Jackie Monahan is ‘Homo Comicus,’ p. 19
Volume 2, Number 23 FREE
East and West Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Noho, Little Italy and Chinatown
December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
Board 2 begins its two-month review of N.Y.U. mega-plan BY LINCOLN ANDERSON With the start of the new year, the highly anticipated two-month-long ULURP review by Community Board 2 of N.Y.U.’s South Village superblocks megadevelopment plan also gets underway. Under its “N.Y.U. 2031” scheme, New York University aims to add 2.3 million square feet on the two jumbo-sized blocks — with 1 million of that belowground. Under the massive plan,
on the southern superblock, Coles Gym would be rebuilt with what is now being called the “Zipper Building” with a freshman dormitory, as well as an N.Y.U. hotel, on top; also, the current Morton Williams supermarket site would be rebuilt with, hopefully, a public school, plus possibly more student dorm space on top. On the northern superblock, under the plan, two new infill buildings —
Continued on page 22
Going green adds up to saving green on E. 4th St. block Photo by Terese Loeb Kreuzer
A view in August across the Hudson River to Jersey City from Lower Manhattan. Water levels have already risen due to climate change, according to experts.
A tide of concern is rising over risk of storm surges BY TERESE LOEB KREUZER A horror movie could not have been more frightening or more graphic. Hurricane-force winds. Sea levels rising 13 feet over the course of an hour. Thirty-foot storm surges destroying every manmade object in their path. Transportation systems flooded. No potable drinking water. Destroyed ecosystems. Beaches and barrier islands washed away. Two to three million people having to be evacuated. This is what might happen if New York City were hit by a hurricane. Some of this is what has happened from time
to time in the past but a future storm would probably be even worse. Climate change has already caused sea levels to rise even without the added stress and dangers of a storm. According to David Bragdon, director of the Mayor’s Office of LongTerm Planning and Sustainability, “By midcentury, New York City’s average temperatures will rise by three to five degrees Fahrenheit, and sea levels could rise by more than two feet. By the end of the century, the city’s climate may be more similar to North Carolina than present-day New York City and
sea levels could rise by as much as fourand-a-half feet.” Much of the metropolitan area lies less than three feet above sea level and millions of people live close to New York City’s 520 miles of coastline. On Dec. 16 in a room packed to overflowing, the grim impact of climate change on New York City was depicted by expert after expert at a City Council hearing convened by James F. Gennaro, chairperson of the Committee on Environmental Protection, and Michael
BY ALINE REYNOLDS Residential buildings and commercial storefronts along a block of E. Fourth St. are poised for some major environmental upgrades free of charge. The new environmental sustainability program, dubbed the “Model Block” project by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s Office, promises to provide residents and storeowners along E. Fourth St. between the Bowery
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and Second Ave. with new energy-efficient appliances largely funded by the state. The program’s goal is to reduce energy consumption and minimize electricity use and other expenses throughout an entire city block, according to Stringer, who is working with the Fourth Arts Block, among other E. Fourth St. organizations, to launch the initiative. “What I wanted to show
Continued on page 8
EDITORIAL, LETTERS PAGE 14
FROM SHAKIN’ TO BAKIN’ PAGE 16
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December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
Tide starting to turn toward concern about surges Continued from page 1 Nelson, chairperson of the Committee on Waterfronts. State Senator Tom Duane and Assemblymember Richard Gottfried testified that their districts are particularly vulnerable. Duane’s district includes the Hudson River waterfront from Vestry St. to W. 70th St. and the East River waterfront between E. 14th and E. 30th Sts. Gottfried’s district runs along the Hudson River waterfront from W. 14th St. to 59th St. “Significant portions of our districts lie just above sea level and are therefore at risk from rising sea levels and storm surges,” they said. “The high density of human population, infrastructure and enormous monetary and cultural value of existing buildings make adaptation to or mitigation of flooding impossible.” “New York City is planning to be flooded — and according to the National Hurricane Center, it will be,” said Douglas Hill, consulting engineer and an adjunct lecturer at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University. “Based on the historical record, hurricanes of Categories 1, 2 and 3 will strike the New York region on an average of every 17, 39 and 68 years, respectively.” He said that in a severe hurricane, the Office of Emergency Management has estimated that up to three million people would have to be evacuated from New York City. There are three conceivable approaches to dealing with the threat of rising sea levels, said Malcolm Bowman, Distinguished Service Professor of Oceanography at the School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences of the State University of New York at Stony Brook: The government could decide to do nothing because of lack of sufficient political will or funds; it could fix problems on a case-by-case basis as they arise; or it could take a regional approach. Bowman noted that “the Dutch have been busily reclaiming and protecting their lowlands for centuries by creating an intricate network of dikes surrounding low-lying tracts of land.” He said that Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, with more than one million residents, in some places is built on land as much as 18 feet below mean sea level. The Dutch, he stated, “have a highly professional and established engineering, marine hydraulics and governmental infrastructure dedicated to building, maintaining and improving the country’s coastal defenses against the sea. New York should do the same. The city should underwrite feasibility studies by engineering firms, city planners, environmental and community groups to investigate what will work and what will not.” Hill and other experts advocate protecting the city with strategically placed storm surge barriers. A storm surge is a mountain of ocean water propelled by the winds and low barometric pressure of a hurricane. According to the city’s Office of Emergency Management, a storm surge can make landfall five hours before a hurricane hits and can also move in after a hurricane departs, as high seas slump back into confined spaces like Long Island Sound. In a presentation before Community Board 2’s Waterfront and Environment Committees on July 19, 2010, Hill described the potential effects of a tidal surge accompanying a category 1 or category 2 hurricane hitting New York City. The committees adopted a resolution asking the federal Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a study about the potential for flooding related to a storm surge and exploring the feasibility of installing sea gates and barriers, and taking other actions to protect New York City. The C.B. 2 committees’ resolution noted that the potential exists within the next 100 years for New York City to be hit by a major storm that could cause a tidal surge of up to 20 feet. “The flooding caused by such a surge — which happened in the 19th century — would be calamitous,” the resolution said, “particularly to those living within several blocks of the Hudson River.”
Photo by Terese Loeb Kreuzer
Storm clouds over New Jersey heading toward Lower Manhattan in August. Two weeks later, Tropical Storm Irene — which had weakened from a hurricane — hit New York.
As Hill explained to the committees, sea gates have been built in London and Rotterdam and are being built in Venice to protect those cities. He said that the total cost of building storm surge barriers beneath the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and across the Arthur Kill and Throgs Neck would be around $10 billion.
‘The majority of Congress dismisses global warming as poppycock.’ James Gennaro
Community Board 4 has also pleaded with the city for protection. On Feb. 4, 2010, that board wrote a letter to Mayor Mike Bloomberg that said, “Much of Community Board 4 lies within the 100 Year Flood Plain.” The letter asked that “the City petition Congress to appropriate necessary funds to enable the Army Corps of Engineers to begin studying the feasibility of installing sea gates and barriers for protection from the sea.” Quoting Joshua Friedman of the Office of Emergency Management, the letter went on to say that, “a catastrophic storm surge will affect two million New Yorkers, 740,000 households, 272,000 buildings and 461 miles of roadways. Recognized experts have suggested that sea gates at the Narrows, the mile-wide entry to New York Harbor, and lesser gates near Arthur Kill and where the East River meets Long Island Sound (Throgs Neck) would protect much of Manhattan.” The letter noted that the sea gates could protect against potential flooding caused by sea level rise alone, separate from the extra hazards caused by storms. “There is no time to waste,” the letter said. “Whole
communities may suffer irreparable damage if we don’t act now.” These letters and warnings elicited no response. At the City Council hearing on Dec. 16, however, Gennaro did listen. “The majority of Congress dismisses global warming as poppycock,” he remarked. Then he said of what he had heard that afternoon, “I would like the staff to know that this is an official interest of the chairman. This is my pledge to you.” At least one person who sat through the hours of testimony that afternoon was more than elated by Gennaro’s remark. Robert Trentlyon, a former member of Community Board 4, has been fighting for recognition of the storm surge threat for years. “About three years ago, I realized that no matter what New York City did we would not be able to stop the rising sea level and would be victims to greater and greater storms,” he said. “I then went on a search for someone who knew about storm surge barriers. That led me to Doug Hill.” Due to Trentlyon’s involvement in community affairs, he soon had five community organizations on board to address the storm surge problem, including Community Boards 2 and 4. What transpired at the Dec. 16 Council hearing was a big breakthrough, in his view. “Last Friday, at the City Council Oversight Hearing of the Environmental Protection Committee, presided over by James Gennaro, something wondrous occurred,” Trentlyon said last week. “David Bragdon, chairperson of New York City Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, announced that within six months his agency would commence the study of storm surge barriers. Michael Marrela, head of Waterfront Development for the Department of City Planning, announced that they have started studying storm surge barriers, and Jim Gennaro, in response to our testimony, said that his committee is prepared to help us, including talking to the Army Corps of Engineers. Christmas came early this year.”
