Our Town Downtown January 12, 2012

JANUARY 12, 2012 | www.otdowntown.com

Villagers and NYU Battle Over Planned Expansion (P4)

HOW TO

FEST IN

2012

From music to food to film, we present the best festivals Downtown for your year ahead (P6)

Shocking Details About Private Danny Chen’s Death (P4)

Downtown Social MulchFest 2012 (P3) illustration by Keisha Cedeno

Paradise Lost 3 New HBO doc explores the bittersweet end for the West Memphis three (P10)

� N E I G H BO R H O O D C HAT TE R WORLD TRADE CENTER PERFORMING ARTS CENTER BOARD PICKED AFTER MUCH ANTICIPATION Almost at the end of the year, Dec. 29, 2011, the board for the World Trade Center’s Performing Arts Center was finally named, avoiding the potential loss of over $100 million designated for the future project.

The board members include Community Board 1 Chairperson Julie Menin, Silverstein Properties Chief Executive Officer and President Larry Silverstein, Brookfield Office Properties Co-Chairperson John Zuccotti, Vidicom Chief Executive Officer and Founder Christy Ferer and Walt Disney Company Vice President Zenia Mucha. Representing Mayor Michael Bloomberg on the board will be First Deputy Mayor Patricia Harris. The board is responsible for raising funds for the Center and selecting a final location.

CITYWIDE ASSEMBLY TO TWEET It looks like the New York State Assembly is entering the social media age. Last week, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced that the assembly had established an official Assembly Majority account on Twitter, @NYSA_Majority. The account will serve as a central source for updates on Assembly proceedings. For other updates, access to press releases, calendars and reporters, citizens can visit the Assembly’s website, www.assembly.state.ny.us.

BLOOMBERGS VOWS TO KEEP FINGERPRINTING OF FOOD STAMP APPLICANTS IN PLACE While Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in last week’s State of the State address that he was looking to end the city’s policy of fingerprinting individuals who apply for food stamps, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he would attempt to convince the governor otherwise. In a speech last week, Bloomberg stood by the policy, saying it deterred people who try to “game the system.”

In response to Bloomberg’s stance and comments on the policy, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn released the following statement: “In these tough economic times, we need to help New Yorkers get the federal services they qualify for, not put obstacles in their way. Unfortunately, Mayor Bloomberg and I couldn’t disagree more—fingerprinting food stamp applicants is a time-consuming and unnecessary process that stigmatizes applicants and has prevented 24,000 New Yorkers from

Pantsless at Bleeker

A young woman takes part in the “No Pants Subway Ride” Sunday, Jan. 8, at a Bleecker Street station. The event is organized on an annual basis by the noted prank collection Improv Everywhere.

According to the rules of the day, pantless participants must act like they do not know each other and if a bystander asks what happened to their trousers they must say they simple forgot their pants. photo by Jim Kiernan | jim-kiernan.com

getting the help they deserve. The state has the authority to eliminate finger imaging in New York City, and the mayor should not even think of challenging Governor Cuomo’s decision.”

CHINATOWN/LOWER EAST SIDE ASIAN AMERICAN REPRESENTATION GROWS ON CB3 Since taking office in 2006, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer says he has made diversification and de-politicization of Community Boards a priority while managing the borough’s 12 advisory boards. In this time, the Asian-American membership of Community Board 3 has tripled, Stringer reported at a press conference last week. Almost 25 percent of the board’s membership is now Asian American. Appointees include Justin Yu of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Jimmy Cheung of the United Fujianese of America Association and Thomas Yu of Asian Americans for Equality.

“Asian Americans are New York’s fastest growing population, and that is precisely why they must be represented in its civic life to advocate for community interest on a diverse range of issues,” said Stringer. “I understand firsthand the benefits of public service—as a teenager, I was the one of the youngest New Yorkers appointed to a community board in my home district of Washington Heights.”

Stringer also urged more individuals to learn

Crime Watch

Beware of Teens with Clipboards

Police seek group of youthful robbers 2

OU R TOWN DOWNTOWN | JAN UARY 12, 2012

how to join their local community boards.

Registration for Kindergarten Was your child born in 2007? Register them now for the 2012–2013 school year to give them a leg up on their academic future.

Children who attend kindergarten are more successful in their academic careers and more likely to graduate school and attend college! Interested parents should find their zoned school by dialing 311.

Parents must still submit an admission application for kindergarten even if they’re only applying to their local school. Parents may also visit their zoned schools, as well as any preferred special interest schools, between Jan. 9 and March 2 during the admissions period. The deadline for application is March 2. Families seeking more information on available schools, programs and registration can contact the Department of Education by visiting www. schools.nyc.gov or calling 718-935-2009.

Squadron and Kavanagh Push Ban on Antibiotics Used in Livestock After the Food and Drug Administration recently announced it will restrict the use of a type of antibiotic used in livestock, State Sen. Daniel Squadron and Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh are urging for the passage of their bill, which also seeks to ban

During the early afternoon of Wednesday, Dec. 28, three teenage men carrying clipboards illegally entered a Soho apartment building on Thompson Street and allegedly stole a laptop, say police. The teenagers are believed to have found a way into the building, a classic walk-up between Houston and Prince streets, and proceeded to knock on the doors of several units until coming upon one that was unlocked. Police say they

the use of antibiotics in animals sold for food in New York.

In a release distributed last week, it was posited that the routine, non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in animals for human consumption poses a risk to public health by creating treatment-resistant bacterial infections. Squadron and Kavanagh’s bill would ban all antibiotic use in animals sold for food in the state, except in cases of treatment for sick animals.

Last week, the FDA announced that it would restrict farmers and ranchers from using the cephalosporin class of antibiotics in cattle, pigs, chicken, and turkeys; cephalosporins are also used to treat pneumonia, strep throat, and a variety of infections in humans. Cephalosporins, the release continued, are only a small portion of the routine antibiotics used in food production.

“We are what we eat, and the huge amount of antibiotics in food today poses a major health risk for us all. We wouldn’t put antibiotics in our tap water, but today, our meat and our poultry are filled with it,” said Squadron.

“The FDA’s decision to restrict one class of antibiotics is an important step, but rising drug resistance and outbreaks of food-borne illnesses mean there is still a big gap to fill. New York must take the lead in improving standards and protecting citizens by banning non-therapeutic antibiotics in our food.”

entered the apartment and appearently left a few minutes later. When the owner returned to his residence, he realized that his MacBook was missing.

Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying the teens. They are described as between the ages of 14 and 17, roughly 145 to 175 pounds. Anyone with information on these suspects are asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline, 800-577-TIPS.

downtown social

MulchFest 2012

T

he streets of New York City have recently resembled a Christmas tree cemetery, with dried-up firs and evergreens lining the edge of the sidewalks. For those looking to discard their holiday tree in a green way, the Downtown Alliance hosted its annual MulchFest at Lower Manhattan’s Bowling Green. The trunks and pine needles were quickly Leanne Staples churned up into environmentally friendly mulch, which was then distributed for use in home flowerpots or gardens.

The day also included an e-waste recycling event, hosted by the Lower East Side Ecology Center, at which locals were encouraged to drop off working or broken computers and computer parts, televisions, DVD players and cell phones, among other items.

—Photos by Leanne Staples

|

Your doctor spent 5 minutes?

Text by staff

Another reason to call.

You want an outstanding doctor and we can connect you with one who’s right for you. Whether near your home or office, doctors affiliated with Continuum Health Partners hospitals – Beth Israel Medical Center, Roosevelt Hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital, City Council Member Margaret Chin was in attendance and fed a tree in the mulching machine.

New York Eye & Ear Infirmary – are conveniently located throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. Our doctors participate in all major insurance plans.

Need a great doctor?

Call (866) 318-8759. w w w. c h p n y c . o r g

JAN UARY 12, 2012 | otdowntown.com

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� N EWS

David vs. the NYU Goliath Residents stand up to unprecedented NYU expansion

| By andrew rice Greenwich Village residents have turned out in force to protest New York University’s bid to aggressively expand their campus by nearly 40 percent by 2031.

January marked the beginning of a series of meetings held by Community Board 2 as NYU seeks to redevelop its two superblocks. Community members were fervently against the redevelopment as they filled the AIA building on LaGuardia Place to capacity, leaving over 200 people outside to bang on the windows during the Jan. 10 meeting.

The 2031 plan calls for four new buildings designed to provide another 3 million square feet of floor space to the NYU Greenwich Village campus. The building garnering the most attention is the proposed “zipper building,” which would replace the current Coles Sports Center on Mercer Street. The building, at 299 feet, would be taller than the Silver Towers complex that currently dominates the Greenwich Village skyline.

To begin its radical remodeling of the

Greenwich Village, NYU has asked the city to rezone its two superblocks from residential areas to commercial zones, “gift” several small areas of parkland, demolish several buildings and lift long-standing public space preservation ordinances.

Martin Tesler, a former CB2 board member with a degree in city planning, called NYU’s plan a “Frankenstein Godzilla of zoning that is unprecedented in the past 20 years of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.” Tesler claimed the expansion would be completely out of context with the neighborhood, more in line with the zoning regulations of Midtown Manhattan.

