Downtown Express - November 15, 2018

V isit us online a t w w w. Dow n t ow nE x pr e s s .co m

VOLUME 31 NUMBER 22

NOVEMBER 15 – NOVEMBER 28, 2018

It’s elementary, say pols, parents, kids: School can’t move

BY COLIN MIXSON

A

fter a developer refused to renew an awardwinning Tribeca public school’s lease, the city is asking community members to shuffle the school kids between three schools in five years.

That’s according to Assem-

blymember Deborah Glick, who rallied with colleagues, civic leaders and pint-sized scholars outside their Greenwich St. school on Tues., Nov. 13.

“Forcing students to relocate to a temporary home…should SCHOOL continued on p. 3

Up in Hell’s Kitchen, Pr. 97 design plans starting to heat up

BY SYDNEY PEREIR A

T

he Hudson River Park Trust is beginning to hash out another “puzzle piece” of the 4.5-mile West Side waterfront park this fall — this time in the park’s Hell’s Kitchen section.

After Governor Andrew

Cuomo shelled out $50 million in funding for the park earlier this year, the Trust is partnering with a design firm, !melk, to field ideas for $30 million in renovations at Pier 97, at W. 57th St. The process started at the Community Board 4 Wa PIER continued on p. 30

PHOTO BY MILO HESS

P.S. 150 students protested against their school having to move out of Tribeca.

L project is hell on E. 14th shops

BY SYDNEY PEREIR A

E

ast Village small businesses are already taking the heat months ahead of the planned April 27 “official” start date for the L train shutdown.

A stretch of 14th St. between First Ave. and Avenue A has been beset by construction work to add entrances and ex-

Warhol at the Whitney...........p. 19

its for the L train at Avenue A, eventual elevators for the train, and prep the area as a staging area for the tunnel repairs.

Although residents’ complaints have been numerous and well publicized, local merchants have also already been hammered, seeing their revenue plummet.

“We’re experiencing very low business,” said Leo Kate-

his, a manager at the Lower East Side Coffee Shop.

A majority of Katehis’s customers are walk-in customers, but most passersby now take a pedestrian walkway set up in the street that leads them to First Ave., rather than the narrow sidewalk to access five stores, including a dry clean 14TH continued on p. 3

They’re going nuts over Nutella Cafe.............. p. 24 Manhattan Happenings: Art, talks, tours ........ p. 25

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L construction project is hell on E. 14th shops 14TH continued from p. 1

ers, a shoe store, an herbal medicine shop, Domino’s Pizza and the Lower East Side Coffee Shop. In fact, a construction worker gruffly guided this reporter to the pedestrian walkway in the street when she was heading toward the storefront-access walkway.

“We’re trying to survive,” Katehis said. “It’s a stressful situation.”

At the west side of the block, five businesses have already shuttered from construction woes, according to neighboring merchants and Laura Sewell, the director of the East Village Community Coalition.

“It’s really challenging,” Sewell said.

“But the cultural character of our neighborhood is all about these little shops. So many areas of the city have been homogenized. Shops that used to be interesting have been taken over by national chains.

We still really have so much that’s special [in the East Village].”

The employees at the Red Apple Barbershop, west of the string of shuttered shops, fear the 10-year-old shop could be next.

“Most of the foot traffic is on the road,” said Michael Vostok, the shop’s manager.

The street pattern for construction sends

PHOTO BY SYDNEY PEREIRA

Sidewalk closures and diversions of pedestrian traffic on E. 14th St. bet ween Avenues A and B due to construction for the L train shutdown project have been wreaking havoc on retail shops, local merchants and advocates say.

passersby into a pathway in the streets and makes it difficult for Stuyvesant Town residents — critical clientele for the retailers — to both see and reach the shop.

In the meantime, Vostok added, “We rely on advertising and our skills.”

The barbershop was once bustling, with all four chairs filled throughout much of the day. But on a recent Tuesday

morning, just one customer had trickled in before noon.

An eyebrow-threading salon, one of the shops that closed, moved further up the block in hopes of salvaging its business.

But despite the salon’s new digs, customers still avoid the block, according to one employee.

“People don’t want to walk on this

side of the street,” said Rosa Perez, who works at Precise Brows. “It’s a hassle for the business. We’re trying to hold on to see what happens.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has done a survey of the businesses in the area, according to shop owners.

But besides adding better signage and increasing storefront access, the small businesses are waiting to see how the block changes once the L shutdown formally begins.

“Honestly, we’re just sitting and waiting,” said Igor Yaguda, the owner of the Big Apple Barbershop.

Sewell hopes the city will do more.

“My ask is that our agencies go above and beyond to work together to address [and] to mitigate the impact of this as much as they possibly can, and that we are ready to help,” she said.

Sewell and the coalition’s count of vacancy rates in the East Village goes beyond the stretch of E. 14th St. impacted by the L train shutdown and ongoing prep work. Since 2014, E.V.C.C.’s vacancy count has increased from 11 percent to 15 percent. The empty storefronts are concentrated on E. 14th St. “The 14th St. story [about vacant stores] cannot be separated from the impact of the L train construction,” Sewell said.

Tribeca school can’t move, families, pols cry SCHOOL continued from p. 1

not be allowed to move forward at the expense of the students’ educational and environmental stability,” Glick said from the steps of P.S. 150, while youngsters waved signs and chanted behind her.

P.S. 150 is unique among city elementary schools for hosting just one class per grade at its schoolhouse between Harrison and Chambers Sts. The U.S. Department of Education honored the school with a blue-ribbon designation for excellence in 2014. That was a year after parents successfully warded off a city plan to relocate the school to a another location in Chelsea, arguing that the school’s current location was crucial to maintaining the high standards that earned it national recognition.

“We cannot move — the school is made by where it is,” said Camilla Bazzanti, the mother of a P.S. 150 kindergartner and fourth grader, who lives three blocks away from the school.

“Our kids play here, we all live around here, we meet every day at the park, and we have play dates and activities here.

This is where our school belongs.”

While parents won the battle to keep the school from relocating to Chelsea, landlord Vornado Realty made it clear they haven’t won the war. Following the end of the school’s lease in August, the developer told the city it would kick out

Schneps Community News Group

PHOTO BY MILO HESS

Students rallied on Nov. 13 with their parents and politicians to keep P.S. 150 on Greenwich St. in Tribeca.

the kids after the 2019 school year.

Education officials spent months trying to persuade Vornado to extend the lease. Then they scrambled to find seats for the students after it became clear the landlord wouldn’t budge, a Department of Education spokesperson said.

“It’s unfortunate that the owner of the building refused to renew the lease, despite our attempts to find a solution throughout the year,” said Doug Cohen.

“Once we were informed P.S. 150 could not remain in the building, we immedi-

ately began developing a long-term plan to present to the community.”

They came up with a scheme to colocate the P.S. 150 students with the Peck Slip School — which is clear on the other side of Lower Manhattan — claiming there will be enough seats there to accommodate students from both schools for four years. At that point, construction on a new school now being built at 28-41 Trinity Place, will be finished, according to Cohen.

But the Peck Slip School already has

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problems of its own, according to Tricia Joyce, the chairperson of Community Board 1’s Education Committee. Joyce noted that the East Side elementary school, located in the historic Seaport District, was built with a hybrid auditorium and gymnasium — or “gymnatorium” — which functions poorly.

And a rooftop play space there isn’t large enough to accommodate even a single grade’s worth of students at a time, according to Joyce. She said the School Construction Authority’s poor planning led to the street outside the school being permanently closed and retrofitted as a play space.

“Peck Slip School doesn’t have space for the existing students to recreate,” Joyce said. “Putting in 180 elementary more students — there’s no common space for them.”

Instead, Glick, Councilmember Margaret Chin, state Senator Brian Kavanagh and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, plus Joyce and other Community Board 1 members, are demanding the city and Vornado hash out a minimum four-year extension on the Greenwich St. lease, circumventing the need to co-locate with Peck Slip until the Trinity Place school opens.

“We’re hoping Vornado comes to the understanding that four short years is very little to give to this neighborhood that’s supported them since the ’70s,” Joyce said.

November 15, 2018

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Police Blotter The man looked around the store and found his wallet in a trash bin with $225 cash removed. He told police there are cameras at the shop, but there are currently no leads of who the thief is, and the case remains open.

‘Trolley Robber’ Police said that on Thurs. Nov. 1, around 1:10 p.m., inside a residential building in the vicinity of St. Mark’s Place and Second Ave., a burglar gained entry into a 38-year-old man’s apartment through the unsecured front door. Once inside, he removed the victim’s camera equipment, jewelry and a trolley suitcase. The individual fled on foot with the rolling suitcase eastbound on St. Marks Place.

On Wed., Nov. 7, around 4:15 p.m., according to police, the same guy got inside of an apartment of a 30-year-old woman in the vicinity of E. Third St. and First Ave. through an unsecured rear bedroom window. Again, he took the victim’s camera equipment, jewelry and a trolley suitcase, and fled on foot on E. Third St. The suspect is black, last seen wearing a black baseball cap, a white hooded sweater, a black vest, dark-colored jeans and gray-and-white sneakers.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Police Department’s Crime Stoppers Hotline, at 800-577TIPS, or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can also be submitted on the Crime Stoppers Web site, www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, on Twitter at @ NYPDTips or by texting to 274637 (CRIMES) and then entering TIP577. All tips are confidential.

