Our Town Downtown - January 4, 2018

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WEEK OF JANUARY BETWEEN TIME AND ETERNITY ◄ P.12

4-10 2018

WISH LIST FOR NEW COUNCIL POLITICS Local leaders share their hopes for 2018 legislative agenda

BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

As the City Council returns to session in 2018, Council Member Corey Johnson is expected to win election as the body’s next speaker and its de facto leader, succeeding term-limited Melissa Mark-Viverito.

Johnson, whose 3rd Council District includes the West Village, Chelsea and Hells Kitchen, has said that as speaker he plans to direct focus toward building supportive housing for the homeless population and strengthening the Council’s land use division to play a more proactive role in rezoning and other land use issues.

The speakership, selected by a vote of the 51 Council Members, is among the

most powerful political posts in the city and wields broad power to shape the body’s legislative agenda. (At press time, the speaker election, scheduled for Jan. 3, had not yet taken place.)

“We have a diverse Council, ideologically and in other ways,” Johnson said at a November debate among speaker candidates hosted by City & State New York. “We have to ensure that every member feels heard and empowered and that their voice really counts, and that’s the type of speaker I would be.”

As the Council returns to session, we asked community leaders to share the entries on their wish lists for the city’s legislative agenda in 2018:

Helen Rosenthal, City Council Member, District 6 As we look to the year ahead, there is so much more to do to in terms of preserving affordable housing and protecting NYC tenants from harassment and displacement. One of my top

priorities for 2018 will be putting my Office of the Tenant Advocate legislation, and all of the “Stand for Tenant Safety” laws, fully into effect.

I will also be focused on helping small businesses remain on the Upper West Side and thrive; fighting for development projects that are truly appropriate for our community; and meeting the needs of seniors and other New Yorkers who rely upon the social safety net. I’ll be working on all of these important issues with a guiding philosophy of fiscal responsibility.

Finally, I’ll be using my platform and voice to address the pronounced under-representation of women in elected office and leadership positions in City government; and to provide greater protections for people of all genders against workplace harassment — in the public and private sectors.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

Council Member Corey Johnson, whose West Side district includes Greenwich Village and Chelsea, is expected to win election as the City Council’s speaker for the upcoming term. Photo: William Alatriste for the New York City Council

CONSTRUCTION HALTED AT CHURCH DESTROYED ON 9/11 REBUILDING As costs escalate, work is suspended at St. Nicholas National Shrine near the World Trade Center memorial

BY COLLEEN LONG

Construction on a Greek Orthodox church to replace one that was crushed in the Sept. 11 attacks has been temporarily suspended amid rising costs and questions over how

The St. Nicholas National Shrine next to the World Trade Center memorial plaza. Photo: Rex Hammock, via flickr

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Crime Watch Voices NYC Now City Arts

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WEEK OF APRIL

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW < CITYARTS, P.12

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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for dollars in fees ated millions of and left some resithe city agency, that the application dents convinced

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donations have been managed.

The St. Nicholas National Shrine next to the World Trade Center memorial plaza was to replace a tiny church that was obliterated by the trade center’s south tower.

The new building was designed by renowned architect Santiago Calatrava, who also created the soaring white bird-like mall and transit hub nearby called the Oculus.

But unlike the transit hub, built largely with federal transportation

CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

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JANUARY 4-10,2018

TIME TO BOND: IT’S THE LAW WORKPLACE New York joins states requiring that employers provide paid leave to care for a baby or family member, or help during a military deployment

BY MARY ESCH

You may have seen the subway ads: “All parents deserve time to bond with a new child.” “Paid Family Leave is coming to New York.” “Peace of mind for caregivers.”

As of Jan. 1, New York joined California, New Jersey and Rhode Island in requiring employers to give workers paid leave to bond with a baby, care for a close relative with a serious illness or help loved ones during a family member’s military deployment.

The new paid family leave law is billed as the nation’s most generous.

The benefits, which apply to 6.4 million private-sector workers, will phase in over four years.

In 2018, employees can take up to eight weeks of paid leave and receive 50 percent of their average wage, up to a cap weekly cap of $652. When the phase-in is complete in 2021, they’ll

be able to take up to 12 weeks at twothirds of their average weekly wage.

“This is going to be life-changing, especially for low-wage workers,” said Nancy Rankin, of the Community Service Society, a group that advocates for low-income New Yorkers. “Those are the workers who have little or no savings, are in debt, are barely getting by. It’s a real crisis when they have a new child or ill family member.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, announced the paid leave legislation in his 2016 State of the State speech.

He said he regretted not spending more time with his dying father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, and noted that many people don’t have that choice because they can’t afford to take time off from work.

He signed the paid leave policy into law in April 2016 along with a $15 minimum wage plan, also being phased in.

Workers — not their employers — will ultimately bear the burden of paying for the leave through a payroll deduction of up to $1.65 a week.

Full-time employees will be eligible after 26 consecutive weeks on the job.

Part-time employees qualify after working 175 days in a 52-week period.

“It’s the most significant human re-

sources law in the last 30 years,” said Frank Kerbein, director of the Center for Human Resources at the Business Council of New York State, a business lobbying group. “It’s going to create a tremendous administrative burden, particularly on smaller employers.”

One staffing and record-keeping headache for employers, Kerbein said, is that leave could theoretically be taken in up to 40 one-day increments over the course of the year. An employee could take off the days a spouse with cancer gets chemotherapy treatment, or days when a child has an asthma attack.

“It’s just going to be a challenge in 2018 to get our minds around this complex law,” Kerbein said.

New York’s leave policy would be more generous than California’s or New Jersey’s, which provide six weeks paid leave, and Rhode Island’s, which allows for four weeks.

Washington state also enacted a paid family-leave law that will ultimately be more generous than New York’s.

In 2020, it will provide up to 12 weeks with 90 percent of wages for employees who earn less than the state’s average wage, with a weekly cap of $1,000.

“We really should have this at the

Photo: Mel Schmidt, via flickr federal level,” Rankin said. “The United States is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t have governmentguaranteed paid maternity leave.”

Under the federal Family Medical Leave Act, employers with 50 or more workers must allow parents 12 weeks of job-protected leave to care for a newborn, but the leave is unpaid.

When her baby boy is born in March, Kim Lyons, who lives in Highland in the Hudson Valley, will have an added worry. The child needs surgery to

remove extra fingers and toes. But she will be able to take eight weeks off from work at half her regular pay.

The baby’s father will qualify for paid time-off, too.

Lyons said she plans to take New York’s temporary disability leave benefit, which provides $170 a week for six weeks for an uncomplicated delivery, and then the eight-week paid family leave.

“Without this new law, I wouldn’t be able to take that extra time,” she said.

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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 1st district for Week to Date

Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr

SLASHER ARRESTED

CHAIR ASSAULT

Police collared a man wanted for a violent assault. At 10:35 a.m. on Friday, December 22, a 42-year-old man approached a 37-year-old man who was moving furniture inside 41 Park Row, pulled out a knife and stabbed him multiple times about neck, head, back and chest. Police later found the knife used in the assault in a water fountain on the building’s seventh floor, while the victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital

by EMS. The victim told police that he had not had a verbal dispute with his assailant before the incident. Clarence Seabrook was arrested on December 22 and charged with assault.

An argument led to violence in a popular fast food restaurant. At 4:55 a.m. on Wednesday, December 20, a 27-year-old man grabbed a plastic chair and struck a 46-year-old man during an argument inside the Essen restaurant at 100 Broad Street, causing a small cut to the right side of the victim’s neck. The victim refused medical attention at the scene, while the assailant fled westbound on Bridge Street. Police searched the area but couldn’t find the violent “chair man.”

