Downtown Express

Serving Tribeca, Battery Park City, the Seaport and the Financial District VOLUME 31, NUMBER 3

FEB 08 – FEB 21, 2018

Don’t mess with this dress!

Towering art installation at Oculus highlights waste in fashion Page 19 Photo by Tequila Minsky

Thrift store chain Savers marked New York Fashion Week with a massive art installation at the Oculus featuring a mannequin perched atop and nearly 30-foottall skirt formed by a massive pile of discarded clothes — a display meant to highlight the extraordinary waste caused by the churn of the fashion industry. For more, see page 19.

Also in this issue: Community Board 1’s new District Manager Page 10

#Resistance Town Hall Page 4

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

The secret photos of the Lodz Ghetto Page 7

SQUATTING RIGHTS City’s Downtown pay toilet could be area’s most affordable housing

BY COLIN MIXSON It’s Downtown’s number-one — and number-two — real estate deal!

Daredevil renters seeking cheap accommodations in the heart of Lower Manhattan should look no further than a public pay toilet the city plans to install outside the Manhattan Municipal Building, which can be had for the low price of only $360 a month — albeit in increments of 15 minutes.

The city will offer its half-bath, nobedroom rental without any fees or contracts, and will throw in self-cleaning technology that promises to keep appliances spic and span with minimal fuss.

Unfortunately, the low-rent public housing includes several drawbacks, foremost of which is that rent is due in 25-cent increments every 15 minutes, after which the doors automatically open, presenting some privacy issues likely to turn off some home seekers.

In lieu of a nosey landlord, the bathroom itself will notify tenants minutes

before rent is due with audible cues, giving renters ample time to finish any private business they may be busy with before the doors swing open, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation, which is spearheading the project.

The bathroom only operates 12 hours a day, from 8 am to 8 pm, so there’s no need to stay up all night slotting quarters — both assuring a good nights’ sleep and reducing the prospective rent.

If someone lingers in the bathroom after closing hours, the system governing the rental toilet’s functions would send out a warning signal that the unit is out of order, and will not lock someone for the evening, according to Gabrielle Brussel, executive vice president of JCDecaux North America, which operates the bathrooms.

To date, no one has ever refused to leave a toilet at closing time, Brussel said.

The room’s dimensions clock in at

Department of Transportation

A rendering of a pay toilet the city plans to install near the Municipal Building in Lower Manhattan, and which could be the closest thing Downtown has to affordable housing.

a petite 12-by-6-feet, or 72 square feet, meaning renters would have to economize on space, but at $5-per-square foot, the room is dollar-for-dollar an

unbeatable deal in Lower Manhattan’s competitive real estate market, where TOILET Continued on page 6

THE DOWNTOWN CONNECTION IS YOUR FREE RIDE AROUND LOWER MANHATTAN!

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Feb 8 – Feb 21, 2018

DowntownExpress.com

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

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.

Feb 8 – Feb 21, 2018

3

Resistance town hall Progressives meet up to talk local fight against Trump

BY EDDY MARTINEZ Manhattanites packed an auditorium last week to listen as a state senator and a leading progressive policy advocate addressed how to craft an effective local resistance to the administration in Washington. But in the process, they found themselves searching for an answer to a question years in the making: How can Democrats increase voter turnout in one of the bluest cities in the country during the reign of Trump?

Neera Tanden, CEO of the Washington-based Center for American Progress, and West Side state Sen. Brad Hoylman hosted the Feb. 1 town hall at the CUNY Graduate Center in Midtown and were joined by City Comptroller Scott Stringer and Public Advocate Letitia James.

While the remarks of each differed in focus, they struck the same tones of urgency and definace.

“This is the most insane, radical, and extremist administration I’ve ever seen in my life,” Tanden said.

The gathering, titled “Town Hall on the Resistance: How States Can Trump Washington,” explored paths the city and state can take to fight back against federal policies deemed harmful to New York. Everyone at the town hall agreed that voters need to make themselves heard.

Stringer echoed Tanden’s remarks when he insisted that the city government would fight back by standing firm on its progressive values.

“We are part of this resistance,” Stringer said to cheers.

James, meanwhile, told the audience that her work as a public advocate has brought her face to face with the effects of federal policies.

“I will never normalize crazy,” she said. “I will never normalize hate, racism.”

But for one local Democrat, change has to start at the neighborhood level.

“The work that needs to be done in the municipality is enormous; we should be working with our council members more, we should be working with our state representatives,” said Tina DiFeliciantonio, a documentary filmmaker who lives in Chelsea. But though she identified herself as a registered Democrat, the “we” she referred to included progressive groups outside

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Feb 8 – Feb 21, 2018

Photo by Eddy Martinez

Neera Tanden, CEO of the Center for American Progress, addresses the Feb. 1 town hall.

the formal political system.

Closer coordination between elected representatives and the grassroots, however, likely depends on getting more registered voters to actually vote. In this past November’s election, Mayor de Blasio won a second term by garnering the votes of just over 14 percent of the electorate. Hoylman acknowledged that reality, telling the crowed that New York State currently ranks 41st in the country in voter turnout.

But, he argued, the problem is one of access, not enthusiasm.

“It’s not easy to vote in New York,” he said. “We all were standing in line waiting to vote in the past election and it depresses turnout.”

Local Democratic organizations are concerned with low voter turnout, but their efforts naturally prioritize the shoring up of support in the city rather than the rest of the state, which in many areas is far less blue.

“We are focused on increasing Democratic turnout in our own county for the 2018 statewide elections,” Barry Weinberg, executive director of the Manhattan County Democratic Party, said in an email, adding that

local Democratic clubs are working with Democrats upstate to increase voter outreach there. Weinberg did not respond to a follow-up question on how the the county organization would increase turnout in Manhattan.

One local Democratic club, however, says low turnout is not a problem of access.

“Rent in NYC is debilitating and not geared policy-wise towards young professionals, the subway system that we rely on is a monument to bureaucratic intransigence, and then we’re expected to attend nightly 3-hour-long meetings discussing issues that we don’t believe will impact our lives” said Malik Wright, head of the Manhattan Young Democrats, in an email.

The club, which pushes for greater youth involvement in local politics, has a different way of getting people engaged. Town halls are too big and too general to capture a political novice’s attention, according to Wright. The group instead introduces newcomers to Democratic district leaders who then connect them to local political clubs in their neighborhoods.

Tanden acknowledged that voter

turnout needs to increase to turn the tide against Trump.

“My plea for you is to engage; my greatest fear is that people will become inured to the crazy,” she said during the town hall.

In comments to NYC Community Media following the town hall, Tanden said that the Center for American Progress is working with local progressive groups on the ground to mobilize voters, yet the New York Progressive Action Network, a coalition of activists, said it has had no contact from CAP. The Working Families Party, the largest progressive party in New York that works to move the state Democratic Party in a leftward direction, did not respond to a request for comment about whether the Center for American Progress has coordinated efforts with that party.

