Downtown Express by Schneps Media

Serving Tribeca, Battery Park City, the Seaport and the Financial District VOLUME 40, NUMBER 1

JAN 11 – JAN 24, 2018

Downtown snowscape

Pics of Downtown’s first snowstorm of the season on Page 10 Photo by Milo Hess

The “bomb cyclone” that dumped about a foot of snow on the city on Jan. 4 turned The Battery into a winter wonderland. For more Downtown snow pics, see page 10.

Also in this issue: Warming up the NYSE ‘Frozen Zone’ Page 2

A fairy-tale romance unfolds at the Seaport Page 6

1 M E T R O T E C H • N YC 112 0 1 • C O P Y R I G H T © 2 0 17 N YC C O M M U N I T Y M E D I A , L L C

‘Peace officers’ coming to Battery Park City Page 15

Warming up the ‘frozen zone’ Alliance survey asks how to make NYSE security zone more inviting BY REBECCA FIORE The Lower Manhattan business boosters at the Downtown Alliance want to hear from locals about ideas on how to make the notoriously unwelcoming “frozen zone” around the New York Stock Exchange a more open and inviting space. The Alliance has recently put a survey online — “A More Welcoming Broad + Wall” — created with help from local planning firm WXY Architecture + Urban Design and feedback from community meetings. “These are the topics and issues that come up when we have stakeholder meetings and discussions in the neighborhood to get broader feedback,” said Jessica Lappin, president of the Downtown Alliance. The city has already made clear that the heavily policed security perimeter protecting the stock exchange is not going to change, according to Lappin, but she said the Alliance’s goal is sim-

ply “taking what we are living with and hopefully making it better.” The security measures around the symbolic heart of American capitalism were quickly put in place in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with little formal preparation or planning as fears of new attacks ran high. Since then, there has been little appetite to secondguess those choices, even as supposedly temporary measures have become part of the landscape of a number a densely populated city blocks The most obtrusive security measures are focused on the intersection of Wall and Broad streets near the NYSE building, but the entire area girded by Pine Street, Broadway, William Street and Beaver Street is starkly cut off from the rest of the neighborhood — in ways that can be intimidating to visitors and annoying to locals. On aim of the petition is not just to gauge community preferences, but also to increase public participation in

Photo by Bill Egbert

The Downtown Alliance argues that the security barriers protecting the area around the New York Stock Exchange can seem less than inviting to visitors.

rethinking the potential of an isolated area of the neighborhood that many locals may have come to ignore. “Primarily, [the survey is] helpful for

people who live and work in the area,” Lappin said. “Anyone who has a vestSURVEY Continued on page 5

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Jan 11 – Jan 24, 2018

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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

DowntownExpress.com

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.

Jan 11 – Jan 24, 2018

FISH STORY CB1: City lied to media about informing public of plans to level historic Fish Market building

BY COLIN MIXSON It’s a fishy situation. Local civic honchos and preservationists championing Downtown’s historic South Street Seaport District are fuming after the city’s Economic Development Corporation falsly claimed to New York real estate magazine that members of Community Board 1 were kept informed of a controversial scheme to bulldoze a historic 1939 Fulton Fish Market building, according to the civic group’s leader. “It’s outrageous,” said Community Board 1 Chairman Anthony Notaro. “The plans themselves are a problem, and the behavior of EDC in not being transparent is a problem.” Representatives for EDC claimed to the Real Deal that the city “worked closely with Community Board 1 and elected officials” in planning the New Market Building’s demolition, accord-

ing to a report on the magazine website on Jan. 4. But in reality, EDC didn’t even bother asking board members to weigh in on plans for the historic building’s destruction, and instead informed board staff only last week about the city’s unilateral decision to level the nearly 80-year-old Seaport icon, according to Notaro. “Last week, EDC came to the staff at CB1 and told them they were planning to do this,” Notaro said. “Not much more detail than that was given. That set off alarms with me.” But a spokeswoman for EDC claimed the city has to demolish the neglected, decades-old building, left the dilapidated edifice collapse and turn unwary passerby into fish food. “In 2015, our engineers determined the structural condition of the New Market Building at the South Street Seaport was in danger of collapsing,”

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The New Market Building opened at the Seaport’s Fulton Fish Market in 1939, after the earlier building collapsed in 1936.

said Shavone Williams. “EDC is taking appropriate action in managing demolition for the building to ensure the safety for residents in this community.” And there’s nothing fishy about the way EDC has gone about the demo project, according to Williams, who said CB1 has known about the building’s structural faults and possible demolition for more than two years. The South Street Seaport area has been the subject of extensive redevelopment in recent years, with EDC and the Howard Hughes Corporation working closely to revitalize the historic slice of Downtown’s shipping heritage. The developer is currently knee-deep in construction of a massive shopping and entertainment complex at Pier 17, and in retrofitting the historic Tin Building to serve as a food hall headed by celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Howard Hughes’s ambitious designs for the Fulton Fish Market, on the other hand, have struggled in the face of opposition from local residents and preservationists from the Save Our Seaport group, who persuaded the developer to abandon plans to build massive residential and commercial towers on the site. Save Our Seaport preservation-

ists have likewise denounced the city’s intention to demolish the fish market building, and the group instead wants EDC to foot a $10 million renovation bill as a prelude to installing a cultural maritime center there, according to one Save Our Seaport member. “If demolition and development become the order of the day, we will lose the essence of this historic district that contains some of New York City’s oldest buildings, historic ships, and the South Street Seaport Museum,” read a statement by David Sheldon on Jan. 4. “Our vision enables the growth of a viable neighborhood with an ongoing maritime practice and tradition.” Notaro has arranged a meeting with EDC officials tentatively scheduled for next Tuesday, where he hopes to learn more about the city’s demolition plan, and discuss the apparent “transparency” problems surrounding the project. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this,” he said. There are currently no future plans for how to utilize Fulton Fish Market site after the building’s demolished, according to Williams, who said the agency will be sure to keep locals abreast of any future developments —this time.

