Chelsea Now - June 21, 2018

YOUR WEEKLY COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SERVING CHELSEA, HUDSON YARDS & HELL’S KITCHEN

SEE JOSH FLY RUN At Chelsea Piers Fitness, 50 Epic Miles for Awareness and Charity

Photo by Christian Miles

Chelsea Guitars will lose some of its storage space, but has (literally) gained a new lease on life.

Chelsea Guitars to Remain in Iconic Location

BY WINNIE McCROY In what is a victory for both the proprietor of Chelsea Guitars and the neighborhood as a whole, the new owners of the storied Chelsea Hotel have agreed to let Dan Courtenay’s iconic guitar shop remain in the building. Thanks to some forwardthinking businessmen, the shop that CHELSEA GUITARS continued on p. 2

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See page 12

Courtesy of Chelsea Piers Fitness

Chelsea Piers Fitness is the setting on Sat., June 23, when fitness director Josh Fly (center) embarks upon the 50 Epic Miles challenge. Seen here, Fly is joined by friends and supportive passersby following his successful 2017 treadmill run.

BY SCOTT STIFFLER Josh Fly is helping others move forward by staying in the same place — and in doing so, he’s altering the notion that being stuck on a treadmill means you’re not making any progress.

The Chelsea Piers Fitness fitness director will be spending Saturday, June 23 on a stationary exercise device in the open-air Fitness Café space of the sprawling facility. Visible to others going about their exercise routine, and accessible to the world via a live Facebook feed, Fly will run until he’s logged 50 miles — all in the name of raising funds for a global clean water initiative that inspired his own journey from team sports participant to long-distance runner. Turning that

© CHELSEA NOW 2018 | NYC COMMUNITY MEDIA, LLC, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

comparatively solitary pursuit into a way to make friends and inspire others, it seems, is par for the course for the 37-yearold Chelsea resident, who grew up in Colorado playing football and baseball, snowboarding, trail running, and golfing.

“There’s an old African proverb,” Fly told Chelsea Now, when we joined him for a recent treadmill training session.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

The seed for this marathon 50 Epic Miles challenge (nearly the length of two actual marathons) was planted back in 2006, Fly said, while he was working at Chelsea Piers as a fit50 EPIC MILES continued on p. 3 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 25 | JUNE 21-27, 2018

Fret No More: Hotel Group Says Chelsea Guitars Can Stay CHELSEA GUITARS continued from p. 1

has been providing musicians with high-end guitars and equipment for 25 years will continue on as the official music store of a hotel that’s boasted a music store in their lobby since 1908. “They were very nice when I went and talked to them, even though they were up to their necks trying to get the place back up and running,� Courtenay said. “They told me they realized what a big part of Chelsea and the hotel’s history I was.�

In an earlier story (May 3, 2018’s “Guitar Shop Owner Hopes Egress Won’t End His Era at the Chelsea Hotel�), Chelsea Now reported that Courtenay’s tiny shop, located at 224 W. 23rd St. (btw. Seventh & Eighth Aves.), was slated to be shut down and/or demolished so that an alternate entrance to the Chelsea Hotel could be built. He had until June 30 to vacate the premises. But after the community rose up to support Courtenay — a longtime local small business owner and a neighborhood resident to boot — the owners seemed to reconsider the value-added benefits of hanging on to their exclusive piece of old-time, authentic New York City. “Negotiations went to the 11th hour, but the fact is that this [May 3] article, which at first I was loathe to do, ended up changing everything,� Courtenay said, noting that shortly after its publication, he received many calls of concern and support from community groups and politicians, including State Senator Brad Hoylman and Speaker Corey Johnson, who is also the City Council representative for Chelsea.

Photo by Christian Miles

Owner Dan Courtenay, at his beloved 224 W. 23rd St. store. Having been told to vacate at the end of the month, Chelsea Guitars will now be allowed to remain in its current location.

“I am thrilled that Chelsea Guitars will remain at the Chelsea Hotel for years to come,� Johnson said in a June 19 email to this publication. “Small businesses like Chelsea Guitars are what keep New York City the wonderful and unique place that it is, and I am excited that this legendary small business will continue to be a part of Chelsea’s future.� Johnson also expressed his

thanks to the hotel’s management “for reaching a fair agreement with Chelsea Guitars that will keep them in the community for the long term,� and commended Chelsea Now “for its intrepid reporting that draws attention to the local issues that matter so much to our CHELSEA GUITARS continued on p. 16

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June 21, 2018

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Chelsea Piers Fitness Director Breaks Sweat for Clean Water Cause 50 EPIC MILES continued from p. 1

ness manager and personal trainer. “On the side of that,” he recalled, “I started a community called Faith in Fitness, which was about getting together and exercising.” Word of the meetup reached Juampa Martinez, a local representative for Team World Vision — an athleticsoriented fundraising effort benefitting the work of World Vision International, whose website describes themselves as “a global Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice.” Ending the global clean water crisis is a major focus of WVI and its likeminded sister organization, World Vision. As of 2016, wvi.org notes, “4.6 million people gained access to clean water in 36 countries” as a result of their initiatives.

Their mission resonated with Fly. After meeting Martinez, he noted, “World Vision propelled me into the sport of running.” Something also clicked when he recalled the advice a friend gave him shortly after moving to New York City 13 years ago. “He told me one of the greatest ways to experience this city is to run its marathon. So I did my first New York City Marathon [the first marathon he ever ran] in 2007.

I was like, one and done. I did it. Check it off the bucket list.”

That list, however, wasn’t done with Josh Fly. Becoming involved with Team World Vision turned out to be the perfect nexus of recreational, professional, and altruistic pursuits — pushing him to rack up a list of running credits including Grete’s Great Gallop (“two loops around Central Park”), the NYC Marathon “a couple of other times,” and, two years ago, an invite “to go to Africa and run my first ultramarathon.”

And though Fly recalls those experiences with enthusiasm, there’s an unparalleled lilt in his voice when he describes what donated dollars and child sponsorships can do to address matters of physical and economic disparity. Granted, the fact that he’s talking while running on a treadmill, and breathing accordingly, gives urgency to his voice — but such dramatic heft notwithstanding, Fly’s passion and sincerity are unmistakable.

Recalling another trip to Africa after his first 50 Epic Miles fundraising run in April 2017, Fly noted of the World Vision effort, “It’s not just clean water, but creating infrastructure. They invest in educating, training, and ultimately hiring [locals], to achieve a community NYC Community Media

Courtesy of Chelsea Piers Fitness

Mugging for the camera without missing a step: Chelsea resident Jenny Otto (an elite trainer at Chelsea Piers Fitness) joined her close friend, Josh Fly, for a portion of last year’s 50 Epic Miles challenge.

that is self-sustaining.” That effort can take as long as 18 years, he noted, after which “they have real infrastructure; irrigation for better farming, and the creation of small business groups, to take any extra crops to market and sell them.”

Fly, who readily admitted to being “a competitive person by nature,” noted that he wants the June 23 run to exceed expectations — but beating his time from last year (8 hours and 40 minutes) is not one of them. “I actually think it’s kind of funny,” he said. “Getting through really fast might be an impressive physical feat, but the longer it takes, the more chances I have to inspire others to sponsor a child or get involved.”

Fly vowed that, just as he conducted himself last year, the only time he plans to stop will be for bathroom breaks (a necessary consequence of constant hydration), during which others will take over for him — so that treadmill will be running for the duration. Last 50 EPIC MILES continued on p. 15

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Chelsea at Odds with Pride Parade Route’s Marching Orders

BY DUNCAN OSBORNE Not a single marcher has set foot on any street or avenue to join New York City’s Pride Parade, but at least one Chelsea resident is threatening to sue the group that produces the annual event if it again attempts to stage the start of the parade in that neighborhood.

