Downtown Express

VOLUME 28, NUMBER 11

NOVEMBER 5 – 18, 2015

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DowntownExpress.com

VOLUME 28, NUMBER 11

NOVEMBER 5 – 18, 2015

Living it up Downtown B Y YA N N I C R A C K owntown is on top of the city’s latest health rankings.

Lower Manhattan has the longest life expectancy in the city and ranks high on many other health factors, according to a new study by the Department of Health.

Residents of the Downtown area are also less obese and better educated than most New Yorkers.

Area residents are also near the top of the standings in regular exercise and eating daily fruits and veggies.

As might be expected, fit and brainy Downtowners have the lowest unemployment rate in the city, and nearly the highest rate of having health insurance.

And it’s not just long-lived seniors and gainfully employed grown-ups who are topping the city stats. Kids in Lower Manhattan have the city’s lowest rates of teen pregnancy and highest rates of elementary school attendance.

The health department rated a variety of categories of health and well being in each of the city’s 59 community districts, and the survey showed that residents of Community District 1 — which spans Battery Park City, the Civic Center, the Financial District, the South Street Seaport and Tribeca — are well aware how healthy they are. A whopping 89 percent of residents report their own health as “good,” “very good,” or “excellent.”

As hale and hearty as Downtowners are, Lower Manhattan isn’t itself the healthiest place in the city to live.

Lower Manhattan’s air pollution is the fourth worst in the city, and has the second-highest density of tobacco retailers. And yet Downtown adults are no more likely to smoke than those in other areas, and Lower Manhattan has one of the lowest rates of childhood asthma hospitalizations in the city.

D

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EYE OPENING Oculus retail complex set to debut in spring

BY YAN N IC RACK eep your eye on the Oculus — it will soon be open for business.

The long-awaited reopening of the World Trade Center retail complex is finally in sight, with an opening date expected in the first half of 2016, according to the developer, Westfield Group.

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A spokeswoman for Westfield, Together with the recently opened which is managing the leasing there Brookfield Place to the west, and the as well as at the nearby Fulton Center Howard Hughes Corp.’s redevelopment transit hub, confirmed that the mall’s of the South Street Seaport to the east, THE PIX A C Ashopping D E MYcenter ' S will help 125 tenants are all locked down. theE L WTC “All retail space has been leased turn Downtown into a retail Mecca, or committed and is expected to say local business boosters.

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of any whistleblower events in the past year?”

Mehiel punted this one over to president Shari Hyman.

“There is the open lawsuit, but no official whistleblower,” she said.

In fact, the New York Post reported in September that a former authority vice president, Kirk Swanson, has filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit claiming he was fired for trying to stop fraud in the awarding of authority contracts.

CONSTRUCTION P.S.T.D.

RAISE YOUR HAND FOR FRAUD Fraud, whistleblowing — these are normally delicate subjects organizations rarely discuss in public.

But at the Battery Park City Authority’s most recent public board meeting, an outside auditor had to ask whether or not, you know, there’s any fraud anybody wanted to report.

The auditor, who was probably required by law to ask the awkward question, hemmed and hawed so much that Dennis Mehiel, the authority’s chairman, had to translate her delicate words into more direct language.

For the record, no one raised their hand.

But the auditor wasn’t finished: “Are you aware

To say that Lower Manhattan has been inundated with construction projects is an understatement. In Tribeca alone, long-term ripping up of streets, like Hudson and Chambers Sts., has led to a certain weariness and wariness of new projects.

So, when the five-year, $90-million reconstruction of Worth St. from Hudson St. to Park Row was announced in February, the community board tried to get ahead of it and formed a citizen advisory committee to negotiate with the city about quality-of-life issues, such as the hours and days work can be done.

“Last week, we were side-swiped,” committee member Bruce Ehrmann told the board on Oct. 27.

Hours that had been proposed at earlier meetings — Monday through Friday 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. — were now seven days a week, and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays.

B:8.75”

Anger over years of relentless jackhammers shone through in the board’s resolution in response, which needed to be toned down from the committee’s intial wording, nixing terms such as “contemptuous” and “bungling.”

GARBAGE AU JUS It’s not the type of juice that Downtowners overpay for at fancy shops.

No, “garbage juice” is the greasy liquid that leaks out of trash bags set out in front of restaurants and bars.

Not only can the oily substance actually eat away at asphalt, but rats can survive for days just from licking the stuff off the sidewalk.

Those two disturbing facts were brought to you by Vincent Fang, the legislative director for Councilmember Margaret Chin. Chin and a slew of other council reps are trying to pass a bill that would require eateries and drinkeries to hose off their sidewalks after their trash is collected or be fined.

The Dept. of Sanitation has already raised concerns, like what if the water freezes during winter months. Cryogenically frozen garbage juice would be a Downtowner’s nightmare, and may become rats’ favorite flavor of ice-cream. Fang said they are working with the department for a solution.

Community Board 1, sick of the Downtown rat infestation, voted to support the bill.

T:8.75”

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DowntownExpress.com

New York City November 5 –18, 2015

3

‘AMERICA GOT STUPID’ Everyone’s a critic — including, apparently, thieves. After a man snatched a woman’s wallet in Soho, he ran away shouting, “America got stupid,” police say.

The woman, 27, was walking on Broadway on Sat., Oct. 24 at 6 p.m., when the thief dipped into her pocketbook, grabbed her wallet and took off, police say. He got away with her $400 red Prada wallet, three credit cards, various IDs and $40.

SOUL CRUSHING What would you do to get your workout on? Two men stole a SoulCycle demo bike worth $3,000, police say.

Two suspects snatched the bike, which had been stationed outside the SoulCycle location at 101 Maiden Lane in the Financial District, on Thurs., Oct. 29 at 10:15 a.m., an employee told police. It had been sitting outside the popular workout facility for nine months during business hours without incident.

charges on his credit cards in Queens to the tune of around $180, according to the police report. Police say the thief got away with the man’s Swiss and Italian passports and IDs, green card, global entry card, sunglasses valued at $750, and $1,200 in cash.

SMOOTH OPERATORS Two men working together snapped up a patron’s bag — which included a brand new, $2,000 MacBook — at Fraunces Tavern in the Financial District, police say.

A 49-year-old man went to the historic restaurant at 54 Pearl St. on Thurs., Oct. 22 at around 5:50 p.m. and put his bag on the chair next him, police say. He had also draped his jacket over the chair.

Video shows one thief putting his jacket on top of the patron’s and then going through the victim’s jacket, with his confederate acting as lookout, police say. Then the first thief swiped the bag, which also contained $600 gold cufflinks, a $500 hard drive, a $50 charger, a $50 camera lens and a Mets cap, according to police.

CAFFEINE JITTERS A man needed his Red Bull fix so badly he threatened to slash a CVS employee in order to steal a case of it, police say.

The man, 49, swiped the energy drinks at the CVS at 129 Fulton St. in the Seaport on Sun., Nov. 1 at 11 a.m., police say.

When a male employee tried to stop the suspect, he said, “I will [expletive] stab you,” and brandished a metal object, according to the police report. The thief allegedly tried to slash the employee, but didn’t succeed.

Police arrested him.

SCOOTER SNATCHED “Back to the Future” envisioned a 2015 that had flying cars and hoverboards. Neither has happened yet, but the closest thing to hoverboards, self-balancing scooters, are very popular — including with thieves.

On Thurs., Oct. 29, at 6 p.m. a Tribeca man was watching his son soccer game at the Battery Park City ballfields at the corner of West and Murray Sts. He put his $1,775 black electronic IO Hawk self-balancing scooter on the ground. When he came back, it was gone.

COSTLY CAB RIDE

HOOCH HEIST

Forgetting something in a cab stinks. Having the cabbie then steal your stuff and use your credit cards is even worse.

A 41-yar-old man had that exact experience on Tues., Oct. 20 at 7 p.m., police say. He took a cab to 167 Duane St. in Tribeca and realized he had left his bag in the back after the driver had taken off. He then contacted the cabbie, who refused to come back.

Lo and behold, 45 minutes later, the man noticed three unauthorized

A thief will either get very drunk or make a quick buck after stealing two cases of alcohol worth $400.

A delivery driver was making his rounds on Wed., Oct. 21 and parked his company’s 2003 black Dodge van in front of 100 John St. in the Financial District at 5 p.m., police say. He discovered two hours later that the cases of Ciroc vodka and Baileys were gone. He told police the van was unlocked and there was no damage.

4

November 5 –18, 2015

— Dusica Sue Malesevic

Downtown Express photo by Yeonji Wu

Mario Bros., mom & sis The Brommer family took to the streets of Tribeca for trick-or-treating on Halloween with a Mario Bros. costume theme, featuring 3-year-old Cole in the staring role, dad George as brother Luigi, and mom Rebecca as sidekick Toad. The only family member to go off-theme was sis Katheryn who, being a 5-year-old girl, wore a mandatory "Frozen" costume.

South Ferry stn. entrance shut for nine months Three years later, Sandy is still making trouble for Downtown residents and commuters.

The main entrance to the South Ferry 1 train station closed on Nov. 2 for nine months of repairs as part of the ongoing two-and-a-half-year post-superstorm rehab.

Straphangers will have to enter and exit though through the Staten Island Ferry terminal building or across the street at the Whitehall Street entrance until August of 2016.

The $193.8 million station rehabilitation is to repair the extensive damage wrought by Sandy, which dumped 15 million gallons of salt water into station, filling the entire structure from the track level to the mezzanine — a

Ongoing repairs of the damage wrought by superstorm Sandy in 2012 will keep the main entrance of the South Ferry 1 train station closed until August 2016.

depth of 80 feet — and destroying all electrical and mechanical systems.

