The local paper for Downtown wn
WEEK OF JANUARY LEGAL WEED? NOT SO FAST ◄ P.21
3-9 2019
Dan Kaufman (left), author of “The Fall of Wisconsin,” with Glenn Raucher, curator and host of the Half King reading series. Photo courtesy of Glenn Raucher
THE HALF KING TO BOW OUT CLOSINGS A Chelsea home to journalists and authors faces the writing on the wall for city restaurants BY JASON COHEN
The Half King has been a staple in the Chelsea community for nearly two decades. But the restaurant that became a home for many journalists and writers will be shuttering its doors later this month. The restaurant, located directly below the High Line on West 23rd Street, was started in 2000 by journalists Sebastian Junger and Scott Anderson and filmmaker Nanette Burstein, as a neighborhood place that could also serve as a meeting spot for people in the publishing and film industries. “We didn’t know if it would work financially, but it did,” said Junger, author of “The Perfect Storm” and a documentary filmmaker. “Every year we’d look back and wonder how we’re still open.”
I’m very sad it’s closing and I’m also sad for New York that businesses keep closing.” Sebastian Junger, author, journalist and co-founder of The Half King
Junger explained they knew the Chelsea area was not cheap, but in 2000, it was up and coming with art galleries and other new businesses. However, as the galleries closed in the last 10 or 15 years and other restaurants like the Red Cat and Trestle on Tenth shuttered their doors, the writing was on the wall, he said. With high taxes, rent tripling since it opened and minimum wage increasing in 2019, staying open was not sustainable.
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The World Trade Center 1 train station at Cortlandt Street reopened in September, 17 years after it was damaged in the 9/11 attacks. “CHORUS” by the artist Ann Hamilton is a marble mosaic of words from the Declaration of Independence and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that rise from the walls. Photo: Patrick J. Cashin/Metropolitan Transportation Authority
UNDERGROUND BEAUTY TRANSIT Manhattan’s new golden age of subway art BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
Ask any New Yorker, and you’ll be told — with varying levels of annoyance, resignation or fury — that service on the city’s subway system leaves much to be desired. But at least there’s something nice to look at while you wait for your train.
While 2018 was another year of subway malaise, one silver lining was a continued influx of brilliant station art commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Straphangers were dazzled by new art in several stations that reopened in 2018 after comprehensive renovations. In September, riders entering the World Trade Center station at Cortlandt Street for the first time since the 9/11 attacks were met with a poignant reminder of the site’s past in the form Ann Hamilton’s immense yet ethereal marble mosaic “CHORUS,” which feaDowntowner
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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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tures text from the Declaration of Independence and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Further north, playful images of William Wegman’s pet Weimaraners now gaze expectantly upon the 23rd Street platform that reopened in November, as if hopeful each passing commuter will hand over a dog treat. Yoko Ono’s placid blue skies on the walls of the recently renovated B and C train station at 72nd Street and Central Park West implore passengers to “Remember Love.”
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JANUARY 3-9,2019
Scene in New York
NOTHING BUT BLUE SKIES What were those flickering blue lights that illuminated the night sky on Thursday, Dec. 27? Manhattan residents might have gone through the usual checklist: fireworks in the East River? Celebrating a pre-New Year’s race in Central Park? The premiere of a hot new action movie? Social media quickly provided the correct answer: a transformer at a Con Edison facility in Astoria had exploded, and the “light was caused by an electrical surge at a substation,” as Mayor Bill de Blasio reported on Twitter. The blast caused power outages and transportation slowdowns — which Con Edison referred to as a “transmission dip in the area” — but there were no injuries. “Confirming incident in #Astoria was result of transformer explosion,” the NYPD’s Twitter feed said. “No injuries, no fire, no evidence of extraterrestrial activity.” That last theme prompted an array of speculation. Tweeted New York Times reporter Liam Stack: “NYC is so expensive when the aliens get here they just go straight to Queens.”
View from East River Drive. Photo: Amanda Brainerd
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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG UNWANTED VISITOR
STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 1st precinct for the week ending Dec 23
It seems it’s time for one downtown resident to change her locks. On Friday evening, Dec. 21, according to police, a woman’s 19-year-old ex-boyfriend entered her apartment at 106 Fulton Street, using a spare key, and tried to take her cell phone. The boyfriend cornered the victim and forcefully took the phone, pushing her to the ground. When the victim tried to prevent him from leaving he pushed her to the floor again. The victim was not injured in the fracas. The stolen iPhone 8 was valued at $600.
Week to Date
PHONE STORE EMPLOYEE ASSAULTED At 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 20, three men entered the T-Mobile store at 270 Greenwich Street and removed items from a display shelf. A 39-year-old male employee who tried to stop the men from leaving the store without paying was punched by one of the men, causing pain. The employee later told police that the shoplifters fled north on Greenwich before heading east on Chambers Street. A search of the neighborhood proved fruitless. The stolen merchandise included an iPhone XS Max valued at $1,100 and an iPhone XR selling for $800.
Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr
WOMAN’S SCREAM THWARTS FEMALE MUGGER A good loud scream can still be a good line of defense in a mugging. According to police, at 12:45 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 20, a 51-year-old woman was washing her hands in the restroom of the Fulton StreetBroadway subway station when she was approached by an unknown woman who said, “Give me your jacket.”
The would-be mugger pushed the victim against a wall and punched her on the left side of her face, causing pain and redness. When the victim began to scream for help, her attacker fled. However, the victim was able to photograph the woman and the picture was later distributed to personnel of the MTA and lower Manhattan precincts. The search for the attacker continues.
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2018 2017
% Change 2018
2017
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
9
-88.9
Rape
0
1
-100.0 23
17
35.3
Robbery
3
0
n/a
79
70
12.9
Felony Assault
1
4
-75.0
59
93
-36.6
Burglary
4
0
n/a
84
64
31.3
Grand Larceny
16
21
-23.8
1,070 1,056 1.3
Grand Larceny Auto
0
0
n/a
21
1
15
40.0
DRUNKEN DAD ATTACKED
NIKES NICKED
Police said an intoxicated man was injured while trying to defend his daughter. On Saturday night, Dec. 22, the 51-year-old dad was walking with his daughter near the corner of Cliff and Fulton Streets when an unknown man bumped into the daughter.The father got into an argument with the man, who struck the father with an unknown object, causing a laceration to the his right hand. Police said the victim was intoxicated and belligerent at the scene, and his assailant got away.
A mugger used the threat of force to get his hands on a man’s Nike Air Force shoes. On the night of Wednesday, Dec. 19, in front of 1 Mercer Street, an unknown man approached a 17-yearold man who had just purchased three pairs of shoes. The man asked to b uy the shoes, then grabbed them and said “I have a gun.” The thief fled, and a police search of the neighborhood was unsuccessful. The stolen shoes, including two pairs of Nike Air Force 1’s, were valued at $775.
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POLICE NYPD 7th Precinct
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ANGELâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S STORY: THERE IS LIFE AFTER PRISON COMMUNITY The former executive director of Goddard Riverside reflects on his long connection to Angel Soler, a Westsider who faced the trauma of incarceration
I am thankful ... that I am able to walk outside and go wherever I want. I hope my story will help other people who have spent time in jail know that it is possible to come back to the community. If I can do it, with all the defects I have had in my life, others can too.â&#x20AC;?