If Hoylman and Tanden offered no easy solutions to the voter turnout question, they were successful in energizing the crowd with a mix of calls for mass protests here and in Washington in the event special counsel Robert Mueller is RESISTANCE Continued on page 12

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APPLE PICKING

MIND THE GAP

A burglar ransacked a Hudson Street office building on Jan. 29, nabbing several laptops.

Surveillance footage showed a man exiting the building between Debrosses and Canal streets with a large bag slung over his shoulder at 6:52 am.

Staff came in later that morning to discover more than $7,000 worth of Apple laptops, plus with a pair of Bose headphones were missing, cops said.

Two men stole 20 pairs of pants from a Broadway retailer on Jan. 22.

The crooks took a whopping $1,399 worth of Gap jeans from the store between Cortlandt and Liberty streets at 10:09 am, plucking them off a table and breezing past the register without paying, cops said.

MEAN TEENS

A NEW COMEDY

by Isobel Mahon

YOU’RE INVITED TO A PARTY FULL OF SURPRISES! Academy Award-Winning Actress Hayley Mills (Pollyanna, The Parent Trap) returns to the stage in the new, unabashedly funny, Off-Broadway comedy written by the wickedly brilliant Isobel Mahon (“Glenroe,â€? “Fair Cityâ€?), and directed by Amanda Bearse (“Married‌With Childrenâ€?).

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Feb 8 – Feb 21, 2018

Three teens ripped off a Wall Street cell shop on Jan. 29.

One of the perps, all described as 13-years-old by police, distracted a worker at the store between Front and Water streets at 4:25 pm, while his buddies nabbed three iPhones worth more than $2,400.

BETWEEN THE LEGS A slick thief managed to swipe a bag right out from under the legs of a straphanger on a 2 train on Jan. 23.

The victim insisted he didn’t nod off aboard the Brooklyn-bound train, but nevertheless found his satchel missing when the doors opened at the Park Place subway station at 5:20 pm, shorting him $80 for the bag, and about $4,000 for the laptop and camera it contained, according to police.

SUBWAY RESCUE

BAD BREAK

A good Samaritan recovered a woman’s phone from a bumbling pickpocket inside the Fulton Street subway station on Feb. 2.

The victim told police she was waiting for an A train at the station near Nassau Street at 8:24 pm, when the suspect grabbed the phone from her pocket and ran off into the station.

But another man who witnessed the crime gave chase and caught the thief outside a Dunkin’ Donuts, where he reclaimed the phone on the victim’s behalf, cops said.

Nobody was injured as a result of the bungled heist, and the thief remains on the lam, according to police.

A lovers’ spat turned ugly at a Chambers Street community college on Jan. 24.

The victim told police her ex-girlfriend snatched her phone and ran off through the Manhattan Community College campus at 4:20 pm.

The women arranged to meet later at the Hoyt Street subway station, and the victim got her phone back — along with a few bruises — when the angry ex grabbed her hair and started beating her, according to police.

The abused woman called 911 following the attack, while her former lover hopped a 2 train and fled, cops said. — Colin Mixson

TOILET Continued from page 2

residential space average closer to $50 a foot, according to real-estate maven Luis Vazquez. “It’s a very good deal,� conceded Vazquez cautiously, who runs the popular Fidi Fan Page on Facebook.

The city pitched its potty plans to the civic honchos at Community Board 1 on Jan. 23, where members voted to support the proposal, albeit with complaints that the toilet’s sleek, modern design was inappropriate given the architectural context of the historic Manhattan Municipal Building, which was built in the Beaux-Arts style, according to board chairman Anthony Notaro. “It’s being put right to the south

of the municipal building, and if you look at that there’s a lot of wonderful context, but this looks like spaceship,�

Notaro said.

The city hasn’t set a date yet for the new toilet’s ribbon cutting, and the project awaits approvals from the Public Design Commission, Council Speaker Corey Johnson, and Mayor de Blasio before the transit agency can move on it, an agency spokeswoman said.

Nearby subway access further complicates the proposal because — though perhaps a selling point for renters — the underground tunnels require additional surveys to ensure the toilet’s plumbing doesn’t interfere with existing infrastructure, according to the spokeswoman.

DowntownExpress.com

NEVER FORGET

Exhibit shows photos secretly documenting life in Lodz Ghetto

BY COLIN MIXSON See the pictures Hitler couldn’t burn.

Downtown’s Museum of Jewish Heritage is exhibiting a collection of photos taken clandestinely by a daring Jewish photographer in the notorious Lodz Ghetto to document the horrors of life in German-occupied Poland — and which he buried underground until after the war to evade Nazi efforts to whitewash the Holocaust.

“This extraordinary exhibition is a unique visual record of the barbarity of life in the Lodz Ghetto inflicted by the Nazis,” said museum president Michael Glickman.

The exhibit, which opens at the 36

Battery Pl. institution on Feb. 25, features 200 images curated from amongst nearly 3,000 that survived photographer Henryk Ross’s harrowing experience documenting life in the Lodz Ghetto.

Nazi invaders confined Ross, along with 160,000 other Jews, in the notorious Polish ghetto in 1940, and employed him as a photographer for bureaucratic purposes, a cover he used to record the agony of their four years of internment.

His captors provided Ross with film to photograph his fellow ghetto residents for their identity papers, but he devided an ingenious way to save film.

He seated several subjects together in rows, snapped a picture of everyone in a

Art Gallery of Ontario

(Above) Tasked by the Nazis with taking photos of the ghetto’s Jews for identifi cation cards, Ross devised a clever technique — placing his subjects in rows, getting every person into a single frame, and then cropping the print into individual faces — allowing him to save film, which he then used to take his unauthorized photographs of the ghetto. (Below) Lodz Ghetto police escorting residents for deportation 1942-1944.

Art Gallery of Ontario

(Above) Henryk Ross examines negatives. (Right) This Jewish boy and girl may not have survived the Lodz Ghetto, but their image did, thanks to Ross.

single frame, and then cropped the print down to individual faces. Ross was then able to use the film he saved to covertly document life in the ghetto.

Through the frame of Ross’s lens, museum patrons will witness the suffering that occurred there, as family members were separated and shipped off to concentration camps, along with attempts to maintain a vague sense of normalcy within the confines of the prison-like ghettos, including wedding ceremonies and birthday parties set against the chilling backdrop of Hitler’s Final Solution.

As German death squads began emptying the ghetto and liquidating evidence of their atrocities in the waning years of the war, Ross buried some 6,000 negatives near his home, and after surviving the war, he returned to find that nearly half of his images had survived, forming one of the largest photographic collections documenting the Holocaust, according to a museum spokesperson.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage exhibit divides Ross’s photographs into three categories — those he took under German orders, the secret images he took of life in the ghetto, and other clandestine shots of men, women, and children being deported to concentration camps such as Chelmno and Auschwitz.