STOLEN MOTORCYCLE Someone ripped off a teenager’s rich ride. At 4 p.m. on Sunday, December 24, a 16-year-old man parked his red-and-white 2017 Honda CRF250L

motorcycle in front of his Rector Place home. It was missing when he came out for his bike at 9 a.m. the following morning. A search of the neighborhood turned up nothing. The Honda is valued at $7,000.

YOU GOT THE GOING PART RIGHT A quartet of bad guys apparently had their down coat shoplifting — down. At 1:29 p.m. on Saturday, December 23, four men entered the What Goes Around Comes Around store at 351 West Broadway and took four down coats and a fur-trimmed quilted coat, valued at a total of nearly $6,000, and fled. As the four exited the store they broke two glass windows on the front door of the establishment. Officers search for the four but could not locate them.

2017 2016

% Change 2017

2016

% Change

Murder

0

0

n/a

9

0

n/a

Rape

1

0

n/a

17

9

88.9

Robbery

0

1

-100.0 69

59

16.9

Felony Assault

2

0

n/a

76

19.7

Burglary

0

3

-100.0 63

115

-45.2

Grand Larceny

18

22

-18.2

1,053 1,065 -1.1

Grand Larceny Auto

0

0

n/a

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SUBWAY SLEEPER ROBBED A Georgia woman learned the hard way why it pays to remain alert while riding the MTA. At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, December 26, a 33-year-old woman from Atlanta was riding a C train from Ralph Avenue in Brooklyn heading into Manhattan. She was sitting next to one of the train doors with her bag next to her, under her elbow. She fell asleep

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ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND

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Year to Date

91

51

-70.6

about 10 minutes after boarding the train. She told police later that she woke up before entering Manhattan, and her bag was still beside her. Unfortunately, when she woke up again at the Chambers Street station she found her bag was gone. The stolen contents included a Nikon camera and lens, a pair of eyeglasses, a laptop computer, headphones, iPad and a bag, all valued at about $4,050.

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44 Charlton: A Variety Show

FRIDAY, JANUARY 5TH, 7PM The Greene Space | 44 Charlton St. | 646-829-4000 | thegreenespace.org Join legendary performance artist Penny Arcade, mentalist and mind reader Vinny DePonto, and eclectic vocalist Joseph Keckler at this month’s convening of Julian Fleisher’s downtown variety show 44 Charlton ($15).

NYC Book Launch for Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment

MONDAY, JANUARY 8TH, 7PM Bluestockings | 172 Allen St. | 212-777-6028 | bluestockings.com Get insight into the historical connections between racism and gun violence in the U.S. as Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz launches her new people’s history of the Second Amendment (free).

Just Announced | A Night of Philosophy and Ideas

SATURDAY, JANUARY 27TH, 7PM Brooklyn Library | 10 Grand Army Pl. | 718-230-2100 | bklynlibrary.org It’s time again to stay up all night with ideas. Top philosophers from around the world will gather at the Brooklyn Library for a 12-hour sleepover, complete with philosophical debates, screenings, readings, and music. Runs from 7pm Saturday until past sunrise Sunday morning (free).

For more information about lectures, readings and other intellectually stimulating events throughout NYC,

sign up for the weekly Thought Gallery newsletter at thoughtgallery.org.

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BY MARC BILGREY

NYPD 7th Precinct

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212-477-7311

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ELECTED OFFICIALS Councilmember Margaret Chin

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Councilmember Rosie Mendez

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Councilmember Corey Johnson

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State Senator Daniel Squadron

250 Broadway #2011

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Community Board 1

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Community Board 2

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SHELTER PET & GLOBALLY RECOGNIZED PIANIST Amazing stories start in shelters and KEYBOARD CAT 8M+ YouTube Views rescues. Adopt today to start yours.

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COUNCIL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Only 11 of the 51 members in this new Council term are women. The correlation between the paucity of women in office, and effective protections against sexual harassment and pay inequity is clear. And to be clear — gender parity is critical for every societal issue we want to solve. To be fully effective, we need legislative bodies that actually reflect our society.

Sean Khorsandi, Executive Director, Landmark West!

For years, developers have been touting projects as “asof-right” despite that term evolving into ever-more egregious incarnations. Landmark West! would like the Council to consider what the public can claim as as-of-right? Over-development threatens our public spaces, our skyline, and our sunlight. It over-burdens our infrastructure. What truisms are protected for the everyday citizen?

Landmark West! would like to see a re-prioritization of the public in land use decisions and planning. The East River Fifties Alliance made great progress this year. Communities should have a say in how they evolve.

We need our elected leaders to reboot public participation and relevance.

Roberta Semer, Chair, Community Board 7 We want our community to continue to thrive. We need to preserve and create additional affordable housing, make it easier for local retail to deal with city agencies’ regulations, improve transportation infrastructure, create new legislation to ensure that new developments are contextual within the neighborhood (avoid supertalls), prevent homelessness, and ensure that all streets in the community meet Vision Zero standards.

Andrew Berman, Executive Director, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Our legislative priorities are

We have had a very productive and beneficial working relationship with Corey in the Council and we expect that will only continue with his new additional duties, responsibilities, and powers.

Andrew Berman, Executive Director, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

better oversight of the Landmarks Preservation Commission by the City Council, and ensuring that any approval of the 14th Street Tech Hub by the City Council is paired with zoning protections for the adjacent residential Greenwich Village and East Village neighborhood.

We’re very much looking forward to working with Corey Johnson in his new capacity as speaker as well as continuing to work with him in his capacity as City Council Member for the 3rd district. We have had a very productive and beneficial working relationship with Corey in the Council and we expect that will only continue with his new additional duties, responsibilities, and powers.

Mark Dicus, Executive Director, SoHo Broadway Initiative The SoHo Broadway Initiative hopes City Council picks up street vending reform legislation in 2018. It’s a shame to have a broken system that lets vending permit holders trade permits illegally on a black market with a first come first serve siting system that leads to fights over precious locations and carts that legally spew exhaust and noise pollution into our neighborhoods.

The newly seated City Council should pick up where the prior Council left off by forming an advisory committee of stakeholders to lead an inclusive, collaborative and fact-based approach to bring about much needed reforms that will create a street vending regulatory system that works for vendors,

residents, businesses and visitors.

Anthony Notaro, Chair, Community Board 1: There are two major areas that are significant in Lower Manhattan. One is implementation of resiliency measures, particularly after Superstorm Sandy. The city has committed to building coastal resiliency, some of which has advanced on the East Side between 25th Street down to the Manhattan Bridge, but we in Lower Manhattan, from the Brooklyn Bridge around the tip of the island up to northern Battery Park City, are still doing assessment and planning five years later. That’s a very high agenda item for residents and businesses in Community Board 1.

The second is not very glamorous, but really important.

We’ve had so much development and conversion from commercial to residential in Community Board 1, and it’s had a major impact on quality of life. Our population has essentially doubled since 2001, and yet much of the infrastructure has not been adjusted to accommodate that growth. It’s had a major impact on garbage collection, transportation, pedestrian safety, traffic and school seats. So we’re looking to the city government in terms of policies to help with infrastructure funding and development.

Michael Garofalo: reporter@ strausnews.com

A NEW COCKTAIL FOR THE NEW YEAR Our Town’s

ART OF FOOD at

Presented by

Delfin Jaranilla, the head chef at the cozy, chic UES eatery Quality Eats, is bringing his top-notch culinary skills to The Art of Food for the first time on February 10. Alongside 30 other top chefs of the Upper East Side, he’ll be assigned a piece of fine artwork, and challenged to make a unique dish to pair with it. While we wait to see what he cooks up at The Art of Food, Chef Jaranilla is providing readers with one of Quality Eats’ favorite drink recipes to warm you up this winter.

