ by my sister Daisy. It's all about the land where she grew up, in southern New Hampshire” — where Horton Foote had taken himself and his family out of the New York/Hollywood rat race for some 15 lost yet unlost years.

That's next at Primary Stages — Daisy Foote's “Him.” Daisy's play is, says her sister, “You know, like my dad's stuff. It's all a combination” of names, places, people, events, emotions.

“The One-Armed Man” and “Blind Date” were done long years ago at the Ensemble Studio Theatre and the H.B. [Uta Hagen/Herbert Berghof] Studio on Bank Street, but, says the playwright's oldest daughter, never in New York since then. Until now.

The thing about Hallie Foote is that she not only keeps her father alive, she kept him alive when he was alive and working (“Dividing the Estate,” “The Orphans' Home Cycle”) and reaping late-life honors like the Pulitzer Prize.

You could write a one-act play about it.

24

August 8 - August 21, 2012

Music for all and free PBR for 25 Dixon Place to make LES Music Fest an annual happening

BY SCOTT STIFFLER You know how it is. All day long, the August sun broils and bakes the steamy concrete of the Lower East Side — and by the time you arrive at that sweaty dive bar, you barely possess enough energy to navigate the punk rock moshing frenzy that precedes the contemplative acoustic act you showed up for.

Cover charges, short sets that leave you wanting more, drink minimums and bills full of musicians with wildly contrasting styles: It’s not so bad if you’re feeling adventurous, pleasantly buzzed or on a mission to support a friend’s band.

But imagine how much better your summertime music experience would be in an air-conditioned concert setting with comfortable seats, great acoustics, likeminded performers and the promise of free booze for early birds (the first 25 to show up get a free Pabst Blue Ribbon).

This isn’t a theoretical scenario. It’s happening from August 9-26, when Dixon Place hosts the First Annual Lower East Side Music Festival.

Having long functioned as a Downtown theater and dance incubator, Dixon Place’s 2009 move from the Bowery to its current

Chrystie Street incarnation occurred at the tail end of a decade-long seismic shift that rocked the Lower East Side performance circuit. As the formerly dicey area became highly desirable, skyrocketing rents caused many longtime venues to shutter or move to Brooklyn (as did The Knitting Factory).

With Dixon Place’s new digs came a larger space and better equipment — which inspired more music programming.

Curator of the Dixon Place series “Writer’s Bloc,” which pairs songwriters up and tasks them with finishing each other’s uncompleted works, Jonny B. Goodman has brought that same flair for unconventional thinking to his role as Director of the Lower East Side Music Festival.

“The Lower East Side,” notes Goodman, “has a very high concentration of music venues: Pianos, the Living Room, Arlene’s Grocery.” The economic necessity of packing in as many customers as possible on any given night almost always translates into a long list of acts performing a short list of songs. “You might play for a handful of friends and fans,” says Goodman. “You’ll be an indie folk band that goes on at 9pm. Then you have a death metal band at 10, and none

NOTICE OF DISTRICTING COMMISSION HEARINGS FROM AUGUST 13, 2012 TO AUGUST 23, 2012 The NYC Districting Commission will hold five public hearings from August 13, 2012 to August 23, 2012. These hearings are open to the public. The purpose of these hearings is for the NYC Districting Commission to hear testimony from the public concerning the initial phases of its work in drafting a new districting plan for the New York City Council. Individuals wishing to pre-register for speaking time or to submit written testimony in advance may do so by signing up online at http://www.nyc.gov/districting. Individuals wishing to speak at any hearing will be provided up to three minutes of speaking time.

BROOKLYN th Monday, August 13 5PM - 9PM

Brooklyn Borough Hall 209 Joralemon street New York, NY 11209

MANHATTAN th Thursday, August 16 5PM - 9PM

New York Law School 185 West Broadway New York, NY 10013

STATEN ISLAND th Monday, August 20 5PM - 9PM

Staten Island Borough Hall 10 Richmond Terrace Staten Island, NY 10301

QUEENS st Tuesday, August 21 5PM - 9PM

Queens Library at Flushing 41-17 Main Street Flushing, NY 11355

BRONX rd Thursday, August 23 5PM - 9PM

Lehman College 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West East Dining Room, Music Building Bronx, NY 10468

Prior to the hearings, you may submit written comments to the NYC Districting Commission by mail to: NYC Districting Commission, Attn: Jonathan Ettricks, 253 Broadway, 7th Fl., New York, NY 10007, or by email to: hearings@districting.nyc.gov on or before 5:00 P.M. on the date of the hearing. Please indicate in your correspondence the date of the hearing for which you are submitting your comments.