The exhibit will also feature artifacts and audio testimonies providing context for the unique images on display at the Downtown museum, which will host the exhibit through June 24.

Art Gallery of Ontario

(Above) A man trudges through the snow amid the ruins of the synagogue on Wolborska Street.

(Right) The pedestrian bridge crossing Zgierska Street, the “Aryan” avenue that divided the ghetto into two areas.

DowntownExpress.com

Feb 8 – Feb 21, 2018

7

E D ITO R IAL

A modern means for mourning PUBLISHER

Jennifer Goodstein EDITOR

Bill Egbert REPORTERS

Colin Mixon ARTS EDITOR

Scott Stiffler EXECUTIVE VP OF ADVERTISING

Amanda Tarley (P) 718 260 8340 (E) atarley@cnglocal.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Jim Steele Julio Tumbaco ART DIRECTOR

Cristina Mark Marcos Ramos Ramos Alcine PHOTOGRAPHERS

Milo Hess Tequila Minsky PUBLISHER EMERITUS

John W. Sutter

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NYC COMMUNITY MEDIA, LLC ONE METROTECH CENTER NEW YORK, NY 11201 PHONE: (212) 229-1890 FAX: (212) 229-2790 WWW.DOWNTOWNEXPRESS.COM NEWS@DOWNTOWNEXPRESS.COM Downtown Express is published every week by NYC Community Media LLC, One Metrotech Center North, 10th Floor, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201 (212) 229-1890. The entire contents of the newspaper, including advertising, are copyrighted and no part may be reproduced without the express permission of the publisher - © 2017 Community Media LLC. PUBLISHER’S LIABILITY FOR ERROR The Publisher shall not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for other errors or omissions in connection with an advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue.

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Feb 8 – Feb 21, 2018

BY LENORE SKENAZY About 200 well-dressed, youngish people crammed into a bookstore in Dumbo to hear personal stories about that taboo topic that makes everyone uncomfortable: Death.

Of parents, spouses, uncles — and even kids.

They were here to launch “Modern Loss: Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome,” a book based on the revolutionary and wildly popular “Modern Loss” website. Both are edited by Rebecca Soffer and coauthor Gabrielle Birkner who, in turn, are writers, moms, and young adults who are all too familiar with the topic they have focused on.

Soffer’s mom died in a car accident, and shortly thereafter her dad died of a heart attack. Birkner’s dad and stepmom were murdered in a home invasion. The two attended a weekly meeting called “Women with Dead Parents” and in 2013 they launched their site featuring personal essays on every aspect of grief, including inheritance, ambivalence, sex after death (here on earth, that is), even the mix of emotions that can accompany the death of a cheating spouse.

The site and book scoff at platitudes and dig deeper. But they also manage to make readers smile — and sometimes guffaw. And so did the speakers who took to the podium at the book launch.

“I lost my mom 10 years ago and Christmas was very much her thing,” Marisa Lee, a social entrepreneur, told the crowd. Her mom made such a huge deal about Christmas — “Lights everywhere, and lots of Baby Jesuses” — that once she was gone, Marissa hated the holiday. She’d hole up with her godparents, which is what she was doing one X-mas when she fell down their stairs and broke her arm.

“Now I’m stuck. I’m on Percoset.

I can’t drag myself anywhere,” said Lee. So she was a sitting duck when

her childhood best friend brought over cookies, and the application for eHarmony, an online dating service.

Reluctantly, Marisa agreed to meet up with some guy from Green Bay,

Wisconsin, but at the last minute decided to cancel — until her friend insisted that would be rude. So she went on the date and a year and a half later —on Christmas Day — he proposed and she accepted.

His reason for choosing Dec. 25 as the day he popped the question?

“To once again make Christmas something I actually enjoyed,” said Lee. “Look,” she added, “if you’re going through loss, anybody who tells you it’s going to be over soon — they’re lying.”

But there is another side, eventually.

Michael Arceneaux, a journalist and author, suffered a very different loss.

“Most people ask, ‘When did you first know you were gay?’ ” he told the crowd. “I knew I liked boys when I was 5.” But at 6, he knew something

else: His uncle had just died of something called “AIDS” and everyone in his family was calling his uncle a terrible word. A word for people just like Michael.

“I could never shake that feeling that ‘to like boys’ meant ‘to die.’ I could not separate pleasure from paranoia,” said Arceneaux. “It wasn’t until I turned 30 that I really wanted to conquer that fear.” And somehow he finally did.

While his parents have yet to fully accept him, he was talking to his niece recently — she is 8 — “And she made a joke about a gay person and I said, ‘Oh beloved, we don’t say that.’ ” And after gently explaining why, he hung up.

The girl called him right back and said, “Uncle Mikey, I am so sorry. I don’t care if you’re gay. I miss you. Come home for Christmas.”

Not that every story at the book party ended with Christmas, but they did all end with hope. Jamie Stelter, the NY1 traffic anchor, spoke of her miscarriages. She now has a toddler. Podcaster Rachel Ward spoke of her husband dying at 35. Somehow she’s still really funny. Emily Rapp Black lost her son Ronan at age 3 to Tay-Sachs disease, but later met a young man with the same name, and felt at peace.

Then Soffer asked the audience if they would like to try their hand at summing up their loss in a “Six Word Memoir” — an idea popularized by Smith Magazine.

A man who looked like a truck driver stood up. “I never saw her smile again,” he said.

“I’ll see a heartbeat some day,” said a woman in the crowd.

“Through the noise, purpose was born.”

Sometimes, purpose is born through the internet, too. And now, through a surprising new book.

Lenore Skenazy is president of Let Grow, founder of Free-Range Kids and author of “Has the World Gone Skenazy?”

Posted To COURT DEFEAT FOR TENANTS (JAN. 250 We Downtown, in order to create a more sustainable community, are in dire need of stronger representation in Albany. Where is the fight? With no housing protection, there is no community. This is a call for those who we

elected to Albany to be tougher and smarter.

Tom Goodkind To clarify, the 85 John Street decision came prior to the 50 Murray and 90 West decisions, which came in rapid succession in July as a clear and direct

response to the absurdity of 85 John’s decision. They in fact both reference 85 John in their decisions and criticize Judge Hagler’s error. Therefore, the 50 Murray and 90 West undermines the decision by Hagler on 85 John, not the other way around.

Angry Tenant DowntownExpress.com

Valentine’s in a Time of Trump What’s love got to do with it?

BY MAX BURBANK Valentine’s Day is about a week away, and it’s going to go badly for you. Sorry to be a “downer,” but I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, or at least strongly suspect, am I? The preponderance of research I pretend to have read reveals that Valentine’s Day ends up being a pleasant experience for about three out of every 1,000 people.