December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
SCOOPY’S
NOTEBOOK FAREWELL (FOR NOW) CONCERT: ABC No Rio, the Lower East Side alternative arts space at 156 Rivington St., will be torn down in late January so that it can be rebuilt with a brand-new, cutting-edge building. Rocking out the current space with a bang on Fri., Jan. 20, will be a hot lineup of bands, Japanther, The Krays, Geneva Jacuzzi, Renaldo of Renaldo and The Loaf and more. A double show, there will be performances from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Also, pledging to “go down with the building,� Michael Alan will do his final Living Installation, an artistic creation in the venue as the bands play. “ABC to me is the most historic punk art space left,� Alan said. “This is like when Patti Smith played CBGB before it closed.� RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH...AND TO SUE: Activist Robert Lederman is notifying Washington Square Park musicians, performers and artists to preserve their right to sue if they receive summonses under the city’s new anti-vending law enforcement. He is e-mailing out a link to the personal injury claim form that must be filed with the city “to seek damages for your freedom of expression being taken away in a New York City park by means of summonses, arrest or police harassment.� Individuals have 90 days from the summons date to file a notice of claim. “Based on my experience selling in Washington Square Park the last two weekends — the Park Enforcement Police officer ignored me selling art and ignored various musicians and performers who were seeking donations — it would appear that the Parks Department has called off any further enforcement actions while they decide what to do,� Lederman told artists and buskers in an e-mail. SCHWARTZ: DODGE IS ‘ARROGANT’: So we naturally had to ask State Commiteeman Arthur Schwartz what he thinks of Dodge Landesman’s possible challenge to him. Landesman recently told us he’s not 100 percent sure if he’s running yet — but he has a “Dodge Landesman for State Committee� Facebook page, on which he recently promoted his birthday fundraiser. Following the successful event, he posted, “The strong financial showing indicates that it’s time to take the next step forward with this campaign.� Schwartz told us, “I have no problem with someone running against me, even though I would rather spend time raising money for the public-interest law firm — Advocates for Justice — that I helped launch this year than for a political campaign. I don’t understand why Landesman, who lives in Murray Hill, chose to run against me, one of the more active State Committee members in the city — I am now secretary of the Reform Caucus. Or why he wants to run in a district that he has never lived, worked or even gone to school in. I think his decision to run in our community reveals some pretty deep-seated arrogance. I believe that people who run for political office should first cut their teeth on work in the community, preferably work on some grassroots effort to make the community better.� Laying out his accomplishments, Schwartz continued, “I led parksrelated community groups for a decade — and got more than $1 million for reconstruction of local parks and the Carmine-Dapolito Recreation Center. I helped found Friends of Hudson River Park, have been on Community Board 2 for 21 years, chairing or vice chairing either the Parks Committee or Waterfront Committee for most of that time. I chaired the Hudson River Park Advisory Council three times, led the Council’s Pier 40 Task Force during the last two R.F.P.s [“requests for proposals� for the pier from developers], serve as counsel to the New
York City Parents Union and Class Size Matters in suits over public school overcrowding, sued to keep Costco out of the [former] 14th St. Armory, successfully sued to keep token booths open at the Christopher St. subway station, and have engaged in litigation designed to get a new hospital built on the Lower West Side. Landesman has never done anything in our community.� Also, Schwartz said, judging by past elections, he feels he has the community’s support. “I have run in contested elections four times over the last 16 years,� he said, “twice for district leader, once for State Committee and once for delegate to the Democratic National Convention. I won all four times. I think my neighbors appreciate my work and my steadfast commitment to progressive principles.� Schwartz mentioned another ambitious office seeker, Yetta Kurland. “I would like to see new blood active in Village-Soho-Tribeca electoral politics,� Schwartz said. “But running for office shouldn’t be a candidate’s point of entry. Landesman is a big fan of Yetta Kurland — who ran for City Council with no previous experience in any community struggle — and although I don’t know for sure, I suspect she has a hand in this. I hope not. I’m gearing up my campaign machinery, and Yetta is the first person I have asked to endorse me.� But the path may be cleared for Landesman, since Schwartz noted: “P.S. Here’s an early announcement: If Brad Hoylman runs for City Council — which I suspect he will — I will be running to regain the Village district leader spot I gave up in 2005.� Actually, no slight against Schwartz’s track record of winning, but as we recall, he was strongly nudged out of the district leader seat because local elected officials state Senator Tom Duane, City Councilmember Chris Quinn and Assemblymember Deborah Glick wanted to promote some new blood — i.e. Hoylman — for the office and felt Schwartz, then with two young children, was understandably busy on the domestic front. The State Committee election will be in 2012 and district leader is in 2013. Schwartz said, if elected D.L., he could hold both offices, or give up State Committee. The successor would be chosen by the County Committee. However it plays out, Schwartz apparently won’t be supporting Landesman. “I know several young activists, some active in O.W.S., who live in the district who I would support,� Schwartz said. “What has Dodge done on the Lower West Side to deserve to be our representative?� COMMANDER’S REPORT: Deputy Inspector Brandon del Pozo came to Community Board 2’s recent full board meeting and gave an update on year-to-date crime stats for Greenwich Village’s Sixth Precinct. As of two weeks ago, crime in the precinct was down by 2.5 percent compared to last year, whereas crime is up 0.1 percent in the city over all. There had been one murder so far this year, the same number as last year. There had been 15 rapes so far in 2011 versus 13 in 2010. There were 146 robberies compared to 141 the previous year. Felony assaults (any assault resulting in serious injury) were up a bit, 106 versus 93 the previous year, which del Pozo attributed to more nightlife incidents, such as one bar patron bashing another over the head with a bottle, etc. Burglaries were virtually even, 175 this year and 174 last year, while grand larcenies were down sharply, 937 this year versus 1,000 last year. In addition, del Pozo said that, regarding the Parks Department’s controversial new regulations on buskers in Washington Square Park, police are “waiting for Parks to clarify these rules,� so aren’t doing any enforcement of them as of now. He also admitted there’s an “epidemic of volume and traffic� in the Meatpacking District and that he’ll step up anti-honking enforcement there. He also warned people to be careful about iPod and cell-phone thefts around 14th St. and Eighth Ave. and along W. Fourth St., two hot spots for this crime. “It’s known that this is a place where people have nice electronic devices and are probably not paying attention while using them,� he noted of the Village. The best way to avoid theft, he advised, “is not to be absorbed in your texting as you walk down the street.�
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December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
Mistrial in E.V. ‘erotic sex defense’ murder case BY TROY MASTERS After seven days of deliberation, by which time the frustrations of jurors, the defense and the judge were playing out in open court, a mistrial was declared in the trial of Davawn Robinson in the 2009 killing of Edgard Mercado. Judge Daniel FitzGerald dismissed the Manhattan jury on Thurs., Dec. 22, after repeated statements from its members that they could not come to agreement on the top charge of second-degree murder in the strangling death of Mercado, a 39-year-old gay man, in his Avenue C apartment. The prosecution charged that Robinson, who is 24 and also gay, intended to kill Mercado. The defense argued that Robinson never had the legally required intent to convict him of murder. The defendant first told police and prosecutors in written and videotaped statements that he acted in self-defense when he strangled Mercado. But when Robinson testified, he said the death was an accident that occurred while the two men used a rope on Mercado during an erotic asphyxiation session. The jury weighed second-degree murder, which has a maximum sentence of 25 years to life, second-degree manslaughter, which has a maximum sentence of 15 years, and criminally negligent homicide, which carries a maximum of four years. A defendant who is convicted of either of the two lesser
charges would be eligible for release after serving six-sevenths of the sentence, but a second-degree murder conviction requires at least 25 years in jail. Jurors had to consider the charges in that order and could not move on to manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide without first finding Robinson not guilty of murder and then manslaughter. Jurors started deliberations on Dec. 14, but by the following afternoon first signaled they had a problem. FitzGerald told them they were very early in their deliberations and could not declare themselves to be deadlocked. After they continued to deliberate on Dec. 16, 19 and 20, the jury again informed the judge they were deadlocked, but were pressed to continue deliberating on Dec. 20 and on Dec. 21 and 22. On the afternoon of Dec. 22, one of the jurors, a man, sent the judge a series of notes saying he had a “conscientiously held belief” about the case and could not be swayed by his fellow jurors. The judge called that juror into the courtroom and instructed him that he should not compromise his beliefs in order to settle on a verdict but should continue deliberating. Shortly after that, the full jury came into the courtroom requesting to have the charges and instructions read back to them. When FitzGerald asked whether they expected him to spend 45 minutes doing this all over again
Edgard Mercado was killed in his East Village apartment in 2009.
— as he had originally done before deliberations began on Dec. 14 — one of the jurors laughed aloud. The judge said it seemed as though jurors agreed that repeating the full instructions was “silly,” and told them to come back to him with a more specific request. After the jury left the courtroom, Annie Costanzo, one of Robinson’s two Legal Aid Society attorneys, complained that the judge’s use of the word “silly” belittled a legitimate request from the jury. That provoked a sharp response from FitzGerald, who rejected the complaint. When the jury returned for a second time, they asked whether they could render a guilty verdict if some “element” of the evidence had not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. As the juror who had indicated he held unswayable beliefs wept, FitzGerald responded that jurors must be convinced of Robinson’s guilt beyond any reasonable doubt. After another brief round of deliberations, the jury returned to say they remained deadlocked, at which point a mistrial was called. After the jury was dismissed, two of the jurors, both women, who insisted on anonymity, said there was a consensus among all 12 that the defendant was “not believable,” but beyond that opinions varied widely. One of the women said, “There was a sexual environment, but it was not clear what that meant.” The two jurors agreed that the forensic evidence presented by the prosecution was not sufficient to lead to a unanimous verdict
on second-degree murder. The prosecution’s case relied almost entirely on the testimony of Dr. Rachel Lange, the forensic pathologist in the city Medical Examiner’s Office, who said that Mercado’s injuries showed he had been in a fight. “All these injuries are indicative of somebody struggling to get away from a ligature,” Lange said during testimony on Dec. 8. Autopsy photos that were put into evidence showed large, lividly colored bruises that encircled Mercado’s neck, as well as scrapes and bruises on his cheek and jaw, above one eye and behind one ear. Leila Kermani, one of two assistant district attorneys prosecuting the case, said Robinson might have killed Mercado as part of a robbery. She noted that the defendant stole Mercado’s laptop computer and cell phone. But the prosecution never established definitively what motivated Robinson. The prosecution is not required to prove motive, but jurors can consider it, or its absence, in their deliberations. Robinson told jurors that he and Mercado met at a West Village gay bar. The younger man said he purchased cocaine on Mercado’s behalf and they then traveled to Mercado’s East Village apartment where they used the cocaine and drank wine. At the apartment, Robinson said, Mercado showed him how to use the rope, which was part of a uniform the older man wore in a Brazilian dance class. Police found no sex toys, pornography or bondage equipment in Mercado’s apartment. Robinson stood behind Mercado, he said, holding the rope that was wrapped around Mercado’s neck and hands. At one point, he dropped the rope. “When I let go, he slumped over to the side,” Robinson said during his Dec. 12 testimony. “At first, I was thinking he must be really messed up... . I turned him over and I seen his face and I realized he was dead.” In what he said was a panic, Robinson called 911 and spent 22 minutes telling the operator that he had killed a man in selfdefense and was afraid that another man was coming to the apartment to kill him. He used the names Ted and Tony to identify that second man in various statements. “I just made up a self-defense story,” Robinson told the jury. “I just was lying. I’m just throwing everything out there.” Robinson’s attorneys declined comment after the mistrial was declared. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it would retry the case.