BY STEPHAN RUSSO
I ďŹ rst met Angelo â&#x20AC;&#x153;Angelâ&#x20AC;? Soler in the summer of 1976, when I worked the streets of the West Side, trying to reach kids hanging out in the neighborhood. I was part of what was then called a â&#x20AC;&#x153;delinquency preventionâ&#x20AC;? program operated by Goddard Riverside Community Center. Today, you would never get away with such an anachronistic way of describing young people who need help. Back then, Angel, who grew up in the housing projects along Columbus Avenue, hung out on Columbus and 93rd Street with a group of ruffians who called themselves â&#x20AC;&#x153;La Familiaâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; an incipient gang that donned black jackets with their symbol (of a Latin American Indian chief) on the back and red bandanas. Angel was a tall, lanky 14-year old who was in perpetual motion. He and his â&#x20AC;&#x153;pandillaâ&#x20AC;? were convinced that I, along with my outreach partner, worked for the police department and were trying to bust them for loitering on the corner. In one of my ďŹ rst interactions with him, Angel explained to me that he lost a lung when a gun he was holding accidentally misďŹ red. Angelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mother was caring and concerned, but she had her own struggles with drug use. His father was known in the community for his domino playing and a penchant for â&#x20AC;&#x153;el tragoâ&#x20AC;? (drinking). One of my missions with Angel, early on, was to help him get a new set of dentures since he was without his front teeth from the age of eight, when he was playing in an abandoned building and got hit in the mouth with a shovel. For months, I would go to his house, drag him from under his bed and take him, arm in arm, to the local dental health clinic. It took over a year but, Angel had a new set of teeth that have lasted to this day. That summer of 1976 began a relationship that has endured over 40 years. Today, Angel is
Angelo â&#x20AC;&#x153;Angelâ&#x20AC;? Soler
Angel Soler (left) and Stephan Russo shopping for clothes the day Soler was released from prison. Photo: Susan Souder 6â&#x20AC;&#x2122;4â&#x20AC;? and a teddy-bear-like 300 pounds. He is one of those forgotten individuals who have experienced the trauma of prison life. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I went to school up to the eighth grade,â&#x20AC;? Angel reminisced when we got together recently. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The teacher was terriďŹ ed because I was in a street gang. They passed me from class to class, but never taught me how to read or write, which is a problem for me to this day. Neither my mother nor sister ever learned how to read or write. My mother was too busy getting high to make sure I went to school.â&#x20AC;? Despite problems with his anger, Angel has an engaging personality and a compelling streak of kindness and sensitivity. The community center has always been his anchor. I spent those 40 years working at the center and kept in regular touch with Angel. He lived in one of the agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residences and supported himself with the occasional part-time job â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as a kitchen worker at Goddard Riversideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residential camp or security guard at one of the neighborhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rundown SROs. One day nearly two decades ago, I was sitting in my office (I had recently become Goddard Riversideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s executive director) when two detectives from the 20th Precinct appeared. They wanted to talk to me about Angel. I knew that Angel had
struggled with his drug use. The local news reported on a series of â&#x20AC;&#x153;shakedownsâ&#x20AC;? of food deliverers that had become a neighborhood concern. Angel had been arrested. I said it couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be him. But they had the evidence and, for Angel, there was no escaping. He could not overcome the difficulties of his early years. Angel spent the next 13 years in prison. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Life in jail was a daily struggle,â&#x20AC;? Angel told me. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Only the strong survive. One of the hardest things to do on Christmas day was to wait for someone to open your cell so you could go to the mess hall where they would only give you two pieces of turkey, a soda, and ice cream. When you went back to your cell, there was a candy bar waiting for you as a special Christmas treat. It was one of the saddest days of the year.â&#x20AC;? When Angel was imprisoned, his natural family all but abandoned him. He lost contact with his two daughters and had no one on the outside to turn to. Almost by default, our family had become his surrogate family. My wife and I made regular trips to the Green Haven, Eastern and Wallkill correctional facilities where he was serving his â&#x20AC;&#x153;bid,â&#x20AC;? as the people in prison call their time locked up. I wrote weekly letters and periodically mailed him money orders so he could purchase basic necessities at the commissary.
Angel would have his cellmate Jaime read my letters to him and write his responses. We also regularly sent packages filled with sealed processed meats, cakes, cookies, candies and toiletries â&#x20AC;&#x201D; no more than 35 pounds or any trace of alcohol in the food content, per strict prison rules. Any time weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d consider not sending him so many unhealthy sweets, our perceptive daughter would say, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Angel is in prison and has no freedom. Get him anything he wants!â&#x20AC;? Angel celebrated his 56th birthday in December and is completing his fourth year of probation. He is one of the lucky ones. When he was released, we were able to ďŹ nd him housing at the Goddard Riverside residence where he used to live. The building had just undergone a major renovation and Angel had his own bathroom. He initially kept his door open at night so he could experience what it was like to walk out whenever wanted. He was tired of being locked in. Angel spends his days attending his treatment program and volunteering at a local food pantry. He came to our house for Thanksgiving and spent time with us over Christmas. He occasionally sees his daughters, but the pain of their disappearance during his time away has not dissipated. Angel continues to fight the demons of his previous drug abuse, loneliness and isolation, along with the trauma of prison life. (He once spent nearly 300 days in solitary conďŹ nement.) Yet Angel has persevered. He will be off probation next year and truly free. He continues to resist the daily temptations of
the street life. His strength and determination have carried him forward. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am thankful this Christmas that I am able to walk outside and go wherever I want,â&#x20AC;? Angel said before the holidays. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I hope my story will help other people who have spent time in jail know that it is possible to come back to the community. If I can do it, with all the defects I have had in my life, others can too.â&#x20AC;? In a recent op-ed, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fighting the Spiritual Void,â&#x20AC;? New York Times columnist David Brooks suggested that our failure to address how one recovers from trauma stems from the lack of a â&#x20AC;&#x153;communitywide rite of passage for people coming out of prison, for forgiveness for a personal wrong, for people who felt they had come out the other side of trauma and abuse.â&#x20AC;? Angelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experience shows how it is possible to create a culture to help alleviate the pain of trauma. Still, how many more Angels are out there, and do we have the moral courage, as Brooks implores, to help those re-entering to become whole again and participate as full
citizens of our community? This holiday season, I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help but think of Brooksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s call for a moral and community response to those who experience the trauma of a long period of incarceration, people like my friend Angel Soler. The national statistics are staggering. There are over 2.2 million incarcerated adults in U.S. federal and state prisons â&#x20AC;&#x201D; more than 25 percent of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prison population. Every year, 650,000 Americans are released from incarceration â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a number larger than the entire population of Wyoming and Vermont. But there are positive signs as well, like the passage of the bipartisan criminal justice reform bill, signed by President Trump a few days before Christmas; the successful Florida referendum that will allow ex-felons to vote; and the push to eliminate the â&#x20AC;&#x153;criminal recordâ&#x20AC;? box on school and job applications. Together, they shine a much-needed spotlight a critical issue we face today â&#x20AC;&#x201D; how to help those who have paid their debt to society and now live amongst us.
