The local paper for Downtown wn
WEEK OF FEBRUARY SKIN DEEP < P 12
16-22 2017
Mayor Bill de Blasio delivers his State of the City address at the Apollo Theater on Monday. Photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photography Office
REACHING OUT TO NEW YORKERS Mayor de Blasio, Manhattan Borough President Brewer address constituents BY MADELEINE THOMPSON
The American Sign Language symbol for “Donald Trump” is communicated with a hand on top of the head, lifting briefly in imitation of the president’s hair in a breeze. It was used repeatedly by an interpreter on Sunday, Feb. 12 at Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer’s State of the Borough address, during which she and five panelists discussed action New Yorkers can take to oppose Trump’s administration. The next night, during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s State of the City speech at the Apollo Theater, it was used only once, though the spirit of Trump’s first weeks in office hovered over the event. Both the mayor and the borough president will be running for reelection this year, but the mayor’s address was far more overtly aimed at voters.
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P.S. 150, the Tribeca Learning Center, is among the borough’s most-crowded schools. According to the city Department of Education, the school, at Greenwich and Jay Streets, was operating at 148 percent of capacity in May. Photo: Emily Towner
FINDING SPACE FOR DOWNTOWN SCHOOLS New Lower Manhattan sites remain elusive BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
Lower Manhattan residents clamoring for new schools to reduce classroom overcrowding will likely be waiting for some time before seeing significant change — there is only one new public school currently in the works below Canal Street,
Environments research group, a joint project between Pratt, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, City College of New York and Syracuse University. Community Board 1’s school shortage is demographically driven, arising from the massive population influx to Lower Manhattan since 9/11. The area represented by Community Board 1 experienced a 77 percent increase in population from 2000
according to the city’s School Construction Authority — but researchers have identified several locations that could one day be home to new public schools. At the Feb. 13 meeting of Community Board 1’s planning committee, William MacDonald, a professor of architecture at the Pratt Institute, presented 12 potential downtown school sites found in an analysis by the Design of Innovative Learning
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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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for dollars in fees ated millions of and left some resithe city agency, that the application dents convinced
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to 2010, the year of the most recent U.S. Census, an explosion fueled by the development of a large number of new residential buildings. The Financial District has seen the greatest increase of any neighborhood within Community Board 1, bearing more than 50 percent of the population increase over that period.
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TRUST VERSUS TRUMP New funding to nonprofit groups opposing the president’s agenda BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
President Donald Trump’s first weeks in office were met with extraordinary public response from New Yorkers, who flooded parks and streets to protest the president’s policies. The political furor evidenced by the highprofile marches and demonstrations translated into monetary support for nonprofits opposing various aspects of Trump’s agenda. Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and the Anti-Defamation League all reported surges in donations in response to Trump’s election and his subsequent actions in office. The grassroots support for organizations working against Trump has been mirrored by institutional backing. Last week, the New York Community Trust, one of the region’s largest sources of private funding for nonprofits, announced the allocation of over $800,000 dollars to groups working on such issues as immigration, housing, and reproductive health “to respond to federal policy changes and
advocate against harmful changes to programs.” Though NYCT didn’t mention Trump by name in its statement announcing the grants, a number of the organizations selected to receive funding by the trust stand to be impacted by the president’s proposed policies and actions since taking office. Among the most controversial of Trump’s initial measures was his executive order, issued Jan. 25, expanding federal deportation priorities with respect to unauthorized immigrants. Included in NYCT’s grants was a $261,000 contribution to Human Rights First to provide legal assistance to immigrants facing deportation proceedings. Additionally, the trust announced it would give $100,000 to the New York Immigration Coalition, a policy and advocacy group that recently published what it described as a leaked internal memorandum from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement dated Feb. 11 detailing how ICE had arrested “approximately 40 foreign nationals” in New York City and the surrounding area over the previous week in a “targeted enforcement operation.” The New York Times reported
Support for Planned Parenthood at the New York City Women’s March last month. Photo: Narih Lee, via flickr that over 600 people had been arrested in similar operations nationwide over the same period. The memoran-
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dum described the ICE actions in New York as “routine,” but on Sun., Feb. 12, President Trump wrote on Twitter,
FEBRUARY 16-22,2017 “The crackdown on illegal criminals is merely the keeping of my campaign promise. Gang members, drug dealers & others are being removed!” The New York Community Trust, established in 1924, helps fund nonprofits with grants from various charitable funds established by donors. The funding awards in response to federal policy changes were part of a $7.65 million package of grants that also funded health care and education initiatives, cultural institutions, and conservation groups. Planned Parenthood of New York City received a $185,000 grant from NYCT to help protect access to reproductive health services. Trump spoke during his campaign of stripping Planned Parenthood of federal funding. Additional grants include $60,000 to the New York Housing Conference to monitor changes to federal housing policy that impact New York City and $300,000 Center on Budget and Policy Priorities to advocate for the preservation of federal funding to programs such as Medicaid and food stamps. “At a time when programs to improve health care, support the social safety net, and safeguard the environment are under assault, the trust is working for the well-being of all New Yorkers,” Patricia Jenny, NYCT’s vice president for grants, said in a statement.
FEBRUARY 16-22,2017
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG WHEN YOU GOTTA GO
Tony Webster, via flickr
POLICE NAB MUGGER
HOOD WITH A HOODIE
Police arrested one of a trio of thugs who preyed on a young man. Just after 7 p.m. on Feb. 2, a 35-year-old man was jumped by three men in front of 415 Broadway. One of the three bad guys shouted, “Give me your money!” and struck the victim in the face multiple times, causing swelling and a laceration to his left cheek and nose. The miscreant then proceeded to steal $2,700 in cash from the victim’s pocket. Fortunately, police identified and apprehended the goon, and Issa Diba, 30, was arrested on later that evening charged with robbery. His two accomplices fled in an unknown direction on foot and couldn’t be found in the neighborhood.
Yet another young man was mugged on Feb. 2. At 1 a.m. a 19-year-old man was walking home when two men came up from behind him in front of 3 Hanover Square and called to him. When he turned around, they said, “We’re going to need all your money.” One of the pair lifted up his hoodie, simulating that he had a weapon. Fearing for his life, the victim hurriedly reached into his pocket and handed over $60 in cash. Police searched the area couldn’t find the two muggers.
STATS FOR THE WEEK
A young man turned to violence after being denied bathroom privileges in a cafe. At 10 a.m. on Jan. 30, a 22-yearold man came into the Flavors Cafe at 27 Whitehall St. and went upstairs without ordering any food or speaking to the staff. A cafe employee asked the young man what he was doing, and the latter replied that he was going to use the bathroom. The employee told him he had to leave because he had not paid for anything, and the bathroom was for paying customers only. As the visitor was leaving he attempted to knock over a counter, and another employee pushed him out of the store. The visitor came back, however, and punched the second employee. Two other employees then attempted to restrain the young man until police came but let him go when he started complaining about breathing. Still, the visitor returned yet again, this time with a 3-foot-3-inch-long plank of wood, chasing after two of the employees and striking both their backs with the plank. All three employees tried to restrain the man once more. A fourth employee tried to calm the visitor down and was rewarded with a punch to the face. At last the police arrived and arrested Christian Demont, 22, charging him with assault. He was removed to Beth Israel for treatment, while three of the four employees were taken to New York Downtown Hospital for treatment.
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MERGE Contact Lens Study
Year to Date
2017 2016
% Change
2017
2016
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
0
0
n/a
Rape
2
0
n/a
3
2
50.0
Robbery
2
2
0.0
8
7
n/a
Felony Assault
3
0
n/a
9
3
200.0
Burglary
1
4
-75.0
5
11
n/a
Grand Larceny
11
20
-45.0
85
111
n/a
Grand Larceny Auto
0
0
n/a
0
0
n/a
WILD WEST STREET Burglars struck offices in the same building on two successive nights recently. At 9 p.m. on Jan. 24, a man and a woman entered 50 West St. using the construction entrance on Washington Street. They attempted but apparently failed to break into an office on the second floor before successfully breaking into an office on the third floor and stealing various items. These included a black Apple iPad valued at $800, a Microsoft Surface laptop priced at $2,000, a Samsung camcorder worth $300, and
a set of Schlage keys priced at $30, making a total of $3,130. Then the next night at 9:12 p.m., two men entered offices of businesses on the second and third floors and removed property from the latter. On the second floor, the perpetrators cut a hole into the drywall with a crowbar and climbed through the wall to enter the office. On the third floor they knocked an air conditioner off the wall mount onto the floor before taking property from a locked office. The items stolen included seven Dell laptops, an iPad, and a Keveno computer, worth a total of $18,900.
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Inside the Anti-Semitic Mind: The Language of Jew Hatred in Contemporary Germany
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16TH, 7PM Museum of Jewish Heritage | 36 Battery Pl. | 646-437-4202 | mjhnyc.org Co-author Dr. Jehuda Reinharz launches his new book in an evening dedicated to understanding a portion of the mindset encountered by European Jewry. (Free)
Privacy and the Profit Motive
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17TH, 7PM The Strand | 828 Broadway | 212-473-1452 | strandbooks.com Big data collection by the government (dating to the 1790 census), the work of privacy advocates, and the weakenss of American privacy law are just a few of the topics on a night that examines the trope, “If you’re not doing anything wrong then you should have nothing to hide.” ($20 w/ wine)
We are looking for current soft contact lens wearers aged 18-40, who have had a Z z in the past year /Ĩ LJŽƵ ĂƌĞ ĞůŝŐŝďůĞ͕ LJŽƵ ŵĂLJ ƌĞĐĞŝǀĞ ƵƉ ƚŽ Ψϳϱ ĨŽƌ ƉĂƌƚŝĐŝƉĂƚŝŶŐ
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Just Announced | The First 100 Days: Economic Policy
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21ST, 6:30PM Graduate Center, CUNY | 365 Fifth Ave. | 212-817-7000 | gc.cuny.edu Will Donald Trump do for America what he did for Atlantic City? A range of political POVs will be represented in a panel on “Trumponomics,” headlined by Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman. (Free, reservation required)
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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FEBRUARY 16-22,2017
Useful Contacts POLICE NYPD 7th Precinct
19 ½ Pitt St.
212-477-7311
NYPD 6th Precinct
233 W. 10th St.
212-741-4811
NYPD 10th Precinct
230 W. 20th St.
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230 E. 21st St.
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16 Ericsson Place
212-477-7411 212-334-0611
FIRE FDNY Engine 15
25 Pitt St.
311
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227 6th Ave.
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42 South St.
311
ELECTED OFFICIALS Councilmember Margaret Chin
165 Park Row #11
Councilmember Rosie Mendez
237 1st Ave. #504
212-587-3159 212-677-1077
Councilmember Corey Johnson
224 W. 30th St.
212-564-7757
State Senator Daniel Squadron
250 Broadway #2011
212-298-5565
Community Board 1
1 Centre St., Room 2202
212-669-7970
Community Board 2
3 Washington Square Village
212-979-2272
Community Board 3
59 E. 4th St.
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Community Board 4
330 W. 42nd St.
212-736-4536
Hudson Park
66 Leroy St.
212-243-6876
Ottendorfer
135 2nd Ave.