“For the future, this is not going to happen,” said Kimon Retzos, a co-president of the West 15th Street 100 and 200 Block Association, during a June 13 meeting with Heritage of Pride (HOP), the group that produces the parade and related events, and representatives from City Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s office. “We will get legal representation to stop this from happening.”

For the first time, the 2018 march will be staged in Chelsea, with contingents lining up on the blocks from W. 15th St. to W. 19th St. between Seventh and Ninth Aves. The march will head south on Seventh Ave., then east on Christopher and Eighth Sts., then north on Fifth Ave., to end at E. 29th St. With HOP expecting 43,000 marchers this year, Chelsea residents can expect the last contingent to leave the neighborhood at about 6:30 or 7 p.m.

Photo by Duncan Osborne

Pier 97 at W. 57th St. and the Hudson River will be the site of Pride Island, HOP dances to be held on June 23 and June 24 to close out the city’s annual Pride Month.

on June 24. HOP volunteers will arrive for set up as early as 5 a.m. that day, though HOP has said in earlier meetings that its volunteers begin work at 4:30 a.m., so the staging could last for 13 or 14 hours.

Detective Mike Petrillo, a community affairs officer in the 10th Precinct,

which covers Chelsea, said that clean up should be completed by 8:30 p.m. on that Sunday assuming that HOP’s time estimate for the last step-off is correct.

Since the first march, which commemorates the 1969 Stonewall riots that mark the start of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, the route has

gone from the West Village to Central Park or from Midtown to the West Village. The first parades were small with a few thousand marchers and were less disruptive in a residential neighborhood. As the parade has grown larger, it has been staged in Midtown, which is not a residential neighborhood, and headed Downtown.

While the city has pressed all parades to limit their duration to no more than five hours, the Pride Parade has routinely run longer. It traditionally steps off at noon, and last year’s parade ended at 9:38 p.m. The parades in 2016 and 2015 were each about eight hours long.

The route this year is a test for next year’s parade, which will mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, and is expected to shave roughly 90 minutes off the run time.

The Chelsea residents at the June 13 meeting were uniformly opposed to staging the parade in Chelsea and were particularly angered that they were told this would happen only recently.

Bill Borock, president of the Council of Chelsea Block Associations, was first told of the plan in a May 22 email from ROUTE continued on p. 16

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Photos by Scott Stiffler

Westside Market’s interior, seen on Mon., June 18.

Signage on the windows of the future W. 23rd St. Westside Market promised a late spring opening, but delays with city permitting have pushed that to winter.

West 23rd Westside Market Slated to Open in Winter

BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC The Westside Market on W. 23rd St. near Seventh Ave. — the former Garden of Eden Marketplace — is expected to open sometime this winter, according to the grocery chain.

The grocery store was slated to open in late spring this year, according to the store’s signage, with Westside Market’s Demetri Belesis

telling Chelsea Now in December that it would be open in about six to eight months.

“We’ve had delays with city permitting,” Belesis said in a recent phone interview. “We’re full speed [now].”

The family-owned chain has multiple locations, including stores on the Upper West Side and one in Chelsea

at 77 Seventh Ave., at the corner of W. 15th St. Residents have been concerned about a dwindling number of affordable grocery stores in the neighborhood. Garden of Eden — a longtime, independently owned grocery store at the W. 23rd location — shuttered in August 2017, and the Associated Supermarket, at W. 14th St. and

Eighth Ave., closed in 2016.

In addition to the forthcoming location at 170 W. 23rd St. (btw.

Sixth & Seventh Aves.), the Westside Market website notes that two other Manhattan locations are coming soon: 1407 Lexington, at W. 92nd St., and 180 Third Ave., between E. 16th & 17th Sts. For more information, visit wmarketnyc.com.

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June 21, 2018

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Photo by Lincoln Anderson

Milagros Franco, who has been disabled from birth and lives in the East 20s, said that each new subway elevator is another victory for accessibility.

Elevators are a Win but L Fight Continues

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON Village and Chelsea residents, along with disabled advocates and local politicians, hailed a major victory on Monday morning when they announced that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has agreed to install handicap-accessible elevators at the L subway station at Sixth Ave. and W. 14th St. But members of the 14th St. Coalition — which includes a broad swath of Village and Chelsea block associations and residents associations in large apartment buildings — said there is still a long way to go to address their concerns about the mitigation plan for the city’s L-train shutdown plan. In fact, they say, they are being stonewalled: They specifically repeatedly blasted Polly Trottenberg, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT), for turning a deaf ear and showing a veritable Robert Moses-like haughty disdain for their concerns.

“We’re glad the MTA responded,” said Julianne Bond, a co-leader of the coalition, speaking at Monday’s press conference outside the Sixth Ave. station. “We are extremely disappointed in the DOT. The DOT’s refusal to answer even basic questions is arrogant, disgraceful and disrespectful.”

Similarly, disabled advocates and local politicians said that — while the MTA is at least, thankfully, listening to them and working with them — as witnessed by the promised Sixth Ave. elevators — the MTA still must do much more, namely, by committing to making the entire subway system accessible for the disabled, the elderly, parents with baby strollers, and all the others who need it.

The city plans to shut down the L

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June 21, 2018

subway line between Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg and W. 14th St. and Eighth Ave. in Manhattan for 15 months starting next April, so that it can repair the Canarsie Tunnel tubes under the East River, which were damaged by Superstorm Sandy six years ago.

In early April, the ad-hoc 14th St. Coalition and disabled groups sued the MTA, New York City Transit Authority (which is a subagency of the MTA), the city’s Department of Transportation and the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) over the L shutdown plan. One part of the lawsuit — demanding that handicap-accessible elevators be added to the subway stations in the shutdown area — has now been settled as a result of the Sixth Ave. agreement. Under the terms, construction of a pair of lifts at Sixth Ave. must start on or before Dec. 31, 2020, and be completed and fully operational on or before Dec. 31, 2022. In addition, two more Americans With Disabilities Act-compatible elevators must be added at the Sixth Ave. and 14th St. station by 2024 to connect to the F train there.

The other part of the lawsuit contends that because the tunnel-repair project is receiving $700 million in federal funds, an environmental study on the whole plan’s impacts must be done under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. Until recently, the agencies had been staunchly arguing that no such formal study was required.

Village activist attorney Arthur Schwartz brought the dual-pronged lawsuit pro bono for the plaintiffs. At the elevators press conference, Schwartz — who is also the Village’s Democratic L FIGHT continued on p. 14 NYC Community Media

BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

Hot spot: P.C. Richard & Son among businesses joining the community in rapidly changing Harlem 9 P :8D@CC< JG<II8QQ8 The Harlem of the early 1900s was jumpin’ with jazz clubs, speakeasies, and the famous Cotton Club.

It introduced us to musicians like composer and pianist Duke Ellington, who became the bandleader of a jazz orchestra. It was, and still is, home to the famous Apollo Theater, where so many singers and comedians got their start. People would come to Harlem to listen to the sounds and socialize — and they would dress to impress. This exciting and energizing part of New York history was known as the Harlem Renaissance.

It’s no secret that Harlem has been experiencing a second renaissance for a while now, with lots of new restaurants and retail stores opening in the area. P.C. Richard & Son is proud to join the neighborhood, contributing to this revitalization. It opened its newest store at 125th Street on June 1.

Missed the June 1 opening? Don’t worry, Gregg Richard, President and C.E.O. of P.C. Richard & Son, says grand opening celebrations will be ongoing for months.