Angel Soler with his grandchildren. Photo courtesy of Angel Soler NOTICE OF A JOINT PUBLIC HEARING of the Franchise and Concession Review Com-mittee and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to be held on Monday, January 7, 2019 at 2 Lafayette Street, 14th Floor Auditorium, Borough of Manhattan, com-mencing at 2:30 p.m. relative to: INTENT TO AWARD as a concession for the renovation, operation and PDLQWHQDQFH RI D VQDFN EDU DW WKH +HFNVFKHU %DOOÂż HOGV LQ &HQWUDO 3DUN 0DQKDWWDQ 1HZ <RUN IRU D QLQH \HDU WHUP ZLWK D VL[ PRQWK UHQHZDO RSWLRQ H[HUFLVDEOH DW 3DUNVÂś VROH GLVFUHWLRQ WR 3DQGD %XEEOH 7HD &3 //& &RPSHQVDWLRQ WR WKH City will be as follows: for each oper-ating year of the license, Panda Bubble Tea CP LLC shall pay the City a fee consist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wheelchairs or other mobility devices. For fur-ther information on accessibility or to make a request for accommodations, such DV VLJQ ODQ JXDJH LQWHUSUHWDWLRQ VHUYLFHV SOHDVH FRQWDFW WKH 0D\RUÂśV 2IÂż FH RI &RQWUDFW 6HUYLFHV 02&6 YLD H PDLO DW 'LVDELOLW\$IIDLUV#PRFV Q\F JRY RU YLD SKRQH DW $Q\ SHUVRQ UHTXLULQJ UHDVRQDEOH DFFRPPRGDWLRQ IRU WKH SXEOLF KHDULQJ VKRXOG FRQWDFW 02&6 DW OHDVW WKUHH EXVLQHVV GD\V LQ DGYDQFH RI WKH KHDULQJ WR HQVXUH DYDLODELOLW\ TELECOMMUNICATION DEVICE FOR THE DEAF (TDD) 212-504-4115
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Everything you like about Chelsea News is now available to be delivered to your mailbox every week in Chelsea Clinton News From the very local news of your neighborhood to information about upcoming events and activities, the new home delivered edition of Chelsea Clinton News 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. Author Dan Kaufman and Glenn Raucher, curator and host of the Half King reading series (at microphones), listening to a question from the audience. Photo courtesy of Glenn Raucher
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“This isn’t something where making money was absolutely crucial, but then it got to the point where we weren’t even breaking even,” Junger explained. “I’m very sad it’s closing and I’m also sad for New York that businesses keep closing.” Junger recalled how the first couple years were the toughest. Having to figure out the logistics of running a restaurant and bar on a day to day basis was challenging, he said. But once they got the hang of it, journalists, writers and other customers began to flock to the eatery. It became known for its Monday night author readings and bi-monthly photography exhibits. Though the space could only accommodate 60 or 70 people, The Half King offered an intimate setting for an author to read his or her book and for writers to connect. “I think journalists liked the idea that there was a place for them,” Junger said. “In New York City a place like this
doesn’t exist.” Glenn Raucher, who curated and hosted the weekly readings in 2018, is sad that the watering hole is closing. Raucher feels the series had a profound impact on the authors and attendees. Some authors who spoke there include David Johnston, an investigative journalist and author, C.J. Chivers of the New York Times, Marie Brenner of Vanity Fair, author Carmen Gentile and Vegas Tenold, a reporter and author. Raucher noted that while many of these writers were excellent wordsmiths, it was often difficult for some to speak in public. The Half King provided a supportive setting. “It meant a lot to them to have somebody really pay attention to their book,” he said. “People would come in and hear a story that they had never heard.” Raucher said he is looking for a new space for the series. Gentile, who has been a writer for 20 years, kicked off his book tour for “Blindsided by the Taliban,” in April 2018 at The Half King. He had been there a few times as a patron, but this was
his first as an author. During the event, he met a few people in the foreign news world who have since approached him for work. “It really set the tone for what was to come afterwards,” Gentile said. “It’s one of those places in New York and frankly the world where you can have a unique and meaningful experience that covers conflict and foreign affairs that you can’t find much elsewhere. It’s a shame that it’s closing.” In February 2018, Tenold read his “Everything You Love Will Burn,” a book about the resurgence of white supremacist and nationalist groups and their path to political power. He had been to readings there before, but this was his first time in the spotlight. Tenold, who lives in Norway, has been a journalist for eight years and didn’t know The Half King was closing. “As an aspiring writer you kind of always wanted to be the guy doing the reading,” he said. Being invited to The Half King was a big deal. It created a community that many New York writers will miss.
JANUARY 3-9,2019
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
HOMELESS MEN FACE CHARGES FOR FIGHTING NYPD OFFICER
Neighborhood Scrapbook
LAW ENFORCEMENT Video of an incident on a subway platform goes viral, prompting a change in the case BY MICHAEL R. SISAK AND JIM MUSTIAN
Authorities said Wednesday that three homeless men who battled a New York City police officer on a subway platform will face criminal charges after video of the encounter garnered millions of views online. Two of the men will be charged with riot and obstructing governmental administration, police said, while a third man faces those counts in addition to attempted assault, attempted criminal possession of a weapon and menacing. Two of the three men had been taken into custody Wednesday evening. The third remained at large. Two other men in the video, who appeared to be trying to break up the scuffle, aren’t facing charges. The charges stem from an incident in which a group of homeless men refused a police officer’s orders to “stand back.” Footage of the encounter, viewed more than 4.75 million times on social media, showed Officer Syed Ali using a baton and kicking at the men, who appeared to be drunk, as they come at him one at a time Sunday night. Ali, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, never pulled his gun. Police cited the men the following day for sleeping on the station floor but not for the altercation. The Manhattan District Attorney’s dropped that case, citing a policy curbing prosecution of those kinds of low-level violations. But as the video got more and more attention, the decision not to pursue the case drew criticism from Ali’s union, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, which said the men “should be held accountable for their actions.” The DA’s office said prosecutors who declined to move forward on
The Cardinal (center) with all the celebrants, including Bellevue priests and brothers. Photo courtesy of NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue
HOLIDAY MASS AT BELLEVUE On Christmas Eve, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan went to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue to celebrate Mass for patients and staff in the Catholic Chapel. The Cardinal attended a reception after Mass with participants, toured the adult and pediatric emergency rooms and greeted patients and staff. In his homily, Cardinal Dolan said that if Joseph and Mary had come to Bellevue, they would not have been turned away because Bellevue turns no one away.
Cardinal Dolan at the service with a patient. Photo courtesy of NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue
Police Officer Syed Ali, praised by Mayor Bill de Blasio for “extraordinary professionalism and bravery.” Photo: NYPD Transit, via Twitter the sleeping-related violations were not aware the men also were involved in an altercation with the officer. “There is no telling how much damage these mopes would have done to that courageous police officer had he not been equipped to handle them,” union president Patrick Lynch said in a statement. One of the homeless men tumbled off the platform in the chaos and had to be pulled from the tracks. He and the others were taken to a hospital for treatment. The men weren’t arrested until the next morning, when
police spotted them back at the East Broadway station and cited them for sleeping on the floor. “When people are arrested for attacking officers, we prosecute them,” said Danny Frost, a spokesman for the DA’s office. “These men were not arrested for attacking an officer, they were arrested for sleeping on the floor of a subway station — a rules violation, not a crime.” Mayor Bill de Blasio praised Ali’s “extraordinary professionalism and bravery.” He tweeted Tuesday that “attacking our men and women in uniform won’t ever be tolerated.”
Cardinal with staff of Adult and Pediatric Emergency Departments. Photo courtesy of NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue
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THE MYSTERY OF ‘MISTER WINDOW’ BY DEBORAH FENKER
Mister Window is up late. Again. Actually, I do not know this. Frankly, I don’t even know if “Mister Window” is a mister, or if anyone lives there at all. So let me back up a bit: there is a window which I can see by looking out from my own bedroom window, out to the Chelsea building that looms behind mine. It is a large, not particularly distinct apartment complex, neither old nor new. But it’s been around long enough so that all its original
windows have long been updated to newer, presumably more energyefficient ones. Newer, that is, than the one that catches my eye, that last remaining vestige of the originals, the one that I can see from my room. This window is a classic wooden frame, with multiple rectangular panes in a black painted grid. I imagine it is atrocious to open and close, making an awful screech, which may be why I have never seen that happen, except for perhaps a few-inches crack during the hot-
test of New York summer nights. There is no air conditioner in this window, the only one without; I am not even sure that the ancient frame could support one. It stands out, though, not just for being the final holdout of modernization, but for its categorically nocturnal hours of operation it showcases, so to speak. It is more difficult to tell, during the day, whether or not the lights are one. But I can say at least observationally, unfailingly, if I awaken late, late at night, or arise in the preposterously wee hours
of the morning, Mister Window’s lights are on. I have never seen a face, not a silhouette, not even shadows of movement. I once tried leaving a message with the doorman of the building, who was nice enough to try and help me determine which tenant it might be, and I can only hope that he passed it on. But whether he did, whether Mister Window got the note, or if he just elected not to respond, I will never know. The doorman did seem to know to whom I was referring after a bit of forensics. Specifying the floor and counting the number of windows over from the far right and ultimately snapping a picture from the rooftop of my own build-
ing to show him, we homed in on a suspect. This makes me think Mister Window pre-dates the current doorman, since no one was readily aware of the one remaining apartment with the antiquated, original window treatment. He certainly predates me, as I’ve observed the nighttime glow emanating from the window ever since I moved in. One day, a day to which I’m sure I am not looking forward, the window will most likely be upgraded to match all of its brethren. I suppose there are two occasions upon which this might occur. Either Mister Window joins the 21st century and allows renovation, or Mister Window will have turned out the lights, forever.