Are those good statistics for you, personally? And don’t bother telling me you’re from Virginia. The state slogan, “Virginia is for Lovers,” was originally “Virginia! Marginally Better Than West Virginia, If You Like Speed Traps, Venomous Snakes, And More Deer Ticks Than There Are Stars In The Sky!” — but that made for an unreadably tiny font on the bumper sticker.

It’s not your fault. Valentine’s Day only works out for a very select group of couples, where each partner loves the other exactly equally, and both are exactly equal in their ability and skill to select (and succeed in acquiring) a pleasing gift and card that in no way exceeds the pleasingness of their partner’s gift and card. Any difference, no matter how seemingly insignificant, means one partner “wins” Valentine’s Day and the other “loses.” Veiled feelings of shame and disappointment are gifts you should feel lucky to end up with, as these emotions easily snowball into anger, resentment, depression, confirmation of a deep-seated belief that your life has been a series of terrible mistakes too late to go back on, breakups, divorce, homicide, and, this year, possibly nuclear Armageddon.

Did you like that clever segue to the national stage? Because I don’t want to name specific names, but a certain celebrity turned bizarrely unqualified most-powerful-man-on-earth and his Slovenian mail-order bride are very likely heading for a “Stormy” Valentine’s Day. See what I did there? Of course you do. It was easy. You could have done it yourself, but you don’t have a column.

Let’s just say that the nice heart-shaped box of chocolates Hope Hicks picked out for Melania from Donald? It better cost more than the sack of hush money his lawyer gave a certain leading lady of the adult film industry whose legal, nonworking name turns out to be Stephanie Gregory Clifford.

Oh, damn, I named a bunch of specific names there, didn’t I? I guess now it DowntownExpress.com

Dublin, unless they’re just kidding and it’s, like, the drumstick half of an old Buffalo Wild Wing.

See, Claudius II, emperor of third century Rome, had this idea that married soldiers were less likely to make the ultimate sacrifice and more likely to desert than single soldiers, so he passed a law saying young, able-bodied gentleman below a certain income could not wed.

Valentine was all about the love connection, though, and secretly performed weddings, but not secretly enough, as he was soon caught and got “tossed in the pokey.” That means “thrown in jail.” The other thing you’re thinking of is incorrect and might account for why your Valentine’s Day is going to end so badly. While incarcerated, he promptly fell in love with the warden’s daughter, as prisoners often will. Legend has it he signed the love letters he wrote her “Your Valentine” — giving rise to the tradition we celebrate to this day. Maybe, but my guess is his mash notes were less romantic than your standard “Roses are red, violets are blue” and tended more toward “Please try super-duper hard to get your dad to not cut my Illustration by Max Burbank head off.”

Apart from the absurdity of a romanthey said nice things about but clearly didn’t want, to being required to give tic holiday being inspired by a grueevery kid in your class a crappy little some tragedy, February 14 is just halfdollar store valentine illustrated with a way through what’s already the shortmovie that was popular six years ago, to est month of the year! That’s very little whatever semi-adult fiasco you engage time to plan, and if you’re like me, you’re still hung over from New Year’s. in annually now.

Looking at how things worked out for It’s a set-up, and secretly everybody Saint Valentine, it’s difficult to imagine wants to chuck the whole thing! So how this whole holiday dealio ever took here’s what you do: Have a nice sitoff in the first place, as it’s a somewhat down with your significant other, force less charming tale than you might imag- them to read this delightful column, ine. Long story short, and spoiler alert, and come to an agreement that neither it ends with Valentine’s head and body one of you will do a damn thing for being too far away from each other for Valentine’s Day. Then get them something really nice. comfort and one of his desiccated severed fingers on permanent display at It’s not like the day was ever going to go Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in well. You might as well win. that he was scared silly of pictures of sharks on TV. If you voted for this man and you are not a Russian, you need to take a good, long look at your decision-making process.

My point is, if the leader of the free world is going to have a crap Valentine’s Day, why wouldn’t you? And me. I’m not excluding myself here, because it’s all of us. Be honest. Take a moment and review every Valentine’s Day you ever had, from making stuff for your folks

goes without saying that the card better have nicer poetry than an interview detailing how the president enjoys to be spanked with the issue of Forbes magazine that has his family’s picture on the cover. Also, he’s terrified of sharks.

There’s no real way to parallel that with some aspect of Valentine’s Day and I’m not even going to try — I just think it’s hilarious. I mean, it’s not as if there were real sharks around for him to be terrified of, because can you picture Trump in the ocean? You certainly can’t, because first you’d have to picture him in a swimsuit, and that’s more than enough for most folks. No, it was “Shark Week.” Donald Trump admitted to a porn star he was trying to seduce

Feb 8 – Feb 14, 2018

9

Under new management CB1 hires new district manager after 4-month vacancy

BY COLIN MIXSON A high-ranking staffer of Borough President Gale Brewer will start providing the civic honchos at Community Board 1 with some much-needed tech savvy on Feb. 12, when he joins the board as district manager, according to the board’s chief. “We need someone who can use information and leverage it for the benefit of the community,� said CB1 chairman Anthony Notaro.

Lucian Reynolds is moving three-floors up from his current office on the Beep’s floor of the Municipal Building to take his seat as district manager at the community board’s office on the 22nd floor, filling a position left vacant since Noah Pfefferblit stepped down last August.

Reynolds began his three-year tenure with the Beep as an urban planner, but eventually rose to become her advisor on technology issues, helping Brewer craft policies on national issues such as the

repeal of Net Neutrality regulations — which she opposed — and guide her in understanding and supporting local tech initiatives, including the city’s open data programs.

A New Jersey native, Reynolds’s family moved to Virginia when he was young, where he did most of his growing up before shipping off to Nicaragua for a more-than-twoyear stint with the Peace Corps, helping local tutors integrate modern teaching strategies into their curricula.

Reynolds moved to New York to get a graduate degree in urban planning from Hunter College before signing up with Trees New York, a nonprofit that trains New Yorkers to prune trees, and later putting his degree to work for the Harlem Community Development Corporation as an urban planner.

The civic-minded civil servant also volunteered for a stint on Community Board 11, also in Harlem, and his experience as member of the advisory board

uptown helped him get the staff job at the board Downtown, Notaro said. “He also had a term as a member at CB11, so he can look at it from both sides, as a member and as staff,� Notaro said. “It’s a great combo.�

Working with Brewer also clued Reynolds in to the various bureaucratic players and mechanisms that make the city tick, and he often worked to coordinate sit-downs with small businesses and officials from various city agencies to help mom-and-pop shops navigate the Big Apple’s intense regulatory landscape. “I would take businesses directly to the agency,� said Reynolds. “Small businesses are good at what they do, but not necessarily knowing every single shortcut getting around a bureaucracy. “ But it’s his tech background that really got members excited, and the MANAGER Continued on page 12

Photo by Colin Mixson

Community Board 1 hired Lucian Reynolds to serve the group as its lead staffer due to his tech acumen and contacts from working at the Borough President’s offi ce, which is located just a few floors down in the Manhattan Municipal Building from where the civic group is headquartered.