The Village is already in a delicate balance as NYU students flock to area stores, restaurants and bars during the week. New dormitories and facilities would mean that the area would become even more saturated with students. Residents feel NYU is ignoring community concerns by catering to its shallowly rooted students, and opponents believe that the development will be the death knell of the neighborhood as it turns into a corporate town.

Relative size comparison of the proposed ‘Zipper’ and Mercer St. buildings.

NYU students and faculty members joined the residents in their protest. Professor Mark Crispin Miller, who teaches media, culture and communication, said that his fellow faculty members are also opposed to the plan. Echoing the words of Occupy Wall Street protestors, he continued that the NYU plan for 2031 is only for the gain of the 1 percent: the school’s board of trustees and John Sexton, its current president.

“Students want a campus in a neighborhood, not a neighborhood in a campus,” said NYU graduate student Caroline Loy. According to Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the bestcase scenario if NYU is granted the approval is that the university won’t expand elsewhere in the neighborhood until the project is finished. However, he contin-

NYU ILLUSTRATION

ued, there is no guarantee that afterward NYU won’t erect new buildings and facilities or demolish existing structures elsewhere in the neighborhood.

NYU currently plans to demolish the Coles Center, a dog park and a supermarket, which residents say are vital amenities. Also slated for removal is a strip of retail stores on LaGuardia Place between Bleecker and West Third streets.

During the Monday, Jan. 9 meeting, which was moved to our Lady of Pompeii to accommodate all attendees, NYU outlined all of its proposed reforms to allow development. In an effort to garner community support, the university has promised to install a new public school on Bleecker Street, retail stores and a supermarket. NYU was unavailable for comment by press time on who would pay for the construction of the proposed public school.

New Details Emerge about Private Danny Chen’s Death Soldiers subjected the Lower Manhattan native to abuse and racial prejudice | By marissa maier

“This could have happened to any of us because of the color of our skin or the shape of our eyes,” said Elizabeth OuYang, president of the New York chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA-NY), at a press conference last week, where further details on the death of Private Danny Chen were revealed.

Chen, a 19-year-old Chinatown native, was serving in the army overseas when he was found dead in a guard tower in Afghanistan in October 2011 due to an “apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound,” according to official reports. At the end of December last year, it was announced that eight fellow soldiers were facing charges in connection with Chen’s death. The charges, which in some cases involved multiple counts, ranged from negligent homicide to involuntary manslaughter.

At the Jan. 5 press conference, OuYang shared the startling results of an investigation completed by army officials from the Southern Regional Command in

4

Afghanistan, where Chen was stationed.

The investigation once again confirmed reports that Chen was a victim of bigotry, as he was apparently hazed by fellow soldiers because of his race.

According to OuYang, who, along with Chen’s parents, met with Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick and Col. Thomas Weikert at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn the day before the press conference, the abuse started soon after Chen arrived on the base in mid-August 2011. He was the only Chinese American in his platoon and was made to do an excessive amount of exercise almost every day, from push-ups to sprints, that “quickly crossed over to abuse,” OuYang recounted.

On one occasion, he was forced to crawl over gravel while wearing all of his army equipment. He was assigned to excessive guard duty, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. Fellow soldiers called Chen racial slurs like gook, dragon lady and chink. According to investigators, on Sept. 27 a superior officer was observed dragging Chen out of bed and over almost 50 feet of gravel because he had apparently broken a hot water pump. While this incident was allegedly reported to the platoon sergeant and the squad leader, they, failed to relay this information to higher-ranking officers.

OU R TOWN DOWNTOWN | JAN UARY 12, 2012

“Had they reported this incident, [Danny] might be here today,” OuYang said, visibly fighting back tears at the press conference.

The investigation also revealed that on the day of his death, Chen had forgotten his helmet for his guard duty. Once he had retrieved the helmet from his trailer, he was made to crawl roughly 330 feet back to his guard post while soldiers pelted him with rocks. He was also not provided with enough water during his turn of duty. Around 11 a.m. that day, a shot was heard and Chen was found dead in the guard tower.

While the Army has completed its investigation, they failed to provide Chen’s parents with a copy of his journal or a copy of the Army’s autopsy report.

OuYang added that the attorney representing the eight soldiers charged in connection with Chen’s death has asked for a delay in their trial, and OuYang expressed worries that they would be tried in Afghanistan instead of the United States.

City Council Member Margaret Chin, who attended the press conference along with comptroller John Liu, noted in a statement, “The Department of Defense must do everything in its power to prevent discrimination and harassment in our armed forces. I echo the call by Danny’s parents

and OCA-NY to hold these eight soldiers accountable in a trial in the United States. We do not want these individuals to be tried in military court in Afghanistan.

Private Danny Chen, 19, If this trial is held of Chinatown, wearing his in Afghanistan, army uniform. there will be no Department of the Army United States Army PHOTO transparency and no way for Danny’s parents to see that justice is done.

“The shocking details of the abuse Danny endured confirm what we have said all along: These soldiers caused his death,” Chin added. “These eight soldiers and their commanding officers must be held accountable.”

Last week, Chin introduced a resolution in the City Council to not only honor Chen but to call upon the Department of Defense to reform their diversity and cultural awareness policies and procedures during the recruitment and training phase.

� N EWS

A Tech Revolution to Come to Roosevelt Island | By Megan Finnegan Bungeroth

Now that the winner of the high-powered competition among top universities to institute a new state-of-the-art tech campus has been named, New Yorkers can begin to gauge the implications of hosting the future Cornell/ Technion campus on Roosevelt Island.

The city had offered several potential sites, all to be given for free to the winning institution along with $100 million in supporting infrastructure improvements. The search was for a university or partnership of schools that could best design and implement a new school to churn out technically focused graduates and boost the city’s economy as well as its credentials as a destination for tech companies and talent in the same way Silicon Valley has.

After months of vying between big-name schools like Stanford, Columbia, NYU and Carnegie Mellon, the Cornell University/ Technion-Israel Institute of Technology won the bid to build on Roosevelt Island on the site of the current Goldwater Hospital, which is scheduled to be vacated within the next several years. Cornell plans to break ground on the new facility by 2017.

“We are deeply committed to becoming a part of the fabric of the Roosevelt Island community,” said Tommy Bruce, vice president of university communications at Cornell. “This project is about connecting our campus to the city around it—and that starts with our neighbors here on Roosevelt Island.”

Residents are eager to make sure that the sense of partnership continues as the project develops.

“We’re putting together a community benefit association with not just RIRA [Roosevelt Island Residents Association] but all of the island’s organizations,” said Matthew Katz, RIRA president. “Senior associations, disability associations, merchants, religious groups, the Roosevelt Island historical society.

We would like to have an amalgam of interests so that we don’t forget anything.”

Katz said that while he can’t speak for every resident of the island, he has heard only support for the Cornell/Technion proposal.

He said that most residents were crossing their fingers in the hopes that the country’s newest tech sector would be close to home.

While some universities in the city have battled their surrounding communities when seeking to expand—NYU Downtown, Columbia in Morningside Heights—Katz said Roosevelt Island residents knew that if a new school wasn’t constructed, something else, perhaps more housing that would overload the Island’s infrastructure, would have gone up when Goldwater Hospital closed. The island boasts a small population of 13,000.

Residents are hoping that Cornell’s presence will attract more local merchants and investment from the city.

“We’ve got the opportunity to use the finances and clout of Cornell and the city to try to enhance the transportation capabilities for the Island,” Katz said. “We’ve had little success with the MTA and even in the work I’ve done with the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance.

[There will be] ferry service up to 34th Street; we’d like to be included in that. It’s not rapid transit, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

RIRA is also hoping that one of the subway lines that run under the island, either the N/R or the V/M, will be built out to bring another transit option—currently, only the F train stops on the Island.

Cornell is planning to partner with Roosevelt Island schools to enhance their science curricula and bring technology to after-school programming, said Bruce. The campus is

planned as a “net zero-energy” facility, meaning that it will supposedly harness as much geothermal renewable energy as it consumes.

It also promises to participate in community programming and bring thousands of new residents, both permanent faculty and staff and temporary students, to Roosevelt Island in addition to the $100 million in investments pledged by the city.