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Jan 11 – Jan 24, 2018

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SURVEY Continued from page 2

ed interest is welcome to respond. We are most interested in people who live Downtown who either avoid this area, or love it and feel we can make it better.” Lappin said so far about 400 people have taken the survey, but they are eager to receive more responses. The quick survey includes 11 questions and an additional comments section. Questions range from “Do you avoid walking or biking through this area if possible?” to more lengthy ones asking opinions about increasing seating areas, replacing cobblestone with granite paving, changing streetlights, and eliminating curbs. “This should be one of the premier corners of the city,” Lappin said. “It’s a place with a rich history, not just for the city, but the nation. It’s heavily trafficked but it’s mixed with mismatched ugly street furniture. There’s no cohesiveness.” Alice Blank, local architect and Community Board 1 member, said she took the survey and feels that some of the questions were “very leading,” especially since they didn’t provide visuals to accompany the questions. She cited question number four, which reads: “Some streets within the NYSE security zone are paved with a

Photo by Bill Egbert

The bronze barriers and concrete blocks at the security zone’s perimeter were installed hastily after the 9/11 attacks 15 years ago and remain a confusing jumble to this day.

type of cobblestone. This current paving presents significant maintenance challenges and makes access difficult for people with limited mobility. The design team is considering granite paving instead which can appear historic and, if selected and installed properly, is durable and attractive instead of traditional cobblestone. Do you support

replacing the existing cobblestone with more durable and accessible materials?” “After having a paragraph talking about how the current cobblestone is significant maintenance and limits disability access, that sets up everyone to say ‘yes, that’s a great idea.’ It would have been better to show what these

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look like,” Blank said. Blank doubted the Alliance’s wording in the survey was inadvertent. “They present what they want and they want the community to respond,” Blank said. In response to criticism of the web survey’s conspicuous lack of visuals, Lappin pointed out that the Alliance has repeatedly offered free walking tours led by the design firm to CB1 members. She recommends that all locals should take a stroll around the area to get a better sense of what the survey is asking about — and the limitations any proposed improvements will face. “This is not a blue sky, start-fromscratch approach,” she said. “There are some security realties we have to contend with. We are looking to come up with something practical and achievable.” The survey will be live on the Alliance website until the end of the month. After that, Lappin said, the Alliance hopes the input can inform and drive a long-term project to rejuvenating the area going forward. “This is really a vision and a master plan for what could happen down the line,” she said. Take the survey online at downtownny.com/stockexchange.

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Jan 11 – Jan 24, 2018

BY JANEL BL ADOW FAIRY-TALE ROMANCE... You could call it a combination of “On The Waterfront,” “It Happened One Night,” and “Clueless.” It’s definitely the “Love Story” of the Seaport — with a touch of Bollywood. The story spans two continents and three oceans. A girl from Hong Kong meets a dude from California in the port of New York City. Sparks fly. Can there be anything more magical than that? There’s plenty of magic in this tale of romance — and some madcap and mystical moments too. Divya Daswan first came to The Big Apple from Hong Kong seven years ago as a design student at Parsons. She lived in a dorm on Williams Street and began her first American love affair — with our neighborhood. “I was smitten,” she says of the Seaport. After school she moved to Front Street next to Jeremy’s Ale House. Shawn Ware was from California. A man of the docks, ships and the sea. His job drew him to the Seaport, and he too fell for the cobbled streets, the old buildings, and the feeling of neighborliness, of belonging. They first met briefly at Jeremy’s. Just a night of hanging out with friends, very casual. They barely spoke to each other, and at evening’s end, went their separate ways. But they both had Mondays off, so Sunday was their Saturday night. And for about five years before Hurricane Sandy surged across South Street, some 20 regulars met up Sunday nights at Fish Market.

Shawn, Port Captain for Hornblower New York, was one of those regulars, along with Divya, but they never mingled until one night in 2012. “One Sunday night Shawn was at one end of the bar and I’m at the other end. No one else was left,” says Divya, recalling that proprietor Jeff Lim was behind the bar. “Jeff is bouncing back and forth between us for a couple hours and finally he says, ‘I’m so tired of entertaining you guys. Shawn go sit next to her.’ ” Divya and Shawn talked about anything and everything into the wee hours until finally wrapping it up at the 4 am closing. He offered to walk her home but she demured. They said goodbye and shook hands, and there was nothing more for a year. Even after Sandy destroyed their neighborhood haunt, and both stopped in to help pick up the pieces, they missed each other — one had just left and the other came in. As in any romantic movie, their timing was off. Friends knew she was interested in him and that he was fascinated with her, but still nothing happened — until finally, eight months later, Divya went into Fish Market for a drink when and saw him. She boldly approached him. “I have the biggest crush on you.” And she kissed him. That’s when he officially asked her out. They had their first date the next night — after their first kiss. Trying to keep their budding relationship on the QT so they could see if it worked outside the glare of their mutual social circle, they avoided their usual

Divya Daswani

Their families came together for a traditional Sangeet in a lavish beachfront dinner before the wedding at Intercontinental Resort in Pattaya, Thailand.

Jan 11 – Jan 24, 2018

Divya Daswani

Seaport sweethearts Divya Daswani and Shawn Ware kicked off an elaborate, international wedding odyssey with a civil ceremony at Fish Market bar, where proprietor Jeff Lim first tried to play matchmaker for them back in 2012.

hangouts. But a few weeks later, their cover was blown — they were drinking at Watermark and in walked Jeff. “The first thing he said was ‘I knew it,’ ” Divya says. Fast-forward through their four-year courtship to Christmas last year. “We walked down to the Brooklyn Bridge,” Divya says, recalling how confused she was when Shawn brought along an umbrella, telling her that he was worried it might rain. With the Brooklyn Bridge as his backdrop, Shawn dropped to one knee and proposed. Then opened his umbrella. Divya was surprised, thrilled and still a bit confused. “I found out later that it was a signal to an FDNY boat that was to honk and send up a water spray when I said ‘Yes.’ ” Thus began 11-months of international wedding planning! As if arranging a three day celebration and organizing people coming from around the world weren’t enough, Divya also designed all her wedding outfits herself. “It was all-consuming!” First came a civil ceremony at Fish Market on Nov. 5. David Feiner officiated and dozens of friends and family shared the moment. Then came festivities at the Intercontinental Resort in Pattaya, Thailand. From Nov. 23 to 25, it was non-stop partying for 130 guests,

including about 35 Seaport friends — including Jeff’s mom Lynn, chef at Fish Market — who made the trip to be with the couple. First, the Daswani family came together for Holi, a traditional Indian festival of color. A welcoming party was combined with Divya’s grandmother’s 80th birthday. Then came the bachelor and bachelorette parties, and then Sangeet, a meeting of families and friends, in a lavish beachfront dinner party at Cabbages & Condoms (yes, that’s the restaurant’s actual name). The wedding was on Nov. 25 at sunset on the beach. All the men wore pastel turbans — color was everywhere. And later that night, they all partook in a wonderful, wild, reception dinner and dance. “We want to thank all of our family and friends for making this the most incredible year of our lives,” Divya says. “Every second of it exceeded our wildest dreams. For that we remain eternally grateful and filled with memories we’ll forever cherish.” But, after all these years, she is still in awe. “A girl from Hong Kong, a guy from California, at the tip of Manhattan — you have to wonder, how did we meet?” And the honeymoon? Not till June. “We needed a break. We’re bushed.” DowntownExpress.com