Now is the time to buy whatever you need — air conditioners, washers, dryers, ovens, mattresses, bedding, computers, printers, mobile phone accessories, and lots more. While every P.C. Richard store will be joining the celebration, there will be some special promotions specific to this new location.

The construction of the store has been in the works for more than a year.

“We saw there was a void in the area,” says Richard.

“Customers were asking for us to come to Harlem, and we wanted to make it convenient for them.” As a result, the company decided to build its fourth Manhattan store.

P.C. Richard has a total of 66 stores, of which 21 are located throughout the boroughs. There are 17 in New Jersey, seven in Connecticut, and there’s one store in Northeast Philadelphia. The rest are located throughout the New York area. The very first store opened in BensonNYC Community Media

The company does its own installations and its own deliveries because when you buy from P.C. Richard, it wants to make sure customers are happy. It’s not about one sale. It’s about service before, during, and after that sale. It’s why people continue to shop here each time they need something for their homes. Such dependability is surely a reason to be loyal, but P.C. Richard manages to do all this, and it offers the very best prices.

“If you see something being sold for less, we match that price, no questions asked,” says Richard.

The importance of establishing a loyal base was the concept of Richard’s grandfather, known as A.J. (Alfred J.).

“He was a true entrepreneur,” says Richard.

A.J. would assist around his father’s shop from the time he was 6 years old. It was he who would eventually expand the hardware store inventory to include electric irons, toasters, ranges, washers, refrigerators, and radios.

Then, when he learned how to repair radios, he offered that service to clients, too.

In 1943, A.J. placed a 10inch GE television in the window of the Ozone Park showroom so the neighborhood could watch the Friday night fights that were broadcast from Madison Square Garden. He believed customer satisfaction was essential to success. This remains the company’s philosophy.

P.C. Richard & Son offers conveniences such as next day deliveries, and its own credit card. The sales staff is knowledgeable, and service is :cfZbn`j\ ]ifd kfg G%:% I`Z_Xi[ Jfe fg\e\[ `kj e\n\jk jkfi\ fe (),k_ Jki\\k% >iXe[ fg\e`e^ [\Xcj n`cc fantastic.

Y\ fe^f`e^ ]fi dfek_j% K_\ knf$jkfip Yl`c[`e^ ZXii`\j \m\ipk_`e^ Zljkfd\ij e\\[ Ç Ôcc`e^ X mf`[ k_\ “Our customers have high ZfdgXep jXpj `k jXn `e k_\ Xi\X% Gi\j`[\ek Xe[ :%<%F% >i\^^ I`Z_Xi[ `j k_\ ZfdgXepËj ]flik_$^\e\iXk`fe expectations,” says Richard. kfg \o\Zlk`m\# Xe[ _`j jfe `j ]fccfn`e^ `e _`j ]ffkjk\gj% “We want to exceed those expectations. We want them to enjoy what they buy.” hurst, about 108 years ago. the company’s fourth-genera- the same.

P.C. Richard & Son [309 W. On any given day, Richard That’s when Peter Christian tion top executive. This long (P.C.) Richard — Gregg Rich- history will continue as Rich- estimates that the company 125th St. between Frederick ard’s great-grandfather — an ard’s son, Scott, currently knocks on about 5,000 doors. Douglass Boulevard and St. immigrant from Holland, works in the business, secur- This takes into account its Nicholas Avenue in Harlem, decided to open a hardware ing its reputation as an estab- home deliveries, installation, (646) 556–8049, www.PCRichard.com]. Open Mondays lishment that has lasted for and repair services. store.

“We have 150 technicians,” through Fridays, 9 am–9:30 It has been a family-owned five generations, and continand operated business since ues to thrive. There are few, if says Richard. “We fix over pm; Saturdays, 9 am–9 pm; and Sundays, 10 am–7 pm. then, making Gregg Richard any, companies that can say 1,000 appliances a day.”

June 21, 2018

7

‘Fake News Horror Show’ Explores Nexus of New Technology, Online Propaganda

BY MION EDWARDS The NYC Media lab hosted the “Fake News Horror Show!” Thurs., June 7 at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering. Though it wasn’t much of a horror show at all, it did serve as an effective wakeup call to focus on strategies to combat the multifaceted problem of false information.

President Donald Trump popularized the term “fake news” when he spoke of his distain for top news publications like CNN and the New York Times, accusing them of producing false stories accompanied by a desire to portray his presidency in an unflattering light.

Displayed science fair-style with student projects, simulations, and gadgets, the exhibitors showed possible technology either promoting or fighting fake news.

Bringing together 30+ emerging media and technology demonstrations, keynote speakers, and research experts, the gathering was dedicated to furthering the discussion about technology’s connection to fake news and how to alleviate false news on multimedia platforms. During the opening of this two-day conference, more than 60 guests listened attentively to Matt Jones, a Professor of Contemporary Civilization at Columbia University who led a discussion on “The History of Fake News.”

“Fake news is old news,” Jones noted in his opening remarks. He then spoke about the notion that false narratives, sensationalism in reporting, governmental propaganda, and faulty reporting could be traced back to the 17th and 18th century, continuing, of course, in the present day.

The event also served as a think tank for professors,

Photo by Mion Edwards

The “Captive Audience” demo by NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program student Rita Cheng was inspired

by President Trump. Every time you speak in the microphone, miniature hands clap.

students, and technologists to voice and display their commentary or solutions on the problem of fake news (or, as one attendee offered, “mainstream misinformation”).

“We have to establish data protection rights like our friends across the pond and establish tamper proof media” said David Carroll, faculty member and

Director of the MFA Design and Technology program at The New School. His presentation, “A Nightmare for Democracy,” outlined how the advancement of technology can lead to misinformation. “Even the mere existence of Adobe Voco is an opportunity for misinFAKE NEWS continued on p. 17

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NYC Community Media

Stroller Reflections: How We Used to Roll

BY JOSH ROGERS I have an anniversary this week, but no one’s going to be upset that I almost forgot. Wheels don’t have feelings, and the special moment was by a dumpster.

For many guys (yes, and for some women), “wheels” mean a car. But after my childhood Matchbox car collection (which my children sometimes play with at my parents’ home), the real thing never had much interest for me beyond being an important mode of transportation that I know far too little about.

In more recent years, the “new models” meant strollers to me. I used to turn and look when I saw an unfamiliar one going by. I remember walking half a block out of my way only to see my interest was piqued by a stroller only big enough for a small dog. I was more excited than I should have been when our beloved Baby Jogger City Mini Stroller came out in purple and blue, but not so excited to dump our dirty red stroller, which I’m pleased to say lasted (just barely) for both my son and daughter, now 8 ½ and 4 ½.

The dumpster moment of throwing away our strollers does not rank as among my most special, but it was a milestone. We had stopped using it with our girl for at least a few months. As it turned out, the children’s age difference (just under 4 years) worked out, strollerwise. My son had pretty much given it up when she was born, and his red ride stayed hidden on the terrace until she was big enough to use it. Despite whatever my shortcomings as a parent may be, I am proud to say my kids were willing to walk good distances at a young age.

When my daughter took it over, we might have sprung for the $70 attachment allowing my son to stand — but technically he was over the weight limit, even though he is not at all too heavy.

(The stroller companies have a captive market on accessories, and there’s a fortune to be made by anyone who can design lower-priced sibling stands, rain covers, or utility compartments compatible with different brands.)

Ah, our City Mini! My wife and I spent more time deciding on a stroller than on any other purchase. We didn’t really argue, we just deliberated a lot.