Newly Constructed Apartments for Rent West 53/54 Street Apartments Phase 2 is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for 96 affordable rental apartments under construction on West 54th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues, in the Clinton section of Manhattan. This building is being constructed through the Inclusionary Housing Program of New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the 80/20 Housing Program of New York State Homes and Community Renewal. The size, rent, and income requirements of the 96 apartments are as follows: # APTS AVAILABLE

APARTMENT TYPE*

MONTHLY RENT**

HOUSEHOLD SIZE*

TOTAL GROSS ANNUAL INCOME RANGE***

12

Studio

$653

1

$24,891 - $29,050

42

1 Bedroom

$703

1 2

$26,674 - $29,050 $26,674 - $33,200

22

2 Bedroom

$855

2 3 4

$31,988 - $33,200 $31,988 - $37,350 $31,988 - $41,500

3

3 Bedroom

$984

4 5 6

$36,994 - $41,500 $36,994 - $44,850 $36,994 - $48,150

# APTS AVAILABLE

APARTMENT TYPE*

MONTHLY RENT**

HOUSEHOLD SIZE*

TOTAL GROSS ANNUAL INCOME RANGE***

3

Studio

$508

1

$19,920 - $23,240 $21,325 - $23,240 $21,325 - $26,560

Minimum - Maximum

Minimum - Maximum

8

1 Bedroom

$547

1 2

5

2 Bedroom

$669

2 3 4

$25,611 - $26,560 $25,611 - $29,880 $25,611 - $33,200

1

3 Bedroom

$768

4 5 6

$29,588 - $33,320 $29,588 - $35,880 $29,588 - $38,520

*SUBJECT TO OCCUPANCY CRITERIA **GAS & ELECTRIC NOT INCLUDED **RENTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE ***INCOME REQUIREMENTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

APPLICANTS WILL BE REQUIRED TO MEET INCOME, HOUSEHOLD SIZE AND ADDITIONAL CRITERIA.

To request an application, mail a POSTCARD, including your name and full address, to: West 53/54 Street Apartments Phase 2; 1357 Broadway, Box 410; New York, NY 10018. Or DOWNLOAD an application from www.w5354phase2.com Completed applications must be returned by regular mail only (no priority, certified, registered, express or overnight mail will be accepted) to a post office box that will be listed on the application, and must be postmarked by February 20, 2012.

Applications postmarked after February 20, 2012 will be set aside for possible future consideration.

Applications will be selected by lottery.

Applicants who submit more than one application will be disqualified. Photocopied applications will not be accepted. Preference will be given to: Manhattan Community Board #4 residents for 48 units; mobility-impaired persons for 5 units; visual and/or hearing impaired persons for 2 units; and City of New York municipal employees for 5 units. Preference for all units will go to New York City residents.

No broker’s or application fee should be paid to anyone regarding these applications.

ANDREW M. CUOMO, Governor MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG, Mayor NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development MATHEW M. WAMBUA, Commissioner New York State Homes and Community Renewal DARRYL TOWNS, Commissioner/CEO www.nyc.gov/hpd

JAN UARY 12, 2012 | otdowntown.com

5

The

Best of

the Fests

N

Yo u r D o w n t o w n f e s t i v a l g u i d e f o r 2 0 1 2

ew York City is teeming with cultural offerings, so much so that it can be difficult at times to organize all of the things you want to do, see, taste and experience in Manhattan.

Sometimes you might stumble upon a great street fair with a particularly good gyro, while at other times you’ll plan and plot out your visit to a fest like the Tribeca Film Festival or DOC NYC. Before embarking on your new year of festival-going in Downtown, use this guide to discover the best offerings—from food to science to performance—on this side of the city.

—COMPILED BY STAFF

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OU R TOWN DOWNTOWN | JAN UARY 12, 2012

Tribeca Film Festival (April 18–29)

The little fest that could, the Tribeca Film Festival has morphed from a means to draw crowds and tourists back to Downtown Manhattan after 9/11 into a sprawling, major destination film festival. In addition to the festival is the year-round nonprofit arts organization Tribeca Film Institute, ready and willing to aid struggling filmmakers. This year marks the 10th anniversary of programming (and parties!), and the fest promises its usual eclectic array of indies and Hollywood star power, not least of which is festival founder Robert De Niro—all bigger and better than ever before.

World Science Festival (May 30–June 3)

With a board as diverse as actor Alan Alda and Elegant Universe author and physics professor Brian Greene, the World Science Festival is where science is not only accessible but fun. Started in 2008 as part of the Science Festival Foundation, events have ranged from a staged reading of Alda’s latest theater offering, Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie, with Maggie Gyllenhaal, to live music with the lecture “Biorhythm: Music and the Body.”

The World Science Festival is especially known for offering a roster of children’s programs, like a ride around the Hudson River on the schooner Mystic Whaler or the Youth and Family Street Fair, in which Washington Square Park became a science wonderland complete with a smell and discovery lab.

Tribeca Film Festival/Jürgen Fauth, River To River/Dave Bledsoe, Feast of San Gennaro/Nicole Marie Edine, CMJ/Taylor McKnight, Leighton Meester/David Shankbone

SPRING

While this festival of dance, music and performance runs throughout the summer in all five boroughs, with its mainstage in Central Park, last year, Summerstage set up its Downtown Manhattan camp at East River Park on the Lower East Side and Tompkins Square Park in the East Village. Highlights at these sites from 2011 included a production of Henry V produced by the Classical Theatre of Harlem and the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, featuring notables like Madeleine Peyroux and the Archie Shepp Quartet. And the best part of the fest? It is the largest free performance arts festival in New York.

New York City Pridefest (June 24)

For one Sunday in June, the West Village shuts down for a parade of GLBT advocates and showoffs marching down Seventh Avenue to cheers and catcalls from the sidewalks. In addition to the parade, Hudson Street between Abingdon Square and 14th Street hosts Pridefest, an annual street fair that brings together New Yorkers and out-of-town visitors with the promise of street food, T-shirts and everything else a street fair can offer—but far more fabulous. Funnel cake always tastes better when it’s been sprinkled with tolerance and glitter, and Pridefest has been serving heaping helpings of both for the last 19 years.

FALL

Tang’s Natural NYC Dumpling Festival (September)

WI NTE R

From pierogi to potstickers, this annual festival celebrates all things dumplings. The event, held last year at Sara D. Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side, appeals to foodies looking to chow down on offerings from Italy, China, Malaysia and Poland, to name a few, and to voyeurs looking to check out the Guinness World Record-setting dumpling-eating contests. Joe Menchetti nabbed first place last year in the men’s category of the eighth annual Chef One Dumpling Eating Contest for scarfing down a record-setting 69 dumplings in two minutes. In the women’s division, Floria Lee was back for her sixth win, earned by chowing down 37 dumplings in the same time frame. Fill up on the tiny delicacies guilt-free, as profits from the event and food sales benefit the Food Bank for New York City.

NYC Apple Day Festival (September)

River To River by Jebb at Flickr, Brooklyn Boheme at DOC NYC courtesy of DOC NYC

SUMMER

Summerstage (June–August)

While one might assume this fest is centered on candied apples, pies and ciders, the fest started by Lower East Side Business Improvement District President Mark Miller in 2008 also celebrates the neighborhood’s roots in this fall fruit. According to the BID, the LES in the 1700s was almost exclusively an apple orchard owned by farmer James De Lancey Sr., and it is this past that gave Orchard Street its name. Last year, the event included a pie-eating competition with a grand prize of $500 in addition to upstate apple growers selling their wares and local restaurants offering apple-centric dishes.

Feast of San Gennaro (Sept. 13–23)

Every September for the last 86 years has found tourists and Downtown denizens alike stuffed to the gills at Little Italy’s Feast of San Gennaro, an all-you-can eat offering. In addition to the food, there are live music, cooking demonstrations and eating competitions (instead of hot dogs, there are cannolis!), parades and processions for the festival’s 11-day duration.

The whole event is still a homey affair, suffused with a block party vibe that even the masses of tourists can’t dispel. All of New York City comes out for the Feast of San Gennaro—if you haven’t been yet, you may not be a real New Yorker!

River to River Festival

Lower Manhattan’s largest free festival, presented by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in partnership with Arts World Financial Center, The Seaport and Battery Park City Authority, River to River is an all-encompassing event that includes film, art, dance and just about any other artistic medium you can imagine. Launched in 2002, this year marks a full decade of events from the East River to the Hudson, a decade that has seen performances from the likes of Patti Smith, Elizabeth Streb’s dance company and poet Ann Lauterbach paying homage to artist Sol LeWitt. This year promises just as many stellar offerings—not to mention a lower profile than many of the summer’s other festivals.

CMJ 2012 Music & Film Festival (Oct. 16–20)

For five days and nights, CMJ’s more-marathon-than-festival plays host to over 1,300 performances and dozens of film screenings in 80-plus venues. CMJ has been known to consume serious music fans who buy passes and spend the five days at seminars, panels, parties, premieres and mixers. Despite its huge scale, CMJ is still insular enough to feel like a college campus—its headquarters are actually located at NYU. For a little less than a week, you can once again enjoy the feeling of living to hear the hottest undiscovered bands play. Badges are now available at an early registration discount until Jan. 23, so don’t wait!

DOC NYC (November)

DOC NYC—a documentary-based film festival operating out of the IFC Center and NYU’s Kimmel Center—has built a reputation for attracting big names and even bigger films. The over 200 special guests who attended the festival last year included documentary film visionaries like D.A. Pennebaker and Barbara Kopple and more mainstream figures like Russell Simmons, Charlotte Rampling and Joe Frazier. Only in its second year in 2011, the fest opened with Werner Herzog’s Into the Abyss and included screenings of popular films from last year like Buck, Project Nim and Page One: Inside the New York Times. For any lover of nonfiction filmmaking, DOC NYC is a jackpot.