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E D ITO R IAL

The fast, free way to help kids ﬁght anxiety PUBLISHER

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Jan 11 – Jan 24, 2018

BY LENORE SKENAZY It’s not your imagination. Kids are getting more anxious, depressed, and hypersensitive. A teacher in Education Week magazine wrote that, anxiety “has become the most significant obstacle to learning among my adolescent students.” They’re not only skipping homework assignments, they’re skipping school — weeks and weeks of it. “School refusal,” as it’s known, is becoming so widespread that a Pennsylvania school district just hired a social worker to work solely on this issue. And the stats are, ironically enough, anxiety-producing too. Parents Magazine reports that 10 percent of kids are suffering from anxiety. By the time they’re in high school, that number is 25 percent, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. And when they get to college? The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA has been asking incoming students if they agree: “[I] feel overwhelmed by all I had to do” since 1985. That first year, 18 percent said yes. By 2016, 41 percent did. What gives? In a giant article about anxiety, the New York Times reported that among teachers, “one word — ‘resiliency’ — kept coming up. More and more students struggle to recover from minor setbacks and aren’t ‘equipped to problem-solve or advocate for themselves effectively.’ ” If only there was an easy, fast, free way to make kids less anxious. I think there is. The key is that this new deficiency is not innate. Kids aren’t suddenly being born less resilient. Something is making them that way, and that “something” is a lack of practice. You can’t get good at throwing a ball without practice. And

you can’t get good at problem solving and bouncing back if you never get practice at those. Which kids don’t. Parents have been told that they must watch their kids 24-7 and smooth their path all the way. So it’s no surprise that kids can’t solve problems — we’re always right there, solving them! And when kids lose a soccer game, we’re there with a trophy. And when kids are old enough to walk to school, we walk them anyway, (or, worse drive them). How can we get brave enough to give our kids back the independence their mental health depends on? Have them do “The Let Grow Project.” The project, an initiative of the non-profit I run, works like this: On a certain date, the teachers tell their students that they’re going to do the Let Grow Project. All they have to do is go home and ask their parents if they can do one thing that they feel they’re ready to do that, for one reason or another, they haven’t done yet: Walk the dog. Make dinner. Run an errand. Because the project is endorsed by the school, and because other families are doing it too, most of the parents say yes. Then they figure out, with their kid, what their particular project will be. And then, sometime over the course of the week, the kid goes and does it, alone or with a friend. When the kid walks through the door with the half gallon of milk he got by himself from the deli, the parents are not just proud. They are ecstatic. Their reaction is almost bizarrely

out of proportion with the kids just did. Maybe they spent an hour outside with a friend, or took the bus to karate. Whatever minor thing, it is a major breakthrough. In fact, it is so major that it might be the key to the resilience kids are lacking. That’s because after parents see for themselves — even once — how competent and safe their kids can be, their fear gets replaced by joy. Then they are ready to let their kids do more and more independently. In turn, the kids become more and more capable and confident. And less anxious. Manhattan’s East Side Middle School is about to do the project, as is Booker T. Washington Middle School. The Patchogue-Medford School District on Long Island is already doing it in all seven of its elementary schools. The results, says superintendent Michael Hynes, are extraordinary. “Parents are actually saying, ‘Wow! I can’t believe that I’ve safety-wrapped my kids so much that they didn’t have they didn’t have the opportunity to do these things,’ ” Hynes said. The parents are so proud, they’re bragging on Facebook — and parents in other school districts are seeing it. They’re demanding their kids’ schools start doing the Project, too. So it’s happening! The Let Grow Project is going viral because deep down many of us realize we’ve done something wrong. By trying to help our children all the time, we’ve taken away the normal childhood experience of learning to be part of the world. As a result, the world seems overwhelming — which is pretty much the definition of anxiety. Letting kids go is the key to letting kids grow. Skenazy is president of Let Grow and founder of Free-Range Kids. E-mail her at Lenore@LetGrow.org.

For one thing, correct me if I am wrong, but there is not and has not ever been Disabled Access to the E Train. Have the powers that be run out of money for such an important accommodation? Closed off areas promising E Train access exist at (1) the Starbucks on the way to the Fulton Street exit and at (2) the E train escalator near the R train that leads to a formidable stairway. These signs promising E train access have existed seemingly forever with

no evidence of work being done in the more than two years they have been in place. What do the elderly and people in wheelchairs do if they want to take the E train? So while Josh Rogers takes a blase stance with “better and bigger signs”, such signs would not that take the place of legally required access to public transportation for travelers with physical limitations. Dolores D’Agostino

Letters To the Editor: I completely agree with Josh Rogers’ daughter (Reflecting on the Oculus, Dec. 28) whose reaction to the World Trade Center Oculus was that it is “awesome”. While Westfield does its best to dim Calatrava”s awesome architecture through a kaleidoscope of cheap commercial gimmicks that turn the transportation hub into a tawdry mall, “better and bigger signs” falls short of resolving the needs of travelers..

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Tantrums and Tyranny An all access account of cut-rate leadership BY MAX BURBANK Breaking News! Michael Wolff ignites a media firestorm and turns Washington, DC on its head with the release of his scathing, tell-all indictment of a pathological Liar-in-Chief surrounded by la-la-la-la-la, etc. Well, it’s all crap. I don’t mean the book is inaccurate. It’s dead-on. I just mean A) The administration’s complete incompetence and utter amorality isn’t news, and B) It’s MY DAMN BOOK! It was supposed to be, anyway. All anyone can talk about is how Wolff has been sitting on a West Wing couch for months! You know when he sat on that couch? Once every couple of weeks when I got up to get a cup of coffee and forgot to call “fives!” I lived on that damn couch! On it, under it. I hid in the curtains with Comey, stood in the bushes like a pervert with Spicer. Hope Hicks used to call me “Mr. Access” — admittedly because she had no idea who I was, but that’s hardly the point! I’ve been lurking near Trump since the transition, working on an extremely obvious, certain best-seller, and that bald weasel Wolff wrote it first because he’s a schmooze-meister; an oily backstabber; and, also, I’m kind of unreliable when it comes to deadlines on account of laziness. I get that you doubt me. Why would the Trump camp give me access when I’ve never done anything but write poorly sourced smack about them since the Iowa Caucuses? I’ve got a simple secret. None of them know anything about what they do, and there’s no chain of command. I just walked into Trump Tower and told the guy at the security desk I was supposed to be there. They asked who approved me. I said, “You know that weird-ass looking guy? The uncomfortable one nobody likes, with the irritating voice and the ill-fitting suit? He’s, like, in charge of a whole bunch of different stuff?” That could have been anybody on staff, so the security guy shrugs and points me to the elevator. So I’m in, and when the whole gang of creeps moved to Pennsylvania Avenue, I went with them. Well, it was all for nothing. Michael Wolff got there first, and now I have to write what I personally observed in this column like it’s any other week — when I should be swimming in mountains of gold coins like Scrooge Frickin’ McDuck. Whatever. Here’s the gems: DowntownExpress.com

