The Villager - May 23, 2019

V i s i t u s o n l i n e a t w w w .T h e V i l l a g e r. c o m

THE May 23, 2019 Volume 89 • Number 21

Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933 •

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PIER REVIEW Planning the way for Pier 40’s future Page 6

HALEY IN THE HOUSE ‘Malcolm X’ and ‘Roots’ author’s home gets plaque Page 8 PHOTO COURTESY BILL HALEY

Alex Haley lived on Grove St. in the 1960s and inter viewed Malcolm X there.

PHOTO BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH

Pier 40’s future is once again in play amid a new push to legalize commercial office use on the gigantic W. Houston St. “spor ts pier.”

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Village’s Diether honored for activism

BY TEQUIL A MINSK Y

W

hile fashionistas were recently showing off their wildest creations and tying up traffic around the Metropolitan Museum, a heartfelt gathering was taking place just a bit farther Uptown on Fifth Ave. On the Museum of the City of New York’s piazza overlooking Central Park, community organizers and labor activists mingled for a simple reception, entertained by the New York City Labor Chorus. They gathered to recognize stellar women among their own.

Labor Arts started the Clara Lemlich Awards ceremony on the 100th anniversary of the deadliest industrial fire in New York City, the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in Greenwich Village, in which 146 garment workers died.

Each year, the event honors five women over age 80 working most of their lives in the tradition of those who sparked reforms in the Triangle fire’s aftermath.

Clara Lemlich led a life of activism and impact, continuing from when, at the age of 23 in 1909, at The Cooper Union’s Great Hall, this immigrant interrupted union labor leader Samuel Gompers shouting, “I have something to say!”

Her inspiring speech led to an unexpected vote to strike, which would become known as the Uprising of 20,000. The awards honor those who follow in her footsteps.

“These women are entirely inspirational,” said Esther Cohen, co-founder of the event, greeting the packed room. “They are strong and certain and intelligent and unexpected and fighting still!”

Among the five recipients was Village icon Doris Diether, introduced by housing activist Katie Goldstein, the daughter of Donna Schaper, pastor of Judson Church.

Diether, 90, Manhattan’s longest-serving — 52 years — community board member, is not shy when it comes to going up against powerful figures. She started her lifetime of activism with a protest against Robert Moses over a plan to do away with Shakespeare

PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY

This year’s Clara Lemlich Award recipients, from left, Doris Diether, Dr. Melissa Freeman, Ronnie Eldridge, Philoine Fried and Elba Cabrera.

in the Park.

During her acceptance remarks, Diether talked about organizing strategies. She and her activist friends — including, notably, Jane Jacobs — divided the Village into mini-regions, each one with a group of neighbors similarly committed. When important hearings took place, each activist showed up with numbers of Villagers taking a stand.

Another honoree was Melissa Freeman, a Harlembased doctor, granddaughter of a slave. She has been practicing medicine since 1961, and is on the front line of opioid-addiction treatment. Elba Cabrera, a supporter of Latino artists, who, with her two sisters, changed New York’s cultural landscape, particularly the Bronx, also received an award.

At age 102, the oldest recipient this year was Philoine Fried, daughter of legendary labor leaders Bessie Abramowitz and Sydney Hillman. She worked for decades with the Jewish Labor Committee and is

a founding member of the New York Labor History Association.

Lifelong feminist and former politician Ronnie Eldridge was among this year’s youngest honorees. Eldridge advocated for women as a special assistant to Mayor John Lindsay and was the only female in Governor Mario Cuomo’s cabinet and later represented the Upper West Side in the City Council from 1989 to 2001.

“There were a few of the previous honorees in the audience over 100!” Cohen glowingly noted. Indeed, among them were Bea Klier, 102, an early scientist, as well as Naomi Replansky, a prize-winning poet/ activist, who turned 101 on May 23.

A plethora of speakers connected to civic commitment by work, politics, family and heart gave remarks.

In the spirit of Clara Lemlich, attendees affi xed buttons provided that read, “I have something to say!”

Trader Joe’s coming to A; Pols want deliveries

BY GABE HERMAN

A

s local politicians continue to press Trader Joe’s to restore its delivery service in Manhattan, the grocery chain said it is expanding its Downtown presence with a new location in the East Village.

Trader Joe’s announced on May 13 that it would be opening a new store at 432 E. 14th St., between First Ave. and Avenue A, nearer to the Avenue A side.

“We’ve consulted our maps and compass and have found a terrific location for a store in New York (East Village), NY,” the brief announcement on the company’s Web site read. “We’ll continue to post new details about the store and its opening here, so please check back for updates.”

The opening date is simply listed as “TBD.” This will be the ninth Trader Joe’s in Manhattan.

This new address is right along the path of work on the L-train tunnel repairs. Though, as this paper recently reported, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has said that construction debris won’t be extracted from the tunnel at a major staging area near Avenue A, as was originally planned.

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The new Trader Joe’s would also be close to a new subway entrance/exit at Avenue A, which is being constructed for the First Ave. L-train station.

In other local Trader Joe’s news, following the chain’s ending its Manhattan delivery service on March 1, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams added his name to the list of local officials calling on the company to reinstate the service.

Williams sent a letter, dated April 30, to Trader Joe’s C.E.O. Dan Bane, asking that deliveries be restored, “on behalf of New Yorkers dealing with mobility issues who depend on this service.” Williams wrote that this includes the elderly and others who can’t easily carry heavy bags home.

Many constituents have told the public advocate they were forced to switch from Trader Joe’s to a delivery service, Williams noted in the letter.

“Affordable grocery stores in New York City are sadly not accessible in every part of our city,” Williams added. “Trader Joe’s delivery service helped numerous families access groceries. Please reconsider restoring this important service.”

Assemblymember Deborah Glick also weighed in, writing to Bane on April 23. The veteran pol noted that she represents Greenwich Village, the East VilTVG

lage, Soho and Tribeca — “all communities that are served by a nearby Trader Joe’s grocery store.”

“New York City, like much of the United States, is experiencing a growing senior population and our society will be forced to find ways to cope with that social change,” Glick wrote. “Beyond government, private enterprise and many areas of commerce will need to adapt to best serve the new realities that a large senior population will bring to this country.

“That is why many of my constituents, particularly those who are older or who have disabilities, rely on the grocery delivery program,” she continued. “In fact, this is a relatively common service that is offered by grocery stores throughout New York City, where it can be difficult to carry a large number of groceries by foot from the store to your home. … This change is compounded by the reality that within New York City the fastest expanding grocery chain happens to be Trader Joe’s, and Downtown communities are growing to rely on these locations to a greater degree.”

Other local leaders who have asked the Trader Joe’s C.E.O. to reconsider include Council Speaker Corey Johnson and state Senator Brad Hoylman.

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Police Blotter Fifth Precinct Killed by cab An 80-year-old woman was struck by a yellow cab at Centre and Broome Sts. on Sat., May 18, around 4:33 p.m. Responding officers found the victim lying in the street with severe head trauma. E.M.S. medics transported her to New York Downtown Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Police said the 44-year-old cabbie was driving along Centre St. and was making a left turn onto Broome St. where he struck the woman, who was trying to cross Broome St. within the crosswalk. The driver was taken into custody at the scene.

The driver, Bouchouata Miloudi, 44, of Avenue O, in Brooklyn, was subsequently arrested and charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to use due care.

Seventh Precinct Gunman arrested On Fri., May 17, at 7 a.m., police responded to the intersection of Baruch Drive and Delancey St., after a driver parked at a fire hydrant fled from a traffic enforcement agent who had jotted down the vehicle’s license plate number and was about to issue a ticket.

It turned out the car was sought in connection with shots fired on Sun., April 28, at Amsterdam Ave. and W. 178th St. On Sat., May 18, just before 6 a.m., Police Officers Joseph Stokes and Daniel Amaral were in uniform and on patrol in a marked police car near 90 Columbia St., when they spotted a vehicle fitting the description from the above incidents. The pair initiated a car stop.

Officers Jose Aracena and Luis Perez were in uniform and on patrol in another marked police car and also responded to the location.

Stokes and Amaral approached on foot and engaged the 28-year-old male driver. The man refused the officers’ orders, whipped out a fully loaded .38-caliber revolver and thrust it into Aracena’s torso. Perez, however, quickly hit the gunman with his Taser and the gunman was taken into custody without further incident.

The firearm was recovered and no shots were fired.

The man was transported by E.M.S. to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. One officer was transported

by E.M.S. to an area hospital in stable condition with a complaint of elbow pain.

Amado Zubidi, 28, of 75 Baruch Drive, Ap. 11A, was charged with attempted aggravated murder of a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon and resisting arrest.

Sixth Precinct Fitness felon There was a theft in Planet Fitness, at 22 E. 14th St., between University Place and Fifth Ave., police said.

On Tues., April 30, at 8 p.m., a 24-year-old man said

COURTESY N.Y.P.D.

The .38-caliber revolver, fully loaded with five rounds, allegedly recovered from the suspect in the May 18 arrest outside the Baruch Houses.

after being invited. He said he followed him because he was scared, due to the other man’s larger size.

