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WE’LL TAKE HER TORCH Shadow of Charlottesville Cast on Trump Tower

Photo by Christian Miles

BY LEVAR ALONZO President Donald Trump returned home late in the evening on Monday — his first visit since being inaugurated — to a not so warm welcome. Several thousand people waited to greet the president outside his Trump Tower residence on Fifth Avenue chanting, “Not my president” and “Shame, shame, shame.” The president’s motorcade came from a different direction, bypassing the enormous crowd. Sanitation dump trucks lined the entrance to the building and police erected hundreds of yards of metal barricades to contain protestors. Many demonstrators brought along signs that read “the White House is no place for white supremacy,” “Trump loves hate,” and other placards voicing resistance to this past weekend’s Nazi visibility in Charlottesville, Virginia. The racial tensions that erupted in Charlottesville — and led to the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer, killed when a vehicle driven by a neo-Nazi plowed into a crowd of counter-protesters — joined with alarm over the president’s tough rhetoric last week suggesting war with North Korea spurred demonstrators to spend more than four hours boisterously giving Trump a thumb’s down on his homecoming. Hawk Newsome, president of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, was among the counter-protesters PROTEST continued on p. 4 © CHELSEA NOW 2017 | NYC COMMUNITY MEDIA, LLC, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

VOLUME 09, ISSUE 25 | AUGUST 17 - 23, 2017

OUT IN THE OPEN BY PUMA PERL Saturday night, August 12, 2017. Community Garden 6th and B. We make music, we make art. The events of the day reverberate. Somewhere in this country, Someone’s making a picket sign, Someone hears the car crashing, Someone’s making the world’s best pizza. Someone’s living, someone’s dying. Someone’s pulled over for Driving While Black. Someone’s assaulted for being gay or trans or a person of color or weak or old or female. Someone’s placing a white pointy hat upon a toddler’s head. The President tweets. Charlottesville. Sad. Almost a year ago, we sat in this same Garden as a bomb exploded in Chelsea. Since then, the country spun on its head, landing on the right. And sometimes we stagger, unable to keep up with the chaos, the threats, the rotating cabinet. Last weekend, in Indiana, I asked my friend, What’s it like here? They do it out in the open now, she replied. Today, young men, hatred twisting their faces, wore swastikas, carried torches, shouted expletives, waved Confederate flags, Nazi salutes and chants. Jews will not replace us. Blood and soil. Sieg Heil. The Ku Klux Klan, and the neo-Nazis marched. Cops without riot gear, White Supremacists without hoods. They do it out in the open now. Counter-protesters. Car crashing into the crowd. One dead, 19 injured. Two police officers killed by the end of day. The President says, We must look at all sides. We are all horrified. Only the privileged are surprised. Fascism hides in plain sight. Learn what the oppressed already know. They are coming for you. In the Garden, four drunken guys disrupt the show. I keep one eye on them, the other checking exit routes. Are there guns? Will that beer bottle crash across a head? When they shift or wander, my back stiffens, I wonder if I can take one down from behind as they move behind the tree They’ve already been 86’d from everywhere, I’m told. Even the old Mars Bar. You had to be really fucked up to be 86’d from the Mars Bar. I’ve dealt with many drunks before, maybe even with these guys. But the country’s polarized and the sides have been armed and they do it in the open and paranoia sets in.

August 17, 2017

Mykal McEldowney/The Indianapolis Star via AP

Fri., Aug. 11, multiple white nationalist groups march with torches through the UVA campus in Charlottesville, Virginia.

It all starts with words. Hate speeches, propaganda. Marcuse called it “a prologue to the massacre.” Like it did in Nazi Germany, the distance between words and actions grows shorter. We must NOT look at all sides. There is no time to compromise, to understand, to tolerate. A marching hatemonger, shown in a photo gone viral, explains, As a white nationalist, I care for all people. We deserve a future for our culture and our children. I’m not the angry racist they see in that photo. Yes, you are that angry racist. Whites have always owned the rights. And you’ve gained permission to show it. Out in the open. In the Garden, I bring my words and music to the stage. The four drunken guys become enraged. One of them wanted to play. They stand up and shout and a guy more bad-assed sober than they are drunk throws them all out. Our night ends with “Wichita Lineman” and continues with whiskey. In Virginia, people lie in hospital beds watching the news. Heather Heyer’s community mourns. Her mother describes her as fun-loving. I was always proud of what she was doing. The Nazi sympathizer who killed her sits in his cell. His mother watches his cat. She said she tries to stay out of his political views. On Sunday, the President comes to town. Traffic will snarl. Some people will protest, some will stand on the beach, waiting, or on street corners, puckering their lips, taking selfies. Somebody’s living, somebody’s dying. Somebody’s making the world’s best pizza. Somebody’s placing a white pointy cap upon a toddler’s head. Out in the open. NYC Community Media