212-674-0947
Elmer Holmes Bobst
70 Washington Square
212-998-2500
COMMUNITY BOARDS
LIBRARIES
HOSPITALS New York-Presbyterian
170 William St.
Mount Sinai-Beth Israel
10 Union Square East
212-844-8400
CON EDISON
4 Irving Place
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US Post Office
201 Varick St.
212-645-0327
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128 East Broadway
212-267-1543
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212-254-1390
New York’s original Playboy Club, on East 59th Street between Fifth and Madison avenues, opened in 1962. Above, a release party for Twinn Connexion’s debut album at the club, whose new incarnation will open on West 42nd Street later this year. Photo: Jerry Hopkins, via flickr
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THE PLAYBOY CLUB RETURNS West 42nd Street venue to feature lounge, game room, Bunnies BY VERENA DOBNIK
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Three decades after the original Playboy Club closed in Manhattan, an apparent victim of changing American tastes and views on women, a new one will debut later this year in a hotel a few blocks from Times Square. The club on West 42nd Street “will be one of the most chic and sophisticated venues in the world,” promises Playboy Enterprises spokesman John Vlautin. It will have a lounge, a restaurant, a game room and, of course, the Bunnies, though with some updates to the outfits. Other Playboy clubs are already operating in London, the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi and several places in India. Another is set to open in the spring in Shanghai. New York’s club will be in the Cachet Boutique New York Hotel, replacing the gay-themed Out Hotel, which closed last year. If the club opens as scheduled, it will be in a city that began the year with hundreds of thousands of women taking to the streets to protest the presidency of Donald Trump, in part because of remarks he made that were perceived as chauvinistic. The timing may be off, says travel guidebook publisher Pauline Frommer. “Retro is in, but I’m not sure this type of retro,” she says. “We live in this era when thousands of women are gathering in marches to protest. I’m not sure the zeit-
geist is right for Playboy now.” Industry observers said the key to success is how the brand will be presented to prospective guests. Will it be seen as a luxurious enclave, a nostalgic throwback, or a place where “75-year-old guys walk around in silk pajamas?” travel guru Peter Greenberg asks. “As a concept, Playboy has the word anachronism written all over it — outdated, irrelevant — so I don’t know what the cachet is today,’’ Greenberg says. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner opened the first club in Chicago in 1960. He quickly expanded the operation to 30 clubs around the world. A chance to leer at the Bunnies wasn’t the only attraction. The clubs also featured top musicians and other entertainers. New York’s version opened on East 59th Street between Fifth and Madison avenues in 1962. The next year, feminist Gloria Steinem worked as an undercover Bunny and wrote an expose for Show Magazine entitled “A Bunny’s Tale.” Among her revelations: The pay was lousy, the male customers propositioned the female staff, and she was forced to get a gynecological exam and take a test for venereal disease before she was hired. Former Bunny Kathryn Leigh Scott has fonder memories of the New York club. An acting student who lived on her minimum-wage pay, plus generous tips, Scott was 19 when she got the job.
“Yes, it was chauvinistic by today’s standards, but back then, one felt protected and there were stringent rules we used to laugh about. It was more paternalistic than chauvinistic,” says Scott, now a Beverly Hills resident and actor who starred in the cult television classic “Dark Shadows.” She said she was never asked to undergo a gynecological exam and was “treated extremely well.” “It was an opportunity and it was fun. You put your school clothes in a locker and put on a satin costume,” she says. Scott, 74, is the author of a history of the Playboy club titled “The Bunny Years,” for which she interviewed 300 former Bunnies. The original clubs remained popular and lucrative for years before faltering in the 1980s. “Bunnies Go From Risque to Passe,” read a Los Angeles Times headline in 1986, the year the club there closed as did the New York one. The original clubs were all defunct by 1991. Changing mores have altered Playboy magazine, too, lately. The magazine, still sold in 23 countries, no longer allows full nudity in the U.S. edition, favoring articles and images of broader news interest. Cooper Hefner, the 25-year-old son of 90-year-old Hugh, is now its chief creative officer. Some industry experts say there may also be marketing appeal left among millennials, and fans of “Mad Men,” a TV show set in the New York where the Playboy Club thrived.
FEBRUARY 16-22,2017
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
CITY TEENS SEIZE THE MOMENT From a walk-out to calling elected officials, how high school students are becoming politically engaged BY MADELEINE THOMPSON
They aren’t old enough to vote, but the city’s liberal-leaning teenagers are forging new paths to political involvement in the wake of a historically fraught presidential election. Young people have joined in protests throughout the country, perhaps none more so than in New York City. Along with attending classes, doing homework and participating in extracurricular activities, many students have found time to make signs,
report states. “If a realistic and sober estimation of the problems and issues facing us is the best weapon for developing strategies to solve them, it just might be that these youngest citizens will enter adulthood fully aware of reality and equipped to positively impact it.” Evelyn Benson, 17, who joined the student walkout from Eleanor Roosevelt High School on the Upper East Side, was particularly shocked by the confirmation of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. “I think that the things she wants to do are really harmful and I think she’s obviously not qualified,” said Benson, whose sister has a learning disability. “It scares me for my little sister and my cousins and all the people who are gonna have to grow up with
in the habit of being civically engaged,” Davidson said. Coalition Z recently partnered with the Girl Scout Troop that is campaigning for more statues honoring women in Central Park. Researchers estimate that by 2020 more than half of American kids will belong to a minority race or ethnic group, with that record-breaking diversity also extending to sexual orientation and gender. A tangible change may be apparent as soon as more of the youngest generation reach voting
DEADLY WORKSITES A map of Manhattan’s 17 constructionrelated fatalities since 2015 BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
New York City legislators are considering a sweeping set of new regulations aimed at improving worksite safety in response to what city council members termed “an alarming increase in construction site in-
age, but even before then the youth of New York City will be finding new and creative ways to be heard. “Although we do have support from city officials, it’s not enough,” Jamal said. “We need to be a force that they actually need to have permission from us in order to make laws.” Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@ strausnews.com
juries and fatalities.” Proposed measures include requiring increased safety netting and guardrails to prevent falls, one of the most common types of construction accident, changes in accident reporting requirements, and a controversial training mandate that has sparked rancor between union and non-union construction firms.. There were 30 construction-related deaths reported in New York City in 2015 and 2016. This map shows the 17 fatalities that occurred in Manhattan. Sources: NYC DOB and OSHA
View the interactive map and find out more information about each incident by reading this article online at otdowntown.com.
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Members of Coalition Z at The Dalton School make protest signs. Photo: Zoe Davidson call elected officials and raise money to oppose the actions of President Donald Trump that they say threaten their classmates and their futures. Hebh Jamal, a 17-year-old student at The Beacon School, organized a student walk-out on Tuesday, Feb. 7 that drew a crowd of several hundred to Foley Square. “I think that voting is a very minuscule part of democracy,” Jamal said. “Being part of a democracy is being involved in the conversation, be involved in these issues, be involved in creating an impact.” As a Muslim she is very much opposed to Trump’s travel ban, but her main focus has been on equity in education and on desegregating the city’s school system. “We’re not only here to yell at the top of our lungs, we’re here because we actually know what’s good for us,” Jamal shouted through a megaphone at the walk-out. According to the U.S. Census, there are an estimated 940,000 young people between the ages of 10 and 19 in New York City, and more than a million students in the city’s public schools. In an already heavily Democratic area, these young people tend to be some of the most progressive voices. They are tentatively known as Generation Z, and the Center for Generational Kinetics — a research and consulting firm that analyses the various generations and how they interact — found last year that only 24 percent of this age group thinks the country is headed in the right direction, less than 31 percent of millennials who feel positively about the U.S. in terms of economic success and job creation. “The upside of [Generation Z’s] lackluster view of the country’s direction goes hand in hand with this new generation’s pragmatic tendencies,” the
[DeVos].” Al Kurland, who fought for legislation in the New York City Council to lower the age limit on joining community boards to 16, said teenagers have a distinct ability to “influence audiences and see things from their point of view.” The bill was passed in 2014 with the help of the now-shuttered Future Voters of America organization, Borough President Gale Brewer’s office and the Police Athletic League. According to Brewer, there are now 35 youth members on nine out of Manhattan’s 12 community boards. “I really believe that young people, if given the chance, have a lot to say,” Brewer said. Adding that she thinks the voting age for municipal elections should be lowered to 16 or 17, Brewer said she was confident that the recent surge in youth activism would pay off in the next presidential election, if not sooner. Though they’ve considered joining their community boards, Bryson Wiese and Zoe Davidson, 16-year-old students at The Dalton School, decided to go their own way in getting involved with local and national politics. Along with classmate Alex Lehman, they founded Coalition Z, which Wiese described as a network aiming to combine “collective political power and voices of students to take action together,” after the November election. Coalition Z isn’t directly affiliated with Dalton, and boasts members from 12 different schools. About 50 Coalition Z members recently gathered to make calls opposing DeVos’s nomination and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act; they also expressed their support for the Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act and the City Council’s plastic bag tax. “I think that the most important thing, especially at this stage in our lives, is to get
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► 75 West End Ave. ► 130 West 79th St. ► 1 Seventh Ave. ► 4 East 75th St. ► 19 Ninth Ave. ► 219 East 44th St. ► 301 West 46th St. ► 577 Ninth Ave. ► 363 East 76th St. ► 27 West 38th St. ► 356 East 8th St. ► 124 East 107th St. ► 60 Hudson St. ► Near Loeb Boathouse in Central Park
15 ► 421 Hudson St. 16 ► 135 West 52nd St. 17 ► 152 East 87th St.
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
ENVISIONING FOUR YEARS FROM NOW Activists gather to map out a progressive future BY CLAIRE WANG AND LILY HAIGHT
“It’s 2021, and our movement has won,” Ulli Hussein Barta told a group of people gathered in a muted East Village basement last week. Thursday’s snowstorm, which had shut down public schools and closed businesses, had slowed to flurries as darkness fell. Inside Planeta, a community arts space on East Eighth Street near Avenue B, melted ice dripped down a pile of coats and scarves sitting atop a wooden table. “Close your eyes and imagine what that’s like.” Silence descended on the dimly lit room as Barta’s raspy voice guided the meditation. “Who is president?” she asked. She also asked who they envisioned as Senate and House leaders four years from now, and which alliances attendees had joined and built. Most importantly, she asked, how do you feel about this new country? The responses she received coalesced into a country that has rid Washington of corporate money, broken the two-party system, reinstated respect for facts and protected the environment. For the next hour, the group talked about how best to achieve that vision. More than 30 people attended the Feb. 9 occasion. It was among dozens of so-called Next Up Huddles that took place in Manhattan in last few weeks, gatherings that formed part of the 10 Actions for the First 100 Days campaign, which launched following the Women’s Marches that brought millions to the streets the day after Presi-
dent Donald Trump’s inauguration. “We’re building a network of activists,” said Barta, one of the Planeta huddle’s organizers. “We’re creating a community to support each other and achieve political involvement.” In the last few weeks, veteran and first-time progressive activists have met in community spaces, bars and even apartments all over the world to brainstorm ideas and actions to take in the first three months of Trump’s presidency. Some of the huddles catered to specific groups, such as parents with young kids, or writers and bloggers. As of Feb. 10, more than 4,000 huddles in over 30 countries had been planned, some guided by a step-bystep guide posted on the Women’s March website. In Chelsea on Sunday, 40 women and a few men gathered at the Hudson Guild on West 26th Street. With their eyes closed, they followed a similar ritual to that at Planeta: envisioning 2021 following success for a progressive agenda. “Has anyone ever done anything like this before?” asked Katie Santo, who facilitated the Hudson Guild huddle. To a general shaking of heads, she added, “I’ve never done anything like this before in my life. We’ll figure this out together.” For many of the huddlers in Chelsea, this kind of community organizing was a first-time venture. Two budding activists, Caitlin Klein and Kenzi Locks, decided to host a group of friends for the first action of the 10 Actions in 100 Days movement – writing postcards to U.S. senators – at Locks’ apartment on the Upper West
Huddle organizer Ulli Hussein Barta next to a timeline of actions her group of activists were planning. Photo: Claire Wang Side. But when more than 100 people responded to their Facebook event, they paired up with Karissa BroderickBeck, a career access coordinator at the Hudson Guild, to host the postcard writing event, and then the huddle meeting. With the help of volunteer facilitators like Santo, the Chelsea huddle worked in two groups to come up with action items, focusing largely on local movements, such as attending town halls and community board meetings and joining rallies and protests, as well as just spreading word to friends and family members. After Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detained 40 people in the New York area last week, sanctuary also became a topic of discussion. “As we speak our neighbors are being rounded up and they are being deported,” said Carla Fine, one of the Chelsea huddle attendees who works with the
Judson Memorial Church’s sanctuary movement for undocumented immigrants. “Get to know your neighbors, find out if they are undocumented and offer sanctuary.” The Planeta huddle attracted a diverse group of activists, including French, British, Chinese and Brazilian immigrants. Most were women, but several men were present as well, including Power Malu, the events director at Overthrow Boxing who organizes a donation-based boxing class every Monday to support Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. “We want to use our platform to empower the marginalized,” Malu said. “I’m also here learn how to make the movement grow even more.” Typical of the East Village crowd, most of the attendees came from creative backgrounds: filmmaking, software engineering, fundraising, theater. All
RESIDENTS MOURN YORKVILLE DOORMAN Miguel Gonzalez was shoveling snow when he slipped and fell through a glass door BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
The snowstorm that blanketed the city last week turned tragic on the Upper East Side, when a doorman died after falling through a glass door as he shoveled outside his building. Miguel Gonzalez, 59, was removing snow near the steps leading from the sidewalk to the entrance of 333 East 93rd St., near First Avenue, when he
slipped down the steps and through a glass door at about 9:30 a.m. Feb. 9, suffering fatal wounds. Gonzalez, who lived in Bridgeport, Conn., was a fixture at the building for decades and was reportedly nearing retirement. By this afternoon, the door had been repaired and a makeshift memorial had been assembled in the building’s lobby. Throughout the day, well-wishers dropped off flowers and cards for Gonzalez’s family. “He was such a nice guy,” one tearful neighbor said as she added a bouquet to the display. “He said hello to
FEBRUARY 16-22,2017 were eager to leverage their skills. Some came to the huddle to reconnect with activism while others had specific issues they wanted to tackle. “I’m grateful that I finally have time again to spend hours making phone calls,” said Amy, a semi-retired theater director who took part in the Civil Rights Movement and protests against the Vietnam War. “I have trouble sleeping at night – I have to do something,” she said. “That’s why I’m here.” Alex, a substance abuse counselor in Brooklyn, said that his biggest concern is mass incarceration. “I deal with people who have been involved in the criminal justice system and I’m trying to make a change,” he said, adding that the most effective thing activists can do is to get out of the echo chamber. “Talking only to the same [like-minded] people will not create meaningful change.” Some said a priority was to get Trump impeached and donating to legal campaigns like the ACLU and signing petitions could help move that effort forward. A more clear-cut strategy, some suggested, is to contact and boycott prominent businesses in cahoots with the Trump brand, Barta said. But attendees’ overarching hope, even expectation, is ensuring that Democrats regain control of the House and Senate in the 2018 midterm elections. Several people suggested reaching out to relatives or friends in Midwestern states who oppose Trump’s agenda but are reluctant to speak out in redder states. What resonated in the East Village and in Chelsea was a desire to keep the momentum of the Women’s March moving forward. Gathering in a huddle was a statement, participants said, that new and older activists alike would not grow complacent under the new administration. Trump’s presidency is the result of “20 years of civic engagement karma wave,” Barta said. “We can’t afford to slide into complacency again.”
