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COLLEGE REPUBLICANS STAKE CLAIM STUDENTS Conservative students, not all of them pro-Trump, build coalitions and invite dialogue BY CLAIRE WANG AND LILY HAIGHT
At a press conference in Brooklyn last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Vision Zero projects throughout the five boroughs. Photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
SPRING BRINGS NEW VISION ZERO CONSTRUCTION SAFETY With traffic fatalities declining, Mayor de Blasio embarks on new safety projects BY MADELEINE THOMPSON
Compared to this time last year, traffic fatalities have declined by 20 percent, and 2016 saw the fewest such incidents in the city’s history. To continue the apparent success of his Vision Zero safety plan, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last week that construction will begin anew on several road improvement projects now that warmer weather has arrived.
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Lucian Wintrich, White House correspondent for Gateway Pundit, a political blog allied with the alt-right movement, had a surprisingly undramatic visit to New York University earlier this month. Sporting mussed-up hair and Harry Potter frames, Wintrich, 28, addressed a packed house punctuated by red “Make America Great Again” caps, excoriating what he described as the left’s war on free speech while swigging booze from a flask. Like other speakers invited by NYU College Republicans, the conservative firebrand and mastermind behind a pro-Trump art show (“Daddy Will Save Us”) that opened on West 18th Street in October, spoke at the club’s headquarters, a mid-sized conference room at the Kimmel Center for University Life furnished to the brim by anti-Trump cartoons. Unlike guests before him, Wintrich completed his seminar without facing much hostility or defiance — until the end, when a lone dissenter flipped him off as he was preparing to leave. “You support a racist as president, do you not?” the protester confronted Elena Hatib, the club’s president, after several attendees dragged him away from Wintrich. To substantiate his accusation, he cited a 1973 lawsuit against Trump’s real estate business for denying housing to black
Vincent Gangemi, president of the Baruch College Republicans, at the Baruch College Transfer Student Organization’s Club Fair. Photo: Baruch College Republicans into microcosms of a fractured Washington. In February, consecutive protests at University of California, Berkeley, and NYU forced the cancellation and truncation, respectively, of scheduled talks from Milo Yiannopoulos and Gavin McInnes, two prominent Trump supporters infamous for their provocative commentary on race and LGBTQ rights.
would-be tenants. “We are not the NYU Trump Club,” Hatib responded with discernible frustration following Wintrich’s March 23 talk. “That’s what you guys don’t understand: We never endorsed any candidate.” That misperception attests to a growing ideological divide on college campuses, which, in the last few months, have morphed
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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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The two incidents, yielding a dozen arrests and thousands of dollars in property damages, incited a heated school-wide debate on whether incendiary, altright ideology deserves spotlight on a college campus. Amidst increasingly violent resistance from anti-Trump factions, Republican students at New York City universities and colleges feel stifled and alienated for exercising a supposedly inviolable right. In response to the chaos that broke up the McInnes seminar, NYU College Republicans coordinated with school administrators to vet attendees and increase security, said Shiwhan Kim, the club’s press secretary. Extra measures included bringing Wintrich to the conference room through an alternate route, and announcing undisclosed meet-up locations for members to escort attendees into the venue all at once. Although each event now demands heightened vigilance, Kim said, the club will continue to host controversial speakers. “It is the mark of a muzzled organization when or if it refuses to invite popular speakers who have intriguing and innovative ideas simply due to fear of violence from the left,” she said. At City College of New York in Harlem, junior José Pascual has been struggling since September to build a network of conservatives large enough to even become an official school club. Initially called the CUNY Republicans CCNY Chapter, Pascual said the group faced some opposition from college administrators because it was not an
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MARCH 30-APRIL 5,2017
FIGHTING FOR POCKET PARKS OPEN PLACES The City Council pushes to protect the city’s more than 500 privately owned public spaces BY MADELEINE THOMPSON
They are hidden between blocks and tucked inside skyscrapers. You might walk through them, or past them, without ever knowing. But not all New Yorkers have forgotten that they are entitled to access the city’s more than 500 privately owned public spaces, or POPS. Last summer, the New York Times noticed that a marble bench in the atrium of Trump Tower, which is a POPS, had gone missing and their reporting resulted in its quiet return. Now the City Council is hoping to protect POPS by passing three bills that would, among other things, require annual inspections and fine owners who violate the law.
In exchange for more room to build or other construction perks, landlords can bargain with the Department of City Planning to reserve and maintain a POPS nearby. Often, however, they fail to uphold that part of the bargain. One such case is the pocket park on East 88th Street between Second and Third Avenues, which is owned by the Monarch at 200 East 89th Street. Nancy Ploeger, who lives nearby, took the matter of its rehabilitation into her own hands and contacted the building’s management. “He said ... when the park was given to them, they planted flowers and bushes and they were all stolen,” she said. “This was back in the 1980s. This park has literally been desolate and horrible for over 20 years.” Ploeger offered to raise money and buy the plants if the building would maintain them, but that didn’t work . Ploeger had Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Council Member Ben Kallos send a letter to the departments of buildings and city
planning notifying them of the East 88th Street park’s violations. “Our public spaces are limited and it is imperative that we protect and maintain them,” Brewer and Kallos wrote. “POPS law requires owners of the property to provide maintenance and upkeep of these spaces … This space should be restored and available to the community.” Kallos, along with fellow Council member Dan Garodnick, introduced a POPS-related package of legislation earlier this month. “The Upper East Side and East Midtown, including my district and Council Member Garodnick’s, have the highest concentration of POPS in the city,” Kallos said. He credited Ploeger and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer with leading the push for protection of these pocket parks. The three bills Kallos and Garodnick introduced would raise fines against landlords with POPS in violation of their individual agreement to $10,000 for a first-time violation,
Nancy Ploeger tried to rehabilitate the pocket park on East 89th Street and Third Avenue on her own, to no avail. New legislation hopes to hold landlords accountable for these spaces. Photo: APOPS / Municipal Arts Society with a fine of $2,500 for each month the park remains unfixed. Another bill would require signage to be present in each POPS indicating which amenities should be available. The third would create a website where complaints about non-compliant POPS could be registered, and would mandate annual inspections. Franny Eberhart, president of the board of Friends of the Upper East Side, has helprf Ploeger with the POPS effort. “They’re enormously impor-
tant on the Upper East Side where we are so underparked,” she said. The Municipal Arts Society created a website in 2012 with the Advocates for Privately Owned Public Space that has maps, photos and information. The mission statement reads: “We believe that a city’s greatness is enhanced by an attractive, usable, and egalitarian public realm.” Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com
MARCH 30-APRIL 5,2017
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CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG BOTTLE BATTLE
STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 1st precinct
One MTA passenger got no rest in a subway restroom. At 7:15 a.m. on Friday, March 17, a 38-year-old woman was having a verbal dispute with an another woman in the restroom at the Fulton Street 4 and 5 station at Broadway and John Street. The other woman then hit her on the head with a bottle and fled to parts unknown, police said. Police were unable to locate the assailant or recover the bottle. The victim had no injuries but complained of substantial pain.
Week to Date
RIFF-RAFF STAFF Police arrested one of two employees suspected of stealing merchandise from a high-end department store. A male employee of the Saks Fifth Avenue location at 250 Vesey St. told police that the store’s asset protection team had determined that between January 17 and March 10, perpetrators had been removing store merchandise from the premises and using the company’s FedEx pickups to ship merchandise to multiple locations without permission or authority. The items stolen included two pairs of Louboutin shoes valued at $1,295, four pairs of Fendi shoes totaling $1,300, two more pairs of Fendi shoes valued at $800, a Balmain shirt priced at $1,275, and a fur tagged at $1,035, making a
DUBLIN TROUBLIN’ So much for the luck of the Irish. At 3 p.m. on Friday, March 17, a 29-year-old man tried to pay for his bill at Dubliner bar, but discovered his wallet was missing. He later told police he had been bumped inside the Stone Street tavern. The presumed pickpocket later used the victim’s credit card to buy $12,306 worth of merchandise at the Apple Store located at 103 Prince St. The other items stolen included the victim’s wallet, various credit and debit cards, a New York State driver’s license, a MetroCard, and $20 in cash.
total stolen of $5,705. On March 16, police arrested a 24-year-old female employee, Shanell Anderson, charging her with grand larceny. They continue to look for a male employee, also suspected in the thefts.