With repor ting by Duncan Osborne
Sound off! Got something to say? E-mail letters to news@thevillager.com
December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
Photos by Aline Reynolds
Above, at left, Victor Papa, and at street level, Ralph Tramontana, Councilmember Chin and Wellington Chen raised a banner on Mott St. on Dec. 8. Below, on Dec. 16, Chinatown Partnership members and others switched on Chinatown’s holiday lights.
Taking it to the streets Councilmember Margaret Chin and Victor Papa, Two Bridges Neighborhood Council president, recently hung an inaugural banner on Mott St. to promote a Chinatown-Little Italy campaign to attract September 11 Memorial visitors to the area. The banners sport illustrations of On Leong Tong (Chinese Merchants Association), tenements and other iconic neighborhood buildings. Plus, 25,000 maps are being distributed to promote local shopping, dining
and cultural attractions. Papa noted the campaign “manifests a great symbiosis between the two communities, historically.” Jokingly, he added, “I grew up on wonton soup and Chinese food, and Chin grew up on spaghetti!” Chuckling, Chin replied, “I grew up on calamari!” Festive lights were also switched on. The lights are bell-shaped, with red plum blossoms — since plum blossomes bloom in winter.
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December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
POLICE BLOTTER
slashed his face and head and fired several shots. A police helicopter and a K-9 team also responded, and a person of interest was apprehended but no charges have been filed yet, police said. Detectives are investigating the case.
Soho firm scammed
Gangster is going away
Groping bag thief
Judy Del Galdo, 67, and her son, Joseph Del Galdo, 46, were sentenced to four to 12 years in prison on Tues., Dec. 20, for stealing more than $16 million over a period of seven years from a textile company at 483 Broadway near Broome St. The Del Galdos, who pleaded guilty to the charges in April, are also ordered to pay the firm more than $15 million, in addition to the $850,000 they already restored, according to the Manhattan district attorney. Through forgery, unauthorized withdrawals and a dummy account between August 2003 and April 2010, Judy Del Galdo stole the money from Hi-Fashion Fabrics and its affiliate Timeless Treasures Fabrics where she worked as a bookkeeper for 22 years. The defendants moved $667,000 to Joseph Del Galdo’s nowdefunct private ambulance company and spent the rest on private jet flights, luxury sports boxes at Madison Square Garden and the Meadowlands, and $850,000 on mortgages on three properties now all foreclosed.
Guang Ju Lin, leader of a gang active in Chinatown and in Los Angeles, was sentenced to life in prison on Dec. 7 after his July 11 conviction on racketeering offenses, including murder, attempted murder, narcotics trafficking and illegal gambling. He was involved in the November 2001 attempted murder of a rival gang member in a Chinatown restaurant where a 2-yearold child was injured in the gunfire. In December 2001 he fled to Los Angeles after being involved in a murder in Queens, and in August 2006, he and accomplices stabbed, beat and shot to death a victim involved in a dispute with a gang member in Los Angeles, according to the Manhattan district attorney. Yudi Liu, a Chinatown and Queens associate of Lin, pleaded guilty to murder in March and awaits sentencing.
A suspect followed a woman, 40, into her building near Monroe and Catherine Sts. around 7:50 a.m. Sun., Dec. 18, groped her and tried to steal her bag, according to reports. The victim struggled and the suspect fled empty-handed.
Violent eve
Police are looking for a suspect who walked into the Capital One branch at 401 W. 23rd St. at Ninth Ave. around 3:35 p.m. Wed., Dec. 21, and shouted at a teller, “I’ll blow your brains out!” unless he surrendered the money. The suspect fled with about $2,200. He was described as a black man in his 30s, about 5 feet 9 inches tall and 190 pounds, wearing a New Orleans Hornets baseball cap, blue jacket with a “C” on the front, blue jeans and blue sneakers.
Police responded to reports of gunshots following a stabbing in front of 35 Clinton St. at the corner of Stanton St. shortly before midnight on Dec. 24. The victim told police that about four suspects jumped him,
Bike-by mugging A woman, 25, was talking on her cell phone while walking on Essex St. near Stanton St. around 11:30 p.m. Sat., Dec. 10, when a man on a white bicycle punched her in the face and chest and tried to grab the phone. The victim resisted and held on to her phone, and the thief pedaled off toward Houston St.
‘I’ll blow your brains out!’
Precinct pilferer Todd Barnes, 50, a 13th Precinct civilian administrative assistant, pleaded guilty on Thurs., Dec. 22, to stealing more than $16,000 in $10 money orders from the precinct over the past two years. The money orders were made out to “N.Y.P.D.” to pay for copies of accident reports in the precinct, which covers the area from 14th to 29th Sts. between Seventh Ave. and the East River.
Cell-snatch arrest A woman told Sixth Precinct patrol officers shortly after 4:30 p.m. Wed., Dec. 21, that she was talking on her cell phone while walking on Barrow St. between West and Washington Sts. when a thief grabbed the phone and fled. She pointed the direction the thief took, and the cops gave chase and arrested Rogerio Bentodelima, 27, who was identified by the victim. Police recovered the phone and charged the suspect with larceny.
Busted with bags The bouncers at Wicked Willy’s, 149 Bleecker St., arrested Jimmy Ponce, who was holding two women’s handbags outside the bar around 10:50 p.m. Wed., Dec. 21. One of the victims told the bouncers that her bag had been stolen from a table inside the bar. Ponce, 26, was carrying her bag and one belonging to another patron. He was charged with larceny.
Flex filcher The manager of Flex Mussels restaurant at 154 W. 13th St. charged that a trusted acquaintance, Gilbert Caradang, 39, stole more than $70,000 from her account between Feb. 1 and Dec. 20 of this year. The suspect was charged with ID theft and larceny.
Funny money Police arrested Keshawn Hemingway, 19, on Seventh Ave. South between Grove and Barrow Sts. shortly before 5 p.m. Thurs., Dec. 22, for trying to pass counterfeit $20 bills to several merchants in the area.
Cookie culprit The first employee to open Insomnia Cookies, 15 W. Eighth St., on Thurs., Dec. 22, discovered the window gate was down but unlocked and the front door closed but unlocked. Missing from the shop was $200 in cash, as well as the cash register, valued at $680. A surveillance camera next door caught an image, believed to be of a former Insomnia employee, opening the gate and the door with keys.
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December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
Going green adds up to saving green on E. 4th St. Continued from page 1 was, in order for us to actually achieve these goals, we needed to have a bottom-up approach,” Stringer explained. “We have to build a movement that’s grassroots-based, to get people on the streets energized about an environmentally sound community.” A major beneficiary of the initiative will be tenants of the Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association, whose 21 buildings are or will be participating in the state “weatherization” and energy savings programs. The Model Block initiative began in August with the White Roofs project. A group of volunteers from all over the city painted 18 of the Mutual Housing Association’s buildings’ rooftops with solar-reflective white paint. The coating reflects 90 percent of sunlight, which helps to lower electricity usage and cooling costs. “When we were approached, it was like a godsend — people spend a fortune on air conditioning bills in the summer!” said Val Orselli, Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association executive director. Since then, residents in nine of the Mutual Housing Association’s apartment buildings have applied to receive up-to-date equipment ranging from new boilers to new hot water heaters, windows, refrigerators and stoves, Orselli said. To qualify for building-wide upgrades, the majority of the buildings’ tenants must be low-income. And to obtain home appliances, tenants must individually meet income eligibility standards, he explained. “Generally, to get landlords from 21 buildings together can be a very difficult task,” Orselli said. “Since we own all the buildings, we can provide permission readily, which makes it efficient.” Financial savings for both the M.H.A. and its tenants is a top priority for the Cooper Square Committee in order to be able to preserve affordable housing, Orselli said. “The only way we can charge very low maintenance fees is to try to keep the cost of maintaining buildings as low as possible,” he said. Lucille Carrasquero, 84, whose building at 56 E. Fourth St. is slated to get a new boiler, is anxiously awaiting a new fridge to replace the one she’s had for nearly nine years. Carrasquero is also hoping to qualify for a replacement window for her outdoor garden, whose current windows are difficult to clean and covered with bars. “I think it’s an excellent opportunity for us to be able to get appliances that we need, especially for us low-income people,” said Carrasquero. “You save electricity, first of all — and if you save electricity, you save money.” The initiative has the dual advantage of lowering residents’ electricity bills and preserving the environment, added Carrasquero’s friend Theresa Sandberry, a resident of 60 E.
Photo by Aline Reynolds
The Fourth St. Food Co-op needs a more energy-efficient cooling system, according to co-op members.
Fourth St. “If you can get the building to use less fuel, that’s a winwin situation,” Sandberry said. The program also intends to help mom-and-pop stores burdened with electric bills and other operating expenses. Working with energy consultants, Tamara Greenfield, F.A.B.’s executive director, has already surveyed several businesses on the block to evaluate their energy savings options. “They know it’s not a sales pitch, and that it’s about some kind of larger community benefit, as well as bringing things that’ll help them with their bottom line,” said Greenfield. Lynn Freidus, owner and manager of Random Accessories, a stationery, jewelry and clothing store at 77 E. Fourth St., is working with F.A.B. and Con Edison to switch to lowerwattage light bulbs. “The fact is, we’d like to save money and still have light,” Freidus said. The Fourth St. Food Co-op natural food store on the ground floor of 58 E. Fourth St., needs a more efficient cooling system, according to co-op member Jill Woodward. The
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store uses electricity generated by wind power. “Refrigeration is a really big issue for us,” said Woodward. “We’ve relied on older cooling equipment and would like new ones, or we’d want to know how we can make the current equipment as energy efficient as possible.” F.A.B.’s own cafe, at 75 E. Fourth St., is hoping to streamline its product orders by joining forces with other neighborhood businesses. “One of the challenges we face is finding distributors that do small orders,” explained cafe manager Erica Livingston. “If we buy in bulk with other businesses, we’ll get better wholesale prices and save in storage space.” Borough President Stringer promises the Model Block program will result in immediate cost savings for its participants. “This is not 20 years from now — we have the technology and ability to put these environmental protocols in place for the people of New York today,” he said. If the program proves successful, Stringer said, “It’s my hope that we can expand it to blocks around the borough and perhaps citywide.”