me every day and I didn’t even live in the building.” “It’s a terrible day,” the doorman manning Gonzalez’s old post said. “Who would think that this could happen? He was just clearing the ice so that everyone else would be safe,” added the man, who declined to give his name. Service Employees International Union 32BJ released a statement honoring Gonzalez, who was a member of the union. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife and children and all those who knew and cared about him, including his coworkers and the residents of his building,” 32 BJ President Hector Figueroa said in the statement. “Our union family will do all we can to support Miguel’s family in this difficult time.”
Residents and neighbors of 333 East 96th St. assembled a memorial in the building’s lobby for doorman Miguel Gonzalez, who died after falling during the Feb. 9 snowstorm. Photo: Michael Garofalo
FEBRUARY 16-22,2017
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
Nothing beats newspapers as the most reliable source of local news in print and online Recent studies show:
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Newspapers led online consumption for local news” Coda Ventures Survey August 18, 2016
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Local media users named newspapers as their “most relied on” source for deals across a range of goods and services.” Coda Ventures Survey August 18, 2016
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What accounts for print’s superiority? Print - particularly the newspaper - is an amazingly sophisticated technology for showing you a lot of it.”
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Local newspapers are still the top source of news about readers’ communities, including their branded Web sites and social media channels.” Publisher’s Daily - August 30, 2016
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Residents are eager for news about their own communities, which, increasingly, only local news organizations can provide” Editor & Publisher - June 1, 2016
Politico - September 10, 2016
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SPECULATING, WORRYING, HOPING GRAYING NEW YORK BY MARCIA EPSTEIN
It’s coming, it’s really coming. Trader Joe’s is finally coming to the 90s on the Upper West Side, after years of speculation and hope. For ages I’ve been walking by an empty storefront on Columbus Avenue and 93rd Street, which has been the site of the speculation, but with no confirmation. Nobody seemed to know for sure; there didn’t seem to be any construction going on for what seemed like years. And then earlier this month, I walked by and saw some activity. Not one to let an opportunity pass, I peeked inside and saw a human figure in back. “Halloooo,” I called. A man ap-
peared. “Hi there, can you tell me what this is going to be?” He seemed to hesitate, and then finally said, “Trader Joe’s.” I yelled a delighted “Whoopie.” My friends who live farther downtown, mostly in the 70s, are thrilled with their Trader Joe’s. Now we will have our own — Hallelujah. Here’s hoping it brings more stores to Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues. There are still a lot of vacant spaces. I’d like to tell you about The West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing. Formed in 1976 by a coalition of social service agencies, religious institutions and community organizations, it created a new form of housing to meet the needs of older people and those with special needs. The Marseilles on West 104th Street was its first building.
In 1980, it opened its doors to low income elderly and handicapped people. In addition to providing apartments and services to independent seniors, WSFSSH also serves the frail elderly, the elderly with mental illnesses, the homeless and physically handicapped, as well as providing homes for grandparents raising grandchildren. It has buildings on the Upper West Side, Harlem, Chelsea and the Bronx. All buildings have on-site social services. Since 1980, WSFSSH has renovated or built 24 buildings serving over 1,800 people. They provide independent apartments, single room supportive housing and congregate supportive housing. In the works is WSFSSH at 108th Street. The development would address the shortage of housing for low-income and elderly residents of Manhattan Valley. It would include healthcare and childcare, among
other services. If you think you fit into any of these categories or know someone who does, get in touch with the federation, at 212-864-0940. In these days of impossible rents and gentrifying neighborhoods, an organization like WSFSSH is vitally important in helping those who need it most. I have two kinds of friends; those who can afford assisted-living or retirement homes, and those who can’t. Those who can’t (like me), tend to worry a lot. Those without family worry even more. I know people who live in both kinds of housing; if I could afford it, I’d consider a retirement community. Assisted living only if I needed it. But money is the key, as it always is. I’m lucky to be rent-stabilized, and I’m lucky to have a partner. But who knows who will live longer, who knows what might happen when I’m old? Oh wait, I am old. I mean re-
SPEAK OUT! SHOW UP! BY BETTE DEWING
As the snow fell last week, it was “Shovel Out!” But with myriad local stores closed by anti-small business forces, fewer concerned shopkeepers were there to do the job promptly and correctly. Or at all. As Our Town readers know, an Upper Eastsider, Antal Kiss, was tragically killed when he slipped and fell on an icy sidewalk last month — not far from the Second Avenue subway stop. Who would have thought that those businesses which survived the decade of subway construction chaos, and were supposed to be helped by the new line’s completion, would now suffer from an influx of food trucks parked near the subway stops? Aaaugh! (In Our Town Feb. 2-8, reporter Laura Hanrahan’s story, “Food Carts Proliferate after Subway Opening,” is required reading.) Thankfully, their owners are taking this latest assault to Community Board 8 and calling 311. But the help they need most is from the community at large, which can’t afford to lose any more local “brick and mortar” eater-
ies where you can sit down and break bread, alone or with company. Or get in out of the cold, heat and maddening crowd. And while contacting elected officials and civic groups is essential, what’s needed most are on-site protests — especially from older people who have the time and a critical need for these lifeline places. They can sit on folding chairs or in wheelchairs and on walker seats. Even just two or three there on a daily basis with “Save Our Stores/Rome is Burning” signs will raise awareness — and get media coverage. Speak out, too — politely, but firmly. Which reminds me of Upper East Side elder Claire Rubin, who is not silent when motor vehicles fail to yield, and bikes — well, you know what they fail to do. This woman who chose Manhattan as her retirement home (she had been a junior high educator in Newton, Massachusetts) says maybe she shouldn’t speak out on the street, however politely. But we say, “if only more people did !” — and about so much more. Claire also made her co-op home more neighborly when, rather
A proliferation of food carts have set up shop along Second Avenue following the completion of the subway line there. Omar Ismail’s cart, pictured, is one of four that were doing business Tuesday morning near the northwest entrance to the 72nd Street station. Photo: Richard Khavkine than filling mail boxes with community board meeting notices, she stood in the lobby and handed them out with a smile and the words, “Thank you so much if you can make it.” Some residents said that personal effort did prompt their attendance, and they welcomed that neighborly action. So just a little shoutout, indeed a perennial valentine, to good neighbor/ citizen Claire — and to others who so quietly help build community in their
own back yard. Elder people have the time and concern but need the encouragement to be their local — yes — Paul Reveres! And all concerned need Daniel Victor’s message in the Times editorial, “Here’s Why You should Call, Not Email Your Legislators.” Legislators pay more attention to phone calls, says considerable research, and staff members taking the calls keep a record of how many certain concerns receive.
ally old. I’m about to get a springing power of attorney (it springs into action when I’m not longer able to make my own decisions). Still, I have the fear of many of my friends that I’ll end up in an awful nursing home. It’s the stuff of old-age nightmares. So, does money buy happiness? No, but it probably does buy some peace of mind. One last comment. If you get a call from a number you don’t know, and someone asks “Can you hear me?”, just hang up. This is called a voice signature and can be used by scammers for a variety of things, such as overseas telephoning, utility bills, or products and services. It’s also used to serve as your consent to upgrade a plan you may have. It’s a sad world when we have to be careful of a simple phone call, but so be it. Be alert, be careful, avoid being sorry.
And hey, with cell phones, we can call them (a lot) while, say, politely but firmly protesting food trucks parked near a Second Avenue Subway stop. This latest assault on small business, “has just got to be nipped in the bud — right this minute!” to quote Andy Griffin’s deputy sheriff, Barney Fife. And heed former 19th Precinct Community Police Officers, Steve Petrillo and Lou Uliani’s repeated advice to the East 79th Street Neighborhood Association: “Remember, the squeaky wheel gets the grease!” So squeak already to policymakers by email, “real mail,” as well as by phone. And squeak in person at their local offices and at civic meetings. Numbers count. And build community and inclusion by the able-bodied helping those who are not. Attend those meetings and those “sit-in” protest sites, especially now, sending those food trucks packing to places that really need their wares. Some local numbers to call are found in this paper’s “Helpful Contacts” column. Of course, contact media, which so shape customs and views, and can hold policymakers’ feet to the fire. It can be done if enough of us try — if enough of us try, Rome is burning, is burning — in our own backyard. dewingbetter@aol.com
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FEBRUARY 16-22,2017
SCHOOLS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 An area that was home to less than 40,000 residents in 2000 now likely houses around 90,000, according to estimates based on Census data and new residential construction. “It’s basically a small town which has grown up on top of a big town,” MacDonald said. What’s more, MacDonald’s analysis shows that the residential construction boom — and accompanying inflow of residents — isn’t slowing down, but rather is doing the opposite, meaning that the school shortage problem will remain a problem as population growth continues to accelerate. One of the locations identified in the study is 42 Trinity Place, the former site of a Syms clothing store that is slated to be replaced by a 40-story mixed-use skyscraper that will devote several floors to a 476-seat elementary school. A spokesperson for the city’s School Construction Authority said that the authority is working with the developer on the schedule for the site and that an expected opening date for the school is not yet in place. Any new school built on Lower Manhattan land that is currently held in private
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com ownership (which many of the sites identified in the study are) would likely follow the model of the proposal at 42 Trinity Place and come as part of a deal with a developer building a new skyscraper. Community Board 1 member Wendy Chapman, who sits on the planning committee, said that real estate costs have made it all but impossible for the city to find land for standalone schools. “They don’t have the money to buy any property downtown, and so the only way that any schools get built is that the developer carves out a space in the project for a public school,” she said. As part of an effort to combat this problem, Assemblywoman Deborah Glick introduced a bill in Albany last month that would require firms building non-senior housing developments in the city to pay an impact tax dedicated to the construction of new schools. Glick introduced similar legislation last year that stalled in committee. The link between new schools and new high-rise residential buildings is a source of anxiety for some downtown residents, who fear that it will cause population growth to continue to outstrip school capacity, even as new schools are built. In addition to the private sites where schools could po-
tentially be accommodated inside skyscrapers, the research group identified several publicly owned sites that could hold schools, including Pier 14 on the East River, which is now nothing but water, but under current zoning could be built out to hold a school, and the Coast Guard center and adjacent Battery Gardens restaurant in the southeastern corner of Battery Park. The political feasibility of building schools at some of the proposed sites is questionable; the study’s methodology focused not on politics but on identifying nonresidential sites underbuilt by 100,000 square feet that could accommodate schools with full gymnasiums. One publicly owned site identified by the committee that could potentially hold a schoolskyscraper combination is the space over the entrance to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, which MacDonald said could be covered and developed into a massive skyscraper complex with square footage comparable to that of the World Trade Center complex. Other potential school sites identified in the study that are currently privately owned include 47-49 Broadway, 43-45 Broadway, 248 Pearl St., and 14 South William St.