Community Has Back of Chelsea Journalist Who Broke Wrist Covering Charlottesville BY COLIN MIXSON Pepper spray, urine bombs, and even a broken wrist did not deter Sandi Bachom from documenting the hatred and violence that unfolded in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend. When Bachom heard of trouble brewing down south, the longtime Chelsea resident spent $300 of her own money to fund a bus trip. Arriving at 6 a.m. on the morning of Sat., Aug. 12, she immediately began fi lming a series of live reports that left locals riveted. “I am kind of an anomaly. Not too many 73-year-old women do what I do,” said the independent video journalist who survives on Social Security checks as she shoots footage of local protests and demonstrations for an ongoing documentary project regarding Donald Trump’s presidency. Her work covering the white-nationalist rally took Bachom from the aborted demonstrations at Emancipation Park to smaller, riotous skirmishes between Nazis and anti-fascists that flared up across the city. Throughout it all, it was never clear

exactly where the blows were coming from. Bachom believes the cloud of pepper spray that stung her eyes came from a Nazi hidden behind a crowd of alt-right protestors, while the mystery of who left her drenched in reeking, black-dyed urine remains unsolved. “I don’t know who did the urine thing,” she said. “But that was really disgusting.” And while Bachom was holding her nose, her friends and followers back home were glued to her Facebook feed, devouring the day’s events through the raw footage she posted online, according to one friend. “She was defi nitely getting more attention than usual,” said Christina Hansen, a Hell’s Kitchen resident and friend of Bachom. “She has a huge number of people that have been following what she does. So when she says she’s going to Charlottesville, people want to know what’s going on down there.” Which is why when Bachom sudBACHOM continued on p. 20

Photo by Donna Aceto

Sandi Bachom is recovering from a broken wrist and other injuries sustained on Aug. 12 while covering the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Photo by Sandi Bachom Courtesy Sandi Bachom

Bachom, just after she was drenched in urine by an unknown assailant.

NYC Community Media

Dressed for confrontation, Nazi and white nationalist demonstrators march through Charlottesville. August 17, 2017

Fire and Fury Aimed at Trump Homecoming PROTEST continued from p. 1

Photos by Christian Miles

Protesters drew attention to the encouragement President Trump and senior advisor Steve Bannon are giving to white supremacists.

A Rise and Resist protester emphasized that the death of Heather Heyer was at the center of the Charlottesville tragedy.

August 17, 2017

in Charlottesville and described what he encountered there. “It was war… people throwing rocks at us, hitting us with pipes and sticks, and the police just standing there, doing nothing to separate or even help the group being attacked,” he said. “It was absolutely horrifying.” At the entrance to Central Park, a number of people dressed all in black held a mock funeral procession to mourn Heyer’s death. Twenty-year-old James Alex Fields, Jr., was arraigned on a second-degree murder charge, among others, in Virginia on Tuesday. “He is not doing anything to judge the supremacist that started the violence or even bring some solace to the Heyer family caused by this senseless attack,” Allison Vandeven, a 22-year-old Queens College student, said of the president. Another group of protestors, Rise and Resist, which took the lead in organizing the Monday protest, showed their displeasure by singing and clapping along to “Nasty Neo-Nazi,” to the tune of “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” and “Goodbye Donny,”

Protesters from the queer community stood in solidarity with other marginalized people in the US.

NYC Community Media

adapted from “Hello Dolly.” The group drew attention not only to Trump’s failure to unambiguously denounce the racism displayed in Charlottesville, but also his tweets saying the American military is “locked and loaded” should North Korea act unwisely. Rise and Resist is a direct action group that emerged after Trump’s surprise election last year. “In the wake of all this dangerous saber-rattling by the Republican Party, I feel it’s my duty to march and demand the hostile threats of war stop now,” said Maryellen Novak, a Manhattanite and Rise and Resist co-organizer of Monday’s protest. “We are here to demonstrate a force of peace and love.” Rise and Resist had held an earlier demonstration outside Trump Tower on Sunday evening. On Monday, roughly 1,500 demonstrators spanning two Midtown blocks marched from the main branch of the New York Public Library on W. 42nd St. toward Trump Tower at W. 56th St. — though via Sixth Ave. — with a “No War” banner carried by those on

Photo by Donna Aceto

PROTEST continued on p. 15

On Sun., Aug. 13, Rise and Resist demonstrators protested outside Trump Tower, in the wake of the president’s statement that “many sides, many sides” were responsible for the violence in Charlottesville.

Photo by Christian Miles

Opposition to racism, support for Black Lives Matter, and rejection of a reckless policy toward North Korea were key themes of Monday’s protest.

Photo by Christian Miles Photo by Christian Miles

Demonstrators pointed to the fight America’s “Greatest Generation” waged against Nazi Germany. NYC Community Media

Among the handful of Trump supporters at the scene on Monday was a group of Orthodox Jews, who emphasized the president’s tough talk on foreign affairs, his support of Israel, and his intention to choose conservative Supreme Court justices. August 17, 2017