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LOVE is all around.

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Feb 8 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Feb 21, 2018

We are Now Accepting Reservations for Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day DowntownExpress.com

BY JANEL BL ADOW February’s chill isn’t putting a stop to the fun around the Seaport. There’s a little something for everyone!

Book talks of tugs and stowaways…

Neighbors and boat buddies join architect Paul Farrell for a fun talk and a few drinks on Thursday, Feb. 8, at the Melville Gallery. A life-long tugboat enthusiast, Farrell spent 25 years researching and writing “Tugboats Illustrated,” (W.W. Norton, 2016, $34), an extensively detailed guide to the rise, design and role of these workhorses of the waterways. The Cambridge, Mass., author traced how first muleand horse-drawn barges gave way to steam-powered tugs which eventually evolved into today’s hyper-specialized offshore work vessels. His tome is worth checking out for anyone with an interest in boats, waterways, commerce and design. It is full of photos, drawings and diagrams of the development of these hard-working boats. It also details how the tug is shaped by the demands of their watery workplaces and its element of danger, and pays tribute to the intrepid seafarers who manned them. Physics and design fans will relish details about how these boats can make exacting turns in small spaces, navigate towering sea swells, and still guide larger seacraft and ships safely to their destinations. The South Street Seaport Museum hosts Book Talks every month

and is worth the $10 admission (free to SSSM members).

Last month celebrated the launch of “The Stowaway: A Young Man’s Extraordinary Adventure to Antarctica”

by Laurie Gwen Shapiro (Simon & Schuster, 2018, $14). She tells the tale of a 17-year old boy from Queens with a lust for the adventurer’s life. Defying his parents who were dead set against his dream, Billy Gawronski set out to join American explorer Richard Byrd on his historic journey to the South Pole. Late at night on Aug. 24, 1928, the boy jumped into the dirty Hudson River and swam to Hoboken, N.J., where Byrd’s flagship, The City of New York, was docked. With no plan beyond hiding below decks, Billy was soon discovered (since he reeked of fishy water) along with other stowaways and put ashore. Not to be deterred, Billy boarded the boat again — and was found — two more times. Did the boy make to the South Pole? You have to read the book! For info about next month’s Book Talk, see: https://southstreetseaportmuseum.org/book-talksat-the-seaport-museum.

Women & Wall Street… Since February is a chilly month best spent indoors, here’s another book about a local hot topic worth a read. It’s even nominated as an “Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction NYC Book Writing” this year by the The

W.W. Norton

Paul Farrell’s book chronicles the history of the tugboat industry and its importance to ports and commerce.

Guides Association of New York City (GANYC). Author George Robb traces the key role of women on Wall Street in his newest book, “Ladies of the Ticker: Women and Wall Street from the Gilded Age to the Great Depression,” (University of Illinois Press, 2016, $25 paperback). Women have been on Wall Street and managing money for decades, but their contributions have also been long overlooked. Now this history professor explores three generations of women who ran with the bulls and the bears. Robb details the financial acumen of trailblazing women bankers, brokers and speculators at the turn of the 20th century. And, in case you’re interested, the 4th-annual GANYC Apple Awards will be held March 12, at the SVA theater on 23rd Street. Brian Stokes Mitchell hosts the event, which celebrates those who share what makes

Warrior Bridge

Learn couple’s massage at Worrior Bridge’s Thai Massage for Two workshop on Feb. 11 — just in time for Valentine’s Day.

DowntownExpress.com

University of Illinois Press

Author George Robb traces the role of women on Wall Street in his book, “Ladies of the Ticker: Women and Wall Street from the Gilded Age to the Great Depression.”

New York City great. For more details: www.ganyc.org.

Share the love… Let’s also celebrate Valentine’s Day. Skip the roses and dinner (or maybe not) and try something different. Warrior Bridge (250 Front St.) hosts a Thai Massage for Two workshop (Sunday Feb. 11, 7–9:30 pm, $80 a couple). For two hours you will be shown how to give each other a full body massage. Each of you will receive a total massage as well. Experts will use their hands, arms, feet and legs to guide trainees through the moves.

Assisted stretches and deep compression of joints and muscles help restore lost flexibility and relieve tension. Dress comfortably since the massage is fully clothed. No oils used. And it’s great for all body types. “A lovely evening with minimal effort and maximum relaxation,” is promised. The best part?

You can practice your newly learned techniques at home on Feb. 14 (after the dinner and flowers, one hopes!).

Limited space so RSVP required, www. warriorbridge.com.

Feb 8 – Feb 21, 2018

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MANAGER Continued from page 10

board plans on putting Reynolds to work modernizing their website, the way the board uses the city’s open data, and keeping the office wireless network buzzing, according to vice chairman Paul Hovitz.

(Above) Virtuoso Elizabeth Pitcairn and her 1720 Red Mendelssohn Stradivarius will join the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra at the Winter Garden in Brookfi eld Place on Feb. 10. (Right) The orchestra will invite audience members to waltz at the end of their upcoming concert.

which he’ll use to continue a longstanding tradition of inviting audience members to dance along with the music, he said.

“When do you have an opportunity to waltz to the sound of a live, full orchestra in such a beautiful space?” said Fagin. “We have little kids who

get up and dance, old timers who waltz, and passersby will put down their bags and start dancing. It’s a real delight.”

“There are a number of IT issues that need addressing, and he’s certainly going to be addressing them,” Hovitz said. “There are problems with our connection, problems with the way we database resolutions and information, and with our website itself. Our office needs to be brought up to snuff.”

Reynolds said he was attracted to the district manager position at CB1 by the unique circumstances facing Downtown communities, where locals and city agencies are struggling to adjust to the area’s recent residential transformation, creating all sorts of interesting problems he looks forward

to helping solve.

“In terms of economic development and technology, CB1 has it all going on at the same time,” Reynolds said.

“It’s such an interesting workload to dig into, and I really want to see what I can do to help improve the conditions Downtown.”

From DiFeliciantonio’s vantage point, it is easy for politicians to ask that more people get out to vote. The tougher issue, she said, is that the 2018 elections will be decided in local districts largely outside New York City, which has only one Republican member of the House.

“The problem is it’s hard work,” she said. “It takes a long time to make change and policy impact at the grassroots level.”

Hoylman stuck more to the basics.

At one point while speaking, he paused for a moment and raised up a book-

let that combined the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and said, “Everyone, raise your Constitutions.” The crowd roared back in cheers and applause.