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CITYMEALS COCKTAILS▲
BEER & COMEDY
‘LINE’ | THEATRE
Old Man Hustle, 39 Essex St. 8 p.m. Quaint L.E.S. bar featuring cheap booze, cocktails and stand up comedy, Mon.-Thurs. at 9 p.m. and Fri., Sat., and Sun. at 8 p.m. (otherwise just a bar). oldmanhustle-com.
13th Street Playhouse, 50 West 13th St. 9:30 p.m. $20-$30 Production of Israel Horovitz’s absurdist play is the longest running show in Off-OffBroadway history. Every Friday and Saturday. 212-675-6677. 13thstreetrep. org
Distilled, 211 West Broadway 6:30-9 p.m. $75-$125 Chef Shane Lyons and Citymeals Culinary Circle host inaugural fundraising event: chefs, restaurateurs, entrepreneurs, culinary visionaries, gather. 212-687-1290. citymeals.org
PRETTY THRIFTY Housing Works Thrift Shops, 130 Crosby St. 5-8 p.m. “A Vintage Wonderland”: join Stefany of Pretty in Thrift and Naomi of Omnia Vintage for a specially curated shopping party. 212-966-0466. housingworks.org
ANTI-TRUMP RALLY Washington Square Park 2-5 p.m. Workers and students assemble for “National General Strike Against Trump Rally.” 212-639-9675.
SURPRISE STORIES The Unicorn, 105 Henry St. 8-10 p.m. $10 Second season of Surprise Stories: six storytellers compete against each other in “the world’s first storytelling game show.” 917-450-4178.
FEBRUARY 16-22,2017
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
Honor & Recognize The Top Contributors to a Better Life on the West Side Hector Batista Big Brothers & Sisters of NYC
Tom Bernstein, Roland Betts David Tewksbury Chelsea Piers Rev. Robert Brashear
Photo By Natalia Ba via Flickr
Sun 19 HELPING HOMELESS NYC Tzu Ching Family, 27 East Broadway 12-3 p.m. Free. RSVP Provide homeless with blankets, scarves and food. Great way for Tzu Chi Collegiate members to bond and learn about the homeless community. nyctcca@gmail.com
LINES LETTERS WORDS The Drawing Center, 35 Wooster St. Noon-6 p.m. $5 Visual works by Jackson Mac Low (1922–2004) known for composing poetry through chance procedures and automatism. 212-219-2166. drawingcenter. org
Mon 20
The band performs. Cajun/ Zydeco/Funk the 3rd Monday of every month. 212-226-9060. earinn.com
Tue 21 CLIMATE MUSEUM The Climate Museum, 6 River Terrace 1-2 p.m. Free. RSVP Director talks about the museum, the first in the United States to offer a permanent and dedicated hub for public engagement and education on climate issues and solutions. 212-267-9700. bpcparks.org
URBAN HERBALISM▼ Canal Street Market, 261 Canal St. 7-8:30 p.m. $40 Brief history of herbalism and its modern relevance; learn benefits and uses of stressreducing herbs, basic extraction and preparation methods. 646-613-0622. canalstreet. market
West Park Presbyterian Church
Renee Edelman Children’s Museum of Manhattan
Wed22
Officer Jack Etter 20th precinct
FILM & POPCORN
Olive Freud Committee for Environmentally Safe Development
Arts Brookfield, 230 Vesey St. 5:30-9:30 p.m. Free New and classic films indoors under the Winter Garden palm trees; free popcorn and a preshow DJ at 5:30 p.m. Tonight’s movie: “Guardians of the Galaxy.” 212-978-1698. artsbrookfield. com
Officer Edward Groger 20th precinct
Rabbi Joy Levitt JCC Manhattan
Robert and Judith Long
FLAMENCO▲
Long’s Bedding
Subrosa, 63 Gansevoort St. 7:30 p.m. $15 + $20 food/ drink min. Flamenco dancer/singer Barbara Martinez makes “something fresh of the Latino style”; she’s danced with the Met Opera in Carmen and La Traviata. 646-240-4264. subrosanyc. com
Capt. Ciro Napolitano FDNY
Scott Parker PS 452
Linda Rosenthal NY State Assemblymember
Kate Wood Landmark West
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Sponsor the Spirit’s WESTY’S Issue February 23
Groove, 125 Macdougal St. 4:30 p.m.-1 a.m. $15 “Emilie Surtees not only replicates hit songs, power note for power note, she communicates the soul of each singer who originally recorded them.” 212-254-9393. clubgroovenyc.com
Call Vincent Gardino for rates @ 212.868.0190 x407 or advertising@strausnews.com Sponsored in part by
DIRTY WATER DOGS The Ear Inn, 326 Spring St. Midnight-3 a.m. Tip bucket
Photo by Casey Fleser via Flickr
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
SKIN DEEP A flashy show at the New-York Historical Society traces the evolution of tattooing in the Big Apple BY VAL CASTRONOVO
Captain James Cook, a Brit, brought the name back from the South Pacific. They have marked the skins of tribesmen, princes, socialites, sailors and sideshow attractions at the circus. The city banned them in 1961, after a hepatitis B outbreak, but the craft migrated underground to apartments and back rooms, and above ground to art galleries and museums. The ban was repealed in 1997, and now skin art has gone mainstream.
John Simon (ca. 1675–1751) after John Verelst (1648–1734). Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow, King of the Maquas, 1710. Mezzotint. New-York Historical Society Library
“New York is the birthplace of modmod d ern tattooing. The tattoo machine was developed here,” e,” Cristian Petru Panaite, the curator, tor, said at a preview of “Tattooed New w York,” a presentation of some 250 items ems illustrating more than 300 yearss of tattoo history. The turn-of-the-century ntury machine, based on Thomas Edison’s son’s electric pen, “revolutionized the e craft. It made it cheaper and opened it to the community.” Indeed, New Yorkers from all walks of life wanted to get tattooed. A photomonhotomontage at the exhibit’s xhibit’s entrance includes cludes images of Teddy Roosevelt, Dorothy rothy Parker and a “man in Times Square.” are.” Parker sports a star tattoo on her wrist; T.R. is rumored ored to have worn the family crest on n his chest. R.H. Macy, acy, the founder of the department store, ore, boasted a red star on his hand or arm, which inspired d the company’s iconic onic logo (and looked d like Parker’s tattoo). ). Think of the gallery, with paintings, s, photos, prints, banners, ers, flash (tattoo design)) sheets and other tools of the trade, as a giant tattoo o parlor, which it will literally become on select Fridays and weekends eekends when the Society presents live demonstrations featuring tattoo artists from the five boroughs. This is wearable art, with the body as canvas. Panaite has traced its roots back to the region’s Native Americans, who poked and scratched and used pigments to create markings that they believed had the power to heal and protect — and used to declare identity and battle victories. One Seneca Indian signed a fur-trading account book (1695-1726), on display, with a pictograph representing his trademark tattoos. Other early items include four mezzotints from 1710 that picture inked Mohawk and Mohican tribal leaders who went to London to request aid from Queen Anne to fight the French and their Ojibwe allies. The prints are among the first works of art to capture Native American tattooing. Soldiers and sailors in North America first used tattoos for identification purposes. In the 1800s, tattooing, like
Lady Liberty, American traditional backpiece, by Michelle Myles on model Evan Hall. 2016. Digital print on aluminum. Photo: Dale May scrimshaw, became a popular pastime on the high seas, and its uses evolved to mark memories of voyages and bring luck to a sailor. Design sheets line the walls, with symbolic images of pigs and roosters (protection from drowning if inked on feet), eagles (honor), anchors (stability) and swal-
IF YOU GO WHAT: “Tattooed New York” WHERE: New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West (at 77th Street) WHEN: through April 30 www.nyhistory.org
lows (miles traveled). travele “One swallow stood for 5,000 miles,” Panaite said, mi adding that sailors who were looking to “make a buck” w would show off their ink at sideshows in New York. But women were iin on the game, too — high-society lad ladies and “tattooed ladies” at Coney Island and on the I Bowery — and their contributions are a focus of the show. Tattoos were quite fashionable until W World War II and garnered plenty of press coverage. In 1901, the New York World, the “TM “TMZ of its day,” ran the screaming headline: scr “Mrs. Amy Gillig Starts Newest Newe Fad, Tattooed Marriage Initials In Mar Place of Engagement Plac Ring.” Ring And rumors swirled that Vanderswi bilt heirs were getting tattooed. tat L ess for t u n ate women, however, w saw sa economic opportunity in getting p inked. Beginning in in the th late 1860s, “Opportunities were p limited. Women li could sustain themco selves by becoming se sideshow tattoo atsid tractions ... and feel trac empowered by their empo tattoos. These were very tattoos business ssavvy women,” the said. curator said Enter sidesho sideshow stars Nora Hildebrandt, La B Belle Irene and Betty Broadbent, the last an attraction at the 1939 New York World’s Fair for her head-to-toe ornamentation. Mildred Hull, the “Queen of the Bowery,” was the first woman to open a shop on skid row and a tattooer herself. Her 1939 portrait with Charlie Wagner (“the Michelangelo of tattoo artists”) in the act of decorating her forearm is a wild canvas for some of the more than 300 images she created, including an alleged butterfly “in a spot not visible to the public,” a label states. In the 1970s, female tattoo artists began to proliferate, and the tattoo had become a way for women to reclaim their bodies and proclaim independence and personal style. Exhibit photos of breast cancer survivors with elaborate designs, concealing scars, signal transformation and pack an emotional wallop. During the ban, practitioners had to be on the alert for police raids. Tony D’Annessa, who had a shop on West 48th Street, kept his flash on window
FEBRUARY 16-22,2017
shades that could be rolled up if the cops came. See one here, along with a diorama of Tony Polito’s basement studio in Crown Heights. The curator’s hope for the show is that viewers recognize that tattooing, however controversial, “is an art form like any other. It’s just another form of personal expression.”