The project will also install watertight doors at street level and underground to protect critical infrastructure from future flooding.

DowntownExpress.com

FIGHTER SQUADRON State senator pushes plan for city to take over Battery Park City Authority B Y D U SI CA SU E MA L E S E V IC It was once an unpopular idea, but some feel its time has come.

State Sen. Daniel Squadron showed up at Community Board 1’s Battery Park City Committee meeting on Nov. 2 to make his case for the city taking control of the Battery Park City Authority, which the city could do for $1 — and assuming the authority’s debt.

At the meeting, Squadron joked about an August op-ed wrote in this newspaper calling for the B.P.C.A. to be taken over by the city.

“I’m going to ask everyone to put the op-ed away, then I will be quizzing you on it,” he said.

Squadron has been pushing the idea for years, and when he first broached it in 2012, residents were skeptical. But this week he found a much more receptive audience.

Over the past year, the B.P.C.A. has made several decisions that have raised the ire of the community, such as replacing Michael Fortenbaugh as the operator of North Cove

Marina with Brookfield Office Properties, opening the permitting process for the ballfields, the ouster of longtime Battery Park City Parks Conservancy leader Tessa Huxley — and most recently, hiring private security guards with no enforcement power to replace most the city’s Parks Enforcement Patrol.

“I was shocked, by the way, when it happened,” Squadron said of the authority’s decision to privatize security. “That’s not something that you see happening a lot of other places.”

Squadron is quick to point out that his beef is not with the board’s members, but rather its structure, and sometimes aloof decision-making process.

“It’s not about any individual set of people who are running the authority,” he said. “It’s about over time how we can ensure what’s most important for the community. I believe that now that Battery Park City is no longer a development project, that we need much more local control.”

State Sen. Daniel Squadron made his case for a city takeover of the B.P.C.A. at the Nov. 2 meeting of Community Board 1’s Battery Park City Committee.

SQUADRON Continued on page 10

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“Creating Common Good” Panel Discussion SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8 2-3:30PM Trinity Church A panel discussion featuring the three winners of the “Creating Common Good” essay competition. Reception to follow. h

music & the arts Bach at One WEDNESDAYS, NOVEMBER 11 & 18 1PM St. Paul’s Chapel Come and enjoy the timeless works of Bach in this series of sacred choral music by the Trinity Baroque Orchestra and The Choir of Trinity Wall Street.

THURSDAYS, NOVEMBER 12 & 19 1PM Trinity Church This concert series features a wide array of musical styles and artists. Upcoming: The Thomas Bergeron Jazz Sextet, Nov. 12, and NOVUS NY, Nov. 19.

Music Workshop Series THURSDAYS, NOVEMBER 12 & 19 6:15PM Trinity Church Trinity’s music staff leads a new series of classes focusing on vocal skills, sight-reading, musicology, and more.

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DowntownExpress.com

Through DECEMBER 1

Trinity Church, south vestibule Come view an exhibition created in response to the FDA’s ban on blood donations from non-celibate gay and bisexual men. Features an interactive sculpture and documentary film.

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November 5 –18, 2015

5

BY JAN EL BL ADOW Busy, busy! That’s the buzz in our neighborhood and people aren’t even thinking yet of — oh gosh, don’t say it — the upcoming holidays!

HALLOWEEN RECAP….

Photo compliments of Amanda Byron Zink

Halloween heroes Kolten and Calvin Zink protect their neighborhood from a scary zombie.

The Seaport streets were super spooky this weekend! Not only with little, two-legged goblins and bigger, two-legged monsters, but howl-arious four-legged beasties of all kinds.

The spooktacular action kicked off on Friday with the 8th-annual Salty Paw doggy masquerade party at Peck Slip Plaza. More than 75 dogs donned their frightfully-est and frilliest costumes to parade around the square, making it their biggest pup party ever.

Taking home the top prize for best canine costume was a gorgeously decked out Pretender the Pitbull, canine kid of Front Street neighbor Deb Koblen. She came as the spunky Frenchy of “Grease” fame. Could she sing and dance as well as Stockard Channing? Who cares? She had all the right moves to win our hearts. She won the Salty Paw Spa Experience package — bath, blow out, pawdicure, and lots of kisses.

On Saturday night, the streets really got scary.

Our little ’hood held its 26th-annual Halloween parade and trick-or-treat party, now hosted by the Old Seaport Alliance (OSA). The event has grown so big over the last two and a half decades that it’s been moved from the FishBridge Park at Water & Dover Sts. over to Peck Slip Plaza to accommodate everyone.

Kids and their escorts started lining up at 5 p.m. for a map of shops, restaurants and residential buildings where they could pick up treats. More than 500 kids showed up and organizers quickly realized that lining them up for the traditional parade through the streets wasn’t possible. The fi re department closed the streets so everyone could ramble at will — a big thanks to our Bravest for their support!

Also many thanks to all the businesses that participated. Many ran out of candy before 7 p.m.

“The good news is that meeting in Peck Slip Plaza was a great way to get everybody into one area,” said Amanda Bryron Zink, an OSA member and owner of Salty Paw. “I noticed that people came back to Peck Slip to meet up with their friends again. Plus, it was a Saturday night and wonderful weather which helped make the evening even better.”

TASTE OF THE SEAPORT UPDATE…

The sixth annual street-treats fete a few weeks ago on Oct. 17 to benefit the arts programs of two local schools — Peck Slip and Spruce Street — was an overwhelming success, according to organizers. More than

double the amount of tickets were sold this year over last. The cooking demonstrations by local chefs were a big hit. More than 40 restaurants from Stone Street to Peck Slip were represented.

By 3 p.m. most of the restaurants had run out of food and they had to stop selling tickets.

A lot has been reported about the Health Department showing up to check stands, but organizers say that while the inspectors’ appearance was a surprise, there were no violations or citations issued. Organizers say they plan to work closely with the department next year to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

SEAPORT FUTURE…

Last week’s meeting of Save Our Seaport SOS proposed a vision for the future of the historic district. The group outlined what can be done to bring new life to the area while sticking to the guidelines of the Historic District concept. At the center is the South Street Seaport Museum. The group advocates that the museum receive a lease (not a license) to control all three sides of Pier 16, exclusive rights to the bulkhead between Piers 15 and 16, and the right to lease any spaces on Pier 16 for revenue-generating uses. That’s just one proposal in the 11 point plan, “Fair Lease = Fair Winds.”

The goal is to make the Seaport area the historic and educational attraction it could be. For more on the proposal, go to www.saveourseaport.org, and click on the flyer.

EVENING SHOP TIL YOU DROP...

The Night Markets are on! The next one is Saturday, Nov. 7, starting at 7 p.m. Both the Fulton Stall Market and Cannon’s Walk will be fi lled with local artists and makers selling crafts and all kinds of treats. Local restaurants will offer $5 dishes and $5 beer and wine. Plus there willl be plenty of great live music.

THE RED COATS ARE LEAVING…

It may surprise some neighbors to learn that New York City — then mostly Downtown and the Seaport area — was home base for the British during the Revolutionary War. On Nov. 25, 1783, they boarded their ships and headed hom, leaving America’s shores at last. Now you can retrace their steps and learn about our part in history. The “Evacuation Day Walking Tour,” led

by New York City Tour Guide Fred Cookingham, follows the path of General George Washington and his troops as they triumphantly entered the city. Saturday, Nov. 21, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., meet at Fraunces Tavern Museum, 54 Pearl St. Tickets are $15 for kids and $20 for adults, and must be purchased in advance at frauncestavernmuseum.org.

Photo compliments of Amanda Byron Zink

Pretender the Pitbull won first prize in the Salty Paw Howl-oween canine costume contest dressed as Frenchy from “Grease.”

6

November 5 –18, 2015

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November 5 –18, 2015

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Happy Halloween kids crowd Pier 26 for

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November 5 –18, 2015

Downtown Express photo by Milo Hess

Train buff Jacob Krautmann came to the Halloween Kidz Carnival Pier 26 dressed as a PATH train in a costume made by him mom, Elizabeth Lara.

BY YAN N IC RACK Who needs ghosts when you’ve got rides and cotton candy?

The scene was more happy than haunting at this year’s Halloween Kidz Carnival on Pier 26 in Tribeca, where young trick-or-treaters from near and far whiled away the day before setting out on their annual candy hunt.

Parents said the event made for a fun-filled day in Hudson River Park, with free carnival rides, kid-friendly food trucks, a magician, storytellers, and pumpkin-painting.

“They loved it, they didn’t want to get off the rides,” said Sara Ortiz, who came all the way from the Bronx with her husband Harry and their three kids Meleah, 11, Raymond, 2, and Michael, 2 months. “My husband saw a flyer and we figured it would be a great family event to go to. I thought it was great.”

Many kids turned up in costume, and one of the most original ones belonged to 3-year-old Jacob Krautmann, who came dressed as a PATH train.

“He’s into trains, and he rides the PATH train to see his grandmother every week, so that’s the line he’s wearing,” said his mom, Elizabeth Lara, who made the outfit herself.

The family turned up seven strong, including Jacob’s little brother Sebastian, who was dressed as an octopus.

“They loved it,” said Lara.

“Sebastian, even though he’s only one year old, rode on the merry-go-round.

He loved the space to be able to walk around, and the food truck was also very good. Even though it was kid-friendly food, it was still healthy.”

Melecia Cua, who made the trip from Warren, NJ, said her 14-monthold daughter Faye was enthralled by the interactive storytelling show put on by the Story Pirates.

