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WEEK OF DECEMBER SUBWAY BOMBER INSPIRED BY ISIS ◄ P.7
14-20 2017
CITY TO EXAMINE RIKERS REPLACEMENT OPTIONS JUSTICE Closing the facility will require the renovation of existing jails as well as the development of new sites
City Council Member Dan Garodnick at the September 2016 ribbon-cutting for the new Trygve Lie Plaza on First Avenue at 41st Street. Photo: Daniel Avila / NYC Department of Parks
BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
As part of efforts to close jail facilities at Rikers Island, the notoriously violent city lockup on the East River, officials will soon start to identify potential sites for new jails as well as evaluate existing jails for possible renovation. “While ‘close Rikers’ has become a convenient moniker, it masks the seismic system change that must happen in order to achieve that one goal,” Elizabeth Glazer, the director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, said last week in testimony before the City Council. Key to closing Rikers, she said, is the continued reduction of the city’s jail population. The current average Rikers population of just over 9,000 individuals per day is less than half what it was during the peak years of the early 1990s, and city officials hope to reduce the number of detainees another 25 percent within the next five years. “As the size of the jail population falls to 7,000, jail will increasingly be reserved only for individuals charged with serious crimes or who are a high risk of flight,” Glazer said. The drop in the jail population is attributable to overall reductions in crime and felony arrests, supplemented by changes in the criminal
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WHAT NEXT FOR GARODNICK? POLITICS In an exit interview, the outgoing East Side Council member reflects on three terms in office, ponders a political future, recounts his accomplishments — and heads for the TV and the kitchen BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
The Manhattan Detention Complex, known informally as “The Tombs,” will be evaluated for possible renovation as part of the city’s efforts to close the jail facilities on Rikers Island. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
After 12 consequential years in the City Council in which he steered to passage more than 60 pieces of legislation, Dan Garodnick is ready for a small, short break: He’s going to finally take the time to watch “The Wire.” And that’s not all. The 45-year-old Democrat, who is leaving office on December 31st because of term limits, will be trading in politicking and governing for a new regimen – groDowntowner
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FOR HIM, SETTLING SMALL CLAIMS IS A BIG DEAL presided over Arbitration Man has three decades. for informal hearings about it He’s now blogging BY RICHARD KHAVKINE
is the common Arbitration Man their jurist. least folks’ hero. Or at Man has For 30 years, Arbitration court office of the civil few sat in a satellite Centre St. every building at 111 New Yorkers’ weeks and absorbed dry cleaning, burned lost accountings of fender benders, lousy paint jobs, and the like. And security deposits then he’s decided. Arbitration Man, About a year ago, so to not afwho requested anonymity started docuhe fect future proceedings, two dozen of what menting about compelling cases considers his most blog. in an eponymous about it because “I decided to write the stories but in a I was interested about it not from wanted to write from view but rather lawyer’s point of said Arbitration view,” of a lay point lawyer since 1961. Man, a practicing what’s at issue He first writes about post, renders and then, in a separatehow he arrived his decision, detailing blog the to Visitors at his conclusion. their opinions. often weigh in with get a rap going. I to “I really want whether they unreally want to know and why I did it,” I did derstood what don’t know how to he said. “Most people ... I’d like my cases the judge thinks. and also my trereflect my personalitythe law.” for mendous respect 80, went into indiMan, Arbitration suc in 1985, settling vidual practice
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MANHATTAN'S APARTMENT BOOM, > PROPERTY, P.20
2015
In Brief MORE HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESS
The effort to help small seems to businesses in the city be gathering steam. Two city councilmembers, Robert Margaret Chin and Cornegy, have introduced create legislation that wouldSmall a new “Office of the within Business Advocate” of Small the city’s Department Business Services. Chin The new post, which have up told us she’d like to would and running this year, for serve as an ombudsman city small businesses within them clear government, helping to get through the bureaucracy things done. Perhaps even more also importantly, the ombudsman and number will tally the type small business of complaints by taken in owners, the actions policy response, and somefor ways to recommendations If done well, begin to fix things. report would the ombudsman’s give us the first quantitative with taste of what’s wrong the city, an small businesses in towards important first step fixing the problem. of for deTo really make a difference, is a mere formality will have to the work process looking to complete their advocate are the chances course, velopers precinct, but rising rents, -- thanks to a find a way to tackle business’ is being done legally of after-hours projects quickly. their own hours,” which remain many While Chin “They pick out boom in the number throughout who lives on most vexing problem. said Mildred Angelo,of the Ruppert construction permits gauge what Buildings one said it’s too early tocould have the 19th floor in The Department of the city. number three years, the Houses on 92nd Street between role the advocate She Over the past on the is handing out a record work perThird avenues. permits, there, more information of Second and an ongoing all-hours number of after-hours bad thing. of after-hours work the city’s Dept. problem can’t be a said there’s with the mits granted by nearby where according to new data jumped 30 percent, This step, combinedBorough construction project noise Buildings has data provided in workers constantly make efforts by Manhattan to mediate BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS according to DOB of Informacement from trucks. President Gale Brewer offer response to a Freedom classifies transferring they want. They knows the the rent renewal process, request. The city They 6 “They do whatever signs Every New Yorker clang, tion Act go as they please. work between some early, tangible small any construction on the weekend, can come and sound: the metal-on-metal or the piercing of progress. For many have no respect.” p.m. and 7 a.m., can’t come of these that the hollow boom, issuance reverse. owners, in business moving The increased beeps of a truck has generto a correspond and you as after-hours. soon enough. variances has led at the alarm clock The surge in permits
SLEEPS, THANKS TO THE CITY THAT NEVER UCTION A BOOM IN LATE-NIGHT CONSTR NEWS
A glance it: it’s the middle can hardly believe yet construction of the night, and carries on full-tilt. your local police or You can call 311
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cery shopping, cleaning, jogging and cooking for his family. “I make a mean spaghetti and meatballs. Also sausages, fried chicken and chili. Nothing particularly healthy,” he says. “I feel like this is my moment.” Don’t expect it to last. Garodnick is on a very short list of the political players most likely to mount a credible run for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s job in 2021 when the incumbent must depart City Hall and the race is wide open. In fact, four years out, he’s already sitting on an enviable campaign treasury with $1.1 million in the bank, including $353,000 he amassed for the 2017 election cycle, when he wasn’t even running for office, filings with the city’s Campaign Finance Board show.
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IMAGINE ... THERE IS JOHN LENNON VIEWPOINT A what-if question on the anniversary of his death: what would he make of President Trump? BY JON FRIEDMAN
Asking “what if” is a risky, ultimately empty exercise. But we all do it now and then, when the weight of the moment threatens to overwhelm our normal sensibilities. That’s how I feel every Dec. 8, the date marking John Lennon’s death. What if Lennon hadn’t been killed, by a lunatic’s handgun outside his home on the Upper West Side, on the unseasonably warm Monday evening in Dece 1980? What might he have gone on to do? What would he be singing, writing and talking
about today? How much more would our lives have been enriched by his influence? Would The Beatles have gotten back together? And, of course, the elephant in the room in 2017: What would John make of his fellow New Yorker, President Donald Trump? Since Lennon died nearly two generations ago, some historical background is necessary. Born in Liverpool, England in 1940, he met Paul McCartney and George Harrison when he was still in his teens and they formed The Beatles (Ringo Starr joined later, in 1962). The Beatles went on to become the greatest, most dynamic and most popular rock and roll band of all time — and many of us brilliant fossils feel that that is still true today. But Lennon was more than a great singer and songwriter —
and he was very great, at both jobs. He, like his peer and rival Bob Dylan, stood for something. Lennon couldn’t abide nostalgia for the good old days. He always wanted to grow and change, and he brought both his band and his generation with him for a glorious ride. He became a devoted, if quirky, peacenik at the end of the Sixties. By the time of his death, he had created and/or popularized some of the great catch phrases of modern popular culture: I’d love to turn you on, all you need is love, give peace a chance, come together, instant karma, imagine, gimme some truth, power to the people and mind games. He also sang: living is easy with eyes closed, I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together, life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other
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Unsilent Night
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At Strawberry Fields in Central Park, November 20, 2017. Photo: Dave Addey, via flickr plans. And one of my sneaky favorites: que pasa, New York. Que pasa, Trump? Lennon would have likely found Trump fascinating, horrifying and perplexing. He would have written a great song or two and invented a new buzz phrase. Close your eyes. You can practically glimpse Lennon grinning slyly, over his blue-rimmed granny glasses, as he imagines the mischief he can get into. You can almost imagine Trump asking if the government can reopen the deportation case against Lennon, four-decades-plus on. I miss Lennon’s brilliance with words at those daydreaming moments. I ponder all of the good he might have done for our society as I recall how fittingly we could use some of his anthems today. “Across the
Universe” might have served as a rallying cry against Trump’s sins against the environment. “How Do You Sleep” would have worked just fine with Trump, not Paul McCartney, as its target. Do I even have to paint you a picture for “Nowhere Man” (and McCartney’s apt “Fool on the Hill” would have been the appropriate B-side)? Lennon may be gone, but plenty remains — his wit, his humor, his caustic observations, his notorious impatience with people who wasted his time, his penchant for waving a one-finger peace sign at the establishment with a brilliant turn of phrase and his strength of purpose and character. He could accomplish more with an unforgettable song lyric than an army could, even with all of its bullets. The Eighties would
not have seemed so fake and futile. The Nineties would have been burnished by his ebullience at the end of the Republican dominance. The Obama years would have gleamed. Lennon would have loved that blissful eight-year run, which now seems like it happened in another century. In my utopian foolishness, I imagine him challenging Ronald Reagan’s destructive policies, rocking out at Live Aid (with Paul, George and Ringo?), electrifying Bill Clinton’s first inaugural ball (with Paul, George and Ringo?), castigating W’s stolen presidential victory (“I read the news today/ Oh boy/About a lucky man who made the grade”), and getting numerous awards and citations from Barack Obama. We are all together.