John Wyatt (b. 1942). Thom de Vita and client in his studio at 326 East Fourth Street, 1976. Gelatin silver print. Courtesy of the artist
Tony D’Annessa (b. 1935). Window shade with flash designs from Tony D’Annessa’s tattoo shop on W. 48th Street, ca. 1962. Ink outline with markers coloring on vinyl. Collection of Tony D’Annessa and Dave Cummings, PSC Tattoo, Montreal
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
THIS WEEK AT THE RUBIN MUSEUM
Donny McCaslin and his quartet play the BRIC JazzFest Marathon in Brooklyn in October 2015. Photo: Steven Pisano
BOWIEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S LAST BAND GATHERS ACCOLADES Donny McCaslinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s group backed the late singersongwriter on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Blackstar,â&#x20AC;? which won five Grammys BY CHARLES J. GANS
Saxophonist Donny McCaslin will never forget the last time he saw David Bowie. He got a hug from the rock legend as they listened to the finished version of his last album, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Blackstar.â&#x20AC;? Bowie had unexpectedly chosen McCaslinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cutting-edge, New York-based jazz quartet to record â&#x20AC;&#x153;Blackstar.â&#x20AC;? After mixing and mastering the album, Bowie invited McCaslin to his lower Manhattan home for a listening session in November 2015. McCaslin was sitting and listening to the music with his eyes closed when Bowie walked into the room and embraced him. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I told him how much I loved the record and how beautiful it was to me to hear it ... and just what a brilliant piece of art it is. And he was so happy that I was happy,â&#x20AC;? McCaslin recalled. ``The joy on his face was beautiful.â&#x20AC;? At the time, Bowie had talked about recording more songs and sitting in with McCaslinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s band at an upcoming gig at the Village Vanguard jazz club. But Bowie died of liver cancer on Jan. 10, 2016, just two days after â&#x20AC;&#x153;Blackstarâ&#x20AC;? was released on his 69th birthday. At Sundayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Grammy Awards,
the record picked up all five Grammys for which it was nominated: best recording package, engineered album â&#x20AC;&#x201D; non-classical, alternative music album, rock performance and rock song. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wish David was here to see all the love and appreciation for the record,â&#x20AC;? said McCaslin, who collected the awards. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a privilege for me to meet so many of his fans this past year who love the record and whose lives he touched deeply with his art. I know for all of us in the band working with him was a transformative experience that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll carry with us the rest of our lives.â&#x20AC;? McCaslinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s band â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with keyboardist Jason Lindner, electric bassist Tim Lefebvre and drummer Mark Guiliana â&#x20AC;&#x201D; channeled the grief they felt over Bowieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s death through music. Just weeks later, in every set at the Village Vanguard, they played â&#x20AC;&#x153;Warszawa,â&#x20AC;? the hauntingly brooding anthem that Bowie co-wrote with Brian Eno for the 1977 album â&#x20AC;&#x153;Low.â&#x20AC;? McCaslin says his bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new album â&#x20AC;&#x153;Beyond Now,â&#x20AC;? released in October, was very much influenced by their experience working with Bowie. It includes covers of two Bowie tunes â&#x20AC;&#x201D; â&#x20AC;&#x153;Warszawaâ&#x20AC;? and 1995â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;A Small Plot of Land,â&#x20AC;? featuring guest vocalist Jeff Taylor. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Beyond Nowâ&#x20AC;? also features covers of tunes by Deadmau5, MUTEMATH and the Chainsmokers, reďŹ&#x201A;ecting the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interest in â&#x20AC;&#x153;exploring this in-
tersection of improvisation and electronica music,â&#x20AC;? McCaslin said. McCaslin says Bowie was into â&#x20AC;&#x153;exploring new territory and doing something cuttingedgeâ&#x20AC;? on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Blackstar,â&#x20AC;? and it was his quartetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s willingness to push boundaries that attracted the rock legend. Tony Visconti, Bowieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s producer, said McCaslinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s band â&#x20AC;&#x153;was told to do their â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;thing,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; and not think of it as a commercial rock record.â&#x20AC;? McCaslin received two of his three Grammy nominations for his soaring solos with the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, and it was Schneider who brought Bowie to Greenwich Villageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tiny 55 Bar in June 2014 to hear McCaslinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s band. McCaslin first worked with Bowie on the single â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sue (Or in a Season of Crime),â&#x20AC;? for which Schneider won an arranging Grammy last year. Bowie began sending the saxophonist demos of his new songs and invited him to record â&#x20AC;&#x153;Blackstar.â&#x20AC;? McCaslin says Bowie was â&#x20AC;&#x153;no diva typeâ&#x20AC;? and was â&#x20AC;&#x153;gracious, warm and humble,â&#x20AC;? creating an environment that â&#x20AC;&#x153;brings out the best in those around him.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was really inspiring to see him at that stage of his career ... his fearlessness as an artist just going for realizing his musical vision,â&#x20AC;? the 50-year-old McCaslin said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the way I want to live and be when Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m 68 years old.â&#x20AC;?
CELEBRATE LOSAR, THE RECHARGE WITH OUR HIMALAYAN NEW YEAR FEATURED EXHIBITIONS Free Family Day Sunday, February 19, 12:00â&#x20AC;&#x201C;4:00 PM Losar La Tashi Delek! Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s how you say â&#x20AC;&#x153;Happy New Yearâ&#x20AC;? in Tibetan. Join us for Losar Family Day, a museum-wide afternoon of art, crafts, and music to celebrate the Himalayan New Year. Learn about traditional celebrations, go on a family tour of the galleries, sway to the beat of traditional music, and participate in special arts and crafts activities:
Sacred Spaces: Himalayan Wind and the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room Transport yourself to the Himalayas through an immersive sound experience by Soundwalk Collective at the Rubin Museum. Hear the whistle of VWURQJ ZLQGV WKH Ă DSSLQJ RI SUD\HU Ă DJV DQG WKH FKDQWLQJ RI EOHVVLQJV DW some of the highest Buddhist monasteries in the world.
Fire Bird Masks
OM Lab: Offer Your Voice Are you ready to OM? Offer your voice in the OM Lab, a new interactive space at the Rubin Museum of Art. Learn about this sacred syllable, record your OM in the soundbooth, and then hear your voice mixed with thousands of others in the June exhibition The World Is Sound.
Doughy Divinations Metok Flowers Prayer Flags Sketching Stations Demonstrations by Torma Sculptors and Khapse Pastry Bakers (Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll also get to try butter tea and khapse treats!)
Losar Family Day is made possible by Con Edison, Agnes Gund, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
THE RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART 150 WEST 17TH STREET NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10011 RUBINMUSEUM.ORG
Sacred Spaces: Himalayan Wind is made possible through the generous support of Audio-Technica. Additional support has been provided by Christopher J. Fussner, The Hoch 2009 Charitable Lead Trust, and Rasika and Girish Reddy as well as Bob and Lois Baylis, Ashwini and Anita Gupta, Preethi Krishna and Ram Sundaram, William and Pamela Michaelcheck, Tulku Tsultrim Pelgyi, Manoj and Rita Singh, Venkat and Pratima Srinivasan, the Zakaria Family Foundation, and contributors to the 2015 and 2016 Exhibitions Funds. | OM Lab is made possible through the generosity of HARMAN. Additional support was provided by contributors to the 2017 Exhibitions Fund.
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SAT/SUN
11:00 AMâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;5:00 PM CLOSED 11:00 AMâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;9:00 PM 11:00 AMâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;5:00 PM 11:00 AMâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;10:00 PM 11:00 AMâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;6:00 PM
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RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS
Cafe Loup
105 West 13 Street
Grade Pending (24) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided.
Hale & Hearty Soup
75 9 Avenue
A
Westville
246 West 18 Street
A
Amelie
22 West 8 Street
Grade Pending (27) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. 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. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.
FEB 2 - 8, 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/restaurantinspection.shtml. Cafe Champignon
200 7 Avenue
A
Blue Hill Restaurant
75 Washington Place
A
Fiddlesticks
5456 Greenwich Avenue
A
Co Ba Restaurant
110 9Th Ave
A
Cho Cho San Japanese 15 West 8 Street Restaurant
A
Basta Pasta Restaurant
37 West 17 Street
A
Mansions Cater
80 5 Avenue
A
Piers Pizza
61 Chelsea Piers Pier
Not Yet Graded (32) No facilities available to wash, rinse and sanitize utensils and/or equipment.
Starbucks Coffee
122 Greenwich Avenue
A
The Copper Still
151 2Nd Ave
A
Giovanni Rana Restaurant
75 9 Avenue
Grade Pending (51) 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, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/ refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies. 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. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.
575 Pub On Second
93 2Nd Ave
A
Dig Inn
17 East 17Th Street
Grade Pending (23) 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 not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal product temperature is reduced from 140º F to 70º F or less within 2 hours, and from 70º F to 41º F or less within 4 additional hours. 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.
Ribalta
48 East 12 Street
A
Headless Horseman
119 East 15 Street
A
Grade Pending (21) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal product temperature is reduced from 140º F to 70º F or less within 2 hours, and from 70º F to 41º F or less within 4 additional hours. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
Wok To Walk
42 Union Sq E
A
Maison Kayser
841 Broadway
Not Yet Graded (20) 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. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.
Zaabver
75 2Nd Ave
A
Arte Restaurant
21 East 9 Street
Grade Pending (18) Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Tobacco use, eating, or drinking from open container in food preparation, food storage or dishwashing area observed.
Downtown Bakery Ii Mexican Food
69 1 Avenue
A
Tuck Shop
68 East 1 Street
A
Ushiwakamaru
Elephant & Castle
362 W 23Rd St
68 Greenwich Avenue
Grade Pending (22) 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.
Starbucks
300 West 23 Street
A
Blue Ginger
106 8 Avenue
A
Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin Robbins
406 Avenue Of The Americas
A
Papa Kebab
361 West 17 Street
A
Royal Bangladesh Indian Restaurant
93 1 Avenue
Le Baratin
26 Greenwich Ave
Grade Pending (21) 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. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.
Grade Pending (36) 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.
The Wing
45 E 20Th St
Not Yet Graded (46) Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Food contact surface improperly constructed or located. Unacceptable material used. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
Madman Espresso
54 University Pl
A
Posto
310 2 Avenue
A
Gemma
4 East 3 Street
A
Zagara Wine Bar
216 7Th Ave
A
Burger & Lobster
39 W 19Th St
A
Harbs
198 9Th Ave
A
Rouge Tomate
126 W 18Th St
A
Sotto 13
140 West 13 Street
A
FEBRUARY 16-22,2017
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WHY DID THE PUREBRED CROSS THE ROAD? DOG SHOW For Westminster, Jerry Grymek has been on the spot—for Spot BY GAIL EISENBERG
(Warning: animal puns ahead.) Hotel Pennsylvania turned into something of a HairBnB this week as the midtown spot hosts/hosted nearly 500 dogs competing in the 141st Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show across the street at Madison Square Garden. The hotel is pet-friendly throughout the year, but seriously pups their game every February for the annual event. Jerry Grymek, top dog of Pooch Relations (PR) and Barketing, has spearheaded the effort for two-plus dog years. “I started doing PR for the hotel
about the same time we began seeing growth in pet requests during Westminster and decided to expand services for the VIPs — Very Important Pooches,” says Grymek. The Room to Groom S’paw equipped with bathing tubs, grooming tables, fitness equipment, and a relieving area is among the added amenities available to guests during the Dog Show. A heightened sense of the lengths to which people go for these competitors is also on display. Grymek has happily granted many unusual wishes over the years, such as rolling out a red carpet for a dog’s arrival, sending cots to pet parents so their dogs can have their beds, and ordering in special comfort food. “I’ve assisted with getting them seven cheeseburgers — hold the onions
Jerry Grymek, concierge to the Very Important Pooches participating in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, with a trio of clients. Photo: Ryan Segedi
— and spinach pizza,” says the doggie concierge. But his favorite inquiry was for Ecco D’Oro, a rare breed Spinone Italiano, who loved opera. As a pre-Show ritual, Grymek worked his magic to secure a New York City opera singer to serenade the furry participant. “The dog was dressed up in a tuxedo for the performance and we sectioned off an area so people could listen and watch,” says Grymek. “Ecco was so relaxed during the performance, and even howled for an encore!” Over the years, the hotel has hosted Best in Show winners, including Uno and Rufus — the first-ever beagle and bull terrier — to take top honors at Westminster. “We like to think the hotel gives our guests some good luck for the show,” says Grymek. “And as a special thanks, we comp the entire stay for those Best in Show winners.” What’s more, the Hotel Pennsylvania’s year-round animal policy is on a very long leash. There are no restrictions on the size or the kinds of pets allowed — near-300-lb. St. Bernards, cats, lizards, snakes, bats, and the like are all welcome with open paws, says Grymek. “The key is letting the front desk know. This way housekeeping doesn’t get scared.”
Hayden, a 20-month old standard Poodle, being groomed for his first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Photo: Ryan Segedi
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Business
FASHION WITH A MESSAGE Lithuanian designer Vilma Mare focuses on cultural strength and the power of nature BY LAURA HANRAHAN
When it comes to an atypical New York Fashion Week event, Lithuanian designer Vilma Mare brought her own flair with her “Creating Beauty That Protects” show. Operating as more of a gallery installation than a runway show, Mare displayed her creations in a square-shaped room at the Consulate of Lithuania on Fifth Avenue and 37th Street. In each corner was a live model, with mannequins strung from the ceiling with fishing twine. What made the garments, constructed almost exclusively out of sturdy boiled wool, immediately stand out was the fact that the seams were on the outside. “As long as I keep the edge nice and sharp, that fabric looks done after cutting and the edge is so beautiful that I turned it out,” Mare said at the event’s closing party on Feb. 13. Mare has spent time rediscovering the Baltic culture that was suppressed when Christianity came to Lithuania. The strength of her ancestors is what she hopes will come
across in her designs. “Studying, I found out lots of things,” Mare said. “When women would be beautifying themselves, not to be pretty, not to be outstanding, but to work on their success, to work on their protection, that was a very strong message.” The clothing, using an earth-toned palette, featured high collars and strong, fitted lines. The models wore large headpieces, sturdy boots and wrist cuffs, emphasizing the message of empowered female protectors. In addition, it was a message that Mare wanted to put across in a sustainable way. “As I realized the importance of nature to our overall health and security, I find myself feeling deeply about the current ecological crisis that our planet is facing and the fashion world’s impact on it,” Mare said. Behind the models and mannequins hung floor-to-ceiling tapestries of trees, and branches fixed to the wall and ceiling draped with traditional flags. “Trees are our protectors,” Mare said. “Baltic temples were in the forest so people would go and talk their sorrows to the trees. That was another interesting message to learn
At Vilma Mare’s Fashion Week show at the Lithuanian Consulate on Fifth Avenue. Photo: Laura Hanrahan when I was turning 50.” Corey Aldrich, owner of Electric City Couture, which produced the show, echoed Mare’s sentiments, emphasizing the importance of sup-
porting smaller designers, as opposed to mass-produced brands. “There’s a strong message that we’re interested in promoting and that is sustainable fashion is about
POLITICS TAKE OFF ON THE RUNWAY New York Fashion Week got into full swing last week BY JOCELYN NOVECK
The message could not have been clearer or more pointed: Raf Simons’ debut collection for Calvin Klein opened and closed with the David Bowie song “This is Not America.” “When you have a voice, you should use it,” Simons said backstage just last week at his own label’s menswear show. And now, for his much-awaited bow Feb. 10 with new employer Calvin Klein — for which he has moved to New York — the Belgian designer was using his. The soundtrack wasn’t the only means Simons used to put across his message. A day earlier, Calvin Klein had sent guests patterned bandanas, with a note saying: “Unity, inclusion, hope and acceptance: Join us at Calvin Klein in wearing the white bandanna. (hash)tiedtogether.”