At 88 Grove St., the man followed the perp down a staircase, where the perp forcibly pulled down the victim’s pants and performed oral sex on him without consent. After the victim told him to stop, the perp hit him on the right side of his face, knocking him over and causing soreness and swelling to his face. The attacker then held the man down with his left hand and hit him with his right hand, and took his wallet.

The victim said that he found that $120 in cash was missing from his wallet. Zhavod Moore, 41, was arrested the same day for felony robbery, and was found to have an active warrant out for his arrest.

10th Precinct

he went into the locker room and put his items in a locker but did not lock it. When he returned, he found that his stuff was gone, including a Levi’s denim jacket, Valentino glasses and a wallet with several credit cards and ID cards, all together totaling $570 in value.

There were several attempts to make purchases with his cards. A $154.95 purchase at a CVS using a Chase credit card was declined as fraudulent by the bank.

There were two unsuccessful attempts to use Chase debit cards, one at a Duane Reade for $121.93 and one at a Walgreens for $161.94. A Chase debit card was successfully used at the Whole Foods at 40 E. 14th St. for $87.09 at 10:03 p.m., and again at 10:05 p.m. for $54.43. On May 14, Bryan Cassidy, 29, was arrested for felony grand larceny.

A shoplifter stole a brain-boosting supplement last Saturday at the Whole Foods at 250 Seventh Ave., at W. 24th St., but he didn’t outsmart anyone, according to police. On May 18 around 4:15 p.m., a man was seen putting several items into a brown Whole Foods bag. The items included Brain Octane Oil and several seafood items, with a total value of $113. The man went to the register and paid for some of the items, then tried to leave the store while also carrying the items that he didn’t pay for. Ilker Eraslan, 26, was arrested for misdemeanor petit larceny.

Asked, then took

Leo threat

An allegedly homeless man gave new meaning to the term “aggressive panhandler,” when he mugged a guy in front of 134 W. Third St., between MacDougal St. and Sixth Ave., last Saturday, according to police.

A man told cops that on May 18, around 5:15 p.m., he was walking on the sidewalk when a man approached and said, “I’m a homeless man, I need money to eat.”

The man said he gave him a $20 bill out of fear.

The homeless man then reportedly became agitated and kicked the man several times and said, “Give me everything you have in your pocket.” The attacker then reached into the victim’s pocket and took another $20 bill, as the victim struggled and tried to push the aggressor away.

Police canvassed the area with the victim, and he was able to spot the thief, who was arrested. There was video available of the man reaching into the victim’s pocket. A search of the homeless man found that he had a McDonald’s receipt showing he paid $20 and got $5.88 back in change. A total of $25.88 was recovered. Paris Fuller, 29, was arrested for felony robbery.

An ex-employee at Leo House, a hotel at 332 W. 23rd St., between Eighth and Ninth Aves., made a threatening remark at the hotel, according to a police report.

On Fri., May 17, at 8:30 a.m., the former worker, a 50-year-old man, came to the hotel and spoke with the hotel supervisor, a 51-year-old woman.

“You might see me on the 12 o’clock news today,” the man allegedly told her.

The supervisor and other employees said they feared for their safety, and the supervisor said the ex-employee has been seen with a weapon. A harassment violation was filed against the man, Michael Morgan.

PATH to trouble A robbery and sexual assault was reported last Monday outside 88 Grove St., between Waverly Place and W. Fourth St., police said. A teen said that on May 13, around 5:30 a.m., he was walking to the Christopher St. PATH train station, when a man approached at W. Fourth and Grove Sts. and asked where he was going.

The victim, 18, said he was heading to the PATH, but he willingly followed the other man to 88 Grove St.

Healthy bust

Straight to Barney’s Police said they are looking for two women in connection with a grand larceny that occurred in Chelsea on Mon., April 22. On that day, around 4 p.m., a woman, 38, who was at the Starbucks Roastery at 61 Ninth Ave., at W. 15th St., returned from the bathroom to find that her wallet containing $400 and credit cards had been taken, police said.

An investigation found that about $22,000 of unauthorized purchases were made at the Barney’s department store at 101 Seventh Ave., between W. 16th and 17th Sts., by two unidentified women. Police released Barney’s surveillance images of the suspects, who are described as between 30 and 40 years old, and last seen wearing black baseball caps and dark clothing.

Gabe Herman and Lincoln Anderson

The Villager (USPS 578930) ISSN 0042-6202 Copyright © 2019 by Schneps Media is published weekly by Schneps Media, One Metrotech North, 10th floor Brooklyn, NY 11201. 52 times a year. Business and Editorial Offices: One Metrotech North, 10th floor Brooklyn, NY 11201. Accounting and Circulation Offices: Schneps Media, One Metrotech North, 10th floor Brooklyn, NY 11201. Call 718-260-2500 to subscribe. Periodicals postage prices is paid at New York, N.Y. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Villager, One Metrotech North, 10th floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201 Annual subscription by mail in Manhattan and Brooklyn $29 ($35 elsewhere). Single copy price at office and newsstands is $1. The entire contents of newspaper, including advertising, are copyrighted and no part may be reproduced without the express permission of the publisher - © 2019 Schneps Media.

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Public forum on Pier 40’s future

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

L

ocal politicians will hold a public forum on Tues., May 28, on potential legislation to amend the Hudson River Park Act — possibly to allow commercial office use on Pier 40.

While an area equivalent to 50 percent of the pier’s footprint can be used for some commercial purposes — like parking — commercial office use, specifically, is currently not allowed on the roughly 14-acre W. Houston St. pier, per the park’s founding 1998 legislation.

An area equal to at least 50 percent of the pier’s footprint must be devoted to passive or active recreational use.

The forum will be held on Tues., May 28, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., in the cafeteria of the new 75 Morton middle school, at Greenwich and Morton Sts. The event will be hosted by Assemblymember Deborah Glick, state Senators Brad Hoylman and Brian Kavanagh, Congressmember Jerrold Nadler, City Council Speaker and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.

According to Hoylman, draft legislation, with the proposed amendment or amendments, will be circulated in advance of the meeting.

In a first-of-its-kind process, local elected officials and/or their staff have met regularly in recent months to hash out some basic guidelines — and a possible plan — for what they would like to see for the future of Pier 40. Much of this reportedly will focus on what should or should not be mandated or restricted for Pier 40, in terms of development parameters, in a possible legislative amendment.

The Hudson River Park Trust, the 5-mile-long park’s governing state-city authority, has made it clear that it feels commercial office use is its preferred way to redevelop the pier commercially. The Trust reportedly envisions a “full teardown” approach toward the existing three-story pier-shed structure and constructing a new building, six to

PHOTO BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH

Pier 40’s huge cour t yard, with its double-size ar tificial-tur f field, is a sacred cow for local families with children in youth spor ts leagues like G.V.L .L . and DUSC.

cal community board. “[M]any stakeholders...are deeply invested in their visions for the future of Hudson River Park and Pier 40,” Glick wrote. “These range from parents whose children use the playing fields, or who don’t play organized sports but need more open space; to groups who have worked on environmental concerns in the Hudson for decades; to Friends of Hudson River Park, a subsidiary of the Hudson River Park Trust, who are working to encourage community advocacy. I believe it is essential to have a community-led process where the needs of these and other stakeholders can be heard and weighed in our deliberations as we move forward. I am proud to be working with my fellow elected officials and Community Board 2 to ensure this continues to be the case. …

“There continues to be a need to improve Pier 40’s facilities for active and passive recreation,” Glick wrote. “The community has already accepted significant development surrounding the park, and any path forward needs to

seven stories tall, on the pier’s northern edge.

Community Board 2, however, is calling on the Trust not to use all the pier’s available development rights, but instead to “leave some on the table.”

C.B. 2 also is not exactly championing commercial office use, saying it would like to see space devoted to arts groups, among others, on the pier. If, however, the pier must get commercial use, then C.B. 2 says there must be some “givebacks” to the community, in the form of space for arts and the like.

The board outlined its views in a lengthy resolution last month, that was passed by the 50-member body with strong support — though not without some strong dissent, notably from Susanna Aaron, a board member of Hudson River Park Friends, the park’s main private fundraising group.

The Trust was outraged by C.B. 2’s position, and its board chairperson, Diana Taylor, recently fired off a letter to local politicians to complain about the board’s stance. In response, Glick wrote back to Taylor, defending the lo-

ensure the best possible facility with the least negative impact to the park itself.”

Pier 40 has already received $100 million for repair of its steel support piles, thanks to the “air-rights transfer” legislation that was passed back in 2013 that allowed the park to sell its unused development rights to projects on the other side of the highway — in this case to the former St. John’s Terminal site.

Local youth sports leagues, like Downtown United Soccer Club and Greenwich Village Little League, say they just want “the process to move forward” — and that the details of any plan can be worked out after developers and possibly other parties respond to a future request for proposals, or R.F.P., to redevelop the pier. Keeping their field space is the leagues’ priority.

Previous R.F.P.’s for the pier have sunk due to community opposition over the plans’ expected impacts on the pier, park and surrounding area.