Transition from Innocence: How Chelsea Adapted to Cold War Concerns BY MANNY MARTIN I am back at Chelsea Square Restaurant (at Ninth Ave. and W. 23rd St.) for some nourishment, and to collect my thoughts about “early Chelsea.” Who will be my server today: George, Herman, or Pedro? George seats me. As is our habit, we have a brief exchange about the political highlights of the day. The subject du jour, the escalating tensions between North Korea and the US, causes me to remember what it was like to grow up during a time of innocence when Chelsea, and the country, found itself adapting to the concerns of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. Long before there were iPads, smartphones and laptops, many readers will remember what now seems like primitive technology: record players, transistor radios, and black and white TVs. The popular comic strip depiction of crime-fighting Dick Tracy talking into his two way wrist-radio was a whisper of things to come. It was the 1950s — a period of societal puberty accompanied by new and confusing, in some ways alarming, cultural changes. In Chelsea, kids played street stickball and stoopball. It was the beginning of rock and roll, loved by teens and regarded with suspicion by most adults. Teens were beginning their own subculture of music, clothes, and values. Adults were being challenged openly now. On a national scale, there were important challenges to the status quo, mainly in the area of civil rights. Television was taking on a life of its own, becoming a “babysitter” to many people who spent too much time watching. The western programs had no sex and little violence. When there was fisticuffs between the good guy and bad guy, no one got hurt, just egos. The bad guys often got shot in the wrist, and the cowboy never kissed the girl. The popular cowboys, Hoppy, Roy, and Gene caught the bad guys (for readers too young to remember, that’s Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, and Gene Autry). Early TV cowgirl Annie Oakley was a feminist ahead of her time who could hold her own with any man, and opened her weekly program shooting her gun standing on her horse as it galloped away. What’s not to like? Popular sitcoms like “Father Knows Best” and “The Life of Riley” were virtual commercials for suburban living, which beckoned city residents to a land of new joys and happiness. In the suburbs, lawns were immaculately maintained, every back yard had a barbeque grill, and neighborhoods were free of crime. Every problem was solved by dad within the program’s half-hour — and a woman’s place was in the home, as a homemaker. Shows like “The $64,000 Question” and “Twenty One” were very popular. The age of innocence was severely strained by the quiz show scandal in which top contestants were given the answers to difficult, multipart questions and were even tutored in how to build suspense with body language before giving answers. The temperature in the “isolation booths” that isolated contestants from sounds and distractions was turned up to make contestants sweat, which added to the tension each week. The scandal was part of a rude wake-up of 1950s innocence. Looming above it all, new fears grew as the Cold War between the US and the USSR took center stage.

August 17, 2017

Photo by Scott Stiffler

A sign at 415 W. 23rd St., near Ninth Ave., identifies the location of a nuclear fallout shelter. Evacuation drills to such locations were weekly rituals during the height of the Cold War.

As some readers will recall, the Cold War was the tense relationship between both countries for nearly 50 years, ending in 1991 with the dissolution of the USSR. The major threat of the Cold War was the possibility of nuclear annihilation. There was a fear of Communist infiltration in the US government, entertainment industry, and corporations. This all led to new policies to contain the threat of communism in the US while preparing for a nuclear attack. This writer lived in Chelsea as a child at the time and was required to follow certain practices and drills. At what was then PS 33, between W. 26th and 27th Sts. on Ninth Ave. (now Chelsea Prep), the teacher would stop teaching and, in a stern voice, shout out, “Duck and cover!” That meant that all students had to quickly go under their desks, with hands covering their heads. The blinds or curtains were all closed during the drill, which lasted for about a minute. Every student in every grade was required to wear a dog tag ID held by a metal chain. On it was imprinted the student’s name, address, age, birthday, and school. That was in case there was an attack, so every kid could be identified, survivor or not. It had to be worn at all times. Since I was tall for my age I used it to prove I was a minor who should only pay the 30-cent Saturday admission fee at the grand RKO Theater near the corner of W. 23rd St. and Eighth Ave. They never believed me, so each week so I had to run home and get my mother. She would storm to the ticket booth and demand to speak with the manager. She would battle with him every week and win, as dozens of kids watched on. I was glad when I finally got to be 13 years old. Every Saturday about 1 p.m. there was a citywide evacuation drill. Sirens wailed and everyone had to get off the streets. There were evacuation stations marked as such, and people might also enter the subway or railroad station. Evacuation guards led people quickly to

designated shelters. The drill lasted about seven or eight minutes, then the streets instantly filled again. As a Chelsea youngster, in anticipation of the siren that would signal the evacuation drill, my brother and I would gather our best games, comic books, baseball card collections, snacks, and a stack of bologna sandwiches and “hide” under the kitchen table in a readymade “bomb shelter.” When the second siren went off, everything had to be put back until this process was repeated the next Saturday. Other steps were taken to fight the threat of Communism in the country. President Harry S. Truman tried to calm our fears by creating the Loyalty Review Board to verify the loyalty of government workers. They would have to sign loyalty oaths. I had to sign one myself. Television programs were interrupted by tests of the Emergency Broadcasting System — reminding viewers that “in the event of an actual emergency,” they would be told where to go. Society grew up — and by the end of ’50s, rock and roll was in full swing as teens challenged adult authority even more. Other challenges allowed steady progress for the rights of racial minorities and the gay community. The role of women was still mainly defined as homemaker until a few years later when, in 1963, Betty Friedan’s book, “The Feminine Mystique,” rallied women across the country to seek educational and professional opportunities that were dominated by men. Hard-earned progress could not be stopped now. The Cold War would ratchet up for decades. It was a new beginning, and the age of innocence was over! The Fifties was a real time of passage. Dear Fifties, where are you now, and what have you become? Perhaps the song “Mrs. Robinson,” written by Paul Simon and released in 1968, partly expresses it: “Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio / Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you… Jolting Joe has left and gone away.” NYC Community Media