December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
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Landmarks hearing for E. 10th St. is coming sooner BY ALBERT AMATEAU The proposed E. 10th St. Historic District across from Tompkins Square Park will get a Landmarks Preservation Commission public hearing earlier than expected. L.P.C. scheduled the hearing for Tues., Jan. 17, the earliest possible date, because the owner of one of the 26 buildings in the proposed district has filed plans to build a rooftop addition. The addition proposed for 315 E. 10th St. could potentially affect the character of the proposed district, an L.P.C. spokesperson said. The district was calendared on June 28, giving official notice that the commission was considering designation. Usually, dates of public hearings are open-ended after a building or district is calendared, but the Department of Buildings must notify the commission when it receives an application to alter a calendared property. D.O.B. notified the commission on Dec. 7 that the owner of 315 E. 10th St. filed for a permit to build a one-story rooftop addition. D.O.B has a mandatory maximum of 40 days to review building permit applications, and the commission has 40 days after a permit application is filed to vote whether to designate a landmarked building or district. “Given the significance of the proposed historic district, the commission
Some of the E. 10th St. buildings included in the proposed historic district.
has notified property owners that a public hearing will be held Tues., Jan. 17, 2012. This is the earliest date a hearing can be scheduled,” said Elizabeth de Bourbon,
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spokesperson for the commission. Collectively, the 26 buildings on the north side of E. 10th St. between Avenues A and B reflect the 19th- and 20th-cen-
tury history and development of the East Village. The opening of Tompkins Square in 1834 led to the common assumption that the surrounding blocks would be filled with elegant homes similar to those that lined parts of nearby St. Mark’s Place. By the 1840s, stately row houses rising four stories above raised basements were built on the western half of E. 10th St. Joseph Trench, the architect who designed the A.T. Stewart Department Store at Broadway and Chambers St., designed five of those early row houses. Trench helped introduce the Italianate style to the U.S., and the surviving ornamentation on those houses is among the earliest applications of the style to residential buildings in the city. But the fashionable heyday of Tompkins Square began to fade by 1850 when immigrants from Germany and Ireland settled the neighborhood as wealthier residents moved uptown. Single-family homes were converted to multiple dwellings or boardinghouses and tenements were built on the remaining vacant lots. In addition to the early row houses and tenements, the district includes the Tompkins Square Branch Library, an existing city landmark. The branch was erected in 1904 as one of the city’s first libraries endowed by Andrew Carnegie.
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December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
Puck penthouse is O.K.’d; Macy’s annex is designated
A penthouse addition planned for the Puck Building at Houston and Lafayette Sts., above, will allow the creation of six condos ranging in price from $15 million to $50 million.
Ottman Lithographing Company and Puck Magazine, the humor magazine that ceased publication in 1918. Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, who opposed the earlier proposals for the penthouse addition, said, “We are very glad the Landmarks Preservation Commission listened to calls to reject prior versions which would have overwhelmed and fundamentally changed one of our city’s most iconic and beloved landmarks. Only time will tell if the final scaled-back version is truly worthy of a great New York landmark.” Kushner, a developer who also owns the New York Observer, said he was pleased with the approval. “The final result will enable us to build a spectacular addition, which is very much in line with the very special and unique character of the building,” he said. Although no construction schedule was made public, the plan calls for the top floors and the penthouse to become six residential condos, ranging in price from $15 million to $50 million. The newly designated Macy’s 14th St. landmark is a slen-
der nine-story building completed in 1897. It was the last phase of the expansion of the famed department store that dominated Sixth Avenue at 14th St. from its founding in 1858 until 1902 when it moved to Herald Square. The Beaux Arts-style, limestone-clad building was designed by William Schickel and Isaac Edward Ditmars. After Macy’s moved uptown, the building was part of another department store until 1914, and from 1938 to 1965 it was the home of Norma Lites, one of the largest manufacturers of Christmas tree lights. The newly designated 13-story Mutual Reserve Building on Broadway at Duane St., designed by William H. Hume, is one of the earliest steel cage-framed buildings that were precursors of skyscrapers. The first tenant was Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association, an insurance company that went out of business in 1909. At the turn of the 20th century, that part of Broadway included the front office of the 1894 Home Life Insurance building at 256 Broadway, designed by Napoleon le Brun & Sons, and New York Life Insurance at 346 Broadway, designed by Stephen Decatur Hatch with McKim, Mead & White. Both buildings are designated landmarks.
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BY ALBERT AMATEAU The Landmarks Preservation Commission last week approved a scaled-back version of penthouse additions to the landmarked Puck Building in Soho. At the same time, the commission conferred landmark designation on the former R.H. Macy annex at 56 W. 14th St. in the original Ladies’ Mile department store district, and the 1894 Mutual Reserve Building at 305 Broadway at Duane St. in the Civic Center area. The commission unanimously approved the proposed penthouse to the Puck Building, at Lafayette and Houston Sts., after the owner, Jared Kushner, revised the plans several times after four rejections by the commission since August. As finally approved, the proposed penthouse on the landmarked Puck Building has been reduced by 1,500 square feet and is 20 feet shorter than originally proposed. “They’ve reached the target of minimalism in terms of massing,” said Michael Devonshire, an L.P.C. commissioner, at the agency’s Dec. 20 meeting. The original plan called for a penthouse of glass and metal that would have been prominently visible for several blocks north, east and west of the building at 295 Lafayette St. In the new plans, much of the penthouse would be virtually invisible from the west. Moreover, the materials have been changed to masonry and brick in the approved plan, more closely matching the facades of the seven- and eight-story building erected in two phases between 1885 and 1893. “We don’t want to ignore the fact that this building has evolved in its lifetime. It’s not our job to stop that evolution,” said Elizabeth Ryan, another L.P.C. commissioner. Cas Stachelberg, of Higgins and Quasebarth, architect of the revised plan, noted that the project includes restoration of the original crenellation of the original sections of the building. Designed by Albert Wagner, the front of the building on Lafayette St. — then known as Elm St. — was relocated in 1899 when the street was widened. The building sports two gilded statues, by the sculptor Henry Baerer, of Puck, a character from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” — one on the building’s northeast corner of Houston and Mulberry Sts., the other over the main entrance on Lafayette St. The building was originally the home of
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God rest ye merry Zuccotti men and women of O.W.S. On Dec. 26, the day after Christmas, only a few hearty Occupy Wall Street supporters with signs were hanging out in front of a very empty Zuccotti Park. This retired college administrator acknowledged that her situation of comfortable retirement may unfortunately not be attainable by future generations.
Fighting to make Lower Manhattan the greatest place to live, work, and raise a family.
Assemblyman Shelly Silver If you need assistance, please contact my office at (212) 312-1420 or email silver@assembly.state.ny.us.
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December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
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Photos by Clayton Patterson
Hole lot of Love at Lola Schnabel show on Bowery “Love Before Intimacy,” Lola Montes Schnabel’s art show, had its opening at the Hole Gallery, at 312 Bowery, on Fri., Dec. 16. Her figurative paintings are expressionistic and romantic. It’s no secret where the 30-year-old Cooper Union graduate gets her artistic talent. Her father is Julian Schnabel, the painter and filmmaker — not to mention the developer of the whimsical, Pompei red-colored Palazzo Chupi on W. 11th St. Clockwise from top left, Lola Schnabel with Jonas Mekas, founder and head of the Anthology Film Archives in the East Village; Lila Jean, leading lady of the New York City club and party scene; Julian Schnabel; Amos Poe, filmmaker and professor at N.Y.U. Tisch School of the Arts, right, with fashion photographer Patrick Andersson. Others among the opening-night crowd at Hole included, fittingly, Hole rocker Courtney Love and author Salman Rushdie. The show is up until Feb. 4.