Meanwhile, there is concern in some parts that a new building on Pier 40 would just become yet another Google facility, as has happened with Pier 57, in Chelsea, where the Internet giant is now the main tenant. Google was not part of the original plan for Pier 57.

Google recently sealed a deal for the new building planned at the former St. John’s Terminal location, at Houston St. between West and Washington Sts., in Hudson Square — right across the West Side Highway from Pier 40 — as well as two other nearby properties.

Tobi Bergman and Dan Miller, two leading waterfront activists on C.B. 2, say they have different things about Google and Pier 40. Bergman said he has not heard Google is interested in the pier. Miller said he has.

The Trust is hoping to pass legislation at the state level during this current Albany legislative session, which concludes at the end of June. With so much at stake and a deadline fast approaching, it promises to be a lively forum.

Got Milk: Google it some more in Chelsea

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

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dding to its already enormous Chelsea portfolio, Google on Wednesday announced it has acquired another building in the neighborhood, the Milk Building, at 450 W. 14th St., from Jamestown Properties.

According to Crain’s New York Business, the sum for the deal was not disclosed.

As Crain’s accurately summed it up, “The tech giant already owns or rents nearly all the property between W. 15th

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short-term growth needs in ChelseaMeatpacking,” said William Floyd, Google’s director of external affairs, in an official statement. “We are excited by this investment and are committed to continuing to contribute to the vibrancy of this amazing neighborhood.”

Google’s first purchase in Chelsea was in 2010, when it bought the massive former Port Authority building, at 111 Eighth Ave., which boasts 2.9 million square feet and covers the full square block between W. 15th and W. 16th Sts. and Eighth and Ninth Aves.

and W. 16th Sts. from Eighth Ave. to the middle of the Hudson River on Pier 57.”

The Milk Building and Chelsea Market are connected by a sky bridge.

Google bought the Chelsea Market building from Jamestown last year for $2.4 billion.

According to Crain’s, Google plans to occupy three of the Milk Building’s eight floors. Google said it “will continue to honor all existing tenant lease agreements as part of this purchase.”

“This purchase will help us meet our TVG

Google currently has 8,000-plus employees in the city and, within the next decade, plans to double that.

At the end of last year, Google announced a $1 billion plan to create a second office hub, in Hudson Square, including renting space in a new project by Oxford Properties Group to vertically expand the former St. John’s Terminal to 12 stories. The existing building was the southern terminus of the High Line when it was a functioning freight railroad.

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Lessons Learned While On The Beat

Take Charge of Your Health Today!

By Eric L. Adams

8 TH ANNUAL COMMUNITY HEALTH FORUM

Teaching the Value of a Dollar at an Early Age As a child, I knew lean times – times when I had to forego things my classmates had and could afford.

At one time or another I’ve heard “sorry, but those sneakers are just too expensive, and we can’t afford to buy those right now.” “I made so many mistakes as a young man because I never had a background in basic financial education, and I wasted so much money.

I believe we need financial education taught to every young New Yorker so they can have an early start on establishing a bright financial future. Teaching these ‘soft skills’ is foundational, like ensuring the gears of a machine are properly oiled, to closing the inequality gap and helping create self-sufficient families. Recently, I put my support behind S.2452/A.1357, legislation that would establish a financial education curriculum in grades 9 through 12 across New York State.

At least five states currently require a personal finance course to graduate high school, including Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia; in September, New Jersey will require all middle schools to offer financial education.

Since arriving at Brooklyn Borough Hall, I’ve committed to improving the financial literacy of all Brooklynites, including an understanding of how money works, how one earns and manages it, and how to invest or donate to help others in need.

Partnering with organizations in the financial services, grassroots, and small business communities, my administration has organized and supported hundreds of free educational opportunities across the borough since 2014, which have taught nearly 4,500 residents the necessary skills to make wise everyday financial decisions. I declare every April to be Financial Education Empowerment Month in Brooklyn, highlighting the importance for families to make smart budgeting decisions, avoid financial scams, and monitor their expenses. Still, these efforts are no substitute for classroom instruction at an early age, helping young men and women avoid the pitfalls that can handicap their opportunities.

It is of the utmost urgency that our children and grandchildren learn to navigate the world of personal finance at an early age.

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Eric L. Adams Implementing a financial education curriculum has been demonstrated to improve students’ credit scores and increase savings rates. This is particularly impactful when we consider the number of millennials who are concerned about their finances. A 2016 survey from Bank of America found that only 16 percent of Americans between ages 18 to 26 are very optimistic about their financial future, which for many includes part of the trillions of dollars in student debt that our nation’s borrowers carry. Perhaps even more alarming, a 2018 report

by Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households indicated that a full forty percent of American households did not have enough money to cover a $400 emergency expense. Many more families are struggling on top of that when we note differences in education levels, race, ethnicity and geography.

As borough president, I realize that Brooklyn cannot thrive if its families can’t survive on their finances. All Brooklyn families also want their children to thrive, and be assured their children will be able to survive and overcome challenges that they may face in the future, by getting a head-start on financial literacy. That’s why a holistic 21st century education needs to include financial education.

Eric L. Adams is borough president of Brooklyn. He served 22 years in the New York City Police Department (NYPD), retiring at the rank of captain, as well as represented District 20 in the New York State Senate from 2006 until his election as borough president in 2013.

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May 23, 2019

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Haley’s ‘X’-home gets ‘plaqued’

BY GABE HERMAN

V

illage Preservation dedicated a historic plaque last week to mark the former Grove St. home and studio of famed author Alex Haley.

During the 1960s, Haley had a basement apartment at 92 Grove St., between Waverly Place and W. Fourth St. It was there that he conducted more than 50 interviews with Malcolm X, starting in 1963. These sessions would eventually lead to Haley’s first book, the 1965 classic “The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley.”

Haley would go on to write “Roots: The Saga of an American Family.” The 1976 book would earn him the Pulitzer Prize the following year.

At the May 15 dedication ceremony just outside the building, Harry Bubbins, Village Preservation special projects director, said the plaque was part of the organization’s year-long celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Greenwich Village’s designation as a historic district.

In noting Village Preservation’s role in celebrating the history of Greenwich Village, Bubbins said, “Few places are as important as 92 Grove St., where the historic meeting of the minds took place between Alex Haley and Malcolm X.” Ilyasah Shabazz, a daughter of Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz, was at the ceremony and noted that Malcolm X’s 94th birthday was coming up on May 19. She called the autobiography an extraordinary book.

“I’m so happy to be here on behalf of my five sisters,” she said. “Alex Haley played an immeasurable role in helping the world to create a more accurate portrait of who my father really was. ‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X’ continues to tell that important story, and inspire change.

“I’ve always been proud to be my father’s daughter,” Shabazz added. “I will always strive to walk in his footsteps and become the best person that I can,

PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN

From left, Harr y Bubbins, Andrea Blackstone and her son Tyler, Ilyasah Shabazz, Zaheer Ali and Brian Jones.

and serving time in prison. And there were the stages of his spiritual journey and conversions, and dialogues with other civil rights leaders in the 1950s and ’60s.

Sometimes Malcolm would scribble notes during the sessions, Ali said. Other times he would pace the floor, thinking and reflecting, teaching and preaching. And one time he started dancing the Lindy Hop. “Alex Haley was an audience of one, but he was writing for the millions yet to listen to Malcolm in person — for generation after generation who continue to benefit from the knowledge, the wisdom, the understanding encoded in Malcolm’s life story,” Ali said.

Ali called the civil-rights leader’s autobiography “the story of one man, the story of a people, and a call to action.

And it was told right here,” he said, of the Village building.

“This is the place where Malcolm X remembered his history. This is the place where Alex Haley recorded our history,” Ali said, “and so it is fitting to-

and I invite you to do the same.”

Andrea Blackstone, Alex Haley’s niece, also spoke at the ceremony. A freelance writer, she started Grove Street, a literary, lifestyle, business and entertainment publication.

“I was always fascinated by his ability to tell stories,” Blackstone said of Haley. “I myself didn’t initially want to be a writer, but it’s in my blood. It’s in the blood of many, to capture stories and tell history, and violent parts of ourselves.” She noted this isn’t always comfortable, but that it’s important to tell history. “And that’s what Grove Street represents,” she said.

Malcolm X would arrive for each session at 92 Grove St. around 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. after a long day, noted Zaheer Ali, an oral historian at the Brooklyn Historical Society. The sessions each lasted two or three hours. Malcolm would recount the phases of his life, including witnessing racial violence as a child, enduring poverty with his family during the Great Depression, being a young man in different American cities,

day in this place with this plaque, that we both remember and record the great work that was done here by them both.

This place is more than historic, it’s sacred.”

Brian Jones, associate director of education at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, echoed the book’s power and continued impact on millions of lives.

“And I count myself among those millions who were shaped and influenced by this book,” he said.

Jones recalled being in high school and not learning about black history, but only a Eurocentric story of America’s greatness. A friend gave him Haley’s Malcolm X autobiography and told him he needed to read it. Jones recalled the impact of the book and its searing indictment of racism as a fundamental part of the American story.