Washington Square Park | unsilentnight.com Every December since 1992, Phil Kline has led the Unsilent Night holiday procession of boomboxes through downtown (sister events take place around the world). Join the crowd at Washington Square Park where the piece—and a few vintage stereos—will be distributed (free).
The Guardian Live: Making Sense of 2017
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19TH, 7PM
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The Greene Space | 44 Charlton St. | 646-829-4000 | thegreenespace.org Wrap up a not-slow news year with lightning conversations on “the 5am tweet,” “the Weinstein effect,” and “the rise of white nationalism” conducted by Guardian correspondents ($20, includes one drink).
Just Announced | Rose McGowan in Conversation with Ronan Farrow
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1ST, 7:30PM 92nd Street Y | 1395 Lexington Ave. | 212-415-5500 | 92y.org Time Magazine co-Person of the Year Rose McGowan talks about the abuse that led her to be an activist, and the courage it took to break her silence. She’ll be joined by Ronan Farrow, who unleashed a torrent with his scoop in The New Yorker ($40).
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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG WITNESSES THWART THIEF
STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 1st district for
Two people who saw an attempted purse snatching on Maiden Lane held the alleged thief until police arrived. At 10:25 p.m. on Wednesday, November 29, a Maiden Lane resident was outside her building when a 25-year-old man grabbed her from behind and tried to make off with her handbag, according to a police account. A 32-year-old woman intervened, at which point the would-be purse snatcher tried to flee but was detained nearby by 31-year-old man. Witnesses identified the alleged perpetrator to police and Marcello Cajina was arrested and charged with robbery.
Week to Date
Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr
WHAT A CROC WALLET THEFT ARREST Police arrested a man suspected of taking a woman’s dropped wallet. At 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday, November 29, a 53-year-old woman accidentally dropped her wallet inside the BMCC at 245 Greenwich Street. An 18-year-old man was later seen on security video picking up the wallet and leaving the location, police said. Nearly $3,000 in unauthorized usage soon turned up on one of the stolen credit cards. Jorge Ruiz was arrested December 1 and charged with grand larceny.
The Lacoste crocodile would probably like to sink its teeth into six shoplifters. At 5:08 p.m. on Sunday, December 3, a group of six individuals — five men and one woman — entered the Lacoste store at 541 Broadway and picked up merchandise worth more than $2,000 before leaving the store without paying. Police searched the area but couldn’t locate the shoplifters. The items stolen included two navy jackets totaling $1,160, two black hooded jackets of no stated value, one black sport polo worth $65, a white sweatshirt priced at $120, a navy vest tagged at $200, a white puffer jacket
valued at $325, and a royal-with-neongreen zipper priced at $230, making a total stolen exceeding $2,100.
NOTA BENE An alleged bike thief returned to the scene of his crime, and police arrested him. At 1:40 a.m. on Wednesday, November 30, a 26-year-old male employee of the Cucina Bene Pizza shop at 41 Exchange Place spotted a 37-year-old man who he believed was the man who had stolen his electric bike just after midnight on November 22. The employee called the police,
Year to Date
2017 2016
% Change
2017
2016
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
9
0
n/a
Rape
0
0
n/a
15
9
66.7
Robbery
1
1
0.0
67
55
21.8
Felony Assault
0
0
n/a
85
74
14.9
Burglary
0
0
n/a
60
110
-45.5
Grand Larceny
23
18
27.8
974
1,007 -3.3
Grand Larceny Auto
1
2
-50.0
15
49
video of the previous incident was reviewed, and a positive ID was made, police said. Morgan Soto was arrested and charged with grand larceny. There no word on whether the stolen bike, valued at $1,800, was recovered.
PARK PLACE DISGRACE A pickpocket preyed on a woman struggling with heavy luggage in the subway. At 8:40 a.m. on Thursday, November 30, a 31-year-old woman got off a southbound 2 train at Park
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Place with her luggage and pocketbook. As she was walking up the subway staircase she had trouble lifting her luggage, so she placed her pocketbook behind her back. A male passenger then helped her up the stairs but advised her to check her pocketbook because he’d seen a man go behind her on the stairs and then retreat down the stairs again quickly. Sure enough, she checked her pocketbook and found her wallet was missing. She canceled her credit cards, and fortunately, no unauthorized charges turned up.
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“We are listening to where the soul aches,” says the Rev. Jewelnel Davis, Columbia University chaplain. Photo: Christopher Moore
The Rev. Audette Fulbright, associate minister at All Souls Church on Lexington Avenue, says that “seeing women in positions of leadership matters.” Photo: Christopher Moore
“I’m really blessed to live at a time when I can serve in this role,” says Rabbi Felicia L. Sol of B’nai Jeshurun on the Upper West Side. Photo: Christopher Moore
WOMEN OF FAITH RELIGION How three groundbreaking spiritual leaders view their roles in the community
these women share traits too, like a talent for busting barriers with grace and good humor. Now they’re ready to mark the holidays of 2017 and the New Year with their services. And their own service, too.
BY CHRISTOPHER MOORE
Jewelnel Davis: ‘The win is in the diversity’ They became the role models they didn’t have. And they did it years before our #MeToo age, with its dramatic shifts in gender politics and women’s empowerment. A year after arguably the world’s most famous woman in politics did not break a glass ceiling, these women — in the realm of religion — do it every day. These Manhattan-based women of faith, at different stages in their New York careers, play different spiritual and professional roles — one at a university, one at a church, one at a synagogue. From different traditions,
The Rev. Jewelnel Davis says that part of her work is to walk tenderly through difficult emotions. “This is going to sound sad, and I’m not sad about it,” she says in her basement office at St. Paul’s Chapel at Columbia University. “Chaplains are the keepers of secrets and the keepers of the dead. A lot of the time we are listening to where the soul aches.” Davis has been listening for 22 years at Columbia, where she is also an associate provost. She likes the challenge and the idea of always being “in learning mode,” she says. “I think one is always humble. One is always aware
that there is less that you know than you think you know.” She talks with appreciation about the diversity at Columbia, including a Catholic ministry with links to the neighboring Corpus Christi Church, a vital Hillel presence and a “very active Muslim population.” Davis purposely does not conduct her own weekly services, as some university chaplains do, not wanting to zero in on one faith tradition. Instead, she oversees a rich array of programming, representing a broad swath of beliefs — as well as agnostics and atheists. But she did arrive with a specific sense of mission. She wanted the university to interact more with nearby areas, including Morningside Heights but also reaching out to Washington Heights and Harlem. “We have been able to rebuild and shore up relationships with the communities,” she says, adding that the mission only became more crucial in the aftermath of the university’s
high-profile development to the north. The idea of becoming a university chaplain came from Davis’s mentor, Jacob Neusner, an academic scholar on Judaism. At a pivotal crossroads, Davis wondered what was next in her career. Neusner asked Davis if she had ever considered becoming a university chaplain. “I said: Do you know any black people who are university chaplains? Do you know any women who are university chaplains?” Davis remembers. “And he said, ‘I don’t know any and it doesn’t mean you can’t be the first.’” After a long tenure at Bard College upstate, Neusner died last year. But he left Davis with powerful memories of their conversations. “I really liked Jack Neusner’s style of teaching and his fundamental belief that religion had to make the link between faith and the life of the mind,” Davis says. She grew up in the Baptist faith, but her work with Neusner un-
derlines her passion for crossing religious traditions. “The win is in the diversity,” she says. Today she estimates that about 40 percent of her job is in one-on-one counseling sessions. But she’s also been a high-profile presence during difficult moments, like the death of a student, or at times of turbulence, as when 25 students met in her nearby apartment for a post-election session last year. She’s never found her academic setting to be claustrophobic — just the opposite. “There’s never been a time when it felt like I was in a small, gated environment,” she says. “It has challenged me. It has never disappointed me,” she says. “Every dawn brings new opportunities.” On Oct. 8, she turned 60. “There are so many new things to learn,” she says, looking content. “It’s going to be a great decade.”