LACKPACK One young woman failed to find safe harbor at the Harbor House not long ago. At 8 p.m. on Friday, March 17, a 25-year-old woman left her backpack unattended inside a room while she worked at an event at the Pier A Harbor House located at 22 Battery Place. She told police she last saw her bag around 8 p.m. At 10:30 p.m. she went back to get her things and found her pack was missing. The items stolen included a
ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND
thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY
Year to Date
2017 2016
% Change
2017
2016
% Change
Murder
0
0
n/a
1
0
n/a
Rape
1
0
n/a
3
2
50.0
Robbery
0
1
-100.0
16
11
45.5
Felony Assault
2
1
100.0
13
14
-7.1
Burglary
1
3
-66.7
13
27
-51.9
Grand Larceny
22
23
-4.3
201
252 -20.2
Grand Larceny Auto
0
0
n/a
2
5
MacBook Air and charger valued at $1,000, a MiFi portable Wi-Fi charger valued at $100, iPhone chargers worth $50, a small Louis Vuitton clutch purse priced at $800, Ray-Ban sunglasses tagged at $700, and a Patagonia sweatshirt, scarf and gloves priced at $300, making a total stolen of $2,950.
DREAD RABBIT Police advise women in restaurants and bars to keep purses between your
-60.0
feet, not next to them. At 7:20 p.m. on Monday, March 13, a 27-year-old woman put her handbag next to her feet inside the Dead Rabbit bar at 30 Water St. When she went to retrieve her bag at 8 p.m., it had disappeared. The items stolen included a black Furla bag valued at $900, a MacBook Air worth $900, a Salvatore Ferragamo wallet priced at $400, a Ralph Laurent wallet tagged at $70, a Ukrainian driver’s license, four credit cards and $60 in cash, making a total stolen of $2,330.
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360Repco Presents: An Evening of Thoughts on Our Times
SATURDAY, APRIL 1ST, 7PM
FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED OR READING DISABLED
Judson Memorial Church | 55 Washington Square S. | 212-477-0351 | judson.org Mark April Fool’s Day with playwrights, musicians, and actors, who will be presenting an evening of reflections on the current climate. Donations will go to the NYCLU. (Donations accepted)
The Pyschology and Imagery of Climate Change
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TUESDAY, APRIL 4TH, 6:30PM International Center of Photography | 250 Bowery | 212-857-0000 | icp.org Representatives of the realms of art, science, and activism speak on the challenges of deploying visual culture to convey the urgency and complexity of the current state of the environment. (Free, registration required)
Just Announced | Dr. Willie Parker & Lena Dunham on Women’s Rights
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Please call the JBI Library before April 3, 2017
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The Christian case for abortion is the intriguing hook for a conversation with Christian pro-choice advocate Dr. Willie Parker. There’ll be a look at the growing tide of state-sanctioned restrictions and their disproportionate impact on the poor and women of color. ($15 gift card or $25 signed book)
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Catch Up. Get Ahead. Featuring courses in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Psychology, Physics, and more on CUNY campuses throughout NYC.
Earn credits during the summer. Visiting student registration starting dates:
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MARCH 30-APRIL 5,2017
PUTTING HATE ON TRIAL COMMUNITY DA Vance addresses the killing of Timothy Caughman at community forum, adds terrorism charges BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
A community forum on hate crimes held on the Upper West Side last week took on added emotional heft in the wake of the death of Timothy Caughman, a 66-year-old black man who was allegedly murdered by a white supremacist days earlier. Caughman was stabbed to death on West 36th Street late on the evening of Monday, March 20, allegedly by James Jackson, at 28-year-old white man who reportedly admitted to police that he had traveled to New York from Baltimore specifically to kill black men. The meeting, held on Thursday, March 23 at Edward A. Reynolds West Side High School on West 102nd Street, had been scheduled in response to earlier incidents, but as New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance and other city officials gathered to discuss the city’s response to recent hate crimes and field questions from the public, Caughman’s death weighed heavily over the proceedings. “It’s an event that hits all of us and shocks all of us,” Vance said. Vance’s announcement that the man had been charged with second degree murder as a hate crime was met with scattered cheers from the sizable crowd in the high school gymnasium. The DA explained that the charges would carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years for Jackson if he is found guilty, five more years than the minimum had
the act not been prosecuted as a hate crime. Days later, Vance’s office added charges of murder in the first and second degrees as an act of terrorism to Jackson’s indictment. “James Jackson wanted to kill black men, planned to kill black men, and then did kill a black man,” Vance said in a statement announcing the terrorism charges. “We are in the midst of what can only be considered a crime wave,” City Council Member Mark Levine said, referring to an “epidemic of hatred.” According to the NYPD data covering Jan. 1 to Feb. 26, reported hate crimes were up 55 percent in 2017 compared to the same period last year. Thirty-five reported anti-Semitic crimes made up the largest share of the 68 total incidents, including a series of bomb threats to Jewish community centers and institutions. The statistics do not cover early March, when swastikas were carved in the front door of the Fourth Universalist Society, an Upper West Side church. Mayor Bill de Blasio has connected the rise in hate crimes to the campaign rhetoric of President Donald Trump. At the community forum, Public Advocate Letitia James called for a moment of silence in memory of Caughman. “Those are isolated incidents,” James said of recent hate crimes. “And there are more of us than there are of them.” Jeanne Olivo, the assistant district attorney in charge of the office’s hate crime unit, said that though there was a spike in hate crimes in the period from after Election Day to the end of 2016 and hate crimes are up citywide in the early part of 2017, the number of incidents in the borough of Manhattan in recent weeks been about the
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance (standing) explained his office’s response to the recent increase in reported hate crimes at a community event March 23. Photo: Michael Garofalo same as last year. “It’s been a little bit quieter in the last month or so, so I’m hoping that that can continue,” she said, adding that “one hate crime is one too many.” The district attorney’s office maintains a hate crime hotline at (212) 3353100. Prosecutors urged members of the public to call the number to report potential hate crimes even if they are unsure of whether a specific incident constitutes a hate crime. “Don’t be afraid to report,” Oliva said. “If you report something and it’s not a hate crime, we won’t be shy in telling you, but we will try to steer you in the right direction.” Olivo stressed that the immigration status of a victim has no bearing on whether an offense can be prosecuted a hate crime, and that victims should not hesitate to report crimes if they are undocumented. “The law does not say that you can commit a crime against someone who is not here lawfully,” she said. “That’s just silly.”
Timothy Caughman, 66, was stabbed to death on West 36th Street on March 20 in what prosecutors say was a racially motivated attack. Photo: Timothy Caughman, via Twitter
TH
NOTICE OF JOINT PUBLIC HEARING, APRIL 10 , 2017 INTENT TO AWARD AS A CONCESSION THE OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF A FERRY SERVICE AT GANGWAY SIX IN THE BATTERY, MANHATTAN TO NEW YORK TRANS HARBOR LLC D/B/A NEW YORK WATER TAXI NOTICE OF A JOINT PUBLIC HEARING of the Franchise and Concession Review Committee and the New York City th th Department of Parks and Recreation to be held on Monday, April 10 , 2017 at 2 Lafayette Street, 14 Floor Auditorium, Borough of Manhattan, commencing at 2:30 p.m. relative to: INTENT TO AWARD as a concession for the operation and maintenance of a ferry service at Gangway Six in The Battery, Manhattan (“Licensed Premises”), for a potential six (6) year term, to New York Trans Harbor LLC d/b/a New York Water Taxi. Compensation to the City will be as follows: for each operating year, New York Trans Harbor LLC d/b/a New York Water Taxi shall pay to the City license fees consisting of the greater of a guaranteed minimum annual fee versus a percentage of gross receipts (Year 1: $125,000.00 vs. 10%; Year 2: $132,500.00 vs. 10%; Year 3: $140,450.00 vs. 10%; Year 4: $148,877.00 vs. 10%; Year 5: 157,809.62 vs. 10%; Year 6: $167, 278.19 vs. 10%).
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Planned Service Changes
D
WEEKEND 11:30 PM Fri to 5 AM Mon Mar 31 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Apr 3 No D service between 59 St-Columbus Circle and Stillwell Av Trains are rerouted in Manhattan F(Q) trains and r free shuttle buses provide alternate service
D service runs between 205 St and the 2 Av F station: trains run local via the C between 59 St and W 4 St, then via the F to/from 2 Av, the last stop. Travel Alternatives: * ! $ "% Manhattan Brooklyn " " F(Q) !" ( " ! " D Brooklyn. r ! #"" #! ! # "% W 4 St Grand St !" " Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;way-Lafayette St. * To/From 7 Av #! " (Q) " ' 57 St-7 Av. * 47-50 Sts, 42 St-Bryant Pk, 34 St-Herald Sq Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;way-Lafayette St " ! "% D F " ! " W 4 St ( F " ! " 34 St. * ! $ Brooklyn " " ( !" ( " ! #" $ " D "% 36 St Stillwell Av " " ! ! "% D ( " ! $ !! % ' " Times Sq-42 St/Port Authority. Stay Informed ! ' ( # " $ " "#! + " !" ! !" " ! $ ! " mta.info â&#x20AC;&#x201C; % ' # !! " " !" $ ! " #! + ! # " &" "!