The Hemingway Spritz YOU’LL NEED: Prosecco Maraschino Liqueur Simple Syrup Bacardi Rum Grapefruit juice Lime juice Grapefruit slices for garnish

FIRST, MAKE THE “HEMINGWAY BATCH”: In a shaker, shake and combine 1 part Bacardi rum, 2 parts simple syrup, and 1/4 part Maraschino liqueur.

THEN: Bottom a wine glass with 2 oz of prosecco.

Strain 1.75 oz Hemingway Batch into glass Add 3/4 oz Grapefruit Juice Add 1/2 oz Lime Juice Garnish with a grapefruit slice.

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CONFETTI PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT HOLIDAYS On scene in Times Square for a NYE dress rehearsal PHOTOS BY JEREMY WEINE

The confetti drop practice

The confetti that fills the air in Times Square on New Year’s Eve doesn’t just happen the night of. Like anything in the theater district, a dress re-

hearsal is key to a successful performance. On Friday, Dec. 29, standing on the secondfloor balcony of the Hard Rock Cafe NYC, a man with a microphone counted down from five over and over, throwing handfuls of confetti each time he reached the number one. This was part of the annual confetti test held by Times Square Alliance and Countdown Enter-

Pre-celebration on a cold day

Children picked up fallen confetti from the ground

tainment, co-organizers of Times Square New Year’s Eve, and presenting sponsor Planet Fitness. Police were all over Times Square, in preparation for Sunday night’s ball-drop.

Children delighted in picking up confetti from the ground.

Photographers gat hered around a group of young women, asking them over and over to toss confetti up in the air.

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Voices

Write to us: To share your thoughts and comments go to otdowntown.com and click on submit a letter to the editor.

LIGHT ON THE SUBJECT

BY BETTE DEWING

To counteract any post-holiday blues, any blues really, experts warn us about, keep some kindly lights glowing — just a string or two decorative lights outdoors on the trees and shrubs and, yes, whatever our faith or no faith, inside our homes.

Keep kindly lights glowing, in general, because they are best for our emotional and physical health.

And I’m talking about incandescents that also make us, our apparel and surroundings, “look their best.”

Now “people looks” shouldn’t matter, but ‘till the revolution. But surroundings do matter — a lot — to our total well-being. And attention must be paid.

Ah, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for saving energy, cutting the dollar cost, cooling the climate, but only when they “first do no harm.”

They must not depress or oppress us as the glaringly bright LED street lights do. But where “energyefficients” must be used, then the warm-whites depress and oppress less than the cool-whites do. Yes

they exist, Virginia.

And I sure thought a lot about that in my recent hospital and nursinghome stays — and how the medical community can’t see that lighting in these places of healing should be warm-white, not cool-white, and surely not excessive. The walls should be a warm color too. Ah, a health-related sidetrack that needs all out attention, is how hands-onmedical care has been replaced by hands-on computers checking on patient care. Hospitals and nursing homes can be the loneliest places — and if anything is bad for our health.

Infinitely more must be said about that.

But to stay with the “good-for-us” lighting — it’s so especially needed

in schools, work places and other everyday places.

Policy-makers, including environmentalists, just haven’t done their homework — or some just don’t have the vision to see that reducing the excessive wattage that more and more bombards the landscape, is the healthy “first-do-no-harm” way to save lighting energy.

And again, no matter, that energy-efficients cost less and last longer — the trade-off is far too great — indeed harmful. Again, cool the climate in ways that “First do no harm.” (Say that again and again.

Please.)

Ah, a future column will again address saving small business but how we long to see any lights in their

windows now darkened by epidemic closures. Again, such loss poses not only obvious hardships, but they’re surely a factor social scientists now warn big-time about if we’re to combat growing epidemics of loneliness.

Big brick and mortar biz is also at risk. And I think of that long ago all too timely lyric, “... and every town is a lonely town.”

Will you please think of it too?

Sing it as a rallying song to restore and preserve small business and brick and mortar public places. And of course, restore and preserve the lighting that makes us look and, above all, feel better.

It can be done if enough of us try. dewingbetter@aol.com

READER FAVORITES: 7 TOP STORIES OF 2017 A sampling of the year’s stories that made an impression, with a focus on politics, bikes and pedestrian issues — and some local businesses

Calamity and the Gossip Columnist, by Douglas Feiden. After being knocked down and badly hurt by a “crazed cyclist,” the famed nightlife chronicler Michael Musto said he couldn’t wait to ride his own bike again. Feiden told the tale.

Famed gossip columnist Michael Musto riding down Lexington Avenue in the East 20s. Photo: Streetfilms “Il Ciclista Dolce: Michael Musto” screen shot

Map of the 1811 Commissioners Plan for New York City, which developed the original Manhattan street-grid system. Image via Wikimedia Commons 11 Hopefuls for District 4 Council Seat, by Michael Garofalo. There was a lot of interest — and a lot of candidates — in the city council election to replace popular member Dan Garodnick, who was term-limited out of running again. Another piece by Garofalo on the same subject, “District 4 Candidates Spar at Debate,” also drew a big readership.

Disrupting the Grid, by Douglas Feiden. A look at how the Age of the Bicycle has altered traffic patterns envisioned in the signature street plan for Manhattan. “After two centuries, the rhythms of the grid have been knocked out of kilter,” Feiden wrote.

“The block system has been effectively degraded ... The streetscape is imperiled.”

Farewell to a Beloved Bookstore, by Christopher Moore. Fans came from near and far to bid an emotional goodbye to Crawford Doyle, a retail mainstay on Madison Avenue for 21 years.

Moore evoked how co-owners Judy Crawford and her husband John Doyle comforted customers upset at the loss of a bookstore in the neighborhood.

Pedestrian Hit, Killed on York, by Laura Hanrahan. In April, Srymanean Manickam, a manager at the SuperDel Market on 78th and York, was struck and killed by a yellow cab, the second fatality at the intersection in 15 months. The death of “Mano” spurred outrage in the neighborhood and tributes from residents who praised “a great man with a generous heart.”

A makeshift memorial outside the SuperDel Market on York Avenue near 78th Street.

A Slice, a Cel-Ray and a Scowl, by Noah Williams. On the Upper West Side, the power of a longtime neighborhood fixture, Sal and Carmine Pizza, where tradition endures. Wrote Williams: “The store has now been in operation for nearly 60 years and it still sells out almost every day.”

The whale spotted in the East River.

Photo: New York Police Department Mystery of the East River Whale,

by Genia Gould. After the NYPD spotted a whale in the river on New Year’s Eve, local marine biologists and naturalists speculated about what species it might have been. The sighting thrilled readers — and served as a reminder of how close to nature we urban dwellers live.

President & Publisher, Jeanne Straus nyoffice@strausnews.com

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JANUARY 4-10,2018

9

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

KARPOFF AFFILIATES 4FOJPS .PWF .BOBHFS t 3FBM &TUBUF #SPLFS

KARPOFF AFFILIATES JT ZPVS TJOHMF TUPQ GPS TFOJPS MJGF USBOTJUJPOT BOE SFBM FTUBUF CSPLFSBHF OFFET The St. Nicholas National Shrine replaces a tiny Greek Orthodox church crushed in the World Trade Center attacks. Photo: Rex Hammock, via ďŹ&#x201A;ickr

CHURCH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 dollars, the church is being funded through donations including from the Greek government, Greek Orthodox church members around the world, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and the Italian city of Bari, whose patron saint is St. Nicholas.

In September, the estimated cost was $50 million. But according to The New York Times, which ďŹ rst reported the work suspension, the cost had jumped to an estimated $72 million to $78 million as of earlier this month.