NOTE: The hearing locations are accessible to those with physical disabilities. Individuals requesting an interpreter for sign language or any other language at any hearing should contact the NYC Districting Commission at hearings@districting.nyc.gov or by calling 212-442-0256 five days in advance of the hearing, and reasonable efforts will be made to accommodate such requests.

Photo courtesy of Dixon Place

Acoustic indie folk band More Than Skies takes the genre into a dynamic new direction (August 17).

of your friends stick around for that.”

Good news for the folk act…but for the death metal band, having a full house exit the room as their set begins is a demoralizing experience (and bad business; bands who can’t draw aren’t likely to be asked back).

“At Dixon Place,” says Goodman, “what they’re trying to do is create a setting where people pay attention to your music. They’re doing their best to market this as an intimate space where people will see the band they came for, and also stick around.”

To retain audiences, the festival evenings are programmed with stylistic consistency in mind. So whether you gravitate towards jazz, folk, pop/rock, R&B/soul, indie or alternative classical, that’s exactly what you’re going to get. Although scheduled by genre, says Goodman, “Within that, we’re trying to represent a true spectrum. On the folk night [August 17], we’ve got Sarah Banleigh who has, over the last few years, sung modern original arrangements of ancient British Isles folk music.

This will be her debut as a songwriter.

She’s followed by Stacy Rock, whose influences include Tom Waits and Tori Amos. But there’s a very folk narrative to her lyric writing. Personally, as a musician, I’m very motivated by strong lyric writing. So some of the curation of these lesser-known performers is based on my taste, my opinion that they are really stellar songwriters.”

Asked what accounts for so many under the radar performers in a festival whose talent comes from the city’s most music-friendly neighborhood, Goodman says that “some of it is their work ethic.

They’re so perfectionist about their craft that they’ve not gotten out [to play live]

much, because they’ve been at home honing their craft; sometimes for years.”

Noise & Rhythm (August 18), Mary Westlake (August 10) and A.C. Lincoln (August 16) all fit that profile. “He’s very craft-driven,” says Goodman of Lincoln.

“And Danny Chait [August 23], too. He’s recently been honing the same catalog for years and all of a sudden he’s starting to get noticed.”

Firmly established festival acts that have a solid following include Corn Mo (August 24) and The Nat Osborn Band (August 25). “And some of the alternative classical acts,” notes Goodman, “have already had their Carnegie Hall debuts.” Although they’ve got bills of their own to pay, Dixon Place isn’t as interested in their bottom line as they are in expanding their creative boundaries.

“We want to have folks who can bring their own draw,” admits Goodman, “but we don’t want to be 100 percent business about that.”

In a further nod to altruism, Goodman didn’t require much prodding to rhapsodize about other LES venues worth patronizing. “The one that I most frequently cite as an example of a place that’s really committed to quality programming,” says Goodman, “is Rockwood Music Hall. They’ve set themselves up in a great way by working with artists regularly and giving them residencies. You can go there any night and be pretty sure you’re going to see a great show.”

The First Annual Lower East Side Music Festival takes place Aug. 9-26, Thurs.-Sun., at 161A Chrystie Street (btw. Rivington & Delancey Sts.). For reservations ($15), dixonplace.org. At the door, tickets are $18 ($15 for students/seniors). For a full schedule of performances, visit lesmusicfest.tumblr.com (podcasts available for download).

25

August 8 - August 21, 2012

Just Do Art!

BY SCOTT STIFFLER

TWO NEW YORK DOCUMENTARIES Tribeca Grand Cinema screens two documentaries — both of which ask, “Are the things that make New York unique vanishing forever?” Exploring the luxurification of Gotham at the expense of neighborhood identity, “The Vanishing City” (directed by Jen Senko and Fiore DeRosa) digs into the policies and philosophies behind a financedominated economy. Then, “A Home in the Theatre” charts the battle fought by 93-yearold Edith O’Hara to protect her 13th Street Repertory Company from an unscrupulous real estate developer. Founded in 1972, the Greenwich Village theatrical venue (still going strong at 50 West 13th Street) is one of the lucky ones. While making the 2010 documentary, director Melodie Bryant notes, “Nearly 40 indie theatres in New York were lost or destroyed.”