Many people buy a house quicker. It’s not the best in every category — clearly models like the top-line Bugaboo (a brand whose popularity apparently exploded NYC Community Media

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING And PUBLIC REVIEW AND COMMENT PERIOD regarding PROPOSED LARGE-SCALE DONATION, INSTALLATION, AND MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT BETWEEN HUDSON RIVER PARK TRUST AND WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART and PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO HUDSON RIVER PARK MULTIPURPOSE PROJECT GENERAL PROJECT PLAN Pursuant to the Hudson River Park Act, the Hudson River Park Trust (“Trust”) hereby gives notice of a public hearing and comment period to consider the proposed donation, installation, and maintenance by the Whitney Museum of American Art (“Whitney”) of a large, site-specific, public sculptural work of fine art entitled Day’s End to be installed partially along the southern portion of the Gansevoort Peninsula and partially within the Hudson River (the “Art Installation”) and an amendment to the Hudson River Park Multi-Purpose Project General Project Plan (“GPP”) originally adopted on July 16, 1998 to reflect the proposed art installation at Pier 52 (Gansevoort Peninsula).

Date and Time: Monday, July 23, 2018, 6:30 P.M. - 8:30 P.M. Place: Whitney Museum of American Art Enter Museum at 99 Gansevoort Street, New York, NY (located between West and Washington Streets)

Photo by Josh Rogers

June 22, 2017: Farewell day for the City Mini.

when it was implicitly endorsed by a future gubernatorial candidate, Cynthia Nixon, on “Sex and the City”) give a smoother ride for potholes and have a wider range of viewing positions for the child. But the others are also big and not as easy to fold as the Mini, which is best known for being able to fold with a simple, one-handed pull. I didn’t end up using this feature as much as I thought I would, but it did help at elevator-less subway stations (grrr!), when I could hold the stroller with one hand and my child in the other while walking down the stairs.

The other big difference between the smoothest operators and the City Mini is price, now roughly $1,200 vs. $260. But we would have invested more in something we used every day if it could have filled more of our needs. We paid just over $200 online on Black Friday 2010, at the time, the only day of the year Baby Jogger discounted its products.

By all appearances, our stroller gave a fairly smooth ride, and, unlike others, was narrow enough for smaller NYC stores. A bulky, super-smooth ride would’ve made us also buy a sturdy, everyday umbrella stroller for times we wouldn’t have wanted to lug the big one out and about. The one pleasant surprise that I overlooked in our deliberation was that I could push our choice easily with one hand, at least when it wasn’t loaded with groceries.

Storing groceries, toys, and other things is the only thing I miss about strollers. It’s nice to have two less things to clutter our apartment even more.

STROLLER continued on p. 17

Purpose:

To allow the public to review and comment on proposed significant plans and proposed actions within the Park pursuant to the Hudson River Park Act. The Trust is providing the public an opportunity to review and comment on the proposed “Large-Scale Donation, Installation, and Maintenance Agreement” between the Trust and Whitney (“Installation Agreement”) and the proposed Amendment to the GPP to reflect the proposed art installation at Pier 52 to be known as Day’s End (“GPP Amendment”). The Environmental Assessment prepared under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (“SEQRA”) with the Trust’s serving as the lead agency is also made available to provide the public with additional information about the Art Installation and its potential environmental impacts.

The Hudson River Park Act requires public review and the opportunity to comment regarding proposed long term agreements within the Hudson River Park (“Park”) and amendments to the General Project Plan.

The proposed Installation Agreement would provide the Whitney access to the Park in order to install and maintain the Day’s End sculpture, which, once installed, would be donated to the Trust and would become a part of the Park. The skeletal sculpture would be approximately 52 feet tall, 325 feet long and 65 feet wide and would be installed at the original footprint of the Pier 52 shed that once stood along the south side of the Gansevoort Peninsula. Consistent with the Hudson River Park Act, the Art Installation would promote the arts and enhance public open space within Hudson River Park with public art that references site-specific cultural and historic aspects of the Hudson River.

In addition to seeking public comments on the proposed Installation Agreement, the Trust is also seeking comments on the proposed GPP Amendment. The Trust has also made available to the public the proposed Environmental Assessment prepared under SEQRA to provide the public additional information about the project.

A copy of the proposed Installation Agreement, GPP Amendment and Environmental Assessment can be found on the Trust’s website at www.hudsonriverpark.org.

In addition to the public hearing, the public will have an opportunity to provide written comments to the Trust. The public comment period extends from June 20, 2018 to August 22, 2018. Comments may be sent by regular mail to Christine Fazio, Esq., Hudson River Park Trust, Pier 40, 2nd Floor, 353 West Street, New York, N.Y. 10014 or by email to pier52installation@hrpt.ny.gov. The public hearing is being held in compliance with the requirements of the Hudson River Park Act regarding significant actions.

CN: 06/21/2018 June 21, 2018

9

Three Cheers for Pride Parades!

Looking out from inside the action, with pom-poms

Courtesy of Cheer New York

Cheer New York at the Staten Island Pride Fest, with hostess Carmen Carrera.

BY CHARLES BATTERSBY Everyone loves a parade — but marching in a parade is much more fun than watching one. I perform with a team of LGBT cheerleaders called Cheer New York (cheernewyork.org), and every year the squad marches in New York’s Pride parades. Cheer New York doesn’t cheer for a sports team; we cheer for charity.

Most of our time is spent at walkathons, fundraisers for LGBT organizations, and performing on stage at events. But the annual shotgun of parades in June is what it’s all leading up to. Three weeks ago, on the morning of Queens Pride, 40 cheerleaders were taking our first synchronized steps of Pride Month. On June 24, we’ll march across the finish line at Manhattan’s Pride Parade — tired and sunburned, but full of cheer, and proud.

Technically, Pride season began a

10

June 21, 2018

month before our first parade, at the Staten Island Pride Fest. It was an outdoor event, and there was a downpour that day. A tent had been set up backstage, and 19 soggy cheerleaders huddled together for two hours as we practiced our choreography out of the audience’s sight.

Pride was off to a humbling start for us: a day of wet socks, runny noses, and rain-slicked stages. Despite the rain, there was a still crowd. We maintained our energy, greeted the audience with smiles, and posed for photo ops with toddlers and local politicians. Then we trudged back to the ferry, rain dripping from our pom-poms.

The Queens Pride parade was upon us before we knew it, and some of us were still struggling with this year’s new dance routine. We chant the name of

the borough we’re in, then yell, “Show!

Us! Your Pride!” before launching into elaborate choreography.

It was the fifth event the team did that week, but everyone was taking it particularly seriously. People showed up early, hairstyles were more elaborate, and the girly girls had huge false eyelashes and extravagant makeup. Even the tomboyish girls had bright red lipstick and shimmering highlights on their cheekbones. I wasn’t surprised to catch one of the boys applying mascara.

The morning of Queens Pride was cold for June, and we did our warm-up in the middle of the street, stretching on cold concrete. One of our coaches admonished us because we “look cold.”

This is his way of telling us that no matter how tired, sore, or cold we are, our joy has to shine through. There are

40 cheerleaders in full uniform in the middle of a residential street, and people have come out of their houses to watch us. It’s a parade, and everyone needs to see that we’re happy to be here.

Parades might seem like well-orchestrated operations, but our staging area was changed at the last minute. When it was time to march, we were out of the proper order, and had to rush past other groups. We ran to 37th Ave. and dashed around the corner, smiling, waving, and scrambling into our marching order. It took an hour to march the length of the route, and along the way, there were a few hiccups. I even missed the first couple of steps in the big dance number, slightly out of step as we yelled, “Show!

Us! Your Pride!”

Queens Pride follows the parade with a daylong festival, and we spent hours NYC Community Media

Photo by Michael Shain/TimesLedger

Photo by Michael Shain/TimesLedger

The team warmed up on the cold morning of Queens Pride (the author, seen in the middle).