The clothes, too — designed along with the label’s Pieter Mulier — were meant to display an inclusive message, sort of a melting pot of styles. “It reflects the environment,” Simons wrote in the show notes. “It is the coming together of different characters and different individuals — just like America itself.” There were nods to the American West for both women and men, with denim jackets over loose jeans, or colorful cowboy-style shirts. There was sporty America, in striped tube-sock sleeves — similar to the arm-warmers shown by his men’s label. There were crisp business-like suits in black and white, and coats in colorful quilt patterns. Supermodel Lauren Hutton, among the celebrity attendees who also included Sarah Jessica Parker, Greta Gerwig and Sofia Coppola, praised both the show’s contents and its messaging. “He’s a new miracle,” she said back-
FEBRUARY 16-22,2017
stage of Simon’s arrival at the label, a post the former Dior designer has taken over from Francisco Costa. Asked whether politics should have an expression in fashion, she said: “I think that’s what all art is for. Fashion, if it’s good, always has something to say about society.” Designer Diane von Furstenberg also was among the front-row guests. She wore a large button that said: “Fashion starts with Planned Parenthood.” “It’s not about politics,” she explained. “It’s about women’s rights, about the body, and about human rights.”
A MILESTONE FOR JASON WU It was back in 2009 that Jason Wu vaulted to prominence as the chosen designer of Michelle Obama’s first inaugural gown. For good measure, he repeated the feat four years later. This year, he’s celebrating the 10th anniversary of his label, and he marked the occasion last week with a display of wearable, elegant designs at
Jason Wu catapulted to prominence in 2009 as the designer of Michelle Obama’s first inaugural gown. Last week, he celebrated the 10th anniversary of his label with a display of wearable, elegant designs at New York Fashion Week. Above, Wu with Michelle Obama in 2010, with the gown he designed. Photo: Tom Bridge, via flickr
scale, and sustainable fashion is about supporting the makers directly,” Aldrich said. “I think the industry is kind of trending towards people wanting to find more meaning in what they’re purchasing, and what we wear is a very intimate part of what we communicate to the world around us.” Claudia Marzotta, owner of Moda Lab, a fashion development studio in Miami, came to Mare’s event precisely so she could see the collection and interact with the designer oneon-one. “I like the intimate type of event,” she said. In the center of the room was a long wooden table covered with feathers and tree bark. The table, Mare said, was her homage to the people at Standing Rock, to whom she dedicated the event. “They have lost so much and yet they continue to strive to protect us all,” Mare said. “These are indigenous people here who also don’t want to lose their identity and the table is devoted to them because they still feed us, the fertile ground that we stand on.” Aldrich explained Mare’s wish to have a legacy of leaving the world a better place than she found it through her designs. “Fashion is political and when fashion can make a statement that’s positive, that empowers people, that changes things,” he said. “Fashion is powerful.”
the St. Regis Hotel that showed his talent for turning out pretty yet unfussy clothes. The collection was focused on “the luxurious femininity at the core of the house,” Wu said in the show notes. It featured soft suits and flowing dresses in fabrics like velvet, tulle, and chiffon. A shoulder-baring dress and a billowing top were both fashioned of a black gauzy material dotted with pale green velvet. Colors ranged from “lipstick reds” to “amber golds” to “juniper greens.” Accents included grommets and pearls. Printed chiffons were embellished with what the label said were “thousands of crystals, blurring the line between fantasy and reality.” Among the celebrities present were film actress Diane Kruger and modelactress Amber Valletta. But the star of the front row — at least judging from the oohs and aahs coming from photographers — was Adriana Lima, the Brazilian Victoria’s Secret model, in a hot pink satin dress and black leather jacket. She was photographed with the jacket on, but her later removal of said jacket was enough to get the shutters clicking again furiously.
FEBRUARY 16-22,2017
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FEBRUARY 16-22,2017
NOT-SO-HIGH HOPES Sutton Place community rallies for a “race against time” BY MADELEINE THOMPSON
Residents of Sutton Place, the neighborhood between First Avenue and the East River from 53rd to 59th Streets, are pinning their hopes on Marisa Lago, the incoming director of the Department of City Planning. When Lago’s tenure begins on March 1, her desk could be piled high with objections from the community to the proposed construction of an 850-foot luxury residential tower at 430 East 58th Street. “I think there’s nothing better than getting a shitload of letters before you even start,” Borough President Gale Brewer told attendees of a town hall on Friday, Feb. 10, encouraging them to raise their voices. “It is necessary to make sure the advocacy is there.” Approximately 80 people gathered in the Skytop Lounge of the Plaza 400 to hear updates on the tower’s progress, sign a petition and donate to the cost of opposing it. After plans for the tower were announced in 2015, neighbors sprang into action to form the East River Fifties Alliance (ERFA). The group hired planners and consultants to help develop a zoning text amendment that would limit building heights to 260 feet, as well as requesting more affordable housing, which the Alliance filed to the Department of City Planning this past December. “ERFA is proposing a contextual district that would prevent supertowers through height limits, and would provide greater incentives for affordable housing, and design controls for wide buildings,” the application reads. It cited, as inspiration for the zoning text amendment, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “mandate
to make all of New York City a diverse and balanced community.” The Department of City Planning has yet to certify the group’s application as complete so that it may begin undergoing the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. Meanwhile, the Sutton Place tower has been beset by issues — both financial and social — since the beginning, and was sold to Gamma Real Estate at a foreclosure auction this past December. In January, the plans to move forward with construction were rejected by the Department of Buildings as incomplete, though a spokesperson for the agency told DNAinfo at the time that this was not unusual for new building permits. With both the rezoning application and the Sutton place plans currently stalled, it is now a question of what will be approved first. “We are all in a race against time,” Lisa Mercurio, the Alliance’s director of communications, said at the town hall. “We believe we’ve filed a complete application, and frankly we can’t understand why this process is taking so long. If the foundation is poured for [the tower] before the zoning law can be amended, it’s game over.” Brewer suggested that the city planning commission’s concern was setting a precedent, which she called “a ridiculous reason” not to approve the community’s application. Zoning tends to be regulated by the city, and the efforts of the East River Fifties neighborhoods to determine its own fate are rare. Brewer was joined at the town hall by State Senator Liz Krueger, Council Member Ben Kallos and Council Member Dan Garodnick, who expressed their unwavering support for the Alliance’s proposed zoning text amendment. Kallos, who has secured several stop
Attendees at Mayor Bill de Blasio’s State of the City address at the Apollo Theater on Monday night. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
REACHING OUT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
A rendering of a Sutton Place tower proposed in 2015 that would have been among the tallest in Manhattan. work orders against the construction already underway on the project, assured residents that he would continue fighting the developers at every turn. “We will be there as a community to stop them,” he said. The East River Fifties residents will likely be some of the first New Yorkers to schedule an appointment with Lago when she takes office in March. Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com
How the Sutton Place tower would have stacked up, in an image distributed by the developer.
De Blasio focused on the “affordability crisis” New York City faces, citing rising housing costs and stagnant wages as major problems. He announced his intention to “create 100,000 more good-paying jobs” over the next 10 years, which he defined as jobs paying $50,000 annually or more. “These are jobs that we will make available whether people have pre-existing skills or not,” de Blasio said. “We’re going to provide the training and the support.” He also touted the success of his affordable housing plan so far. “It’s actually ahead of schedule,” de Blasio said of the push for 200,000 new affordable units. “Sixty-two thousand homes have already been built or financed or preserved in three years.” Part of the financing for this, the mayor hopes, will come from the “mansion tax” on all homes sold for more than $2 million. The measure failed to gain enough support in 2015, but de Blasio tried again in his recent testimony on state funding for the city’s upcoming budget. Notably absent from the address was a mention of problems at Rikers Island and the multitude of transportation issues slowing down all forms of transit for New York City commuters. In de Blasio’s only direct mention of Trump, he empathized with those who voted for Trump but are not seeing the change they were hoping for. “A lot of people voted in 2016 based on a pain that was very economic, very real,” he said. “Now, the sad reality is they’re unfortunately seeing the exact opposite of what many of them thought they were voting for.” The mayor went on to reassure viewers of his commitment to remaining a sanctuary city, and to continue to provide services like health insurance. Brewer’s State of the Borough took on a less formal tone, consisting of comparatively brief remarks that also put housing front and center. “Getting more affordable housing
into every new residential development that comes before my office is top priority,” Brewer said. She also listed accessible street signals, funding for public schools and a record 1,100 applications to Manhattan community boards among her accomplishments. Brewer then moderated a conversation with five experts on the specific challenges Trump’s policies — like the recent travel ban and Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids — present to the city, and how New Yorkers can oppose them. “Community-based organizations are the lifeboat for communities in these uncertain waters,” Angela Fernandez, executive director of the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights, said. “Community pressure and moral pressure is another tool that we have.” Andrew Rasiej, founder of Civic Hall and Personal Democracy Media, and Chair of the New York Tech Alliance, cautioned the audience to protect their online data and take their cybersecurity seriously. De Blasio’s event, meanwhile, also served to generate support for his reelection. The use of the Apollo Theater in Harlem, for which the mayor’s office paid $35,000, appeared to be an appeal to his base of African-American voters, 96 percent of whom went for de Blasio in 2013. Hours before his speech, the mayor also announced that a branch of the New York Public Library at 115th Street would be renamed after Harry Belafonte. So far only de Blasio has opponents in his race, all of whom are eager to hear whether the mayor or any of his aides will be indicted in an investigation by the Manhattan district attorney into his fundraising practices during the 2013 campaign. Should that happen, the race may open up to yet more challengers — potentially including Comptroller Scott Stringer — who would then have a greater chance at being elected. Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com
FEBRUARY 16-22,2017
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WOMAN KILLED IN FALL AT THE OCULUS New Jersey resident was on an escalator BY COLLEEN LONG
A 29-year-old New Jersey woman plunged about 30 feet to her death off an escalator inside the famed World Trade Center transit hub known as the Oculus on Saturday morning, police said. Jenny Santos of Kearny was trying to retrieve a hat dropped by her twin sister while the two were on an escalator at about 5:30 a.m. when she
reached too far over the railing and tumbled over the edge, a law enforcement official said. The official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the incident and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Port Authority police spokesman Joseph Pentangelo said the woman was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. Police are investigating. The striking $3.9 billion transportation hub was designed by architect Santiago Calatrava and provides connections between New Jersey’s PATH
trains and New York City’s subways. It opened about a year ago and is used daily by more than 300,000 commuters. Light beams in from the windows in the dizzying, soaring platform to the shopping mall below. No one has ever died inside of the structure before _ but a New Jersey woman gave birth there in October when she was rushed to a New York City hospital and realized she couldn’t wait any longer. Two police officers with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey delivered the baby.