Illustration by Max Burbank

THEY NEVER MEANT TO WIN: According to human-shaped leather bag of whiskey Steve Bannon, “Look, losing meant we were the guys who almost pulled off the biggest upset in American history. I’d end up owning the Tea Party, add ’em to my White Supremacist dirtbag army. Kellyanne gets her own show on the cable network Trump walks straight into, Ivanka peddles her Made in China shoe, bag, and trinket lines there instead of QVC, no middleman. Okay, 8 p.m. on election night, it’s starting to look like Trump could actually win. Mike Flynn’s racing around the room shrieking about how he took 45 grand for a speech to the Russians. Who woulda given a crap if we lost? But now he’s screaming, “I’m going to jail, I’m going to jail!” Melania’s crying like a Slovenian SpongeBob, you know? Like her eyes are fire hoses? Trump sicks up all down his shirtfront. Jared’s trying to clean it off with these alcohol wipes he

always carries, ’cause Trump’s a germ freak, and the first to wipe him gets points. But Trump’s falsetto-screaming, ‘Don’t touch me, keep your hands off me!’ It was hilarious! I look over at Priebus and he’s not even cracking a smile. That’s when I knew if either of us made it four months without getting fired, I’d have to kill him.” FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF PRIEBUS DIDN’T GET IT: He’s just about the only inner circle guy who comes from semi-legit politics. So Roger Ailes, ex-CEO of Fox News? Totally disgraced, but Trump likes having him around ’cause they have shared interests: golf, sexual harassment, rich old white guy stuff. Ailes takes Priebus aside, and says, “Listen: When you have an hour meeting with Trump? It’s gonna be him telling five-minute stories the whole time, and it’s only gonna be two stories on repeat, then just one, then bits of one. The last 10 minutes,

he’s just gonna stare at you and say one word over and over, probably hamburger.” And then Priebus laughs, and Ailes goes, “Not joking. You’re gonna find that out.” TRUMP CAN’T READ: His daily intelligence briefing is delivered in the form of a connect-the-dots puzzle. It has to have less than 50 dots, or he throws a coffee pot. IVANKA COMES OFF AS SMART, BUT ONLY BECAUSE SHE’S USUALLY STANDING NEXT TO A FAMILY MEMBER: Ivanka talked to me constantly, said she liked me because I was a “little Jew” and pretty women never talk to us, so it makes us squirmy and terrified and that is so fun. One day she tells me, “The best thing about daddy being King of America is, when he dies? I get to be King. I mean, you know, Queen. Jared and I agreed it would be me, because he can’t talk in public. His voice is like a little boy cartoon mouse that likes other boy cartoon mice. My daddy is so old. He has to wear lots of foundation, because he’s really old. And repulsive. He can’t stand people who aren’t white. Isn’t that so cute?” AS BAD AS YOU THINK THINGS ARE WITH TRUMP? WAY WORSE: He calls Hope Hicks “Wigvanka” because he thinks she’s Ivanka wearing a brunette wig for some kind of disturbing, role-playing thing. He frequently doesn’t recognize Melania and had a trap door installed in his private bedroom for “that scary Slavic woman who might come for me one night.” In fact, Melania has never tried to enter the room, but two Secret Service agents have been given medical leave for shattered ankles. CURRENT CHIEF OF STAFF JOHN KELLY DOESN’T GET IT AND CRIES A LOT: Pretty much any time he’s not on camera, he’s softly weeping. He can also be found facing various West Wing walls whispering, “The horror… the horror.” That’s about all I got. No wonder Wolff beat me to the punch. Kind of surprising, considering I’ve been hanging out with the administration for over a year. Turns out this White House isn’t really an environment conducive to accomplishing anything. Bad for me personally, but pretty lucky for all of us collectively, I guess. Hey, we made it a year. Maybe our luck will hold up, right?

December 28, 2017 – January 10, 2018

DOWNTOWN SNOW DAY! BY JULIANNE MCSHANE This snow day was the bomb! An epic “Bomb Cyclone” dumped a blanket of snow one-foot thick over Downtown and pummeled locals with nearly 30-mile-per-hour wind gusts on Jan. 4, leading city and state officials to adopt an all-hands-on-deck approach to tackling the winter storm. Our friends at the Weather Channel, who have taken it upon themselves to name winter storms, dubbed the storm “Grayson,” but its more meteorological categorization as a “Bomb Cyclone” comes from its sudden intensification as it undergoes “bombogenesis,” a dramatic 24-hour drop in pressure that brings about intense winds and snowfall. And snow it did. By the evening of Jan. 4, the National Weather Service reported that an average of 11.5 inches fell across the city. Local pols prepared for the city to tackle the hyped-up storm ahead of time. Mayor DeBlasio announced on Jan. 3 that the city would give kids a snow day and declared a winter-weather emergency, and Gov. Cuomo followed up by declaring a state of emergency for both the city and its suburbs, citing the storm’s particularly intense winds

and advising New Yorkers to stay off the roads. The city largely kept the streets well plowed throughout the day until the snow stopped, according to the city’s plow-tracking map. And the Sanitation Department dispatched 2,400 plows and spreaders citywide to fight the snow and ice, the New York Daily News reported.

On t he r ocks

A huge chunk of falling ice demolished a parked car on Lower Manhattan’s Charlton Street on Tuesday, after the block of frozen water plummeted from a high fl oor of a nearby building. The cascade of falling ice, which occurred as weather warmed following four days of extreme cold, prompted police to close the street to traffic between Varick and Hudson streets until workers could sheer off the blocks of ice that still clung to the building’s facade. The First Precinct also tweeted to assure locals that there was no gunfight on nearby Hudson Street, writing that “the loud sounds were caused by ice removal.” Fortunately, no one was injured by the potentially deadly avalanche.

Photos by Milo Hess

(Above) The foot of snow dumped on the city on Jan. 4 sure made it tough to get around Downtown. (Below) But not even a “bomb cyclone” could keep tourists away from Bowling Green’s iconic Charging Bull.

Dates: Thurs., Jan. 11–Wed., Jan. 17

ALTERNATE SIDE PARKING RULES ARE SUSPENDED THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY FOR POST-SNOW TRASH COLLECTION, AND MONDAY FOR MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY Well, the so-called “bomb cyclone” snow storm is long gone, but the effort to clear 13 inches of snow has left some trash and recycling to pick up. To help that go easier, the city is continuing its alternate side parking suspensions through the weekend. You can wait until Tuesday to move your car for ASP rules. All told, it’ll be a rare 10 consecutive suspensions (not counting Sundays) since the Jan. 4 storm, when you include Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Meter rules will be in effect those days. Traffic should be a little lighter Monday as schools are closed and many

Jan 11 – Jan 24, 2018

NYPD

government workers are off. One tube of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel will be closed all weekend from 8 p.m. Friday to 5:30 a.m. Monday, and on weeknights from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. It is a better weekend to take the subway than most, with fewer changes and closures than usual in Lower Manhattan. Two exceptions are the 2 and 3, which won’t be going to Brooklyn. The 2 runs on the 1 line making local stops between South Ferry and Penn Station, and the 3 does not run south of 14th St. There are free transfers between South Ferry and Bowling Green for the 4 and 5 to Brooklyn. The Park Pl. and Wall St. (2,3) stations are closed. A late-night lane closure at the Holland Tunnel may make Varick, Broome, Hudson and Canal streets busier as Jersey-bound drivers will have to wait longer from midnight to 5:30 a.m. Thursday night, and Sunday through Thursday next week. DowntownExpress.com