But as soon as the town hall ended, people filed out quickly from the auditorium, despite Hoylman’s staff urging them to break into smaller group discussions. As the state senator was making his way out, less than 15 people were still on hand. Tanden had left a long time before, and James and Stringer exited moments after they finished their speeches.

RESISTANCE Continued from page 4

fired and broadsides against the president and his team.

“Betsy DeVos is not very smart,” said Tanden, referring to the federal education secretary. CAP’s leader is known for an aggressive posture toward GOP leaders in her many media appearances.

Hoylman, by contrast, spoke more to the shared values of New Yorkers that he aims to defend.

“In New York, that’s not the way we want to do business,” he said of the Trump administration’s direction.

Photo by Fran Dickson

BY COLIN MIXSON The Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra will treat locals to free, world-class music on Feb. 10 with a performance at Brookfield Place’s dazzling Winter Garden atrium — where the ensemble made its debut ten years ago — to celebrate a decade of filling Lower Manhattan with classical tunes, according to its bandleader.

“We’re grateful to come full circle as we return to Brookfield Place to celebrate the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra’s 10th-anniversary season,” said Gary Fagin.

The orchestra will preform works by legendary American composer Aaron Copland, with former US Attorney Preet Bharara narrating passages from some of Abraham Lincoln’s most stirring speeches.

Violin virtuoso Elizabeth Pitcairn will perform Ralph Vaughan Williams’s “The Lark Ascending” on her still-rockin’ 1720 Red Mendelssohn Stradivarius, which boasts a mysterious past that inspired the 1998 film “The Red Violin,” according to the musician’s website.

And at the end, the orchestra will debut an original compilation by Fagin titled “The Winter Garden Waltzes,”

Photo by Robert Simko

Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra returns to Winter Garden

Photo by Eddy Martinez

State Senator Brad Hoylman chats with an attendee after the town hall.

For more news & events happening now visit www.DowntownExpress.com 12

Feb 8 – Feb 21, 2018

DowntownExpress.com

Looking Down From 2,000 Feet Up Daring aerial views reveal man-made patterns, cycles

© Jeffrey Milstein, courtesy Benrubi Gallery

“NYC Fifth Ave” (2016. Archival pigment print. 40.5 x 54 in.).

BY NORMAN BORDEN Talk about having a point of view.

Jeffrey Milstein has taken aerial photography to a new level in “Leaning Out,” and the results are stunning, fascinating, and mesmerizing. The 14 large format images in this exhibition of cityscapes, airports, power plants, train yards, and other industrial and transportation sites reflect the artist’s life-long love affair with flying, and with the way things look from the air.

“I started when I was 16 when I was learning to fly in Los Angeles at Santa Monica airport,” Milstein recalled. “I had an 8mm movie camera and used DowntownExpress.com

to fly around LA taking movies from the air.” About seven years ago, the artist (who received his BA in architecture from UC Berkeley in 1968) decided to “turn the lens downward from up above” and began photographing sites in Los Angeles and New York from the air.

Many of the pictures he shot are in his recently published book “LANY: Aerial Photographs of Los Angles and New York.” Some are also in “Leaning Out” along with new work that has never been exhibited before.

When asked how he decides what sites to photograph, Milstein explained, “I concentrate on how things look from the

air, mostly on the man-made landscapes.

As an architect, I’m interested in cities and how they form — what is the geology and geography, their development, structures, and open spaces.”

In looking at how things connect from above, he mentioned the image “NYC Fifth Avenue” that he photographed in 2016 from a small plane, 2,000 feet up. “The picture has some of the same features you’d find on a computer board where information is traveling along highways,” Milstein said, “but instead it’s taxis traveling down roads instead of electrons down pathways… Certain things happen at different levels and I’m

kind of fascinated with that; I kind of look for patterns and geometry, things you wouldn’t see from the ground at all.”

Looking closely at this image, the cruciform of St. Patrick’s Cathedral stands out as one of the more identifiable landmarks (it helps to orient the viewer to the other buildings). The other way to enjoy this photograph — and to better appreciate what the artist saw from the air — is to step back and view it from about six feet away.

When Milstein decided to photograph New York City from above, he and a MILSTEIN continued on p. 14 Feb 8 – Feb 14, 2018

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MILSTEIN continued from p. 13

pilot friend started flying to the city and around the airports. “My friend would fly my Cessna 182 so I could do the shooting if we got permission,” the artist recalled, “or we’d go above the restricted area if we didn’t. He would make steep turns so I could shoot down through an open window. I wanted to photograph New York City but to do that, you need a helicopter or fly 7,500 feet above the control area.”

Eager to continue shooting, Milstein began renting small helicopters and had the pilots remove the doors before they took off so he’d be leaning out. “I have a small gyroscope attached to a high resolution digital camera so I can shoot without it shaking too much.” He characterized it as a “big heavy camera that costs as much as an SUV,” but that’s what he needs to make large gallery prints. In fact, six images in the show are 52 1/2 x 70 inches and have an amazing amount of detail. One of them — and one of those never exhibited before — is “Bayview Auto Wreckers, Staten Island, 2.” Who would have thought a junkyard could be so artful or symbolic? A close look reveals rows and rows of car doors and bumpers, a dumpster filled with engines, as well as the requisite piles of assorted auto junk. From the air, the site may appear to have a certain amount of random artfulness, but Milstein explains that one of his interests in photography is how everything, including our bodies, eventually decays, try as we may to avoid it.

Referencing another image, “Toyotas, Port of Long Beach,” he said, “The beautiful shiny new cars are unloaded and lined up perfectly… and they eventually end up as wrecks, some of them to be ground up and crushed or shipped back overseas to be reincarnated. It’s the cycle of life and death and I find a strange beauty in the decay state — nature always has its way.” As another example, the artist mentioned “NYC Coney Island Subway Yard,” a tableau that includes some rusting subway cars parked literally at the end of the line. He explained, “The train parts are lying on the ground with weeds growing in them and train cars are filled with garbage bags. Everyone has a closet or garage like that, with stuff we no longer use but don’t get rid of.”

With airplanes and airports being Milstein’s life-long passion, it’s no surprise that his two favorite images in “Leaning Out” are “Gatwick 2 Planes” and “Newark #8, Terminal B.” What’s interesting is how different these two airport photographs are from each other — to me, the beauty of the Gatwick picture is its utter simplicity; the two almost toy-like jet planes are perfectly positioned, complementing the geometry

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Feb 8 – Feb 14, 2018

© Jeffrey Milstein, courtesy Benrubi Gallery

“Gatwick 2 Planes” (2016. Archival pigment print. 52.5 x 70 in.).