JAN UARY 12, 2012 | otdowntown.com

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THE 7-DAY PLAN

BEST PICK

Leakey’s Ladies

[1/13–2/4]

Dixon Place, 161A Chrystie St. (betw. Rivington & Delancey Sts.), dixonplace.org; 7:30 p.m., $16 advance, $20 door, $12 students/seniors.

Three short plays that follow Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Biruté Galdikas and the primates they loved and fought for. Featuring innovative puppet design and storytelling, Leakey’s Ladies highlights their struggles, achievements and relationships in a cozy space with cheap drinks.

THURSDAY

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 FRIDAY

❮

Domain IFC Center, 323 6th Ave. (betw. W. 3rd & 4th Sts.), ifccenter.com; $13.

A French-language psychological drama starring Béatrice Dalle, Domain is a mediation on two lives intertwined on starkly different paths. Seventeen-year-old Pierre (Isaïe Sultan) becomes obsessed with his alcoholic aunt Nadia (Dalle.) As Pierre discovers his sexuality, he tries to save his beloved aunt from herself before she brings him down with her.

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

MONDAY

❮

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OU R TOWN DOWNTOWN | JAN UARY 12, 2012

Submissions can be sent to otdowntown@manhattanmedia.com.

Loosies IFC Center, 323 6th Ave. (betw. W. 3rd & 4th Sts.), ifccenter.com; $13.

Michael Corrente’s new movie is about New York pickpocket Bobby (Peter Facinelli), who is confronted by a woman (Jamie Alexander) claiming she is pregnant from their one-night stand. Bobby is forced to reevaluate his life, take responsibility for his new child and try to win over his former lover.

John Forte and Friends with Laura Lippie City Winery, 155 Varick St. (betw. Spring & Vandam Sts.), citywinery.com; 6 p.m. seating, 8 p.m. show, $15–$20.

John Forte is a classically trained violinist and Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and producer hailing from Brooklyn. Famous for his work with The Fugees, Forte returns to City Winery with his new set, From Brooklyn to Russia with Love.

Carnivale Exotique Dominion NY, 428 Lafayette St. (betw. Astor Pl. & E. 4th St.), dominionny.com; 9 p.m doors, 10 p.m. show, $15 advance, $20 door.

Dance away the night on Dominion’s dance floor as Carnivale Exotique harkens back to a vintage fantasy wonderland where the jazz was hot and the show was hotter. Performers ranging from acrobats to sword swallowers will be on hand, plus music from the Gelber and Manning Band. Dress to impress in vintage.

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Punk Yankees Joyce Soho, 155 Mercer St. (betw. Houston & Prince Sts.) joyce.org; 7:30 p.m., $18, $12 students/seniors.

Chicago-based dance theater company Lucky Plush Productions presents Punk Yankees, a provocative new work. Combining elements of live performance, video and the Internet, they challenge ideas about authenticity, originality and the ownership of dance in the digital age.

Free Children’s Book Writing Class Housing Works Bookstore Café, 126 Crosby St. (between E. Houston & Prince Sts.), housingworks. org; 11 a.m.–noon.

Gotham Writers’ Workshop instructor Matthew Cody will inspire writers’ inner children. Through a series of lectures and short writing exercises, Cody helps budding authors bring their ideas to life on paper. Participants should bring a pen, paper and an eagerness to write.

With A Single Step: Stories in the Making of America Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre St. (betw. Grand & Howard Sts.), mocanyc.org; 10 a.m.–5p.m., $7, $4 students/ seniors, free for children under 12.

This exhibit at MoCA showcases the impact that Chinese Americans have had on American politics, culture and life, as well as how they have been perceived by themselves and fellow Americans over time. Another exhibit, titled Made in America?!, looks at the impact of globalization in America and China.

FREE Wall Street

Jadite Galleries, 413 W. 50th St. (betw. 9th & 10th Aves.), jadite.com; noon–6 p.m.

Ellen Fisch illustrates the influences of the Gilded Age and the Art Deco period on Wall Street architecture. Fisch documents all the intricate stone carvings, metalwork and manner of structural additions that cover many of Manhattan’s most artistic and historic buildings.

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

Visit otdowntown.com for the latest updates on local events.

Robinson in Ruins & Retrospective Anthology Film Archives, 32 2nd Ave. (at E. 2nd St.), anthologyfilmarchives.org; $9 general, $7 for students, seniors and children.

The film archive premieres the latest work by acclaimed filmmaker Patrick Keiller, Robinson in Ruins. Viewers follow the off-screen narrator as he presents an unseen figure named Robinson, while Keiller creates provocative and haunting essays on history, politics, landscape and time.

Live From Home Housing Works Bookstore Café, 126 Crosby St. (between E. Houston & Prince Sts.), housingworks.org; doors at 7:30 p.m., $15.

YouTube sensation Julia Nunes takes to the stage with her ukulele and powerful singing voice. The 22-year-old singer-songwriter gives audiences a toe-tapping treat as she plays originals and pop covers spanning the decades. Limited seating.

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The City Dark IFC Center, 323 6th Ave. (betw. W. 3rd & 4th Sts.), ifccenter.com; $13.

Do we need the dark? That’s the question asked by Brooklyn-based filmmaker Ian Cheney’s definitive story on the consequences of light pollution and the disappearing stars, featuring stunning astrophotography and a cast of eclectic scientists, philosophers, historians and lighting designers.

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Naked Girls Reading Westerns!

Under St. Marks, 94 St. Marks Pl. (betw. 1st Ave. & Ave. A), nakedgirlsreadingnyc.com; 9 p.m., $20.

A full-frontal literary experience. Join local burlesque luminaries, professional librarians, authors and other Naked Girls as they share tales of classic and contemporary roping, riding, cow rustling—and lonely nights. Featuring special guest Chris McDaniel demonstrating the trick roping and bullwhipping skills that have won him championships around the world.

Advance tickets recommended.

� DWE LL

The kitchen and Gray’s grandmother’s armchair.

KEYHOLES

Taking a peek into Spalding Gray’s old writing spot | By Mark Peikert

The red dining area, shows the original brick walls and tin ceiling.

This month, Our Town Downtown begins a new recurring feature called Keyholes, in which we investigate real, Downtown apartments. And who better to show that it doesn’t hurt than our own managing A collection of Gray’s awards, photos from stage proeditor Marissa Maier, who curductions, caricatures, and two Cambodian masks.

Gray’s writing desk from the 1970s. rently lives in the former Soho armchair owned by Gray’s grandmother. apartment of Spalding Gray, her stepfather.

Still boasting its original wood floors, now worn According to family lore—Maier has her smooth and polished by over a century of traffic, doubts—her Wooster Street building was originally a spice factory. It was built in 1896, according to the Maier’s living room is a brick-walled, tin-ceilinged throwback to the days when windows were heavy fire doors that still line the staircase to the units in and space was a right, not a privilege. To prove that the building. Maier has lived there off and on since point, the room has not one but two couches. the mid-1990s, when she and her mother moved Of course, living in an historical building does in with Gray, whose theater company The Wooster Group, which he co-founded in 1975, was located a have its drawbacks. In addition to recalcitrant windows, there’s a distinct lack of lighting (a shaded bulb few blocks north. has been tied to a pipe to illuminate the small kitchen Among other art, Maier’s walls are lined with area) and all of the usual problems inherent in New Gray’s Obie Award and a photo of him in a Wooster York City buildings—from less-than-reliable plumbproduction with co-star Willem Dafoe, alongside the requisite sagging bookshelves that any self-respecting ing to a Rear Window situation with Maier’s view; her neighbors keep their shades up and their lights on at editor’s apartment must feature. all times.

Aside from awards and photos, Gray’s presJust blocks away from the hustle and bustle ence can also be found in the writing desk of Chinatown, Maier’s home is a surprisingly perched next to a window overlooking a deck, a The hallway with a landscape quiet respite from the noise of the city, the kind of set of Cambodian masks picked up during the painting made by Gray’s mother. apartment seen more on television sitcoms than in filming of The Killing Fields, a Roland Joffé vehicle real estate hunts. about the Khmer Rouge regime, and a threadbare photos by George Denison

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� SE E The Final Chapter After almost 20 years, West Memphis Three chroniclers close the book

| By marissa maier When done well, documentary film has the rare ability to transcend the confines of the silver screen to effect real change in the lives of its subjects. Like Errol Morris’ The Thin Blue Line, filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s Paradise Lost trilogy about the West Memphis Three helped free three wrongly convicted men. With their third installment in the series, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, which premieres on HBO Jan. 12, the duo has closed the book on a story they have chronicled for almost 20 years—one that has left an indelible mark on them as filmmakers.

The story entered their lives by chance.