Two firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers and BakerHostetler, had been hired to perform an independent investigation into the construction, according to a Dec. 9 statement posted on the website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

The stoppage was ordered by the construction company on the project, Skansa, according to the statement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The archdiocese is confidently hopeful that construction will recommence in the very near future and has been assured by Skanska ... that they are looking forward to the rescinding of this temporary suspension to continue working together in cooperation with the archdiocese for the completion of the building project,â&#x20AC;? the statement read.

Skansa didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t immediately return a message seeking comment.

The Greek Orthodox archdio-

cese, based in New York, represents more than 500 parishes across the country with more than 1.5 million members of the church and 800 priests. It reported last fall that it was suffering from a â&#x20AC;&#x153;severe and complexâ&#x20AC;? ďŹ nancial deďŹ cit.

The St. Nicholas shrine, meant as a salve for the faithful and also as a welcoming space for those wishing to reflect, was inspired by two Byzantine shrines in Istanbul, the Hagia Sophia and the Church of the Holy Savior in Chora. The building was to be sheathed in marble from quarries north of Athens â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the same vein of marble that was used to build the Parthenon.

The original St. Nicholas was far more modest. The building housed a tavern when Greek immigrants bought it in 1919 to use as a church. It was the only building not part of the trade center complex that was demolished after hijackers ďŹ&#x201A;ew commercial jets into the towers.

The new church is being built a few dozen yards west of the old St. Nicholas on top of the screening facility for trucks entering the trade center site.

The land swap between church officials and government agencies involved in rebuilding lower Manhattan took years to settle, delaying the start of construction.

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Compassionate Senior Move Manager & Expert Real Estate Broker Marilyn Karpoff The new St. Nicholar National Shrine was designed by the same architect who created the Oculus. Photo: Rex Hammock, via ďŹ&#x201A;ickr

XXX ,BSQPGG"Gm MJBUFT DPN ] NLBSQPGG!LBSQPGGBGm MJBUFT DPN ] 5IJSE "WFOVF 4UF $ /:$

10

JANUARY 4-10,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

MARBLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH Sunday Worship at 11:00am Sunday Worship, led by Dr. Michael Brown, is the heart of the Marble Church community. It is where we all gather to sing, pray, and be changed by an encounter with God. Marble is known throughout the world for the practical, powerful, life-changing messages and where one can hear world class music from our choirs that make every heart sing.

Discover the world around the corner.

Find community events, gallery openings, book launches and much more: Go to nycnow.com

EDITOR’S PICK

Busy? Live stream Sunday Worship with us at 11:00am at MarbleChurch.org.

WeWo: Wednesday Worship at 6:15pm Marble's weekly Wednesday Worship, lovingly nicknamed WeWo, is a service that blends traditional and contemporary worship styles, taking the best of both, creating a mixture that is informal and reverent, often humorous and always Spirit-filled.

▲ PROTOTYPE: OPERA/THEATRE/NOW Jan. 7-20 Locations and individual ticket prices vary; $170 for a 7-show PROTO Pack 212-352-3101. prototypefestival.org/shows

Upcoming Events

Citizens of The Kingdom: The Marble Gospel Community Choir in Concert Celebrating the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, January 14 at 3:00pm Join us for this performance honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The song selection will include freedom songs, South African songs, and feature the music of Gospel great Donald Lawrence. Directed by Stacy Penson.

Tickets at the door: $20; $15, seniors.

Marianne Williamson in Partnership with Marble Collegiate Church Tuesdays 7:30pm - 9:00pm New York Times bestselling author, Marianne Williamson brings her weekly lecture series to Marble Church. The cost to attend is $20, however, no one is turned away for lack of funds. The evening is also available via Livestream by donation.

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

The annual Prototype festival presents opera for the 21st century: high-tech, edgy and up-close.

This annual festival features fully produced premieres, national and international presentations, and work-in-progress showings of original genre-bending works of contemporary classical operatheatre and musical theatre. This year’s highlights include “The Echo Drift” premiering at the Baruch Performing Arts Center (55 Lexington Ave.) and “Fellow Travelers,” a timely piece about the McCarthy-era witch hunts premiering at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater (524 West 59th St.).

Thu 4

Fri 5

Sat 6

HARASSMENT FILM SCREENING

44 CHARLTON: A VARIETY SHOW

INCOMING! ‘¡OYE! FOR MY DEAR BROOKLYN’

Town Stages, 221 West Broadway 7 p.m. $20 This screening and talkback, hosted by director Joanna Carpenter, whose untitled short film recreates various real-life incidents of harassment and assault, is aimed at furthering the discussion around harassment and assault in today’s climate. untitledscreening.splashthat. com

The Green Space, 44 Charlton St. 7 p.m. $15 This quirky and caustic variety show smashes together gutsy comedy, music, dance, theater, spoken word and genre-bending performances.

This month’s show features mentalist and mind reader Vinny DePonto, legendary performance artist Penny Arcade and vocalist Joseph Keckler. Hosted by Julian Fleisher.

646-829-4000. thegreenespace.org

The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St. Through Jan. 13 Part of Under the Radar, the Public’s festival of new theater from around the world, “¡Oye!” complicates perceptions of race, language and gentrification and calls on viewers to be truly present.

Poet, activist and creator Modesto Flako Jimenez populates the stage with immigrants, drug dealers, condoritos, tiguerasos, mothers and sons.

212-352-3101. publictheater. org/Under-the-Radar

JANUARY 4-10,2018

11

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Tired of Hunting for Our Town Downtown?

Subscribe today to Downtowner News of Your Neighborhood that you can’t get anywhere else

Sun 7 ▲ MULCHFEST Multiple locations, including Washington Square Park 10 a.m. Free Recycle your Christmas trees into wood chips that will then be used to nourish trees and plants on streets and gardens citywide, or take home your very own bag of mulch to use in your backyard. Check website for participating parks; begins on Saturday, Jan. 6. nycgovparks.org/highlights

Mon 8

Tue 9

▼ PASS THE FLAMINGO: THE CUISINE OF ANCIENT ROME

‘STAR WARS’ TRIVIA

Caveat, 21 Clinton St. 8:30 p.m. $10 Join historian and food educator Andrew Coletti on a journey through the foodscape of ancient Rome. Sample recreated Roman delicacies, play a game of Name That Spice, and examine art, archaeology and literature to uncover the Roman love affair with food.

212-228-2100. caveat.nyc

The Chelsea Bell, 316 Eighth Ave. 8 p.m. Free, reservations suggested There is no try, there is only do at this night of five challenging rounds of trivia about the X-wing, droids and Wookiees.

Questions will cover “Rouge One,” “The Force Awakens” and the Original Trilogy. Make reservations for individuals or teams can be made online.

StarWars010918.Eventbrite. com.

Wed 10 THE POWER OF BUREAUCRATS Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place 7 p.m. $7-$12 Leading legal ethicist David Luban discusses and draws contemporary lessons from the ways in which Aldolf Eichmann’s power grew out of the bureaucratic authority established by the Third Reich.

212-566-6700. mjhnyc.org

Dining Information, plus crime news, real estate prices - all about your part of town

Cultural Events in and around where you live (not Brooklyn, not Westchester)

Now get your personal copy delivered by US Mail for just

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JANUARY 4-10,2018

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BETWEEN TIME AND ETERNITY Edvard Munch’s poignant portraits at the Met Breuer

BY MARY GREGORY

He’s known for a scream, and scream he did. But, beyond the yawping howl that defines his oeuvre, Edvard Munch made paintings, drawings, etchings and woodcuts that pictured a life and time unique to him through situations and moments that are universally recognizable.