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DECEMBER 14-20,2017
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SUBWAY BOMBER TOOK INSPIRATION FROM ISIS TERROR Port Authority bombing suspect faces federal terrorism charges BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
One day after a would-be suicide bomber detonated an improvised pipe bomb in one of Manhattan’s busiest transit centers, injuring himself and three others and triggering a massive law enforcement response that disrupted the morning commute for thousands of New Yorkers, the scene at the Port Authority Bus Terminal had largely returned to normal, aside from a visibly increased security presence and lingering news cameras filming the usual bustle of commuters and tourists. Monday morning’s blast, in an underground passageway near 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue, resulted in only minor injuries to bystanders but forced the suspension of service at the nearby Port Authority Bus Terminal, at the subway station there and at Times Square. At about 7:20 a.m., Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant living in Brooklyn, detonated an “improvised, low-tech explosive device attached to his body” in the underground passageway connecting the Seventh Avenue and Eighth Avenue subway platforms at 42nd Street, according to NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill. The bomb, built from a metal pipe filled with screws that Ullah attached to his body with zip ties, failed to detonate as intended. Police responded to the explosion and found Ullah injured on the ground. He was taken into custody and transported to Bellevue Hospital with burns and cuts to his body. Three others who were nearby when the bomb detonated were hospitalized with minor injuries. “This was an attempted terrorist attack,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference shortly after the incident. “Thank God the perpetrator did not achieve his ultimate goals.”
Crave Fishbar’s Naked Salmon from the 2015 Art of Food
THE SECRET SAUCE Our Town’s
ART OF FOOD at
Presented by
National Guard troops on the second floor of the Port Authority the day after Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant living in Brooklyn, prematurely detonated a pipe bomb in an underground passage nearby. Photo: Liz Hardaway According to prosecutors, Ullah admitted that he drew inspiration from the attack from the Islamic State and had viewed radical content online as far back as 2014. A courtauthorized search of Ullah’s apartment revealed pipes and screws consistent with pieces of the bomb recovered at the scene of the attack. Prosecutors said that Ullah began researching how to build bombs a year ago and planned the Port Authority attack for several weeks, selecting the time and location in hopes of maximizing human casualties. Ullah now faces five federal criminal counts, including providing material support to a terrorist organization and using or attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. Additional NYPD units were deployed to transit hubs across the city as a precautionary measure, but police are un-
aware of any further specific threats, officials said. The increased police presence around the Port Authority had little apparent impact on events the day after the attack, as commuters poured off subway trains at the 42nd Street station and appeared to continue about their days unfazed. But the previous day’s incident, just six weeks after a jihadist-inspired vehicle attack in Lower Manhattan that killed eight, still weighed on the mind of at least one traveler. “I’m one of those people that think about that kind of stuff every day,” said Jacqueline Jamaleddine, a commuter at the Port Authority. “Am I going to be on the train when a terrorist attack happens?’ Because little ones just keep happening.” Liz Hardaway and Carson Kessler contributed to this report.
Crave Fishbar’s Todd Mitgang is an Art of Food alum. Last year, he was paired with Robert Cottingham’s “Women and Girls,” and made a Faroe Island Salmon Crude with banana pepper relish and crushed sunchokes. The year prior, he was paired with Roy Lichtenstein’s “Thinking Nude,” and created a naked salmon dish to compliment the artwork. “We had a lot of fun. Chefs like challenges, and what was unique about it was coming up with a pairing that somehow was inspired by the piece of art...When we go to these tasting events, we get the chance to create something totally unique.” While we wait to see what he cooks up this year for The Art of Food, Mitgang is sharing his favorite recipe with us. “I love to make this homemade spicy mayonnaise at home to use as a condiment for um, EVERYTHING,” says Mitgang.
Todd Mitgang of Crave Fishbar
Spicy Aioli BREAK THESE UP IN A FOOD PROCESSOR... 4 Thai Chilis
THEN ADD AND PUREE... 10 Egg Yolks 6 T Dijon Mustard
2/3 Cup Of Sriracha Sauce 1/2 Cup Tamari Soy Sauce 1/2 Cup Lime Juice
THEN SLOWLY ADD IN... 4 Cups Of Canola Oil & 2T Of Hot Sesame Oil
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WHERE THE HEART IS GRAYING NEW YORK BY MARCIA EPSTEIN
Dear Mr. Landlord: I know you think this building is yours and the real estate company you work for. But I want to tell you about me, and the people who have lived alongside me here for 25, 30, 35 years or more. This building is our home. In my case, for going on 40 years. I raised my two daughters
here, long before it became an “in” neighborhood and the building was billed as “luxury.” It was far from luxury when I moved in with my two little girls. In fact, it was a Mitchell-Lama building, and gentrification was many years away. Was the building perfect? No, of course not. There were troubles, things arose and needed to be done. But no one ever felt that they were second-class citizens, and we knew that this was home. Ever since Mitchell-Lama ended in this
building, Mr. Landlord, the original tenants have been seen as commodities to be gotten rid of in the name of the holy dollar. The idea is to make this building a cash cow, to fill it with young people paying the kind of money we can only shake our heads at. We are now at just about half rentstabilized and half market-rate tenants. While I can’t complain about the services in general (many buildings are worse), I feel as though only our demises will make you and your bosses happy. Then you can “renovate” and receive a ridiculous rent. In this building, Mr. Landlord, new tenants come and go so frequently the paddings are rarely taken off the elevators. They can’t afford to stay
more than a year or two, so there is constant in and out, in and out, and always new people across the hall. But Mr. Landlord, money isn’t everything. I want you to consider us senior citizens and long-time renters, see how we feel that we’re not important to you, that we are just obstacles. In fact, we are longtime Upper West Siders who consider this neighborhood our home, people who sent our kids to neighborhood schools, and who sadly watched as the almighty dollar took the place of the wonderful mix of teeming humanity and neighborhood spirit that once existed here. Please Mr. Landlord, try to understand. We know this is your building, that we are rent-stabilized ten-
ants and stand in the way of your ultimate goals. But we helped build this neighborhood, supported its public schools, gave it its character, and taught our children how to be independent New Yorkers at young ages. And we called this building “home.” We still do, Mr. Landlord. It is our home. Our lives are here, our past is here, our memories are here. We are still here. I just want you to understand all of this, Mr. Landlord. We are not just obstacles to your final goal of full market-rate housing. We are people, we live here, we raised families here, we saw people die here. Yes Mr. Landlord, we call this home, because that’s what it is.
STREET SEENS EAST SIDE OBSERVER BY ARLENE KAYATT
James Cagney Place, the stretch of East 91st Street between Second and Third Avenues closed to vehicular traffic for more than 40 years, was officially recognized as a pedestrian plaza early this month. Photo: Douglas Feiden
City sidewalks — “The curb’s too high,” came the joint howl as two pedestrians tried to mount the curb encircled in the construction corridor temporarily erected on the southwest corner of 86th and Third near the downtown train station. Neither pedestrian — one a teen with a leg in a cast, the other an upright millennial — could navigate the heightened curb that was too many feet away from the cut curb. From what I can tell, once the construction is cleared, the curb’s still too high and the only easy access, short of lowering the curb, will be to reach the sidewalk via the corner cut curb. With all the foot traffic, that will create a very crowded curb. So bring on the experts — just not the ones that should have figured it out and gotten it right the first time. Return of a native — Film icon James Cagney, son of Yorkville via the Lower East Side in the early 20th century, has a place of honor on the site of the former Ruppert Brewery — now a housing behemoth known as Ruppert Towers and Yorkville Towers at
90th-91st Streets east of Third Avenue — with a memorial headstone in a section of the street re-named James Cagney Place in 1989. The street, closed to vehicular traffic for some 40-odd years, is magical these days with white-wire holiday decoration and light. A Citi Bike rack on the corner south of Second Avenue is a sign of the 21st century. In the last three years, Dave Rosenstein and Rita Popper, who live in the neighborhood and are Community Board 8 members, have worked tirelessly with Ruppert Management and electeds to have the street designated as a plaza for unfettered use by the community. Mission accomplished! Council Member Ben Kallos celebrated the opening with Popper and Rosenstein and locals in a recent Saturday morning ceremony. Way to go. Out of the box — The empty storefront on Third Avenue between 92nd and 93rd is readying to open. Calling itself “Boxers,” it could be a sparring gym or another Boxers sports bar. This one’s the latter. Classy closing — Hu’s on Third and 86th. This paleo self-serve two-story restaurant never quite made it. They had all-manner of good coffee, but the food was never quite right. Too
salty, too mushy, and it never looked like you’d want to eat it. So when the sign on the door said sayonara, it was no surprise. But they assured passersby in a gracious note on the door that they were “Closing because it is not the right set up for us right now. Look for us as we grow Hu Kitchen in other formats.” They got it right. While the UES location didn’t work, the Hu’s on 14th and Fifth is thriving. The best of print news news — With all the kerfuffle surrounding the Trump presidency, print junkies have to heave some thanks, if not praise, on the errant New Yorker’s ability to generate controversy and tsuris. His tweets and tumult are fodder for print. His words and deeds, too. Investigative journalism is alive and well — from the Washington Post to The New York Times digging, digging on the national and global fronts. Here’s to print. Trump, not. Back in the day — like November 1990 — Daily News columnist Liz Smith recognized Our Town’s Bette Dewing’s advocacy on behalf of local news coverage — in news stories, features, editorials, columns and letters. High praise for Bette whose columns emphasizing qualityof-life issues have graced the pages of Our Town since the ‘70’s. Onward.