“What’s undeniable is the power of this story,” Jones said of the book. “This is an epic literary event, that has its creation moment right here.”

The Schomburg Center, a New York Public Library research library at 515 Malcolm X Blvd., is home to a full manuscript of the autobiography, including notes from Haley and Malcolm X. The center also has one of the book’s chapters that was not published.

David Seabrook, who has lived at 92 Grove St. for the past 20 years, watched the ceremony on the sidewalk in front of his home. He said he had known for years that Haley lived and worked there, because it came up in an Internet search of the address. But he didn’t think there would ever be a plaque because there is so much history throughout the whole neighborhood.

“But now it’s great to have the plaque,” he said.

This is the 14th plaque installed by Village Preservation, which has marked former homes of other artists and writers, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin and Frank O’Hara.

Grand stops restored to M14A route

BY ALEJANDR A O’CONNELL-DOMENECH

T

wo Grand St. stops on the M14A bus route will be restored, according to the city’s Department of Transportation.

“We rallied, petitioned and organized and we won!” tweeted Councilmember Margaret Chin. “The M14 Grand Street stops were restored. I want to thank everyone —especially the seniors — who marched, went to meetings and raised their voices to show @MTA the importance of an accessible bus system for all

8

May 23, 2019

NYers. #SaveM14Service.”

The news comes two weeks after 50 seniors marched along Grand St. to call on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to keep the bus route’s stops on Grand St. Chin marched with protesters. Councilmember Carlina Rivera and Assemblymember Harvey Epstein have also supported the seniors’ efforts.

Earlier this year, the M.T.A. proposed a plan to switch the M14 to Select Bus Service and remove three stops along Grand St., including at Pitt St., which would include bypassing a senior

residence and senior center. According to the M.T.A’s new proposal, the M14A bus stop at Grand and Pitt Sts. will now remain.

The M.T.A pitched switching the service to S.B.S. in hopes that it would boost the route’s notoriously slow speed. According to an M.T.A. study, the M14A/D is the city’s second-most used bus route — with 27,000 riders daily — but also its second slowest. Yet seniors and the disabled felt targeted since getting rid of any stops makes using the city’s largely inaccessible public transit system even harder.

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“We arrived at this final compromise plan through close consultation with residents, community groups, advocates and elected officials,” an M.T.A. spokesperson said. “Once the new route is implemented, we will actively monitor it to ensure it is providing the best possible service for our customers, seeking to balance convenience and increased speed, which is desperately needed along this line.”

According to the M.T.A., S.B.S. would have stops every 675 feet on the Lower East Side, which is closer than the systemwide average of 805 feet.

Schneps Media

Rev. ratchets up RoundUp attack

BY ALEJANDR A Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;CONNELL-DOMENECH

R

everend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping want the City Council to â&#x20AC;&#x153;cast outâ&#x20AC;? Monsantoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s demonic spawn by passing Councilmember Ben Kallosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bill banning chemical pesticides and herbicides in the city.

The singing reverend, real name Bill Talen, and his choir protested in City Hall Park on May 8, to keep up the pressure on the city to stop using Bayer AGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bestselling weed killer, RoundUp. The herbicideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s active ingredient, glyphosate, has been linked to causing cancer and other health problems. RoundUp was originally manufactured by the Monsanto corporation but it sold the product to Bayer for $63 billion last year.

According to the activist performance group, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation used the spray in parks last summer.

And according to a representantative from Kallosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office, thee Parks Department is not a fan of the bill.

A map on Reverend Billyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Web site (http://www. revbilly.com/map) claims

to show where glyphosate has been used by the Parks Department around the city.

The Upper East Side councilmember reintroduced the bill on April 18, adding himself to the list of city and state legislators pushing to ban the herbicide, which the World Health Organization classified as a carcinogen in 2015. Hawaii became the fi rst state to ban RoundUp in 2018. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Parks should be for playing, not pesticides,â&#x20AC;? Kallos said in a statement.

Shortly after Kallos reintroduced the bill, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reaffi rmed its stance that glyphosate does not cause cancer.

The Parks Department said, in the past five years, it has made more of an effort to reduce spraying herbicides and instead use alternative methods â&#x20AC;&#x201D; like pulling weeds out by hand, mulching and putting in weed-suppressive plants. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When that fails, or when resources allow, we spray approved do not allow herbicides in complete compliance with New York City, New and federal laws,â&#x20AC;?

York State St a Parks spokesperson wrote in an ee-mail to this paper.

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A s his choir members staged a RoundUp-induced die-in at City Hall Park, Reverend Billy solemnly took a knee.

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Hunger strikers sat outside Governor Cuomoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Midtown office last week protesting the Williams Pipeline.

Pipeline blocked for now, activists push climate bill

BY ALEJANDR A Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;CONNELLDOMENECH

L

ast Tuesday, six women popped open blue, purple and pink umbrellas as they sat on the sidewalk on Third Ave. outside Governor Cuomoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office as rain started to fall.

They knew they were in for a long haul.

The group of climate activists gathered at the Midtown location on May 14 to participate in a three-day hunger strike to pressure Cuomo to block the Williams Pipeline. The 24-mile long pipeline would carry fracked gas from Pennsylvania shale fields across the lower bay of New York Harbor to heat homes in the outer boroughs and Long Island.

The activists fighting the plan succeeded. The next day, the governorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s administration blocked the pipeline.

According to Politico, the Department of Environmental Conservation found that the Williams Pipeline, officially known as the Northeast Supply Enhancement project, would have significant environmental impacts on water quality.

But the battle is far from over for the activists. The day after the announcement, they rallied on the City Hall steps and also outside of 118th 10th Ave., where Cuomo had a private party with former and current staff members. The

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denial by D.E.C. was â&#x20AC;&#x153;without prejudiceâ&#x20AC;? meaning that Williams could reapply again.

Besides keeping their eye on the Williams Pipeline, activists plan to pressure Cuomo to pass the Climate and Community Protection Act. The act calls for a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and for a 100 percent renewable energy economy by 2050. The goal of the governorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Green New Dealâ&#x20AC;? is for the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s electricity sector to use 70 percent renewable energy sources by 2030 and 100 percent by 2040.

But environmentalists say the plan is not aggressive enough. They note that climate scientists say that, in order to avoid catastrophic effects of climate change, greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If New York passes good legislation, then other states will be brave enough to follow us,â&#x20AC;? said Claire Ullman, from Rise and Resist, one of the groups who were waiting for Cuomo on Tenth Ave. on May 15. Ullman hopes for a domino effect of state laws on climate change that ultimately would reach Washington. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If we have good national legislation,â&#x20AC;? she said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;then the U.S.A. can finally step up and lead the world in confronting our global climate emergency.â&#x20AC;?

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Editorial

MANHAT TAN

SNAPS

Pass streets-design bill

W

ith the number of cyclists killed in New York City on the rise in 2019, it’s clear something must be done to prevent further tragedy.

Brooklyn’s streets, in particular, are proving to be treacherous for cyclists. There have been 10 cyclist fatalities so far in 2019 — the same number the city saw in all of 2018, according to Vision Zero data — eight of which have occurred in Brooklyn, including three in a four-day span last week.

Activists have laid blame on city officials for the lack of dedicated bike lanes throughout much of Southern Brooklyn, where five of the 10 fatalities occurred.

In addition to the 10 fatalities, Vision Zero data reveals that there have been 993 cyclist injuries across the five boroughs as of April 30.

Our Brooklyn sister paper obtained video from the victim of a hit-and-run in Clinton Hill last week where a driver struck a cyclist and fled. The paper published the video and sent the clip to the 88th Precinct, which reopened the investigation.

We urge victims of similar incidents to share their stories with their local newspapers and media outlets. Let us tell your stories so we can help spread the word and help prevent further tragedy. Every publicized incident will put pressure on local lawmakers to protect their cycling constituents.

The City Council is hoping to improve road safety with its “Vision Zero Streets Design Standard” bill, which would formalize a set of safety measures for the Department of Transportation to consider when renovating city streets. The bill’s proponents believe it would encourage construction of bike lanes and other traffic-calming measures in car-dense neighborhoods.

The street in Clinton Hill where the biker was struck did not have a dedicated bike lane. The city had removed “sharrows,” shared lane markings that indicate that while there’s no dedicated bike lane on the street, drivers and bicyclists must share the space.

Sharrows aren’t perfect — they do not offer an explicit lane and cyclists are still at risk of being struck — but perhaps one might have prevented the cyclist from being struck in Clinton Hill.

Council Speaker Corey Johnson recently announced a May 30 deadline to vote on the measure, which is co-sponsored by 14 of the body’s 15 Brooklyn lawmakers. The only Kings County councilmember not sponsoring the bill is Kalman Yeger (D–Borough Park), who represents the location where the teen was killed last Wednesday.

Yeger should sponsor the bill, too. Doing so would show a united front among Brooklyn councilmembers; it would show constituents that the borough will take action and not wait for the next tragedy to strike. If drivers can stay out of bike lanes, and cyclists can stay out of the road, then there shouldn’t be any fatalities.