At Queens Pride, the team performed a crowd-pleasing sequence of synchronized “extensions.”

doing cheers and stunts for the crowd before ending the day with our special “Thank You Queens Pride” cheer. It was an exhausting day, but it’s the shortest of the three parades the team is doing this month.

Brooklyn Pride was only six days away and, at our next practice, everyone was extra determined. One stunt group was so enthusiastic that they threw a petite blonde so high she touched the ceiling of the gym.

Brooklyn Pride Fest has their parade at night, but the festival starts in the morning. Eight hours before we stepped onto the parade route, we were at Cheer New York’s booth, performing. Nothing was rushed that day. We had hours to prepare — and by the time we began warming up for the parade, we were already worn out.

This parade began on a somber note, a moment of silence for the members of the LGBT community who died over the last year. My cheer team had the honor of doing a routine shortly after the moment of silence.

Soon the seriousness faded away; it’s a party atmosphere in the staging area, quite different from parades that begin

in the morning. The crowd has been “festive” all day, and the audience is now drunk and wired. We’re running on adrenaline, but we performed along with other groups in the parade. A drum corps thumped a beat for us as we danced, and a stranger draped purple beads around my neck. We scrambled aside as antique cars rolled by, followed by floats and double decker buses full of drag queens. Finally, it was our turn to march. My coach reminded me to look up every now and then. Sure enough, I saw people waving from apartment windows above the street, and I cheered to them, “Show! Us! Your Pride!”

It turns out that we won an award at the Queens parade, and now we’re more confident. We know we’re ready for Manhattan Pride. We don’t actually carry pom-poms in the parades because we need our hands free for stunts. But we’re always in uniform: red, white and blue, even star-spangled. The All-American look isn’t a coincidence — we’re an LGBT team, and there are people sifting though footage of the parades looking for negative stereotypes.

“Behold the gay agenda,” the pundits will proclaim. Our agenda is working hard,

Photo by Jason Speakman

The team practiced their choreography before Brooklyn Pride Parade.

and keeping a smile on our faces no matter what. And making the crowd show us their Pride.

This article is not endorsed by Cheer New York and expresses solely the author’s experiences, opinions, and points of view while on the team from August 24, 2017

to present. Charles Battersby does not act as a representative or spokesperson for the 501(c)(3) certified nonprofit, Cheer New York. Visit cheernewyork. org, facebook.com/CheerNewYork, twitter.com/CheerNewYork, and instagram. com/cheernewyork.

Photo by Michael Shain/TimesLedger Photo by Jason Speakman

Synchronized “extension” stunts in the staging area at Brooklyn Pride.

NYC Community Media

Four-person “pods” listened to their coach before practicing a stunt that would be performed at Queens Pride.

June 21, 2018

11

Exotic Skills in the Vaudeville Tradition Drag is alive, kicking, fire-eating, yodeling, and prestidigitating

Photo by Ernesto Hernandez-Reyes

Impresario S.Q. Stokes encouraged equestrian trick rider Omar Kingsley to perform as “Mademoiselle Ella Zoyara.”

BY TRAV S.D. During Pride Month, drag performers often rightfully get an extra amount of play, attention, and celebration. So we thought it would be fun to take a look at several drag artists from show business history who didn’t just sing, dance, lip sync or tell jokes, but who possessed at least one more exotic skill in the vaudeville tradition. In years past, performers who were “biologically male” — an insufficient categorization for this topic best consigned to history — have made their bones in the guise of female acrobats, magicians, ventriloquists, and more.

One of the earliest we know about is equestrian trick rider Omar Kingsley

12

June 21, 2018

(1840-79), an apprentice of impresario S.Q. Stokes. In the classic circus era, audiences loved female equestrians.

Stokes encouraged young Kingsley to disguise himself as a girl for performances, billing him as “Mademoiselle Ella Zoyara.” Kingsley maintained the subterfuge offstage as well, going out in public in fashionable dresses, and socializing with prominent local women when on tour. Another early drag circus performer was “Mademoiselle Lulu,” presented by The Great Farini from 1870 through 1877. Lulu was an aerialist who performed on a series of trapezes and ladders, and sang songs.

Berta Beeson (Herbert “Slats” Beeson, 1899-1969) was billed as “The

Milwaukee-based bombshell Jaymes Mansfield, seen here with Debbie. The duo’s repertoire includes a performance of Julie Brown’s “The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Gun.”

Julian Eltinge of the Wire,” Beeson was tightrope walker who cross-dressed (another contentious term, but one in vogue at the time). Originally from Summitville, Indiana, Beeson started out working at a local vaudeville house, and then debuted with the SellsFloto circus in 1917 as “Mademoiselle Beeson, Marvelous High Wire Venus.”

When famed lady tightrope walker Bird Millman retired from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1925, Beeson was her replacement.

Beeson retired from performing 11 years later, but continued to work for the circus as an advance man.

It doesn’t get much more vaudevillian than female impersonator and

trapeze artist Barbette (Vander Clyde, 1898-1973). Clyde spent his childhood practicing trapeze skills as a hobby. At age 14, he answered a job ad placed by the Afaretta Sisters, the “World Famous Aerial Queens.” To get the job, he had to dress as a girl. Soon Barbette was working solo. At her debut at the Harlem Opera House in 1919, though only an opening act, she got three curtain calls. She did slack wire walking, rings, and trapeze... and then pulled off her wig for the big “wow.”

Soon, Barbette was a vaudeville headliner — what heteronormative trapeze artist ever accomplished that? By 1923, she was the hit of the Paris cabaret scene and a favorite of the intelliNYC Community Media

gentsia. Jean Cocteau even included her in his 1930 film “The Blood of a Poet.”

A character in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1930 film “Murder” is also clearly based on her. In 1935, she was featured in Billy Rose’s “Jumbo” along with many other circus and vaudeville notables. A 1938 bout with pneumonia effectively ended her performing career, and she retired to become a consultant and choreographer for projects requiring drag trapeze artists. You think there aren’t any? What about Hollywood films like “Till the Clouds Roll By” (1946), “The Big Circus” (1959), and “Some Like it Hot” (1959)?

Walter H. Lambert (1869-1949) was a British female impersonator and ventriloquist whose most famous act was called “Lydia Dreams.” His usual turf was the music hall in his home country, but he did come for a tour of US vaudeville in 1906. Most astounding of all, he wasn’t the only British music hall impersonator and ventriloquist. Bobbie Kimber (Ronald Victor Kimberley, 1918-1993), who performed in music hall from the 1930s through the ’60s, wore his hair long like a woman’s, and never divulged his biological gender one way or the other to the audience.

The story of Bobbie’s gender identity is complicated. Married and the father of a daughter, he appears to have begun representing himself as a woman when he began performing in 1937, because there were almost no female ventriloquists working at the time, hence he got less competition. Yet, according to fellow performers, he played the woman offstage as well, and the public didn’t know he was biologically male until 1952.

Closer to our own time is the late drag magician Cashetta (Scott Weston, 1971-2015). Weston started out as a drag performer in the 1990s at Lips, singing and doing comedy. After studying at the feet of magicians while working as a makeup artist in Las Vegas, Cashetta broke in a solo magic act at NYC’s Fez Under Time Cafe, eventually getting bookings on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and “The Today Show.” Top billing was earned in the 2009 show “Magic’s a Drag,” at the Harmon Theater in Las Vegas.