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Battery Park City to get ‘peace oﬃcers’ BY COLIN MIXSON In response to local civic honchos, the Battery Park City Authority plans to have some of its security guards deputized by the NYPD with the authority to issue summonses and haul scoundrels off to jail. Community Board 1’s BPC Committee complained at a Jan. 3 meeting that the neighborhood’s current security force — which the Battery Park City Authority contracts through Allied Universal Security Services — aren’t capable of handling crime on the mean streets of the idyllic waterfront neighborhood. “Allied has no teeth to say ‘Move, or we’ll have you arrested,’ ” griped committee chairwoman Tammy Meltzer. The BPC committee voted unanimously at Wednesday’s meeting to draft a resolution demanding the BPCA have three “peace officers,” on duty within the 92-acre planned community at all times. The BPCA has confirmed that it hopes to have a pilot program of Allied Universal peace officers in up and running for the summer, but the timeline will mostly depend on how quickly the NYPD moves to license them. The head of Allied Universal BPC

detail, Patrick Murphy, is a retired police detective and will likely be the first one deputized. The peace officers would be issued badges through the NYPD and be required to complete a training program organized by Allied Universal before hitting the streets with their new powers. The committee expects the peace officers to fill a void left by the city’s Park Enforcement Patrol — whose officers are also empowered to arrest — that policed green spaces in Battery Park City until 2015, when the BPCA made the controversial decision to axe the PEP officers in favor of Allied’s security “ambassadors,” which are currently only empowered to call 911, Meltzer said. “We don’t have PEP officers. BPCA made the decision they don’t want to renew their contract with the city, so what we’re trying to do is work within the system we have, to improve what we have.” Although Battery Park City technically falls under the auspices of the state, not the city, officers from the First Precinct do patrol the neighborhood in addition to the Allied’s security guards, and real estate websites consistently list

WORKPLACE DISPUTE

DRONED OUT

Cops busted a man for allegedly repeatedly stabbing a co-worker inside a Park Row building on Dec. 22. The victim told police he was moving furniture inside a commercial office building between Beekman and Spruce streets at 10:35 am, when his colleague suddenly snapped, and, seemingly without any cause and following no dispute, the man allegedly stabbed him around the neck, head, back, and chest. As the stabbing continued, the victim begged the suspect to stop, but his plea for mercy only served to incite the man to further brutality, as he allegedly barked, “don’t tell me to stop, or I’m going to keep doing it,” according to police. Paramedics rushed the victim to Bellevue Hospital following his bloody ordeal, while police recovered a knife within a water fountain inside the building, and caught up to the alleged attacker later that day, charging him with assault, cops said.

A thief stole a mans $1,500 drone out of his backpack after a day of sighting Downtown on Jan. 5. The victim told police he’d been exploring around the Trade Center when he wandered into the Oculus transportation hub at 10 pm, and realized someone had unzipped his backpack and made off with his DJ1 Mavic Drone.

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PANTY RAID A pervy panty lover stole scads of underwear from a Broadway lingerie store on Jan. 5. Surveillance footage shows a man waltzing into the retailer between Prince and W. Houston streets at 1:20 pm, and then he gathered up no-fewer-than 72 pairs of panties before breezing past the register with his ill-gotten undies.

CHAIRED Some whacko smacked a man with a plastic chair inside a Broad Street chain store on Dec. 20.

Photo by Milo Hess

The Battery Park City Authority plans to have some of its security “ambassadors” deputized as peace offi cers by the NYPD, so they can issue summonses and make arrests, rather than simply report miscreants to 911.

The victim told police he was working at the retailer between Bridge and Pearl streets at 4:55 am, when his nutty assailant bore up the plastic furniture and brought it down on his neck. Paramedics treated the victim for a gash at the store, while investigators pulled surveillance footage in search of the worker’s unknown attacker, who fled on Bridge Street heading towards the Hudson, cops said.

TRAIN ROBBER Police arrested a man following a foot chase after he allegedly stole a woman’s phone through the doors of an idling R train at Whitehall Street on Dec. 23. The victim told police she was aboard the northbound train at the station near Bridge Street at 12:06 am, when the suspect, 22, reached through the door and snatched her $700 smartphone. The woman got off the train and pursued the alleged thief through the Downtown subway station, hollering for police along the way, cops said. Nearby patrolmen rushed to nab the suspect, whom they booked on grand larceny charges, police said.

the community as among the safest in all five boroughs. But while New York’s Finest do a great job responding to major crimes, such as the terrorist attack on Halloween, they’re less quick to address quality-of-life issues like homelessness and vandalism, according to one committee member. “They don’t stop,” said Justine Cuccia. “They don’t do anything.” The city’s rules would require anyone arrested by a private cop in Battery Park City to be immediately taken to either the First Precinct, or Central Booking at 100 Centre St., meaning the BPCA isn’t likely to build it’s own holding facility. Peace officers can be registered to carry firearms while on duty, but the BPCA wouldn’t arm its rent-a-cops with guns, according to spokesman Nick Sbordone, who said it was too early to tell whether the privatized policemen would be equipped with less-than-lethal weapons, such as mace, stun guns, or batons — but he conformed the intention to have some empowered to make arrests. “The intention on bringing Allied in was to eventually get to the point where they could fill that same role [as PEPs],” said Sbordone.

APPLE PICKING A pickpocket made off with a young woman’s $1,300 iPhone 8 Plus inside a Sixth Avenue watering hole on Dec. 17. The victim told police she was at the bar between Walker and White streets at 2 am, when she felt the thief’s sticky fi ngers reach into her back pocket and remove the pricey Apple smartphone. The young woman searched through the dimly lit nightclub for the crook, but said it was too dark to spot the reprobate, who ably made off with her cell, cops said.