PHOTO BY CALVIN WILSON / NYC PARKS DEPT.

On Oct. 2, 1986, the Mohandas Gandhi monument was unveiled in the southwest corner of Union Square Park. The statue is slightly bigger than life size, at 6 feet 6 inches tall, and was made by sculptor Kantilal B. Patel. It was donated by the Gandhi Memorial International Foundation and Mohan B. Murjani. The accompanying plaque includes a quote from Gandhi, who lived from 1869-1948: “My optimism rests on my belief in the infinite possibilities of the individual to develop nonviolence… In a gentle way you can shake the world.”

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May 23, 2019

VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA SCHNEPS LINCOLN ANDERSON GABE HERMAN MICHELE HERMAN BOB KRASNER TEQUILA MINSKY MARY REINHOLZ PAUL SCHINDLER JOHN NAPOLI MARCOS RAMOS CLIFFORD LUSTER (718) 260-2504 CLUSTER@CNGLOCAL.COM MARVIN ROCK GAYLE GREENBURG JIM STEELE JULIO TUMBACO ELIZABETH POLLY

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Op-Ed

Foxes guard City Planning henhouse

BY LYNN ELLSWORTH

O

nce upon a time, N.Y.U. sociologist Harvey Molotch described a coalition of large property owners and real estate developers whose interests aligned to create a “growth machine.” Years later, economic historian Jason Barr described a “skyscraper industrial complex” of real estate developers and their allied advisers, financiers, trade unions, architects and construction firms, whose economic self-interest demanded unlimited skyscraper construction.

These forces have crystallized into the most powerful lobby our city has ever known, the Real Estate Board of New York.

Oligarchic families of immense wealth dominate REBNY. Some are family dynasties with thousands of tenants paying rent to them — something not seen since the feudal period.

Such power is a matter of public interest when the industry ends up controlling the government institutions meant to regulate that power for the broader public good. The Department of City Planning is a case in point. There, the foxes have seized the henhouse. Communities cannot have a fair hearing.

Any critique of a rezoning is patronizingly dismissed at City Planning as “city NIMBYism.” Public hearings have become kangaroo courts in which commissioners listen in boredom, then majority vote along the lines indicated by REBNY. Of the 13 members of the commission who control the Department of City Planning, one (Douek) is a real estate investor and donor to the mayor, managing a new $75 million “opportunity fund” for Brooklyn. Another one (Capelli) is a former real estate industry lobbyist.

Five (de la Uz, Knuckles, Eaddy, Knight and Marín) are real estate developers of various types, ranging from a senior employee of Bluestone Group to C.E.O.’s of development corporations to the head of the Fifth Ave. Committee.

The commission’s current chairperson (Lago) ran the Empire State Development Corporation (E.S.D.C.), a real estate development monolith for the state; E.S.D.C. — now known as just E.S.D. — is infamous for abusing eminent domain to the detriment of black and low-income communities, with one academic noting that E.S.D. acts as “Robin Hood in reverse, taking from the poor to give to the rich.”

One commissioner (Levin) has long cheered on the Hudson Yards project, yet is married to a senior partner at Davis, Polk and Wardwell, the same law firm that advises major Hudson Yards developer Extell.

Another Planning commissioner (Cerullo) is C.E.O. of the Grand Central Partnership, a real estate-controlled business improvement district (BID), whose secretary is John Banks, the C.E.O. of REBNY. The partnership pushed for multiple upzonings in Midtown that benefitted their board members.

Only one (Ortiz) has a graduate degree in urban planning, however runs a consultancy advising shopping mall owners how to “optimize” their retail tenant mix. At least two members have conflicts of interest with the Gowanus rezoning project (Bluestone and Fifth Ave. Committee).

At least one (Knuckles) has a clear conflict of interest with the East Harlem rezoning. Two commissioners are architects with high-rise projects under their belts in Long Island City and Grammercy (Burney and Rampershad).

Any wonder that these people rule Planning as if upzoning and profit-making are the same as actual urban planning?

The City Charter must be edited to rule out fox-guardinghenhouse appointments. The Charter Commission is deliberating now, so citizens need to act fast. E-mail the Charter Commission at www.charter2019.nyc/submit-your-ideas and tell them to make fi xing this situation a top priority.

Ellsworth is president, Human-Scale NYC Schneps Media

Letters to the Editor Police Blotter and race To The Editor: As a resident of Chelsea, I take exception to your “Black Corner” a.k.a. Police Blotter/Crime-Stoppers Hotline, wherein you, courtesy of the N.Y.P.D., routinely identify the “race” of criminal suspects, above and beyond the photos you may run with the narratives about the perps.

This either witting or casual use of race in crime reporting offends good journalistic practices. Indeed, newspaper ethics and journalist watchdogs advise against this practice, reminding newspapers that their purpose is not to function as mere stenographers for the police or for government officials in reporting violent and other garden-variety crimes in the community.

The watchdogs, including the Associated Press, contend that the reflexive and casual identification by race of suspects is wrong. Such groups as the Society of Professional Journalists contend that the use of race is especially suspect by the press when such information is not likely to advance the community’s understanding of the nature of the crime or likely to aid in the actual suspect’s identification and capture. The AP Stylebook also takes sharp exception to identifying criminal suspects’ supposed “race” when race is neither pertinent to the story nor a factor in the motivation behind the crime (such as the case with “hate” incidents).

What do you advance other than racialist or racist stirrings when for instance you reported (on April 18) that a robbery was committed by two suspects “described as black, between age 20 and 30, and last seen wearing all dark clothing” — even if your report had added that the perps were wearing a T-shirt, jeans and sneakers?

I urge you to rethink your policy on use of “race” in crime reporting, and to use the suspect’s race only where it is relevant to the story, such as for a race-related hate crime.

Michael Meyers Meyers is president, New York Civil Rights Coalition Editor’s note: Thank you for raising an important subject about reporting on crime. Each media outlet makes its own considered decision on how to handle this issue. Police provide suspects’ descriptions in order to help identify them and, yes, to get people to call in tips to the CrimeStoppers Hotline.

Printing suspects’ descriptions in the newspaper can also help residents’ safety.

Pier 40 passive recreation space To The Editor: Re “Gansevoort playing-field need in play” (news article, may 16): I have lived in the West Village since the 1990s. My build-

ing, on Barrow St., is a tenement with 20 units. There are no children living in the building.

There haven’t been, for years.

I’m just guessing, but families with kids might make up 5 percent or less of the West Village demographic as a whole.

I feel confident that while they aren’t vocal about it, my neighbors would prefer spaces to walk, sit, read and lie on some grass, instead of active recreation fields. A passive recreation space like Central Park’s Sheep Meadow serves 200 people at a time, while a soccer field taking up that space serves 22.

Dave Stewart

Those were the days To The Editor: Re “London Terrace: Charming — and that pool!” (Real Estate, May 16) My mother had an apartment there in the 1930s. It was so expensive, she was afraid to tell her parents the rent was $75.

Mike Conway E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words, to news@ thevillager.com or fax to 212229-2790 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.

Michael Meyers, of the New York Civil Rights Coalition, argues that the use of race to describe suspects in the Police Blotter should be much more limited.

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May 23, 2019

13

Scoopyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Notebook

WATERFRONT WARRIOR: Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re sad to report that former Village leader Ben Green died this past Friday at age 73. The cause of death was cancer. He had also suffered a serious heart attack more than 10 years ago. Green was the head of the Federation to Preserve the Greenwich Village Waterfront and Great Port, a group that was among the most outspoken and organized in opposing the creation of the Hudson River Park in the wake of Westwayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s defeat. Above all, the Federation â&#x20AC;&#x201D; many would say, presciently â&#x20AC;&#x201D; feared the commercialization of the Lower West Side waterfront. Green was also well known as the chief of staff to legendary, long-serving local Assemblymember Bill Passannante.

He was also a former chairperson of Community Board 2. At one point, Green was a member of the board of directors of Westbeth Artists Housing. His longtime home was at Christopher and Hudson Sts., in the large red-brick building just west of the Lucille Lortel Theatre. We plan to have a more complete obituary in next weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s issue. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;HUMANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; CANDIDATE: Enigmatic Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang was in Washington Square Park on May 10,

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where he continued his â&#x20AC;&#x153;Humanist First Tour.â&#x20AC;? He drew a crowd of about 2,500. Relying on the Internet to spread his message, Yangâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s three main platforms are a â&#x20AC;&#x153;universal basic income,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Medicare for allâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;human-centered capitalism,â&#x20AC;? which includes keeping robots from taking our jobs.

FREE THE WEED â&#x20AC;&#x201D; AND FREE BUILDING: Veteran pot-legalization advocate Dana Beal tells us he has gotten the city to give him and his fellow Yippies a building â&#x20AC;&#x201D; gratis â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll use as a sort of museum to celebrate the â&#x20AC;&#x153;marijuana movementâ&#x20AC;? and related issues and causes.