We asked NYC drag icon and Wigstock creator Lady Bunny for her thoughts on who’s who in today’s drag vaudeville scene, and this is what she had to say: “Violet Chachki does aerial stuff in hoops combined with smoking burlesque in the fabbest costumes imaginable. Jaymes Mansfield uses puppets and ventriloquism, and will revive the late Wayland Flowers’ Madame this summer in Provincetown, sanctioned NYC Community Media

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Lady Bunny’s vaudevillian skills include ventriloquism and, as seen on Andy Warhol’s MTV show, yodeling.

by Flowers’ estate. Jaymes made a puppet of me which I now use to interview myself in a comedy routine! Ivy Winters, perhaps the most underrated, uses stilts, fire-eating, and all kinds of specialty acts. She comes from a circus background. Lavinia Co-op uses stilts, as well. She works for Susanne Bartsch but has also appeared in Wigstock and was a founding member of the English drag troupe, Bloolips. Kennedy Davenport’s Texas-style dancing borders on acrobatic. I’ve seen her walk down the steps from a stage and then summersault back onto it; extremely high kicks and other hijinks!”

And as for Lady Bunny herself, she too can claim a special skill, which intersected with a singularly unique moment in pop culture history. “I have performed songs with yodeling,” she told us, including, “creating insane pops to the early electro hit ‘Popcorn’ on ‘Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes’ show on MTV. People think I’m lip syncing because it’s so high-pitched.

I’m not!”

Lessons to be drawn? Vaudeville is very much alive, and drag is not just alive, but kicking. They go together like peanut butter and jelly. Get a gimmick, kids!

For more information on the contemporary artists mentioned in this article, visit ladybunny.net, violetchachki.net, jaymesmansfield.com, facebook.com/ wintersivy, and kennedydavenport.com.

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We encourage your opinions and feedback on what’s happening in your neighborhood, via scott@chelseanow.com June 21, 2018

13

L FIGHT continued from p. 6

district co-leader — praised the MTA for reaching the agreement in “record time” — in just slightly more than 30 days since their first court hearing.

The press conference’s backdrop was the usual chaotic morning rush-hour traffic clogging the intersection. Speakers had to project their voices over the din of roaring buses and snorting garbage trucks, plus the occasional ambulance, siren frantically wailing, struggling to get through the traffic jam. Referring to the mayhem on the street, Schwartz said implementing the L-shutdown scheme would be a major mess.

Under the city’s plan, DOT wants to narrow congested 14th St. from four lanes of moving traffic down to just two lanes, while making this major crosstown artery exclusively a “busway,” with no cars — with a third lane in the middle as a passing lane; meanwhile, the proposal would also see the sidewalks extended out into what are currently the parking lanes. DOT and MTA maintain this is all needed to accommodate the droves of displaced L riders who would be flooding 14th St. if the subway were shut down. But Schwartz and coalition members scoff that 14th St. is being targeted for a half-baked “experiment” that, in fact, would be a recipe for disaster, and

Photo by Lincoln Anderson

Joined by disabled advocates, attorney Arthur Schwartz announced that the disabled-access part of the L shutdown lawsuit has been settled at Sixth Ave. and 14th St., where the MTA has agreed to add elevators. At left, are Assemblymember Harvey Epstein and Councilmember Carlina Rivera.

would completely inundate the surrounding smalls streets with traffic.

“Just look at the traffic here on 14th St. and Sixth Ave.,” the attorney said, incredulously. “They want to throw this all off onto the side streets.”

As for how ambulances would get crosstown quickly to Mount Sinai Beth

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June 21, 2018

Israel Hospital under the proposed 14th St. scheme, Schwartz said they were told ambulances would have to use the extended pedestrian areas.

Coalition members said they planned to meet with Manhattan Gale Brewer this Friday to urge her to back their call that 14th St. be kept as a four-lane street and that the pedestrian space not be increased into the parking lanes. They said the crosstown boulevard’s sidewalks are already extra-wide, and that a few simple tweaks could be done to ensure that there are no bottlenecks. For example, there should be enforcement against vendors who clog up spots — such as the book vendor at the western end of Union Square — and a couple of halal carts that encroach on crosswalks; these vendors could be shifted into the new pedestrian areas the city wants to create, as part of the plan, on Union Square West, they suggested. And newsstands at Sixth Ave. and Eighth Ave. could be moved so that they are not abutting L-train exits, which currently creates a double-wide sidewalk obstacle.

Then there is the problem of construction, which takes up traffic lanes, too.

Local residents and community boards are calling for a moratorium on construction on 14th St. in the event of the L shutdown. Chelsea activist Stanley Bulbach, for one, noted there are currently six empty lots on 14th St. between Sixth and Seventh Aves. alone, with some of them with construction projects already underway.

In other major news, Schwartz also announced that the MTA and DOT recently submitted an application for a draft Environmental Assessment (EA)

to address the community’s cries that the sweeping mitigation plan at least have a formal study regarding its impacts on the surrounding area. This EA would state whether, in turn, a more-rigorous Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) would need to be conducted. Schwartz said that, so far, he has been rebuffed in his efforts to obtain the draft EA through a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request.

Schwartz added that, in his understanding, under the EA process, a level of public review is required — and that this would require a public hearing.

“Not a town hall — a public hearing,” he stressed, adding that the FTA might have to be the lead agency for the hearing, tough he was not 100 percent sure of that. Local residents have angrily complained that the “outreach” meetings, and only more recently, town halls, about the L shutdown plan, have been very disappointing — with Trottenberg, in particular, sometimes just rolling her eyes at their concerns — and that they feel their views still are not being taken into account.

“The fact that they are doing an Environmental Assessment means there’s a door open that wasn’t before,” Schwartz explained. “And there’s definitely a public process as part of an EA at some point — they have to listen to the public. To me, that means they’ve moved the mitigation part a step backwards.”

As for how this new development could affect the whole project’s timetable, Schwartz stated, “They’re not going to do anything until the judge rules on this.”

L FIGHT continued on p. 19 NYC Community Media

50 EPIC MILES continued from p. 3

year, he noted, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I also had to stop and tape my foot. I had blisters because the motion is so repetitive â&#x20AC;&#x201D; whereas when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re running outside, there are tiny undulationsâ&#x20AC;Ś and thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a real mental challenge, because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arduous, doing the same thing over and over. So if I had to do it alone? I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know if I could â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but seeing my friends, and colleagues come through the door, and being able to go through some of those long miles with them [there were, and will be, treadmills to his left and right], thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actually the best part.â&#x20AC;?

As for armchair observers via a live feed on Flyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Facebook page, he hopes â&#x20AC;&#x153;people who get so see the ups and downs throughout the day, who know what I am experiencing,â&#x20AC;? will be inspired to take up their own physical challenges and, of course, become involved with the 50 Epic Miles project.

Doing so will yield immediate results to the home viewer. Recalling last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s run, Fly said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;When I hit some of those low points of fatigue, one of my colleagues would run over to tell me a child just got sponsored, and it was great.â&#x20AC;?

When the treadmill comes to a full stop, Fly has another Team World Vision challenge on the horizon. In July, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s determined to scale Kilimanjaro â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and

Courtesy of Chelsea Piers Fitness

L to R: Chelsea Piers Fitnessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Daron Hernandez (personal trainer/senior membership consultant), Josh Fly (fitness director) and Garson Grant (lead trainer).

not just because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s there. Sponsorship of his first-ever mountaineering endeavor is encouraged, with every drop in the bucket going to the cause thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s become his passion. Looking back on last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s run (and perhaps foreshadowing Kilimanjaro), Fly said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had no

clue what I was getting into. But now?

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to keep going until we end the clean water crisis, which might be for the rest of my life.â&#x20AC;?

Josh Flyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 50 Epic Miles challenge begins at 9 a.m. on Sat., June 23.