“She was painting pumpkins, and she listened to the show — she was loving it,” Cua said.

But the highlight for Faye wasn’t Halloween-related at all.

“It was her first time having cotton candy,” said Cua. “She was off the wall.”

DowntownExpress.com

Downtown Express photos by Milo Hess

(Top left) Leo and Dylan Van Der Sande, both 18 months old, came dressed as Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca, riding in a Millennium Falcon built — and powered — by their dad, Erik. (Top right) Sebastian Krautmann was dressed as an octopus, but it was him mom, Elizabeth Lara, who kept him wrapped in her arms — when he wasn’t on the merry-go-round. (Right) The highlight of the event for 14-month-old Faye Cua was trying cotton candy for the first time. (Far right) Superboy Raymond Ortiz, 2, flew down from the Bronx to take in the sights at Tribeca’s Pier 26. (Above) Interactive story-tellers the Story Pirates were a big hit with the kids.

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November 5 –18, 2015

9

Battery Park City to privatize security Out with the Parks Enforcement Patrol, in with security ‘ambassadors’

BY DU SI CA SU E M A LE S E V IC In a neighborhood that has few street crimes but many quality-of-life issues, the Battery Park City Authority’s decision last week to replace the city’s Parks Enforcement Patrol officers with private security guards that have zero enforcement powers has infuriated the community.

In a packed room, the long and contentious meeting of Community Board 1’s Battery Park City Committee on Nov. 2 was punctuated by angry outbursts from many in the community who once again felt left out of the B.P.C.A.’s decision-making process.

“It just seems like a police state,” said Paula Galloway, who runs the Battery Park City Dog Association.

The authority announced at its Oct. 27 meeting that P.E.P. would have a “diminished role” board in local security and approved a $2.1 million contract with AlliedBarton Security Services. The authority is nearing the end of a three-year contract with the city to provide security in and around the area’s parks.

Bringing in AlliedBarton is a way to extend security patrols beyond the neighborhood’s green spaces — the only areas where P.E.P. can operate — and put 30 percent more boots on the ground in the neighborhood at roughly the same cost as the B.P.C.A. now pays the city for the park patrols, Benjamin Jones, the authority’s vice president of administration, said at the board meeting.

AlliedBarton will report to Jones.

At the CB 1 meeting, three AlliedBarton representatives tried to present their plan for the neighborhood, which they will divide into three zones and will be patrolled on foot and on bikes by unarmed “ambassadors,” as they have been dubbed, wearing bright yellow uniforms.

John McArdle, AlliedBarton’s regional operations manager, was heckled and repeatedly interrupted by residents during his presentation.

“The idea is to be brightly visible and extremely engaging,” he said when describing the guards’ fluorescent yellow uniforms.

To which someone in to audience retorted: “It’s not a store. Is this Macy’s?”

Many particulars, such as how much the “ambassadors” will be paid and the exact number of them on patrol at any given time, were not nailed down. This

SQUADRON Continued from page 5

Squadron said the authority’s books are healthy — maybe too healthy to remain under the state’s control. In 2009, the B.P.C.A. was tapped for $200 million to close a hole in the state budget.

Lawmakers in Albany should not be able “to raid it as personal piggy bank whenever they want to,” he said.

Surplus money from the authority also goes to fund affordable housing throughout the city, but Squadron contends that local control would make

10

November 5 –18, 2015

The Battery Park City Authority plans to dramatically reduce the role of the Parks Enforcement Patrol and hire private security guards instead.

was put down to the contract not being signed yet.

But Kevin Francis, the company’s business-development specialist, said that at peak times there may be 57 guards over three shifts for a day. Currently, there are 45 green-clad P.E.P. officers assigned to the neighborhood in rotating shifts, according to the B.P.C.A., and that amounts to about 25 P.E.P. personnel on patrol at any given time.

McArdle explained the guards are trained to enter everything they do — incident reports, take photos — on handheld devices, and each one would carry a phone with a tracking device.

“That way, we can actually quantify what’s going on and where,” he said.

This electronic tracking will allow data analysis — similar to the CompStat system used by the NYPD — to assess where there may be issues of concern, said Robin Forst, vice president for external relations for the B.P.C.A. P.E.P. officers can issue summonses, make arrests, and use force if necessary. They do not carry guns, but do carry handcuffs, batons, and mace.

Joe Puleo, president of Local 983, the P.E.P.’s union, said last week, “Taking [P.E.P.] out and replacing them with private security — who make $12 an hour and

sure more of the money generated by the B.P.C.A. remains in the city.

Squadron also said if the city takes control, he would want to see changes to the board’s structure to include more residents to represent the community.

The city has so far shown little interest in the proposition, but Squadron’s renewed call may already be having an effect on the board.

The B.P.C.A. sent Martha Gallo, a longtime Battery Park City resident and the sole community representative on its six-person board, to the meeting to make the case for keeping the authority

have no jurisdiction — is ludicrous to say the least.”

Puleo pointed out that P.E.P. officers have patrolled the neighborhood’s parks since 1992.

In the past, some residents have complained that P.E.P. officers can be less than helpful, and are no help at all with problems away from their grassy jurisdictions, but recently relations have been good.

“Things right now with P.E.P. are on an up note.

That has not always been the case,” said Martha Gallo, the only B.P.C. resident on the authority’s board.

The authority did not explain why it was reducing P.E.P.’s role in the area’s security. But Forst said the neighborhood has seen a steep increase in foot traffic in recent years, owing to more residents, customers of new commercial and retail tenants, and tourists visiting the nearby 9/11 Memorial, creating the need for “an increased and highly visible security team.”

Frustration at the B.P.C.A.’s decision kept boiling over during the meeting, with accountability emerging as the common theme.

“They keep making decisions without us,” said committee member Tom Goodkind, pointing out that P.E.P. officers are responsible to the public, whereas AlliedBarton is only responsible to who pays.

under the state’s control. It was the first time she has attended a meeting of the committee.

Gallo said she understands residents’ frustration with the authority, but argued that the problems could be ironed out through better communication.

“Battery Park City Authority has lived through many changes of leadership. It’s lived through many crises,” she said. “We need to focus on the results. The process when it comes to structured community input needs improvement. You can’t communicate with the community through the issuance of [requests for proposals].”

To improve communication, she said the B.P.C.A. recently decided to hold quarterly meetings with the community. The first one will be on Dec. 16 at 6 River Terrace.

While Gallo is for improved dialogue between the residents and the authority, she is not for a change from state to city control, saying that such a dramatic change could jeopardize what the community already has.

“In Battery Park City, we have built a neighborhood that has endured 35 years — plus,” she said. “I do not want to put that construct at risk.”

DowntownExpress.com

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11

Pet-à-porter

Posh puppy boutique adapts pet adoptions for concierge class

Downtown Express photo by Yeonji Wu

Shelter Chic co-founder Amanda Folk plays Robin to her pup Lenny’s Batman at the pet boutique and adoption center’s Halloween party on Oct. 31.

BY W IL L CL IF TON Interested in adopting a rescue pet, but intimidated by the prospect of a heart-rending trip to the pound?

Then let Shelter Chic find you a bespoke best friend that meets your exact specifications.

“We want to make it as pleasant an experience as possible,” said co-founder Brittney Feldman.

Finding the right rescue pet on your own can be a harrowing experience, says Feldman, often involving multiple visits to dank shelters full of beseeching eyes and plaintive whimpers that almost — but not quite — drown out the Sarah McLachlan soundtrack playing in your head.

Shelter Chic aims to put needy pets into loving homes with people who might otherwise purchase from puppy mills rather than going the rescue route, said Feldman, by taking on that burden for them. Potential rescuers can quite literally place an order with Shelter Chic, specifying the type of dog or cat they’re interested in — old or young, big or small — and Feldman will scour shelters for a match.

“I will personally find that animal for them,” said Feldman, who recently journeyed to Newark to find a rescue for a local adopter. “It’s like matchmaking for pet adoption.”

Shelter Chic has facilitated such 13 adoptions so far, she said — including two pitbulls.

Feldman is particularly proud of

12

November 5 –18, 2015

those adoptions, since rescued pitbulls are notoriously difficult to place in permanent homes, due to an unfair reputation for orneriness. Shelter Chic is trying to reverse that image — in part with its logo, which features a pitbull in a tutu alongside a hipster cat sporting glasses and a scarf.

The main limiting factor on Shelter Chic’s rescue efforts is a shortage of temporary foster homes — with most of their charges so far having shacked up with Feldman and co-founder Amanda Folk.

Folk used her background in investment banking to launch Shelter Chic as a non-profit, and manages the pair’s pop-up pet boutique that they opened on Oct. 3 in a donated storefront at 79 Chambers Street between Broadway and Church St. in the Civic Center, selling high-end pet accessories on consignment to support their adoption efforts.

“This is certainly more rewarding,” she said.

The shop threw a doggie-dress-up Halloween party over the weekend.

Folk’s own dog Lenny came as Batman, and she gamely dressed as Robin.

The Shelter Chic boutique sells such posh items as dog- and cat-themed pillows hand-crafted in Ireland, and pet-proportioned haberdashery from Little Bear — “a fashion brand aimed at dogs” which eschews the cheesy dog-bone motifs so common in low-end canine couture.

“It’s like, ‘we know it’s a dog,’” said DowntownExpress.com

Little Bear designer Annie Masarie at the Shelter Chic Halloween party, noting that her label prides itself in crafting fashionable “people-style” clothes for the four-legged set.

“It’s clothes that you would wear,” said fellow Little Bear designer Lukas Storaci, “but for dogs.”