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DECEMBER 14-20,2017
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
This Hammond’s Flycatcher was spotted in Central Park’s Ramble last week, just the third-ever time the species has been sighted in New York State. Although there were concerns the bird would not survive Saturday’s snow, it was sighted on Monday. Photo: Anders Peltomaa
BIRD PERCHES IN CENTRAL PARK! NATURE But this sighting, of a Hammond’s Flycatcher in the Ramble, is an ornithological near-miracle BY CHARMAINE P. RICE
Just after the Thanksgiving holiday, a little bird lost its way and ended up in the Big Apple, perched on a tree branch in Central Park’s Ramble. It wasn’t just any little bird, but a Hammond’s Flycatcher, and its visit to the city, however unintended, was just the thirdever recorded sighting of the species in New York State. “Most of the birds of these species are in Mexico and Central America at this time,” said Anders Peltomaa, a longtime Manhattan birder and member of the Linnaean Society of New York. “During migration it likely got caught in high altitude winds and got lost, ending up here.” The first sighting of this particular specimen was reported
on November 26. Soon after, a local high school student and avid birder named Ryan Zucker logged the sighting on eBird, a real-time online checklist portal launched 15 years ago by the Cornell Lab of Orinthology and National Audubon Society. The website provides birders access to data sources and basic information on bird abundance and distribution. Prior to this year’s sighting, the only other two recorded sightings of a Hammond’s Flycatcher in New York State occurred in in Nassau County on October 27, 2001 and in Westchester County on November 19, 2006. “Hammond’s Flycatcher is a very rare visitor to the east,” Peltomaa said. “Hundreds of birders from all over the metro area … traveled to the Ramble to catch a glimpse of the bird. I checked eBird on December 8 and saw that 161 people have made a trip to the Ramble, saw the bird, and reported it. Generally, 40-50 percent of birders will have a sighting, which means at least 300 people have flocked to the Ramble to con-
nect with the bird,” he said. Peltomaa cited a birder from Buffalo who drove 7 hours each way to see the bird. Luckily, that birder was rewarded with a sighting. Although there were concerns the bird would not survive Saturday’s snow, Peltomaa and other saw it again on Monday. Though Hammond’s Flycatchers are used to cold weather, sourcing insects is challenging at this time of year, especially in the midst of snow. Named after William Alexander Hammond, a former surgeon general of the U.S. Army, the Hammond’s Flycatcher habitat is more typically in western North America. They breed in mature coniferous forests and subsist on insects. Hammond collected bird specimens for Spencer Fullerton Baird, who served as the second Secretary of the Smithsonian. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Hammond’s Flycatcher’s conservation status is classified as “Least Concern.”
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DECEMBER 14-20,2017
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
“THERE MUST BE SOMEONE WHO CAN GIVE MORE KIDS THE CHANCE TO GO TO COLLEGE.”
Discover the world around the corner. Find community events, gallery openings, book launches and much more: Go to nycnow.com
EDITOR’S PICK
Dec. 17-19 STONEFEST MUSIC FESTIVAL John L. Tishman Auditorium, 63 Fifth Ave. 7 p.m. $25 in advance, $30 at the door 212-229-5662 newschool.edu
Fernanda New York Cares Volunteer
Curated by John Zorn and in partnership with The New School’s College of Performing Arts, this three-night music festival will jazz up your cold winter nights. Each evening is different, and includes four performances ranging from jazz to classical to rock to free improv. Highlights include the Unnatural Ways trio, featuring Ava Mendoza and Jay Campbell, kicking off the festival on Sunday.
BE THE SOMEONE.
newyorkcares.org
Image by Mobili, via Flickr
Thu 14 Fri 15
Sat 16
‘THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE’
‘RISING TO THE TAP’ WITH ANDREW NEMR
▲CHINATOWN WALKING TOUR
The Strand, 828 Broadway 7 p.m. $50 grants admission & signed copy of the book, $15 admission and gift certificate Film critics Matt Zoller Seitz and Simon Abrams dive into the world of Guillermo del Toro’s “The Devil’s Backbone.” Dark and haunting, the film takes audiences to an orphanage during the last days of the Spanish Civil War. This del Toro classic is the subject of the critics’ new book, and sure to make for a fascinating discussion. 212-473-1452 strandbooks.com
BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St. 7:30 p.m. $30, $20 students, seniors Performed and choreographed by tap virtuoso Andrew Nemr, this concert mixes tap with autobiographical storytelling. Nemr explores his immigrant history, adapting to life in New Jersey, his eventual mentorship under legends Savion Glover and Gregory Hines, and his struggles with bullying. Additional performance Dec. 16. tribecapac.org
Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre St. 1 p.m. $25 This tour chronicles the evolution of Chinatown, and how many of its residents became entrepreneurs and restaurateurs. Walk through the area’s winding streets and learn how history informs the present. 212-619-4785 mocanyc.org
DECEMBER 14-20,2017
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
Sun 17 Mon 18 Tue 19 JOY-ANN REID AND SAINT NICHOLAS Trinity Church 74 Trinity Pl. 4 p.m. Free Joy-Ann Reid, political analyst at MSNBC and host of “AM Joy,” will read the beloved Clement Clarke Moore poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” (aka “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” to be followed by a lantern procession and wreath-laying at Moore’s tomb at Trinity Church Cemetery & Mausoleum. Reception to follow. 212-602-0800
▼OFF THE TOP: NEUROSCIENCE WITH ATTITUDE Caveat 21 Clinton St. 7 p.m. $15 Explore the brain basis of improvisation and comedy with science rapper Baba Brinkman and neuroscientist Dr. Heather Berlin (the host of “Science Goes to the Movies” on PBS). Married in real life, this odd couple will discuss the latest research on brain behavior and creativity. 212-228-2100 caveat.nyc
▲PAW-LIDAY PARTY IFC Center, 323 Sixth Ave. 6 p.m. $50 Help out man’s best friend at this charity showing of Christopher Guest’s “Best in Show.” This Paw-liday party will feature a red carpet with adoptable dogs and a silent auction before the screening. All proceeds will go to Muddy Paws Rescue, a nonprofit that partners with animal shelters to put dogs into loving homes. ifccenter.com
Everything you like about Our Town Downtown is now available to be delivered to your mailbox every week in the Downtowner From the very local news of your neighborhood to information about upcoming events and activities, the new home delivered edition of the Downtowner will keep you in-the-know.
And best of all you won’t have to go outside to grab a copy from the street box every week.
It’s your neighborhood. It’s your news.
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Wed 20 RONNIE SPECTOR’S HOLIDAY PARTY City Winery, 155 Varick St. 6 p.m. $55+ Born and raised in Spanish Harlem, Ronnie Spector formed the Ronettes while in her teens and went on to release a string of hits from “Be My Baby,” to “Walking In The Rain.” Come hear her sing the hits and classics at this holiday spectacular. 212-608-0555 citywinery.com
Image by Martin420, via Wikimedia Commons
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
DECEMBER 14-20,2017
READY-T0-WAKE In its first fashion exhibit in decades, MoMA highlights craft — and exposes the body as battleground BY MARY GREGORY
High or low or not fashionable at all, worn by millions or just by millionaires, 111 garments that changed the world have been put together to tell a story about design, art and life as only the Museum of Modern Art can. “Items: Is Fashion Modern?” is the museum’s first exploration of fashion in over 70 years. It fills a whole floor of MoMA, and includes items of luxury and rarity, and others so ubiquitous or dated they’re all but forgotten. Some don’t even exist yet, except as prototypes commissioned by the museum and imagined by contemporary designers and artists. The curatorial team led by Paola Antonelli and including Michelle Millar Fisher, Stephanie Kramer, Anna Burckhardt and Kristina Parsons nominated, debated and defended garments from the past 100 years from all over the world and came up with a group that
IF YOU GO WHAT: “Items: Is Fashion Modern?” WHERE: Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street WHEN: Through January 28 www.moma.org speaks to larger issues than what we wear. Antonelli discussed the show and the works on display with us, in a conversation edited for length and clarity.
Did you set out to make a fashion exhibition unlike any other? Because it is. It’s the fashion exhibition that I and we could do, in the sense that this museum doesn’t have a tradition of fashion, but it has a strong tradition of design. So what we did is try to approach fashion from the viewpoint of design.... About 13 years ago, I started keeping this list called “garments that changed the world” and the list was made up of, of course, the white T-shirt, Levi’s 501 jeans, Converse sneakers. It’s the list that you would make also.
One of the strong statements that’s made in the exhibition is about women’s bodies, in particular, being a battleground for culture wars.
Issey Miyake and Fujiwara Dai’s innovative “A–POC (A Piece of Clothing) Queen Textile” allows the customer to cut along the dotted lines for sleeve length, bias, neckline or hood, to create the desired garment. Photo: Adel Gorgy
That is a theme that recurs many times in the exhibition, the theme of the body being a battleground.... It’s especially strong in the area about modesty. There is a juxtaposition in the exhibition that’s very powerful. It’s between the bikini and the burkini. They’re next to each other, and the reason for that is because they represent two different instances of attempts to control female bodies. In this case, we’re not talking about the imposition of the item unto and of itself, but rather legislation around it. You can find pictures of the same beach in France where, in the 1950s, the police are stopping the woman wearing a bikini, and last year the woman wearing the burkini.... Whatever we think about the ideology behind it, it is, once again, female bodies that are the locus of control.