TWO-WHEELED CROOKS Thieves stole two import motorcycles located about two blocks apart over the course of two days Downtown last month. Some crook rode off with a man’s $8,000 BMW G5700 he left on Albany Street near South End Avenue at noon on Dec. 22. Then a bandit jacked another rider’s $7,000 Honda CRF250L parked on Rector Street also near South End Avenue at 2 pm on Dec. 24. — Colin Mixson Jan 11 – Jan 24, 2018

Elevated rhetoric Debate over subway lift framed as epic struggle bewteen counterterrorism versus civil rights BY REBECCA FIORE After an impassioned hour-long debate pitting public safety verses civil rights, Community Board 1’s Land Use Committee unanimously voted to endorse the construction of two elevator entrances to the Broad Street J/Z subway station, at its Jan. 8 meeting, The glass elevators, which would sit at the intersection of Broad Street and Exchange Place, would allow for access to both north and southbound trains, in compliance with the American with Disabilities Act. Madison Equities, the developers behind nearby 45 Broad Street, came to an agreement with the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission that, in exchange for building the elevators, the planned-skyscraper could build an additional 70,000 square feet inside. The many accessibility standards required for ADA compliance mean the best location for these elevators is down the block from 45 Broad Street, in front 15 Broad Street — which is directly across from the New York Stock Exchange. But the proposed position near a known terrorist target has raised alarms for some more safety-conscious locals, who fret that a big glass box in a heavily trafficked business and tourist area could be all too tempting to a lone-wolf bomber. “We aren’t even allowed to put a planter outside our building because they say it creates shrapnel everywhere,” said 15 Broad Street resident Claudia Ward. “Our real fear is that someone goes into this big glass and metal box and sets off a bomb, spreading shrapnel everywhere.” At the request of CB1, the NYPD’s Counterterrorism Division examined the risks of the site, and in an email read out loud at the meeting the division honchos doesn’t “recommend against the installation of the elevators” and doesn’t think, “the addition of an elevator at this station in any way significantly increases the risk of an incident.” Linda Gerstman, a resident and member of the Board of Managers at Downtown Condominium of 15 Broad Street, said she still isn’t convinced that

Photo by Rebecca Fiore

Monica Bar tley, who does community outreach at the Center for Independence of the Disabled in NY (CIDNY), is a wheelchair user who has meetings every week in the Financial District, and she said she has had to spend more an three hours trying to navigate the subway lines in search of a working elevator.

it would be safe enough to place the elevators in front of her building. “What I heard from the NYPD statement is the word, ‘significant,’ ” she said. “Which to me, I’m sorry, any risk of terrorism in front of my building is more than I can handle.” Out of dozen or so members of the public who spoke, the majority were people with a range of disabilities asking for these elevators to be built. Jennifer Bartlett, a New York Times writer with cerebral palsy, explained that the nearest elevators for these lines is on Fulton Street — up a hill, two subway stops away. “It goes without saying that I should not have to cancel all my plans to come to a two hour board meeting to fight for my civil rights,” Bartlett said. “What you are attempting to do here is oppression. You are pretty much setting yourself up for a lawsuit.” A few board members, including Tammy Meltzer, agreed about the security issues. She said that while the NYPD addressed concerns of terrorism using car bombs, that won’t stop a determined person. “It’s not the car that’s driving into the elevator, it’s the guy with the suit-

Urbahn Architects PLLC.

Two elevators will be placed on either side of Exchange Place and Broad Street for access to the Broad Street station for the J/Z lines. Above is the east side of Broad Street, which would provide an entrance to the northbound platform. But some locals fear that their presence inside the NYSE “frozen zone” would make them tempting targets for terrorists.

case that’s unscreened because he can just walk down the street and now you put somebody with a suitcase down through the elevator,” she said. Michael Ketring, of CB1, disagreed that the existence of the elevators poses a greater threat to the community’s safety. “Whether you are wheeling a suitcase down the street or whether you are coming up through the elevator, it’s pretty much the same thing,” he said. “The benefits to the disabled community having this far outweigh that.” Many members of the disabled community told the board lined up to convince the board that by far the biggest effect this elevator would have is a dramatic improvement in the quality of life for tens of thousands of New Yorkers Monica Bartley, who does community outreach at the Center for Independence of the Disabled in NY (CIDNY), is a wheelchair user, and she said she has

meetings every week in the Financial District, and having that elevator would make a big difference to her. “What Google says is a 15 minute ride can take me anywhere from three hours to get to that location,” she said it there’s a broken elevator, for example, forced her to figure out where the nearest working elevator is. Susan Dooha, the executive director of CIDNY, which serves about 36,000 people citywide, said that the number two reason why people with disabilities are unemployed is lack of access to public transit — right behind discrimination. All 13 board members and two public members voted in favor of the elevators with stipulations including asking for a more comprehensive security report from the NYPD and expressing general displeasure with the aesthetics of the elevators.

For more news & events happening now visit www.DowntownExpress.com 16

Jan 11 – Jan 24, 2018

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New Name, Next Chapter for Refurbished PS122 ‘Coil’ poised to shufﬂe off; ‘East Village Series’ set to debut

Photo by Christian Miles

New name, same great location: PS122 is now Performance Space New York, at First Ave. and E. Ninth St.

BY TRAV S.D. January is a traditional time of regeneration, renewal and reinvention, when good news of any sort is widely celebrated. Longtime Downtown arts fans have much to cheer in that department now that PS122 has opened its doors to the public, for the first time in six years, for the 13th and final edition of their Coil Festival. With its welcome return to First Ave. and E. Ninth St. comes a new name: Performance Space New York. The East Village performance institution, shuttered since 2011, has received a top to bottom renovation, and since 2017, has been headed by a new executive artistic director, Jenny Schlenzka, formerly of MoMa PS1. In a time when the news cycle has been dominated by negative bulletins on nearly every front, here’s a potential hopeful development. Newcomers to New York may be forgiven for not even knowing that PS122 even existed, but it happens to be one of New York’s historically pivotal arts organizations. Founded in an abandoned school building by a bunch of artists in 1980 (the “PS” originally stood for “Public School”), the repurposed First Ave. building was transformed into Performance Space 122. Over the decades, the organization presented such groundbreaking performers as John Leguizamo, Eddie Izzard, Spalding Gray, Eric Bogosian, Karen Finley, Penny Arcade, Ethyl Eichelberger, Holly Hughes, Carmelita Tropicana, John Kelly, Elevator Repair Service, Reggie Watts, Young Jean Lee, Taylor Mac, Julie Atlas Muz, Richard Maxwell and Adrienne Truscott, among countless others. Its most legendary days happened under the artistic leadership of Mark Russell, who left in 2004 and now runs the Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival (happening through Jan. 15; see publictheater.org). Over the ensuing decade, the organization was run by Vallejo Gantner, under whose watch the Coil Festival was started in 2006. The new Executive Artistic Director,

Photo by Zan Wimberley

Angela Goh’s “Desert Body Creep” (Jan. 16 & 17) “makes a case for transformation through a fantasy of decay.”