10th Ave. freeze out An cop spotted a man making graffiti on the sidewalk without permission at Tenth Ave. and 26 St., around 11 p.m. on Sat., Nov. 10, police said. The man used a green spray-paint can on a cutout stencil of various words, and after being searched, he was reportedly found to have other “graffiti instruments” on him, as well. Kimron Lucas, 35, was arrested for making graffiti, a misdemeanor.

Bouncer ‘harassment’ A harassment report was filed about an alleged incident at the Highline Ballroom at 431 W. 16th St. on Sun., Nov. 11, at 1:30 a.m., police said. A woman, 25, was dancing in the live music venue, when she bumped into a bouncer, who then forcefully grabbed her by the arms and led her out of the nightclub, causing the woman “alarm and annoyance,” according to the report, which said the bouncer’s identity was unknown.

Deli-cate situation The Errand Grocery and Deli, at Eighth Ave. and W. 13 St., was robbed on Mon., Aug. 27, at 2:50 a.m., according to police. A store employee said a man entered the deli and had a “dark brown gun” and demanded money. The robber then picked up a knife from the deli area and walked back to the register, which the employee opened and the crook took about $500 cash. The thief then dropped the knife near the register and fled north toward W. 14 St. Video surveillance from the deli was later available, along with video at other nearby locations.

Thomas Jackson, 50, was arrested Nov. 7 for felony robbery.

Door whodunit N.Y.P.D.

A sur veillance camera image of an alleged East Village burglar. His M.O. seems to be always to flee with at least one piece of rolling luggage.

bag. The five stolen items’ total value was $7,590.

Video was available at the first location. Two suspects were arrested on Nov. 7, Luz Garcia, 34, and Felix Miranda, 46, for felony grand larceny. None of the stolen items were recovered.

H.R.A. hubbub On Wed., Nov. 7 at 6:30 p.m., a man stood outside the New York City Human Resources Administration building at 12 W. 14th St. and shouted obscene and abusive language at building security, police said.

When an H.R.A. security officer told the man to move because he was blocking the front entrance, he refused, spat on the officer and grabbed the door and broke its inside handle. Edward Bullock, 31, was arrested by the H.R.A. officer for misdemeanor criminal mischief.

Soho shoplifters Around 4 p.m. on Wed., Nov. 7, three shoplifters stole items from two high-end Soho fashion shops, the Gucci store at 63 Wooster St. and the Louis Vuitton shop at 116 Greene St., according to a police report.

A male witness in the Gucci store said that three people entered and then removed a handbag, with a woman hiding it in her black shoulder bag as all three exited.

At the second location, the robbers would go on to steal three wallets and an Alma BB Louis Vuitton

4

November 15 - November 28, 2018

Stair-bnb On Mon., Nov. 5, at 4 p.m., an employee of an unoccupied residential building up for sale at 11 W. Ninth St. entered and found an unknown man lying on the first-floor stair landing, police said. The employee told the intruder he couldn’t be there, to which the man replied, “Why? This space is empty.”

The man then left, and further investigation found the front door damaged and two mirrored medicine cabinets in the building to be broken, along with water damage from a faucet having been left on. Cellphone video was taken by the building employee.

Two days later on Nov. 7, Timoor Girodes, 41, was arrested for felony burglary.

Sexy whodunit On Sat., Nov. 10 at 3 a.m., a man was walking home when he realized he forgot his wallet on the counter inside the lingerie shop Sexy Boutique, at 155 Eighth Ave., according to police. The man, 36, went back but the store employee said he didn’t see his property.

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Around 3 p.m. on Sat., Nov. 10, an unknown person banged loudly five times on a man’s apartment door at 428 W. 26 St, causing the resident to be alarmed, according to police. He also told police that when he came home earlier in the day, someone had urinated in front of his door. It was unknown if the same person committed both acts, and there were no leads in the report.

Obnoxious uncoupling A police report was filed for misdemeanor illegal eviction, during a domestic disturbance on Fri., Nov. 9, at 1:15 a.m. in an apartment at 620 W. 42nd St., according to police. A woman, 31, told police that her husband argued with her over their impending divorce, and also about her not paying rent. She said that her hubbie, 37, then yanked her out of the apartment and tossed her belongings out the door, saying, “Get out now!” About an hour later, the husband agreed to let his wife back in. The man was not arrested.

Cut and dry Police are on the trail of a razor-wielding nut job who slashed a man on State St. on Nov. 10.

The victim told police the suspect sliced his head and neck with the box cutter between Pearl and Whitehall Sts. at 5:43 p.m., before hightailing it on foot.

Paramedics found the victim bloodied, but alert, and took him to New York Downtown Hospital for treatment, cops said.

Gabe Herman and Colin Mixson Schneps Community News Group

Volume 2 | Issue 4

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Schneps Community News Group

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Schneps Community News Group

PHOTO BY SYDNEY PEREIRA

Anika Wistar-Jones, Solar One program manager (in blue coat), discusses a rooftop installation of solar panels with residents of an affordable co-op at 239 E. Second St.

Go Solar helps buildings plug into sun for power

BY SYDNEY PEREIRA

E

ight years ago, Dennis Pfandler was looking into retrofitting the roof of his E. Second St. co-op with solar panels.

But back then, Pfandler said, solar panels were mostly a luxury for owners of single-family homes in the suburbs.

“Nobody wanted to come into Manhattan and give me an estimate because they didn’t want to have to deal with the city,” the longtime East Villager said.

At the time, the Department of Buildings and the Fire Department had not quite caught up to some residents’ desire to make their buildings more efficient, Pfandler said.

But this October, Pfandler’s building at E. Second St. and Avenue C finally was finally able to plug into sun power through the Co-ops Go Solar campaign.

The effort is a partnership between two nonprofits, the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board and Solar One, to provide housing development fund corporation (H.D.F.C.) cooperatives with technical assistance to retrofit buildings with solar panels.

Solar One — which helps with the technical assistance — streamlined the whole process, said Pfandler, who works as a superintendent in the building. Solar One helped residents choose an installation company and, he said, “The next thing you know, we’re getting the roof coating done.”

Brooklyn SolarWorks, a Brooklynbased solar installation company, installed 18 panels at Pfandler’s sevenunit building. Within four to five years, the money saved from going solar will make up for the $27,000 the building spent on the panels.

Pfandler expects the building to save

Schneps Community News Group

$1,749 in the first year. Over the panels’ 25-year expected lifetime, the building will save $55,000.

“We’re going to be saving money down the road,” Pfandler said, adding it will be helpful in a building where many people are aging and will be on fi xed incomes.

The solar panels at the E. Second St. co-op power the building’s water pump, laundry room, hallway lights and intercom.

Solar panels also could be installed to power individual apartments. But that depends on how much roof space there is, and whether the residents are aiming to lower individuals’ utility bills or keep the building’s overall operating costs lower, UHAB’s Clara Weinstein explained.

The solar panels function by channeling electricity into the larger “grid” that everyone citywide and beyond taps into to power their homes.

Any additional solar electricity the building produces — especially during the sunny, summer months — is sold back to Con Edison as a solar credit for the building to use during the winter months, at nighttime or on cloudy days, when the solar panels don’t produce as much electricity.

“It’s kind of like using the grid as one huge battery,” said Anika Wistar-Jones, Solar One program manager.

Pfandler’s co-op had the funds to purchase the panels, but for cash-strapped co-ops, there are other options, according to Solar One and UHAB. One is low-interest loans that ensure loan payments are lower than the money saved through tax incentives and solar panels. Another way is with a “power purchase agreement,” where a third party owns the panels and sells

electricity back to the co-op at a reduced rate.

“Solar savings should be available to all New Yorkers,” Wistar-Jones said.

“We’re excited to be bringing afford-

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able solar to affordable housing with this campaign.”

For more information, visit uhab. org/gosolar .

November 15 - November 28, 2018

7

On W. 14th St., greenery to replace grittiness

BY SYDNEY PEREIR A

A

long a stretch of 14th St. between Ninth and Tenth Aves., the Meatpacking Business Improvement District plans to add greenery planters and about a dozen trees to the wide, often empty streets on that portion of the border between the West Village and Chelsea.

“We wanted to enliven the streetscape,” said Jeffrey LeFrancois, the BID’s operations and community affairs director.

The idea, according to the Meatpacking BID, is to visually connect the “Chelsea Triangle” and Gansevoort Square to the High Line with trees and planters.

“Oftentimes, people are walking down 14th St., they get to Ninth Ave., and they see this big wide street with not a lot of life, not a lot of things going on,” Amy Tse, the BID’s neighborhood engagement director, told C.B. 2. “They do not continue walking down that street.”

The crosstown thoroughfare is slated for extensive changes this season and into next year amid the L train shutdown beginning next April 27, but LeFrancois said the BID will finish the work ahead of the subway’s shutdown.

“We’re timing it with our goal [of having] this done by the time the L train shuts down — so that way, the neighborhood is in the best possible condition it can be,” he said. LeFrancois is also a Community

COURTESY KEN SMITH WORKSHOP

A design rendering showing new tree planters slated for W. 14th St. under a plan suppor ted by the Meatpacking Business Improvement District.

and 4, the BID will move forward on obtaining city approvals. The community boards’ Parks committees signaled

Board 4 member, but recused himself from votes at C.B. 4 on the issue.

Pending final approval by Boards 2

support last week. However, one C.B. 2 member, Susanna Aaron, the C.B. 2 Parks and Waterfront Committee cochairperson, questioned the entire basis of the designs.