True to her mission, Feldman also brought her current foster pets to the party, to introduce them to folks dropping by the store in the hopes of finding them loving homes. Adele, a polydactyl cat with only one eye but a few bonus toes, clearly felt she didn’t need a costume, and spent most of the day dozing in the back of the shop. But Carmelo, a mystery-mut mix Feldman rescued from a shelter in Puerto Rico, sported a fan-pleasing Mets jersey and a kerchief articulating what he couldn’t: “Adopt me!”

Feldman hopes the boutique will help raise enough money to eventually open a dedicated shelter for animals awaiting placement, but in the meantime, Shelter Chic’s adoption efforts depend on volunteers stepping up to help foster the animals in their own homes.

“We are in desperate need for fosters,” Feldman said.

The time commitment involved in

Downtown Express photos by Yeonji Wu

Shelter Chic sells pet-proportioned prêt-à-porter fashions — like this tiny, $49 bathrobe from Little Bear — with the shop’s profits going support adoption efforts.

fostering differs according to the type of animal, Feldman said, with small dogs taking about two weeks to place in a permanent home, large dogs taking about a month, and cats as long as two months. Shelter Chic covers all expenses.

Anyone interested in fostering, adopting or donating can contact Shelter Chic through its website: Shelter Chic president and co-founder Britney Feldman shows off some of the T:8.75” high-end, pet-themed items on offer. www.shelterchic.org.

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DowntownExpress.com

November 5 –18, 2015

13

Liberty St. Bridge inches toward completion

BY DU SI CA SU E M AL E S E V IC The closed Liberty Street pedestrian bridge has taken a small step toward reopening — but it still has quite a hike ahead.

The Battery Park City Authority has finally finished work on the eastern protion of the enclosed walkway over West St., said Gwen Dawson, vice president of real property, said at the authority’s meeting on Tues., Oct. 27.

This clears the way for the multitude of other agencies involved in the Kafakaesque reconstruction to get their parts of the work done.

Once the state Department of Transportation wraps up its frontage work on West St., which is slated to be done by the end of this year, Brookfield can fit out the interior of the bridge, Dawson said.

If all goes smoothly, the bridge may be open by late spring or early summer, she said.

The authority originally contracted Tully Construction to do the work in 2009, and expected the project to be completed in 2010, but “scheduling challenges” of coordinating with both the Port Authority and the state D.O.T. delayed the start of the work for about six years, said Dawson. The authority spent almost $4 million for its portion.

The Liberty Street Bridge will connect Brookfield Place on the west side of West St. to Liberty Park, a one-acre green space currently under construction atop the Port Authority’s Vehicle Security Center for the new World Trade Center campus.

Earlier this month, Glenn Guzi of the Port Authority told Community Board 1 that Liberty Park would not

Downtown Express photo by Dusica Sue Malesevic

The Battery Park City Authority has completed work on its portion of the Liberty Street pedestrian bridge, but a handful of other agencies now have to do their part before the passage over West St. can reopen — hopefully by late spring.

open until the bridge is complete.

Before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the bridge, originally known as the South Bridge, connected the World Trade Center to the World Financial Center, now

known as Brookfield Place. The bridge sustained heavy damage during the attacks, but did survive. It was repaired and reopened in 2002, but was closed in May this year for the current work.

Civil servant moves to civic service

BY DUS ICA SU E M A L E SE V IC Community Board 1 has gained a member who’s an expert on a topic very pertinent to Lower Manhattan: land use.

Reggie Thomas, 29, recently joined the board after about eight years in city government, with a background in land use, the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, and negotiating economic development deals.

Thomas started out as a special assistant for Comptroller Scott Stringer back when he was Manhattan borough president, then become legislative director for then-Councilmember Leroy Comrie, who was land-use chairman at that time.

Thomas then moved to the Bloomberg administration as deputy director of legislative affairs. Most recently, he served as first deputy director of legislative affairs in the de Blasio administration.

He decided to leave city government after what he said were a “crazy busy” five years.

“It was just one of things where I

14

November 5 –18, 2015

was about to hit 30 and I had not had private sector experience in quite some time. I think the last time I had private sector experience, I was working at the Starbucks on Park Row when I was at Pace,” he said.

Thomas is currently an advisor for the government and regulatory policy practice at Manatt, Phelps & Philips.

Originally from northern New Jersey, Thomas moved Downtown in 2003 to attend Pace University, where he studied political science and economics and said he spent most weekends at the law library.

He said he went to his first CB 1 meeting in 2005 and has been hankering to participate in such ground-level governance ever since.

“There was a lot of interesting things going on,” he said. “I was the student body president at Pace at the time, so they let me go to my first community board meeting and I feel that I’ve always wanted to join since.”

Unfortunately, that same impulse for public service led him into a career that precluded joining the community board.

“The dilemma was all of my prior jobs in city government almost had me conflicted out,” he said.

Thomas applied to the board earlier this year, and said that on his first day at Manatt he got the call about his appointment. Longtime member Noel Jefferson left the board at the end of September.

With the exception of two years, Thomas has lived in Lower Manhattan since 2003, and currently resides in the Seaport.

“I’m awfully interested in sort of how the Seaport is going to develop,” he said. “It’s interesting the amount of investments that Howard Hughes is making, but obviously I’m concerned about these investments being done in a responsible way.”

The number of people making their home Downtown has transformed it, and Thomas said he is interested in working on quality of life issues.

After almost a decade working for the city, he’s excited at the prospect of working for his neighborhood.

“My focus over the past five years, especially working over two adminis-

Newly minted Community Board 1 member Reggie Thomas.

trations, has been citywide,” he said.

“And now I’m just really excited about the opportunity actually to contribute a little bit more in a more focused way toward my own community.”

DowntownExpress.com

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Apply online or through mail. To apply online, please go to: www.nyc.gov/housingconnect. To request an application by mail, send a self-addressed envelope to: Bridge Land West LLC, 1357 Broadway, Box 438, New York, NY 10018. Only send one application per development. Do no submit duplicate applications. Do not apply online and also send in a paper application. Applicants who submit more than one application may be disqualified.

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Español

After the deadline, applications are selected for review through a lottery process. If yours is selected and you appear to qualify, you will be invited to an interview to continue the process of determining your eligibility.

Interviews are usually scheduled from 2 to 10 months after the application deadline. You will be asked to bring documents that verify your household size, identity of members of your household, and your household income.

Para recibir una traducción de este anuncio y la aplicación en español, envíe un sobre con su dirección a Bridge Land West LLC, 1357 Broadway, Box 438, New York, NY 10018. En la parte posterior del sobre, escribir en inglés la palabra "SPANISH".

Las solicitudes llenas deben enviarse por correo a más tardar el December 14, 2015.

10018

New York, NY 10018 ( ) December 14, 2015

Kreyol Ayisyien

“CHINESE”

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Bridge Land West LLC, 1357 Broadway, Box 438, New York, NY December 14, 2015

“KOREAN” .

Bridge Land West LLC, 1357 Broadway, Box 438, .

Pou resevwa yon tradiksyon reklam sa a ak aplikasyon an nan lang, voye anvlòp ki gen adrès pou retounen li a nan Bridge Land West LLC, 1357 Broadway, Box 438, New York, NY 10018. Dèyè anvlòp la, ekri mo, “HAITIAN CREOLE” nan lang Anglè. Ou dwe tenbre aplikasyon ou ranpli yo anvan dat December 14, 2015.

Bridge Land West LLC, 1357 Broadway, Box 438, New York, NY 10018.

“RUSSIAN” 2015

December 14,

Mayor Bill de Blasio HPD Commissioner Vicki Been HDC President Gary D. Rodney

www.nyc.gov/housingconnect DowntownExpress.com

November 5 –18, 2015

15

New look, new editor PUBLISHER

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16

November 5 –18, 2015

You may have noticed a few changes in this issue of the Downtown Express.

The bolder headlines are probably the most visible evidence of a change you’ll see on the masthead on the left.

After more than a decade at the helm of Downtown Express, Josh Rogers is moving to a new role as editor-at-large where he will continue writing in-depth articles on local issues not only for this paper, but also our sister papers The Villager, The East Villager, and Chelsea Now, as well as our newest title: Manhattan Express, which covers the island from Midtown up through the Upper East Side and Upper West Side.

I’m now stepping into Josh’s

formidable shoes at this paper, and I hope to keep it up to the standards he set, providing the engaging local coverage you have come to expect.

But I also want the Downtown Express to change along with the neighborhoods we cover — a resurgent area that has become the most dynamic part of the greatest city in the world.

New residents are flocking to places such as Tribeca, the Financial District, and the Civic Center, so I want them picking up this paper to get the latest on their new neighborhoods. I want the thousands of people who work in Lower Manhattan during the day to look to the Downtown Express to find out

about new places to shop and do lunch. And I want to help residents of long standing to keep up to date on how their neighborhoods are changing.

So look for more coverage of new restaurants and stores, as well as the real estate deals that are reshaping Downtown Manhattan now and in the future.

Our website, DowntownExpress.com, will also see more frequent updates — including timely stories that don’t make it into our biweekly print edition — and it will get its own redesign soon.

As always, the lifeblood of any community newspaper is the engagement of the community it serves. We are here

Downtown Express photo by Yeonji Wu

Downtown Express Editor Bill Egbert.

to keep you and your neighbors informed, and to cover the stories you care about. So I encourage you to contact us with tips, suggestions and ideas — even complaints — at news@downtownexpress.com.

— Bill Egbert

‘Got milk?’ No, not that almond stuff — real milk!

B Y LE NO R E S K E N AZY “Where’s the milk?” I asked my bestfriend-from-high-school, Gigi, as I peered into her fridge.