Fallout Forever: Preserving the Legacy of Atomic Bomb Survivors BY SCOTT STIFFLER “You listen to people tell their stories,” said Gary Schoichet, of his work with Japanese-American atomic bomb survivors, “and it’s terrible. It’s another example of how consequences are not thought about in terms of the actions that, in this instance, our government took.” Documented by Schoichet during a trip to California in the summer of 1982 (“a time of great anti-nuclear agitation,” he noted), the collection currently on view at a Garment District gallery contemplates the experiences of “hibakusha” — a Japanese word describing “explosion-affected people.” Staring straight ahead or looking downward and slightly off to the side, the somber black and white photos of one man and eight women are paired with wrenching first-person accounts of the moments, months, and years that followed the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on, respectively, August 6 and 9, 1945. Among the testimonials, particularly graphic is that of California-born Mary Honda, whose family moved to Japan when she was 16. Visiting a hospital when the Hiroshima bomb exploded, she told Schoichet of emerging from under a desk, “glass all over me, with blood running like water.” Struck by the sudden darkness and determined to make it outside, she urged a girl “sitting there with a burnt chest” to join her, “but she didn’t respond. She had died with her eyes open.” Running home, Honda saw a river “filled with thousands of burned people, their bodies swollen like balloons” and heard pleas from the living: “Please kill me, it hurts so bad.” Honda, who settled in San Francisco three years after the bombing, described herself at the time of her interview as being in “basically good health,” despite frequent colds and fatigue. In his premise to the booklet of interviews (free for the taking at the gallery), Schoichet noted that in addition to an inordinately high rate of cancer, these survivors often experience “lethargy, lingering illness, and infections that last two and three times as long as in other people” as well as a “general anxiety about health, their own and their children’s.” Although the US government refutes any connection between their ill health and the bomb, it’s telling, Schoichet observed, that “insurance companies, knowing better, will not insure them if they are hibakusha.” Schoichet’s work does not seek to convince viewers and readers of such a NYC Community Media

Photo by Tara Donahue

Gary Schoichet stands with his work, part of the “Peace 2017” exhibit on view at Medialia Gallery through Aug. 26.

connection, but he hopes they’ll draw a line between the destructive power of one moment in time and “the actual effects of it, which were with these people for the rest of their lives. Families were lost, and histories lost… so maybe if people start to feel for other people, something will happen.” The experience of documenting these stories certainly left their mark on Schoichet, a 22-year resident of Penn South who, at the time, was already a veteran peace activist who belonged to AND (Artists for Nuclear Disarmament) as well as the CANDU (Chelsea Against Nuclear Destruction United). It was the CANDU group, he recalled, with whom he participated in a June 12, 1982 antinuclear march and demonstration that “drew about a million people to Central Park. We made signs and masks and puppets, and hung banners on that bridge on 42nd Street near Tudor City.” Eve Ensler, who would go on to write “The Vagina Monologues,” was also a CANDU member. The two were part of a small group who, during the elections of 1982, “all laid down in front of Ed Koch’s car when he went to vote, and we got arrested,” Schoichet recalled. As for how he came to the hibakusha project, “That’s just where my HIBAKUSHA continued on p. 20

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Few Options for Chelsea WIC Participants; Petition Demands Change BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC More than 150 Chelsea residents — and some elected officials — have signed a petition urging grocery store chain Gristedes to once again accept WIC vouchers at its stores. Italo Medelius is spearheading the effort to get the chain to take WIC, which stands for women, infants and children. It is a supplemental nutrition program that helps provide food — such as baby formula, milk, and fruits and vegetables — for low-income pregnant women, mothers, and children up to the age of five. It is a federally funded program that is administered through the state’s Department of Health (DOH). “The reason that it seems we’re singling out Gristedes is that they have a large market share in our community,” Medelius said by phone. “As a community, we fi nd it a little insulting… Gristedes isn’t pulling its weight with social responsibility.” Gristedes has three stores in Chelsea — located at 307 W. 26th St., 221 Eighth Ave. and 225 Ninth Ave. — and stopped accepting WIC vouchers in August 2016. Only two stores in the area — Ideal Marketplace at 317 Ninth Ave. and Western Beef at 431 W. 16th St. — accept WIC checks, according to the DOH’s website. “They [should] petition the state to do the right thing. Petition the state to pay the right price,” John Catsimatidis, owner of Gristedes, said when asked about the petition. Catsimatidis, a billionaire businessman who has run for mayor, points to the DOH for no longer participating in the program. “We went out of our way to accommodate,” he said by phone. “They bulldozed us all the way.” He added that the state is “paying us the same prices as people in Buffalo, where the rent is one-tenth” what it is in New York City. Catsimatidis is referring to how the DOH reimburses vendors that accept WIC checks. The DOH established peer groups after extensive research by the department’s evaluation, research and surveillance unit, Erin Silk, DOH spokesperson, said in an email. There are currently 17 peer groups that were based on the business model — whether it was a chain or independent

August 17, 2017

Photos by Scott Stiffler

Gristedes, which has three stores in the neighborhood (including this one on Eighth Ave.), withdrew from the WIC program due to fees from bounced WIC checks and inadequate reimbursement.