In 1993, Sinofsky said, he and Berlinger were working on a film about the funeral industry when Sheila Nevins, president of HBO Documentary Films, sent them a small piece from the New York Times’ wire service. The brief described how three teens—Damien Echols, 18, Jason Baldwin, 16, and Jessie Misskelley, 17—were alleged to have killed three 8-year-old boys in a creek in West Memphis,

Joe Berlinger, Jason Baldwin and Bruce Sinofsky in Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory.

Photo by Jonathan Silberberg courtesy of HBO

Ark. The article, which was biased against the teens, inspired Berlinger and Sinofsky to travel to the South, pursuing a story about children killing children. “[We started filming] right as the guys were arrested. The trials were a long way off...

Our original impulse was to tell the badguy story, which makes for good cinema,” Berlinger recalled. “But halfway through, we realized they were innocent. I wouldn’t say a lightbulb went off, but we started to seriously doubt the state’s version of events.”

Over the course of the trials, state prosecutors posited that the teenaged trio killed the young boys in a satanic ritual. With the trial kicking up a media frenzy, Berlinger said those involved stopped asking basic questions surrounding the teenagers’ assumed guilt, like about the lack of physical evidence at the crime scene or DNA evidence linking the teens to the site. Misskelley and Baldwin were eventually sentenced to life imprisonment, while Echols was put on death row.

After the first film, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, which documented the trials and those involved in the case, was released in 1996, both Berlinger and Sinofsky thought the film would lead to outrage and the reopening of the case. While it was met with critical acclaim and sparked a grassroots campaign to free the teens, dubbed the West Memphis Three, it did little to speed up the cogs of justice.

It was at that point that Berlinger’s view of filmmaking as advocacy work began to change. Early in his career, Berlinger said he thought of himself as a storyteller first; the advocacy element wasn’t

The War on Fashion Alex Gilvarry’s debut novel puts a designer in Guantánamo Bay | By Calvin Hennick A man languishes in a jail cell, called by a number instead of his name, held without charge and denied access to a lawyer. The stuff of Kafka? Or 21st-century America?

Alex Gilvarry’s debut novel, From the Memoirs of a NonEnemy Combatant, is couched as the Guantánamo Bay jailhouse non-confession of supposed “fashion terrorist” Boy Hernandez. Boy, who came to America from the Philippines intent on making a splash with his own line of womenswear, instead finds himself cut

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off from his adopted homeland by razor wire coils, 90 miles of ocean and a post9/11 justice system that has the power to detain him indefinitely.

Boy isn’t even sure what he’s accused of, although the smart money is riding on a connection to Ahmed Qureshi, his shady Brooklyn neighbor. Ahmed tells Boy conflicting stories about his past, claims to be Canadian despite a name and accent that suggest a Middle Eastern origin, and—most tellingly—has boxes and boxes of fertilizer stacked in his apartment. But he also provides Boy with one of his earliest gigs, paying lavishly for two custom suits, and when he offers start-up money for Boy’s own clothing label, Boy pushes aside his reservations about the man’s trustworthiness.

If the idea of a wrongly accused “fashion terrorist” making alterations to his prison uniform and quoting Coco Chanel about the nature of good and evil seems a little ridiculous, Gilvarry certainly has his share of laughs. Among them are a

OU R TOWN DOWNTOWN | JAN UARY 12, 2012

much of a factor in his work.

“The first film was a strange experience...It did everything a filmmaker could want a film to do: It won an Emmy and a Peabody, received great reviews, had a nice theatrical run and was HBO’s highest recorded broadcast at the time,” Berlinger said. “But it felt strange to be handed a statue while the people whose story you are telling were still in a little cell living in misery.”

After Paradise Lost 2: Revelations was released in 2000, Baldwin says that even his the guards began to believe his innocence and treated him better. While not technically allowed to watch the films in prison, certain guards helped Baldwin see them.

“They came to see me as a person and that what happened to me was wrong,” Baldwin said in an interview.

Almost 10 years later, in the midst of preparing to release the third documentary on Aug. 19, 2011, it was announced that Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley had accepted the rarely used Alford plea, in which they were freed while the state maintained their guilt.

Backed by a cadre of celebrity supporters, like Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and the Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines, and a team of experts, the trio were preparing an appeal when the plea was negotiated. While Baldwin has said he would have stayed in jail until his record was exonerated, Echols’ delicate health due to prolonged stints in solitary confinement on death row and the looming possibility of his execution spurred the three men to agree to the deal.

While Berlinger described the plea as a bittersweet conclusion, he and Sinofsky were faced with a different challenge: creating an alternative ending for their film, which was set to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September. With Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Berlinger and Sinofsky sought to make two films: one that appealed to those who had avidly watched the story and one for those unfamiliar with the case. The pair culled never-used footage from the shoot of the original film and looked at previously overlooked themes, like the stepfather of one of the murdered boys emerging as a possible suspect. The film has been shortlisted for an Academy Award.

While it appears the story has reached its conclusion and the men are moving on with their lives—Baldwin reported receiving his driver’s license and getting his first job—the experience of documenting this extraordinary story has stayed with Berlinger and Sinofsky. While watching days upon days’ worth of footage for Paradise Lost 3, Sinofsky was struck by the feeling that “after 18 years, it was still fresh in our minds. The experience was so acute it was as if it had never really disappeared.”

see-through burka in Boy’s collection, a fashion publicist named Ben Laden (no relation) and a smallish bedroom jokingly (and innocently, although try selling that to a military tribunal) referred to as a “sleeper cell.”

But as with all great satire, it’s difficult to tell where the jokes end and reality begins. As the pages turn, it becomes apparent that this whole thing really isn’t so far-fetched. The reader is reminded that Gitmo is an actual place, not the invention of dystopian fiction writers, and that it’s still open for business, despite the current president’s promises to shut it down. Toward the end, things get downright scary.

Tension mounts as Boy ascends the ladder of the fashion world while at the same time marching ever closer to the inevitable midnight knock on the door. But what really keeps the pages turning is the book’s most impressive accomplishment: Boy’s enthralling, hyper-readable, almost addictive voice. He brashly dismisses the nonexistent charges against him as “bigass, bald-faced, barbed-wire lies” and recalls how comic books helped kindle his early interest in fashion with their “tight leotards that both the men and women

donned, accentuating Catwoman’s nipples and Nightwing’s bulge.” Gilvarry’s glittering first-person prose provides no clues that this is his first effort. In fact, one of the novel’s few missteps is when he steps out of Boy’s voice for a few pages to give us a third-party view of the protagonist in the form of a fashion magazine profile, which is competently written but tedious by comparison.

For all the politically rich subject matter, at its heart this is a novel about the American dream. Upon arriving in New York for the first time, Boy takes a taxi to Battery Park to gaze out at the Statue of Liberty (who, forebodingly, wears a black veil over her head due to repairs).

“My story is one of unrequited love,” Boy writes. “Love for a country so great that it has me welling up inside knowing it could never love me back.”

After his ordeal, it’s clear that Boy no longer believes in a country where everyone gets the same chances, where a nobody can become a somebody, where it is justice rather than Lady Liberty who is blind. The question Gilvarry seems to be asking is whether the rest of us have stopped believing, too.

The team behind Walker’s in Tribeca have created an Italian eatery nearby called Girello (or “walker” in italian).

� EAT

PHOTO BY andrew schwartz

Walker’s Takes a Walk in Italian

| By Penny grey

T

he owners of Walker’s, Tribeca’s favorite neighborhood eatery at the corner of North Moore and Varick streets, are rolling out an Italian alternative to their American fare next door at the new pizzeria Girello (“Walker” in Italian, posing a potential confusion for the multilingual).

“This is a real departure for us,” said Gerard Walker, co-owner of the eponymous restaurant. “We’ve been the neighborhood regular for the last 30 years, so we decided it was time to become the neighborhood Neapolitan thin-crust pizza joint as well. We love the idea of evoking the same warmth with varying cuisines—that’s why we created Girello.”

Whereas Walker’s has all of the ambiance of a nostalgic American saloon, Girello has been decorated with a decidedly European feel—it looks like a simple, clean trattoria in a fading southern Italian town. “We had the option of expanding Walker’s into the space,” co-owner Scott Perez said, “but we thought it’d be fun to create the same sort of friendly environment using superior products, just different flavors.”

Walker and his partners, Perez and Martin Sheridan, first opened Walker’s three decades ago and have enjoyed steady, prosperous business there ever since. The secret to their success? “Err on the side of the customer,”

Walker confided. “New York restaurant customers are the best in the world. If you treat them well and serve them quality food, they’ll return. Never, ever take them for granted.”

Walker says it’s the customers who keep him in the business. “I have the opportunity every single day to make somebody’s night special. A customer I haven’t seen in a while will come in, and I’ll say, ‘Where ya been?’ And he’ll look at me like he can’t believe anybody would remember him. You make someone’s day like that. How many people get to show up to work and do that?”

Perez is quick to add that it’s not just the customers that keep Walker’s (and now Girello) in business, it’s also the staff. “There’s such a joy and an instant gratification in working with people who understand how to treat customers well,” he said. When the restaurant was the only spot in the neighborhood that remained open during Hurricane Irene, both men agreed it was the combined goodwill of the staff and customers that made the experience such an enriching one.