Talking about the way many of these items became weapons in culture wars, is there an item in the exhibition that you
Paola Antonelli is the Museum of Modern Art’s senior curator in the Department of Architecture and Design and the museum’s director of research and development.
think has affected a noticeable change in the world? When it comes to politically charged items, there are so many in the exhibition, some really explicit like the hoodie or like Colin Kaepernick’s jersey, and some others, instead, that are subtler like the Basque beret. Of course you can also talk about platform shoes in political terms, not to mention headgear and headwraps. There’s a lot. It’s pretty much spread around.
You place garments made by worldfamous designers next to ones made by anonymous craftspeople and factory workers. What kinds of assumptions are you challenging by doing that? Fashion is a system. It’s a system that’s cultural. It’s industrial. It’s about labor. It’s also about how we react as citizens. It’s important to make sure that people see that there is a connection between parts of the system that might seem so distant, for instance high-fashion and everyday wear.
There are several cutting-edge commissioned pieces in the show. How did that come about, and are there any that might make it out of galleries and into real world use? There are several pieces that could become reality. I have a feeling that the modular maternity dress, or the pantyhose for people in wheelchairs could.... As to how it came about, I’ve been doing that in many exhibitions, since the beginning. I think it’s important. This museum has power. It’s a wonderful thing. It has the power to give young designers visibility. It has the power to influence behavior of people who come to see the shows. And sometimes, it has the power also to propose
When Paul Poiret designed “Harem Pants” in the early 1900s, women could be arrested in New York and Paris for wearing pants. The Parisian bylaw requiring women to obtain permission from authorities before “dressing as men” was officially revoked in 2013. Photo: Adel Gorgy new ways of thinking about different items.... We wanted to really give life to that adjective that’s in the subtitle: modern. And modern is about pushing things forward.
What would you like to tell people about the show? We also have a massive online course that is completely free, and we’re doing social media campaigns. Bruce Lee’s daughter launched a challenge
on Instagram where people are invited to take pictures of themselves or other people in track suits and submit them with the #itemsMOMA hashtag. We’re really trying to reach as wide an audience as possible in as many ways as possible, because we believe that we can prompt people to look at what they wear in a more critical, more responsible and aware, and more “woke” way
DECEMBER 14-20,2017
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
RIKERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 justice system. Those include efforts to reduce the amount of time it takes for a case to reach conclusion and the implementation of diversionary measures such as a supervised release program, which allows judges to release some defendants who would otherwise remain jailed before trial because to their inability to make bail. Glazer said the city would work to expand those diversionary efforts with the goal of reducing the jail population to 5,000 within the 10-year time frame for closing Rikers set by Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Once the jail population reaches 5,000, the city will be in a position to close Rikers Island for good,” Glazer said. A number of City Council members, including Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, have pushed for a more accelerated timeline for shuttering the Rikers jails than de Blasio’s 10-year plan. Roughly 77 percent of the city’s jail population is housed at Rikers Island; the city operates additional jail facilities in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan. Since boroughbased facilities currently have a maximum capacity of 2,300 — well short of the estimated post-Rikers jail population of 5,000 — closing Rikers will require renovations of existing facilities as well as the development of new jail sites. In November, the city announced it would commission a study to assess the city’s existing jails and identify potential locations for new lockups. The study will start by examining existing jails, including the Manhattan Detention Complex in Lower Manhattan, for possible renovations or expansions, with the ultimate goal of producing a master plan that will identify additional jail sites as required. The process of closing Rikers, Glazer said, “will be one of the largest capital programs this city has ever undertaken.” The Detention Complex, also known as “The Tombs” in reference to the Egyptian Revival architecture of the original 138-jail facility that once stood near the same site, is the only existing jail in Manhattan operated by the city. Roughly 8 percent of the city’s jail population is housed there, although roughly 38 percent of the city’s jail population comes from Manhattan’s criminal court. (A small number of additional detainees are held in Manhattan in a prison ward in Bellevue Hospital.) In 2016, Mark-Viverito appointed former New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman to head a commission to explore the possibility of closing the Rikers Island jails. The commission’s report, released in April, recommended replacing the Rikers jails on with facilities near courthouses in all five boroughs. (At last week’s hearing, officials said the city currently has no plans for a jail on Staten Island, despite the commission’s recommendations.) The facilities would vary in size, based on each borough’s expected population. Manhattan would require the largest facility, according to the commission’s recommendations. The report estimated that the new jails would cost $11 billion, but would result in projected annual savings of $1.6 billion. Michael Garofalo: reporter@strausnews.com
The English designer Thomas Heatherwick’s “Vessel” structure will serve as the centerpiece of five acres of public plazas, gardens and groves at Hudson Yards. The steel installation recently topped out. Photo: Mihika Agarwal
AN ORNAMENTAL MILE SCULPTURE “Vessel,” the Thomas Heatherwick structure at Hudson Yards, tops out BY MIHIKA AGARWAL
It’s been a mile in the making. “Vessel,” the lattice-like steel centerpiece at Hudson Yards, topped out at 150 feet earlier last week, eight months after construction began on the copper-colored structure. Conceived by the English designer Thomas Heatherwick, “Vessel” will ultimately allow people to amble up its 154 flights of stairs onto 80 landings, which altogether add up to a 1-mile climb. Since its conception, the structure has been referred to as a sculpture — more artwork than a functional installation. Heatherwick, whose studios are based in London, used the maze-like Indian stepwells as his muse, along with his belief
in New Yorkers’ affinity for good workouts. “‘Vessel’ is one of the most complex pieces of steelwork ever made,” Heatherwick said in a December 6 statement from Related Companies, co-developer of the project along with Oxford Property Group. “Today we are marking the exciting moment when the last of the enormous 75 pre-fabricated pieces which travelled all the way from Italy to Manhattan, has been assembled ahead of schedule and with astonishing geometric accuracy.” “Vessel” will anchor Hudson Yards’ so-called Public Square and Gardens, which will comprise about five acres of public plazas, gardens and groves when that section of Hudson Yards, just east of 11th Avenue south of 33rd Street, opens in early 2019. Stephen Ross, the founder and chairman of Related Companies, suggested the structure would help define the new neighborhood, much of which is being built atop the MTA’s West Side Yard, which is
bounded by West 30th Street, West 33rd Street, 10th Avenue and 12th Avenue. “Vessel” and the surrounding square and gardens “will become the new gathering place for Manhattan’s West Side and a destination for New Yorkers and visitors alike,” Ross, who commissioned the piece, said in the statement. “I look forward to early 2019 when we all can enjoy Manhattan’s newest public space and experience, interact with and climb Vessel.” “Vessel,” estimated at $150 million, was constructed by the Italian firm Cimolai and shipped to Newark, New Jersey, from where it was transported by barge to the West Side. Hudson Yards is the largest private real estate development in the nation’s history. The development will eventually measure more than 18 million square feet of mixed-use development and be home to thousands of residents, a public school, hotel and cultural space, dozens of shops and restaurants, and numer-
ous corporations. Among the companies already there are Coach, L’Oréal USA, The Boston Consulting Group, SAP, VaynerMedia, Intersection and Sidewalk Labs. Time Warner, Wells Fargo Securities, DNB Bank, Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts will all open offices in 2019. BlackRock, the global investment management firm, will move its headquarters there in 2022. “By 2025, there will approximately 125,000 who visit, work or call Hudson Yards their home,” said Jessica Scaperotti, a Related Companies spokeswoman. For now, though, North America’s largest active construction site can still feel deserted. On a recent Monday morning, the mix of gleaming office towers and skyscrapers looming over the steel sculpture is a landscape in progress, exuding a Lego-like aura, and “Vessel”’s appears to yawn, incongruously, in a city on the verge of yet another new dawn.
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DECEMBER 14-20,2017
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS
Sweetgreen University Place
101 University Pl
Not Yet Graded (25) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.
Royale
157 Avenue C
Grade Pending (40) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
Against The Grain
620 East 6 Street
A
East Village Cafe
212 Avenue B
A
Cafe Himalaya
78 East 1 Street
A
Mala Project
122 1st Ave
A
Thursday Kitchen
424 E 9th St
A
Hanoi House
119 Saint Marks Pl
A
Tai Thai
78 E 1st St
Not Yet Graded (28) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
Seven Grams Caffe
175 Varick St
Not Yet Graded (64) Toilet facility not provided for employees or for patrons when required. Insufficient or no refrigerated or hot holding equipment to keep potentially hazardous foods at required temperatures. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
Urban Vegan Kitchen
4143 Carmine Street
Grade Pending (21) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
NOV 28 - DEC 4, 2017 The following listings were collected from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website and include the most recent inspection and grade reports listed. We have included every restaurant listed during this time within the zip codes of our neighborhoods. Some reports list numbers with their explanations; these are the number of violation points a restaurant has received. To see more information on restaurant grades, visit www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/services/restaurant-inspection.shtml. Oh Taisho
9 St Marks Place
A
Zen 6
328 E 6th St
Not Yet Graded (59) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided. No facilities available to wash, rinse and sanitize utensils and/or equipment. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
& Pizza
Broken Coconut
740 Broadway
15 E 4th St
Not Yet Graded (37) Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/ refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Not Yet Graded (30) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
GRK Fresh Greek
51 E 8th St
Not Yet Graded (32) No facilities available to wash, rinse and sanitize utensils and/or equipment.