A New Jersey woman fell to her death Saturday morning while riding on an escalator inside the transit center known as the oculus. Photo: Shinya Suzuki, via flckr
YEAR-LONG REVIEW FOR HOUSING PROJECT West 108th Street development would create hundreds of units but opposition builds BY RAZI SYED
Community groups and stakeholders are gearing up to for a lengthy public process to review the development of a proposed Manhattan Valley affordable housing facility, which has already drawn heated debate. The facility, which would expand a homeless shelter on West 108th Street and create hundreds of new units of affordable housing, will be built on the footprint of two existing city-owned parking garages. The loss of hundreds of parking spaces and the prospect of noisy construction has mobilized Save Manhattan Valley, a group of local residents who have been leading a months-long effort to stop the development. The group has collected over 1,700 signatures in support of their goals. Because public land is being used for the project, it is subject to the city’s uniform land-use review procedure, which requires public hearings as well as an advisory review by Community Board 7. The process is set to begin this spring. Save Manhattan Valley has been unsuccessfully attempting to meet city officials, said Michael Hiller, an attorney retained by the group, who pointed to the fact that the land-use review begins only after the city has decided to move forward on the development. Save Manhattan Valley believes there are other sites that can be used for the facility without affecting the neighborhood’s residents, Hiller said. He pointed to a 2014 study by the Municipal Arts Society of New York which counted more than 3,100 city-owned sites with no current use. “We are prepared to identify at least 10 facilities which will be suitable
A rendering of an affordable housing develoment proposed for West 108th Street. Courtesy of Dattner Architects for this process, with no or limited displacement,” Hiller said. “It’s not as if the people of Manhattan Valley don’t care about supportive housing; they do. But when the adverse effects threaten harm to their children and other neighborhood residents, they have to take a stand.” The demolition of the parking garages has been one of the major sticking points for the group, whose members worry that people who depend on their cars may be unable to find street parking. According to a city-commissioned study, the two largest garages have a capacity of 550 vehicles, though the study acknowledges that the vehicles parked inside can exceed the capacity if the aisles and elevators are used. The demolition of a third parking garage, with a capacity of 125 vehicles, was planned initially but the city has since announced that it will remain for at least another five years. The city’s review will take most of
this year, at the end of which The West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, a nonprofit that manages affordable housing complexes in the city, hopes to begin construction. As proposed, the new building will be 11 stories, requiring a zoning variance to build higher than the seven stories zoning regulations allow. The facility will expand the current WSFSSH-run shelter from 92 beds to 110 beds. There will be an additional 120 supportive housing units for seniors and 74 new apartment for families. All are reserved for people making less than the area median income. But with skyrocketing rents and rising homelessness in the city, those touting the project say the inconveniences are worth tolerating. “There’s an affordable neighborhood crisis,” said Manhattan Valley resident Julie Hertzog, who consults with a national affordable housing advocacy organization but is not affiliated with the WSFSSH project. “We need
these units.” Median rates for housing in Manhattan Valley as of Sunday ranged from $2,150 for a studio to $3,750 for a three-bedroom, according to RentHop. Rent levels for the West 108 Street development range from $865 for a studio to $1,289 for a three-bedroom. The development will also have one-bedroom units at $419 for seniors. Hertzog said her support for the planned development came down to beliefs and ideals. “Our neighborhood has seen a lot of gentrification and neighborhood is much improved, in terms of safety,” she said. “To say we now are not going to allow people of low income to take advantage of that opportunity — that’s contrary to my values and I think the values of the Upper West Side.” Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan, West End Presbyterian Church, Friends of Anibal Aviles Playground and over a dozen other community
groups have signed on to support the proposed facility, WSFSSH executive director Paul Freitag said, cumulatively representing thousands of Manhattan Valley residents. But Reina Kim, a parent of a sixth grade at Booker T. Washington Middle School who is not a member of Save Manhattan Valley, said she felt the school’s need had been left out of the debate. “I saw there was debate over what’s more important — cars or people?” Kim said. “But no one was talking about students. “My concerns are about the construction dust, noise and street safety,” she said, worrying that students would be unable to concentrate with heavy construction going on nearby. The school sits across the street from the planned development. Any work done on the buildings could release lead, asbestos and other hazardous chemicals into the air, Hiller said. Freitag said WSFSSH has met with school officials twice to discuss their concerns and how to mitigate impacts on the school. “If in fact there was an important test day, we could arrange to make sure it’s not intrusive to kids,” Freitag said. He added that WSFSSH is asking its contractors to propose construction methods that can keep dust, noise or other disruptions to the school and other neighbors to a minimum. The organization plans to use a precast construction system, which would allow large pieces of the structure to be built offsite and then delivered to West 108 Street and lifted into place. Under the current timeline, a roughly two-year construction period would begin at the end of the year, with the building ready to take in residents in early 2020, Freitag said.
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YOUR 15 MINUTES
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SHARING OPPORTUNITIES New development director of the Fresh Air Fund on her rewarding career working with the city’s nonprofits BY Y ANGELA BARBUTI
When Jennifer Joyce ce joined the Fresh Air Fund last month, nth, she said it felt like “all of the thingss that I’ve been doing my entire life lined d up to land me in this perfect opportunity.” unity.” As the nonprofit’s new development pment director, she explained, “A lot off the different ways that I have raised d money in the past culminated in a passion assion of mine, which is children.” The organization has been committed to nurturing unprivileged ileged youth in New York City since 1877 7 with mentoring, tutoring and summer mer programs. In her role, Joyce oversees versees their events, major gifts, grants, direct marketing and volunteer er outreach. One of the benefits to her new office space is that it allows her daily interaction with the Fresh Air kids who come in for tutoring and nd mentoring. Joyce has already been en gearing up for their summer programs, grams, a camp on 2,000 acres in Fishkill, kill, New York, and the Friendly Towns wns program, where host families take ke in Fresh Air children in their rural and suburban communities. Joyce’s dedication to serving in the nonprofit sector came after she left a job at Morgan Stanley to o do relief work in Sri Lanka after it was devastated by a tsunami. After returning rning to New York, she held positions at the Association of Community Employment ployment Programs for the Homeless, ss, Food Bank For New York City and Citymeals on Wheels.
people from all over the world there doing relief work. It just took my career in a whole new direction, where I was needed most and where I was happiest.
Through your experience at the Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless, what would you want people to know about the homeless in the city? I think in a lot of the populations that I’ve worked with, also at Food Bank, that often we think it’s because of something that someone has done wrong, when, in fact, it is often just circumstantial. And a lot of really bad luck. Some of the people I worked with at ACE were maybe the first people in their family to ever hold a job. And things like, to call in when you’re sick, was something that they didn’t really know how to do. Or the idea that once you are homeless, it’s hard to break down, step by step, what you need to do next to get back on your feet. So it seems like an overwhelming thing, but it cou ld h ave been just a bad circumstance, like an illness,
that got you out of work and you were evicted. There are mental health and addiction issues with the population, but that’s not across the board. And even that is not the fault of the person who is dealing with those diseases. And the same is true with the Food Bank, one in five New Yorkers use the Food Bank at some point during the year, which means that could be the person who is next to you at work who has to buy their kids’ school books that
What made you leave Morgan rgan Stanley to serve in Sri Lanka? My father had passed away and my brother and I decided d to go to Sri Lanka after the tsunami. unami. It was a two-week trip where here you could go and help rebuild ld some of the homes. And I found und this orphanage that had about out 60 babies and only four people taking care of them. It was like nothing we could d even imagine. You just walk in and all of these children would have their arms up, waiting aiting to be held or fed or paid d any attention to. So I wound nd up deciding to stay there re for almost a year’s time. I came back and left my job and d went back to work in Sri Lanka ka and lived outside of the orphanphanage, but basically spent every day there. It was an amazing Jennifer Joyce, development director at the Fresh Air Fund. Photo: Alix Samuel time where there were many
month, so they need to spend a few nights eating dinner there.
Explain your volunteer work with the Women’s Prison Association. It’s the only shelter in New York where you can live with your children. The kids are living there because their mothers have recently, or at some point, gotten out of jail. Their mothers are dealing with a lot, so I go on Monday nights and their mothers will be getting their GEDs, and I watch the kids. Those are some of, literally, my proudest moments. Taking the kids to the theater or the zoo and seeing just how happy and resilient children are when given a small thing, which is a little bit of your time. And how much they appreciate it and how alive they become.
In your own words, what is the Fresh Air Fund’s mission? To give children opportunities that they don’t normally have. To show them different experiences, and to open their eyes to their own potential. To allow them to be kids and see how many people care about them. And to see what the world is outside of what they know.
What can you tell us about the children who are part of the organization? All of the kids are from underprivileged neighborhoods. They have struggled with a lot of things in their lives, probably more than any child should know. A lot of them travel more than an hour to get to and from school. These kids are also the
most resilient and hard working. They are curious and eager. They are looking for options for themselves, so we do job shadowing and mentoring. They also make lifelong friends people who might be in similar with pe positions, or with a lot of the camp position counselors were once campers. They counsel have mentors who know what also ha it’s like to be a child in their position. who’s our newest June Ambrose, A member, is a huge name in hip board m She’s a brand ambassador for Jay hop. She millions of names. She was a Z and m Air child and speaks to the chilFresh A the kids the potential dren, showing sh they have and that they really are that the our future. futu And I think that’s really need to know, is that all the children c there’s hope. h are you working on now? What a Friday, I went to the camp, which On Fri is Sharpe Sharp Reservation, 2,000 acres and five camps on that land where children go in the summer, free the chil charge. The kids from the neighof charg borhoods in the city go and have two borhood weeks tto just be a kid – to learn to do arts and crafts, connect with swim, d peers and an mentors. They have a planeand a ropes course. It’s really a tarium a Disneyland for children; it’s amazing. Disneyla And I think th a lot of what I’m doing now figuring out how we can get more is figuri go camp and raise more money. kids to g
Tell us ab about the Friendly Towns program program. Families sign up to take on an innerFamili city child, chi and the kids go to another family in i the country. They go out to some di different part of the country or Canada and they live with this family and have a completely different experience outside of their own. The experie Fresh Air A child has an entire other family. T The kids become best friends. They learn lea a whole different culture. Both the th families and the Fresh Air children get a lot of it, almost equal to one another. The families who take a the children in were saying that their chil kids totally change because they rectot ognize some of the things that they have that th other kids don’t have. And they build bu these long-lasting friendships with w somebody that they might not othe otherwise get the chance to meet or unde understand. www.freshair.org www.fres