The Met Breuer’s “Edvard Munch: Between the Clock and the Bed,” on view through February 4, features 43 works spanning more than 60 years.

It includes pieces never before seen in the United States, many works Munch kept for himself until he died, 16 selfportraits (or as he called them, “selfscrutinies”), and versions of iconic

IF YOU GO WHAT: “Edvard Munch: Between the clock and the bed” WHERE: The Met Breuer, 945 Madison Ave., at 77th Street WHEN: Through February 4 www.metmuseum.org/visit/metbreuer images like his “Madonna” and “The Scream.”

Edvard Munch’s life was a story punctuated by death, illness, poverty and two world wars. He was frequently ill. His constant companions were fear and angst, so much so that he once stated, “From the moment of my birth, the angels of anxiety, worry, and death stood at my side.” Munch was born in 1863 in a small village in southeastern Norway. His father, a minister who

Edvard Munch, “Sick Mood at Sunset, Despair,” 1892, Oil on canvas, 36 1/4 × 26 3/8 in., Thielska Galleriet, Sweden, © 2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo © Thielska Galleriet, Sweden, Photo: Tord Lund

Edvard Munch, “Self Portrait between the Clock and the Bed,” 1940–1943, Oil on canvas, 58 7/8 × 47 7/16 in., Munch Museum, Oslo © 2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Photo © Munch Museum. would read his children the stories of Edgar Allen Poe, struggled to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. His mother and sister died when he was a young child. Echoes of those experiences are sounded in some of Munch’s most haunting paintings, including “The Sick Child” and “SelfPortrait with the Spanish Flu.” In 1889, Munch, still a young man, went to Paris and saw works by Vincent van Gogh (10 years his senior), Paul Gauguin and Henri de ToulouseLautrec. Munch found inspiration and direction in their use of color as a means to explore emotion. Invited to exhibit with the Fauves in the early 1900s, he would become one of the great Symbolist painters.

“Self-Portrait with Cigarette,” an 1895 work, shows hazy blue-gray smoke both concealing and revealing a spotlighted face seemingly startled by the attention — one passage of lightness in an overwhelmingly dark canvas. “Self-Portrait with Brushes,” from 1904, presents a carefully dressed man with the tools of his trade posed against walls and a floor in contrasting colors. He appears confident, ready to embark on his journey.

The evolution of the painter comes through in both his stylistic development and the way he depicts himself.

Increasingly abstracted compositions become populated with isolated characters. Two paintings that hang near one another depict Munch with

Edvard Munch, “Starry Night,” 1922–1924, Oil on canvas, 47 7/16 × 39 3/8 in., Munch Museum, Oslo, © 2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo © Munch Museum

bottles of wine. “Self-Portrait with a Bottle of Wine” from 1906 is more a mood study than a likeness. Alone in a restaurant, at a table with an empty plate, the subject sits. Behind him on one side hover two dark figures, and at the other side is hunched, faceless customer. A red patch of wall surrounds Munch’s face and the color continues lower to circle menacingly around his throat. We can read a lot of possibilities into such a setting, but probably not a pleasant meal. “Self-Portrait with Bottles” from 1938 offers one of the more dynamic poses in Munch’s self-portraiture. A frowning artist, green circles under his eyes, grabs at a table filled with bottles. He’d struggled with alcoholism for years.

In some portraits, only eyes peer out, slashes take the place of mouths, and wrinkled foreheads come to represent personas.

Yes, there’s a version of “The Scream.” A lithograph hangs at facelevel, making it easy to pose for selfies, as many visitors to the Breuer have been doing, mouths opened, hands at their cheeks. And why not? The howling figure has been repurposed into coffee mugs, refrigerator magnets, adhesive bandages, key chains and even socks. Here, the curators use it to make the point that Munch often riffed on his own works. A painting from 1892, “Sick Mood at Sunset: Despair,” is set on the same bridge against the same garish, blood-red sky as that depicted

in “The Scream.”

The 1940 painting that gives the exhibition its title, “Self Portrait: Between the Clock and the Bed,” opens the show. It’s one of the last works the artist painted. In it, Munch pictures himself between a clock with no numbers and a bed. Time and mortality were clearly on his mind. But the first thing that jumped out at me is the bedspread that looks like a Jasper Johns painting. Apparently, it jumped out at Jasper Johns, as well. Some 40 years later, Johns painted a large triptych he would title “Between the Clock and the Bed.” The Edvard Munch we encounter in the Met Breuer’s presentation is clearly a powerful painter, gifted with striking originality and an unmistakable voice, who sought to access the inner world through outer manifestations of color, form and gesture.

But the echoes and harmonies these works evoke may be the greater legacy.

Jasper Johns responded. Without Munch’s existential yowl, would we have Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” or Francis Bacon’s twisting of human forms to reveal trauma? The jarring colors, fervent brushwork, fevered emotions and faceless figures Munch painted captured not just one Norwegian’s inner anxieties. They informed, echoed, anticipated and advanced Fauvism, Surrealism, Abstraction, Expressionism, and probably a few isms that haven’t yet been invented.

JANUARY 4-10,2018

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JANUARY 4-10,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS Dosa Royale (In The Bowery Market)

348 Bowery

DEC 19 - 25, 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.

Not Yet Graded (24) Hot food item that has been cooked and refrigerated is being held for service without first being reheated to 1 65º F or above within 2 hours.

Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.

Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.

New York Rifle Club

77 Macdougal Street

A

I-CE-NY

101 Macdougal St

A

Court Street Grocer’s Laguardia Place

540 Laguardia Pl

Grade Pending (21) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Hot food item that has been cooked and refrigerated is being held for service without first being reheated to 1 65º F or above within 2 hours. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.

El Cantinero

86 University Place

Grade Pending (19) 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. Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

Bravo Pizza

115 East 14 Street

A

Krust Pizza

226 E 14th St

Grade Pending (24) 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.

Top Thai

235 Sullivan St

A

Oatmeals

120 W 3rd St

Grade Pending (2)

Szechuan Mountain House

23 Saint Marks Pl

Not Yet Graded (22) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.

Turkiss

104 Macdougal St

A

Champion Pizza

17 Cleveland Place

A

Wayside

139 E 12th St

Grade Pending (3)

Hua Ji Pork Chop

7 Allen St

Dunkin’ Donuts

67 Cooper Sq

A

Cien Fuegos

95 Avenue A

Grade Pending (23) 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 contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Not Yet Graded (35) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. No facilities available to wash, rinse and sanitize utensils and/or equipment.

Ninja Grill

103 Essex St

Ho Foods NYC

110 E 7th St

Not Yet Graded (13) 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. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Not Yet Graded (21) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, crosscontaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. 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.

Chang Le Xin Fan Zhuang

36 Eldridge Street

A

Good Century Cafe

243 Grand Street

A

Haile Bristro

182 Avenue B

A

Baby Brasa

129 Allen St

A

Boucherie

99 7th Ave S

Grade Pending (25) 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 contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

J J Noodle

19 Henry Street

Grade Pending (10) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

Dunkin’ Donuts

351 Grand St

A

Subway

334 Grand Street

A

The Little One

150 E Broadway

A

Galli Restaurant

45 Mercer Street

A

Chikarashi

227 Canal St

A

Big Wong Restaurant

67 Mott St

Grade Pending (9) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Made Fresh Daily

226 Front St

A

Residence Inn World Trade Center

170 Broadway

A

Kiwi Cuba

36 Peck Slip

A

WXYZ Bar

49 Ann St

A

Paris Cafe

119 South St

A

Potbelly Sandwich Works

101 Maiden Lane

A

Juice Generation

101 Maiden Ln

A

GFG William

93 Beekman St

Not Yet Graded (11) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Jack’s Coffee

138 West 10

A

Casa

72 Bedford Street

A

The Duplex

61 Christopher Street

A

Tertulia

359 6 Avenue

A

Juice Generation

245 Bleecker St

A

Carroll Place

157 Bleecker St

A

Pig Bleecker

155 Bleecker St

Not Yet Graded (32) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.

Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, crosscontaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan.

Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. 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/sewageassociated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

KBBQ By Korilla

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JANUARY 4-10,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

BISTRO CHAT NOIR’S CHEESE SOUFFLE

MAKING ART IN CHELSEA

Our Town’s

ART OF FOOD at

NEIGHBORHOODS

Presented by

Eileen Millan creates watercolors, collages and greeting cards in The Vermeer

BY LIZ HARDAWAY

If there was space, there was art.

Eileen Millan, an artist with a tenure of 40-plus years in Chelsea, spread out her work in The Vermeer co-op’s boardroom. The table, rolling chairs, bins and carts were filled with greeting cards, collages, watercolors and flowers galore.

One character in particular was painted dozens of times with a different color palette for each face, all with differing personalities, yet the same round head, protruding ears and a penetrating gaze. Meet Mr. Big Ears.

It all started in 1998, when Millan and her friends decided to take a watercolor class offered at a local high school. On the fourth lesson, the teacher asked for their students to paint a mask.

“I remembered when I was growing up ... my brother and I would take cardboard and cutout a mask,” Millan said.

“And in order for it to stay on our face, we would put a rubber band behind these big ears we would make so our ears would always stick out.”

Millan’s work was showcased at multiple Starbucks in Chelsea in the past, and even supposedly bought by the likes of David Geffen of DreamWorks, according to one of Millan’s art dealers, Steve Young. Mr. Big Ears has been a pivotal icon of Millan’s artistic career.

“There’s really nobody doing it. Each one has their own personality; I name them,” Millan said.

Millan also creates floral and abstract watercolor paintings. Right now, though, she is focusing on her cards.

“I don’t need Hallmark any more,” said Helen Jacobs, a friend of Millan’s for about 12

15

Eileen Millan with Mr. Big Ears. Photo: Liz Hardaway years. “I have Eileen.”

In the boardroom, where Millan sometimes works on her cards and paintings, Millan brought down multiple bins filled with hundreds of cards. One bin, labeled “animals,” included French bulldogs wishing one a happy birthday while sitting on a slice of cheesecake and a cartoon mouse rummaging through the subway with his very own MetroCard.

“Some of them are very clever,” said Fran Nesi, 70, a neighbor and friend. “She’s got a fertile mind. She can come up with all kinds of interesting ways of putting things together.”

Millan doesn’t sell her cards online or in a store, however.

She gets all her sales from word-of-mouth, whether from the multiple clubs she participates in at the Y, or how active she is at The Vermeer. “[Millan’s] pieces are happy,” said Oliver Rish, 68. “She seems to be perpetually inspired, she’s always getting new ideas.”

And she has an intricate network of supporters. “[Her cards are] imaginative, creative, stream-of-consciousness, from the depths of her soul,” Nesi said. “As much as you can a whole range of light and airy, flowery cards, you also get the collages. Some of them are playful, some are dark, even gruesome in a way that gets you thinking ... pic-

tures that can haunt you. I find them to be very compelling.”

Growing up in Brooklyn, Millan embraced her rebellious nature as a teenager with a love for motorcycles.

Now Millan resides in The Vermeer with her boyfriend Barry, 69. The two mutually take care of each other through the losses in their families and their medical troubles over the years.

“I have a dark side too ... but I try to focus on the positive,” Millan said. “Somehow I found solace in my art.”

Aside from her eclectic and whimsical artwork, Millan captivates fans with her bright personality. Before meeting in the boardroom, Millan greeted all The Vermeer doormen by name, as they teased each other in good fun. In the boardroom, she lit up when seeing her mailwoman and friend, Kim Brown, and described her as her long-lost sister. When speaking with her friends, each had nothing but rave reviews about Millan’s artwork and personality, all describing her as a good friend who will be there for one in a blink of an eye.

It seems Millan doesn’t just put her soul into her art, but also into the people she meets and the relationships she makes.

To contact Millan about her artwork: millan77@aol.com.

French restaurant Bistro Chat Noir is very Upper East Side.

The cozy eatery is located in a townhouse on East 66th Street, where their star chef, Mario Hernandez, serves up elegant French fare. He’s joining the troupe of 30 all-star UES chefs participating in The Art of Food at Sotheby’s on February 10. There, he’ll be paired with a piece of artwork and challenged to create a unique dish inspired by it. While we wait to see what Mario serves up at the Art of Food, he’s giving readers a challenge of their own: the cheese souffle recipe. Can you perfect this tricky dish?

Cheese Souffle INGREDIENTS 10 eggs, whites and yolks separated 1 qt milk 1 large shallot ½ bunch thyme 1 ¾ c. corn starch ¼ c. truffle oil 20 oz goat cheese Butter and flour for lining soufflé molds.

METHOD 1. Slice the shallot.

2. Put shallot, bunch of thyme, and milk in a pot and let it boil for 5 minutes.

3. Strain shallots and thyme.

4. Return milk mixture to the pot. Have stove on a very low flame.

5. Slowly add corn starch so it doesn’t get sticky. Mix constantly.

6. Add truffle oil and the 10 egg yolks. Continue to mix.

7. Add 16 oz of goat cheese. Mix until combined.

8. Remove mixture from stove and cool in refrigerator until cold.

9. Once cold, divide mixture into smaller mixing bowls, in 29 oz portions.

10. Butter and flour soufflé bowls to prevent sticking.

11. In a separate bowl, beat 2 cups of egg whites until foaming. Slowly add this to one of the 29 oz. bowls. Repeat for each individual soufflé portion.

12. Add half of each portion to soufflé molds.

13. Crumble remaining 4 oz. of goat cheese, divide and top each soufflé with goat cheese crumbles.

14. Add remaining portions of mixture to each mold.

15. Cook at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes.

16. Serve immediately.

16

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

JANUARY 4-10,2018

Business

SMALL CAN BE BOUNTIFUL Ind Independent retailers can be wa warmer, more personal and tho those attributes can pay off

BY JOYCE M. ROSENBERG

Independent retailers who’ve Indep had a ssuccessful holiday season say they took advantage of the fact there are strengths in not bethat the huge. ing huge Store owners report they were able to change pricing and other strategies quickly. Many offered strateg customers more personal service custom

and a warmer atmosphere. And they said they used social media tools designed for smaller companies, including inexpensive ads on Facebook.

How successful the season was for the retail industry as a whole won’t be known until figures from market researchers and the government arrive later this month. And after-Christmas business can make a difference. But individual retailers including small and independent merchants already have a sense of how they’ve done, and what worked for them.

Bekka Palmer, who sells baskets, tote bags and jewelry in New York, says she sold at pop-up markets where shoppers gave her feedback that let her know she’s on the right track. Palmer’s wares sold better than she expected because she made sure she got publicity. Palmer, owner of the online retailer Closed Mondays, met an editor of Domino, a magazine and website that publishes a holiday gift guide, and that bit of networking led to several of her creations being featured on Domino. She also approached New York magazine and a website called

Design Milk and got mentions.

People browsing the online gift guides and then deciding to buy gave Palmer nearly a quarter of her sales from mid-November until mid-December, when she processed her last orders before Christmas.

“I was so much busier than I was last year,” said Palmer, who lives and runs her business in Brooklyn.

Palmer timed her outreach to gift guides better this year. In 2016, she contacted websites too late to be included. This year, she got in touch with them sooner. She also sold at pop-up markets where shoppers gave her feedback that let Palmer know she’s on the right track.