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OF ANIMALS AND AGING GRAYING NEW YORK BY MARCIA EPSTEIN
I love my cat. I take her to the vet and make sure she’s got her thyroid medication. I wish I could put my cat on my Medicare. Yes, there’s pet insurance we can buy, but like all insurance, it’s a crapshoot. From what I’ve read, pet insurance is pretty much like the insurance I pay to my Medigap provider every month. I may need it, I hope I won’t. For the most part, you pay the pet insurance company pretty much what you’d pay the vet, unless your animal has a big crisis. And there are deductibles, co-pays and premiums. At this point, my Simone has a pre-existing condition and wouldn’t be covered under most plans, at least for her
thyroid condition. So far she’s responding well to the medication, and our vet is very understanding. She says, “Ideally you should have her tested every few months, but if she stays well, bring her in next year.” Thank you, doctor. But she may not stay well and she may develop a different condition. Even her regular exam and blood test costs between $300 and $400 a pop. We saw a dog in the vet’s office who’d been attacked in the park and had a bloody, torn ear. John heard the receptionist say, “That’ll be $550 for today.” The owner was an older woman. Who knows, she may be wealthy. But then again, she may not be. So like everything else, it’s a personal decision. Our last cat suddenly became very sick and we ended up paying a few thousand dollars, and she died of un-
known causes anyway. She wasn’t very old, which was sad. I think if I had an elderly animal and it needed really expensive treatment, I would consider the lifespan of the animal and how much we could realistically pay. This is life. I feel the same way about myself. One of the members of my women’s group says she “wants everything. Any and all treatment until the end.” Many of us don’t feel the same way. I certainly don’t, and I’d feel the same way about my cat. We give her a good and loving life, and will do what we can for her, within bounds. We seniors on limited incomes have to make decisions every day about what we can and cannot pay for, and also what our philosophy about life is. Animals have a lifespan; I’d take that into consideration with Simone. No hate mail please. We all do what we can. Actually, I often wonder about those oldsters with their walkers and their little old dogs I see every day on the Upper West Side. It’s wonderful for those who end up old
Voices
and alone to have a companion, but what will happen if the person dies first? I wonder if these people have someone looking after them and their animals, and what will happen to the pet if the owner is no longer around. Unless there is a caring family member, it would probably be good-bye Fido. I have mixed feelings about all of this. I remember a day years ago when I was walking to a hair appointment and an old man was standing on a corner with his elderly cocker spaniel, asking for someone to take the dog and give it a home. To this day, I wish I had grabbed a cab and taken them to the ASPCA. But I didn’t, and I have never really forgiven myself. I’ll never know what happened to that sad duo, but it stays with me. So sad for the elderly, both human and animal, who end up alone. SelfHelp Community Services has a Virtual Senior Center that is a lifeline for homebound seniors. Using either their specially designed, senior-friendly touch screen com-
puter, or your own computer, the member is able to connect with other seniors by taking on-line interactive classes such as health, computer skills and exercise and also play rummy. Crazy 8s and Hearts are coming soon. The website has a list of classes, and it’s very diverse and interesting. SelfHelp will teach the participant to use Skype to be in touch with others. If interested in SelfHelp’s Virtual Senior Center, call 866-735-234 or email info@ selfhelp.net. One last note. Last time I wrote about how hospitals ought to have single rooms only, and I asked my friends what their ideas were for making the stay more comfortable. By far, the noise problem was on top. One friend had a terrific suggestion: make headphones mandatory for those patients who insist on having their televisions blaring constantly. I second that. It’s only a beginning, but food for more thought on making hospital stays bearable.
A LIVABLE CITY AT STAKE BY BETTE DEWING
“The Fighter: Brash News Legend Gave Voice to the City’s Powerless.” This Daily News front page headline told us that Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Jimmy Breslin had succumbed to pneumonia at age 88. I’m writing this mainly because that’s what small businesses so desperately need to thrive and survive — brash, mad-as hell-and-not-going-to-take-itanymore major media voices. Small neighborhood businesses are surely among the city’s powerless, despite being so essential to the overall, everyday quality of city life. But they never organized and never protested being slowly but inexorably run out of the city. They should have a major say in how the city is run. But now, wherever you look, either the lowrise buildings which housed them are gone or going, or rents are over-thetop unaffordable. And with Internet shopping, even department stores like Sears are being run out. But to stay with the locals. Of course there have been media outcries, in-
cluding this paper and other smallbusiness supporters. My not-brashenough voice has long warned against the killing off of these neighborhood lifelines. Major media seems unconcerned, except for the late Christopher Gray, whose “Streetscapes” column ran in The Times Sunday Real Estate section until 2014. We cold not afford to lose Gray, and at the achingly young age of 66. Forgotten is the late Jane Jacobs’ deservedly lauded work on what makes a livable city — neighborly, self-sustaining neighborhoods. So this column is again banging this drum while banging my head reading Arlene Kayatt’s column “Big’s In – Small’s Out” with revealing details on the razing of an entire low-rise block of small businesses we can’t afford to lose. Do check out the doomed block at First between 79th and 80th. I remember the 2008 routing of the 38-year-old 79th Street Cafe — a diner with booths and a counter and open almost 24 hours. Our Town gave it considerable coverage and I said the
landlord could be a real New York hero if he’d just give this diner a new lease with a rational rent. He didn’t. And so many suffered the loss of that community place. AA members went there after meetings at St. Monica’s next door. It was a second home to the church members. And this profound community loss is just one of thousands. The forever loss of these places relates to healthcare/preventive care — and to the “epidemic of loneliness,” for which this is an unrecognized factor, as my Times letter claimed. Incidentally, we’re ever grateful for civic leader Betty Cooper Wallerstein’s longtime work on zoning which relates to saving low-rises. But so much more public involvement is needed — and holding legislators’ feet to the fire. And hey, one thing you can do right now, dear reader, is call your local legislators. This paper’s Useful Contacts column has their numbers. And how we need some protest posters — not only on First between 79th and 80th — or just some small posted rueful notes. These lifeline losses must
Jane Jacobs at a press conference in the West Village in 1960. Photo: Phil Stanziola, New York World-Telegram and Sun, via Wikimedia Commons
not go unheeded. Or unchallenged. It can be done if enough of us — if more of us — try. A livable city is at stake. To
be continued — often and loud. bettedewing@aol.com
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MARCH 30-APRIL 5,2017
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
TRACKING COYOTES IN NEW YORK WILDLIFE A conservation project helps researchers understand where the elusive animals are coming from BY GAIL EISENBERG
When Ferdie Yau quit his job as a NYC ecologist in 2013 to focus fulltime on his dog-training business, he hoped to return to wildlife conservation one day. As fate would have it, he didn’t have to wait long. About a year later, Yau received a call from Mark Weckel, a conservation biologist at the Upper West Side’s American Museum of Natural History and co-founder of Gotham Coyote Project (GCP), a collaborative research effort to better understand the elusive coyote and its role in our urban ecosystem. The two had had the same graduate research advisor while studying jaguars in Belize, and Weckel thought Yau could employ his dog-training expertise to train dogs to detect coyote scat (droppings) in the field. “I have always wanted to work with animals, and have been incredibly lucky to have had the experiences I’ve had, but this was exactly the type of opportunity that I was looking for — a way to use my skills as a dog trainer for wildlife conservation,” says Yau. Despite Yau’s vast background with animals, including working with Central Park’s infamous polar bears Gus and Ida, he had never done scent work before. He enlisted a “Nose Work” instructor to help him learn the basics of teaching a dog to detect a specific scent, and from there developed a program to train the dogs for the unique challenges of NYC fieldwork. In part, the process entailed placing a delicious treat alongside various coyotes’ scat from the wild as well as scat provided by the Queens Zoo in a cardboard box one-by-one so that the dog learns to associate the treat with the scat. Then, overtime, he made the treat smaller and smaller until there was just the scat scent to hunt. The DNA from scat helps the researchers understand population — where the NYC coyotes are coming from, who is related to whom, how many coyotes are there — as well as learn more about the ecology of urban coyotes by examining their diet. “We also learn how they’re surviving in NYC by what are they’re consuming, whether they’re providing a benefit for us by eating a lot of rats, for example, or if there are potential conflicts, though the threat to human safety is extremely low,” says Yau. “Coyotes usually become problematic