Fern Gilford, who uses WIC, makes the long trip to Brooklyn Stop & Shop locations partly because their product options are better suited to her son’s lactose and feeding issues.

Santo Fernandez, manager of Ideal Marketplace on Ninth Ave., disputed a claim about expired food and noted the store has about 85-100 WIC customers a week.

store, for example — the store size, and geography — whether it is an urban or non-urban area, she said. The state set what it terms “maximum allowable reimbursement levels” for each vendor peer group for each food item primarily based on historical redemption data. The state evaluates each food item, compare the item’s prices within the peer group, and then sets the reimbursement level, Silk said. “Supermarkets in Albany and Gristedes in Manhattan get the same amount of money,” Emily Pankow, assistant general counsel for Catsimatidis’ Red Apple Group, said by phone. “They are ripping off New York grocers. We are one of the few left,” said Catsimatidis, calling himself “the lone ranger” of the grocery business. Silk said the DOH worked closely with Catsimatidis and his staff to WIC continued on p. 16 NYC Community Media

ADVERTORIAL

TOP DRIVER DISTRACTIONS Using mobile phones Leading the list of the top distractions behind the wheel are mobile phones. Phones now do more than just place calls, and drivers often cannot pull away from their phones, even when driving. According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, studies have shown that driving performance is lowered and the level of distraction is higher for drivers who are heavily engaged in cell

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phone conversations. The use of a hands-free device does not lower distraction levels. The percentage of vehicle crashes and nearcrashes attributed to dialing is nearly identical to the number associated with talking or listening.

Daydreaming Many people will admit to daydreaming behind the wheel or looking at a person or object outside of the car for too long. Per-

haps they’re checking out a house in a new neighborhood or thought they saw someone they knew on the street corner. It can be easy to veer into the direction your eyes are focused, causing an accident. In addition to trying to stay focused on the road, some drivers prefer the help of lane departure warning systems.

Eating Those who haven’t quite mastered walking and

chewing gum at the same time may want to avoid eating while driving. The majority of foods require a person’s hands to be taken off of the wheel and their eyes to be diverted from the road. Reaching in the back seat to share some French fries with the kids is also distracting. Try to eat meals before getting in the car. For those who must snack while en route, take a moment to pull over at

a rest area and spend 10 minutes snacking there before resuming the trip.

Reading Glancing at an advertisement, updating a Facebook status or reading a book are all activities that should be avoided when driving. Even pouring over a traffic map or consulting the digital display of a GPS system can be distracting.

August 17, 2017

POLICE BLOTTER PETIT LARCENY: Sorry Snoozerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bolt jolt

HARASSMENT: Bike lane bully

We canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fault anybody for falling asleep on the ride from Maryland to Manhattan â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but by all means, do your snoozing in an Uber or a Lyft car, or at least in the backseat if hitchhiking. Close your eyes and saw some logs on a Bolt bus, and you might wake up with fewer belongings than you had before your temporary excursion to the Land of Nod. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the lesson learned by a 34-year-old male, who drifted off while en route back home to the Big Apple. When the bus arrived at the southwest corner of 11 Ave. and W. 34 St. at around 4:45 p.m. on Sat., Aug. 12, the sound sleeper opened his peepers to discover his bag on the floor, not on his person as it was when he drifted off. Gone from the bag, a primo pile of pills â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including two bottles of oxycodone and one bottle of weight gain supplements. We have no punchline for this. Why paint the peacock?

A 35-year-old woman was peacefully pedaling along W. 20th St. at around 12:15 p.m. on Tues., Aug. 8, when she encountered a vehicle in the lane designated for bikes. In the right yet not w a nt i n g to cause a scene, she went around the car â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but the driver pursued her, revving the eng ine and driving past her at the intersection of W. 20th St. and Ninth Ave. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when the driver (a male thought by the victim to be

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August 17, 2017

in his 30s) got out of the dark gray car and walked toward her, screaming in an alarming manner. The quick-thinking victim was able to describe the perp to the police, and even had the wherewithal to get his license plate number.

RESISTING ARRREST: Flagging, ďŹ&#x201A;ailing, ďŹ nding A surly, uncooperative soul is in custody after causing a commotion inside Mr. K-Bob, a muchloved hub for grilled Mediterranean grub located at 539 Ninth Ave. (corner of W. 40th St.). The NYPD responded around 10:50 p.m. on Thurs., Aug. 3, after a 32-year-old male refused the ownerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s request to vacate the premises. The defendant took an aggressive stance toward the responding officer, by flailing his arms and refusing to be handcuffed (and, in the process, hardly helping the situation by uttering, â&#x20AC;&#x153;f**k you, officerâ&#x20AC;?). As the situation escalated, other officers responded and assisted in placing the defendant on the ground, then placing him under arrest. A small Ziploc bag, containing what appeared to be marijuana, was discovered on his person.