“That part of the street is devastated, and partly because there’s no real destinations,” Aaron said. Plus, she added, the street’s historical character is industrial — not garden-like.

“To me, I feel like it brings a very corporate tinge to everything,” she objected.

“It doesn’t seem to have any of the real, gritty texture.”

Ken Smith’s design firm is working with the BID on the greening project.

“We’ve tried to keep it very simple and very straightforward,” he told C.B. 2, “and we’ve tried to make it have as much grit and not be fancy to the degree that we can do that.”

One apparently gritty aspect of the design includes Cor-Ten steel planters, a metal that makes the planters appear rusty, Smith said.

“We think it fits with the Meatpacking District,” Smith said. “It will link it to the High Line and fit the character of the neighborhood.”

BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

More than Just another App on Your Phone: How Choices in Banking Can Help Your Community There are currently about 5,500 commercial banks and savings institutions in the U.S., down from roughly 8,300 a decade ago. Over this same period, the banking industry has evolved significantly due to technological innovation. Today, we are able to easily pay our bills, send money to friends and family, apply for a loan, or even open a checking account. This can all be done from a smart phone, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. While these conveniences are great, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that banking is about more than simply serving individual money management needs. At its core, banking, especially community banking, is about lending and helping to build new economic opportunities within com-

8

munities.

As the President and CEO of Carver Federal Savings Bank – the largest Black-managed and publicly traded Minority Depository Institution in the U.S. – I have seen firsthand how the power of mobile and online banking has helped to reduce costs and increase access for both individual and small business customers in New York City. These technological advances have helped many lowerincome families achieve greater financial independence, ending their reliance on more expensive check cashing services and payday lenders. By establishing a relationship with a traditional bank, even if the relationship is primarily driven through online transactions, these individuals are becoming

November 15 - November 28, 2018

where many individuals historically have had limited to no experience with a traditional bank.

In many instances people in our community simply followed in the footsteps of their parents or grandparents who were low- to moderate-income people and rarely or never opened a bank account.

This is why financial inclusion and financial education are vitally important to economic emD`Z_X\c K% Gl^_# :Xim\i =\[\iXc powerment, and why our JXm`e^j 9Xeb# Gi\j`[\ek Xe[ :<F industry is continuing to work toward expanding smarter with their money, banking access for workbuilding a credit history, ing-class people, includand are better positioned ing Minority and Women to pass economic security Business Entrepreneurs and wealth to the next (“MWBEs”). By providing generation. much-needed loan capital This is particularly to MWBEs, community true in minority and new banks are making neighimmigrant communities borhoods in New York here in New York City, City economically stronDEX

ger.

Carver Federal Savings Bank has been serving our local communities since 1948, when we first opened our doors in Harlem. We recently celebrated the grand re-opening of our newly renovated Crown Heights branch in Brooklyn. Our branches provide a critical financial resource to our communities. We do far more than just serve the individuals who walk through our doors. Carver reinvests 83 cents of each deposit dollar back into our neighborhoods through competitively priced individual and small business loans. And in addition to our lending programs, we have provided financial education to more than 15,000 people and access to more than $23 million in capital to MWBEs. Schneps Community News Group

info@stopunsafeshelters.org www.stopunsafeshelters.org

To all NYC residents: Mayor de Blasio and Councilman Keith Powers are trying to fast track the opening of a homeless shelter for 150 single men at the former Park Savoy Hotel at 158 West 58th Street, Manhattan, a 107-year old-9 story building, deemed a FIRE TRAP by a number of NYFD Veterans and City Officials: • This building is NOT up to current NYC Building Safety and Fire Codes • There is only ONE STAIRWELL (EGRESS) for residents to exit this building (illegal-there are two required by NYC codes). In the event that a fire blocks the staircase, there will be no other way to exit the building • There are NO fire sprinklers in the individual rooms (only hallways) • There is a kitchen near the bottom of the staircase. If there is a kitchen fire, there will be no way for the residents to escape the building (illegal) • The one, tiny elevator in the building is too small to transfer handicapped and injured residents in the event of a fire (illegal) • In the event of a fire, the smoke will quickly fill the open staircase, making it impossible for residents to safely exit the building • The large and heavy security scanning equipment completely blocks the front exit/entrance of the building, making it almost impossible for fire fighters to move quickly through the narrow hallway into the building and the residents to exit • All of this spells disaster • The staircase has winders (winding staircase) throughout the 9 floors (illegal) making it impossible for residents to safely climb down the stairs

9 floors with one winding staircase

• The very narrow Staircase, very narrow hallways and dead end hallways make it almost impossible for residents to quickly escape in the event of a fire and lots of smoke (all illegal)

We need to hold our city politicians accountable. An independent investigation needs as to the approval and inspection process that was utilized by the City in approving the use of a “fire trap” building to house the homeless.

Our politicians are trying to open this homeless shelter claiming they can “grandfather” the safety and fire code requirements based on a 100 plus year-old building code. Their “grandfathering” argument is incorrect as a matter of law, and is morally abhorrent.

The City’s plan is RECKLESS and lacks the principles of COMMON SENSE.

ARE YOU WILLING TO TAKE THAT CHANCE WITH EVEN ONE LIFE? PLEASE CONTACT OUR POLITICIANS AND LET THEM KNOW THAT YOU WANT A FULL INVESTIGATION AND DISAPPROVE OF THIS SHELTER OPENING AT THIS LOCATION Call the following to stop this NOW! Councilman Keith Powers (212) 818-0580

Mayor Bill DeBlasio (212) 788-7585

NYC DHS Commissioner Steve Banks (212) 361-8000

NYC Manhattan Borough President Gayle Brewer (212) 669-8300

NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson (212) 728-7210

NYC Councilman Ritchie Torres (212) 788-6966

Please contact us for additional information.

Schneps Community News Group

TVG

November 15, 2018

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November 15, 2018

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Schneps Community News Group

People

Old-time Orchard St. lives on in suit seller

BY ETHAN STARK-MILLER

A

s soon as a customer walks into Global International Menswear, before he even has time to notice the fluorescent lighting and suit-lined walls, Samuel “Sammy” Gluck greets them with a warm smile and a handshake.

Gluck, 65, has sold suits on the Lower East Side for 35 years, since the days when people flocked to the famed enclave for discounted goods and one-on-one customer service. But now the neighborhood is populated by trendy bars and art galleries, and old Jewish merchants like Gluck are a rarity.

Gluck inherited the store from his father, Isaac Gluck, who first opened for business in 1970. Gluck said that, in its heyday, Global International Menswear was a threefloor mini-department store that was always busy.

“We had lines on the street to come into the store,” Gluck said.

But, he said, the Lower East Side has experienced significantly less foot traffic in recent years, which caused many fellow merchants to leave the neighborhood or go out of business.

The reduced foot traffic also has led to a drop in the number of his own customers. Gluck said that he has outlasted other mom-and-pop stores because he owns his building and because he still loves selling suits on Orchard St. When Gluck’s store opened, Orchard St. was populated by Jewish merchants who peddled designer fabrics for discounted prices. In addition, Jewish-owned stores

PHOTO BY ETHAN STARK-MILLER

Sammy Gluck, holding a photo of his father, in his Orchard St. menswear store. Gluck’s father founded the store in 1970.

remained open on Sundays when blue laws prevented most businesses throughout the city from opening on the Christian Sabbath.

Tim Laughlin, president of the Lower East Side Partnership business improvement district, said the repeal of the blue laws and the advent of Internet shopping have caused a significant drop of foot traffic in the area.

Laughlin, 35, said that legacy merchants like Gluck now

face challenging times.

Lower East Side business conditions are constrained because there are a lot of low-level buildings, there isn’t a critical mass of residents, “and there aren’t a lot of daytime uses here that are attracting folks to come to the neighborhood,” Laughlin said.

Gluck agrees that reduced foot traffic has made conditions more challenging, noting the significant drop-off in the number of customers he gets each day.

“You don’t know,” Gluck said, “one day slow, one day busy.”

The news site The Lo Down reported in late 2017 that Gluck had posted a “for rent” sign on his front window. The haberdasher said he was considering renting the space but decided to stay in business for the immediate future.

His friend Sammy Goldman, 45, said Gluck makes a good income from the other real estate he owns, and keeps the store open because of his familial and community connections.

“He’s so in love with the people from Orchard St.,” Goldman said.

Jamel Oeser-Sweat, 42, one of Gluck’s customers, is impressed with Gluck’s old-world sales approach.

“He’s a hard-working guy,” Oeser-Sweat said, “and his dedication to making things happen is a lost art.”

Gluck admitted that he stays in business because he still loves going out and talking to people on the street and taking care of his customers.

“Main thing is that you show them a personal feeling,” Gluck said.

“It’s all about connecting to people.”

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AviatorSports.com/public-ice-skating (718) 758-7500 • @aviatorsports Schneps Community News Group

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November 15 - November 28, 2018

11

Letters to the Editor

Schneps Community News Group Covering Manhattan in more ways than one

PRINT

Election chaos

It’s the rent, stupid

To The Editor: At 10:30 a.m. on Election Day, I headed to the Lesbian and Gay Center, on W. 13th St., to vote.

The line was halfway down the block in the rain. You could go inside to fill out the paper ballot, but had to come back out to wait to feed it into the scanner.

There were only four scanners, far fewer than needed, and one hour and 20 minutes later when I finally got to them, they were all broken. Poll workers claimed wet ballots were causing them to jam.