because people feed them intentionally or unintentionally — through garbage or food left out for stray cats, for example — and they become habituated to humans.” There are currently a total of four dogs in the invite-only training program, with Scout, Yau’s energetic 9-year-old Jack Russell Terrier mix, the only dog “field ready.” Alas, finding the right kind of dog for the challenges of fieldwork can be tricky. “Dogs should exhibit an intense focus and drive to search for a toy or food, and also be able to focus on the handler in an extremely distracting environment like NYC. It can be a hard combination to find. The ideal dogs are usually the working breeds, either full-bred or mixes,” says Yau. The lion’s share of scat hunting is conducted in the Bronx, where most of NYC’s coyotes currently reside and where the first was spotted in 1995. That said, the researchers expect the coyotes to eventually colonize Long Island, the only remaining large land mass in the nation without a breeding population. GCP’s long game is to be prepared for the coyotes when they arrive out east, seizing the unique opportunity to collect real-time data when they do. But to get there, the coyotes — one of the most resilient animals in North America — must navigate the concrete jungle that is New York City, an urban environment difficult to traverse because of its traffic and human activity. The researchers and educators of the Gotham Coyote Project are determined to help the coyotes do so while also keeping New Yorkers safe. And as the song goes, if they can make it here, they can make it anywhere. In addition to analyzing scat, camera
Three coyote pups hanging out in Riverdale in May 2016. Photo: Gotham Coyote traps play an integral part in the overall mission of GCP, tracking coyotes across the city as they colonize all five boroughs and Long Island. GCP coordinates efforts with NYC Parks and the Urban Park Rangers to run the motion-triggered cameras in Central Park (there’s one hidden in The Ramble) and Inwood Hill Park. In 2014, Yau expanded surveillance to Riverdale, where he resides and also mentors city high school students to help with GCP’s efforts through the Woodland Ecology Research Mentorship program (WERM) during the summer. Not long ago, Yau captured pictures of pups on camera — at about 4 weeks old, the youngest they’d ever recorded. The family had made a den in a private residential neighborhood just north of the city. About a week after the discovery, Yau received a call from the president of the neighborhood homeowners’ association saying two coyotes had chased a resident and his dog. “Since I’d just seen the pictures of the pups, I realized that the parents were likely defending a nearby den — four-
Ferdie Yau checking a camera trap in Riverdale Park with Josue Marquez, a student from the WERM program 2015. Photo: Tatyana Graham
week-old pups don’t wander far — because coyotes usually avoid humans whenever they can,” says Yau. Yau spoke to the president and NYC officials to coordinate an effort to educate residents about how to live with coyotes and steer clear of negative interactions. “Some residents were understandably very scared, but weeks later when the pups were mobile, the entire family disappeared like ghosts, moving to a quieter location just as we had predicted,” says Yau. “We assuaged fears and left the coyote family alone, likely
VISION ZERO CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 “We’re now in the second day of spring and that means construction can begin,” the mayor said at a press conference in Brooklyn. “We’re beginning work on dozens of new Vision Zero projects right now. It’s part of a $1.6 billion investment in safety and infrastructure improvements over the next five years.” In Manhattan, the areas undergoing construction in the near future are Fifth Avenue from 23rd Street to Washington Square Park, which will be getting protected bike lanes, and Broadway from West 155th to 170th Streets, which will be redesigned for traffic calming and safer crossings. Connections to the Brooklyn Bridge will be improved and a two-way protected bike lane will be installed in front of City Hall. According to an accompanying statement, the month of March has been busy for those collaborating to achieve Vision Zero. A citywide “pedestrian safety initiative” was conducted during the second week of the month, during which time the NYPD issued nearly 2,000 summonses for failure to yield along with more than 12,000 other Vision
saving their lives because removal doesn’t usually end up well for them. We hope to teach New Yorkers how to safely live with and enjoy the amazing wildlife around us, because like it or not the city’s newest immigrant is here to stay.” To learn more about Ferdie Yau and his work with and for animals and wildlife conservation, go to http://www. sitsnwiggles.com/ To learn more about the Gotham Coyote Project—or to report a coyote sighting—go to http://www.gothamcoyote.com/ Zero-related summonses. “We’re all pedestrians at some point, so smart redesigns that make streets work better for everyone who walks, rides a bike, takes transit, or drives is the right thing to do,” Nick Sifuentes, deputy director of the Riders Alliance, said in the statement. But lingering concern over funding for infrastructure projects like Vision Zero put a dark cloud over the generally good news. The mayor told attendees at his press conference that, since 2014, the federal government has supported Vision Zero projects with a total of $100 million. But President Donald Trump’s budget would cut money from such programs, despite a stated interest in boosting infrastructure spending. According to the mayor, the exact amount that would be lost is unknown, but he mentioned that the next phase of the Second Avenue subway as a project that would suffer. “That money we are losing from Washington — if the President’s budget goes through — that money means that fewer lives will be saved,” de Blasio said. “It is as simple as that.” Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
MARCH 30-APRIL 5,2017
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Thu 30 Fri 31
Sat 1
DANCERS AMONG US▲
MOTHERSDAUGHTERS
OLIVE & PEARL
Brookfield Place, 230 Vesey St. Noon-6 p.m. Free. “Dancers Among Us — one thrilling photograph after another of dancers leaping, spinning, lifting, kicking — but in the midst of daily life.” Thru 4/14. artsbrookfield.com.
NYU Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, 58 West 10th St. 5 p.m. Free. Women writing about mothers and daughters, a panel discussion with Gayle Forman, Molly Jong-Fast, Betsy Lerner and Nadja Spiegelman. 212-998-1212. wnba-books. org
HALLUCINEMA | CONFERENCE New School, Wollman Hall, 65 West 11th St. 7 p.m. Free. RSVP. Aside from depictions of one in the other, how do hallucinations and cinema relate? 212-229-5600. newschool. edu/wollman-hall
MODERN MAIDENS CABARET Lovecraft, 50 Ave. B 9 p.m. $15. Event honors women, past and future, with audacious cabaret & open mic, in collaborative fundraiser with The ChoreoJoey Project & Ma’s Playhouse Theater. twitter-com/choreojoey.
Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St. 1:30-2:30 p.m. $21. Story about a young girl lovingly being raised by her grandmother. They play, go on an imaginary journey to the moon, sing songs and dance. Toddlers—age 5. 212-220-1460.
TROKER JAZZ Nublu, 151 Avenue C 9-11 p.m. “Saying Troker is a jazz band from Mexico doesn’t begin to cover the musical punch these guys deliver — jazz chops as danceable as they are cerebral.” 212-979-9925. twitter. com/#!/nublu
MARCH 30-APRIL 5,2017
Sun 2 9/11 NIGHT TOUR ▲ Free Tours by Foot, 104 Trinity Pl. 7:30-9:30 p.m. Free. RSVP Sites covered on tour: Woolworth Building, City Hall, City Hall Park, St. Paul’s Chapel, World Trade Center, 9/11 Memorial, Brooklyn Bridge. 347-576-0394. freetoursbyfoot.com
MATZAPALOOZA Workmen’s Circle, 35 Battery Pl. A marketplace of artisan purveyors of Passover foods; arts-and-crafts activities, including make-your-own Haggadah and Elijah and Miriam cups, and more. 212-889-6800. mjhnyc.org/ matzap
Mon 3 DOWNTOWN SEDER City Winery, 155 Varick St. 6:30-11 p.m. $70$145. The retelling of the story of ancient Egyptians oppressing a small group of slaves reaffirms keeping vision of freedom alive, w/David Broza & Judy Gold. 212-6080555 ext. 6023. citywinery.com
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
DRUNK [REDACTED] TALKS Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby St. 7-8:30 p.m. Free. Evening of mocking selfimportant men of letters: Jason Diamond on David Foster Wallace; Emily Hughes on Lovecraft; Kari Paul on Henry Miller. 212-334-3324. housingworks.org
Tue 4 IT’S YOUR WORLD Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby St. 7-10 p.m. $11. Paperback launch for “It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired and Get Going.”