Beal has really been bummed out in recent years after the Yippies lost 9 Bleecker St., their former H.Q. So, not surprisingly, this development has him on a (natural) high. His pal, Aton Edwards, an emergencypreparedness expert, told us the city gave them a book with info on 50 properties, and theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re looking them over. As for why the city is willing to just give them a property, Beal said itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all about boosting tourism.

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Two Stuy students make Milken grade

BY GABE HERMAN

T

wo Stuyvesant High School students have been chosen to be among this year’s select group of Milken Scholars.

The scholarship is from the Milken Institute and the Milken Family Foundation and was founded in 1989.

The program selects high school seniors based on factors such as academic performance, community service, leadership skills and overcoming personal challenges. The scholarship is open to students in New York City, Los Angeles County and Washington, D.C. Six students from New York City were chosen for the 2019 program, with the two locals from Stuyvesant H.S. being Hanah Jun and Summer Shabana.

The Scholars Program helps young people with their transition to college and beyond. A $10,000 scholarship is included. There is also a lifelong support system that includes career

counseling, assistance with landing internships, providing opportunities for community service, and a fund to help with career goals after undergraduate school.

“In the nearly three decades since Lori and I cofounded the Milken Scholars program, these leaders of tomorrow have consistently inspired us by their achievements, leadership and dedication to service,” said Mike Milken, chairperson of the Milken Institute. “This year’s class of outstanding New York Scholars is no exception. In welcoming them to the Milken Scholars family, we are confident they can change the world.”

Jun also received The New York Times College Scholarship and the President’s Volunteer Service Award.

She is a QuestBridge National College Match Finalist and College Prep Scholar, a National Merit Scholarship Finalist and an AP scholar.

Jun tutors at the Arista Honor Society, and serves at soup kitchens. She is a musician, and started a citywide project for high school musicians to

Hanah Jun.

spread classical music by playing on New York City’s streets. As an intern at the United Nations, she researches the relationship between environmental policy and political turmoil.

Jun will be attending Yale where she will concentrate on environmental studies and economics. She plans a career as an entrepreneur.

Shabana is the founder and president of StuyPrep. Under the program, current and former Stuyvesant students help middle school students from underrepresented areas prepare for the Specialized High School Entrance Exam. She also founded Stuy SAT Prep, which works with underprivileged students from the elite high school.

Shabana is a Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth Scholar, an AP Scholar, a Jack Kent Cooke College Scholar, and a Questbridge National College Match Recipient, among other awards. She is a member of the Arista National Honor Society and Spanish Honors Society, and has participated since fifth grade in the Lang Science Program at the American Museum of Natural History. She worked on the neurology ward at New York-Presby-

Summer Shabana.

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terian Columbia Medical Center, and started a club at school to raise money for Operation Smile, which performs palate and cleft-lip surgeries worldwide.

Shabana will attend Rice University to study bioengineering and neuroscience, and plans a career in medicine.

“The Milken Scholars Program provides a lifelong network and resources of over 400 past honorees,” said Phyllis and Sidney Bresler, from the Robert I. Schattner Foundation, Inc., which is a sponsor of the New York City Milken Scholars. “Despite significant obstacles, these extraordinary students continue to not only persevere, but shine, and we look forward to seeing what their bright futures will hold.”

More than 450 Milken Scholars have been selected since the initiative’s founding. This year’s other four New York Milken Scholars are Sarah Deonarain, from Townsend Harris High School in Queens; Miyu Imai, from Horace Mann School in the Bronx; Lizi Maziashvili, from Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn; and Andy Wang, from Staten Island Technical High School.

May 23, 2019

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Eats

New Essex Market bigger, more vendors

BY GABE HERMAN

T

he new Essex Market is now officially open for business on the Lower East Side.

The marketplace held its official grand opening and ribbon cutting on May 13, in its new building at 88 Essex St., at Delancey St. It previously was located at 120 Essex St. The new market brought along all 21 vendors from the original space. It also added 16 new ones, including the Lower East Side Ice Cream Factory; sandwich shop Heros and Villains; Don Ceviche, which offers Peruvian food; and Samesa, which makes Middle Eastern cuisine.

The 37,000-square-foot space is three times the size of the previous market, plus features two full-service restaurants and a demonstration kitchen. There will be free cooking and nutrition workshops called Fresh Bites on Tuesdays and Wednesdays on the mezzanine level, with classes also translated into Spanish and Chinese.

The Essex Street Market was founded in 1940, when Mayor LaGuardia led the effort to deal with pushcart vendors clogging up the streets.

The public market’s new home is in a building that is part of the Essex Crossing development. The complex includes a new Regal 14-screen movie theater and nearly 200 rental apartments.

At a press conference on opening day, local officials and community members celebrated the new market and its diverse offerings, and noted the years it took to make the project happen.

James Patchett, president of the nonprofit New York City Economic De-

Brewer said that Tim Laughlin, of the Lower East Side Partnership Business Improvement District, was instrumental in the project. At the press conference, Laughlin called the new space a state-of-the-art facility and a unique collection of tenants in Manhattan.

“This project is a true representation of what we can do when the community works together,” Laughlin said. “We all should be very proud.”

“This is such a beautiful space,” said Councilmember Chin.

She noted all the work that went into the project, including ensuring that original vendors could move into the same amount of space without a rent increase, which she said was hard to achieve but the right thing to do.

Eric Suh, of the New Star Fish Market, a family business founded in 1994, said most of his customers were excited about the move but some were disappointed and worried about losing the character of the old building.

Suh acknowledged the former building did have a lot of historic flavor.

“But the heart and soul of Essex Market really lies in the vendors and shoppers that make up this community,” he said. “The vendors who offer a more personal, intimate shopping experience, who are experts in their craft and dediPHOTO BY GABE HERMAN cate their whole lives to what they do.”

Cutting the ribbon at Essex Market, from left, the Lower East Side The public market, Suh said, is a Par tnership’s Tim Laughlin, former C.B. 3 Chairperson Dominic Berg, place “where family-owned businesses Borough President Gale Brewer, merchants Eric Suh and Rhonda Kave, like mine can thrive.”

Councilmember Margaret Chin and E.D.C. President James Patchett.

Rhonda Kave, owner and operator of Roni-Sue’s Chocolates, a market velopment Corporation, said they had of immigration. Really, this could only fi xture since 2007, also spoke of the worked for the last decade on this proj- have happened on the Lower East place’s community feel. She said this was especially important during a time ect, and that it was a coming together of Side.” in New York when so many mom-andnew and old New York.

Among the groups and people the “This is what New York City should speakers thanked were Delancey Street pop stores are struggling to survive.

“It’s truly a unique place,” Kave said. look like,” Patchett said. “What’s speAssociates, the Essex Street Market “The Essex Market gives so many small cial about Essex is its diversity, in a diVendors Association, Community vendors and businesses the opportuverse neighborhood.”

Manhattan Borough President Gale Board 3, Brewer and Councilmember nity to realize their dreams.”

The chocolatier said the market alBrewer said it was a true community ef- Margaret Chin, and the Bloomberg and lows vendors to connect with the comde Blasio administrations. fort to make the new market happen. munity.

“Now we can celebrate this “This is like a microcosm of building,” she said. “We can the Lower East Side,” she celebrate different culsaid, “and to be a part tures that have come of that is really spewith each wave cial.”

PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN

PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN

Nordic Preser ves is one of the market’s many vendors.

Opening day inside the new Essex Market.

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PHOTO BY BOB KRASNER

The Dance Parade had just the right balance, including a finale at Tompkins Square Park.

Dance Parade steps up the excitement

S

aturday’s 13th Annual Dance Parade & Festival saw 10,000 dancers, featuring 100 styles of dance, accompanied by DJ’s and live bands, waltz, samba and disco down Broadway from W. 21st. St., along University Place, and across Eighth St. and St. Mark’s Place to finish with a flourish at Tompkins Square Park.

PHOTO BY BOB KRASNER

Two young girls on stilts waited to go on stage, but unfor tunately the show ran late and they were bumped due to the 7 p.m. cur few. But at least they had a great view of the dance festival.

PHOTO BY BOB KRASNER

An aerialist took the show to another level in Tompkins Square Park.

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May 23, 2019

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COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MONIQUE MELOCHE GALLERY, CHICAGO. PHOTO BY BRENDAN LEO MEREA

“The Master and Form,” by Brendan Fernandes, 2018.

Biennial delivers, despite birth pains

BY NANCY ELSAMANOUDI

T

he Whitney Biennial, co-curated by Rujeko Hockley and Jane Panetta, opened last Friday and is up until Sept. 22. So, there is plenty of time to see it, see it again, to like it, not like it, or to pointlessly vacillate between indecisive, mixed feelings about it. That being said, there is plenty to like at the Biennial.

There are some serious knockouts in the Biennial that shouldn’t be missed and are worth the trek to the Meatpacking District.