© Jeffrey Milstein, courtesy Benrubi Gallery

“Bayview Auto Wreckers, Staten Island, 2” (2017. Archival pigment print. 52.5 x 70 in.).

of the mosaic runway and surrounding grass. In contrast, the Newark image is complicated, with five airplanes parked at the terminal’s gates like spokes in a hub. The baggage carts are barely visible, but are parts of the whole; the shadows

add another dimension.

Despite flying with his plane’s window open or the helicopter door off, Milstein says “I’m not a daredevil. I love flying, I love being up in the helicopter at night with the door off. Between pictures, I just

look out at all of it and think like this is in a dream.”

Through March 17 at Benrubi Gallery (521 W. 26th St./2nd Floor, btw. 10th & 11th Aves.). Hours: Tues.–Sat., 10am–6pm. Visit benrubigallery.com.

DowntownExpress.com

A Sunken Liner Whose Ship Will Never Sail ‘Jimmy’ is defined by an event of Titanic proportions

BY SCOTT STIFFLER Everybody’s gotta go from something — so if heaven is a place where the thing that killed you gets trotted out for everything from first impressions to party invitations, it helps to have a cause of death that leaves them thirsting for more once the ice has been broken. And for a Belfast shipyard worker coming up on his centennial as an angel, nothing piques a stranger’s interest quite like name-dropping a certain passenger liner whose unexpected sinking has come to symbolize humanity’s hubris, heroism, and folly. “Boylan” is the last name of this chatty charmer, but he won’t mind if you think of him as “Jimmy Titanic.”

Written by Bernard McMullan as a wistful, witty, wry, and, on occasion, brutally damaging jab at the pull of disaster porn and the power of identity politics (as much in the afterlife as here on earth), “Jimmy Titanic” — the man, and the show, is consumed by the notion of litigating the less virtuous aspects of one’s defining moment. It’s a losing battle, but a fascinating one that the McMullan seems to imply we’re doomed, tasked, or morally obligated to fight (sometimes all at once).

With the merest tilt of the head, flick of the wrist, or lilt in the voice, Colin Hamell (equally adept in contemplative and broadly comic mode) plays over 20 characters, many of whom went down with the ship to varying degrees of desperation and resignation. The dead are to the lucky ones, however, and not just because their untimely demise confers superstar status in heaven’s best discos and highly specialized online chatrooms.

Those who experienced the disaster on dry land (a New York Times editor penning a headline on the fly; a Belfast mayor desperate to deflect attention from the shipbuilding industry) have as many rationalizations as there are rivets on the Titanic — three million, we’re told, a number effectively hammered home by the set’s hellish red lighting, churning steam, steel beams, and rows and rows and rows of, yes, rivets. It’s here, in the bowels of the ship, that Jimmy the equilibrium-challenged angel (whose chafi ng wings keep “pullin’ to the right”) returns again and again, and of his own volition. What better place to question his actions as a friend, mentor, sailor, and shipbuilder?

DowntownExpress.com

Photo by Carol Rosegg

Colin Hamell is ship shape, as over 20 characters impacted by a disaster history (and heaven) won’t soon forget.

Good thing, then, that our man Jimmy is such a crackerjack storyteller.

Likably written and played, the audience can clearly see a depth of purpose the main character’s penchant for melancholy reflection won’t allow, at least not when the foundation begins to crack and the water starts to seep in. If Jimmy has his flaws, at least he’s in exceedingly good company for all

eternity. Gabriel is a petty thief who delights in pranking recent arrivals to the pearly gates, God is a Dublin gangster with a serious smoking habit and the look of “a dodgy Santa,” and Steve Jobs is a recent arrival who gave heaven the Internet, but catches hell from Adam and Eve on account of that Apple logo. Some memories, it seems, are less pleasant to revisit than others.

“Jimmy Titanic” is directed by Carmel O’Reilly. Runtime: 75 min., no intermission. Through Feb. 18 in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre at the Irish Repertory Theatre (132 W. 22nd St., btw. Sixth & Seventh Aves.).

Wed. at 3pm and 8pm; Thurs. at 7pm; Fri. at 8pm; Sat. at 3pm & 8pm; Sun. at 3pm. For tickets ($50), visit irishrep.org.

Feb 8 – Feb 14, 2018

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Art at the Base of the Place Where They Live New galleries populate Chelsea’s western landscape

BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN As Chelsea’s art district continues to change, seeing more high-end condo buildings pop up along the High Line, one cannot help but wonder how long (and how many) galleries will be able to afford the steadily increasing rents. Still, though several larger outfits have continued to move elsewhere, including to the Lower East Side and Soho, others continue to set up shop.

Photo by Scott Stiffler One of the newer buildings to From the High Line looking north, a view of 500 shape Chelsea’s western landscape is W. 21st St.

500 W. 21st St., at 10th Ave. Though the building was completed in May 2015 as a luxury building (only 32 residences in the large complex), it took a while for galleries to move in and add some spark to its ground floor. Only one space remains to be filled, its window lettering announcing that Wilensky Gallery will be “Coming Soon.”

In addition to Galleria Ca’ d’Oro, Sato Sakura Gallery, Praxis, and YSP Gallery, two well-established Midtown galleries have now set-

Courtesy Washburn Gallery

An installation shot from “The Nines” — works by Ray Parker on view through March 3 at Washburn Gallery (177 10th Ave., btw.

W. 20th & 21st Sts.). Visit washburngallery.com.

Courtesy Nohra Haime Gallery

Close-up view of Lesley Dill’s “Unredeemed Regions” (2017), part of “Wilderness: Words are where what I catch is me” | Feb. 14March 17 at Nohra Haime Gallery (500 W. 21st St., at 10th Ave.). Visit nohrahaimegallery.com.

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Feb 8 – Feb 14, 2018

tled in. Both Nohra Haime Gallery and Washburn Gallery, which had been located in the 57th St. section for decades, are up and running, presenting their program Downtown with their usual sophistication. All galleries in the building are open to the public Tues.–Sat., 10am–6pm.

Through March 3, Washburn Gallery is presenting “The Nines” — a new exhibition of the modernist abstract painter Ray Parker. Born in 1922 in South Dakota, Parker became associated with some of the leading Abstract Expressionists in the 1950s, including Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning.

Influenced by jazz music and with a keen admiration for Matisse, he soon developed a unique compositional language, in which cloudlike forms in rich muted colors form a stark contrast to white or off-white backgrounds.

Washburn has been showing Parker, who died in 1990, for decades and yet, perhaps by introducing Parker’s work to a Downtown audience, they might finally succeed in raising wider appreciation for one of the very fine Color Field painters of the 1950 through 1970s.

Meanwhile, Nohra Haime Gallery will open “Wilderness: Words are where what I catch is me,” a new solo exhibition of Brooklyn-based artist Lesley Dill (reception for the artist Tues., Feb. 13, 6–8pm; “Wilderness” runs Feb. 14–March 17).