“Many of our customers this year were specifically looking for things made in the U.S.A.,” she said.

CITY’S E-BIKE CRACKDOWN HAS CRITICS A new set of fines targeting businesses ultimately will hurt a largely immigrant, older workforce, they say

BY DEEPTI HAJELA

Cheap, electric bicycles have made life a lot easier for New York City’s legions of restaurant delivery workers, but the party may be over in the New Year.

City officials are promising a crackdown on e-bikes, which may be loved by environmentalists and the largely poor, immigrant workforce that relies on them, but are loathed by many drivers and pedestrians who think they are a menace.

Under city law, the bikes are legal to own and sell, but riding them on the street can lead to a fine of up to $500.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this fall that starting in 2018, businesses that have employees use the bikes are also subject to a fine of $100 for a first offense and $200 for each subsequent offense.

“Electric bikes are illegal to operate on city streets and those at the top of the food chain need to be held accountable,” city spokesman Austin Finan said. “Instead of merely targeting riders, we’re going after businesses that look the other way and leave their workers to shoulder the fine.”

That policy will undoubtedly prove popular with many New Yorkers who have complained that the bikes, which look and handle just like regular bicycles but can reach speeds of 20 mph or more, are often operated

recklessly. Lots of people have stories about close calls where they stepped out into the street, only to nearly be hit by a quick-moving bike they couldn’t hear coming.

But it will be bad news for deliverymen like Clemente Martinez, who spends up to 12 hours a day in the saddle, often in lousy weather.

“It’s not fair because people like me do depend on them,” said Martinez through a translator. The 44-yearold from Puebla, Mexico, came to the United States almost 15 years ago and has been working as a delivery person almost all that time, buying his electric bicycle almost three years ago.

“We’re using this as something that lets us work and support our families.”

The bikes make a tremendous difference for the delivery workforce, said Do Lee, a Ph.D. candidate who studied delivery workers for his dissertation and advocates for them. Many of the workers are middle-aged or even older, working for hours and putting in a significant number of miles to meet the demand for food and other items to be delivered quickly.

“They couldn’t do their jobs without electric bikes,” he said.

Advocates for alternate forms of transportation say the crackdown also doesn’t make sense from an environmental or safety perspective.

Gas-powered mopeds, which are faster and heavier than e-bikes, continue to be legal under state law, although they must be registered and the driver must be licensed. A business using one for deliveries also has to have insurance.

Some cycling advocacy groups have challenged the city to produce data showing whether the e-bikes pose any unusual danger, compared to other vehicles.

“In the realm of enforcement, data needs to be the impetus,” said Caroline Samponaro, deputy director of Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy organization. “I don’t think enforcement is the solution to the problem we’re trying to solve.”

Federal law allows electric bicycles that go 20 mph or less to be treated as bicycles for product safety and standards, but New York state law doesn’t allow them to be registered or licensed as motorized vehicles.

Police enforcement against the bicycles has already been on the upswing, with almost 1,000 of them confiscated by police in 2017, an increase of several hundred from the year before.

While new electric bikes can go for several thousands of dollars, similar to some gas-powered scooters like Vespas, kits to convert a standard bike to an electric bike can be bought for under $500.

Elizabeth Jordan, an attorney with the Make the Road New York advocacy group, said restaurants have come to expect workers to have the bikes and require them to own and maintain them.

“They have to have these bikes in order to get these jobs,” she said. “We think that even though the policy has the intention of going after the restaurants, it will fall on the backs of the workers.”

Advocates for alternate forms of transportation say a crackdown on electric bikes doesn’t make sense from an environmental or safety perspective. Above, dozens of bikes confiscated by officers from the Upper East Side’s 19th Precinct last year.

Photo courtesy of the 19th Precinct

JANUARY 4-10,2018

17

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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

JANUARY 4-10,2018

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.

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19

81ST STREET BRIDGE NEARS COMPLETION INFRASTRUCTURE A decade after its conception, the East Side pedestrian walkway opens

BY RICHARD KHAVKINE

It took $16 million and 18 months longer than anticipated, but the 81st Street pedestrian bridge linking John Finley Walk and the East River esplanade is nearly complete.

The 452-foot-long, ADA-accessible span over the FDR Drive and down to the East River esplanade replaces a structure built in 1942. Although a few punch-list items remain, including the installation of glass panels on the upper section, the bridge is finished, a Parks Department spokeswoman said.

On a clear but frigid morning off the East River Thursday, city officials gathered on the structure just off John Finley Walk and cut a symbolic green ribbon. Council Member Ben Kallos hailed the project’s completion, calling the span a crucial component of a makeover, now underway, of the entire esplanade. “It’s a beautiful addition,” Kallos said following the ribbon cutting.

The bridge gives bicyclists, and walkers, extended access to the riverfront, he said. “Now folks will be able to get all the way from the Sutton area to East Harlem and Randall’s Island” and from there to Queens, he said.

“This particular area has been a pain point for the community,” he said of the bridge and nearby. “The sad truth is that you can’t have a new esplanade without rebuilding it.”

Talk of replacing the bridge and ramp began about a decade ago, with discussions involving neighborhood residents, members of Community Board 8 and city officials, including from the Departments of Design and Construction and from Parks & Recreation.

Construction began in 2015 but an anticipated completion date of June 2016 could not be met for several reasons, among them the need for additional retrofitting of a support column near the southeast corner of John Finley Walk.

Members of CB8, officials from the city’s Public Design Commission and residents also had concerns and requested that DDC reconsider some design elements, and lobbied for a pedestrian viewing window on John Finley Walk, softer lighting and redesigned access at 81st Street.

DDC responded by fitting the bridge for glass panels on its southern side, removed some light fixtures, reduced the wattage of the bulbs, and eliminated an accessible ramp from the design.

Charles Whitman, who lives nearby and is one among an ad hoc group of

The new 81st Street pedestrian bridge links John Finley Walk and the East River esplanade. Photo: NYC Department of Design and Construction residents that discussed the project with city officials as it advanced in both planning and execution, said he was pleased with the outcome.

“The design is generally good,” said Whitman, whose wife uses a wheelchair. “It’s less intrusive than I expected.... We walked it the other day and I was pleased to see that it’s going to be manageable.”

Whitman credited city Parks and DDC officials, as well as fellow residents Harvey Katz and Ira Shapiro, for coming to the table in good faith.

“They were sensitive to our needs,” he said of agency representatives.

The nearly 10-foot-wide structure, atop several bridge bearings, has stainless-steel railings and 8-foothigh fencing custom-made at the site.

Below, on a slim section of the East River esplanade, are new shrubs and other plantings as well as decorative boulders.

“This is a community that is really starving for open space and the esplanade is one of the great outdoor resources this community has,” Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver said after the ribbon cutting. “To have more people having access to the esplanade is a good thing. We want people to walk, to get health and enjoy the beautiful views of both Roosevelt Island and the beautiful river.”

City officials just prior to the ribbon cutting at the new East 81st Street pedestrian bridge Thursday morning. Left to right, Jim Clynes, the chairman of Community Board 8; Yissely Ortiz from the Manhattan Borough President’s office; Council Member Ben Kallos; Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver; and Eric Macfarlane from the Department of Design and Construction.

Photo: Richard Khavkine

20

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YOUR 15 MINUTES

To read about other people who have had their “15 Minutes” go to otdowntown.com/15 minutes

DISHING IT OUT WITH CITY HARVEST Jenny Waxberg on the nonprofit’s mission to feed hungry New Yorkers

BY ANGELA BARBUTI

As City Harvest starts the new year, the nonprofit can revel in the fact that it delivered roughly 55 million pounds of food to the five boroughs in 2017 alone. Jenny Waxberg, who lives in the Union Square neighborhood, is an integral part of that impressive statistic. As associate director of food sourcing, her job entails procuring tractor-trailer-sized loads of food from across the country, which amounts to around 53 percent of produce in the entire program.