CLAYTON
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December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
EDITORIAL Liberate old P.S. 64 Two weeks ago, activists rallied outside the former CHARAS / El Bohio Cultural and Community Center on E. Ninth St. to mark the 10th anniversary of the group’s eviction. With wooden sticks, they beat on the fence sealing off the vacant building, making a din to carry to City Hall. “Mr. Mayor, tear down this wall!” they shouted. Indeed, that wall has been up absurdly long, and is a deeply divisive and negative presence. Gregg Singer bought the former P.S. 64 in 1998 at city auction for just $3.15 million. According to him, the property was appraised this August at $71 million. However, according to others who had the building appraised in 2006 — at the real estate market’s peak — its value was then only $20 million. Singer’s scheme to build a towering dorm was quashed in June 2006 when the old school was landmarked, thanks to former Councilmember Margarita Lopez’s close relationship with Mayor Bloomberg. Singer now claims Lopez’s successor, Rosie Mendez, is blocking his attempts to rent the building as a dorm to a tenant like Baruch College. The property has a community-use deed restriction, which allows a dorm, as well as schools, nonprofit organizations, a hospital or medical uses, a museum or a library. Word has it the other use Singer feels would work is a public school, which could be utilized off hours by the community. A month ago, former squatters resolved to ask the developer to cede two floors — one for a community center, the other for rent to nonprofits. The developer reportedly feels they’d need a sizable construction loan, since a gut rehab is needed. Singer said he and his partners don’t sell properties, they renovate and rent them. Obviously, he’s in no rush and is willing to wait as long as it takes to get a tenant he likes. Or perhaps he’s just waiting for the market to rebound to sell for a higher price. Meanwhile, Mendez said she’s not aware Baruch ever wanted a dorm at the old P.S. 64, and that she speaks often with CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, so would know. But Mendez said, it’s true, she and the community don’t want a dormitory there, since the area is already “full of dorms.” In fact, Mendez said, in 2006, two viable groups expressed interest in buying the building for $35 million to $40 million. One was a nonprofit and the other a for-profit organization, and one was locally based. Singer rejected the offers as too low. Mendez is skeptical the space would be rented for a public school, since that’s usually only temporary. She thinks the best idea would be similar to the ’06 proposals — to sell the building to an organization like a settlement house to provide social services and education. “If Singer is a little more realistic, he can find a buyer,” Mendez assured. Maybe CHARAS could have a role. Singer has been an abysmal steward of the old P.S. 64. Angered at its landmarking, he used a pre-exising permit to “scalp” it, as his lawyer boasted, of its exterior details. Butchering the building was unforgivable. Singer is unrepentant. Meanwhile, this turn-of-thecentury gem sadly keeps deteriorating. All parties need to work to end this stalemate. Singer either must sell to a qualified buyer, like a settlement house, or else the city should attempt to move to buy him out. Mendez should start thinking outside the box and explore different kinds of solutions. If there is still a settlement house tenant in the offing, let’s see a bona fide interest. New dorms — with transient student populations — are, in general, anathema to local residents. Somehow a solution must be found for this eyesore in the heart of our community.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Subway escalator is needed To The Editor: Re “C.B. 2 gives thumbs down on upzoning for Rudin plan” (news article, Oct. 27): Thank you for your continued coverage of the plans to redevelop the former St. Vincent’s properties. I was happy to read the part of your article mentioning Community Board 2’s request to have the developers, Rudin Management, install an elevator/escalator at the 12th St. and Seventh Ave. subway station. What a blessing this would be! Easy accessibility to the train would be a ray of light for many residents, myself included, and prove a necessity for those using the new health facility. However getting this escalator/elevator isn’t a done deal, So far, the Rudins have not agreed to take on this part of the redesign and may avoid having to do so unless lots of Village residents speak up and say they would benefit from an elevator/escalator at this stop. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s Office is taking names of Village residents that would like an escalator/elevator installed, and it is my hope that this newspaper’s readers will call and make their needs known and let their block associations know to support this idea. This may be our last chance for a while to get this stop made more accessible. The M.T.A. has no plans to add any wheelchair accessibility to this station. I called and spoke with an M.T.A. representative who told me because of the access at 14th and Eighth Ave. and at Union Square we don’t need it at this station. This thinking is flawed. People that require escalators and elevators often weigh how many blocks they need to walk in one direction or another to reach their destination. For people who find stairs challenging, every extra block becomes a reason making it harder to leave the house. I speak from experience. I often have trouble climbing the subway stairs, especially when carrying a laptop and so on and when taking the bus isn’t always a viable option. The simplest bus trip from the Village to Times Square can take 45 minutes and that’s after the bus arrives. There is nothing more frustrating than waiting for the bus for 30 minutes in the cold after the theater, only to watch it drive by and not stop for you. This happens more than you would think. So let’s spread the word about this proposed elevator/escalator and work together so that Village residents are aware of this option. Please encourage your readers to call the Council speaker and their block associations and spread the word among other folks whose quality of life could be positively impacted by an escalator/
IRA BLUTREICH
elevator. This could make the difference for some people being able to stay in New York or not. It is one positive for residents after what will be years of listening to pile driving. Elisabeth Yapp
What now for Iraq veterans? To The Editor: Our troops are now home from another foreign war. Left in their wake are more than 4,000 American troops dead (not counting civilian mercenaries, like Blackwater, Halliburton and all the other corporate profiteers), more than 32,000 Americans wounded or maimed, and more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians dead. You can rest assured these are low estimates that will continue to grow. Also left behind are countless orphans and widows and a puppet government with a weak military that isn’t likely to survive. Now that they are home, they can join the 67,000-plus vets already begging on the streets and living in the shelter system. Now, they too can face the 11.1 percent veteran unemployment rate. And you can rest assured these are low estimates that will continue to grow. All of this while our government / corporate structure is checking everything they are doing, from their library records and the Internet, to keeping tabs on their shopping habits. Even here, in one of the most liberal cities in the country, they will be subjected to random bag searches on the trains and random stop-and-frisk procedures on the street based on the color of their skin — and heaven help those who won’t be able to produce papers proving who they are and where they live. All I can say is, Welcome back to the “Land of the Free” and let’s all thank George W. Obama for bringing our troops home from yet another foreign war. Yippie! We are the 99 percent! Jerry The Peddler
E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to news@thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to the East Villager, Letters to the Editor, 515 Canal St., Suite 1C, NY, NY 10013. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The East Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. The East Villager does not publish anonymous letters.
December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
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Residents fight institutional sprawl on St. Mark’s FLASHBACK BY ERIC FERRARA A lawsuit filed on behalf of neighbors to prevent the demolition of No. 1 St. Mark’s Place was presided over by a Superior Court judge, ending a two-year rift that pitted independent landowners against a corporate behemoth — all over 8-feet of land. Another battle for the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation? Not this time; this took place in May of 1856. Yes, 1856. It seems development was a contentious issue in the “East Village” even in its infancy. Only two decades after E. Eighth St./St. Mark’s Place was carved out of the old Stuyvesant Farm, a dispute emerged over the development of the lot on the northeast corner of St. Mark’s and Third Ave.
The extra 8 feet of sidewalk on either side of the street was to foster ‘convenience, beauty and value.’ According to state records, a small collective of neighboring St. Mark’s Place landowners sued East River Bank to prevent it from building a structure that would extend 8 feet farther than the property lines of the remaining buildings along the north side of the street. The plaintiffs argued that the original developer of St. Mark’s Place, Thomas E. Davis, required landowners to abide by the unique property line set forth in 1831. Davis’s plan called for the street to be 16 feet wider than other east-west streets at the time. The extra 8 feet of sidewalk on either side was to foster “convenience, beauty and value.” (And, seemingly, to fit as many T-shirt and hat booths as possible.) The East River Savings Bank’s plan was to tear down a townhouse that complied with the property line and replace it with a financial institution that was, essentially, out of scale and character with the rest of the block — ah, tradition... . In this case, the judge decided in favor of the plaintiffs. The decision was appealed, but the bank’s plan was never realized and the property was sold soon after. A few of the structures from that era still stand today along St. Mark’s Place. Numbers 4, 18 and 20 are among the 29 original townhouses that lined both sides of the block in the 19th century. The Beats, hippies and punks arrived much later — only to be replaced, all too soon, by the students, tourists and bubble tea shops. Ferrara is executive director, Lower East Side History Project
Photo by Marlis Momber
SCENE
Reverend Billy, center, was part of the “rap scene” at the old P.S. 64, formerly CHARAS / El Bohio Cultural and Community Center, on Sun., Dec. 17. Demonstrators demanded that the blue construction fence sealing off the turn-of-the-century landmark be torn down and that the long-vacant building be restored to its former use as a vibrant community center.
Sources: “Maxwell vs. East River Bank” — Reports of cases argued and determined in the Superior Court of New York Member of the New York Press Association
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State, Vol. 16 (1860) “Maxwell vs. East River Bank” — The New York State Reporter, Vol. 39 (1891)
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December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
Baker’s cakes are gravity-defying, just like his life BY LILY ROTHMAN Ron Ben-Israel, a big macher in the world of wedding cakes, had a question for Martha Stewart. The Soho-based baker already enjoyed a longstanding professional relationship with her, so, when he ran into her a few months ago, Ben-Israel took the chance to ask: How does she do it all at once? “She rolled her eyes,” he recalled, “and she said, ‘I have a schedule, we put everything on the schedule, and then I stick to it.’ ” Sticking to a schedule is nothing new to Ron Ben-Israel, 54, whose life and gravitydefying cakes have always required expert balance. He runs his eponymous bakery, at 42 Greene St., that produced a wedding cake for “Sex and the City 2” and a 100th-birthday cake for the Plaza Hotel. But the chef’s toque is far from Ben-Israel’s only hat. He has been a soldier, a dancer, a window dresser, a dog walker, a caterer, a teacher, an entrepreneur and a self-taught IT expert. This year he added a new duty to his list, the reason he sought Stewart’s advice: “Sweet Genius,” a Food Network dessertmaking competition that will tape its second season this winter. The first season finished its run this fall, and Ben-Israel is the show’s solo host and judge. Not that he’s complaining about the extra work. “I thrive on it,” he said. “I can’t afford to be bored.” On the morning after the airing of the final
“People started offering me money for my cakes and that was a total revelation,” he said. “If I were to plan what would be the best for me, I wouldn’t be doing cakes. What I planned was to continue dancing and teaching.” At the beginning, he would get an order and then, after the design was confirmed, learn how to make the elements needed for the cake. He would work in the middle of the night in rented caterers’ kitchens. Even after he got a space of his own, he had to bake while wearing a phone headset, taking calls and making appointments. Although the business has since expanded, he still fills many roles — for example, on that particular Friday morning, two of his chefs were out sick and he played “understudy” for both.
‘People started offering me money for my cakes and that was a total revelation. What I had planned was to continue dancing and teaching.’ Photo by Lily Rothman
Ron Ben-Israel
Ron Ben-Israel in his Greene St. bakery.
episode of the first season, a Friday, the busiest day of the week for a wedding-cake company, the atmosphere at Ron Ben-Israel Cakes was calm. The studio is an airy, top-floor space, where almost everything is white save for silver appliances, the blue shining through the skylight, and the rainbow of sugar that covers the cakes displayed around the room. Although he still shudders when he thinks of seeing himself on television, Ben-Israel was pleased with the way the episode turned out. Each episode, during which four chefs compete for a $10,000 prize, took one full day to film. Ben-Israel was up at 5 a.m. and the last to leave the set, he said. While the show was filming he had to clear his schedule. That was no small feat. He couldn’t teach his classes at the nearby French Culinary Institute, at Broadway and Grand St., or work on the custom-designed cakes for which he is famous. That’s where his eightperson staff came in — and, of course, the schedule. His teaching agenda was planned a full year in advance and cakes are, preferably, booked a half-year ahead of the wedding. The Israel-born baker has long had to maintain a complicated calendar, since his many roles have had a tendency to overlap. He discovered dance while he was in the army, when a friend took him to a ballet class. “I was wearing my uniform for the whole thing,” he said. Then, while traveling the world with dance troupes, he took on cooking work to pay his bills between performances. He was in New York and 36 when a slew of injuries forced him to retire from dance and pick up odd jobs, including cake decoration.