Conversation with author Chelsea Clinton, followed by book signing. 212-334-3324. housingworks.org
TRIVIA FUNDRAISER Tribeca Tap House, 363 Greenwich St. 7:30-9:30 p.m. $35. The New York Cares Friends Committee presents Trivia Night, happy hour specials, raffle & prizes. Proceeds support on-going volunteer projects. 212-510-8939. newyorkcarestrivianight
Wed 5 ACT UP MARCH/RALLY AIDS Memorial, 200-218 West 12th St. 4-7 p.m. 30 years of acting up to end AIDS envisions a country and a world free of AIDS in the next generation; West Village to Union Square. 212-966-4873. actupny. com
A.J. MENDEZ Barnes and Noble Tribeca, 97 Warren St. 7-8:30 p.m. Former WWE pro-wrestler A.J. Mendez Brooks signs her debut book “Crazy Is My Superpower.” Purchase book, day of event to receive wristband, for access. 212-587-5389. barnesandnoble.com
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
THE GENIUS NEXT DOOR EXHIBITIONS In her portraits of people of color, Alice Neel looked beyond the faces into the spark that animated them BY MARY GREGORY
Every so often, a local gallery gives us an exhibition that belongs in a museum. Alice Neel, Uptown at David Zwirner’s two spaces in Chelsea, is such a show. Neel, largely overlooked by art historians in her lifetime, has been called one of the most important portraitists of the 20th century, but I’d have to go further back than that to find an equivalent. Her deeply felt, passionately painted, psychologically insightful portraits of intellectuals, housewives and neighborhood kids recall Van Gogh’s painting of Dr. Gachet or the late portraiture of Rembrandt, when he painted the denizens
IF YOU GO What: Alice Neel, Uptown Where: David Zwirner, 525 & 533 West 19th Street When: Tues.-Sat. 10:00 am 6:00 pm Through April 22
of his largely Jewish neighborhood. Like those painters, Neel looked beyond the faces of her sitters, into the spark that animated them. And like them, she painted with skill and bravado, but above all, heart. “Like Chekhov,” Neel once wrote, “I am a collector of souls.” Two dozen of the souls she portrayed are on display at David Zwirner (525 & 533 West 19th Street) through April 22nd. The exhibition is curated by Hilton Als, a noted theater critic, frequent writer on art and culture, and occasional curator. Als confessed a long-time admiration and affection for Neel’s work. “From the start,” Als writes, “Alice Neel’s artistry made life different for me, or not so much different as more enlightened. I grew up in Brooklyn, East New York, and Crown Heights during the 1970s when Neel, after years of obscurity, was finally getting her due. I recall first seeing her
Alice Childress, 1950. Oil on canvas. 30 1/8 x 20 1/8 inches (76.5 x 51.1 cm) Collection of Art Berliner. © The Estate of Alice Neel. Courtesy David Zwirner, New York/ London and Victoria Miro, London
Two Puerto Rican Boys, 1956. Oil on canvas. 32 x 28 inches (81.3 x 71.1 cm) Jeff and Mei Sze Greene Collection. © The Estate of Alice Neel. Courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London and Victoria Miro, London
MARCH 30-APRIL 5,2017
work in a book, and what shocked me more than her outrageous and accurate sense of color and form — did we really look like that? We did! — was the realization that her subject was my humanity.” He continues, “What fascinated her was the breadth of humanity that she encountered in her studio, on canvas … Alice Neel, Uptown, the first comprehensive look at Neel’s portraits of people of color, is an attempt to honor not only what Neel saw, but the generosity behind her seeing.” Neel was born in 1900, on the precipice of the modern world. She came from Merion Square, Pennsylvania, filled with ideas and a personality far
too expansive for a small town. She graduated high school, found work, and started taking art classes. In 1924, she met Carlos Enríquez, a Cuban artist, and, in 1925, they married. Domestic bliss wasn’t in Neel’s cards. She had and lost children, went to and returned from Cuba, separated, was hospitalized, and attempted suicide. But, through it all, she never stopped painting. Though she was loosely aligned with the Ashcan style of social realism, Neel eschewed isms. She preferred Harlem to Greenwich Village (which she thought was too hoity-toity), and focused on portraiture when Abstraction was the in thing. Neel painted for
the WPA, was broke more often than not, and, as Als pointed out, finally received significant recognition only in the 1970s and ‘80s. A profound sense of personhood comes through in her portraits. The exhibition spaces paintings widely and wisely. Rather than glance across a sea of faces, visitors must approach, stepping up to each subject, as if to be introduced. We don’t so much stand before paintings, but enter the presence of another. In a portrait of Harold Cruse, an intellectual, educator and writer, his crooked jaw, outlined in black, is offset by thoughtful eyes, and the sheen of his skin is captured by two masterful brushstrokes, one across his brow, and the other running down his hand. They move the eye and enliven the painting. Ron Kajiwara’s 1971 life-sized portrait seems to bring the young Japanese-American designer fully present. With his carefully-tended long, black hair, crisp jeans tucked into natty boots, and relaxed gaze, you’d recognize him in an instant, if you passed him on the street. Though Kajiwara died of AIDS in 1990, his presence is still palpable. In “Two Puerto Rican Boys,” their personalities jump off the canvas. They’re tough even while they’re achingly tender. They were so anxious to be painted, they came and asked Neel if she’d do their portrait. And she did. Thirty years before Beyoncé’s headline-grabbing pregnancy photos, there was Annie Leibovitz’s nude photo of pregnant Demi Moore in the late 1980s. But decades before that, Alice Neel painted nude, unabashed, “Pregnant Maria,” in 1964, paving the way for generations of artists by having the genius to see the profound truth and remarkable beauty in the faces all around her. Alice Neel died in 1984, just four years after painting her own first self-portrait, nude and vulnerable, brave and brilliant. It’s not included in the Zwirner exhibition, but it’s a treasure of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.
MARCH 30-APRIL 5,2017
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
MAKE SOME NOISE THIS WEEK AT THE RUBIN MUSEUM
Photograph by David De Armas
Reps. Nydia Velazquez (left) and Carolyn Maloney have said the American Health Care Act would have negatively impacted New Yorkers. Photo: Michael Garofalo
NY OFFICIALS RESPOND TO FAILED GOP HEALTH CARE BILL POLICY Maloney “thrilled” at botched ACA repeal BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
New York’s Democratic elected officials breathed a sigh of relief last week when Republican leaders in Washington withdrew the American Health Care Act before it could reach a vote in the House. President Donald Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and other Republican leaders killed the legislation after failing to win adequate support for the bill from their own party, both among moderate Republicans and hardline members of the House Freedom Caucus. Combined with staunch opposition from the Democratic minority in the House, the failure to build conservative consensus forced congressional Republicans, for the time being, to leave in place the Affordable Care Act, the repeal of which has been a key
Republican policy point since it was passed in 2010. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who was part of the Democratic opposition in the House and whose district includes much of Manhattan’s East Side, told Our Town at an unrelated press conference at City Hall last week that she was pleased with the outcome. “The American people spoke and members of Congress listened,” Maloney said. “Why in the world would you pass a bill that costs more money and takes 24 million people off the rolls that already have health care? It was a bad bill. I am thrilled it was defeated.” Governor Andrew Cuomo was one of the bill’s harshest critics in New York, and said that the Republican plan would have shifted $2.4 billion in costs to hospitals and state and local governments each year. “Republican leadership may have counted on the complexity of the issue to confuse the debate, but at the end of the day it’s
actually quite simple,” Cuomo said in a statement. “This Congress tried to play the people of this nation for a fool – they were wrong, and they lost.” Other New York elected officials weighed in as well. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats are willing to work with the president to improve health care if Republicans drop efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Rep. Nydia Velazquez echoed Schumer’s call for collaboration, saying in a statement, “Building consensus is the only way to address the pressing matters facing our nation. However, if Republicans continue a go-it-alone, slashand-burn approach to legislation, I suspect they will see this same result frequently in the future.” Maloney didn’t rule out working on health care with President Trump, who is her constituent. “We all want to work in any way to improve the bill if we can,” she said.
OM LAB: OFFER YOUR VOICE Are you ready to OM? Offer your voice in the OM Lab, a new interactive space. Learn about the 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.
Courtesy STARR Restaurant Group
Photograph by Filip Womak
FREE K2 FRIDAY NIGHT
FREE FAMILY SUNDAY
March 31 6:00–10:00 PM Enjoy free gallery admission all evening, the K2 Lounge happy hour from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., a special panAsian tapas menu, and DJ.
April 2 Drop in, 1:00–4:00 PM Ages 3 and older How do you draw sound? Join us to make playful visualizations of the sounds heard in the world around you. Draw, paint, scribble, and emboss—experimentation is the name of the game!