TALKING TRASH ... AND RATS BY MEREDITH KURZ
I think my 221,000 nearest neighbors would agree: the Upper West Side is the best place to live, not only in New York City, but on the planet. We’ve got bookstores, store stores, seven subway lines, three crosstown buses, the American Museum of Natural History and the Beacon Theatre. And we have food. We grab groceries at Gristedes, Fairway, Zingones (a tiny grocer that has fresh fruit and veggies and necessities and there’s always a grandchild behind the counter after school, doing their homework), 24-hour bodegas, Citarellas (the fish!), Trader Joe’s, Pioneer Supermarket, Zabars and Barney Greengrass, with its retro chrome and just enough banter to shmear on your bagel. We are the food mecca of Manhattan. We have the best and the most restaurants, outdoor cafés, bakeries (I mean, Levains, come on!), coffee shops, and late night bars. Food carts line Central Park West and dot the inner streets. We’re flanked by the largest city parks, so you can grab a nosh and head to nature.
There’s an overabundance of wonderul things to eat: and this is true whether you’re a human, or a rat. All this food generates a Mount Everest of garbage. Of course, the Department of Sanitation realizes this and provides us with the optimum amount of trash bins, right? Wrong. While we have more restaurants and markets, the Upper West side trash district has fewer trash cans than the Upper East side. In response to his squeaky wheel constituents, East Side Counci Member Ban Kallos used discretionary funds to purchase 284 “High-End Litter Baskets,” with narrow apertures to discourage large trash bag dumping. Similar squeaky wheels made complaints to the Upper West Side’s Council Member Helen Rosenthal, but report that her office has been unresponsive. One irate Upper West Sider wrote on a neighborhood app, “I sent photos to Council Member Rosenthal’s office every day for 3 months and they proceeded to fight me every step of the way.” Recently our paper reported on an Upper East Side turf dispute between two non-profits that employ people to
empty trash cans. (http://www.ourtownny.com/local-news/20181210/ territorial-dispute-over-cleanup-program) So the UES not only has more cans and better cans, it has people fighting to help empty the trash. Certain areas of the UWS are cleaner than others, such as areas with Business Improvement Districts, known as BIDs. The Columbus Avenue BID runs roughly from 67th Street to 82nd Street, between Amsterdam and Columbus. It has just two people assigned to clean-up duty, but that helps to keep the streets swept and the trash picked up. The Lincoln Square staff is larger, and you can see the difference. If you stroll up Amsterdam during or after a weekend, you’ll see the strain of having an enormous amount of foot and food traffic on the sidewalk. At night, it’s time for the vermin to come out and feed, plain and simple. I recall a romantic, early evening hand-in-hand stroll in Central Park, that morphed into a horror scene. As soon as the sun set, rats began gamboling noisily among the leaves, running in droves across the pathway. They seemed annoyed that we dared to be in their area.
Photo: Daniel X. O’Neil, via flickr Daytime parkgoers reported to Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal (not to be confused with Council Member Helen Rosenthal) that rats were jumping into baby strollers to steal snacks. None of us would leave open trash on our apartment floor, or leave out stale bread thinking we’re feeding pigeons when in fact we’re increasing the vermin population, right? All this open food is a rat magnet and multiplier. Without a sufficient number or types of cans to accommodate the amount of trash generated by all our popular
food venues, we invite rats and mice to an endless bouffet. We will not reduce the rat population until we increase the amount of receptacles and the frequency that the trash is removed from the area. So, what can you do? You can start by contacting your Community Board, or Helen Rosenthal’s office: helen@ helenrosenthal.com. I love my Upper West Side. I want to keep all our “breadbasket of the city” charm. To do this, we need to get rid of a few million of our unwanted visitors.
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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Perfect Strangersâ&#x20AC;? by Vik Muniz at the Second Avenue subwayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 72nd Street station. Photo: Steven Strasser
UNDERGROUND CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Along with permanent installations came unexpected delights, like the career-spanning photos of David Bowie that plastered the walls of the Broadway-Lafayette Street station for several weeks last spring, or the fans who spontaneously and illicitly renamed Franklin Street station to â&#x20AC;&#x153;Arethaâ&#x20AC;? Franklin Street following the soul singerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s death
in August. (The MTA erased the graffiti, but later added a permanent banner to the platform walls reading â&#x20AC;&#x153;Respectâ&#x20AC;? in tribute to Franklin.) These works built upon on the artistic momentum of 2017, which saw the debut of largescale pieces in each of the new Second Avenue subway stations â&#x20AC;&#x201D; carrying on New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proud tradition of public art in public transit. MTA Arts & Design commissions site-speciďŹ c works in new and newly restored stations
through a competitive selection process judged by panels of arts and design professionals. The agency is now in the process of selecting ďŹ nalists to design proposals for new art in the First Avenue and Bedford Avenue L train stations, which will close for 15 months beginning this spring to repair damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.
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EDITOR’S PICK
Sun 6 ASSSSCAT 3000 UCB Hell’s Kitchen 555 West 42nd St 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. $12 ucbtheatre.com 212-366-9176 Join UCB for their premier flagship show. The performance consists of UCB improvisers performing scenes with frequent special guests from TV and movies.
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Thu 3
Fri 4
Sat 5
▲ COMEDY: ON THIS DAY
ALTAI KAI THROAT SINGING VIRTUOSOS
Caveat 21 A Clinton Street 6:30 p.m $10 Based on Facebook memories and the Timehop app, this show does a deep dive about everything that happened on the day of the show. On This Day is about how each day is special to each and every one of us. caveat.nyc 212-228-2100
Rubin Museum 150 West 17th St 7:00 p.m. $30 Hear the otherworldly music of the group Altai Kai. Throat singing and the ringing melodies of the khomus, topshur, and accordion all come together to form the sound of this acclaimed band. rubinmuseum.org 212-620-5000
STORYTIME AND ACTIVITIES FEATURING CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG Barnes and Noble 150 East 86th St 11:00 a.m. Free Clifford is an adorable dog whose well-intentioned bumblings have great kid appeal, especially for his owner, Emily Elizabeth. Stop by for a reading about everyone’s favorite big red dog. Plus, get a coupon from the Café for a grilled cheese sandwich with milk or juice for $4. barnesandnoble.com 212-369-2180
JANUARY 3-9,2019
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
MARBLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH’S
Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Concert:
Celebrating the Legacy of
Aretha Franklin
The Marble Community Gospel Choir directed by Stacy Penson
Sun 6
Mon 7
Tue 8
▼ PLUTO IS MISSING! A NOT-SO-PLANETARY MUSICAL
▲ ASTRONOMY CLUB LET’S TALK ABOUT RACE BABY
GRABIGOUJI: LIFE OF DISAPPEARANCE
The PIT 123 East 24th St 3:00 p.m. $20 When news of its demotion reaches the small planetoid, Pluto leaves the Solar System. This musical is a family-friendly space comedy that blends music, puppets and fantasy with real science and space exploration history. You’ll leave the theater with your head full of catchy songs and astronomical knowledge! thepit-nyc.com 212-563-7488
UCB East Village 153 East 3rd St. 9:00 p.m. $9 This acclaimed all POC improv/sketch comedy group presents their monthly show. Based on interviews with audience members, the group will perform a hilarious show based around the topic of race. ucbtheatre.com 212-366-9231
Anthology Film Archives 32 Second Ave 7:30 p.m. Free Filmmaker and producer, Brigitte Cornand first met renowned artist Louise Bourgeois in 1994, when she made Chere Louise. This final film in their three part series represents a haunting depiction of a great artist contemplating her legacy and her own mortality. anthologyfilmarchives.org 212-505-5181
Wed 9 CONVERSATION: THE SPEED OF DARK The Strand 828 Broadway 7 p.m. Free Author Joram Piatigorsky reads from his memoir about how he broke the chain of his lineage of art, music and banking to establish an important career in science. His nephew, cellist Evan Drachman, head of The Piatigorsky Foundation in Manhattan, will perform. strandbooks.com 212-473-1452
Sunday, January 20 at 3:00pm Admission: $20 at door | $15, seniors Save $5 by ordering in advance online at MarbleChurch.org SAVE THE DATE
Tri-Faith Sunday Worship Sunday, February 3 at 11:00am Marble has been a pioneer in interfaith cooperation in New York City. One of the ways we lift up the importance of interfaith relationships is through our annual “Trialogue.” This year during our service Dr. Michael Bos will have a conversation with dynamic Jewish and Muslim leaders about the future of faith and how we can work for the common good. This is being done as part of the United Nations’ World Interfaith Harmony Week. Invite friends to join you for this special experience.