PETIT LARCENY: Unsweet sixteen Maybe the next time, he should just try clearing his throat â&#x20AC;&#x201D; or consulting a physician. Both options are surely cheaper than posting bail and explaining the need for 16 units of cough medicine totaling $157.33. This sad scenario unfolded around 8 p.m. on Fri., Aug. 4, when an employee of the Rite Aid at 195 Eighth Ave. (at W. 20th St.) observed a 51-yearold man removing the abovementioned medicinal items from store shelves, and attempting to exit the premises without paying. The fullthrottle, funky-throated thief was arrested by responding officers called to the scene. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Scott Stiffler

THE 10th PRECINCT Located at 230 W. 20th St. (btw. Seventh & Eighth Aves.). Commander: Capt. Paul Lanot. Main number: 212-741-8211. Community Affairs: 212-7418226. Crime Prevention: 212741-8226. Domestic Violence: 212-741-8216. Youth Officer: 212741-8211. Auxiliary Coordinator: 212-924-3377. Detective Squad: 212-741-8245. The Community Council (on summer hiatus until Sept. 27) meets on the last Wed. of the month, 7 p.m., at the 10th Precinct or other locations to be announced. MIDTOWN SOUTH PRECINCT Located at 357 W. 35th St. (btw. Eighth & Ninth Aves.). Inspector Russel J. Green, Commanding Officer. Call 212-239-9811. Community Affairs: 212-2399846. Crime Prevention: 212-2399846. Domestic Violence: 212239-9863. Youth Officer: 212239-9817. Auxiliary Coordinator: 212-239-9836. Detective Squad: 212-239-9856. The Community Council (on summer hiatus until Sept. 21) meets on the third Thurs. of the month, 7 p.m., at the New Yorker Hotel (481 Eighth Ave., btw. W. 34th & 35th Sts.). Visit midtownsouthcc.org. THE 13th PRECINCT Located at 230 E. 21st St. (btw. Second & Third Aves.). Deputy Inspector: Brendan Timoney. Call 212-477-7411. Community Affairs: 212-477-7427. Crime Prevention: 212-477-7427. Domestic Violence: 212-477-3863. Youth Officer: 212477-7411. Auxiliary Coordinator: 212-477-4380. Detective Squad: 212-477-7444. The Community Council (on summer hiatus until Sept. 19) meets on the third Tues. of the month, 6:30 p.m., at the 13th Precinct. CASH FOR GUNS $100 cash will be given (no questions asked) for each handgun, assault weapon or sawed-off shotgun, up to a maximum payment of $300. Guns are accepted at any Police Precinct, PSA or Transit District.

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August 17, 2017

NYC Community Media

Photo by Christian Miles

Police maintained order around Trump Tower with extensive barricading. PROTEST continued from p. 5

the front lines. Their “No War, No Hate” signs served to deliver two messages at once: the demand that talk of nuclear war be deescalated immediately and that the administration become proactive in challenging racism in the US. Shouts of “Black and trans lives matter” echoed against window panes on the Sixth Avenue towers, and the procession stopped briefly near the Fox News headquarters, where protesters shouted, “No hate, no bigotry, no more white supremacy.” The well-publicized welcome home protest was attended by many with no affiliation to any specific group. Brooklynite Sean Collins carried a sign saying, “White silence equals death.” He explained, “Despite the advice of family members, I came out to make my voice heard. It’s up to white people in this country to stand up for injustices done to other groups of people. We have to come together to take up one common cause.” The scene was not devoid of the president’s supporters, with about two dozen of them stationed two blocks away from Trump Tower chanting, “God bless President Trump.” They carried American flags and signs that read, “Now is not the time for divisiveness.” “I’m here to support the man I voted for and will change this country, making it great again,” said Heshy Freedman, a Manhattan resident who is part of the group Jews for Trump. Freedman said he supports the president because he NYC Community Media

Photo by Donna Aceto

Photo by Christian Miles

One protester on Sunday asked Republicans when they will have had enough of Trump.

Rise and Resist members in front of Trump Tower on Monday evening.

believes he will change the composition of the Supreme Court to make it more conservative, lend more support to Israel, and talk tough to countries like North Korea that threaten American freedom and security. Though protesters on both sides briefly skirmished, police quickly pinned each group behind barricades, as those in support of Trump continued yelling, “God bless President Trump,” and the other side shouted back, “Go home Nazi, go home.”