Sat., Aug. 18, 7pm. At the Tribeca Grand Hotel Cinema (2 Sixth Ave., btw.

Church & White Sts.). For tickets ($10), visit brownpapertickets.com. Also visit tribecagrand.com.

ART: “A CITY SORROW BUILT” From clever Facebook postings to initials drawn in wet cement to that granite depiction of four great American presidents: Nothing lasts forever. The pleasant illusion of permanence — and our delusion that the things we construct afford us some level of power or immortality — is one of the contemplative messages that hover over “A City Sorrow Built.” Curated by Todd Masters, the group exhibition takes its inspiration from the final work in “The Course of Empire.”

Painted by Thomas Cole from 1833-1836, the series concludes with “Desolation” — the final straw in his romanticized depiction of an imaginary city’s rise and fall. Informed by Cole’s image of a man-made landscape being

Photo courtesy of the filmmaker

Don’t tread on me: “A Home in the Theatre” documents Edith O'Hara’s fight for her hard-won slice of Greenwich Village.

reclaimed by nature, “A City Sorrow Built” invites a group of artists from around the globe to use their own artistic processes and aesthetic traditions to explore topics such as subjective versus objective truth, the power of objects to embody cultural memory and…the humbling fact that our greatest achievements are, at best, tenuous and temporary things.

Representing China, Jin Shan’s “Retired Pillar” is a silicon device that continuously inflates and deflates, at a rate similar to a breath. “So,” explains Masters, “the pillar looks like it’s on a death bed struggling to breathe, hence the title. It’s pretty funny in person.” Hey, laughing at an empire crumbling beats fiddling while Rome burns.

“A City Sorrow Built” is on view through Aug. 31 at Masters & Pelavin (13 Jay St., btw. Greenwich & Staple Sts.).

Hours: Tues.-Fri., 11am-6pm. For more info, visit masterspelavin.com.

Continued on page 27

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

Images courtesy of Masters & Pelavin and the artist Retired Pillar

Metaphor for a fallen empire: Jin Shan’s “Retired Pillar.”

Full details & color pictures at www.sailmanhattan.com or call Manhattan Sailing School At 212-786-0400.

26

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August 8 - August 21, 2012

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HASTINGS VIC YONKERS

Jr 4 BDR+DEN FOR SALE River vw Fr Terr, Prkg, Drman Pool, Pvt Elev 2 Greystone RR, 35 min. 2 GCT Low 200’s CALL 914 391-8304

LIC PETITE 3BR DPLX LRG STUDIO RM Backyard,Walk to Subways, Shopping, Etc. Avail. August 1, $2195 per mo.

Mr M 718-426-2800 Btw 10 am-4pm

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY Soho manufacturing space Ground Floor aprox 1,550 sqft $120k per Anum.

Call 212-226-3100

LOFT SPACE WORKSTATION FOR RENT

FINANCIAL

DENTIST

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I AM LOOKING TO BUY Brooklyn condo wanted 2 bedroom/2 bath, high ceiling, Downtown Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo, Park Slope.

Email details/photos to mykonos55@yahoo.com HOME IMPROVEMENT Wall Women Painting & Plastering

Over 25 yrs experience. Located in Workstations available in convenient Chelsea area. Excellent References.

Penn Station area. Large, open ofďŹ ce Free estimate environment in sunny, high-ceilinged Call 212-675-0631 loft ofďŹ ce with beautiful old wood ďŹ&#x201A;oors.

Share conference rooms, kitchen, STORE CLOSING SALE copier, fax, plotter, library, TI high-speed Magic Fingers, Old Good Things, Internet connection service, is closing after 20 plus years. phone hookup and receptionist.

220 East 10th Street (First to Second Convenient to all trains. For more Avenues) information please contact Jeff (X204) Costume jewelry and collectibles are 25% or Larry (X203) at 212-273-9888 or to 50% off. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday jgertler@gwarch.com or 3pm to 7pm. lwente@gwarch.com.

Phone 212 995 5064

WRITING HELP Write Right!