Elsewhere Espresso
335 East 6 Street
A
Arte Restaurant
21 East 9 Street
Grade Pending (2)
Le Pain Quotidien
375 Hudson St
A
The Thirsty Scholar
155 2 Avenue
Grade Pending (21) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/ sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
San Marino Ristorante
66 Charlton Street
A
Pizzetteria Brunetti
626 Hudson Street
A
New York University Kimmel Student Center (Catering Kitchen)
60 Washington Square South
A
Grade Pending (14) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewageassociated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
Minetta Tavern
113 Macdougal Street
A
Gino Sorbillo
334 Bowery
Not Yet Graded (39) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food prepared from ingredients at ambient temperature not cooled to 41º F or below within 4 hours. Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
Stromboli Pizza
Gyu-Kaku
83 St Marks Place
34 Cooper Square
A
Chloe’s Soft Serve Fruit Co. 25 East 17 Street
A
Al Horno Lean Mexican Kitchen
57 1St Ave
A
Shopsins General Store (Store #16)
120 Essex Street
Chawlas2
216 3rd Ave
CLOSED (68) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations. Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
CLOSED (48) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
Russ & Daughters Cafe
127 Orchard St
A
Melani Pizzeria
170 Rivington St
Grade Pending (2)
East Dumpling
46 Eldridge St
A
Blue Bottle Coffee
101 University Pl
A
The Hideout
42 Rivington St
A
Chat ‘N Chew
10 E 16th St
Not Yet Graded (12) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
Pizza Stop
127 East Broadway
Grade Pending (20) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.
DECEMBER 14-20,2017
AN APPLE A DAY ... HEALTH Stress-busting nibble n’ nosh tips for the holiday season
Tired of Hunting for Our Town Downtown? Subscribe today to
BY ALICIA SCHWARTZ
Two words that the holidays bring to mind for many of us these days are food and stress. With no shortage of sugary, fattening foods and a seemingly never-ending to-do list, it is easy for people with busy lives, particularly family caregivers who often lack time to care for themselves, to resort to unhealthy food habits like stresseating during the holidays. Does this picture sound familiar: the holiday is right around the corner, you’ve been tending to your elderly parents all day, traveling to appointments, doing housework and running errands while squeezing in that last minute holiday shopping, decorating, gift wrapping, cooking and travel plan coordination. When you finally stop to catch your breath, you realize you never ate lunch and are about to miss dinner. You’re tired, frustrated and, of course, hungry, and your todo list is not disappearing any time soon, even if your energy is. For fuel, do you: 1. Reach for the stash of nuts on the table, and resolve to buy yourself a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store for dinner. You deserve it after the long day you’ve had. 2. Have a candy bar and a cup of coffee for now to hold you over until you have the chance to go to a fast-food drive-thru later tonight. 3. Raid the pantry and dig into the seasonal snacks on hand — sugar-coated pecans, peppermint bark, caramel corn — and wash them down with a sugary, caffeinated beverage for energy. If this sounds like you, then read on. Many of the family caregivers I know through my work as a registered nurse caring for frail, elderly New Yorkers with multiple chronic illnesses are heading in the same direction. Gobbling holiday candy at the office or having that extra serving of pumpkin pie or holiday cookies may seem like a quick sustenance fix or a boost of cheer, but extra caffeine, sugary or high-fat snacks, and processed foods can lead to a “nutritional hangover” that is harmful to both
15
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
Downtowner News of Your Neighborhood that you can’t get anywhere else An apple with peanut butter is a quick and healthy snack. Photo: Crystal, via flickr the body and mind. Here are three simple reminders that I reinforce with my patients and their family caregivers during the holidays:
Minimize Coffee and Other Caffeine Intake Your morning cup of joe is great for the boost of energy you need to check off your to-do list, but too much caffeine can increase anxiety and disrupt sleep. Rather than making a second cup or buying a holidayflavored latte, switch to green tea, a powerful antioxidant with less than half the amount of caffeine as coffee and only drink decaffeinated beverages in the afternoon and evening. A delicious way to wean yourself off coffee is having a nibble of dark chocolate now and again — it’s also packed with antioxidants and in small amounts, can help lower blood pressure, improve blood flow and cognitive function, and reduce risk of stroke.
Snack on Natural Sugars Those Christmas cookies sure are tasty and festive, but they’re packed with empty calories that provide no vitamins, minerals or important nutrients. For so many of our older population, diabetes is a serious concern as well. Yael Reich, RN, a certified diabetes educator with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, cautions that extreme blood sugar fluctuations, often brought on by sugar binges and crashes, can create serious health problems for people with diabetes. They can also cause mood swings and zap energy levels for anyone — especially during stressful or busy times
of the year. A holiday trail-mix made with dark chocolate and fresh fruits like blueberries and blackberries is a delicious, suitable alternative, and the fruits are packed with fibers that help prevent blood sugar spikes. An apple with peanut butter is also a quick and healthy go-to snack.
Scrap Processed Foods as Much as Possible Your holiday dinner doesn’t need to come in a can. Processed foods may seem harmless, but they contain artery-clogging trans fats and saturated fats as well as copious amounts of salt and sugar. Snack on whole foods — foods that are closest to their natural form — and incorporate them into meals when possible. Whole grains, nuts, legumes, vegetables, fruits and proteins rich in omega-3s such as fish are great staples to a stressbusting diet. The holidays can bring people together in wonderful and selfaffirming ways, and for many of our elderly loved ones, they are an important and welcome chance to connect with friends and family. Remembering to nibble and nosh mindfully can help ensure that you and your family will gather in good health for many holidays to come. Alicia Schwartz is an RN and care coordinator with VNSNY CHOICE Health Plans, affiliated with of The Visiting Nurse Service of New York, the largest not-for-profit homeand community-based health care agency in the country. For more information please visit www. vnsnychoice.org or call 1-888-8676555.
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DECEMBER 14-20,2017
Business
EIGHT NIGHTS OF FINANCIAL GIFTING A new way of thinking about Hanukkah presents BY SCOTT FRANKLIN
When Judah Maccabee and his band of the faithful defeated the mighty army of the Seleucids and succeeded in rededicating the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, little did he imagine that centuries later we still would observe the Festival of Lights in commemoration. While many families these days choose to exchange presents on Hanukkah, traditionally parents give gelt — gifts of money — to their children, even if they are just the gold foil-wrapped chocolate “coins” from supermarket shelves. For those parents or grandparents considering giving the gift of real money, here are some suggestions — one for each night of Hanukkah — that may just lead to a happier holiday: First night: 529 plan. The 529 plan is one of the most popular education savings plans. With the average cost of a private four-year education just under $200,000 and rising, it’s a good idea to start saving as soon as possible. There are some restrictions but most 529 plans have no income limits, age limits or annual contribution limits. Although there are lifetime contribution limits, those limits currently range from $235,000 to $500,000. Second night: A “job.” We all know
that money doesn’t grow on trees. Does the child have a weekly allowance? I believe such funds, regardless of the amount, should only be given in exchange for some assigned task, whether that’s clearing the dinner table or helping to shovel the snow. Having such a regular “job” can build selfesteem along with helping to teach the value of the dollar. Third night: A beginner’s book on investing. Many books are available for different age groups and different levels of experience. Reading and learning about money promotes financial literacy, with the ultimate goal of financial independence down the line. Fourth night: Child’s pick. Thinking about familiar companies, such as those that manufacture a favorite electronic gadget, and then buying even one or two shares of stock in that company is a great way to learn about the ups and downs of the stock market. Fifth night: Tzedakah. In many communities, on the fifth night of Hanukkah children learn to make a difference by donating a portion of their gelt to a charity. This is an expression of the Jewish value of tzedakah, or justice. It may mean a donation, or it could be volunteering. Whatever the act, it plants the seeds for a routine of philanthropy. Sixth night: Dividends. Even a small number of shares in a reliable, dividend-producing company can be fun
for a youngster, particularly when the dividend check shows up in the mail. What to do with that dividend check can be another life lesson: Is it spent? Is it invested? Is it donated? Is it saved? Seventh night: A silver dollar. A silver dollar can be a great vehicle for learning about inflation and the value of today’s dollar versus the value of a dollar from years past. It can also spark the discussion of so-called alternative investments, whether that is jewelry, art, or a coin collection. Eighth night: A bank account. What better way to teach children to be responsible for their money? They can deposit their allowance, birthday gifts, earnings from chores, and bar or bat mitzvah funds and watch their balance grow. Since children under the age of 18 may not sign legal documents, they cannot open an account for themselves. But parents can open one jointly as a custodial account. As you prepare for this year’s celebration, it might be good to think beyond the latkes and dreidels. Jewish holidays are the legacy we have been given by our ancestors. We too can leave a legacy for our children. Scott J. Franklin, a New York City resident, is a Senior Vice President and Portfolio Management Director with the Global Wealth Management Division of Morgan Stanley. He can be reached at 800-8271512 or scott.franklin@morganstanley.com.