Event listings brought to you by Marble Collegiate Church. 1 West 29th Street / New York, New York 10001 212 686 2770 / MarbleChurch.org Download the Marble Church App on iPhone or Android
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JANUARY 3-9,2019
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AILEY TROUPE CELEBRATES 60 YEARS One of the world’s bestknown dance companies marks a milestone anniversary by looking back at its founder BY JOCELYN NOVECK
It was March 1958 when an African-American dancer named Alvin Ailey, then making his living on the Broadway stage, gathered up a group of fellow dancers and presented a one-night show of his own works. In the audience at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan was 18-year-old Sylvia Waters, who was studying dance across town at Juilliard. She had never seen anything like it. “It was
absolutely riveting,” she says now. “I had never seen men dance like that.” Most exciting to Waters was seeing people dance “who I could relate to,” she says. “There was something so visceral about the experience. We didn’t know at the time that it was history, but it was definitely special.” It was indeed history: The company born that night, which Waters would join a decade later, is now 60 years old and credited with helping popularize modern dance, as well as bringing the AfricanAmerican experience to a global stage. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is one of the best-known companies in the world, touring constant-
Jacqueline Green in Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations.” Photo: Paul Kolnik
ly and still earning rapturous ovations for its signature work, “Revelations,” which tells the African-American story through spirituals and blues. To mark the milestone, the company has been devoting its current New York season to remembering Ailey himself, who died at age 58 in 1989, with a major new work, “Lazarus,” as well as “Timeless Ailey,” a compilation that includes a piece of “Blues Suite,” performed that night in 1958. It’s a time for the company to reflect on how it made it this far, says Judith Jamison, the former Ailey artistic director. “It’s amazing,” says Jamison, 75, who in her dancing years became known for the searing “Cry,” another Ailey signature piece. “I find it remarkable that we still exist today, lo these 60 years. And I think Mr. Ailey would be absolutely besidehimself happy, that something he started 60 years ago could blossom into everything he imagined.” In a recent interview on the sidelines of company rehearsal, Jamison recalled being present as Ailey died, along with Waters and Ailey’s mother. “We were in his room as he passed, and usually you see in movies, that people have their last breath and they breathe out. But Mr. Ailey breathed IN. We expected him to breathe out, and he didn’t. So I think what we’re living on now, is his breath OUT ... that air, that vision, that dream.” A key challenge for the company is keeping Ailey’s memory alive and present — not just for audiences, but for the dancers who never met him. Yannick Lebrun, who grew up in French Guiana and joined the company 10 years ago, says he learned about Ailey from people like Jamison. “She always talked about Alvin and how generous he was, how human he was,” says
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Rennie Harris’s “Lazarus.” Photo: Paul Kolnik Lebrun, one of the company’s current stars, “and how dedicated he was to sharing his love for modern dance, but also his memories from growing up in the South, and African-American heritage and history.” Ailey grew up in poverty in small-town Texas, to a 17-yearold mother. It’s both the story of his early life and the broader African-American experience that the company is telling with the two-act “Lazarus,” so named for the theme of resurrection. It was choreographed by hip-hop artist Rennie Harris and commissioned by Robert Battle, Jamison’s successor as artistic director. “There came this thing of wanting to hear Mr. Ailey’s voice, because so many of us didn’t have the opportunity to know him,” says Battle. He means “voice” both figuratively and literally; there’s a section of “Lazarus” where the choreographer inserts his own voice into old audio of Ailey, as if interviewing him today. The piece begins with a historical look at the AfricanAmerican struggle, including a depiction of lynchings, and then moves into full-on, highenergy hip-hop. “Hip-hop is a celebration of life,” Battle says. The genre also connects with younger audiences, of course, and the company’s challenge — like that of any arts organization — is to bring younger people into the fold. “Our biggest challenge is the competition for people’s leisure time,”
Battle says. “The phones, the technology.” The cost of touring, too, is rising. “We have to continue to find ways to reach new audiences,” he says. However successful the new piece, or others in the company’s broad repertoire, nothing will ever take the place of “Revelations,” which more than a signature work is the very core of the company’s identity. It’s on the schedule most evenings the company performs. Indeed, the work is so much in demand that none other than Ailey himself tried to cut back on it years ago, to showcase other things. But ticket sales dropped, Battle says, “And so Alvin said, ‘Put it back on!’” Performed everywhere from
Alvin Ailey in performance, c. 1950s. Photo: Zoe Dominic
the Olympics to the White House, the work has often been called the most-seen piece of modern dance, but it’s hard to imagine anything to compare it with. “It’s a phenomenon,” Battle says simply, “a once-in-alifetime work. It’s universal in such a palpable way that no matter if we’re across the street or across the ocean, people have a visceral response.” He describes a trip to Russia where he felt very far from home — until he saw the audience cheering “Revelations.” Suddenly, he says, “it became a church somewhere in the South.” The popularity of “Revelations” is hardly a challenge, Battle says — he sees it as a blessing. “It’s like Aretha singing, ‘Respect,’” he notes. “People don’t get tired of it. It’s, `C’mon, sing it!’” Jamison adds that on evenings when “Revelations” isn’t on the bill, audiences still appreciate seeing the new works — and then, she quips, “they’ll buy another ticket, to get their fix.” Nor do the dancers, for whom “Revelations” is a rite of passage, seem to tire of the work, Lebrun says. “There’s always something new to say,” says Lebrun. “Revelations” is why we are here right now, 60 years later. So if we don’t take care of it ... this most important modern dance piece in the world, then why are we here? Why are we doing what we’re doing?’’
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RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS
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Grade Pending (51) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. 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. 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.
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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.
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JANUARY 3-9,2019
KOSHER RESTAURANTS CLOSE ON THE UPPER WEST SIDE SMALL BUSINESS
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST 12-14-18
BY JASON COHEN
12-17-18
SOLD: TWO FABLED UES CHURCHES Jan Hus Presbyterian Church — a storied house of worship on the Upper East Side that once boasted thousands of Czech parishioners — is selling its 1888 building on East 74th Street, Straus News has learned. “We’re relieving ourselves of a burdensome asset so we can live into the future God intends and New Yorkers desperately need,” said Rev. Beverly Dempsey, the senior pastor. “We’re giving ourselves the opportunity to serve the most vulnerable populations of New York City for generations to come.” The Church of the Epiphany — built in 1939 to minister to the nearby hospitals and the only place of prayer on York Avenue — is buying Jan Hus, which sits one block to the
City regulations and religious oversight add to the difficulties of doing business
December was a bad month for kosher restaurants on the Upper West Side. Coffeeberry, Chocolate Works, Seasons and Big Bang Burger all shuttered their doors. Big Bang Burger opened a year ago at 426 Amsterdam Ave., between 80th and 81st Streets, and closed Dec. 24. The burger joint was started by Dr. Gabriel Feldman and Jane Potter, who wanted to combine their love for science with food, spawning the name of the restaurant from the television show “The Big Bang Theory.” Feldman told the West Side Spirit that they tried to keep the place afloat, but nothing ever worked. Whether it was the loopholes they had to jump through with the Department of Buildings, kosher oversight, an unprofessional restaurant consultant or rent of $13,500, it was simply too much. “I think our restaurant consultant mislead us,” Feldman said. “We didn’t have any success. The difficulties of having a place on the UWS is insurmountable.” Prior to Big Bang Burger, Feldman had a small frozen yogurt place in the Bronx, but it didn’t pan out. However, knowing there is a large Jewish population on the UWS, he thought a kosher place would work. At first, the place was just dairy and called Bazinga Café. However, Feldman saw that wasn’t working, so he and Potter quickly changed to burgers. The goal was to make a fun place with good food for the community, but they soon discovered owning a kosher restaurant in the Upper West Side was almost impossible. “[The city] absolutely could
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west, pastors and lay leaders of both congregations confirmed. “Our building doesn’t work for us, we don’t have enough space, we’re not accessible,” said Rev. Jennifer Reddall. “Now, we’ll be able to significantly expand our ministry to the neighborhood, and at the same time, we’ll get to save a historic building.”