The protest was largely peaceful, though at one instance a Trump supporter was hit by a bottle of water. Police tried to chase the attacker but he disappeared into the crowd. According to police, three people were arrested. “We are at a crossroads of time,” said Barry Zable, a performance artist and activist. “War costs the earth. It’s time for people to raise their consciousness, pursue peace and mitigation not matter what side you’re on.” August 17, 2017

WIC continued from p. 8

listen to his concerns and ensure all parties had a clear understanding of the WIC program requirements. Despite these ongoing communications, Gristedes voluntarily withdrew from the program, she said. Another issue for the chain is the blank paper checks that the state issues as WIC vouchers. “The banks were giving us a hard time because the checks we were depositing were bouncing,” Pankow said. Over 700 checks were bounced a month, according to Gristedes’ Aug. 19, 2016 press release. WIC checks used to have a “not to exceed” amount, but that figure was removed in April 2015 to comply with USDA requirements regarding cost containment and business integrity, Silk said. Pankow noted it was this two-fold issue — not adequate reimbursement and fees for bounced checks — that was costing the grocer money to be part of the program, and led to the chain pulling out of it. Medelius said that the reason the checks bounced is because Gristedes prices are too high. When asked about this, Pankow referred Chelsea Now to the release from last year: “We are running full service union stores in some of the most expensive retail space in the United States. Included in the ‘urban chain store’ reimbursement group that the state WIC administrator is using to determine appropriate reimbursement are operators in places like Rochester and Buffalo, NY.” Medelius has focused on food access — and the dwindling number of affordable grocery stores — in the neighborhood through a subcommittee of the Hudson Guild Neighborhood Advisory Committee. In March, the Community Access subcommittee launched an online “Chelsea Grocery Affordability” survey. The majority of the around 300 responses to that survey were about Gristedes — prices were too high, the quality of the products is not good, and they no longer accepted WIC, Medelius said. The petition was something the subcommittee had been thinking about for some time, and around mid-July, they decided to start this grassroots campaign, he said. WIC is “very needed over here. It’s needed in every store. Prices are so high it’s ridiculous. People need to get food for their families — that is what WIC is all about,” Darlene

August 17, 2017

Courtesy Italo Medelius

This petition urging Gristedes to accept WIC vouchers characterizes its threestore presence in Chelsea as a “virtual monopoly.”

File photo by Jordan Rathkopf

Italo Medelius of Hudson Guild’s Community Access Committee, seen here in March at Western Beef on W. 16th St. An estimated 28 percent of the store’s customers use WIC.

File photo by Jordan Rathkopf

Whole Foods, with a Chelsea location on Seventh Ave. and W. 24th St., does not accept WIC (neither does the nearby Trader Joe’s, on Sixth Ave. at W. 21st St.).

Waters, president of the ElliottChelsea Houses Tenants’ Association, said by phone. Waters said she knew many people that go out of the neighborhood to go grocery shopping. “This area, right here, has gotten really expensive. The stores are not catering to people who have lower income,” she said. Fern Gilford started using WIC in late 2014 after her son was born. “I can’t use it in the neighborhood,” Gilford said by phone. “The local supermarket Gristedes does not participate in the program.” Gilford said she mostly shops at Stop & Shop locations in Brooklyn, but it is “super inconvenient when you have a small child without a car,” Gilford, who has lived at the ElliottChelsea Houses since 2007, said. “To have a stroller and a shopping cart with you is almost impossible.” Her son, who is now three, has lactose and feeding issues, and having the options for different kinds of soy milk available at Stop & Shop is a plus. She said WIC is “pretty easy to use,” and it was easy to get a WIC card at one of the program’s centers. “The people were very nice,” she said. “They assisted me very well.” Gilford added, “The WIC system is a great, great option for a WIC continued on p. 23 NYC Community Media

An Assignment Secured and a Life Transformed The composer of Altman’s ‘3 Women’ looks back, and ahead

Courtesy 20th Century Fox

Shelley Duvall in a production still from “3 Women.”

Part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s 33-film series celebrating 1977’s diverse year in cinema, Robert Altman’s “3 Women,” notes the program’s press material, presents “a languid sense of dread and claustrophobia, in which three social outsiders (Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Janice Rule) form an unusual bond around a Palm Springs health spa for the elderly.” Gerald Busby, a longtime Chelsea Hotel resident and frequent arts contributor to this publication, wrote the film’s music. In anticipation of its 14 screenings at the Lincoln Center series, we asked Busby for his recollections of securing the assignment, then composing and recording the score.

BY GERALD BUSBY In April 1976, when I was 41 years old, my life was in the tempestuous and exhilarating stages of becoming a composer. My fi rst commission, the score for Paul Taylor’s dance piece “Runes,” had come a year earlier, and it had been a success. Still, I was anxiously riddled about what to do next. At the time, I was living with NYC Community Media

my boyfriend, Rafe Blasi, in a loft on Seventh Ave. and W. 27th St., just opposite the Fashion Institute of Technology. A giant metal trash container, used to collect debris from a building being demolished, stood at the curb just outside our front door. It was fi lled with arms, legs, and torsos from dismembered manikins and epitomized an only-in-New York

scene. People walking by would reach into the pile of plastic limbs, pull out an arm or a leg, look it over, then toss it back into the container with a look of disdain. Rafe and I considered assembling a pile of arms and legs near the large windows at the front of our loft as an homage to the fashion industry. Rafe was a unit publicist for movies that were about to open.