Girello may have missed the hurricane, but the new restaurant has not been without its own complications. The toughest aspect of opening the new joint? “Perfecting the dough,” Walker said. “For water, yeast and flour, there’s a lot that can go wrong before you get it right. We actually had emails from chefs all over the city writing in about ‘dough behaviors.’ Luckily, we mastered it. We mastered the dough.”

And dough there is in abundance. With

nearly 30 toppings to choose from and the choice of either a margherita or white base, Girello is the controlling pizzatopper’s dream.

When pressed for a favorite combination of flavors, both Perez and Walker are without answers.

“Nah,” Perez said.

“It’s all good. It all comes from the same dough, right?”

Also on offer are a handful of Italian and Italian-American sandwiches (including the New Orleans-style muffuletta), salads and appetizers; look out especially for the pancetta wrapped shrimp and the oven-roasted P.E.I. mussels. And in true Walker’s style, Girello offers plenty of alcohol to wash down a meal—a selection of Italian wines and a more international choice of beer, including Peroni and Heineken, along with specialty brews like Victory Hop Devil IPA and Ommegang Witte.

“It’s all just been a lot of fun,” Walker

said with a glow. “Opening Girello now has reminded me of what it felt like to open Walker’s all those years ago—makes me feel like a young man again. Maybe that’s what we mean when we say Walker’s is the sort of place that makes the old feel young and the young feel like they’ve been there forever. Judging by the way I feel, Girello is following that tradition.”

Girello, 16 N. Moore St. (betw. N. Moore & Varick Sts.), 212-941-0109; 11 a.m.–11 p.m.

BARCLAY TOWER

Barclay Tower, located at 10 Barclay Street, is opening its waiting list and accepting applications for 1 moderate-income rental apartment. The size, rent, and income requirements of the apartment are as follows: # APTS AVAILABLE

FAMILY SIZE*

APARTMENT TYPE*

MONTHLY RENT**

TOTAL GROSS ANNUAL INCOME RANGE***

1

1 2

1 BED 1 BED

$2,334 $2,334

$73,705 - $87,150 $73,705 - $99,600

MINIMUM-MAXIMUM

*SUBJECT TO OCCUPANCY CRITERIA INCLUDES GAS FOR COOKING ** RENTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE ***INCOME REQUIREMENTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

APPLICANTS WILL BE REQUIRED TO MEET INCOME AND ADDITIONAL CRITERIA. To request an application, mail a POSTCARD to: Barclay Street Realty LLC, P.O. Box 3628, New York, NY 10163 Requests must be postmarked by February 10, 2012.

Complete applications must be postmarked by March 9, 2012.

Applications not sent via regular mail or postmarked after March 9, 2012 will be logged in after all other applications.

Applications will be selected by lottery.

Priority will be given to applicants who live or work in New York City.

No broker’s or application fee should be paid to anyone regarding these applications.

Only the first 3,000 requests for an application will be honored.

JAN UARY 12, 2012 | otdowntown.com

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Healthy Manhattan a monthly advertising supplement

Best Time to Stop Smoking is Now

By Dr. Cynthia Paulis The great thing about a new year is starting with a clean slate and looking at the next 12 months with a new set of goals. If you are a smoker, now is a great time to stop.

Let’s face it: Being a smoker in New York isn’t as easy as it used to be. Along with the difficulty of finding a place to smoke, huddling outside in an alley in the rain, snow and freezing temperatures, there is also the cost factor.

Cigarettes can now cost more than $10 a pack. Smoking a pack a day costs $3,650 a year—a nice vacation you are blowing away in smoke.

The most obvious reason to quit smoking is for your health. Smoking affects every organ in your body and is the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the United States, leading to 393,000 deaths annually. Tobacco smoke is harmful to smokers and nonsmokers. Cigarette smoking causes many types of cancer, including in the lungs, esophagus, larynx, mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, pancreas, stomach and cervix. It also causes heart disease, stroke, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, cataracts, macular degeneration and hip fractures.

A pregnant smoker is at higher risk of premature delivery and abnormally low birth weight. In addition, a woman

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who smokes during or after pregnancy increases her infant’s risk of death from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Secondhand smoke is especially harmful to young children and even pets, who can develop cancer and lymphomas from inhaling smoke. Cats can develop oral cancer from licking the cancer-causing carcinogens that accumulate on their fur and have a higher risk of developing malignant lymphoma. Dogs have an increased incidence of cancer in the nose and sinus area.

If someone gave you a cocktail at a New Years Eve party and said, “Here’s a great drink; it’s addictive and is made from arsenic, benzene, cadmium, vinyl chloride, formaldehyde and toluene,” would you drink it? Hopefully, you would have the good sense to refuse it. Those chemicals are just a few of those packed into every cigarette.

So why is it so hard to quit smoking?

Two reasons. The first is nicotine, a drug found naturally in tobacco that accounts for the physiological problems of smokers. Nicotine is absorbed into your

OU R TOWN DOWNTOWN | JAN UARY 12, 2012

bloodstream and is carried throughout your body, where it can stay three to four days after stopping.

The second component is the psychological aspect of smoking, or the excuses you make for smoking. “I’m bored,” “It helps me relax,” “I’m stressed and “I only smoke when I go to a bar with my friend” are all excuses I have heard from smokers.

Several ex-smokers who were twoand three-pack-aday smokers who were able to quit cold turkey without any help seemed to have something in common; they had an illness that scared them.

“I quit when my doctor refused to operate on me for triple bypass surgery unless I quit smoking,” said Mike, a cab driver and former three-pack-a-day smoker. “It was tough, but I did it and I feel so much better. I chewed gum, ate carrots and drank coffee. That was 20 years ago.”

Jim P. a 58-year-old stockbroker, used to smoke two packs a day. He quit when he got pleurisy and thought he was having a heart attack. He shared this thought: “If you believe enough in yourself, you can do anything

Patches, acupuncture and medical scares have all helped ex-smokers quit.

and you will beat any addiction. You have to believe you have the power to change and that it will be real and permanent.”

For those who can’t do cold turkey, there is help. First, write down the day that you plan to quit and do it. Tell your family and friends, so they can help you keep your commitment. Nicotine replacement therapy in the form of gum and patches are now available over the counter and will provide the nicotine without the harmful chemicals in cigarettes. Prescription medication from your doctor, like Zyban and Chantix, may help you—but remember, there are always side effects to these medications.

Give your mouth something to fight the tobacco craving, like sugarless gum, nuts, sunflower seeds or green tea, which is great for weight loss. Go online and join a stop smoking program. Get more exercise and stay away from places where you used to smoke or people who smoke so you won’t be tempted. Some people have had good success with acupuncture, in which a staple is placed in the ear. Others have had success with hypnosis.

Whatever works for you to accomplish you goal, now is the time to do it.

Remember, no one dies from cigarette cravings, and the benefits you reap from stopping smoking will add years to your life.

Preventive Health CareAt New York Downtown Hospital’s Wellness and Prevention Center Dr. Danielle Mellace provides comprehensive care at New York Downtown Hospital, emphasizing Wellness and Prevention in her medical practice.

Her specialties and interests include: • Internal Medicine • Osteopathic Medicine • Yoga Therapy • Food as Medicine • International Medical Perspectives

Dr. Mellace focuses on educating her patients about chronic disease prevention through early detection, screening, and healthy living through diet and exercise. She employs the healing benefits of Osteopathic Medicine to prevent and treat musculoskeletal and medical conditions. Dr. Mellace is also a certified yoga instructor with international medical experience, which provides a unique, multi-cultural sensitivity and depth to her practice.

To schedule and appointment with Dr. Mellace, please call (212) 238-0180.

Outstanding Physicians. Exceptional Care.

Women’s Healthcare Services Returns to Tribeca Following the closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital, many physicians came to New York Downtown Hospital so they could continue to servetheir patients on the West SideWith the opening of anew Center on 40 Worth Street, we are pleased to welcome two exceptional physicians back to the community. They will be working in collaboration with physicians from Weill Cornell Medical Associates.

Dr. Zhanna Fridel and Dr. Vanessa Pena are board certified obstetricians and gynecologists utilizing leading diagnostic and treatment methodologies across a broad spectrum of women's health issues.

• • • • • • • • • •

Normal and High Risk Obstetrical Care Complete Well Woman Care Diagnosis and Treatment of Gynecologic Conditions Laparoscopic Surgery Osteoporosis Detection and Treatment Urogynecology (female urology) Cord Blood Banking Cervical Cancer Vaccination Menopausal Management Contraception

For an appointment with Dr. Fridel and Dr. Pena, call (212) 238-0180

170 William Street, New York, NY 10038 www.downtownwellness.org

40 Worth Street, Suite 402, New York, NY 10013 www.downtownhospital.org

JAN UARY 1 2 , 2 0 1 2 | ot d owntown. c o m

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Healthy Manhattan

Working Out a Way to Really Take Pounds Off in 2012

By Linnea Covington It’s the same story every year: After weeks of indulging in cookies, cake, giant meals and more drinks than you can remember, the holidays have ended and you feel like a beached whale. Hence, one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions: Get in shape.