Essays, Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thesis, doctoral dissertations, manuscripts of any and all sorts, in private sessions with editor, widely published ďŹ ction writer, newspaper feature writer, and college English teacher for twenty years with Ph.D. 646-234-3224

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT PART-TIME Work downtown for a small company of Psychologists/Consultants performing a wide variety of tasks including answering phones, greeting and managing clients, scheduling, light medical billing, light correspondence, travel arrangements, problem solving especially minor computer and software issues, and oversee office operations.

Interested in a dynamic individual who is reliable and very personable.

Prefer college degree, experience with clients, medical billing and a thorough knowledge of Outlook.

Compensation history and expectations required.

Please email cover letter and resume to: walltobroadway@gmail.com

EMPLOYMENT Web Developer Design applications, platforms, tech parameters; apply speciďŹ c technologies.

RESUME BY MAIL ONLY: ROKKAN MEDIA, 176 GRAND ST, 2ND FL, NY, NY 10013

You Saw It...

You Read It...

And so did Thousands of our Readers.

To advertise call 646-452-2496

August 8 - August 21, 2012

Just Do Art! Continued from page 25

FILM: “FLASH GORDON” Crammed to capacity with garish sets, top shelf ham acting, a pop opera soundtrack by Queen — and a screenplay whose loyalties are divided between sci-fi and camp — the Dino De Laurentiis-produced “Flash Gordon” shouldn’t work…and sometimes, it doesn’t. But this endearing Me Decade attempt to bring Alex Raymond’s 1930s comic strip hero into the post-“Star Wars” age has more than enough virtues to inspire a trek to 92Y Tribeca.

Only there, on a big screen, can you fully appreciate the trippy art direction and special effects. Despite being created in the pre-digital era, the film manages to conjure consistently stunning (if not entirely convincing) images.

An army of flying Hawkmen doing battle against the backdrop of a swirling, cotton candy-colored sky is one such memorable scene.

As for the human spectacle on display, Max Von Sydow as Ming the Merciless and Sam J. Jones as Flash are polar opposites on the acting ability scale — yet both are perfectly cast. Sydow elevates the villainous raising of painted-on eyebrows to an art, while Jones serves as a blank slate of dumb, blonde beefcake onto whom a variety of supporting characters (and audience members) can project their hopes, dreams and carnal desires. “Flash, a-ah.

He’ll save every one of us,” croons Queen — and although he couldn’t save the film from tanking at the box office in 1980, Gordon and his allies (including a preBond Timothy Dalton as Prince Barin) do have the ability to rescue 2012 audiences from the summer doldrums.

Thurs., Aug. 23, 7:30pm at 92Y Tribeca (200 Hudson St., btw. Vestry & Desbrosses Sts.) For tickets ($12), call 212-415-5402 or visit 92YTribeca.org.

ESCORT CLOSES “ECSTATIC SUMMER” CONCERT SERIES Is it that time already? Apparently, it is — because on August 25, the free music

Empowered by a soundtrack from Queen, Flash Gordon rides his rocket cycle to victory over Ming the Merciless.

series “Ecstatic Summer” comes to a close, by going out with a sizable bang. Cult fave Escort (a 17-piece disco revivalist group) will be joined by the equally formidable 18-member big band Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society. It won’t cost you a dime to access these critical darlings. Pitchfork praised Escort’s self-titled debut as the “pinnacle of 21st-century disco fetishism,” and the Wall Street Journal dubbed Darcy James “one of the leading new big bands in jazz.”

Free. Sat., Aug. 25, 7pm at the World Financial Center Plaza (250 Vesey St., at West St.). For more info, visit artsworldfinancialcenter.com, myspace.com/weareescort and secretsociety.typepad.com.

Photo by Lenny Tso

Cult of disco: Brooklyn’s Escort holds court on Aug. 25.

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August 8 - August 21, 2012

GET IN ON THE NEW DOWNTOWN

Introducing 225 Rector Place Get in on the most exciting neighborhood in New York today. Get in on designer condominiums from Clodagh. Get in on breathtaking river, park, and landmark views. Get in on the sundrenched terrace and skylit pool. Get in on the most beautiful street in Battery Park City. Get in on the newest opportunity from Related, New York’s preeminent developer.

Condominium Residences from $495,000. Get in on it.

212.779.0225

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rectorplace225.com

The complete offering terms are in an offering plan available from sponsor: File No. CD 06-0209. Sponsor: RDO 225 Rector Place, LLC.