OM Lab is made possible through the generosity of HARMAN. Additional support provided by contributors to the 2017 Exhibitions Fund. Family Sundays are made possible by New York Life. Additional support has been provided 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
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SAT/SUN
11:00 AM–5:00 PM CLOSED 11:00 AM–9:00 PM 11:00 AM–5:00 PM 11:00 AM–10:00 PM 11:00 AM–6:00 PM
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
MARCH 30-APRIL 5,2017
RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS MAR 15 - 21 , 2017 The following listings were collected from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website and include the most recent inspection and grade reports listed. We have included every restaurant listed during this time within the zip codes of our neighborhoods. Some reports list numbers with their explanations; these are the number of violation points a restaurant has received. To see more information on restaurant grades, visit www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/services/restaurant-inspection.shtml.
Think Coffee
208 W 13Th St
A
Trailer Park Lounge
271 West 23 Street
A
Vivi Bubble Tea
18A W 14Th St
A
Pinto Garden
117 W 10Th St
Not Yet Graded (28) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Wiping cloths soiled or not stored in sanitizing solution.
Loring Place
21 W 8Th St
A
Express Thali
82 2Nd Ave
Not Yet Graded (19) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.
Little Poland Restaurant
200 2Nd Ave
A
Patea
227 E 14Th St
A
Kettle Of Fish
59 Christopher Street
A
Karaoke Boho
186 West 4 Street
A
Tai Thai Thailand
78 East 1 Street
Grade Pending (34) 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. 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. 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.
Mama’s Bar
3234 Avenue B
A
Percy’s Tavern
210 Avenue A
A
Subway
108 1St Ave
A
Dumpling Man
100 Saint Marks Pl
A
Fair Folks
96 West Houston Street
A
Gyu-Kaku
34 Cooper Square
A
Rintintin
14 Spring Street
A
Piccolo Cafe
157 3 Avenue
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The Rice Noodle
190 Bleecker St
A
Bagel Belly
114 3Rd Ave
A
Jane
100 W Houston St
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+ 81 Gallery New York
167 Elizabeth St
A
“IF ONLY SOMEONE WOULD CLEAN UP THIS PARK.”
BE THE SOMEONE. Every day, we think to ourselves that someone should really help make this city a better place. Visit newyorkcares.org to learn about the countless ways you can volunteer and make a difference in your community.
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MARCH 30-APRIL 5,2017
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
‘WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?’ POLITICS Protestors oppose the state senate’s Independent Democratic Conference BY MADELEINE THOMPSON
Outside of state Senator Marisol Alcantara’s office in Washington Heights last Friday, around 100 people showed up to protest. Some carried signs reading, “Which side are you on?” Chants of “Marisol has sold her soul” rang out. Alcantara’s constituents were protesting her involvement in the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), a group of eight Democrats in the 62-member New York Senate who, despite their party affiliation, have banded together to vote with the Republicans. Harris Doran, a filmmaker and activist who helped organize Friday’s protest with the group Rise and Resist, blames the IDC for keeping progressive legislation “from even coming to the floor.” “If we had the majority, which we voted for, we would be able to pass all the progressive legislation that we want rather than just a couple
pieces of watered-down legislation,” Doran said. This is technically true, except that the math is slightly more complicated. Democratic Senator Simcha Felder of Brooklyn, though not a member of the IDC, has aligned himself with the Republicans for the past several years. Even if all eight independent Democrats rejoined the Democratic caucus, Felder would prevent them from having the majority. During her campaign, Alcantara was open about her plans to join the Independent Democrats. She said the decision was largely due to a lack of support from mainline Democrats, who did not want to meet with her. “When I ran for office, I reached out to everyone in the mainline Democratic conference,” she said. “One of my opponents had more money and political connections, so that was more important [to mainline Democrats] than even just having a meeting with me. I just wish all these groups had been around during election time.” Alcantara noted that her opponent in the primaries, Micah Lasher, was supported by the teachers’ union despite supporting controversial charter schools, and that — as news reports
from the time confirm — he distributed an ill-advised cartoon of Rev. Al Sharpton during Lasher’s time with Mark Green’s failed mayoral campaign in 2001. Alcantara’s district stretches from Washington Heights down the far West Side of Manhattan, and includes some parts of Chelsea and Midtown. The area voted almost entirely Democratic in the presidential election, so Emily Goodman, a retired state Supreme Court justice who lives on the Upper West Side, was shocked that Alcantara was elected. “It is very disturbing to me and to many other people I know in the district,” she said. Doran suggested that perhaps a lack of understanding or attention contributed to the election of the eight IDC members. “Most New Yorkers assume they live in a liberal state so they don’t pay much attention to state-level politics,” he said. “Most people don’t know the name of their state senator. [The IDC] was able to get away with it because of this blind spot.” Rise and Resist has so far led demonstrations against senators Jose Peralta of Queens and Jesse Hamilton of Brooklyn, and they plan to demon-
COLLEGE REPUBLICANS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 official school club and eventually had to dock CUNY or CCNY from its name. Until they can enlist enough members and a faculty advisor, Pascual’s group is working as a chapter of Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit. “Right now we’re just working on recruiting people and we hope to get to the point where we can organize discussions about issues and ideas of the day,” Pascual said. Both Pascual, the club’s president, and Nicolas Panov, its treasurer, find it easy to feel unwanted on campus. “People judge really harshly,” Pascual said. “In a way it’s a part of my identity to be a contrarian, it’s part of who I am to go against the grain. ... I do understand that I’m kind of assuming a risk by being who I am.” Republicans at Baruch College, on the other hand, had more success starting their club. When sophomore Chaya Halberstam attended a College Democrats meeting in her freshman year to find a way into politics, a friend suggested that she start a campus club for conservative students. With fellow student Vincent Gangemi, Halberstam formed the Baruch College Republicans, which has now been an official club for a year. Gangemi, the club’s president, said that administrators at the school’s Office of Student Life welcomed the
An anti-Trump dissenter, right, flips off conservative blogger Lucian Wintrich, middle, as Wintrich leaves a March 23 talk at New York University. Photo: Claire Wang club because they felt it was necessary to have both sides of the political spectrum represented on campus. “A lot of our events are not specific to the Republican Party, but more about getting people to participate,” Gangemi said. “At the end of the day, that’s our big goal.” The club has held events such as the “What The Donald?” discussion, dur-
ing which members debated Trump’s suitability for the Republican Party. In fact, members are split on their support for the president, Gangemi said. “I was never 100 percent a Donald Trump supporter. The way he speaks about women, about immigrants, about people who are handicapped, I think it’s such an embarrassment to our country,” said Halberstam, the
Protesting outside Alcantara’s office in Washington Heights. Photo: Madeleine Thompson strate against all eight IDC members. The group also hands out information at farmers markets, and Doran expressed confidence that the Independent Democratic Conference would be dissolved in response to voters’ ire. “The movement that’s happening in the city is so large,” Doran said. Adding to Democrats’ frustration with Alcantara’s political affiliation are the policies of President Donald Trump’s administration. Alcantara was quick to criticize the president, calling his actions “anti-poor people, anti-worker, anti-immigrant, antiwoman.” However, she has accused the IDC’s critics — including her colleague Senator Mike Gianaris — of
club’s vice president. “I’m very critical and I think we all need to be.” A better way of handling controversial speakers like McInnes or Wintrich, Gangemi suggested, would be to invite those who disagree with club members to events to debate, as a way to diminish the potential for protest. “Even if we invited a speaker who was in some objective sense wrong, the solution to that is having them here, coming to the event, openly debating them and showing them why you think they’re wrong,” he said. In the interest of fostering dialogue, many conservative student leaders in the city have learned to accept inevitable backlash the opposition. Ryan Quattromani, president of Manhattan College Republicans, said he recalls just one incident of leftist intolerance that genuinely angered him. When reviewing his application for a resident assistant position, college administrators questioned his ability to respect diversity and inclusiveness, he said. “What if one of your residents is Mexican?” they asked. “What if one of your residents comes out as being a lesbian?” If publicly identifying as a Republican in the age of Trump generally invites either hostility or ostracization, African-American conservatives receive a combination of both, spiced up by the occasional racial epithet, said Paul-Anthony Cuesta, outreach director at the New York City chapter of the Black Conservative Federation. “It’s tough for any student to come out
racism. “Every time they have a discussion about why I joined the IDC, why [Hamilton and Peralta] joined the IDC, they always say that it’s a money issue,” she said. “No one knows my financial status. They never say, ‘Is [Felder] there because of money?’ Why does it have to be the three elected officials of color?” But Alcantara said she appreciated the protesters who chanted and picketed outside her office last week, and emphasized that to do so was a basic tenet of democracy. Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com
as Republican, let alone black kids,” he said. “I’ve been called Uncle Tom for daring to identify with Trump’s party.” At the BCF, Cuesta cooperates with a group of youth leaders to build a citywide caucus of black Republicans by creating a registry of black conservatives at largely liberal colleges and connecting them to conservative leaders. Because the liberal media vilifies all Republicans as supporters of Trump’s most incendiary rhetoric, Cuesta said, college Republicans–especially minorities–feel compelled to hide their beliefs to avoid persecution by peers. That is why, he added, “We are lucky to have prominent African Americans like Tim Scott and Michael Steele serve as symbols for Black conservatism.” Some students also worry about sharing political opinions with professors for fear that it could harm their grades. “Political science professors ... are extremely liberal and you have to bite your tongue because you don’t want to fail the class,” Halberstam said. Having a Republican club on campus, he said, is vital for students to feel like they can talk freely. Opening their club to the full ideological spectrum, Halberstam hopes, could help reduce the polarity inherent in this current of American politics. “If we learn to work together now at a young age, we’ll be better off in the future,” she said.