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12-8-18
SCANDAL? WHAT SCANDAL? IOWA BECKONS Out with a Big Bang: Photo courtesy of Jane Potter care less, whether it’s architecture or a grease trap,” he said. “It’s all [so] complex that you need a navigator just to hold on.” They learned that even though Mayor Bill de Blasio claims to be pro-small business, it’s the landlords that really run the city. “The landlords are charging twice what [rent] should be,” Feldman said. “We’ve become a society of landlords on the Upper West Side. The rents are so high that all you can do is serve liquor or high-end desserts.” Feldman feels opening a restaurant in the Upper West Side is not place for beginners. Furthermore, owning a kosher place requires constant oversight from mashgiachs, or kosher food supervisors, which can be a costly hassle. “There’s really no future for Glatt kosher places on the UWS,” Feldman said. “It’s really a place for super-experi-
enced, super-wealthy people that want to open up.” Coffeeberry, which opened in 2015, was located at 618 Amsterdam Avenue, on the corner of 90th and Amsterdam. It originally closed in mid-November for renovations, but in early December officially shut its doors. Seasons, the kosher grocery store chain, which filed for bankruptcy in September, closed its Upper West Side location at 661 Amsterdam Ave. on Dec. 28. Seasons began in 2010 in Flushing and eventually expanded to seven locations; two on Long Island, two in New Jersey, one in Baltimore, one in Scarsdale and their UWS store. After seven years on the UWS at 641 Amsterdam Avenue, between 91st and 92nd Streets, Chocolate Works closed on New Year’s Eve. Manager Natalie Serussi said their rent doubled and it was not affordable to remain open.
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LEADERSHIP Even before he’s sworn in for a second term, Mayor Bill de Blasio will hit the Hawkeye State to rev up his national profile — despite intense blowback from bogus leadpaint inspections at public housing BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
When the going gets tough, Mayor Bill de Blasio gets going — as far away from City Hall as politically, geograph-
ically and logistically possible. It’s been a four-year pattern. And now, even as his administration reels from a mushrooming scandal at the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), it is about to repeat itself: The mayor next month packs his bags for Iowa, home of the first-in-thenation caucuses — and graveyard-inthe-cornfields for outsized dreams and overreaching politicians. Fresh from his reelection triumph and two weeks before his swearing-in for a second term, he’ll headline the fifth annual holiday party for the lib-
10-19-18
11-20-18
‘GRAMMAR ZEN’ IN VERDI SQUARE COMMUNITY New Yorkers talk tricky tenses, punctuation passions and more at Ellen Jovin’s UWS pop-up table BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
Are you prepositionally challenged? Hesitant around hyphens? Undergoing a comma crisis? Simply enraptured by the beauty of a well-placed ellipsis? Ellen Jovin wants to talk grammar with you. Jovin has become familiar to Upper West Side word lovers in recent weeks as the face and founder of Grammar Table — a public forum for open-ended discussion of all things language. Armed with a folding
table and an array of reference books and style guides, Jovin sets up shop near the northern entrance to the 72nd Street subway station on Broadway to dole out complimentary (with an “i”) pointers, guidance and emotional support to all comers, from devoted syntacticians to the downright grammar-averse. “Hi, this looks lit,” a young woman said on a recent after-
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JANUARY 3-9,2019
NOTES OF A POOL ROOM JUNKIE HISTORY Remembering the legendary NYC places that attracted the best players and hustlers from all over the country BY HARMON RANGELL
The first pool room I walked into was in Queens Village, New York, across from the LIRR railroad station on Springfield Boulevard just south of Jamaica Avenue. It was up a long flight of stairs and I think the reason I went there in the first place was because I heard they would serve you a beer even if you didn’t have a draft card. The drinking age was eighteen then and a draft card, issued by selective service on your 18th birthday, was the right of passage. Anyway, I was about sixteen, and sure enough when I nervously asked, a beer slid across the bar. The room was an old-fashioned room, dark if no one was playing. The Tiffany-type lamps that hung over each table lit only if the table was being paid for, switched on by the houseman at the desk when he punched the clock. I think I was immediately hooked. There was a sort of mystery, an underlying sense of danger, for I immediately knew not to challenge anyone there even simply by making eye contact. These were people you didn’t fool around with. In this darkened smoky
Sign of the times. Photo courtesy of Harmon Rangell room the hushed sounds were interrupted only by the clicking noise of the balls hitting each other. Little dramas were being played out at each island of light. There were the hustlers and their “pigeons” — lesser players sometimes referred to as “fish” — and if you simply watched for a while, you immediately knew who was who. I really don’t remember how many times I returned there, but I’ve been a pool room junkie ever since. I was never to become a good player. More than fifty years ago I ran fortyeight balls when I was in the U.S. Army in Germany, and before my game collapsed I ran nine a few times in three cushion billiards. But I never graduated from pigeon to player. In the 1960s and 70s there were pool rooms in New York City that attracted the best players and hustlers from all over the country. The most notorious of these was Ames. Located on 44th Street just off Seventh Avenue, it was open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It was upstairs and when you got to the top of the stairs you were right in the
Julian’s was one of the prime destinations. Photo courtesy of Harmon Rangell middle of the room. You walked up and you were enveloped by the sights and sounds of this unique place. In the classic film “The Hustler,” which was partially filmed there, Paul Newman’s character, “Fast Eddie” Felson, walks up to the houseman and asks if they play straight pool there. The houseman, who was the real houseman in a cameo role, replies flatly: “Mister, this is Ames.” Pool hustlers from all over the country would show up at Ames. It was like a magnet. They were like gladiators coming to do battle, always looking to “make a game.” They included Jersey Red, Johnny Ervolino, Boston Shorty, Irving “The Preacher” Crane and Luther “Wimpy” Lassiter, to name a few.
Julian’s Billiard Academy was over a Horn & Hardart Automat. Photo courtesy of Harmon Rangell
I watched them all, smooth and balletic, their cues moving with grace and fluidity. They were the descendants of Hoppe, Mosconi and Rudolph Wandereone, otherwise known as “Minnesota Fats.” It was during these years that I became intrigued with three-cushion billiards. Comparing it to pool was like comparing checkers to chess. The author Robert James Waller once wrote: “There is a beauty about billiards that’s hard to explain if you have never played. It’s like watching a ballet or listening to Bach. It contains within it pure form, point and counterpoint, fugue-like movement and a sense of a small universe into which one can plunge forever ... It is a different place from the cacophony of the pool tables only a few feet away. A place of silence, of concentration, of men who knew what they were doing.” During those years there were many other “rooms” in NYC: There was Julian’s, located on 14th Street just West of Third Avenue. Julian’s was an upstairs room like Ames in that you walked up into the middle of the room. It was next door to the Academy of Music. There was McGirr’s, a downstairs room at Eighth Avenue and 45th Street. McGirr’s always seemed to me to be the most dangerous. There’s no question the room was filled with gangsters and you wouldn’t want to cross anyone there. There was Executive Billiards on Sixth Avenue about 32nd Street. Just a block or so below Gimbels, it was up a double flight of stairs and was frequented mostly by garment center salesman. There were many quality three-cushion players there at that time, several of whom I would meet again years later.