Not that he’s a dilettante. He takes each of his many roles seriously, or else he wouldn’t do them. “It’s hard for me to do anything casual,” he said. “A few years ago I did gay tango class and it was so amazing that I immediately registered that night to do every night a tango class, and I had to withdraw because I can’t just do it as amateur.” Between his many responsibilities, “Sweet Genius” was a bit of a break. He likened taping the show to going to a play or teaching a class: a time to leave the cakes behind for a moment. “It was a relief,” he said. “To turn off the phone. To be.” Kathleen Collins, the author of “Watching What We Eat: The Evolution of Television Cooking Shows,” noted that shows like “Sweet Genius” promise to be popular well into the future. “You can just tell that the popularity is seeming not to sate at all,” she said of cooking competitions. Given that, even Ron Ben-Israel realizes that he can’t do everything. “It’s just lots of little details that kind of pile up, pile up, pile up, pile up, pile up,” said Rebecca Taylor, the operations manager for Ben-Israel’s business and brand, with a laugh. “So we’re like, we need help. So we’re bringing that extra help in. We’ve admitted it and now the next step is getting it.” He’s still a master of multitasking, but heading into this winter’s television tapings, and for the first time in his life, Ron Ben-Israel said he would hire an assistant.
December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
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EASTVILLAGERARTS&ENTERTAINMENT Winter’s chill warmed by hot Downtown theater January offerings include a ‘labor’ you’ll love BY TRAV S.D. Happy New Year! Notice the difference? Okay, there isn’t any — but that doesn’t mean we can’t all take a minute to breathe, get our bearings and collect ourselves before jumping back into the rat race. A little rest and recreation! While it’s too freezing to play Frisbee in the park, might I suggest what’s in a few Downtown theatres? First, a show that will kick the year off with both an ending and a beginning. Kate Valentine (one of the early pioneers of the new burlesque scene, with her character Miss Astrid) will be presenting a very special show at Bowery Poetry Club on January 3 and 4. For this one, she’ll be breaking out her other comedy character, pregnant Bay Ridge teenager Crystal McBride. With her friend Brandi Van Pelt (Laura Sweeney),
At performance time, Valentine will actually be nine months pregnant. There is a real chance she could go into labor during the show, in which case special guests Victor Varnado and Abe Goldfarb (a.k.a ‘Bastard Keith’) may have to spring into action with forceps. No problem: I’m sure they’ve done it before! McBride hosts the mock public access cable “The Baby Daddy Show” — wherein the two clue-deprived mothers-to-be seek the fathers of their love children over the airwaves. The rub this time out? At performance time, Valentine will actually be nine months pregnant. There is a real chance she could go into labor during the show, in which case special guests Victor Varnado and Abe Goldfarb (a.k.a “Bastard Keith”) may have to spring into action with forceps. No problem: I’m sure they’ve done it before! Any way you slice it, this is guaranteed to be a memorable evening. More info at bowerypoetry.com. Dixon Place, an important center for the variety arts, is starting the year off right. Of course they always manage to get it right — but what’s got me excited is two monthly series that will showcase scads of New York’s
Photo by Roy Volkmann
It happens every month now: Dixon Place delivers the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus.
top variety acts (plus numerous aspirants). On the first Monday of every month, look for “The Bindlestiff Open Stage Variety Hour.” On the third Monday, “Downtown Clown Revue.” Contrary to what you might think, these are not amateur nights. Yes, they are potential platforms for newbies who want a to premiere a new vaudeville act. But the vast bulk of their bills are made up of established neo-vaudevillians who either want to try out new bits, promote their own shows happen-
ing elsewhere or simply want a little stage time to keep from getting rusty. Such “fraternal” shows are very old school; an ideal set-up for vaudeville networking in the same way that the Monday Night Magic series (mondaynightmagic.com) is for magicians. The Bindlestiff show (which inaugurates January 2) is organized by the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus — fresh from a two-year run at Galapagos. Christopher Lueck’s Clown Revue has been operating at a number of
venues over the past several years (at Dixon Place for the past few months). The next edition is January 16. For information on both: dixonplace.org. Also visit bindlestiff.org and newyorkdowntownclown.com. Two annual winter theatre festivals are back this month. “Under the Radar” (January 4-15) is curated by PS122’s former artistic director Mark Russell, who bills UTR
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December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
Warm up to a trio of winter theater festivals Continued from page 17 as “a crash course in theatre that is exciting, independent and experimental, created by some of the most dynamic artists working today.” The carefully culled menu of offerings includes 16 productions at five venues including “Goodbar” — a “live concept album” based on the novel “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” (which spawned the controversial 1977 film), “Lick, But Don’t Swallow” — a comedy about an angel who comes down from heaven but finds herself trapped in the body of a porn star (apparently the show was banned in Turkey after only one performance) and “The Plot is the Revolution” — featuring dueling Antigones played by Judith Malina and Silvia Calderoni. For more info, see undertheradarfestival.com. Meanwhile, PS122 has COIL, its own festival of experimental dance, theatre and performance works from around the world (January 5-29). Artistic director Vallejo Gantner says that COIL presents work that is “fully realized, but on the bleeding front edge.” Ouch! The 2012 festival may be the most international edition to date, with works from Argentina, Belgium, Croatia, France, Ireland and Lebanon — 11 premieres in all. Among the local entries: “Newyorkland” by director Kenneth Collins and video artist William Cusick, which mashes up scenes from movie and television crime dramas with interviews with real cops; and “Untitled Feminist Show” by Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company. I caught a workshop production of this mostly wordless, movement-based piece by the ever-elusive playwright-director Lee a few months ago. Her work never fails to surprise and inspire. As PS 122’s main space is under renovation, the majority of COIL will take place off-premise at a number of venues throughout the city. To get the skinny, go to ps122.org. A third entry in our winter theatre festival sweepstakes takes us into realms of a more retro kind. The always backwardlooking (and therefore forward-looking) Metropolitan Playhouse will be presenting its Horatio Alger Festival January 16-29. This company has had a tremendous track record of presenting festivals of new work
Photo by John Patrick Naughton
“Who’s Your Daddy?” Kate Valentine and Laura Sweeney in The Baby Daddy Show.
by contemporary playwrights inspired by the likes of Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Nathan Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe. In the current outing, five latter day scribes give us their take on the novelist for young people — famed for his rags-to-riches stories. Given his problematic personal life, there are bound to be some spicy entries. At least one of them (Adam Klasfeld’s “Pluck”) delves into the unsavory backstory (accusations of pederasty) and should make for a rousing evening. Full details at metropolitanplayhouse.org. On January 18, Daniel Talbott’s new play “Yosemite” will be premiering at The Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. I must admit I was initially hoping the play was a
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biographical treatment of the life of a certain Bugs Bunny antagonist with a very large mustache. It turns out that it’s about “three siblings who are sent out into the snow-
A third entry in our winter theatre festival sweepstakes takes us into realms of a more retro kind. The always backward-looking (and therefore forward-looking) Metropolitan Playhouse will be presenting its Horatio Alger Festival January 16-29.
silent woods in the Sierra Nevada foothills to dig a hole that will be deep enough to bury a family secret.” Great Horny Toads! I still hold out hopes that it will have at least some scenes touching upon the rootinest, tootinest hombre west of the Pecos. But even if it doesn’t, the play contains some live action stars weighty enough to justify checking it out, including Kathryn Erbe (known from “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” and many fine productions with Steppenwolf) and Seth Numrich (fresh from “War Horse” up at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre). For more info, visit rattlestick.org. Lastly, the month is ending on a high (low) note with a revival of the notorious musical “Carrie” — famous for being Broadway’s most expensive flop when it premiered in 1988. It ran for only three days, at a cost of $8 million, and inspired an entire book about that debacle and others like it (“Not Since Carrie: 40 Years of Broadway Flops”). The new version, rejiggered and improved (one assumes), will be opening in previews at the Lucille Lortel Theatre January 31. Beware of flying cutlery!
December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
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Just Do Art! COMPILED BY SCOTT STIFFLER
THE LA MAMA CANTATA Most people have one good book in them. By the time she left this mortal stage (on January 13, 2011 — at the age of 91), Ellen Stewart had over 3,000 theatrical productions to her name — having nurtured theater, dance, performance art and music as founder and artistic director of La MaMa (currently celebrating its 50th anniversary season). Writer and composer Elizabeth Swados’ new theater work pays tribute to La MaMa’s mama, by presenting a musical journey through Stewart’s life and times. The text is taken from Stewart’s own word as well as those who knew her well. A cast of 18, accompanied by a piano and percussion ensemble, bring the story to life — and what a story. Arriving in New York (via Louisiana, via Chicago), Stewart spent her early years as a fashion designer for Saks Fifth Avenue — then found herself, in 1961, in the improbable position of being a woman of color determined to open a theater “dedicated to the playwright and all aspects of the theatre.” In the process, she distinguished herself as one of a very few creative types responsible for creating what came to be known as the Off-Off Broadway movement. At the November premiere of “The La MaMa Cantata,” our own Martin Denton (a regular contributor to this paper, and editor of nytheatre.com) declared, “Like the best works at La MaMa over the years, the CANTATA is a dazzling showcase of diversity and imagination. The cast is alarmingly talented. They communicate Ellen’s words, commentary for her collaborators, along with passages from St. John
and Corinthians to honor Ms. Stewart’s spiritual side with passion and joy. Swados’ score is magnificently varied and filled with emotion.” Such high praise from Denton (an enthusiastic theatergoer, but no light touch), plus the long shadow cast by Stewart, is more than reason enough to clear your crowded holiday calendar. At 7:30pm on Thurs., Dec. 29 and Fri., Dec. 30 (the Dec. 30 performance will be live-streamed, and features a post-show talk-back with the cast and creator). At the Ellen Stewart Theatre (66 E. 4 St., btw. Bowery & Second Ave.). For tickets ($25; $20 for students/seniors), call the La MaMa box office at 212-475-7710 or visit lamama.org.