The Center could have looped the line past the front desk, so more people could wait inside, but instead made us wait in the rain longer than necessary. I had to put my ballot in a slot marked “Emergency,” with dubious assurances that my vote would be counted later.

I felt like I was in a state that actively suppresses the vote. At least one person who had filled out a ballot took a look at the line and announced, “I’m not voting!”

Many passersby looked, hesitated, and kept walking.

This outrage must be fi xed before 2020! If we cannot have a vote-by-mail system like Colorado, Oregon and Washington, at least we need enough working scanners at every polling place in New York.

To The Editor: Re “REBNY chief: Biz bill would kill city’s economy” (The Villager, talking point, by John Banks, Nov. 8): Mr. Banks should try one simple thing to broaden his understanding of the city he lives in (or maybe he doesn’t live in).

Spend a few days going from store to store, talking to the owners in their shops about what most threatens their livelihoods. And sure, there’ll be complaints about taxes, fines, building code violations, excessive regulations, competition from e-commerce, etc., etc.

But I’d bet a thousand dollars to a doughnut that what he’d hear most with eyes raised in frustration is “The rent! The rent! The goddamn rent!”

Virginia M. Donnelly

12

November 15, 2018

Not fooling anyone To The Editor: Re “REBNY chief: Biz bill would kill city’s economy” (The Villager, talking point, by John Banks, Nov. 8): Everything is to blame for longestablished businesses closing except the greedy landlord demanding exorbitant rent increases. Is that what you’re selling the public, Mr. Banks?

SOUND OFF! REPORTER SYDNEY PEREIRA

DIGITAL EVENTS

Bennett Kremen

Publisher of The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now, Downtown Express and Manhattan Express PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS

CONTRIBUTORS IRA BLUTREICH BOB KRASNER TEQUILA MINSKY MARY REINHOLZ PAUL SCHINDLER ART DIRECTORS JOHN NAPOLI MARCOS RAMOS

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ADVERTISING CLIFFORD LUSTER (718) 260-2504 CLUSTER@CNGLOCAL.COM

EDITOR IN CHIEF LINCOLN ANDERSON

CIRCULATION SALES MNGR. MARVIN ROCK TVG

The public knows why their favorite mom-and-pop shop was forced to close, and it was not because they got a ticket. You want the public to believe every proposal created by REBNY is better than a law giving business owners rights when their leases expire.

The public is not fooled and demands a real solution to stop the closings now.

Does the Real Estate Board of New York really think New Yorkers don’t notice the growing number of empty stores — empty sometimes for years — where thriving businesses once were?

Spin this crisis anyway you want, the public wants their business saved. Stop the distractions of “This is not a silver bullet” nonsense and let democracy work for a change at City Hall.

Steve Barrison Barrison is executive vice president and spokesperson, Small Business Congress of New York City E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to news@ thevillager.com or fax to 212-2292790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 1 MetroTech North, 10th floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. Anonymous letters will not be published.

Write a letter to the editor news@thevillager.com

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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 others errors or omissions in connection with an advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue.

Published by City Media LLC One Metrotech North, 10th floor Brooklyn, NY 11201 Phone: (718) 260-2500 • Fax: (212) 229-2790 On-line: www.thevillager.com E-mail: news@thevillager.com © 2018 City Media, LLC

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Schneps Community News Group

Talking Point

Core and shell of a pledge on Bleecker Street school

BY TERRI CUDE

I

n March 2010, as New York University was preparing to seek approvals for its overwhelming 2031 Plan, the university made a big announcement.

At a podium in the conference room of then-Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, N.Y.U. Senior Vice President Lynne P. Brown stood with Stringer, some Community Board 2 members, including then-Chairperson Brad Hoylman, me (as co-chairperson of the Community Action Alliance on NYU2031) and top N.Y.U. officials. Brown proudly announced that N.Y.U. would build the core and shell of a public school on the superblocks of Greenwich Village.

Newspapers, including The New York Times, covered this, stating: “Lynne P. Brown, a senior vice president at N.Y.U., said that the university would donate 100,000 square feet of ‘gutted space’ within one of the facilities that N.Y.U. would build. That room could accommodate about 600 students.”

Borough President Stringer took the podium to declare that, this time, N.Y.U. would not be using a school as bait for approval of its 2031 Plan. The school was officially going to happen, he said, and was therefore “off the table,” with no further agreements needed. In other words, it wasn’t going to be another empty promise, like N.Y.U. has been offering for decades. (There’s even a February 1960 letter to The New York Times from N.Y.U.’s president promising a school for the benefit of the community, as well as N.Y.U.’s own faculty and affiliates.)

Getting the core and shell means that the city would save more than half of the

usual costs of building a school, plus not have to purchase the land, virtually assuring the community would get a public school. And because this all was to happen well in advance of the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, it would not need to be part of ULURP negotiations and approvals: This was a done deal.

During 2011 and 2012 as the approvals process proceeded, somehow the commitment to a core and shell of a school morphed into simply the land. And this came with new strings: The land for a school would only be provided if the city’s School Construction Authority formally expressed a commitment to build a school and fund it by 2025. Where was the promise to provide the core and shell that would mitigate an enormous amount of taxpayer cost to create a school? It was conveniently forgotten.

The ULURP process happened in 2011 and 2012. Through three of the four stages of ULURP — the community board (which voted a resounding “No” on the NYU2031 Plan); the borough president (who voted “Yes” on the plan, though with conditions); and City Planning (which, voted “Yes,” with some minor tweaks) — the 2025 date remained.

Then came the City Council. The 2025 date was suddenly moved up to 2014, even though the S.C.A. works on five-year budget cycles and the required funding was not in that cycle’s budget.

To mitigate the almost certain loss of a school, in N.Y.U.’s 100,000-squarefoot building (which would also include 32,000 square feet of underground space), 25,000 square feet would be provided to “community facilities” that could pay a reduced rent. But even that

PHOTO BY MILO HESS

At Sunday’s Veterans Day Parade, two re-enactors dressed as a Navy officer and a nurse did the famous kiss — well, almost — immortalized in a photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt on V-J Day in Times Square on Aug. 14, 1945. They even got the way the man held his wrist right. The parade started at 23rd St. and Fifth Ave. and made its way Uptown. This year marked the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, and there were ranks of marchers dressed in period Doughboy uniforms.

came with a clawback: If the space goes unrented after one year — whether from initial attempt to rent or a year after the tenant vacates — N.Y.U. is free to occupy that space, with no further responsibility to find a community-benefit tenant.

In 2014, as the pushed-up deadline loomed, strong pressure by C.B. 2 and local school advocates got N.Y.U. and Councilmember Margaret Chin to reopen the issue and move the S.C.A.’s deadline to the end of 2018. However, we fought to restore the 2025 deadline since the 2018 date came with a shorter window from deciding to build a school to commencing actual construction. That window is a strong concern since the site, at Bleecker St. and LaGuardia Place, where the Morton Williams supermarket stands, is a difficult one due to the ad-

IRA BLUTREICH

jacent beloved LaGuardia Corner Gardens and due to the below-grade facility N.Y.U. plans to build beneath the school site — making it virtually impossible for S.C.A. to determine when it can actually begin construction.

Now, with 2018 drawing to a close, C.B.2 is again demanding the date for the S.C.A.’s decision and for funding allocation be pushed back to the original 2025 date, providing a wider window between the decision and construction’s commencement, to allow for all the needed work prior to “shovels in the ground.”

N.Y.U. instead recently agreed, per a memo to its own affiliates (without official notification to C.B. 2, as of this writing) to push the required date for the S.C.A.’s decision back a bit — this time to 2021, as a final extension despite C.B. 2’s well-reasoned justifications for the original 2025 date. And still no word on the core and shell promised by N.Y.U. Well, some of us never forgot that commitment. C.B. 2 and its strong Schools and Education Committee, along with local politicians, including those present for the core-and-shell announcement, must keep on pushing N.Y.U. to honor its statement from that day in March 2010.

If the core and shell are built or an equivalent amount of funding provided, it’s almost certain the community gets a needed school rather than N.Y.U.’s 132,000 square feet for a community facility — that can vanish forever if a downturn in nonprofit funding lasts more than a year, which, sadly, is all too likely.

N.Y.U., we call upon you to provide the core and shell of a public school on your land as you promised. The community deserves no less.

Cude is chairperson, Community Board 2

Trump charms Pelosi — ‘The Star t of the Deal’?

Schneps Community News Group

TVG

November 15, 2018

13

Transportation

Citigroup ferry dock needs public uses: C.B. 1

BY SYDNEY PEREIR A

L

ast month, the Hudson River Park Trust and Citigroup suddenly began construction on a dock at Pier 25 for a Citigroup employees-only water taxi. C.B. 1 responded by calling for a possible public use of the facility, such as a weekend shuttle to Governors Island for kids’ sports teams or a ferry to the East Side’s Pier 11/Wall St. “I don’t think we should have a ferry boat and a dock that is helping Citigroup and not be used for anything else,” said Alice Blank, co-chairperson of the C.B. 1 Waterfront, Parks and Resiliency Committee, at the committee’s meeting last month.

The board also requested air-quality monitors be added due to concerns that the water taxis’ exhaust could waft to the Tribeca pier’s playground, which is currently closed for renovations. The board added that if the air-quality monitors found negative impacts, Citi should move the landing dock elsewhere.