“It’s right there!”

“Where?”

“There!”

But, as Gertrude Stein would have said — if she needed something to pour in her coffee and was still alive — “There’s no ‘there’ there, only almond milk.”

Gigi shrugged.

“That’s what we drink.”

And therein lies a tale. There was no cow milk in Gigi’s fridge, no white bread in her bread box, and no peanut butter in her cabinets — only almond butter. Without even realizing it, Gigi had become what we used to call a health nut, but is now apparently a health mainstreamer, leaving good ol’ milk-drinking, Wonder-loving, candy-gobblers like me behind. Folks who still eat hot dogs, if you can believe that, despite WNYC reporting for 36 hours straight last week: “The World Health Organization says processed meat is bad for you. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad!

Donate now, before you drop dead.”

Simply by standing in place, I’d become abnormal, like a gal still wild about Earth Shoes. Or Pet Rocks. Or Jeb! Everyone else today is eating or juicing something they never thought they’d even consider food. A guy I know (who was briefly a pro football player!) just mentioned he is into hemp hearts.

Hemp has a heart? It’s legal to eat?

He says he mixes the hearts into cheesy eggs, which sounds somewhere between revolting and felonious.

But hemp is just one of those things that people say, “I’m into now.” LIke Kombucha — the stuff in bottles that looks like pond water. And chia! If chia can go from pet to food, what hope is there for puppies? Another high-school friend of mine (they’re all turning!) now “cheats” by eating chia pudding!

Cheats on what? Gently sauteed pine needles? Liver smoothies? How is it cheating to eat something so healthy that it still grosses out at least a portion of the population?

“Marcy!” I typed at her. “You were the one who introduced me to the food that is totally worth cheating with: Hostess Fruit Pies. What happened?”

She typed back (where would we be, friend-wise, without Facebook?): “Chia pudding is made with chia seeds, almond milk, cacao [or, for those that still speak English, cocoa], maple syrup, and vanilla extract. As the seeds soak, they become tapioca-like.

Makes a yummy pudding. Hostess Fruit Pies?! I forgot about those.”

Forgot?

I know, I know — people’s tastes change, and change is good. My friend Sue is eating beets now. She used to spit them out back when beets were on everyone’s shelf — sometimes for years — in a can.

Then recently someone convinced her to eat them for good luck and she gave them an open-minded nibble. Now Sue’s a beetnik, and I worry that the vegetable is a gateway to hemp hearts!

And others are opening up to celery root.

All those ancient grains are taking over, too.

Not for nothing do they call it Faro.

The problem is not that people’s tastes are shifting. They always do. It is that they seem to be lurching.

“I got all into trying to go vegan, then I got into paleo — huge shift, I know,” I saw a mom confess online.

The soy milk folks are getting into butter. The pescatarians are trying pork. The NutraSweet crowd is swearing by Stevia.

And I wasn’t going to mention kale, but it is the elephant in the kitchen.

“It’s an aspirational vegetable,” explains Nancy McDermott, an independent researcher and advisor to Park Slope Parents. “It’s also very pretty. I saw a nice Kale tattoo on Facebook the other day. But eating it, preparing it, is difficult. I hate having the cut out the stalks, and then rolling the leaves and cutting them. And as for bruising it, I think you’d have to sleep with it under the mattress to make it tender enough to eat.”

By the time we are sleeping with our kale, all bets are off. It’s driving me to drink.

But not kombucha with almond milk.

Lenore Skenazy is host of the reality show “World’s Worst Mom” on the Discovery Life Channel. She is also a public speaker and author and founder of the book and blog Free-Range Kids.

DowntownExpress.com

Three years after Sandy, is lower Manhattan better protected?

BY CAT H E RI N E M CVAY H U G H E S Water surrounds Community Board 1 on three sides, and we experienced one of the highest inundation levels in Manhattan during Superstorm Sandy on Oct.29, 2012, with seven feet of water in some areas. Two people drowned in our district that night three years ago, and property damage was extreme.

Sandy proved that Lower Manhattan is in desperate need of immediate resiliency and hardening measures. We are concerned about both the short and the long term. Lower Manhattan remains largely unprotected at Sandy’s third anniversary, and the potential is increasing for extreme weather events in Lower Manhattan.

CB1 is encouraged that progress is being made. A wide-ranging community-based process with New York Rising, an initiative of Gov. Cuomo, showed that a top priority was to address the needs of the vulnerable population and focus on making Lower Manhattan more resilient. This lead to the allocation of $6.75 million in state and city funds this past March for an engineering and planning study. The study will start next spring and will take two years. This means that there will be no study — no plan — before spring 2018.

On Tuesday the city submitted its

application for a possible grant of up to $500 million in the Natural Disaster Relief Competition (NDRC) Phase II. Recently, the city committed to contribute $100 million to leverage potential funding for the Lower East side from Montgomery Street, north of the Manhattan Bridge, down to the Battery Maritime Building.

After intense lobbying by CB1, we established last week that the “Manhattan Tip” will now include Battery Park City and Tribeca, making the planning scoping area consistent with the application. The Federal government will announce in January which of the 40 applications from around the country will win a portion of the $1 billion.

The city’s April 2015 report continues to mention the multi-purpose levee along Lower Manhattan’s eastern edge called “Seaport City” and this resiliency effort is being led by the city’s Economic Development Corporation. Specifically, CB1 is concerned about the long-term plan for this area of CB1’s Seaport and Financial Districts which envisions high-density development in an area already lacking critical infrastructure such as public school seats for a growing population and overloaded, deteriorating public transportation.

Posted To

chairwoman

Mayor de Blasio released a report projecting sea-level rise in New York City between 11 inches and 21 inches by the 2050s, between 18 inches and 39 inches by the 2080s, and between 22 inches and 50 inches by 2100, with a worst-case projection of up to six wfeet by 2100.

The future is clear: higher water levels and more frequent flooding. In addition to extreme events, “nuisance” flooding — inundations hurting only lower-lying areas — will also increase.

Veterans honored at 9/11 Memorial

"HARLEY, A REBEL WITH A CAUSE: HOGGING THE PLAZA" (POSTED OCT.22) I like the Harleys parked outside of the store.

They add a 'coolness' to TriBeCa and are welcomed.

Janet

"NASTIEST DOWNTOWN SUBWAY STATION FOUND" (POSTED OCT.14) Thanks to State Senator Daniel Squadron for this review - even more important - this great City needs subway elevators - not used as bathrooms and screen doors to keep riders from falling onto the tracks - something the MTA is very concerned about. Screen doors would actually also allow for HVAC. The subways are no way to get to and from if you're over 50 or with small children - we need better leadership and vision, more than just maintenance, for our modern City.

Tom Goodkind DowntownExpress.com

Community Board 1 Catherine McVay Hughes.

CB1 is a major business district and employment hub, the fastest-growing residential area in the city, and the linchpin of our tri-state mass-transit system. Climate change threatens all these assets, which benefit the entire city and the country as a whole.

Earlier this month I joined conference calls with the Office of Emergency Management on preparations for Hurricane Joaquin. Luckily, Joaquin veered out to sea. But extreme weather events are the new normal, and we must address the causes of climate change. Making excuses that it is too complicated or too expensive is defeatism: our friends in Holland and throughout Europe have found ways to minimize the threat of sea level rising and intense weather events. The technology is there and proven.

We are only at the beginning of a long process to harden our waterfront and save our city. Currently the portion of the “Big U” for the “Manhattan Tip” which includes CB1 is just a line on paper. Funding, design and construction will demand community participation and support.

Catherine McVay Hughes is the chairwoman of Community Board 1, which covers Tribeca, Battery Park City, the Civic Center, the Financial District and the South Street Seaport area.

In honor of Veterans On Nov. 9, Day, the National American flags will be September 11 Memorial placed on the memorial and Museum will pay at the names of the first tribute to the nation’s responders killed in the veterans during a speattacks who were also cial five-day “Salute veterans. to Service” beginning Nov. 9 through on Saturday, Nov. 7 Nov. 11, Dr. Andrew and running through Hammond, Mellon Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

Foundation postdoctorThroughout the al fellow, will present National September 11 Memorial and Museum five-day event, a World Trade Center On Nov. 11, yellow roses like these will be placed on the StoryCorps animated Steel in Afghanistan at memorial at the names of U.S. veterans who were killed short film featuring the museum, describin the 9/11 attacks. true stories of military ing some of the earliest service will be screened in the museum auditorium. and most significant post-9/11 missions carried out by Over the weekend, ticketed museum guests with chil- U.S. Special Forces. dren will be invited to participate in activities focusing On Nov. 11, yellow roses will be placed on the on themes of heroism and patriotism, such as creating a memorial at the names of those killed in the attacks quilt inspired by the National 9/11 Flag, and writing a who served in the United States military. postcard to a veteran or first responder.

Veterans will receive free admission to the museOn Nov. 7, K9 for Kids returns to the museum’s um during the five-day Salute to Service, and over the Education Center with trained disaster-relief canine Chance, weekend, families accompanied by a veteran can get and his handler, certified trauma responder Frank Shane. two half-price museum tickets.

November 5 –18, 2015

17

Open House | City and Country Wednesday, November 13, from 6-8pm

How a child learns to learn will impact his or her life forever.

Progressive Education for Two-Year-Olds – 8th Grade

Downtown Express photo by Yannic Rack

The West Concourse opened to foot traffic two years ago, but the retail spaces are still boarded up.