NEIGHBORHOOD SIDE STREETS MEET 14TH STREET
sideways.nyc
GANSEVOORT MARKET 353 WEST 14TH STREET Walking into Gansevoort Market is like entering food heaven – you can find almost anything you might want under one roof, which is what founder and owner Chris Reda had in mind. Chris was inspired to open his first food hall by a desire to have all his favorite foods in a single space. Initially, the business gained fame and recognition on Gansevoort Street, but in 2016, he revamped his idea for the next iteration of the market to appeal to a wider public on West 14th. Simply from an aesthetic perspective, the market’s design is very appealing. Tanya Shevloff, the director of operations, described it as a “throwback to old New York in a modern space.” For more photos and side streets, go to sideways.nyc
DECEMBER 14-20,2017
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
DECEMBER 14-20,2017
GARODNICK CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 What will he do with the nest egg and who or what will he spend it on? “Those dollars were always raised with an eye toward a future campaign,” he said. “The question is really, what opportunities exist, and where can I best serve the city and state.” Can he speculate about that? Garodnick smiled a tad mischievously: “Probably not,” he said. During a wide-ranging, 75-minute exit interview on December 7th in his legislative office on the 17th floor of 250 Broadway, a panoramic view of the downtown skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge in the background, the East Side pol spoke with great pride about a string of accomplishments — and pondered his political future, if a little obliquely. “I’m going to think about what comes next,” he said. “I’m going to enjoy taking a breath after 12 long years of rather constant excitement.” He fully expects to remain in the public arena, but adds, “I don’t know what form that’s going to take yet, but I am keeping an open mind.” First elected in 2005, then reelected in 2009 and again in 2014, he is exiting what has been dubbed the “Garodnick seat,” which takes in a swath of the Upper East Side close to Central Park, plus East Midtown, Times Square, Turtle Bay, Central Park South, Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, where he grew up and still lives. This isn’t the first time his name has been in the mayoral mix. In the run up to de Blasio’s landslide re-election, he was viewed as one of the A-listers who might seek to unseat him. He never took the bait. Why? “There had been a lot of inbound interests, and I found it very flattering,” he acknowledges. “Ultimately, I did not feel it was the right thing to do ... The city is fundamentally in a good place, and I didn’t see a rationale for it then ... It’s not what I wanted to do.” Yet Garodnick’s political ambitions
City Council Member Dan Garodnick at a January 2016 rally in Battery Park to protest the Trump administration’s proposed ban on travelers from predominately Muslim nations. Photo:Cory Epstein / Dan Garodnick’s office have never been a secret: He mulled a run for city comptroller in 2013. Then in 2014, he vied for City Council speaker — and was outpointed by Melissa Mark-Viverito, who won with de Blasio’s muscular backing. “This is a very fluky business,” he
City Council Member Dan Garodnick attends a “Shop Second Avenue” event in front of Stanley Schoen Glass & Mirror at 96th Street during disruptive subway construction in 2008. Photo: William Alatriste / City Council
said. “If I’ve learned anything in 12 years in public life, it is to understand the volatility and unpredictability of politics ... You’re up one minute, you’re down the next ... And the whims of the electorate change periodically, too. So the thing that is most predictable is the unpredictability.” If he had four more years, Garodnick says, he’d focus on the escalating retail crisis. But his successor, Council Member-elect Keith Powers, is aware of the issue and committed to addressing it, he said. Garodnick is known as collegial and respectful of colleagues. He’s not a rhetorical bomb-thrower. He’s seen as a shrewd dealmaker, negotiator and compromiser. But in contentious, even ugly, political times, is that an asset or a liability for a potential seeker of higher office? “You’re never going to see me insult somebody on Twitter,” he said. “Name-calling, below-the-belt politics, and dishonest behavior, that’s not a trend — it’s an aberration. And people are going to tire of it very fast ... So I think honest, collegial grownups in public life are going to be in high
demand.” Instead, he points to a record of accomplishments that include: • A November 30th bill that provided relief from the much-reviled commercial rent tax to roughly 2,700 small businesses south of 96th Street. How did he get outer-borough colleagues to back — unanimously — a bill boosting Manhattan businesses? Despite their physical location, he argued, “These business are owned by everyone’s constituents, they employ everyone’s constituents, and we’re stepping on their necks with an unfair and outdated tax.” • A 2014 affordable housing preservation deal — the largest in the city’s history — that preserved 5,000 units in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village as middle-income housing for the next 20 years. • An ambitious rezoning of Vanderbilt Avenue and Midtown East that permits increased development rights and fosters growth, in exchange for sweeping transit and infrastructure improvements. “The first building approved through that rezoning, One Vanderbilt, will
alone bring in about $220 million dollars in improvements to Grand Central,” Garodnick said. “And that’s just one building!” • The 2015 creation of a new park at Asser Levy Place, a demapped and underutilized two-way street between East 23rd and 25th Streets that’s now completely closed to traffic. “What’s better than that?” he asked. “To go and see people out there enjoying new open space that you had a hand in delivering? I mean, that’s about as good as it gets.” Okay, it’s quite a list, but what about disappointments, Garodnick is asked, the things he wanted but never got done? For the only time in the interview, the Council member hesitates: “Disappointments?” he repeats. “I think the things which I really put my heart and soul into, we were able to get over the end zone,” he said. By “focusing on the big things that were achievable,” he didn’t spin his wheels or “waste time on lost causes that are not important,” he said. “I’m sure there were some disappointments, but nothing that’s really nagging at me,” Garodnick said.
DECEMBER 14-20,2017
WOMEN OF FAITH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 Audette Fulbright: “You fall in love with a church” The Rev. Audette Fulbright, the recently installed associate minister at All Souls Church on Lexington Avenue, sent her own photograph to Hillary Clinton. In the picture, Fulbright was signing her contract to become the first woman to be called to serve All Souls, and the 12th minister named in the church’s 198-year history. After her official installation, Fulbright thought about the woman who did not get the nation’s top executive job last year. “I sent it to Hillary because I was thinking of her that day,” recalls Fulbright, 49. Indeed Fulbright reached out to the defeated Democrat to show that even in the aftermath of a high-profile woman’s failure to advance to a top job, other women are still making gains. In the ministry for 18 years, Fulbright was officially called this spring, moving her husband Seth Berkeley and 10-year-old daughter Ani from Wyoming to Riverside Drive for a new life. An older daughter, Ember, is 27. Serving now alongside Senior Minister Galen Guengerich, Fulbright took a higher-level position than the assistant minister job that others have held at the church. She had other career options after being a minister in Wyoming for several years, but Fulbright chose both the congregation and this town. “You fall in love with a church,” she says. Fulbright knows that part of her job is to push people into the future. “It’s a cliché, but you have to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted,” she says. She believes in being specific, putting tangible ideas into people’s heads rather than speaking too generally. She speaks enthusiastically about the faith she promotes. She says that when she visits a fellow Unitarian Universalist in the hospital, she actually has to ask about the person’s religion — whether he or she prays or believes in God or the extent or reach of faith. “We have to all start from ground zero,” she says — and then adds, “I love that it’s harder.” Part of the excitement of her new gig: living in the city. She likes the idea of the religious and ethnic diversity, and the range of “faith connections”
19
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com possible here. “I wanted to raise my daughter here. I wanted her to be a citizen of the world and not just a citizen of a small town,” she says, before interrupting herself and explaining that she didn’t want to be “patronizing” about small towns. She remembers her own in South Carolina. She grew up without a specific faith, then tried a lot of them. “I have been everything along the way,” she says. She’s happy where she landed, but argues her fellow UUs have actually been too wary of proselytizing. “We’ve been in the closet too much,” she says. “We’ve hidden a living faith from people which has the power to change and save lives.” Within her religion, Fulbright says, more women are serving in ministry than men. But that has not been true at All Souls, where the senior ministers have all been white men. Until now. “Seeing women in positions of leadership matters,” she says. “So that’s one thing.” Another thing: working with senior minister Guengerich. She says she was inspired by her conversations with him. She’s excited about “what ministry looks like when we work together. It will be different from two men.”