Exploring the power of words, especially in regard to their psychological impact, Dill creates delicate sculptures and drawings.

In her work, paper, wire, horsehair, photography, foil, and bronze mingle with references to music, as well as the poetry and writings of Emily Dickinson, Salvador Espriu, Tom Sleigh, Franz Kafka, and Rainer Maria Rilke, among others. It is obvious that aesthetically and in spirit, Dill follows in the footsteps of the late Nancy Spero (1926–2009), a friend of Dill’s whose scroll paintings with text and classical goddesses are much revered.

Interestingly, the elaborate website for 500 W. 21st St. (500w21.com) stresses that “West Chelsea is also avant-garde art in landmarked buildings,” using it as an enticing pitch for the neighborhood.

Though the galleries on its ground floor are as little avant-garde or cutting edge as the building is a landmarked one, there’s certainly a positive note to end on: thankfully there will be art displayed on these expansive premises instead of more ATMs. DowntownExpress.com

Courtesy Praxis Gallery

Jorge Miño’s “Crosslines Series” is part of “Monochrome: a group show” — an exhibition on view through Feb. 24 at Praxis Gallery (501 W. 20th St., entrance btw. 10th & 11th Aves.). Visit praxis-art.com.

Via satosakura.jp

Yu Yoshikawa’s “The Cherry Blossoms are in all their Glory (The Couple Sakura in Miharu)” is on view at Sato Sakura Gallery (501 W. 20th St., btw. 10th & 11th Aves.) through March 31, part of “Imagination: Contemporary Nihonga Collection from Sato Sakura Museum.” Visit satosakura.jp.

Courtesy Galleria Ca’ d’Oro

Courtesy y-s-p Gallery

A selection from “Wonderland” — works by Marco Grassi on view through March 4 at Galleria Ca’ d’Oro (179 10th Ave., btw. W. 20th & 21st Sts.). Visit ca-doro.com.

Installation view of “New Works | Art + Form” — featuring works by painter/sculptor Ufan Lee and Korean ceramicist Young Sook Park, on view through March 4 at YSP Gallery (175 10th Ave., btw. W. 20th & 21st Sts.). Visit yspgallery.com.

DowntownExpress.com

Feb 8 – Feb 14, 2018

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Feb 8 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Feb 21, 2018

DowntownExpress.com

COLOSSAL COUTURE Art installation at Oculus highlights fashion waste

BY COLIN MIXSON Shoppers and commuters were greeted by a 28-foot-tall manikin in the Oculus atrium on Feb. 6 and 7, most of which is dominated by a massive 30-foot-wide skirt composed of discarded clothes.

The installation is meant to draw attention to the extraordinary waste of the 10.6 million tons of clothing that are needlessly trashed every year due to the fickle whims of fashion, according to one of the sponsors.

“Considering the impact of textile waste on the environment, taking steps to extend the life of our clothing can make a huge difference,” said Tony Shumpert, vice president of recycling

Dates: Thurs., Feb. 8–Wed., Feb. 14

ALTERNATE SIDE PARKING RULES ARE SUSPENDED MONDAY FOR LINCOLN’S BIRTHDAY AND ON ASH WEDNESDAY New York Fashion Week opens Thursday, and its headquarters are at Tribeca’s Spring Studios on St. John’s Lane near the Holland Tunnel exit between Varick, Canal and Sixth.

Expect turbulence in the area between now and at least Feb. 16, the close of the show.

The event’s second venue is on Greenwich St. between Houston and King Streets, near the West Side Highway. The Seaport is hosting a show Friday night at 6:30 p.m. with fashionista drop-offs and pick-ups on South St., DowntownExpress.com

and reuse for Savers, a chain of thrift stores that commissioned the art piece in partnership with Unilever.

Signs describing the waste problem — and tricks for would-be fashion recyclers to keep their duds looking fresh — accompany the colossal couture, along with several bins where folks can donate used clothes for those in need.

Saver and Unilever contracted West Coast design studio Electric Coffin to cook up the towering display in time for New York Fashion Week, and artists there relished the challenge of making a statement in only two days, according to a report in Interior and Sources.

“These [installations] are really fun

which will slow the p.m. rush hours on the FDR and Brooklyn Bridge. There are fashion showings on Elizabeth St. between Prince and Houston Streets Thursday through Sunday. Vehicle app prices are likely to rise with all of the happenings.

DEMO Alerts! Immigrant activists supporting Ravi Ragbir plan to rally at Foley Square near the courts Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. Black Lives Matter will be outside Tweed Courthouse on Chambers St. near the Brooklyn Bridge entrance Tuesday from 4 to 5 p.m.

Not as many subway changes Downtown this weekend. Uptown 4 and 6 trains are skipping many local stops including Canal and Spring Sts., and the 2 and 3 are not going to their regular Lower Manhattan stations or

Photo by Tequila Minsky

The huge art installation took center-stage at the Oculus Feb. 6–7.

because they’re only up for a short period of time and you really have to engage people in a different way than

in a permanent space,” Electric Coffin Marketing Director Taylor Reed told the design publication.

to Brooklyn. Check the MTA for more details.

Meter rules are in effect for the upcoming Alternate Side Parking holiday suspensions.

Downtowners claim hardship too as I can tell you from my mailbag.)

The congestion fee that was proposed by the panel was based on creating a uniform pricing structure for all cars entering Manhattan south of 60th St. Four entries, all tunnels, are already tolled. Why toll those particular drivers twice? The Brooklyn-Battery and Queens-Midtown tunnels are currently priced at $11.52 round-trip with E-ZPass. No change is proposed for anyone from Brooklyn or Queens currently using the two tunnels. The tunnel rates are the basis for the proposed $11.52 entry fee to the zone. The Holland and Lincoln Tunnel are priced higher during peak hours at $12.50 and lower off-peak at $10.50. So, all cars entering from N.J. would have to pay at least $10.50. Ultimately, I’d like to see all fees set at the same level. I don’t recommend discriminating based on residence.

Transit Sam

Mailbag: Dear Transit Sam, Regarding the question from a Tribeca resident driving to N.J. in the a.m., who you said would not be subjected to the new congestion pricing fee: This is unfair. Someone living in Tribeca is obviously making a nice living, and should be made to pay twice the fee, since you feel that he/she should pay for those who use mass transit.

Dennis Dear Dennis, Plenty of Brooklyn and Queens drivers use the Holland and Lincoln Tunnel outbound; so how would you recommend separating the “nice living” folks from the rest? (Note : many

Feb 8 – Feb 21, 2018

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Even when my heart stopped, Mount Sinai didn’t miss a beat.

My Mount Sinai is

Mount Sinai Heart • 10 Union Square East 646-568-5964 mountsinai.org/unionsquare

#MyMountSinai

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Feb 8 – Feb 21, 2018

DowntownExpress.com