Follow the live feed on his Facebook:

m.facebook.com/jay.zee.988373. For information on how to sponsor a child, make a donation, or run alongside Josh, visit chelseapiers.com/50-epicmiles. Also visit teamworldvision.org and wvi.org. Follow fly on Instagram via @jflyfitness.

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15

CHELSEA GUITARS continued from p. 2

community.”

In addition to meaningful assistance from electeds, Courtenay also expressed gratitude for the groundswell of support from neighbors who stopped by his store, spoke to their elected officials and community boards, and called the hotel owners to let them know how important this issue was to them. It appears that the new owners got the message loud and clear.

“These guys were nice enough to sit down and say, ‘How can we do this?’ ” said Courtenay. “And we will still have to make some changes to my space, which will be tough… but they are really trying to have us stay.”

A representative from the hotel group told Chelsea Now, “We hammered out a deal with the new owners of the hotel to sit down with Dan Courtenay and find a way to make it work. We are really happy to have him stay.”

Construction will have to be done in the back of Chelsea Guitars to install a door, and Courtenay will lose his bathroom and some storage space. Teams

Photo by Christian Miles

Sustained notes: The sweet sound of music will continue to resonate, with Chelsea Guitars assured a place at the renovated Chelsea Hotel.

have already come by to measure the space, and are seeking an alternative storage space for some of Courtenay’s huge stock of high-end and vintage guitars. There may also be some changes to the facade.

But Courtenay is thrilled that he will get to stick around to see the Chelsea Hotel finally get its long-awaited facelift,

and local preservationists are happy that a fresh-faced Chelsea Guitars shop will be part of that renovation.

“I am so glad to hear that the management of the hotel are doing that,” said Bill Borock, co-vice president of Save Chelsea (savechelseany.org). “With all the small businesses we are losing from Sixth to Ninth Avenues, it is nice to know

ROUTE continued from p. 4

Julian Sanjivan, HOP’s march director.

Paul Groncki, president of the 100 West 16th Street Block Association, learned of the plan roughly two weeks before the June 13 meeting. Another resident, who left the meeting early, first heard of the plan by reading an article in Chelsea Now. HOP first began discussing a new route for the 2018 parade in December 2016. It had a series of meetings on the route with city agencies, including the NYPD, beginning in August 2017.

Ultimately, HOP presented the NYPD with six routes and that agency had selected one by January 22 of this year.

The new route is also controversial in the LGBTQ community.

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who is openly gay, was not informed of the route change until well after the decision was made, and he first learned about it by seeing a post on Facebook.

Erik Bottcher, Johnson’s chief of staff, opened the meeting by saying of the new route, “We don’t like it.”

Midway through the meeting, Bottcher took the floor again to note that there was press in the room and expand on his comments.

“Last month, the speaker called the mayor’s office and said, ‘I want this route changed,’ ” Bottcher said, and added that he then went to a meeting with the mayor’s office. “At the conclu-

16

June 21, 2018

Photo by Donna Aceto

L to R: HOP’s march director Julian Sanjivan, Detective Carl Locke, the NYPD’s LGBTQ liaison, Patrol Borough Manhattan South Executive Officer James Kehoe, Patrol Services Bureau Executive Officer Fausto Pichardo, and Joseph Gallucci, the commanding officer of the NYPD’s citywide counterterrorism unit, at a June 5 town hall, the first of several meetings this month where HOP got blowback over its new parade route.

sion of that meeting, I made it clear that there is going to be a different process for picking the route next year.”

Sanjivan apologized for the lack of communication at a contentious June 5 town hall on the route that was held at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, and he apologized again at the June 13 meeting.

“I apologize,” he said after making a PowerPoint presentation to the residents. “We could have done a better job communicating.”

It appears that Community Board 4 (CB4), which covers the neighborhoods from 59th St. to 14th St. on Manhattan’s West Side, is generally unhappy with HOP’s handling of the Pride Parade and related events. Johnson once chaired that board.

“A lot of these same concerns were reflected last week at Community Board 4,” said Jeffrey LeFrancois, the 2nd vice chair on the board, at the meeting.

Dina Homayuni, an HOP staffer, attended the June 14 meeting of the board’s Waterfront, Parks &

he’ll still be there. I think the history of the Chelsea Hotel will always endure, but this adds a little plus to the whole story.”

After months of losing sleep worrying about his perilous fate, Courtenay said he is now sleeping well, confident that his business will remain in its longtime home for the next few years. Courtenay noted that he just signed a lease that permits him to stay in the location at the same rent until 2021. He had nothing but good things to say about it.

“The management has been very nice to me with this. I never had a feeling this was personal. I totally understood that it was just business, that they just wanted to have a good place and were thinking about the big picture,” Courtenay said.

“But I have loved that building since I was a little boy, I love the people in Chelsea, and I know it’s why I love New York. Just the fact that they stopped their work to do this is wonderful, and hopefully it is all going to work out fine.”

For more information, visit the store at 224 W. 23rd St. (btw. Seventh & Eighth Aves.) — and online, visit chelseaguitars.com.

Environment Committee, to finalize plans for HOP’s June 23 and 24 dances, called Pride Island, that will be held on Pier 97, which is at the end of W. 57th St. on the Hudson River. As a member of that committee began to question Homayuni about the march, Lowell Kern, a committee co-chair, cut her off, noting that HOP had been “beaten up” enough at the prior week’s meeting and the night before. Kern did not attend the June 13 meeting, suggesting there is at least some conversation among residents and community board members outside of these meetings.

In a March agreement between HOP and CB4, HOP agreed to take a number of steps to mitigate the sound coming from the dance and to sell no more than 5,250 tickets to the event. The issue of when the June 24 dance will end was unresolved, with HOP saying 11 p.m. and the board asking for 10 p.m.

At the June 14 meeting, Homayuni said the June 24 dance will be “completely done by 10:15” with the final 15 minutes for the fireworks display that ends Pride festivities.

HOP sold out the June 24 dance well before the June 14 meeting, but as of June 15 it was still showing 11 p.m. as the end time for the dance. James Fallarino, HOP’s media director, did not respond to an email asking if ticketholders, who presumably purchased tickets to a dance ending at 11 p.m., had been informed of the change.

NYC Community Media

Photos by Mion Edwards

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Real World Newsâ&#x20AC;? demo, by NicolĂ s Escapentier, allowed users to choose which media source they want to read. They make a selection and a camera captures their face, making a cash register sound and adding it to another screen â&#x20AC;&#x201D; symbolizing the ad economy these sites profit from.

Researchers, technologists, computer scientists, and digital media experts visited the demos and exhibits, displayed science fair-style.

FAKE NEWS continued from p. 8

formation,â&#x20AC;? said Carroll. (Adobe Voco is a voice modification system, which can essentially â&#x20AC;&#x153;Photoshop-for-voice.â&#x20AC;?)

With the advancement of social media, sharing propaganda internationally has increased. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The current technological solutions we have to fight against propaganda and misinformation is fact checking, content moderation, social media monitoring, information authentication, and techenabled education,â&#x20AC;? said J.D. Maddox, a consultant to the US State Department and a counterterrorism expert who spoke on behalf of the Global Engagement Center (GEC). The GEC actively is charged with leading the US governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s efforts to counter propaganda and disinformation from international terrorist organizations and foreign countries.

Maddox proposed combining the five abovementioned technological solutions to give citizens a better chance at combatting foreign propaganda. In addition to giving solutions, other exhibits wanted to make a statement about Twitter bots, click-bait culture, and online political presence. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some websites are spreading liesâ&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Reactionary Groupâ&#x20AC;? demo, by NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program student Nouf Aljowaysir, is a set of four Twitter bot characters users can control.