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MARCH 30-APRIL 5,2017
Business ON THE SIDE STREETS OF NEW YORK OATMEALS - 120 WEST 3RD STREET For the past five years, Samantha Stephens has been filling a niche market: oatmeal, served with both sweet and savory toppings. It is a clever and healthy concept offering delicious, unusual combinations. Sam worked toward her dream shop for ten years during a career as an investment banker. She ultimately chose a new path, went to culinary school, and opened her side street spot in 2012. To read more, visit Manhattan Sideways (sideways.nyc), created by Betsy Bober Polivy.
Photo: Joe Arena
THE PEOPLE’S AUCTION EVENTS With a ritual’s revival, treasures large and small abound on West 25th Street
a weekend market nearly a quarter of a century ago. Before long, he was open seven days a week, with added galleries and a room setting, as well as a de-
BY GENIA GOULD
The auctioneer’s chant, the bidders’ paddles spasmodically airborne, the clack of the auctioneer’s gavel, the need for focus lest one miss an item, offers drama and entertainment. But live auctions are a dying breed, quickly shifting to the internet. But the founders of Showplace Antique + Design Center decided to buck that trend, and returned the ritual, to a NoMad location on 25th Street with down-to-earth New York panache, twice-monthly estate auctions, with bagels and champagne. (Less frequently, in summer months.) Launched in the spring of 2015, the auctions have grown from 150 lots to over 300 at each auction, creating a revenue stream for the company and attracting a new clientele – the general public. Showplace’s primary business is large volume retail that caters mostly to designers and people in the trade. The large building with four floors features dozens of vendors, a burst of antique chandeliers — and coffee tables and sofas and lamps and sculptures and paintings and jewelry. The items span recent centuries, but most are art nouveau, art deco, mid-century modern or postmodern pieces. Amos Balaish, Showplace’s founder, was originally a gift and toy manufacturer, as well as a collector of art nouveau and mid-century modern objects before he decided to open an antiques shop. He started Showplace as
signer and decorator floor. The auctions are a throwback, to a once-upon-atime when they were big social gatherings, hubs of activity, Andrea Baker, the auctions manager, said. “We’re about reviving the community feel, and redefining it,
making it very easy for people to participate,” she said. Most items open at $50 to $100. Some Showplace customers have been known to decorate their entire homes with objects bought at auctions, Baker said. These are highly desirable objects which could otherwise reach into the high hundreds or even thousands of dollars in a retail location, she added. The auctions take place in an intimate space. Several vendor spots are cleared out in the back of the building, at street level, to pack in 50 fold-out chairs or more, depending on the audience they expect, and hundreds of antique treasures, selected from several
estates. They include Tiffany lamps, Pop posters, English silverware and, at least on one recent occasion, a Picasso ceramic. The objects remain on view behind the auctioneer but are also shown, enlarged, on a projector screen. A bank of administrators off to the side, similar to those at high-end auctions, take bids via phone and the internet from around the
Bronzed “Crocus” lamp, ca. 1935, by the American illustrator and designer McClelland Barclay, was given an estimated value of $200-400 but created a bidding war, finally selling for $650 at a recent Showplace Antique + Design auction on West 25th Street. Photo courtesy Showplace Antique + Design
A hand-crafted chair, made from parts of various musical instrument parts, sold for $225, a bargain, according to some. Photo courtesy Showplace Antique + Design country and beyond. At a recent auction, the sale of a folk art chair, comprised of musical instruments, was expected to sell at $1,000 or more, and went for $225. Baker surmises that a dealer got that one, and if that’s the case, she said, they are going to make a lot of money on it. A highly patinated bronze lamp, ca. 1935, in the shape of a crocus and designed and signed by the American illustrator and designer McClelland Barclay, was given an estimated value of $200-400, but created a bidding
war, with 22 bids at mostly $50 jumps. With a slam of the gavel, it finally sold for $650. The next Showplace estate auction is April 2 with 334 lots. One item of particular interest, Baker said, is a vintage Breitling Swiss chronograph watch with an estimated value of $2,000-3,000. “It’s like the rolls Royce of watches,” said another salesman on the floor. Will the buyer walk away with a steal?
MARCH 30-APRIL 5,2017
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
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Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
We all have a story to tell. As immigrant status is so much in the news as of late, we asked our readers to send us photos of their family photos from long ago. The majority of Americans have ancestors who came to this country from somewhere else. Looking back at old photos reminds us of how times have changed, and of who came before us. We see the light and the dark — the good and the bad. By remembering where we started, we can see the progress and find inspiration to carry on. Below are the submitted family photos.
Elizabeth McCue Sussmann, aged seven or eight, is pictured astride a donkey whose headband reads,Votes for Women. — Submitted by Anne G.
This is a photo of my mother when she was 16 years old in 1895 in New York City. This was taken in a photography studio with a fake background of a beach. — Submitted by Norma C.
“OK, go stand against the wall.” Dad said. “Oh God, another annoying picture.” Mom mumbled. Summer 1961, we just stepped off the Lexington Avenue local at the end of the line: the Pelham Bay Park El subway stop. With his Yashica 44 camera hanging from his neck, Dad was gathering us for our first group shot. On our way to Freedomland, the terrific new amusement park in the north Bronx, Dad thought he’d capture every step of the way. Every step. The three of us took a vote and Dad won “biggest pain in the neck of all time,” and we didn’t even get to the ticket booth yet. “No, no, Tommy on the left, Patty, you in the middle, Rory on the right.” Dad said. “I want to be in the middle!” “Rory, be quiet.”
After the three of us were placed in dog show positions, Dad said, “Hold still, and smile when I count to three.” Mom said through her tight lips,”On three, make a stupid face.” “One, two… three!” And here it is. The most revealing photo in my family history. Mom and I in cahoots make stupid faces, Rory is still upset at Dad for not letting him stand in the middle. Because we ruined Dad’s photo, he walked ahead of us and didn’t talk to us for an hour. — Submitted by Thomas P.