“The most vulnerable of our population — children under 3 years old — are being brought to the park by nannies during the hours of [the water taxis’] operation,” said Paul Hovitz, co-chairperson of the C.B. 1 Youth and Education Committee.

Trust President Madelyn Wils has told C.B. 1 that Citi will use both the “best available technology” and the “least polluting” engine currently available in the U.S. Citigroup’s water taxi service is expected to run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every half hour. Up to 15 pas-

PHOTO BY SYDNEY PEREIRA

Citigroup and the Hudson River Park Trust have added a new water-taxi dock for Citigroup’s use at Tribeca’s Pier 25.

sengers at a time will ride the 49-passenger vessels, currently the smallest size used by Hudson River water taxi operators, according to the Trust. The dock will be open to uses outside of Citigroup’s water taxi pending Trust approval.

Citi also recently gave $10 million for the development of the park’s Pier 26, which will feature an eco-oriented design, which the Trust “broke ground”

on last month.

Citi claims its water taxi service will replace roughly 15,000 shuttle bus trips annually, which includes trips between its two Manhattan offices, at 388 Greenwich St. and 111 Wall St., as well as to its Jersey City office. It was unclear exactly how many shuttle trips Citi runs between Jersey City and Manhattan.

“By consolidating most of our workforce in the New York metro area into two locations and installing the water taxi service, we will eliminate the approximately 15,000 shuttle trips that currently run through the neighborhood,” Citi spokesperson Mark Costiglio said.

Waterfront Committee member Bob Townley, who also heads Manhattan Youth, said if Citi is going to spend money on the park, it should not be for a “limousine shuttle” for kids to Governors Island. Instead, he said, the funds should go toward park security.

The Hudson River Park Trust is considering C.B. 1’s requests.

“We are reviewing the resolution from C.B. 1 carefully along with our partners in the project,” Trust spokesperson James Yolles said. “We have assured C.B.1 there is nothing in our arrangement with Citi that would preclude these additional services and are open to exploring all appropriate uses.”

Paul Goldstein, the Waterfront Committee chairperson, acknowledged some board members’ concerns about backing a private use in a public park.

But he added, “I think the pluses may outweigh the negatives, in that we have an opportunity to open some doors.”

Air monitors planned for L-shutdown bus routes

BY SYDNEY PEREIR A

T

he city announced last week that it will install air-quality monitors along new bus routes during the L train shutdown.

During the shutdown — slated to begin April 27, 2019 — the city plans to add additional subway, ferry and bus service, plus bike lanes. To transport 17 percent of displaced L train riders, the city intends to create a dedicated “busway” along 14th St., plus four new bus loops in Brooklyn and Manhattan that would send 80 buses per hour over the Williamsburg Bridge during peak hours.

After months of protest by local residents, the city committed to monitoring particulate matter, called PM 2.5, from diesel bus emissions. Those monitors are in addition to existing ones at construction sites for the L train along E. 14th St. in the East Village monitoring PM 10, where work is ongoing.

“Considering where we’ve come from, I view this as real progress and a real win for community groups that have been working on this,” said Pete Davies, a Soho activist and member of the Kenmare/Little Italy Loop Coalition.

Early last month, more than 40 Downtown community groups and district leaders from the East Side to the West Side signed onto a letter demanding that local politicians address air-quality concerns at E. 14th St. and Avenues A and B, as well as along the new interborough bus routes. The groups slammed an environmental assessment that was conducted due to an ongo-

14

November 15 - November 28, 2018

COURTESY BRAD HOYLMAN’S OFFICE

From left, State Senator Brad Hoylman recently joined Andy By ford, the Transit Authorit y president, on a tour of the construction site at the L train’s First Ave. station. The station is getting a new entrance at Avenue A and will also be the main staging area for the L train tunnel repairs.

ing lawsuit against the L shutdown. The study found no significant difference in impact on air quality between “no action” — meaning, doing nothing during the L shutdown — and the “alternative service” plan.

At the end of last month, state Senator Brad Hoylman, Assemblymember Harvey Epstein, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and 18 other politiDEX

cians from Brooklyn and Manhattan sent a joint letter to Andy Byford, president of New York City Transit Authority, requesting he implement air monitors along the bus routes, establish baseline readings and make the data public — which Byford has now committed to.

“I think there’s the old adage, ‘You can’t manage what you don’t measure,’ ” Hoylman said. “No one knows what the impact of the tunnel shutdown will be on public health and the environment because of all these new buses. And the M.T.A. has committed to this project and is, as they say, ‘consulting with experts’ in determining how to proceed.”

But, Davies said, “The devil will be in the details.”

Where monitors will be located, how many will be installed, and how the city will establish a baseline standard for air quality remains to be seen.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Department of Transportation plan to establish a baseline “as soon as possible,” make results public, and monitor for PM 2.5, according to a presentation at a Community Board 2 Traffic and Transportation Committee meeting on Nov. 1.

“We made it very clear, we’re not scientists,” Davies said. “But we trust, now that Byford has committed to this, that they will do this in a meaningful way.”

Soho resident Lora Tenenbaum, a former C.B. 2 member, fears that the monitors will be placeholders for a plan if air quality does ultimately worsen.

“Putting them there isn’t enough,” she said, adding that both analyzing air quality and taking action if there are negative impacts are critical.

Schneps Community News Group

Health & WELLNESS PHOTO BY LEE S. WEISSMAN

Alzheimer’s researcher Peter Davies in the lab.

Searching for a cure for Alzheimer’s psychosis “It’s another thing to deal with somebody accusing you of stealing from them, hitting you, or being verbally abusive because they are suffering from this psychosis — which is one way to describe it.”

Davies and his team are in the midst of a five-year project, funded with a half-million-dollar grant from the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, to find a treatment for these specific symptoms.

Currently, medicine for schizophrenia is the key drug to treat these symptoms. But schizophrenia treatments can have dangerous cardiovascular side effects for the elderly, Davies noted. Otherwise, there is no other medical cure for this specific aspect of Alzheimer’s.

“Unfortunately, with this disease, as of now, there’s no cure,” said Charles Fuschillo, Jr., president of the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America.

“But A.F.A. does fund research, so we never give up hope.”

BY SYDNEY PEREIR A

A

Northwell Health researcher’s quest to find a treatment for lesser-known symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease could transform patients’ and caregivers’ lives one day.

Though dementia and memory loss are still top symptoms for Alzheimer’s patients, many people with Alzheimer’s also experience hallucinations, become agitated and paranoid, and often can become violent and aggressive toward their caregivers.

Those symptoms make it even more difficult for caregivers, who are often family members, to take care of their loved ones.

Peter Davies is the director of the Litwin-Zucker Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorder at Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institute for Medical Research.

“It’s one thing to deal with someone who’s losing their memory and losing their cognitive function,” Davies said.

Schneps Community News Group

‘There’s no cure now, but we never give up hope.’

Charles Fuschillo, Jr.

TVG

A critical early step in the research process is to breed a mouse on which researchers can then test treatments.

For the past year and a half, Davies and his team have been working to breed a mouse with symptoms of the behavioral problems associated with the so-called “psychosis” some Alzheimer’s patients experience, as well as other symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

Researchers are now testing two classes of drugs. It is too soon to know if these medications are effective, but Davies is confident the project could reveal future treatments for Alzheimer’s.

“We have a couple of candidates that we’re working on in the mice that we think are quite promising,” he stated.

Davies said he has spoken with two pharmaceutical companies interested in his research.

“They see there’s a huge patient population in need of a treatment,” he said.

November 15, 2018

15

Finding the ‘Fountain of Youth’ on your plate

L

egend states that on April 2, 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León was the first European to discover modern-day Florida when he traveled on a quest for the mythical “Fountain of Youth.” While modern science has proven that there is no mystical fountain or body of water that can reverse or slow down the aging process, there are many steps people can take to age well and prolong their lives.

Eating the right foods is one way to age well. According to Ralph Felder, M.D., Ph.D., coauthor of “The Bonus Years Diet,” reversing the aging process internally is more difficult than outward cosmetic changes. But the right foods can go a long way toward increasing both life expectancy and quality of life. Those who want to employ diet to increase their life expectancy may want to start adding more of the following foods to their breakfast, lunch and dinner plates.

• Broccoli, grapes and salad: According to Health magazine, researchers have found that compounds in these three foods boast extra life-extending benefits.

• Berries: In addition to their abundance of antioxidants, berries have other benefits. A 2012 study from Harvard University found that at least one serving of blueberries or two servings

PHOTO BY FSTOP123

Making dinner together at home, a couple chop healthy vegetables for a salad.

of strawberries each week may reduce the risk of cognitive decline in older

adults.

• Fruits and vegetables: Produce is

good for the body because it’s low in calories and high in fiber, vitamins and other nutrients. Numerous studies have indicated that diets plentiful in fruits and vegetables help people maintain a healthy weight and protect against cardiovascular disease.

• Whole grains: Whole grains pack a lot of nutrition into a low-calorie food.

Whole grains help protect against type 2 diabetes, and researchers at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center found study participants whose diets included plenty of whole grains and fruit cut their heart disease risk by almost half compared to those whose diets favored meat and fatty foods.

• Red wine: A glass a day for women and no more than two glasses daily for men can be beneficial. Moderate consumption of red wine has been shown to slow age-related declines in cardiovascular function, according to the American Heart Association.