DowntownExpress.com

COIL continued on p. 18 December 28, 2017 – January 10, 2018

COIL continued from p. 17

Jenny Schlenzka, was hired early last year, becoming the first female to head the organization. Originally from Berlin, Schlenzka was the Assistant Curator for Performance in the Department of Media and Performance Art at The Museum of Modern Art from 2008 to 2012, and then Associate Curator at MoMa PS1, where she established the interdisciplinary live program Sunday Sessions. “As a curator, I saw many shows at PS122 before it closed in 2011, and also in the Coil Festival in the years since,” said Schlenzka, who spoke with us before the organization’s updated name was announced. “But the more I learn about its history, the more and more I am amazed by what’s gone on here. I want the new PS122 to be the 2020 version of the original organization.” She added in a public statement, “What I have considered my job as a curator and now as a director of an institution is to create spaces for new things to happen, things that are of the here and now.” Central to the realization of these goals is their newly renovated facility, accomplished with the help and support of the City of New York, the Department of Cultural Affairs and the Department of Design and Construction over a period of six years. Among the most radical changes is that Performance Space New York’s performance spaces have been moved to the top floor. The two spaces, designed by Deborah Berke Partners, both feature lots of windows overlooking vistas below, and are designed to be flexible with regard to audience and performance configurations. The building has been made wheelchair accessible, has been brought into compliance with safety codes, and the theatres have been outfitted with state-of-the-art production equipment. The larger of the two theatres seats 199; the smaller one, 87. The building’s lower floors will be occupied by Mabou Mines, The Alliance for Positive Change, Painting Space 122, and a fifth tenant to be announced soon. “What’s especially nice about the architecture is that they managed to keep the spirit of how it used to look,” said Schlenzka, “The architect Deborah Berke was sensitive to that fact, that we wanted to keep the integrity of what was here before. You still believe it was a school building. As you walk through, there are different moments where they’ve reclaimed the old space. People have had high hopes, and when they’ve come in to see the

Photo by Peter Born

David Thomson’s “he his own mythical beast” (Jan. 31, Feb. 1-4) is “a meditation on the mythologies and contradictions of identity, race, gender, and the black body in post-modern American culture.”

Photo by Christian Miles

Performance Space New York’s new look retains the integrity of its previous life as a school building.

spaces, their minds are blown. People have cried when they’ve seen it.” Both of the new performance spaces will be open to the public for the first time for the Coil Festival. In addition, some of the Coil shows have been programmed in the Mabou Mines space, which is now where one of the old PS122 theaters used to be, on the ground floor. In conjunction with the unveiling of the renovated building and the launch of the Coil Festival, the organization is also rolling out a new branding initiative, including a new website undertaken by Performance Space New York Creative Technologist Alex Reeves. The lynchpin event of all this, the

December 28, 2017 – January 10, 2018

2018 Coil Festival, takes place through Feb. 4, and will feature work by Seattle-based choreographer Heather Kravas and her company of nine dancers; Ethyl Eichelberger Award winner, composer/performer Dane Terry; Dean Moss and Gametophyte Inc. (his interdisciplinary company); Australian dancer/artist Atlanta Eke; multi-media dancer/performer David Thomson and company; and Sydney-based dancer/ performance artist Angela Goh. As for why this will be the final Coil Festival, Schlenzka pointed out, “Now that we have the building, we can program all year long. The festival was great, as it gave us a presence in New York when the building was closed. It

was just that all of our programming happened in one month. Now we’ll have something every week, although we’ll likely always do special programming in January.” And there are big things in store immediately after Coil. Schlenzka has planned semi-annual themed performance series. The inaugural series, focusing on the East Village itself (aptly named the East Village Series), is slated to kick off next month and go until June. “Times have changed, the neighborhood has changed,” said Schlenzka. “PS122 was originally created by artists, for artists. Our budget is much bigger now. Not so many of the artists live here any more. But it’s still about community, and the East Village is still the epicenter of that community. We’re in the unique position to be both relevant on an international level, and hyperlocal. I want people from the neighborhood to come in and socialize and see shows, but I want someone surfing the web in Australia to see what we do, too. This can be the place where they come together.” Performance Space New York is located at 150 First Ave., at E. Ninth St. For the Coil Festival tickets ($15-25), call 212-352-3101 or visit performancespacenewyork.org. DowntownExpress.com

Head Over Heels for ‘Under the Radar’ Annual Jan. fest features 26 shows from here and abroad

Photo by Wang Chong

“Thunderstorm 2.0” has director Wang Chong setting Cao Yu’s early 20th century drama in a 1990s-era Beijing official’s home.

BY TRAV S.D. The year 2005 proved to be pretty earthshaking: North Korea went nuclear, Angela Merkel became the fi rst female leader of Germany, YouTube posted its fi rst video, and New Orleans was nearly destroyed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. But here in New York, Mark Russell, the popular longtime artistic director of PS122, launched his next glorious project by founding the Under the Radar Festival. The 2018 edition of Under the Radar, running through Jan. 15, will be the 14th one, and the largest and most ambitious one DowntownExpress.com

to date, with over 155 performances featuring artists from across the US and around the world, including Cuba, China, Canada, Italy, Japan, UK, Poland, and Slovenia. “I didn’t think it would go this long,” Russell said, with a self-deprecatory laugh. “Next year will be our fi fteenth festival. It’s pretty incredible. At first we were at St. Anne’s [Warehouse, in Brooklyn]. This begat our relationship with The Public [Theater] the next year. The Public liked it and we were able to continue it all these years through the support of foundations. Now the festival is fully integrated

into The Public’s core programming.” Under the Radar’s official mission is to “provide a high-visibility platform to support artists from diverse backgrounds who are redefi ning the act of making theater” and to be a “launching pad for new and cutting-edge performance.” “In the beginning,” Russell explained, “the agenda was to experiment to see if stuff that was under the radar of the mainstream could infiltrate the world of producers and presenters and regional theatre directors in the hope that artists could make more successful inroads into the culture.”

Some of the well-known artists who gained more widespread recognition through their involvement at Under the Radar over the years have included Elevator Repair Service, Young Jean Lee, Mike Daisey, Taylor Mac, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, and international companies like Italy’s Motus Theatre Company, Belarus Free Theatre, and Gob Squad, which is composed of British and German artists. “A lot of the work in regional theatre is playwright-driven, or New York RADAR continued on p. 20

December 28, 2017 – January 10, 2018

RADAR continued from p. 19

or LA actor-driven work that adheres to Equity regulations as far as building three weeks of rehearsal time, and so forth,” Russell noted, “and lots of good theatre is made that way. But other people use different strategies. But it’s often about us presenting material and contemporary voices that Americans are not used to yet, but are getting more used to all the time. We are trying to fi nd the other voices that are not being heard yet.” A few highlights from the 2018 festival include British lip synch performer and “drag fabulist” Dickie Beau; New Yorker scribe Adam Gopnik performing “The Gates: An Evening of Stories” as directed by The Moth’s Catherine Burns; Split Britches’ “Unexploded Ordnances (UXO),” an anxiety-prone meditation on aging and doomsday developed through conversation with elders and artists; “Thunderstorm 2.0” (whose run concluded Jan. 7) is acclaimed Chinese director Wang Chong’s dismantling/reassemblage of Cao Yu’s early 20th century drama; Cuba’s Teatro El Público does a version of “Antigone” mixing elements of fashion, spectacle, cabaret, theater, and drag; and free concerts by Canadian sing-along flash mob experience Choir! Choir! Choir! and faux “basement get-down party” celebrity Shasta Geaux Pop. The venues are The Public Theater and Joe’s Pub, La MaMa, NYU Skirball, Japan Society, and Brooklyn’s BRIC. In addition there will be several post-show discussions, panels, and symposia featuring the artists in conversation about their work.