But the room where I spent the most time during those years was O’Brien’s. Located downstairs on 23rd Street just east of Broadway, it was right across the street from Madison Square Park, and only a short walk from my office on 23rd between Sixth and Seventh. It was what a pool room should be, with Tiffany-type lamps, not fluorescents, hanging over each table. Leo J O’Brien owned the room. He was a tall balding retired cop. Many of the lunchtime crowd worked for Met Life whose headquarters building was right across the park on Madison Avenue. There was a short, balding fellow named Sam and a young intense player named Mel who would hunch low over his cue with his face kept at almost table level. I can envision their faces clearly even after all these years. It’s been more than sixty years since I first climbed the stairs of that pool room in Queens Village. Sixty years of feeling a sort of comfort when I would walk into one of those darkened rooms. Sixty years of people whose last names I never knew, knowing them only as ”Brooklyn Jack,” “Cadillac Bob,” “Joe the Cab” and “Frank the Plumber.” None of the NYC poolrooms exist today but I think of them often. The pool room subculture is a relatively small one. We all recognize each other and when a face appears that seems familiar, a face not necessarily known by name, that face might nod — a silent hello, from one junkie to another. Harmon Rangell, 77, has been married to the same good woman for 56 years. He is a father, grandfather, retired businessman, writer, part-time musician, collector of Bonsai trees and self described “Pool Room Junkie.” His novel “Jake’s Tale” is available at Amazon.com. He can be reached at killebrew99@yahoo.com
JANUARY 3-9,2019
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640 NEW SCHOOL SEATS PLANNED FOR UES EXCLUSIVE City capital plan proposes $93 million project to expand East Side public school capacity
I saw a lot of children being turned away, which is why I’ve been pushing for these additional seats.”
BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
The city aims to add 640 new public school seats on the Upper East Side as part of its upcoming $17 billion five-year school capital plan. Plans for expanding the neighborhood’s school capacity appear in the School Construction Authority and Department of Education’s proposed capital plan for fiscal years 2020-2024. The 640 Upper East Side seats are among the 2,794 new seats the plan calls for in School District 2, which includes the Upper East Side, Midtown, Chelsea and much of Lower Manhattan. An SCA and DOE spokesperson did not comment on whether the city has identified potential sites for the 640 new seats. But Council Member Ben Kallos, who advocated for the agencies to expand school capacity in his Upper East Side district, said that the added seats will most likely be located in a new school. “My preference is for one large school,” Kallos said, adding, “Based on the work I’ve been doing with the SCA to find a location for this school, I believe that there will be a site large enough to accommodate all 640 seats, if not more.”
Council Member Ben Kallos
garten to eighth grade enrollment in Manhattan is expected to drop nearly 14 percent over the same period.
VYING FOR AVAILABLE SEATS
P.S. 198, at 96th Street and Third Avenue, received 243 applications for 50 available kindergarten seats in 2018. Local leaders are hopeful that the city’s plan to add additional elementary school seats on the Upper East Side will reduce overcrowding and result in more students attending their school of choice. Photo: Jim. henderson, via Wikimedia Commons The 640-seat Upper East Side project will cost an estimated $92.85 million, with an expected completion date of March 2025, according to the proposed capital plan. The city hopes to start design work by Sept. 2020 and begin construction by Dec. 2021. District 2 as a whole is slightly below its full enrollment capacity, but elementary schools in the portions of the district represented by Kallos and his Council colleague Keith Powers — encompassing the East
Side from roughly 14th to 96th Streets — are overcrowded, operating slightly over combined capacity as of the 2016-2017 school year. Kallos is hopeful that the new seats will reduce overcrowding, allow more students to attend their school of choice and offset future capacity needs resulting from new residential projects in the neighborhood. “I see cranes wherever I look,” Kallos said. “We literally have multiple buildings on 86th Street going up on the same
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block. The Second Avenue subway has brought with it a new construction boom and our neighborhood is already at 102 percent capacity. This is about building for the future.” According to DOE estimates, work will have begun on over 24,000 new residential units in District 2 by 2024, the highest total of any school district in the city. But despite the projected housing growth, DOE expects a slight enrollment drop of 1.4 percent in District 2 for pre-kindergarten to eighth grade over the next decade — a result of DOE’s formula for projecting future enrollment, which assigns District 2 the city’s lowest expected pupil contribution rate for new housing units. Overall pre-kinder-
A DOE report mandated under legislation sponsored by Kallos shows that kindergarten applications at many East Side schools substantially exceed the number of available seats. P.S. 151 the Yorkville Community School, on East 88th Street, for example, offered admission to 120 kindergarteners in 2018 after receiving 316 applications for 75 available seats. During the same admissions cycle, 243 prospective kindergarteners applied to P.S. 198 the Straus School, vying for 50 available seats (the school offered admission to 122 students). “I saw a lot of children being turned away, which is why I’ve been pushing for these additional seats,” Kallos said, adding that parents often turn to private schools when their children don’t receive offers from their preferred public schools. “I want to have such amazing public schools and such amazing facilities that parents are choosing our public education system over the best private schools in the world,” he said. A DOE and SCA spokesper-
son did respond to inquiries regarding whether the agencies tracks the number of students who opt to attend private schools after not receiving offers to their public schools of choice, or whether enrollment projections account for localized housing trends within school districts. “The SCA takes extensive measures to create accurate projections about future seat needs for districts, including a demographer who provides projections,” the spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement. The proposed school capital plan for 2020-2024, which will be submitted to the mayor and City Council for adoption later this year, allocates $7.88 billion toward creating nearly 57,000 new seats citywide. Roughly 23,000 of the seats were originally funded in the previous five-year capital plan. The plan includes 88 new school facilities, five of which will be located in Manhattan. According to City Council analysis, the majority of the seats, including the new Upper East Side school, are projected to be completed between 2025 and 2028, after the last fiscal year of the proposed capital plan. Under the current capital plan, the city opened two new pre-kindergarten facilities on the East Side in 2018, with another on East 76th Street scheduled to open in fall 2019, for a total of more than 400 new pre-kindergarten seats. “The SCA is dedicated to providing all children with access to high quality school facilities and will continue to innovatively design and construct much needed seats throughout the City,” Lorraine Grillo, the president and CEO of the SCA, said in a statement.
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YOUR 15 MINUTES
LEGAL WEED? NOT SO FAST The founder of Phoenix House adds his voice to the marijuana debate BY DAVID NOONAN
Dr. Mitchell S. Rosenthal has dedicated his life to helping people overcome addiction, providing them with the treatments and social services they need to live healthy, productive lives. In 1967, Rosenthal, a psychiatrist, founded Phoenix House, which today operates scores of alcohol and drug abuse programs in nine states. In 2007, he created the Rosenthal Center, which offers information and guidance about addiction and related issues to individuals, families, health care providers and policymakers. Rosenthal, an Upper East Sider, spoke with Straus News about marijuana and Governor Andrew Cuomo’s recently announced plan to legalize recreational use by adults in New York state, which was endorsed by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Ten states have legalized recreational use of marijuana and New York state could join them. What are your chief concerns about a trend that seems to be accelerating?
One major concern is the increased use and increased availability of the new marijuana, which is so much more powerful than the marijuana of 20 years ago. It’s a different beast, and that’s why I suggested, in the November report from the Rosenthal Center, that we pause and do a two-year moratorium to look at what has happened, and what is happening, in the states where there has been legalization.
How would you use that two years? I would use it to ask questions, such as “What has happened to eighth graders? And to twelfth graders? What are the patterns?” There has been a big increase, a doubling of use, between 2002 and 2016, where there has been legalization.