• Fiber: Increase your fiber intake for a longer life. Research from The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition finds that the more fiber you include in your diet, the lower your risk of coronary heart disease. The daily recommendation is 25 to 35 grams.

While there may be no such thing as the fountain of youth, a healthy diet can help men and women prolong their lives.

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November 15 - November 28, 2018

DEX

Schneps Community News Group

METROPLUS MEMBERS ARE SEEING STARS!

THE ONLY 5-STAR RATING FOR ADULT CARE * + + + + + See stars at metroplus.org/stars OPEN ENROLLMENT IS HERE *Based on A Consumer’s Guide to Medicaid and Child Health Plus Managed Care Plans in New York City 2017.

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Schneps Community News Group

TVG

November 15, 2018

17

Lots of hopes for lots

We’re Here to Stay!

Locally Owned for 18 Years

CARPET & AIR DUCT CLEANING

BY SYDNEY PEREIR A

DEEP D

2021.

How to incorporate creative design ideas within the sites’ constraints was the challenge at a C.B. 2 Parks and Waterfront Committee meeting on Nov. 7.

“What I tried to say to everyone was, ‘Let’s come up with great ideas and let’s work with the Parks Department as our advocate,’ ” said Rich Caccappolo, C.B. 2 Parks Committee chairperson.

The two future open spaces sit on city Department of Environmental Protection properties above access points to City Water Tunnel No. 3, the underground water artery.

Manholes and covers of hydrants and vertical water shafts dot each of the lots — one at E. Fourth St. adjacent to the Merchant’s House and a second at Grand and Lafayette Sts. D.E.P.’s infrastructure creates challenges in placing trees there, creating playground space or bolting anything down.

The green spaces have been two decades in the making.

“The community has been waiting for these parks for 20 years,” said Jeannine Kiely, who chairs C.B. 2’s Schools and Education Committee. “This is an opportunity to make something really

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great or [just accept] a gravel pit with a few benches.”

The spaces would be spruced up with seating and greenery and shared by the public and D.E.P. workers needing access to the water tunnel.

“D.E.P. and Parks are going to try to push to maximize green space because it did come up several times for both meetings,” said Alexandros Zervos, the Parks Department’s project designer.

At the Merchant’s House lot, trees seemed unlikely. A scoping meeting in October revealed the possibility of plantings, a seating area, a water fountain and a possible connection point to the Merchant’s House garden.

The Grand St. lot has space for a tree, but Zervos didn’t make any promises. There would be a drinking fountain and maybe seating.

About $1.3 million has been allocated for the nearly one-quarter-acre lot at Bowery and E. Fourth St. and $1.7 million for the nearly one-third-acre lot Grand and Lafayette Sts. The mayor committed $1 million to each project, with additional cash coming from Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Councilmember Margaret Chin and former Councilmember Rosie Mendez.

Attendees at the meeting noted Petrosino Square in Little Italy got $2 million for its makeover. Zervos will now go to D.E.P. to see what’s possible.

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November 15, 2018

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT “Marilyn Diptych,” by Andy Warhol, 1962.

Warhol at the Whitney: Andy reconsidered

BY JUDITH A. SOKOLOFF

C

an I see an Andy Warhol retrospective with fresh eyes? Can I separate myself from the bombardment of his images and words over his many decades of fame? Can I forget Warhol’s often maligned “Business of Art” credo: “Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”

Am I able to ignore his ubiquitousness that caused many of us to tire of him?

Can I forget observers’ endless sometimes contradictory comments: He had no sexuality — though everything he created was sexual; he slid between insider and outsider personas; he was or wasn’t political; he literally died and was revived; he lived with his mother forever.

Can I ignore that he once said, “If you’re not trying to be real you don’t have to get it right,” and “Art is what you can get away with.”

Calling himself “deeply superficial,” he was a man both hidden and revealed, an artist-designer who curated himself. Can I find the man in this exhibition?

I can forget, and I can sort of find him. Walking among the 350 works in “Andy Warhol — From A to B and Back Again,” at the Whitney Museum of American Art, I simply enjoy his exuberant, in-your-face yet often mysterious works of art, his original observations of people and things, his unbounded foray into different media.

I fall for Warhol’s seductive intensity, passionate colors, the sheer power of his images, his perpetual inventiveness. Warhol’s energy bounces off the

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short films and videos from the period from 1963 to 1968 when he produced hundreds of films in a wide range of genres and styles. There’s Warhol, man of letters: On display are books, magazines and texts he published throughout his career. The “Death and Disaster” section reveals a fearful side: police attacking civil-rights workers, car crashes, suicide, the electric chair in Ossining Prison shortly before the execution of the Rosenbergs, an unflattering portrait of Nixon. Warhol’s single largest body of work were his commissioned portraits (photographed with his Polaroid, then silk-screened), produced from 1968 to 1987. He was attracted to the rich and famous, and they to him. An entire room on the first floor is devoted to these portraits, which were a steady means of funding for his other projects. Warhol also photographed everyday scenes, friends, colleagues, queer culture, drag queens — constantly.

“A picture means I know where I was every minute,” he said. “That’s why I take pictures. It’s a visual diary.”

He probably would have loved curating his life for Instagram.

A darker side of Warhol emerges in his large images of a gun, a skull, a green devilish self-portrait against a black background. The giant 1978 “Oxidation Painting” is the result of people urinating on gold metallic paint.

The show’s finale consists of four massive paintings. In “Camouflage Last Supper” (1986, 7 feet by 25 feet), Jesus and his apostles are both hidden and revealed, like Warhol himself.

Facing this Last Supper is a canvas covered with 63 barely perceptible

walls. He wants us to engage, and that is what I do.

Organized by Donna De Salvo, the Meatpacking District museum’s deputy director for international initiatives and senior curator, assisted by Christie Mitchell and Mark Loiacono, the show is designed to make Warhol alive and relevant for both the old and the young.

First there are Warhol’s Pop Art classics: Stacked Brillo boxes and paintings of Campbell’s soup cans, Coca-Cola bottles and other images from popular and mass culture. I’m sorry, Andy, that you never got to shop at BJ’s or use Amazon to endlessly deliver things to your door. You would have somehow turned the process inside out.

My eye catches flashes of hot pink — I follow it around a corner. Covering the walls of a huge gallery, Warhol’s 1960’s silk-screened pink cow wallpaper (on yellow background) and multicolored hibiscus flowers assault and embrace me simultaneously. Visitors can’t help but pose for photos against this stunning background. Children point, spin, jump up and down.

Next, Warhol’s foundational work as a commercial illustrator in the ’50s reveals the beginnings of his innovative and experimental nature.

Freelance work for magazines led to a job designing newspaper ads for I. Miller and Sons shoes. Then in the early ’60s, he reinvented himself as a gallery artist. Rejecting the Abstract Expressionist work that was dominant among New York painters, he began using silk-screening, a commercial reproductive technology.

There is Warhol the filmmaker.

In a dark room, you can view several TVG

images of the Mona Lisa, painted in hues of white. Two Rorschach paintings face each other on the other opposing walls.

This section is quieter, almost meditative. But don’t look too long, Warhol would have warned, or the work loses all of its meaning. And that meaning is yours to figure out.

“I’m the type who’d be happy not going anywhere, as long as I was sure I knew exactly what was happening at the places I wasn’t going to,” Warhol said. “I’m the type who’d like to sit home and watch every party that I’m invited to on a monitor in my bedroom.”

He also said he felt compelled to go out.

Well, Andy, I hope you’re somewhere watching the people gazing at your retrospective. With your compulsion to record and make everyday life into the subject of art, you’d appreciate the thousands of selfies and other photos being shot here.

I hope you’ve put aside comments about your work being vacuous and critics not liking it. I hope you’re smiling at the many millions of dollars your art has continued to fetch.

And I hope you heard these comments: A woman to her friend in the Whitney gift shop, “I’m not impressed by what is supposed to be a genius.”

And one man to another near the giant Mao painting, “Warhol really was a genius!”

“Andy Warhol — From A to B and Back Again,” Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort St., on view through March 31. For more information, visit whitney.org .

November 15, 2018

19

Film shows spirit and value of senior center

BY TEQUIL A MINSK Y

T

he film “A Place To Go” offers a glimpse into the diversity of interests of Village seniors and is a powerful testament to the value of senior centers in New York City.

Peter Odabashian’s documentary takes you behind the doors of Center on the Square, the Greenwich House senior center on the north side of Washington Square Park. The lower two floors of the building are a Sisters of Charity convent.

The center, at 20 Washington Square North, is a sort of “Cheers” for elders (without the alcohol), where everyone knows your name, or at least the three staff members try to.

Center on the Square members recently got a sneak preview of the film, programmed with the upcoming DOCNY Film Festival, American’s largest documentary film festival. The screening, at the SVA Theater on W. 23rd St., was sold-out. Councilmember Margaret Chin, who chairs the City Council’s Committee on Aging, was there, and the film’s cast and director did a Q&A with the audience afterward.

Odabshian’s career as a film and sound editor and producer/director laid the groundwork before he completed his first solo documentary, “Old Friends,” in 2015.

Two years ago, he joined his friend Albert Elia for lunch at the Center on the Square. For 13 years, following Elia’s retirement from Parsons as an instructor in fashion illustration, he has found camaraderie at this center.

Odabashian, 69, agreed with his friend that the center was filled with

PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY

Sitting on the steps of Center on the Square, from left, custodian Rober to Roman, film director Peter Odabashian and Loretta Wilson, in charge of food ser vice. Roman and Wilson are featured prominently in Odabashian’s film about the Village senior center.

interesting characters. And so began his filmmaking journey at the senior center.