Open House | City and Country Wednesday, November 13, from 6-8pm

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November 5 –18, 2015

OCULUS Continued from page 1

“It’s going to be even more of a destination,” said Jessica Lappin, president of the Downtown Alliance. “We have been excited about the Westfield center opening for a long time. This area has changed a lot, and is still changing very quickly, and this development is an exciting piece of the puzzle.”

The West Concourse — the first piece of the project that links the WTC site with Brookfield Place and the New York Waterway Ferry Terminal — opened to foot traffic two years ago, but its retail gallery is still covered up, waiting to open together with the rest of the complex’s stores.

Once it opens, the sprawling Westfield WTC retail center — larger than six football fields — will be the largest shopping complex in Manhattan.

It will fill two levels under the vast roof of the WTC Transportation Hub — also known as the Oculus — as well as lining the underground concourses connecting the entire complex.

The Santiago Calatrava-designed hub rises 150 feet at its highest point and has raised eyebrows with its extravagant and costly design — a series of rib-like structures crossing over the roof and jutting out on either side of the peak.

Shops that have been confirmed so far for next year’s opening include Michael Kors, True Religion, and Victoria’s Secret, a range of high-end cosmetics and jewelry stores, as well as food destinations like Eataly and Market Lane.

The Westfield spokeswoman said only 57 tenants have been announced so far, and that many of the nearly 100 retailers rumored on local blogs to be coming will not be in the mix.

“There have been some inaccuracies reported previously with respect to tenants,” she said.

The WTC Transportation Hub will eventually replace the old PATH station that still stands next to the Oculus.

Tracks at the old station have been partially closed while new platforms are built, and the station will be completely demolished once the hub is open to make way for a performing arts center on Vesey St. between Greenwich St. and W. Broadway.

A spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the bi-state agency rebuilding the area, said the hub would fully open in the first quarter of 2016, ahead of the stores, although an exact date has yet to be set.

“I think we’re going to open the Oculus and everything else maybe a little bit before the retail,” he said.

The West Concourse, with its balcony level leading to the entrances of Condé Nast and the 1 WTC observation deck, will then be connected through the Oculus to the so-called East End Concourse — another underground passage leading to Liberty St., with an entrance at the corner of Liberty and Church Sts., as well as to 4 WTC, and eventually to 3 WTC once it opens in 2018. Stores will also be added on the lower floors of both 4 WTC and 3 WTC. Westfield expects the retail complex to average $700 million to $1 billion in annual sales, with shops ranging from about 800 square feet to 8,000 square feet.

NYU’s Rudin Center just released a study showing that the Port Authority will actually recoup the nearly $7 billion it is investing in the site over the next 20 years.

The report also noted the longtime economic impact the redevelopment, which is slated to be completed by 2019, will have on Lower Manhattan. The site will eventually provide jobs for 51,000 people earning yearly wages totaling around $7 billion, the study showed.

DowntownExpress.com

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DowntownExpress.com

November 5 –18, 2015

19

Gateway upgrading Windows 10K

Residents’ long-time pane in the glass may end next year

BY BILL EGBERT The good news for Gateway Plaza residents is that the building’s management finally plans to replace all 10,000 of its notoriously drafty windows. The bad news is that the work won’t even begin until next spring, and the mammoth job won’t be done before mid-winter next year at the earliest.

The announcement came at the start of the Gateway Plaza Tenants Association’s annual meeting on Oct. 29, and the group’s president said the news was a long time coming. “The issue of the window replacement has been a longtime point of negotiation and discussion, and we’re delighted that the management has finally committed to replacing all windows beginning in the spring of 2016, an undertaking projected to take 10 months,� said association president Glenn Plaskin. “We look forward to lower electric bills.�

Last year, the Downtown Express spoke to residents who saw their power bills nearly double in the winter months dues to drafty windows that let in wind, rain, and even snow.

Plaskin praised Gateway’s landlord, the LeFrak Organization, for finally committing to the upgrade, but residents could be forgiven to having a slightly more chilly response to the news. LeFrak was lambasted for failing to keep a promise made in 2012 to replace or upgrade all of the complex’s leaky windows, poor insulation and aging heating units by the end of 2013.

But the work is really going to happen this time, according to Plaskin, who said that the management has already installed prototypes of the new, double-paned windows in the building for testing.

Some residents are not pleased with the proposed replacements, however, saying they will replace one seasonal headache with another. “The new windows will be side-opening ones,� said 26-year Gateway resident Tom Goodkind. “You can’t have screens.�

So residents who now shiver through the winter months instead won’t be able to open their windows in the summertime without letting in bugs, said Goodkind.

"We're hoping they reconsider," he said.

Work on the window replacements is expected to start in April next year, and LeFrak plans to replace 200 to 250 windows every week for the next 10 months or so, according to Plaskin. But that means no one will have new windows this winter, and many residents will be kept waiting until spring of 2017, so Plaskin suggested that LeFrak could do more for chilly tenants between now and then. “We have two winters ahead of us without the new windows. Is it fair that tenants pay extra in electric usage due to the defects in the building?� said Plaskin. “In the meantime, why doesn’t the management provide a rebate for the higher electric bills?�

Gateway Plaza’s management did not return calls for comment on that idea.

File photo courtesy of Gateway Plaza Tenants Association

The windows in Gateway Plaza are notorious for letting in wind, rain, and even snow — and driving residents’ heating bills through the roof. The landlord recently announced plans to replace them.

Join us as we celebrate the Holidays...Malaysian Style.

Christmas ĂĄ la

Malaysia Follow us on our Road Show events:

Nov, 7th:

Malaysian Kitchen USA, 21 South End Avenue,

Continuing the New York City area’s great tradition as the melting pot of international culture and cuisine, we are proudly presenting all new Malaysian inspired dishes this Holiday season. Our holiday wish is that you enjoy these recipes and that they inspire you to create your very own.

Nov, 14th: DCH Academy Honda, 1101 US 9,

Nov, 21st:

Crowne Plaza Edison, 2055 Lincoln Highway,

Nov, 28th: http://www.malaysiakitchenusa.com/xmas

We end our Holiday Road Show at our Special Gala Event Christmas a’ la Malaysia r 4BUVSEBZ %FDFNCFS r BN BU .BMBZTJBO ,JUDIFO 3FTUBVSBOU 4PVUI &OE "WFOVF #BUUFSZ 1BSL $JUZ /:$ r

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November 5 –18, 2015

DowntownExpress.com

TRANSIT SAM Thurs., Nov. 5 – Wed., Nov. 11 ALTERNATE SIDE PARKING RULES ARE SUSPENDED WEDNESDAY FOR VETERANS DAY Happy Veterans Day! Transit Sam salutes all of our courageous veterans.

To honor the day, the Veterans Day Festival will close Broadway between Liberty St. and Battery Pl. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday. Expect West St. southbound to pick up the slack, but with government offices closed, traffic should move reasonably well.

The Veterans Day Parade in Midtown will close Fifth Ave. between 23rd and 53rd Sts., Broadway between 23rd and 25th Sts., 26th and 27th Sts. between Broadway and Park Ave., and 28th and 29th Sts. between Broadway and Madison Ave. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Veterans will start assembling an hour earlier, so please show respect and avoid driving in the area. Lower Manhattan will see impacts when drivers headed crosstown take 14th and Houston Sts. as they switch from the Lincoln Tunnel to the Holland Tunnel.

The Jets play the Jaguars at 1 p.m.

Sunday at Metlife Stadium. Fan traffic to and from the game will clog up the Lincoln Tunnel, sending drivers down to the Holland. Expect slowdowns before and after the game.

All Manhattan-bound lanes of the Brooklyn Bridge will close 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. each weeknight this week.

The Stone Street Pedestrian Mall

Are Like Family.

will close Stone St. between Broad St. and Hanover Sq., and Mill Ln. between William and Stone Sts. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day this week.

The National Kidney Foundation Walk will close Lafayette and Centre Sts. from Worth St. to the Brooklyn Bridge 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday.

From the mailbag: We have two winners in Transit Sam’s Trivia question for the correct pronunciation of Vesey Street!

The winners are Steve B. and Maureen Vesey G. who write, “Vesey Street is named after the first Rector of Trinity Church, the Reverend William Vesey, who served from 1697 to 1746. Vesey is an English name of French derivation which according to MacLysaght, “The Surnames of Ireland,” has 28 variant forms in England. The surname Vesey is also found in County Mayo, Ireland. My father, Peter Vesey came from County Mayo and as long as I can remember, he and others always pronounced the name Vesey ‘Vee Zee.’ ” Steve and Maureen will both receive signed copies of Street Smart: The Rise of Cities and the Fall of Cars.

For the most up-to-date Gridlock news, follow me on Twitter @GridlockSam and check the website GridlockSam.com.

PEOPLE NEED From mobility assistance to meal preparation, Senior Helpers is ready to help your loved one live independently.

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BROOKDALE

Once you’re here, you’re home.

Come discover the many comforts of our caring community. Become a member of our family and you’ll enjoy the security of never having to move again. Regardless of what your future holds, our communities are designed to care for your needs, through all the stages of life.

Downtown Express photo by Yeonji Wu

Who ya gonna call?

Self-styled “Ghostbusters reenactor” Matt Liviski drove this replica Ecto-1 car all the way from Ohio to make an appearance at the Tribeca firehouse at 14 N. Moore St. made famous by the 1984 film as the headquarters of the eponymous team of paranormal exterminators. Actually home to the FDNY’s Ladder 8, the 110-year-old firehouse closed over the summer for a three-year gut renovation.

For more information, call (212) 791-2500.