Felicia L. Sol: So much more than ‘sweetie’ Rabbi Felicia L. Sol did not grow up thinking she would become a rabbi. Actually, her brother was encouraged by the rabbi at their family’s synagogue to follow the religious route — but the young man grew up to be a poet and get a Ph.D. in literature. Sol herself is the one who became a rabbi. She arrived at B’nai Jeshurun on the Upper West Side in 1996 in a Jewish education role. “I came in for the interview and I got the job,” she says with a smile, sitting at a table in her office on West 89th Street, “and I never left.” She’s grown and changed roles over time, becoming a rabbi there in 2001. Sol, 46, grew up first in East Brunswick, N.J., and then, at age 7, her family moved to New Fairfield, Connecticut, a small town near Danbury. “Of the five Jews in my grade, we were the most involved,” she remembers. Back then, while she always had that strong sense of Jewish identity, she thought of the rabbinate as a male-dominated job — because it was. “No one ever told me you couldn’t be a rabbi as a wom-
an,” she says, but then adds that she simply didn’t have a model. “When you don’t see anyone who looks like you in that space, it’s hard to imagine yourself in that role,” she says. Now she’s the role model she didn’t see back then. “The rabbinate has changed because women are in it,” she says. “Judaism is a patriarchal tradition. Women like me are both in love with that tradition and trying to dismantle the patriarchy from the inside.” Sometimes that can be challenging, she readily admits. For instance, don’t bother calling this rabbi “sweetie,” “kiddo” or “honey.” Although some congregants do. “They would never call a male rabbi those names,” Sol says. “At age 30, it might have been age-related. At 46, enough already.” She adds: “It tends to be women who do that, which is interesting.” She thinks the familiarity might be partly because she’s grown up over the years at B’nai Jeshurun. She sees the role of rabbi as multi-faceted, including: teacher, pastor, holder of Jewish wisdom, community leader, justice-seeker. She oversees the synagogue’s senior program directors. Still, she underscores her gratitude for where she is. “I’m really blessed to live at a time when I can serve in this role,” she says. She has an educational background to match her many missions. She has a BA in developmental psychology and education from Tufts University, a masters in Jewish Education from a school at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York; and her masters of Hebrew letters (1996) and her rabbinic ordination (1999), also from HUC-JIR. Sol’s a mom to a seven-yearold son, Aiden, and a five-yearold daughter, Sivan. Her life as a single mother who never married brought about an appearance in a documentary, “All of the Above: Single, Clergy, Mother.” As a writer, she contributed an essay to the book “Faithfully Feminist: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Feminists on Why We Stay.” Her parents are still in the small town in Connecticut, and Sol visits. “I still bring my two kids back to the July 4 parade,” she says. What do her own parents think about having a daughter who’s a rabbi? Sol grins. “They think it’s awesome,” she says.
COMTE FRITTERS Our Town’s
ART OF FOOD at
Presented by
Chef Xavier Monge, culinary force behind Parisian-style bistro Little Frog, is bringing his expertise to The Art of Food for the first time this year on February 10. Every aspect of the chic Yorkville bistro is French-inspired, from the exquisite food, down to the floor tiles. While we wait to see what Chef Xavier prepares for The Art of Food, he’s sharing the restaurant’s special comte fritter recipe which appears as a “munchie” on the menu, and also happens to be one of the chef’s favorite snacks.
Xavier Monge of Little Frog
COMTE FRITTERS Makes 18 balls
INGREDIENTS: 1lb 1 year aged comte cheese, grated 8 egg whites 1/3 tsp espelette pepper 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp ground white pepper 1 “splash” of sherry vinegar
Cover with saran wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Lightly oil a tray to prevent sticking. Using a 1 oz. ice cream scoop, scoop the mixture and line the balls on the tray. Using 2 quarts of frying oil in a deep pot, bring the temperature to 350 degrees F.
DIRECTIONS:
Carefully drop your cheese balls in sets of three to prevent crowding.
In a large bowl, lightly whip egg whites until ribbons start to form.
Let fry for 5 minutes, until golden.
Add espelette, sherry vinegar, and grated comte cheese.
Damper with a towel to remove excess oil. Serve with a sprinkle of espelette on top.
Combine all ingredients, and with same whisk try to smash all together until a thick paste forms.
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DECEMBER 14-20,2017
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YOUR 15 MINUTES
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A ‘HIPPIE HEART’ FASHIONS A MOVEMENT Catherine Schuller on her lifelong mission to encourage diversity in women’s body types BY ANGELA BARBUTI
Catherine Schuller was hired as one the first plus-size models in New York and went on to make a career out of helping women accept their bodies. The Pittsburgh native came to New York in 1975 with her boyfriend at the time, drummer Billy O’Connor, who would keep the beat for the band Blondie in its formative years. Schuller quickly got swept up into the Lower East Side punk rock scene at CBGB and Max’s Kansas City. “I was trying to be a model and an actress and of course, the whole thing in the ‘80s was you had to be thin. So I was told, “You did a great audition; could you lose 70 pounds?” And I didn’t want to do that. My hippie heart was like, “I’m fine the way I am.” In response to that resistance, she created a comedy troupe called The Nerve, crafted around the idea of having the nerve to just be yourself. One night, a scout came backstage and suggested Schuller try plus-size modeling, to which she responded that she never heard the
words “plus-size” and “modeling” together in the same sentence. Schuller was signed with the special sizes division of Ford Models in 1988, when the plus-size industry was still in its infancy. “We created a movement; we were large, loud and proud,” she said. This was the beginning of her life’s work. In the late ‘90s, “Mode” magazine asked her to be their fashion retail editor, and there she created the program “Mode on the Road” and toured through hundreds of cities, hosting and styling full-figured fashion events. She now teaches a plus-size course at FIT and hosts “Runway the Real Way,” a monthly fashion diversity brunch she started at the Yotel Hotel. Another passion project of hers is honoring her late husband, Marvel Comics exec Mark Gruenwald, whom she met on an audition for “She-Hulk,” with the release of his biography next year.
What was the Lower East Side punk rock scene like? When I brought Billy here, we were kind of hanging out with the Warhol crowd, so that showed me a lot about if you’ve got a creative idea, you could pretty much just get out there and do it. Debbie H a r r y wa s very instrumenta l i n teaching
Catherine Schuller hosts “Runway the Real Way,” a monthly fashion diversity event. Photo: Jeff Jones
me how to take your career by the horns and just do what you need to do and invent yourself. And that was great about that scene because it was wide open. There was no internet, so you had to get out there, meet people face to face, hang out, play, support each other. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to have a scene like that again, where it’s just an artist community of people all like-minded and not trying to outdo each other, but on the same wavelength. It was this whole new wave and I just got swept up in it. I was from Pittsburgh and really always wanted to have that kind of idealistic romantic beat poet scene in my head. And that was kind of the equivalent of it.
Another interesting part of your bio is that you lived in Manhattan Plaza, which was Section 8 housing for artists. We all moved in there because Ronald Reagan decided that middle class kids who were artists were not going to turn tu it into slum housing and would take care of it. He made it Section 8 housing and we paid 30 percent of our hou income. Angela Lansbury was on my inco floor. oo Jaimie Alexander, Larry David. All tthese artists and people just coming up in the field. It was a big community. nity And then AIDS hit, so we had to bury bur a lot of people too in the mid ‘80s.
Tell us about signing with Ford Models. I was w doing The Nerve, and a scout for Plus Models Agency came backstage stag and said, “You should do this thing thin called plus-size modeling.” And I wa was like, “You should write for my act, because I never heard the words plus-size and modeling together.” plu And they said, “No, it’s this big thing coming up and you’d be perfect for com it. You Y might even have to pad up.” I was about 168 pounds and 5’10’’ and thought, if I didn’t have to lose weight, thou it would be perfect. The industry was w in a pretty sorry state, but it was the beginning, and Liz Claiborne came on beg board, boa so we had a designer who was designing clothes for us. It was the des beginning of the movement to diverbeg sity and body acceptance. And I said, “This “Th is perfect for me.” so I became kind of the spokesperson for the plussize movement. They were about 68 models mod and there was a lot more work because there were less of us and bec there were a lot of catalogs, circulars and newspaper ads. There weren’t any magazines, but we had a lot of fashion
Catherine Schuller, left, came to New York in 1975 as an aspiring actor and model. Photo: Marcus Isaac
and runway shows. There were times I was the only plus-size model in a runway show.
What was it like to be the only plus-size model in a show? What kind of reaction did you get? I would get all this applause and standing ovations. And the models came back and said, “What are you doing out there, cartwheels?” And I said, “No, they just see themselves and it’s almost like that is a feminist issue.” I was an activist; I was up there representing. It was pretty exciting and I said, “I think I’m onto something here.” It became my destiny to allow everyone to feel fabulous no matter what their size, age, shape or height. And that’s where I got bitten by the diversity bug. And then “Mode” magazine saw me and asked me to become their fashion retail editor, so I did “Mode on the Road” for five years while the magazine was still in existence. And I went around the United States, and heard things like, “The magazine saved my daughter’s life.”
You also teach one of the only plus-size courses at FIT. I call it “The Long and the Short of It,” because my partner’s petite and I’m plus, so we teach what the size spectrum is. It’s called “special sizes” in the garment industry. I’ve been doing that for six years. And we launched “The Business of Curves” on November 15th, as a one-night only state of the plus-size industry. Our intention is to create a certificate program or module or even a minor in plus sizes with the curriculum and course material specifically focused on the full-figure body types. We can take that on the road to other design schools too. www.runwaytherealway.com
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Each Sudoku puzzle consists of a 9X9 grid that has been subdivided into nine smaller grids of 3X3 squares. To solve the puzzle each row, column and box must contain each of the numbers 1 to 9. Puzzles come in three grades: easy, medium and difficult.
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