Each character represents an opposing political personality: liberal, conservative, conspiracy theorist, and alt-right.

and â&#x20AC;&#x153;just playing with your emotions,â&#x20AC;? said demo presenter NicolĂ s Escapentier.

His simulation was a screen that showed news articles from popular new outlets.

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STROLLER continued from p. 9

While we were thinking about our sonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s permanent ride, my wife bought a $20 umbrella stroller to take him to the Meet the Breeds dog event when he was nine months (we had Chicco car seats and Snap-N-Go strollers for both when they were infants, also good choices).

The inexpensive stroller was another good decision, as we used it mostly in airports for both kids. The umbrella also left the house last June.

Both strollers were on their last legs when we were done, but perhaps the NYC Community Media

Once you clicked on the article, it would show you on an adjacent screen how much, monetarily, your click was worth.

Another exhibitor took a different

approach. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about challenging your perception about what people think,â&#x20AC;? said Alex Frankel, creator of Project WATT (standing for â&#x20AC;&#x153;what are they thinkingâ&#x20AC;?). Project WATT is a user-generated publication that uses data from the popular subReddit â&#x20AC;&#x153;change my view.â&#x20AC;? The Reddit community attempts to change the mindset of a user on an opinion they may have, the most popular or active threads are made into a Project WATT article. The articles further the conversation of controversial topics and exposes people to the variety of perspectives to understand how those they disagree with interpret current events.

One thing was clear. To dismantle online toxicity and the spread of fake news, the conversation must be taken across all sectors because every profession can be affected. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Put pressure on these tech companiesâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;demand for change,â&#x20AC;? said Melissa Ryan, founder of Media Matters for America.

For more information, visit fakenewshorrorshow.org, state.gov/r/gec, festival.interactiondesign.sva.edu/projectwatt, mediamatters.org, and engineering.nyu.edu.

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The authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s children, a few years ago, with store samples while on line at Trader Joeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s.

scrap metal was used to help another toddler. It was only a little hard saying goodbye. It was the wisest $220 I ever spent.

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June 21, 2018

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June 21, 2018

NYC Community Media

L FIGHT continued from p. 14

Assemblymember Harvey Epstein and City Councilmember Carlina Rivera — two East Side local pols — both joined the press conference about the Sixth Ave. elevators victory. Disabled advocates said a press conference the two recently participated in at the Third Ave. L station, at which they called for more elevators, helped yield the settlement.

Epstein led the crowd in a chant of “Let them ride!” and said the fact that less than one-quarter of the city’s subway stations are accessible is a disgrace.

“Half a million New Yorkers have a disability,” Rivera said, “but only 20 percent of stations are accessible. That is larger than some countries… We’re going to get an elevator at Third Ave. in my district,” she vowed. Epstein also said the Third Ave. stop needs elevators.

Rivera said she is also asking for a town hall meeting on the L shutdown impact to be held farther east — in her district; a town hall held on W. 14th St. a few weeks ago was a bit far for some residents in her district to attend, she noted.

Milagros Franco, who lives in the East 20s near First Ave., was an individual plaintiff on the disabled part of the lawsuit. Seated in her motorized wheelchair as she spoke into the microphone at the press conference, she said everyone — not just the disabled — benefits, or will eventually benefit, from more subway elevators.

“This is momentous moment for our community,” she said. “Everyone here will eventually need an elevator for themselves or a family member.”

Similarly, Michael Schweinsberg, president of the 504 Democrats, said the “disabled-accessibility movement, in fact, includes us all.

“Everyone is just an accident or an illness or a few years away from joining the disability community,” he noted. “We are the largest minority.”

The disabled unemployment rate currently stands at 62 percent, which would go down if there were improved access to mass transit, he added.

Franco, who was born with cerebral palsy and has always been disabled, said Access-A-Ride is not the preferred transit option, calling it “Stress-A-Ride.”

“When you’re in the chair almost 24 hours a day, any bit of accessibility makes a difference,” she said.

The previous Thursday, about 150 NYC Community Media

members of the 14th St. Coalition gathered at the Salvation Army building, at 14th St. near Sixth Ave., to hear an update on the fight. David Marcus, another leader of the coalition, noted that a two-way crosstown protected bike lane that DOT plans to add on 13th St. as part of the plan would be used by an estimated 2,000 to 5,000 bicycles per day.

“My God, where are they going to put all these people?” he asked, as audience members audibly groaned.

“It just seems so ill advised.”

Thirteenth St. is being targeted for the bike lane because it’s a through street near 14th St., as opposed to streets to the north, which are blocked by Union Square Park.

And there is concern that the mitigation plan, being dubbed temporary

by DOT, is anything but that.

“Some of the things they’re doing — on the face — like extending the sidewalks — don’t tell me they’re going to rip those up in 15 months,” Marcus said. “There’s absolutely no transparency.”

Bill Borock, of the Council of Chelsea Block Associations, said doing an EIS is critical for the community.

“The environmental study is a big, big thing,” he said. “Even if they think they don’t have to do it, we want them to do it.”

Speakers slammed DOT’s Trottenberg as “obstructionist” and “insensitive.”

Referring to the town hall meetings at which the agency officials nod their heads and feign concern, Susan Finely, a member of the Flatiron Alliance, said, “It’s an illusion of inclusion.”

A DOT spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on residents’ criticisms of Trottenberg, as well as for comment on the significance of the MTA and DOT recently filing a draft EA for the mitigation project. However, he did say, “I want make it clear that the announcement yesterday regarding ADA concerns and the L train project itself are two separate things, despite them being looped together in the handout during some speakers’ remarks.

Our traffic-mitigation measures are related specifically to the need to install these while necessary work is conducted. Not taking any action would have a worse than the options offered. As for the elevators, DOT will work collaboratively and in good faith with the MTA to ensure that elevators are sited in areas that are appropriate.”

THE WEST SIDE’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

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June 21, 2018

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Volume 2 | Issue 2

The Pulse of

Lenox Health Greenwich Village

Get out and go!

5 useful tips for new runners For many people, nice weather sparks the desire to get outside and exercise. Perhaps you’re thinking of starting a new running routine? Consider these useful training tips to help you avoid injuries while you’re starting out.

1. Invest in the right pair of running shoes. Buy for feel and fit, not fashion. Feet swell and lengthen over a run, so make sure there’s a thumb’s width of space between your toes and the end of a shoe. Your heel and instep should fit snug, but not too tight.

2. Don’t skip out on stretching. Be sure to stretch after a five-minute warm-up, when your muscles and tendons are more pliable and amenable to stretching.

3. Go for distance rather than time - slow it down, warm up, then stretch. Taking it slow allows your body to warm up. Be sure to stretch after a five-minute warm-up, and then gradually increase the intensity of your run to avoid injury and burnout. Once you have built endurance, you can focus on increasing speed and distance.

4. Mix in cross training to supplement your running. Try runnerfriendly alternative forms of exercise such as cycling, swimming and strength training – this will help you build strength and flexibility, prevent injury and recover faster.

Did you know…

Cotton tends to retain sweat, causing chaffing and irritation.

Invest in some new running clothes made from technical fabrics such as bamboo, polyester, nylon or Lycra.

Did you know…

To provide your tired muscles the fuel they need to rebuild quickly, eat a 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein within 30-45 minutes after a run.

5. Set small, achievable goals. Break down your aspirations into daily, weekly and monthly goals, so you can enjoy regular accomplishments and stay focused on your next step. A training journal is a great tool to keep a lasting record of your progress.

If you’re experiencing minor aches and pains or suffering from a major injury, our Orthopaedic Institute is here for you. Learn more at Northwell.edu/LenoxHealthOrtho or call (646) 846-1792.

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June 21, 2018

NYC Community Media