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COLUMBIA UNFURLS MANHATTANVILLE CAMPUS UNIVERSITIES The first two buildings of the university’s 17-acre expansion near West 125th Street are finished BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
Columbia University unveiled the first two buildings of its new Manhattanville campus last week, marking the completion of the initial stage of the school’s controversial northward expansion more than a decade after it was first announced. The Manhattanville campus, a 17acre site along Broadway just north of 125th Street assembled by Columbia during an often contentious process that spanned years and involved the acquisition of property via eminent domain, significantly expands the university’s footprint 10 blocks from its main campus in Morningside Heights. The Lenfest Center for the Arts and the Jerome L. Greene Science Center, both designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, are part of a development process that is expected to span several decades. “Who would have predicted with confidence that this would happen? Virtually no one, because the idea seemed too big to succeed,” Columbia’s president, Lee Bollinger, said in one of the Lenfest Center’s airy white gallery spaces, with tall windows offering sweeping views of Riverside Church’s neo-gothic bell tower, Grant’s Tomb and Columbia’s main campus. The Lenfest Center for the Arts is an eight-story, 60,000-square-foot facility that houses performance and gallery spaces and a 150-seat theater. Next door is the eight-story Jerome L. Greene Science Center, significantly larger at 450,000 square feet, which contains a neuroscience research fa-
The Lenfest Center for the Arts (left) and the Jerome L. Greene Science Center are the first new buildings of Columbia University’s Manhattanville Campus. Photo: Michael Garofalo cility. Piano, whose other high-profile local projects include the New York Times Building and the Whitney Museum, attended the ceremonial opening of the steel and glass buildings. The Lenfest Center and Greene Science Center are the first two buildings of a massive complex that will eventually hold 6.8 million square feet of
Columbia University’s Jerome L. Greene Science Center is home to a multidisciplinary brain research facility. Photo: Michael Garofalo
university facilities, connected by an underground network for loading, energy and utility services. Three more buildings are scheduled to open at the Manhattanville campus by 2021, including a conference center with a 430seat auditorium set to open next year. In contrast to Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus, where imposing neoclassical buildings sit behind stone walls and iron gates, the Manhattanville campus is intended to be outwardly oriented and integrated into to the surrounding West Harlem community. Columbia says the new buildings will be open to the public at street level, and the complex’s tree-lined pedestrian pathways and open green spaces will connect the neighborhood to the waterfront at West Harlem Piers Park, to which the university has pledged $18.1 million to help maintain. The motif of openness to the community extends to the buildings’ design. Floor-to-ceiling windows flood most floors with natural light and allow street level passersby to observe scientists and artists at work inside. Every few minutes, the 1 train rattles by on elevated tracks just outside the Greene Science Center. On the side-
walk, the sound is thunderous, but inside the building it is all but inaudible. Two layers of glass on the structure’s exterior, separated by 16 inches, deaden the noise before it reaches the workspaces. The sight of a silent train a mere stone’s throw away has, at first, a disorienting effect. The two glass panes also help cool the building in the summer and conserve heat in the winter. “It’s like a coat for the building,” Antoine Chaaya, the project’s lead architect, explained. “It’s a thermal and acoustic buffer.” Columbia officials repeatedly emphasized the school’s efforts to build beneficial relationships with the Manhattanville community in the wake of the divisive acquisition of the campus parcel, which was completed in 2010 after the New York Court of Appeals ruled that the state could use eminent domain to seize several properties for the project. The Lenfest Center will partner with the local community for its exhibitions, starting this summer with a survey of artists living and working north of 99th Street. And the Greene Science Center’s first floor includes a community health-screening facility and an education laboratory for K-12
students. As part of the expansion, Columbia has also agreed to make various financial commitments to the neighborhood, including $76 million to the West Harlem Development Corporation and $20 million to an affordable housing fund. Despite Columbia’s overtures, some neighborhood residents still harbor concerns about the school’s expansion. David Hanzal of the Manhattanville Tenant Association said that the new campus has driven up rents in the surrounding neighborhood, and that some landlords have tried to push out longtime tenants in rent-controlled units as more students move into the area. “Columbia itself is not directly involved with that, but we’re seeing other people taking advantage,” he said, noting that local businesses have also been impacted. “It’s changing the whole community,” Hanzal said. “Columbia tries to do some things to soothe it over, but at the end of the day, giving away football tickets isn’t going to change the way the community feels about being pushed out of their homes.” Michael Garofalo can be reached at reporter@strausnews.com
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YOUR 15 MINUTES
TUNING UP ON THE WEST SIDE Bloomingdale School of Music’s executive director on the longstanding nonprofit BY ANGELA BARBUTI
“As you walk up the stairs, at every level, there’s a different instrument playing or a different person singing,” said Erika Floreska when she was asked to describe the atmosphere of the Bloomingdale School of Music, where she serves as executive director. “Sometimes you hear beginners like kids just starting out, and sometimes you have some really highly advanced students going nuts on the piano. Music is all around you.” Floreska, who started as Bloomingdale’s executive director in the summer of 2014, said there is no typical day for her as she builds enrollment and profile for the school, which was founded in 1964 in the basement of the West End Presbyterian Church. Lessons at the time cost 50 cents and a dollar. In 1972, the school moved to accommodate its staggering growth to a landmarked brownstone on 108th Street, where it welcomes 650 students for lessons and classes. Floreska always dreamed of settling in New York City “because if you’re in music or arts, that’s where you want to be.” Her first position here was at Jazz at Lincoln Center, where she worked for 14 years, eventually earning the rank of director of education.
You were involved in community music school growing up in Minnesota. Did you always know you wanted to work in music? No, I was kind of funny because I
went to college at a liberal arts school that had a good music program because I didn’t want to major in music, but I wanted to keep playing because I loved playing. But while I was there, I decided I did want to pursue music, at least more seriously. And I actually got a master’s degree in flute at the University of Michigan. I guess I ended up saying, “What is it I want to spend a lot of time on?” And it was music, because music had always been there. I moved a lot when I was growing up and was always able to find friends and a connection and a community through music each time I moved. None of my friends were surprised when I became a music major, it just took me realizing that. But I did my graduate degree in performance and made a really conscious decision that, while I loved to perform, I’m not that committed performer-freelance musician that it takes to be successful. And that’s when I learned about the whole field of arts administration and realized, “Oh, there are people behind the scenes who work around music and music education and that I would love.” So as a grad student, I knew I wanted to be in arts administration, so that’s always been the focus of my career.
What are some initiatives you worked on at Jazz at Lincoln Center that you’re most proud of? There’s a middle school jazz academy that we created once the building was built to provide under resourced middle school students access to a great jazz education. We had up to 20 New York City kids who came every Saturday to have an intensive jazz experience. I did the research for that
Bloomingdale School of Music students. Photo: Chen Chu for BSM
program, designed, launched and led it for the first five years and it just had its 10-year anniversary recently. “Essentially Ellington,” which is a high school national jazz band festival, is my heart. I met my husband through that. I was called “Essentially Erika” when I was there. When I first started running it, it was just 26 states east of the Mississippi that were eligible. And I took it from there to go to all 50 states, to Canada. We did an exchange in Australia, London. It distributed Duke Ellington’s music to bands all over the country.
How did your job at BSM come about? When I left Jazz at Lincoln Center, I went and ran a theater company. I had been interested in being an executive director and getting into the leadership and fundraising component after doing all that education programming. And the theater was fascinating and I learned so much from my time there. But I also found I really missed music and music education, so I had started to think about how I could get back into that part of the field. And Bloomingdale had lost their executive director. My predecessor died suddenly. He was sick for two weeks and then passed away. It was really tragic. He had been there for 22 years. So the board started a search, and the chair of that search committee talked to some of the faculty and one of our faculty members, a guitar player named Matt Butterman, was my intern at Lincoln Center. I hired him and he is still on the staff at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He said, “Erika is great. I don’t know if she would want to leave her theater company.” I also heard it about it two
Erika Floreska, Bloomingdale School of Music’s executive director. Photo: Roger Floreska other ways. So I looked into it and immediately it was like homecoming because when I first moved to New York, I lived at 105th and Columbus, that’s one block from where the school was founded.
Tell us about the school’s history. I just did a speech on the history of the school that was really well received. In the ‘60s, it was a time where people wanted to make their community great and took it into their own hands. So, the organist at the church, West End Presbyterian, saw kids in the streets hanging out, and said, “I’m going to teach them music.” Our opening poster that we found a copy of in our archives, is translated into Spanish because the community was Spanish at the time. And it was based on this real philosophy that music is for everybody and music brings us together. It’s a very inclusive spirit that anybody should be able to study who wants to. If you can’t afford it, we’ll help you pay for it. And that access to music can help individuals with their study and can help improve communities by bringing people together. David Greer was our founder. And it was like this engine that could. There was 75 kids the first year, and within two years, there was over 200 kids going to the church on Saturday mornings to study music. The school had a 35-year history of partnerships with the New York City public schools. We were the first community music school to partner with the schools in the ‘70s, after all the music teachers were fired. And
at one point, there were 1,000 kids a week coming to the school to take music classes from their public school and then going back to school. This went on for 30 years.
How can you describe its atmosphere and student demographic? It’s very warm, welcoming and supportive. It’s a very diverse community, pretty much representing the Upper West Side and up the 1 [train] line into the Bronx. I would say half our students are students of color. And people comment on that; that it’s very mixed racially, ethnically and socioeconomically. And they love that about it. And it’s also fairly informal, from an institutional standpoint. Ten percent of students are early childhood so that’s zero to five and their parents. And 10 percent are adults, so we have a pretty strong community with adults, some of whom are coming back to an instrument after having studied when they were a kid. But we also have introductory classes in guitar and piano for adults. There’s no audition barrier. We really believe music is for everyone and are committed to teaching to each individual student’s interest. www.bsmny.org
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MARCH 30-APRIL 5,2017
MARCH 30-APRIL 5,2017
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MARCH 30-APRIL 5,2017
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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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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