From October 2016 to March 2017, he, along with his camera, was an intermittent presence there.

The center’s committed director, Laura Marceca, introduces you to this place where everyone is welcome — “from those living on Fifth Ave. to those who are homeless,” as she puts it.

“We treat everyone the same,” she said, while acknowledging how they

try to give more attention to those who seem to need it.

Lunch is the hub of the center. In the film, with an assertive voice, the late Gina Zuckerman volunteers to “call the numbers” for lunch, so that people are served in an orderly fashion. This nonagenarian was a Holocaust survivor who retired from advertising work.

She fought off a mugger in the Village in 2016.

It’s not a place for your typical holiday parties, Director Marceca explains, noting this population seeks more indepth forms of engagement.

Odabashian brings you into the rhythms of meals, classes and performances.

Interspersed with the musings from more than 12 of the center’s many regulars, Odabashian brings his camera to the classes, such as Italian and creative writing.

He shares the singing lessons and chorus, as well as tai chi and Chinese

painting. Members are not shy when it comes to their salsa classes or dancing to the rock and roll from Washington Square Park musicians.

Included in the film are profiles of the two staff. For custodian Roberto Roman, a Vietnam War vet and a senior who got the job after volunteering for a year, the center is like family to him.

Loretta Wilson greets everyone while she serves the meals and reveals that she’s carrying on her mother’s legacy of loving to serve food.

A testament to the Center’s value is the philosophical Rick Hill speaking about how people want to age in place.

“What stands out for me is the kindness people show each other,” Odabashian says, “and how everybody, with their eccentricities, is treated as an individual.”

Center director Marceca says of the sentiments so well illustrated in the film, “I’m proud of the community that we created.”

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November 15, 2018

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21

SPOTLIGHT ON DOWNTOWN

Missing the Forest for the Trees Last Friday, the City’s Independent Budget Office released Worth the Cost?: An Examination of the Commercial Revitalization & Commercial Expansion Programs. While the title is an obscure mouthful, this report takes aim at a set of programs that have been vital tools in nurturing Lower Manhattan’s renaissance. The report claims that these programs, designed to encourage commercial tenants to move to the neighborhood or renew their leases in Lower Manhattan with limited subsidies, have had little impact on Lower Manhattan office vacancy rates and unemployment. But the report’s methodology is flawed and the conclusions it seems to reach aren’t really conclusions at all. It misses the point that Lower Manhattan is still in the midst of a strong, but incomplete

recovery from the impacts of September 11th and fails to recognize that these programs are needed until we finish the job.

Most glaringly, the report does not come close to sufficiently acknowledging the impact--both materially and psychologically-- that the events of September 11th had on Lower Manhattan. Not only did we lose thousands of lives on that fateful day, we also were gravely set back as a critical driver of the economic life of our city, state, region, and nation. Yet this unprecedented terrorist attack is only glancingly considered in the report.

As we rebuilt after September 11th, and faced new security concerns, outdated perceptions, and a lack of essential amenities, it became incredibly tough to persuade companies to move to or remain in Lower

Manhattan These incentives were an important tool to help counteract those forces and provide a reason to attract new tenants. Yet the authors of the report didn’t take the time to interview owners, tenants, or locational decision makers about how these programs influenced their choices.

Additionally, throughout the report, the IBO uses Midtown Manhattan as a control to purportedly show that Lower Manhattan has generally followed the ups and downs of larger New York market trends. Such an approach leaves a profoundly basic question insufficiently addressed: what would Lower Manhattan’s performance have been without the availability of subsidies? We would submit that it is precisely the existence of these programs that helped enable Lower Manhattan to mimic larger

trends in other markets.

And finally, the report fails to take into account exactly what it took to achieve the increased diversity in the makeup of Lower Manhattan’s commercial tenants that has followed the financial crisis in 2008, a very long sought after city policy goal. These programs were a piece of what encouraged a whole new set of industries - media, technology and advertising among them - to take a fresh look at Lower Manhattan. That we now possess an enviable mix of industries is a testament to the contributory impact these incentives have had on transforming our neighborhood and contributing to the city’s economic resilience, future, and strength.

Furthermore, these incentives have helped keep commercial buildings from converting to residential

uses, helped small businesses start and grow, and assisted scores of not-forprofits like Hadassah and International AIDS Vaccine Initiative to succeed here. By effectively reducing their rents at a time when many non-profit organizations are struggling to raise funds, it allows them to dedicate more of their resources to their vital work.

Maintaining more affordable office space in Lower Manhattan not only benefits the city’s economic well-being, it aids our social well-being.

While we have come a long way, there are still two towers to build on the World Trade Center campus and large blocks of vacant space elsewhere in Lower Manhattan. The IBO report fails to acknowledge how the incentives have been, and remain, critical to our ability to compete within the region.

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23

Eats

Nutella fans go nuts over new Village cafe

BY GABE HERMAN

I

f youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always felt a nagging need for more Nutella in your life, good news: New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first Nutella Cafe is now open for business near Union Square, on University Place at E. 13 St. The menu is full of items featuring the chocolatehazelnut spread, including grilled banana bread, a frozen Nutella pop, and a hazelnut blondie. You can also create your own dish, with base options like a pancake, waffle or crepe, fruit choices to go with it, and toppings such as whipped cream, chopped hazelnuts or gelato.

Nutella spread is included in all varieties, of course.

The shop also offers espresso drinks and a lively atmosphere. The placeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s entrance is shaped like a Nutella jar and a wavy ceiling evokes the look of the rich dessert spread. And donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t worry, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a corner of the shop with merchandise, including coffee mugs and Nutella jars that say â&#x20AC;&#x153;New Yorkâ&#x20AC;? across the front, which were also given away as free samples for the grand opening on Wed., Nov. 14.

This is the second Nutella Cafe in America, after the success of the first in Chicago, which opened in May 2017. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There truly is nothing like the taste of Nutella hazelnut spread,â&#x20AC;? said Rick Fossali, vice president of operations for Nutella Cafe, in a June press release when the New York cafe was announced. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With the overwhelmingly positive reaction to Nutella Cafe Chicago, we know our fans feel the same way. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s their excite-

PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN

Some of the offerings at the Nutella Cafe.

ment that propelled us to open another Nutella Cafe and continue to showcase the uniqueness and versatility of this beloved product.â&#x20AC;?

Fossali added, â&#x20AC;&#x153;As a multicultural epicenter, New York gives us the opportunity to explore and offer new ways for our local fans to enjoy Nutella, while reaching millions of tourists visiting the city.â&#x20AC;?

The Chicago shop immediately featured long lines out the door, and Wednesdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grand opening promised more of the same. A long line formed along 13 St. shortly after 11 a.m., ahead of the noon opening. Normally the cafe will open at 7 a.m. on weekdays. People

seemed cheery in 40-degree weather, and were helped along by free samples of biscuits and Nutella. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had walked by a lot and saw the signs for the opening today and thought, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;How could I not stop by,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;? said Zoe, a New York University student waiting in line. She didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what the cafe would offer, saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m curious what they have available.â&#x20AC;?

Farther up in line was Erina, visiting the city from Japan. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I love Nutella a lot and eat it in Japan,â&#x20AC;? she said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;so I wanted to come for the opening.â&#x20AC;?

She also didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what to expect inside but was happy to take the leap of faith. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some people in Japan donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like Nutella because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s too sweet,â&#x20AC;? she noted, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great, in smaller amounts.â&#x20AC;?

Once inside, she would order the chia hemp seed parfait, with Nutella generously drizzled on top, and was very happy with the results.

Small groups were allowed to trickle inside shortly after noon, leaving scores of Nutella devotees to keep enduring the chilly winds for their turn. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very good,â&#x20AC;? said one woman as she left, offering encouragement to those still waiting to get in.

Another woman walked up to the entrance and asked the guard what was going on. After being told it was the opening for the Nutella Cafe, and it would be open every day, she wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t eager to join the line. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I live and work in the neighborhood,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have a little chocolate problem, so Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m getting away now.â&#x20AC;?

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November 15, 2018

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Manhattan Happenings history. The project aims to spark conversation about preservation in the neighborhood. Individuals can purchase the book for $30 and watch the 15-minute mini-documentary for free at www.friends-ues.org/ yorkvillebook .

BY SYDNEY PEREIRA

COMMUNITY Thurs., Nov. 15, 7 p.m.: Midtown South Precinct Community Council meeting, at 357 W. 35th St.

Mon., Nov. 19, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Film Screening for Adults: “A Quiet Place”: N.Y.P.L.’s Seward Park Library, at 192 E. Broadway between Jefferson and Clinton Sts., features the 2018 American post-apocalyptic horror film “A Quiet Place,” in the library’s Community Room. FREE

Tues., Nov. 20 at 6:30 p.m.: Community Board 2 monthly full board meeting, at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 151-155 Sullivan St., in the Lower Hall.

Tues., Nov. 20, 7 p.m.: Ninth Precinct Community Council meeting, at 321 E. 5th St.

SHOWS

Tues., Nov. 20, 6:30 p.m.: 13th Precinct Community Council meeting, at 230 E. 21st St.