He wrote press releases and arranged screenings for critics. He knew other public relations people in the movie industry, including Robert Altman’s full-time publicist, Mike Kaplan. Altman in the late ’70s was writing, directing, and producing three fi lms a year and selling them to 20th 3 WOMEN continued on p. 18 August 17, 2017

3 WOMEN continued from p. 17

Century Fox for distribution. Alan Ladd Jr. was Altman’s contact and primary supporter at Fox, and he got a green light for “3 Women,” a fi lm based on a dream and shot without a script in the desert near Palm Springs. It was a totally improvised movie, and it represented Altman at his most daring, willing to risk his money and reputation on a bizarre idea. Rafe sent Altman a cassette containing a suite for solo flute I had just written called “Noumena.” The performance was by Michael Parloff, a brilliant young flutist just out of Juilliard, whom I met in a restaurant called Ruskay’s, where I cooked Sunday nights. Michael was hired to serenade the diners and played virtually every solo flute piece in existence. Over steaming carrots, I absorbed his beautiful flute sounds as I plated my fi let of sole Helen Corbitt, a dish I created to pay tribute to the fi rst chef I ever idolized. In the early ’50s, the original Neiman Marcus in Dallas hired Helen Corbitt to create a restaurant called the Zodiac Room. There, at the age of 15, I discovered the thrill of eating imaginatively conceived and skillfully prepared food. And now, as a cook at Ruskay’s, I was connecting with a virtuoso flute player who was to become the star of my fi rst fi lm score and the principal flutist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. “Noumena” impressed Altman enough to consider me, along with two other composers, for his new fi lm, “3 Women.” But it wasn’t Altman alone who made the fi nal decision. It was his staff of office workers and editors, as well as friends and actors he’d worked with, such as Elliott Gould, Lily Tomlin, and Peter Boyle. It was a late Friday afternoon when they gathered in Altman’s office for a drink and a little grass. When everyone was sufficiently drunk and stoned, Altman, asked for quiet, saying merely, “I want you to

August 17, 2017

Courtesy The Criterion Collection

L to R: Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek.

listen to some music.” Altman played music by each of three composers he had chosen, and he used a stop watch to determine exactly how long the group listened to each without commenting. The composer whose music lasted longest in silence was the winner. It was mine. As I was writing the score in December 1976, Altman told me how he’d gone about fi nding original music for “3 Women.” “I wanted something abstract, something none of my staff had ever heard before and something they’d never on their own choose to listen to.” He found me in his Zen-like way, and I made a deal with him when he called to tell me the job was mine. I wanted Michael Parloff, who played my music beautifully, to be the flute soloist in the orchestra assembled to record my score. John Williams, who wrote music for Altman’s “The Long Goodbye,” chose every other instrumentalist in the ensemble, virtuoso studio musicians who could readily read modern music. I was especially nervous

about facing those ace musicians as I took the podium, to tell them, right off the bat, that I’d never conducted before. But I did it, then quickly added that my score was really chamber music (19 instruments), and I hoped they’d follow Michael’s example and just conduct themselves. They at fi rst looked dismayed, then, as the session progressed, they took charge and corrected themselves and repeated takes they didn’t like. I was immensely relieved and flattered that my music had won their respect. It was Michael’s flute playing that really convinced them, and during the lunch break they paid him the ultimate compliment of camaraderie by exchanging stories and quips about how different things used to be for professional musicians. Two of them had studied with musicians who played in the NBC Symphony conducted by Arturo Toscanini. The fi nished recording of my music for “3 Women” thrilled me. I had trouble grasping the fact that my fi rst fi lm score had been recorded

by the best studio musicians in Hollywood, and it was for a Robert Altman fi lm. I kept thinking of my brother Marion, 16 years older than I, who had been a high school band director in Texas, and was my fi rst mentor and guide in music. How I wished he were alive and could hear my score for “3 Women.” It had passages that sounded like all the musicians he introduced me to in the early ’50s — Stan Kenton, the Four Freshmen, and June Christy. I felt certain he would love it. Now, 40 years later, “3 Women” has become an international cult classic and is being featured by the Film Society of Lincoln Center this August, with 14 screenings. I still have trouble comprehending the reality of its success and the enduring devotion of fans around the world. Not bad for an East Texas Baptist who, as a teenager, toured the south with an evangelist named Angel Martinez and played gospel music to crowds of 3,000 in small-town football stadiums. That taught me how to write movie music, how to keep the

show moving, and persuade the Bible-toting attendees to give their hearts to Jesus and put their money in the basket to keep our “Campaign for Christ” on the road. My good fortune with “3 Women” continues. I have just completed an opera based on the fi lm with a libretto by Craig Lucas and Frankie KL. This is another incarnation of Robert Altman’s extraordinary creation. I’ve dedicated it to his memory with love and deepest gratitude. “3 Women” (runtime, 124 min.) screens as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s “ ’77, a 40th Anniversary Survey of a Diverse Year in Cinema.” At 165 W. 65th St. (btw. Broadway & Amsterdam Ave.). For tickets ($14, $11 for students/seniors, $9 for members), visit filmlinc.org. Screenings on Fri., Aug. 18, 4:15pm & 8:45pm; Sat., Aug. 19, 4:15pm & 9:30pm; Sun., Aug. 20, 4pm & 8:30pm; Mon., Aug. 21, 4pm & 9:15pm. Tues., Aug. 22, 4pm & 8:30pm; Wed., Aug. 23, 4:30pm & 9pm; and Thurs., Aug. 24, 4:30pm & 9:15pm. NYC Community Media

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