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DowntownExpress.com

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November 5 –18, 2015

21

Art wars Robert Janz: artist, poet, poster warrior

BY D U SI CA SU E M A LE S E V IC The nature of New York street art is a constant battle for territory, and Robert Janz has been fighting for his space for years. “Are you ready to see me liberate my artwork?�

Janz asked before tearing a glossy ad off the blue, plywood wall fronting a construction site at Reade St. and West Broadway.

With a satisfied grin, the 82-year-old street artist crumpled up the slick image of a supermodel and admired his own work — a minotaur figure he painted directly onto the plywood — revealed behind it.

Originally from Belfast, the artist and poet moved to a Tribeca studio on Duane St. in 1979 — at a time when, as he recalls it, the neighborhood was a “wasteland and I was part of the waste.�

Now, as the swanky neighborhood booms with renovations and new construction, the plywood walls lining the sidewalks have turned the streets into a studio for Janz. He and other street artists who constantly grapple for space and prominence — against each other and the ads for bands and fashion labels that overtake their work every morning.

Downtown Express photo by Dusica Sue Malesevic

Robert Janz has been filling Tribeca’s streets with his art for years.

Janz fights to keep his work visible — though he admits that his art has always had a transient quality. “I started on the beach,� said Janz. “I was doing drawings in the sand and the waves were erasing them.�

He has created art by drawing with chalk on sidewalks and streets, arranging chairs in patterns in a Parisian park, and even pouring water on rocks.

Janz traveled widely before returning to Tribeca for good, and despite setting down roots, he decided to keep his art ephemeral.

“When I finally decided I was living here, I started thinking of the street as transient also,� he said. “I do things in the street and they disappear.�

Janz refuses to take the subway, opting instead to walk around Tribeca and other parts of Lower Manhattan when he needs to get someplace. Strolling through his neighborhood with him is to see it in a whole new light — a battlefield where territory is JANZ Continued on page 24

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November 5 –18, 2015

DowntownExpress.com

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JANZ Continued from page 22

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usurped from artists by early morning bill posters and reconquered by them during the day.

Some of Janz’s day is devoted to “liberating� his work from behind the posters plastered over them in the wee hours on walls selling space for ads.

But even construction walls that explicitly forbid posters end up hosting Janz’s art. “I started doing these alterations of the ‘post no bills’ too,� he says. “At first, just fooling around. I would see them and so would start changing a few — ‘post duck bills.’ �

Janz continued to appropriate the stenciled admonitions, but it really took hold of his imagination after a friend suggested he incorporate the phrase “Buffalo Bills� — meaning the Upstate football team — but Janz’s mind immediately went to the e.e. cummings alliteratively titled poem “Buffalo Bill’s� about the Wild West icon. “It all clicked — I started doing my own poems in alliteration,� he says. “I took the ‘post no bills’ and turned it into ‘post protest poems.’ �

And so it went from there, branching into many variations of the three-world

Downtown Express photo by Dusica Sue Malesevic

Janz “liberates� his art from behind a glossy advertisement.

alliterative form, such as “mad modern moods� and “soul sinews strain.�

In September, Janz released his first book of poetry, titled “Post No Bills Poems,� featuring photographs of his street-art poetry in the wild.

Meanwhile, the octogenarian street artist has created so many works around the neighborhood — and taken enough direct action to “liberate� them from behind crass commercial posters — that he says the police now know him on sight and sometimes harass him.

No matter, Janz will continue to remake Tribeca streets as his own artistic palimpsests.

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24

November 5 –18, 2015

Help make the holidays brighter for a family in need! Shoppers at Gristedes are invited to make a donation at the register through Thanksgiving weekend for the supermarket chain’s annual “Put a Turkey on the Table of a Needy Family� campaign with St. Francis Food Pantries and Shelters.

The company raised more than $20,000 last year to purchase turkeys for underprivileged New Yorkers, thanks to its big-hearted patrons. “Gristedes is fortunate to have so many loyal and caring customers who pitch in to support worthy charitable causes, such as this one,� said chairman and chief executive officer John Catsimatidi.

The donations bring comfort and joy, added the pantry’s co-founder. “They help us give many deserving families an enjoyable and happy Thanksgiving dinner,� said Fr. Francis Gasparik.

St. Francis Food Pantries and

Donations to the St. Francis Food Pantries and Shelters turkey drive are acknowledged with cards posted on the walls of Gristedes supermarkets.

Shelters supports a network of charitable programs that provide a broad range of services for those in need, including the provisions of food, clothing, shelter, and related social services for the poor.

DowntownExpress.com

Silver trial begins Tarnished Assemblymember has day in court on corruption charges

BY LIN C O L N A N D E R S O N A N D DUSI CA SU E M A L E S E V IC The federal corruption trial of Assemblymember Sheldon Silver got underway this week, with opening statements on Nov 3.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Cohen summed up what the proseduction says the case is all about: “Power.

Greed. Corruption.”

But attorney Steven Molo, speaking in Silver’s defense, countered that the trial was really about friendship.

And he said that U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and the other prosecutors just don’t like it when friends do nice things for each other.

“They don’t like the fact that friends might do favors for friends,” said Molo. “They look at conduct which is normal and legal and they say, ‘This is illegal.’”

Silver is accused of arranging quid

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pro quos with a Columbia University oncologist, Dr. Robert Taub, and realtors that netted him about $5 million in kickbacks.

On Wednesday, Taub, who has been hailed as the prosecution’s star witness, testified that he met Silver in the 1980s, and in the early 2000s he began referring mesothelioma patients to Silver, who then sent them to the law firm Weitz & Luxenberg.

Prosecutors say Silver earned $3 million for these referrals, while Taub got a total of $500,000 in research grants from the state Department of Health.

Silver has represented Lower Manhattan’s 65th Assembly District since 1976 and was the Assembly’s speaker for 20 years.

From his powerful post, Silver did many things for Downtown — including fighting for the community after 9/11 and opening much-needed

President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll

Drawing by Elizabeth Williams

Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Cohen, at podium, making her opening statement on Nov. 3 in the federal corruption trial of Assemblymember Sheldon Silver, on the far left.

schools with his school-overcrowding taskforce — earning loyalty from many constituents that remains undiminished even in the face of his arrest on corruption charges earlier this year.

At an April meeting of his school-overcrowding task force, he

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was greeted with applause.

Silver’s trial on changes of conspiracy, wire and mail fraud, and extortion is expected to last four to six weeks. The 71-year-old lawmaker faces up to 100 years in prison if convicted on all five counts.

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November 5 –18, 2015

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Frederick Wiseman achieves great ‘Heights’ Film Forum run is a record for director, venue

BY SE A N E G A N Widely regarded as one of the most innovative and important figures in documentary film, Frederick Wiseman’s distinguished career spans nearly five decades. Since his 1967 debut, “Titicut Follies” (which exposed worrisome conditions at a state-run hospital for the criminally insane), Wiseman has provided immersive glimpses into how institutions and communities function, by presenting his footage without comment.

At age 85, and with his legacy (40 films) secure, one wouldn’t fault the director for slowing down. Instead, he’s going as strong as ever, as his newest feature, the sprawling, masterful “In Jackson Heights” has just been released to widespread acclaim.

Playing at Film Forum (“really the best outlet for independent filmmakers,” Wiseman notes), it marks his 11th feature to run there — giving him the distinction of being the most-debuted filmmaker in the venue’s history.

“I wanted to do a movie about a new generation of immigrants to America,” Wiseman says, revealing the seed of an idea that would eventually lead him to Jackson Heights — an incredibly diverse neighborhood in Queens. He first visited in 2007 on the recommendation of a friend, and immediately identified its filmic potential.

“One of the things that struck me about Jackson Heights the first time I went there was how colorful it was,” he explains, describing the “color feast” of Roosevelt Blvd. “You want to take advantage of that because it looks great on film.”

While he wound up putting plans on hold after film and theatrical opportunities arose in Paris (“I figured Jackson Heights would still be around,” he jokes), he returned to the idea of shooting a film there in the spring of 2014.

With a little help from leaders in the Jewish and Bengali communities, as well as a professor friend, he hit the streets, capturing a large swath of

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Courtesy Zipporah Films

An aerial view of Jackson Heights, showing the bustling people and “color feast” of the streets.

individuals and businesses in the area.

“It’s a combination of having community informants, in the best sense of the word ‘informant,’ and following my instinct, and luck,” Wiseman says of gathering the footage. Plus, Jackson Heights denizens were receptive to the cameras. “It’s very rare that anyone refuses. It’s equally rare that anybody looks in the camera.”

Wiseman shaped the resulting footage into a vivid, expansive portrait of a neighborhood. Ambling along at a pace that belies its 190-minute run time, the full spectrum of humanity and personalities are on display in “In Jackson Heights” — as is Wiseman’s knack for re-contextualizing the mundane (fruit stands, pedicures, electronics stores) through his bold framing.

From a howlingly funny lesson at a taxi driving school, to somber reflections on discrimination, to the joyous, vibrant celebration of the historic Queens Pride Parade, Wiseman’s film, like its namesake neighborhood, is never dull.

Wiseman’s always maintained

that the shape of his movies, as they stand as finished works, come together during editing, and “In Jackson Heights” is no exception.

“You have to be pretty hardnosed, or at least think you’re being hardnosed, when you’re editing,” he says of the process, noting that of the 120 hours of rushes (raw footage) filmed for the movie, only three hours and change made it into the finished product.

His process (which he describes as akin to writing a novel) involves editing whole sequences together (after discarding about half the rushes), and then attempting to build a narrative from them, in order to “discover” the film.