ACCIDENTALLY, LIKE A MARTYR Playwright Grant James Varjas imbued his latest endeavor with an unmistakable ring of truth — by imbibing, dishing and learning valuable life lessons at an East Village watering hole very similar to the old school dive which serves as the setting for “Accidentally, Like a Martyr.” Back in the day, Varjas spent his wonder years as a budding gay man by logging countless hours at The Boiler Room (still going strong at 86 E. 4 St., btw. 1st and 2nd Aves.; boilerroomnyc.com). Decades later, extended families are still being formed at your local gay bar — but today’s young bucks are more likely to be found raising a glass alongside straights and finding their casual kicks with the help of a smartphone app instead of that second Happy Hour drink. “Martyr” is more concerned with the former rather than the latter. In 90 minutes (with a few flashbacks
Photo by Peter James Zielinski
I remember mama: “The La MaMa Cantata” gives musical praise to the late, great Ellen Stewart.
to 2007 thrown in), a group of gay men spend a pivotal winter evening hunkering down in their favorite bar, grappling with life and aging in the 21st century. The cast includes Keith McDermott (who was the young male lead opposite Richard Burton in the original Broadway production of “Equus”) and Brett Douglas (“The Play About the Naked Guy”).
Through January 8. Thurs. through Sat. at 8pm; Sun. at 3pm; Mon. at 7pm. At Paradise Factory (64 E. 4th St., btw. Bowery & Second Ave.). For tickets ($18; $15 for students and seniors), call 212352-3101 or visit ovationtix.com. Also visit othersideproductions.org.
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Front, left to right: Keith McDermott, Grant James Varjas. Rear, left to right: Kevin Boseman, Brett Douglas, Ken Forman, Cameron Pow, Chuck Blasius. See “Martyr.”
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December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
Just Do Art! Jackie Hoffman (currently starring in “The Addams Family” on Broadway), Nashvillebased Peter Depp (star of Sundance Channel’s original series “Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys”), local club and cabaret star Bianca Del Rio (from Logo’s “One Night Stand-Up: Dragtastic New York”) and Jackie Monahan (star of the recent film “Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same”). Between sets, Mr. Montgomery keeps your funny bone lubricated as he pulls a few punchlines of his own. It’s all part of a good (albeit not 100 percent clean) “wild night of outsize LOLGBT hilarity.” Wed., Jan. 4, at 8:30pm. At Gotham Comedy Club (208 W. 23rd St., btw. Seventh & Eighth Aves.). Cover: $20, with 2-drink minimum. For reservations, call 212-3679000. Visit gothamcomedyclub.com and homocomicus.com.
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MATERIAL WITNESSES: NEW WORK FROM THE MANHATTAN QUILTERS GUILD A welcome, unique and overdue addition to the Chelsea gallery scene, The ArtQuilt Gallery NYC continues to make the case for the aesthetic merits (and artistry) of quilting. Their latest exhibit, “Material Witnesses: New Work from the Manhattan Quilters Guild,” showcases work from 21 members of The Manhattan Quilters Guild (a 31 year old professional association of art quilters based in NYC). The Guild’s urban roots can be seen in their chosen subject matter (jury duty, subway construction, legal injustice, crime scene investigation and abstract images of our skyline are all accounted for here). Next up at the gallery: Paula Chung’s “Painting with Fiber: Florals” runs from January 24 through March 4. Then, Sue Benner’s “Walking Through Time” runs from March 20 through April 28. Through Jan. 7, at The ArtQuilt Gallery NYC (133 W. 25th St., btw. Sixth and Seventh Aves.), Hours: Tues. through Sat., 11am-6pm; Sun. and Mon., by appointment. For info, call 212-807-9451 or visit artquiltgallerynyc.com.
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Photo courtesy of the filmmakers and Rubin Museum of Art
High altitude “Hamlet.” See “Prince of the Himalayas.”
FILM: PRINCE OF THE HIMALAYAS
Photo courtesy of the artist
Diana Goulston Robinson’s “The Looking Glass,” from ArtQuilt Gallery NYC’s “Material Witness” exhibit.
The Rubin Museum of Art, The Shakespeare Society and Asian CineVision present the U.S. premiere of “Prince of the Himalayas.” Filmed entirely in Tibet, theater and film director Sherwood Hu’s high-altitude take on “Hamlet” is set in ancient times, under the shadow of the Himalayas. That location alone (a rare sight on American cinema screens) brings an epic scope to the proceedings. Factor in Hu’s eye for lavish costumes, painterly framing and historical histrionics and a good time is guaranteed for all. Well, as good a time as one can have, given the tragic arc of “Hamlet.” Described in the film’s press as “the proto-typical tale of oedipal anxiety, or of the terrifying possibilities of taking action in the social world,” this new cultural take on the melancholy Dane will, in
all likelihood, be worth coming out of your winter cave for. Screenings on Wed., Jan. 11 at 7pm; Fri., Dec. 30 at 7/9:30pm; Mon., Jan. 2 and Sun., Jan. 8 at 3:30pm; Wed., Jan. 4 at 7pm; Sat., Jan. 7 and 14 at 3:30/6pm. For tickets ($12; $5 student rush), call 212620-5000, x344 or visit rmanyc.org/prince. Museum admission included with purchase of ticket. at Rubin Museum of Art (150 W. 17 St., btw. Sixth & Seventh Aves.).
HOMO COMICUS Your indefatigable host Bob Montgomery — that somewhat twisted but lovable den mother of queer comedians — has put together what reads on paper as yet another stellar roster of his long-running LGBT-themed comedy series. The first “Homo Comicus” of 2012 will feature
Photo is by Liz Liguori
Jackie Monahan will assault the mic, and your sensibilities, at “Homo Comicus.”
December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
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Just Do Art! Continued from page 21
PUPPET SCHOOL WINTER SEMESTER You know how it is. You’re making a list of 2010 New Year’s resolutions and one of them goes something along the lines of, “I will enroll in Puppet School next year.” But after the ball drops and the last piece of confetti has been swept away, it dawns on you that NYC doesn’t have a place to learn the importance of breath and weight, eye focus, proper lip-sync, how to walk and run a puppet, basic improv skills, character voices and choreography. What a difference a year makes. In 2012, the Los Angeles-based Puppet School will bring its curriculum to our town. The school was founded by four-time Emmy Award-winning puppeteer Michael Earl (formerly Mr. Snuffleupagus on Sesame Street) and his business partner, Roberto Ferreira. The Beginning Professional Puppet Making Workshop, taught by Randy Carfagno, takes place from 10am-1pm on Saturdays: Jan. 7, 14, 21, 20 and Feb. 4, 11 ($350; limited to 10 students). The Beginning TV Puppetry Workshop, taught by Scott Biski, takes place from 10am-1pm on Sundays: Jan. 8, 15, 22, 29 and Feb. 5, 12 ($350; limited to 10 students). Private lessons are available. Dates for one-day Beginning and Intermediate Puppet Theater Workshops to be announced. At Simple Studios (134 W. 29th St., btw. 6th & 7th Aves. — 2nd fl.). For more info, call 818-986-9944 or visit puppetschool.com, facebook.com/puppetschool and youtube.com/puppetschool.
Photo courtesy of the Puppet School
East coast flavor: Puppet School, based in LA, is coming to NYC.
FACEBOYZ FOLLIEZ For a guy who wants us to know that those noble stabs at New Year’s self-improvement are useless (what with the impending Mayan Apocalypse of December, 2012), Downtown’s daring master of ceremonies, Faceboy, certainly knows how to have a good time before the end times. Case in point, the second installment of his new monthly series at Bowery Poetry Club. Inspired by the famed Folies Bergere, “Faceboyz Folliez” pays homage to those days of yore by gathering a core group of Downtown legends, upcoming newbies and special guests. The result, Faceboy assures us, is a “variety show of the weird and wonderful, with an emphasis on bawdy humor… daring burlesque, live music, creepy films, great writers and crazy fun!” Remember, this offer just might be good only through December, and is void in Tennessee (sorry, Tennessee). January’s installment features St. Rev. Jen Miller, Velocity Chyaldd, Stormy Leather, Amanda Whip and Eva Patron — with special guests John S. Hall, Deity Delgado and Dame Cuchifrita (plus music from The Fools and short films by ASS Studios). Sun., Jan. 8, at 10pm. At Bowery Poetry Club (308 Bowery, btw. Bleecker & Houston). Admission: $10. For info, call 212-614-0505 or visit bowerypoetry.com. Also visit facebook.com/FaceboyzFolliez.
Photo by Ann Bettison Enzminger
Two on a couch: Stormy Leather and Faceboy.
THEATER: HIM Clifford Streit (who was the inspiration for the character of Stanford Blatch on “Sex and The City”) will see the publication of his first novel (“Greydune”) in 2012. Now through January 6, you can see his work as a playwright and director. “HIM” stars Jon Fleming (seen on “Dante’s Cove” and “Will & Grace”) as a hunky actor whose hungry agent wants to keep him in the closet when Hollywood’s A-list starts sniffing around. When a Latina bombshell is brought in to play his girlfriend, the hunk’s boyfriend starts to resent the deception — and everything goes “straight” to hell. Through Jan. 6; Wed.-Sat. at 7pm, Sun. at 2/7pm (no performance Dec.31). At Cherry Lane Studio Theatre (38 Commerce St., three blocks south of Christopher St., just west of Seventh Ave.). For tickets ($18), call 212-352-3101 or visit cherrylanetheatre.org. Also visit himtheplay.com.
Photo by Michael Mallard
It’s me or the closet, buddy — in Clifford Streit’s new comedy (“HIM”).
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December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
ULURP review starts amid questions about public school Continued from page 1 dubbed the “Boomerangs” for their lima bean-like shapes — would be added in Washington Square Village’s courtyard, which would be transformed into a public open space. Extensive rezoning and changes to openspace requirements will be needed in order for N.Y.U. to do everything that it wants under the ambitious concept.