But just because you start the year strong doesn’t mean it stays that way.

Work, family, money and life in general tend to get in the way as the cycle repeats itself. Just as it is the most common resolution, the “get in shape” mantra is usually broken.

This year, instead of falling prey to the usual routine, we asked some expert fitness trainers to share their tips and thoughts on how to first, get back to the gym, and second, stay there once you do.

The experts all said three basic things: If you haven’t been working out, start slow and build up; bring a like-minded buddy to help motivate you; and, if you can, get a trainer. They also said that part of getting fit is taking care of yourself. “It’s not just what you do in the gym, you have to sleep, eat well and cut out stress,” said Matthew Cole, director of Sculpt New York. “You need to maintain the health of all your faculties.”

What to do when you get there There are a few approaches to getting in shape. The first is to take classes. Antonio Sini, owner of Nimble Fitness, recommends starting with Pilates, a dance class like salsa or tango and low impact yoga. “Learning some basic yoga moves is a great way to also take some exercise home,” he said.

For David Barton, owner of David Barton Gym, the key for newbies is to start weight lifting slowly. “Strength training gives you the most results whether you have a little or a lot of time,” he said. “If time is limited, concentrate on the major muscle groups and do as many big compound movements as you can.” He added that 20 to 30 minutes of proper movement can be highly effective. Just make sure to not overtax yourself; just because you can manage to lift the heavy weights doesn’t mean you should.

Trainers The first step in choosing a trainer is making sure they are right for you, your workout speed and your goals. “Most people don’t see the results they want and that’s why they quit,” said Barton. “A

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trainer will vary your workout at just the right time to outsmart your body’s natural flab-harboring tendencies so you can achieve your dream body.” Cole said that if you can’t afford a personal trainer, make sure to bring a friend to help motivate you to go to the gym and to work harder.

One tip from trainers: Don’t tell friends who don’t work out about your plans to make your resolution stick in 2012.

Eating “Food is a huge part of exercise and how it can benefit you,” said Sini. “It’s super important that people understand nutrition.” The first thing to understand is your body—are you trying to lose fat, gain muscle, tone or just feel more in shape? “You don’t want to work out on a completely empty stomach, so have an apple or breakfast bar an hour before,” said Sini. “But you don’t want to

OU R TOWN DOWNTOWN | JAN UARY 12, 2012

eat within 45 minutes of exercise, since the blood leaves your stomach and goes to your muscles.” The best approach: munch on a piece of fruit or plain yogurt an hour before working out, drink water during and have a light meal 45 minutes afterward.

“After you work out, your body wants to absorb nutrients and it’s one of the best times to eat,” said Sini. But, he added, “It has to be the best food, like something high in protein light in carbs and low in fat.”

Staying motivated One piece of advice the experts agreed on appears odd, but makes sense when you think about it. Don’t tell your out-ofshape couch potato friends your goal.

“Surround yourself with like-minded

people,” said Sini. Often, he said, someone who is unmotivated will bash your goal, making it hard to push yourself.

Another way to motivate yourself, he said, is to figure out what will make you happy. “First, look at yourself in the mirror and decide if your goal is to look and feel better physically—if that is going to make you happy, then do it.” He also said it’s easier to keep a more general goal, like fitting into a pair of pants, rather than losing 20 pounds.

Cole also added, “Don’t think about supermodels or what you consider normal; think about you and your own body.”

He suggests writing down your life for a day to see what you actually do and how you can incorporate more exercise into a daily routine.

And for those who think of exercise as real work, try Barton’s theory on going to the gym: “For that one hour of my day, that time is all mine. The gym, it’s like my sanctuary.”

Healthy Manhattan

City Weighs in on Staying Fit and Losing Weight New York City’s Department of Mental Health & Hygiene has launched many efforts to combat obesity. The agency’s website, which can be found by visiting www.nyc. gov is a treasure trove of information about healthy eating and free fitness programs.

Here is a sample: Unhealthy eating and lack of physical activity increase the risk of obesity and associated chronic health problems, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis and cancer. In New York City, 57 percent of adults and 39 percent of children are overweight or obese, and one in three adult New Yorkers has either diabetes or pre-diabetes. Obesity has increased significantly in the city in recent years—from 2002-2004, New Yorkers collectively gained 10 million pounds, and this trend continued through 2007.

Obesity-related health problems account for almost 20 percent of Medicaid and Medicare expenditures.

When asked in a 2004 survey, 14 percent of New Yorkers reported eating no fruits or vegetables at all on the previous day. The majority of U.S. adults eat more than two times their recommended daily amount of salt and consume too much saturated fat.

Eating more fruits and vegetables is one way to protect against many chronic conditions, such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

Reducing the amount of high-sodium and high-fat foods consumed can help prevent high blood pressure and heart disease.

Americans consume about 250 more calories per day than 30 years ago: about half of these extra calories come from increased consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks.

Only one-quarter of New Yorkers report engaging in physical activity 30 minutes per day, four days per week. Being physically active is important for weight management— creating a healthy balance between calories consumed and burned—and for preventing a variety of chronic conditions and diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

Free Fitness Programs Shape Up New York is a free family fitness program offered at parks sites, community centers and housing sites around New York City. Fitness classes are open to adults and children. Classes cover activities such as step aerobics, fitness walking, light weights, stretching and toning exercises.

Shape Up New York is designed to encourage the development of healthy lifestyles and help improve participant selfesteem through energizing physical activity in a non-competitive environment. The program is sponsored jointly by the City’s Health and Parks Departments.

Below is a list of a few of Manhattan’s Shape Up sites: Alfred E. Smith Recreation Center 80 Catherine St. 212-285-0300 Recreation Center 54 348 E. 54th St. 212-754-5411 Hamilton Fish Recreation 128 Pitt St. (212-387-7687 Thomas Jefferson Recreation Center 2180 1st Ave. 212-860-1383 Healthy School Ideas With over 40 percent of New York City’s youth overweight or obese, it is important

that schools promote healthy eating and regular exercise. Student success depends on a blend of academic skills, good health and physical and mental fitness.

Unfortunately, foods and beverages sold for fundraisers are often high in fat, sugar, salt and calories. Unhealthy food or beverage fundraisers send confusing and contradictory health messages, increase the availability of junk food in schools and teach kids to compromise their health for a profit.

Conversely, healthy food and non-food fundraisers send clear health messages and help change the school environment; increase the health of the students, school staff and parents; and help everyone make a profit.

Healthy Fundraiser Ideas • Sell produce (e.g., holiday baskets, Parent-Teacher Conference sale, concession stand, etc.)

• Hold a student vs. faculty or student vs. alumni sporting event • Have an -athon (e.g., walk, dance, bike, hula hoop) • Offer evening parent classes (e.g., aerobics, dance)

You love that ‘aha’ moment; you want your students to love it, too.

Math for America is looking for people who want to become part of a supportive community of mathematics teachers and school leaders.

The MƒA Fellowship: a five-year program with stipends of up to $100,000 for recent college graduates and mid-career professionals.

The MƒA Early Career Fellowship: a four-year program with stipends of up to $70,000 for secondary mathematics teachers.

The MƒA Master Teacher Fellowship: a four-year program with stipends of up to $60,000 for experienced mathematics teachers.

The MƒA School Leader Fellowship: a two-year program with stipends of up to $10,000 for school leaders with math backgrounds and $20,000 in funding to the school.

FellowsHIP Programs

Join an accomplished group of professionals dedicated to teaching mathematics.

MƒA’s fellowship programs enable mathematics teachers and school leaders to exchange innovations in mathematics instruction, while also engaging in a larger, shared mission.

Could you be a part of the MƒA community?

Learn more at www.mathforamerica.org

JAN UARY 12, 2012 | otdowntown.com

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18

Michael Dorf Owner of City Winery

| By penny gray

photo courtesy of city winery

President/CEO Tom Allon tallon@manhattanmedia.com group PUBLISHER Alex Schweitzer aschweitzer@manhattanmedia.com CFO/COO Joanne Harras jharras@manhattanmedia.com Director of Interactive Marketing and Digital Strategy Jay Gissen jgissen@manhattanmedia.com

M

ichael Dorf, creator and owner of City Winery, at 155 Varick St. in Soho’s Hudson Square, talks about life as an entrepreneur—and it is so darn satisfying Downtown when you run a winery/restaurant/ music venue.

How did City Winery come about?

Well, it was born out of a desire to pursue my passions, really. I figured out a hospitality model around some of the things I love most: wine, music and food.

It was almost a hedonistic enterprise made for me and by me in the hopes that what appealed to me would appeal to others. Luckily for me, it did.

So you’re a real entrepreneur, then?

Yeah, you’ve got to figure out how to make money doing what you love to do in the world. The real sign of that is when it’s hard to tell what is effort and what is enjoyment. I just had to find a culture and environment that needed a business like the sort of business that would make me happy.

Was City Winery your first endeavor?