“As you begin to put the sequences together, themes emerge. I mean, themes emerge to some extent before that as well, but it’s interesting always to see how one sequence informs another,” Wiseman elaborates. “It’s a funny process of trying to be extremely rational about the material, and at the same time paying attention to your

associations in terms of the thoughts drifting through your head. And out of that chaos, the right word, out of that interaction, the movie emerges.

But on one hand highly rational, and on the other highly associational, or non-rational.”

One of the major themes is the passion Jackson Heights residents bring to community issues — issues that often render the neighborhood a microcosm of the entire city. Significant screen time is devoted to LGBTQ and immigrants’ rights groups. City Councilmember Daniel Dromm is seen advocating for public education reform, and the threat of increased rents and gentrification looms large over local business owners.

“I was looking for things that would get me into the issues that were of concern to the community,” Wiseman notes, but is quick to stress, however, that this was never the impetus for producing the feature.

“I didn’t start with an abstract checklist of current issues. It’s just HEIGHTS Continued on page 27 DowntownExpress.com

Film nails nabe’s sprawl and appeal HEIGHTS Continued from page 26

what emerged from the experience,” he asserts. “In a sense the final movie is always a report on what I’ve learned as a consequence of, in this case, living in Jackson Heights for nine or ten weeks, and being totally immersed in [editing] the material for eleven months,” he says, rejecting the notion that his movies are political.

“From my point of view, I make films that are complex analyses of a subject,” he states.

“I don’t make ideological or didactic films. Because if you do that you have blinders on, because you leave things out or emphasize certain things to match your ideological position, and that doesn’t interest me.”

“I think, when a movie works, whether it’s mine or anyone else’s, it works because it moves on two tracks,” Wiseman posits.

“It works on the literal track: who

A mariachi band serenades in Spanish — just one of 167 languages spoken in Jackson Heights.

At age 85, Frederick Wiseman remains a vital voice in cinema.

Heights” a probing, resonant portrait of a community — and it’s Wiseman’s ability to orchestrate it all that makes him America’s premiere documentarian, and a vital voice in cinema.

“In Jackson Heights” runs 190 min. Through Nov. 17 at Film Forum (209 W. Houston St. btw.

Sixth Ave. & Varick St.). For tickets and info, visit filmforum.org or call 212-727-8110.

says what to whom, what’s going on.

And the other is the abstract track, which is what is suggested by the literal events and their relationship to each other.”

This interplay makes “In Jackson

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Sober reflection in an age of uncertainty Grey Art Gallery, Japan Society examine an overlooked decade

Tokyo: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd., courtesy Yokota Shigeru Gallery

Graphication no. 5, May 1970. Cover image by Michihiro Kimura (Magazine | 9 5/8 x 9 /58 x 1/8 in.).

At Grey Art Gallery through Dec. 5.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston | © Hiroichi Goch

Shigeo Goch : Part of the “Familiar Street Scenes” series (1978-1980 | From an edition of 10, printed 2014 | Chromogenic print | 17 7/8 x 21 13/16 in.). At Japan Society through Jan. 10, 2016.

BY ST E PH A N I E B U H M A NN Following World War II, Japan experienced rapid industrialization and an economic surge. However, by the mid-1950s, the US–Japan Security Treaty (Anpo), which sustained American military presence within Japan’s borders, caused much anxiety.

By the late 1960s, this tension escalated, when political radicalism and mass protests erupted across the nation. Yet in 1970, when the renewal of Anpo embroiled Japan in the Vietnam War, the post-war “economic miracle” gave way to a recession — and activism dissolved into apathy.

By including traditional photography, photographic installations, photography books and 16mm film projects, curators Yasufumi Nakamori and Yuri Mitsuda succeed in providing — for the first time — a good overview of an overlooked decade, when art and photography drew closer together than ever before.

This excellent group exhibition, “For a New World to Come: Experiments in Japanese Art and Photography, 1968-1979,” examines the groundThrough Dec. 5 at Grey Art Gallery (100 breaking shift in the Japanese cultural landscape during this time. Comprised of approximately 250 Washington Sq. East btw. Waverly Pl. & objects by no less than 29 artists, it documents how Washington Pl.). Hours: Tues., Thurs., Fri., 11 the social discord in Japan coincided with the emer- a.m.–6 p.m.; Wed., 11 a.m.–8 p.m.; Sat., 11 a.m.–5 gence of a new visual language. As many Japanese p.m. (visit nyu.edu/greyart). Through Jan. 10, BUTembrace NOT UNDERSTAND? 2016 at Japan Society (333 E. 47th St. btw. First artists and photographers began Doto people seem to mumble,camespecially in noise?

Do you have difficulty understanding the television? & Second Aves.). Hours: Tues.–Thurs., 11 a.m.–6 era-based experiments, they developed a uniquely p.m.; Fri., 11 a.m.–9 p.m.; Sat.–Sun., 11 a.m.–5 sober and sometimes introvertedExperience viewpoint You reflecCan Trust The Center for Hearing and Communication has p.m. (visit japansociety.org). tive of an age of uncertainty. been helping New Yorkers hear and communicate

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JACOB A. RIIS Revealing New York’s Other Half Inequality remains a fact of life in America. A century later, this New York master’s photos still explode with outrage.

“HEART - RENDING RETROSPECTIVE ” – The New York Times

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Just Do Art

Photo by Henry Hungerland

Play along with Bill Kirchen (pictured) and other greats, at Nov. 8’s Guitar Mash Benefit Jam.

Photo by Steven Sloman | © 2015 Frank Stella/Artists Rights Society, New York

Courtesy VAEFF

Frank Stella’s “The Whiteness of the Whale” is at the Whitney, where a marathon reading of “Moby-Dick” takes place Nov. 13 & 14.

“An Evening in Space,” the David LaChapelle-directed video from Daphne Guinness’ debut album, screens at Nov. 12–14’s Video Art and Experimental Film Festival.

B Y S C O T T S T IF F L E R

GUITAR MASH BENEFIT JAM If you have an axe to grind, bring it and play along as the action unfolds on stage.

If not, don’t fret — but do sing, because lyrics will be projected, along with tabs. It’s all in keeping with the Guitar Mash Benefit Jam’s participatory ethos, which encourages its audience to get in on the act. Featured performers worth emulating include Binky Griptite, Bill Kirchen, Brandon “Taz” Niederauer, and Bakithi Kumalo (composer of Paul Simon’s “Call Me Al” bassline). Even though you’ll provide some of the talent, this event is strictly pay-to-play. Welcome to show business, baby! No worries though, since proceeds from your ticket go to Guitar Mash, a nonprofit that provides opportunities for young guitarists from diverse cultures and ability levels to learn and play together.

Sun., Nov. 8, 12 p.m. at City Winery (155 Varick St. at Vandam St.). Tickets start at $50 (includes artisanal brunch). For reservations and info, visit GuitarMash.org. On Facebook at facebook/comGuitarMash, Twitter (@GuitarMashNYC) and YouTube: GuitarMashNYC. Venue info at citywinery.com/newyork.

MOBY-DICK: A MARATHON READING Like the elusive white whale it has an all-consuming obsession with, this collaboration between Moby-Dick Marathon NYC and the Whitney Museum of American Art is impossible to digest in one sitting. That’s why, in a nod to the epic sprawl of Herman Melville’s 1851 novel, it plays out over two days and doesn’t end until the iffy point at which the final page has been turned. Roughly 140 visual artists, writers, and Whitney staff are on the manifest of scheduled readers — including Kurt Anderson, Salman Rushdie, Heidi Julavits and Julia Pierpont. If that lineup dazzles, so too does the setting. Located just a (thematically appropriate) stone’s throw from the water, on a street named for a family from whom Melville descended, the Museum’s “Frank DowntownExpress.com

Stella: A Retrospective” exhibition includes selections from a series containing one work for each chapter of the book. Cross-disciplinary artist Amy Virginia Buchanan has called dibs on Chapter 40. Joined by the music collective Scouts, she’ll perform “Midnight, Forecastle,” a play-within-the-book.

At the Whitney Museum of American Art (99 Gansevoort St. btw. 10th Ave. & Washington St.) on Fri., Nov. 13, 11 a.m.–10 p.m. and Sat., Nov. 14, 11 a.m.–finish.

Free with Museum admission ($22, $18 for students/seniors, free for members and those under 18). For more info, visit whitney.org. For info on the biennial Moby-Dick Marathon NYC (to return in 2016), visit mobydickmarathonnyc.org.

VAEFF: VIDEO ART AND EXPERIMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL Boundaries and borders are held in low regard at this annual three-day festival, which saves its respect for “conceptually and aesthetically arresting” cinema that innovates, provokes, and entertains — often within a single frame. That mission is accomplished in Marie Schuller’s 2012 short “Oyster,” which finds riders on London’s Central Line subway confronted by fetish model Anita de Bauch’s steely exhibitionism.

It’s one of Schuller’s five surreal and exquisitely shot “fashion films” that are part of the “Beauty, Sex, and Shame” program. Work from David LaChapelle, Nick Knight, David Bertram, Eva Michon, Wong Ping and Carla Gannis will also be screened. The festival wraps up with a panel discussion featuring artists and curators, followed by a gala reception at the Downtown Community Television Center — where a photo shoot project puts a digital age spin on work from the early era of photography.

Thurs., Nov. 12, 7–9 p.m. Fri., Nov. 13, 7–11 p.m. Sat., Nov. 14, 7 p.m.–1 a.m. All screenings at the Tribeca Film Center (375 Greenwich St. btw. N. Moore & Franklin Sts.). Ticket prices vary ($15-35, with all-access passes & student tickets available).

To purchase, and for full schedule, visit videoart.net.

November 5 –18, 2015

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