Nicole Eisenman’s imaginative, swoon-worthy sculpture pavilion of oafish misfits and absurd, prostrating circus freaks is spectacular. Brendan Fernandes’s magnificent installation/performance piece “Master and Form” (picture ballet dancers performing in a basketball court-size S&M jungle gym) is elegantly nuanced in connecting gender and sexuality to the disciplining of the body through countless small acts of both pleasure and pain. And Jennifer Packer’s “A Lesson in Longing” is an impossibly lush, drop-dead gorgeous, unapologetically pink grandscale painting, with a great presence in how it holds up the wall and unequivocally commands space in the gallery.

I was also rather taken by Olga Balema’s visibly fragile sculpture “Leaf” — extending from floor to ceiling — which broke in half on Sunday. Granted, no one is happy this happened, but the aftermath of the sculpture lying half-broken in the gallery and the Whitney staff frantically surrounding it, strangely felt like some sort of impromptu performance piece.

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I didn’t like it, though, when I got the sense that a particular artist or particular piece had a specific role to play in the show. And I got that sense with Eddie Arroyo’s paintings of Little Haiti, because they didn’t quite seem to hold up. They seem a bit bland.

I found that some work that seemed to align more closely with the stated curatorial intent of the show to focus on sociopolitical issues (whether gentrification, gender, identity, sexuality, race and class) felt predictably didactic — too on message, or had a déjà vu sense of familiarity.

For insta instance, I think Elle Pé Pérez’s portraits are eextraordinary.

But I wonder if maybe they might be a little mi too easy to like and whether an she sh might be

COURTESY THE ARTIST AND SUSANNE VIELMETTER LOS ANGELES PROJECTS

“The General,” by Nicole Eisenman, 2018.

Bronze, stainless steel, paint and cloth, 30 x 33 x 19 in. Collection of Eric Green.

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giving us what we kind of expect to see from a queer artist — namely images of mostly masculine women who are already more visible, valued and accepted in the L.G.B.T. community.

But I found the “Dyke” piece, in particular, interesting, in part, because it seemed a rather inelegant nod to a much more nuanced work by Catherine Opie, but also because that kind of marking of the body in unmistakable, definitive terms still seems so necessary.

Yet Pérez’s photographs are far more interesting and, for me, much less problematic than, say, Heji Shin’s “Baby” series.

The more I looked at Shin’s images, the more I disliked them. The “Baby” series are a series of photos taken at the moment of crowning, when the newborn’s head is poking out of the vagina. Crowning is typically the most painful part of labor. And yet, when we look at these images, it is difficult to register that what we are looking at is a body in pain.

The child’s head is the images’ central focus. Meanwhile, the body of the woman giving birth is severely cropped — hardcore porn style. The cropping is very similar to close-up, penetration shots in Hustler.

I see these images as cold, toxic and not at all harmless. In these images, the subjectivity of the woman giving birth is negated, her pain is muted and all that really matters is the purple head emerging out of what could be described, for all intents and purposes, as a host body.

The Biennial, at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort St., runs through Sept. 22.

For more information, visit whitney.org.

Schneps Media

Manhattan Happenings THEATER

BY ALEJANDR A O’CONNELL-DOMENECH

L.E.S. Arts Fest:Theater for The New City will celebrate the 24th Annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts on Fri., May 24, and Sat., May 25, from 6 p.m. to midnight, and Sun., May 26, from 4 p.m. to midnight, at 155 First Ave. The weekend-long festivities will feature theater, music, art, dance, video, film, aerial arts, poetry, magic and comedy, with more than 270 performances from 70plus groups. For the full list of performers and schedule, visit www.theaterforthenewcity.net or call 212-254-1108.

ENVIRONMENT Meet the Fishes:The River Project is inviting the city to meet the fish of New York Harbor on June 4, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Wetlab in Hudson River Park, at Pier 40, at W. Houston St. Guests will be able to “splash with the fishes, crabs, turtles and other animals and participate in hands-on activities.”

Snacks will be served and prizes from event sponsors will be raffled. The event is free but donations are welcomed and encouraged.

To RSVP to the event, please e-mail info@ riverprojectnyc.org. Those interested in volunteering before or after the event can e-mail siddhartha@riverprojectnyc.org.

FILM

MUSIC Lust for Life:Burlesque performer Julie Atlas Muz and her backup band will be performing the entire Iggy Pop album “Lust for Life!” at The Slipper Room, 167 Orchard St., at midnight on Sun., May 26. In between songs, Muz will tell stories about coming of age in Detroit. Doors open at 11 p.m. Tickets are $10 for standing and $20 for a reserved seat. To purchase tickets online, visit www. slipperroom.com.

Per former Julie Atlas Muz back in her Motor City days.

LES THE LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS SPEAKERS MALACHY MCCOURT MICHAEL MUSTO CITY COUNCIL MEMBER CARLINA RIVERA

FREE! FREE! FREE! Friday, Saturday, Sunday May 24, 25 & 26 Kick Off Each Evening at 6PM SAT Outside Fair: 1PM - 6PM Food, Vendors, Performances SAT Inside: 12PM - 5PM Film Program & Youth Program SUN Inside: 4PM - 7PM Poetry Program Come & Enjoy the Cultural & Artistic Explosion of the Lower East Side!!!

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PERFORMING ARTISTS FF. MURRAY ABRAHAM KATHERINE ADAMENKO PENNY ARCADE STAN BAKER LOUISA BRADSHAW MAUDE LARDNER BURKE VINIE BURROWS FRANK CRAVEN EVA DORREPAAL FACEBOY THE GREAT DUBINI JOHN GRIMALDI ALAN HANNA INMA HEREDIA VILMA HODO BOBBIE HOROWITZ KEVIN KOSPIAH EVAN LA WRENCE ALICE LECROY MICHAEL LEE EDGAR (ED) MALIN DEREK MURPHY AUSTIN PENDLETON EVERETT QUINTON JAMES RADO RENO YOLANDA RODRIGUEZ RUBY LYNN REYNER ELIZABETH RUF MARGO LEE SHERMAN CHRIS SIMMONS TANYA SOLOMON MALIK WORK YUKO UCHIDA ZERO BOY LEI ZHOU

OSTARBEITER QUANTUM SUICIDE REVISION APOCALYPSE II THE RUNNER OF PAMPLONA SCARS SEE SMITHEREENS SWIPE TIGHT SPOT TRAGIC UN{H}ARMED UNHEARD VOID

Movies Under the Stars:Pack a picnic, grab a blanket and enjoy a movie on the rooftop of the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center, at Clarkson and Varick Sts. This summer, the city’s Parks Department will be hosting free movie screenings across the five boroughs beginning at dusk. Four upcoming movies on “The Dap” rooftop include “A Star is Born” (2018) R, with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, on Thurs., June 6; “Too Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything!” (1995) PG-13, on Thurs., June 13; “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” (1994) R, Thurs., June 20; and “Bohemian Rhapsody” (2018) PG-13, Thurs., June 27. For more information about the movie series, visit nyc.gov/parks.

MELANIE GOODREAUX JOHN JILER MICHAEL JONES BARBARA KAHN FRANCES RAE KEY ANTHONY LAURA ANNE LUCAS EDUARDO MACHADO LISSA MOIRA ROMAN PRIMITIVO YOLANDA RODRIGUEZ BINA SHARIF MISHA SHULMAN TRAV S.D. VICTOR VAUBAN MICHAEL VAZQUEZ PETER WELCH

PETER & JUDY JONATHAN FOX POWERS NORMAN SAVITT CHRIS SIMMONS SQUATTERS OPERA STAR 69 ELLEN STEIER STUFF WE LIKE KT SULLIVAN TALENT AND THE RESISTANCE BAND KEVIN XU

DANCE ASHLEY LIANG POETS PERFORMING GROUPS DANCE COMPANY AUSTIN ALEXIS DIXON PLACE 13TH STREET REPERTORY DOROTHY FRIEDMAN MUSIC GLITTER KITTY AUGUST STRINDBERG AUGUST STAN BAKER CONSTELLATION REPERTORY DAVID AMRAM BREANNA BARTENIEFF MOVING CO. THE CELL ARTHUR ABRAMS MITCH CORBER KAORU IKEDA CHINESE THEATRE WORKS ART LILLARD’S PETER DOLACK INFINITY DANCE COBU HEAVENLY BIG BAND EVAN THEATRE DADA NY ALESSANDRA BELLONI JIM FEAST KINDING SINDAW DISMANTLE THEATER JOE BENDIK MATHEW HUPERT ROD RODGERS EGO ACTUS ED CIOCYS DANCE COMPANY RON KOLM THE EXPERIMENTALS VIENNA CARROLL SARAZINA STEIN TSORA LITSKY FOLKSBIENE NATIONAL CITIZENS UNITED AKIKO TOKUOKA FRAN LUCK YIDDISH THEATER PROTEST BAND VON DUVOIS DAVID MILLS KITSCH PETER DIZOZZA DANCE COLLECTIVE LOIS KAGAN MINGUS LA MAMA ETC. ROBERT GONZALES JR. LARRY MYERS LE SQUEEZEBOX CABARET JUDY GORMAN CURATOR HOWARD PFLUNZER LORETTA AUDITORIUM PATRICK GRANT LOLA RODRIGUEZ NEGRO ENSEMBLE COMPANY ART GALLERY ANDREW GREER BOB ROSENTHAL NEW YIDDISH REP THE YIP HARBURG CAROLYN RATCLIFFE TOM SAVAGE NEW YORK THEATRE WORKSHOP FOUNDATION RAINBOW SHERYL SIMLER SUE BERNHARD TROUPE CURATOR MIRA J SPEKTOR DANCE COMPANY DAVID JACOBSON YOUTH PROGRAM FILM CHOCOLATE WATERS TABULA RASA DAVID LEWIS FRANCINE WITTE JUAN VILLEGAS 7TH STREET TEXTILE CO. LEX AND THE CULT RICHARD WEST AURORA THUNDERBIRD AMERICAN OF SPIRITS THE BALLAD OF JACK & VI JEFFREY C . WRIGHT JANICE LOWE INDIAN DANCERS CURATOR BUT YOU LOOK SO GOOD SUSAN YUNG TIERNEY ACTING WORKSHOP LOWER EAST SIDE OUTSIDE JOANIE F. ZOSIKE DELICACY UNLIMIITED SCRIPTS PERFORMING ARTS PERFORMANCES DISSONANCE WISE GUISE LIZ MAGNES WRITERS RICHARD WEST XOREGOS PERFORMING COMPANY THE IMMIGRANT FRAN MCGEE JABARA KEATING YARA ARTS TOBY ARMOUR MELANGE NARCAN MATEO D’AMATO METAMORPH NEVER GOING DOWN TOM DIRIWACHTER KEITH PATCHEL