Photo courtesy GlassWorks Multimedia

Havana-based provocateurs Teatro El Público present “Antigonón, un Contigente Épico,” through Jan. 14 at The Public.

“When Under the Radar started [in 2005], we presented eight or nine shows. This year it’s 26!” Russell enthused. “I wanted to go all out this year and include a lot of people. Old fogeys, young fogeys, music theatre pieces. The diversity of it has been exciting.” The Festival runs through Jan. 15. Prices start at $25. For tickets, visit publictheater.org/Under-the-Radar.

Photo by Joseph Fuda

Toronto-based Choir! Choir! Choir! invite you their sing-along, Jan. 13 in The Public Theater lobby.

Photo by Setty McIntosh

Photo by Matt Delbridge

Shasta Geaux Pop delivers a free-flowing (and free) performance, Jan. 12 in The Public Theater lobby.

Is Doomsday looming? Conversations with elders and artists helped Split Britches develop “Unexploded Ordnances (UXO),” through Jan. 21 at La MaMa.

December 28, 2017 – January 10, 2018

DowntownExpress.com

Buhmann on Art ‘Cabinet of Horrors’ calls for waking up to resistance

Courtesy The Drawing Center

In the foreground of this installation shot, one of the drawn “dollar bills.”

Courtesy the artist

Judith Bernstein: “Seal of Disbelief” (2017. Mixed media on paper. 96 x 96 inches).

BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN Born in 1942, Judith Bernstein has long created radical drawings that address her feminist and anti-war activism. However, it was only recently, at the age of 72, that she finally achieved massive critical acclaim. Today, her oeuvre does not only seem as current as ever, but her unabashed, fearless outspokenness is much-needed. This well-timed exhibition presents a new body of work, made after last year’s elections, which was specifically commissioned by The Drawing Center. Eighteen new drawings, four large-scale paper panel DowntownExpress.com

Courtesy The Drawing Center

An installation shot of vintage piggy banks.

murals, a series of drawn “dollar bills,” and vintage piggy banks in vitrines make up the installation, while a series of free political campaign pins designed by Bernstein are available to all at the museum entrance. Like the painter Marilyn Minter, who recently curated a fantastic pop-up store with protest-inspired objects designed by various artists for the Brooklyn Museum, Bernstein calls for waking up to resistance. For Bernstein, engagement has never stopped. In fact, she began addressing social issues in her work in the 1960s, beginning with anti-Vietnam drawings and by creating monumental phalluses. Serving as a nod

to these roots, one of Bernstein’s earliest political drawings from 1969 opens “Cabinet of Horrors.” However, the core of the installation manifests as one powerful and outspoken critique of the current administration, in many cases by utilizing Trump’s own language. Through Feb. 4 at The Drawing Center (35 Wooster St., btw. Grand & Broome Sts.). Hours: Wed., Fri., Sat. & Sun., 12–6pm & Thurs., 12–8pm (free every Thurs., 6–8pm). General admission, $5 ($3 for students/ seniors, free for children under 12). Call 212-219-2166 or visit drawingcenter.org. December 28, 2017 – January 10, 2018

Jan 11 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Jan 24, 2018

DowntownExpress.com

Cathay Bank invests $385,000 in community nonproﬁts He didn’t wear a red suit, but Cathay Bank head Pin Tai played Santa on Dec. 18, doling out $385,000 in grants to nonprofit groups across New York and New Jersey at a lavish luncheon at Chinatown’s Golden Unicorn restaurant. “We started Cathay Bank 55 years ago because we wanted to help those in need,” Tai said. “The spirit of what makes up Cathay Bank hasn’t changed at all. We are proud to offer support to help these organizations that empower individuals in need, with grants being one of the many ways we use to solidify our 55-year commitment.” The Cathay Bank Foundation was founded in 2002 with a mission to support the growth and success of the communities Cathay Bank serves, and it has expanded its support with this new round of grants for 2018, according to Tai. “In 2017, 28 nonprofit organizations were awarded grants. Cathay Bank expanded the amount of grants and awarded 37 nonprofit organizations this year and significantly increased the total amount given,” he said. Following a seemingly endless succession of steamed dumplings and other dim sum delicacies, Tai presented representatives of each organization with a grant check, before posing with all the

Photo by Sherri Rossi

(Above) Representatives from 37 community nonprofi ts received a total of $385,000 in grants from the Cathay Bank Foundation a lavish luncheon (below) at Chinatown’s Golden Unicorn restaurant hosted by Cathay Bank on Dec. 18. Photo by Milo Hess

SVP District Administrator Elizabeth Lee and Cathay Bank President and CEO Mr. Pin Tai.

beneficiaries for a light-hearted photo with a giant check representing the foundation’s entire $385,000 in donations. “We encourage each other to make our communities and country a better place to work,” Tai said. “If our customers do well, they will give back to their community, too.” For a full list of the beneficiaries, see our story online at www.downtownexpress.com

MTV’s DC Young Fly makes pilgrimage to MECA Students at the Manhattan Early College School for Advertising got a major Christmas present earlier this month, in the form of a pair of Korg Volca analog synthesizers. MTV star DC Young Fly, co-host of the music channel’s recently revived show “Total Request Live,” popped in to make the surprise presentation on Dec. 12, prompting screams from thrilled students in the Pearl Street school’s Visual Thinking Lab. The rapper/comedian was introduced by former Community Board 1 chairwoman Julie Menin, now Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, which arranged for Korg to donate equipment

to MECA, as well as schools the other four boroughs. The high-end audio equipment maker donated a total of $10,000 worth of equipment to the schools though Menin’s office. DC Young Fly wasted no time dropping some beats — enlisting students to sing, play keyboards, and dance in a video due to air on an upcoming episode of his MTV show. The host assured the MECA students that handson experience with such cutting edge audio-production technology will help them land jobs in a fast-changing and fiercely competitive industry. “You’ll be in tune with what’s going on in the world,” he said.

Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment

Commissioner Julie Menin, at left, and MTV star DC Young Fly, at right, came to the Manhattan Early College School for Advertising on Dec. 12 hand off two KORG Volca mixing boards donated to MECA’s Visual Thinking Lab.

For more news & events happening now visit www.DowntownExpress.com DowntownExpress.com

Jan 11 – Jan 24, 2018

There’s an Urgent Care Center right on 14th Street. Perfect for us 40-ish skateboarders.

My Mount Sinai is

Mount Sinai Urgent Care Center • 10 Union Square East 646-568-5690 mountsinai.org/unionsquare

#MyMountSinai

Jan 11 – Jan 24, 2018

DowntownExpress.com