The Connecticut native, who studied nonprofit management at Boston University, y,jjoined City y Harvest in 2011.

Waxberg, 31, started her tenure on the local food sourcing team, which coordinates food pickups in the five boroughs, work in g w it h 22 trucks that then deliver that food to 500 commun it y food programs across the city.

When asked about an initiative she’s most proud of, she mentions her appointment as lead of the organization’s disaster feeding team in August, just prior to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Under her direction, City Harvest was able to send half-amillion pounds of food and supplies to affected areas.

Explain your position and what a typical day is like for you.

On a typical day, we’re working with our food donors, large food manufacturers, wholesalers and also our Feeding America network, the national organization for hunger. And we work with 200 sister food banks across the country to move food that they’re able to source and then we’re able to distribute in New York City y because the need is so high here. So my role is a combination of logistics and operations, and also building the relationships with the food banks and also the large network of Feeding America, with their manufacturers and wholesalers.

Jenny Waxberg is associate director of food sourcing at City Harvest. Photo: Alexandra Fleischman

Give us some examples of places that send you the food.

The great member food banks that we work with have been able to provide us with a lot of nutritious food.

We work with the Maryland Food Bank to bring in chicken from Perdue.

We bring in peanut butter from Second Harvest of South Georgia. And then we also work with the Feeding America network and their farms in their neighborhoods. So we work with Island Harvest on Long Island and their farms to bring in potatoes, cabbage and things like that. We also work with our network members and bring in citrus from Texas and Florida.

What is an initiative you’ve put into place that you’re most proud of?

That’s a very timely question. I actually was just appointed as the lead of the disaster feeding team here. I started that role in August, and if you could recall, we were then hit with Hurricane Harvey and then Irma and then Maria. So I was able to work on our team here and we sent almost a half-a-million pounds of food and supplies to the affected areas. We were able to send almost 400,000 pounds to Puerto Rico directly and that was a very impressive initiative by everyone here in addition to working with Feeding America to be able to place the food where it needed to go on the island. Banco de Alimentos in Puerto Rico is one of the 200 sister member food banks, so we had a direct line to the islands to be able to make sure that what we were sending was exactly what they needed. So we sent really great supplies in addition to the food that they wanted. From what I read in a lot of media, was one of the biggest issues of the relief efforts there was that they were getting a lot of things that they didn’t really need, so we

wanted to make sure that we were sending exactly what was needed at the time.

Explain the Healthy Neighborhoods programs in low-income areas.

The initiative addresses long-term food insecurity through our community partnerships that work to increase access to affordable and wholesome food. The five neighborhoods that we really focus our efforts in are Washington Heights, Northwest Queens, the north shore of Staten Island, Bed-Stuy and the South Bronx.

And we really want to make sure that we target our efforts because of the increased rate of obesity and heart disease. One of the initiatives that we really connect on are the City Harvest Fruit Bowl and Mobile Market programs. The Mobile Markets are like free green markets where people are able to access around five different items of fresh produce. We distribute around 20,000 pounds of produce in less than three hours to families in need and that is all without charge.

The Fruit Bowl program is where we provide fruit and low-fat dairy to children in afterschool programs. So there’s an education component, but they also have the hands-on approach of being able to taste different fruits.

City Harvest was founded in 1982. Tell us the story of how it all began.

The story is that there were potato peels in a restaurant. They were making the famous potato skins. So Helen verDuin Palit [who would become City Harvest’s first executive director] asked, “What are you doing with the inside of the potatoes?” And they were like, “Well, we just throw it out.”

So she said, “If we pick up the inside of the potato and bring it to a soup kitchen, are you OK with that?” And

they were like, “That’s a great idea.”

So of course, the soup kitchen was able to make mashed potatoes and all these other amazing products from the food waste. So that’s where we began our mission of rescuing excess food.

What is your warehouse like in Long Island City?

We moved into our food rescue facility in 2012. Before that, we were operating out of rented warehouse space, so it was really great for us to be able to move. It’s 45,000 square feet and we have refrigerated, frozen and dry shelf spacing. So we’re able to move a little over 3 million pounds out of there every month.

What is a heartwarming story of someone you’ve helped?

One of our initiatives is being able to rescue food at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. They have something called the Produce Show. And when we were rescuing food there, one of the security guards came up to me and said that he wanted to really thank us and our volunteers for rescuing the produce there because he was a recipient at one point in his life when things weren’t going the way that he had planned. He was having to work multiple shifts a day, but was also a recipient at one of the food pantries that we distribute food to. So that was really a great moment. www.cityharvest.org

Know somebody who deserves their 15 Minutes of fame? Go to otdowntown.com and click on submit a press release or announcement.

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M R B E M A C N D B U E T C F

8 6

48 Warmed the bench 50 Medicinal berry 51 Disappeared 52 Clinch 53 Bollywood superstar actor, last name 54 Plenty 55 Sloppy digs 56 Ages and ages Down 1 Train in boxing 2 “The Last of the Mohicans” girl 3 Like 4 Realignments 5 Parallelograms with four equal sides 6 One to thank 7 Leave 8 Light sponge dessert (3 words) 9 Essential part 10 The wise men 11 Oil decision makers 19 Content of some barrels 21 Dairy farm sound

Z B H T R Q K I J D T W N T U

53

Across 1 Leave a mark 5 Deli loaf 8 Arsenal stockpile 12 Place for a pig 13 Boar 14 Certain tide 15 Pavarotti solo 16 Sharer’s word 17 British general in America 18 Chance 20 Nausea inducing medicine 22 Triangular sail 23 Musical “G” 24 Grave robbers 27 Underside of a building 31 Is unwell 32 Sworn declaration 33 Lawn grass 36 Rundown 38 Welcome site 39 Stripling 40 Ravel classic 43 Climb a hill 47 Golf club

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WORD SEARCH by Myles Mellor

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Level: Medium

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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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SUDOKU by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan

by Myles Mellor

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Downtowner 1

JANUARY 4-10,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

54

22

JANUARY 4-10,2018

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HELP WANTED

Volunteering in the Arts HOME IMPROVEMENTS

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JANUARY 4-10,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

ART OF FOOD

Honoring chef Claus Meyer, cofounder of Noma, voted best restaurant in the world and the gastronomic entrepreneur behind Grand Central’s Michelin restaurant Agern and Great Northern Food Hall.

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Our Town’s

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Presented by

Saturday February 10, 2018

5 Napkin Burger Andy D’Amico Candle 79 Angel Ramos

Amali/Calissa Dominic Rice Crave Fishbar Todd Mitgang

Freds at Barneys New York Mark Strausman Little Frog Xavier Monge

Socarrat Paella Bar Lolo Manso

Flex Mussels Alexandra Shapiro

Jones Wood Foundry Jason Hicks

Magnolia Bakery Bobbie Lloyd

Mighty Quinn’s Barbeque Hugh Mangum Quality Eats Delfin Jaranilla

Bistro Chat Noir Mario Hernandez

Maya David Gonzalez

Orwashers Bakery Keith Cohen

Sen Sakana Mina Newman T-Bar Steak Benjamin Zwicker

The East Pole Fish Bar Joseph Capozzi

La Esquina Fabian Gallardo Paola’s Stefano Marracino

Serafina Always Vittorio Assaf The East Pole Joseph Capozzi

The Great Northern Food Hall Claus Meyer

The Meatball Shop Daniel Holzman

The Penrose Nick Testa

TICKETS ON SALE NOW artoffoodny.com