Thurs., Nov. 15, 6:30 p.m.: Yeah She Did: Bad Broads of Broadcasting: Caveat, a Lower East Side bar and venue at 21A Clinton St. between E. Houston and Stanton Sts., celebrates “unsung sheroes” of the Fourth Estate in a storytelling event with Yeah She Did and WNYC Studio’s Werk It, A Women’s Podcast Festival. Comedian Molly Gaebe hosts a discussion with Teen Vogue’s wellness features editor Vera Papisova, audio producer Alex Laughlin, TED Speaker Development Director Cloe Shasha, TED Conferences writer Rajpreet Heir, and Leila Barghouty, an investigative journalist for the Open Policing Project. Tickets $15 advanced purchase, $20 at the door.

Doors 6:30 pm, show 7 pm. Age 21 and over.

Tues., Nov. 20, 7 p.m.: Midtown North Precinct Community Council meeting, at 306 W. 54th St. Wed., Nov. 21, 7 p.m.: 24th Precinct Community Council meeting, at 151 W. 100th St.

HISTORY Fri., Nov. 23, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.: How 200 Years of Death in Greenwich Village Changed America: The New York Adventure Club explores the history of Greenwich Village — from a hospital that treated Titanic survivors to the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company — in a walking tour led by local neighborhood experts Kyle Sallee and Marci Fine. Meet at the rectory of Church of the Ascension, Seven W. 10th St. Tickets $29.

Wednesday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.: Millions: Migrants and Millionaires aboard the Great Liners, 1900-1914 (ongoing): The South Street Seaport Museum, at 12 Fulton St. between South and Front Sts., features an exhibition revealing the dichotomy between first- and third-class passengers aboard ships in the early 20th century. Exhibition is included with museum admission. Tickets $12.

Fri., Nov. 16, 6:30 p.m.: Female Remedies and Wicked Women: Reproductive Health in 19th Century New York: The New-York Historical Society features playwright and author of “Wickedest Woman” Jessica Bashline and Dr. Ana Cepin of Physicians for Reproductive Health in conversation with curator at the Center for Women’s History for a discussion on reproductive health in New York’s past and present.

At Dexter Hall at the New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West. Tickets, $15. Free for members of the Women’s History Council.

BOOKS Thurs., Nov. 15, 7 p.m.: Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom — Featuring Ariel Burger: The Museum of Jewish Heritage, at 36 Battery Place, features opening remarks from Elisha Wiesel and Ariel Burger for a conversation about Burger’s new book about Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize recipient. FREE, advanced registration recommended.

Sat., Nov. 17, 2 p.m.: Black Men Read: “Invisible Man,” by Ralph Ellison: The New York Public Library’s Countee Cullen Library, at 104 W. 136th Schneps Community News Group

The Museum of Jewish Heritage is hosting a conversation between Nora Krug, author of a new visual memoir “Belonging,” with filmmaker Sarah Kamaras, about using art to explore personal histories.

St. between Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevards, introduces a new book club, Black Men Read, which highlights black male authors once a month. FREE Mon., Nov. 19, 6:30 p.m.: Mid-Sentence — Those Who Knew: Idra Novey with Hernán Diaz: N.Y.P.L.’s Mid-Manhattan Library, at 476 Fifth Ave., at 42nd St., in the Program Room, hosts a discussion with poet and translator Idra Novey, author of “Those Who Knew.” Novey’s novel tells the story of a 30-year-old college instructor who helped put a politician in power, but who she suspects is taking advantage of a young woman who ultimately turns up dead.

Novey will be joined by Hernán Diaz, author of “In the Distance.” FREE Mon., Nov. 19, 7 p.m.: “Belonging” — Featuring Nora Krug: The Museum of Jewish Heritage, at 36 Battery Place, is holding a conversation between Nora Krug, author of a new visual memoir “Belonging,” with filmmaker Sarah Kamaras for a conversation about using art to explore personal histories. FREE, advanced registration recommended.

FILMS Shaped by Immigrants: A History of Yorkville (ongoing): FRIENDS of the Upper East Side Historic Districts, a historical preservation group, launched a mini-documentary and published a book, “Shaped by Immigrants: A History of Yorkville,” telling the story of the enclave’s immigrant roots and architectural TVG

Sun., Nov. 18, 9 p.m.: Laughter as Resistance: A Night of Comedy for Abortion Access: Caveat, at 21A Clinton St. between E. Houston and Stanton Sts., hosts a night of comedy that will “make you forget how messed up the state of abortion rights is in America.” Comedians include Sydnee Washington, Natasha Vaynblat, Anne Hogan and more. Tickets $15 advanced, $20 at the door. Proceeds go toward the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund. Doors 9 p.m., show 9:30 p.m. Age 21 and over.

KIDS Sat., Nov. 17, and Sat., Nov. 24, 3 p.m.: Improv Hour: N.Y.P.L.’s 53rd St. Library, at 18 W. 53rd St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves., hosts an hour of collaborative theatrics, costume changes, creativity and curveballs for an improv hour intended for children ages 5 to 12 accompanied by a caregiver. FREE Mon., Nov. 19, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.: Kids movie “Wreck-It Ralph”: N.Y.P.L.’s Tompkins Square Library, at 331 E. 10th St. between Avenues A and B, on the second floor, shows the childrens’ movie “Wreck-It Ralph.” FREE

ALL-DAY EVENTS Fri., Nov. 16, 23 and 30, at 3:30 pm: Retro Video Game Day: New York Public Library’s Grand Central Library, at 135 E. 46th St. between Lexington and Third Aves., hosts retro video game day every Friday with old-school games, consoles and controllers. FREE Sat., Nov. 17, and Sat., Nov. 18, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Renegade Craft Fair: An indoor craft fair with dozens of shops, eateries and artwork at Metropolitan Pavilion, at 125 W. 18th St. between Sixth and Seventh Aves. FREE November 15, 2018

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In Hell’s Kitchen, Pier 97 design process heats up PIER continued from p. 1

terfront, Parks and Environment Committee meeting on Thurs., Nov. 8.

“This is literally the kickoff,” said Kevin Quinn, the Trust’s senior vice president of design and construction.

The renovation project includes the pier itself and a portion of the upland area (onland portion of the park) right by the pier, for a total of 1.8 acres of future Hell’s Kitchen amenities.

“We are looking for that final puzzle piece to make it fantastic here,” said Jerry van Eyck, founder of !melk. The design firm famously designed an urban park in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip and also worked on designs for the Governors Island master plan.

Some community members mentioned the popular Pier 25 in Tribeca — which the Trust touts as its most heavily used pier — as a possible reference point for how to design Pier 97. “[Pier 25] meets a lot of the needs of the community,” said Lowell Kern, C.B. 4 Parks Committee co-chairperson.

He added he wouldn’t necessarily advocate for duplicating Pier 25 exactly, but would consider some of its features for the W. 57th St. pier. Pier 25 includes a mini-golf course, sand volleyball courts, a playground (currently undergoing renovations), a turf lawn for active and passive recreation, and the historic 85-year-old steamship Lilac.

Myriad ideas were floated at the Board 4 meeting, echoing pitches from a meeting earlier this year. Some wanted historical references embedded into the design, as well as to expand the Trust’s historic vessels project to Pier 97. The former maritime pier was used by the Swedish American Line decades ago.

Others voiced support for lighting designed to minimize light pollution, adding an amphitheater, building a swimming pool that could function as a skating rink in the winter, a beach, rock climbing, open green space and a pedestrian bridge between De Witt Clinton Park and Pier 97. Some attendees stressed the need for public restrooms, noting that nearby activities already lack adequate facilities for the waterfront park, which is jam-packed in good weather.

Skateboards and helmets in tow, a skateboarding family and their friends advocated for a skatepark, similar to the one at Pier 62, at W. 22nd St., also in Hudson River Park.

For Mary Apple, a Chelsea resident and mother of two young children, having skateparks allows her kids to skateboard somewhere safe. She said her family relies on Pier 62’s skatepark.

Apple was also excited about the possibility of an outdoor shade structure.

“New York is so hot in the summer, too cold in the winter [for skating],” she said. “There is no break from the

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PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY

Pier 97 has been rebuilt as a concrete slab, but it needs to be fitted out with recreational park features.

PHOTO BY SYDNEY PEREIRA

A skatepark at Pier 97 would be the apple of the Apples’ eyes.

A historic photo of Pier 97 during its working-water front heyday when it was used by the Swedish American Line.

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sun.”

The Nov. 8 meeting had a “rich mixing of ideas,” said Marty de Kadt, the C.B. 4 Parks Committee co-chairperson. “Now it’s back to the design people to sift it.”

C.B. 4 member Tina DiFeliciantonio pushed the Trust to detail any restrictions, such as financially, that might affect the renovation, so that the public could have a sense of what is realistically achievable.

“I’ve been a filmmaker for 35 years and creative ideas come easily,” DiFeliciantonio said. “As a producer, I can’t waste time, energy and other resources thinking about ideas I can’t put on the screen.”

She urged the Trust to do the same, though added, “I’ll call them ‘boundaries,’ rather than ‘limitations.’ ” Trust representatives noted that designs must abide by rules regarding open views to the water down the 57th St. corridor, structures on the pier itself, and adding new structures in the water — the latter which is not allowed.

But at least no major structural renovations will be necessary on the basic structure of the pier, which has already been rebuilt. Quinn said the pier is in “great shape.”

The public can send comments to the Hudson River Park Trust’s design partner !melk at pier97mail@melk-nyc.com or attend a design workshop on Dec. 4.

Check the Community Board 4 Web site for meeting time and location.

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