‘I do not have a specific proposal from N.Y.U. on what that school means.’ Scott Stringer
ULURP, or the uniform land-use review procedure, is a process that can take up to seven months, and is required for major projects affecting land use. Under ULURP, following the community board, the application will be reviewed, in turn, by the borough president, the City Planning Commission, the City Council and the mayor. As C.B. 2 Chairperson Brad Hoylman explained at the monthly full board meeting two weeks ago, in January there will be no less than five separate public hearings before the board’s relevant committees, each hearing devoted to specific aspects of the university’s growth plan. In February, there will be a second round of hearings before these committees, during which more input on the N.Y.U. plan will be sought. On Mon., Jan. 9, the board’s Land Use and Business Development Committee will review the zoning aspects of what the university intends to do, and there will be a presentation of the overall proposal by N.Y.U. officials. On Tues., Jan. 10, the Traffic and Transportation Committee will review the plan’s impact on traffic, pedestrian use and mass transit. On Thurs., Jan. 12, the C.B. 2 Parks Committee will consider the plan’s impact on public open space and parks. On Tues., Jan. 17, the Social Services and Education Committee will review plans for a New York City public school to be built on the southernmost superblock. On Wed., Jan. 18, Board 2’s Environment, Public Safety and Public Health Committee will look at environmental conditions as they relate to N.Y.U.’s multi-project development proposal. Locations and times of the meetings have not yet been posted. Check the Community Board 2 Web site (www.cb2manhattan.org) for details. All of the work by the committees, Hoylman explained, “will go toward an overall, or omnibus, resolution on the N.Y.U.
plan” that the board will draft — similar to the one the board issued in November on the ULURP for Rudin Management’s redevelopment of the former St. Vincent’s Hospital property as high-end condos. Kicking things off a few days even earlier, a coalition of 30-plus groups, including the Community Action Alliance on N.Y.U. 2031 (CAAN), the Greenwich Village Block Associations and the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, co-sponsored by C.B. 2, will hold a “Community United Town Hall on N.Y.U 2031” on Wed., Jan. 4, at 6:30 p.m. at the A.I.A. building, 536 LaGuardia Place, between W. Third and Bleecker Sts. The meeting’s stated objective is to “learn how to keep N.Y.U. from destroying our neighborhood.” The Downtown Independent Democrats club is part of the coalition. In an e-mail encouraging people to attend the meetings and make their voices heard, Jeanne Wilcke, D.I.D. president, said N.Y.U. must be stopped from expanding in the Village. “They have expanded in Brooklyn and have cited Governors Island, yet will not consider numerous locations further downtown that are 15 minutes away,” Wilcke said of the university. “N.Y.U. did not expand in Paris because city planners did not agree to noncontextual plans. Our City Planning Commission must raise the bar accordingly. “Major changes from residential to commercial zoning, high-scale development with square footage the size of the Empire State Building, removing long-agreed-upon zoning stipulations, acquiring public green spaces and devastating the neighborhood’s character and balance are not in the public interest,” Wilcke said. Borough President Scott Stringer assured he’ll be fighting hard for the community’s best interests during his portion of the farreaching application’s ULURP review. “This is my Mideast moment coming,” Stringer said in an interview in November. A year ago, Stringer stood with other local elected officials and community residents on a bitterly cold Sunday morning in front of the LaGuardia statue on LaGuardia Place and vowed that the statue wasn’t going anywhere — as in, wouldn’t be shifted to accommodate a bump-out of one of the new “Boomerang” buildings. And, Stringer said proudly, that is exactly what has happened: N.Y.U. redesigned its plans slightly and the plans for the building no longer call for it to extend on to the strip of greenery, LaGuardia Park, where the “Little Flower” stands. “I think N.Y.U. has made some progress in this process,” he said. “Sometimes the car stalls in the way they relate to the community board. “I’m very committed to getting this right,” Stringer said of his role in the ULURP review, which like that of Board 2, is advisory. The verdicts of City Planning and the City Council, on the other hand, will make or break the application. However, the positions taken by C.B. 2 and Stringer will help guide Planning and the Council in their decisions and, in the case of the community
board, will strongly state where the community stands on the proposal. “There’s a lot at stake,” Stringer said. “I think N.Y.U. is committed to working with the community, and I think the community is committed to working with N.Y.U.” However, Stringer recently expressed concern about what exactly N.Y.U. sees as its commitment toward the public school project at the Morton Williams site. The question that he, as well as others, is asking is whether N.Y.U. actually intends to pay
‘I know she said “core and shell” because it was the first time I heard it.’ Terri Cude
for the school’s construction — at least the basic shell of the school, that is — or only provide the land for the School Construction Authority to build on, and offer nothing else. “I don’t think it’s clear yet,” Stringer said bluntly. “I think there’s a desire for a school, but there’s no details on the financing of that school, the construction of that school. It’s an idea, a concept that I do not think has been fleshed out and is something we have to get to. “I do not have a specific proposal from N.Y.U. on what that school means,” he continued. “I don’t feel they have to give [the answer] to us today, but I do think a school is needed there.” Asked point blank if N.Y.U. should fund the cost of building the basic structure of the school — the interior of which could be fitted-out later by S.C.A. at a cost of $30 million or so — Stringer said it’s a question of what N.Y.U. will do to help bring the project to fruition, that there’s a larger “pie,” to which the university could contribute in various ways. “It depends what the final ‘dish’ is,” he explained. “I have not sat down and had a numbers discussion with N.Y.U. — but I think we’re going to get to that.” Another issue is that community board members and Village activists say they recall N.Y.U. officials, at least initially, indicating that N.Y.U. would, in fact, fund the public school’s construction, but that N.Y.U. subsequently has backed away from that commitment. “There is concern that the deal has been reduced to land only, and it’s obviously something that will be discussed during the land-use review process,” C.B. 2 Chairperson Hoylman said. “The community board wants to make clear that the school is not a quid pro quo fro any approvals,” he said, referring to the board’s role in the ULURP process. “N.Y.U. needs to do this because it’s the right thing for the commu-
nity,” he stressed. “This is a community that sorely needs new school seats and this is an opportunity for 600 of them. N.Y.U. needs to make its commitment clear — and it’s not clear at this point. It seems like before it was ‘the core and shell and land,’ and that seems to have been reduced. We certainly don’t want N.Y.U. to go back on its commitment. We need clarification on what was originally promised. Maybe N.Y.U. overstated its public commitment to the school at a certain date and time, and if that’s the case, N.Y.U. should acknowledge it and we should move on and figure out how we can get this school built.” Jo Hamilton was C.B. 2’s chairperson in 2008 when N.Y.U. first presented its mega-plan to the board. She said she recalled the university at that time saying it would build the public school itself, at least the basic structure. “My understanding was ‘core and shell,’” she said, “not building out every little wall, but providing a real building.” But that eventually changed, she said, noting, “In fall 2009, the board learned that they were just talking land.” Hamilton observed that, clearly, the university already thinks it’s making a big financial commitment just by providing the property for a public school to be built. “They paid $23 million for that the land,” she said of the corner lot with the Morton Williams supermarket, “and that’s the way they think of it — it’s a $23 million gift to the city.” On the other hand, Trinity Wall Street — which as Trinity Church received all its land for free from the Queen of England back in colonial times — has pledged to include space for a public school in the base of a new building it hopes to build at Duarte Square at Canal St. and Sixth Ave. Hamilton noted that if the Department of Education doesn’t manage to build the school at LaGuardia Place and Bleecker St. by 2031, the property would revert back to N.Y.U. for its own use. Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, has been a chief watchdog of N.Y.U. and its development projects. “They certainly tried to dangle the carrot of quote / unquote ‘providing a school,’” Berman said. “I think the common-sense understanding of that is that means paying for building it. I think anything less than that is bait-and-switch. Regardless of that, though, no matter how many schools they may or may not be providing, their massive expansion plans should not be approved by the city, and the zoning changes and public land they’re seeking should not be given to them.” C.B. 2 members Terri Cude of CAAN and Anne Hearn both said they recall Lynne Brown, N.Y.U. senior vice president, saying “core and shell” in March 2010 when Brown announced that the university’s plan would include the public
Continued on page 23
December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012
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school. Brown made her announcement at the Borough Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office at the same time as the release of the 40-page N.Y.U. Task Force Report critiquing the N.Y.U. 2031 plan. Cude and Hearn said they had felt miffed that Brown, with her announcement, had upstaged the task forceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s report. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I know she said â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;core and shellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; because it was the first time I heard it,â&#x20AC;? Cude said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I ran home and looked it up because I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what it meant.â&#x20AC;? They said speculation is now that N.Y.U. took back its offer of building the public school so that it could use the possibility as a bargaining chip later â&#x20AC;&#x201D; during the ULURP review process, for example. Asked what specifically N.Y.U.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment is regarding the school, Alicia Hurley, the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vice president for government relations and community engagement, said the city would fund the construction. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The proposal by the university does not trigger the requirement for a public school
in the area,â&#x20AC;? Hurley noted. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are not adding enough new school-age children to trigger the requirement, as has been the case in other projects in the city. However, dating back to 2008, the university first said it would explore the feasibility of a school, and then we committed to integrating space for a public school into the superblocks as we have undertaken the best planning scenarios for the two blocks. We have designated the site of the current Morton Williams supermarket to be the location of the future public school, which is to be built and run by D.O.E. / S.C.A. on their schedule.â&#x20AC;? Hurley said, in fact, there has been â&#x20AC;&#x153;mixed reactionâ&#x20AC;? regarding a public school being included in the plan. Not all neighbors support the idea, to hear her tell it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We broadly understand that there is a desire by the larger community to add school capacity to the district, which is why we agreed to include a provision for a school to be built,â&#x20AC;? Hurley said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;However, when you get to a more granular level and hear from some of the opposition, who live right on or near the superblocks, there is certainly a mixed opinion about having a public school.â&#x20AC;?
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December 29, 2011 - January 4, 2012