FREE!

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WOMEN OF WALL STREET

LADIES’ NIGHT: The 2019 Women of Wall Street posed with Schneps Media President and Publisher Victoria Schneps-Yunis in Manhattan on May 7.

Photo by Corazon Aguirre

Finance’s leading ladies are honored at first-ever Women of Wall Street Awards Schneps Media celebrates the female leaders who are changing the industry

T

hey’re the trailblazers of Wall Street.

Schneps Media praised banking and finance’s passionate, ambitious, and brilliant women for their influence in the field at the inaugural Women of Wall Street Awards on May 7.

The night featured a speakers panel that included honorees; emcee Cheryl Casone, host of FBN:am on Fox Business Network; and Elizabeth St.Onge, partner at Oliver Wyman. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams (a founding member of the “Men Who Get It” club) also gave remarks.

The 26 awards honorees were recognized not only for their successes, but also for their empowerment of the next generation of female financial leaders.

The event raised $1,200 for the nonprofit Girls Who Invest, founded in 2015 by honoree Seema Hingorani. The organization is dedicated to inspiring and empowering young women to pursue investment careers in the as-

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set-management industry — a field challenged by a lack of diversity.

The night also addressed the issue of gender parity in the banking and finance industry. With many firms making significant investments in programs or benefits for women, but not seeing results, there’s a clear need for the culture to change, speak-

ers said. Participants highlighted the day-to-day culture, unconscious biases, and micro-aggressions that are much harder to address but are required in order to move the needle.

Schneps Media is thankful to the celebration’s generous sponsors for helping bring this important topic to the forefront while championing the women

who dedicate themselves to supporting, empowering, and promoting more women in the industry. A special thanks to Citigroup, MHR Fund, JPMorgan Chase, Investors Bank and Flushing Bank.

If you would like to nominate a deserving woman for the 2020 Women of Wall Street Awards, please visit www.schnepsevents.com/wows2020.

REAL TALK: (Above) The speakers panel included, from left, Cheryl Casone, host of FBN:am on Fox Business Network; Women of Wall Street honoree Susan Kendall; Elizabeth St.-Onge, partner at Oliver Wyman, and honPhotos by Corazone Aguirre oree Seema Hingorani. (Right) Emcee Cheryl Cassone led the night’s festivities.

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AWARDS RISING STAR AWARD

Samantha Saperstein.

Lauren Simmons.

Maggie Arvedlund.

Fradel Barber.

Cindy Class.

Alisa Morris accepts on behalf of Patricia Cummings.

Cynthia DiBartolo.

Chele Chiavaci Farley.

Emily Fine, right, smiles with Schneps Media President and Publisher Victoria Schneps-Yunis.

Camille Forde.

Erica Frontiero.

Joelle Gonzalez.

Alissa Grad.

Seema Hingorani.

Susan Kendall.

Tamara Lashchyk.

Lisa Lewin.

Quinnie Lin.

Vanessa Lindley.

Deborah Montaperto.

Jane Newton celebrates with her mother.

Judy Ng.

Gianni Latange on behalf of Nathalie Molina Nino.

Ana Oliveira.

Victoria Pellegrino.

Photos by Caroline Ourso

TRAILBLAZER AWARD

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May 23, 2019

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!

@ # "

lawful activity.

Vil: 04/25 - 05/30/2019

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NOTICE OF QUAL. OF HYDROEXCAVATORS, LLC Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 4/3/19. Off. Loc: NY Co. LLC org. in DE 3/25/19. SSNY desig. as agent of LLC upon whom proc. against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to NRAI, 28 Liberty St., New York, NY 10005, the Reg. Agt upon whom proc. may be served. DE off. Addr.: 160 Greentree Dr., Ste 101, Dover, DE 19904.

Cert of Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 04/25 - 05/30/2019 Notice of Formation of Apex Place LIHTC Associates LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 5/8/19. Office location: NY County.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 902 Broadway, 13th Fl, NY, NY 10010. Purpose: any lawful activity.

Vil: 05/23 - 06/27/2019

Notice is hereby given that a liquor license, serial number 1318061, for beer, wine, liquor and cider has been applied for by the undersigned to permit the sale of beer, wine, liquor and cider at retail in a catering establishment under the Alcoholic Beverages Control Law at Aramark Services Project Inc, located at 55 E 52nd St., New York, NY, 10022 for on premise consumption.

Aramark Services Inc. Vil: 05/16 - 05/23/2019

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a license (license # pending) for beer, cider, wine, and liquor has been applied for by Classic Harbor Line, LLC (D.B.A. Full Moon) to sell beer, cider, wine, and liquor at retail in a vessel under the Alcohol Beverage Control Law at 62 Chelsea Piers, New York, New York 10011 for on-premise consumption.

Vil: 05/16 - 05/23/2019

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Real Estate

This Hamilton Heights pad needs work, but has a great G.W.B. view.

Fixer-uppers are so doable! ... Really?

A two-bedroom, two-bath on E. 72nd St. is well priced and looks nice in the photos, but Levin admits it needs work.

“We had it staged — actually, not virtually — but it took months of peeling off ancient wallpaper and fabric, and cleaning and scrubbing and painting, not to mention removing lots of broken furniture,” the agent said. “We cosmetically improved it so prospective buyers would see the tremendous pluses of the space instead of immediately focusing on the need for renovation.” $949,000.

(Wohlfarth.com/listing/RPLU-403619489693/)

BY MARTHA WILKIE

W

henever friends begin renovations, I send them a New Yorker cartoon in which an agent shows an apartment to a couple and says, “It’s a real fixerupper, how’s your marriage?”

Renovations can be fraught. A rule of thumb is that it’ll take twice as much time and cost twice as much as you think.

One family spotted a townhouse in the Village that was a (relative) bargain: a single-family that had been converted to apartments in the 1920s. Delivered empty — except for one tenant. Architects Zack and Richard H. Lewis, a father-andson team, worked around this.

“Dust and managing expectations were probably the hardest things,” Zack Lewis said. “To complicate matters, we added an elevator that had to cut through her apartment. It all worked out in the end, but the duration of the project was something no one was truly prepared for.

“We started to renovate around the tenant, but it was hard on her, so she was happy when we bought her out,” the owner said. “The lucky part is that the house has a beautiful, traditional layout, which I love. I think the trend for open spaces has gone too far. Our rooms are comfortable on a human scale.”

According to agent Hanina Levin of Wohlfarth & Associates, “Some buyers love ‘wrecks.’ With a wreck they get to start from scratch and the result will be exactly to their taste.”

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May 23, 2019

A three-bedroom, one-bath in Hamilton Heights has, in the agent’s poetic words, a view of the “sparkling necklace of lights that is the George Washington Bridge at sunset.” $499,999.

(Streeteasy.com/building/79-hamilton-place-new_ york/2t) Also, in Hamilton Heights, a three-bedroom (although it looks like two, really) needs work, but has nice original details, like unpainted French doors. $300,000.

(Compass.com/listing/228184249327436977/view) This Morningside Heights building has a fixer-upper that needs so much fixing, the agent won’t show the apar tment’s interior.

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Morningside Heights has an affordable three-bedroom, twobath on the market. Currently used as an office. The agents don’t dare show one photo, so caveat emptor. $795,000.

(Stribling.com/properties/20754612) Schneps Media

& MAY 25TH & 26 TH THIS IS A RAIN OR SHINE EVENT

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PHOTO BY MILO HESS

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Artâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in the park

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It looks like the Hudson River bike path now has markings ensuring that it is wheelchair-accessible, as seen in this stencil on the path at Chambers St. in Tribeca. At least, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how the photographer saw it.

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