There’s a history of entrepreneurship in the family. My grandfather had a food distribution business that my father also ran. I was next in line for it, but in college I realized I was more interested in selling the arts, figuring out what that was and where that was possible.

So when I was 23, I came to the city.

I was managing a rock band at the time and tried to start up my own recording business. That failed, and a year later I turned that space into a live venue, The Knitting Factory, which opened in 1987 on Houston Street and later moved to Leonard Street. I left there in 2003 but have been in the music and promoting world for 25 years now.

Both the Knitting Factory and City Winery have been Downtown venues. Why is that?

For me, I never considered uptown.

I’ve always had my businesses Downtown. If the choice is up or down, I’m a Downtown guy. Since this is for me, ultimately I want it to be a place that my friends and I want to go. And we want to hang out Downtown.

OU R TOWN DOWNTOWN | JAN UARY 12, 2012

Has your Downtown location served you well?

It’s definitely hitting the mark. We had lofty expectations that it would do well, and sure enough, it’s doing very, very well.

What’s the most surprising element of success at City Winery?

I knew tickets could be sold to shows.

I knew how to sell alcohol at shows. I knew how to add food and atmosphere for patrons to make those experiences of live shows and the alcohol at live shows worthwhile. The one thing I wasn’t 100 percent sure of was whether or not I could make good wine. I hired a great winemaker and bought great equipment, but I wasn’t certain we’d know until…well, until we either had very good or very bad wine.

So it’s not a surprise but more of a relief that our wine is phenomenal. We keep selling out, we can never keep enough supply. And I’m feeling blessed that bring-

ing grapes from around the country—and turning those grapes into world-class wine—has been such a success.

What can we look forward to at City Winery?

We’re expanding fairly quickly and building in Chicago. We’ll be opening in June there. We also have wine on tap in our New York location; this is wine without sulfites so it’s very, very fresh. It’s a pretty unique way to consume wine, as there are no preservatives in it for the sake of the wine to travel.

Our shows at City Winery continue to stay happy; we have more and more artists who want to perform here so you can always look out for new music. In short, there’s always something to look forward to here. There’s always something new.

For more information and upcoming shows, visit www.citywinery.com.

8 million stories

Rachel Khona finds her personal cherry bomb in the form of a Stella McCartney heel

I

t could be said that most people who move to New York do so for some greater purpose. Perhaps they fantasize about becoming a billionaire stockbroker and scoring a trophy wife, becoming the next Gisele Bündchen or simply achieving world domination. I came as many others before me did: to work in fashion.

Growing up in the suburbs of South Jersey, the closest thing I had to anything remotely fashionable was the store Contempo Casuals. This was before nearby Philadelphia became the “sixth borough” and trendy boutiques started popping up there like weeds.

So when I moved to New York to live the life of a glamorous fashionista, the last thing I expected to be was broke.

When I first moved to New York, bonuses were aplenty, I got a fresh mani and pedi every week and my wardrobe received a fresh infusion at least once a month. But with the economy tanking faster than a body in the Hudson, our bonuses had all but disappeared and we received acrossthe-board pay cuts.

Being broke and working in fashion is like being on a diet and working at Krispy Kreme. So when the annual Stella McCartney sample sale rolled around, I knew I was in for trouble. There’s nothing a pescetarian fashionista likes more than McCartney’s

vegan-friendly designs.

But still, I was broke. So I told myself, I’m just going to look. It would be research for future purchases.

Once inside, I made a beeline for the shoe section. I inhaled the sweet smell of faux leather and plastic. There were orange fishnet kitten heels, lime platforms with acrylic, pink-and-black crisscross sandals and gray basketweave heels.

Nothing could be better than this. I felt like a starving Ethiopian seeing food for the first time. Just because I hadn’t planned on buying anything didn’t mean I couldn’t try on a few pairs of shoes. I tried on one pair after another, but none of them seemed right.

Then I put them on. It was love at first sight. They were 4-inch wood, t-strap platforms in a denim blue, but what really made them was the cherry appliqué. I stared down at my feet, which were now glowing.

I walked over to the mirror to get a better look. As I stared at my reflection, I began to imagine all the fabulous outfits that would now be complete with the Cherry Bomb shoes. I pictured myself walking to work while rainbows beamed out of me like rays from the sun. People would stop in their tracks and ask themselves who that fabulous vision was. Word of my amazing shoes would travel wide and far across the land—even to places like New Jersey and Oklahoma.

I snapped out of my reverie. I was going

know I couldn’t actually afford the shoes.

I glanced around furtively and pretended to walk confidently back to the shoe section. Were the salespeople looking at me? What about that security guard? When the coast was clear I quickly put the shoes back. I hurried out of there shamefully.

When I got home, I knew I needed to drown my sorrows quickly. How could I call myself a true fashionista when I couldn’t even afford a pair of heels? I should have just called it a day and moved to L.A., where I could dress like a cheap whore and pretend it was fashion—ahem, Uggs.

But I couldn’t give up on my relationship with New York. Not yet.

I pulled out a tub of low-carb, sugar-free ice cream. I didn’t even measure out the serving size. I’ll show that damn economy.

When everything turns around, I’m going to buy those shoes at full price, damn it. Or at least at half price on eBay. In the meantime, I still have New York.

to look amazing in these shoes. Fuck it, I’m going to buy these shoes. I scampered over to the line, eager to buy them.

That’s when it started: the voices.

“Um.... you can’t really afford these, even if they are on sale.”

“It’s people like you who are responsible for this shitty economy!”

“Ahhhh! SHUT UP!” My palms started to sweat. I didn’t want to give them up. I loved my Cherry Bomb shoes. We had bonded, like the time in 1st grade when I picked out my Dressy Bessy doll from Kmart. How could I have given her back after I had picked her? It would have been like giving a child up for adoption.

I began to feel like I was in a chick lit novel, like Confessions of a Shopholic. Next thing you know, I wouldn’t be able to pay my bills and I would be out on the streets. I would start tap dancing in the subway—Union Square, of course—to make some extra cash. I would be too embarrassed to use food stamps so I would only eat once a day, allowing me to lose that last five pounds I’ve always wanted to lose. Before I knew it, I would be hanging out with that crazy schizophrenic man who hangs out on Bedford Avenue.

The line moved forward. I gulped. There were five people in front of me. I took a deep breath and ducked out of the line. “Oh, I’m just getting another pair!” I would shout in case anyone asked. I couldn’t let anyone

Rachel Khona is a writer and sometimes performer living in Brooklyn. She has written for Cosmopolitan, Inked, AskMen, American Way, Richardson and Vaga, where she is a contributing editor. She has also been featured as a dating aficionado on the radio show Broadminded and Los Originales, as well as the website How About We. For more, please visit rachelkhona.com.

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19

An Open Letter to New York City Parents New York City is losing its teachers.

More than 66,000 have either resigned or retired since Mayor Bloomberg took control of the schools.

Teachers leave one of the toughest jobs in New York City for a variety of personal and professional reasons, but the most common single reason is a lack of support from supervisors and the Department of Education.

Teaching is a craft that is acquired over time, and teachers desperately want to improve their skills. That is why the United Federation of Teachers led the campaign to create a better teacher evaluation system, one that put a priority on helping all teachers do their job better.

The UFT’s role was critical in creating the new system, and in going to Washington, D.C. to help get federal funds for it through the Race to the Top program. Starting last spring, many of our members with expertise in evaluation worked for months on the state subcommittees designing the new system.

We have been trying to work with the Bloomberg administration to iron out the final details of the new system, but the administration has refused to engage in meaningful talks about teacher and principal improvement. Instead it has focused on ensuring that administrators have unlimited power over their employees. If we agree, it will mean that supervisors’ decisions can never be properly reviewed, much less overturned. This would be true even if their negative rating of a teacher or a principal can be proven to be the result of their refusal to inappropriately change a student’s grade or to give students credit for courses they have not properly completed.

Make no mistake about it. The administration has put tremendous pressure on principals to make their schools appear to be successful. But any claims of success ring hollow in the light of national tests that show very limited student progress for the system as a whole, and state measures that show that while the high school graduation rate is increasing, the number of graduates ready for college is only about one in five.

The sad truth is that Mayor Bloomberg’s “reform” agenda — raising class size across the system; closing schools and “warehousing” the neediest students; pushing art and music out of the schools to make room for more test prep; turning a deaf ear to parents’ concerns; and appointing a completely unqualified publishing executive to be Chancellor — hasn’t made our schools better.

A real teacher evaluation system that helps all teachers improve while providing checks and balances is a critical step toward stopping the hemorrhaging of our teaching force and making our schools more effective. At the same time it would help ensure that teachers who cannot succeed in the classroom leave the profession.

We have an open offer to the administration to continue our negotiations on this issue, or even to take it to binding arbitration. It’s time the administration sat down with teachers and principals to come up with an agenda that will actually help our children learn.

Sincerely, Michael Mulgrew President United Federation of Teachers



O U R TOW N : D OW N TOWN | JA N UA RY 1 2 , 2 0 1 2