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First, obvious: let’s start wit condition h the city’s hom s inside thi disgrace. eless shelte rs are as A ser one mo ies of terrible (includinre horrible tha crimes, month g the killing n the last of ear lier this daugh a woman has higters in Statenand her two hlighted Island), living con the the ma ditions for shameful cities inrgins of one ofpeople at Blasio, the world. Ma the richest wh yor o has bee Bill de his app from theroach to homn halting in has final beginning elessness proble ly begun to of his term, from thim, but years ofaddress the others, s administra neglect, tion and will take But years to correct. recent none of that exc office grandstanding uses the appareof Gov. Andrew by the Cuomo, he can’tntly sees no iss who In the try to belittl ue on which attempt governor’s late the mayor. officials at a hit job, est sta compla then pro ined te Post, abomptly to the to the city, homele ut a gang New York alleged ss shelter, purape at a city VOL. 77 had tim event before blicizing the , ISSUE pol e 04 As it turto investigate ice even ned out, it. never hap the officials pened, infuriaincident media hitwho called it ting city a ” “po aim the mayor ed at em litical . More cha barrassin counter-c rges and g THfolElow the me harges Dicken antimeA , of cou ed. In Tditrse men, wosian livingR OionF, the con in New men D kidsIM s for Yor andEN Here’s k goe s on. in shelters CITY ARTS, leadershi hoping tha t som P.2any eday our as intere p in Alb 0 as it is in sted in helpinwill become back fro agains scoring pol g them t sit itical poi 17 fee m FDR Drour ive byting mayor. nts t 16 to out of and raise
IN CEN KIDS AGTARIAL PARK, WEIGHI NST DOCNAl NG LiDnTtRo UMnP WEEK OF JA NUARY-FEBR UARY 28-3 MOVING FO R A GUIDE TO CAMP
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it on the floo as red d plain, e foot uc building e the heigh as well three. from four t of the storie HAPP s to The ref urbishe would SNOWY LITTLE d sit FLAKES pier pil atop newl bu ild ing y food ma ings and restored Reme board co Transpa officia sio’s fi mber Mayo Jean-G rket overseenntain a expre ls, but rst r Bil eorge linger ov rency concer by sse me W ch Th s Vong hat a winter in his l de Blaef mbers e pr ns develop d concern dif fer redeveloper Howard Hu new years the de oposal also erichten. er ’s vis s that the ence Se ma molit ca lls a coup job? Seaport ment plans ghes’ pieapor t is be ion for th Ho ion for Hit wi kes. le of for the ing e tw use and Lin of the He ceme after th a snow ad o dil k Bu compre al instead relea sed sto tak new ma ing off ice rm shortly of in on adjacen apidated str ild ing, hensive Howa BY DAN t e in pro uc The new would yor fumble in 2014, th IEL FIT front ofto the Tin Bu tures CB1’s rd Hughes posal. d in a wa ZSIMM e co Jan. 19 ly restored me Pie ild joi ONS Re half of ing r 17. to The joi cen Tin presen South nt La nd mamet with his ter define th y that nt La nd tation Building, as by the tly announ Stree un So rk e m. to Comm fi ut fir s lle envisio ced Ho h ma Ce Po an t Seap st d. Stree nter d Ce plans poration ward Hu ned unity Bo storm Official wa tholes we t Seap rks and nter gh pla ns on Jan. 19 or t/Civic nt ’s ard 1. in Howard Hu at the for the Tin es Corfor th to unve Residen severity wernings on the a resolucomm ittee or t/Civic ghes a fou e s passe re mu ts in ne re ce iveSouth Stree Building r-s tory Tin Build il the pr tion in did dd igh d n’t led t supp structur ing bo op prov al d preli mi Seaport plaine vote for de rhoods tha . e at thelandm arke , of Howa osal, but req or t of na co d from being that their strBlasio com-t comm ry ap - Hording to the Seaport. Acd pla n for rd Hughes uested plo un ity a was lat wed -- a eets weren - ing wa rd Hu gh presentation - the Seap redevelopmmaster su ’t es ort , wo to mo tion-trucer proven spicion tha ve the is propos uld inc as a whole ent at ou t Tin Bu , wh lude the This k GPS data. t by sanitailding compa ich new detime aroun ny’s CONTINU d, ED ON ch arge Blasio seem an entirely PAGE 5 was for . Before th ed to be Sanitati e storm in ceful, Ins on bu tea , t no he d architect Dept. build closin of jumpin t panicke d. g g storm ure, is press ing, praised waited subways or the gun an ed into for d service its then ac for the storm schools, he during detectedted decisive to develop the , We do a sense of huly. We even n’t wa mor in The bu cre nt it all dit tha to give BY DEE to life ilding looks him mo . someth n is due, PTI HAJ , all re bu ELA ing can loo angles an like a mode t there about seeme rn d wa thi d nation k bluish or gra edges, with art painting New Yo to bring ou s storm tha s t rkers. t the be in any of the three. yish or wh concrete wa come On Su itish, or settin lls st of functi g, but It would be some that alpine nday, the cit an no on pounds it was cre ne more tha unusual str combiskiers vil lage. Cr y felt like an ate uc of the n rock sal d for --- sto the fairly pro ture snow plied the pa oss-cou nt ry rin t bo sai tha rks g CONTINU c tho t the cit hot ch ots and pa , people y’s De usands of ED ON ololat rkas ord in partm PAGE 29 wi es, th su ered kid ent of of sledd nburned fac s came home es after ding. There a day tent. Qu were pock ets the plo eens reside of disco nand elew trucks by nts felt th at the sch cted offici passed them, als closed ools should there sa id for ha But ov another da ve stayed %TGCVKX just en erall, consid y. G 9TKVK PI r &CPEG snows dured the secering we ha r /QVK torm in d QP 2KE lovely our his ond-biggest VWTG # litt TVU r and his le chapter tory, it was /WUKE a for the subjects r 6JG mayor CVTG r . 8KUWC
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Bu On Sa 13 10 15 siness BY EM ILY TOW parishioturday mo Minutes 16 NER rn and low ners, comm ing, archit 19 ered in er Manhatt unity me ects, mb vision St. Paul’s Ch an residents ers for Tr ap gat el hto discu inity Ch building ss urch’s The ex . new pa the rish Place acr isting bu ild been cle oss from Tr ing, on Tr inity inity Ch ared for 1923, urc de it the chu no longer sermolition. Buh, has tower rch and the ves the ne ilt in wi com ed The we ll be built in munity. A s of new in a ser ekend me its place. eti — collabies of commu ng was the needs orative for nity “charr fifth an um ett the low d wants of s to addre es” a whole er Manhatt the church ss the and an com . “In ou munit of r y initial as about charr buildinghow we wa ettes we talked for the to be a homented th is pa hood,” homeless an for the spi rish rit fer, Tr said the Re d for the neigh ual, v. Dr. Wi ini bor“We tal ty Wall Street lliam Lu ked ’s prector What ab . they wo out minis try act look,” uld be ivi Lu marke pfer said. , how they ties. wo t underst study in ord“We condu uld cte desires and neighbo er to objec d a dream as well as rhood needtively s.” parish s and He sai hopes and sion em d the churc tality braces a ph h communit The can tha ilo ride in coming t is “open sophy for y’s viCe carouseldidate’s owne ho , flexibl .” On the ntral Park. “We wa e and spifamilia puts New Yo rship of the wela white wall next to nt it street r bind rkers in , access to be visiblP.9 > that rea placard wi the entrance a Gemm ible to e from the com and Re ds, “Trum th red letter is well, a Whitema the CONTINU p Ca munit gulat ing who we n and ind It’s y, BY DAN Engla ED ON Joel Ha re on lat icatio ions” -- rousel Ru PAGE 6 weekd e afternoon IEL FITZSIMM presid ns that Do one of the les day, nd and rode vacation uxONS ay, an on only sai the en fro nald a mi tial d lining opera bearing d they notic carousel Mo m up to pakids and tou ld winter tes the candidate, J. Trump, ed the Trum ntially ow car ris y Tr $3 for “It p’s ns an placar New Yo a qu ts are see um p’s po ousel. d ma was in my name. OurTown d rk mo lit ics ping int n, he ment: intesenDowntow wh ad o the car have be 20gav a carou weigh 16 e he en asked ,” said Wh n gu sel an aft a deep ernoo ousel, as rid n in En r pause. “H if the realiz iteOTDOW O n esc ly divisiv gla ati ers e’s NTOW like, ‘Do nd, so in my not very lik on e candid ape again N.COM st he ed I want ate. Newsche to give ad I was a bit ck money @OTD CO Cri me Wa NTINU to this owntown 2 Cit tch ED ON y
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Accor DOB, Coding to sta STREETORY OF OU tis R agency nEd report tics provid S ed by over 20 in 2015, a ed 343 shutoff the The 40 Ruby BY DAN trend 14’s 67 shu 0 percent s to the New Yorworst and the IEL FIT ey on Mak has been ap toffs. increa ZSIMM takeo An So far pears to be Monday k were both best of ONS ut tha spending mid-d in 2016 increa d the upwa se on displa mo mo issert n acc mid a the sin re rd docto ording y town. rning on 36th mong eve re ha ation is worki Street in ng at lea , and her ne rate stude “Since to the DO ve been 157 n more: Ca rol “A lot nt B. Da shu w rice st as uplaise, toffs, noticing the spring owner cooker to eat of it is just ou hard. the a no gas, a lot of pe of last year crossingof a jewelry com 77-year-o cook at lot more,” t of pocket, op we sta going rted water either cookin le coming Street Madison Av pany, was ld steam home it’s jus said Mak. “W ,” out in ing an said Donna g gas or he that had when a during the mo enue at 36th cally.” things with t a rice cooker hen we at livery-cab rning rus it, or ma Ameri d commun Chiu, direct and hot cor . You can ner h dri ity or can La st Se and hit ke rice, her. ver turned the Chiu cal s For Equa ser vices forof housptemb The basihundred er Asian said AA led the inc lity. arresteddriver of the car no natur s of others her bu ild ing ing an FE is worki rease “freak pedest for failing to was joi ned an ins al gas, cut across the d pe off town almost a dong with Ma ish,” and been citrian, and cop yield to a Building ction blitz by Con Ed city with an ser vic d the Lowe zen others k’s buildtraffic vioed for at leasts say he had a month s that bega by the city’sison after es. 10 oth lations advocat And Ch r East Side in ChinaIt sin wa East Vil after a fat n last April, Dept. of iu, lik ce 2015. er es, ha al ga e ma to restor exp les litany ofs but the latest lage tha s t claim s explosion s than lon loitation by witnessed ny housinge that hav traffic deaths in a sad ed two bu g servic in the a lives. e interr ilding owne pattern of Mayor e lingered on, and injuries rs wh uptions curb traBill de Blasio’s despite CONTINU in an eff o proffic crashe efforts ort to ED ON Da to uplais s PA
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accuse capita d of overleve l. very James Beninati anraging invest lions aftCabrera, we d his partn or re BY DAN Antar er the firm sued for mier, The Ba IEL FIT es ZSIMM condo uhouse Gr assets was stripp ’s collapse, lONS and ou ed of mo in p’s 90 the lat project on A rep the late-a st of its 0-foo Sutto n Place t the Ba resentative ughts. velopmeest lux ur y res for uhouse fundin nt to suffer idential is a req Group Beninati an ue de g, fro did st for d - tim as inv ingly comm not return estors m a lack of e. wary ent by are inc of fin at the Sto press rea ler an top a surpl end of the cing projec s- Deal ne also spok outlookus in inven market du ts a notic wspaper las e to the Re tor e will ma on whether y and a tep to ap ar tmeable decre t month ab al ase out affluent terialize id lig en News buyer hted ma t sa les, whin high-end down of s the roa the 80 rke ich hig squa re avera d. -st ge nu t data tha hmb April, foot propo or y, 260,0 t apart ments er of days said the an 00 squat d sent the sa l broke las spent in new for-sa neigh and sleepy comparative t perce on the marke developme le VOL. 42 bo nt munit rhood int Sutton Pla ly and the between t increased nts , ISSUE o the y 47 en 09 tions, Board 6 vo a panic. Co ce “E very d of last yea end of 20 man ice 14 on d r. d Council e’s a its ob Kallos Stoler lit jec the bu came out str member Be - $2,50 told TRD. “W tle worri ed ilding 0 ’s heigh ongly again n lende [per square ith anything ,” plicat ions. rs are t and soc st at foo t] ver or But it Stoler ial imtold thi y cautious.” more, opposit wa sn’t jus s ne wspape house ion workingt commun CONTINU r that ED ON Mi aelprincipal Jo against Baity PAGE 5 seph u20ch Sto ne r16 at the ler, a mana Beninati. Jewish invest ging pa son Re wome me n and the wo backg alty Capital, nt firm Ma rtgirl rld by rou lighting s light up candle tares Inv nd also plasaid Beninatidis every the Sha yed bbat Friday 18 min a role. ’s Benin estment Pa eve utes bef < NEW An ati co Friday ore sun ning -foundertners, the fi schoo S, Ma set. l rm P.4 For mo rch 11 – 5:4 boast classmate thad with a pre 1 pm. re info ed $6 rm www.c billion t at one po p habadu ation visit int in ass pperea ets, wa stside.co s m.
WEEK OF MAR CH
AMNH electe d transpo working gro and pa officials, Co up rtation, park reds to focus on of Teddrk advocacy mmunity Board group y Roose esign LIGHTI 7, ers De vel
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OurTown EastSide
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AN EN D "BR TO WINDO OKEN WS"? NEW
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VOL. 2, ISSUE 10
10-16
Our To wn ha The pa s much 2016, per celebrat to be thank an OTTY d this we es its 45th ful for. ek Award anniv made ersary winnershonors its a un lat The OT ique differe , noting pe est group in ople wh of nce on You -- TY award the o ha s ha munit ve always -- short for OuUpper East ve Sid be y strong. service, an en a reflect r Town Th e. d this anks year’s ion of deep Our ho list is parti combusiness norees inc cularly owners lude co heroe mm an s. Cardi We’re also d medical anunity activi na tak fall’s wi l Timothy ing a mome d public saf sts, Franc ldly succes Dolan, who nt to recog ety is. nize sheph sful vis Kyle Po In his interv erd it iew wi to the city ed last pressi pe, Dolan by th Our ref ng Town Pope warning issues sti lects on thaCI Editor ll TYit, ARon movin s he receiv facing the t vis TS, g to Ne city,2 an>d on the w York ed from his P.1 Read nine his profile, seven years friends be the OT TY an fore ag Thom awards d the profi o. pso les of the oth We are n, in the spe by repor the wi proud to bri cial sectio ter Madelei er nners n ne part of ng it to you inside. our com , and pro ud to cal munit y. l
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