Young people are a special concern of yours, aren’t they? Marijuana is not a benign drug for adolescents ... Kids who use marijuana regularly, it’s bad for their brains, bad for cognitive function. It’s a gateway drug for adolescents who are regular users. I started to get concerned about this 40 years ago, at Phoenix House, where I was seeing adolescents whose drug of abuse was marijuana, have
Photo courtesy of Dr. Mitchell S. Rosenthal their lives so undone, and become so socially disordered, that they needed to go into full time residential treatment. And that was marijuana that was relatively weak. Developing brains are vulnerable. There is already evidence from some of the research being done that there is actually structural change in the brains of regular users. I’m very troubled by that. And it’s not just 12- to 17-year-olds. You’ve got to look at 18to 25-year-olds. If they are regularly
using the kind of potent marijuana that is now available, they will get in serious drug trouble, too.
How do you view the increasing pace of the legalization movement? There has been a kind of chain reaction of acceptance, and an insufficient amount of critical thinking. It’s ironic that more than 60 percent of Americans feel that marijuana is benign. We did a study at the Rosenthal Center in 2017 and found that parents would be happier if their kids were using marijuana than alcohol or cigarettes.
What do you think is driving the change in attitude about marijuana? This is a new, promising big business, so big business is driving this. And you have lobbying by companies, in the states, to bring about legalization. And there has not been a lot written yet about adolescent brains and gateway phenomena and so forth. So marijuana is still enjoying a reputation of being safe.
where there is a component of marijuana in the medicine. Right now there are some seizure disorders where it seems promising. But the incidence of those seizure disorders is very small.
If you could speak directly to Governor Cuomo, what would you say? I’d say “Listen, you have been very careful about mental health issues, and issues involving children, and homelessness. Let’s pause here and take more of a look. I don’t think we need to rush into legalization. We have some [marijuana] medicalization going on in the state, it’s one of the more careful programs anywhere in the country. Let’s stay with that.”
Finally, the thing that is missing from the current marijuana debate in New York state is ______________ . Caution. Because the train is moving so fast towards legalization, and commercialization, which is the turbocharger, I’m afraid that we will look back and see a lot of harm that nobody is thinking about right now.
Do you believe marijuana has legitimate medical applications?
us to
you You’d look Marijuana for sale. Photo: Dank Depot, via flickr
?
into
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Do
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I think that the evidence so far — the number of carefully done studies where you say “Hey, here is a condition and marijuana, or a derivative of marijuana, will be good for that condition” — is scant. In the future, however, I think there will be legitimate uses ...
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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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WORD SEARCH by Myles Mellor
30. 5th __, NY 31. Now 33. Innsbruck action 36. Support 39. Nonplussed 40. Golfer’s cry 41. Romantic flower 42. Black cat, maybe 44. Rich, crumbly soil 45. Jamaican fruit 46. Shut with force
B Z K K M F T P T J C E Y A A
S I M A L I E E E O D M P R E
O B N N N N R S G U S C I F I
Z C C G S Y V A C R V C W N E
E A O E X Y V A U N O V E L N
O P N R S L T O T A W R W F T
J O F B M E U P L L K E Q I E
X X L W Q G D Q X I C A X C R
V M I I N F O R M S L D P T T
F E C A V F A C T M Y E K I A
G D T E N S I O N H J R J O I
T N B N E O W I S S F M E T A
29. Dorothy Parker quality
T N B N E O W I S S F M E T A
D M R M R E W U B W S M C A W
28. Arrow trajectory
C G P P G R R W R U Y A J G C
The puzzle contains the following words. They may be diagonal, across, or up and down in the grid in any direction.
E R G B M Z P T X H U S Y N N
Conflict Educate Entertain Fact Fiction Inform Journalism Mystery Novel Readers Romance Scifi Suspense Tension Writing
47. Serve to be re-served
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41
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45
M A L
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50
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46
N C
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28
29
30
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31
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27
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39
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15
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18
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53
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C G P P G R R W R U Y A J G C
B Z K K M F T P T J C E Y A A
S I M A L I E E E O D M P R E
O B N N N N R S G U S C I F I
Z C C G S Y V A C R V C W N E
E A O E X Y V A U N O V E L N
O P N R S L T O T A W R W F T
J O F B M E U P L L K E Q I E
X X L W Q G D Q X I C A X C R
V M I I N F O R M S L D P T T
F E C A V F A C T M Y E K I A
G D T E N S I O N H J R J O I
E R G B M Z P T X H U S Y N N
6 4 1
5 9 2 1 4
5 3
7
8 2 7 9
8 6 3
7 8 3 6 9 2 1 4 5
8 2 4 7 5 3 6 9 1
1 6 5 4 2 9 7 3 8
3 7 9 8 6 1 4 5 2
4 3 6 2 8 5 9 1 7
2 5 7 9 1 6 3 8 4
9 1 8 3 7 4 5 2 6
50. Prior to, poetically
ANSWERS R
48. Appearance
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51. Highlands tongue 52. Handling 53. Having wings 54. Young one 55. When a plane is due in: Abbr. 56. Gesturer Down 1. Go out with 2. Locker room supply 3. Around 4. Commoner 5. Certain berth 6. Idiosyncrasy 7. Lyric poem 8. Microprocessor type 9. Reproductive cell 10. Weight not charged for 11. Football lineman 19. Formulating 20. Cleopatra’s valentine? 22. Granola ingredient 23. Small eating instrument, for short 24. Revelation response 25. Sticky juice 26. Wander off course
56
D M R M R E W U B W S M C A W
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55
53
51
54
52
54
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JANUARY 3-9,2019
CLASSIFIEDS MERCHANDISE FOR SALE
PUBLIC NOTICES PUBLIC AUCTION NOTICE OF SALE OF COOPERATIVE APARTMENT SECURITY PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: By Virtue of a Default under Loan Security Agreement, and other Security Documents, Karen Loiacano, Auctioneer, License #DCA1435601 or Jessica L Prince-Clateman, Auctioneer, License #1097640 or Vincent DeAngelis Auctioneer, License #1127571 will sell at public auction, with reserve, on January 16, 2019, in the Rotunda of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007, commencing at 1:30pm for the following account: Amy Sheridan, as borrower, 49 shares of capital stock of Hearth House Owners Corp. and all right, title and interest in the Proprietary Lease to 50 Avenue A, Unit 3D, New York, NY 10009-7363 Sale held to enforce rights of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., who reserves the right to bid. Ten percent (10%) Bank/Certified check required at sale, balance due at closing within thirty (30) days. The Cooperative Apartment will be sold “AS IS” and possession is to be obtained by thepurchaser. Pursuant to Section 201 of the Lien Law you must answer within 10 days from receipt of this notice in which redemption of the above captioned premises can occur. There is presently an outstanding debt owed to Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (lender) as of the date of this notice
23
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PUBLIC NOTICES in the amount of $653,764.25. This figure is for the outstanding balance due under UCC1, which was secured by Financing Statement in favor of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. recorded on August 19, 2010 in CRFN 2010000281075 and corrected to re-index the UCC1 by a UCC Financing Statement in favor of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. recorded on April 3, 2018 in CRFN 2018000111205. Please note this is not a payoff amount as additional interest/fees/penalties may be incurred. You must contact the undersigned to obtain a final payoff quote or if you dispute any information presented herein. The estimated value of the above captioned premises is $1,100,000 Pursuant to the Uniform Commercial Code Article 9-623, the above captioned premises may be redeemed at any time prior to the foreclosure sale. You may contact the undersigned and either pay the principal balance due along with all accrued interest, late charges, attorney fees and out of pocket expenses incurred by Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.. and the undersigned, or pay the outstanding loan arrears along with all accrued interest, late charges, attorney fees and out of pocket expenses incurred by Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., and the undersigned, with respect to the foreclosure proceedings. Failure to cure the default prior to the sale will result in the termination of the proprietary lease. If you have received a discharge from the Bankruptcy Court, you are not personally liable for the payment of the loan and this notice is for compliance and information purposes only. However, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., still has the right under the loan security agreement and other collateral documents to foreclosure on the shares of stock and rights under the proprietary lease allocated to the cooperative apartment. Dated: November 16, 2018 Frenkel, Lambert, Weiss, Weisman & Gordon, LLP Attorneys for Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. 53 Gibson Street Bay Shore, NY 11706 631-9693100 File#01-087672-F00
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